Leap Names

Time to correct our calendars. Since each year is really 365 1/4 days long, every four years we get an extra day.

To celebrate this leap year, we thought we'd take a look at some names that have leap.  
 

The most obvious leapers, are dancers.

Mikhail "Misha" Baryshnikov (1948- ) is known for great ballet leaps.

The Russian American dancer, choreographer and actor made great leaps for decades.

Natalia Osipova (1986- ) is a young dancer who's taking the world by storm with leaps of her own. The very talented ballerina is a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet.  
 

Then there are those that make great leaps in time. At least in science fiction.

In Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), the lead character Peggy Sue, played by Kathleen Turner, leaps back in time to 1960, her senior year in high school.

Another movie time traveller is Marty McFly played by Michael J. Fox. In Back To The Future (1985) this character makes a leap back to 1955 where he meets his parents as teenagers.

Of course there are are also great leapers in exploration.

On July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil A. Armstrong (1930- ) uttered the famous "that's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind" as he became the first man to walk on the moon. Accompanied by fellow astronauts Michael Collins (1930- ) and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr. (1930- ) on the Apollo 11, these brave men helped to leap us all into the future.

These earlier expeditions paved the wave for future shuttle missions and today's space station.

In 1983, Sally Ride (1951-2012) became the first American woman in space as an astronaut on the STS-7 space shuttle mission on board the space shuttle Challenger. She opened a possibility of new careers for young girls.

And of course there are leaps in technological advancement.

Like many lady inventors of her day, Florence Parpart was a housewife with an idea.

In 1914, she won a patent for the first modern electric refrigerator. For those who had access to electricity, this new machine saved them from daily trips to the market and frequent ice block refills to their iceboxes.

Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) was a man of great work ethic who amassed a record 1,093 patents.

A great innovator, he developed many devices that changed the world including long lasting incandescent light bulbs, the phonograph and the motion picture camera.