Dumitru Prunariu, a Romanian cosmonaut. He flew in space aboard Soyuz 40 spacecraft and Salyut 6 space laboratory

Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu (born 27 September 1952) is a Romanian cosmonaut. He flew in space aboard Soyuz 40 spacecraft and Salyut 6 space laboratory. He was in team with the Russian cosmonaut Leonid Popov. The backup crew was formed by the Romanian candidate cosmonaut called Dumitru Dediu and the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko.^[1]
Also Disney Romania chooses the cosmonaut to dubbed BURN-E in the Disney Pixar short.

Early life and career

Born on 27 September 1952 in Braşov, Romania, Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu graduated in 1971 from the Physics and Mathematics high school in Braşov and in 1976 from the Politehnica University of Bucharest, obtaining a degree in Aerospace Engineering.
Prunariu worked as a Diploma Engineer at Industria Aeronautică Română, an aircraft industry facility, prior to enrolling in the Romanian Air Force Officers Training School in 1977.

Intercosmos program

He was selected for spaceflight training in 1978 as a part of the Intercosmos Program. Having obtained the highest marks during three years of preparation, he was then selected for a joint space flight with the Russian cosmonaut Leonid Popov. In May 1981 they completed an eight-day space mission on board Soyuz 40 and the Salyut 6 space laboratory where they completed scientific experiments in the fields of astrophysics, space radiation, space technology, space medicine and biology.
Prunariu is the 103rd human being to fly into space.

Career after Intercosmos

 Since 1978 Prunariu was an active officer of the Romanian Air Force. For different periods of time Prunariu was detached within other ministries to perform civil functions.

In 2007 he completely retired from the Air Force with the military rank of major general, continuing his professional activity as a civil servant. At the end of 2015, by a decree of the President of Romania, Prunariu received the 3rd star, becoming a lieutenant-general (ret.). In January 1990 Prunariu was assigned the position of Deputy Minister to the Ministry of Transportation and Chief of the Romanian Civil Aviation Department, exercising this position for 1.5 years.

  In 1991 Prunariu graduated from the International Aviation Management Training Institute (IAMTI/IIFGA) located in Montreal, Canada – being after 1989 the first Romanian accomplishing a two-month training for higher managers of civil aviation institutions.
Between 1992 and 1993 Prunariu was a Co-leader of the World Bank Project on reorganization of the higher education and research system in Romania.

Since 1995 Prunariu is the Vice-President of the International Institute for Risk, Security and Communication Management (EURISC), Bucharest. Between 1998 and 2004 Prunariu was the President of the Romanian Space Agency, and since 2000 an Associate Professor on Geopolitics within the Faculty of International Business and Economics, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania. For almost two years, starting with May 2004, he was the itinerary Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Romania to the Russian Federation.
In 2002 Prunariu was elected as the Chairman of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the UN COPUOS for the period February 2004 – February 2006, and in 2009 he was elected the Chairman of the UN COPUOS for the period of June 2010 – June 2012, accomplishing successfully his duties. Between 2006 and 2008 Prunariu accomplished the duties of the Director of the Romanian Office for Science and Technology to the European Commission (ROST) in Brussels.
Currently, Prunariu is working for the Romanian Space Agency as an expert within the Romanian Association for Space Technology and Industry – ROMSPACE.
In 2012 Prunariu was appointed as one of the 15 experts of the Group of Governmental Experts on outer space transparency and confidence-building measures, established by the UN General Assembly Resolution 65/68. Since 1992 Prunariu is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, being one of the trustees of the Academy, and since 1994 a member of the Romanian National COSPAR Committee. Since 1992 he has represented the Government of Romania to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS) sessions. In 2014 Prunariu was elected for a three years term as the vice-chairman of the International Relations Committee of ESA.
Prunariu was also a member of the task force elaborating a report on Space Security for Europe in the framework of the European Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), issued in 2016.

David Piper, a British former Formula One and sports car racing driver from England

David Piper (born 2 December 1930)^[1] is a British former Formula One and sports car racing driver from England. He participated in 3 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 18 July 1959. He scored no championship points.

