On this day, 21 Jan....
1790 - Dr Joseph-Ignace Guillotin proposed the guillotine to the newly formed National Assembly of Paris as a "humane" method of execution. Three years later, in 1793, King Louis XVI of France was executed by guillotine, for treason. {Named after the originator, A guillotine is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The aim of capital punishment was to end life and not to inflict pain. Designed during the French Revolution, the guillotine continued to be used long after the Revolution and remained France's standard method of judicial execution until the abolition of capital punishment in 1981 (except certain crimes against the security of the State, or for the death sentences passed by military courts, which entailed execution by firing squad). (The first execution by guillotine was performed on highwayman Nicolas Jacques Pelletier on 25 April 1792. The last person guillotined in France was Hamida Djandoubi, on 10 September 1977). Interestingly Dr Guillotin was opposed to the death penalty}.
1799 - Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccination was introduced.
1840 - Charles Wheatstone and William F. Cooke were granted the earliest English alphabetic telegraph patent. The ABC telegraph was popular in England and Europe because it did not require a trained telegraphist to read or send the messages.
1853 - Envelope-folding machine patented by Russell Hawes, US.
1880 - Construction of The first independent municipal sewage system in the U.S. began in Memphis.
1954 - The first atomic submarine, the U.S.S. Nautilus, was launched at Groton, Connecticut. Its nuclear propulsion system was a landmark in the history of naval engineering and submersible craft. All vessels previously known as “submarines” were in fact only submersible craft. Because of the nuclear power plant, the Nautilus could stay submerged for months at a time, unlike diesel-fuelled subs, whose engines required vast amounts of oxygen.
1970 - The world's largest airplane, 'Jumbo jet', Boeing 747, had its first flight from New York to London. With almost double the capacity of Boeing 737 the 747 opened up economic long-distance travel to the masses.
1976 - Commercial supersonic passenger service began with two simultaneous Concorde jet airplane flights. With engines twice as powerful as those of normal jets, their 1,350 mph cruising speed was double the speed of sound (Mach 2.04), and halved air travel time, at a cruise altitude of 60,000 feet
1984 - Britain's first test-tube triplets - a girl and two boys - were born to a couple in London. The mother was Anne Maaye.
1994 - India and Myanmar decide to open border trade.
Born
1986 - Sushant Singh Rajput, actor.
1993 – John Cofie, English footballer
1995 – Andrew Watson, Northern Irish race car driver
1997 – Jeremy Shada, American actor, musician and singer
RIP
1945 - Shri Rashbehari Basu, great revolutionary, freedom fighter, social reformer and leader.
1965 - Geeta Bali, actor.
1983 - Admiral R. D. Katari, former Indian Navy Chief.
2005 - Parveen Babi, actor.
You may have known....
On May 8, 1978, climbers Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler became the first to summit Everest without the aid of oxygen. Messner described his feelings upon reaching the top like this: "I am nothing more than a single narrow gasping lung, floating over the mists and summits."
Economic News
RBI suggested setting up of a online trading platform for selling distressed assets to ensure transparency and better price recovery.
ONGC will acquire the 51.1% govt stake in hindustan petroleum corporation.
Odisha govt has asked for income tax exemption on interest accrued on bank deposits for contribution made to the District Mineral Foundation.
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