My Science School

Finding inspiration

Markus Zusak's parents, Lisa and Helmut, who had lived in Nazi Germany before moving to Australia, loved regaling him with stories about their experiences in Germany during World War II. One day at dinner, Lisa, who became the inspiration behind the characters of Liesel and Rosa Hubermann, narrated an incident that took place when she was six. She heard a noise that sounded like cattle being herded down the street. When she looked out, she saw people being taken to a concentration camp. Among them, there was an old man who couldn't keep up, and so a boy gave him a piece of bread. They were both whipped, one for giving the bread and the other for taking it. A young Zusak loved listening to these real-life stories and wondered about the lives of ordinary people in Nazi Germany. Later, it is these stories that helped him to write "The Book Thief”, which has been translated into over 40 languages.

The write start

Zusak began writing fiction at the age of 16. However, his first attempt at writing a story about a boy with a cyst on his head that could burst at any time-was not successful. By page eight, he abandoned the effort!

During his initial days of writing, he pursued a degree in teaching. Unfortunately, his first job as a teacher was not quite what he had imagined. It involved cleaning up the mess left behind by students rather than teaching them.

A success story

A loner as a child, Zusak was always drawn to characters on the fringes. And so he wrote about a 15-year-old boy Cameron, a semi autobiographical character, in his first book, "The Underdog", published in 1999. His next book, "Fighting Ruben Wolfe", dealt with the boxing matches he fought with his brother in their backyard. By then, his popularity had grown in Australia.

Despite his writing experience, Zusak was sceptical about his fourth work "The Book Thief”. He thought no one would ever read the book and so revised it 200 times. To his surprise, the book sold over eight million copies worldwide.

Popular works

“The Book Thief”

Published in 2005, 'The Book Thief' is a story of a little blonde girl called Liesel Meminger. She steals books and reading them helps her face the horrors of war with courage. In fact, the first words Liesel reads are those from an instruction manual on grave digging which she flicks from a graveyard. Later, a sick Jew hiding in her foster family's basement teaches her to read and write. The messages he leaves behind on his death embolden her to fight back the Nazi regime and pick up the shreds of life shattered by the war.

"Bridge of Clay"

Zusak wrote his next book 'The Bridge of Clay", nearly 13 years after “The Book Thief". Published in 2018, it depicts the plight of orphans. The story revolves around five brothers coming to terms with the disappearance of their father. Zusak had a hard time finishing the book as he could not decide on the right narrator. For six years a character named Maggie was the narrator of the novel, but upon revision was completely scrapped. Finally, he decided to make Matthew Dunbar the narrator.

 

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"Life is not always a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well- And staying true to his words, John Griffith Chaney, aka Jack London, did exactly that. Overcoming extreme poverty and hardship, London went on to pen timeless classics that made him one of the first highest paid American authors.

From his first book The Son of the Wolf Tales of the Far North to his bestsellers "The Call of the Wild and "White Fang". London wrote about characters - human and canine struggling to survive in a cold, hard world, something he had closely experienced.

Like the characters in his books. London had a tough life. With his family under constant financial strain, he started working in the docks at a young age. In the proximity of the sea and listening to the sailors talk about their sea-faring adventures. London yearned for some adventures of his own.

Dropping out of school at the age of 14, he bought a small boat and went to San Francisco Bay. On the way, he tried his hand at oyster fishing and even worked for the government fish patrol to capture poachers who fished illegally.

At the end of the voyage, however, real life awaited him. The Great Depression had left thousands unemployed. And London joined them in their desperate search for jobs. Ferrying illegally on freight trains, he travelled the length and breadth of the country, but did not find employment. Instead, he discovered his calling as a writer.

The write start

Unable to find a job even after graduation, London took up writing as a full-time profession. He drew up a daily timetable to write sonnets, ballads and adventure stories, and increased his pace steadily. His first book, "The Son of the Wolf Tales of the Far North" was published in 1900. The stories of his Alaskan adventures won praise for their fresh subject matter and force.

In 1897, he embarked upon another adventure: this time to the gold mines of Yukon in Canada to experience the life of the workers in the Klondike Gold Rush. His experiences became the basis of his book "The Call of the Wild". It made him a bestselling author.

