Kyrgyz Express Post (KEP) issued a set of five stamps Celebrating Anniversaries of Great Personalities who have made a remarkable contribution to the development of world civilization.
A new series of postage stamps issued by Kyrgyz Express Post represents the five distinguished persons from various fields.
The eminent personalities featured on the new stamps are:
- Jonathan Swift (1667 – 1745)
- Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (1917 – 2008)
- Maria Sklodowska-Curie (1867 – 1934)
- Gioachino Rossini (1792 – 1868)
- John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892 – 1973)
Stamps Celebrating Anniversaries of Great Personalities
In 2017, humanity celebrates the jubilee dates of great personalities who dedicated their lives to the development of world civilization.
1. Jonathan Swift (1667 – 1745), 350th birth anniversary
Jonathan Swift was an outstanding Anglo-Irish writer, public figure, poet and cleric who became Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin.
Born on November 30, 1667, he received a bachelor’s degree from Trinity College under the care of his uncle.
Most remembered works of Swift are A Tale of a Tub (1704), An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity (1712), Gulliver’s Travels (1726), and A Modest Proposal (1729).
Swift’s famous work known all over the world is “Gulliver’s Travels”.
The works of Swift are translated into many languages, including the Kyrgyz language.
In 1727, Swift visited England for the last time. He was declared mentally incompetent in 1742 and died in October 1745, leaving his estate to charity.
2. Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (1917 – 2008), 100th birth anniversary
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke was a great English writer, scientist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host.
His work had a huge impact on the development of world science and art.
He is famous for being co-writer of the screenplay for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, released in 1968, widely considered to be one of the most influential films of all time.
Along with the Oscar nomination, Clarke garnered just about as many accolades as one man could stuff into a lifetime.
He won Hugo, Nebula and John W. Campbell Memorial awards for his stories.
He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and voted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.
Since 1956, Clarke lived and worked, until the end of his life, in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
3. Maria Sklodowska-Curie (1867 – 1934), 150th birth anniversary
Maria Sklodowska-Curie a great scientist in the field of physics and chemistry and the first two-time Nobel laureate in history.
Marie Curie born on November 7, 1867, in Warsaw, Poland was a naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity.
Her achievements included the development of the theory of radioactivity, techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes, and the discovery of two elements, polonium and radium.
Marie Curie died in Savoy, France, after a short illness, on July 4, 1934.
4. Gioachino Rossini (1792 – 1868), 225th birth anniversary
Gioachino Rossini, the great Italian composer and writer of the famous operas “The Barber of Seville”, “Cinderella”, as well as many other musical masterpieces, performed on the stages of all continents, including Kyrgyzstan.
5. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892 – 1973), 125th birth anniversary
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was English writer, scientist, a professor at Oxford University and an outstanding philologist.
Throughout the world, he is known as the author of classical works of “high-fantasy”: “The Hobbit”, “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Silmarillion”.
Besides the mentioned stamps, KEP also issues 5 postal cards, dedicated to the great personalities.
These cards, together with the new stamps and a special pictorial first-day cancellation, were used to make five maximum cards.
On the sheet borders there is a text: “The Anniversaries of Great Personalities” in Kyrgyz, English and Russian languages.
Each sheetlet has a QR code in the lower right corner.
Title: Celebrating Anniversaries of Great Personalities
Date of Issue: 31 December 2017
Country: Kyrgyzstan (KEP)
Denominations: 50 KGS x 2, 75 KGS, 100 KGS x 2
Source: Kyrgyz Express Post