31 March - Sir Isaac Newton death anniversary

 

 

Sir Isaac Newton ( 04 January 1642 – 31 March 1727) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author who was described in his time as a "natural philosopher". He was a key figure in the philosophical revolution known as the Enlightenment. His book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), first published in 1687, established classical mechanics. Newton also made seminal contributions to optics, and shares credit with German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz for developing infinitesimal calculus.

Beyond his work on the mathematical sciences, Newton dedicated much of his time to the study of alchemy and biblical chronology, but most of his work in those areas remained unpublished until long after his death. Politically and personally tied to the Whig party, Newton served two brief terms as Member of Parliament for the University of Cambridge, in 1689–1690 and 1701–1702. He was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705 and spent the last three decades of his life in London, serving as Warden (1696–1699) and Master (1699–1727) of the Royal Mint, as well as president of the Royal Society (1703–1727).

Newton died in his sleep in London on 31 March 1727 .After his death, Newton's hair was examined and found to contain mercury, probably resulting from his alchemical pursuits. Mercury poisoning could explain Newton's eccentricity in late life

31 March - 14th Dalai Lama escaped from China in 1959

 

On 31 March 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama escaped from China, together with members of his family and his government. They fled the Chinese authorities, who were suspected of wanting to detain him. From Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, the Dalai Lama and his entourage traveled southwards to Tawang in India, where he was welcomed by the Indian authorities.

31 March - Calcutta GPO opened in 1774

 

The East India Company started establishing post offices in India. The East India company opened its first post office in 1727. In 1774 Calcutta GPO was established. The site where the GPO is now located was actually the site of the first Fort william. An alley beside the post office was the site of the guardhouse that housed the infamous 1756 Black Hole of Calcutta (1756). The General Post Office was designed in 1864 by Walter B. Grenville (1819-1874), who acted as consulting architect to the government of India from 1863 to 1868

31 March - Dr. Anandibai Gopalrao Joshi was born

 

 Dr. Anandibai Gopalrao Joshi (31 March 1865 – 26 February 1887) was the first Indian female doctor of western medicine. She was the first woman from the erstwhile Bombay presidency of India to study and graduate with a two-year degree in western medicine in the United States.She was also referred to as Anandibai Joshi and Anandi Gopal Joshi (where Gopal came from Gopalrao, her husband's first name). 

31 March - The last tram travelled on the streets of Mumbai

 

The first horse tram, begun on 9 May 1874 on two routes Colaba to Pydhonie via Crawford Market, and Bori Bunder to Pydhonie. It were drawn by two horses and some trams even by six to eight horses. The cost of riding the tram was one annas which had speed of 5 miles per hour.

Trams served the for almost 90 years. The Britishers proposed the project in 1864 and awarded the contract to the company – Stearns and Kitteredge in 1873.

The areas connected by tram was Grant Road, Pydhonie, Girgaum, Byculla bridge and Sassoon Dock. After the introduction of electric trams, the route was extended till King Circle. Dadar was the main tram terminus, till today it is known as Dadar T.T.


On 31st March 1964, the last tram traveled on the streets of Mumbai between Bori Bunder and Khodadad tram terminus (now Dadar T.T.). The last tram was scheduled at 10pm from Bori Bunder. To bid farewell large crowd gathered and the tram was packed to full capacity

31 March - General Kodendera Subayya Thimayya

General Kodendera Subayya Thimayya DSO (31 March 1906 – 18 December 1965) was a distinguished soldier of the Indian Army who served as Chief of Army Staff from 1957 to 1961 in the crucial years leading up to the conflict with China in 1962. Gen. Thimayya was the only Indian to command an Infantry brigade in battle during the Second World War and is regarded as the most distinguished combat officer the Indian Army has produced.[6] After the Korean War, Thimayya headed a United Nations unit dealing with the repatriation of prisoners of war. After his retirement from the Army, he was appointed Commander of the United Nations Peace Keeping Force in Cyprus from July 1964 to December 1965 and died in Cyprus while on active duty on 18 December 1965. 

30 March - World Idli Day and its history

 

Idli or idly is a type of savoury rice cake, originating from South India, popular as a breakfast food in Southern India and in Sri Lanka. The cakes are made by steaming a batter consisting of fermented black lentils (de-husked) and rice. The fermentation process breaks down the starches so that they are more readily metabolised by the body.

