Great Personalities

Mother Teresa

2012-05-25T07:47:00.000-07:00

A Short and Brief Biography

Famous as	A nun, helped poor, helpless, slum-dwellers, homeless people throughout the world.
Born on	26 August 1910
Born in	Skopje, Mecidonia
Died on	5 September 1997
Nationality	Mecidonia
Works & Achievements	Won noble peace price in 1979, Pop John XXIII peace prize in 1971. Awarded Bharat Ratna and many other.

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, the future Mother Teresa, was born on 26 August 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia, to Albanian heritage. Her father, a well-respected local businessman, died when she was eight years old, leaving her mother, a devoutly religious woman, to open an embroidery and cloth business to support the family. After spending her adolescence deeply involved in parish activities, Agnes left home in September 1928, for the Loreto Convent in Rathfarnam (Dublin), Ireland, where she was admitted as a postulant on October 12 and received the name of Teresa, after her patroness, St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

In December 1928 she began her journey to India and continued to Darjeeling, at the base of the Himalayan Mountains, where she would continue her training towards her religious vows. Soon after, on January 6, 1929 she arrived in Calcutta, the capital of Bengal, India to teach at a school for girls. While in Calcutta, she was moved by the presence of the sick and dying on the city's streets. On September 10, 1946, on the long train ride to Darjeeling where she was to go on a retreat and to recover from suspected tuberculosis, something happened. Mother Teresa recalls:

"I realized that I had the call to take care of the sick and the dying, the hungry, the naked, the homeless - to be God's Love in action to the poorest of the poor. That was the beginning of the Missionaries of Charity."

She didn't hesitate, she didn't question. She asked permission to leave the Loreto congregation and to establish a new order of sisters. She received that permission from Pope Pius XII. In 1952 Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity began the work for which they have been noted ever since. Her order received permission from Calcutta officials to use a portion of the abandoned temple of Kali, the Hindu goddess of transition and destroyer of demons. Mother Teresa founded here the Kalighat Home for the Dying, which she named Nirmal Hriday (meaning "Pure Heart"). She and her fellow nuns gathered dying people off the streets of Calcutta and brought them to this home to care for them during the days before they died.

Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, Mother Teresa expanded the work of the Missionaries of Charity both within Calcutta and throughout India. On 1 February 1965, Pope Paul VI granted the Decree of Praise to the Congregation, raising it to pontifical right. The first foundation outside India opened in Cocorote, Venezuela, in 1965. The Society expanded to Europe (the Tor Fiscale suburb of Rome) and Africa (Tabora, Tanzania) in 1968.

From the late 1960s until 1980, the Missionaries of Charity expanded both in their reach across the globe and in their number of members. Mother Teresa opened houses in Australia, the Middle East, and North America, and the first novitiate outside Calcutta in London. In 1979 Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. By that same year there were 158 Missionaries of Charity foundations.

The Missionaries of Charity reached Communist countries in 1979 with a house in Zagreb, Craotia, and in 1980 with a house in East Berlin, and continued to expand through the 1980s and 1990s with houses in almost all Communist nations, including 15 foundations in the former Soviet Union. Despite repeated efforts, however, Mother Teresa was never able to open a foundation in China.

Mother Teresa spoke at the fortieth anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly in October 1985. On Christmas Eve of that year, Mother Teresa opened "Gift of Love" in New York, her first house for AIDS patients. In the coming years, this home would be followed by others, in the United States and elsewhere, devoted specifically for those with AIDS

From the late 1980s through the 1990s, despite increasing health problems, Mother Teresa travelled across the world for the profession of novices, opening of new houses, and service to the poor and disaster-stricken. New communities were founded in South Africa, Albania, Cuba, and war-torn Iraq. By 1997, the Sisters numbered nearly 4,000 members, and were established in almost 600 foundations in 123 countries of the world.

After a summer of travelling to Rome, New York, and Washington, in a weak state of health, Mother Teresa returned to Calcutta in July 1997. At 9:30 PM, on 5 September, Mother Teresa died at the Motherhouse. Her body was transferred to St Thomas's Church, next to the Loreto convent where she had first arrived nearly 69 years earlier. Hundreds of thousands of people from all classes and all religions, from India and abroad, paid their respects. She received a state funeral on 13 September, her body being taken in procession - on a gun carriage that had also borne the bodies of Mohandas K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru - through the streets of Calcutta. Presidents, prime ministers, queens, and special envoys were present on behalf of countries from all over the world.

Steve Jobs

2012-05-22T00:23:00.001-07:00

A Short and Brief Biography

Famous as	Businessman, Apple's CEO and founder
Born on	24 February 1955
Born in	San Francisco, California, USA
Died on	05 October 2011
Nationality	USA
Works & Achievements	Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Apple Inc., who later designed Macbook, iPhone, iPod etc. Co-Founder and CEO Pixer Animation Studio, Co-Founder and CEO Next Inc.

Early Life

Steven Paul Jobs was born on February 24, 1955, to Joanne Simpson and Abdulfattah "John" Jandali, two University of Wisconsin graduate students who gave their unnamed son up for adoption. His father, Abdulfattah Jandali, was a Syrian political science professor and his mother, Joanne Simpson, worked as a speech therapist. Shortly after Steve was placed for adoption, his biological parents married and had another child, Mona Simpson. It was not until Jobs was 27 that he was able to uncover information on his biological parents.

As an infant, Steven was adopted by Clara and Paul Jobs and named Steven Paul Jobs. Clara worked as an accountant and Paul was a Coast Guard veteran and machinist. The family lived in Mountain View within California's Silicon Valley. As a boy, Jobs and his father would work on electronics in the family garage. Paul would show his son how to take apart and reconstruct electronics, a hobby which instilled confidence, tenacity, and mechanical prowess in young Jobs.

While Jobs has always been an intelligent and innovative thinker, his youth was riddled with frustrations over formal schooling. In elementary school he was a prankster whose fourth grade teacher needed to bribe him to study. Jobs tested so well, however, that administrators wanted to skip him ahead to high school—a proposal his parents declined.

After he did enroll in high school, Jobs spent his free time at Hewlett-Packard. It was there that he befriended computer club guru Steve Wozniak. Wozniak was a brilliant computer engineer, and the two developed great respect for one another.

Apple Computers

After high school, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Lacking direction, he dropped out of college after six months and spent the next 18 months dropping in on creative classes. Jobs later recounted how one course in calligraphy developed his love of typography.

