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All that mattered to me In the year 2016. Looking Back at 2016 The year 2016 is almost gone! Today is Wednesday. The date is December 28, 2016. It is exactly 8:01 PM now. So, only three days and four hours left for the year 2016 to cross the finishing line! However, the year would always remain memorable to me as well as many others including the Historians also. When the Historians would look back in future on the year 2016, they will find enough materials, certainly from a news perspective, to label it as a memorable year of the Twenty First Century! There are mainly two reasons for considering the year as memorable by me. One is very personal. I went through the surgical procedure to get the cataract from my right eye removed this year by my eye surgeon! I can now feel again after long years how beautiful the whole world looks like! The other reason relates to the five innovations by Bangladeshi scientists who are in forefront of major discoveries around the world – in the realm of astrophysics, electronics engineering, physics and health. The Historians would look back on the year 2016 in future and label it as memorable for various events that has shocked and surprised the people of the world including me too. From Brexit and the election of Donald Trump to the numerous stars that have passed away, it has been a busy 12 months. Let us now look back at the biggest stories of the year, 2016 including the top five innovations by Bangladeshis. 1. Breakthrough in Astronomy by Rubab Khan. Bangladeshi scientist Rubab Khan has made a major breakthrough in astronomy. Rubab Khan, of Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Centre, and his team has discovered five super size stars "Eta twins" in other galaxies on par with a monstrous stellar system in our own Milky Way. Readers may please view the picture posted below (#1). 2. Gravitational waves: Selim Shahriar “US-based Bangladeshi Professor Selim Shariar discovered gravitational waves – which now confirm Albert Einstein's famous theory of relativity.” “A team of scientists at Northwestern University led by Shahriar confirmed the existence of gravitational waves created by the collision of two black holes in the universe. This collision took place 1.3 billion light years away from earth. (A light year is the distance that a ray of light travels in a vacuum in 1 year, equivalent to 5.88 trillion miles or 9.46 trillion kilometres).” Pic # 2. Gravitational waves and ripples in space: Dipankar Talukdar Depankar Talukdar is 39 years old. A former student of Physics Department of Dhaka University, scientist Dipanker Talukdar has brought fame to Bangladesh detecting gravitational waves and ripples in space. He, along with his team used a pair of giant laser detectors in the US. One of these detectors was in Louisiana and the other in Washington. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIG  received a wave signal about which scientists came to know. They found that the waves were the product of a collision between two black holes 30 times more massive than our sun and located about 1.3 billion light years from earth. 3. Nano-scale electronic and spintronic devices: Sayeef Salahuddin. Bangladeshi scientist Sayeef Salahuddin developed nanoscale electronic and spintronic devices for low power logic and memory applications. The devices use the properties of electrons to transmit process and store information. An associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science in UC Berkeley, Salahuddin was named as a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers in February, 2016. 4. Turning algae into biofuel: Dr Tamjidul Hoque. “Tamjidul Hoque, assistant professor of computer science, has been awarded $141,453 by the Louisiana Board of Regents Industrial Ties Research Subprogram to develop the software tools and theoretical underpinning needed to help convert algae into biofuel. The grant also has a three-year institutional match of $36,720.” “Algae are found to have good potential for providing biofuel at a higher rate compared to any other plants,” according to Hoque. “Algae can be developed as an excellent microbial cell factory that can harvest solar energy and convert atmospheric carbon-dioxide to useful products and thus can establish the missing link in the fuel-cycle.” 5. Genetical mutation responsible for Parkinson's disease: Dr Miratul Mohamid Khan Muqit. Dr. Miratul Mohamid Khan Muqit is a British-Bangladeshi, and a leading scientist based at the University of Dundee, has been named as one of this year's awardees of the prestigious European Molecular Biology Organisation Young Investigator Programme. His research has made several breakthroughs in the genetically mutation responsible for Parkinson's disease.A consultant neurologist at Ninewells Hospital, he treats patients with the disabling conditions. Muqit was born in Glasgow, Scotland on October 12, 1973. His father Abdul Muqit, a general practitioner, and his mother Mamataz Begum, a psychiatrist, are now living in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The events that has shocked and surprised the world during the year2016. 1. Turkey coup On July 15, 2016, Turkey saw its first attempted coup in 36 years. It briefly looked like the government would fall before President Recep Tayyip Erdogan got a message out, calling for his supporters to take to the streets. The toll of the coup attempt was devastating. Over 300 died when tanks started shelling the crowds, and another 2,100 were injured. The backlash was arguably worse. 2. Iraq, France and Germany devastated by ISIS attacks July 3. 