Today’s Motto:’The two most powerful warriors are patience and time’

This is Your Day:  TODAY:  Take a Determined Step Forward and Make History!

On this day, 27 March….
1790 – The shoelace invented by Harvey Kennedy. (Perhaps Harvey invented a particular type of shoelace, but he did not “invent shoelaces”. Like shoes, shoelaces have been around for thousands of years, long before names of inventors were ever recorded).

1860 – M L. Byrn of New York City was issued a patent for an improved corkscrew – a “covered gimlet screw with a ‘T’ handle”. (After all, if it wasn’t for the invention of the corkscrew we’d be pulling corks out of those wine bottles with our teeth!)

1899 – Guglielmo Marconi transmitted across the English Channel from Boulogne, France, to Dover, England. Messages were exchanged over the 32 miles, and trials continued for several days, at a speed of up to fifteen words a minute. The success of Marconi’s experiments made possible communications without expensive undersea cables.
1914 – 1st successful non-direct blood transfusion took place (in Brussels).

1933 – Polythene discovered by Reginald Gibson and Eric William Fawcett. (It was an accidental discovery. A team of chemists at a plant near Northwich were working on polymers when an experiment went strangely wrong. A white, waxy residue was produced – not the intended result – which turned out to be polythene).

1961 – The first mobile computer centre, a UNIVAC Solid-State 90 computer loaded into a motor van, was used.

1998 – Sildenafil citrate (marketed as Viagra) was the first oral pill to treat impotence, a dysfunction affecting millions of men in the U.S. Its inventer   Dr.  Louis Ignarro, an American pharmacologist  won Nobel Prize in 1998 jointly with 2 others.  It is reported to be globally the  sixth-biggest drug product, with annual sales of about $2 billion (pic credit-youtube.com).

2014 – UN General Assembly condemns Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

2019 – Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces the country is now a “space power” after successfully shooting down a satellite from space in a ballistic missile test.

2021- Iran and China sign major agreement guaranteeing Chinese investment of $400 billion and Iranian oil supply in return from Tehran (pic credit-smartanalyst.com).

2023 – Possibility of bases on the Moon becomes greater possibility after 300 billion tonnes of water, stored in glass beads on Moon’s surface, identified in lunar soil samples collected by China’s Chang’e-5.

Born ……972 -Robert II, the king of Franks from 998 to 1031 AD.

1765 -Franz Xaver von Baader, German philosopher and theologist, born in Munich. Learnt medicine, engineering, mining but preferred to practice philosophy. He wrote  Fermenta Cognitionis  and Spekulative Dogmatik . He was appointed professor of philosophy and speculative theology at the new University of Munich in 1826-1838.

1845- Wilhelm K Rontgen.  German (Rhine)  physicist who discovered  X-rays and was awarded Nobel Prize in 1901.

1863 – Henry Royce, a newspaper vendor lad  who  got apprenticeship at age 14, became  automobile engineer,  manufactured  luxury  cars  Rolls Royce and aircraft engines, alongwith Charles Rolls and his marketing colleague Claude Johnson,  about 120 years ago (May 1904). They  made the car the numero uno of luxury automoblie industry.

1947 – Tom Sullivan. Blind American singer, writer, actor, motivational speaker.  He helped in research for curing blindness. His roles in Airport ’77, Daredevil,  If You Could See What I Hear etc. He is also known for Sullivan’s Rules, establishing that ‘ any negatives can  be turned into positives’.  He was awarded Helen Keller Achievement award (1997) and Best Performer Award at Yamha Music Festival 1976.

RIP….1552 – Guru Angad Dev,  2nd Sikh G uru. Born as a Hindu  (Bhai Lenha) he  followed Guru Nanak Dev’s teachings and wrote them in Gurumukhi (Punjabi script).  Also believed  his death was on  March 29.

You may have known…. Takshila  or Takshashila,  is said to be the first university in the world; it started around 700 BC. It  is situated  about 25 km  from Rawalpindi-Rawalpindi , now  in Pakistan. 

                                                                                                                                          {Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R)  Raj Kadyan}