My Science School

Worlds War II, also known as the Second World War, was fought I many countries between 1939 and 1945. The global war involved two opposing groups: the Allies and the Axis powers, France, Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and China constituted the Allies. The Allied powers were led by Winston Churchill (the U.K), Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union), Charles de Gaulle (France), and Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman (the U.S). The Axis powers were led by Adolf Hitler (Germany), Benito Mussolini (Italy), and Hideki Tojo (Japan).

What triggered the war?

The Second World War began in Europe on September 1, 1939, when German troops invaded Poland. Was it a continuation of the First World War? In a way, yes. The instability created in Europe and the economic depression worldwide as a result of WWI were major factors leading to WWI. Besides, Hitler had been waiting to regain territory lost after WWI, to unite all German- speaking people into one Teach in Europe. Hitler’s invasion of Poland forced Great Britain and France, which had promised support to Poland, to declare war on Germany.

Then Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, but soon found itself crippled by the Russian Winter. The war in the Pacific broke out in December 1941, when Japan, annoyed by the U.S. trade bans, attacked Pearl harbor, the American naval base in Hawaii, and other Dutch and British military installations throughout Asia.

When the war ended…

The war came to a close on September 2, 1945, when Japan formally surrendered. With Hitler’s death in April, Germany signed an unconditional surrender document. Mussolini was captured and hanged by Italian partisans.

With millions of soldiers and civilians losing their lives on account of the war, it was considered the largest and bloodiest war in history. The war saw the use of blitzkrieg tactics (a method of offensive warfare blending land and air action to achieve quick victory over adversaries), initially by Germany and later by the Allies, and devastating weaponry such as U-boat subs and atom bombs as a result of technological advancements.

The Holocaust

The deadliest conflict witnessed the Holocaust, the killing of almost six million Jews by the Nazis, and the Allied atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The U.S, the Soviet Union, France and China emerged victors of the war, while Germany, Italy and Japan embraced defeat.

The war brought about a major shift of power in the world, with the United States and the Soviet Union emerging as superpowers. It also resulted in the end of colonialism in Asia and Africa. One of the significant developments in the port-war worlds was the formation of the United Nations to maintain international peace and security.

 

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1. Pampakshetra of Kishkindha

Hampi was traditionally known as Pampakshetra of Kishkindha. It takes its name from the Tungabhadra river, which was historically called Pampa. As years passed, Pampa came to be known as Pampe, and Hampi is the anglicised version of this name. Another legend has it that Hampi was originally the monkey kingdom of Kishkindha, which finds mention in the Ramayana. This is the place where Rama is said to have met Hanuman.

2. Ruled by many

Hampi is popularly known as the capital of the Vijayanagara empire. But before the rise of this empire in the 14th century. Hampi is believed to have been in the hands of the chiefs of Kampili. As early as the third century. the region is said to have been a part of the Maurya empire. The city was at its peak during the Vijayanagara rule when most of the monuments came up. The Hampi we see today. however, is how the Deccan Sultanate had left it. The Sultanate besieged the city in 1565 and destroyed several of the monuments over a period of six months.

3. A city of monuments

Today. Hampi has over 1,600 surviving remains which include forts, royal and sacred complexes, temples, riverside features, mandapas, and memorial structures Most of the monuments were built in the Dravidian style, while some were in the Indo-Islamic style of architecture. Many of the temple complexes in the ruined city were once surrounded by tanks and bazaars.

4. The SAREGAMA pillars

The Vittala temple is one of the prominent monuments in Hampi. The temple is known for its magnificent architecture. This includes 56 melodic columns, also known as musical pillars. When these pillars are tapped gently, they create musical sounds. It is fascinating to many since the pillars are constructed out of stone. The musical pillars are also called the SAREGAMA pillars.

5. A temple with an inverted tower!

The Virupaksha temple in Hampi is one of the oldest surviving temples in the world, having been built in the 7th Century. The temple, dedicated to Shiva, has withstood the test of time. There is a dark chamber with a small opening in the temple complex which exhibits a pinhole camera effect during the day. When the sun's rays pass through this tiny opening, and fall on the western wall of the complex an inverted shadow of the main temple tower can be seen.

 

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In armies throughout the ages, the marching boot has been a prized possession. Weapons will only be needed in times of war, but the boot is needed every single day. Command sends the soldier into awful terrain on a regular basis, for long periods of time, often to cover very large distances.