2016, saw ISIS start the month by carrying out their deadliest attack yet. A truck bomb in the heart of Baghdad exploded shortly after midnight, killing 292 people. It was the deadliest attack in Iraq since 2007 and the deadliest ever carried out by a single bomber. Only 11 days later, an ISIS supporter drove a 19-ton truck through the Bastille Day crowds at Nice, killing 84. Barely had France recovered from its latest bout of grief when ISIS attackers struck again, murdering a Catholic priest in his church. In comparison, Germany got off almost lightly. Two refugees inspired by ISIS separately carried out axe and bomb attacks. Although nearly 20 were injured, only the attackers themselves died. Pic # 6. 3. Germany, Japan rocked by rampage killings Besides ISIS attacks, two developed nations also suffered their deadliest mass-killings in years. In Germany, a German-Iranian went on a rampage in a McDonald’s, killing nine and wounding 35. The gunman had expressed support for Adolf Hitler and was a fan of Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik. As a result, police are now investigating if this rampage shooting was actually Germany’s first major far-right attack in decades. There was no such ambiguity about Japan’s worst mass-killing since World War II. The murderer, Satoshi Uematsu, had a clear and pathological hatred of disabled people and expressed that hatred in the vilest way possible. On July 26, Uematsu broke into a care home and stabbed 19 people to death. Police said he showed no remorse. 4. Trump becomes US president. The election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States of America caused a major world wide surprise. In late July, the two parties formally coroneted Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. In doing so, they kicked off a contest between the two least popular candidates in US history. Overwhelming all the odds and statistics, Donald Trump emerged victorious in the race for White House when poll results came out in November, 2016. 5. Brexit The United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union is widely known as Brexit, a portmanteau of "British exit". The terms of withdrawal have not yet been negotiated; in the meantime, the UK remains a full member of the European Union. 6. US rocked by targeted cop killings The year 2016 proved to be a bad year for targeted cop killings in the United States of America! Prior to Dallas, 26 had died, compared to 18 by that point in 2015. The sniper attack, by an ex-member of the New Black Panthers, added another five bodies. It was the deadliest single day for law enforcement since 9/11. 10 days later, another black supremacist ambushed and gunned down three more officers in Baton Rouge. In between these two attacks, four officers were shot and injured in ambush attacks, and two former cops working as courthouse bailiffs were shot and killed. All these incidents have combined to make 2016 exceptionally bloody for cops. 7. International court’s collision course with China. International Court appears to be in collision course with China. The most potential flash point in for World War 111 may be “The South China Sea.” After years of tension, the international court ruled against China’s incursions into the sea, saying they violated Philippine sovereignty in July 2016. Just after the ruling, China published a white paper saying the UN had been influenced by US lies. 8. Dhaka attack! On July 1, twenty hostages, mostly foreigners, were slain during a 12-hour long siege at an upscale eatery in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone located on Gulshan area of Dhaka in Bangladesh. Additionally, two police officers were also killed by gunmen who were allegedly of the Islamic State. Finally, the attackers were all killed when the elite commandos of the Bangladesh Armed Forces intervened to free the hostages. Pic # 7. 9. Death of Fidel Castro. Fidel Castro, the Cuban revolutionary leader who built a communist state on the doorstep of the United States and for five decades defied US efforts to topple him, died on November 25 at the age of 90. The world poured their hearts out at the news and said goodbye to the leader in respect. Pic# 8. Thank you so much for reading the article. Sources: Various News Media and The Daily Star, Dhaka.         |
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Sometimes past events shape the future!
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Sometimes past events shape the future! May you have a healthy, happy, and prosperous new year. Be a prism, spreading God's light and love, not a mirror reflecting the world's hatred.
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Past events do shape the future, but it is often how we react to those events that determine what our future will be. May you have a healthy, happy, and prosperous new year.
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Thanks Look, for your synopsis of 2016. 2017 is going to be interesting.... if the world survives it!! 
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My views have changed dramatically since I was a boy. The mysteries of "outer space" can no longer compare to the mysteries to "inner space"
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Thanks Look, for your synopsis of 2016. 2017 is going to be interesting.... if the world survives it!!
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My views have changed dramatically since I was a boy. The mysteries of "outer space" can no longer compare to the mysteries to "inner space"
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MySeek, I am glad to learn that your close family made it through the year unharmed and your beloved partner is still with you despite negative prognosis by his doctors. I trust and pray that you and your other half make it through many more years together in future too. A wrong step taken by the president of a most powerful country of the world during the last decade of twentieth century in Middle East had destabilized the entire region and as a result the whole world is now in turmoil. I pray for the return of sanity and peace everywhere so that people need not leave their homes for uncertain and unwelcome destinations! Stay well and cheerful always!
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