Srinivasa Ramanujan's Death Anniversary

Srinivasa Ramanujan, who passed away on 26 April 1920, aged 32, in Kumbakonam, was an Indian mathematician whose contributions to the theory of numbers include pioneering discoveries of the properties of the partition function.

When he was 15 years old, he obtained a copy of George Shoobridge Carr’s Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied Mathematics, 2 vol. (1880–86). This collection of thousands of theorems, many presented with only the briefest of proofs and with no material newer than 1860, aroused his genius. Having verified the results in Carr’s book, Ramanujan went beyond it, developing his own theorems and ideas. In 1903 he secured a scholarship to the University of Madras but lost it the following year because he neglected all other studies in pursuit of mathematics.

Ramanujan continued his work, without employment and living in the poorest circumstances. After marrying in 1909 he began a search for permanent employment that culminated in an interview with a government official, Ramachandra Rao. Impressed by Ramanujan’s mathematical prowess, Rao supported his research for a time, but Ramanujan, unwilling to exist on charity, obtained a clerical post with the Madras Port Trust.

In 1911 Ramanujan published the first of his papers in the Journal of the Indian Mathematical Society. His genius slowly gained recognition, and in 1913 he began a correspondence with the British mathematician Godfrey H. Hardy that led to a special scholarship from the University of Madras and a grant from Trinity College, Cambridge. Overcoming his religious objections, Ramanujan traveled to England in 1914, where Hardy tutored him and collaborated with him in some research.

Ramanujan’s knowledge of mathematics (most of which he had worked out for himself) was startling. Although he was almost completely unaware of modern developments in mathematics, his mastery of continued fractions was unequaled by any living mathematician. He worked out the Riemann series, the elliptic integrals, hypergeometric series, the functional equations of the zeta function, and his own theory of divergent series, in which he found a value for the sum of such series using a technique he invented that came to be called Ramanujan summation. On the other hand, he knew nothing of doubly periodic functions, the classical theory of quadratic forms, or Cauchy’s theorem, and he had only the most nebulous idea of what constitutes a mathematical proof. Though brilliant, many of his theorems on the theory of prime numbers were wrong.

In England Ramanujan made further advances, especially in the partition of numbers (the number of ways that a positive integer can be expressed as the sum of positive integers; e.g., 4 can be expressed as 4, 3 + 1, 2 + 2, 2 + 1 + 1, and 1 + 1 + 1 + 1). His papers were published in English and European journals, and in 1918 he was elected to the Royal Society of London. In 1917 Ramanujan had contracted tuberculosis, but his condition improved sufficiently for him to return to India in 1919. He died the following year, generally unknown to the world at large but recognized by mathematicians as a phenomenal genius, without peer since Leonhard Fuler (1707–83) and Carl Jacobi (1804–51). Ramanujan left behind three notebooks and a sheaf of pages (also called the “lost notebook”) containing many unpublished results that mathematicians continued to verify long after his death.

Chernobyl Disaster in 1986

Chernobyl was the worst nuclear accident in the history of the world. On April 26, 1986 the number 4 reactor in the nuclear plant blew up, sending radiation spewing across Europe as far north as Sweden.

In the direct path of the immediate fallout was the town of Pripyat. In the hours after the disaster, dozens of people began to fall ill, but the town was not immediately evacuated by Soviet authorities. This happened a day later. Residents were told only to bring essentials and that they would return in three days. Details of the disaster were sketchy at the time; the Soviet Union did not admit an incident until two days later, and even then, the announcement was downplayed in state media.

Since 1986 a 'Zone of Exclusion' has been set up around the Chernobyl plant. The surrounding area will not be safe for at least another 20,000 years.

World Intellectual Property Day

Every year, the world celebrates World Intellectual Property Day on April 26 which aims to spread awareness about intellectual property (IP) rights and how it encourages innovation and creativity to drive human progress. The World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) established this day in 2000. 

This day marks the opportunity to educate people on the need for IP protection to protect the creator's rights and copyright as well as the public interest.

