8th February 2016

What is the infinity sign called?

Infinity means something which does not have a limit. The infinity sign ∞ is called a lemniscate. The sign was devised by an English mathematician John Wallis in 1955 and was named lemniscus, meaning a ‘pendant ribbon’, by mathematician Jacob Bernoulli in 1694. The symbol is designed in two dimensions as a device known as the Möbius Strip (named after a 19th century mathematician August Ferdinand Möbius). A Möbius Strip is a strip of paper which is twisted and attached at the ends, forming an ‘endless’ two dimensional surface.

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8th February 2016

The longest lunar eclipse in a decade

A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth blocks all direct sunlight from reaching the Moon. There could be partial lunar eclipses occurring in a year too. The number of lunar eclipses in a single year can range from 0 to 3. On June 16, 2011, a total lunar eclipse occurred, which was visible for over 100 minutes in different parts of Asia, Europe and Africa. The partial eclipse lasted for 3 hours and 40 minutes, making it the longest total lunar eclipse in this decade.

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8th February 2016

Story behind the naming of ‘Google’

The term Googol was coined by 9-year-old Milton Sirotta, nephew of E. Kasner, an American mathematician. The creators of Google Larry Page and Sergey Brin wanted to name their search engine Googol as it symbolized their mission to cater millions of users. However, Googol was misspelt as ‘Google’ and the name stuck.

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8th February 2016

Recounting the first day of 1971 Test match series

In the 1971 Test match series against the West Indies, the first day of the first test match was washed out due to rains. India batted first and it turned out that India led by more than 150 runs in the first innings and there was only one day left. So the captain of the Indian Team Ajit Wadekar went straight to the West Indies dressing room and asked Gary Sobers, the captain of the West Indian team, ‘Mr. Sobers would you like to bat?’ He looked  surprised and asked Wadekar whether he was enforcing the follow-on, and if he knew the rules. There should be at least a 200-run deficit. Wadekar said,  ‘Perhaps you forgot to read further. It also says that in a match, which has been curtailed by a day from the very beginning, the deficit has to be at least a hundred and fifty runs.’ Sober still sat there in a state of shock and asked again: ‘Are you sure?’

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8th February 2016

Existence of dinosaurs predates existence of the Alps

The Rockies and Alps are fold mountains which were formed due to the pushing up of the tectonic plates. This event happened about 30 to 40 million years ago. The dinosaurs roamed the Earth more than 65 million years ago, many million years before the existence of the Rockies or the Alps.

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