Today It is August 13 and the International Day of the left-hander is celebrated worldwide, date that wase promoted in 1976 by Left Handers International, with the intention of highlighting all the difficulties that left-handed people experience in a world that was designed for right-handed people.
But the problems left-handers face go beyond simple things like the issue of using scissors, can openers, the difficulties of writing on spiral notebooks or school benches.
Historically, this group has also suffered discrimination and harassment; just look at the origin of the word left-handed, which comes from the Anglo-Saxon word lyft, which means weak or broken. Also, for a long time, being left-handed was synonymous with evil, cheating and illegality, while being right was being correct, just and natural.
You have surely heard stories of people who are left-handed from birth but were forced by both their parents and teachers, under severe punishment, to become right-handed.
Dean RR. Campbell, founder of Left Handers International, was the one who chose August 13 to celebrate left-handers, since the number 13 is related to superstitions. In this way he wanted to show his fight against prejudice.
Statistics show that 1 in 10 people around the world is left-handed and many characters who have transcended history possess or possessed this characteristic. We will remember some of them in a moment.
10 famous lefties who made history
1) Aristotle
The Greek philosopher is considered, along with Plato, as one of the fathers of the so-called Western Philosophy. He was one of the most brilliant minds in the Hellenistic world precisely because of his insatiable curiosity and passion for study.
2) Isaac Newton
He is one of the most important scientists in history because he established several of the laws of Physics that govern us today.
3) Leonardo da Vinci
As one of the most famous men of all time, da Vinci can be considered without doubt the most relevant left-handed artist in the Western world, and many believe that it was this characteristic that developed such a brilliant mind.
4) Marie Curie
The polka was a brilliant physicist, mathematical and chemical pioneer in the field of radioactivity. She was the first person, and also the first woman, to receive 2 Nobel prizes in different specialties: Physics (1903) and Chemistry (1911), and the first woman to study at the University of Paris.
5) Gandhi
He is considered one of the greatest political and spiritual leaders of the 20th century. Through peaceful resistance, he managed to stop India from being a British colony and to become independent in 1947.
6) Adolf Hitler
The top leader of Nazi Germany and the cause of the worst Holocaust in modern history.
7) Albert Einstein
He is considered the most important, well-known and popular scientist of the 20th century, especially for his work on Relativity.
8) Neil Armstrong
“A small step for man, a great leap for humanity”, was the phrase that immortalized this astronaut originally from Wapakoneta, Ohio, after becoming the first man to have arrived and stepped on the Moon in 1969.
9) Napoleon Bonaparte
The French emperor is also one of the most recognized characters in Universal History.
10) Diego Armando Maradona
For many, the “Cosmic Kite” is considered the best soccer player of all time.
You are interested in:
8 benefits of being left-handed
The differences they discovered in left-handed DNA (and how they change the structure of their brains)