In 1974, Jobs took a position as a video game designer with Atari. Several months later he left Atari to find spiritual enlightenment in India, traveling the continent and experimenting with psychedelic drugs. In 1976, when Jobs was just 21, he and Wozniak started Apple Computers. The duo started in the Jobs family garage, and funded their entrepreneurial venture after Jobs sold his Volkswagen bus and Wozniak sold his beloved scientific calculator.

Jobs and Wozniak are credited with revolutionizing the computer industry by democratizing the technology and making the machines smaller, cheaper, intuitive, and accessible to everyday consumers. The two conceived a series of user-friendly personal computers that they initially marketed for $666.66 each. Their first model, the Apple I, earned them $774,000. Three years after the release of their second model, the Apple II, sales increased 700 percent to $139 million dollars. In 1980, Apple Computer became a publically traded company with a market value of $1.2 billion on the very first day of trading. Jobs looked to marketing expert John Scully of Pepsi-Cola to help fill the role of Apple's President.

Departure from Apple

However, the next several products from Apple suffered significant design flaws resulting in recalls and consumer disappointment. IBM suddenly surpassed Apple sales, and Apple had to compete with an IBM/PC dominated business world. In 1984 Apple released the Macintosh, marketing the computer as a piece of a counter culture lifestyle: romantic, youthful, creative. But despite positive sales and performance superior to IBM's PCs, the Macintosh was still not IBM compatible. Scully believed Jobs was hurting Apple, and executives began to phase him out.

In 1985, Jobs resigned as Apple's CEO to begin a new hardware and software company called NeXT, Inc. The following year Jobs purchased an animation company from George Lucas, which later became Pixar Animation Studios. Believing in Pixar's potential, Jobs initially invested $50 million of his own money into the company. Pixar Studios went on to produce wildly popular animation films such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. Pixar's films have netted $4 billion. The studio merged with Walt Disney in 2006, making Steve Jobs Disney's largest shareholder.

Reinventing Apple

Despite Pixar's success, NeXT, Inc. floundered in its attempts to sell its specialized operating system to mainstream America. Apple eventually bought the company in 1997 for $429 million. That same year, Jobs returned to his post as Apple's CEO.

Much like Steve Jobs instigated Apple's success in the 1970s, he is credited with revitalizing the company in the 1990s. With a new management team, altered stock options, and a self-imposed annual salary of $1 a year, Jobs put Apple back on track. His ingenious products such as the iMac, effective branding campaigns, and stylish designs caught the attention of consumers once again.

Pancreatic Cancer

In 2003, Jobs discovered he had a neuroendocrine tumor, a rare but operable form of pancreatic cancer. Instead of immediately opting for surgery, Jobs chose to alter his pescovegetarian diet while weighing Eastern treatment options. For nine months Jobs postponed surgery, making Apple's board of directors nervous. Executives feared that shareholders would pull their stocks if word got out that their CEO was ill. But in the end, Job's confidentiality took precedence over shareholder disclosure. In 2004, he had a successful surgery to remove the pancreatic tumor. True to form, in subsequent years Jobs disclosed little about his health.

Recent Innovations

Apple introduced such revolutionary products as the Macbook Air, iPod, and iPhone, all of which have dictated the evolution of modern technology. Almost immediately after Apple releases a new product, competitors scramble to produce comparable technologies. In 2007, Apple's quarterly reports were the company's most impressive statistics to date. Stocks were worth a record-breaking $199.99 a share, and the company boasted a staggering $1.58 billion dollar profit, an $18 billion dollar surplus in the bank, and zero debt.

In 2008, iTunes became the second biggest music retailer in America-second only to Wal-Mart. Half of Apple's current revenue comes from iTunes and iPod sales, with 200 million iPods sold and six billion songs downloaded. For these reasons, Apple has been rated No. 1 in America's Most Admired Companies, and No. 1 amongst Fortune 500 companies for returns to shareholders.

Personal Life

Early in 2009, reports circulated about Jobs' weight loss, some predicting his health issues had returned, which included a liver transplant. Jobs had responded to these concerns by stating he was dealing with a hormone imbalance. After nearly a year out of the spotlight, Steve Jobs delivered a keynote address at an invite-only Apple event September 9, 2009.

In respect to his personal life, Steve Jobs remained a private man who rarely discloses information about his family. What is known is Jobs fathered a daughter with girlfriend Chrisann Brennan when he was 23. Jobs denied paternity of his daughter Lisa in court documents, claiming he was sterile. Jobs did not initiate a relationship with his daughter until she was 7 but, when she was a teenager, she came to live with her father.

In the early 1990s, Jobs met Laurene Powell at Stanford business school, where Powell was an MBA student. They married on March 18, 1991, and lived together in Palo Alto, California, with their three children.

Final Years

On October 5, 2011, Apple Inc. announced that co-founder Steve Jobs had died. He was 56 years old at the time of his death.

To know more about Steve Jobs Click here.

Thomas Edison

2012-05-17T03:51:00.000-07:00

A Short and Brief Biography

Famous as	Inventor of light bulb, agnostic..
Born on	11 February 1847
Born in	Milan, Ohio
Died on	18 October 1931
Nationality	USA
Works & Achievements	Invented light bulb, Developed tin foil phonograph, Has 1903 patents on his name

