My Science School

Before alarm clocks became affordable, there were professional knockers-up to wake up people so they could get to work on time. This practice began in Britain during the Industrial Revolution, and lasted in some places till the 1970s.

Knocker-upper was a profession of the 19th century during the Industrial Revolution when the alarm clock was not popular and they weren’t neither cheap nor reliable. Not every worker in Britain could afford alarms and as industrialization was rising and the factories demanded more workers and more hours of work.

As they used to work on minimum wage and had strict early shifts, many workers in Britain had to wake up early and so they used to hire knocker-upper to wake them up.

The knocker-uppers mainly worked in large cities or the northern regions of Britain and Ireland.

At first, knocker-uppers used to just bang on the door and wake people up but it was determined to be an ineffective method as they woke up the whole house and even neighbors started complaining as they didn’t have to wake up at 5 or 6 am.

After this, they found a better way to wake workers up. As most of the workers' bedrooms were located on the top floor, they used a long stick and put a knob at its end to knock on the window.

Some knocked two or three times on the window and went away while others knocked until the worker came up to the window. Each knocker-upper used to wake up at least 100 people every day.

A knocker-upper had to wake up early to wake the workers up. But how did they do it?

They slept during the day after completing their morning duty of knocker-upper and were mostly night-owls. However, most of the knocker-uppers lost their job in the 1940s and 1950s as the use of the alarm clock became widespread.

Until the 1970s in northern England some cities hired knocker-uppers until they gradually became obsolete.

This is how people used to wake up in the 19th century. The vintage history of the knocker-upper is forever remembered, as their work was of great importance, allowing the people of England to get to work on time.

Credit : History of yesterday 

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Movie trailers were originally shown at the end of a film which is why they were called "trailers". Part of a film's marketing, they are released months in advance of a movie's premiere. However, coming after the film, they proved rather ineffective as audiences would not stay around to watch them.

Many of these early official trailers by the studios had the same format that is used today; important eye-catching scenes from the movie while using dramatic voice-overs and text. Trailers seemed to get their name from where the extra piece of film was placed, which “trailed” the main feature. In the case of serials, it only made sense to put it after the main episode since this was what enticed people to come back to the theater to see the next episode the following week.

The trailer was also a tool to clear audiences out of the theater since movies that ran were shown in a loop, and patrons could simply stay for as long as they liked. For some people arriving at the theater, it appeared as if they were watching a clip about an upcoming movie before their main feature. This was because of the continuous loop of movies that were shown even though the trailer was placed after the main feature.

At some point, someone figured out that more people were more likely to see a clip about an upcoming attraction if it was placed before the main feature began. This became the preview set in the spot we know today, but the industry term for this type of movie clip continues to be referred to as a trailer.

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On December 15, 2021 UNESCO's Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage inscribed Durga Puja in Kolkata' on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity during its 16th session, that took place virtually from December 13 to 18. "As a ten-day celebration, Durga Puja represents the collective worship of the Hindu Goddess Durga. During this time, masterfully designed clay models of the Goddess are worshipped in "pandals" or pavilions where communities get together and celebrate. Several folk music, culinary, craft, and performing arts traditions add to the dynamism of this celebration, according to UNESCO.

As many as 36,946 community pujas are organised across the state every year. Of these, around 2,500 are held in Kolkata.

In recent years, several organisations had urged UNESCO to recognise the festival.

“Durga Puja occupies the heart of every Bengali. Mamata Banerjee has made the best efforts to promote the festival as a national event. She has given a grant of ?50,000 to each of the clubs and also held the carnival. Her efforts and that of the puja organisers have succeeded,” senior Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member Saugata Roy said.

State Bharatiya Janata Party vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar said the UNESCO’s recognition was a gift for millions of Bengalis.

“This is a recognition for a culture that has been inculcated and built over several centuries. The UNESCO has recognized the superlative emotion behind the celebrations,” he said.