Early career and Formula One

Piper was born in Edgware, Middlesex^[1] and began his career in the mid-1950s by competing in sprints and hill-climbs, before beginning circuit racing with a Lotus Eleven.^[2] He then moved up to a Lotus 16 which he used in 1959 and 1960 to compete in both Formula One and Formula Two,^[2] by means of changing engines as appropriate.^[2] His best result with the car was a second place in the Lady Wigram Trophy, in 1960, behind Jack Brabham in a Cooper.^[2]
In 1961, Piper competed in European Formula Junior alongside Jo Siffert but drove the Gilby F1 car in the Gold Cup.^[2] He also competed in non-championship races in 1962, but had become disenchanted with single-seater racing and moved into sports car racing initially with a Ferrari GTO.^[2]

Later career

Between 1962 and 1970, Piper raced frequently in many locations worldwide using his personally owned Ferraris and, later, Porsches. He was moderately successful and gained a reputation for reliability and consistency.^[2]
Piper crashed a Porsche 917 during the 1970 shooting of the film Le Mans and lost part of one leg.^[3]
Piper later raced his personal, green, Porsche 917 and other cars in historic events.

Ben Johnson, a Jamaican-born Canadian former sprinter, who was disqualified for doping after finishing third in two Olympic races and two consecutive 100 metres finishes under the world record time at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics and the 1988 Summer Olympics

Benjamin Sinclair Johnson, CM OOnt (born December 30, 1961) is a Jamaican-born Canadian former sprinter, who was disqualified for doping after finishing third in two Olympic races and two consecutive 100 meters finishes under the world record time at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics and the 1988 Summer Olympics.

Benjamin Johnson was born in Falmouth, Jamaica, and immigrated to Canada in 1976, residing in Scarborough, Ontario.
Johnson met coach Charlie Francis and joined the Scarborough Optimists track and field club, training at York University. Francis was a Canadian 100 meters sprint champion himself (1970, 1971 and 1973) and a member of the Canadian team for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Francis was also Canada's national sprint coach for nine years.


Johnson's first international success came when he won 2 silver medals at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Australia. He finished behind Allan Wells of Scotland in the 100 meters with a time of 10.05 seconds and was a member of the Canadian 4 × 100 meters relay team which finished behind Nigeria. This success was not repeated at the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki, where he was eliminated in the semi-finals, finishing 6th with a time of 10.44, nor at the 1983 Pan American Games in Caracas where Johnson placed 5th in the 100 meters final with a time of 10.25.
At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, he reached the 100 meters final; after a false start, he won the bronze medal behind Carl Lewis and Sam Graddy with a time of 10.22. He also won a bronze medal with the Canadian 4 × 100 m relay team of Johnson, Tony Sharpe, Desai Williams and Sterling Hinds, who ran a time of 38.70. By the end of the 1984 season, Johnson had established himself as Canada's top sprinter, and on August 22 in Zürich, Switzerland, he bettered Williams' Canadian record of 10.17 by running 10.12.


In 1985, after eight consecutive losses, Johnson finally beat Carl Lewis. Other success against Lewis included the 1986 Goodwill Games, where Johnson beat Lewis, running 9.95 for first place, against Lewis' third-place time of 10.06. He broke Houston McTear's seven-year-old world record in the 60 metres in 1986, with a time of 6.50 seconds.[2] He also won Commonwealth gold at the 1986 games in Edinburgh, beating Linford Christie for the 100 metres title with a time of 10.07. Johnson also led the Canadian 4x100 metres relay team to gold, and won a bronze in the 200 metres. Also in 1986, Canadian sprinter Mike Dwyer expressed concern that the use of drugs had reached "epidemic proportions" among Canadian sprinters, particularly among those who trained in the Toronto area. Atlee Mahorn also speculated that many sprinters were on steroids.[3]
On April 29, 1987, Johnson was invested as a Member of the Order of Canada. "World record holder for the indoor 60-meter run, this Ontarian has proved himself to be the world's fastest human being and has broken Canadian, Commonwealth and World Cup 100-meter records," it read. "Recipient of the Norton Crowe Award for Male Athlete of the Year for 1985, 'Big Ben' was the winner of the 1986 Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's top athlete."
By the time of the 1987 World Championships, Johnson had won his four previous races with Lewis and had established himself as the best 100 meters sprinter. At Rome, Johnson gained instant world fame and confirmed this status when he beat Lewis for the title, setting a new world record of 9.83 seconds as well, beating Calvin Smith's former record by a full tenth of a second.
After Rome, Johnson became a lucrative marketing celebrity. According to coach Charlie Francis, after breaking the world record, Johnson earned about $480,000 a month in endorsements.[4] Johnson won both the Lou Marsh Trophy and Lionel Conacher Award, and was named the Associated Press Athlete of the Year for 1987.
Following Johnson's defeat of Lewis in Rome, Lewis started trying to explain away his defeat. He first claimed that Johnson had false-started, then he alluded to a stomach virus which had weakened him. Finally, without naming names, Lewis said "There are a lot of people coming out of nowhere. I don't think they are doing it without drugs." This was the start of Lewis' calling on the sport of track and field to be cleaned up in terms of the illegal use of performance-enhancing drugs. While cynics noted that the problem had been in the sport for many years, they pointed out that it did not become a cause for Lewis until he was actually defeated, with some also pointing to Lewis's egotistical attitude and lack of humility. During a controversial interview with the BBC, Lewis said:

