Some interesting Trivia

1. Einstein did not win Nobel Prize for his theory of relativity.
Yes, everyone's favorite patent clerk did win a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921, but the award specifically cites his paper on the photoelectric effect—one of four papers that Einstein published during his "Year of Wonders" in 1905. The other three papers are on Brownian motion, special relativity, and energy and mass equivalence.
(Bonus trivia: Einstein's 1905 paper on special relativity, which specifies the unique breakdown of Newtonian mechanics at velocities near the speed of light, does not contain the famous E=MC2 equation; this appears in the energy and mass equivalence paper. Relativity and E=MC2 are intimately related, but the terms aren't interchangeable.)

2. Khadija, the wife of Prophet Mohammad and mother of his six children was renowned as a successful businesswoman

3. Before settling down to become the mother of Martin Luther King’s six children, Katherine Von Bora was a nun.

4. Sonia Gandhi has been described as India's best dressed politican, her trademark cotton handloom sarees being praised by many leading designers.

5. As a journalist, Maneka Gandhi is popular for her shocking publication in Surya Magazine of photos showing sexual intercourse between Suresh Ram (son of the then Defence Minister Babu Jagjivan Ram) and Sushma Chaudhury, a University of Delhi student. Her daring publication of the photos ran the risk of violation of obscenity laws. The revealing pictures were published apparently to discredit Jagjivan Ram, who defected from the Indira Gandhi government and helped bring Janata Party to power in 1977. He was one of the contenders for the post of Prime Minister of India.

Phobias

People in their natural diversity have diverse fears too. Why such strong fears? Some bad experiences in your childhood? Some tricks played by your mind? Some attributes of your past lives? Why such fears?

Some of them seem understandable such as the fear of darkness. With grannies telling you ghost stories in your childhood, any kid is quite spooked by the dark. In fact, even as a 10 year old, i was scared to go to the gate and lock it in the night. I would instead sent my sis who is around 5 years younger to me.. :)

Some of the fears of famous people is as given below:

Fear of flying: Former US president (& actor) Ronald Reagan. The famed country singer Johny Cash. Ray Bradbury.. now this is ironic as he made a living writing about space ships.

Fear of being buried alive: My oh my.. must be some really bad childhood experience. Composer Frederick Francois Chopin and author Hans Christian Anderson are examples. Anderson was so paranoid that while going to sleep he would place a sign adjacent to his bed saying that even if he looks dead, he was just sleeping.

Fear of closed spaces: This is quite understandable. In fact, even i feel quite claustrophobic in lifts and malls (esp in bangalore where malls on weekends resemble some railway station platform). Adolf Hitler is an example. An interesting story is that, his people has mirrored the large elevator leading to his Eagles nest in the Austrian Alps so that it would appear larger and more open. Well, Ronald Reagan is another entry here (god knows how many more.). The biggest surprise of all is Harry Houdini. This man's surname has become a word in english for someone who escapes from tight situations. This man made a living escaping from boxes that were locked in a matter of a few minutes. To think that this man had a morbid fear of closed spaces. Well, one must commend him for his will and self control.

Fear of Cats: This is the most amusing. One wonders if this is referring to the larger sized feline counterparts. However, the list is quite amusing: Bennito Musolini, Napolean Bonaparte, Alexander the Great, Julius Ceasar, Dwight Eisenhower. One begins to wonder if the fear of cats is a pre-condition to greatness. Well would a mere disdain for cats suffice for greatness?

Fear of Ferns: The famed spook - Sigmund Freud was human after all.

Fear of spiders: Guess he was watching too many movies. The biggest spider i have seen is from "King Solomon's Mines". Andre Agassi is the example here.

Fear of the dark: Understandable. But Mahatma Gandhi? Well.. he was human :). Author Anne Rice who writes supernatural novels also was scared of the dark.

Fear of eggs: He he he.. considering the example here is Alfred Hitchcock, it must be the morbid fear of being pelted with rotten eggs in case his movies were not so good.

Fear of Water: Have heard of lots of cases here. Some famous ones - Frederick the Great was so terrified of water that he could not wash himself with water. Instead his servants had to wash him with dry towels. Actress Natalie Wood (1938-1981) suffered from a fear of water (hydrophobia). She died by drowning.