The modern day violin was first designed in Italy by Andrea Amati, of the Amati family, in the 1500s. Future generations of the Amati family – sons Antonio and Girolami and grandson Nicolo Amati – perfected the art of making this musical instrument. Antonio Stradivari and Andrea Guarneri, Nicolo’s pupils, further improvised the design eventually…
Cotton gets its name from the Arabic word ‘qutun’, which means fine textile or fabric. Archaeologists have found samples of cotton fabric, as old as 7000 years, at the sites of ancient civilizations, such as Mohenjo Daro, Egypt, and Mexico. Nonetheless, it is difficult to determine the exact period or place when cotton was first…
Ancient Indian mathematician Baudhayana is perhaps the first person to calculate the value of ‘pi’. In his text Baudhayana Shulba Sutra, he mentions that the perimeter of the pit is thrice its diameter, so the approximate value of π is 3. Since Baudhayana was essentially a priest, he used mathematical calculations for facilitating religious constructions…
The Himalayas are the world’s highest mountain range. They are also the youngest. Like any adolescent youth, this mountain range is continuously growing and changing every year. The current highest point of the range is at 29, 035 feet above sea level. This is a full 7 feet higher than the previous record. Professor Bradford Washburn of the…
What if snowflakes actually looked like pizza slices and hail stones resembled pretzels? In a research conducted as a part of NASA’s Global Precipitation Measurement mission, scientists have discovered that raindrops look like hamburger buns! It has been a long-standing belief that raindrops are tear-shaped. Cartoonists, illustration artists, doodle experts, and anyone who wishes to represent…
On 7th December, 1972, the crew members of Apollo 17 spacecraft took a photograph of the Earth. This photograph, known as The Blue Marble, gives a clear idea as to why we know Earth as the Blue Planet. The earth’s surface contains more than 70 per cent water distributed in the oceans. Water molecules in…