    There are gold medallists at this meet who are on drugs, that [100 meters] race will be looked at for many years, for more reasons than one.

Johnson's response was:

    When Carl Lewis was winning everything, I never said a word against him. And when the next guy comes along and beats me, I won't complain about that either.

This set up the rivalry leading into the 1988 Olympic Games.
In 1988, Johnson experienced a number of setbacks to his running career. In February of that year he pulled a hamstring, and in May he aggravated the same injury. Meanwhile, in Paris in June, Lewis ran a 9.99. Then in Zurich, Switzerland on August 17, the two faced each other for the first time since the 1987 World Championships; Lewis won in 9.93, while Johnson finished third in 10.00. "The gold medal for the (Olympic) 100 meters is mine," Carl Lewis said. "I will never again lose to Johnson."

Olympic games and subsequent disqualification
On September 24, 1988, Johnson was thought to be the first sprinter from Canada since Percy Williams in 1928 to win the 100 meters final at the Summer Olympics in Seoul, lowering his own world record to 9.79 seconds. Johnson would later remark that he would have been even faster had he not raised his hand in the air just before he hit the tape.[6] However, Park Jong-sei of the Olympic Doping Control Center found that Johnson's urine sample contained stanozolol, and he was disqualified three days later.[7] He later admitted having used steroids when he ran his 1987 world record, which caused the IAAF to rescind that record as well. Johnson and coach Francis complained that they used doping in order to remain on an equal footing with the other top athletes on drugs they had to compete against. In testimony before the Dubin inquiry into drug use, Francis charged that Johnson was only one of many cheaters, and he just happened to get caught. Later, six of the eight finalists of the 100 meters race tested positive for banned drugs or were implicated in a drug scandal at some point in their careers: Carl Lewis, who was given the gold medal; Linford Christie, who was moved up to the silver medal and who went on to win gold at the next Games; Dennis Mitchell, who was moved up to fourth place and finished third to Christie in 1992; and Desai Williams, Johnson's countryman who won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100 meters relay at the Los Angeles Games in 1984.[8]


Johnson's coach, Charlie Francis, a vocal critic of the IOC testing procedures, is the author of Speed Trap, which features Johnson heavily. In the book, he freely admits that his athletes were taking anabolic steroids, as he claims all top athletes at the time were, and also claims that Johnson could not possibly have tested positive for that particular steroid since Johnson actually preferred furazabol. He thought stanozolol made his body "feel tight".[9] The numerous athletes using performance-enhancing drugs at the time understood how long before a race, and possible drug test, they should stop using the drugs. Johnson later claimed that André A. Jackson, Lewis' Santa Monica Track Club teammate, who was inside the drug testing room in Seoul, may have placed the stanozolol in one of the beers Johnson drank in order to make urine for his test.[10]

On 28 September 2018, the Toronto Star ran an article on the lab report which was created on Johnson sample during the 1988 Olympic Games. It was produced by the IOC doping control center in Seoul two days after Johnson handed in a urine sample taken after the 100m run. The newspaper concluded that the assumed substance Stanozolol was traceable, but "inconsistencies" are found in the report. The Toronto Star goes on, that no Canadian Olympic team official saw the lab report in Seoul. The lab report was requested by Canada's chief medical officer, Dr. William Stanish. The Canadian team didn't object after the IOC medical commission assured that: "its testing methods were unassailable."