And as has been stated in other answers, earlier legionaries wore the caligae, open sandal-like boots that had thick soles held together with hobnails. From the late 1st century onwards the army began to equip itself with calcei, an enclosed boot more often used by civilian workers. This transition may reflect the fact that more recruits were coming from the northern frontiers, where enclosed boots are of great benefit, or it might reflect changes in the supply system, with legions turning to civilian sources for their footwear. Whatever the reason, calcei were ubiquitous in the British provinces. At Vindolanda a Roman fort on Hadrian's wall, the wet conditions have preserved many examples of Roman footwear, civilian and military, adult and child. A great proportion (of all types) have hobnails hammered into the soles, a technique which binds the thick soles strongly together, which reduces wear and tear, and which gives an excellent grip akin to wearing modern football boots!

These are a pair of reproductions worn by a reenactment legionnary, who had them for three years.

 

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What is a stepwell?

As the name suggests, a stepwell is a pond or well with water that can be reached by descending a series of steps. It is mostly mutli-storeyed and can be found across western India.

Stepwells are prime examples of irrigation and storage tanks built to quench the thirst of the people during parched summers. They are mostly dug deep down to collect the seepage of an upstream lake or reservoir. This is why most stepwells are underground. The reason these are built with steps is to make it easier for people to access groundwater and to maintain and manage the well.

Most stepwells are intricately carved with several sculptures. Apart from serving as a well, they serve as a cool retreat during summers.

Rani-ki-Vav

Rani ki-Vav or the Queen's Stepwell is located in the town of Patan in Gujarat India. Situated on the banks of the river Saraswati, this stepwell was built in the 11th century AD. During the rule of the Chalukya dynasty it was constructed in menton of King Bhimdev I by his widowed wife. Queen Udayamati Prabandha Chintamani, composed by the Jain monk Menunga Suri in 1304 AD makes a reference to the construction of this stepwell by Queen Udayamati.

Built near the Saraswati, this stepwell was once completely floosted by the river and silted over till the 1940s. This is when the site was rediscovered by people. In the 1980s, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) excavated the site and restored it from 1981 to 1987. An image of Queen Udayamati was also recovered during the excavation

Rani-ki-Vav was declared a Monument of National Importance and protected by the ASI. It was included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 2014,

Architecture

The stepwell is built in the Maru Gurjara architectural style in the form of an inverted temple with seven levels of stairs and over 500 main sculptures, It is approximately 64m long, 20m wide and 27m deep

Most of the sculptures found here are devoted to Lord Vishnu in his ten forms. There are also sculptures dedicated to the Buddha

As mentioned before this stepwell is designed like an inverted temple to highlight the sanctity of water. The steps begin at the ground level and you have to go down seven pillared pavilions to reach the well below. At water level there is a caning of Seshashayi Vishnu - the avatar where he rests on his thousand hooted serpent Sesha. The well is present in the western most part of the complex.

 

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 Dr. Balasubramaniam from Indian Institute of Technology did a material sciences analysis of the iron, and here’s what he found (in easy words):

If you melt pig iron and add phosphorous in it, it will start breaking up. The iron would never come together and make bond with each other. So, what the manufacturers do is that they take out phosphorous out of the molten iron. (Just like you filter out tea leaves out from your tea, where tea leaves are your phosphorous molecules in an analogy.)

What ancient Indians did was they never took out the phosphorous out of the pillar. They welded the cylindrical pieces of wrought iron. To remove the phosphorous from it, they started hitting it from all sides with a hammer. Phosphorous got pushed towards the surface of the cylinder from inside. So inside had no more phosphorous while outer surface had a protective layer of phosphorous. It was a win-win.

 

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Firstly Hinduism is not a religion, it is way of life

Hinduism-oldest religion in world

The Vedas were written in 1700–1100 BC and Upanishads were written in 700 to 500 BC

Concept of cyclical time

Hindus believe in cyclical time

There is no beginning and endings

There are 4 yugas-1) kritayuga 2) Treta yuga 3)Dvapara yuga 4)kaliyuga

4 yugas are about 4.32 million years

At end of 4 yugas decline in human morality lead to total destruction of world

We are in 4th and final yuga kali

In kaliyuga shiva will perform a dance which will destroy the world.

Concept of Trimurti

Brahma-creator of world

Vishnu-preserver of world which means he protects the universe from being destroyed and keeps it going, according to this religion.

