28 August 2013 Current Affairs
Brigalia Bam Awarded with Gandhi Peace Prize
On 28 August Brigalia Bam, former head of South Africa’s election body, received the prestigious Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Peace and Reconciliation her commitment to democracy.The award was created in 2003 to mark the centenary of a newspaper, Indian Opinion, published in South Africa by Gandhi. It was created in memory of Mahatma Gandhi who began his socio-political life in South Africa and struggled ceaselessly for justice and for peace and reconciliation.
Indian-origin Cardiologist Named White House Fellow
On 28 August Dr Kapil Parakh, an Indian-origin cardiologist working in Washington area, is among a dozen people chosen by the White House for its prestigious fellowship programme for 2013-14.Dr Parakh is the director of heart failure at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Centre and assistant professor in the Departments of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Health Behaviour and Society.Dr Parakh is the co-founder of Health for America, a non-profit that mobilises youth to improve the health of communities through innovation while shaping the next generation of leaders.
Scientists Discovered New Element 115
An international team at the GSI research facility in Germany have confirmed the existence of a new element with atomic number 115, verifying earlier measurements performed by research groups in Russia. By bombarding a thin film of americium with calcium ions, the research team was able to measure photons in connection with the new element’s alpha decay. Certain energies of the photons agreed with the expected energies for X-ray radiation, which is a ‘fingerprint’ of a given element.The scientists have not named it yet but for time being it will be referred as, Ununpentium.