He stepped ahead from FASTENING to ZIPPING !!!

Gideon Sundback (April 24, 1880 – June 21, 1954) was a Swedish-American electrical engineer, who is most commonly associated with his work in the development of the zipper. Otto Fredrik Gideon Sundback was born on Sonarp farm in Ödestugu Parish, in Jönköping County, Småland, Sweden. He was the son of Jonas Otto Magnusson Sundbäck, a prosperous farmer, and his wife Kristina Karolina Klasdotter. After his studies in Sweden, Sundback moved to Germany, where he studied at the polytechnic school in Bingen am Rhein. In 1903, Sundback took his engineer exam. In 1905, he emigrated to the United States.

In 1905, Gideon Sundback started to work at Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1906, Sundback was hired to work for the Universal Fastener Company of Hoboken, New Jersey. Subsequently in 1909, Sundback was promoted to the position of head designer at Universal Fastener.

Sundback made several advances in the development of the zipper between 1906 and 1914, while working for companies that later evolved into Talon, Inc. He built upon the previous work of other engineers such as Elias Howe, Max Wolff, and Whitcomb L. Judson.

He was responsible for improving the "Judson C-curity Fastener". At that time the company's product was still based on hooks and eyes. Sundback developed an improved version of the C-curity, called the "Plako", but it too had a strong tendency to pull apart, and was not any more successful than the previous versions. Sundback finally solved the pulling-apart problem in 1913, with his invention of the first version not based on the hook-and-eye principle, the "Hookless Fastener No. 1". He increased the number of fastening elements from four per inch to ten or eleven. 

His invention had two facing rows of teeth that pulled into a single piece by the slider, and increased the opening for the teeth guided by the slider. In 1914, Sundback developed a version based on interlocking teeth, the "Hookless No. 2", which was the modern metal zipper in all its essentials. In this fastener each tooth is punched to have a dimple on its bottom and a nib or conical projection on its top. The nib atop one tooth engages in the matching dimple in the bottom of the tooth that follows it on the other side as the two strips of teeth are brought together through the two Y channels of the slider. The teeth are crimped tightly to a strong fabric cord that is the selvage edge of the cloth tape that attaches the zipper to the garment, with the teeth on one side offset by half a tooth's height from those on the other side's tape. They are held so tightly to the cord and tape that once meshed there is not enough play to let them pull apart. A tooth cannot rise up off the nib below it enough to break free, and its nib on top cannot drop out of the dimple in the tooth above it. U.S. Patent 1,219,881 for the "Separable Fastener" was issued in 1917.

The name zipper was created in 1923 by B.F. Goodrich, who used the device on their new boots. Initially, boots and tobacco pouches were the primary use for zippers; it took another twenty years before they caught on in the fashion industry. About the time of World War II the zipper achieved wide acceptance for the flies of trousers and the plackets of skirts and dresses.

Sundback also created the manufacturing machine for the new zipper. Lightning Fastener Company, one early manufacturer of the zipper, was based in St. Catharines, Ontario. Although Sundback frequently visited the Canadian factory as president of the company, he resided in Meadville, Pennsylvania and remained an American citizen. Sundback was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences in 1951. Sundback died of a heart condition in 1954 and was interred at Greendale Cemetery in Meadville, Pennsylvania.

The patent for the "Separable Fastener" was issued in 1917. Gideon Sundback also created the manufacturing machine for the new device. The "S-L" or "scrapless" machine took a special Y-shaped wire and cut scoops from it, then punched the scoop dimple and nib, and clamped each scoop on a cloth tape to produce a continuous zipper chain. Within the first year of operation, Sundback's machinery was producing a few hundred feet (around 100 meters) of fastener per day.

A zipper, zip, fly or zip fastener, formerly known as a clasp locker, is a commonly used device for binding the edges of an opening of fabric or other flexible material, as on a garment or a bag. It is used in clothing (e.g., jackets and jeans), luggage and other bags, sporting goods, camping gear (e.g. tents and sleeping bags), and other items. Whitcomb L. Judson was an American inventor from Chicago who was the first to invent, conceive of the idea, and to construct a workable zipper. The method, still in use today, is based on interlocking teeth. Initially it was called the “hookless fastener” and was later redesigned to become more reliable.

Whats EASTER & why BUNNY n EGGS ?