Shiva is known as "The Destroyer". At end of every yuga shiva destroys world by opening 3rd eye.

108 have long been considered a sacred number in Hinduism. This number also connects the Sun, Moon, and Earth: The average distance of the Sun and the Moon to Earth is 108 times their respective diameters.

Classification of Hindus

We all know Muslims are classified into Sunni and Shiva. Christians into catholic and Protestants.

Similarly Hindus are classified into

1) shaivism

2) vaishnavism

3) shaktism

4) smartism

Worship of five shrines with five deities, all treated as equal – Shiva, Vishnu, Surya, Ganesha, and Shakti

Science behind Hindu traditions

1. Tulasi

Tulasi is sacred in hinduism.we regard it as earthly manifestation of godess tulsi(avatar of laxmi)

Science-According to Ayurveda Tulasi enhances your immunity

2. Upavas/fasting

Science-fasting diet showed health benefits including weight loss, lower blood pressure and a drop in levels of the hormone IGF-1, which primarily stimulates growth but also plays a role in regulating blood glucose levels.

3. Throwing coins into river

Hindus believe throwing coins into river can make them lucky

Science-Ancient Indian Science was very superior and there are many mentions in Ayurvedic texts about use of copper for water purification, or using copper or silver pots to store water. Silver, Copper and their alloys have many antimicrobial properties. And in ancient times the currency was forged with copper and silver.

 

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But the Romans, lacking machine tools and industrialized manufacturing, produced surprisingly standardized and precise in line valves to finely control the water supply to public baths, fountains and quite often, individual homes.

The design was simple, a bronze or bronze alloy junction piece with a tightly fitting plug cylinder sleeved within it. This had holes in. Turn the spindle at the top and the holes align with the pipe allowing water to pass through and vice versa.

Some modern valves you get from the hardware shop work the same way and look surprisingly similar.

Simple, but to make it work it must be robust and precisely measured. The plug insert has to be a precise fit or it will leak or Caesar up. Ahem sorry, seize up.

You see, a valve isn't just a valve.

If you work back through the reverse butterfly effect of what is required to make a simple device standard across a whole empire that everyone uses, you see it takes a huge amount of collective effort.

We have the benefit of fine machine tools, synthetic polymers, stainless steel, a literate population that can read and count, standardized factories. Decades of craftsmen and engineers talking with each other, comparing designs, sharing best practice.

You need people to travel to demonstrate to craftsmen what is required. To travel you need efficient transport, or at least roads, and therefor a robust government administration to put that in place.

You have to have literacy and numeracy to a degree, otherwise you will have simply a hundred differing artistic interpretations of “valve”, not an empirical design.

You need enough of the workforce producing enough of a food surplus that a segment of the population can specialize in making stuff that isn't food. Like valves.

All this has to be in place first.

Rome, at its heart, was a slave owning economy based on simple agriculture. Human and animal muscle power drove it, and the wind helped blow its ships. In that respect it was little different from the Minoans, Egyptians, Assyrians or any other nameless, ancient culture.

And yet the pre-industrial Romans managed to coordinate themselves to such a degree that small groups of craftsmen, as far apart as northern England and Egypt, with hand tools in simple workshops, could produce a standard device that could, literally, plug into a standard plumbing system in different corners of the empire.

We picture the great aqueducts sweeping into the cities dumping water into troughs while the eager plebs gather around with their buckets.

In actual fact it was a lot more elegant, and indeed modern, than that.

 

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Extremely effective, because although they restricted visibility, they gave the occupier almost unlimited time to survey and take aim at their target, with almost no risk of being shot back at.

You actually stand inside the structure of an arrow slit. The floor slopes down, toward the opening, to afford the best view of the terrain below, and the chamfered walls mean you have a wide field of fire, even with a weapon like a crossbow (that most unskilled defenders would be using). A bow-shooter would gain as much as 20–30 degrees wider field of shot in the same opening, over a crossbow user, for instance.

The exterior view of the same sorts of arrow loops show that it would be near impossible to shoot back through them at the defender.

 

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The Blood-eagle

Basically, person would be tied, then his back would be cut open, skin removed, exposing the ribs, then each rib would be broken in form of the wings, and some left it there, but Vikings went a step further. They would take out victim’s lungs and hang them on the broken ribs.

Victim would be alive through most of the punishment, dying when their lungs were removed.

