Maria Skłodowska was born in Warsaw in 1867, the fifth and youngest child of well-known teachers Bronisława and Władysław SkłodowskiHer father Władysław Skłodowski taught mathematics and physics, subjects that Maria was to pursue. Her mother, Bronisława, operated a prestigious Warsaw girls’ boarding school; she suffered from tuberculosis and died when Maria was twelve. Maria’s father was an atheist, and her mother a devout Catholic. Two years earlier, Maria’s oldest sibling, Zofia, had died of typhus. The deaths of her mother and sister, caused Maria to give up Catholicism and become agnostic. On both the paternal and maternal sides, the family had lost their property and fortunes through patriotic involvements in Polish national uprisings. This condemned each subsequent generation, including that of Maria and her elder sisters and brother, to a difficult struggle to get ahead in life.She studied at the clandestine Floating University, and beginning her practical scientific training in a laboratory at the Museum of Industry and Agriculture run by her cousinJozeph Boguski  who had been assistant in St. Petersburg to the great Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleyev.Skłodowska studied during the day, and she tutored evenings, barely earning her keep. In 1893 she obtained a degree in physics and began work in an industrial laboratory at Lippman’s. Meanwhile she continued studying at the Sorbonne and in 1894 earned a degree in mathematics.

In the same year Pierre Curie entered her life.She was still laboring under the illusion that she would be able to return to Poland and work in her chosen field of study. When, however, she was denied a place at Kraków University merely because she was a woman, she returned to Paris. Almost a year later, in July 1895, she and Pierre Curie married, and thereafter the two physicists hardly ever left their laboratory. Marie decided to look into uranium rays as a possible field of research for a thesis. She used a clever technique to investigate samplesUsing the Curie electrometer, she discovered that uranium rays caused the air around a sample to conduct electricity.Her achievements include the creation of a theory of radioacvtivity  (a term coined by her, techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes, and the discovery of two new elements, radium and polonium. It was also under her personal direction that the world’s first studies were conducted into the treatment of neoplasmsf(“cancers”), using radioactive isotopes.On receiving the Nobel Prize, Marie and Pierre Curie suddenly became very famous.In 1897 and 1904, respectively, Marie gave birth to their daughters,  Irene and Eve Curie.Skłodowska–Curie was the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize. Eight years later, she would receive the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, “in recognition of her services to the advancement of chemistry by the discovery of the elements radium and polonium, by the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element.”A month after accepting her 1911 Nobel Prize, she was hospitalized with depression and a kidney ailment. On 19 April 1906, Pierre was killed in a street accident.Her death on 4 July 1934, at the Sancellemoz Sanatorium in Passy, in Haute-Savoie, eastern France, was from aplastic anemia, almost certainly contracted from exposure to radiation.

Mark Joseph Inglis (ONZM, September 27, 1959) is a mountaineer, researcher, winemaker and motivational speaker. He holds a degree in Human Biochemistry from Lincoln University, New Zealand, and has conducted research in Leukemia. He is also an accomplished cyclist and won a silver medal in the 1 km time trial event at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games. He currently resides in Hanmer Springs, New Zealand with his wife Anne and their three children. Inglis and climbing partner Philipe Doole were stuck in an ice cave on Aoraki/Mount Cook for thirteen days due to an intense blizzard. The rescue of the two climbers was a major media event in New Zealand. Both men’s legs became badly frost bitten while awaiting rescue. Following Inglis’ rescue, both his legs were amputated below the knee. He returned to Mt. Cook in 2002 and reached the summit successfully on January 7 of that year.On September 27, 2004, he successfully climbed Cho Oyu  with three others, becoming only the second double amputee to summit a mountain greater than 8,000 metres in height. 

On May 15, 2006, after forty days of climbing, Inglis became the first ever double amputee to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. While acclimatizing at 6,400 metres (21,000 ft), a fixed-line anchor failed, resulting in Inglis falling and breaking one of his carbon fiber prosthetic legs in half. It was temporarily repaired with duct tape, while a spare was brought up from base camp. Inglis’s Everest expedition was filmed for the Discovery Channel series Everest: Beyond the Limit.

