In one of my previous blog posts, I talked about “Mind-astounding facts from around the world” which was a prologue to this one. So let’s further our list from here on. Take a seat, making yourself comfortable. Because it’s code-red time!
fact no 1
What comes to your mind when I name Johnny Walker?
No no! It’s not Johnnie Walker it’s not a whiskey brand.
Meet Mr. Badruddin Jamaluddin Kazi popularly known as Johnny Walker one of the legendary Indian comedians. He has worked in around 300 movies. Many people are not aware of the fact that Guru Dutt, one of the greatest filmmakers of Indian cinema, gave him the title of Johnny Walker, inspired by Scotch whisky.
fact no 2
You would be surprised to know that Albert Einstein, the greatest physicist of all time, was neither a theist nor an atheist. Does it sound awkward?
Let me show you something
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”
—Albert Einstein
Or what about this?
It should be enough to prove that Einstein was a believer. But wait!
This proves that he was neither a believer nor a disbeliever.
Einstein liked to call himself an agnostic. To him the idea of a personal god or perhaps monotheistic god was childlike. Now agnosticism is in itself an elaborate idea, in my opinion, which I would like to address if you want. So do comment down if you would like to read a blog on agnosticism.
fact no 3
The great polymath, Leonardo Da Vinci had studied corpses or in a way performed more than 30 autopsies, just to be able to excel at his anatomical works.
Vitruvian man
A drawing by Leonardo Da Vinci
The man of unquenchable curiosity, he is reported to have cut open more than 10 people only a year after he got permission to conduct his autopsies.
fact no 4
What do you do before it’s meal time or when mom says ” Honey!, Come to the table! “?
You obviously wash your hands, don’t you? Ever thought about who first initiated the healthy practice of handwashing?
Ignaz Semmelweis is the person whom the introduction of hand hygiene to the world is attributed to.
fact no 5
I can almost hear you asking, “What is it?”
You would be surprised to know that these are two of the total six surviving signatures of William Shakespeare. Yes!, you heard me right. Critics often accuse Shakespeare of being illiterate by calling these signatures a mere scrawl and nothing more than that.
Six surviving signatures of
William Shakespeare
fact no 6
Do you know who this teenager appearing in the above-given image is?
Meet Ryan White, a forgotten superhero. He de-rooted the deep-seated social stigmas about HIV/AIDS. Society held a negative stance towards HIV even before the virus was clinically observed. Ryan, after being infected with HIV, was debarred from entry to the school. The people of his city coerced the school to disallow Ryan from attending classes. Against which Ryan fought, leading him to become a “poster child for the AIDS”. eventually, he helped raise awareness about HIV and the people suffering from it.
“The U.S. Congress passed a major piece of AIDS legislation, the Ryan White CARE Act, shortly after White’s death, which was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush in August 1990.”
—excerpt from Wikipedia
fact no 7
Very few people know that Cornflakes were actually introduced for the purpose of suppression of sexual passion and desires, thus proving it to be one of the first attempts to nip in the bud all kinds of sexual activities including non-penetrative sex, masturbation and canoodling. The inventor of cornflakes was John H. Kellogg, an anti-masturbationist.
fact no 8
Do you know what the term ‘Eureka’ means? Probably you know it. This too is likely that you must have encountered the term uncountable times. But do you know an intresting incident associated with it? The term has been derived from Greek. Its being borrowed into English is somehow attributed to the Greek scholar Archimedes. As the story goes, once Archimedes stepped into a bath and suddenly discerned that the level of water inside the bath increased, giving him an “Eureka” that the volume of water displaced must be equal to the volume of the part of his body that he had submerged.
Fortunately, he had discovered the solution to one of the prevalent enigmas of the time—as the one put forth by Hiero of Syracuse . Out of the excitement to share his new discovery, he jumped out of his bathtub, running all through the streets of Syracuse in his birthday suite and shouting “Eureka!, Eureka!”.
fact no 9
What we are witnessing right now is currently the tallest tree in the world, its name being Hyperion. The giant is situated in California with an enormous height measuring 380.3ft. Hats off to America!
I would love to visit the place, would you?
fact no 10
Niccolo Paganini
In the parlànce of music you must have heard of the renowned names like Beethoven, Mozart, Fredrick Shopin but my friend you would never ever have heard about this guy. Meet Mr. Niccolo Paganini, the violin virtuoso. He had been an Italian violinist and composer, concocting unprecedented works all through his life. I don’t consider it erroneous to say that he lived a hedonistic life. But there is an intriguing fact about him. He was believed to have sold his soul to the devil to become the greatest violinist ever. Even when on his death bed he disallowed the priest to perform the last rites, presuming the sacrament premature. Due to this and his purported associations with the devil, his body was denied a burial by the church. He died in 1840 but his body was buried in 1876.
This one was my favourite and I would love to know the fact you found the most interesting of all. So don’t forget to leave your lovely comment before leaving. I will see you in my upcoming blog. Bye!