That would be so painful to the victim, that arguably it’s the most painful punishment in the history of the human race.

 

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1. In 1995, a guy named Sonny Graham had a heart problem and had to have a heart transplant. He was lucky enough to find a suitable donor. The former owner of the donor just shot himself, leaving a 28 year old widow. After the operation, as soon as Graham saw the widow, he fell in love with her. ?Later, they got married. Three years after getting married, Graham was found dead at home and police investigation revealed that he also committed suicide by swallowing a gun.

2. Confucius in China and Sakyamuni in Nepal.?Confucius and Sakyamuni were almost born at the same time.?Confucius created Confucianism, a traditional oriental culture, which is the most famous traditional culture in China; Sakyamuni created one of the largest religions in the world, Buddhism.

They both had a great impact on the world.

 

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The Bajau People of Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines). Real life “Aquamen”.

The Bajau are able to hold their breath much longer than the average people, up to 13 minutes and dive deep down to 60 meters underwater. They are semi-nomadic people that lived and relied on the seas, with mostly fishes and seafood for their diet.

No, they don’t have gills…

But they have adapted/evolved much larger spleen compared to other people.

Even as toddlers they were able to swim naturally. The nomadic Bajau babies were born next by the sea, and get introduced to it right after birth.

 

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The difference between tracked and wheeled is huge.

The biggest difference is ground pressure.

Tracks greatly increase the surface area under force.

A 70 ton M1 Abram tank has a ground pressure of about 15 PSI. A standard passenger car at maybe 2 tons, has a ground pressure of 30 psi. A stilleto heel has a ground pressure of about 471 psi.

The area used to support a M1 Abrams tank is measured in meters, the area used to support a passenger car is measured in centimetres, and the area used to support a stilleto heel is measured in millimeters.

Ground pressure

The bigger the area used to hold it up the weight of a object from the ground, the lower the ground pressure. The lower the ground pressure, the softer the ground could be and still allow a heavy object to be supported.

 

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Few ancient civilizations were as developed and prosperous as that of the Indus Valley. It had remarkably organized cities, a thriving economy, a better quality of life than that of many other civilizations.

A still mysterious civilization

The civilization of the Indus Valley is not as well known as those of Mesopotamia and Egypt which existed at the same time, presumably because its writing has not yet been deciphered.

So we still do not know much about the functioning of this society. Even its origins remain mysterious, it is not known when it appeared precisely.

This civilization had its golden age between 2600 and 1900 BC, with the two largest cities, Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, in particular, but it certainly appeared long before, perhaps even before the Mesopotamian civilizations. It could therefore be the first civilization of humanity.

An ideal geographical location

As the name suggests, this civilization was established along the Indus River which today flows mainly in Pakistan.

The Indus Valley is located at the eastern end of the rains that washed down the Mediterranean and the Middle East and at the western end of the Indian monsoon. The population therefore lived precisely where these two climatic systems meet.

The valley thus experiences two wet seasons, winter and summer, which allowed farmers to harvest two annual harvests. In Antiquity, the Indus Valley was therefore a particularly fertile region.

Thanks to these enormous agricultural yields, the economy was surplus, even flourishing, which allowed the populations to export the surplus food. Indeed, this civilization was very oriented towards trade.

Flourishing trade

At its peak, between 2600 and 1900 BC, the Indus Valley civilization extended over approximately 800,000 km², but its trade network extended far beyond. Harappan merchants did business in China, Southeast Asia, and Mesopotamia.

They exported all kinds of goods, agricultural products like cotton, a crop very greedy in water, which was relatively easy to cultivate in an area so watered by the rains.

The Harappans also took objects, pottery, ceramic or terracotta dishes, often of good quality.

Innovative technologies

They also sold ornaments (statuettes, figurines, etc) in copper and bronze thanks to a process ahead of its time and even still used today : Lost-wax casting

It is a process in which molten metal replaces, by melting it, a wax model placed in a mold. This technique allows complex parts to be cast in one piece (without welding) with great precision in details.

To guarantee trade, trust is essential. Sellers and buyers must trust each other. Nowadays, trademarks, like logos or labels.

But thousands of years ago the people of the Indus Valley had already invented this. In particular, they used terracotta seals which had the same function as modern brands. They attested to the quality of the product and to the merchant's membership of a particular community.

Planned cities

The Harappan cities were organized according to a very rational, resolutely modern plan. The streets, the buildings were all tailor-made.

