Enceladus, one of the moons of Saturn got overwhelming attention and attraction of scientists in a few years. The data obtained from Cassini spacecraft has been analyzing and with each coming day, some more mysteries are getting resolved. The ‘Tiger stripes’ of Enceladus are one of them, and a piece of good news is that the Weird Physics behind ‘Tiger Stripes’ Finally Explained.
Enceladus has been of particular interest to scientists ever since it was observed by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. After analyzing Cassini’s data, they detected an icy, subsurface ocean on the moon and strange, tiger stripe markings on Enceladus south pole that are like nothing else known in our solar system. Icy material from Enceladus’ ocean spews into space through these stripes, or fissures, in the moon’s surface. These stripes are parallel and evenly spaced, about 130 kilometers long and 35 kilometers apart, and are continually erupting with water ice.
New research performed at Hemingway and colleagues Max Rudolph of the University of California, two scientists Davis, and Michael Manga of UC Berkeley unveiled the physical forces on the moon that cause these fissures to form and keep them in place. The team was also figured out why these cracks are even spaced and only found on the south pole of the moon.
The study shows that Enceladus is not a frozen solid, because the gravitational changes caused by its eccentric orbit around Saturn stretch it out slightly. It shapes deformed and causes the ice sheets at the poles to be thinner and more susceptible to splitting open. The team concluded that the fissures that make up these tiger stripes could have formed on the moon’s north pole just like the south pole, but the south pole cracked first.
Not so long ago, if people were asked to single out a name of an innovator that has had a significant impact in an industry, the most common answer would be Steve Jobs. There is no doubt about his genius, and the legacy he left behind is reminiscent of his talent. But, there is one name that has risen in the past decades and has become the ultimate nerd king and entrepreneurial powerhouse: Elon Musk.
In this rapidly growing technological era, the boom has brought forth great inventions and technologies that are taking over our lives, mostly in the right way. Elon Musk is the person who has tested the waters in almost all potentially groundbreaking technologies and has successfully built big companies that have not only impressed the science geeks and enthusiasts but a layman equally.
Humble Beginnings
Born in 1971 in South Africa, Musk was socially crude and spent most of his childhood reading books and studying science that always fascinated him. He had a business mind, just at the tender age of 12, he made a video game and successfully sold it to a magazine. Discouraged by the racial atmosphere in South Africa, he soon emigrated to Canada in 1988 and opt to work on his dreams by utilizing the latest opportunities offered in the North American regions.
After graduating from college, he founded Zip 2 that intended to provide directories and maps to online newspapers.
He studied at Queen’s University and then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with dual degrees in Physics and Economics. He had a competitive attitude and grasped the potential of the internet, which was a flourishing technology at that time. After brainstorming ideas with his friends, he founded one of his first companies Zip 2, that intended to provide directories and maps to online newspapers. It was soon bought by a big computer company and Musk, ever so creative, founded X.com, another startup that dealt with online financial services. You might not have heard of it but may have known what it morphed into – PayPal, which is one of the most successful online payment systems in the world.
A Look at Successful Ventures
Even though the focus of his early career was online technologies, he still had a soft spot for space travel. This love was created and fueled by the science fiction books that Musk read in his childhood, such as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a classic geek phenomenon endorsed worldwide by many sci-fi lovers. Thus, Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) in 2002, with the broader aims of space travel, but initially focused on developing affordable and efficient rocket technologies. SpaceX’s journey reached to peak in a short interval of time, but it was not easy. Under the captaincy of Musk, it went on to one of the best, NASA-endorsed, companies in the world.
Just as he launched SpaceX, he also invested in an electric car company Tesla Motors (inspired by the genius Nikola Tesla), and introduced the first car in 2006, the Roadster. Musk believed that there was a dire need to shift to renewable energies and called electric vehicles as one of the potential solutions. Many bought into his vision, especially those who felt the need to use alternatives that don’t pose many threats like conventional vehicles.
His ideas were initially mocked, and many claimed that it will take him years to develop sophisticated technologies that can aid in achieving such big goals. There were always pushbacks in the dates of new product releases, which affected his position in Silicon Valley. Tabloids and haters ridiculed him, calling his plans and suggestions foolish and impossible.
Elon has the vision to send humans to Mars and establish colonies.
