INDIAN PRESIDENTS

1. Dr. Rajendra Prasad
India’s first president after independence was dr. Rajendra Prasad born on december 3, 1884 in the Saran district of North Bihar. Prasad spent his childhood listening to tales from the Ramayana, and the epic had a profound influence on his life. He was a brilliant student, he studied in the Presidency College, Calcutta, and topped in Master of Arts and Master of Law at the Calcutta University.
He joined the Indian National Congress while practicing Law in Calcutta in 1911. Even though he made his mark as a lawyer, he was deeply influenced by Gandhi, and plunged himself into the freedom struggle. He twice became the president of the Congress in 1934 and 1939.
Prasad emerged as the only choice for presidency after the country became a Republic in 1950. When it came to relinquishing office in 1962, after being the First Citizen of India for 12 long years from January 26, 1950 to May 13, 1962, Dr. Prasad did not bat an eyelid, despite persuasions from all quarters. The nation befittingly awarded him with a Bharat Ratna. He was passed on February 28, 1963.
2. Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
The Second President Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan born on September 5, 1888 in a middle class Hindu family in Tirutani in the then Madras State. He best known as a philosopher, statesman, writer, educationist, humanist and administrator, despite being orthodox, his parents had a vision for their son and sent him to Christain missionary schools and colleges, such as Lutheran Mission School, Tirupati; Vellore College, Vellore; and Madras Christian College.
He took up Philosophy at the graduation level in Madras University and went on to master the subject. Throughout his glorious career, Radhakrishnan held numerous important academic, cultural and political posts, both in India and abroad, such as Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University, Spaulding Professor of Eastern Religion and Ethics, Oxford University, Leader of the Indian Delegation to UNESCO, Ambassador-Extraord inary and Minister-Plenipoten tiary to the U.S.S.R., etc.
Dr. Radhakrishnan became the President after Dr. Rajendra Prasad, his presidency period starts from May 13, 1962 to May 13, 1967. His birthday is celebrated as Teacher’s Day throughout India he passed on April 17, 1975.
3. Dr. Zakir Hussain
Third President an educator, Dr. Zakir Hussain was born in Hyderabad on February 8, 1897. He studied at Islam High School, Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, and later at the Anglo-Muhammadan Oriental College (now known as Aligarh Muslim University).
He founded the Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi. He held several posts as Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education, a member of the University Grants Commission and a member of the University Education Commission. Hussain served as the Vice-President from 1962 to 1967 and then went on to grace Rashtrapati Bhavan as the third President. The first President to die while in office on may 3, 1969, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1954 and the Bharat Ratna in 1963.
4. Varahagiri Venkata Giri
Fourth President Varahagiri Venkata Giri was a prolific writer and a good orator, he was born in Berhampur in the Ganjam district(then a part of the Madras Presidency) of Orissa on August 10, 1894.
A Telegu by birth, he went to the University of Dublin, Ireland, for higher studies. He soon got absorbed into the freedom struggle in Ireland. While taking active participation in the freedom movement, Giri joined the Indian National Congress and mobilised the trade unions in support of the freedom struggle. He was elected to the Parliament in 1952. Thereafter, Giri served as Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Mysore from 1957 to 1967. He became the Vice-President in 1967. Giri had to officiate as President Dr. Zakir Hussain passed away while in office. He was finally elected the President in 1969. Giri received the Bharat Ratna in 1975.
5. Dr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
The Fifth President Dr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed man of many abilities, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was born on May 13, 1905 in the Hauz Qazi area of Old Delhi. He received his primary education from Bonda Government High School, Uttar Pradesh, and did his matriculation from the Delhi Government High School, then under the Punjab University. Later, he joined the Catherine College, Cambridge University, and was called to the Bar from Inner Temple of London. Ahmed joined the Indian National Congress in 1931 and took active part in the freedom struggle. He became part of the Central Cabinet after Independence and held important portfolios. He could not complete his term due to a fatal heart attack on February 11, 1977.
6. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
