Scientist of the Day - Poggio Bracciolini
Poggio Bracciolini, an Italian Renaissance humanist, was born Feb. 11, 1380, in the town of Terranuova, about 20 miles southeast of Florence. Humanists were the people most responsible for discovering the manuscripts of ancient texts and putting the “rebirth” in Renaissance, and Bracciolini was better than most at finding long-lost treasures in monastic libraries. In 1415, he discovered the only surviving manuscript of Vitruvius’ Ten Books of Architecture, indeed the only surviving manuscript of any ancient work on Greek and Roman architecture, which became the textual basis for Renaissance...
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Musical marvel from Salzburg
Born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg (part of present-day Austria) to Leopold and Anna Maria Mozart. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart showed prodigious musical skills as a child.His father was a composer, teacher and chapel master in the court orchestra of Archbishop of Salzburg. Mozart was the youngest of seven children, five of whom died in infancy. His elder sister, Maria Anna Mozart, was nicknamed Nannerl. In his early years, his father was his only teacher.Mozart made many journeys to Europe where he and Nannerl performed as child prodigies. By the time he was 5, Mozart began comp...
Duties and rights in the thought of Giuseppe Mazzini
In the Mazzinian sense, duties are not commandments. Duty means dià logos, dialogue. It posits a dialectical approach that welcomes different points of view, recognizes the dignity and legitimacy of diversity, is determined to understand the reason of ‘others’ for the sake of peaceful coexistence, and to oppose institutions and governments that trample on fundamental human rights. Duties in the Mazzinian sense are ethical guidelines, to be examined and applied personally on a daily basis, keeping in mind the consequences of one's actions. This definition of duty is the premise f...
BARACK OBAMA: LIFE IN BRIEF
Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States—becoming the first African American to serve in that office—on January 20, 2009.The son of a white American mother and a black Kenyan father, Obama grew up in Hawaii. Leaving the state to attend college, he earned degrees from Columbia University and Harvard Law School. Obama worked as a community organizer in Chicago, where he met and married Michelle LaVaughn Robinson in 1992. Their two daughters, Malia Ann and Natasha (Sasha), were born in 1998 and 2001, respectively. Obama was elected to the Illinois state se...
The Man Who Sailed the World
Ferdinand Magellan said he would finish the battle himself. After all, it was he who had ignored the warnings of his allied Philippine ruler, turned down the help of 1,000 neighboring natives and brought 60 of his crew members to face the islanders of Mactan with little preparation. After this retreat order, only a few of Magellan's crew members kept fighting by his side; the rest of them fled as the ever-boastful captain fell victim to the spears of Mactan's angry inhabitants.This dramatic death fits Magellan's remarkable life—a life in which he traveled thousands of miles by boat a...
