Life in a Biologist's View

This is probably one of the deepest questions man can ask and one of the greatest mysteries facing him.
Scientists have discovered that all living things are made of a material called protoplasm. They can make a chemical formula for protoplasm, and they can take molecules of various elements and compounds to put them together and make materials like protoplasm. But the materials they make are not alive!
All man can do is examine the living creatures on earth, in all sizes and shapes and wherever they live, and find what it is they have in common. Then we can say that these common qualities make up life.
Let's see what these qualities are.

Growth

All living things must be able to grow. They grow to a fairly definite size and shape. A kitten becomes a cat; an acorn becomes an oak tree and so on. For some living things, it takes a short time to grow to full size but this is not the case for every living organism; a redwood tree may take thousands of years.

Repairers

All living things, being alive, can repair and replace parts of themselves. A lobster can grow a new claw; human beings can grow new skin or bones; trees grow new leaves and branches.

Reproduction

Another characteristic shared by living things is the ability to reproduce. If this ability didn't exist, living things would have disappeared from the earth as they grew old and died. Animals, fish, birds, insects, plants-all produce offsprings.

Do you know?
     Viruses have all the qualities of non-living things, but they can reproduce. For this reason they are considered to be a link between living and non-living things.

Environmental Behaviour

Living things are capable of adapting the environment they live in. Man can do this better than any other creature because of his brainpower. But plants can do this only to a limited extent.

Response

Living things can also respond to stimuli which means if something outside of them affects them, they react. When we smell food, we respond; flowers grow towards the light.
This doesn't tell you what is life, but it does describe the qualities that things must have to be considered alive.

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Reforms Brought by Mustafa Kamal in Turkey

Image Source: Wikipedia

Mustafa Kamal Atatürk was the founder and the first president of the Republic of Turkey. He liberated the Turkish nation not only from the external enemies but from the internal enemies as well. He pushed back the Allies and abolished the Sultanate. Similarly, his reforms made Turkey a thoroughly progressive democratic republic. This article accounts for his efforts in a piled-up manner.

History

After the WWI, Turkey was under the control of Allied forces. The Sultan (of Ottoman Empire) and old liberals were merely puppets whose strings were controlled by the occupation forces. The Sultan considered it the best option for Turkey to collaborate with the conquerors.
The Sultan sent Mustafa Kamal to Anatolia as a Governer General in order to crush the rebellion led by Kiyazim Karabekar. However, Mustafa Kamal had other plans. As soon as he reached Anatolia, he met Ali Faut, the commander of a small army corps, and sketched out a resistance plan. It was decided that they should form a National Army. The summary of this meeting can be described as:

As the Sultan and the Central Government are in enemy hands, we must set up some temporary government in Anatolia.

Remarkable efforts were put up for this cause. Leading Patriots hid or escaped into Anatolia, where they made straight for Ankara to join Mustafa Kamal. There on the 23^rd of April, 1920 the revolutionary Turkish Grand National Assembly met with Mustafa Kamal as President.

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Reforms

Image Source: Wikipedia

After abolishing the Khilafat, Mustafa Kamal took over as the first President of new Turkey. He brought many revolutionary reforms in the Turkish system for which he is known as "Atatürk" meaning Father of the Turks. Some of his efforts are described below:

Removal of Illiteracy

Before Mustafa Kamal's accession to power, state education was unknown to the country. He took the gigantic task of educating the masses as well as training the teachers. The first step in revoming illiteracy was to simplify the "script" by replacing the old (Arabic) script with the Roman script. He himself visited towns and villages, chalk in hand, teaching how to use the new script.

Empowering Women

On assuming power, Mustafa Kamal decided to liberate women by abolishing veil. He was well aware of the importance of educated women for a nation. He encouraged women to educate themselves for their better future. He emphasized the need for women to play their role in country's progress working side by side with men folks.

Change in Dresses

Atatürk abolished wearing fez which was Greek in origin. However, he made it compulsory to wear Western hats. This reform was necessary to remove all the traces of the past slavery during the days of Ottoman Sultanate.

Purification of Language

The first Turkish President set a committee to simplify and purify Turkish language which was a mixture of Arabic, Persian and original Turkish words. The committe's task was to replace the Arabic and Persian words with original Turkish words. Moreover, he prohibited the use to title "Pasha" and hence, every man became "bay" and every woman became "bayan".

Industrial and Economic Development

Under Mustafa Kamal, the industrial and economic development of Turkey was so rapid that it achieved, in few years, that much progress which took the west 150 years to achieve. To give idea of the progress, one has to take notice of some of the facts and figures.

1. In 1919, Turkey had only one railway, almost no modern standard roads and 150 factories. But in 1933, the figure rose to 2000 with large lengths of high standard transport facilities.
2. The banking system was organized and the public debt was reduced to one-tenth of its former size.

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