People often say Edison was a genius. He answered, "Genius is hard work, stick-to-it-iveness, and common sense."
Thomas Alva Edison was born February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio (pronounced MY-lan). In 1854, when he was seven, the family moved to Michigan, where Edison spent the rest of his childhood.
"Al," as he was called as a boy, went to school only a short time. He did so poorly that his mother, a former teacher, taught her son at home. Al learned to love reading, a habit he kept for the rest of his life. He also liked to make experiments in the basement.
Al not only played hard, but also worked hard. At the age of 12 he sold fruit, snacks and newspapers on a train as a "news butcher." (Trains were the newest way to travel, cutting through the American wilderness.) He even printed his own newspaper, the Grand Trunk Herald, on a moving train.
At 15, Al roamed the country as a "tramp telegrapher." Using a kind of alphabet called Morse Code, he sent and received messages over the telegraph. Even though he was already losing his hearing, he could still hear the clicks of the telegraph. In the next seven years he moved over a dozen times, often working all night, taking messages for trains and even for the Union Army during the Civil War. In his spare time, he took things apart to see how they worked. Finally, he decided to invent things himself.
After the failure of his first invention, the electric vote recorder, Edison moved to New York City. There he improved the way the stock ticker worked. This was his big break. By 1870 his company was manufacturing his stock ticker in Newark, New Jersey. He also improved the telegraph, making it send up to four messages at once. During this time he married his first wife, Mary Stilwell, on Christmas Day, 1871. They had three children -- Marion, Thomas, Jr., and William. Wanting a quieter spot to do more inventing, Edison moved from Newark to Menlo Park, New Jersey, in 1876. There he built his most famous laboratory.
He was not alone in Menlo Park. Edison hired "muckers" to help him out. These "muckers" came from all over the world to make their fortune in America. They often stayed up all night working with the "chief mucker," Edison himself. He is sometime called the "Wizard of Menlo Park" because he created two of his three greatest works there.
The phonograph was the first machine that could record the sound of someone's voice and play it back. In 1877, Edison recorded the first words on a piece of tin foil. He recited the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb," and the phonograph played the words back to him. This was invented by a man whose hearing was so poor that he thought of himself as "deaf"!
Starting in 1878, Edison and the muckers worked on one of his greatest achievements. The electric light system was more than just the incandescent lamp, or "light bulb." Edison also designed a system of power plants that make the electrical power and the wiring that brings it to people's homes. Imagine all the things you "plug in." What would your life be like without them?
In 1885, one year after his first wife died, Edison met a 20-year-old woman named Mina Miller. Her father was an inventor in Edison's home state of Ohio. Edison taught her Morse Code. Even when others were around, the couple could "talk" to each other secretly. One day he tapped a question into her hand: would she marry him? She tapped back the word "yes."
Mina Edison wanted a home in the country, so Edison bought Glenmont, a 29-room home with 13-1/2 acres of land in West Orange, New Jersey. They married on February 24, 1886 and had three children: Madeleine, Charles and Theodore.
A year later, Edison built a laboratory in West Orange that was ten times larger than the one in Menlo Park. In fact, it was one of the largest laboratories in the world, almost as famous as Edison himself. Well into the night, laboratory buildings glowed with electric light while the Wizard and his "muckers" turned Edison's dreams into inventions. Once, the "chief mucker" worked for three days straight, taking only short naps. Edison earned half of his 1,093 patents in West Orange.
But Edison did more than invent. Here Edison could think of ways to make a better phonograph, for example, build it with his muckers, have them test it and make it work, then manufacture it in the factories that surrounded his laboratory. This improved phonograph could then be sold throughout the world.
Not only did Edison improve the phonograph several times, but he also worked on X-rays, storage batteries, and the first talking doll. At West Orange he also worked on one of his greatest ideas: motion pictures, or "movies." The inventions made here changed the way we live even today. He worked here until his death on October 18, 1931, at the age of 84.
By that time, everyone had heard of the "Wizard" and looked up to him. The whole world called him a genius. But he knew that having a good idea was not enough. It takes hard work to make dreams into reality. That is why Edison liked to say, "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration."

Anne Frank

2012-05-16T08:11:00.000-07:00

A Short and Brief Biography

Famous as	Writer
Born on	12 June 1929
Born in	Frankfurt, Germany
Died on	1945
Nationality	German
Works & Achievements	Wrote her personal diary later emerge as famous book " The Diary of Young Girl"

Annelies Frank was a Jewish girl who was born on June 12th, 1929 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Her parents were Otto Frank and Edith Frank-Hollander. She had a sister, Margot who was three years older than her. and they called her Anne.

In 1933, because the German government, the Nazis, had started to persecute Jewish people and to stop them owning businesses in Germany, Anne’s father opened a branch of his company in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands (Holland). He began planning to take his family there, where he thought they would be safer.

Anne’s family moved into a house in Amsterdam in 1933 and Anne started to go to a local school. She was a very clever girl and got on very well at her new school. Anne made many new friends.

In 1940, the Nazis invaded the Netherlands and in five days, the country surrendered to the invading Germans. Anne's father had thought that this was going to happen and he had already started to make part of his offices into a hiding place. Because she was Jewish, the Nazis forced Anne to leave the local school and to go to a Jews only school instead.

“After May 1940…the trouble started for the Jews. Our freedom was severely restricted by a series of anti-Jewish decrees: Jews were required to wear a yellow star; Jews were required to turn-in their bicycles; Jews were forbidden to ride trams or in cars, even their own…Jews were forbidden to go to theatres, cinemas or any other forms of entertainment; Jews were forbidden to use swimming pools, tennis courts, hockey fields or any other athletic fields…You couldn’t do this and you couldn’t do that, but life went on…”
- Anne Frank 20 June 1942

In 1942, on her 13th birthday, Anne’s parents gave her a diary as a gift. She immediately took to writing her many thoughts and ideas in this special book. The Nazis sent Anne’s sister, Margot, a letter telling her that she had to report to a labour camp and it was then that Anne’s family decided it was time to go into hiding.

On July 5th 1942, Anne’s family moved to the ‘secret annex’ next to Mr. Frank's old office.

Anne's diary tells of the difficulties of living in a confined space with so many people. The atmosphere was at times suffocating, but despite the hardships and difficulties of her situation, she also expressed her optimism and positive view of life.

"I long to ride a bike, dance, whistle, look at the world, feel young and know that I'm free, and yet I can't let it show. Just imagine what would happen if all eight of us were to feel sorry for ourselves or walk around with the discontent clearly visible on our faces. Where would that get us? (December 24, 1943) - Anne Frank "

Unfortunately, on August 4th, 1944 (with the allies closing in on a retreating Germany army), an anonymous source gave a tip off to the German secret police.Anne's diary was among the many things left behind by her family. Anne, and the other people who shared the cramped hiding place with her, were all taken to Westerbork camp. A few weeks later as the British and American soldiers began to recapture Holland, the people from the camp were moved to another camp called Auschwitz and later on to other camps. After surviving the selection process (most people under 15 were sent straight to the Gas Chambers) Anne was selected to be sent to Bergen Belsen concentration camp. The people in the camp were starving, cold and ill with disease. Anne’s sister Margot developed typhus and died. It was here that Anne contracted typhoid fever and she died in March 1945, just one month before the camp was liberated by the advancing allied armies. Anne was 15 years old when she died.

Except her father Otto, all her family died in various concentration camps. After the war, Otto returned to the place where they had hidden for two years. It was here that he found Anne's diary and he decided to try and get it published.
Her diary was published in 1947 and, following a glowing article by Jan Romein, in the newspaper Het Parool, became a best seller with people fascinated by her writing and what she managed to convey in the most difficult of situations.
Her book has become an important symbol of how innocent people can suffer from intolerance and persecution.