Easter , also called the Pasch or Pascha (the two latter names derived, through Latin: Pascha and Greek Paskha, from Hebrew: Pesaḥ), or Resurrection Sunday, is a festival and holiday celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred three days after his crucifixion by Romans at Calvary. The modern English term Easter, cognate with modern German Ostern, developed from the Old English word Ēastre or Ēostre. This is generally held to have originally referred to the name of an Anglo-Saxon goddess, Ēostre, a form of the widely attested Indo-European dawn goddess.It is the culmination of the Passion of Christ, preceded by Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance.

The last week of Lent is called Holy Week, and it contains the days of the Easter Triduum, including Maundy Thursday (also known as Holy Thursday), commemorating the Last Supper and its preceding foot washing, as well as Good Friday, commemorating thecrucifixion and death of Jesus. Easter is followed by a fifty-day period called Eastertide, or the Easter Season, ending with Pentecost Sunday.

Easter is a moveable feast, meaning it is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar. The First Council of Nicaea (325) established the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon (the Paschal Full Moon) following the March equinox. Ecclesiastically, the equinox is reckoned to be on 21 March (although the astronomical equinox occurs on 20 March in most years), and the "Full Moon" is not necessarily on the astronomically correct date. The date of Easter therefore varies from 22 March to 25 April inclusive. Eastern Christianity bases its calculations on the Julian calendar, whose 21 March corresponds, during the 21st century, to 3 April in the Gregorian calendar, and in which therefore the celebration of Easter varies between 4 April and 8 May.

Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by much of its symbolism, as well as by its position in the calendar. In many languages, the words for "Easter" and "Passover" are identical or very similar. Easter customs vary across the Christian world, and include sunrise services, exclaiming the Paschal greeting, clipping the church, and decorating Easter eggs, a symbol of the empty tomb. The Easter lily, a symbol of the resurrection, traditionally decorates the chancel area of churches on this day and for the rest of Eastertide. Additional customs that have become associated with Easter and are observed by both Christians and some non-Christians include egg hunting, the Easter Bunny, and Easter parades. There are also various traditional Easter foods that vary regionally.

Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are decorated eggs that are often given to celebrate Easter or springtime. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tradition is to use dyed and painted chicken eggs, but a modern custom is to substitute chocolate eggs, or plastic eggs filled with confectionery such as jelly beans. Eggs, in general, were a traditional symbol of fertility, and rebirth. In Christianity, for the celebration of Eastertide, Easter eggs symbolize the empty tomb of Jesus: though an egg appears to be like the stone of a tomb, a bird hatches from it with life; similarly, the Easter egg, for Christians, is a reminder that Jesus rose from the grave, and that those who believe will also experience eternal life. 

The custom of the Easter egg originated in the early Christians of Mesopotamia, who stained eggs red in memory of the blood of Christ, shed at his crucifixion. The Christian Church officially adopted the custom, regarding the eggs as a symbol of the resurrection.

The Easter Bunny (also called the Easter Rabbit or Easter Hare) is depicted as a Leporid bringing Easter eggs. Originating among German Lutherans, the Easter Hare originally played the role of a judge, evaluating whether children were good or disobedient in behaviour at the start of the season of Eastertide. The Easter Bunny is sometimes depicted with clothes. In legend, the creature carries colored eggs in his basket, candy and sometimes also toys to the homes of children, and as such shows similarities to Santa Claus or the Christkind, as they both bring gifts to children on the night before their respective holiday. The custom was first mentioned in Georg Franck von Franckenau's De ovis paschalibus (About Easter Eggs) in 1682 referring to a German tradition of an Easter Hare bringing Easter Eggs for the children.

The hare was a popular motif in medieval church art. In ancient times it was widely believed that the hare was a hermaphrodite. The idea that a hare could reproduce without loss of virginity led to an association with the Virgin Mary, with hares sometimes occurring in illuminated manuscripts and Northern European paintings of the Virgin and Christ Child. It may also have been associated with the Holy Trinity, as in the three hares motif, Eggs, like rabbits and hares, are fertility symbols of antiquity. Since birds lay eggs and rabbits and hares give birth to large litters in the early spring, these became symbols of the rising fertility of the earth at the March Equinox.

David of the modern world celebrates his birthday; who transformed the information age with YAHOO !!!

