Preloader image
   

Atal Tinkering Labs ATL

Biography of D. S. Kothari ( Daulat Singh Kothari ) 1906 – 1993

Daulat Singh Kothari was an outstanding scientist and great educationist from India. Generally he was known as D. S. Kothari. His contribution to the whole spectrum of Indian education from elementary school to the university level is well-known. The most important work he did was to establish the defence Science centre to do research in electronic materials, nuclear medicine and ballistic science. He was a very talented personality. D.S. Kothari was born on July 6, 1906 at Udaipur, in Rajsthan, India. His father, Shri Fateh Lal Kothari, was a school teacher. His father died in 1918 at the age of…

Biography of Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

Charles Darwin was an English naturalist renowned for his documentation of evolution and for his theory of its operation, known as Darwinism. He was born at Shrewsbury, England on February on 12, 1809. He was the son of Robert Waring Darwin, who was a popular doctor, and the grandson of the physician Erasmus Darwin, the author of Zoonomia, or the Laws of Organic Life, and of the artisan-entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood. His family was happy, contented and cultured. Charles lost his mother when he was just eight year old. Within the educated and cultured family, Charles was considered very mediocre at…

Biography of C.V. Raman (Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman) 1888-1970

Dr. C.V. Raman was one of the greatest scientists of India, who was awarded the 1930 Nobel Prize in physics for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the ‘Raman Effect’, which is named after him. Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman, commonly known as C.V. Raman was born on November 7, 1888 at Tiruchirapalli in Tamillandu. His mother tongue was Tamil. He was the second children of Chandrasekhar Iyer and Pravathi Ammal. His father was a lecturer in mathematics and physics. Raman was a very brilliant student right from his childhood. At an early age, Raman moved…

Biography of Birbal Sahni (1891 – 1949 )

Birbal Sahni (1891- 1949) was a world famous palaeobotanist and Indian pale botanist who studied the fossils of the Indian subcontinent. He was the founder of Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, which is situated in Lucknow, India. He was born on 14th November 1891 at Bhera, small town in Saharanpur District, now a part of West Punjab in Pakistan. He was the son of Ishwar Devi and Lala Ruchi Ram Sahani. His father was a chemistry teacher who was interested in the study of nature. He got his education from Punjab University, Lahore, India. Later on, in 1911 he went…

Biography of Bhaskara II (1114 – 1185 )

Bhaskara II is a famous mathematician of ancient India. He was born in 1114 A.D. in the city of Bijapur, Karnataka state, India. Peoples also know him as Bhaskaracharya, which means “Bhaskara the Teacher”. His father name was Mahesvara. By profession he was an astrologer, who taught him mathematics, which he later passed on to his son Loksamudra. In many ways, Bhaskaracharya represents the peak of mathematical knowledge in the 12th century. He reached an understanding of the number systems and solving equations, which was not to be achieved in Europe for several centuries. Bhaskara II became head of the…

Biography of Bhaskara I ( 600 – 680 )

Bhaskara was an Indian mathematician of the 7th century, who probably lived between c. 600- c.680. There is very little information about Bhaskara’s life. It is said that he was born near Saurashtra in Gujrat and died in Ashmaka, Andhra Pradesh, India. His father in astronomy educated him. Bhaskara is considered a follower of Aryabhatta I and one of the most renowned scholars of Aryabhatta’s astronomical school. Bhaskara wrote two treatises, the Mahabhaskariya (Great book of Bhaskara ) and the Laghubhaskariya (Small book of Bhaskara). He also wrote commentaries on the work of Aryabhatta I entitled Aryabhatiyabhasya. The Mahabhaskariya comprises…

Biography of Aryabhatta Scientist (476- 550)

Aryabhatta is the first of the great astronomers of the classical age of India. He was born in Kusumapura, which his commentator Bhaskara I (629 AD) identifies with pataliputra (modern Patna) in Bihar. His first name “Arya” is hardly a south Indian name while “Bhatt” (or Bhatta) is a typical north Indian name even found today specially among the trader community. Aryabhatta studied at the University of Nalanda. One of his major works was Aryabhatiya written in 499 AD. His book aryabhatiya covers astronomical and mathematical theories in which the earth was taken to be spinning on its axis and…

Biography of Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek (24th Oct.1632–26th Aug.1723)

Leeuwenhoek ( 1632-1723 ) first encountered magnifying glasses when he was sixteen. He was working in Amsterdam as an apprentice and bookkeeper to a Scottish textile merchant, where magnifying glasses were used to count thread densities for quality control purposes. He is commonly known as “the father of Microbiology” and considered as the first microbiologist. In April 1673 he reported his first observations – Bee mouthparts and stings, a human louse and a fungus – to the Royal Society, which was published in philosophical Transactions. He was elected a member of the Royal Society in 1680 and continued his associations,…

Biography of Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564)

Andreas Vesalius was an anatomist, physician, and also an author of one of the most influential books on human anatomy. He is considering as the “founder of modern human anatomy”. His important innovations were to perform postmortem dissections and to make use of illustrations in the teaching of anatomy. He is also known as Andreas Vesal and Andre Vesale. Andreas Vesalius was born on December 31, 1514 in Brussels, then in the Holy Roman Empire to a family of physicians. He was the son of Andries van Wesele. His father enrolled him in the Brethren of the Common Life School…

Biography of Amedeo Avogadro (1776 – 1856)

Amedeo Carlo Avogadro was an Italian savant. He is renowned for his contribution to molecular theory, including what is known as Avogadro’s law. He was born in Turin, Itlay on 9 August, 1776. He was the son of Count Filippo Avogadro and Anna Maria Vercellone. His father was a distinguished lawyer and civil servant. Avogadro went to school in Turin. Coming from a family of well established lawyers, Avogadro was guided toward a legal career, and became a bachelor of jurisprudence in 1792, at the young age of just 16 years. Four years later he gained his doctorate in ecclesiastical…