Dhirubhai Ambani

2012-05-15T11:00:00.000-07:00

A Short and Brief Biography

Famous as	Businessman
Born on	28 Dec 1932
Born in	Chorwad, Gujrat, India
Died on	06 July 2002
Nationality	India
Works & Achievements	Founded Reliance industries, Indian Entrepreneur of the 20th Century' award by FICCI, Chosen as ‘Star of Asia'by Business Week, USA.

Dhirubhai Ambani was born on 28 Dec. 1932 as the third son to a school teacher in Gujarat with moderate means. Ambani moved to Aden, Yemen when he was 16 for a livelihood. He started his career as a dispatch clerk before becoming the distributor for Shell Products. He was later promoted as a manager in an oil filling station at the port of Aden.

The Yemeni Rial Coin had high content of pure silver in those days. Young Dhirubhai perceived high demand for ‘rial’ in London Stock Exchange and purchased them in bulk and melted the coins in silver and sold it to bullion traders in London. Though it was stopped in 3 months, D.A. made a few lakhs of Rupees in this transaction.

D.A. returned to India after 10 years and found Reliance Commercial Company with a capital of Rs.15000/= in Masjid Bunder in Mumbai in a 350 Sq.ft. space with one telephone, one table, three chairs and with a business mission of importing polyester yarn and exporting spices.. He went on to establish Reliance Textiles in 1964 under the brand name “Vimal” and the World Bank applauded the brand as the best Polyester Cloth. Perceiving success, Dhirubhai established Reliance IndustriesLtd in 1970s..

Dhirubhai Ambani is credited with starting the equity cult in India. More than 58,000 investors from various parts of India subscribed to Reliance's IPO in 1977. Dhirubhai was able to convince people of rural Gujarat that being shareholders of his company will only bring returns to their investment.

RIL holds the distinction that it is the only Public Limited Company whose several Annual General Meetings were held in stadiums.In 1986, The Annual General Meeting of Reliance Industries was held in Cross Maidan, Mumbai, was attended by more than 30,000 shareholders.

Dhirubhai Ambani's takes control of the Mumbai Stock exchange : In 1982, RIL was coming out with a rights issue of partly convertible debenture and it was rumored that the objective was not to get the then existing stock price to slide by an inch. A group of stock brokers in Calcutta joined together as a Bear Cartel. Taking this as an opportunity they started to short sell RIL scrips. Friends of RIL counteracted this move and the Bulls started buying the scrips on Bombay Stock Exchange.The bulls kept on buying and a price of Rs. 152 per share was maintained till the day of settlement. The Bear Cartel believed that the Bulls would accept settlement under the then prevalent " Badla " system. On the day of settlement the Bear Cartel was taken a back when the Bulls demanded physical delivery of shares.To complete the transaction the much needed cash was provided to the stock brokers who had brought shares of Reliance by none other than Dhirubhai Ambani. In case of non-settlement the Bulls demanded an 'Unbadala' (penalty sum) of Rs.35 per share. With this the demand increased and the shares of Reliance shot above 180 rupees in minutes. The settlement caused enormous uproar in the market and Dhirubhai Ambani was the unquestioned king of the stock markets.

The situation was completely out of control. Authorities of Bombay Stock exchange intervened in the matter and brought down the "Unbadla" rate to Rs. 2 with a stipulation that the Bear Cartel has to give the delivery of shares within few days. The Bear Cartel brought shares of Reliance from the market at higher price levels and it was also realized that Dhirubhai Ambani himself supplied those shares to the Bear Cartel and earned a healthy profit out of The Bear Cartel's adventure .

After this incident many questions were raised by his detractors and the press. Not many people were able to understand as to how a yarn trader till a few years ago was able to get in so much of cash flow during the crisis. RBI was called upon to investigate into the matter . It was clarified by RBI that the money flow into RIL was due to Rs.220 million investment made by NRIs thru' various Companies like ' crocodile's etc., and that there was nothing unethical nor illegal in the whole matter.

A film inspired by the life of Dhirubhai is set to release in January 2007. The Hindi Film Guru, directed by ManiRathnam and music by Rahman will show the struggle of a man who strives to make his mark in life. The movie stars Abhishek Bachan and AishwaryaRai in leading roles.

Highlights of Dhirubhai's venture :-

* What the Corporate Houses of Tatas, Birlas and Dalmiahs achieved and dominated over a period of a century, Dhirubhai Ambani could achieve within a short period with a razor like sharpness and business acumen.

* Dhirubhai Ambani proved to be a king in his diversification plans into Petro Chemicals, Energy, Power, Information Technology, Telecommunications, Capital Markets, Retails and so on.

* RIL is now India's largest Private Sector with turnover over US$19.976 billion backed by a profit over US$2.03 billion.

* 25% of share holders in India own a RIL Scrip.

* Fortune Global 500 featured RIL in 342nd rank in 2006. Forbes Global featured RIL at 295 spot in 2000.

*Chemtech and Chemical Engg.World gave the" Man of the Century " award in Nov 2000 to Dhirubhai Ambani.

* Dhirubhai won the " Dean's Medal " of Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania in June 1998 for " Outstanding Leadership "

* FICCI conferred the title " Man of 20th century " on D.A.in 2000.

* Times Of India in 2000 voted Dhirubhai Ambani as the greatest creator of wealth in the country.

The man from rags to riches, Dhirubhai Ambani breathed his last on July 6, 2002 but his glow would continue to inspire the whole generations of nations.

Mahatma Gandhi

2012-05-14T03:04:00.000-07:00

A Short and Brief Biography

Famous as	Leader of India national movement against British, Non vilence (Ahinsa)
Born on	02 October 1869
Born in	Porbandar, Gujrat, India
Died on	30 January 1948
Nationality	India
Works & Achievements	Non-Coperation Movement, Salt march, Fastism an non vilence

Mohandas Gandhi is considered the father of the Indian independence movement. Gandhi spent twenty years in South Africa working to fight discrimination. It was there that he created his concept of satyagraha, a non-violent way of protesting against injustices. While in India, Gandhi's obvious virtue, simplistic lifestyle, and minimal dress endeared him to the people. He spent his remaining years working diligently to both remove British rule from India as well as to better the lives of India's poorest classes. Many civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., used Gandhi's concept of non-violent protest as a model for their own struggles.

