The Life of Ibu Kartini (Part 2)

In her seclusion, Kartini kept on doing her good habits to read books. Additionally, she wrote plenty of letters to her white friends abroad. She shared her feeling and thoughts with them. Kartini was indeed good at writing letters.

On November 8, 1903, Kartini got married to Raden Adipati Ario Joyohadiningrat, the regent of Rembang. Although she had been married, she still tried to realize her aspiration. She had a great interest in education, especially for girls. She worked hard to have schools established for girls. She then began to teach at an Elementary School for girls in Rembang.

Kartini passed away on September 17, 1904, a fer days after she gave birth to a baby named Raden Mas Susalit. What she had done was, as a matter of fact, only a little part of her pure and sublime ideal.

In 1911 Mr. J. Abendanon published a book entitled Door Duisternis tot Licht. This book was then translated into Indonesian Habis Gelap Terbitlah Terang. In this book, a compilation of Kartini’s letters written to her Dutch friends are printed. From the letters, we know how broad her knowledge and view were, how high her sense of nationalism was, and how much she loved Indonesian women.

The Life of Ibu Kartini (Part 1)

Every April 21, Indonesian people commemorate ‘Kartini Day’. Raden Ajeng Kartini was the one who struggled hard to encourage the progress of Indonesian women. That is why, she is well known as the pioneer of Indonesian women’s emancipation movement.

Raden Ajeng Kartini was born on April 21, 1879 in Mayong, Jepara, Central Java. She came from a noble family. Her father whose name was Raden Mas Adipati Ario Samingun Sosroningrat was an assistant of a district chief at that time. Some years later he became the regent of Jepara. Kartini lived in a highly feudal atmosphere which was very different from and contrary to her sublime ideal.

Because of her father’s status, Kartini could go to Europeesche Lagere School (European Elementary School) in Jepara. In this school she had a lot of Indonesian and Dutch friends. From her Dutch friends she was able to learn western cultures. Kartini was a diligent and clever girl. She loved reading so much. By reading books, magazines and newspapers, she broadened her knowledge. Kartini began to realize that Indonesian women were not free and were left behind compared to western women. Then a thought crossed her mind. She intended to improve the situation and to make women equal to men. She had to struggle hard to manifest her ambition. And of course, she met a lot of obstacles.

Unfortunately, after completing her study in Europeesche Lagere School, she could not further her study to a higher school. It was the tradition that the girl of her age had to keep staying at home. Kartini really felt like living in a prison.

Daniel Defoe

Daniel Defoe was born in London in 1660. After many years of studying for the ministry, Daniel decided that a religious life did not suit him. He chose, instead, to become a merchant.

He traveled widely and built up a successful business. During this period, he married and started raising a family.

But in 1692 his business failed, leaving the 32-year-old Defoe heavily in debt, with a wife and six children to support. Since he had always been interested in politics, he tried making his living by writing political articles for newspapers. These articles often criticized the king and the ruling party. As a result, Defoe spent many years in and out of prison.

Since his political writings had brought only troubles and increasing debts, Defoe turned to fiction writing. His first novel written in 1719 when Defoe was nearly sixty years old, was to become one of the best known adventure stories in the world. That novel was Robinson Crusoe--a story which still thrills readers today, more than two hundred fifty years later.

Robinson Crusoe brought Defoe great success and helped him pay back part of his debts. He continued writing novels such as Moll Flanders, Colonel Jack, and two other Robinson Crusoe stories, but his creditors always seemed to be one step behind him.

During his last years, Defoe was a sick, lonely old man, hunted by his creditors and abandoned by his ungrateful children. He died in 1731 at the age of 71, as alone and frightened as his hero, Robinson, had been during his 28 years on a deserted island.

Taken from: Catatan Henson

Two Sides of the Brain

In the late 1960s, research in the US was done by Roger Sperry and Robert Ormstein into the brain and its functions. They found that we have two brains (cortices) or, to be more accurate, two sides of the brain which is linked by a nerve structure called the corpus callosum. These two different hemispheres function in different ways and serve different mental processes.

