March 19 : Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.

On this day, 19 Mar...

1800 - Electric eels were captured by Alexander von Humboldt from swamps near a river in South America. During their scientific investigation of the behavior of the eels, the scientist received massive electric shocks. Humboldt reported a severe lack of feeling in his joints for the better part of a day after standing directly on an electric eel. They learned that horses had been killed by them. Humboldt published an article Observation on the Electric Eel of the New World in 1808.

1827 - Charles Darwin made his earliest scientific discovery, at age 18. He dissected some specimens of a barnacle-like marine organism, the polyzoan Flustra. Thus he began what became a lifelong interest in natural history.

1915 - Pluto photographed for 1st time (although unknown at the time).

1942 - FDR orders US men between 45 & 64 to register for non-military duty.

1945 - Adolf Hitler issues "Nero Decree" to destroy all German factories.

1954 - A sled powered by six rockets with a human rider reached 421 mph, running on heavy rails mounted in concrete at Air Force Base, Alamogordo, US. It was the effects of braking from such speed that was being studied, to simulate the effects on pilots bailing out of airplanes traveling at supersonic speeds. By year's end, on 10 Dec 1954, further tests increased to a land record speed of 632 mph.

1954 - The first helicopter S-55 arrived at Bombay by sea.

1958 - The London Planetarium, Britain's first, opened in the west wing of Madame Tussaud's. It is one of the world's largest. The site used was that of the former Cinema and Restaurant added in 1929, that had been destroyed by a German bomb in 1940.

1972 - India and Bangladesh sign friendship treaty.

1998 - BJP-led coalition government is sworn in. Atal Behari Vajpayee became the second time Prime Minister of India.

1999 - The banned Maoist Communist Centre kills 34 Bhumihars at Senari village in Jehanabad district in Bihar.

Born

1936 - Satydev Dubey, stage artist.

1939 - Abbas Ali Baig, cricketer (Indian bat, 112 on debut v England, 1959).

1952 - Mohan Babu, actor.

1984 - Tanushree Dutta, actor.

RIP

1982 - Acharya J. B. Kripalani, writer, nationalist, parliamentarian, founder of Kissan Mazdoor Dal and president of Indian National Congress in 1946.

1992 – Rahi Masoom Raza, writer.

1998 – EMS Namboodiripad, first Chief Minister of Kerala.

2009 – Verma Malik, poet.

Titbits

1831 - 1st U.S. bank robbery (City Bank, New York/$245,000).

You may have known...

At any one time, it is estimated that half the world's hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from waterborne diseases.