Yoga as an “ancient India practice” and the Kumbh Mela, considered the world’s largest congregation of religious pilgrims, were inscribed on the list in 2016 and 2017, respectively.

India now has 14 intangible cultural heritage elements on the UNESCO list.

Credit : The Hindustan Times

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India's largest conglomerate Tata group was named the winning bidder for Air India on October 8, 2021. Air India returned to its founder 68 years after it was nationalised, capping years of efforts by the government to privatise the debt-laden airline. The move gave the group full control of Air India and its low-cost unit Air India Express as well as a 50% stake in ground handling company Air India SATS Airport Services Pvt. Ltd, according to a finance ministry statement. Air India was founded as Tata Airlines in 1932 as the country's first airline, but was nationalised in 1953.

"Bidders have agreed to all terms and conditions. Five bidder were disqualified as they did not meet the criterion," the Dipam Secy said. "The process was carried out in a transparent manner with due regard to confidentiality of bidders.

This follows the group of ministers known as the Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism approving the bid winner. The panel was headed by home minister Amit Shah and included finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, commerce minister Piyush Goyal and aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. The long-awaited Air India divestment is being heralded as one of the biggest reforms by the Narendra Modi government. The earlier attempt in 2018 didn’t find any takers.

The reserve price was fixed at Rs 12,906 crore, and the winning bidder will take Rs 15,300 crore debt. It will also retain all AI employees for one year, and can offer VRS in the 2nd year, as per the Aviation Ministry.

Credit : The Economic Times

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In July 2021, two new Indian sites were included to the UNESCO World Heritage List - the Kakatiya Rudreshwara (Ramappa) Temple, Telangana, and Dholavira: A Harrapan City, Gujarat Popularly known as the Ramappa Temple, Rudreshwara is located in the village of Palampet in Telangana. It is the main Shiva temple in a walled complex built during the Kakatiyan period (1123-1323 CE). The distinctive Vimana of the temple is made of lightweight porous floating bricks, which reduced the weight of the roof structures. The ancient city of Dholavira is one of the most remarkable and well-preserved urban settlements in South Asia dating from the 3rd to mid-2nd millennium BC. Discovered in 1968, the site is set apart by its unique characteristics, such as its water management system, multi-layered defensive mechanisms, extensive use of stone in construction, and special burial structures, says the UNESCO website.

The distinctive Vimana of the temple is made of lightweight porous ‘floating bricks,’ which reduced the weight of the roof structures. The building features decorated beams and the temple’s magnificent sculptures illustrate regional dance customs and Kakatiyan culture. The site is located close to the Ramappa Cheruvu, a Kakatiya-built water reservoir, placing it in a unique natural setting of the surrounding forested areas and agricultural lands. 

The ancient city of Dholavira is one of the most remarkable and well-preserved urban settlements in South Asia dating from the 3rd to mid-2nd millennium BCE (Before Common Era).  Discovered in 1968, the site is set apart by its unique characteristics, such as its water management system, multi-layered defensive mechanisms, extensive use of stone in construction and special burial structures. Of note is also the art associated with the city – artefacts of various kinds such as copper, shell, stone, jewellery of semi-precious stones, terracotta, gold, ivory have been found at the site. In addition, the interregional trade links associated with Dholavira, have also been acknowledged as contributing to the shared heritage of humanity.

Credit : UNESCO 

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On May 22, 1521, Spanish forces and their indigenous allies had laid siege to the powerful Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, where Mexico City now stands. The battle lasted nearly three months, ending with the fall of the Aztec Empire and Spain's consolidation of power in a large swath of North America. On May 22, 2021, Mexico City marked the 500th anniversary of the conquest with events that highlighted the complex ways it shaped the country's society.

The three cultures are represented by three buildings: a ruined Aztec temple, a Spanish colonial church built atop the ruins and a modern government office building constructed in the 1960s. “It was neither a triumph nor a defeat. It was the painful birth of the Mestizo (mixed-race) Mexico today,” the plaque reads.

