Category: Amazing Feats

Leo Vardarkar – Ireland’s Youngest Prime Minister : 2017

Leo Eric Varadkar (aka) Leo de Varad, Irish Politician and Physician became head of the Irish Government and at 38 years of age, youngest Prime Minister to hold office.

  • Served as Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister)
  • Leader of the political party ‘Fine Gael’
  • Minister of Defence (2017-2020)
  • Minister of Transport, Tourism & Sport (2011-2014)
  • Minister for Health (2014-2016)
  • Minister for Social Protection (2016-2017)
  • Teachta Dala, Dublin West (2000)
  • Deputy Mayor – Fingal County Council
  • Member – Fingal County Council
  • First Taoiseach of Indian Heritage.
  • First Irish government leader of Indian origin

Education:

  • Graduate – Medicine : School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin

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Irish / Indian-Irish

Indian-American Sethuraman Panchanathan Appointed to Head America’s top Science Funding Body : June 2020

American Scientist – Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan has been appointed by U.S President Donald J Trump as the 15th Director , of the National Science Foundation (NSF). The term is for 6 years.

The NSF is the top American body supporting fundamental research on non-medical fields of science. It has a budget of USD 7.4 billion .

Earlier Assignments:

  • Executive Vice President – ASU Knowledge Enterprise Development , Arizona State University
  • Chief Research Officer – Arizona State University
  • Director – Center for Cognitive Ubiqiutous Computing (CUbiC), Arizona State University
  • Foundation Chair – Computing and Informatics, Arizona State University
  • Member – National Science Foundation . Appointed by US President Barack Obama ( June 2014 )

Other/s:

  • Fellow – National Academy of Inventors, USA
  • Fellow – Canadian Academy of Engineering
  • Fellow – Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, USA
  • Fellow – Institute of Optical Engineers, USA

Education:

  • Ph.D – Electrical and Computers Engineering, University of Ottowa (1989)
  • M.E – Masters in Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, IIT (1988)
  • B.E. – Bachelors in Electronics & Communications Engineering, Indian Institute of Science , IISc (1984)
  • B.Sc – Bachelors in Physics, University of Madras

Notes:

Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan is the second Indian-American to be nominated to this prestigious science position. His predecessor was Dr. Subra Suresh who served during October 2010 and March 2013.

India’s First Trans-Polar Flight to the North Pole, by the IAF : June 2003

The Indian Air Force (IAF) was the first Indian mission to reach the true North Pole and complete ‘ Exercise Cooperative Cope Thunder 2003 ‘ .

A 14-member team of the IAF, led by the pilot on on the mission – Group Captain S R K Nair on the IAF’s IL-76 reached the true North Pole on June 19th, 2003.

The aircraft reached over the true North Pole on June 19th, 2003 at 18:45 GMT (June 20, 00:15 IST).

This unique feat has not yet been repeated by any IAF Pilot or IAF team till date.

Notes:

Subsequently a Boeing 777 of Air India achieved the same feat.

Pratishta Deveshwar – 1st wheel-chair bound Student from India to Study at Oxford : June 2020

Pratishta Deveshwar, Delhi University student to be the first wheel-chair bound Indian student to study at Oxford.

A final year student currently at Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University.

P Deveshwar is admitted to study her Master’s in Public Policy, at Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.

American-Indian Doctor Ankit Bharat performs First Lung Transplant for COVID-19 Survivor : June 2020

Dr. Ankit Bharat MD, led a team of surgeons and performed a double-lung transplant on a Covid-19 survior.

The Chicago patient was on a ventilator and a heart-lung machine for 6 weeks before she underwent the operation at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, Illinois.

Presently:

  • Chief of Thoracic Surgery & Surgical Director – Northwestern Medicine Lung Transplant Program.

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American / American-Indian

India. World’s 9th Largest Recipient of FDI in 2019 : UN

India is the 9th largest recipient of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) ) in 2019 with USD 51 billion dollars of inflow.

‘The World Invest Report 2020’ by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said India will continue to attract market seeking investments.

  • India – World’s 9th Largest Recipient
  • South Asia’s Largest Recipient

British Indian Parm Sandhu – First Woman of Colour – Senior Most Female Police Officer – Scotland Yard

Parm Sandhu (aka) Parm Kaur Sandhu, British Sikh , senior most female police officer of colour to reach the highest-rank in London’s Metropolitan Service.

Position/s:

  • Temporary Chief Superintendent, attached to Human Resources, Metropolitan Police
  • Borough Commander, Richmond-Upon-Thames – First Asian Woman in the history of the Force to hold this position

Award:

  • Asian Women of Achievement Award (2006)

ISRO gets patent for Made in India ‘moon soil’ : May 2020

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has registered a patent for its method of manufacturing highland lunar soil stimulant or simply ‘ lunar / moon soil.

The patent was granted by the Indian Patent Office on May 18th for an invention as to the method of manufacturing highland lunar soil stimulant.

Indian Mountaineer Bhawna Dehariya Scales Australia’s Highest Mountain : March 2020

Bhawna Dehariya of Madhya Pradesh, successfully scaled the summit at Mount Kosciuszko, Australia’s highest mountain peak on March 10th, 2020 to co-incide with Holi.

Last year she scaled Mount Kilimanjaro on November 27th, 2019 to co-incide with Diwali.

Indian-American Siddhartha Mukherjee Wins Pulitzer for non-fiction Book

Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee – Physician, Oncologist, Scientist and Writer.

Awarded Pulitzer Prize for his book, non-fiction category – ‘ The Emperor of All Maladies : A Biography of Cancer’ in 2011

Work:

  • Assistant Professor , Department of Medicine, Division of Haematology/Oncology, Columbia University Medical Center

Education:

  • B.S – Biology, Stanford University
  • D.Phil – Thesis ‘The processing and presentation of viral antigens’
  • M.D – Harvard Medical School
  • – Fellow at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Harvard Medical School)
  • Ph.D – Honorary Doctorate degree – Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland
  • Ph.D – Honorary Doctorate degree – University of Southern California

Awards:

  • Padma Shri (2014) , President of India

Books:

  • The Emperor of All Maladies : A Biography of Cancer (2010) – Pulitzer Prize Winner (2011) and several other awards for the book
  • The Law of Medicine : Field Notes from an uncertain science (2015)
  • The Gene : An intimate history ( (2016)