Category Personalities

What makes Jeemon Panniyammakal’s contributions to the society remarkable?

You might have heard about epidemiologists in the last two years, thanks to Covid-19. You may have read in newspapers or watched on TV epidemiologists expressing their expert opinion on the pandemic. An epidemiologist studies the origin, distribution and prevention of diseases.

Dr. Jeemon Panniyammakal is an epidemiologist working in Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Thiruvananthapuram. He is an associate professor in the Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies in SCTIMST.

Dr. Jeemon hails from Nilambur in Kerala. He has been doing research on cardiovascular diseases for the past 16 years. He introduced a model to reduce the risk for family members who are in the high-risk category for heart diseases. A trial run was done by randomly selecting the families and by bringing lifestyle changes followed by regular check-ups. This was seen to reduce the risk factor. The study was published in the medical journal Lancet Global Health.

Jeemon Panniyammakal completed his PhD from the University of Glasgow, U.K and MPH degree from the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology. He has conducted several surveys which are published as research articles. Treatment burden in primary care units, intervention for blood pressure reduction and study of children of epileptic women etc are a few among them. Some of these studies are focused on areas in the Malappuram district. According to Dr. Jeemon, reducing the amount of sugar in one’s coffee itself would make considerable difference in people’s health.

He won the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology for medical sciences last year.

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Who is Salvador Dali?

Salvador Dalí was a Spanish Surrealist painter and printmaker known for exploring subconscious imagery. Arguably, his most famous painting is The Persistence of Memory (1931), depicting limp melting watches.

“More than 100 years after his birth, the art world cannot quite figure out if Spanish Surrealist painter Salvador Dali (1904-89), was a genius or a madman!

He was just 14 when his works were first exhibited. At 17, he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid, but was expelled after four years for defying his teachers.

The French Surrealists were then trying to apply the theories of Sigmund Freud to painting and writing. Dali knew of Freud’s study of dreams and was fascinated with capturing them in paint.

International acclaim was not long in coming.  In 1933, he put up solo exhibitions in Paris and New York City. He became Surrealism’s poster boy.

In addition to Freudian imagery – staircases, keys, dripping candles – he also used his own symbols. His most famous painting “The Persistence of Memory”, features three ‘melting’ watches, and a fourth covered by a swarm of ants. One of the watches is draped on a strange form that is meant to be Dali’s deflated head!

As his fame grew, Dali diversified into jewellery, clothes and furniture design, painted sets for ballets and plays, wrote fiction, produced a dream sequence for the Alfred Hitchcock thriller “Spellbound” and set up displays for store windows.

He cut an extremely eccentric figure, with his dashing clothes and moustache. He once showed up for a Paris lecture in a Rolls Royce stuffed with cauliflowers. For a book promotion in New York, he dressed in a golden robe and lay on a bed!

In 1974, Figueres in Catalonia, Spain, opened the Dali Theatre-Museum with works donated by him.

PROFILE OF TIME

In Dali’s paintings, the concept of time is different, it melts. Everything is fluidic. The Profile of Time, a sculpture by Dali, has the soft watch hanging and drooping from the branch of a tree. The watch appeared for the first time in Dali’s 1931 painting ‘The Persistence of Memory’. The watch can be seen to be melting and finishing off as a huge drop.

APPARITION OF FACE AND FRUIT DISH ON A BEACH

The painting by Dali works on illusion. He called them ‘double images’. In this, there are three simultaneous images at work in a single painting. Dali’s double image paintings had a huge fan following. It is more like a puzzle. Here, one can see an illusion of a face, the image of a dish full of fruits, that of a dog.

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What moons did Galileo discover in 1610?

Many years ago, in 1610, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei discovered the first moons beyond Earth. Those were the moons of the planet Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system.

Planet Jupiter has 80 moons. There are many interesting moons orbiting the planet, but the ones of great interest to us on a scientific level are the first four moons discovered called the Galilean satellites. They are lo, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Here we look at the four largest moons of Jupiter.

What is a Moon?

Moons are those celestial bodies that orbit planets and asteroids in the solar system. They are also called natural satellites. The Earth has one moon, whilst the solar system has more than 200 moons. Most of the major planets except Mercury and Venus have moons.

Jupiter and Saturn have the most moons. Four of Jupiter’s moons are named after Galileo Galilei who first discovered them.

And how were the Galilean moons formed? According to scientists, the moons were formed out of the dusty disc left after Jupiter was formed.

lo

The most volcanically active body in the solar system, lo has its surface enveloped by sulfur. Jupiter’s gravity causes “tides” that rise some 100 metres high on lo and lead to the generation of heat for volcanic activity.