World Intellectual Property Day: History

The WIPO came into existence in 1883 when the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property was signed. The convention was held to protect the Intellectual Property protections for inventors, trademarks and industrial designs. In 1970, the Convention establishing the World Intellectual Property Organisation entered into force, creating WIPO, which was the UN specialised agency in 1974.

WIPO is a specialised agency of the United Nations that works to promote the protection and advancement of intellectual property worldwide. The WIPO Convention, which came into force in 1970, provides a framework for cooperation among member states in the areas of intellectual property law, the registration of intellectual property, and the protection of intellectual property rights.

WIPO worked in the direction to promote the protection and advancement of Intellectual property across the world. The WIPO Convention provides a framework for cooperation among member states in the area of intellectual property law and intellectual property rights protections.

WIPO also provides various other services and resources aiming to promote intellectual property awareness and IP protection benefits. It includes registration and protection of intellectual property, the resolution of transboundary intellectual property disputes and the development of uniform standards and infrastructure for intellectual property protection.

World Intellectual Property Day: Significance

World Intellectual Property Day is an opportunity for both inventors and creators for people across the world to promote IP solutions that shape the world.

This day aims to educate people on the various ways of safeguarding intellectual property such as patents, trademarks, copyrights and others. 

World Penguin Day

 

World Penguin Day is celebrated every year on 25 April. This day is significant because it coincides with the start of the northern migration of Adelie penguins. Adelie penguins are one of the 17-20 species of penguins recognized worldwide. The southern hemisphere is home to most of the penguins, with a total of about 20 species known to humans.

The Emperor Penguin is the largest species of penguins. whereas the smallest are found along the coastal areas of New Zealand and Australia. Penguins are flightless birds, and their habitats are found in the southern hemisphere. One of the most popular and intriguing characteristics of penguins is that of them waddling with their group in icy lands. This has made them a popular subject for animated movies and cartoons.

History of World Penguin Day

World Penguin Day is celebrated on annually on 25 April. This day was established at McMurdo Station, an American research center situated on Ross Island. World Penguin Day is dedicated to Adélie Penguin, a species of penguins who start their migration north toward Antarctica around 25 April every year. This migration takes place so that the penguins can have access to food during the winter months. Researchers were quite intrigued by this fact, and therefore decided to celebrate World Penguin Day on 25 April to mark the occasion and raise awareness of these amazing and beautiful creatures.

Significance of World Penguin Day

The significance of World Penguin Day extends to highlighting the plight of endangered species. While the day was initially established to commemorate the Adélie Penguin's migration patterns, it now encompasses all species of penguins and emphasizes their vulnerability to extinction. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 10 of the 17 species of penguin currently exist are endangered or threatened with extinction.

Penguins are highly social animals that spend up to three-quarters of their lives in the sea. They rely on the oceans for food. Overfishing and pollution are the major threats to their survival. Climate change is also a major concern for penguin species. As sea ice shrinks, it not only affects their habitat but also impinges on their chick hatching times and food availability. World Penguin Day provides an opportunity to appreciate these unique animals and take a stand against the threats they face. It is also a reminder of the importance of protecting the ocean and the environment for future generations.

World Penguin Day: Unknown Facts About Penguins

Following are some of the unique and unknown facts about Penguins that everyone must know.

• The Emperor Penguin is one of 17 species of penguin that live in the waters of Antarctica. It is the largest of these species, reaching an average size of 1m tall, weighing approximately 35kg.
• Instead of wings, penguins use their flippers for swimming, and they can drink salty sea water for up to 20 minutes without coming up for air.
• Majority of the penguins are monogamous except Emperor Penguins who are serially monogamous, meaning they have same partner for a season rather than life.
• Penguins have a sharp eyesight, which allows them to see clearly in and out of water. Like humans, penguins also have a binocular vision, meaning they can focus on a single object with both the eyes.
• The black and white colored body of penguins is a camouflage. The black markings protect them from the predators outside the water while as the white markings make them almost invisible inside the water.
• Penguins are carnivores, and eat small fishes and shrimps while swimming.
• Little Blue Penguin, also known as the Fairy Penguin is the smallest penguin. It weighs only 1 kg and is around 33 cm tall.
• Different species of penguins have different life spans, which may vary from 6 to 30 years.
• Out of 17-20 species of penguin, 10 species have been declared as vulnerable or endangered, and are currently enlisted on the IUCN’s red list.