For these
huge plans, Musk and the team had to do immense efforts to get these companies
on track. For rockets production, it was decided that it would be bought from
Russia and then can be used to do experiments in space. But negotiations and
meetings with the Russian developers didn’t go well, so Elon Musk decided to
build rockets in the USA. Experts and local scientists were hired and by 2008,
the Falcon 1 rocket successfully orbited the Earth after several failed
attempts. Several versions have since been introduced with the aim to recycle
the parts as well – something that is rarely done.
The Dragon
spacecraft has been commissioned by NASA to carry the payload to the
International Space Station and more work is been done to develop a spacecraft
that can carry astronauts as well. Falcon Heavy is another worthy mention
because it is the most powerful rocket and was launched in 2018 carrying a
Tesla roadster into space. Not to be missed are the recently launched
‘Starlink’ satellites that could provide high-speed internet. It took almost 15
years for Musk to finally see his dream of space travel come alive.
The Roadster was the first car introduced by Tesla in 2008.
As for Tesla, it has become one of the biggest manufacturers of electric cars in the world. In 2013, after the flagship car, the Model S was launched, Musk has been successful in propelling it to the top with more slick and efficient vehicles that catch everyone’s attention. But do note that this too, like SpaceX, took almost a decade to finally become an extraordinary hit. Although the idea for this company was conceived in the early 90s by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, it was Musk who poured his insight into its development and brought it to the position where it is today. He has become the face of the company even though he was not the original founder.
But that’s
not it for Musk. Along with these two ventures, he has also invested in and
founded companies that seek out and work on the most innovative and sustainable
ideas. While Neuralink Corporation focuses on creating machine implants that
can be connected to the brain and help in treating neural disorders, SolarCity
provides solar panels that can generate energy for commercial and residential
use. And then there is the Boring Company, a highly ambitious project in which
such tunnels are going to be developed that can cut down commute times in
highly busy areas such as Los Angeles.
The Unorthodox Genius
All this might sound overwhelming to an average person, but to someone like Musk, it is just a part of the work. He is a man of conviction who doesn’t back off from his jaw-dropping ideas. He works tirelessly to make sure that things are to perfection. His personality often comes off as harsh and directive, but that is what got him here. In Ashlee Vance’s Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, his life is laid out, and it is shown how sometimes he gets on the nerves of his employees. His work-life balance is nowhere to be seen (or probably rare) because work is his life. At times, his companies were on the verge of bankruptcy, he saved them all alone even though very few people were there to support. His work was decades in the making, but in the end, it was all worth it. Musk earned a high-rank tech-lovers, and the industry that once used to make fun of him now has to collaborate with him, for he has earned a rightful position at the top.
Elon recently unveiled the Tesla pickup truck.
Not just that, the millennials and Gen Z value him even more highly for his online presence. From hosting Meme Reviews on YouTube to tweeting absurd jokes, he is the full package of smart and witty. He occasionally pops up in the pop culture and enjoys being made fun of, to a specific limit, of course. The over the top and extraordinary presentations for cars, pickup trucks, and rockets in nerdy attires make him everybody’s beloved entrepreneur/genius. But, he often gets into hot waters as well for his judgments and comments, and there are quite a few people out there who don’t agree with him and his seemingly overly ambitious and ‘absurd’ views.
Whatever the case, one cannot deny the genius of this man and the entrepreneurial success he has had. Not only is he worth billions, but he is also the one who has brought to the world out-of-the-box ideas that took a while to begin but nevertheless were successful. Every few months, SpaceX is launching rockets, and Tesla bringing out amazing cars, and the compelling persona of Musk is what fuels it all. He may be the one who might take us to Mars, and the charisma that he exudes makes us think that he can do more such crazy things. Musk leads the example of how innovative one can be in this era where new and groundbreaking ideas and inventions are being introduced, and the high technological pace hints towards an even bigger and developed future. We can’t wait to see what he has in stores for us (literally and figuratively)!
Dr. Khan is a Pakistani nuclear scientist, known as the pride of the nation and the father of the Pakistan atomic bomb program. Dr. Khan headed Pakistan’s nuclear program for 25 years. He played a crucial role in strengthening Pakistan’s national security against India and other enemies of the nation. He is the only Pakistani scientist who has been awarded high civil rights twice.