Europa

Europa’s surface is covered mostly by water ice. This moon is considered to have twice as much water as Earth.

Ganymede

The largest moon in the solar system, Ganymede is the only moon that has its own internally generated magnetic field. Did you know that this moon is even larger than the planet Mercury?

Callisto

The second largest moon of Jupiter, Callisto’s surface is highly cratered and ancient. This moon is about half rock and half ice.

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Shakespeare’s lone known portrait

Seventeenth-Century English playwright Ben Jonson once said William Shakespeare, was “Not for an age but for all time”. This statement has often been repeated since, as even today, more than 400 years after his death. Shakespeare is considered to be one of the most influential poets and playwrights of all of human history.

Shakespeare published 38 plays, 154 sonnets and several poems during his lifetime. His works have been translated into every single language of the world, making him one of the few writers who are universally loved and acknowledged. But do we really know what he looked like?

The only signed and dated portrait of William Shakespeare created during the bard’s lifetime had recently gone on sale for more than 10 million pounds sterling and has been displayed in West London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.

This portrait is attributed to the outstanding English portrait artist Robert Peake who was the official court painter to King James I. It is also signed and dated 1608.

Sold in a private treaty without an auction, the owner, of this work of art, wishes to stay anonymous. However, it was disclosed that before 1975, the picture hung in the library of a stately home (that once belonged to the Danby family) in the north of England. Since then it has been in private ownership.

Duncan Phillips, an art expert who examined the work ahead of the sale said “There is more evidence for this portrait of Shakespeare than any other known painting of the playwright.” Over the years, the legitimacy of the available paintings of the playwright has been subjected to numerous claims and counterclaims. However, only two posthumous artistic renditions of the legendary author, are generally recognised as accurately portraying him. The first of the two is the engraving that was published in 1623 on the title page of his First Folio, and the second one is the sculpture at his funeral monument erected in Stratford-upon-Avon following his death in 1616 at the age of 52.

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What is Roald Dahl most famous for?

Roald Dahl was a British children’s author who created world-famous stories such as James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda. His works are globally renowned for inspiring children, and his books have sold more than 250 million copies across the world.

Reading Roald Dahl is like waltzing through an adventure land. You enter a world of magic. Because that’s what he does, casting a spell on you by creating bizarre, macabre, yet lovable and entertaining characters.

The British author is a much-loved children’s writer whose stories are akin to a carnival town. Anything was possible in his stories. Packed with adventures and peppered with an animated and humorous style of storytelling, Roald Dahl whisks you off to a land of fantasy, much like his character The Big Friendly Giant carries Sophie to a world of adventure. Reading his books and knowing his characters would give you a sense of how imaginative and ludicrous the writer’s mind would have been.

Characters such as the clever Mr. Fox, the eccentric Willy Wonka or the villainous Miss Trunchbull who doesn’t like pigtails have entertained children through the years.

Magic with words.                                                      

Dahl invented over 500 words and character names, and exaggerated the narratives and characters, making them even more appealing and entertaining to children.

Did you know that there was a Roald Dahl dictionary? The Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary contains all the words coined by the author and was published by the the Oxford University Press.

Early Life

Born on September 13, 1916, in Llandaff, Wales, Dahl wrote books not only for children but also for adults. After finishing his school, he took off for an expedition to Newfoundland, instead of joining college.

When World War II broke out, he enlisted himself in the Royal Air Force (RAF). He sustained injuries whilst flying as a fighter pilot, following a crash landing in Libya.

Foray into the literary world

His experience in the military is reflected in his books. He published many such stories in popular magazines.

His first children’s book The Gremlins (1943) narrated the tale of creatures who crash fighter aircraft. He penned a series of military tales in Over to You: Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying (1946).

In the 1950s, he focussed on writing horror stories for adults. The book Someone like You that propelled him to the best-seller category. It was when he started making up bedtime stories for his children that the world of children’s literature piqued his interest. The first of his successes was, of course, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964). And soon, many other books with eccentric characters and dark comical settings were published and celebrated. His nonsensical world continues to captivate children and adults alike.

The world of movies

Dahl turned his novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964) into a screenplay for the 1971 movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. He wrote the screenplay for the 1967 Bond movie You Only Live Twice and also for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968). Several other works of Dahl were adapted to movies. He also published an autobiography – Boy: Tales of Childhood in 1984. Dahl passed away on November 23, 1990, in Oxford, England.

