EXAMS AND ME

Wednesday, 19 August 2026

Blast From The Past: Daguerreotype

August 19, 1839 – The French government announces that Louis Daguerre photographic process is a gift "free to the world".

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World Photography Day

The oldest known photograph of the Great Sphinx of Giza was taken on December 9, 1849, by the French writer and photographer Maxime Du Camp.

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Tuesday, 18 August 2026

Steven Johnson Syndrome Awareness Day

Albert Mason Stevens and Frank Chambliss Johnson, American pediatricians, reported two children with an unusual acute illness characterized by fever, severe mucosal inflammation, conjunctivitis, and widespread skin lesions.

Stevens and Johnson initially described the condition as an “extraordinary case of erythema multiforme” with severe systemic involvement.

Similar cases were increasingly reported, and the condition became known as Stevens–Johnson syndrome.

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International Pinot Noir Day

Pinot Noir is one of the world's oldest and most celebrated wine grape varieties. Its history spans more than 2,000 years

The ancestors of Pinot Noir may have been cultivated by the ancient Romans after they conquered Gaul (modern France) in the 1st century BCE.

It is closely tied to the wine culture of France, especially the Burgundy region.

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International Pinot Noir Day

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International Pinot Noir Day is celebrated annually on August 18th.

Blast From The Past: Helium

Helium was first discovered on August 18, 1868,

It was discovered as an unknown yellow spectral line in sunlight by French astronomer Pierre Janssen and English astronomer Norman Lockyer during a solar eclipse

First sighting: Pierre Janssen saw a bright yellow spectral line while viewing a solar eclipse in India

Helium is named after Helios, the Greek word for the Sun.

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Helium In Medicine

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First Anti Death Gene

The BCL2 gene is located on human chromosome 18 (at band 18q21)

It encodes an important protein that blocks programmed cell death, or apoptosis.

The first discovered anti-death (anti-apoptotic) gene is BCL2.

The name comes from B-cell lymphoma 2, because the gene was identified at the t(14;18) chromosomal translocation characteristic of many follicular lymphomas.