Florence Nightingale, 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910), who came to be known as “The Lady with the Lamp”, was a pioneering nurse, writer, and noted statistician. Florence Nightingale was born into a rich, upper-class, well-connected British family at the Villa Colombia, Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Inspired by what she took as a Christian divine calling, experienced first in 1837 at Embley Park and later throughout her life, Florence announced her decision to enter nursing in 1845, despite the intense anger and distress of her family, particularly her mother. She cared for people in poverty. Nightingale was courted by politician and poet Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton, but she rejected him, convinced that marriage would interfere with her ability to follow her calling to nursing. When in Rome in 1847, recovering from a mental breakdown precipitated by a continuing crisis of her relationship with Milnes, she met Sidney Herbert, a brilliant politician who had been Secretary at War (1845–1846), a position he would hold again during the Crimean War. Herbert was already married, but he and Nightingale were immediately attracted to each other and they became lifelong close friends. Herbert was instrumental in facilitating her pioneering work in the Crimea and in the field of nursing, and she became a key adviser to him in his political career. In 1851, she rejected Milnes’ marriage proposal, against her mother’s wishes. On 22 August 1853, Nightingale took the post of superintendent at the Institute for the Care of Sick Gentlewomen Florence Nightingale’s most famous contribution came during the Crimean War, which became her central focus when reports began to filter back to Britain about the horrific conditions for the wounded. On 21 October 1854, she and a staff of 38 women volunteer nurses, trained by Nightingale and including her aunt Mai Smith, were sent (under the authorization of Sidney Herbert) to Turkey, about 545 km across the Black Sea from Balaklava in the Crimea, where the main British camp was based. She and her nurses found wounded soldiers being badly cared for by overworked medical staff in the face of official indifference. She and her colleagues began by thoroughly cleaning the hospital and equipment and reorganizing patient care. “Within 6 months of her arrival in Scutari, the mortality rate dropped from 42.7 percent to 2.2 percent “During the Crimean campaign, Florence Nightingale gained the nickname “The Lady with the Lamp”, Nightingale moved from her family home to the Burlington Hotel where she was stricken by a fever, probably due to a chronic form of brucellosis (“Crimean fever”) that she contracted during the Crimean war She barred her mother and sister from her room and rarely left it. Nightingale was considered a pioneer in the concept of medical tourism. Nightingale wrote Notes on Nursing, which was published in 1860, a slim 136-page book that served as the cornerstone of the curriculum at the Nightingale School and other nursing schools established. Nightingale was awarded the Royal Red Cross by Queen Victoria. In 1907, she became the first woman to be awarded the Order of Merit. In 1908, she was given the Honorary Freedom of the City of London. By 1896, Florence Nightingale was bedridden. She may have had what is now known as chronic fatigue syndrome Her birthday is now celebrated as International CFS Awareness Day. On 13 August 1910, at the age of 90, she died peacefully in her sleep in her room at 10 South Street, Park Lane.

Anthony “Tony” William Greig (born October 6, 1946) is a former English test cricketer and currently a commentator.Greig was born at Queenstown in the Eastern Cape in Border Province, South Africa to a Scottish immigrant father and a South African-born mother. Educated at Queen’s College, Queenstown,South Africa, the choice of this school decided his cricket destiny. Many ex-Sussex players had been recruited to coach the cricket team at Queen’s College: during Greig’s schooldays, Jack Oakes, Alan Oakman, Ian Thomson, Ron Bell, Richard Langridge and Mike Buss all came out for a winter of work in the sunshine. All of them noticed Greig’s developing abilities, which led to a trial at Sussex when he was 19. He had already made a first class debut for Border Province in the Currie Cup. Greig’s father helped him decide between university study or pursuit of the Sussex offer. Greig headed to the West Indies in early 1974He became the team Captain in 1975. The transformation was swift. In the second test at Lord’s, Greig received a huge ovation on his way to bat, and delivered 96 runs. He scored 41 in the second innings and took three wickets. With a long gap between England commitments, Greig headed to Australia for the 1975-76 season to play grade cricket in Sydney. Greig was well known among colleagues as a man who wanted to take commercial advantage of his profile as a leading sportsman. He signed a number of endorsements and appeared in commercials in AustraliaIn When he returned to England, Greig caused more controversy in the lead up to the 1976 series against the West Indies. Appearing on television to discuss the coming summer, Greig’s ebullient oratory landed him in hot water when he expounded the West Indies players’ reputation for wilting under pressure1976, the West Indian bowlers managed to hit Greig’s stumps often and purists were divided as to whether the technique delivered an overall benefit. Certainly, many copied Greig over the years, most notably England teammate Graham Gooch. The best performance of Greig’s captaincy careercame in 1976-77, when England toured India for a five test series. England had not won a test series on the subcontinent for 15 yearsGreig rated the win at Calcutta, when he scored 103 on a broken pitch in front of 100,000 Indian fans, as the finest moment of his career.Greig was removed from the England captaincy for being involved in a major controversy.Greig first suffered an epileptic fit at the age of 14, during a tennis match. Successfully controlling the condition with medication and self management, few knew about it for much of his playing career. In 1971-72, he collapsed on the field during his first match for Eastern Province and half a dozen teammates were required to hold down his large frame. The incident was explained away as heat stroke. Returning from the tour of Australia in 1975, Greig suffered another fit at Heathrow Airport. His affliction became public during the Packer furore, when a number of commentators questioned his judgment in the matter and speculated that epilepsy impaired his ability to make decisions. These uninformed opinions were central to Greig’s decision to leave England in 1979. “I am proud to have achieved so much despite such a handicap,” he later wrote. Today, Greig lives in Australia and continues this commentary role