Mohandas Gandhi {full name Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Mahatma ("Great Soul"), Father of the Nation, Bapu ("Father"), Gandhiji} born on 02 october 1869 in Porbanda, Gujrat was the last child of his father (Karamchand Gandhi) and his father's fourth wife (Putlibai). During his youth, Mohandas Gandhi was shy, soft-spoken, and only a mediocre student at school. Although generally an obedient child, at one point Gandhi experimented with eating meat, smoking, and a small amount of stealing -- all of which he later regretted. At age 13, Gandhi married Kasturba (also spelled Kasturbai) in an arranged marriage. Kasturba bore Gandhi four sons and supported Gandhi's endeavors until her death in 1944.

Off to London
In September 1888, at age 18, Gandhi left India, without his wife and newborn son, in order to study to become a barrister (lawyer) in London. Attempting to fit into English society, Gandhi spent his first three months in London attempting to make himself into an English gentleman by buying new suits, fine-tuning his English accent, learning French, and taking violin and dance lessons. After three months of these expensive endeavors, Gandhi decided they were a waste of time and money. He then cancelled all of these classes and spent the remainder of his three-year stay in London being a serious student and living a very simple lifestyle.
In addition to learning to live a very simple and frugal lifestyle, Gandhi discovered his life-long passion for vegetarianism while in England. Although most of the other Indian students ate meat while they were in England, Gandhi was determined not to do so, in part because he had vowed to his mother that he would stay a vegetarian. In his search for vegetarian restaurants, Gandhi found and joined the London Vegetarian Society. The Society consisted of an intellectual crowd who introduced Gandhi to different authors, such as Henry David Thoreau and Leo Tolstoy. It was also through members of the Society that Gandhi began to really read the Bhagavad Gita, an epic poem which is considered a sacred text to Hindus. The new ideas and concepts that he learned from these books set the foundation for his later beliefs.
Gandhi successfully passed the bar on June 10, 1891 and sailed back to India two days later. For the next two years, Gandhi attempted to practice law in India. Unfortunately, Gandhi found that he lacked both knowledge of Indian law and self-confidence at trial. When he was offered a year-long position to take a case in South Africa, he was thankful for the opportunity.

Arriving in South Africa
At age 23, Gandhi once again left his family behind and set off for South Africa, arriving in British-governed Natal in May 1893. Although Gandhi was hoping to earn a little bit of money and to learn more about law, it was in South Africa that Gandhi transformed from a very quiet and shy man to a resilient and potent leader against discrimination. The beginning of this transformation occurred during a business trip taken shortly after his arrival in South Africa.
Gandhi had only been in South Africa for about a week when he was asked to take the long trip from Natal to the capital of the Dutch-governed Transvaal province of South Africa for his case. It was to be a several day trip, including transportation by train and by stagecoach. When Gandhi boarded the first train of his journey at the Pietermartizburg station, railroad officials told Gandhi that he needed to transfer to the third-class passenger car. When Gandhi, who was holding first-class passenger tickets, refused to move, a policeman came and threw him off the train.
That was not the last of the injustices Gandhi suffered on this trip. As Gandhi talked to other Indians in South Africa (derogatorily called "coolies"), he found that his experiences were most definitely not isolated incidents but rather, these types of situations were common. During that first night of his trip, sitting in the cold of the railroad station after being thrown off the train, Gandhi contemplated whether he should go back home to India or to fight the discrimination. After much thought, Gandhi decided that he could not let these injustices continue and that he was going to fight to change these discriminatory practices.

The Reformer
Gandhi spent the next twenty years working to better Indians' rights in South Africa. During the first three years, Gandhi learned more about Indian grievances, studied the law, wrote letters to officials, and organized petitions. On May 22, 1894, Gandhi established the Natal Indian Congress (NIC). Although the NIC began as an organization for wealthy Indians, Gandhi worked diligently to expand its membership to all classes and castes. Gandhi became well-known for his activism and his acts were even covered by newspapers in England and India. In a few short years, Gandhi had become a leader of the Indian community in South Africa.
In 1896, after living three years in South Africa, Gandhi sailed to India with the intention of bringing his wife and two sons back with him. While in India, there was a bubonic plague outbreak. Since it was then believed that poor sanitation was the cause of the spread of the plague, Gandhi offered to help inspect latrines and offer suggestions for better sanitation. Although others were willing to inspect the latrines of the wealthy, Gandhi personally inspected the latrines of the untouchables as well as the rich. He found that it was the wealthy that had the worst sanitation problems.
On November 30, 1896, Gandhi and his family headed for South Africa. Gandhi did not realize that while he had been away from South Africa, his pamphlet of Indian grievances, known as the Green Pamphlet, had been exaggerated and distorted. When Gandhi's ship reached the Durban harbor, it was detained for 23 days for quarantine. The real reason for the delay was that there was a large, angry mob of whites at the dock who believed that Gandhi was returning with two shiploads of Indian passengers to overrun South Africa. When allowed to disembark, Gandhi successfully sent his family off to safety, but he himself was assaulted with bricks, rotten eggs, and fists. Police arrived in time to save Gandhi from the mob and then escort him to safety. Once Gandhi had refuted the claims against him and refused to prosecute those who had assailed him, the violence against him stopped. However, the entire incident strengthened Gandhi's prestige in South Africa.

A Simplified Life
Influenced by the Gita, Gandhi wanted to purify his life by following the concepts of aparigraha (non-possession) and samabhava (equability). Then, when a friend gave him the book, Unto This Last by John Ruskin, Gandhi became excited about the ideals proffered by Ruskin. The book inspired Gandhi to establish a communal living community called Phoenix Settlement just outside of Durban in June 1904. The Settlement was an experiment in communal living, a way to eliminate one's needless possessions and to live in a society with full equality. Gandhi moved his newspaper, the Indian Opinion, and its workers to the Phoenix Settlement as well as his own family a bit later. Besides a building for the press, each community member was allotted three acres of land on which to build a dwelling made of corrugated iron. In addition to farming, all members of the community were to be trained and expected to help with the newspaper.
In 1906, believing that family life was taking away from his full potential as a public advocate, Gandhi took the vow of brahmacharya (a vow of abstinence against sexual relations, even with one's own wife). This was not an easy vow for him to follow, but one that he worked diligently to keep for the rest of his life. Thinking that one passion fed others, Gandhi decided to restrict his diet in order to remove passion from his palette. To aid him in this endeavor, Gandhi simplified his diet from strict vegetarianism to foods that were unspiced and usually uncooked, with fruits and nuts being a large portion of his food choices. Fasting, he believed, would also help still the urges of the flesh.