 

World Malaria Day

World Malaria Day, annual observance held on April 25 to raise awareness of the global effort to control and ultimately eradicate malaria. World Malaria Day, which was first held in 2008, developed from Africa Malaria Day, an event that had been observed since 2001 by African governments. The observance served as a time to assess progress toward goals aimed at controlling malaria and reducing its mortality in African countries. In 2007, at the 60th session of the World Health Assembly (a meeting sponsored by the World Health Organization [WHO]), it was proposed that Africa Malaria Day be changed to World Malaria Day to recognize the existence of malaria in countries worldwide and to bring greater awareness to the global fight against the disease.

Malaria exists in more than 100 countries worldwide, and some 900,000 people die from the disease each year. However, malaria is preventable with the use of medicines and other precautionary measures, such as insecticide -treated bed nets and indoor insecticide spraying. On the first World Malaria Day the secretary-general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, emphasized the need to increase the availability of bed nets, medicines, public health facilities, and trained health workers to people in areas of the world affected by malaria. Ban challenged global initiative programs, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, and the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, by stating that he expected such universal access to be in place by the end of 2010.

Ban’s call for action prompted the formation of the Global Malaria Action Plan (GMAP), an aggressive unified strategy designed to reduce the incidence of malaria worldwide. The three components of this strategy are control, elimination, and research. Research to develop new drugs and new approaches to prevention is fundamental to efforts aimed at first controlling and then eliminating malaria from areas severely affected by the disease. The long-term goal of the plan was global eradication of the disease by 2015. However, progress toward this goal slowed significantly because of inadequate funding and health care, particularly in difficult-to-reach areas, which had the highest proportion of cases. By 2019, infection rates in places with the greatest malaria burden remain largely unchanged, and an analysis of global trends in malaria incidence suggested that eradication could be achieved by 2050.

In addition to bringing together international agencies and research institutions to discuss the progress of the GMAP, World Malaria Day also provides health organizations and scientists with an opportunity to communicate information about the disease and about current research efforts to the public. This is accomplished through public educational programs, charity events, and other community activities.

Jamini Roy's Death Anniversary

 

Jamini Roy, who passed away on 24 April 1972, aged 85, was one of the best-known Indian artists of the 20th century. In the late 1920s and early ’30s he rejected his academic training and instead developed a linear, decorative, colourful style based on Bengali folk traditions. During the 1930s and ’40s the popularity of his paintings represented the passage of modern Indian art from its European academic leanings to a renewed interest in traditional iconography and abstract forms. Roy’s subject matter ranged from the Ramayana to Christ to portraits of contemporary figures such as Mahatma Gandhi.

 

National Panchayati Raj Day

 

National Panchayati Raj Day is celebrated on April 24 every year in India to commemorate the historic day when the Panchayati Raj System was introduced in the country. The Panchayati Raj System is a decentralized system of governance in India, where local bodies or Gram Panchayats are given the power to govern themselves and make decisions for the development of their respective areas. This system was introduced in 1993 by the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, which aimed at bringing democracy at the grassroots level and empowering people in rural areas.

History

The Panchayati Raj System has its roots in ancient India, where the village council or Panchayat was the primary unit of governance. The system was revived in the early 1950s when the first National Development Council recommended the establishment of a democratic system of governance at the grassroots level. However, it was not until 1993 that the Panchayati Raj System was given a constitutional status and made mandatory for all states in India.

Significance

The Panchayati Raj System has been instrumental in bringing about significant changes in the rural landscape of India. It has given people in rural areas a voice and an opportunity to participate in the decision-making process, leading to the overall development of their respective areas. The system has also helped in decentralizing power and reducing corruption at higher levels of government, as decisions are made at the local level. The system has been successful in bringing about socio-economic development, promoting social justice, and empowering women in rural areas.