Local
2022: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurates an aircraft museum next to New Town police station on June 8. The museum is the second of its kind in India after the one in Visakhapatnam and boasts of aircraft like the long-range anti-submarine and reconnaissance aircraft and the Indian Navy’s decommissioned TU-142.
National
1864: Ashutosh Mukherjee is born in Calcutta on June 29. He becomes Calcutta University’s first student to be awarded a dual degree — for Masters in mathematics and physics, and later becomes vice-chancellor of the university for five terms.
Ashutosh Mukherjee
He founds Bengal Technical Institute (later known as Jadavpur University), the University College of Science (Rajabazar Science College), Calcutta Mathematical Society and is instrumental in founding University College of Law (Hazra Law College), and Ashutosh College.
1987: The Birdman of India, Salim Ali, dies on June 20 at the age of 90. An ornithologist and naturalist, Ali was the first Indian to conduct systematic bird surveys across the country, and his books like the Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan remain popular decades after his demise.
Salim Ali
Ali influenced important conservation movements in India, such as the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary in Rajasthan and Silent Valley National Park in Kerala.
1972: INS Nilgiri, the first major warship built in India, is commissioned on June 3. Built in Mumbai by India’s Mazagon Dock Limited and a British company, the ship is inspired by designs from the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy. The success of INS Nilgiri leads to the Indian Navy redesigning more ships.
INS Nilgiri
Global
1841: French confectioner Nicolas Appert dies on June 1. The nonagenarian is remembered for having invented the method of preserving food in airtight containers — canning. Not only is Appert known as the father of food science, but the process of canning itself is also called appertisation in his honour.
Appert Nicolas
1973: World Environment Day is held for the first time on June 5. It is the result of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment by the United Nations the previous year and is celebrated annually henceforth to generate awareness on protecting of the earth. The theme for the first year is “only one earth”.
Representational image
2022: Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurates the Padma Multipurpose Bridge on June 25. Considered the most challenging construction project of the country, it has two levels - a four-lane highway above and a single track railway below. The 6.15km bridge is the longest in the country and connects the southwest region to the northern and eastern regions.
Padma bridge
Sport, music, art
2010: American tennis player John Isner plays French Nicolas Mahut in the Wimbledon Championships on June 22. The match becomes the longest tennis match in history, lasting 11 hours and five minutes over three days, with Isner’s victory (in picture). The fifth set alone lasts over eight hours. Rules are changed thereafter to introduce tie breaks in the final sets of Grand Slams matches, meaning this match shall probably remain the longest in history.
Representational image
2011: M.F. Husain, one of the best-known Indian artists, dies on June 9 at the age of 95. Husain’s style was modified Cubist and his themes included Gandhi, Mother Teresa, the British raj and Indian epic The Ramayana. His painting Voices later auctions for a record $2.5 million. But he was also controversial and remained in self-imposed exile in his last years, even accepting Qatari citizenship.
M.F. Husain
2013: South Korean pop band BTS releases its debut album 2 Cool 4 Skool on June 12. The seven-member band goes on to break records in the years to come, spearheading the Korean wave into the rest of the world. They sell more than 40 million albums, receive multiple Grammy nominations, address UN sessions and single-handedly draw more than 8,00,000 foreigners to Korea a year.
BTS Reuters file picture