PERSONS TO REMEMBER:
- Alberuni : Accompanied Mohd. Of Ghazni during his invasion of India. Authored Kitab-ul-Hind.
- Aristotle : Greek philosopher. Founder of Science of Logic or rules of reasoning. Authored Poetics and The ethics.
- Aryabhatta : Indian astronomer and mathematician in the court of Chandragupta Vikramaditya. Credited with invention of Algebra.
- Asvaghosh : Buddhist philosopher and advisor of King Kanishka. Author of Sariputra Prakarma.
- Banabhatta : Court poet of Harshavardhana. Wrote Kadambari and Harsh Charita.
- Ibn Batuta : South African traveller. Visited India in 1933 in the reign of Mohammad Tuglaq.
- Annie Besant : An Irish by birth, supported India’s freedom movement. Founded Boy Scout’s Associatin, Home Rule League, and Theosophical Society of India. First woman president of Indian National Congress (1917).
- Homi J.Bhabha : Father of Indian Nuclear Science.
- Bhaskara I : Indian astronomer and contemporary of Brahmagupta.
- Bhaskarcharya II : Indian mathematician and astronomer. First to state that anything divided by zero is equal to infinity. Invented Calculus. Author of Sidhanta Shiromani.
- J C Bose : Great Indian scientist. Invented Crescograph. Studied plant psychology. Author of Response in the Living and Plant Response.
- Brahmagupta : Indian mathematician. First to teat Zero as a number. Author of Brahma Siddhanta.
- Chanakya : Also known as Vishnugupta and Kautilya. Prime Minister of Chandragupta Maurya. Author of Artha Shastra.
- Charaka : Indian physician. Adorned the court of Kanishka. Authored Charakasamhita.
- Nirad C. Chaudhuri : Indian celebrity author who became famous for his work The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian.
- Moin-ud-din Chishti: Sufi saint, buried in Ajmer. The urs is held there every year in his honour.
- Salim Shah Chisti : Sufi saint, blessed Akbar with a son. Buried at Fatehpur Sikri.
- Nicolaus Copernicus : Polish astronomer. Founder of modern astronomy. Discovered that the earth is a planet revolving round the Sun, with other planets and that the earth was not the centre of the Universe.
- Le Corbusier : Swiss architect. Real name Charles Edouard Jeanneret. Planned the city of Chandigarh.
- Marie Curie : Polish born French physicist and Chemist. Discovered radium along with her husband Prof. Pierre Curie.
- Charles Robert Darwin : British naturalist scientist, wrote The Origin of Species on the theory of evolution and The Descent of Man.
- Prof. D.B.Deodhar: The grand old man of Indian Cricket. Deodhar Trophy of India’s domestic cricket has been named after him.
- Mahadev Desai : Personal Secretary of Mahatma Gandhi. Editor of Independent and Navjvan.
- Morarji Desai : Noted Gandhian and freedom fighter. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister under Congress rule. First non-congress Prime Minister during Janta regime in 1977-79. Recipient of Bharat Ratna in 1991 and also the title of Nishan-e-Pakistan, the highest civilian award of Pakistan. Author of Discourses on Gita.
- Satish Dhawan : Renowned space scientist and former Chairman of ISRO, Space Commission and also former Secretary of the Department of Space. Under his stewardship India launched its first satellite, Aryabhatta and Bhaskara I. He was awarded padmi Shri, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibushan and the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration. The Shriharikota Space Centre (SHAR) has been named after him.
- Phu Dorjee : First Indian to climb Mount Everest without Oxygen in 1984. Scaled Kanchenjunga, world’s third highest peak. Scaled Mount Everest twice.
- Jean Henri Dunant: Swiss philanthropist. Established Red Cross in 1963, after the battle of Solferino. Shared the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901.
- Thomas Alva Edison: American inventor. Has more than 1000 inventions to his credit, which include motion picture, gramophone, electric bulb, etc.