Richard Bona, jazz bassist and musician. He currently holds a professorship of music at New York University

Richard Bona (born October 28, 1967 in Minta, Cameroon) is a jazz bassist and musician. His actual African name, as he said live in Montreal in a show with Bobby McFerrin, is Bona Pinder Yayumayalolo.

Bona was born into a family of musicians, which enabled him to start learning music from a young age. His grandfather was a griot-- a West African singer of praise and storyteller-- and percussionist, and his mother was a singer. At 4 years old, Bona started to play the balafon. At the age of 5, he began performing at his village church. Not being wealthy, Bona made many of his own instruments: including flutes and guitars (with cords strung over an old motorcycle tank).
His talent was quickly noticed, and he was often invited to perform at festivals and ceremonies. Bona began learning to play the guitar at age 11, and in 1980 aged just 13, he assembled his first ensemble for a French jazz club in Douala. The owner befriended him and helped him discover jazz music, in particular that of Jaco Pastorius, which inspired Bona to switch his focus to the electric bass.

 Bona emigrated to Germany at the age of 22 to study music in Düsseldorf, soon relocating to France, where he furthered his studies in music.
Whilst in France, he regularly played in various jazz clubs, sometimes with players such as Manu Dibango, Salif Keita, Jacques Higelin and Didier Lockwood.
In 1995, Richard left France and established himself in New York, where he still lives and works. In New York he played bass guitar with artists like Joe Zawinul, Larry Coryell, Michael and Randy Brecker, Mike Stern, George Benson, Branford Marsalis, Chaka Khan, Bobby McFerrin, and Steve Gadd.
In 1998, Richard was the Musical Director on Harry Belafonte's European Tour.
His first solo album, Scenes from My Life, was released in 1999. He has also been prominently featured in Jaco Pastorius Big Band albums, as well as many other albums by various top-tier jazz musicians.
In 2002 Bona went on a world tour with the Pat Metheny Group as a percussionist/vocalist.
In 2005 Bona released his fourth album Tiki, which included a collaboration with John Legend on one track, entitled "Please Don't Stop."
He currently holds a professorship of music at New York University.

Discography

Richard Bona, 3 August 2006

• 1999 : Scenes from my life Columbia Jazz
• 2000 : Kaze Ga kureta Melody, Columbia Jazz
• 2001 : Reverence, Columbia Jazz
• 2003 : Munia: The Tale, Universal Music France
• 2004 : Toto Bona Lokua, No Format! with Lokua Kanza & Gerald Toto
• 2005 : Tiki, Universal Music France
• 2008 : Bona Makes You Sweat - Live, Universal Jazz France
• 2009 : The Ten Shades Of Blues, Universal Jazz France
• 2013 : Bonafied, Universal Jazz France

Fritz d'Orey, a former racing driver, from Brazil. He participated in three Formula One World Championship Grands Prix

Frederico José Carlos Themudo "Fritz" d'Orey (born March 25, 1938 in São Paulo) is a former racing driver, from Brazil. He participated in three Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on July 5, 1959.
Although he was Brazilian by birth, Fritz d’Orey’s parents were Portuguese nationals and his grandfather a German. The family settled in São Paulo where they earned a more than comfortable living by importing Packard cars from America. Fritz wanted for nothing, and what he wanted was to go racing.

That was with a Porsche initially before the 20 year old bought Chico Landi’s Ferrari 375 that was now fitted with a V8 Corvette engine. Victory in the Interlagos endurance race of 1958 and further national success persuaded d’Orey to race in Europe.

Formula 1 career with Centro Sud and Tec-Mec

He joined Scuderia Centro Sud for the following season and his Maserati 250F was 10th at the 1959 French Grand Prix. The youngster was wild and ragged and a heavy crash during the subsequent British GP ended his immediate plans.

D’Orey also competed in hillclimbs, sports car races and Formula Junior events during 1959. He won an FJ race at Messina and was second in the United States GP support race at Sebring. D’Orey also made his third and final GP start that day with Camoradi USA’s Tec-Mec F415 – a strangely modified Maserati 250F

whose reshaped body certainly made the car no quicker. D’Orey retired early on in what was Tec-Mec’s only Formula 1 appearance.

