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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_European_Tour | 1992 European Tour | The 1992 European Tour, titled as the 1992 Volvo Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 21st season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.
It was the fifth season of the tour under a title sponsorship agreement with Volvo, that was announced in May 1987.
== Changes for 1992 ==
The European Tour ventured to East Asia for the first time, with the addition of the Johnnie Walker Asian Classic in Thailand to the tour schedule.
The season was made up of 38 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and five non-counting "Approved Special Events".
Other changes from the previous season included the return of the Dubai Desert Classic, the Tenerife Open and the Moroccan Open; the addition of the Johnnie Walker Asian Classic, the Turespaña Masters Open de Andalucía, the Roma Masters, the Lyon Open V33 and the Honda Open; and the loss of the Girona Open, the Murphy's Cup, the European Pro-Celebrity and the Epson Grand Prix of Europe.
== Schedule ==
The following table lists official events during the 1992 season.
=== Unofficial events ===
The following events were sanctioned by the European Tour, but did not carry official money, nor were wins official.
== Order of Merit ==
The Order of Merit was titled as the Volvo Order of Merit and was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Pound sterling.
== Awards ==
== See also ==
1992 Challenge Tour
1992 European Seniors Tour
== Notes ==
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Beneduce#:~:text=Beneduce%20was%20born%20in%20Caserta,from%20the%20University%20of%20Naples. | Alberto Beneduce | Alberto Beneduce (29 May 1877 – 26 April 1944) was an Italian politician, scholar and financier, who was among the founders of many significant state-run finance institutions in Italy.
== Early life and education ==
Beneduce was born in Caserta on 29 March 1877. He earned a mathematics degree from the University of Naples.
== Career and views ==
Beneduce was a socialist and was a leading member of the Italian Reformist Socialist Party. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1919 and 1921 representing the party from his hometown Caserta. Beneduce managed to connect with high finance figures and to collaborate with the Italy's fascist regime. He worked in different capacities, including statistician, teacher, demographer, agricultural and insurance specialist.
He was a university professor of statistics and demography until 1919. He contributed to the establishment of the national institution of insurance (INA), which was founded in 1912. He also headed the INA from 1912 to 1919. During World War I, he was asked to established an institution that would help the veterans in finding jobs. As a result, he involved in founding the related body, Opera Nazionale Combattenti (ONC). In the period between 4 July 1921 and 26 February 1922 Beneduce served as the minister of labor and social security in the cabinet led by Ivanoe Bonomi.
Beneduce was appointed head of two state-run credit bodies: Consorzio di Credito per le Opere Pubbliche (Crediop) in 1919 and Istituto di Credito per le Imprese di Pubblica Utilità (ICIPU) in 1924. Until 1939 he headed both institutions. These institutions were later merged under the name of Istituto per il Credito Navale.
In 1931, he was named as a board member of the Istituto Mobiliare Italiano. He also served as an economic advisor to Benito Mussolini. In 1933, he was appointed by Mussolini as the head of the institute for industrial reconstruction (IRI), being the first president of the body.
In 1936 Beneduce was simultaneously president of IRI, of the public credit institutions Crediop and ICIPU, of the Institute for Naval Credit, and a member of the Board of Directors of IMI and of the National Foreign Exchange Institute while in the private sector he was president of the Italian Society for Southern Railways. He served in the post until 1939 when he became a senator in 1939, but he retired from politics and other public offices due to his health problems in 1940.
However, Beneduce retained his membership on the boards of various companies until his death. He was an advocate of a company management approach based on the private-sector criteria and free from political influences. Beneduce was also a director of the leading companies, including Fiat, Pirelli, Montecatini, Edison and Generali.
=== Activities ===
Beneduce and Luigi Rossi recorded detailed statistics about Italian citizens, who had migrated to the US, but returned to Italy between 1905 and 1906. Beneduce was instrumental in the nationalization of life insurance in Italy. His activities in the finance sector of Italy shaped the industrial development of the country between the 1920s and the 1990s. One of his significant activities in this regard was the reorganization of the bankrupted Italian banking system. In addition, he was the mentor of many eminent financiers and technocrats, who reconstructed Italy after World War II. He also developed Mussolini's deflation policy.
== Personal life and death ==
Beneduce had five children, three of whom were given names that reflected his socialist orientation: Idea Nuova Socialista, Italia Libera and Vittoria Proletaria. His two other children were Ernesto and Anna. One of his daughters, Idea, married Enrico Cuccia, a significant financier.
Beneduce died in Rome on 26 April 1944.
=== Awards ===
Beneduce was awarded the Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy on 16 November 1918 and the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Crown of Italy on 5 January 1922.
== References ==
== External links ==
Media related to Alberto Beneduce at Wikimedia Commons |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Polanyi#:~:text=Polanyi%20graduated%20from%20Budapest%20University,and%20served%20as%20its%20secretary. | Karl Polanyi | Karl Paul Polanyi (; Hungarian: Polányi Károly [ˈpolaːɲi ˈkaːroj]; 25 October 1886 – 23 April 1964) was an Austro-Hungarian economic historian, economic sociologist, and politician, best known for his book The Great Transformation, which questions the conceptual validity of self-regulating markets.
In his writings, Polanyi advances the concept of the Double Movement, which refers to the dialectical process of marketization and push for social protection against that marketization. He argues that market-based societies in modern Europe were not inevitable but historically contingent. Polanyi is remembered best as the originator of substantivism, a cultural version of economics, which emphasizes the way economies are embedded in society and culture. This opinion is counter to mainstream economics but is popular in anthropology, economic history, economic sociology and political science.
Polanyi's approach to the ancient economies has been applied to a variety of cases, such as Pre-Columbian America and ancient Mesopotamia, although its utility to the study of ancient societies in general has been questioned. Polanyi's The Great Transformation became a model for historical sociology. His theories eventually became the foundation for the economic democracy movement.
Polanyi was active in politics, and helped found the National Citizens' Radical Party in 1914, serving as its secretary. He fled Hungary for Vienna in 1919 when the right-wing authoritarian regime of Admiral Horthy seized power. He fled Vienna for London in 1933 when Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany and fascism was on the ascendancy in Austria. After years of unsuccessfully seeking employment at universities in the United Kingdom, he moved to the United States in 1940 where he joined the faculty at Bennington College and later taught at Columbia University.
== Early life ==
Karl Polanyi was born in Vienna and raised in Budapest by a German‑speaking Jewish family assimilating into the secular middle class. His younger brother was Michael Polanyi, a philosopher, and his niece was Eva Zeisel, a world-renowned ceramist. He was born in Vienna, at the time the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father, Mihály Pollacsek, was a railway entrepreneur. Mihály never changed the name Pollacsek, and is buried in the Jewish cemetery in Budapest. Mihály died in January 1905, which was an emotional shock to Karl, and he commemorated the anniversary of Mihály's death throughout his life. Karl and Michael Polanyi's mother was Cecília Wohl. The name change to Polanyi was made by Karl and his siblings.
Polanyi was well educated despite the ups and downs of his father's fortune, and he immersed himself in Budapest's active intellectual and artistic scene. Polanyi studied at the Minta Gymnasium.
== Early career ==
Polanyi founded the radical and influential Galileo Circle while at the University of Budapest, a club which would have far reaching effects on Hungarian intellectual thought. During this time, he was actively engaged with other notable thinkers, such as György Lukács, Oszkár Jászi, and Karl Mannheim. Polanyi graduated from Budapest University in 1912 with a doctorate in Law. In 1914, he helped found the National Citizens' Radical Party of Hungary and served as its secretary.
Polanyi was a cavalry officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army in World War I, in active service at the Russian Front and hospitalized in Budapest. Polanyi supported the republican government of Mihály Károlyi and its Social Democratic regime. The republic was short-lived, with socialist Béla Kun toppling the Karolyi government to create the Hungarian Soviet Republic. Polanyi left Hungary for Vienna in order to undergo medical treatment. During this time, the Kun government was replaced by the right-wing authoritarian regime of Admiral Horthy. As a consequence, Polanyi left Hungary permanently.
== In Vienna ==
From 1924 to 1933, he was employed as a senior editor of the prestigious Der Österreichische Volkswirt (The Austrian Economist) magazine. It was at this time that he first began criticizing the Austrian school of economics, which he felt created abstract models that lost sight of the organic, interrelated reality of economic processes. Polanyi himself was attracted to Fabianism and the works of G. D. H. Cole. It was also during this period that Polanyi first developed an interest in Christian socialism.
Polanyi married the communist revolutionary Ilona Duczyńska, who was of Polish-Hungarian background. Their daughter Kari Polanyi Levitt carried on the family tradition of academic economic research.
== In London ==
Polanyi was asked to resign from Der Oesterreichische Volkswirt because the liberal publisher of the journal could not keep on a prominent socialist after the accession of Hitler to office in January 1933 and the suspension of the Austrian parliament by the rising tide of clerical fascism in Austria. He left for London in 1933, where he earned a living as a journalist and tutor and obtained a position as a lecturer for the Workers' Educational Association in 1936. His lecture notes contained the research for what later became The Great Transformation. However, he would not start writing this work until 1940, when he moved to Vermont to take up a position at Bennington College. Polanyi had for many years sought employment at British universities but was unsuccessful. The book was published in 1944, to great acclaim. In it, Polanyi described the enclosure process in England and the creation of the contemporary economic system at the beginning of the 19th century.
== United States and Canada ==
Polanyi joined the staff of Bennington College in 1940, teaching a series of five timely lectures on the "Present Age of Transformation". The lectures "The Passing of the 19th Century", "The Trend Towards an Integrated Society", "The Breakdown of the International System", "Is America an Exception?", and "Marxism and the Inner History of the Russian Revolution" took place during the early stages of World War II. Polanyi participated in Bennington's Humanism Lecture Series (1941) and Bennington College's Lecture Series (1943) where his topic was "Jean Jacques Rousseau: Or Is a Free Society Possible?"
After the war, Polanyi received a teaching position at Columbia University (1947–1953). However, his wife, Ilona Duczyńska (1897–1978), had a background as a former communist, which made gaining an entrance visa in the United States impossible. As a result, they moved to Canada, and Polanyi commuted to New York City. In the early 1950s, Polanyi received a large grant from the Ford Foundation to study the economic systems of ancient empires.
Having described the emergence of the modern economic system, Polanyi now sought to understand how "the economy" emerged as a distinct sphere in the distant past. His seminar at Columbia drew several famous scholars and influenced a generation of teachers, resulting in the 1957 volume Trade and Market in the Early Empires. Polanyi continued to write in his later years and established a new journal entitled Coexistence. In Canada he lived in Pickering, Ontario, where he died in 1964.
== Selected works ==
Dalton, George, ed. Primitive, Archaic, and Modern Economics: Essays of Karl Polanyi (New York: Doubleday & Company, 1968); collected essays and selections from his work.
Pearson, Harry W., ed. The Livelihood of Man (Academic Press, 1977)
Polanyi, Karl. '[1]|The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Insights of Our Time.' (Boston: Beacon Press. 1944) ISBN 0-8070-5679-0
Polanyi, Karl, Conrad M. Arensberg, and Harry W. Person, eds. Trade and Market in the Early Empires (Glencoe, Ill.: The Free Press, 1957)
Polanyi, Karl. Dahomey and the Slave Trade: An Analysis of an Archaic Economy (Seattle: University of Washington Press, (1966).
Polanyi, Karl. For a New West: Essays, 1919–1958 (Polity Press, 2014), ISBN 978-0745684444
Articles by Karl Polanyi
"Socialist Accounting" (1922)
"The Essence of Fascism" (1933–1934); article
"Universal Capitalism or Regional Planning?", The London Quarterly of World Affairs, vol. 10 (3) (1945)
== See also ==
Michael Polanyi (brother)
John Polanyi (nephew)
Eva Zeisel (cousin)
== Notes ==
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Adaman, Fikret, Pat Devine, eds. Economy and Society: Money, Capitalism and Transition. Black Rose Books, 2002. Additional subtitle: reciprocity, redistribution, and exchange: embedding the economy in society. Essays based on the legacy of Karl Polanyi.
Aulenbacher, Brigitte, et al. (ed.), Karl Polanyi, the life and works of an epochal thinker. Falter Verlag, 2020.
Block, Fred and Somers, Margaret, The Power of Market Fundamentalism : Karl Polanyi's Critique. Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2014.
Brie, Michael (ed.), Karl Polanyi in dialogue : a socialist thinker for our times, Montreal : Black Rose Books, 2017.
Brie, Michael and Thomasberger, Claus, Karl Polanyi's vision of a socialist transformation. Montreal : Black Rose Books, 2018.
Dale, Gareth, Karl Polanyi : a life on the left, New York : Columbia University Press, 2016.
Dale, Gareth, et al. (ed.), Karl Polanyi's political and economic thought : a critical guide. Newcastle upon Tyne : Agenda Publishing, 2019.
Dale, Gareth, Reconstructing Karl Polanyi : excavation and critique, London, England : Pluto Press, 2016.
Desai, Radhika and Polanyi Levitt, Kari, Karl Polanyi and twenty-first-century capitalism. Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2021.
Hann, Chris, Repatriating Karl Polanyi Market Society in the Visegrád States. Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE, 2019.
Kuttner, Robert, "The Man from Red Vienna" (review of Gareth Dale, Karl Polanyi: A Life on the Left, Columbia University Press, 381 pp.), The New York Review of Books, vol. LXIV, no. 20 (21 December 2017), pp. 55–57. "In sum, Polanyi got some details wrong, but he got the big picture right. Democracy cannot survive an excessively free market; and containing the market is the task of politics. To ignore that is to court fascism." (Robert Kuttner, p. 57.)
== External links ==
Karl Polanyi Digital Archive
The Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy – The Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy at Concordia University web site.
Karl Polanyi Wiki
Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time (1944) Review Essay by Anne Mayhew, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Tennessee
Profile on Karl Polanyi – On the History of Economic Thought Website
The free market is an impossible utopia (2014-07-18), The Washington Post. A conversation with Fred Block and Margaret Somers on their book, The Power of Market Fundamentalism: Karl Polanyi’s Critique (Harvard University Press, 2014). The book argues that the ideas of Karl Polanyi are crucial to help understand economic recessions and their aftermath.
[2] – Why Two Karls Are Better Than One: Integrating Polyani and Marx in a Critical Theory of the Current Crisis by Nancy Fraser
Ferguson, Donna (23 June 2024). "'The greatest thinker you've never heard of': expert who explained Hitler's rise is finally in the spotlight". the Guardian. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
Works by or about Karl Polanyi at the Internet Archive |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_(Ciara_album)#Tour_dates | Jackie (Ciara album) | Jackie is the sixth studio album by American singer Ciara, and was released on May 1, 2015, through Epic Records. Following her departure from her previous record label, and the release of her self-titled fifth studio album, Ciara embarked on a hiatus in order to focus on her relationship with American rapper Future, which provoked Ciara to start work on her sixth album which was predominantly inspired by her then-fiancé. In May 2014, Ciara gave birth to her first child and shortly thereafter called off the engagement. Following the public break-up, Ciara postponed the album and began to record new music, while concentrating on motherhood.
During the recording of the album, Ciara worked with numerous long time collaborators including Harmony "H-Money" Samuels and Polow da Don, as well as less frequent collaborators such as Dr. Luke and Cirkut. The producers' efforts resulted in a predominantly pop and R&B album that took influence from hip hop, dance-pop, house, electropop, trap, drum and bass, and 1990s R&B, with lyrics that revolve around themes of love, betrayal, and motherhood. Entitled after her mother, Ciara called upon numerous artists to be featured on Jackie, including Pitbull and Missy Elliott.
Upon release, Jackie was met with a mixed reception from music critics. The album peaked at number 17 on the US Billboard 200, with just 25,000 album-equivalent units. It was preceded by the release of the lead single, "I Bet", which debuted at number 96 on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 43. The album was further promoted by a second single, "Dance like We're Making Love", and Ciara embarked upon the Jackie Tour.
== Background ==
Following her departure from her previous record label, Ciara signed a new deal with Epic Records, and released her self-titled fifth studio album in July 2013. In late January 2014, Ciara premiered a live version of a song entitled "Anytime" at the Degree Women Grammys Celebration in Los Angeles. On February 2, 2014, Ciara premiered the studio version produced by Boi-1da and Katalyst, featuring her then-boyfriend and rapper Future. After her engagement to Future, Ciara revealed to W in April 2014 that her sixth studio album would be predominantly inspired by her then-fiancé. Ciara gave birth to her first child in May 2014. After claims of Future's infidelity during their relationship had surfaced, it was reported that the couple's engagement had been called off. Following their very public break-up, Ciara's album release was further postponed to 2015, and during this time the singer "quietly" recorded new music, while concentrating on motherhood.
== Recording and production ==
In September 2013, producer Mike WILL Made-It revealed that Ciara had begun work on her sixth studio album. In December 2013, Ciara confirmed she was in the process of making a new album. During an interview with Rap-Up magazine, Ciara revealed that recording for her sixth album began around Thanksgiving of 2013 and she would be releasing new music "really soon". While discussing the album's direction, she claimed: "Sonically I am so content; I had my dream team of producers who I always wanted to work with." In August 2014, Ciara posted on her Instagram account a photo of herself and American record producer Dr. Luke, suggesting they were working on new songs for the album. In another photo, she wrote: "We [are] having an amazing time, making classic music." Luke previous worked with Ciara on the track "Tell Me What Your Name Is" for her third studio album Fantasy Ride (2009).
In October 2014, Ciara posted a photo of her and record producer Polow da Don, who previously worked with her on her 2006 hit "Promise" and on 2009's "Never Ever". In December 2014, she went back to work with Luke, posting another photo along with Epic Records CEO L.A. Reid, teasing the fans with the caption, "Wait 'til u hear what's cooking it's worth the wait." It was rumoured that Luke produced two songs, "Dance like We're Making Love" and "Give Me Love," which was later confirmed. Ciara also worked with American songwriter Diane Warren, she stated: "Warren is a legendary writer. A legendary person. You're going to remember every bit of the session you have with her. She's so vocal – you know that you're with someone who knows what she's doing." In January 2015, it was announced that Ciara was "putting the finishing touches on the lead single with Harmony Samuels." Other producers such as The Underdogs, Lunchmoney Lewis and songwriter Ester Dean also contributed to the album.
