History of Instant Coffee

As a coffee lover, I always love to know anything about coffee, including its history ... its beginnings. Nobody really knows who discovered this wonderful companion, this great friend to many of us. Coffee!

Kaldi, 850 A.D.

Some writers say that coffee may have been discovered by an Ethiopian goatherd called Kaldi. This was around 850 A.D. Apparently, Kaldi found his goats getting really excited, joyous, after eating the berries off a particular kind of bush.

History of Ice-cream

Ice Cream Beginnings and Makers

Ice-cream (originally referred to as "iced cream") or gelato in Italy, is a frozen dessert made from dairy products, like milk and cream, combined with sugars, flavorings and other ingredients. The mixture is stirred slowly while cooling to prevent ice crystals from forming.  The result is a smoothly textured ice cream. Here is ice-cream's early history.

Ice-cream Water-ices

Ice-cream started around the time as the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt. Fruit juices were kept cold by being packed with snow but they were really 'water-ices' rather than the real ice-cream that we know.

Andrei Sakharov

Science / Scientist Datebook:  May 21

 

Sakharov a nuclear pioneer and activist for peace

Andrei Sakharov (May 21, 1921 - December 14, 1989), was a Soviet physicist and activist often referred to as the father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb. He was awarded the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize for advocacy of human rights and civil liberties, a nuclear pioneer who clamoured for peace.

Andrei (or Andrey) Dmitriyevich Sakharov was born in Moscow, Russia on May 21, 1921. The son of a physicist, he won a doctorate when he was 26 and became a full member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences by the age of 32. He spent several years working with Igor Tamm, a Nobel laureate for physics in 1958.

Initially, he studied cosmic rays before he became involved in the development of the Soviet H-bomb that was tested in 1949. Progressing his test, he moved to a more powerful hydrogen bomb research, tested in 1953.

Sakharov an Inspiration and Conscience of the Cold War

In 1961, Sakharov protested against Nikita Khrushchev's plan to test a 100-megaton hydrogen bomb designed to showcase the Soviet's world dominance. That was the time of the Cuban crisis and John Kennedy was U.S. president. Sakharov feared the effects of a radioactive fallout. In 1968, he published Progress, Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom, , an essay that called for the nuclear arms race to end. In 1971, he married the human rights activist, Yelena Bonner. The couple became increasingly at odds with the Soviet government. He denounced the Soviet adventure into Afghanistan and also called for a worldwide boycott of the Moscow Olympic Games.

In 1980, he was stripped of his honours and exiled to the city of Gorky.  Six years later, he was released and the Soviet government allowed the couple to return to Moscow.  In 1989 Sakharov was elected to the People's Congress, and his honours restored.  He died few months later, on December 14, 1989.

Andrei Sakharov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975, for his work on human rights and civil liberties, a "spokesman for the conscience of mankind."



Image Credit:

Andrei Sakharov.   en.wikipedia.org (Wikimedia Commons)    



Resource:

"Andrei Sakharov - Autobiography". Nobelprize.org. 22 May 2012 http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1975/sakharov-autobio.html. Accessed May 21, 2012.


(c)  May 2012. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.

Nellie Melba née Mitchell

Classical Music / Opera Singer Datebook: May 19

Australian soprano, Dame Nellie Melba née Mitchell

Nellie Melba, DBE (19 May 1861 – 23 February 1931), born Helen Porter Mitchell, was an Australian opera soprano, the first Australian to achieve international recognition in the form, and a legend in her time.

She was born at "Doonside" in Richmond, suburb of Melbourne, into a musical family. She attended Presbyterian Ladies' College (a prestigious private school) where her musical talent emerged. Eventually, she became one of the most famous opera singers of the late Victorian Era until the early 20th century, the first Australian to achieve international recognition as a classical singer.

After a brief and unsuccessful marriage in Australia, she moved to Europe in search of a singing career. Failing to find engagements in London (1886), she studied in Paris. Soon she was successful there and in Brussels. She immediately returned to London where she established herself as the leading lyric soprano at the famous Covent Garden from 1888.

Here's a video of Dame Nellie Melba History Documentary. YouTube, uploaded by Stephanie history. Accessed 19 May, 2014.

Fibonacci, his Number Sequence and the Golden Ratio

Leonardo Fibonacci (c. 1170-c. 1250)

Leonardo Fibonacci, also called Leonardo of Pisa, was believed the greatest mathematician of the Middle Ages. His Liber Abaci ('The Book of Calculation', 1202) introduced the Arabic system of numerals that originated in India to Europe.The book illustrated the virtues of the new numeric system showing how it can be used to simplify highly complex calculations. It included work on geometry, the theory of proportion and techniques for determining the roots of mathematical equations.


Fibonacci Numbers

Fibonacci discovered what we know now as Fibonacci numbers or Fibonacci sequence. Mathematics students and gurus of this branch of science will remember the famous numbering sequence of Fibonacci: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, and so on up the line, in which the two previous numbers in the series add up to the next one or equal to the sum of the preceeding two integers.