David Filo (born April 20, 1966) is an Americanbusinessman and the co-founder of Yahoo! with Jerry Yang. His Filo Server Program, written in the C programming language, was the server-side software used to dynamically serve variable web pages, called Filo Server Pages, on visits to early versions of the Yahoo! web site.

The word "yahoo" is an acronym for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle". The term "hierarchical" described how the Yahoo database was arranged in layers of subcategories.  However, Filo and Yang insist they mainly selected the name because they liked the slang definition of a "yahoo" "rude, unsophisticated, uncouth." Filo's college girlfriend often referred to Filo as a "yahoo." This meaning derives from the name of a race of fictional beings from Gulliver's Travels.

Filo was born in Wisconsin. At age 6, he moved to Moss Bluff, Louisiana, a suburb of Lake Charles, Louisiana. He graduated from Sam Houston High School and then earned a BS in Computer Engineering from Tulane University (through the Dean's Honor Scholarship) and an MS from Stanford University.

In March 2013, Filo was estimated to be worth $1.7 billion, ranking him the 882nd richest person in the world. As a philanthropist, in 2005 he gave $30 million to his alma mater, Tulane University, for use in its School of Engineering.

In February 1994, he co-created with Jerry Yang an Internet website called "Jerry and Dave's Guide to the World Wide Web", consisting of a directory of other websites. It was renamed "Yahoo!" (an exclamation). Yahoo! became very popular, and Filo and Yang realized the business potential and co-founded Yahoo! Inc.

Yahoo! started off as a web portal with a web directory providing an extensive range of products and services for various online activities. It is now one of the leading internet brands and, due to partnerships with telecommunications firms, has one of the most trafficked networks on the internet.

Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational Internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. It is globally known for its Web portal, search engine Yahoo Search, and related services, including Yahoo Directory, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News,Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Groups, Yahoo Answers, advertising, online mapping, video sharing, fantasy sports and its social media website. It is one of the most popular sites in the United States.According to news sources, roughly 700 million people visit Yahoo websites every month. Yahoo itself claims it attracts "more than half a billion consumers every month in more than 30 languages."

Link: https://www.facebook.com/notes/gyaat/yet-another-hierarchical-officious-oracle-yahoo-/266693270165449

#gyaat

Aryabhatta; went into the space from Russia in 1975 for the first time !!!

Aryabhatta was India's first satellite, named after the great Indian astronomer of the same name.

It was launched by the Soviet Union on 19 April 1975 from Kapustin Yar using a Kosmos-3M launch vehicle. It was built by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to gain experience in building and operating a satellite in space.

On 19 May 1975 the satellite's 96.46-minute orbit had an apogee of 611 kilometres (380 mi) and a perigee of 568 kilometres (353 mi), at an inclination of 50.6 degrees. It was built to conduct experiments in X-ray astronomy, aeronomics, and solar physics. The spacecraft was a 26-sided polyhedron 1.4 metres (4.6 ft) in diameter. All faces (except the top and bottom) were covered with solar cells. A power failure halted experiments after four days in orbit with all signals from the spacecraft lost after five days of operation. The satellite reentered the Earth's atmosphere on 11 February 1992. The satellite's image appeared on the reverse of Indian 2 rupee banknotes between 1976 and 1997 in some prints.

Why is the GOOD FRIDAY called so ?

Good Friday is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of Passover. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Black Friday, or Easter Friday, though the latter properly refers to the Friday in Easter week.

Based on the details of the Canonical gospels, the Crucifixion of Jesus was most likely to have been on a Friday (the day before the Sabbath) (John 19:42). The estimated year of the Crucifixion is AD 33, by two different groups, and originally as AD 34 by Isaac Newton via the differences between the Biblical and Julian calendars and the crescent of the moon. A third method, using a completely different astronomical approach based on a lunar Crucifixion darkness and eclipse model (consistent with Apostle Peter's reference to a "moon of blood" in Acts 2:20), points to Friday, 3 April AD 33.

The etymology of the term "good" in the context of Good Friday is contested. Some sources claim it is from the senses pious, holy of the word "good", while others contend that it is a corruption of "God Friday". The Oxford English Dictionary supports the first etymology, giving "of a day or season observed as holy by the church" as an archaic sense of good, and providing examples of good tide meaning "Christmas" or "Shrove Tuesday", and Good Wednesday meaning the Wednesday in Holy Week.