== Composition ==
=== Writing and inspiration ===
In an interview for L'Uomo Vogue, Ciara revealed about the album: "It will be an authentic album, real. I talk openly and honestly about my emotions as a woman, mother, about my ambitions, but also my vulnerability, my happy moments and my sad moments." Later, Ciara revealed that the album was going to be called "Jackie" – the name of her mom – since she "felt like it was the best title for where I am in my life right now. Being a mom, I can now see the world through her eyes and fully understand what she was thinking. Being a mom has changed me forever." The singer also commented about the difference between Jackie and her other albums, stating: "I am so much more expressive and confident than I have ever been in my life. Even though there has been musical and personal growth, this album really takes me back in time, to when I didn’t overthink the creative process. Before, I would have said 'Goodies' was my favorite album, but now I believe 'Jackie' is my best body of work." Regarding its sounds, Ciara defined as "urban pop-slash-R&B-hip-hop record." Ciara also spoke about the overall themes of the album, commenting: "Not every song on this album is super autobiographical, but at the heart of it all, it talks about things that are real. Every song is needed, though I felt like ["I Bet"] really stood out because of the timing, with how I wanted to tell my story with my music. I felt like it connected with people, like when I was in the same room with L.A. Reid and Harmony, looking at this list of songs. Music is, really, a way for people to draw some form of strength. You never know what a song can do for someone."
=== Songs ===
The album opens with "Jackie (B.M.F.)" an uptempo trap and drum and bass song with lyrics about "birthing a nine-pound, 10-ounce baby" and "concluding that she's 'a bad motherf**ker.'" The next track, the synth-driven, electro-lite "That's How I'm Feelin'", was considered a "finger-snapping, girls-night-out track" and it features American rappers Pitbull and Missy Elliott – who previously worked with Ciara on "1, 2 Step", "Lose Control" and "Work". "Lullaby" was labelled a "dance-friendly," "old-school bass track," that uses a metaphor "that's unbecoming of a new mom to put her new man to bed tonight." The fourth track "Dance like We're Making Love" was named a sultry and sensual midtempo pop song that has been compared to Janet Jackson. "Stuck on You" is a pop song, where Ciara uses a "brash, unapologetic and borderline cocky" tone.
"Fly" has "'80s electro sample" and a "zwurpingly odd Squarepusher chords", with lyrics where Ciara insists that both her and a former lover should find happiness elsewhere."
The seventh track "I Bet" is an R&B track with lyrical content that are based on subjects of betrayal. It features "liquid acoustic guitar and snapping drums" and co-author Theron Thomas' Migos-like vocal interjections." "Give Me Love" is an EDM and a house song where her voice ventures into "deeper, smoother levels and tones," while the pop "Kiss & Tell" was defined as a "Nile Rodgers-esque retro-soul bounce with lyrics about keeping secrets. "All Good" was named a "disco-lite" and bubblegum pop song, while "Only One" was considered a pop ballad. The dance-pop "One Woman Army", a song written as the title track to the scrapped project of the same name, has "fizzy synths and club sirens" and robo-military march. Lyrically, it is an ode to doing it yourself. The album's regular edition closes with "I Got You", a lullaby for Ciara's year-old son, Future Jr."
== Release and promotion ==
On January 14, 2015, Ciara announced the title of her album would be "Jackie" via her official Twitter account. Then in March 2015, Ciara announced that she would release Jackie in May 2015 and that she planned on touring the US later in the year. The album is titled after her mother, stating, "I can now see the world through her eyes and I know what it's like to be a mom... I am a mini Jackie and it's that simple."
=== Live performances ===
Ciara performed "I Bet" on Live! with Kelly and Michael on April 3, 2015, and during the BET Black Girls Rock! special on April 5, 2015. She performed the "I Bet (R3hab Remix)" with producer, R3hab, at the Coachella Music Festival on April 18, 2015, as well as the song, "Baby Get Up", which will appear on R3hab's upcoming compilation album. On April 24, 2015, Ciara premiered a video snippet for the album's sixth track, "Fly", on social media site, Instagram; the video was filmed by Taylor Cut Films. She went on to premiere video snippets for the album's other tracks, "Give Me Love" and "One Woman Army (Intro)" in the following days. On May 8, 2015, a music video was released for "I Got You" in honor of Mothers Day.
=== Jackie Tour ===
The North American tour dates were announced March 2015. It consisted of 19 shows solely in the United States. In October, Harris announced a second US leg to be sponsored by Topshop. It included dates in Canada. These dates were later postponed to March and April 2016. Ultimately, the tour dates were cancelled. The concert in Silver Springs, Maryland was streamed live via Yahoo! Screen in partnership with Live Nation.
Speaking on the tour, Ciara stated: "I am so excited about this tour. It has been almost 6 years since my last tour. I feel this album is my best body of work. It is important to me that my fans have the greatest show experience possible. On the Jackie tour, fans will get a chance to know me more intimately, jam to good music, and most importantly be entertained. I can not wait!"
=== Set list ===
The following setlist was obtained from the concert held on May 30, 2015, at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California. It does not represent all concerts for the duration of the tour.
=== Tour dates ===
== Singles ==
"I Bet" was released as the official lead single from the album on January 26, 2015 in the United States. It officially impacted Rhythmic and Urban contemporary radio in the US the following day. The "I Bet" music video made its television premiere on Extra on March 9, 2015, followed by an immediate release to Vevo and YouTube. On April 24, 2015, Rap-Up magazine reported that the Pitbull and Missy Elliott collab, "That's How I'm Feelin'", would be released as Jackie's second single. Three days later, however, it was announced via Ciara's official social media accounts that "Dance Like We're Making Love" would serve as the album's second single instead. "Dance like We're Making Love" was then made available as a digital download on April 28, 2015, in the United States, along with the pre-order of the album. Following the announcement that "Dance like We're Making Love" would serve as the album's second single, "Give Me Love" was given an official US urban contemporary impact date of June 9, 2015. A new audio upload of "Give Me Love" featuring the official single cover, was uploaded to Ciara's Vevo account following the single's announcement. However, on June 4, Ciara confirmed herself that the aforementioned "Dance like We're Making Love" would be issued as the album's second single as previously planned. The song impacted US urban contemporary radio on June 30, 2015.
== Critical reception ==
Jackie received mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 60, which indicates "mixed or average reviews", based on 8 reviews. Nolan Feeney of Time noted that "'Jackie' rivals 2013's self-titled quasi-comeback as Ciara's most consistent and self-assured record to date." Feeney also approved the album for featuring "her most adventurous production", noting that "nearly every song on the record feels like a companion to at least one other proven track in her back catalog." In a positive note, Jon Caramanica of The New York Times claimed that "'Jackie' is among Ciara's strongest albums, and her most varied." Writing for New York Daily News, Jim Farber claimed that the album "features the most upbeat, and fun, music of Ciara's career." Ian Gittins of Virgin Media described it as "a triumph, an orgy of luscious, sharp-witted R&B and sumptuous soul assembled by a crack team of producers." Dan Weiss of Spin found out that "the strong-heeled 'Jackie' is far from conservative, and possibly more daring, with three of the year's best songs at the very top, middle, and bottom ('Jackie [B.M.F.],' 'I Bet,' 'One Woman Army'), which couldn't be more different from each other." Eyan B. Patrick of Exclaim! named it "a solidly produced effort that features an artist comfortable with who she is both privately and as an artist."
Anupa Mistry of Pitchfork called the album "a serviceable record that gets better with multiple listens", but remarked that "it hints at a storyline, but doesn't go deeper" [...] "[W]hat would've given her the edge that her peers maintain is some insight behind Ciara's redemption songs." Idolator's Christina Lee echoed the same sentiment, stating: "Instead of expanding on how her life has changed, though, Jackie finds Ciara settling into her comfort zone. These songs are good fun, though they aren’t as revelatory or forward-thinking as ‘Body Party’ or the rest of 2013's Ciara, the best album she's made." Stacy Ann-Ellis of Vibe also noted that "[s]onically, it feels all over the place and by album's end, there's no clear cut takeaway message," but ensured that "there are still more positives than negatives to be found on 'Jackie'." Michael Arceneaux of Complex was unsure about Ciara's personality on the album, declaring that she "doesn't know who she wants to be on her new album." In a less enthusiastic review, Andy Kellman of AllMusic wrote that "[t]he album contains fewer highlights than any previous Ciara album," concluding that "the results are mixed." Steven J. Horowitz of Billboard felt that the album was "oddly impersonal" and "a missed opportunity for a talented artist to connect with fans in a new way."
== Commercial performance ==
The album debuted at number 17 on the US Billboard 200 chart with 25,000 album-equivalent units (19,900 in sales) and had the lowest first-week sales amongst her first six albums. Its sales placed it at number 13 on the Top Album Sales chart.
== Track listing ==
Credits adapted from liner notes and iTunes.
Notes
^[a] signifies a vocal producer
^[b] signifies a co-producer
^[c] signifies a remixer
"Jackie (B.M.F)" contains a sample from "Amen, Brother", as performed by The Winstons.
"That's How I'm Feelin'" contains a sample from "Jive Rhythm Trx – 122 BPM", as written by Larry Linn and performed by Willedson Dodgers.
"Lullaby" contains elements of "Love, Need and Want You" written by Kenneth Gamble and Bunny Sigler and contains samples and portions of "Dilemma" written by Cornell Haynes Jr.
== Charts ==
== Release history ==
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricio_Echegaray | Patricio Echegaray | Patricio Echegaray (17 October 1946 – 9 August 2017) was an Argentine politician. He was born in San José de Jáchal, Argentina. He served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Argentina from 1986 until his death in 2017. Before, Echegaray served as the 26th General Secretary of the Juvenile Communist Federation from 1980 through 1985. He was a member of the Buenos Aires City Legislature from 2000 to 2003.
Echegaray died of pancreatic cancer on 9 August 2017 in Buenos Aires at the age of 70.
== References ==
== Other websites ==
Official website |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girlfriends_(American_TV_series) | Girlfriends (American TV series) | Girlfriends is an American sitcom television series created by Mara Brock Akil that premiered on UPN on September 11, 2000, where it aired for its first six seasons until May 8, 2006. On October 1, 2006, it moved to The CW, a new network formed by the merger of UPN and The WB, where it aired for two more seasons before being cancelled on February 11, 2008.
== Episodes ==
=== Broadcast history ===
The series debuted on UPN on Monday September 11, 2000. After airing for several years on the network at 9:00/8:00c on Mondays, The CW moved Girlfriends to Sundays at 8:00/7:00c. After this, the ratings plummeted. On October 9, 2006, Girlfriends, along with The CW's other African-American programs, moved back to Mondays. At this point, Girlfriends returned to its original time slot.
Due to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, the last episodes produced aired on February 11, 2008. The CW had announced plans to move the series to Sunday nights. However, it was later announced on February 13, 2008, that the series was cancelled after eight seasons and a proper series finale would not be produced. A representative from The CW stated that the network was going to cancel the series due to low ratings and that it would have been too expensive to re-enter production.
A retrospective episode was in development to conclude the series, but was later scrapped. The CW had offered the actors only half of their usual episodic salary to take part, and the actors collectively turned the offer down.
== Characters ==
=== Main ===
Joan Carol Clayton, Esq: (Tracee Ellis Ross) is considered the unofficial "den mother" of the group, as she frequently looks out for her friends, even at the expense of dealing with her own problems, which are plentiful throughout the series. Originally from Fresno, Joan owns a home in the Wilton Historic District. Joan met Toni when they were children and then met Lynn in college, and Maya is her assistant at the law firm. She has always had relationship problems and gave up her law career to pursue her dreams. She and Toni clash several times throughout the series, resulting to the end of their twenty three year old friendship. Major incidents involved Joan inadvertently revealing Toni's cheating to Greg, and Joan's jealousy of Toni's marriage to Todd, but their friendship officially ends by the end of Season 6 when Joan fails to appear for Toni's custody hearing. For much of Season 7, Joan mourned the loss of her friendship with Toni, eventually opting to resent and belittle her in front of the group. At the end of Season 7, she became engaged to Aaron Waters, whom she met while rehabilitating homes in New Orleans damaged by Hurricane Katrina; she moved into his home in West Adams while Aaron was deployed to Iraq and rented her house to Lynn.
Maya Denise Wilkes (née Wood): (Golden Brooks) is a former assistant to Joan and a housewife/author. Maya grew up in Compton and is married to her high school sweetheart, Darnell. They have one child, Jabari. Maya is the youngest and sassiest of the group, and is often at odds with Toni over her ego-driven lifestyle. She is a devoted wife and mother, and is frequently depicted with stronger religious and moral convictions. Maya is the most "working-class" member of the group, especially in earlier seasons. In the first few seasons Maya was more obviously "from the hood", with the associated stereotyped speech and mannerisms. However, as she becomes more successful in her career and interacts more extensively with the legal and publishing industries, she exhibits fewer stereotypes; while still obviously from a different social background as the rest of the group, she is no longer as caricatured. In the early seasons, Maya's marriage to Darnell imploded after she had an emotional affair with an acquaintance. Later, after she launches a career as a self-help author, they reunite. In Season 8, the couple endured a miscarriage and later explored the possibility of adopting a baby girl. Over the course of the series, Maya lived in South Central, Leimert Park, and finally bought her dream home with Darnell in Lancaster. At the end of Season 7, Maya and Darnell sell their home in Lancaster and move to West Adams.
Lynn Ann Searcy: (Persia White) was Joan and Toni's roommate at UCLA and lived with Joan for eight years before the series begins. Lynn holds five post-graduate degrees. Born in Virginia to a black father and a bipolar white mother from a wealthy family, Lynn was adopted by a white family in Seattle (her dad affectionately calls her "Noodle"). She did not embrace her black heritage until college. When Joan decides it is time for Lynn to move out of her home, Lynn reluctantly becomes more independent by taking on various, mostly menial jobs. She previously lived with Toni, William, Maya, and Sivad (temporarily); and shared a garage with then-boyfriend Vosco before moving into her own apartment (after becoming a property manager at the complex where Maya lived). She produces a documentary on the HIV/AIDS pandemic, focusing on African-American women. While Lynn is depicted as the most sexually adventurous one of the group (with frequent mentions of one-night stands, group sex, sex toys, and her infamous "Lynn Spin"), she also dates frequently. She is most attracted to artistic and spiritual men, and over the course of the series has relationships with a Jamaican immigrant, a poet, a pastor, and a musician named Finn (the recording artist Tricky). She was also briefly married to William. Her romantic involvement with Lenny (who was so similar to Lynn that the others labeled him as her "brother") was the catalyst for her to search for her biological father. After dating Finn, she discovers that music is her passion, and starts a band called Indigo Skye. Lynn is often considered the bohemian of the group, with her carefree nature and down-to-earth personality, and is a vegan. By Season 8, she had signed with "Dirty Girl" Records.
Antoinette "Toni" Marie Childs-Garrett: (Jill Marie Jones, Seasons 1–6) has been Joan's friend since they were eight-years-old, they attended elementary, high school, and college together. Toni grew up on poor on a farm with an alcoholic mother in Fresno, and has a twin brother, Antoine Childs whom Maya Wilkes had a brief fling with. Toni is considered the shallow and popular one of the girlfriends and is the self-proclaimed "cute one" of the group. During the first season Toni and Maya don't get along (she considered Maya to be a lower-class intruder), but ultimately embraced her friendship. Toni is a real-estate agent who eventually opens her own brokerage. She rekindles her romance with Greg Sparks (the "love of her life"), but he dumps her when he learns she cheated on him with Dr. Clay Spencer. Toni unexpectedly finds love with Todd Garrett, a white, Jewish plastic surgeon, whom she marries after a short courtship. After a rocky year-long marriage, the two separate after Todd moves to New York. Toni and Todd have a baby named Morgan. They fight over custody, but at the end of the 6th season work out their issues. Joan misses the custody hearing leading to the fight that ultimately ends Toni and Joan's friendship. Toni moves to New York City so Morgan can be closer to Todd, but has maintained her friendships with Maya and Lynn. Toni's condo was located in Larchmont Hancock Park, specifically the historic 450 El Royale building.
William Jerome Dent, Esq: (Reggie Hayes) is the girls' closest male friend. He is senior partner at Goldberg, Swedelson, McDonald and Lee. Hailing from Kansas City he is portrayed as somewhat of a "mama's boy", but possesses self-confidence and a dry sense of humor. (One episode focused on his distant and complicated relationship with his father, who is a perfectionist.) After being left at the wedding altar by the woman he loved and police officer, Yvonne Blackwell, he reluctantly resumes dating, including Donna, Kara, senior partner Sharon Upton Farley (played by Anne-Marie Johnson), and the at-times vicious Monica Charles Brooks (whom he ultimately marries). Fearing that Joan would beat him to the altar, he eloped with Lynn on a whim; though he quickly realized that he wanted to find true love and they ultimately divorce. He later realizes that Joan is the right woman for him, but after three months of courting, the two end their relationship. He became a sperm donor for his sister Linda and her same-sex partner, and regards the baby as his "nephew-son." He is also co-owner of the J-Spot restaurant with Joan. In later seasons, William forges a tight bond with Darnell, Maya's husband. During Season 7, he was working on his marriage with Monica. According to William's mother, his middle name is spelled with two "R"s, and a silent "W". Beginning in season 2, William owns a home in the Valley.
Darnell Leroy Wilkes: (Flex Alexander Season 1, and then Khalil Kain, Seasons 6–8, main; 2–5, recurring) is Maya's husband. He and Maya married at a young age and had their son, Jabari. Darnell was an airport baggage handler, before becoming a mechanic at a local car repair shop. For a while, he was a NASCAR pit crew mechanic. After Maya's affair with Stan Wright the two divorce. In earlier seasons, he felt threatened by Maya's friendship with Joan, Toni and Lynn; though he ultimately put his issues aside and became friends with them. After the divorce, he dated a woman named Lena (Chenoa Maxwell) whom Maya disliked because she still had feelings for Darnell. At Lena and Darnell's wedding Maya professed her love for Darnell. The two reconcile and begin living together again in Season 6. In the end of Season 7, Darnell accepts an offer to buy back his garage and get Maya and Jabari a new house in Los Angeles. After suffering a miscarriage, the couple considers adopting a baby girl.
