Zile de nastere - BirthdaysThe subject of the acclaimed 1988 film Stand and Deliver, Escalante was a math teacher who, with his unconventional teaching style, dedication, and complete faith in his students' potential, created a successful advanced placement—or college level—calculus program at a high school in a poor East Los Angeles neighborhood. In 1982, when 18 of his students received perfect or near-perfect scores on a national exam, they were accused of cheating. What happened when 12 retook the test? Discuss | The son of Roman emperor Vespasian, Titus gained renown as a military commander and was given command of the Praetorian Guard after repressing the Jewish rebellion in Judea. Upon succeeding his father in 79 CE, he pursued a policy of conciliation and sought popular favor. A benevolent ruler, he halted prosecutions for treason and spent lavishly on subjects, a practice that earned him goodwill in Rome but caused his successor financial trouble. What two disasters struck during his reign? Discuss | After Mexican leader Porfirio Díaz was deposed in 1911, a protracted power struggle ensued. Carranza was the third person in as many years to assume executive power after Díaz's ouster, but revolutionary leaders Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata objected and responded with force. Carranza prevailed, but his failure to implement key provisions of the liberal constitution of 1917 led to further unrest, and he was killed in 1920. What does carrancear, coined during Carranza's tenure, mean? Discuss | Considered the foremost Spanish novelist of his time, Baroja was part of the Generation of '98, a group of writers who, in the face of defeat in the Spanish-American War, proclaimed a moral and cultural rebirth for Spain. He wrote almost 100 novels, including 11 trilogies and, perhaps his most ambitious project, a 22-volume cycle about a 19th-century insurgent. Baroja's writings largely concern the intellectual and political climate of his homeland. What career did he give up to be a writer? Discuss | Until recently, Sáenz's contributions to the South American independence movement were largely overlooked. For eight years, she dedicated herself to the cause—and to her lover, revolutionary leader Simón Bolívar, whom she once saved from an assassination attempt. For that, he nicknamed her Libertadora del Libertador, or Liberator of the Liberator. Bolívar's death in 1830 left Sáenz vulnerable to his opponents, and she was exiled and left destitute. What honor was she accorded in 2010? Discuss | Somerville became an accomplished science writer at a time when women's involvement in the sciences was generally discouraged. She earned widespread recognition for her 1831 translation of Pierre-Simon Laplace's five-volume Mécanique Céleste ( Celestial Mechanics), a project she undertook for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, which aimed to adapt scientific material for the rapidly expanding reading public. What term was coined in a review of one of her other works? Discuss | An Indian Muslim politician, Jinnah was the founder and first governor-general of Pakistan. Early in his career, he fervently supported the Indian National Congress and advocated Hindu-Muslim unity, but he eventually became convinced that a Muslim nation distinct from Hindu India was needed to protect Muslim interests in the dying days of the British Raj. Jinnah's firm stand and widespread Hindu-Muslim riots forced the issue, and Pakistan was created in 1947. How long did he lead the new nation? Discuss | A top French fighter ace during World War I and a national hero, Guynemer shot down 53 enemy planes and survived being shot down several times before he presumably died in a firefight on September 11, 1917. During an engagement that fateful day, Guynemer's plane disappeared, reportedly shot down by a German pilot who was himself killed in action weeks later. To ease the blow of the loss of their young hero, French schoolchildren were taught that what had happened to him? Discuss | Thought to be America's first black female millionaire, this daughter of ex-slaves was orphaned at 7, working at 10, married at 14, and a widow with an infant at 20. She worked as a domestic and laundress and in her scant spare time developed a treatment to stop hair loss in African-American women and create smooth, shiny coiffures. She soon expanded her product line, and, by 1917, her cosmetics empire was the largest black-owned business in the US. Who took over the company when she died? Discuss | A 1980s art star whose rise and fall were rapid, dramatic, and emblematic of the era, Basquiat started out as a street artist before being "discovered" by the art establishment. He created vigorously spontaneous works in paint, collage, and crayon on unprimed canvas that featured crude, angry, rawly powerful figures and graffiti-like text. He died of an overdose at 27, just a few years after meeting with mainstream success and months after the death of what other artist, his friend and mentor? Discuss | "FloJo" was a US sprinter