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FERDINAND de SAUSSURE

(1857-1913)

Is the creator of the modern theory of structuralism and the father of modern linguistics.

Saussure spent all but ten years of his life in Geneva, but his work has had more influence on French thought than that of any other Swiss national since Rousseau. Similarly intriguing is the fact that he never published his major work: the Cours de linguistique générale (1916) was constructed posthumously from lecture plans and student notes of the period 1907-11.

Ferdinand de Saussure was born on November 26, 1857, in Geneva, Switzerland, to a family with a long history of contributions to the sciences. A bright and eager student, de Saussure showed an early promise in the area of languages and learned Sanskrit, Greek, German, Latin, French, and English.

Inclined to follow his ancestors' footsteps into the physical sciences, he began attending the prestigious University of Geneva in 1875 to study chemistry and physics. However, by 1876 he had returned to the study of linguistics. De Saussure studied at the University of Berlin from 1878 to 1879 and then enrolled at the University of Leipzig to study comparative grammar and Indo-European languages. He published his first full-length book, Memoire sur le systeme primitive des voyelles dans les langues indo-europeennes (Thesis on the original system of vowels in Indo-European Languages), in 1878.

Hailed by critics as a brilliant work, the book launched de Saussure's reputation as a new expert, contributing as it did to the field of comparative linguistics. The work also revealed an important discovery in the area of Indo-European languages that came to be known as de Saussure's laryngeal theory, which explained perplexing characteristics of some of the world's oldest languages. The theory would not enjoy widespread acceptance until the mid-20th century.

De Saussure published Remarques de grammaire et de phonetique in 1878. He completed his doctoral dissertation, on the use of the absolute genitive in Sanskrit in 1880.

De Saussure died from cancer at age 56 in 1913.

MAQBOOL FIDA HUSAIN

(1915 - 2011)

Eminent painter Maqbool Fida Husain has died in London of a heart attack at 95.Husain was admitted in hospital for several days and died around 2.30 am this morning.

M F Husain, described by the Forbes magazine as the 'Picasso of India', was born on September 17, 1915 in Pandharpur, India.His six-decade career began in the late 1940s when he joined the Progressive Artists' Group founded by Francis Newton Souza. These group of young artists aimed to disengage from the idyllic nationalist traditions of the Bengal school of art to imbue in their works a more avant-garde approach.


The painter has also had his share of controversies . Some of his works were considered anti-Hindu, which strengthened his decision to go on a self-imposed exile in 2006. He accepted the offer of a Qatar citizenship in January 2010.In 1996, he came under much flak for nude depictions of Hindu deities painted in the 1970s. He also got death threats from Hindu groups.One can love MF Hussain or one can hate MF Hussain but one cannot ignore him. MF Husain is always in the news because of one controversy or the other. Maqbool Fida Hussain (MF Hussain ) is a world famous painter and an icon among Indian artists.

MF Hussain was born on September 17, 1915 in Pandharpur, Maharashtra. He lost his mother when he was one and a half years old. Husain's father remarried and moved to Indore. MF Hussain did his schooling from Indore. In 1935, MF Hussain moved to Bombay and joined Sir J. J. School of Art.He started off by painting cinema hoardings. He first came into limelight as painter in the late 1940s. In 1952, MF Hussain's first solo exhibition was held at Zurich and soon he became popular in Europe and USA. He went on to become one of the highest paid painters in India. His paintings have fetched millions of dollars at the auction.

In 1966, MF Hussain was honored with Padma Shree by the Government of India. In 1967, MF Hussain made his first film "Through the Eyes of a Painter". The film was shown at the Berlin Film Festival and won a Golden Bear. He has also made two Hindi movies, "Gaja Gamini" and "Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities."

One of the most charismatic artistsof India, he was known for his emphatic understanding of the human situation and his speedy evocation of it in paint. The early evolution of his painterly language was overtaken by adventurous forays into installations and performance art. His experimentations with new forms of art were both unexpected and pioneering.

Husain's work shows the balance between the artist's cubist modern style of painting and Indian traditional sensibility and subject matter. He is best known for his paintings of horses - signifying power and grace.

His work usually incorporated many of the artist's most recognisable themes and symbols, traditional forms of ancient Indian miniatures, sculptures, dance and folk art in one frame.

JONAS EDWARD SALK

(1914-1995)

The American physician, virologist, and immunologist Jonas Edward Salk developed the first effective poliomyelitis (polio) vaccine.

Jonas Salk was born in New York City on Oct. 28, 1914. At the age of 16 he entered the College of the City of New York with the thought of studying law. He decided instead to study medicine and in 1934 enrolled in the College of Medicine of New York University, from which he graduated in 1939. He interned at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital from 1940 to 1942, when he went to the University of Michigan, where he helped develop an influenza vaccine. In 1944 he was appointed research associate in epidemiology, and in 1946 he was made assistant professor.

In 1947 Salk accepted a position at the University of Pittsburgh as associate professor of bacteriology, where he carried out his researches on a polio vaccine. Polio vaccines had been attempted before but without success because, as was apparent by 1949, there were three distinct types of polio viruses. This provided a starting point for Salk, who, working under a grant from the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, prepared a killed-virus vaccine effective against all three types. Testing began in 1950, and the preliminary report on the vaccine's effectiveness was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association for 1953. National field trials were held in 1954, and in 1955 the vaccine was determined safe for general use.

Acceptance of the vaccine was not without problems for Salk. Fear, skepticism, opposition from medical colleagues who favored a live-virus vaccine, improper production of the vaccine by some pharmaceutical companies, and a glaring Hollywood-like promotion for the vaccine caused much scientific criticism of Salk. Many also felt that the National Foundation had improperly favored him. Although the Salk vaccine was effective, it was replaced largely by the Sabin oral vaccine, a live-virus vaccine which, unlike the Salk vaccine, provides permanent protection.

Two polio vaccines are used throughout the world to polio. The first was developed by Salk and tested in 1952. It consists of an injected dose of inactivated (dead) poliovirus. The second was an oral vaccine developed by Albert Sabin. which was licensed in 1962. The two vaccines have eradicated polio from most countries in the world and reduced the worldwide incidence.


Jonas Salk died in June 1995 at the age of 80 from heart failure. By the time Salk died, polio had been reduced worldwide.