The cities obeyed mathematical principles. The length of the buildings was greater than their width at a fixed ratio and accurate to less than 1 %, which made the architecture complex. These proportions may have obeyed cosmic forces, very present in Hindu mythology.

Running water is often associated with ancient Rome. Yet the cities of the Indus were also equipped with a remarkable water supply system, thousands of years before the Romans.

The houses had bathrooms and toilets. The waste water was evacuated, thanks to terracotta pipes, in gutters then in the river.

A peaceful society?

Once again, for lack of torn writing, little is known about Harappan society. However, archaeological excavations would indicate that these societies were relatively peaceful and egalitarian.

The towns were surrounded by ramparts but nothing indicates that they had a defensive function, they were rather used to control the influx of people and goods. In addition, few weapons were found.

The rarity, even the absence of wars can be explained by the trade which had a particular important place in the valley of Indus. Indeed, trading partners rarely go to war.

An egalitarian society?

Archaeologists have not found any royal palaces or religious temples. That doesn't mean there weren't any, but then they were modest in size.

This would therefore indicate that the Harappan societies were more egalitarian than the Mesopotamian and Egyptian societies which had, for their part, monumental palaces and temples for the elites and priests.

Mysterious disappearance

After a golden age of 7 centuries, the civilization of the Indus Valley ended up disappearing around 1900 BC for reasons still unknown.

However, it is likely that at the time the region was ravaged by epidemics due to the long distance trade which brought diseases from far away lands, such as leprosy and tuberculosis, which surely contributed to the decline of this civilization.

In addition, at this time, the region's climate probably dried up, reducing agricultural yields. Societies were ravaged by malnutrition and even famine.

Finally, the decline of this civilization has undoubtedly destabilized the social order, which would have created violent conflicts as evidenced by many damaged skeletons dating from this period.

 

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Technology and advancement have brought us so far that there were some jobs which are now obsolete or entirely changed.

Following are some which are old forgotten jobs.

Pre-radar Listener

These were used to detect enemy aircraft.

Pre-Radar listener is one of them. During war times these pre-radar listeners were used to detect the enemy approaches. They had built in a way that could capture sound from some good distances and were used for reporting and surveillance.

Bowling Alley Pinsetter

Workers usually young boys used to work at bowling alleys. Their job was to set up the pins for customers. Really used to be a very busy job.

Lamplighter

Workers were required to refuel and extinguish the lamplights. These lamplighters used long sticks to light the lamp and refuel before the bulbs and electric lamps were introduced

Switchboard Operators.

Not long ago, these workers were an essential part of the telephone networks. They used to connect long distance calls by switching pins.

 

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The Prison System in the 18th, 19th and beginning of the 20th century was solely based on punishing

So, you might think the prison system today is harsh. Think again. In the 19th century the US and Britain prison systems were based on punishing prisoners to the point that they wouldn’t commit a crime again in fear of landing in prison.

How bad was it?

First let me tell you about this one

The Eastern State Prison

The eastern state prison was a 40,000 square meter prison, and was for a long time the largest building in the US.

The Eastern State Prison’s system was basically based on completely isolating the prisoner, so for his whole sentence he would not see nor communicate with another inmate ever.

When the prisoner was first shoved to his cell, a mask was put over his head to prevent him from seeing another prisoner.

The walls were extra thick to prevent communication by knocking on the wall

When the prisoners arrived they were all given a number, which was the only name they were allowed to go by

The prisoners received food through a hole in the wall to prevent catching an eye contact with the guard

And you think just that is bad? Because there’s more.

In many prisons the prisoner had to pay just to sleep on a bed and sometimes also to be released.

So if you didn’t have any money, you could be just left inside the prison for a couple more years after your sentence.

The prison food was truly awful.

Often the prisoners just received nothing more than a little bit of porridge, gruel or soup for every meal.

* The work was most often completely meaningless

This was a very common tactic in prisons, to rob the prisoner of the joy that comes from a job well done, because, well, he hadn’t really achieved anything at all.

Some of the work prisoners did included:

The Crank

Prisoners had to turn a crank up to 10,000 times per day, with absolutely no purpose

The Penal Treadmill

Basically stairs that whenever you stepped up, it turned, so to avoid falling of you just had to keep stepping

Breaking rocks with a sledgehammer

Now, you might think they needed smaller rocks for making roads or building something but that was not the case. It on purpose had no meaning.

 

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