From the trenches

A few years later, in 1904, London began to work as a war correspondent. This marked the beginning of yet another chapter in his exploits. As a war correspondent during the Russo-Japanese war, London defied the Japanese and risked his life to get to the front lines in Korea. Instead of reporting from Japan, London hired a boat and risked his life to crossed the Yellow Sea in the middle of a storm to reach the Korean coast. However, his adventure came to an end as soon as he reached the front lines. He was arrested by the Korean police and later released.

Writing from experience

London's writing was based on things he had experienced. To write on a particular subject, he would completely immerse himself into it. For instance, once to expose the adverse conditions of Europe's working class population, he posed as an American sailor stranded there. For nearly seven weeks, he wandered the streets to get a firsthand experience of how people felt. He slept in doss houses (cheap lodging for homeless people) and even lived in London's slums. He wrote about his experiences in one of his most important works "The People of the Abyss." His adventures set him apart from other writers. And on November 22, 1916, he died in his home on a ranch in California. His legac lives on.

Oh, really?

• In addition to his writings. Jack London was a prolific photographer. His photographs of east London's slums highlighted the abject poverty in which many of the Londoners were forced to live even as Great Britain was expanding its empire overseas.


• As a war correspondent in Asia, London attempted to sail around the world on his own boat, but the journey ended abruptly in Australia.

Popular works

Published in 1903, " The Call of the Wild" is about a pet dog named Buck, who is abducted from his home and forced to work as a sled dog in Alaska. Buck has to fight to survive and dominate other dogs, and eventually embrace his wild ancestry. "The White Fang (1906) is a companion novel to "The Call of the Wild". Both the novels explore the world of humans from the point of view of animals. The books also explore complex themes, including morality and redemption.

 

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Early life

His parents worked on the world’s first commercially-built computer, Ferranti Mark-I. After graduating from school, Berners-Lee opted to study Science at Oxford University. He thought it might be more practical to study Science as it combined his interests in Electronics and Maths. In fact, it turned out to be more than just a pragmatic choice as it opened up a world of knowledge for him.

A love for trains

When he was 1, Berners-Lee went to a school located between two railway tracks. He used to encounter a lot of trains on his way, and he started trainspotting, an activity of watching trains and writing down the numbers each engine has. When he was in college, he even made a computer out of an old television set. He bought the set from a repair shop. And assembling the computer cost him only five pounds (approximately Rs 500.)

Bringing the world closer

While working at the European Laboratory for Particle-Physics (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, a 25-year-old Berners-Lee began tinkering with a software programme to connect the world. He worked with Belgian systems engineer Robert Cailliau to refine the proposal for a hypertext system, which eventually led to the creation of the World Wide Web. He also created the first web browser and editor. The world’s first website, http://info.cern.ch, was launched on August 6, 1991. It explained the World Wide Web concept and gave users an introduction to getting started with their own websites. Right from the start, Berners-Lee recognized that the Web could either be a boon or bane. According to his website, Berners-Lee hopes that the web can be used as a communication tool and can help people understand each other.

The future is Solid

Over the last few years however, there have been many instances of big tech companies using the Internet to infringe upon the privacy of their uses. Disappointed by this, in November 2020, Berners-Lee announced his comeback with a project to decentralize the Internet and secure the users’ privacy. His new project, Solid, aims to restore the control of the Internet to its users and “redirect” the Web to his original vision of a democractic and equal network of information. He stated on his website that the current web had became “a driver of inequality and division”. He doesn’t like the fact that his invention is now being ruled by a handful of tech giants who demand personal information from users in exchange for their services.

Oh really?

• Burners-Lee was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004.


• In college, Berners-Lee built a computer out of an old television set.


• The first website was info.cern.ch, hosted by CERN, on Tim’s desktop computer.


• It is estimated today that just under 40% of the world’s population has Internet access.


• Berners-Lee worked as a teacher at MIT in Boston.

 

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From "The Little Mermaid" and The Ugly Duckling" to "The Emperor and his New Clothes and "The Steadfast Tin Soldier, fairytales written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen have been our childhood companions. But did you know that Andersen's life too was no less than a fairy tale? Read on to know more...

Early life

Born in 1805 in Odense, Denmark, Andersen came from an extremely poor family. His father worked as a shoemaker and mother was a washerwoman. Thanks to his father, Andersen had a rich imagination and a love for storytelling. Tragedy struck when Andersen lost his father at the age of 11.