Instead of open-wheel racing, the Brazilian planned a season in sports cars in 1960. He finished sixth in the Sebring 12 Hours with William Sturgis’s Ferrari 250GT but then crashed while testing before the Le Mans 24 Hours. D’Orey suffered severe head injuries in the accident and was hospitalised for eight months. Although he recovered fully, he was finished with racing. Instead he returned to work for his father’s business and eventually settled in Rio de Janeiro.

Ray Manzarek, an American musician, singer, producer, film director, and author, best known as a member of The Doors from 1965 to 1973, which he co-founded with singer and lyricist Jim Morrison

Raymond Daniel Manzarek Jr. (né Manczarek; February 12, 1939 – May 20, 2013) was an American musician, singer, producer, film director, and author, best known as a member of The Doors from 1965 to 1973, which he co-founded with singer and lyricist Jim Morrison. Manzarek was notable for performing on a keyboard bass during many live shows and some recordings, taking on a role usually filled by a bass guitar player.
Manzarek recorded on every track of all eight Doors studio albums, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. He was a co-founding member of Nite City from 1977 to 1978, and of Manzarek–Krieger from 2001 until his death in 2013. USA Today defined him as "one of the best keyboardists ever."

Following his return to the United States, he re-enrolled in UCLA's graduate film program in 1962, where he received a M.F.A. in cinematography in 1965.^[7][8] During this period, he met future wife Dorothy Fujikawa and undergraduate film student Jim Morrison. At the time, Manzarek was in a band called Rick & the Ravens with his brothers Rick and Jim.^[9] Forty days after finishing film school, thinking they had gone their separate ways, Manzarek and Morrison met by chance on Venice Beach in California. Morrison said he had written some songs, and Manzarek expressed an interest in hearing them, whereupon Morrison sang rough versions of "Moonlight Drive", "My Eyes Have Seen You" and "Summer's Almost Gone". Manzarek liked the songs and co-founded The Doors with Morrison at that moment.
During this period, Manzarek met guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore at a Transcendental Meditation lecture and recruited them for the incipient band. Densmore said, "There wouldn't be any Doors without Maharishi."^[10]

In January 1966, The Doors became the house band at the London Fog on the Sunset Strip. According to Manzarek, "Nobody ever came in the place...an occasional sailor or two on leave, a few drunks. All in all it was a very depressing experience, but it gave us time to really get the music together." The same day The Doors were fired from the London Fog, they were hired to be the house band of the Whisky a Go Go.^[11]
The Doors' first recording contract was with Columbia Records. After a few months of inactivity, they learned they were on Columbia's drop list. At that point, they asked to be released from their contract. Following a few months of live gigs, Jac Holzman "rediscovered" The Doors and signed them to Elektra Records.
The Doors lacked a bass guitarist (except during recording sessions), so at live performances Manzarek played the bass parts on a Fender Rhodes Piano Bass. His signature sound was that of the Vox Continental combo organ, an instrument used by many other psychedelic rock bands of the era. He later used a Gibson G-101 Kalamazoo combo organ (which looks like a Farfisa) because the Continental's plastic keys frequently broke.
During the Morrison era, Manzarek was the group's regular backing vocalist. He occasionally sang lead, as exemplified by covers of Muddy Waters's "Close To You" (released on 1970s Absolutely Live) and "You Need Meat (Don't Go No Further)" (recorded during the L.A. Woman sessions and initially released as the B-side of "Love Her Madly"). He went on to share lead vocals with Krieger on the albums (Other Voices and Full Circle) released after Morrison's death.

Richard J. Roberts, an English biochemist and molecular biologist. He was awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Phillip Allen Sharp for the discovery of introns in eukaryotic DNA and the mechanism of gene-splicing

Sir Richard John Roberts (born 6 September 1943) FRS^[5] is English biochemist and molecular biologist. He was awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Phillip Allen Sharp for the discovery of introns in eukaryotic DNA and the mechanism of gene-splicing. He currently works at New England Biolabs.

