Latest news with #Musings
Indian Express
20-05-2025
- Science
- Indian Express
Jayant Narlikar's love for cricket: Three stories from the ground in England
Scientist, educationist, institution-builder, and science populariser Jayant Vishnu Narlikar, who died in Pune on Tuesday (May 20), also happened to be an avid cricket fan, whose love for the game dated back to his primary school days in the 1940s. Growing up on campus at Banaras Hindu University, where his father, Vishnu Narlikar, was a professor of mathematics, cricket was the young Jayant's favourite sport, the great scientist wrote in his blog, Musings, in March this year. A lucky ticket: Good fortune at Lord's As a student at the University of Cambridge, one of the high points in Narlikar's life came when he got an opportunity to watch a game at Lord's, the Mecca of cricket. It was a story of remarkable good fortune, as Narlikar recalled in his blog. This is what happened. India, led by Datta Gaekwad (father of Anshuman Gaekwad, who opened for India in the 1970s and 80s), toured England for five Tests between June and August 1959. England, led by Peter May, won the first Test at Nottingham by an innings and 59 runs. The second Test began at Lord's from June 18. India, who batted first, were bowled out for 168, with Nari Contractor scoring 81 runs. England were 50/3 at the close of the first day's play. Young Narlikar had planned to be at Lord's for the second day's play. After a 90-minute commute by train, he reached the venue before time, and looked for the ticket counter. But he was unable to locate it, and approached a member of the London Metropolitan Police for help. This Bobby turned out to be Lady Luck herself, dressed in a policeman's uniform. To Narlikar's great surprise, the policeman handed him an envelope with a free match ticket inside. Narlikar later learned that the envelope had been left with the policeman by someone who could not be at Lord's himself, with the request that it should be handed over to a needy Indian student. 'I was also thanking my luck that of the half a dozen policemen present there, I happened to approach the Bobby with the ticket,' Narlikar wrote in the blog, titled 'My Flirtations With Cricket'. The Test did not go well for India, though. England scored 226 in the first innings, and India folded for 165 in the second innings. England chased down the target of 108 to win by 8 wickets and go 2-0 up in the series. Prof in the stands: Surprise at Leeds In July 1965, Narlikar was visiting the University of Leeds, where he was hosted by his friend Kumar Chitre. Headingley Cricket ground in Leeds, a Test match venue since 1899, had been on Narlikar's bucket list. As it happened, New Zealand were touring England at the time, and the third Test was to be played at Leeds from July 8. Narlikar and Chitre planned to watch the match at the ground. The problem, however, was for Chitre to get leave from his lectures. It seemed a daunting task to persuade the Head of the Department, Prof TG Cowling, to grant Chitre leave – however, things did work out ultimately. The two friends found themselves in the stands at Leeds. And there, to their great surprise, they found Prof Cowling himself – seated two rows ahead of them, and heartily applauding the players! Against Pakistan: A generosity that backfired While at Cambridge, Narlikar's cricketing experiences travelled beyond the stands to the ground itself. Indian research students at the university had formed a cricket team that often played friendly matches with a group of Pakistanis at the Churchill College ground. The Indian researchers were led by Chitre, who was a spin bowler. Narlikar himself bowled leg-break. During one such friendly game, the Pakistanis did not have the numbers to make up a full team, so Narlikar asked his English colleague John Faulkner to play for them. It was a decision that the Indians would come to regret – Faulkner cost the Indian side the game that day, Narlikar recalled.