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” Roald Dahl.

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Inspiration from across the world

Meet some young leaders and find out more about their motivation and mission

Taylor Small

Taylor Small is Vermont’s first openly T transgender legislator and one of eight in the U.S. now. She has been a strong advocate for the marginalised people, especially those belonging to the LGBTQ+ community. Elected in November 2020, she passed a bill into law banning the use of LGBTQ+ Panic Defense in Vermont in 2021. She is the Education Program Manager at Pride Center of Vermont, a statewide non-profit organisation working for the LGBTQ+ Vermonters. The 28-year-old lawmaker previously worked with the Vermont Department of Health and has been an active member of the mental health services at Howard Center and Northwestern Counseling and Support Services. Over the years, the young activist has been working towards increasing access to care for marginalised community members through educational outreach and evidence-based interventions. In September, she was honoured with Politician of the Year Award by One Young World, a British charity working to develop young leaders.

Naisi Chen

Naisi Chen is New Zealand’s only Chinese MP and the second youngest Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the Labour Party. The 28-year-old leader is the Deputy Chairperson of the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Select Committee and a member of Governance and Administration. Coming from Beijing, China at the age of 5, she has been serving as a bridge between the New Zealand population and the immigrants since her college years. During her years as a law student at the University of Auckland, she actively participated in student politics and served as president of the New Zealand Chinese Students Association, vice-president of the Auckland Chinese Student Association and a member of the Advisory Board of the New Zealand China Council. As president of the New Zealand Chinese Students Association Chen worked with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardem, politician Nikki Kaye, the police and the Human Rights Commission and brought changes to the international student well-being strategy and other government agency policies.

Mari Copeny Amariyanna

Fifteen-year-old Mari Copeny, globally known as “Little Miss Flint”, in 2016 drew then U.S. President Barack Obama’s attention to contaminated drinking water being supplied to the residents of Flint, Michigan. Mari, then 8, did not let her age dissuade her from making a significant impact on the environmental problem and even told the country about the reality faced by victims of state negligence. Her letter to the President prompted him to visit the city and survey the water crisis himself. He then approved $100 million to repair Flint’s water system. In 2017, she became a national youth ambassador to the Women’s March on Washington and the National Climate March. She is also actively working towards preventing bullying and is part of the anti-bullying group Trendsetters Productions. She is also a member of the Flint Youth Justice League.

Nida Allam

Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam is the first Muslim woman ever elected to a public office in North Carolina, the US. The 28-year-old woman has been the first Muslim woman to serve on the board of the North Carolina Democratic Party and had also served as chair of the Durham Mayor’s Council for Women. During her student years at North Carolina State University, she led a campaign, along with local healthcare workers, to provide free healthcare to low-income community members. She was inspired to be politically involved and increase community safety through solidarity after three of her friends were killed in the 2015 Chapel Hill shooting, which had targeted North Carolina’s Muslim community. She has been actively participating in several grassroots movements and even served as a political director for US Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2016 Presidential campaign. She was also the organising director for Justice Cheri Beasley’s campaign for the North Carolina Supreme Court.

Shirly Pinto

Shirly Pinto, 33, is the first hearing-impaired member of the Israeli Parliament. At the age of 18, she got enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces and served in the Israeli Air Force Technical Corps. In 2009, the Air Force Commander had honoured her with an outstanding medal for her service. Being one of the founders of The Israeli Center for Deaf Studies, she continues to work for the upliftment of the status of hearing-impaired people using sign language, and create awareness on the need for those people to be accepted by the public. She was also the leader of 1 sign I am Equal campaign to bring awareness on the importance of sign language in public and promote legislation of the Israeli Sign Language as a recognised language in Israel. Following the campaign, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev became Israel’s first university to recognise Israeli Sign Language as an official language for the hearing-impaired in the country.

Ofelia Fernández

Ofelia Fernández is the youngest member of Buenos Aires City Legislature. She was elected as the legislator at the age of 19. Besides being an Argentinian politician, she is also a political activist. At the age of 15, she became her schools youngest president of the student body and was part of several student strikes. Later, she was a part of the ‘Revolution of the Daughters movement to support legalisation of abortion in Argentina. The 22-year-old woman was the youngest speaker at the G20 counter-summit held by the Latin American Council of Social Sciences in 2018. She has been a leading voice for Argentinian youth, especially in the struggle for women’s and LGBTQI+ equality. The young lawmaker has been urging for officials to be taught about gender issues. She has been protesting against feminicide, sexual abuse, and gender pay gap.

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