Amitabh Harivansh Srivastav on October 11, 1942), is an Indian film actor. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s and has since become one of the most prominent figures in the history of Indian cinema.Born in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, Amitabh Bachchan hails from a Hindu Kayastha family. His father, Dr. Harivansh Rai Bachchanwas a well-known Hindi poet, while his mother, Teji Bachchan was a Sikh from Faisalabad (now in Pakistan). Amitabh is the elder of Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s two sons, the second being Ajitabh She had some degree of influence in Bachchan’s choice of career because she always insisted that he should take the centre stage. Bachchan’s father passed away in 2003, and his mother on December 21, 2007. After completing study at Kirori Mal College of the University of Delhi and completed a Bachelor of Science degree. Bachchan gave up a job as freight broker for the shipping firm, Bird and Co., based in Calcutta, to pursue a career in acting. Bachchan made his film debut in 1969 as one of the seven protagonists in Saat Hindustani, Though the film was not a financial success, Bachchan won his first National Film Award for Best Newcomer.After doing few more roles, 1973 saw significant development in Bachchan’s career when director cast him in the leading role for the film  Zanzeer (1973) as Inspector Vijay Khanna 1973 was also the year he married Jaya and around this time they appeared in several films together, In 1974, Bachchan made several guest appearances in films In 1975, he starred in a variety of film genres from the comedy However 1975 was the year when he appeared in two films which are regarded as important in Hindi cinematic history, Deewar and Sholay.Released on August 15, 1975 was Sholay (meaning fire), which became the highest grossing film of all time in India, earning Rs.2,36,45,00,000 equivalent to US$ 60 million, after adjusting for inflation In 1999, BBC India declared it the “Film of the Millennium” and like Deewar, has been cited by Indiatimes movies as amongst the Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films. He acquired lot of success in the coming years.1978 was possibly the most accoladed year of his career and he starred in all four of the highest grossing films of India in that year.In 1979, for the first time, Amitabh was required to use his singing voice for the film Mr. Natwarlal.While filming Coolie in 1982, Bachchan suffered a nearly fatally intestinal injury during the filming of a fight scene with co-actor as he jumped towards the table, the corner of the table struck his abdomen, resulting in a splenic rupture from which he lost a significant amount of blood. He required an emergency splenectomy and remained critically ill in hospital for many months, at times close to death he spent many months recovering and resumed filming later that year after a long period of recuperation. The film was released in 1983, and partly due to the huge publicity of Bachchan’s accident, the film was a box office success. Later, he was diagnosed with Myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disorder.. His illness made him feel weak both mentally and physically and he decided to quit films and venture into politics. At this time he became pessimistic, expressing concern with how a new film would be received. Bachchan turned producer during his temporary retirement period, setting up Amitabh Bachchan Corporation, Ltd. (A.B.C.L.) in 1996ABCL produced a few other films, none of which did well. The fiasco and the consequent legal battles surrounding ABCL and various entities after the event, coupled with the fact that ABCL was reported to have overpaid most of its top level managers, eventually led to its financial and operational collapse in 1997. Bachchan attempted to revive his acting career and had average success in the year 2000, Bachchan stepped up to host India‘s adaptation of the British television game show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? entitled, Kaun  Banega  Crorepati its success set the stage for his return to film popularity. In November 2005, Amitabh Bachchan was admitted to Lilavati Hospital‘s ICU once more, to undergo surgery for Diverticulitis of the small intestine. He has won more than 100 awards and honors. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s and has since become one of the most prominent figures in the history of Indian cinema

