1.Who was Sri Aurobindo?
Sri Aurobindo was a great Philosopher, Teacher, Social reformer, Yogic and Political thinker.

2.When was he born?
He was born on 15th August 1872 in Calcutta.

3.How did he spend his early life?
He completed both his school and college education in England. After a brief stint in the Baroda services, he plunged himself into the freedom movement.

4.Where did he establish his Ashram?
At Pondicherry, in 1910, then a French territory.

5.Who was his most important associate?
The mother. Born of French parents, she came to Pondicherry in 1914 and helped Sri Aurobindo in all educational, Spiritual and administrative aspects of the Aurobindo Ashram

1.Who was Bertrand Russell?
He was an outstanding English Mathematician, Philosopher, Scientific thinker and logician who influenced the thinking of an entire generation.

2.When was Bertrand Russell born?
On 18th May, 1872.

3.Why was he imprisoned during the world war first?
He was a pacifist and was strongly opposed to the war. He was, therefore, denounced as a triator and imprisoned.

4.Which are among his more famous works?
The Principal mathematica (with A.C. white head); The Analysis of matter. The outline of Philosophy, Mysticism & logic and the history of western Philosophy are among his famous works.

5.What prize was he awarded in 1950?
He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950.

1.Who was Amritdevi?
Amritdevi lived in the village of Khejadali in Rajastan in the 18th century. She died while protecting a tree.

2.Why was she protecting a tree?
She belonged to the Bishnoi community which believes that animals should not be killed and trees should not be cut.
3.Who was trying to cut down the tree that Amritdevi died for?
The king of Jodhpur needed wood for building a palace and had sent his soldiers to cut trees in Amritdevi's village. The bishnois, led by Amritdevi, did not allow the soldiers to cut down the trees.

4.How did they do that?
Each one hugged a tree. The soldiers attacked them and killed Amritdevi and more than 300 others. When the king heard of what had happened he was horrified and ordered his men to stop cutting the trees.

5.Does the Bisnoi community still exists?
It does. This small community in Rajastan continues to protect trees and animals and every year Bishnois gather at the village of khejadali for a religious fair

1.Who was Marie Curie?
She was a polish born scientist who discovered Polonium and Radium.

2.Where did she do her research work?
Her most important work was done in a draughty, leaky shed in courtyard at the school of Physics in Paris.

3.When did she get the Nobel Prize?
The first time in 1903 along with Pierre curie and Bacqurel and once again in 1911 for Chemistry.

4.What was her source of radium?
She got both Polonium and Radium from PITCHBLINDE ore obtained from the mines of Bohemia.

5.Why is her death considered ironic?
In those days, the deadly properties of radioactive substance were not known. Her death in 1934 was caused by exposure to radioactivity, the very phenomenon that she helped the world to understand

1.WHO FIRST THOUGHT OF USING CHEMICAL WEAPONS, IN MODERN    TIMES?
The idea was first conceived by the German chemist Firtz Harber during
WW 1.

2.Which was the first chemical weapon used?
Chlorine. It was sprayed on unsuspecting Allied Forces at Ypres, France on April 22, 1915. Later, Harber came up with a deadlier weapon- mustard gas.

3.What sort of chemical weapons are used today?
Chemical weapons of today are of two basic types- blistering agents (like mustard gas) and the nerve gases.

4.What do blistering agents do?
Mustard gas and other blistering agents quickly penetrate the skin and get to the flesh below. Later huge blister appear and the skin sloughs off leaving gaping wounds. If inhaled they can burn the throat and blister the lungs.

5.How do nerve gases act?
Nerve gases like Sarin and Tabun (both developed in Germany during WW 2) are odourless gases which it inhaled or obsorbed by the skin kill in minutes by paralyzing the nervous system.

1.What was Mummy?

Embalmed bodies of the dead, found mainly in Egypt.

2.Why were the bodies preserved?
They were preserved in the belief that the soul would continue to exit as long as the mummified body was preserved.

3.How was mummification done?
Firstly, the internal organs were removed and the corpse was soaked in a mixture of salt and alum for several weeks. Then the body was filled with spices and smeared with a resinous paste. It was then swathed with linen bandages and placed in a double coffin and buried.

4.What else did the Egyptians mummify?
Apart from humans, they also mummified bulls, dogs, cats, crocodiles, birds, fishes and even insects.

5.Where else did this custom prevail?
Mummies have also been found in Peru and Mexico