Early Life and Career
This genius and patriot man was born on the land of Bhopal in 1963. After five years of independence, he migrated to Pakistan. He continued his further education at St. Anthony’sAnthony’s High School, and later he joined College of Karachi, where he studied physics and mathematics as major subjects. Later on, He moved to West Germany for higher education. He obtained a Master of Science (Technology) in 1967 from Delft University of Technology and then a doctorate in metallurgy from the Catholic University Leuven (Belgium) in 1972. He excelled in the field of metallurgy- the art of building centrifuges; by attending several courses in metallurgical engineering.
He also served in the URENCO consortium.
From May 1972 to December 1975, Dr. A Q Khan worked as a scientist on a nuclear plant in a Physics Dynamic Research Laboratory (also known as FDO), based in Amsterdam. Meanwhile, he also served in the URENCO consortium, specializing in the manufacture of nuclear equipment.
Contribution to Pakistan’s Nuclear program
Right after India declared their nuclear design, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto called an urgent meeting of Pakistani scientists on January 20, 1972, and put forward a dire need to carry out the task of nuclear explosions. Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission was appointed to supervise this task. On September 17, 1974, while Dr.Khan was working for URENCO in the Netherlands, he wrote a letter to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto offering his services as a nuclear scientist, and he also suggested him to adapt the uranium route in building a nuclear weapon. He headed to Pakistan in December 1974, met Bhutto in person, and convinced him to go with his uranium route rather than the plutonium.
Initially, he worked in coordination with Munir Ahmed, head of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, which didn’t work for an extended period. Later Bhutto provided A Q Khan full charge of the Kahuta Enrichment Project in July 1976. A Q khan built Engineering Research Laboratories (ERL) and developed the uranium enrichment plant. Later, on May 01, 1981, on the orders of Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, ERL was renamed as Dr. A.Q. Khan Research Laboratories (KRL). Ultimately this uranium enrichment led to the successful testing of Pakistan’sPakistan’s first nuclear device.
Significant Achievements
Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan has served in science and technology in several remarkable ways, he published more than 188 scientific research papers in international journals. The significant process was made in uranium enrichment with the successful test-firing of Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missiles, Ghauri 1, in April 1998 and Ghauri II in April 1999, respectively.
For his marvelous contributions, Dr. Khan received the honorary award of Nishan-i-Imtiaz and Hilal-i-Imtiaz.
Dr. A Q Khan was also the founder of the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Tech in Topi, Swat. He was awarded the prestigious degree of doctor of science from the University of Karachi in 1993, from Baqai Medical University in 1998, Doctor of Science from Hamdard University, Karachi in1999, and from the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore in December 2000. For his marvelous contributions, he received the honorary award of Nishan-i-Imtiaz and Hilal-i-Imtiaz.
In November 2003, the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency warned the government of Pakistan of possible nuclear leaks. Khan was suspected of playing a significant role in this transfer of information regarding nuclear technology to other counties.
On January 31, 2004, he was arrested for his involvement in nuclear proliferation. Initially, he denied the accusation. Still, on February 4, he made an appearance on the Pakistani television and took the complete responsibility of his actions and exonerated Pakistan military and government from this scandal that rose a lot of questions later. He was held house arrest until 2009. Despite being a controversial figure, he is still hailed by the masses as the national hero and pride of Pakistan.
SpaceX launched its last rocket of the decade, on Thursday, December 5th, from Cape Canaveral Florida. The rocket Falcon 9 successfully lifted off and is on its way to the International Space Station, carrying essential supplies and experiments for the astronauts onboard ISS.
The brand-new rocket carried previously used the Dragon capsule. It is the SpaceX’s 19th trip to the ISS and the final trip of the decade. It is part of NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services Program. The reusable rocket booster, after successfully sending its payload to space, descended and successfully landed on the SpaceX’s drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” in the Atlantic Ocean. In about a month the Dragon capsule will also return to earth.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida. Photo credit: NASA
The absence of gravity and microgravity has different and mysterious effects on chemical and biological reactions. About one-third of the payloads delivered to the ISS are meant for science experiments to be carried out on the orbiting premier laboratory. The experiments carried out on the ISS range from biological experiments such as to study the effect of microgravity on muscle degradation of mice, to experiments such as observing the behavior of fire in microgravity. The payload also included a brewer sent by Anheuser-Busch to study the brewing and malting of barley seeds in microgravity in order to make Budweiser the “first beer on Mars”.