Mother Teresa of Calcutta (August 26, 1910 – September 5, 1997), born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, was an Albanian Roman Catholic nun with Indian citizenship who founded theMissionaries of charity in(Calcutta)On September 10, 1946, Her father, Kolë Bojaxhiu was involved in Albanian politics. In 1919, after a political meeting, which left Skopje out of Albania, he fell ill and died when Agnes was about eight years old. After her father’s death, her mother raised her as a Roman Catholic. in her early years Agnes was fascinated by stories of the lives of missionaries and their service, and by age 12 was convinced that she should commit herself to a religious life. She left home at age 18 to join the Sisters of Loreto as a missionary. She never again saw her mother or sister.She took her first religious vows as a nun on May 24, 1931. She began her missionary work with the poor in 1948, replacing her traditional Loreto habit with a simple white cotton sari decorated with a blue border, adopted Indian citizenship, and ventured out into the slums. Initially she started a school in Motijhil; soon she started tending to the needs of the destitute and starving. In 1962, Mother Teresa received the Philippines-based Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding, given for work in South or East Asia. By the early 1970s, Mother Teresa had become an international celebrity. Teresa wrote in her diary that her first year was fraught with difficulties. She had no income and had to resort to begging for food and supplies. Teresa experienced doubt, loneliness and the temptation to return to the comfort of convent life during these early monthsTeresa received Vatican permission on October 7, 1950 to start the diocesan congregation that would become the Missionaries of Charity. Its mission was to care for, in her own words, “the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone.” It began as a small order with 13 members in Calcutta; today it has more than 4,000 nuns running orphanages, AIDS hospices, and charity centers worldwide, and caring for refugees, the blind, disabled, aged, alcoholics, the poor and homeless, and victims of floods, epidemics, and famine. With the help of Indian officials she converted an abandoned Hindu temple into the Kalighat Home for the Dying, a free hospice for the poor. She renamed it Kalighat, the Home of the Pure Heart (Nirmal Hriday). hose brought to the home received medical attention and were afforded the opportunity to die with dignity, according to the rituals of their faith; Muslims were read the Quran, Hindus received water from the Ganges, and Catholics received the Last Rites As the Missionaries of Charity took in increasing numbers of lost children, Mother Teresa felt the need to create a home for them. In 1955 she opened the Nirmala Shishu Bhavan, the Children’s Home of the Immaculate Heart, as a haven for orphans and homeless youth. Mother Teresa then expanded the order throughout the globe. Its first house outside India opened in Venezuela in 1965 with five sisters. Others followed in Rome, Tanzania, and Austria in 1968; during the 1970s the order opened houses and foundations in dozens of countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the United States.She was awarded the  Padma   Shri  in 1962. She continued to receive major Indian rewards in successive decades including, in 1972, the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding and, in 1980, India‘s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratan In 1982, at the height of the Siege of Beirut, Mother Teresa rescued 37 children trapped in a front line hospital by brokering a temporary cease-fire between the Israeli army and Palestinian guerrillas. Accompanied by Red Cross workers, she traveled through the war zone to the devastated hospital to evacuate the young patientsBy 1996, she was operating 517 missions in more than 100 countries. Mother Teresa suffered a heart attack in Rome in 1983, while visiting Pope John Paul II. After a second attack in 1989, she received an artificial pacemaker. In 1991, after a battle with pneumonia while in Mexico, she suffered further heart problems. In April 1996, Mother Teresa fell and broke her collar bone. In August she suffered from malaria and failure of the left heart ventricle. She had heart surgery, but it was clear that her health was declining. On March 13, 1997, she stepped down from the head of Missionaries of Charity and died on September 5, 1997. 