In 1992, Roberts received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Medicine at Uppsala University, Sweden.^[15] After becoming a Nobel Laureate in 1993 he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science) by the University of Bath in 1994.^[16]
Roberts was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1995^[5] and a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) in the same year.^[6] In 2005, a multimillion-pound expansion to the chemistry department at the University of Sheffield, where he had been a student, was named after him. A refurbished science department at Beechen Cliff School (previously City of Bath Boys' School) was also named after Roberts, who had donated a substantial sum of his Nobel prize winnings to the school.^[17]
Roberts is an atheist and was one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto.^[18][19] He was knighted in the 2008 Birthday Honours.
Roberts is a member of the Advisory Board of Patient Innovation (https://patient-innovation.com), a nonprofit, international, multilingual, free venue for patients and caregivers of any disease to share their innovations.
Roberts has been a keynote speaker at the Congress of Future Medical Leaders (2014, 2015, 2016).^{[citation needed]}
He also is the chairman of The Laureate Science Alliance, a non-profit supporting research worldwide.

Klaus Iohannis, the president of Romania

Klaus Werner Iohannis (also spelled Johannis; born 13 June 1959) is president of Romania. He became leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL) in 2014, after having served as leader of the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (DFDR/FDGR) from 2001 to 2013. Iohannis was a physics teacher and a school inspector before entering full-time politics.
Iohannis was elected the mayor of the city of Sibiu in 2000, representing the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania. Although the German population of the once predominantly German-speaking city of Sibiu (German: Hermannstadt, Transylvanian Saxon dialect: Härmeschtat) had declined to a tiny minority, Iohannis won a surprise victory and was re-elected by landslides in 2004, 2008, and 2012. Iohannis is credited with turning his city into one of Romania's most popular tourist destinations, and the city was declared the European Capital of Culture in 2007. In February 2013, Iohannis became a member of the National Liberal Party, accepting an invitation from then liberal leader Crin Antonescu, and was immediately elected the party's First Vice President, eventually becoming the PNL President during the following year.
In October 2009, four of the five political groups in the Parliament, excluding the Democratic Liberal Party of then-President Traian Băsescu, proposed him as a candidate for the office of Prime Minister of Romania; however, Băsescu refused to nominate him despite the Parliament's adoption of a declaration supporting his candidacy.^[3] He was again the candidate for Prime Minister of the National Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party in the elections in the same year.^[4]
Iohannis is the first Romanian president to come from an ethnic minority.^[5] He is a Transylvanian Saxon, part of Romania's German minority which settled in Transylvania in the 12th century. He was re-elected in the 2019 Romanian presidential election.

Helmuth Duckadam, retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was dubbed "the Hero of Seville" due to his display in the 1986 European Cup Final, won by his main club Steaua Bucureşti, where he saved all four penalties against Barcelona in the penalty shootout, for the first time in football history

Helmuth Robert Duckadam (born 1 April 1959) is a Romanian retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper and the current president of FC FCSB.
He was dubbed "the Hero of Seville" due to his display in the 1986 European Cup Final, won by his main club Steaua Bucureşti, where he saved all four penalties against Barcelona in the penalty shootout, for the first time in football history. He represented three other teams in a 14-year senior career.
Duckadam regularly appears as a studio guest on Digi Sport's "Fotbal Club" programme.

Born in Semlac, Arad County of Banat Swabian descent, Duckadam started playing in his regional leagues, before moving to FC UTA Arad in 1978 to become professional. He earned two full caps for Romania in 1982 and, subsequently, was signed by country giants FC Steaua Bucureşti.
capital side to two consecutive Liga I titles, was also between the posts for the 1986 European Cup final against FC Barcelona, which was played in Seville, on 7 May 1986. He saved four consecutive penalty shots in the shootout, from José Ramón Alexanko, Ángel Pedraza, Pichi Alonso and Marcos, being the first one to do so in an official European competition. Steaua won the shootout 2–0 and Europe's most important club trophy for the first time, and much of the credit for the surprise victory was given to him; he scored one goal for his main club, through a penalty kick against AFC Progresul Bucureşti in the domestic cup.^[1]


In 1986, Duckadam suffered a rare blood disorder only few weeks after the Seville performance,^[2] and would only resume his career three years later, finishing it with lowly Vagonul Arad in the second division. According to a personal interview given in 1999, he had become a major with the Romanian Border Police (Poliția de Frontieră) in his hometown; additionally, he opened a football school in the city, named after himself.^[3]
 
On 25 March 2008, Duckadam was decorated by the President of Romania, Traian Băsescu, with Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – ("The Sportive Merit" Order – class II), for his part in winning the 1986 European Cup. Two years later, on 11 August, he was named Steaua's president.

