Chiang Kai-Shek   Taiwan : Nationalist Leader and General Birth : 1846       Death : 1975 Chiang Kai-Shek was one of the most prominent nationalist leaders and politicians of his country. He was also an able military general who succeeded in unifying China by suppressing rebellions. He took part in the 1911 Chinese revolution and was the chief of staff to the great revolutionary leader and the first President of China....

Charles Darwin England : Father of ‘Evolutionism’ Birth : 1809                 Death : 1882 Charles Darwin propounded the revolutionary theory of Evolution in which he explained that different living species attained their present forms after a long and gradual process of evolution. Darwin maintained that man descended from ape regarding the origin of human species. Darwin reached these conclusions after years of hard and patient research. In December 1831, he got...

Lenin   Soviet Union : Founder of Communist Russia Birth : 1870       Death : 1924 Lenin was one of the greatest revolutionaries of the 20th century. He founded the Soviet Union, one of the world’s two most powerful countries today. He organized the peasants and workers of Tsarist Russia for a Communist revolution and in 1917, overthrew the Tsarist regime in Russia. By the 1917 Russian revolution, Lenin gave practical...

Abdul Gaffar Khan   Pakhtunistan : ‘Frontier Gandhi’ Birth : 1890       Death : 1988 Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan is one of the few survivors of the older generation of freedom fighters and followers of Gandhi. He is called `Frontier Gandhi’ because he organized the people of the North West Frontier Province (N.W.F.P.) of the undivided India on Gandhian principles. After the partition of India in 1947, N.W.F.P. was merged into...

Pablo Picasso   Spain : Greatest Artist of the 20th Century Birth : 1881       Death : 1972 Pablo Ruizy Picasso is considered one of the most remarkable personalities of the 20th century. He was the most brilliant and creative artist of his times. In 1906, together with Braque, he introduced a new style of painting called ‘Cubism’ which represented things in three dimensions. He was also a pioneer in `abstract art’...

Alfred Nobel Sweden : Founder of Nobel Prizes Birth : 1833       Death : 1896 Alfred Bernhard Nobel has acquired immense fame as the inventor of dynamite and as the founder of the Nobel Prizes. Alfred Nobel was well aware of the misuse of dynamite for destructive purposes and that is why he emphasized its peaceful uses. Alfred Nobel’s invention of dynamite was a matter of chance only. One day he...

Mahavir Swami   India : 24th Jain Tirathankar Birth :599           B.C. 527 B.C. Mahavir Swami was one of those noble souls of the world who gave up kingly comforts and wordly pleasures for the cause of humanity. It was after twelve years, of hard meditation under considerable physical suffering that Mahavir attained enlightenment or supreme knowledge. After attaining enlightenment, Mahavir extensively toured through various kingdoms spreading the teachings of Jainism...

Sir J.C. Bose India: Discoverer of Life in Plants Birth :1855        Death : 1937 The momentous discovery that plants, like other living beings, also throb with life was made by the renowed Indian scientist, Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose. The world was greatly surprised to hear about this new and wholly unexpected discovery of Bose. With the help of various scientific instruments, invented by Bose himself, he demonstrated that plants too...