According to the accounts in the Gospels, the Temple Guards, guided by Jesus' disciple Judas Iscariot, arrested Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Judas received money (30 pieces of silver) (Matthew 26:14–16) for betraying Jesus and told the guards that whomever he kisses is the one they are to arrest. 

Following his arrest, Jesus was brought to the house of Annas, the father-in-law of the high priest,Caiaphas. There he was interrogated with little result and sent bound to Caiaphas the high priest where the Sanhedrin had assembled (John 18:1–24).

The high priest condemned Jesus for blasphemy, and the Sanhedrin concurred with a sentence of death (Matthew 26:57–66). Peter, waiting in the courtyard, also denied Jesus three times to bystanders while the interrogations were proceeding just as Jesus had predicted.

Pilate questioned Jesus and told the assembly that there was no basis for sentencing. Upon learning that Jesus was from Galilee, Pilate referred the case to the ruler of Galilee, King Herod, who was in Jerusalem for the Passover Feast. Herod questioned Jesus but received no answer; Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate. Pilate told the assembly that neither he nor Herod found guilt in Jesus; Pilate resolved to have Jesus whipped and released (Luke 23:3–16). Under the guidance of the chief priests, the crowd asked for Barabbas, who had been imprisoned for committing murder during an insurrection. 

Pilate asked what they would have him do with Jesus, and they demanded, "Crucify him" (Mark 15:6–14). Coming before the crowd one last time, Pilate declared Jesus innocent and washed his own hands in water to show he has no part in this condemnation. Nevertheless, Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified in order to forestall a riot (Matthew 27:24–26) and ultimately to keep his job. The sentence written was "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." Jesus carried his cross to the site of execution (assisted by Simon of Cyrene), called the place of the Skull, or "Golgotha" in Hebrew and in Latin "Calvary". There he was crucified along with two criminals (John 19:17–22).

Jesus agonized on the cross for six hours. During his last 3 hours on the cross, from noon to 3 pm, darkness fell over the whole land. With a loud cry, Jesus gave up his spirit. There was an earthquake, tombs broke open, and the curtain in the Temple was torn from top to bottom. The centurion on guard at the site of crucifixion declared, "Truly this was God's Son!" (Matthew 27:45–54)

JERRIE: the first woman to fly solo around the world; in 'CHARLIE', Spirit of Columbus !!!

Geraldine "Jerrie" Fredritz Mock (born November 22, 1925 in Newark, Ohio) was the first woman to fly solo around the world, which she did in 1964. She flew a single engine Cessna 180 (registered N1538C) christened the "Spirit of Columbus" and nicknamed "Charlie." 

Geraldine "Jerrie" Fredritz was born to Timothy and Blanche Wright Fredritz in Newark, Ohio. She was the oldest of three daughters, but during her childhood, she found she had more in common with the boys. Her interest for flying was sparked when she was 7 years old when she and her father had the opportunity to fly in the cockpit of a Ford Trimotor airplane. In high school, she took an engineering course of which she was the only girl and decided flying was her passion. She graduated from Newark High School (Ohio) in 1943 and went on to attend The Ohio State University majoring in aeronautical engineering. She would leave her studies at OSU behind to wed her husband, Russell Mock in 1945.

The trip began March 19, 1964, in Columbus, Ohio, and ended April 17, 1964, in Columbus, Ohio, and took 29 days, 21 stopovers and almost 22,860 miles. She was subsequently awarded the Louis Blériot medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in 1965. In 1970 she published the story of her round-the-world flight in the book Three-Eight Charlie. While that book is now out of print, a 50th anniversary edition was later published including maps and weather charts and photos. Three-Eight Charlie is a reference to the call sign of the plane Mock used to fly around the world. Mock now resides in Quincy, Florida. She is a member of Phi Mu Fraternity and the mother of three children.

Official world aviation records: 1964-1969

• Speed around the world, Class C1-c
• Speed around the world, Feminine 1965
• Speed over a closed course of 500KM, Class C1-b 1966
• Distance in a straight line, Feminine 1968
• Distance in a closed course, Class C1-c
• Distance in a closed course, Feminine
• Speed over a recognized course 1969
• Speed over a recognized course

Firsts

• First woman to fly solo around the world
• First woman to fly around the world in a single engine plane
• First woman to fly U.S. – Africa via North Atlantic
• First woman to fly the Pacific single-engine
• First woman to fly the Pacific West to East
• First woman to fly both the Atlantic and Pacific
• First woman to fly the Pacific both directions

Mock’s Cessna 180 which she flew around the world, “The Spirit of Columbus,” hangs in the Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum in Virginia. The Columbus chapter of Women in Aviation, International chose the chapter name Spirit of Columbus because of the name of Mock’s aircraft.