Mario Andretti, an Italian-born American former racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport

Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is an Italian-born American former racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport.^[1] He is one of only two drivers to have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship, and NASCAR (the other being Dan Gurney). He also won races in midget cars and sprint cars.

During his career, Andretti won the 1978 Formula One World Championship, four IndyCar titles (three under USAC-sanctioning, one under CART), and IROC VI. To date, he remains the only driver ever to win the Indianapolis 500 (1969), Daytona 500 (1967) and the Formula One World Championship, and, along with Juan Pablo Montoya, the only driver to have won a race in the NASCAR Cup Series, Formula One, and an Indianapolis 500. No American has won a Formula One race since Andretti's victory at the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix.^[2] Andretti had 109 career wins on major circuits.^[3]

Andretti had a long career in racing. He was the only person to be named United States Driver of the Year in three decades (1967, 1978, and 1984).^[4] He was also one of only three drivers to have won major races on road courses, paved ovals, and dirt tracks in one season, a feat that he accomplished four times.^[4] With his final IndyCar win in April 1993, Andretti became the first driver to have won IndyCar races in four different decades^[5] and the first to win automobile races of any kind in five.^[4]
In American popular culture, his name has become synonymous with speed, as with Barney Oldfield in the early twentieth century and Stirling Moss in the United Kingdom.
In 1986, he was inducted into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame. In 2000, the Associated Press and RACER magazine named him Driver of the Century.^[53] He was the Driver of the Year (in the United States) for three years (1967, 1978, and 1984),^[54] and is the only driver to be Driver of the Year in three decades.^[16] Andretti was named the U.S. Driver of the Quarter Century in 1992.^[3] He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2001,^[3] the United States National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1996,^[7] the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America^[55] in 1990, the Hoosier Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1970,^[7] the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Diecast Hall of Fame in 2012.
On October 23, 2006, Andretti was awarded the highest civilian honor given by the Italian government, the Commendatore dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (known as the Commendatore), in honor of his racing career, public service, and enduring commitment to his Italian heritage.^[53] Enzo Ferrari is the only other recipient of the Commendatore from the world of automobile racing.
In 2007, Andretti was honored with the "Lombardi Award of Excellence" from the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation. The award was created to honor Coach Lombardi's legacy, and is awarded annually to an individual who exemplifies the spirit of the Coach.
From 2007 Mario Andretti is the "Mayor" (Sindaco) of the "Free Commune of Motovun in Exile" (Libero Comune di Montona in esilio), an association of Italian exiles from Motovun.

Taco Ockerse, singer that reached No. 1 on the american Cashbox charts with the single "Puttin' on the Ritz"

Taco Ockerse (born July 21, 1955), better known by his stage name Taco, is an Indonesian-born Dutch singer and entertainer who started his career in Germany.
Taco Ockerse born in Jakarta, Indonesia on July 21, 1955, has spent many of his childhood years moving around the world residing in the Netherlands, the United States, Singapore, Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany.He attended the International School of Brussels, Belgium, and graduated in 1973. Afterward, he studied interior decoration and finished acting school in Hamburg. He held lead roles in numerous school productions, including You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Carousel, The Fantasticks, and Fiddler on the Roof.
In 1975, he began his first professional theatrical engagements in Hamburg. This included roles in Children's Theater, and roles as an ensemble member of the Thalia Theater in a number of plays, including Sweet Charity, Chicago, and Three Musketeers. He also directed and choreographed for the musical Nightchild. In 1979, he played "Chino" in John Neumeier's West Side Story at Hamburg Opera House. He founded his first band, Taco's Bizz, in 1979.

