Beau Paris . . .

Today is the birthday of Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte (April 20, 1808 – January 9, 1873), politician, best known as Napoléon III.

Napoléon III wanted to make his reign one of scientific and social progress in both industry and art.

"An important legacy of Napoléon III's reign was the rebuilding of Paris. Part of the design decisions were taken in order to reduce the ability of future revolutionaries to challenge the government by capitalizing on the small, medieval streets of Paris to form barricades. However, this should not overshadow the fact that the main reason for the complete transformation of Paris was Napoléon III's desire to modernize Paris based on what he had seen of the modernizations of London during his exile there in the 1840s. With his characteristic social approach to politics, Napoléon III desired to improve health standards and living conditions in Paris with the following goals: build a modern sewage system to improve health, develop new housing with larger apartments for the masses, create green parks all across the city to try to keep working classes away from the pubs on Sunday, etc. Large sections of the city were thus flattened down and the old winding streets were replaced with large thoroughfares and broad avenues. The rebuilding of Paris was directed by Baron Haussmann (1809–1891; Prefect of the Seine département 1853–1870). It was this rebuilding that turned Paris into the city of broad tree-lined boulevards and parks so beloved of tourists today." direct quote source (1)

Trivia bit: Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte was the first titular president and the last monarch of France.

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Meandering on and on . . .

Today is the birthday of Glenn Theodore Seaborg (born Glenn Teodor Sjöberg April 19, 1912 – February 25, 1999), scientist.

Glenn T. Seaborg was a US nuclear chemist. He shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1951 with his co-worker Edwin McMillan for the discovery of plutonium and research on the transuranic elements.

"There is a beauty in discovery. There is mathematics in music, a kinship of science and poetry in the description of nature, and exquisite form in a molecule. Attempts to place different disciplines in different camps are revealed as artificial in the face of the unity of knowledge. All literate men are sustained by the philosopher, the historian, the political analyst, the economist, the scientist, the poet, the artisan and the musician." - Glenn T. Seaborg

Trivia bits: Element 106, seaborgium (1974), was named in his honour. Glenn T. Seaborg received so many awards and honors that at one time the Guinness Book of World Records listed him as the person with the longest entry in Who's Who in America.

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Meandering to and fro . . .

Today is the birthday of Clarence Seward Darrow (April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938), lawyer and a leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He is oft remembered as the epitome of the "sophisticated country lawyer" and one of the great civil libertarians produced by America.

“As long as the world shall last there will be wrongs, and if no man objected and no man rebelled, those wrongs would last forever.” - Clarence Darrow

“You can protect your liberties in this world only by protecting the other man's freedom. You can be free only if I am free.” - Clarence Darrow

“No other offense has ever been visited with such severe penalties as seeking to help the oppressed.” - Clarence Darrow

"Lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for." - Clarence Darrow

"Someday I hope to write a book where the royalties will pay for the copies I give away." - Clarence Darrow

"The pursuit of truth will set you free; even if you never catch up with it." - Clarence Darrow

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As far as I can see . . .

A Happy Birthday salute to John Pierpont Morgan (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913), financier, banker and art collector, considered by many the greatest financier in the history of United States business.

John Pierpont Morgan was a notable collector of books and art objects. He was president and a major force in the establishment of the Metropolitan Museum of Art to which he bequeathed much of his large art collection.

"No problem can be solved until it is reduced to some simple form. The changing of a vague difficulty into a specific, concrete form is a very essential element in thinking." - J. P. Morgan

“Anyone can be a millionaire, but to become a billionaire you need an astrologer.” - J. P. Morgan

“When you expect things to happen - strangely enough - they do happen.” - J. P. Morgan

"Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you'll be able to see farther." - J. P. Morgan

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Meandering to and fro . . .

A Happy Birthday salute to Anatole France (born Jacques Anatole François Thibault, April 16, 1844 - October 12, 1924), poet, journalist, and novelist.

Anatole France spent most of his life around books. He was the son of a bookseller, worked with his father in the trade and In 1876 he was appointed a librarian for the French Senate. He was elected to the Académie Française in 1896.

Anatole France had the courage to stand up for the injustice to Alfred Dreyfuss and played an important part in the Dreyfus Affair. He was the first to signed Emile Zola's manifesto supporting Alfred Dreyfus and later wrote about the affair in his 1901 novel Monsieur Bergeret. Anatole France won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1921.

Once again we have a writer whose works were banned. In the 1920s, Anatole France's writings were placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Prohibited Books Index) of the Roman Catholic Church.

"Nine tenths of education is encouragement." - Anatole France

"To accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream, not only dream but also believe." - Anatole France

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened"- Anatole France

"Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe." - Anatole France

Trivia bit: The renown intellectual Anatole France had a small brain, it was just two-thirds the size of a "normal" brain. info source (1)(2)

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Meandering about . . .

Today is the birthday of (Koca Mi‘mār Sinān Āġā) Mimar Sinan (April 15, 1489 - April 09, 1588), architect. Mimar Sinan was the chief Ottoman architect and civil engineer for sultans Suleiman I, Selim II and Murad III.

"The son of Greek Orthodox Christian parents, Sinan entered his father’s trade as a stone mason and carpenter. . . He first revealed his talents as an architect in the 1530s by designing and building military bridges and fortifications. In 1539 he completed his first nonmilitary building, and for the remaining 40 years of his life he was to work as the chief architect of the Ottoman Empire at a time when it was at the zenith of its political power and cultural brilliance. The number of projects Sinan undertook is massive—79 mosques, 34 palaces, 33 public baths, 19 tombs, 55 schools, 16 poorhouses, 7 madrasahs (religious schools), and 12 caravansaries, in addition to granaries, fountains, aqueducts, and hospitals. His three most famous works are the Şehzade Mosque and the Mosque of Süleyman I the Magnificent, both of which are in Istanbul, and the Selim Mosque at Edirne." direct quote source (1)

Mimar Sinan died in 1588 and his body rests in a tomb outside the Sulemaniye Mosque. Ornate as his creations were, his own tomb is surprisingly a simple one, which lies across a street named after him.

Trivia bit: As crater in Mercury has also been named after him.

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Be Happy . . .

Today is the birthday of Moritz Schlick ( born Friedrich Albert Moritz Schlick, April 14, 1882–June 22, 1936), philosopher, best known as the founding father of logical positivism and the Vienna Circle.

"As the founder and leader of the Vienna Circle — arguably the most important and influential philosophy study and discussion group in the history of Western philosophy after Plato's Academy — Schlick occupies a position of importance in the history of Western philosophy that is considerably greater than he would otherwise have held based simply on his philosophical work alone, which was nevertheless of considerable importance in its own right." direct quote source (1)

Moritz Schlick emphasized experience as the means of establishing the truth of claims to knowledge.

In 1908, he published The Wisdom of Life, a slim volume about eudaemonism, the theory that happiness is the highest ethical pursuit.

Moritz Schlick was shot by a deranged former student while on his way to lecture at the University of Vienna on June 22, 1936.

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