HIS LIFE was ONE OF THE MOST FASCINATING RAGS TO RICHES STORIES; MADE THE WORLD LAUGH THROUGHOUT HIS TURBULENT LIFE !!!

He described the process in his autobiography:

"I wanted everything to be a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large ... I added a small moustache, which, I reasoned, would add age without hiding my expression. I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the makeup made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked on stage he was fully born."

Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin (16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the silent era.Chaplin is considered one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry. His career spanned more than 75 years, from childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death at age 88, and encompassed both adulation and controversy.

Chaplin's childhood in London was defined by poverty and hardship. As his father was absent and his mother struggled financially, he was sent to a workhouse twice before the age of nine. When he was 14, his mother was committed to a mental asylum.Chaplin began performing at an early age, touring music halls and later working as a stage actor and comedian. At 19 he was signed to the prestigious Fred Karno company, which took him to America. 

Chaplin believed his first influence to be his mother, who would entertain him as a child by sitting at the window and mimicking passers-by: "it was through watching her that I learned not only how to express emotions with my hands and face, but also how to observe and study people." Chaplin developed a passion for music as a child, and taught himself to play the piano, violin, and cello.

Chaplin became a member of the Eight Lancashire Lads clog-dancing troupe, with whom he toured English music halls throughout 1899 and 1900. Chaplin worked hard, and the act was popular with audiences, but he was not satisfied with dancing and wished to form a comedy act. In the years Chaplin was touring with the Eight Lancashire Lads, his mother ensured that he still attended school, but by age 13 he had abandoned education. He supported himself with a range of jobs, while nursing his ambition to become an actor.

Chaplin was scouted for the film industry, and made his first appearance in Keystone Studios's Making a Living (1914). By 1918, he was one of the best known figures in the world.

In 1919, Chaplin co-founded the distribution company United Artists, which gave him complete control over his films. He refused to move to sound films in the 1930s, instead producing City Lights (1931) and Modern Times (1936) without dialogue. Chaplin became increasingly political and his next film, The Great Dictator(1940), satirised Adolf Hitler. Caught in the Rain, issued 4 May 1914, was Chaplin's directorial debut and was highly successful.

Chaplin wrote, directed, produced, edited, starred in, and composed the music for most of his films. He was a perfectionist, and his financial independence enabled him to spend years on the development and production of a picture. His films are characterised by slapstick combined with pathos, typified in the Tramp's struggles against adversity. A contract was negotiated with Mutual that amounted to $670,000 a year, which Robinson says made Chaplin – at 26 years old – one of the highest paid people in the world.

Many contain social and political themes, as well as autobiographical elements. In 1972, as part of a renewed appreciation for his work, Chaplin received an Honorary Academy Award for "the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century". He continues to be held in high regard, with The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator often ranked among industry lists of the greatest films of all time.

Started working at the age of thirteen in a cloth mill; created CAT'S EYE, ENHANCED SAFETY and received OBE !!!

Percy Shaw (15 April 1890 – 1 September 1976) was an English inventor and businessman. He patented the reflective road stud or "cat's eye" in 1934, and set up a company to manufacture his invention in 1935. Shaw's father had seven children by his first wife, Jane Brearley, who died in 1883. In 1892, his parents moved their large family to Boothtown in Halifax, where Shaw lived for the rest of his life.

Shaw was educated at Boothtown Board School, and started work as a labourer in a cloth mill at the age of 13. He became apprenticed to a wire drawer, but the low wages on offer were not attractive and he soon took a series of unskilled jobs in local engineering works. He was thus well placed to join his father in a new business repairing small machine tools used in munitions production during World War I. After his father's death in 1929, he started his own small business as a road contractor, repairing roads until his death in the 1970s. Also receiving an OBE(Order of British Empire) in his later life.