Biography of Alfred B. Nobel (1833- 1896)

Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born on October 21, 1833 in Stockholm, Sweden. He was the third son of Immanuel Nobel and Andriette Ahlsell Nobel. In his early years of study, Alfred took interest in chemistry. But later in Paris he met Ascanio Sobrero who had developed a highly explosive liquid called nitroglycerin. In 1859 Alfred and his brother Email created a factory in order to gain more information about nitroglycerin through experiments. Their various experiments led to many explosions throughout the years; one immense explosion killed his brother Email and several other people. Nobel realized the he had to develop…

Biography of Alexander Graham Bell (1847 – 1922 )

Alexander Graham Bell was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone. He was born on March 3, 1847, in Edinburgh, Scotland. His mother, who was deaf, was a musician and a painter. His father, who taught deaf people how to speak, invented ‘Visible Speech’. Alexander only attended school for five years; from the time he was 10 until he was 14, but he never stopped learning. He read the books in his grandfather’s library and studied tutorials. While Alexander was searching for telephone, Thomas Watson became an associate of Bell. Watson…

Biography of Alexander Fleming (1881 – 1955)

Sir Alexander Fleming was a biologist and pharmacologist. His best achievements are the discovery of the enzyme lysozyme in 1923 and the antibiotic substance penicillin from the fungus Penicilliu notatum in 1928, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Howard Walter Florey and Ernst Boris Chain. In 1999, In Time Magazine name Fleming one of the 100 most important people of the 20th Century for his discovery of penicillin, and stated, “It was a discovery that would change the course of history. He was born on 6th of August, 1881 at Lochfield near…

Biography of Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Albert Einstein was great scientist. He is often regarded as the father of modern physics. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect. Albert Einstein was born on 14th March 1879 at Ulm in Germany. His father Hermann Einstein was a salesman and engineer. His mother was Pauline Einstein. In 1880, his family moved to Munich, where his father founded a company that manufactured electrical equipment based on direct current. Albert has started his primary schooling here and later on moved to…

Biography of Albert Michelson (1852 – 1931)

Albert Abraham Michelson was an American physicist known for his work on the measurement of the speed of light and especially for the Michelson-Morley experiment. He was the first American to win a Nobel Prize for Physics (1907). Albert Michelson was born on December 19, 1852, to a German Jewish couple in Strelno (now Strzelno), Prussia (presently in Poland). In 1848, the Liberals in Germany advocated equality in taxes and freedom of speech. But by the time of Albert’s birth it was almost clear to them that the changing political scenario would make it difficult for them to live in…

Biography of Alessandro Volta (18 February 1745 – 5 March 1827)

Scientist Alessandro Volta was born in Como, Italy, into a noble family. Alessandro Volta was the inventor of the voltaic pile, the first electric battery. In 1775 he invented the electroplates, a device that, once electrically charged by having been rubbed, could transfer charge to other objects. Between 1776 and 1778, Volta discovered and isolated methane gas. When Luigi Galvani’s experiments with ‘animal electricity’ were published (1791), Volta began experiments that led him to theorize that animal tissue was not necessary for conduction of electricity. Proof of this theory was the battery, which Volta invented in 1800. He built in…

The Pashtepada pattern

A two-classroom village school with colourful pictures painted on the walls. Children come to school unburdened by school bags on their backs. Inside, each learner works on her or his own tablet device. One student is solving a maths problem on her tablet, while two others watch a video on how a tsunami happens, and the precautions to be taken if one occurs. Here, a girl is playing an English nursery rhyme, to which she and her friend hum along. There, a little fellow poses, using his tab to take a selfie. Soon the teacher walks in, and begins the…

THIS MAN COULD SLASH PMC’S E-LEARNING BUDGET FROM RS 24 CR TO RS 4 CR

Sandeep Gund has set up over 45,000 e-learning schools at an affordable price, impresses Javadekar, mayor and standing committee chairman After Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) tabled its Rs 24-crore proposal for e-learning initiatives in its schools recently, which generated much noise, the civic body eventually managed to find a solution in its own backyard. It is looking to a former primary school teacher, who has set up more than 45,000 e-learning schools across the state for guidance; and if his know-how is put to good use, the corporation will save around Rs 20 crore. Sandeep Gund , a n Information…

In Maharashtra’s first digital zilla parishad school, no dropouts

The little hamlet of Pashtepada in Thane district often doesn’t have electricity, but the little zilla parishad school in the village is a humming laboratory of sorts, a projector hanging from the ceiling of a classroom, speakers mounted on each of the four walls, a pile of ‘talking’ Balbharti textbooks sitting on the teacher’s table and a WiFi router blinking nearby. In this hamlet located 90 km off Thane city, ever since Sandeep Gund (28) set up his ‘Child Theater Classroom’, the number of school dropouts has been zero. On the eve of Teachers’ Day, the villagers are happy to…

A Digital India initiative running on community backup since 2009

Much before Prime Minister Narendra Modi rolled out his government’s plan to digitally connect India, a school teacher in a tribal hamlet in Maharashtra had already set about on his own ‘Digital India mission’ — one that involves transforming the country’s rural schools into e-learning smart hubs where old-fashioned textbooks will make way for tablets and touchscreens will replace blackboards. And unlike the Centre’s big plan, which is pinning hopes on the industry sector for investment, this unsung hero’s dream initiative is almost entirely community-driven. For Sandeep Gund, 29, who teaches in a state-run Zilla Parishad (ZP) school in Thane’s…

error: Context Menu disabled!