In 2018 alone, SpaceX carried out a record of twenty-one launches. Although this year SpaceX had launched twelve launches to this date, it plans to send more before closing the decade. By mid-December, SpaceX plans to send 60 more of its Starlink internet satellites. It also plans to conduct an in-flight abort test that will jettison Crew Dragon Capsule during the flight. But the dates of these tests have not yet been announced.
Scientists have been warning over the years about the drastic climate change and global warming. This year, such climate-warming CO2 emissions are expected to set a new high record, proving the predictions of the scientists and painting a frightening picture of the danger we are putting our planet into.
At the end of 2019, fossil fuel will release in an all-time high amount i.e. 36.8 billion metric tons of CO2, which is higher than the last year’s emissions. There is still more use of oil and gas across different regions and thus the levels are expected to climb even more.
A great effect of high emissions is the declining air quality in major cities of the world, like Beijing and New Delhi.
Some countries are moving towards or prepping to use renewable energies that don’t pose serious threats as fossils and other non-renewable sources to the environment. But this is very limited and most popular in North America and Europe. The rest of the world has still a far way to go. According to environmental scientist Rob Jackson of Stanford University, “Most of the renewables being built today aren’t displacing coal and other fossil fuels — they’re [just] adding new energy.” He published a paper recently with his colleagues and discussed the policies for the climate that can cut and affect the use of fossil fuels. Coal usage has somewhat declined over the years but the rise in usage of other reserves cancel out its minimal decline.
In countries like China and India as
well as most of the developing nations, the emissions have been rising over the
years and the aftereffects are visible in the declining air quality in the
major cities which have led to local health concerns. In the U.S. and Europe,
emissions may be on the decline, but more per capita carbon dioxide is produced
than other nations.
NASA says that it has located the debris site of the Vikram lander which had crashed on the lunar surface in an attempt, by Indian Space and Research Organization (ISRO), to carry out a soft landing on the moon on September 7.
NASA released images taken from
its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) which showed the site of the
Vikram lander’s impact and “associated debris field” of the lander scattered
over the lunar surface, some 350 miles (600 Km) from the lunar South Pole.
The debris was found by an
amateur Indian astronomer, Shanmuga Subramanian, who was scouring the images
released by LROC team of the impact site.
This image shows the Vikram Lander impact point and associated debris field. Credits: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University.
Comparing the images of the impact site before the Vikram lander crashed
and a later picture, there was a disturbance spotted on the lunar terrain.
Vikram lander was the rover onboard Chandrayaan 2 and attempted to carry out a soft landing on the lunar South Pole. While many missions by other nations―US, Russia, and China―have carried out a soft landing on the moon, but none has attempted to land on the lunar South Pole. Chandrayaan 2 had successfully deployed its orbiter into the lunar orbit and subsequently, Vikram lander started its descent. Everything was going as planned when, suddenly and unexpectedly, the ground stations lost control with lander just 2.1 km above the lunar surface.
A Historic Achievement
The live launch was witnessed by an enthusiastic crowd of around 7000, apart from millions of online viewers, at the Sriharikota Space Station, an island on the eastern coast of India. Even though three lunar maneuvers were completed, the lander crashed just before landing. The attempt was lauded and ISRO was widely appreciated around the world.
“I congratulate India and ISRO on its historic attempt to make a successful soft landing of the Vikram Lander at the South Pole of the Moon,” said Namira Salim, who is renowned as the First Pakistani to go to space aboard Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, the First Space-line of the world. “The Chandaryaan 2 lunar mission is indeed a giant leap for South Asia which not only makes the region but the entire global space industry proud.” Vikram Lander exhibited normal performance up to an altitude of 2.1 kilometers from the moon until ISRO lost signals.
Stephen William Hawking was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author, and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge. His central exploration was in the areas of theoretical cosmology, focusing on the evolution of the Universe, governed by the laws of general relativity. He is best known for his work on black holes. With the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, a theory called ‘Hawking radiation,’ he became the first to set forth a cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics.
