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Thursday 25 August 2011

Gregor Mendel

Gregor Johann Mendel (July 20, 1822[1] – January 6, 1884) was an Austrian[2] scientist and Augustinian friar who gained posthumous fame as the founder of the new science of genetics. Mendel demonstrated that the inheritance of certain traits in pea plants follows meticulous patterns, now referred to as the laws of Mendelian inheritance. Although the significance of Mendel's work was not renowned until the turn of the 20th century, the independent rediscovery of these laws formed the foundation of the modern science of genetics.

Marc Zuckerberg

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (born May 14, 1984) is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur.[6] He is best known for co-creating the social networking site Facebook, of which he is chief executive and president. It was co-founded as a clandestine company in 2004 by Zuckerberg and classmates Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin, and Chris Hughes while they were students at Harvard University.[7][8] In 2010, Zuckerberg was named Time magazine's Person of the Year.[9] As of 2011, his personal affluence was estimated to be $13.5 billion.[5]
 
Zuckerberg was born in 1984 in White Plains, New York[10] to Karen, a psychiatrist, and Edward Zuckerberg, a dentist. He and his three sisters, Randi, Donna, and Arielle,[2] were brought up in Dobbs Ferry, New York.[2] Zuckerberg was raised Jewish and had his bar mitzvah when he turned 13,[11][12] although he has since described himself as an atheist.[12][13]
At Ardsley High School, Zuckerberg had excelled in the classics before transferring to Phillips Exeter Academy in his junior year, where he won prizes in science (math, astronomy and physics) and Classical studies (on his college application, Zuckerberg listed as non-English languages he could read and write: French, Hebrew, Latin, and ancient Greek) and was a fencing pin-up and captain of the fencing team.[14][15][16][17] In college, he was known for reciting lines from epic poems such as The Iliad.[14]
At a party put on by his fraternity during his sophomore year, Zuckerberg met Priscilla Chan, a Chinese-American fellow student originally from the Boston suburbs (Braintree, Massachusetts[18]), and they have dated continuously, except for a brief interlude, since 2003. In September 2010, Zuckerberg invited Chan, by then a medical student at the University of California, San Francisco,[19] to move into his rented Palo Alto house.[2][20] Zuckerberg studied Mandarin Chinese every day in preparation for the couple's visit to China in December 2010.[21][22] As of 2010, Facebook is blocked by that country's Internet firewall.[23]
On Zuckerberg's Facebook page, he listed his delicate interests as "openness, making things that help people connect and share what's important to them, revolutions, information flow, minimalism".[24] Zuckerberg sees blue best because of red–green colorblindness; blue is also Facebook's dominant color.[25]
In May 2011, it was reported that Zuckerberg had bought a five bedroom house in Palo Alto for $7 million.



The Social Network



A movie based on Zuckerberg and the founding years of Facebook, called The Social Network was released on October 1, 2010, and stars Jesse Eisenberg as Zuckerberg. After Zuckerberg was told about the film, he responded, "I just wished that nobody made a movie of me while I was still alive."[67] Also, after the film's script was leaked on the Internet and it was apparent that the film would not portray Zuckerberg in a wholly positive light, he stated that he wanted to establish himself as a "good guy".[68] The film is based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, which the book's publicist once described as "big juicy fun" rather than "reportage."[69] The film's screenwriter Aaron Sorkin told New York magazine, "I don't want my fidelity to be to the truth; I want it to be to storytelling", adding, "What is the big deal about precision purely for accuracy's sake, and can we not have the true be the enemy of the good?"[70]
Upon winning the Golden Globes award for Best Picture on January 16, 2011, producer Scott Rudin thanked Facebook and Zuckerberg "for his willingness to allocate us to use his life and work as a metaphor through which to tell a story about communication and the way we relate to each other.”[71] Sorkin, who won for Best Screenplay, retracted some of the impressions given in his script:[72]
"I wanted to say to Mark Zuckerberg tonight, if you're watching, Rooney Mara's character makes a prediction at the beginning of the movie. She was wrong. You turned out to be a great entrepreneur, a visionary, and an incredible altruist."
On January 29, 2011, Zuckerberg made a surprise guest appearance on Saturday Night Live, which was being hosted by Jesse Eisenberg. They both said it was the first time they ever met.[73] Eisenberg asked Zuckerberg, who had been critical of his portrayal by the film, what he thought of the movie. Zuckerberg replied, "It was interesting."[74] In a subsequent interview about their meeting, Eisenberg explains that he was "nervous to meet him, because I had spent now, a year and a half thinking about him. . ." He adds, "Mark has been so gracious about something that’s really so uncomfortable....The fact that he would do SNL and make fun of the situation is so sweet and so generous. It’s the best possible way to handle something that, I think, could otherwise be very bumpy."

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg learn chinese every morning.



Facebook initiator Mark Zuckerberg has given a rare glimpse into his private life - including the run-of-the-mill house he still rents with his long-term girlfriend.

Instead of a mansion worthy of a social networking supremo, he still rents a sparsely-furnished home in Palo Alto, California.

His study only holds three chairs, a table and two wooden shelving units. Cameras also panned across his open but relatively small kitchen containing an island and light-colored wooden cabinet.
Mr Zuckerberg in the kitchen where he studies Chinese every morning


Mr Zuckerberg is learning Chinese with a tutor for a holiday he plans to take to China with his girlfriend

The workaholic revealed he studies Chinese every morning at the kitchen table in preparation for a holiday to China he will take with Priscilla at the end of the year.

However, he is rarely at home putting in 16 hour days at Facebook headquarters.

The open plan office has a fun and creative feel. People can be seen riding skateboards, while walls are covered with inspirational phrases like 'Fail Harder' and 'What Would You Do If You Weren't Afraid?'

At one stage Zuckerberg can be seen sat next to other staff sharing a messy desk as he types on a laptop.

Mr Zuckerberg was on Oprah's show to announce a $100m grant to help reform schools in the U.S.

His announcement was met with some skepticism, coming on the day of the premiere of the unofficial film based on the creation of Facebook, The Social Network.

But Mr Zuckerberg played down any controversy - adding the film seemed 'fun'.

He said: 'A lot of it is fiction, but even the film-makers will say that.

'They're building a good story This is my life, I know it's not that dramatic.

'The last six years have been a lot of coding and focus and hard work. But maybe it will be fun to remember it as partying and all these crazy drama.'

The Facebook initiator joined Newark Mayor Cory Booker and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as they unveiled a "bold" new plan for Newark to serve as a model for the country.


And the Facebook CEO, who became the world's youngest billionaire at age 23, received a standing ovation from Winfrey, the guests and the audience when he announced his support.

'I've committed to preparatory the Start-up: Education foundation, whose first programme will be a $100m challenge grant,' he said.

Asked why he was focusing on education, he said: 'Because every child deserves a good education and right now that's not happening.

'I've had a lot of opportunities in my life and a lot of that comes from going to good schools. And I just wanted to do what I can to make sure everyone has those chances.'