20 April - Philippe Pinel French physician birth anniversary

 

Philippe Pinel was a French physician who is considered one of the founders of modern psychiatry. He was born on April 20, 1745, in Saint-Andre, France. Pinel was a pioneer in the humane treatment of mentally ill patients, and his work helped to change the way mental illness was viewed and treated.

In 1792, Pinel was appointed as the physician-in-chief of the Salpêtrière hospital in Paris, which at the time was one of the largest asylums in Europe. He was appalled by the inhumane conditions in which the mentally ill were kept, and he began to implement reforms to improve their treatment. He believed that mental illness was a disease of the mind, rather than a form of demonic possession, as many people believed at the time.

Pinel introduced the concept of moral treatment, which emphasized the importance of treating mentally ill patients with kindness and compassion, rather than punishment and cruelty. He allowed patients to move around freely, interact with each other, and engage in activities such as gardening and painting. He also began to document his observations of patients' behavior, which helped to improve the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness.

Pinel's work had a profound impact on the field of psychiatry, and his ideas were widely adopted throughout Europe and North America. He was also instrumental in the development of the classification system for mental illness, which is still used today.

Pinel died on October 25, 1826, in Paris. His legacy continues to inspire modern psychiatrists and mental health professionals to provide compassionate care and treatment to those suffering from mental illness.

20 April - Adolf Hitler birth anniversary

 

Adolf Hitler was a German politician and leader of the Nazi Party, who rose to power as Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and later Führer in 1934. He was born on April 20, 1889, in Braunau am Inn, Austria-Hungary. Hitler's rise to power and his aggressive foreign policies led to the Second World War and the Holocaust, in which millions of people, including six million Jews, were killed.

Hitler's early life was marked by poverty, rejection, and failure. He dropped out of high school, twice failed to gain admission to the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, and lived in homeless shelters and slept on park benches. In 1913, he moved to Munich, Germany, and became involved in politics, joining the German Workers' Party, which would later become the Nazi Party.

After Germany's defeat in World War I, Hitler blamed the Jews, socialists, and communists for Germany's problems. He became the leader of the Nazi Party in 1921 and soon gained a following with his charismatic speeches and promises to restore Germany's power and prestige.

In 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg, and he quickly consolidated power, establishing a dictatorship and suppressing opposition. He implemented policies to create a racially pure society, including the persecution and extermination of Jews and other minorities.

Hitler's aggressive foreign policies led to the invasion of Poland in 1939, which triggered the start of World War II. Germany rapidly conquered much of Europe, but was eventually defeated by Allied forces in 1945. Hitler committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin on April 30, 1945, as Allied forces closed in on the city.

Hitler's legacy is one of devastation and tragedy. His policies led to the deaths of millions of people and forever scarred the world. His ideology of racism and hatred lives on in the form of neo-Nazism and other extremist groups. Hitler serves as a warning of the dangers of unchecked power, hate, and intolerance

 

20 April - Bernard Katz death anniversary

 

Bernard Katz was a prominent German-born British biophysicist known for his pioneering work in neurophysiology. He was born on 26 March 1911, in Leipzig, Germany, and he passed away on  20 April 2003, in London, United Kingdom.

Katz made significant contributions to our understanding of how nerve cells communicate with each other and with muscles. He is best known for his research on the mechanism of synaptic transmission, which earned him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1970, shared with Julius Axelrod and Ulf von Euler.

One of Katz's most important discoveries was the understanding of how neurotransmitters are released from nerve cells at synapses and how they influence the electrical activity of target cells. He proposed the concept of quantal release of neurotransmitters, suggesting that neurotransmitter release occurs in discrete packets or quanta, which was a groundbreaking insight into synaptic physiology.

Katz's work laid the foundation for our modern understanding of synaptic transmission and neurotransmission, and it has had a profound impact on the fields of neuroscience and pharmacology. His research paved the way for further discoveries and advancements in our understanding of how the nervous system functions.

In addition to the Nobel Prize, Bernard Katz received numerous other honors and awards throughout his career in recognition of his contributions to science and medicine. He is remembered as one of the leading figures in neurophysiology and synaptic transmission, whose work continues to inspire and influence scientists around the world.

20 April - Zu Chongzhi birth anniversary

 

Zu Chongzhi was a Chinese astronomer, mathematician, politician, inventor, and writer during the Liu Song and Southern Qi dynasties. He was most notable for calculating pi as between 3.1415926 and 3.1415927, a record in accuracy which would not be surpassed for over 800 years.  

On 20 April 2009, Google celebrated Zu Chongzhi’s Birthday with a doodle

20 April - Eduard Slavoljub Penkala birth anniversary

 

 Eduard Slavoljub Penkala — a Croatian engineer and inventor of Dutch-Polish descent — was born on 20 April 1871

He became renowned for further development of the mechanical pencil (1906) - then called an "automatic pencil" - and the first solid-ink fountain pen (1907).[4] On 24 January 1906 he registered the patent for an automatic pencil. Collaborating with an entrepreneur by the name of Edmund Moster, he started the Penkala-Moster Company and built a pen-and-pencil factory that was one of the biggest in the world at the time. As the business grew, a second factory was set up in Berlin. The company, now called TOZ Penkala, still exists today.

He also constructed the first Croatian aircraft to fly in the country, the Penkala 1910 Biplane, flown by Dragutin Novak, who was also the first Croatian pilot. He constructed and invented many other products and devices, and held a total of 80 patents.

Among his patented inventions were:
a thermophore
a hot water bottle - his first patented invention, the "Termofor"
a type of bluing detergent
a rail-car brake
an anode battery

20 April - Shakeel Badayuni death anniversary

 

Shakeel Badayuni (3 August 1916 – 20 April 1970), a great poet and lyricist. Lucknow, the city of Tehzeeb, has given many celebrities to the film world, one of which is lyricist Shakeel Badayuni. Encouraged by the unceasing success of his poetry, he left his government job in the supply department and moved to Mumbai from Delhi in 1946. Shakeel Badayuni was awarded the Filmfare Award three times in a row for his songs. He was given his first Filmfare Award for the song ‘Chaudhavi Ka Chand Ho Ya Aftab Ho…‘ from the film “Chadahvi Ka Chand” released in 1960. He died on 20 April 1970.