India’s sixth President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was born in the Anantpur district of Andhra Pradesh on May 18, 1913. After completing his primary education at Theosophical High School at Adyar in Madras, Reddy went to Government’s Arts College at Anantpur for higher studies. He plunged into the freedom movement in 1931, participating in various nationalist activities.
Reddy became the chief minister of the then newly-formed state of Andhra Pradesh in 1956, and later from 1962 to 1964. He served in the cabinet of Prime ministers Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi. Twice elected as the Lok Sabha Speaker (1967 and 1977), Reddy became the President in 1977 after winning the elections hands down as an unopposed candidate.
7. Giani Zail Singh
Giani Zail Singh a man of the masses and the only Sikh President of India till date, Zail Singh was born on May 5, 1916 in an agricultural family in village Sandhwan in the then Faridkot State. Hailing from a humble background, Singh showed remarkable acumen in mastering Sikh history and its scriptures. He acquired the epithet of ‘Giani’ because of his scholarly abilities.
After leading the fight against feudalism and participating actively in the freedom movement in Punjab, Singh went on to become the chief minister of the state in 1972. Punjab enjoyed unprecedented peace and prosperity under his leadership. He became home minister in Indira Gandhi cabinet in 1980, he utilised his administrative skills to solve many problems that stared in the face of the nation. He was elected to the highest office of India in 1982.
8. Ramaswamy Venkataraman
Eighth President, Ramaswamy Venkataraman was born in village Rajamadam in the Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu on December 4, 1910. He did his Masters in Economics from Madras University and Law from Law College, Madras. As a practicing lawyer, he became involved with the Quit India Movement in 1942.
Venkataraman was a member of the Constituent Assembly that drafted India`s Constitution. After India became a Republic, he was elected to the Parliament in 1952. He was Governor, International Monetary Fund, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Asian Development Bank. He was elected Vice-President of India in 1984 and became the President in 1987.
9. Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma
The Ninth President Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma was born in Bhopal on August 19, 1918, Madhya Pradesh, and studied in St. John’s College, Agra; Allahabad University; Lucknow University; Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University; Lincoln’s Inn, London and Harvard Law School, USA.
He taught Law at Cambridge University in 1946-47. While in Britain, Sharma took active interest in India’s struggle for Independence, and later joined the Indian National Congress. After India became a Republic, Sharma took over as the Chief Minister of Bhopal in 1952 before the state of Madhya Pradesh was formed. He also occupied the posts of the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Maharashtra. Sharma was elected the Vice-President in 1987 and eventually the country’s President in 1992. He is credited to have sworn in three prime ministers.
10. Kocheril Raman Narayanan
The tenth president Kocheril Raman Narayanan was a scholar and a writer, Narayanan was born in village Uzhavoor in Kottayam district of Kerala on October 27, 1920. He did his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in English Literature from Travancore University, and later went on to study at the London School of Economics.
Narayanan joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1949 and served in Rangoon, Tokyo, London, Canberra and Hanoi. He was India’s Ambassador to Thailand, Turkey, China, and eventually became Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs in 1976. He was India’s Ambassador to the United States from 1980 to 1984. Elected to the post of Vice-President in 1992, Narayanan became the President in 1997. He was also the first President to cast his vote in the 1998 General Elections. He passed away on November 9, 2005.
11. Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam
One of the most distinguished scientists of India, Abdul Kalam is known as the Missile Man of India. He was born at Rameswaram, in Tamil Nadu on October 15, 1931, and studied Aeronautical Engineering at the Madras Institute of Technology.
Kalam developed India`s first Satellite Launch Vehicle. He also developed and enabled operationalisation of Agni and Prithvi missiles. It was largely because of his efforts that India became a nuclear weapons country. Befittingly, he has been bestowed with all the three civilian honours of the Nation. The 11th President is also credited with many firsts to his credit. He is the first President to be awarded the Bharat Ratna before he occupied Rashtrapati Bhavan, the first scientist to become the President and the first bachelor to be elected to the highest office of the land. He created history by flying the Sukhoi 30.
12. Smt. Pratibha Patil
The 12th and current president of india, she is the first indian women appointed at the top post of the indian constituency.

