Archimedes (c. 287-c. 212 BC) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse in Sicily. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. Considered the greatest…
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The Curies discover radium
A few days before the Christmas of 1898, Pierre Curie scrawled the word ‘radium’ in his notebook as the name for a new element he and his wife Marie had brought laboriously…
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The forgetful genius
Albert Einstein’s name is synonymous with ‘genius.’ We know he was a simple soul but it is hard to believe that the propounder of the most complex Theory of Relativity and quantum…
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How would you like to be remembered?
About a hundred years ago, a man looked at the morning newspaper and to his surprise and horror, read his own name in the obituary column. The newspapers had reported the death…
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A room for two
One stormy night, an elderly man and his wife entered the lobby of a small hotel in Philadelphia. Trying to get out of the rain, the couple approached the front desk hoping…
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Babar Ali – the world’s youngest headmaster
23-year-old Babar Ali, popularly known as the world’s youngest headmaster, started a school when he was all of nine. The school that Babar started in backward Bhabta village in West Bengal with…
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The Bumblebee
According to scientists, the bumblebee’s body is too heavy and its wing span too small. Aerodynamically speaking, the bumblebee cannot fly. But the bumblebee doesn’t know that and it keeps flying. When…
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Learning from mistakes
Thomas Edison tried two thousand different materials in search of a filament for the electric light bulb. When none worked satisfactorily, his assistant complained, “All our work is in vain. We have…
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Slow down to speed up
Look at the keyboard of any standard typewriter or computer. Q,W,E,R,T and Y are the first six letters, followed by other alphabets in what appears to be a random order. Who decided…
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Safety glass
Edouard Benedictus, a French scientist, was working in his laboratory. The year was 1903. Benedictus climbed a ladder to fetch reagents from a shelf and inadvertently knocked a glass flask to the…
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Profiting from creativity
The 3M Company encourages creativity from its employees. The company allows its researchers to spend 15 per cent of their time on any project that interests them. This approach has brought fantastic…
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A 10-cent idea
Here is an interesting anecdote about an entrepreneur who built his fortunes by boldly pursuing an innovative idea. When young FW Woolworth was a store clerk, he tried to convince his boss…