Monica Charles Brooks-Dent: (Keesha Sharp, Seasons 7–8, main; 3–6, recurring) is William's wife. All four of the girlfriends (especially Lynn and Toni) hated her (Joan comes to see her vulnerable side and becomes her friend, and Toni moves to New York City at the end of the sixth season). In the seventh season, the girls slowly and later fully accept Monica as their friend as Monica does the same. Although engaged to William, the two date twice before; they meet at a bar the first time. Since the last time William proposes to her in Monaco, he has occasionally had doubts about ever doing so. Eventually William and Monica marry, but on their wedding day he has too much to drink and confesses that he has had and still has doubts about marrying her. Monica leaves William in Season 7, but returns shortly after the girlfriends go to Chicago to persuade her to get back together with William. On their visit, the girls discover that Monica, due to her father's dementia and her mother's power of attorney, has been cut off from her family fortune, so Joan offers Monica a job at the J-Spot. William is thrilled about Monica's return until she demands half of what he earned while they were married. They manage to slowly rebuild their relationship but constantly clash at the J-Spot. In the Season 7 finale, Monica and William get back together. By Season 8, Monica was pregnant and is seen spending more time with the other three girlfriends, particularly Joan.
=== Recurring ===
Jabari Darnell Wilkes: (Seasons 1–6 played by: Tanner Scott Richards, Season 7–8 played by: Kendré Berry) is Maya and Darnell's son. He was born when Maya was 16 years old. He was depicted to be a sweet innocent child but once he entered his teen years he seemed to be a little more dimwitted and rebellious.
Jeanette Wood: (played by Charmin Lee) is Maya's no-nonsense mother who won't hesitate to put a switch to her adult daughter. She babysat Jabari while he was younger, and also rented out her garage for Lynn and her then-boyfriend Vosco to live in after Joan kicked her out of her house. She initially took an instant dislike to Joan's "sadiddy" behavior towards Maya's style (also labeling Joan as "classist" and "egregious" as Maya does), but eventually grew to accept her. She and Maya also clash when she decides to sell her house to move to San Bernardino with her boyfriend Earl (Harry Lennix), whom Maya doesn't like. Jeanette was seen throughout Seasons 1–7.
Veretta Childs: (played by Jenifer Lewis) is Toni's loud and outspoken mother from Fresno whose high-spirited behavior and garish outfits often embarrass Toni. She suffered from alcoholism during Toni's formative years, which put a strain on their relationship. Veretta eventually sobered up. However, she briefly relapsed during Toni and Todd's engagement party - this was partially due to her guilt over her daughters Toni and Sherri not getting along. While she and Toni often clash, she supports her daughter. Veretta appears throughout Seasons 2-6.
Ronnie: (played by Lamont Johnson) is Maya's cousin and hair stylist. In the series he helped sell her semi-biographical book. He owns two beauty salons called Situations and Situations Deux. He is last seen at the ending of season 7 as Aaron proposed to Joan.
Peaches: (played by Shawn Harrison) Ronnie's boyfriend who is a hair stylist at Situations and had a short stint as Joan's assistant and temporary confidante after Maya goes to work as William's secretary after William becomes Senior Partner. Peaches is last seen at the ending of season 7 as Aaron proposes to Joan. Peaches also made a cameo in a season 2 episode of Eve.
Sherri Childs: (played by Yvette Nicole Brown) Toni's oldest sister whom she does not get along with due to Toni leaving the family due to their mother's alcoholism to go to school. They reconcile their relationship in the episode where Toni marries Todd. She, alongside Lynn, Maya and Melanie (Toni's other sister) were a part of her ceremony as her bridesmaids. She appears in two episodes in season 3.
Davis Hamilton: (played by Randy J. Goodwin) owner and operator of the girls' favorite restaurant/hangout spot, 847 (Season 1). He and Joan flirted with one another, and almost went away for a romantic weekend while both were involved with other people. However, during Season 4, in the aftermath of Joan's breakup with Brock, she runs into Davis at a movie theater. She learns that Davis had lost the restaurant and also ended his relationship with his fiancée. They talk about how they missed the opportunity to start a relationship, and ultimately decide to just remain friends.
Charles Swedelson: (played by Phil Reeves) the managing partner at Goldberg, Swedelson, McDonald and Lee who is also Joan's and William's supervisor. Though highly professional, he is known to have a roving eye for the ladies, and tends to use "hip-hop" and "urban" euphemisms towards Joan and William to appear more laid back and sociable. Mr. Swedelson was seen throughout the entire series run.
Yvonne Blackwell (pronounced Yuh Von): (played by Cee Cee Michaela) William's girlfriend, later fiancée in the first two seasons. Yvonne originally was a crazy police officer that William met on the internet and went on a date in the Season 1 episode, "Hip-Ocracy" but Yvonne and William start dating midway through the first season and later get engaged at the beginning of Season 2. Yvonne quits the police force after her life was put on the line and after William issued her an ultimatum. During Season 2, Yvonne and William have some issues in their relationship mainly because William bought a house unbeknownst to Yvonne. Later in the episode, "Willie or Won't He II: The Last Chapter?", Yvonne and William marry but she leaves William at the altar after confessing the many issues happening in their relationship.
Dr. Todd Garrett: (played by Jason Pace, seasons 3–6) A Jewish Beverly Hills Doctor that Toni later marries. He first appeared in the Season 3 episode "Secrets and Eyes"
==== Guest appearances ====
== Awards and nominations ==
== Spin-off ==
"The Game", a 2006 episode of Girlfriends, features guest star Tia Mowry as Joan's cousin Melanie Barnett, an aspiring medical student who wants to give up her future to follow her professional athlete boyfriend to San Diego. That episode was the launching pad for The Game, a spin-off series, which was canceled by The CW television network. In April 2010, BET announced that it would pick up the series, which aired new episodes until the August 5, 2015 series finale. When the fourth season of The Game premiered in 2011 it received 7.7 million viewers, which at the time of its airing, made the show the most watched sitcom premiere in cable television history. In November 2021, a revival spin-off of the series was picked up and released to Paramount+, serving as a direct sequel from the original series and was promoted as a refreshed series (rebooted and marketed as season 1) while also subsequently continuing the overall total seasons (chronicled as season 10). The new inception continues where it left off from the 2015 finale a few years later switching gears set in the new location of Las Vegas with the new protagonists of reprised characters, chronicling Tasha Mack and her struggles of being a woman of color sports agent; while her son Malik Wright learns to make important decisions in his sports career while quietly battling mental health issues and Brittany Pitts who is navigating her adult life taking on serious financial hardships and responsibilities becoming independent away from her Pro-Football dad's (Jason Pitts) image and inheritance. The revived series also introduces new characters to the storyline. The reboot has also garnered favorable and positive reviews from media outlets.
== Home media ==
== Soundtrack ==
=== Track listing ===
Erykah Badu – "Vibrate On" (4:14)
Jill Scott – "Golden" (3:52)
Angie Stone – "Wish I Didn't Miss You" (4:32)
Corinne Bailey Rae – "Put Your Records On" (3:35)
Algebra – "I Know" (3:57)
Amy Winehouse – "Stronger Than Me" (3:42)
Estelle – "All Comes Back to You" (3:22)
Chrisette Michele – "Girl Respect Yourself" (3:44)
Chaka Khan featuring Mary J. Blige – "Disrespectful" (4:46)
India.Arie – "I Am Not My Hair" (3:48)
Dre – "Soulmate" (4:22)
Persia White – "Choices" (2:47)
Lira – "Feel Good" (5:15)
== Streaming ==
The series is available to stream on The CW's free digital-only network, CW Seed. The entire series began streaming on Netflix on September 11, 2020 to commemorate the show's 20th anniversary.
== References ==
== General sources ==
"Girlfriends: Show Summary". TV.COM.
Ferguson, Douglas. "History of TV Prime Time". Personal Webpage, Department of Communication, College of Charleston.
== External links ==
Girlfriends site on HHE Paramount
Syndication info. on CBS TV Distribution site
Girlfriends at IMDb
Girlfriends at epguides.com |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_French_Open_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_singles#Section_4 | 2020 French Open – Men's singles | Three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic in the final, 6–0, 6–2, 7–5 to win the men's singles tennis title at the 2020 French Open. It was his record-extending 13th French Open title and 20th major title overall, equaling Roger Federer's all-time record of men's singles titles. For an Open Era record fourth time in his career, Nadal did not lose a set during the tournament (following 2008, 2010, and 2017). For the first time in French Open history, neither the men's nor women's singles champions lost a set during their tournaments. Nadal also became the first player, male or female, to win 100 matches at the French Open, and only the second man, after Federer at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, to win 100 matches at the same major.
Djokovic was attempting to become the first man in the Open Era to achieve a double career Grand Slam, a feat he would accomplish the following year. Instead, he suffered his worst-ever defeat in a major final, winning only seven games and suffering his first, and only bagel (0–6 set).
Taylor Fritz and Lorenzo Sonego played the longest tiebreak in French Open history in the third round: Sonego won the third set tiebreak 19–17.
Jannik Sinner was the first man to reach the quarterfinals on his tournament debut since Nadal won in 2005, and the youngest quarterfinalist since Djokovic in 2006. He was the first man born in the 21st century to reach a major quarterfinal.
Nadal and Sinner's quarterfinal match was the first men's match to start at night in French Open history. Their match, played under cold and windy conditions, started after 10:00 pm CEST and finished at 1:26 am, the first French Open match to finish after midnight.
== Seeds ==
All seedings per ATP rankings.
Click on the seed number of a player to go to their draw section.
== Draw ==
Key
=== Finals ===
=== Top half ===
==== Section 1 ====
==== Section 2 ====
==== Section 3 ====
==== Section 4 ====
=== Bottom half ===
==== Section 5 ====
==== Section 6 ====
==== Section 7 ====
==== Section 8 ====
== Other entry information ==
=== Wild cards ===
=== Protected ranking ===
=== Qualifiers ===
=== Lucky losers ===
=== Withdrawals ===
== References ==
== External links ==
2020 French Open – Men's draws and results at the International Tennis Federation |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_National_Council#:~:text=located%20in%20Ramallah.-,Meetings,also%20called%20Palestinian%20National%20Charter). | Palestinian National Council | The Palestinian National Council (PNC; Arabic: المجلس الوطني الفلسطيني, romanized: Al-majlis Al-wataniu Al-filastiniu) is the legislative body - in Arabic, the Majlis - of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The PNC is intended to serve as the parliament that represents all Palestinians inside and outside the Palestinian territories, and all sectors of the worldwide Palestinian community, including political parties, popular organizations, resistance movements, and independent figures from all sectors of life.
The Council met formally 20 times in the 27 years between 1964 and 1991. Since the Oslo Accords, the council met formally only twice: in 1996 and 2018.
The PNC is intended to be responsible for formulating the policies and programs for the PLO, and elects the PLO Executive Committee, which assumes leadership of the organization between its sessions. Resolutions are passed by a simple majority with a quorum of two-thirds. The PNC elects its own Chairman.
== Representation ==
Although Article 5 of the PLO Basic Law, adopted at the first PNC meeting in 1964, states that members should be chosen by "direct election... by the Palestinian people", such elections have never happened. Since the PNC and PLO were created originally by the Arab League, the initial membership of the PNC was chosen by the Arab states, particularly Jordan and Egypt. Even Palestinian factions were wary of direct elections, worrying about the ability for outside actors to influence such elections and thus undermine the emerging Palestinian resistance. On the other hand, the Palestinian factions were conscious of the value of having a Palestinian institution recognized by the Arab world.
After the Six Day War in 1967, the PNC was reconstituted. From 1968 onwards, PNC membership was reallocated based on a quota system, allocating seats to Palestinian political parties and resistance groups based on the claimed size of their membership. This mechanism was used, and continues to be used, by Fatah to ensure its monopoly over the Executive Committee, the decision-making body of the PLO.
== Structure ==
The PNC serves as the legislative body of the PLO. While the PNC has a number of PLC members, it is not an organ of the Palestinian National Authority. Rather it is the equivalent of PA's PLC. According to its charter, the PNC must meet annually, and can hold special meetings if necessary. The PNC is responsible for formulating PLO's policies, and elects the PLO Executive Committee.
Candidates for the PNC are nominated by a committee consisting of the PLO Executive Committee, the PNC chairman, and the commander in chief of the Palestine Liberation Army. After nomination, PNC candidates are elected by a majority of the entire PNC membership. However, due to the impossibility of holding elections, PNC elections have never been held and most members are appointed by the executive committee.
The Palestinian Central Council (PCC) serves as the intermediary body between the PNC and the EC. The PCC is chaired by the PNC chairman, and has increasingly eclipsed the PNC as the main decision-making body of the PLO. In 2018, the PNC transferred its legislative powers to the PCC, including powers to elect the EC.
Though not members of PLO, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad members were invited to the PNC as observers in 2018, although they refused.
As of 2012 the main office of the PNC is in Amman and a branch office is located in Ramallah.
== Meetings ==
The first PNC, composed of 422 representatives, met in Jerusalem in May 1964 and adopted the Palestinian National Covenant (also called Palestinian National Charter). It also established the PLO as the political expression of the Palestinian people and elected Ahmad Al-Shuqeiry as the first chairman of the PLO Executive Committee. At the conference were representatives from Palestinian communities in Jordan, West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait, Iraq, Egypt, Qatar, Libya, and Algeria.
Subsequent sessions were held in Cairo (1965), Gaza (1966), Cairo (1968–1977), Damascus (1979–1981), Algiers (1983), Amman (1984), Algiers (1988), Gaza (1996 and 1998), Ramallah (2009).
At the February 1969 meeting in Cairo, Yasser Arafat was appointed leader of the PLO. He continued to be PLO leader (sometimes called Chairman, sometimes President) until his death in 2004.
In a November 1988 meeting in Algiers, the PNC approved the Palestinian Declaration of Independence by a vote of 253 in favour 46 against and 10 abstentions.
After the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, the PNC met in Gaza in April 1996 and voted 504 to 54 to void those parts of the Palestinian National Covenant that denied Israel's right to exist, but the charter itself has not been formally changed or re-drafted. One of its most prominent members, the Palestinian-American scholar and activist Edward Said, left the PNC because he believed that the Oslo Accords sold short the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in pre-1967 Israel and would not lead to a lasting peace.
In December 1998, the PNC met in Gaza at the insistence of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called it a condition of the continuation of the peace process. In the presence of the US President Clinton, it reaffirmed again the annulling of the parts of the Covenant which denied Israel's right to exist, but it still did not formally change or re-draft the Covenant. Clinton gave a speech to the event appealing to the PNC not to allow their grievances against Israel to stifle Palestinian progress.
In 1996, when the Council had to vote on the revision of the Palestinian National Charter, the total number of PNC members was increased from 400 to about 800. By 2009, some 700 from them had remained. As of 2003, the PNC chairman was Salim Zanoun and the PNC had 669 members; 88 are from the first Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), 98 represent the Palestinian population living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and 483 represent the Palestinian diaspora.
For the first time in 22 years, since its last full meeting in 1996, the 700 member PNC met on 30 April 2018 in Ramallah to discuss recent developments, but many groups did not attend, including Hamas (the leading Palestinian political party), Islamic Jihad and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The PNC also filled vacancies in the PLO Executive Committee with loyalists to Palestinian president Mahmood Abbas.
The PNC have met formally 23 times since inception, in addition to three extraordinary meetings. The table below summarizes the meetings:
== See also ==
Palestinian Central Council
State of Palestine
Palestinian Declaration of Independence
== Bibliography ==
Becker, Jillian (1984). The PLO: The Rise and Fall of the Palestine Liberation Organization. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-59380-3. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
Sayigh, Yezid (1997). Armed Struggle and the Search for State: The Palestinian National Movement, 1949-1993. Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-829265-4. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
Badarin, Emile (2016). Palestinian Political Discourse: Between Exile and Occupation. Routledge Studies on the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-317-32600-7. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olga_von_Root#Early_life_and_family | Olga von Root | Baroness Olga Vadimovna von Root (2 December 1901 – 28 June 1967) was a Russian stage actress and singer. Born into a noble family of German, Polish, and Greek background, Root was educated at the Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens in the Russian Empire. As a teenager, she ran away from home and travelled with a Romani family, studying their music and dance. During the Russian Revolution, while her father served in the White Army, Root performed in cabarets and nightclubs to help support her family. After the war, she performed in Russia and other European countries as a stage actress and singer under the stage name Olga Vadina. She later married the American industrialist Armand Hammer and moved to the United States, taking up residence in Manhattan. While living in New York, she worked to transcribe numerous Romani ballads. Root is the grandmother of American businessman Michael Armand Hammer and the great-grandmother of American actor Armie Hammer.
== Early life and family ==
Baroness Olga Vadimovna von Root was born in Sevastopol, Crimea in 1901. She was the daughter of Baron Vadim Nikolayevich von Root, a Czarist military officer and nobleman, and Lubov Karlovna Kostsyushko-Valyuzhinich, a member of a Polish landed gentry family. Root's paternal ancestors were Volga German nobility who came to the Russian Empire during the reign of Peter the Great to serve in the Imperial Russian Army. Her maternal grandfather, Karl Kazimirovich Kostsyushko-Valyuzhinich, was Catholic and the founder of the Archeological Museum in Chersonesus. Her maternal grandmother, Maria Pavlovna Reveliotis, was a Russian Orthodox woman of Greek descent and the granddaughter of the Russian landowner and leader of the Greek War of Independence General Theodosios Reveliotis. Through her mother, Root was also a descendant of the Polish national hero Tadeusz Kościuszko.
== Revolution and stage career ==
Root was educated at the Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens in Saint Petersburg, where she trained as a singer. at the age of fifteen, she ran away and took up performing with a troop of Romani performers, learning their music and dances from Nikolai Kroutchine. She was later found and returned to her family.