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
College women die in gas explosion in coal mine in 1887
Minnie M. Keiter invited a college friend, Verlista Shaul, home to Saint Clair on Easter break in 1887. Both were students at Vassar College, a prestigious institution of higher education for women — only the second in the U.S. to grant degrees to women at the time. They were seniors, scheduled to graduate in six weeks. Miss Shaul was the valedictorian of the Class of 1887. Miss Shaul had heard stories about the anthracite coal mines in her classmate's hometown. The natural curiosity of an intelligent young woman demanded that she visit one. It was not unusual in the day for women to tour a coal mine. Indeed, Minnie had been in mines, and was anxious to show one to her friend. Arranging a tour was no problem. Mr. Hiatt, a principal in the mining firm of Thompson, Hiatt and Co., lived next door and was glad to oblige the request. Harry Short, a popular young man, considered it his duty to accept when asked to escort the young women. Edwin Thompson, brother of the company's senior partner, agreed to act as guide during a visit to the mine. A new mine on the Chamberlain tract, it had not been worked for four days. It was not in operation on April 16, the day chosen for the tour, and there was no danger from mining operations. 'Down the street they walked, gay and smiling,' Walter S. Farquhar, a Pottsville Republican columnist, wrote in his Musings column. On the way, the party met a friend of Mr. Short who had wanted to be taken into a mine. The friend declined an invitation to join the party, however, saying he had no protective clothing. It was about 3:30 p.m. when the party entered the mine. 'Miss Shaul smiled when she saw the dinky little cars, and laughed when she was bundled into one,' Farquhar wrote. 'She may have felt a tremor as the car was lowered down the incline and darkness closed in all about.' At the bottom of the slope was the Little Tracy vein, and the party disembarked to walk a short distance into the tunnel. They were met by Edwin Thompson, who led them through the tunnel to the Big Tracy vein. Thompson walked ahead, about 150 yards or so, to a door about 150 yards from the mine's face. 'It was then that Miss Shaul saw a strange sight,' Farquhar wrote. 'It seemed to be a ball of fire coming from in front, just as the rising sun comes up, but red and angry like the setting sun.' Look, what's that light coming up, Miss Shaul asked. 'Quick,' shouted an experienced miner accompanying the party. 'Fall on your faces in the gutter.' Daniel Thompson, a senior partner working in another part of the mine, felt a strong rush of air and immediately recognized what had happened — there had been a gas explosion. With others, he rushed to the area where the party had been, well aware that rescue work had to be done before the setting in of deadly afterdamp, a mixture of gases that follows an explosion. Miss Keiter was found, bleeding but conscious. Harry Short was unconscious. Miss Shaul was found next, alive but badly injured. Edwin Thompson was alive, but lapsed into unconsciousness. Dr. A. P. Carr was called to the scene. Miss Keiter died that night. Mr. Short died three days later. A disfigured Miss Shaul hovered between life and death for two months. Only Mr. Thompson survived. 'Strong men wept whenever they recalled the accident,' Farquhar wrote. 'There have been mine disasters in which many more persons lost their lives, but none was more unique or more fearfully recalled.' The Saint Clair Splinter, a weekly newspaper, called the accident the most distressing and intensely sad item of local news the paper had ever published. Walter Farquhar simply called it the 'Chamberlain horror.'
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The Penn Hall Hotel, once Pottsville's finest, was demolished in 1966.
The Pennsylvania Hall Hotel was not Pottsville's first hotel, but for a time it was its most famous. When it opened at Centre Street and Howard Avenue in 1831, the Penn Hall supplanted the White Horse Hotel as the town's finest. The White Horse, operated by George Dengler, was the city's premiere hotel when it opened in 1817. To put that in perspective, that was 94 years before Pottsville would become a city. The Penn Hall's first proprietor was Col. George Shoemaker, a pioneer in the anthracite coal industry, who saw the need for a fine hotel as part of the so-called 'Coal Boom.' A visionary of sorts, Shoemaker was among the first to realize the potential of anthracite in forging iron. Iron ore was still being smelted in wood burning furnaces when, in 1812, Shoemaker took nine wagon loads of anthracite to Philadelphia in the hopes of introducing it to a rolling mill proprietor. Some in the City of Brotherly Love viewed coal as 'black stones' and Shoemaker as a purveyor of quackery. As the story goes, one proprietor of an iron furnace agreed to give anthracite a try. Walter S. Farquhar, the dean of Schuylkill County reporters, recounted it in a Musings column in the Pottsville Republican. 'Early in the morning, possibly to avoid a suspicious foreman, Col. Shoemaker and the furnace owner, a man named Mellon, piled anthracite on a wood fire. It was slow catching and, after the two returned from breakfast, they found a roaring white-hot fire. 'The new process was far better, and Mellon's men said it smelted iron like it was lead,' Farquhar wrote. Whether or not the details are accurate, by 1925, anthracite was being used in factories and homes for heat. Philadelphia investors, including Stephen Girard and Samuel Wetherill, were quick to grab every acre they could buy in Schuylkill County. 'Needless to say, they registered at the Penn Hall, the last word in hotel convenience, when they visited Pottsville,' Farquhar wrote. Presidents Ulysses S. Grant and James Garfield; World Heavyweight Boxing Champion John L. Sullivan and labor leader Samuel Gompers, founder of the American Federation of Labor, all stayed at the Penn Hall. The Penn Hall was also the site of the annual reunion of the First Defenders, the militia that responded to President Abraham Lincoln's call to arms after the Confederate Army attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861 — the start of the Civil War. The First Defenders last met at the Penn Hall around 1927. Shoemaker was one of the first persons to open and operate a coal vein in Schuylkill County. He was the first chief burgess of the Borough of Pottsville, and the first council meeting was held in his house. He died at age 57 in 1842, and is buried in Presbyterian Cemetery, Pottsville. The Penn Hall Hotel was demolished in 1966 — 135 years after it was built. 'It seems a pity that such a landmark had to go,' Farquhar wrote, 'but the building was old and improvements would have been costly.' He added, 'We still cannot refrain from adding: So long, old timer.'