Animals

The Earth has over 12,00,000 species of animals, 3,00,000 species of plants & 1,00,000 other species.
All polar bears are left handed
A cow gives nearly 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime
The original name for the butterfly was ‘flutterby
A cheetah does not roar like a lion – it purrs like a cat (meow)
A jellyfish is 95 percent water!
No two zebras have stripes that are exactly alike. There are more than 50 different kinds of kangaroos.
A butterflie have 6 Legs & 2 Pair of Wings & has 12,000 eyes.
Human birth control pill works on gorillas.
German Shepherds bite humans more than any other breed of dog.
Owl is the only bird, which can rotate its head to 270 degrees.
The Swan has over 25,000 feathers in its body.
Elephant teeth can weigh as much as 9 pounds.
Crane sleeps standing on one leg.
Shark cannot see, they are very sensitive to sound.
A cat sees about six times better than a human at night because of the tapetum lucidum , a layer of extra reflecting cells which absorb light.
A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
Bears whose brown fur is tipped with lighter-colored hairs are called grizzly bears .
Ants don’t sleep.
A cheetah can run 76 kilometres per hour (46 miles per hour)
Kiwis are the only birds, which hunt by sense of smell.
Cassowary is one of the dangerous birds that can kill a man or animal by tearing off with its dagger like claw.
The largest frog in the world is called Goliath frog.

solar system

Our solar system consists of one central star, the Sun
The Solar System have nine planets named Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto
Our solar system consists of more than 60 moons
Our solar system consists of millions of rocky asteroids
Our solar system consists of billions of icy comets
The solar system is said to be over 5 billion years old.
Planets are different in sizes and colors. The four planets closer to the Sun are called ‘rocky’ planets.
Only two planets have (Earth and Mars) have moons
The asteroid belt is a zone between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn can be seen with the naked eye (Without telescope or binoculars)
Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are called ‘rocky’ or’ terrestial’ planets.
`Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are called the gaseous planets.
Jupiter and Saturn contain the largest percentages of hydrogen and helium, while Uranus and Neptune contain largest shares of ices, frozen water, ammonia, methane, and carbon monoxide.
The four gas giants, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, have rings.
Hubble is one of the worlds most powerful telescopes.
The Sun is too bright for the Hubble Space Telescope to observe.
The sun is 330330 times larger than the earth.
The earth began billions of years ago as a huge ball of swirling dust and gases.
Earth is only known planet where life began on 600 million years ago.

THE SUN

The Sun is the most prominent feature in our solar system. It is the largest object and contains approximately 98% of the total solar system mass. One hundred and nine Earths would be required to fit across the Sun's disk, and its interior could hold over 1.3 million Earths. The Sun's outer visible layer is called the photosphere and has a temperature of 6,000°C (11,000°F). This layer has a mottled appearance due to the turbulent eruptions of energy at the surface.
Solar energy is created deep within the core of the Sun. It is here that the temperature (15,000,000° C; 27,000,000° F) and pressure (340 billion times Earth's air pressure at sea level) is so intense that nuclear reactions take place. This reaction causes four protons or hydrogen nuclei to fuse together to form one alpha particle or helium nucleus. The alpha particle is about .7 percent less massive than the four protons. The difference in mass is expelled as energy and is carried to the surface of the Sun, through a process known as where it is released as light and heat. Energy generated in the Sun's core takes a million years to reach its surface. Every second 700 million tons of hydrogen are converted into helium ashes. In the process 5 million tons of pure energy is released; therefore, as time goes on the Sun is becoming lighter.

The chromosphere is above the photosphere. Solar energy passes through this region on its way out from the center of the Sun. Faculae and flares arise in the chromosphere. Faculae are bright luminous hydrogen clouds which form above regions where sunspots are about to form. Flares are bright filaments of hot gas emerging from sunspot regions. Sunspots are dark depressions on the photosphere with a typical temperature of 4,000°C (7,000°F).
The corona is the outer part of the Sun's atmosphere. It is in this region that prominences appears. Prominences are immense clouds of glowing gas that erupt from the upper chromosphere. The outer region of the corona stretches far into space and consists of particles traveling slowly away from the Sun. The corona can only be seen during total solar eclipses.
The Sun appears to have been active for 4.6 billion years and has enough fuel to go on for another five billion years or so. At the end of its life, the Sun will start to fuse helium into heavier elements and begin to swell up, ultimately growing so large that it will swallow the Earth. the final end product of a star like ours. It may take a trillion years to cool off completely.
Sun Statistics
Mass (kg)
1.989e+30
Mass (Earth = 1)
332,830
Equatorial radius (km)
695,000
Equatorial radius (Earth = 1)
108.97
Mean density (gm/cm^3)
1.410
Rotational period (days)
25-36*
Escape velocity (km/sec)
618.02
Luminosity (ergs/sec)
3.827e33
Magnitude (Vo)
-26.8
Mean surface temperature
6,000°C
Age (billion years)
4.5
Principal chemistry
HydrogenHeliumOxygen CarbonNitrogenNeonIronSiliconMagnesiumSulfurAll others
92.1%7.8%0.061%0.030%0.0084%0.0076%0.0037%0.0031%0.0024%0.0015%0.0015%
* The Sun's period of rotation at the surface varies from approximately 25 days at the equator to 36 days at the poles. Deep down, below the convective zone, everything appears to rotate with a period of 27 days.