During the October Revolution, Olga von Root's family moved from Moscow to Kyiv. Her father, loyal to Nicholas II of Russia, commanded troops in the White Army throughout the war. To support her family while her father was off fighting, Root began singing in cabarets and night clubs. She was rounded up with other members of the White Movement by Bolsheviks during a raid, imprisoned, and was ordered to be executed. Her life was spared after a Bolshevik colonel, who recognized her from the stage, released her. The colonel later spared her mother and siblings from arrest during a raid on their home. The colonel informed Root that her father would be granted amnesty if he defected from the White Army and joined the Red Army. She wrote to her father and persuaded him to change sides, after which he took a post as an instructor at the Soviety Military Academy.
During the rise of Communism, Root became a star of the stage, as a singer and actress, performing under the name of Olga Vadina. She was one of the top stars of post-Revolutionary Russia's concert theatre and married her manager. She performed a program of Romani ballads at a theatre in Paris, later performing in other European capitals.
While living in New York City with her second husband, Armand Hammer, Root worked with a musician to transcribe Russian and Romani music that she learned throughout her training.
== Personal life ==
In 1925, while performing in Yalta, Root was introduced to the Jewish-American millionaire industrialist Armand Hammer. The two fell in love, and Root obtained a divorce from her first husband in Moscow. She and Hammer were married in a civil ceremony in 1927. They had one son, Julian Armand Hammer, who was born in Moscow in 1928. The family left Moscow in 1930 and took up residence on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. She and Hammer divorced in 1943.
Root was the grandmother of American businessman Michael Armand Hammer and the great-grandmother of American actor Armie Hammer.
== References == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_Bulletin | Manila Bulletin | The Manila Bulletin (PSE: MB) (also known as the Bulletin and previously known as the Manila Daily Bulletin from 1906 to September 23, 1972, and the Bulletin Today from November 22, 1972, to March 10, 1986) is the Philippines' largest English language broadsheet newspaper by circulation. Founded in 1900, it is the second-oldest extant newspaper published in the Philippines and the second-oldest extant English newspaper in the Far East. It bills itself as "The Nation's Leading Newspaper", which is its official slogan.
According to a survey done by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Manila Bulletin is considered as of 2021 to early 2022 "one of the most trusted news organizations"; placing 2nd with 66% of Filipinos trusting the organization.
== History ==
Manila Bulletin was founded on February 2, 1900 by Carlson Taylor as a shipping journal. In 1957, the newspaper was acquired by Swiss expatriate Hans Menzi.
From 1938 to his death in 2002, Jose Guevara wrote a column of political commentary for the newspaper.
On occasions the editorial policy of the Manila Bulletin met objection from civil authorities. During World War II the newspaper's editor, Roy Anthony Cutaran Bennett, was imprisoned and tortured by the Japanese for his statements opposing the militarist expansion of the Japanese Empire. The Manila Bulletin (as Bulletin Today from 1972 to 1986) survived the martial law era of President Ferdinand Marcos as a propaganda tool.
Following Menzi's death in 1984, Chinese Filipino business mogul Emilio Yap became the new chairman of the Bulletin. Yap was invited by Menzi to become a shareholder in 1961. The company has been listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange since 1990. Besides its flagship it publishes two other daily tabloids, Tempo and Balita, as well as nine magazines such as the Philippine Panorama, Bannawag, Liwayway, Bisaya and a host of other journals in English, Tagalog, Cebuano and other Philippine languages. It also publishes a number of lifestyle magazines such as Wedding Essentials, Style Weekend, GARAGE Magazine, Agriculture Magazine, Digital Gen, Going Places and Animal Scene.
In May 2021, The Manila Bulletin named Business Editor Loreto Cabanes as the new editor-in-chief following the passing of Dr. Crispulo Icban. Herminio "Sonny" B. Coloma was also named as the new publisher.
To further enhance its image as a newspaper which presents positive news articles, the Bulletin recently introduced a new marketing tagline, "There's good news here". In 2015, it adopted its current marketing tagline "Be Fully Informed".
In addition, it maintains the oldest news website in the Philippines. It is the largest subscriber to the Philippine News Agency among newspapers.
== MB Online Chinese edition ==
In June 2020, Manila Bulletin unveiled its Chinese-language online edition, thus becoming the first major Philippine print news outlet to have an online Chinese edition that would cater to the Chinese Filipino population and the Chinese diaspora in the Philippines.
== Reception ==
The 2016 Second Quarter Nielsen Consumer and Media View results put Manila Bulletin, with 48% share of the total Broadsheet market, as the most read Broadsheet in the Philippines. Philippine Daily Inquirer comes in second at 38%, followed by Philippine Star at 14%.
Results from the global survey 2020 Digital News Report, an annual project of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University, revealed that Manila Bulletin, together with The Philippine Star and TV5, was the second most trusted brand at 68%, behind only GMA Network's 73%.
== Controversy ==
On June 5, 2008, a Filipino blogger sued the Bulletin for copyright infringement. The photo blogger had discovered that photos that he had taken and posted online had been used by the Manila Bulletin in the "Travel & Tourism" section of its March 21, 2007, issue. Apparently, the photographs had been altered and used by the newspaper without the original photographer's consent and without attribution or compensation. A month later, the newspaper filed a counter-suit against the blogger claiming "exemplary and moral damages". The Manila Bulletin claimed that its use (and alteration, creating derivative works) of the photographs constituted fair use.
On June 21, 2024, a data officer of the Manila Bulletin and two others were arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation on suspicion of security hacking of private and government websites, including the National Security Council-Armed Forces of the Philippines, banks and Facebook accounts. The suspects accused the newspaper's Technology Editor and head of the Information and Communications Technology department, Arturo "Art" Samaniego, of ordering the hacking. Samaniego had faced previous charges of cyberattacks against private websites which was dismissed after he made a public apology in 2006.
== Manila Bulletin Publishing Corp. Group ==
=== Tabloids ===
Tempo
Balita
=== Magazines ===
==== Showbiz ====
Bannawag
Bisaya Magasin
Hiligaynon Magazine
Liwayway
==== Sports ====
Sports Digest
==== Lifestyle ====
Animal Scene
Going Places (previously known as Cruising)
Philippine Panorama (sometimes simply known as Panorama)
The Digital Generation
Agriculture
Wedding Essentials
Garage
Crosstrain.PH
=== Online Properties ===
Manila Bulletin Internet Edition
Manila Bulletin Chinese Edition
== See also ==
Life in Progress
== References ==
== Notes ==
== External links ==
Official website
Media Ownership Monitor Philippines - Media Companies: A Duopoly Rules by VERA Files and Reporters Without Borders
Media Ownership Monitor Philippines - Print by VERA Files and Reporters Without Borders |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Garbarino#:~:text=Garbarino%20was%20born%20and%20raised,humanities%20from%20George%20Washington%20University. | Andrew Garbarino | Andrew Reed Garbarino ( GAR-bə-REE-noh; born September 27, 1984) is an American attorney and politician serving as the U.S. representative for New York's 2nd congressional district since 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the New York State Assemblyman for the 7th district from 2013 to 2020.
A moderate Republican, Garbarino is known for frequently breaking with his party on high-profile issues. In 2021, he voted with Democrats to help pass the Bipartisan Background Checks Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and supported the creation of a commission to investigate the January 6 Capitol attack. In 2022, he voted in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act. In 2023, he was one of 18 Republicans who voted against Jim Jordan's nomination for Speaker of the House all three times.
In July 2025, he became the Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee following the resignation of Mark Green.
== Early life and education ==
Garbarino was born and raised in Sayville, New York. He graduated from Sayville High School and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and classical humanities from George Washington University. He then earned a Juris Doctor from Hofstra University School of Law.
== Career ==
After graduating from law school, Garbarino worked at his family law firm in Sayville. His family also owns numerous small businesses in communities from Bay Shore to Patchogue.
=== New York State Assembly ===
In 2012, Phil Boyle vacated his New York Assembly seat to run for the New York Senate. The New York Republican Party nominated Garbarino to replace him, and he was elected with 56% of the vote. He was reelected three times, in 2014, 2016, and 2018. Garbarino was a member of the New York Conference of Italian-American State Legislators as an assemblyman.
==== Election history ====
== U.S. House of Representatives ==
=== Elections ===
==== 2020 ====
Following the announcement that 14-term incumbent Representative Peter T. King would not run for reelection in 2020, Garbarino announced his candidacy for Congress in New York's 2nd congressional district. He ran in the June 23 Republican Party primary, and was endorsed by King, as well as the Nassau County and Suffolk County Republican Parties. He defeated Assemblyman Mike LiPetri, 65% to 35%.
In the general election, Garbarino was the candidate of the Republican, Conservative, and Libertarian parties, and the Serve America Movement. He defeated Suffolk County legislator Jackie Gordon, the nominee of the Democratic, Working Families, and Independence parties, 53% to 46%.
==== 2022 ====
Garbarino won the Republican primary with 53.7% of the vote against primary challengers Robert Cornicelli and Mike Rakebrandt.
In a rematch against 2020 Democratic nominee Jackie Gordon, Garbarino again defeated Gordon, 60.7% to 39.3%.
==== 2024 ====
Garbino won the general election with 59.8% of the vote against Democratic nominee Rob Lubin, who won 40.2% of the vote.
=== Tenure ===
Garbarino was sworn in on January 3, 2021. He is regarded as a moderate Republican, and he has often broken with his party on high-profile issues.
On January 6, 2021, Garbarino did not object to the Electoral College results, saying:The role of Congress is not to overturn the election or to take actions that silence voters. The Constitution is clear, the votes must be counted and certified by the states and Congress has the constitutional obligation to accept those electors and certify each states’ elections. All 50 states have certified their elections and the majority of electors have cast their votes for President-Elect Joe Biden. While I join many Long Islanders in wishing the results were different, Congress does not have the constitutional authority to overturn the election.In March 2021, Garbarino was one of 8 Republicans to vote for the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021.
Garbarino voted against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, as did every congressional Republican.
On May 19, 2021, Garbarino was one of 35 Republicans who joined all Democrats in voting to approve legislation to establish the January 6, 2021 commission meant to investigate the storming of the U.S. Capitol.
On November 5, 2021, Garbarino was one of 13 Republicans who voted with a majority of Democrats in favor of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Trump excoriated House Republicans who voted for the bill.
In October 2023, Garbarino was one of 18 Republicans who voted against the nomination of Jim Jordan for Speaker of the House all three times.
During passage of President Trump's budget called the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" on May 22, 2025, Garbarino "fell asleep" and missed the vote.
==== Agriculture ====
In October 2023, Garbarino led a letter to the House Agriculture Committee by 16 House Republicans opposing the inclusion of the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act in the 2023 farm bill, which would have overturned California's Proposition 12 and other state and local animal welfare laws restricting the sale of agricultural goods from animals raised in battery cages, gestation crates, and veal crates. Garbarino led an additional letter in 2025 by 14 House Republicans opposing an updated version of the law, the Save Our Bacon Act. He has received an award from the agricultural advocacy groups Organization for Competitive Markets and Competitive Markets Action for opposing federal preemption of state and local agricultural laws.
In September 2024, Garbarino led a letter by 11 House Republicans to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines requesting an analysis of Chinese biotechnology and cultivated meat developments and soliciting recommendations for the United States to outcompete China in alternative proteins research and development.
==== LGBT rights ====
In 2021, Garbarino co-sponsored the Fairness for All Act, a Republican alternative to the Equality Act. The bill would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity, and protect the free exercise of religion.
On July 19, 2022, Garbarino was one of 46 Republicans who voted for the Respect for Marriage Act, codifying the right to same-sex marriage in federal law.
=== Committee assignments ===
For the 119th Congress:
Committee on Ethics
Committee on Financial Services
Subcommittee on Capital Markets (Vice Chairman)
Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Committee on Homeland Security (Chair)
=== Caucus memberships ===
Climate Solutions Caucus
Problem Solvers Caucus
Republican Main Street Partnership
Republican Governance Group
== Personal life ==
Garbarino is Catholic. He resides in Bayport.
== References ==
== External links ==
Representative Andrew Garbarino official U.S. House website
The New York Assembly: Andrew R. Garbarino
Campaign website
Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
Profile at Vote Smart
Appearances on C-SPAN |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Finlayson#:~:text=Electoral%20history%5B,%E2%88%926.09 | Hugh Finlayson | Hugh Finlayson (December 12, 1810 – June 3, 1889) was an Ontario businessman and political figure. He represented Brant North in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Liberal member from 1867 to 1879.
He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1810 and came to North America in 1832. He originally arrived at New York City, made his way to Brantford in Upper Canada in 1835 and settled in Paris, Ontario. He worked as a saddle and harness maker and also operated a tannery. He served as mayor of Paris in 1858 and represented East Brant in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from 1858 to 1861. In 1867, he was elected to the Ontario legislative assembly. He died in Paris in 1889.
== Electoral history ==
== External links ==
Ontario Legislative Assembly parliamentary history
The Canadian Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of Eminent and Self-made Men. Vol. Ontario. Toronto: American Biographical Publishing Company. 1880. pp. 432–433. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Sagar_Sarowar_and_Meherun_Runi | Murder of Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi | The murder of Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi (also known as the Sagar-Runi murder case) is about the unsolved double murder case of two well-known, married Bangladeshi journalists who were stabbed to death in 2012. The case is still open.
Rumors have been circulating for a long time that the Awami League and India were involved in the BDR murders because they had secret information about them.
Leaked call records recently revealed evidence that the Sagar-Runi murders were carried out by MP Shaon's killer squad, under the direct orders of the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is currently ousted and in exile in India.
The couple's murder received high-level political attention and widespread media coverage in Bangladesh, and attracted German interest as Sarowar had lived in Germany and had worked as a journalist for Deutsche Welle. The case was also closely watched by journalists and international press freedom organisations. The couple's murder also unified organisations representing Bangladeshi journalists that had once been separate.
A representative of the family said, "In the past 25 years, this has been the most talked/written about, prioritized case in Bangladesh." A demonstration was called in 2017 for the fifth anniversary of the murder in order to call for the release of the investigation report.
== Biographical and career information ==
Golam Mustofa Sarowar was better known as Sagar Sarowar. His family is from old Dhaka. He was a broadcast news editor for Maasranga Television since December 2011. He had previously worked for Deutsche Welle's Bangla service for three years as part of the German broadcaster's South Asia department in Bonn, Germany. Before Deutsche Welle he worked in print as a columnist and a reporter for Ittefaq (ca. 1997), Jugantor, and Sangbad. He was known as an energy reporter and his work also appeared in the trade magazine Platts Oilgram News. He was a founder and leader of the Forum for Energy Reporters Bangladesh (FERB) and an editor-in-chief for the online magazine Energy Bangla. Sarowar was a director on the nine-member board of FERB, which created a network of energy reporters across the subcontinent. In addition, Sarowar was known as a blogger, and he also wrote for the OhMyNews citizen journalism website for a brief time (c. 2006–2007).
Meherun Nahar Runi was a senior television reporter for ATN Bangla, where she had been working at least since 2001. Before that she worked in broadcast media for Channel i and in print media for Sangbad and Jugantor. She also frequently reported on energy issues in Bangladesh. She was also known as a crime reporter.
The couple had one son, who was five years old at the time of their murder.
They are buried in old Dhaka in the Azimpur graveyard. It is a well-known graveyard for Dhaka citizens who are Muslim.
== Death ==
The married Bangladeshi couple, Sagar and Runi, lived with their five-year-old child on the fourth floor of a five-story building in the West Raja Bazar neighbourhood (mahallah) of Dhaka. Neighbors say that Sarowar and Runi had more than one person in the apartment as guests before they were killed.
Sarowar didn't leave his office at Maasranga until about 1:30 a.m. on the morning of 11 February 2012. From information gathered from a security guard, police believe the couple was killed some time after Sarowar arrived home and before the dawn Fajr prayer, which occurs before sunrise. According to sources, this would place the murder event sometime between 2 and 5 in the morning. Each victim died of multiple stabbing wounds, and sources said Sarowar's limbs were tied and he had the most stab wounds. Their son woke up at around 7 a.m. and discovered his parents dead in a pool of blood and called Runi's mother sometime around 7:30 a.m. by a cell phone. The site became an active crime scene around 11 a.m.
The crime scene showed evidence that it had been searched and the couple's possessions were strewn around the apartment. A kitchen window grill was cut and had an opening of approximately 1.8 feet, which Imam Hossain, deputy commissioner with the Tejgaon police, said would be too small for an adult to pass through.
== Investigations ==
=== Initial investigation ===
Investigators from two different main law enforcement agencies arrived at the crime scene around 11 a.m. on 11 February. The investigation fell under the jurisdiction of Bangladesh Police from Tejgaon Thana, a subdistrict of the Dhaka District, but was also being investigated by the intelligence branch of the Rapid Action Battalion. The RAB was founded in 2004 as a paramilitary arm of the police. Since the couple was well known, the crime scene attracted the attention of those in the upper echelon of Dhaka's law enforcement, as well as politicians. Among the law enforcement officials at the couple's apartment were Hassan Mahmood Khandker, who is the inspector general of the Bangladesh Police, and Benajir Ahmed, commissioner of the Dhaka metropolitan police. The Dhaka Courier reported that 14 teams were sent to the crime scene. Days after the investigation began, journalists from the Crime Reporters Association of Bangladesh reported that the two organisations were working independently from one another.
A number of politicians and other high-placed individuals visited the crime scene. Home Minister Sahara Khatun ordered the Bangladesh Police to arrest the murderers of Sagar and Runi within 48 hours. Later, the police told the family that the traffic through the residence had damaged evidence. The traffic through the crime scene could have also contaminated the DNA samples that were later discovered in the labs. Another Home Minister—Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir, who was appointed in September 2012—said after a year had passed, "Journalists and common people destroyed all the important evidences from the spot before police could reach there."
One of the two security guards was initially detained but was released shortly thereafter, and then he disappeared until his arrest almost one year after the case began.
The autopsies in the case were conducted at Dhaka Medical College. The autopsy revealed that possibly three knives were used during the murder. No viscera test was conducted during the autopsy, which was later criticised. The bodies were later exhumed for further testing.