- Albert Einstein : Scientist of German-Swiss origin. Settled in U.S.A after driven out by Nazis in 1933. Developed theory of relativity in 1916. Awarded Nobel Prize in physics (1921) for discovering the Law of Photoelectric effect.
- Euclid : Greek mathematician. Founder of modern geometry. Has compiled all his theorems in a series of books “Elements”.
- Fahien : First Buddhist pilgrim from China to visit India, during the reign of Chandragupta Vikramaditya.
- Abul Fazal : Persian scholar, was the Prime Minister of Akbar. Author of Ain-e-Akbari and Akbarnama.
- Firdausi : A Persian poet. Author of an epic poem, Shahnama.
- Alexander Fleming: British bacteriologist. Discoverer of penicillin. Received the 1945 Nobel Prize in Medicine.
- E.M.Forster : British author, wrote books about India. Famous book “A Passage To India”.
- Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin: Russian cosmonaut. First spaceman of the world, he launched into space on April 12, 1961 in Vostok 1 and returned to earth safely.
- Galilei Galileo : Italian scientist and professor of mathematics. Although telescope was invented in 1608, Galileo made one for himself in 1609. First to see satellites of Jupiter.
- Vasco da Gama : Portuguese sailor. Discovered the sea route from Western Europe to India Via Cape of Good Hope when he reached Calicut (1948).
- Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi: Daugher of Jawahar Lal Nehru. Was Minister of Information and Broadcasting, 1964-66, Congress president in 1960, 1978, 1983 and Prime Minister from January 1966 to March 1977 and January 1980 to October 1984. Recipient of 1971 Bharat Ratna and 1984 Jawahar Lal Nehru Award for International Understanding. Shot dead in 1984.
- Rajiv Gandhi : Elder son of Indira Gandhi, was Prime Minister from 1984 to 1989 and President of Congress (I) Party. Was killed in a bomb blast at Sriperumbuder near Chennai. Posthumously awarded Bharat Ratna, 1991.
- Sanjay Gandhi : Younger son of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Brought about far-reaching reforms during emergency. Was Youth Congress President. Killed in an aircrach.
- George H Hitchings: Recipient of 1998 Nobel Prize for Medicine for his work that led to drugs for AIDS, herpes, malaria and leukaemia.
- Naoroji P. Godrej : Indian industrialist. Manufactured first indigenous machine tools and typewriters.
- Gopal Krishna Gokhale: Indian statesman. Political guru of Mahatma Gandhi. Founded Servants of Indian Society (1905). President of Indian National Congress, 1907.
- Shri Narayana Guru: Indian social reformer, saint and philosopher from Kerla. Worked for the eradiction of untouchability and propagated the philosophy of one Caste, one Religion, and one God. In 1903, formed Sri Narayan Dharma Paripalana Sangam.
- John Gutenberg : First European to make a printing press, (1430). First book printed was a Bible, named after him as Gutenberg Bible.
- Edmund Halley: British astronomer. Discoverer of “Halley’s Comet” (1682).
- Lala Hardayal : Indian nationalist leader. Was General Secretary of Hindustani Association which was later known as Gadar Party (1913) with its headquarters at San Francisco. Published a magazine, Vande Mataram. Organised Indian Independence Committee in Germany.
- Hippocrates : Greek physician, known as “Father of Medicine”. Rules of Conduct for doctors are based on Hippocratic Oath.
- Hiuen Tsang : Buddhist pilgrim form China. Visited India during the reign King Harsha. Stayed in India from 629-44 A.D.
- A.O.Hume : London Born, Scottish Citizen and Bangal Civil Servant. Supporter of India’s freedom struggle. Helped to form Indian National Congress (1885).
- John Hunter : Scottish physician. Founder of modern surgery.
- Jayadeva : Sanskrit port from West Bengal and pioneer of Bhakti poetry. His “Gita Govinda” describes the love of Krishna and Radha.
- Mohammad Ali Jinnah: Founder of Pakistan. Was president of Muslim League. First Governor-General of Pakistan.