February 25 : You don’t become the person you wish to become; you become the person you choose to become.

On this day, 25 Feb....

1616 - The Minutes of the Inquisition recorded that following the judgment by the Father Theologians against the opinions of the mathematician Galileo on the heliocentric model, Pope Paul V ordered Cardinal Bellarmine to summon Galileo and in person, warn him to abandon his assertion that the earth moves around the sun. If Galileo were to refuse, an injunction would be issued that he should abstain completely from teaching, defending or discussing the doctrine. Further, if Galileo should not acquiesce, he would be imprisoned. The next day, 26 Feb 1616, Galileo was ordered by Bellarmine “to give up altogether the false doctrine... and if you should refuse.. you should be imprisoned.” Given such a choice, Galileo made a renouncement, but he knew that would not change the real facts of the Earth's motion.

1836 -  Samuel Colt patents 1st revolving barrel multishot firearm.

1837 - Thomas Davenport patented the first practical electrical motor as "an application of magnetism and electromagnetism to propelling machinery."

1859 - 1st use of "insanity plea" to prove innocence (US).

1862 - Paper currency (greenbacks) introduced in the US by Pres Abraham Lincoln.

 1899 - The first petrol-fuelled car crash in which the driver died, occurred at Grove Hill Harrow, England.  

1902 - On this date (?) the first power-driven vacuum cleaner was built by Hubert Cecil Booth of London. In 1901, Booth devised a filter bag system that made commercial vacuum cleaners practical.   An early use of Booth's machine was to clean the great blue coronation carpet under the throne at Westminster Abbey for the coronation of Edward VII.  

1908 - The 1st tunnel under Hudson River (railway tunnel) opens.

1910 - Dalai Lama flees Tibet from Chinese troops to British India. (In September 1908, the Dalai Lama was granted an audience with the Guangxu Emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi. The emperor tried to stress Tibet's subservient role, although the Dalai Lama refused to kowtow to him. He stayed in Beijing until the end of 1908.When he returned to Tibet in December 1908, he began reorganizing the government, but the Qing sent a military expedition of its own to Tibet in 1910 and he had to flee to India).

1963 - Nehru refuses to recognize China-Pakistan border pact in New Delhi. (The Sino-Pakistan Agreement is a document between the governments of Pakistan and China establishing the border between those countries. It resulted in China ceding over 1,942 square kilometers (750 sq mi) to Pakistan and Pakistan recognizing Chinese sovereignty over hundreds of square kilometers of land in Northern Kashmir and Ladakh).

1932 - Immigrant Adolf Hitler gets German citizenship.

1976 - India announces the plan to penalize parents who have more than two children.

2012 - World Health Organization removes India from the list of polio-endemic countries.

Born

1894 - Meher Baba of Poona, Indian saint of Persian origin and gifted with psychic powers of prediction. The mystical teachings of this silent sage stressed love, self-inquiry, and God-consciousness.

1948 - Danny Denzongpa, actor.

1974 - Divya Bharti, actor.

1981 - Shahid Kapoor, actor. 

(Nicknamed Sasha, he is the chocolate boy of Bollywood).

RIP

1586 - Birbal, renowned wit and one amongst the 'Navratna' of Emperor Akbar's Court; died in a war with Usuf Jard Kabile.

1995 - Bomb attack on a train in Assam; 27 soldiers killed.

2018 - Film Actress, producer Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan (Sridevi) died of cardiac arrest in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) She was 54 Years Old.

Titbits

1751 - 1st performing monkey exhibited in America.

1982 - Record speed for a snowmobile (239 kph).

1923 - Bread price in Berlin rises to 2,000 marks. 

You may have known....

The hottest planet is not the closest planet to the Sun. Even though Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, it is not actually the hottest. Mercury does not have any atmosphere meaning that this planet is only hot in the daytime when it is directly facing the Sun. At this stage, temperatures can rise to 425°C but at night the planet’s temperature can drop down to a freezing -180°C. Venus is the hottest planet. Its thick clouds trap the Sun’s heat causing Venus to be a sizzling 500°C all of the time!