After his father's death, Andersen moved to Copenhagen, hoping to become an actor. He was gifted with an exceptional voice. However, his voice soon lost its special quality and a disappointed Andersen was about to return home empty-handed when he met Jonas Collin, director of the Royal Danish Theatre. Collin funded Andersen's education after seeing his talent for spinning stories and realising he needed to go to school.

However, school tuned out to be a bitter experience for Andersen. He was much older than the other students, and the schoolmaster found endless ways to make fun of him. Finally, Andersen completed his schooling with the help of a private tutor. He later attended and graduated from Copenhagen University. Andersen spent many years travelling and writing poems, books, and plays, which met with some success. In 1835, he published his first novel, "The Improvisatore", and the same year, he published his first collection of fairy tales, known as "Fairy Tales Told for Children", but was later renamed "New Fairy Tales and Stories".

Fairy tale ending

Andersen put many pieces of his own life into his fairy tales. For instance, "The Little Mermaid" features the mermaid moving from one world to another something Andersen experienced when he rose from poverty. Similarly, he drew upon his mother's past to write "The Little Match Girl", a story full of compassion for the underprivileged. His personal experiences are also reflected in "The Ugly Duckling", which points out that sometimes the qualities that make you feel lonely, different and out of place are the very qualities that, when properly used, can make you shine.

In 1867, he returned to Odense, and the last of his fairy tales was published in 1872. After a long illness, he died in Copenhagen on August 4, 1875. In honour of his legacy, a Hans Christian Andersen statue along with the Little Mermaid was erected in 1913. Another statue of the author is in New York City's Central Park.

Oh really?

• The Little Mermaid" and "The Snow Queen" stories are actually tragedies, they had unhappy endings. But the tone of the stories was made lighter when they were adapted into films by Disney.


• Two museums, H.C. Andersen Hus and H.C. Andersens Barndomshjem, are dedicated to the author in his hometown of Odense. In addition, there's a statue in Central Park, New York, commemorating Andersen and his story, "The Ugly Duckling"


• Andersen's fairy tales have been translated into more than 125 languages.

Legacy continues

The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are bestowed upon a children's writer and an illustrator for their "lasting contribution to children's literature". The writing award was inaugurated in 1956, the illustration award in 1966. The writing award is also called the "Nobel Prize for children's literature".

 

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Stanley Martin Lieber, better known as Stan Lee, is credited with creating iconic characters and infusing superheroes with personalities and emotions, making them more human and relatable. But did you know he started writing comics for Marvel at the age of 172 Read on to know about the figurehead of Marvel Comics, who ushered in a new age of comics.

Early life

Lee was born on December 28, 1922 in the middle of the Great Depression. Struggling to make ends meet, Lee and his family lived in a tiny, cramped apartment in the bustling city of New York. In this confined atmosphere, he threw himself into books, reading everything, including Mark Twain, Jules Verne Hardy Boys and Jonathan Swift. Reading enabled him to hone his sense of adventure and creativity, thus he began scribbling his own comics.

The Marvel years

A lucky break at 17 landed him a job as an assistant at "Timely Publications", which would later turn into "Marvel Comics". Although he loved writing his own comic books, the thought of working for a comic books company never crossed his mind. At "Timely", his job was far from glamorous. He had to bring coffee and sandwiches for the team, fill inkwells and erase the pencil lines under the ink.

Adventures of the Human Eraser

Erasing pages everyday gave him the idea for a new superhero, ‘The human eraser’. The idea never took off, but he got a chance to write for the third issue of "Captain America". It was called

"Captain America foils the Traitor's Revenge". This was the first story he wrote, coming up with the idea that the superhero can use his shield as a weapon, a move that became widely popular among fans. Impressed with his work, Lee was made editor at just 17! But after 20 years into the job, Lee grew unhappy with Martin Goodman, the owner of the company, as he was demanding run-of-the mill characters. Lee was on the verge of quitting when his wife Joan advised him to write one book the way he'd like to and see what happened. She told him that even if Goodman didn't like it. Lee had nothing to lose anyway. What followed were the golden years of the company.

POW!