In 1981, Taco signed his first record contract with Polydor (Germany) for two record releases, whereon he released his first single, "Puttin' on the Ritz". Not long after, in 1982, his single, "Puttin' on the Ritz" was picked up by RCA for US release. The single was widely played throughout the U.S. by late summer of 1983 eventually peaking at no. 4 in September, 1983 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as no. 1 on the Cashbox charts.Although the single eventually earned him a Gold-certification in USA for selling over one million copies, it was Taco's only top-40 hit in the U.S. Between 1983 and 1984, he performed extensive touring throughout Europe. While the single "Puttin' on the Ritz" topped the charts in Sweden and New Zealand, it entered the Top-5 in numerous countries including Norway, Austria and Canada. His subsequent album release of After Eight was released in over 40 countries and managed to reach no. 4 in Norway, no. 5 in Canada, no. 11 in Austria, no. 17 in New Zealand and no. 23 in U.S. and no. 59 in Germany. The album earned Taco number of Gold certifications including one in Finland for selling over 25,000 copies.
Taco's second single "Singing in the Rain" was only a moderate success peaking at No. 49 in Germany and No.46 in Canada.

He appeared as a guest on The Bob Hope Show, The Merv Griffin Show, Alan Thicke, Solid Gold, Good Morning America, and many other TV shows while touring.
Taco's follow-up album, Let's Face the Music was recorded in 1984 for Polydor (Germany) which peaked at no. 58 at his home of Germany and managed to enter the top-100 in Canada peaking at no. 92. Taco continued to record, focusing mostly on the German market with albums Swing Classics/In the Mood of Glenn Miller in 1985 and Tell Me That You Like It in 1986 for Polydor. In 1987 he recorded the self-titled album Taco.
In 1989 he briefly flirted with contemporary dance music by releasing a pair of singles, "Love Touch" and "Got to Be Your Lover", that were styled after the high energy disco sound popularized by Stock Aitken Waterman. Afterwards, he repositioned himself as a swing/soul singer. He has collaborated with Geff Harrison of Kin Ping Meh fame.

Between 1989 to 1996, Taco worked intensively as an actor. He had television acting roles in Friedrichstadt Palast and Das Erbe der Guldenburgs, and an appearance in the film Karniggels. He also appeared as "Chico" in the theater production of Marx Brothers Radio Show, and played lead roles in Shakespeare Rock n Roll in Berlin and Shakespeare as We Like It in Austria.
He currently resides in Germany, performing with his band and as a gala artist.
On October 11, 2009 the first channel of Russian TV, 1TV, filmed the program Songs of the 20th Century. Taco appears with "Puttin' on the Ritz" in the sequence about the 1930s. The show was broadcast in January 2010. On November 27, 2009 he performed "Puttin' on the Ritz" and "Singin' in the Rain" at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Russia. Furthermore, he was the star guest in the "New Year's Eve Show 2009" of Russian TV, which had about 84 million viewers in more than 20 countries.
In July 2010 Cleopatra Records - Los Angeles released an entirely new re-recording of "Puttin' on the Ritz". Taco's vocals were recorded in Germany and the backing tracks with top studio musicians in their studio in L.A.
On March 1, 2011 DingDing Music released the original song "Timeless Love" that was written and produced by Edgar Rothermich and Matthias Muentefering in the late 1980s. The studio recording that Taco performed as a duet with the female singer Rozaa Wortham in Berlin was remixed in late 2010 in the U.S. and is now available for download.

Robert Woodrow Wilson, an American astronomer who, along with Arno Allan Penzias, discovered cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) in 1964. The pair won the 1978 Nobel prize in physics for their discovery

Robert Woodrow Wilson (born January 10, 1936) is an American astronomer who, along with Arno Allan Penzias, discovered cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) in 1964. The pair won the 1978 Nobel prize in physics for their discovery.

While working on a new type of antenna at Bell Labs in Holmdel Township, New Jersey, they found a source of noise in the atmosphere that they could not explain.^[1] After removing all potential sources of noise, including pigeon droppings on the antenna, the noise was finally identified as CMB, which served as important corroboration of the Big Bang theory.

Robert Woodrow Wilson was born on January 10, 1936, in Houston, Texas. He graduated from Lamar High School in River Oaks, in Houston,^[2] and studied as an undergraduate at Rice University, also in Houston, where he was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa society. He then earned a PhD in physics at California Institute of Technology.
Wilson and Penzias also won the Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences in 1977.^[3]
Wilson remained at Bell Laboratories until 1994, when he was named a senior scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.^[4]
Wilson has been a resident of Holmdel Township, New Jersey.^[5]
Wilson married Elizabeth Rhoads Sawin^[6] in 1958.