whose incredible speed and unique fashion sense left an indelible mark on the running world. She first turned heads at the 1984 Olympics, where her silver-medal performance was nearly overshadowed by her long, painted nails and flashy racing suits. By 1988's Games, however, there was no denying her skill. She set one world record during the Olympic trials and another at the Games, where she also took three golds and a silver. Who is her similarly talented sister-in-law? Discuss | A successful lawyer, Menzies gave up his practice to pursue a career in politics and eventually became Australia's longest continuously serving prime minister. He started out in the House of Representatives in 1934 and served as attorney general until 1939, when he became leader of the United Australia party and prime minister. In 1941, his party lost the election, but in 1949 he again became prime minister and this time remained in office until his retirement in 1966, on what national holiday? Discuss | Born into a poor African-American family, Woodson had little formal schooling until he was in his late teens. Yet he went on to earn a PhD and become a prominent historian, author, and journalist. He devoted his life to promoting African-American education and history, founding the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and writing, editing, and publishing books and periodicals on African-American life, history, and culture. What nationwide annual observance did he establish? Discuss | One of the founders of modern physics, Thomson helped revolutionize the knowledge of atomic structure. He is known primarily for his discovery of the electron and his investigation of its charge and mass, his development of the mathematical theory of electricity and magnetism, and his role in the discovery of isotopes and invention of mass spectrometry. His research into the electrical conductivity of gases earned him a Nobel Prize in 1906. What did Thomson originally call electrons? Discuss | The wife of a French marquis, du Châtelet defied convention in both her personal and professional life. She was a mathematician and physicist and wrote a number of scientific treatises as well as a translation of Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica. She had several extramarital affairs—the most enduring of which was with philosopher and writer Voltaire, who once described her as "a great man whose only fault was being a woman." How did she once think her way out of a gambling debt? Discuss | A prolific writer and avid speaker, anthropologist Margaret Mead was instrumental in popularizing the anthropological concept of culture in the US. Though many later anthropologists have questioned both the accuracy of her observations and the soundness of her conclusions, she remains highly regarded for her many contributions to the field. Over the course of her career, Mead made numerous field trips to observe the peoples of Oceania. What honor was awarded to her posthumously? Discuss | Born and raised in Bialystok, a city on the Polish-Russian border populated by Poles, Germans, and Belarusians, Zamenhof was profoundly affected by the ethnic conflict he witnessed all around him. In his estimation, the primary cause of such conflict was mutual misunderstanding. Thus, he reasoned, removing communication barriers would foster peace. To this end, the young doctor and linguist devoted himself to developing an international language called "Esperanto," which means what? Discuss | The subject of the Academy Award-winning 2010 film The King's Speech, George VI became king of the United Kingdom following the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII. George was an important symbolic leader of the British people during World War II, supporting the wartime leadership of Winston Churchill and visiting armies on the battlefield. He earned the respect of his people by scrupulously observing the responsibilities of a constitutional monarch and by overcoming what disability? Discuss | Now considered an icon of Canadian art, Carr did not receive widespread recognition for her work until later in life. She primarily painted indigenous-themed or landscape scenes, and she was relatively unknown until her work was featured in a 1927 exhibition at the National Gallery, when she was in her 50s. Carr continued to paint thereafter but had to reduce her artistic output in her 70s due to health concerns. Instead, Carr began to pursue what other talent for which she is also remembered? Discuss | A member of abstract expressionism's second generation, Frankenthaler was greatly influenced by Jackson Pollock. Inspired by his way of working on a canvas laid on the floor rather than mounted upright, Frankenthaler developed a technique for staining unprimed canvases with thinned pigments that she poured. Her work gave rise to the color-field movement of the late 50s. An appointee to the National Endowment for the Arts, she controversially opposed government grants to artists on what grounds? Discuss |
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