The left side, which controls the right side of the body, is predominantly engaged with academic activities such as logical thinking, mathematics and numbers, words, analysis and reasoning, whereas the right side of the brain, which controls the left side of the body, is the artistic part which deals with images, imagination, rhythm, colour, orientation in space, music, humour and dreams, and recognition of faces, patterns and maps.

(Source: Energize Yourself! by Vera Peiffer)

Alfred Bernhard Nobel (Part 2)

Alfred in His Final Days

Alfred's health was not in good condition, and it had gone from bad to worse due to the inner crisis in his life. He witnessed with his own eyes that his invention was used for war. A great number of people had lost their lives. He felt very guilty of having invented the explosive. At first he invented the explosive for peaceful and technical purposes, not for military purpose. Since then he had become one of public figures who struggled for international peace.

Alfred passed away on December 10, 1896 in San Remo, Italy. He closed his eyes for good, bringing the feeling of regret in his heart.

Alfred & The Nobel Prizes

The Nobel prizes are very famous in the world. The names of these awards were taken from Nobel's name because it was he who had left a will that his wealth was used to establish international awards. The Nobel prizes are awarded annually in Sweden and Norway. The awardees are not limited to people residing in certain countries. The prizes are given to outstanding and meritorious people who have worked for the good of humanity regardless of their nationality.

The Nobel prizes were awarded for the first time in 1901 for five fields: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology/Medicine, Literature, and Peace. Then in 1969 the Economics Award was also granted. The Peace prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway while the other prizes in Stockholm, Sweden. Those prizes are awarded in December 1o to commemorate the death of Alfred Bernhard Nobel.


(From various sources)

Alfred Bernhard Nobel (Part 1)

Alfred in His Early Age

Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born on October 21, 1833 in Stockholm, Sweden. Alfred had shown a lot of promise in science since he was very young. His father, Immanuel Nobel, was an engineer and Alfred learned much about fundamental engineering from him. In 1842 Alfred followed his family to move to St. Petersburg.

Alfred & His Inventions

Alfred had a great interest in chemistry. So, in 1850 he went to France to satisfy his desire to study chemistry. A year later he left for the United States to study engineering. It seemed that he had been crazy about science. He always tried his best to deepen his knowledge.

Alfred spent four years in the United States. Then he returned to St. Petersburg and worked in his father's factory. Here he made an experimentation on nitroglycerin, a kind of chemical liquid which can explode easily. When the firm went bankrupt in 1859, Alfred went back to Sweden. What he did then was starting the making of the liquid explosive nitroglycerin.

Alfred felt that the nitroglycerin he had made contained some weaknesses. So, he tried to perfect it by reducing the danger of nitroglycerin. As a result, in 1866 Alfred managed to invent a safer explosive called the dynamite. The dynamite was patented in Britain in 1867 and in the United States in 1868. Again, Alfred tried to develop his invention and he succeeded in inventing a more powerful dynamite, blasting gelatin which was patented in 1876. Then, he was also successful in making the first nitroglycerin smokeless powders called the ballistite. But this time he failed to get the patent.

Being a very famous and successful inventor, Alfred became very rich. His inventions have led him to be one of the prominent inventors in the world. He deserves that!

Valentina Vladmirovna Tereshkova

Who is Valentina Vladmirovna Tereshkova?

Valentina Vladmirovna Tereshkova was born in 1937. She became a Soviet cosmonaut who was the first woman in space.

Yuri Gagarin

Who is Yuri Gagarin?

Yuri Gagarin is a Soviet cosmonaut who in 1961 was the first person to travel in space. This made him very popular and he received many medals from different countries for his pioneering tour in space.

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835. During his school days, he was often mischievous and inattentive. Therefore, he left school when he was only twelve years old. But... many years later he became a man of many interests and occupations.

He began his career as a printer, then became a pilot of a Mississippi riverboat. Next, he also worked as a journalist, travel writer, and publisher. He wrote a number of articles, short stories, and novels. Some of his great works are The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Life on the Mississippi, The Prince and the Pauper, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

Mark Twain was a pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens. This name came from his riverboat days. At that time he was measuring the depth of the water which was called "marking the twain."

Mark Twain died in 1910. Now his name is very popular. He becomes one of America's greatest writers. If you want to know more about him and his works, I suggest you read one or more of his works.