EARTH SOME FACTS

Earth Some Important Facts
Age
4,550 million years
Mass
5.976 x 10kg
Volume
1.083 x 10 litres
Mean Density
5.518 kg/lt
Total Surface Area
510 million sq.km
Land Area
29.2% of the total surface area
Water Area
70.8% of the total surface area
Equatorial Diameter
12,755 km
Polar Diameter
12,712 km
Escape Velocity
11.2 km/sec
Highest Land Point
Mount Everest (8,852 m)
Lowest Land Point
Dead Sea (396 m)
Greatest Ocean Depth
Mariana Trench (11,033 m)
Equatorial Circumference
40,076 km
Polar Circumference
40,024 km
Mean Surface Temperature
14C
Maximum distance from sun (Aphelion)
About 152 million km
Minimum distance from sun (Perihelion)
About 147 million km
Rotation Speed
23 hrs, 56 min & 40.91 sec
Revolution Speed
365 days, 5hrs & 45.51 sec
Dates when days & nights are equal
Mar,21 (Vernal Equinox); Sept. 23 (Autumnal Equinox)
Dates of longest days and shortest nights
June 21 (Summer Solstice); Dec, 22 (Winter Solstice)

Its a common perception that the earth began billions of years ago as a huge ball of swirling dust and gases.
Lightning strikes about 6,000 times per minute on earth. and atleast 2000 Number of lightning strikes over the earth per second.
A bolt of lightning is about 54,000°F (30,000°C) which is actually six times hotter than the surface of the sun.
Russia, Canada, USA, China, Brazil are the five countries with the biggest area on Earth.
The earth was formed about 4.5 billion years ago.
As the sun warms the earth’s surface, the atmosphere warms too. Some parts of the earth receive direct rays from the sun all year and are always warm.
Warm air, which weighs less than cool air, rises. Then cool air moves in and replaces the rising warm air. This movement of air is what makes the wind blow.
The average lightning bolt is about an inch wide and five miles long.
The names of the continents all end with the same letter with which they start.
Scientists believes the invertebrate life began on earth about 600 million years ago.
Fish evolved about 300 million years ago on the earth.
Humans began to use clothing about 70 million years ago.
The first words were spoken by humans about 40 thousand years ago.
Cave paintings have been identified from about 30 million years ago.
pyramids were build about 4.5k years ago.
the Roman empire lasted about 500 years ago, from 0 to 500 AD
the Greek civilization lasted about 2k years, from about 4k years ago to 2k years ago
Agricultural habits began about 11k years ago when most of the large animals had been killed.
Tools began to be used about 180k years ago
100 years ago the first virus was found in both plants and animals.
The oldest known fossil is of a single-celled organism, blue-green algae, found in 3.2 billion year-old stones in South Africa.
Oxygen is the most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, waters, and atmosphere (about 49.5%)

Our planet - Earth

Position in solar systemThird planet from the sun and fifth largest planet of the eight planets.DimensionsMean radius : 6,371.0 kmVolume : 1.0832073 × (1012) (KM2)Mass : 5.9736 × (1024) kgMean density : 5.5153 g/(cm3)Surface pressure : 101.3 kPaTime taken in one Rotation23h 56m 4.1sAtmospheric compositionNitrogen(78.08%), Oxygen(20.95%), Argon(0.93%), Carbon Dioxide(0.038%), Others(1%)Chemical compositionIron (32.1%), Oxygen (30.1%), Silicon (15.1%), Magnesium (13.9%), Sulfur (2.9%), Nickel (1.8%), Calcium (1.5%), and Aluminium (1.4%) and Others(1.2%)