Shaw was inventive, even at an early age, but his most famous invention was the cat's eye for lighting the way along roads in the dark.  In 1934, he patented his invention, based on the 1927 reflecting lens patent of Richard Hollins Murray. A year later, Reflecting Roadstuds Ltd was formed to manufacture the devices. Sales were initially slow, but approval from the Ministry of Transport and the blackout in the Second World War gave a huge boost to production and the firm, located near Shaw's home in Boothtown, grew in size making more than a million roadstuds a year, which were exported all over the world. A later patent added a rainwater reservoir to the rubber shoe, which could be used to wash the glass "eyes" when a car drove over the stud. Such a success was the invention of the "cat's eye" that he was rewarded with an OBE for services to exports in the birthday honours list in 1965. 

He became eccentric in later life, removing the carpets and much of the furniture from his home, and keeping three televisions running constantly (respectively tuned to BBC1, BBC2 and ITV, all with the sound turned down) with a fourth BBC2 in colour. One luxury was his Rolls-Royce Phantom. He never married and he died from cancer and heart disease at Boothtown Mansion, Halifax, where he had lived for all but two of his 86 years. Despite rumours of a personal fortune, his personal estate was admitted to probate in December 1976 at a value of £193,500. He was an agnostic, but his funeral was held at Boothtown Methodist Church, and he was cremated in Elland. In 2005, he was listed as one of the 50 greatest Yorkshire people in a book by Bernard Ingham.

The cat's eye is a retroreflective safety device used in road marking and was the first of a range of raised pavement markers. It consists (in its original form) of two pairs of glass cylinders with faces at the rear cut, moulded or ground to have three faces at (in three dimensions) 60 degrees to each other. Cat's eyes are particularly valuable in fog and are largely resistant to damage from snow ploughs. Apart from the evident requirement for toughness, the glass has no other special qualities.

A key feature of the cat's eye is the flexible rubber dome which is occasionally deformed by the passage of traffic. A fixed rubber wiper cleans the surface of the reflectors as they sink below the surface of the road (the base tends to hold water after a shower of rain, making this process even more efficient). The rubber dome is protected from impact damage by metal 'kerbs' – which also give tactile and audible feedback for wandering drivers. The name "cat's eye" comes from Shaw's inspiration for the device: the eyeshine reflecting from the eyes of a cat.

Tribute to the STALWART who reformed the social system and architected Independent India's constitution !!!!

Ambedkar, was voted as the "Greatest Indian" in 2012 by a poll organised by History TV18 and CNN IBN. Nearly 2 crore votes were cast, making him the most popular Indian figure since the launch of the initiative. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956), popularly also known as Babasaheb, was an Indian jurist, politician, philosopher, anthropologist, historian and economist. As independent India's first law minister, he was principal architect of the Constitution of India. He was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in 1990.

Earning a law degree and doctorates for his study and research in law, economicsand political science from Columbia University and the London School of Economics, Ambedkar gained a reputation as a scholar and practised law for a few years, later campaigning by publishing journals advocating political rights and social freedom for India's untouchables.

He was born in the town and military cantonment of Mhow in the Central Provinces (now in Madhya Pradesh). He was the 14th and last child of Ramji Maloji Sakpal and Bhimabai. His family was of Marathi background from the town of Ambavade (Mandangad taluka) in Ratnagiri district of modern-day Maharashtra. They belonged to the Mahar caste, who were treated as untouchables and subjected to socio-economic discrimination. Ambedkar's ancestors had for long been in the employment of the army of the British East India Company, and, his father served in the Indian Army at the Mhow cantonment.

Belonging to the Kabir Panth, Ramji Sakpal encouraged his children to read the Hindu classics. Although able to attend school, Ambedkar and other untouchable children were segregated and given little attention or assistance by the teachers. They werenot allowed to sit inside the class. Even if they needed to drink water somebody from a higher caste would have to pour that water from a height as they were not allowed to touch either the water or the vessel that contained it. This task was usually performed for the young Ambedkar by the school peon, and if the peon was not available then he had to go without water, Ambedkar states this situation as "No peon, No Water". He was required to sit on a gunny sack which he had to take home with him.

His original surname Ambavadekar comes from his native village 'Ambavade' in Ratnagiri District. His Brahmin teacher, Mahadev Ambedkar, who was fond of him, changed his surname from 'Ambavadekar' to his own surname 'Ambedkar' in school records.

