Obituary - Current Affairs for July, 2017

Marian Diamond, a neuroscientist who studied Albert Einstein’s brain and was the first to show that the brain’s anatomy can change with experience, has died.

She was 90

Diamond, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, died July 25 in Oakland.

Diamond became famous in 1984 when she examined preserved slices of Einstein’s brain and found it had more support cells than the average person’s brain.

Her research demonstrated the impact of enrichment on brain development a simple but powerful new understanding that has literally changed the world, from how we think about ourselves to how we raise our children.

Dr. Diamond showed anatomically, for the first time, what we now call plasticity of the brain. In doing so she shattered the old paradigm of understanding the brain as a static and unchangeable entity that simply degenerated as we age.

On campus, she was known for walking to her packed anatomy classes carrying a flowered hat box containing a preserved human brain.

She regularly encouraged activities, both mental and physical, that enrich the brain, and continued to conduct research and teach until 2014, when she retired at the age of 87.

“If you’re going to live life, you’ve got to be all in,” Diamond said in the 2016 documentary film “My Love Affair with the Brain- The Life and Science of Dr. Marian Diamond.”

N. Dharam Singh, former Chief Minister of Karnataka, passed away at a private hospital in Bengaluru on 27th July, 2017 after a heart attack. He was 80.

Mr. Singh was the 17th Chief Minister. He headed the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government from May 2004 to February 2006.

Born on December 25, 1936 at Nelogi village of Jewargi taluk in Kalaburagi district, Mr. Singh represented the Karnataka Legislative Assembly seven times without a defeat.

He was a member of the Lok Sabha from the Bidar constituency once (2009).

Mr. Singh, a seasoned politician, was known for his gentle demeanour and knew each voter by name in his constituency - Jewargi, which he nurtured from 1978 to 2008.

Though he belonged to a small community, he won the loyalty of voters going beyond caste affiliations.

He was minister under various Chief Ministers – Devaraj Urs, R. Gundu Rao, S. Bangarappa, M. Veerappa Moily and S.M. Krishna.

He handled many portfolios such as Home, Excise, Social Welfare, Urban Development, Public Works, and Revenue.

He also served as the president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee.

Owing to the hung Assembly after the 2004 elections, the Congress joined hands with the JD(S) headed by former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and formed the coalition government.

Mr. Singh was the unanimous choice of both parties to head the government. For 20 months, he led the coalition government, which saw many ups and downs.

Later, the Dharam Singh government collapsed following the withdrawal of support by the JD(S), which joined hands with the BJP and formed another coalition government headed by H D Kumaraswamy that lasted for 20 months.

The State government, post noon, declared a holiday for all schools and government offices. Government offices and schools in Kalaburgi and Bidar districts will remain closed.

Freedom fighter K.E. Mammen passed away due to age-related diseases in Neyyatinkara, Kerala. He was 96.

He was a pacifist and adherent follower of Mahatma Gandhi

He was born into the renowned Kandathil family on July 31, 1921, in Thiruvananthapuram. He was a staunch believer of Gandhian principles and led an austere life.

From an early age, he had lent his support for the freedom struggle. He became active in the freedom movement as a college student.

He was first jailed for taking an open stand against Sir C.P Ramaswamy Iyer, the then Dewan of the erstwhile Travancore state.

Later he participated in the Quit India Struggle. In recent years, he was an active social worker, forefront in the anti-liquor campaign in Kerala.

Famed Indian scientist Yash Pal has died in Noida on 24th July 2017. He was 90.

An ABP report confirmed his death.

An academic and scientist, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1976 and India’s second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan in 2013.

Pal was born in 1926 in Jhang, British India, which is now part of Pakistan. He got a masters degree from the Panjab University and completed his PhD from MIT in 1958.

A scientist, known for his contribution towards the study of cosmic rays, he had been chairman of the UGC between 1986 and 1991.

His other stints with the government included tenures at the Planning Commission and the Department of Science and Technology.

He was known for his science show titled Turning Point on Doordarshan and had become a cult figure in the 90's.

Pal had overcome lung cancer close to five years ago and was in the hospital due to old age ailments.