Hawking suffered from a rare and life-threatening condition of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a disease he suffered all of his adult life. The illness started when he was 21 and pursuing his Ph.D. at Cambridge University. For a significant part of his later life, he was almost completely paralyzed and communicated through a speech-generating device. Not succumbing to the despair of the disease, Hawking devoted all his life to his work and research. He was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge for around three decades and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. For his contribution to his pioneering work in cosmology, he made Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Hawking suffered from a rare and life-threatening condition of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Hawking became a member of the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge in 1968, and the discoveries of cosmologist Roger Penrose on Black Hole really fascinated him. He started research on the origin of the Universe. In 1970, Hawking discovered the ‘Second Law of Black Hole Dynamics,’ which states that the event horizon of a black hole can never get smaller. Along with James M. Bardeen and Brandon Carter, he proposed the four laws of ‘Black Hole Mechanics.’
Hawking visited Moscow in 1973, and his discussions with Yakov Borisovich Zel and Alexei Starobinsky helped him to come up with ‘Hawking Radiation.’ The following year, he became a ‘Fellow of the Royal Society.’ He started to get more recognition for his research and discoveries through his print and TV interviews. In 1975, he was awarded the Eddington Medal and the Pius XI Gold Medal, followed by the Dannie Heineman Prize and the Maxwell Prize.
Hawking was then appointed as a professor with a chair in gravitational physics in 1977 and received the ‘Albert Einstein Medal’ and an honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford. He gradually started losing control over his speech, and it became increasingly difficult to understand him but that this did not stop him from getting appointed as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University in 1979.
In 1982, Hawking and Gary Gibbons organized a Nuffield Workshop on the topic ‘The Very Early Universe’ at Cambridge University, which focused principally on the cosmological inflation theory. He published a model, the ‘Hartle-Hawking state’ with Jim Hartle, which stated that before the Big Bang, time did not exist, and the concept of the beginning of the Universe is meaningless.
Hawking received the ‘Albert Einstein Medal’ and an honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford
In 1985, he lost his voice after a tracheotomy. As a result of this, he required 24-hour care. His condition caught the attention of a Californian computer programmer who invented a speaking program that could be directed by the head or eye movement.
Hawking gained international prominence for the first time in 1988 with the publication of ‘A Brief History of Time.’ It was meant to be a simplified version of cosmology for the masses and became an instant bestseller. In 1993, he co-edited a book on Euclidean quantum gravity with Gary Gibbons. A famous collection of essays, interviews, and talk titled ‘Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays’ was published in 1993. It was followed by a six-part television series, ‘Stephen Hawking’s Universe’ and a companion book.
Hawking wrote a bunch of cosmology books and made appearances in popular TV shows as well
He made a constant appearance on television during this period, in documentaries like—‘The Real Stephen Hawking (2001)’, ‘Stephen Hawking: Profile (2002)’, ‘Hawking (2004)’, ‘Stephen Hawking, Master of the Universe (2008)’, etc.
Hawking retired as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in 2009, owing to University rules and regulations. He continued to work as a director of research at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics.
Hawking became a ‘Commander of the Order of the British Empire’ in 1982. He was later honored with many prestigious awards like ‘the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society,’ ‘the Paul Dirac Medal,’ etc. Other notable honors bestowed upon Hawking include ‘the Wolf Prize,’ ‘Companion of Honor by Her Highness,’ ‘Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize,’ ‘the Copley Medal,’ ‘the Presidential Medal of Freedom,’ ‘the Russian Fundamental Physics Prize.
Hawking’s physical condition increasingly began to deteriorate. He could no longer drive his wheelchair; he required a ventilator at times and was hospitalized several times since 2009. He was closely working with researchers on systems that could translate his brain patterns into switch activations.
Stephen Hawking died peacefully at his home in Cambridge, England, on March 14, 2018, at the age of 76.
Most of us might have heard about the Tesla electric car, manufactured by the Tesla company, and might have thought it as the invention by the 19th-century scientist Nikola Tesla. But the Tesla Company was founded to honor the legendary scientist, more than sixty years after the death of the genius. Tesla was a great scientist whose inventions like Alternating current (AC), a three-phase electric power transmission system, hydro-electric power plant, and electrical transformer, are still in use in one way or another.
Early Life
Based in Smiljan, a small town of the former Austrian Empire, and in modern-day Croatia, Tesla was born on July 10, 1856. He had four other siblings―Dane, Milka, Angelina, and Marica. His mother, Djuka Mandic, although she was a housewife, but was the person who instilled the quest for inventions in the young genius, while he was growing up, through her own small devices for use in the household, during her leisure time.