Nowsher Alam Roman, who is Runi's brother represented both families, and he officially filed the couple's murder case with the police over a day after the murder was discovered. Officer Rabiul Alam was the assigned to be the lead detective in the case and headed the investigation for the next two months.
=== Second investigation ===
After two months and passing of deadlines issued by the Home Minister, justices ruled on a petition by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh and said the case had become stalled. The similarities between the stalled investigation in the Sagar-Runi murder case and another high-profile murder of a Saudi Arabian diplomat, Khalaf Al-Ali, on 6 March, along with the political pressure exerted in both cases on investigators, prompted Professor M. Shahiduzzaman from the University of Dhaka to call the latter case "a sequel". By order of the High Court in Bangladesh on 18 April 2012, the Sagar-Runi murder case was reassigned from the Detective Branch to the RAB, both of which are under the Bangladesh Police. The court called for the new investigators to use of advanced criminal investigation technologies. And the court also established a monitoring committee that was to be headed by a member of the police who achieved inspector general rank or higher and would be composed of journalists, lawyers, human rights activists, academicians and non-government organisations and other agencies. Zafar Ullah was appointed the lead investigating officer for the RAB. In late May 2013, Hasanul Haq Inu, information minister, told journalists the government was still analysing the DNA tests against the suspects and the investigation was proceeding according to law.
On 26 April 2012, the RAB with a court order oversaw the exhumation of the corpses at the Azimpur cemetery for a viscera test. The RAB said that the viscera test was for checking whether the couple had been poisoned and for DNA. Nowsher Alam Roman, who represented the families, was also present. The samples were sent to a lab in the United States for analysis. In August 2012, it was announced that two US labs had discovered the DNA of others and the RAB announced it would at a later date test the DNA samples of suspects for a match. After the announcement, the RAB then came under criticism from Bangladesh's National DNA Profiling Laboratory Programme. The RAB had suggested that the analysis could not have been done by a domestic lab when the Programme said it had handled over 1800 cases since 2006 and they would have been able to use the same technologies in Bangladesh.
After one year, 127 people had been interviewed about the case. The RAB also conducted videotaped interviews of the six-year-old son and those images were shown on national television.
Even after a decade, no progress has been made in the investigation. The investigation probe report has been delayed 91 times as of 24 August 2022.
=== Suspects ===
The names of 8 suspects were announced by Home Minister MK Alamgir in October 2012. Alamgir had been appointed the new Home Minister in September. The RAB arrested seven suspects around 9 October for their alleged involvement in the double murder, and the organisation made another related arrest on 9 February 2013. The father of Enamul, the suspect who was arrested in 2013, was reported missing 27 September 2012, shortly before the arrests in the case. Alamgir reported that several of the suspects were also alleged to be suspects in the murder of Dr Narayan Chandra Datta Nitai. At the time of the arrests in 2012, no motive was revealed but police alleged that several of the arrested were professional killers for hire.
Rafique Islam, alleged robber
Bakul Miah, alleged robber
Masum Mintu Peyada, alleged robber
Md Sayeed Sayeed, alleged robber
Tanvir Rahman, Runi's acquaintance
Kamrul Hassan Arun, driver
Palash Rudra Paul, security guard
Humayun alias Enamul, security guard – He was arrested on 9 February 2013.
The families of the victims were sceptical that the announced, alleged suspects were the perpetrators. In late January 2013, the RAB announced that the DNA identified by the labs had failed to match 13 samples, including samples from the suspects. Journalists had also been sceptical that the suspects were the perpetrators.
=== Calls for an international commission ===
After a year-long investigation by the Bangladesh Police, the case was called stalled. One NGO specialising in press freedom and security, Reporters Without Borders, requested an international commission be established. This was also requested by the families.
== Motive ==
Lieutenant Colonel Ziaul Ahsan, then officer in charge from RAB in this investigation said, investigators believed the murder was pre-meditated and committed by someone who knew the victims. Police said at least two people murdered the couple. At first police reported that nothing was stolen, but later reports said Sarowar's laptop computer and cell phones could be missing. Another report, however, claimed that police had retrieved three cell phones as evidence. But in the petition brought to the High Court, it was learned that the couple's computers and laptops had been stolen.
Police announced 26 February 2012 they were "almost certain" about the motive. However, the motive was never made public by investigators. More than a month after the murder, the organisation Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh appealed to the High Court of Bangladesh on the question of whether the police should reveal the motive and report their progress. In response to the case, the police were obliged to deliver a report to the court for informational purposes. The defendants in the case were the two law enforcement units and the Home Minister. By 18 April, when the High Court reassigned the case to RAB, the police admitted that it had not discovered a motive.
Journalists identified stories that both Sarowar and Runi were working on that could possibly have been a motive for violence. Runi's reporting involved corruption in Bangladesh's energy industry and Sarowar was working on violence and minority rights. The online magazine about free speech Sampsonia Way reported that a rumour in Dhaka about the motive was that the couple had sensitive information about land acquisition by a "powerful corporation". The Committee to Protect Journalists has not verified their murder was related to their reporting.
Mahfuzur Rahman, chairman of ATN Bangla where Runi worked, later publicly asserted that the murder motive involved an extramarital affair and at the same time took a case to court to stop journalists from protesting to push for charges to be filed. While his case included names of 59 journalists active in protests, Rahman did not include the names of his own employees. Journalist organisations responded angrily. Rahman lost his case. After Rahman's statement, the RAB interviewed him at the RAB's Uttara office.
In observing the first anniversary of the murder, the International Federation of Journalists said that law enforcement had failed to "establish a motive". Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul, Boishakhi TV CEO, said to an audience of journalists, "If the government failed to unearth the mystery of Sagar-Runi murder, we can unearth the mystery through investigative reports."
== Context ==
=== Crime ===
According to official Dhaka police records, there were 23 reported murders in February 2012, including the Sagar-Runi murder case, but media reports revealed that more murders were not reported or recorded.
=== Politics ===
Bangladesh's politicians quickly became involved in the high-profile double murder case. Initial statements to the media were given by President Zillur Rahman, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed of the Awami League party and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia. Shortly after the murder, Home Minister Sahara Khatun delivered a statement that police would apprehend the perpetrator or perpetrators within 48 hours. A case was filed 36 hours after the discovery of the murder, and the document did not list any suspected name. Khatun issued another statement closer to the deadline that suggested imminent progress. She delivered a further promise in April after journalists announced a nationwide action.
The crime scene was visited by a number of high-profile Bangladeshis active in politics:
Sahara Khatun, who was a member of the cabinet as home minister
Mahbubul Haque Shakil, special assistant to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Bangladesh Nationalist Party acting secretary general
AAMS Arefin Siddique, vice-chancellor of Dhaka University
Syed Fahim Munaim, Maasranga Television CEO
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, who is a leader from the opposition BNP told reporters, "We've been saying repeatedly that the country is turning into a slaughter ground gradually. This brutal killing again proves there is no law and order and rule of law in the country." The Dhaka Courier countered that calling the country a "slaughter ground" was made to score political points.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met two days after the murder with family members representing Sarowar and Runi, along with their son, and she told them that she would see to it that their son would educated and there would be no impunity in the couple's case and justice would be quick. The Prime Minister later criticised journalists for carrying out demonstrations and at other times praised them for raising awareness. In a widely repeated quote in connection with the case, she said the government could not protect everyone by posting a guard outside their bedrooms. She also told party members that more journalists were killed when her political opponents were in power.
=== Press freedom in Bangladesh ===
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, twelve journalists have been confirmed killed for their reporting in Bangladesh since the organisation first started keeping records in 1992, while six others remain unconfirmed. Of the 18 cases, only three led to convictions. The CPJ has ranked Bangladesh eleventh on its Impunity Index for countries with the most unsolved crimes for the murder of journalists from 2001 through 2010. Journalists Jamal Uddin of Gramer Kagoj and Talhad Ahmed Kabid of Dainik Narsingdi Bani were also killed in 2012.
In 2015, Bangladesh was 146th out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index and it has been on the decline since at least 2011. The organisation expressed concern over impunity in Bangladesh murder cases involving journalists.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who leads the Awami League party, claimed 16 journalists were killed while the coalition of the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and other smaller political parties controlled government.
== Impact ==
=== Domestic media coverage ===
Journalists covered the death of one of their own. In Bangladesh, the double murder of the high-profile media couple received significant exposure. Prominent people in politics, education, law enforcement and media visited the crime scene.
The couple's 5-year-old son, who discovered his parents murdered and had to call for help, was frequently mentioned in news stories. Some journalists interviewed the boy about his discovery shortly after the murder. The ethics of those reporters were questioned at the time in light of a 2010 UNESCO report "Ethical Reporting on and for Children". Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina criticised the news media for both interviewing the couple's son and for destroying evidence.
=== Protests by journalists ===
The murder of the two journalists unified reporters across Bangladesh. Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists and Dhaka Union of Journalists, that had been separate since 1992, began to work together to organise rallies, actions such hunger strikes, panel discussions, and lobbying efforts to pressure politicians and police for action.
The mobilisation of journalists began immediately after their murder and funerals. The Dhaka Union of Journalists rallied as early as 12 February. The Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists, Dhaka Union of Journalists, National Press Club, Dhaka Reporters Unity, and Crime Association Bangladesh united for a human chain and nationwide rally 22 February.
Journalists held a symbolic hunger strike and work stoppage for one hour on 27 February 2012. Further hunger strikes were held 1 March and 23 December.
The held another grand rally around 18 March 2012 and in different districts and a further sit-in on 8 April.
After the Home Minister Sahara Khatun assured them the police would produce results in the case soon, journalists stood down.
On 5 June 2012, journalists delivered written correspondence for the Speaker in support of laws to protect the safety of journalists.
On 26 June 2012, journalists marched toward the Prime Minister's office.
In addition, the journalists organised panels discussion their professional perspective about the Sagar-Runi case and its handling by the police and government. On the first anniversary a panel of journalists was assembled with participation by Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul, Boishakhi TV CEO; A B M Musa, a columnist for Prothom Alo; Samakal editor Golam Sarowar; Shahed Chowdhury, who is president of Dhaka Reporters Unity; Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, editor of The Bangladesh Observer and president of the BFUJ; Ruhul Amin Gazi, a president within the BFUJ organisation; Kamal Uddin Sabuj, president of the Jatiya Press Club; and Syed Abdal Ahmad with the Jatiya Press Club.
Journalists clashed with Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir when he made negative remarks at a press conference about the families' lack of co-operation that journalists said were unfounded. Alamgir had prefaced his remarks by going off the record and withdrew his statement when journalists reacted to his assertion.
=== European protests ===
In Germany, Bangladeshi expatriates, Germans and citizens from other European countries met in Frankfurt and Bonn protested the lack of results in the double murder investigation. The protesters were attempting to create publicity to get the attention of the United Nations and EU politicians. A human chain was formed around the UN building in Bonn.
=== Reactions ===
Irina Bokova, director-general of UNESCO, said the murder of the couple was "is an intolerable attack on the profession and on the fundamental human right for freedom of expression."
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) released the following statement: "Journalists in Bangladesh have waged a long and arduous battle to improve security conditions and the IFJ believes that this terrible double murder threatens to set back gains achieved in recent months and years."
Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said, "The killing of all the journalists, including Sagar-Runi, is disgraceful for democracy, and our duty is to remove it."
After one year with no progress in the case, Nowsher Alam Roman, Runi's brother, said, "For the last year, we have been struggling with agony, frustration and fear. Words fail to make any sense of our sufferings. All these days we have been continuously pacified by fake sympathy and promises of capturing the perpetrators and ensuring justice."
The IFJ-Asia Pacific, released another statement at the one-year mark: "We share the anguish of our Bangladeshi colleagues, at the slow pace of investigations and the failure to establish any manner of motive for this brutal double murder."
The Daily Star (Bangladesh) published an editorial summing up sentiment: "... today it is not just the families of Sagar and Runi but also people across the spectrum who remain skeptical about the authorities being able to actually take the matter to a definitive, credible conclusion."
In 2012, in an end-of-the-year, unsigned editorial, the Dhaka Courier wrote, "The gruesome murder of the journalist couple Sagar-Runi still remains unresolved and this will be taken to the coming year by the media with force. The government has failed totally in providing any satisfactory explanation for the murder of the journalists, though from time to time an array of salacious motives were mentioned along with the names of prominent men."
Saleha Manir, who is Sagar Sarowar's mother, addressed journalists at a rally, "The government had declared a 48-hour ultimatum to arrest the murderers. I want to know, how many days more will I have to count to see full 48 hours?"
== Notable quotations/statements ==
The following quotes were widely reported or the source of additional commentary after their expression:
Home Minister Sahara Khatun told law enforcement to arrest the Sagar-Runi murderers within 48 hours.
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, a BNP leader and opponent of the ruling Awami League party, said, "... the country is turning into a slaughter ground gradually. This brutal killing again proves there is no law and order and rule of law in the country."
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina: "Government can't guard one's bedroom."
== Exhibits ==
Sagar-Runi: Crime Scene, Do Not Cross, an exhibition of photographs, documents and personal possessions about the Sagar-Runi family and their case, 11–13 February 2013, Drik Gallery, Dhanmondi Thana, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
== See also ==
List of journalists killed in Bangladesh
List of unsolved murders (2000–present)
== References == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_Schafer | Hunter Schafer | Hunter Schafer (born December 31, 1998) is an American actress, model and activist. Born in Trenton, New Jersey, and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina, she came to public attention after joining a 2016 lawsuit against North Carolina's Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, a so-called "bathroom bill" which prevented transgender people from using public bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity. For her activism, she was named to Teen Vogue's "21 Under 21" list in 2017.
Schafer has studied watercolor painting and clothing design; in 2017, she began work as a fashion model for various brands. Schafer had initially planned to attend an arts college to further study clothing design, but instead decided to transition to acting when she was cast in the HBO teen drama television series Euphoria (2019–present). Her role as transgender high school student Jules Vaughn, and her co-writing credit on an episode of the series, garnered her critical praise.
Schafer has since starred in the films The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) and Cuckoo (2024), and had minor roles in Kinds of Kindness (2024) and the English dub of the Japanese film Belle (2021). Schafer has continued to model after getting into acting, serving as brand ambassador for Shiseido Makeup, Prada, and Mugler.
== Early life ==
Schafer was born on December 31, 1998, in Trenton, New Jersey. Her father was a pastor, and the family moved between churches and congregations in New Jersey, Arizona, and finally Raleigh, North Carolina, where Schafer was raised. She has three younger siblings: two sisters and a brother. Schafer said she started expressing femininity as a toddler. In seventh grade, Schafer came out to her parents as a gay boy; however, she started experiencing gender dysphoria in eighth grade. In ninth grade, she came out as a transgender girl and began transitioning after being diagnosed with dysphoria. She had also questioned if she had a non-binary identity. She stated that the Internet helped her cope with her gender identity, as she turned to YouTube and social media to learn about people's transition timelines.
Schafer first made headlines in 2016 when she became the youngest name listed as a plaintiff on a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and Lambda Legal, Carcaño v. McCrory, against the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act. The bill prevented trans people from using the bathroom corresponding to their gender identity, instead deciding bathroom usage based on their assigned sex at birth. The lawsuit led to the bill's repeal. While acting as a plaintiff, she made a film protesting the bill, which was released by the online magazine Rookie. She also wrote about the bill in a widely-shared essay for Teen Vogue in July 2016. For her activism, including her activism against the Act, Teen Vogue listed Schafer on its 2017 "21 Under 21" list of women and femme trailblazers under the age of 21 and granted her an interview with Hillary Clinton.
In early childhood, Schafer developed skills in visual arts, including watercolor painting; in high school, she used these skills to design clothes. The inspirations for her visual style were Tim Burton and Skottie Young. She posted watercolor and photography works on her Instagram account, which became popular. Her clothing designs, which often incorporated political activist messaging, were profiled by Huffington Post in 2017. She contributed illustrations and comic art to Rookie, as well as essays. She went to Needham B. Broughton High School and transferred to the North Carolina School of the Arts, where she graduated from its high school visual arts program. In 2017, Schafer became a semifinalist in the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program.
== Career ==
=== Modeling and acting in Euphoria (2017—2020) ===
Schafer started modeling shortly after high school. She wanted to use the privileges of "looking like a model" to deconstruct ideas regarding gender identity. In 2017, she signed with Elite Model Management after meeting an agent of theirs on Instagram, so she moved to Brooklyn to model in New York City. She first worked with Dior and Marc Jacobs, among other brands, and by the end of the year she had modeled for Converse, Gucci, Helmut Lang, and Versus Versace. In early 2018, she walked for nine fashion houses including Marc Jacobs, Miu Miu, and House of Holland. She made her debut at New York Fashion Week and traveled abroad for the first time to model in Europe. She started appearing in fashion magazines around the world; Marie Claire magazine wrote: "the fashion industry embraced Schafer for her ethereal yet edgy look and cool-kid versatility". She has also modeled for multiple other brands. After high school, Schafer planned to attend Central Saint Martins, an arts college in London, where she was accepted, to study clothing design for nonbinary people. She also wanted to open a studio and gallery for trans artists in New York, using grant money she had received from Teen Vogue for her "21 Under 21" listing.
However, she decided to focus on acting, after she was cast in on the HBO series Euphoria as a transgender high school girl, Jules Vaughn in 2019. She joined the show after finding a casting call for transgender girls on Instagram, which required no previous acting experience. A few days later, her modeling agency told her she received the audition. She did her final audition in Los Angeles, filmed the show's pilot there a month later, and moved to Los Angeles to film the first season. At the time, trans television characters were rare (GLAAD found there were 17 trans characters on television in 2017 and 2018), as were trans actors playing them. She worked with the show's creator, Sam Levinson, to make sure Jules's trans experiences were accurate. Jules was praised by Vulture for not being a victim of violence like most trans women on screen; she stands up for herself, rather than being a passive victim of the men around her. Schafer also worked with the show's costume designer, Heidi Bivens, to make Jules' wardrobe.
