On February 23, plutonium was first produced and isolated. Plutonium is a silvery-gray radioactive element that gains a thin corrosive layer when exposed to the atmosphere. However, it is dangerous to humans if one is exposed to it. It was first isolated and identified on this day in 1941 by Glenn T Seaborg, Edwin McMillan, Emilio Segre, Joseph W Kennedy and Arthur Wahl at the University of California in Berkeley.
Born Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi, she was better known by her stage name, Madhubala. One of the best-known actors from her era, Madhubala was also one of the highest-paid in the 1940s and 50s. Her role as Anarkali in Mughal-e-Azam was most celebrated. Madhubala suffered a heart attack and died on February 23, 1969, aged only 36 years.
In 1782, Engineer James Watt's patent for a rotary motion for the steam engine (his sun and planet gear) was granted on February 23. As Watt had continued to improve his steam engine, he introduced a system using a sun and planet gear to turn the linear motion of the engines into rotary motion.
On this day, in 1886 The Times, a British daily national newspaper based in London, published the world's first classified ad. Before that, classified ads had begun appearing in England in the 1600s. They were handwritten and nailed to posts.