Satyagraha
Gandhi believed that his taking the vow of brahmacharya had allowed him the focus to come up with the concept of satyagraha in late 1906. In the very simplest sense, satyagraha is passive resistance. However, Gandhi believed the English phrase of "passive resistance" did not represent the true spirit of Indian resistance since passive resistance was often thought to be used by the weak and was a tactic that could potentially be conducted in anger.
Needing a new term for the Indian resistance, Gandhi chose the term "satyagraha," which literally means "truth force." Since Gandhi believed that exploitation was only possible if both the exploited and the exploiter accepted it, if one could see above the current situation and see the universal truth, then one had the power to make change. (Truth, in this manner, could mean "natural right," a right granted by nature and the universe that should not be impeded on by man.)
He first time Gandhi officially used satyagraha was in South Africa beginning in 1907 when he organized opposition to the Asiatic Registration Law (known as the Black Act). In March 1907, the Black Act was passed, requiring all Indians - young and old, men and women - to get fingerprinted and to keep registration documents on them at all times. While using satyagraha, Indians refused to get fingerprinted and picketed the documentation offices. Mass protests were organized, miners went on strike, and masses of Indians illegally traveled from Natal to the Transvaal in opposition to the Black Act. Many of the protesters were beaten and arrested, including Gandhi. (This was the first of Gandhi's many jail sentences.) It took seven years of protest, but in June 1914, the Black Act was repealed. Gandhi had proved that nonviolent protest could be immensely successful.

Back to India
Having spent twenty years in South Africa helping fight discrimination, Gandhi decided it was time to head back to India in July 1914. On his way home, Gandhi was scheduled to make a short stop in England. However, when World War I broke out during his journey, Gandhi decided to stay in England and form another ambulance corps of Indians to help the British. When the British air caused Gandhi to take ill, he sailed to India in January 1915.
Gandhi's struggles and triumphs in South Africa had been reported in the worldwide press, so by the time he reached home he was a national hero. Although he was eager to begin reforms in India, a friend advised him to wait a year and spend the time traveling around India to acquaint himself with the people and their tribulations.
Yet Gandhi soon found his fame getting in the way of accurately seeing the conditions that the poorer people lived in day to day. In an attempt to travel more anonymously, Gandhi began wearing a loincloth (dhoti) and sandals (the average dress of the masses) during this journey. If it was cold out, he would add a shawl. This became his wardrobe for the rest of his life.
Also during this year of observation, Gandhi founded another communal settlement, this time in Ahmadabad and called the Sabarmati Ashram. Gandhi lived on the Ashram for the next sixteen years, along with his family and several members who had once been part of the Phoenix Settlement.

Mahatma
It was during his first year back in India that Gandhi was given the honorary title of Mahatma ("Great Soul"). Many credit Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, winner of the 1913 Nobel Prize for Literature, for both awarding Gandhi of this name and of publicizing it. The title represented the feelings of the millions of Indian peasants who viewed Gandhi as a holy man. However, Gandhi never liked the title because it seemed to mean he was special while he viewed himself as ordinary.
After Gandhi's year of travel and observance was over, he was still stifled in his actions because of the World War. As part of satyagraha, Gandhi had vowed to never take advantage of an opponent's troubles. With the British fighting a huge war, Gandhi could not fight for Indian freedom from British rule. This did not mean that Gandhi sat idle.

Turning Against the British
As the First World War reached its end, it was time for Gandhi to focus on the fight for Indian self-rule (swaraj). In 1919, the British gave Gandhi something specific to fight against - the Rowlatt Act. This Act gave the British in India nearly free-reign to root out "revolutionary" elements and to detain them indefinitely without trial. In response to this Act, Gandhi organized a mass hartal (general strike), which began on March 30, 1919. Unfortunately, such a large scale protest quickly got out of hand and in many places it turned violent.
Even though Gandhi called off the hartal once he heard about the violence, over 300 Indians had died and over 1,100 were injured from British reprisal in the city of Amritsar. Although satyagraha had not been realized during this protest, the Amritsar Massacre heated Indian opinion against the British.
The violence that erupted from the hartal showed Gandhi that the Indian people did not yet fully believe in the power of satyagraha. Thus, Gandhi spent much of the 1920s advocating for satyagraha and struggling to learn how to control nationwide protests to keep them from becoming violent.
In March 1922, Gandhi was jailed for sedition and after a trial was sentenced to six years in prison. After two years, Gandhi was released due to ill-health following surgery to treat his appendicitis. Upon his release, Gandhi found his country embroiled in violent attacks between Muslims and Hindus. As penance for the violence, Gandhi began a 21-day fast, known as the Great Fast of 1924. Still ill from his recent surgery, many thought he would die on day twelve, but he rallied. The fast created a temporary peace.

The Salt March
In December 1928, Gandhi and the Indian National Congress (INC) announced a new challenge to the British government. If India was not granted the status of a Commonwealth by December 31, 1929, then they would organize a nation-wide protest against British taxes. The deadline came and passed with no change in British policy.
There were many British taxes to choose from, but Gandhi wanted to choose one that symbolized British exploitation of India's poor. The answer was the salt tax. Salt was a spice that was used in everyday cooking, even for the poorest in India. Yet, the British had made it illegal to own salt not sold or produced by the British government, in order to make a profit on all salt sold in India.
The Salt March was the beginning of a nationwide campaign to boycott the salt tax. It began on March 12, 1930 when Gandhi and 78 followers marched out from the Sabarmati Ashram and headed to the sea, about 200 miles away. The group of marchers grew larger as the days wore on, building up to approximately two or three thousand. The group marched about 12 miles per day in the scorching sun. When they reached Dandi, a town along the coast, on April 5, the group prayed all night. In the morning, Gandhi made a presentation of picking up a piece of sea salt that lay on the beach. Technically, he had broken the law.
This began a momentous, national endeavor for Indians to make their own salt. Thousands of people went to the beaches to pick up loose salt while others began to evaporate salt water. Indian-made salt was soon sold across the country. The energy created by this protest was contagious and felt all around India. Peaceful picketing and marches were also conducted. The British responded with mass arrests.
When Gandhi announced that he planned a march on the government-owned Dharasana Saltworks, the British arrested Gandhi and imprisoned him without trial. Although the British had hoped that Gandhi's arrest would stop the march, they had underestimated his followers. The poet Mrs. Sarojini Naidu took over and led the 2,500 marchers. As the group reached the 400 policemen and 6 British officers who were waiting for them, the marchers approached in a column of 25 at a time. The marchers were beaten with clubs, often being hit on their heads and shoulders. The international press watched as the marchers did not even raise their hands to defend themselves. After the first 25 marchers were beaten to the ground, another column of 25 would approach and be beaten, until all 2,500 had marched forward and been pummeled. The news of the brutal beating by the British of peaceful protesters shocked the world.
Realizing he had to do something to stop the protests, the British viceroy, Lord Irwin, met with Gandhi. The two men agreed on the Delhi Pact, which granted limited salt production and the freeing of all the peaceful protesters from jail as long as Gandhi called off the protests. While many Indians felt that Gandhi had not been granted enough during these negotiations, Gandhi himself viewed it as a sure step on the road to independence.