That sentiment, preached by the government since the 1920s — that Mexico is a non-racial, non-racist, unified nation where everyone is mixed-race, bearing the blood of both conquerors and conquered — has aged about as well as the 1960s office building.

It is largely roped off because shards of its marble facing regularly shear off and come crashing to the ground, and Indigenous or dark-skinned Mexicans continue to face discrimination by their lighter-skinned countrymen.

A much more enduring and perhaps accurate message is found a few blocks away on the wall of the tiny church of Tequipeuhcan, a place whose very name in the Aztec’s Nahuatl language sums it all up.

Credit : NBC News

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For the first time in 55 years, India did not have any foreign head of State as chief guest for the Republic Day parade on January 26, 2021. The United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson was invited to be the chief guest of the 72nd Republic Day parade, but the emergence of a new and a more infectious COVID-19 strain back home forced him to cancel his visit. By the time the U.K. PM had put through a call to his Indian counterpart, it was too late to send out another invite. India's first Republic Day celebrations were held in 1950 with Indonesia's President Sukarno as the chief guest.

 India had invited Mr Johnson to be the Chief Guest at the event but the UK leader dialled Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 5 and cancelled the trip in view of the outbreak of a new variant of the coronavirus in the United Kingdom.

This will be the first time in decades that India will not host a Head of Government or Head of State during the Republic Day parade in Delhi.

The last time such a situation arose was in 1966 when no Chief Guest was present at the event which was held days after the demise of Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in Tashkent and the death of nuclear scientist Homi Bhabha in an air crash.

Foreign leaders have graced the Republic Day parades every year barring 1952, 1953 and 1966. The then Indonesian President Sukarno was the first chief guest to grace Republic Day in 1950.

In 2020, Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro was the chief guest.

In 2018, the entire Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leadership comprising 10 heads of states were present at the Republic Day parade.

Credit : The Hindu

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Between 1,69,000 and 2,26,000 years ago, two children in what is now Quesang, Tibet, left a set of handprints and footprints on a boulder. Seemingly placed intentionally, the now-fossilised impressions may be the world's oldest known parietal or cave art a new study published online on September 10, 2021 in the journal Science Bulletin suggested.

Researchers used uranium, a naturally found radioactive element, to date the prints. They estimated that the impressions were left in the Pleistocene epoch – which occurred 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago. The marks were likely left by two children, one the size of a modern-day 12-year-old and the other the size of a 7-year-old. 

Still, the team couldn’t tell what species of archaic humans actually left the prints. Study co-author Matthew Bennett told Live Science that “Denisovans are a real possibility,” but also mentioned that Homo erectus was also known to inhabit the region. He said “there are lots of contenders” but that they don’t know at this point. 

As the researchers explain in an article, hand shapes can be commonly found in prehistoric caves. The hand is usually used as a stencil, spreading pigment around the edge. The oldest known examples are the caves in El Castillo, Spain, and Sulawesi, Indonesia. Now, whether this is art or not, that’s a big debate.

Credit : ZME Science 

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In a paper published online in Archaeological Research in Asia on May 12, 2021 by researchers Carlo Oetheimer and Yohann Oetheimer, they said the geoglyphs found near Boha village, in Rajasthan's Thar Desert-spread over 51 acres are the largest discovered worldwide and the first in the Indian subcontinent. They are unique as regards their enigmatic signs. The researchers first discovered the lines on Google Earth in 2014 while conducting a virtual survey of the region.

The researchers say that these geoglyphs are the largest ones discovered worldwide, and the first of their kind in the Indian subcontinent. The largest figure was named Boha 1, and is a giant asymmetrical spiral made from a single line that loops and runs for around 12 kilometres. “The Boha 1 unit interpreted as a series of 12 eccentric ellipses, was revealed to be a huge spiral,” the paper reads.

Boha 2 is a serpentine figure, around 11 km long. “By analogy these curves replicate a boustrophedon. This term refers to primitive writings whose lines can be read from left to right and then from right to left, in the same way a plow travels in a field. The inflection points in the lines generate a gap of 4.7–14 m between them,” reads the paper.