Tesla’s father, Milutin Tesla, was an orthodox priest and writer in Serbia. He tried to push the young boy to join the priesthood. But the young Tesla had an interest only in the sciences.
Young Tesla had an interest only in the sciences
Career
As the young boy grew older, he showed signs of remarkable imagination and ingenious creativity. He started his study for a career in engineering at the Technical University at Graz, Austria. At Graz, he saw many scientific instruments, such as Gramme Dynamo, a generator, which spurred Tesla to conceive ideas, which he later on applied to develop Alternating current motor. During his stay at the University of Prague, he witnessed many other applications which instilled the juices of creativity in the young mind for his future inventions.
Eddison-Tesla Partnership
In 1884, Nikola Tesla left Europe and set sail for America with little more than clothes on his back and a letter of recommendation to a famous scientific and business mogul Thomas Edison. Edison hired Tesla in his well-established company, which manufactured DC-based electronics systems and their distribution in the United States and had become a standard. That kickstarted a short journey of scientific collaboration between the two remarkably genius, yet incompatible personalities. The two scientists began working together and made modifications and improvements to Edison’s inventions, but it lasted only in a few months and they parted their ways.
Tesla’s Solo Career as an Inventor
While Edison was a dominant figure with more focus on business strategies and marketing skills and therefore had financial success, Tesla was a simple man with very little know-how and interest in commercial strategy. Tesla strived to kickstart his solo career and cast around for investors to convert his tentative plans into practical applications. In 1885, he was able to get funding for the Tesla Electric Light Company and started working on to develop an improved arc lighting, and became successful. Unfortunately, he was once again abandoned by his investors and forced out of the joint venture. For a long time, Tesla had to survive by earning his bread through manual labor jobs. Fortunately, he succeeded in getting some funding for his new Tesla Electric company.
Stock certificate for the Tesla Electric Light and Manufacturing Company
Obstacles
Tesla, throughout his career, discovered, designed, and invented ideas for numerous inventions. Unfortunately, most of his ideas, including the dynamos (a generator which worked like batteries) and induction motors, were stolen and officially patented by other inventors. Despite these hardships, throughout his career, Tesla was a pioneer for the discovery of radar technology, X-ray technology, remote control.
He used the AC principle to develope a rotating magnetic field. His most well-known contributions are the Tesla coil and the AC system, which eventually became dominant in the US, and later on, declared as a standardized electric system all over the world. Tesla’s invention caught the attention of an engineer and businessman George Westinghouse, whose company, Westinghouse Corporation, bought the patent for sixty thousand dollars cash and stocks in Westinghouse Corporation.
Tesla invented another remarkable device that would revolutionize the communications systems forever by the end of the 19th century. He developed Tesla coils and laid the foundations for wireless networks, which are still used even today in several radio technologies and wireless radio transmission antennas.
In the early 20th century, Tesla became obsessed with wireless transmission of energy. Around 1900 he began work on one of his bravest but riskiest projects yet: to build a global wireless communication system to transmit information and providing free energy throughout the world utilizing massive electrical towers.
Tesla had an aim to build a global wireless communication system
He started his work by securing funding from a group of prominent investors. However, doubts arose among the investors after a few years of stagnant research with no great achievement. Consequently, Nikola had no choice but to abandon the project and eventually became bankrupt. The staff at his laboratories at Wardenclyffe on Long Island New York was laid off, and the massive tower dismantled and sold for scrap.
Tesla’s legacy
Tesla suffered a nervous breakdown after the failure of this project. His ideas became more and more impractical, and he became an eccentric person spending most of his time with wild pigeons at New York Park. Miserable and antisocial Tesla spent the last years of his life suffering from a coronary thrombosis and died on January 7, 1947, at the age of 86.
However, Tesla’s legacy remains alive with Hollywood movies made in his honor. A street corner identifying “Nikola Tesla Corner” was installed at the site of his former New York City laboratory.
In 2003, a few engineers founded Tesla Motors, a company in the name of Nikola Tesla, in his Memoriam, intending to develop the world’s first fully electric-powered car.
Last week, on 28th November, the sky blessed us with beautiful conjunction of Venus and Jupiter with the crescent moon. Did you miss it out because of the cloudy skies or were you so busy as to forget to look at the sky? Don’t worry we have got you covered. Here are some of the stellar planetary parade photos taken by skywatchers and stargazers from around the world!
