Maria Montessori    Italy : Founder of a new educational system Born : 1870        Died : 1952 You must have come across Montessori schools for small children. They carry the name of Dr. Maria Montessori, who propounded a new and innovative method for teaching children. She believed that education should be such that it is attractive as well as interesting for child aspirants. In this method, the children are allowed...

Andrey D. Sakharov   Soviet Union: Critic of Soviet system Born : 1921 Died : 1989 Sakharov was a top scientist in the Soviet Union who made significant 13 contributions to Physics and Space Science. He is the inventor of Hydrogen Bomb that placed Russia in a strong position vis-a-vis western powers. Andrey D. Sakharov was born in Moscow on May 21, 1921. His father was in the army and his...

Benjamin Franklin   America : Philosopher, journalist and diplomat Born : 1706        Died : 1790 Benjamin was a man of many talents. As a scientist he is compared to all time greats like Einstein and Edison. He conducted a lot of scientific investigations and invented many things that proved very useful in humanity’s march towards progress. In 1752, he conducted an experiment with a kite and found out the electric...

Niepce   France : Inventor of photography Born : 1765     Died : 1833 You must be aware of the tremendous progress made by photography in the recent years. First, we had Polaroid cameras, with which you could have prints in minutes, and then came fully automatic cameras that need no setting of focus, aperture or distance. You have to press the shutter only to get quality photographs. It was Niepce who...

Gunnar Myrdal   Sweden : Economic thinker Born : 1898        Died : 1987 The leading economic thinker of the twentieth century, Gunnar Myrdal (Karl) was born in Sweden in the year 1898. He was a very clear headed economist whose views many a time got clashed with established theories and norms. He worked in Stockholm University as a professor and propounded his economic ideas from time to time. It was...

Malthus   England : Economist Born : 1766                 Died : 1834 Malthus was a great economist, known for his population control theory. He believed that nature maintains an ecological balance between human beings, animals and trees. Nature took steps to control one or the other factor; had there been any imbalance. Suppose, the human population stretches beyond the limits the Earth could hold, nature believes or correlates it to get...

David Ricardo   England : Economist  Born : 1772   Died : 1823 Ricardo is considered to be an economist of the stature of giants like Adam Smith, Malthus, Marx, Marshal, Keynes and John Stuart Mill. He propounded the epoch-making revenue principle. Ricardo was born in a Jewish family in England in the year 1772. His father was a share broker. After his formal education in Commerce, Ricardo also joined the share...

Richard Hadlee   New Zealand : Former World record holder Cricketer “Richard Hadlee” The person to have taken over 431 wickets in Test cricket, has reached the status of an institution. Not only that, he has scored more than 2,500 runs. He holds the supreme position amongst the fast bowlers and the prospect of his record being surpassed appears dim at the moment. Richard John Hadlee was born on July 3,...