Michael Bolton (born Michael Bolotin on February 26, 1953), is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his soft rock ballads and tenor vocals. He is the descendant of observant Jewish grandparents who kept a kosher home Bolton, raised very liberal-minded, having both a Christmas tree and a menorah in his house. As a young man, his house was often filled with politicians. While his father worked for the City of New Haven and helped politicians get re-elected, his mother played the perfect hostess and also worked with women’s organizations. Bolton had never imagined then, as the city’s elite congregated on the wraparound porch of his childhood home, that one day he, himself, would be dining in the White House With that same open-mindedness, Bolton has explored many spiritual paths that departed from his own religion. At the age of 15, he began studying Buddhism and in later years took a serious interest in ancient forms of Eastern practice and meditation. He has written over 100 songs for an impressive array of artists This man of abundant creativity and energy has produced 19 albums. Deaf in one ear, his achievements include selling 53 million albums, eight top ten albums, two number one singles on the Billboard charts, and awards from both the American Music Awards and Grammy Awards. He says,

“Oh, for as long as I am breathing,

Till the stars fall from the sky,

You’re the one thing I believe in,

My every reason why.”

John Milton (9 December, 1608 – 8November,1674) was an English poet, prose, polemicist and civil servant for the Commonwealth of England. He is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost. Milton was writing at a time of religious and political flux in England. His poetry and prose reflect deep convictions.After Milton was born, on 9 December 1608, his father’s prosperity provided his eldest son with a private tutor, Thomas Young, and then a place at St Paul’s School in London. There he began the study of Latin and Greek, and the classical languages left an imprint on his poetry in English (he wrote also in Italian and Latin). His first datable compositions are two psalms done at age 15 at Long Bennington.At Cambridge he developed a reputation for poetic skill and general erudition, but experienced alienation from his peers and university life as a whole. He read both ancient and modern works of theology, philosophy, history, politics, literature and science, in preparation for a prospective poetical career Milton had command of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Spanish, and Italian from his school and undergraduate days; he also added Old English to his linguistic repertoire. The probable onset of glaucoma finally resulted in total blindness by 1654, forcing him to dictate his verse and prose to amanuenses, one of whom was the poet Andrew Marvell. He was impoverished and yet unrepentant for his political choices. he died in 1674 

Napoleon Bonaparte, (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) later known as Napoleon I, was a French military and political leader who had a significant impact on the history of Europe. He was a general during the French Revolution, the ruler of France as First Consul of the French Republic and Emperor of the First French Empire. Napoleon was imprisoned and then exiled to the island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean, 2,000 km from any major landmass.In the early years of exile Napoleon received visitors but, as the restrictions placed on him were increased, his life became that of a recluse.Napoleon married Joséphine in 1796, when he was 26; she was a 32-year old widow whose first husband had been executed during the revolution. Until she met Bonaparte, she had always been Rose, a name which he disliked. He called her ‘Joséphine.When Napoleon joins his army in March 1796, he found himself in command of 37,000 men who are demoralized, badly fed and unpaid. During April he led them in a series of rapid victories which vastly raised the soldiers’ spirits and held out the promise of rich loot under this energetic young commander.In fifteen days he gained six victories, took twenty-one colours and fifty-five pieces of artillery, seized several fortresses and conquered the richest parts of Piedmont. In time he met with the fateful battle of waterloo.On August 7  Napoleon was transferred to the Northumberland for the long journey to St Helena, the rocky island in the Atlantic which Britain used as a staging post for ships sailing to and from the east. Here, living with a small staff of his own in the island’s main house, Longwood, Napoleon spent the remaining six years of his life.The visitors became fewer and his life much bleaker for two reasons – the arrival in 1816 of Hudson Lowe as the governor of the island (antipathy between him and Napoleon is exacerbated by Lowe’s many acts of pettiness), and the onset of disease. From the end of 1817 Napoleon was increasingly ill – officially from cancer of the stomach, which the doctors declared to be the cause of his death in 1821. But the circumstances make possible, and perhaps inevitable, frequent claims that he was the victim of poisoning (modern scientific tests on strands of his hair, kept as mementoes, are said to reveal an unusually high level of arsenic). Napoleon, by contrast,was a provincial boy in Europe‘s largest and most sophisticated kingdom. He first achieved the apparently impossible task of rising to become head of state, with almost limitless power. He then imposed his will on the rest of continental Europe, maintaining a dominant role for France through his military, administrative and diplomatic skills and by the sheer power of his personality.