Boha 3 and 4 included a series of meandering lines, and “two iconographic units, adjacent to the previous ones, draw about 80 serpentine lines between 40 and 200 m long. Boha 3 forms a cluster of lines oriented towards the NE, immediately at the apex of the giant spiral. Boha 4, on the other hand, is located about 50 meters away, SW of the boustrophedon. We experienced more difficulty achieving a precise mapping because many of these lines are heavily eroded. They have generally random sinuosities and adopt rhythmic undulations that look like braids in two areas”.

Credit : The Better India

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According to media reports in April 2021, a Bronze-Age stone unearthed in France was confirmed to be the oldest three-dimensional map in Europe. The five-ft-by-6.5-ft slab, first uncovered in 1900 and forgotten, was found again in a cellar in a castle in 2014. Archaeologists who studied patterns engraved on the 4,000-year-old stone said they believe the markings were the map of an area in western Brittany.

After analysing marks and engravings on the stone, the researchers suspected it could be a map.

The "presence of repeated motifs joined by lines" on its surface suggested it depicted an area of Finistere, a study in the Bulletin of the French Prehistoric Society said.

The researchers say the indentations are a 3D representation of the River Odet valley, while several lines appear to depict the area's river network.

Geo-location revealed the territory represented on the slab bears an 80% accuracy to an area around an 18 mile-long stretch of the river.

"This is probably the oldest map of a territory that has been identified," Dr Clement Nicolas from Bournemouth University, one of the study's authors, told the BBC.

"There are several such maps carved in stone all over the world. Generally, they are just interpretations. But this is the first time a map has depicted an area on a specific scale."

Dr Nicolas said the map may have been used to mark a particular area.

"It was probably a way to affirm the ownership of the territory by a small prince or king at the time," he said.

"We tend to underestimate the geographical knowledge of past societies. This slab is important as it highlights this cartographical knowledge."

Credit : BBC

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On April 8, 2021, famed Egyptologist Zahi Hawass announced the discovery of the "lost golden city" near Luxor, Egypt. He said the find was the largest ancient city, known as Aten, ever uncovered in Egypt. It was unearthed within weeks of the excavation starting in September 2020. The city dates to the reign of Amenhotep III, one of Egypt's most powerful pharaohs, who ruled from 1391 to 1353 BC. The city continued to be used by pharaohs Ay and Tutankhamun, whose nearly intact tomb was discovered in the Valley of the Kings by British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922.

After seven months of excavations, several neighbourhoods have been uncovered, including a bakery complete with ovens and storage pottery, as well as administrative and residential districts.

Amenhotep III inherited an empire that stretched from the Euphrates to Sudan, archaeologists say, and died around 1354 BC.

He ruled for nearly four decades, a reign known for its opulence and the grandeur of its monuments, including the Colossi of Memnon – two massive stone statues near Luxor that represent him and his wife.

“The archaeological layers have laid untouched for thousands of years, left by the ancient residents as if it were yesterday,” the team’s statement said.

Bryan said the city “will give us a rare glimpse into the life of the Ancient Egyptians at the time where the empire was at his wealthiest”.

The team said it was optimistic that further important finds would be revealed, noting it had discovered groups of tombs it reached through “stairs carved into the rock”, a similar construction to those found in the Valley of the Kings.

“The mission expects to uncover untouched tombs filled with treasures,” the statement added.

After years of political instability linked to a popular revolt in 2011, which dealt a severe blow to Egypt’s key tourism sector, the country is seeking to bring back visitors, in particular by promoting its ancient heritage.

Last week, Egypt transported the mummified remains of 18 ancient kings and four queens across Cairo from the Egyptian Museum to the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation, a procession dubbed the “Pharaohs’ Golden Parade”.

Among the 22 bodies were those of Amenhotep III and his wife Queen Tiye.

Credit : The Guardian 

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