#ThrowbackThursday – 7 March
It’s 7 March, and that means it’s time for another edition of Throwback Thursday! Today, we’re taking a look back at three prominent events that went down on this day in history:
322 BC – The Death of Aristotle
At the age of 61, the great Greek philosopher Aristotle passed away.
An esteemed logician and polymath who developed an interest in (and contributed widely to) a multitude of fields – ethics, politics, philosophy and aesthetics, among others – Aristotle was taught by none other than Plato.
Over the course of his life, Aristotle made vast written contributions to further the knowledge of humankind. His works include the “Organon”, “Rhetoric”, “Metaphysics” and “Poetics”, all of which would influence Islamic freethinkers, Middle Age scholars and contemporary philosophers alike. He was also tutor to Macedonia’s Alexander the Great in the latter’s youth before his rise to legendary king and military leader.
In the year 323 BC, Alexander died; a year later, Aristotle would flee to the island of Euboea, as anti-Macedonian sentiments arose in Athens and he feared his connection with the deceased king would get himself killed.
Not long afterwards, however, Aristotle passed away. Reports say that he contracted a disease of the digestive organs. Per his request, he was buried next to his wife Pythias, who had died some years before.
1876 – Phoning in A Patent
On this day 148 years ago, Scottish-American inventor Alexander Graham Bell successfully received a patent for the precursor to cellular devices everywhere: the telephone.
Filed at the US Patent Office on 7 March 1876, Patent #174 465 was granted for “the method of, and apparatus for, transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically, by causing electrical undulations, similar in form to the vibrations of air accompanying the said vocal or other sound.”
In other words, a device that would allow the voices of two (or more) persons speaking to each other from different locations to be transmitted as soundwaves via electric cables.
Three days later, Bell carried out the first phone call on his prototype device. Lifting the receiver to his mouth, he spoke to the other person on the other end: his assistant, Thomas A. Watson, who stood in the adjoining room of his laboratory in Boston, Massachusetts.
“Mr Watson, come here, I want you,” said Bell.
Per the inventor’s journal, Watson “came and declared that he had heard and understood what I said.”
A year later, the first pair of practical telephones arrived in Great Britain; a year after that, a telephone service was set up, thus truly marking the success of Bell’s innovative invention.
2009 – Neymar Joins the Pros
He’s one the most famous soccer players in the world, so it’s not hard to believe that Neymar made his professional debut at a very young age.
Born Neymar da Silva Santos, Jr. in Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil, the youngster was playing footie under the guidance of his father, who was himself a former professional player. When he was 11, Neymar was spotted by Santos FC, and they quickly placed him into their youth academy.
Seven years later, the 17-year-old made his debut on 7 March 2009 for Santos, albeit only in the last 30 minutes of their match against Oeste (which his team won 2-1). He made a bigger impact the following week when he scored his first goal against Mogi Mirim.
By 2013, Neymar had scored 136 goals in 225 appearances for the Brazilian club. It wasn’t long before he signed with the world-famous Spanish outfit, FC Barcelona.
By 2017, Neymar – then 25-years-old – proved that he had immense footballing talent: between 2013 and 2017, he had helped Barcelona win two league titles, three Copa del Rey championships, and the UEFA Champions League trophy. Later that year, he joined Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) for a whopping €222 million.
Between 2018 and 2023, he helped PSG lift a multitude of trophies, including four Ligue 1 championships. Along the way, he has accumulated many honours and awards including La Liga’s Player of the Year, Copa del Rey’s top scorer and the Samba Gold.
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