The planets are seen with the crescent moon in the skies of Quetta, Pakistan. (Credit: Muhammad Saleem Bin Akram)
Venus-Moon-Jupiter Trio, Milkyway, Windmill Turbines and their Light, Water and Cold Breeze at Sindh Coastal Highway Wind Corridor. (Credit: Imran Rasheed Photography)
This shot was taken in Dillon, Montana. (Credit: Nathan Kelm)
In the skies of Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Credit: coroo.arg)
A fantastic shot showing the conjunction (seen on the upper left corner) over a busy city. (Credit: leimye)
About Venus
Venus’ surface is volcanic, covered with plains, high volcanic mountains, and immense furrowed plateaus. Venus has no moons and no rings. The planet’s surface temperature is around 465 degrees Celsius (900 degrees Fahrenheit) — sufficiently hot to liquefy lead. Many scientists believe that water once existed on the planet.
More than 40 spacecraft have visited Venus. In the 1990s, the Magellan mission mapped the planet’s surface and Akatsuki is currently in orbit around it. We already know that Venus’ extreme temperature and acidic atmosphere make it an unlikely place for life.
About Jupiter
Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. Eleven Earths could fit across Jupiter’s equator. It orbits around 778 million km (484 million miles) from our Sun. It orbits take ten hours to spin on its axis (a Jovian day) yet it takes around 12 Earth years to finish one orbit of the Sun (a Jovian year).
Jupiter is a gas giant. Its atmosphere primarily comprises of hydrogen and helium. It has more than 75 moons. In 1979, the Voyager mission found Jupiter’s ring framework. All of the four giant planets in our close planetary system have ring systems.
World AIDS Day, designated on 1 December every year since 1988, is an international day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourning those who have died of the disease.
AIDS (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome) is a pandemic disease caused due to the infection of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which causes damage to the immune system.
A Burundi woman called Jeanne was the first person to disclose that she was living with HIV, Twenty-five years ago. Today, Jeanne is holding leaders accountable and fighting for the right to health care.
Modern-day medical sciences already found treatments for HIV, and there are various formulas have been also taken to fight against discrimination and to safeguard HIV patients with proper treatments.
Still, there are millions of HIV patients, who still do not have access to tests, treatments, and medications for HIV. So it is important to observe the day. It will act as a reminder for all that HIV still exists and we need to fight together to end this the disease. This year the theme for World Aids Day 2019 is “Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Community by Community.”
History
World AIDS Day was first observed in 1988. And each year, different organizations across the world bring attention to the HIV epidemic, endeavor to increase HIV awareness and knowledge.
According to World Health Organization, “37.9 million people living with HIV at the end of 2018, 79 percent received testing, 62 percent received treatment, and 53 percent had achieved suppression of the HIV virus with reduced risk of infecting others.”
2.8 million Were children aged 0-18 years. Each day, approximately 980 children became infected with HIV. Nearly 320 children died from AIDS-related causes. Mostly because of inadequate access to HIV prevention, care, and treatment services.
Street children vulnerable to AIDS
There are approximately 100 million street children across the globe. In Pakistan, an estimated 1.5 million children are living on streets in highly vulnerable conditions.
The research was conducted by Dr. Faran Emmanuel – Independent Epidemiologist and principal investigator, Farah Iqbal and Naveed Khan – Co-Investigator. After three years of research the report concluded;
In Pakistan, 35% of children just hear about the disease
25% knew that HIV spread through sexual intercourse
17% knew that HIV can also spread through the use of unclean needles and syringes
Only 2% knew that blood and bi product can also be a reason
An overall 71% of the children did not know of any protective measure
06% of the children had incorrect information regarding ways to protect against HIV
Ratodero out Break
Meanwhile, an outbreak of HIV reported in Ratodero, Larkana Sindh this year, and to date, general screening for HIV has been done 37,272 individuals from the general population in Ratodero.
Till now 1,181 have suspected HIV positive during this screening. There are 941 children and 240 adults.
All suspected HIV cases were referred to the HIV Treatment center for confirmation. To date 754 Children have been confirmed positive and linked to HIV Treatment center. Similarly, 141 adults have been declared HIV positive and linked with HIV treatment center.