Schafer's performance was widely praised. Paper magazine wrote that Euphoria being her acting debut "will be hard for viewers to tell from the get-go". For the role, she received a Shorty Award, an MTV Movie & TV Award, and a Dorian Award. The Advocate wrote that she was one of many transgender actors not nominated at the 2020 Primetime Emmy Awards who should have been. In 2020, Queerty named her among the 50 queer people "leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people". In 2021, Schafer co-wrote an episode of Euphoria that was released between its first and second seasons, titled "Fuck Anyone Who's Not a Sea Blob". The episode, which features Jules in therapy describing her experiences in womanhood, was critically acclaimed.
=== Film roles and brand ambassadorships (2020—present) ===
In 2020, she became the global brand ambassador for Shiseido Makeup, and in 2021, Prada announced Schafer as their new house ambassador. Also in 2021, Time named her to its Next list of "100 emerging leaders who are shaping the future", with a tribute written by Euphoria co-star Zendaya. In 2022, Schafer starred in the English dub of the Japanese animated film Belle. She made her directorial debut when making the music video for Girl in Red's song hornylovesickmess; Schafer also shared some of the storyboard sketches alongside their respective final shots from the video. She directed the video for Anohni and the Johnsons' song "Why Am I Alive Now?" the following year. She became the new face of Mugler's Angel perfume in 2023 and one of their ambassadors.
Schafer starred in the 2023 The Hunger Games prequel, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, for which her performance as Tigris Snow was praised as "excellent" and "underused". Director Francis Lawrence said that Schafer was chosen for the part due to her disarming authenticity and described how her audition performance was "endearing and warm"—qualities they wanted for Tigris.
Schafer has continued modeling throughout her acting career, appearing for Alexander McQueen, Prada and Schiaparelli, among other houses. At the after party held by Vanity Fair for the 95th Academy Awards in 2023, she wore only a white maxi skirt and a top which was simply a horizontal feather covering her nipples, attached to a thin strap; W magazine wrote the outfit, designed by Ludovic de Saint Sernin for the Ann Demeulemeester label, became "infamous", being "the talk of the Oscars after parties" and "[setting] the Internet ablaze". Spanish pop singer Rosalía later referenced Schafer's outfit by wearing the top and similar pants for a photoshoot that included the eventual cover art of her 2025 album Lux (though she wears an additional top in the cover photo). Since the press tour for Songbirds & Snakes, Schafer has been stylized by Dara Allen, whom she first met when they both started modelling in 2017; Allen has characterized Schafer as one of her best friends, and some have attributed part of Schafer's fashion success to their collaboration.
In 2024, Schafer was in Tilman Singer's horror movie Cuckoo, where she plays an American teenager who reluctantly visits a creepy, remote resort in Germany with her family. It was her first lead role in a feature film; Schafer called it a scary experience, as it was the first thing she starred in after Euphoria, describing it as "the training wheels" turning off. Her portrayal was said to be "an intense and emotional central performance". Also in 2024, she was in one scene of Yorgos Lanthimos's anthology film Kinds of Kindness. In 2025, Schafer starred in The Hunt, a horror short film directed by Nadia Lee Cohen to promote the autumn 2025 campaign of South Korean eyewear brand Gentle Monster.
In 2025, a reputable leaker of Hollywood insider information reported that Schafer was firstly in consideration for the role of Princess Zelda in the upcoming live-action film adaptation of Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda video game series. The role was later announced to go to Bo Bragason. The initial rumor had created a significant amount of both supportive and transphobic reactions online and in the media; multiple outlets theorized the casting of Bragason, a cisgender woman, was a response by Nintendo to avoid further transphobic backlash, but this has not been confirmed.
Schafer has upcoming roles in David Lowery's drama film Mother Mary; Tom Ford's drama film Cry to Heaven, an adaptation of Anne Rice's novel of the same name; Zach Strauss' horror film Palette, his directorial debut; Hideo Kojima's horror video game OD, the Amazon sci-fi television series Blade Runner 2099, and a currently untitled horror film by Arkasha Stevenson.
== Personal life ==
In 2019, Schafer said that she was "closer to what you might call a lesbian", and in 2021, she stated she was "bi or pan or something". She was in a brief relationship with Rosalía for five months in 2019, which she confirmed after speculation with GQ in 2024. They remained close friends, and Schafer considers Rosalía to be "family no matter what". Schafer dated her Euphoria co-star Dominic Fike from February 2022 to c. July 2023. She claims their relationship ended after she found out he cheated on her.
In 2019, Schafer said she used she/her pronouns, but also used the title of "Mx. Schafer". In 2016, she stated, "I do like people to know that I'm not a cis girl because that's not something that I am or feel like I am." However, in 2024, she said she would like to talk about her trans identity less, as she had moved on from the most difficult parts of her transition and just wanted to "be a girl"; she lamented that her identity had become the centerpiece of her career, giving her offers for "tons of trans roles", which she started declining. In an interview with Rolling Stone, when asked about being considered a transgender activist, Schafer said: "No. I'm just a tranny who's famous, you know?" In 2024, she told Vogue that she tries to balance not being seen only as the "trans starlet" while also managing to fulfill her "responsibility of representation, saying "All the time I'm kind of doing the math of when to reel it in and when to lean into it".
In 2022, Schafer liked and commented "!!!!!" on an Instagram post that criticized certain non-binary activists who "fought to have trans identities no longer [be] considered" by the medical world "as a medical condition that requires [gender] dysphoria", and "couldn't stand to let binary trans people be the voice of [the trans] community," linking such activism to U.S. legislation targeting transgender rights. This prompted backlash from some fans, who accused Schafer of endorsing transmedicalism; she denied this, saying she merely felt there was "an [imbalance] in the visibility and space taken up between non-binary folks and binary trans women (particularly those of color and/or those who have [resorted] to sex work as a means of survival) that [I] think deserves attention/re-evaluation (as far as resources and platforms go) within the LGBTQ+ community".
On February 27, 2024, Schafer and fifty other people were arrested in New York City while at a Jewish Voice for Peace protest advocating for a ceasefire in the Gaza war. The protest was outside 30 Rockefeller Center, intended to disrupt U.S. president Joe Biden's interview for Late Night with Seth Meyers, which was being taped inside.
Through an eight-minute TikTok video published in February 2025, Schafer criticized the Trump administration and the U.S. Department of State for changing her passport gender marker from female to male without her consent or knowledge. She stated the following day that she spoke out because "it's important to just keep track of where things are in our country" and that she felt that "it was a good, necessary point" to share. Marcy Rheintgen, believed to be the first person arrested under the Florida's anti-trans bathroom law, describes Schafer as a personal hero who inspired her to challenge the law after Schafer was issued a male passport.
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
=== Television ===
=== Music videos ===
=== Video games ===
== Awards and nominations ==
== Notes ==
== References ==
== External links ==
Hunter Schafer at IMDb |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ako_Adjei | Ako Adjei | Ako Adjei (17 June 1916 – 14 January 2002), was a Ghanaian statesman, politician, lawyer and journalist. He was a member of the United Gold Coast Convention and one of six leaders who were detained during Ghana's struggle for political independence from Britain, a group famously called The Big Six. Adjei became a member of parliament as a Convention People's Party candidate in 1954 and held ministerial offices until 1962 when as Minister for Foreign Affairs he was wrongfully detained for the Kulungugu bomb attack.
Born in Adjeikrom, a small village in the Akyem Abuakwa area, Ako Adjei had his tertiary education in the United States and the United Kingdom. After his studies abroad, he returned home to join the movement of Gold Coast's struggle for political independence by joining the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) as a founding member. Ako Adjei was instrumental in introducing Kwame Nkrumah into Ghana's political scene when he recommended him for the full time post of Organising Secretary of the UGCC.
Following Ghana's Independence, Ako Adjei served in various political portfolios including being the first Minister for Interior and Justice for the newly born nation, Ghana. He also became Ghana's first Minister of Foreign Affairs when the portfolio was changed from Minister for External Affairs to Minister for Foreign Affairs in May 1961. Ako Adjei's political career was however precluded after his detention for allegedly plotting to assassinate the then president Kwame Nkrumah in the Kulungugu bomb attack in 1962.
After his release in 1966, Ako Adjei spent the rest of his life in relative obscurity. He remained unseen or unheard in the Ghanaian national and political discourse. He resolved to focus on his family and his career as a legal practitioner. In 1992 he published a biography of the Ghanaian businessman and statesman George Grant. In 1997 he was awarded the Order of the Star of Ghana award – the highest national award of the Republic of Ghana, for his contribution to the struggle for Ghana's independence. Ako Adjei died after a short illness in 2002.
== Early life and education ==
=== Gold Coast ===
Ako Adjei was born on 17 June 1916 in Adjeikrom in Akyem Abuakwa land. Adjeikrom is a small farming community found in the Eastern Region of Ghana (then the Gold Coast). His father was Samuel Adjei, a farmer and trader, whom Ako Adjei's place of birth is thought to be named after, and his mother was Johanna Okaile Adjei. Both parents were from La, a settlement near the coastal sea at Accra. He had many brothers and sisters but was the youngest of his father's children.
His early education began in the Eastern Region at the Busoso Railway Primary School, where he walked 14 miles to school and back home. He was taken to Accra where he continued his education at the La Presbyterian Junior School starting in class 3. He was unable to speak the Ga language which was his mother tongue, however, he could read and write Twi, and speak Dangme. He continued in the La Presbyterian Senior School until 1933 when he got to Standard Six. In March 1933 he won a scholarship to study at Christ Church Grammar School, a private secondary school which was on the point of winding up. He returned to the La Presbyterian Senior School after a month at Christ Church Grammar School because he did not like the school.
His father was then persuaded to send him to the Accra Academy, then a private secondary school trying to find its feet through the help of enterprising young men. In April 1933 he entered the Accra Academy and he liked it there. He walked four miles from La to Jamestown (where the school was then situated), because he could not afford the bus fare which was about two pence. In 1934 he sat for the Junior Cambridge examination and passed it. While at the Accra Academy, he found difficulty in meeting the cost of books, however, a member of the staff, Mr. Halm Addo (one of the four founders of the school), used to help him with money for books. In December, 1936 he was one of the candidates presented by the Accra Academy for the Cambridge Senior School leaving Certificate Examination. Among the candidates who passed the examination, only two obtained exemption from the London Matriculation Examination Board. One of these students was Ako Adjei.
He taught for a while at the Accra Academy in 1937 before joining the Junior Civil Service in June 1937. From June 1937 to December 1938 he was a Second Division Clerk in the Gold Coast Civil Service. He was assigned to assist Harold Cooper, a European Assistant Colonial Secretary, and J. E. S. de Graft-Hayford to organise and establish the Gold Coast Broadcasting Service. These were the beginnings of what is now the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation.
While studying at the Accra Academy Ako Adjei had taken an interest in journalism, he wrote for the African Morning Post, a newspaper that belonged to Nnamdi Azikiwe, who later became the first president of Nigeria. Azikiwe also took an interest in him and arranged for him to study at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, United States. In November 1938, he resigned from the Civil Service and left for England in December that year.
=== United States ===
In January 1939, he arrived at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania to the welcome of K. A. B. Jones-Quartey, a student from the Gold Coast whom Ako Adjei had known due to his work with the Accra Morning Post. Jones-Quartey had been accompanied to welcome him by another Gold Coast student who was introduced as Francis Nwia Kofi Nkrumah (Kwame Nkrumah). At Lincoln University he was housed at Houston Hall and played football (soccer) for the university. He registered for courses in Political Science, Economics, Sociology, English, Latin and Philosophy.
Ako Adjei shared the same room at Houston Hall with Jones-Quartey and their room was opposite Nkrumah's room, which was larger in size due to Nkrumah being a postgraduate student. Ako Adjei formed a close relationship with Nkrumah despite the age gap that apparently existed between them. Together with a group of students, they often had long heated discussions (known as bull sessions) about the emancipation of African countries from colonial domination. Among the African students who regularly took part in these discussions were Jones-Quartey, Ozuomba Mbadiwe, Nwafor Orizu and Ikechukwu Ikejiani.
After one and half years at Lincoln, he won a Phelps-Stokes Fund scholarship to attend Hampton Institute in Virginia, and transferred there to complete his university degree. He won another scholarship to the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and obtained a master's degree in June 1943. He gained employment as a lecturer at the African Studies Department at Fisk University through the assistance of Dr. Edwin W. Smith, a missionary. Dr. Smith had come from England to establish the new department and invited Ako Adjei to be his assistant at its founding.
=== United Kingdom ===
Ako Adjei moved to the United Kingdom to pursue his childhood dream of becoming a lawyer. His teaching job at the Fisk University had provided him finances to enroll at the Inner Temple in early May 1944. Even though he had saved enough to begin the course he needed more money to complete it. His father leased a small family house located at the Post Office Lane in Accra to a Lebanese merchant for £10 a year for fifty (50) years and took thirty (30) years' rent in advance. His father died before the negotiations were completed so he and his brothers had to sign the papers before the sum of £300 was paid by the Lebanese merchant.
In Britain, Ako Adjei took an active interest in colonial politics. Following the end of the Second World War, a number of British colonies in Asia had gained independence, this made colonial students from West Africa more concerned about the conditions at home and caused them to demand for the abolition of colonialism in West Africa.
Ako Adjei played a prominent role in the West African Students Union (WASU) and became its president. Nkrumah arrived in Britain in 1945, a few weeks after his arrival in London, Ako Adjei run into him during one of his rounds as the president of WASU. Nkrumah was then facing accommodation problems and he consequently hosted him at his No.25 Lauvier Road, until he found accommodation for him (Nkrumah) at No. 60 Burghley Road, near Tufnel Park Tube Station. Nkrumah was resident there until he left London in 1947. Ako Adjei then introduced Nkrumah to WASU and Kojo Botsio who later became Nkrumah's right-hand man. Recalling his WASU days, Ako Adjei recounted, "When Nkrumah arrived in London I was then President of the WASU. I took Nkrumah to the WASU Secretariat where I introduced him to Kankam Boadu and Joe Appiah, who were other members of the executive committee of WASU, and to Kojo Botsio who we had then engaged as warden of the student's Hostel, at No.l South Villas, Camden Town, London N. W. I. I must say that Nkrumah's arrival and active participation in the work of WASU invigorated the Union. It was against this background that we organised the Fifth Pan-African Congress which was held in Manchester in 1945 with George Padmore and Nkrumah as Joint Secretaries and myself as one of the active organisers." This conference went on to be regarded as a turning point within the independence struggle and was attended by the likes of W. E. B. Du Bois, Hastings Banda and Jomo Kenyatta.
Ako Adjei enrolled at the London School of Economics and Political Science for his M.Sc. degree programme while studying law at the Inner Temple. His topic for the dissertation, The Dynamics of Social Change was approved, however, the course, coupled with his political activities precluded his research due to time constraints.
Ako Adjei passed all his Bar examinations and was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in January 1947.
== Return to the Gold Coast ==
Ako Adjei returned to the Gold Coast in May 1947 and in June 1947, he enrolled at the Ghana bar. His initial intention was to set up a "chain of newspapers" to continue the agitation for self-rule, a course he had committed himself to while in London. He was however, unable to start the newspapers due to his financial circumstances then, he subsequently joined the Adumoa-Bossman and Co. chambers to practise as a private legal practitioner.
=== United Gold Coast Convention ===
After staying in Accra for a couple of days, he visited J. B. Danquah who was then with others discussing the possibility of forming a national political movement and Ako Adjei joined in the discussions. Ako Adjei like most Gold Coast students in Britain at the time was fed up with the British newspaper reportage that created the impression that the Gold Coast was the most loyal colony. Danquah assured him that a lot of work was being done to establish a national political front.
Within four days of his arrival home he was taken by J. B. Danquah to a meeting of the Planning Committee of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC). He then became a member of the committee and on 4 August 1947 when the convention was inaugurated at Saltpond, he became one of the leading members. On 22 August 1947, the Accra branch of the convention was inaugurated and he was elected secretary with Edward Akufo-Addo as president and Emmanuel Obetsebi-Lamptey together with J. Quist-Therson as the vice-presidents. As membership of the convention grew, the leading members decided it was best to convert the movement to a political party. As a result, there was the need for a full-time secretary. J. B. Danquah suggested Ako Adjei, however, he declined the offer for reasons of running his African National Times newspaper and practising law alongside. He subsequently suggested Kwame Nkrumah who was then running the West African National Secretariat (WANS) at 94 Grays' Inn, London.
According to Ako Adjei he recommended Kwame Nkrumah because he had grown to know his organisational capabilities and that he knew he will be interested in the job. This was because, before he left London for Accra Nkrumah had told him: "Ako you're going ahead of me. When you get to the Gold Coast and there is a job which you think I can do, let me know right away so that I would come and work for sometime; save some money and then return to London to complete my studies in law at Gray 's Inn."
This was a promise he had made thus when he heard of the full time general-secretary job he did not hesitate to recommend him. The convention accepted his suggestion and he wrote to Nkrumah about it and later sent him £100 which was provided by George Alfred Grant, the founder, president and financier of the UGCC for his trip to the Gold Coast. Upon the arrival of Nkrumah, Ako Adjei introduced him to the leading members of the party: "He arrived in December 1947 and I introduced him to G. A. Grant, J. B. Danquah, R. S. Blay and other members of the UGCC."
=== The Big Six ===
When Nkrumah assumed office as general-secretary of the UGCC he began initiating moves to expand the convention colony-wide and increase its membership. The leading members of the UGCC had also taken particular interest in the plight of the ex-servicemen who had not received their emoluments after the Second World War. They were invited by the world war veterans for their war veterans' meetings and at various times been made guest speakers.
Due to the goodwill and rapport built between the two parties, the lawyers among the politicians of the UGCC helped the ex-servicemen draft their petition to the governor. The presentation of the petition on 24 February 1948 led to crossroad shooting which at the time had coincided with the Nii Kwabena Bonnie III (Osu Alata Mantse) led boycott campaign resulting in the 1948 Accra Riots.
Ako Adjei and other leading members of the UGCC namely J. B. Danquah, Emmanuel Obetsebi-Lamptey, Edward Akufo-Addo, William Ofori Atta and Kwame Nkrumah, who were later famously referred to as the Big Six were consequently arrested and blamed by the then British government for the unrest in the colony and Ako Adjei was detained at Navrongo. The release of the Big Six saw a separation between Nkrumah and the other members of the UGCC and Nkrumah eventually broke away in 1949 to found the Convention People's Party (CPP). Ako Adjei however stayed with the UGCC and subsequently became critical of Nkrumah in his newspapers, the African National Times and the Star of Ghana.