Indian Independence
Indian independence did not come quickly. After the success of the Salt March, Gandhi conducted another fast which only enhanced his image as a holy man or prophet. Concerned and dismayed at such adulation, Gandhi retired from politics in 1934 at age 64. However, Gandhi came out of retirement five years later when the British viceroy brazenly announced that India would side with England during World War II, without having consulted any Indian leaders. The Indian independence movement had been revitalized by this British arrogance.
Many in the British Parliament realized that they were once again facing mass protests in India and began discussing possible ways to create an independent India. Although Prime Minister Winston Churchill steadfastly opposed the idea of losing India as a British colony, the British announced in March 1941 that it would free India at the end of World War II. This was just not enough for Gandhi.
Wanting independence sooner, Gandhi organized a "Quit India" campaign in 1942. In response, the British once again jailed Gandhi.
When Gandhi was released from prison in 1944, Indian independence seemed in sight. Unfortunately, however, huge disagreements between Hindus and Muslims had arisen. Since the majority of Indians were Hindu, the Muslims feared not having any political power if there was an independent India. Thus, the Muslims wanted the six provinces in northwest India, which had a majority population of Muslims, to become an independent country. Gandhi heatedly opposed the idea of a partition of India and did his best to bring all sides together.
The differences between Hindus and Muslims proved too great for even the Mahatma to fix. Massive violence erupted, including raping, slaughter, and the burning of entire towns. Gandhi toured India, hoping his mere presence could curb the violence. Although violence did stop where Gandhi visited, he could not be everywhere.
The British, witnessing what seemed sure to become a violent civil war, decided to leave India in August 1947. Before leaving, the British were able to get the Hindus, against Gandhi's wishes, to agree to a partition plan. On August 15, 1947, Great Britain granted independence to India and to the newly formed Muslim country of Pakistan.
The violence between the Hindus and Muslims continued as millions of Muslim refugees marched out of India on the long trek to Pakistan and millions of Hindus who found themselves in Pakistan packed up their belongings and walked to India. At no other time have so many people become refugees. The lines of refugees stretched for miles and many died along the way from illness, exposure, and dehydration. As 15 million Indians became uprooted from their homes, Hindus and Muslims attacked each other with vengeance.

Assassination
Unfortunately, not everyone was happy with this peace plan. There were a few radical Hindu groups who believed that India should never have been partitioned. In part, they blamed Gandhi for the separation.
On January 30, 1948, the 78-year-old Gandhi spent his last day as he had many others. The majority of the day was spent discussing issues with various groups and individuals. At a few minutes past 5 p.m., when it was time for the prayer meeting, Gandhi began the walk to Birla House. A crowd had surrounded him as he walked, being supported by two of his grandnieces. In front of him, a young Hindu named Nathuram Godse stopped before him and bowed. Gandhi bowed back. Then Godse rushed forward and shot Gandhi three times with a black, semi-automatic pistol. Although Gandhi had survived five other assassination attempts, this time, Gandhi fell to the ground, dead.

Swami Vivekananda

2012-05-13T05:59:00.000-07:00

A Short and Brief Biography

Famous as	Riligious Preacher of Hinduasim and Vedanta
Born on	12 January1863
Born in	Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Died on	04 July 1902
Nationality	India
Works & Achievements	Introduction of Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the western world, mainly in America and Europe, Founder of Ramakrishna Order and Ramakrishan Mission in 1898

Swami Vivekananda is one of the most eminent personalities of our country. He was born in Kolkata on 12^th of January 1863.(Swamiji's Jayanti i.e. birth anniversary is celebrated as the 'International Youth Day'). His father was Visvanatha Datta and his mother was Bhubaneshwari. His original name was Narendranath Nath Datta.

He studied Sanskrit, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Puranas etc. he learnt things very quickly. He had an aptitude for music. He had a good voice. He joined the school of Sri Eswar Chandra Vidya Sagar and completed primary education. He completed his secondary education, a course of three years, in one year, and passed with distinction. He joined the college in his 16^th year and studied logic and philosophy. He was handsome and bold. He gained mastery over English language and proved to be an eloquent orator.

He was however not interested in worldly affairs. He was drawn towards spiritualism. He made his mind known to his parents and went to see Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa at Dakshineswar. On the request of Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Narendranath sang some devotional songs. Swami Paramahansa went into trance listening to his songs.
Later he informed Narendranath that he wad able to see god in his trance. He added that if one prayed to God in all perfection, one could see god, Narendranath became a disciple of Swami Ramakrishna Parmahamsa. Later Narendranth’s father died and Narendranath was forced to take up a teacher’s job for some time to meet his family’s needs.
Swami Ramakrishbna endowed Narendranath with all his spiritual powers and made him his heir. With this Narendranath assumed the name of Swami Bibekananda and a Sanyasi in true sense. After the demise of Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda started a mutt named after his Guru, at Belur. Swami Vivekananda implored the youth to develop the spirit of adventure. He travelled all over India and reached Kanya Kumari. There he swam the ocean, reached to rock nearby and meditated there. During his travel he found poverty all over India and was moved by the sufferings of the poor. He felt that serving mankind is serving God. He felt there was need for a tremendous effort in this direction. He loved the motherland and was a great patriot.
In 1893, Parliament of the world was convened at Chicago. With the financial assistance from Maharaja of Khetri, Vivekananda went to Chicago and addressed the audience on the greatness of Hindu religion. His address began with the words “My dear Sisters and Brothers of America”. This thrilled the audience, as this greeting contained the spirit of universal brotherhood. On return, he addressed meetings at London. One young lady by name Margaret became his disciple and later became Sister Nivedita to carry on his mission.
Swami Vivekananda said that the youth of the day were moving without any aim. There was no correct spiritual guidance. He felt that religion can lead a man on the moral and righteous path. He believed and propagated that all men of the world are one. Color, caste and creed had no meaning. He felt that there is a lot to be achieved. He advised the youth to move forward. His words were: “arise, Awake and stop not till the goal is reached”. Swami Vivekananda started many institutions under the Ramakrishna Mission to carry on his message of service. He passed away that at an early age on 4^th of July, 1902.