Eminent space scientist and former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman Udupi Ramachandra Rao passed away in Bengaluru on 24th July 2017 due to age related ailments. He was 85.

Rao is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

Born in Adamaru area of Karnataka’s Udupi district, Rao was involved in all ISRO missions till date in one capacity or the other.

He is credited on account of contributions to the development of space technology in India and its extensive application to communications and remote sensing of natural resources.

Before his death, he was serving as the chairman of the governing council of the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad and the chancellor of the Indian institute of science and technology in Thiruvananthapuram.

Rao served as the chairman of ISRO for 10 years from 1984 to 1994.

After taking charge as chairman of the space commission and secretary, department of space in 1984, he accelerated the development of rocket technology which led to the successful launch of ASLV rocket and the operational PSLV launch vehicle.

He was also instrumental for the launch 2.0 ton class of satellites into polar orbit.

He also initiated the development of the Geo Stationary Launch Vehicle (GSLV) and the development of cryogenic technology in 1991.

Rao was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1976 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2017 for his contribution to Indian space technology.

He has published over 350 scientific and technical papers covering cosmic rays, interplanetary physics, high energy astronomy, space applications, satellite and rocket technology and authored many books.

Rao also became the first Indian space scientist to be inducted into the prestigious ‘Satellite Hall of Fame’ in Washington DC on March 19, 2013, and the ‘IAF Hall of Fame’ in Mexico’s Guadalajara.

Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman to receive the prestigious Fields Medal for mathematics, has died in the US.

The 40-year-old Iranian, a professor at Stanford University, had breast cancer which had spread to her bones.

Nicknamed the “Nobel Prize for Mathematics”, the Fields Medal is only awarded every four years to between two and four mathematicians under 40.

It was given to Prof Mirzakhani in 2014 for her work on complex geometry and dynamical systems.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Prof Mirzakhani's death caused "great sorrow,"
Prof Mirzakhani and her husband, Czech scientist Jan Vondrak, had one daughter.

Maryam Mirzakhani: Know More

• Born in 1977, Prof Mirzakhani was brought up in post-revolutionary Iran and won two gold medals in the International Mathematical Olympiad as a teenager.
• She earned a PhD at Harvard University in 2004, and later worked at Princeton before securing a professorship at Stanford in 2008.
• Her receipt of the Fields Medal three years ago ended a long wait for women in the mathematics community for the prize, first established in 1936.
• Prof Mirzakhani was also the first Iranian to receive it.
• The citation said she had made “striking and highly original contributions to geometry and dynamical systems” and that her most recent work constituted “a major advance”.

Nobel laureate and democracy icon Liu Xiaobo passed away in custody following a battle with cancer. He was 61. Liu was awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.

Liu was a Chinese literary critic, writer, human rights activist who called for political reforms and end of communist single-party rule.

He is also known for his role in 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing. Liu was arrested in 2008 after co-writing Charter 08, a bold petition that called for the protection of basic human rights and reform of China’s political system.

He was sentenced to 11 years in prison in December 2009 on the charges of subversion.

During his fourth prison term, he was awarded 2010 Nobel Peace Prize for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.

He was first Chinese citizen to be awarded a Nobel Prize of any kind while residing in China.

At the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony held in Oslo in 2010 he was represented by an empty chair.

Liu is the third person to have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while in prison or detention, after Germany’s Carl von Ossietzky (1935) and Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi (1991).

He was also the second Nobel Peace laureate who died in custody (first being Ossietzky who died in a Nazi concentration camp).

Former Indian Ambassador to U.S., and Padma Vibhushan awardee, Naresh Chandra (82) died at Manipal hospital at Dona Paula near Panaji on July 9th night due to multiple organ failure.

Mr. Chandra had been a diabetic and had suffered a cardiac arrest.

He used to be a frequent visitor to Goa.

While he was holidaying in Goa he took ill.

Mr. Chandra, a bachelor, had served as the Cabinet Secretary from 1990-92 and was the Indian Ambassador to the US from 1996 to 2001.

Naresh Chandra was conferred Padma Vibhushan in 2007.