=== 1951 election and the Ghana Congress Party ===
During the 1951 Gold Coast legislative election, Ako Adjei stood on the ticket of the UGCC to represent the Accra Central Municipal Electoral District in the Gold Coast Legislative Assembly. He polled 1,451 votes as against Nkrumah's (CPP) 20,780, T. Hutton Mills' (CPP) 19,812, and Emmanuel Obetsebi Lamptey's (UGCC) 1,630 votes. Following the poor showing of the UGCC in the elections, he joined others to urge for a merger of the opposition parties. He became the Secretary of the Ghana Congress Party (GCP) when it was formed in May 1952. After sometime with the GCP, Ako Adjei refused to attend meetings as constant criticisms were levelled against him for introducing Nkrumah to dismantle the UGCC.
=== Convention People's Party ===
In March 1953, Ako Adjei succumbed to pressure from friends such as E. C. Quaye, Sonny Provençal and Paul Tagoe, and agreed to join the Convention People's Party. In early March 1953 he was introduced in a huge rally at Arena, Accra where he delivered his first speech on the platform as a member of the CPP.
During the 1954 Gold Coast legislative election, he stood on the ticket of the CPP to represent Accra East in the Gold Coast Legislative Assembly. He polled 11,660 votes against Nai Tete's 768, Kwamla Armah-Kwarteng's 471, and Nii Kwabena Bonnie III's 317 votes. He entered parliament on 15 June 1954.
Following his record at the polls during the 1954 election, Ako Adjei was made a member of the Gold Coast cabinet on 28 July 1954 by Nkrumah, who was then prime minister and head of government business. He was appointed Minister of Trade and Labour. One of the reasons for his appointment was that he belonged to a class under-represented in the CPP, he being an intellectual and professional in the middle class, the move was regarded as a strategy to pull people of his status to the CPP. As Minister of Trade and Labour, he was responsible for many aspects of the country's life, he oversaw the Agricultural Produce Marketing Board, the Cocoa Marketing Board, the Industrial Development Corporation, Trade Unions and Cooperatives.
On 29 February 1956, he was appointed Minister for Interior and Justice, a position that was initially held by Archie Casely-Hayford. That same year, he was re-elected in the 1956 Gold Coast legislative election to represent the Accra East district electoral area in the Gold Coast Legislative Assembly.
== Post Ghanaian independence ==
=== Minister for Interior and Justice ===
Following Ghana's independence on 6 March 1957, major appointments were made at cabinet level by the then Prime Minister Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ako Adjei was however, maintained as Minister for Interior and Justice, a portfolio that was separated about six months later. In August 1957, the Ministry of Interior and Justice was separated into the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Interior was headed by Krobo Edusei while Ako Adjei was made Minister of Justice. It was rumoured then that this move was made by Nkrumah, the then prime minister, because Ako Adjei though a Ga himself was seen as "too gentlemanly" to deal with the problems created by the Ga-Adangbe Shifimo Kpee (a tribal organisation), which had been inaugurated not long ago in Accra.
Others remained positive about his new appointment believing he was in a better position to deal better with matters affecting Ghana's judiciary as a trained lawyer. As Minister for Justice, he was responsible for the functions of the Land Boundaries Settlement Commission, financial and ministerial matters with relation to the Supreme Court, local court and Customary Law, and foreign processes.
=== Minister for Labour and Cooperatives ===
A year later, Ako Adjei was moved to the Ministry of Labour and Cooperatives. As Minister of Labour and Cooperatives, he aided the labour movement of Ghana in forming new structures that have persisted till this today. While serving in this capacity he often led the Ghanaian delegations to the United Nations.
=== Resident Minister in Guinea and Minister for Foreign Affairs ===
In February 1959, Ako Adjei replaced Nathaniel Azarco Welbeck as the Resident Minister of Guinea. While serving as Ghana's chief representative in Guinea, he was appointed Minister of External Affairs in April that year. He occupied both positions as Ghana's resident minister in Guinea and Ghana's Minister of External Affairs until September 1959 when he was relieved of his duties in Guinea. He was replaced by J. H. Allassani as Resident Minister of Guinea.
On 8 April 1961, Ako Adjei was in New York City when Nkrumah the then president of Ghana announced in a dawn broadcast that he had removed African Affairs from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of External Affairs thereby appointing Imoru Egala as the Minister of State for African Affairs, a position Egala held for a brief period of time with no successor. Ako Adjei returned to Ghana without permission to plead his course for a more coordinated foreign policy. He believed that the goal of African unity would be unrealistic if African relations were detached from his ministry. His efforts, however, to revert the president's decision proved futile.
In May 1961 the portfolio of the Minister of External Affairs was consequently changed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Ako Adjei thus became Ghana's first Minister of Foreign Affairs in the first republic. As Ghana's first foreign minister, he played a prominent role in formulating the country's foreign policy and level of international engagements. According to Sheikh I. C. Quaye, he "assisted to lay the foundations of our international relations at the height of the cold war when the country needed to walk the diplomatic tight rope unflinchingly". Kwesi Armah reflecting on Ako Adjei's time in office said he "presented a very sober image of Ghana and powerfully presented Ghana's stand to the UN and other international conferences."
As the Minister of Foreign Affairs, he announced a complete boycott of South African goods, ships and airlines into the country, he also maintained that South Africans will only be allowed in the country if they declared opposition to apartheid. During his tenure in the Ministry, Ako Adjei called for "a Union of African States, to provide the framework within which any plans for economic, social and cultural cooperation can in fact, operate to the best advantage of all."
During a meeting of African Foreign Ministers in Addis Ababa in June 1960, he proposed the concept of a "complete political union" for Africa and pushed for the establishment of Africa Customs Union, Africa Free Trade Zone, and Africa Development Fund; policies that were along the lines of these proposals were adopted by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) which was birthed while he was in prison in 1963 and the Africa Union (AU) which succeeded the OAU in 2001.
Ako Adjei remained in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until August 1962 when he was charged with treason in relation to the Kulungugu bomb attack, a failed assassination attempt on the then president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's life on 1 August 1962. Nkrumah replaced him by assuming the portfolio of the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1962.
== Treason trial and detention ==
Kwame Nkrumah travelled to Tenkodogo on 31 July 1962 to have a meeting with Maurice Yameogo the president of Upper Volta now Burkina Faso. The meeting was to discuss further plans to eliminate customs barriers between Ghana and the Upper Volta. A move that was seen as a small step towards Pan-African unity. An unusually heavy downpour complicated the return trip from Tenkodogo on 1 August 1962, causing the usual order of the convoy to be in disarray over the poor road that connected the two countries. A bomb was reportedly thrown at the president in Kulungugu, a town in the Upper Region of Ghana when he was forced to stop to receive a bouquet from a young boy.
Ako Adjei, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, together with Tawia Adamafio, then Minister of Information, Hugh Horatio Cofie Crabbe, then CPP Executive Secretary, Joseph Yaw Manu, a civil servant and alleged member of the United Party (UP) and Robert Benjamin Otchere, former UP member of parliament, were accused of plotting to assassinate the president.
Ako Adjei, Tawiah Adamafio and Cofie Crabbe were tried and acquitted by the Supreme Court on the basis that the evidence presented against them was rather circumstantial and fraudulent, and centred more on the dissensions in the Convention People's Party (CPP) as the basis of their accusation.
A member of the Ghana Parliament described their guilt as such:
On the journey... to the place of the incident, they (Adamafio, Crabbe, and Ako Adjei), isolated themselves from the Leader, to whom they had clung previously all along as if they were his lovers. They rode in different cars and were hundreds of yards away leaving the President behind.
A retrial was said to have been necessitated by the evidence of a fetish priest who also accused the three of conniving to kill the president.
The three judges who had acquitted the three men – Justice Sir. Kobina Arku Korsah, Justice Edward Akufo-Addo (a Big Six) and Justice Kofi Adumua Bossman – were subsequently forced to resign. Two other judges, William Bedford Van Lare and Robert Samuel Blay (a founding member of the United Gold Coast Convention) were dismissed for protesting the dismissal of the three judges. Nkrumah then empaneled a 12-man jury headed by Justice Julius Sarkodee-Addo, who found the acquitted, guilty based largely on the evidence of the fetish priest. Ako Adjei and the two others were consequently sentenced to death, however, the sentence was commuted by the president to a life imprisonment sentence and later, a 20-year imprisonment sentence in an address to parliament on 26 March 1965.
Ako Adjei reflecting on the event of 1 August 1962 had this to say:"I was innocent and I know that my two friends, Tawia Adamafio and Cofie Crabbe were also innocent. What happened was that I accompanied Nkrumah in my capacity as Foreign Minister to a miniature summit between President Nkrumah and President Yameogo at Tenkudugu at the northern boundary between Togo, Ghana and Upper Volta on July 31, 1962. On our return journey, I was in the President's party which made an unscheduled stop at a small school at Kulungugu. Within minutes after the President alighted and received a bouquet from a young school boy, a hand grenade was thrown at him. The innocent boy received a direct hit and was killed instantly. Fortunately, the hand grenade missed the President although some pellets found their way to his back. We got the Osagyefo to Bawku where he was later sent to Tamale. Back in Accra everything moved on smoothly. And in the latter part of July 1962 I received a note from Dr. Okechuku Ekejeani, a former colleague at Lincoln University and a mutual friend of Nkrumah and myself. He was travelling from London and sent a cablegram on board his ship to the President and myself. When I showed my cable to Nkrumah, he told me to go for him and send him to my house and entertain him on his behalf. I was to bring him the following day to the Flagstaff House for another reception before he left for Lagos in the afternoon. We were entertaining him on that Wednesday, August 29, 1962 when I was arrested and taken away. For the next four years only God knew what happened to me."
Ako Adjei together with his three colleagues were among many political prisoners that were released by the National Liberation Council after the overthrow of president Nkrumah and the First Republican Government on 24 February 1966. He was released from his detention in the Nsawam Medium Security Prison on 6 September 1966 by an amnesty from the National Liberation Council.
== Later life ==
On the eve of his release from the Nsawam Prison in 1966, Ako Adjei completely forswore politics after the whole experience; what he believed to have been a false accusation and the prison term. After his release, he devoted himself to his family and his legal life.
He gave much attention to his wife and children. According to him, his wife and children were very supportive during the period when he was trialled, retrialled and subsequently imprisoned.
He reorganised his professional life, succeeded in reorganising his chambers, Teianshi Chambers, and resumed private practice as a legal practitioner.
Following the second military coup in Ghana, Ako-Adjei was made a member of the commission by the Supreme Military Council in 1978 to draft a constitution for the Third Republic of Ghana. According to The Ghanaian Chronicle, the last time Ako Adjei was seen in any high-profile gathering was in the senior citizens get together organised by the ex-President Rawlings during the latter period of his tenure as president. Due to his condition at the time, his relatives denied reporters an opportunity to interview him.
== Death and state burial ==
Ako Adjei was the last member of the famous Big Six to die. After a short illness, he died on 14 January 2002 at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, at the age of 85 years. He was survived by his wife and four children.
His death drew tributes from statesmen including the then president of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufour who declared that he will be given a State burial. He said "the nation owes Dr. Ako-Adjei gratitude as a hero, who served the country as a young man, for democratic rule in future. As one of the Big Six in Ghana's political history, the death of Dr. Ako-Adjei marks the end of the first cycle of history in terms of the harsh political atmosphere in the country at that time. But the memory of that era cannot be erased". He also added that "They launched a political party system of which the government is a beneficiary. Ghanaians benefiting from this great legacy and achievement owe it a duty to rally behind the bereaved family to offer Dr. Ako-Adjei a fitting state burial".
The then Attorney General and Minister for Justice and current president of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo paying tribute said; "the death of Dr. Ako-Adjei has marked the end of the era of the founding fathers of the nation and Ghanaians are now left on their own to survive." He added that "the vision that energised them to ensure free democratic rule now prevailes in the country, they did a great deal of work for our country and he is one of the heroes of this country".
While the late Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, the then Minister for Information also had this to say: "the chapter on the era of the Big Six has not been erased with the death of Dr. Ako-Adjei because their experiences are available for future generations. There were a lot of other Ghanaians with the Big Six, who championed the cause of democracy. If you do your best for your country, you would be remembered."
=== State burial ===
On the day of his burial, all flags flew at half-mast in his honour. The state funeral service was held at the forecourt of the state house. Present at the ceremony were politicians, parliamentarians, ministers of state, members of the Council of State, the diplomatic corps, chiefs, relatives, friends and sympathisers.
A wreath was laid by the then president, Kufour on behalf of the government and people of Ghana, Mr. Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, then Minister for Foreign Affairs laid another on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Paul Adu-Gyamfi, who was then president of the Ghana Bar Association laid the third wreath on behalf of the association while a family member laid the fourth wreath on behalf of the bereaved family.
Joseph Henry Mensah, then the Senior Minister, read the government's tribute, saying: "Dr. Ako Adjei was among those who articulated the dream of African unity and political agitation in the country. After the break away of the Convention Peoples' Party (CPP) from the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), Dr. Ako-Adjei became the bridge between the two political groupings. Ghana has lost a gem because it could not benefit from his experiences and undoubted wisdom. When we learn from his life we resolve never again to have a person of his stature to suffer his fate."
Following the State burial, a private burial was held at the mausoleum of the Holy Church of God, Okoman, Dome, in Accra.
== Personal life ==
Ako Adjei was married to Theodosia Ako Adjei (née Kote-Amon) and together they had four daughters. He was a Christian and a member of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. As a Christian, he believed and emphasised as his philosophy of life that God controlled all affairs and had a purpose for everybody on earth. "What every individual must do therefore is to allow God to use him as a tool to serve Him."
== Honours ==
In 1946, he was made a member of the Royal Institute of International Affairs
In 1952 he was made a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
In 1962 he was awarded with an Honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from his alma mater, Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, United States
On 7 March 1997 as part of Ghana's 40th Independence Day anniversary celebrations, Ako Adjei was awarded Officer of the Order of the Star of Ghana – the highest national honour of the Republic of Ghana by the then president Jerry John Rawlings for his "contribution to the struggle for Ghana's independence"
In 1999, he was given the Millennium Excellence Award for Outstanding Statesmen.
== Legacy ==
The Ako Adjei Interchange in Accra, which used to be Sankara Interchange, was renamed after him. There is also an Ako-Adjei Park in Osu, Accra.
== Quotes ==
"Ghana is our country. We have nowhere to go. This is where God has placed us and the earlier we realized this the better for all of us."
== See also ==
The Big Six
Nkrumah government
== References ==
== External links ==
Ghana Home Page, ghanaweb.com
Biography, s9.com
Profile, kokorokoo.com via archive.org |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stella_Obasanjo | Stella Obasanjo | Stella Obasanjo (née Abebe; 14 November 1945 – 23 October 2005) was the First Lady of Nigeria from 1999 until her death. She was the wife of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, although she was not the First Lady in 1976, when Obasanjo was military head of state. She died while undergoing elective liposuction abroad.
She was a political activist in her own right, supporting causes such as women's liberation, youth as leaders of tomorrow, and the rehabilitation of a war-torn Nigeria.
== Early life and education ==
Stella Abebe was born on 14 November 1945, she was from Iruekpen, Esan West, Edo State. Her father, Dr. Christopher Abebe, was chief of the United Africa Company (UAC) who became the first indigenous (African) chairman of UAC Nigeria.
She began her education at Our Lady of the Apostles Primary School. She enrolled at St. Theresa's College, where she obtained her West African School Certificate in 1964 with grade one. Two years later she obtained the higher school certificate. She was admitted to the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile-Ife, for a bachelor's degree in English, attending from 1967 to 1969. In 1969 she transferred to the UK to complete her studies, this time round, in insurance, in London and Edinburgh, Scotland, from 1970 to 1974.
She completed her education with a certificate as confidential secretary from Pitman College in 1976. She returned to Nigeria in 1976.
== Personal life ==
She married General Obasanjo with whom she had one son; Olumuyiwa Obasanjo born in 1977. Olusegun Obasanjo had just become Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, following the assassination of General Muritala Mohammed.
== First Lady of Nigeria ==
When she became Nigeria's First Lady in 1999, following the election of her husband as president, Obasanjo established Child Care Trust, for the care of underprivileged and/or disabled children.
As First Lady of Nigeria, Obasanjo joined the Campaign Against Female Genital Mutilation and on 6 February 2003, she declared the day the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation. Reporters Without Borders reported that Orobosa Omo-Ojo, the publisher of the Lagos-based Nigerian Midwest Herald, was arrested on Stella Obasanjo's orders on 2 May 2005 and taken to Akure prison. His arrest was prompted by an article the previous week about her, headlined "Greedy Stella".
== Death ==
Obasanjo died at age 59 from complications of cosmetic surgery at a private health clinic in Puerto Banús, Marbella, Spain, on 23 October 2005. The surgeon, identified only as "AM" in court, was sentenced to one year of imprisonment in September 2009 on a charge of "causing homicide through negligence", disqualified from medicine for a period of three years and ordered to pay €120,000 (approximately US$176,000) in compensation to Stella Obasanjo's son. Prosecutors had requested a two-year jail term and five-year disqualification. A request for compensation for the Nigerian government was also rejected. The physician had misplaced a tube designed for a liposuction procedure into Obasanjo's abdominal cavity. She sustained a punctured colon and lacerated liver and died two days after the surgery. The doctor did not immediately answer his mobile phone when called after performing the operation and reportedly left Obasanjo for four hours. Had she been hospitalised in time, it is thought she might have survived her injuries.
== References ==
== External links ==
"Nigerian President's wife dies after plastic surgery operation in Spain", The Independent.co.uk |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Peaky_Blinders_episodes | List of Peaky Blinders episodes | Peaky Blinders is a British period crime drama television series created by Steven Knight. Set in Birmingham, England, it follows the exploits of the Peaky Blinders crime gang in the direct aftermath of the First World War. The fictional gang is loosely based on a real urban youth gang of the same name who were active in the city from the 1910s. It premiered on 12 September 2013, telecast on BBC Two until the fourth series, then moved to BBC One for the fifth and sixth series.