Responding to competition from DC's Justice League, Lee came up with "The Fantastic Four". What set the characters apart was that Lee gave them real emotions and problems. In the same vein, he created Peter Parker as an average, socially awkward kid, who turns into Spider-Man. The character was different from the typical macho heroes and villains of the time, and became instantly popular as fans could easily relate to him. In 2001, Lee started his own company POW Entertainment, along with Gill Champion and Arthur Lieberman. He remained Marvel's honorary chairman and was the executive producer of the Marvel films. He made it a point to appear in a cameo in every single Marvel film. Lee passed away on November 12, 2018, but his legacy continues to live on.

Lee's Lore

Name:

Stanley Martin Lieber

Born:

December 22, 1922

Died: November 12, 2018,

Popular works:

• "The Fantastic Four",


• "The Hulk",


• "Amazing Spider Man",


• "Doctor Strange", "Avengers"

The marvel method

In 1981, Lee and artist Jack Kirby created ‘The Fantastic Four' about four astronauts who acquire superpowers after a cosmic incident. One year later, Lee and artist Steve Ditko created "Spider-Man". Lee, Kirby, and Ditko adopted a collaborative workflow that came to be known as "the Marvel method".

Oh really?

• Stan Lee signed all his comics with the word "Excelsior!" and wrote 'nuff said’ at the end of some stories


• A 16-year-old George RR Martin, wrote a fan letter to Lee, pointing out a flaw in one of the editions of Fantastic Four


• In 2015, Lee's graphic memoir "Amazing Fantastic Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir was published.


• In the memoir, Lee revealed that Hulk's green colour was a result of a printer’s mistake. The character was actually supposed to be grey.


• Before he got his break in the comic books industry, Lee wrote obituaries for a local paper.


• Lee has a cameo appearance in all Marvel films.

The controversy

In 2018, Stan Lee was accused of behaving inappropriately towards nurses caring for him at his home. However, Lee's lawyer had "categorically denied" the accusations.

 

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From jasper and Jinx to Tom and Jerry

One of the most beloved rivalries in history is back! Wamer Bros, has released the first trailer of the upcoming "Tom & Jerry" film. It is the first movie to feature the legendary cat and mouse duo in almost three decades, and the setting is at a wedding in New York!

The film will be an eye-popping blend of classic animation and live action. While Tom and Jerry will retain their cartoon avatars, the rest of the world around them will be in live-action mode. In director Tim Story's "Tom & Jerry", the eternal frenemies will have to do the unthinkable... work together to save the day.

The cat and mouse duo was dreamt up by creators William(Bill) Hanna and Joseph (Joe) Barbera, who worked with MGM’s animation department. The studio was desperate while their competitors were coming up with hit characters like Porky Pig and Mickey Mouse.

Both the animators began brainstorming. Barbera wanted to create a simple cat and mouse cartoon, with conflict and chase, even though it had been done countless times before. So, Jasper and Jinx, who later became Tom and Jerry, were born.

The first episode featuring Jasper and Jinx Titled “Puss Gets the Boot” released in 1940 and won the studio and Oscar nomination for best animated short. But Hanna and barbera were not given any credit for it.

Scripting success

Buoyed by the success of “Puss gets the Boot”, the creators continued to develop the cat-and-mouse these on their own, even though their supervisor Fred Quimby didn’t want any more cat and mouse cartoons. And, the result was “Tom and Jerry”. The characters first appeared in 1941’s ‘The Midnight Snack.”

Modelled after the “Puss Gets the Boot” characters with minor alterations, the series followed Jerry, the rodent who continually outwitted his feline foe, Tom. Having grown up watching silent films starring Charlie Chaplin, the creators knew their cartoons could be funny without dialogue. Music composed by Scott Bradley underscored the action and Tom's trademark human-like scream was voiced by Hanna himself

Two decades later, their department at MGM was closed down in 1957 when the studio realised they could make money simply through re-runs of the shorts already created by Hanna and Barbera.

So the duo went on to set up their own production company, creating legendary characters such as Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear and hit shows like 'The Flintstones", "Top Cat", "Scooby Doo", "The Smurfs" and even "Charlotte's Web".

A new direction

Meanwhile, the production of "Tom and Jerry" was taken over by Chuck Jones, best known for his work on Looney Tunes at Warner Brothers. Jones gave Tom a new avatar with thicker eyebrows and a twisted face resembling the Grinch, one of Dr. Seuss's characters.

 

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