In 1897, Ambedkar's family moved to Bombay and enrolled at Elphinstone High School. In 1906, his marriage to a nine-year old girl, Ramabai, was arranged. In 1907, he passed his matriculation examination and in the following year he entered Elphinstone College, which was affiliated to the University of Bombay. By 1912, he obtained his degree in economics and political science and prepared to take up employment with the Baroda state government. In 1913, he moved to the United States on a Baroda State Scholarship of £11.50 (Sterling) per month for three years under a scheme established by the Gaekwar of Baroda for postgraduate education at Columbia University. He passed his M.A. exam in June 1915, majoring in Economics, with Sociology, History, Philosophy and Anthropology.

He presented a thesis, Ancient Indian Commerce. In 1916 he completed his second thesis, National Dividend of India-A Historic and Analytical Study' for another M.A. and finally he received his Ph.D. in Economics in 1917 for his third thesis, after he left for London. In October 1916 he enrolled for the Bar course at Gray's Inn, and also at the same time enrolled at the London School of Economics where he started work on a doctoral thesis.  His thesis was on "Indian Rupee". At the London School Of Economics he took a Master's degree in 1921 and in 1923 he took his D.Sc.in Economics, and the same year he was called to the Bar by Gray's Inn. His third and fourth Doctorates (Ll.D, Columbia, 1952 and Ll.D., Osmania, 1953) were conferred honoris causa.

Mr. ZIP.....Developed the ZONE IMPROVEMENT PLAN; facilitating complex mailing address deliveries !!!

 

Robert Aurand Moon (April 15, 1917, Williamsport, Pennsylvania, USA – April 11, 2001, Leesburg, Florida, USA), sometimes called "Mr. ZIP", is considered the father of the ZIP Code or Zone Improvement Plan, a mechanism to route mail in the United States. He developed the idea in the 1940s while working as a postal inspector in Philadelphia, although his system used only the first three digits of what became a five-digit, and later a nine-digit, system. The first Directory of Post Offices using five-digit ZIP code numbers was published in 1963.

Born in Williamsport, Pa.; His mother died when he was young, and his father, a grocer, went bankrupt in the Depression, Mrs. Moon said. He won a scholarship to Duke University, but could not find a job in Raleigh, N.C. The university suggested he get a job at the post office and transfer to an office near Duke. He began at his hometown post office, where he carried mail and worked as a clerk, among other tasks. When he took the exam for postal inspector, his score was so high that he got the job, even though one of the requirements was a college degree, which he never earned.

He was assigned to the Chicago region, but became homesick and got a transfer to Philadelphia. Outside of the postal service, Robert Moon was a Mason and volunteered for Meals on Wheels in Orange County, the Zellwood Methodist Church in Zellwood and Florida Hospital Waterman in Eustis.

Moon originally invented a three-digit code system that he believed was necessary for the post office to keep up with the mail volume after WWII. This system was later expanded into the ZIP Code system put into use in 1963. Moon’s numerical system was designed from the outset for mechanical sorting . He made his first proposal for a new coding system because of his belief that the existing rail-based system would no longer be adequate for huge new volumes of mail. He believed the future was in airplanes and became an enthusiastic amateur pilot.

That elementary system, a three-digit code that referred to the general region of the country that the mail was bound for, was later supplemented with a final two digits, which designated a smaller delivery area. The postal service credits Moon with creating the first three digits and says the final two digits were added by other postal workers.

In any case, the five-digit ZIP (for Zoning Improvement Plan) Codes first appeared in postal directories on July 1, 1963. When the ZIP Code system was first introduced to the public in 1963, the post office had a hard time convincing millions of letter writers to add the unfamiliar extra numbers to each address. Robert Moon retired in 1965, only to return five years later to Washington, D.C., as director of delivery services.

The Zoning Improvement Plan, as ZIP was more prosaically known, represented an irreversible step in the seeming ascendancy of numbers over letters, arriving about the same time the telephone company was switching to seven-digit numbers from letter exchanges like BUtterfield 8.

But ZIP codes made the mail zip at a time when old delivery systems were breaking down. Planes carried far more mail than trains, on which leisurely sorting on mail cars took place, and the volume of business mail was ballooning. Also, the mail was going through increasingly mechanized regional centers, rather than city to city, ruling out old-fashioned hand sorting by city and state and neighborhood. The Postal Service, then the cabinet-level Post Office Department, needed a national code to make sorting as fast as possible.