Download full Biography on Vivekananda by Swami Nikhilanada in .pdf

Issac Newton

2012-05-12T04:26:00.000-07:00

A Short and Brief Biography

Famous as	Physicist, Mathematician, Astronomer
Born on	04 January 1643
Born in	Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, Lincolnshire, England
Died on	31 March 1727
Nationality	United Kingdom
Works & Achievements	A fellow of the Royal Society, Founder of Universal gravitation theory, Member of the Parliament of England, Founder of Newtonian Mechanics, Lucasian Professor.

Isaac Newton is possibly a name that was, is and will be remembered in history for his brilliant and inspiring scientific and mathematical theories. Newton was a genius of his times and discovered that earth has its own gravitational pull. Newton's laws of mechanics and mathematical principles are referred even today. The three laws of motion makes Newton a name remembered for eternity. Newton was the first man on earth to develop a telescope. There are several works like the differential and integral calculus where Newton had been an integral part. Isaac Newton is the pride of England. His tremendous achievements in mathematics, astronomy, natural philosophy, chemistry, and physics have made him one of the greatest scientists.

Isaac Newton Childhood and Youth

Isaac Newton was born on 4^th January 1643 at Woolsthorpe Manor in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, in the Lincolnshire County. Newton was born a posthumous son (his father had died 3 months before his birth). From an early age of 12 till he turned 17, Newton went to The King's School in Grantham. Newton turned himself into the best student in his school.

He went to Trinity College, Cambridge in June, 1661. Newton read a lot of philosophical writings of Descartes and showed great interest in Astronomy as well. He read ideas of Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler. Newton received his degree in August 1665. The college closed down due to the Great Plague but Newton continued his researches on mathematical theories like generalised binomial theorem. This theory was later developed into infinitesimal calculus. For few years after the plague, Newton spent all his private time in developing his theories on calculus, optics and the law of gravitation.

The year 1667 saw Newton in Cambridge as a fellow student of Trinity College.

In 1669 a series of events led Newton’s selection as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. Newton replaced Isaac Barrow for the prestigious post.

Mid-life and Career

Newton’s major work revolved around mathematics. In a manuscript that came up in October 1666 (which later went on to become a renowned mathematical paper) Newton referred to calculus. In June 1669, Newton’s manuscript on infinite equations was sent to John Collins by Isaac Barrow. Barrow referred to Newton in his letter to Collins. Newton was referred to as an ‘extraordinary genius’ by Barrow in August 1669.

Newton came into trouble by having differences of opinion with Leibniz on certain areas of infinitesimal calculus. Newton and Leibniz are known to be independent developers of infinitesimal calculus. Newton published his book (a very notable mathematical book of theories) ‘Principia’ on 5^th July 1687. Newton had been sceptical in publishing his journal on calculus as he feared criticism.

Newton got some relief when Leibniz was accused of attempting plagiarism. Newton was one of the members of the Royal Society which carried out a dispute (against Leibniz) that continued from 1699 - 1711. In 1669 Newton was appointed as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics.

Discoveries and Theories

Newton had always shown great interest in optics – a major branch in physics. He started finding explanations and discoveries in the optical properties of light. Newton gave out lectures on the optical field from 1670 to 1672. Newton discovered how a prism worked. His thorough investigation on dispersion of light and prism’s ability to decompose a streak of white light into a spectrum of colours started making waves around the world. People started taking note of the immense possibilities of light and its reflections. Standing on this find, Newton stated that a lens could use the spectrum to form white light. Newton came up with his famous Newton's theory of colour. Newton developed the first ever reflecting telescope in 1668.

The year 1671 brought great encouragement for Newton’s researches. The Royal Society asked him to discuss and show how his reflecting telescope worked. Newton was thrilled with the huge interest shown in his new theories surrounding telescope. This made him bring out a collection of his notes ‘On Colour’. This later got published as ‘Opticks’ (1704).

Newton became famous mostly because of his theories of gravitation and mechanics. Sir Isaac Newton started off again with celestial mechanics and the effects of gravitational pull on all the planets and their orbits. His theory of gravitation got a major boost with a comet appearing in the winter of 1680-1681.

Soon after this, Newton started recording all his researches surrounding the movement of planetary orbits. During this period Newton propounded the law of universal gravitation.

Newton published ‘Principia’ on 5^th July 1687. This book had discussions on the three universal laws of motion. The industrial revolution took great help from this theory. A number of machineries were developed and invented based on the theory of gravitation. Principia made Newton an international figure. Newton was followed and respected by several admirers around the world.

Achievements and Accolades

Newton joined as a member of the English Parliament in 1689 and remained a member till 1690 and 1701.

Newton got to shift his base to London where he joined as the warden for the Royal Mint in 1696. Newton later became the very famous Master of the Mint. Newton’s achievement as the master of the mint made him develop new highs in English economy. Newton changed silver British pound sterling to gold.

Newton achieved a new high by becoming the President of the Royal Society in 1703. In the same year Newton was chosen to be associated with the ‘French Académie des Sciences.’

Newton reached the zenith of his life and career when he was awarded a Knighthood by Queen Anne in April 1705. Queen Anne made Newton a Knight during her visit to Trinity College, Cambridge.

Religious Ideas

Newton got linked with religious norms during his fellowship in Trinity College, Cambridge. Being an unorthodox individual Newton could avoid becoming a priest (a rule in order to pursue fellowships) but not for long. He started facing problems during his appointment as Lucasian Professor. In 1690s Newton took up writing on Bible. He wrote several religious tracts that were based on interpretations of Bible.

Newton was a believer in one god. Idol worship was like a sin for Newton. According to Stephen D. Snobelen, Newton was a ‘heretic’.

Newton religiously wrote and formulated on ideas that were criticised. Newton’s interpretations of Bible and its hidden messages, criticism of faults and corruptions in biblical scriptures made Newton look like a non-believer.

Several laws and religious theories of Newton were later used to develop the base of ideas promoted by pantheists and enthusiasts. Newton’s scientific discoveries and natural philosophies were later used by English free thinkers in formulating and developing a possible "Natural Religion".

Death

Newton died a natural death in his sleep in London on 31 March 1727. During his old age he stayed with his niece, residing in Cranbury Park, near Winchester. Newton was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Newton’s body was found to have huge amounts of mercury. After his death his body was examined and it was stated that his entire chemical researches and tests had a heavy bearing on his body. There have been people who have stated that the high levels of mercury in his body might have resulted in Newton’s eccentricity in the later years of the mathematics genius.