The formation of World Idli Day is a fascinating tale in itself. The 30th of March was designated as World Idli Day in 2015. It was the inspiration for Eniyavan, the owner of a popular restaurant in Chennai, India, that only serves idlis. In honour of the event, he prepared a whopping 1,328 unique idli recipes. Not only this, but Eniyavan has also cooked gigantic idli weighing as heavy as 44 kg. It was sliced by a government official. That is how this day was born.

As you relish a supple and piping hot idli today, i.e., World Idli Day, don't forget the legacy it carries for thousands of years. It has travelled far and wide and comes in every size, shape, colour and with equally interesting parings of sambar and chutneys.Idli is one of the most nutritious food and there several reasons to feast on them on World Idli Day. May idli shine bright forever!

30 march - USA celebrates National Doctors' Day

 

National Doctors' Day is a day celebrated to recognize the contributions of physicians to individual lives and communities. The date varies from nation to nation depending on the event of commemoration used to mark the day. In some nations the day is marked as a holiday. Although supposed to be celebrated by patients in and benefactors of the healthcare industry, it is usually celebrated by health care organizations. Staff may organize a lunch for doctors to present the physicians with tokens of recognition. Historically, a card or red carnation may be sent to physicians and their spouses, along with a flower being placed on the graves of deceased physicians.

In the United States, National Doctors' Day is a day on which the service of physicians to the nation is recognized annually. The idea came from Eudora Brown Almond, wife of Dr. Charles B. Almond, and the date chosen was the anniversary of the first use of general anesthesia in surgery. On March 30, 1842, in Jefferson, Georgia, Dr. Crawford Long used ether to anesthetize a patient, James Venable, and painlessly excised a tumor from his neck.

30 March - Philip Showalter Hench death anniversary

 

Philip Showalter Hench (February 28, 1896 – March 30, 1965) was an American physician. Hench, along with his Mayo Clinic co-worker Edward Calvin Kendall and Swiss chemist Tadeus Reichstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1950 for the discovery of the hormone cortisone, and its application for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. The Nobel Committee bestowed the award for the trio's "discoveries relating to the hormones of the adrenal cortex, their structure and biological effects."

Hench received his undergraduate education at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, and received his medical training at the United States Army Medical Corps and the University of Pittsburgh. He began working at Mayo Clinic in 1923, later serving as the head of the Department of Rheumatology. In addition to the Nobel Prize, Hench received many other awards and honors throughout his career. He also had a lifelong interest in the history and discovery of yellow fever.

Hench died of pneumonia while on vacation in Ocho Rios, Jamaica in 1965.

30 March - Ether was first used as an anesthetic in 1842

 

Ether, known as "sweet vitriol" until 1730, was discovered in 1275 by a Spanish chemist named Raymundus Lullius. While ethyl ether was first created in a laboratory in 1540 by a German scientist named Valerius Cordus, it wasn't until 1841 that the anesthetic property of ether was put to work. After witnessing "ether frolics", public gatherings of those who would take ether for amusement, and noting the lack of pain felt by those getting injured at these events, Dr. Crawford W. Long returned from schooling in Pennsylvania to his hometown of Jefferson, Georgia. While it is believed Dr. Long used ether for minor operations in 1841, the first recorded use of ether as an anesthetic occurred on March 30, 1842, when Long used applied it in the removal of two tumors from the neck of James M. Venable. Venable felt no pain from the procedure and paid two dollars for the tumor extraction.

Four years later, on September 30, 1846, Dr. William Morton, a former dental partner of Dr. Horace Wells, who had advocated the use of nitrous oxide as an anesthetic, administered ether to remove a tooth of a patient in Boston. In October of the same year, Morton gave a public demonstration of ether's anesthetic property at Massachusetts General Hospital. With the procedure occurring with great success, Morton was later wrongly credited as the discoverer of ether's surgical use. The year following the successful demonstration, Sir James Young Simpson, a future pioneer in anesthesiology, introduced ether for use as an anesthetic for childbirth. Ether wouldn't suit him for such purposes for very long.