On 18 January 2021, it was announced that the sixth series would be the final series of Peaky Blinders. During the course of the programme, 36 episodes of Peaky Blinders aired over six series, between 12 September 2013 and 3 April 2022.
== Series overview ==
== Episodes ==
=== Series 1 (2013) ===
=== Series 2 (2014) ===
=== Series 3 (2016) ===
=== Series 4 (2017) ===
=== Series 5 (2019) ===
=== Series 6 (2022) ===
== Ratings ==
== References ==
== External links ==
Peaky Blinders on BBC—The official website for the series in the United Kingdom.
Peaky Blinders at IMDb—A user-generated database of information related to the series. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instagram#:~:text=In%20August%202019%2C%20Instagram%20also,made%20by%20users%20they%20follow. | Instagram | Instagram is an American photo and short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters, be organized by hashtags, and be associated with a location via geographical tagging. Posts can be shared publicly or with preapproved followers. Users can browse other users' content by tags and locations, view trending content, like photos, and follow other users to add their content to a personal feed. A Meta-operated image-centric social media platform, it is available on iOS, Android, Windows 10, and the web. Users can take photos and edit them using built-in filters and other tools, then share them on other social media platforms like Facebook. It supports 33 languages including English, Hindi, Spanish, French, Japanese, and Korean.
Instagram was originally distinguished by allowing content to be framed only in a square (1:1) aspect ratio of 640 pixels to match the display width of the iPhone at the time. In 2015, this restriction was eased with an increase to 1080 pixels. It also added messaging features, the ability to include multiple images or videos in a single post, and a Stories feature—similar to its main competitor, Snapchat, which allowed users to post their content to a sequential feed, with each post accessible to others for 24 hours. As of January 2019, Stories was used by 500 million people daily.
The Burbn Beta app was made available for iOS on October 6, 2010, by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger — still as a prototype, but for the first time available as a real app on the App Store rather than a web-based prototype. The app received around 25,000 registrations that day, though it remained a public beta. Six days later, on October 12, 2010, the final stable non-beta version was officially released under a new name — Instagram. This renaming gave an even bigger response, it rapidly gained popularity, reaching 1 million registered users in two months, 10 million in a year, and 1 billion in June 2018. In April 2012, Facebook acquired the service for approximately US$1 billion in cash and stock. The Android version of Instagram was released in April 2012, followed by a feature-limited desktop interface in November 2012, a Fire OS app in June 2014, an app for Windows 10 in October 2016, and an app for iPadOS in September 2025. Although often admired for its success and influence, Instagram has also been criticized for negatively affecting teens' mental health, its policy and interface changes, its alleged censorship, and illegal and inappropriate content uploaded by users.
== History ==
Instagram began development in San Francisco as Burbn, a mobile check-in app created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. On March 5, 2010, Systrom closed a $500,000 (equivalent to $700,000 in 2024) seed funding round with Baseline Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz while working on Burbn. Realizing that it was too similar to Foursquare, they refocused their app on photo-sharing, which had become a popular feature among its users. They renamed it Instagram, a portmanteau of instant camera and telegram.
=== 2010–2011: Beginnings and major funding ===
Josh Riedel joined the company in October as Community Manager, Shayne Sweeney joined in November as an engineer, and Jessica Zollman joined as a Community Evangelist in August 2011.
On October 21, 2009, the first web-based prototype of Burbn was released online, although it was basic and non-functional, it featured a registration waiting list. The first Burbn post was a photo of South Beach Harbor at Pier 38, posted by Mike Krieger at 5:26 p.m. on July 16, 2010. On October 6, 2010, the Burbn Beta iOS app was made available through the App Store, though this was still just a prototype only. The final stable non-beta version was officially released 6 days later, on October 12, 2010 with a new name, Instagram. In February 2011, it was reported that Instagram had raised $7 million (equivalent to $9,601,662 in 2024) in Series A funding from a variety of investors, including Benchmark Capital, Jack Dorsey, Chris Sacca (through Capital fund), and Adam D'Angelo. The deal valued Instagram at around $20 million. In April 2012, Instagram raised $50 million (equivalent to $67,320,000 in 2024) from venture capitalists with a valuation of $500 million (equivalent to $673,200,000 in 2024). Joshua Kushner was the second largest investor in Instagram's Series B fundraising round, leading his investment firm, Thrive Capital, to double its money after the sale to Facebook.
=== 2012–2014: Additional platforms and acquisition by Facebook ===
On April 3, 2012, Instagram released a version of its app for Android phones, and it was downloaded more than one million times in less than one day. The Android app has since received two significant updates: first, in March 2014, which cut the file size of the app by half and added performance improvements; then in April 2017, to add an offline mode that allows users to view and interact with content without an Internet connection. At the time of the announcement, it was reported that 80% of Instagram's 600 million users were located outside the U.S., and while the aforementioned functionality was live at its announcement, Instagram also announced its intention to make more features available offline, and that they were "exploring an iOS version". On April 9, 2012, Facebook, Inc. (now Meta Platforms) bought Instagram for $1 billion (equivalent to $1,346,000,000 in 2024) in cash and stock, with a plan to keep the company independently managed. Britain's Office of Fair Trading approved the deal on August 14, 2012, and on August 22, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. closed its investigation, allowing the deal to proceed. On September 6, 2012, the deal between Instagram and Facebook officially closed with a purchase price of $300 million in cash and 23 million shares of stock.
The deal closed just before Facebook's scheduled initial public offering according to CNN. The deal price was compared to the $35 million Yahoo! paid for Flickr in 2005. Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook was "committed to building and growing Instagram independently". According to Wired, the deal netted Systrom $400 million.
In November 2012, Instagram launched website profiles, allowing anyone to see user feeds from a web browser with limited functionality, as well as a selection of badges, and web widget buttons to link to profiles. Since the app's launch it had used the Foursquare API technology to provide named location tagging. In March 2014, Instagram started to test and switch the technology to use Facebook Places.
=== 2015–2017: Redesign and Windows app ===
In June 2015, the desktop website user interface was redesigned to become more flat and minimalistic, but with more screen space for each photo and to resemble the layout of Instagram's mobile website. Furthermore, one row of pictures only has three instead of five photos to match the mobile layout. The slideshow banner on the top of profile pages, which simultaneously slide-showed seven picture tiles of pictures posted by the user, alternating at different times in a random order, has been removed. In addition, the formerly angular profile pictures became circular.
In April 2016, Instagram released a Windows 10 Mobile app, after years of demand from Microsoft and the public to release an app for the platform. The platform previously had a beta version of Instagram, first released on November 21, 2013, for Windows Phone 8. The new app added support for videos (viewing and creating posts or stories, and viewing live streams), album posts and direct messages. Similarly, an app for Windows 10 personal computers and tablets was released in October 2016. In May, Instagram updated its mobile website to allow users to upload photos, and to add a "lightweight" version of the Explore tab.
On May 11, 2016, Instagram revamped its design, adding a black-and-white flat design theme for the app's user interface, and a less skeuomorphistic, more abstract, "modern" and colorful icon. Rumors of a redesign first started circulating in April, when The Verge received a screenshot from a tipster, but at the time, an Instagram spokesperson simply told the publication that it was only a concept. On December 6, 2016, Instagram introduced comment liking. However, unlike post likes, the user who posted a comment does not receive notifications about comment likes in their notification inbox. Uploaders can optionally decide to deactivate comments on a post.
The mobile website allows uploading pictures since May 4, 2017. Image filters and the ability to upload videos were not introduced then. On April 30, 2019, the Windows 10 Mobile app was discontinued, though the mobile website remains available as a progressive web application (PWA) with limited functionality. The app remains available on Windows 10 computers and tablets, also updated to a PWA in 2020.
=== 2018–2019: IGTV, removal of the like counter, management changes ===
To comply with the GDPR regulations regarding data portability, Instagram introduced the ability for users to download an archive of their user data in April 2018. IGTV launched on June 20, 2018, as a standalone video application. The application was shut down and removed from app stores in March 2022, citing low usage and a shift to short-form video content. On September 24, 2018, Krieger and Systrom announced in a statement they would be stepping down from Instagram. On October 1, 2018, it was announced that Adam Mosseri would be the new head of Instagram.
During Facebook F8, it was announced that Instagram would, beginning in Canada, pilot the removal of publicly displayed "like" counts for content posted by other users. Like counts would only be visible to the user who originally posted the content. Mosseri stated that this was intended to have users "worry a little bit less about how many likes they're getting on Instagram and spend a bit more time connecting with the people that they care about." It has been argued that low numbers of likes in relativity to others could contribute to a lower self-esteem in users. The pilot began in May 2019, and was extended to 6 other markets in July. The pilot was expanded worldwide in November 2019. Also in July 2019, Instagram announced that it would implement new features designed to reduce harassment and negative comments on the service.
In August 2019, Instagram also began to pilot the removal of the "Following" tab from the app, which had allowed users to view a feed of the likes and comments made by users they follow. The change was made official in October, with head of product Vishal Shah stating that the feature was underused and that some users were "surprised" when they realized their activity was being surfaced in this manner. Instagram later restricted the ability to view public profiles without logging in, prompting users to sign in after viewing a limited number of posts. Following the change, after viewing a number of posts a pop-up requires the user to log in to continue viewing content.
In the same month, Instagram launched a separate app known as Threads. Similar to Snapchat, the app allowed users to communicate through messaging and video chats. It was integrated with Instagram's "Close friends" feature, so that users could send images, photos, and texts privately to others, and also had Instagram's photo editing system embedded into the app. However, Instagram discontinued this version of Threads in December 2021, mainly due to most of its features being rolled out on Instagram itself, as well as low usage compared to other social media applications. Threads was not well-received among Instagram's user base. Since its launch, only approximately 220,000 users globally downloaded the app, which represented less than 0.1% of Instagram's monthly active users, indicating a lack of success in driving adoption.
=== 2020–present ===
In March 2020, Instagram launched a new feature called "Co-Watching". The new feature allows users to share posts with each other over video calls. According to Instagram, they pushed forward the launch of Co-Watching in order to meet the demand for virtually connecting with friends and family due to social distancing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In August 2020, Instagram began a pivot to video, introducing a new feature called "Reels". The intent was to compete with the video-sharing site TikTok. Instagram also added suggested posts in August 2020. After scrolling through posts from the past 48 hours, Instagram displays posts related to their interests from accounts they do not follow. In February 2021, Instagram began testing a new feature called Vertical Stories, said by some sources to be inspired by TikTok. The same month, they also began testing the removal of ability to share feed posts to stories. In March 2021, Instagram launched a new feature in which four people can go live at once. Instagram also announced that adults would not be allowed to message teens who don't follow them as part of a series of new child safety policies.
In May 2021, Instagram began allowing users in some regions to add pronouns to their profile page. On October 4, 2021, Meta services suffered their worst outage since 2008, bringing down Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. Security experts identified the problem as possibly being DNS-related. On March 17, 2022, Zuckerberg confirmed plans to add non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to the platform.
In April 2022, Instagram began testing the removal of the ability to see "recent" posts from various hashtags. This change became permanent and system wide a year later, and now hashtags can only be used to see a selection of curated content from "top" users. These changes are ostensibly an attempt to hinder the spread of misinformation, while Instagram has also repeatedly stated that hashtags do not help posts get views.
In September 2022, Ireland's Data Protection Commission fined the company $402 million under privacy laws recently adopted by the European Union over how it handled the privacy data of minors. After being trialled in mid-2022, Instagram introduced Notes in December 2022. This feature allows users to share updates as short text posts of up to 60 characters with certain people, who can then reply to them using messaging on Instagram.
In February 2023, Instagram introduced a new feature allowing users to browse and post GIFs in their comments. Also in February 2023, Zuckerberg announced that Meta would start selling blue "verified" badges on Instagram and Facebook.
On July 5, 2023, Meta launched Threads, a social network platform connected to Instagram that allows users to make public shortform blog posts comprising text, photos, and videos, as well as to converse with other users and reblog other users' posts. Threads aims to compete with Twitter. In December 2023, Instagram launched a podcast titled "Close Friends Only" featuring conversations among celebrities. The first episode featured rappers Ice Spice and Doja Cat. Subsequent episodes in June and August 2024 featured Reneé Rapp, Rachel Sennott, Megan Thee Stallion and GloRilla.
In April 2024, Instagram announced that they would start testing new tools "within weeks" to fight sextortion, a form of blackmail involving intimate pictures sent online. On August 2, 2024, Turkey blocked Instagram after the platform deleted posts from users offering condolences for the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. In December 2024, Instagram and MTA collaborated and sold Metrocards ft. creators such as New York Nico, Overheard In New York, and SubwayTakes.
On September 3, 2025, Instagram launched a native iPadOS app, which before relied on the iOS app and did not utilize the larger screen size of tablets.
== Features and tools ==
Users can upload photographs and short videos, follow other users' feeds, and geotag images with the name of a location. Users can set their account as "private", thereby requiring that they approve any new follower requests. Users can connect their Instagram account to other social networking sites, enabling them to share uploaded photos to those sites. In September 2011, a new version of the app included new and live filters, instant tilt–shift, high-resolution photographs, optional borders, one-click rotation, and an updated icon. Photos were initially restricted to a square, 1:1 aspect ratio; since August 2015, the app supports portrait and widescreen aspect ratios as well. Users could formerly view a map of a user's geotagged photos. The feature was removed in September 2016, citing low usage.
Since December 2016, posts can be "saved" into a private area of the app. The feature was updated in April 2017 to let users organize saved posts into named collections. Users can also "archive" their posts in a private storage area, out of visibility for the public and other users. The move was seen as a way to prevent users from deleting photos that don't garner a desired number of "likes" or are deemed boring, but also as a way to limit the "emergent behavior" of deleting photos, which deprives the service of content. In August, Instagram announced that it would start organizing comments into threads, letting users more easily interact with replies.
Since February 2017, up to ten pictures or videos can be included in a single post, with the content appearing as a swipeable carousel. The feature originally limited photos to the square format, but received an update in August to enable portrait and landscape photos instead. In April 2018, Instagram launched its version of a portrait mode called "focus mode", which gently blurs the background of a photo or video while keeping the subject in focus when selected. In November, Instagram began to support Alt text to add descriptions of photos for the visually impaired. They are either generated automatically using object recognition (using existing Facebook technology) or manually specified by the uploader.
On March 1, 2021, Instagram launched a new feature named Instagram Live Rooms, which lets four people go live together. In May 2021, Instagram announced a new accessibility feature for videos on Instagram Reels and Stories to allow creators to place closed captions on their content.
=== Hashtags ===
In January 2011, Instagram introduced hashtags to help users discover both photos and each other. Instagram encourages users to make tags both specific and relevant, rather than tagging generic words like "photo", to make photographs stand out and to attract like-minded Instagram users.
Users on Instagram have created "trends" through hashtags. The trends deemed the most popular on the platform often highlight a specific day of the week to post the material on. Examples of popular trends include #SelfieSunday, in which users post a photo of their faces on Sundays; #MotivationMonday, in which users post motivational photos on Mondays; #TransformationTuesday, in which users post photos highlighting differences from the past to the present; #WomanCrushWednesday, in which users post photos of women they have a romantic interest in or view favorably, as well as its #ManCrushMonday counterpart centered on men; and #ThrowbackThursday, in which users post a photo from their past, highlighting a particular moment.
In December 2017, Instagram began to allow users to follow hashtags, which display relevant highlights of the topic in their feeds. The ability to search "Recent" hashtags was temporarily disabled during the 2020 U.S. elections, to prevent the spread of misinformation. In 2022 this was again tested on some users, and in April 2023 the ability to search recent hashtags was removed entirely. Now, users are only able to see a curated selection of "popular" posts using a given hashtag. Instagram said that this is to prevent abuse and so that hashtags do not help users gain views, but it has been noted that using hashtags is the only free method for a user to reach past their existing followers.
=== Explore ===
In June 2012, Instagram introduced "Explore", a tab inside the app that displays popular photos, photos taken at nearby locations, and search. The tab was updated in June 2015 to feature trending tags and places, curated content, and the ability to search for locations. In April 2016, Instagram added a "Videos You Might Like" channel to the tab, followed by an "Events" channel in August, featuring videos from concerts, sports games, and other live events, followed by the addition of Instagram Stories in October. The tab was later expanded again in November 2016 after Instagram Live launched to display an algorithmically curated page of the "best" Instagram Live videos currently airing. In May 2017, Instagram once again updated the Explore tab to promote public Stories content from nearby places.
=== Photographic filters ===
Instagram offers a number of photographic filters that users can apply to their images. In February 2012, Instagram added a "Lux" filter, an effect that "lightens shadows, darkens highlights and increases contrast". In December 2014, Slumber, Crema, Ludwig, Aden, and Perpetua were five new filters added to the Instagram filter family.
=== Video ===
Initially a purely photo-sharing service, Instagram incorporated 15-second video sharing in June 2013. The addition was seen by some in the technology media as Facebook's attempt at competing with the then-popular video-sharing application Vine. In August 2015, Instagram added support for widescreen videos. In March 2016, Instagram increased the 15-second video limit to one minute. Albums were introduced in February 2017, which allow up to 10 minutes of video to be shared in one post.
==== IGTV ====
IGTV was a vertical video application launched by Instagram in June 2018. Basic functionality is also available within the Instagram app and website. IGTV allows uploads of up to 10 minutes in length with a file size of up to 650 MB, with verified and popular users allowed to upload videos of up to one hour in length with a file size of up to 5.4 GB. The app automatically begins playing videos as soon as it is launched, which CEO Kevin Systrom contrasted to video hosts where one must first locate a video. In March 2022, the application was shut down.
==== Edits ====
Edits is a video editing application only available on Android and iOS. The app includes some AI features and the ability to post directly to Instagram or Facebook. Users can also view statistics on their videos and see other user's videos that are trending in the Inspiration tab. Announced in January 19, 2025 (as a response to the U.S. government's actions against TikTok and CapCut), which was available for pre-order on the iOS App Store and set for an Android launch in February 2025, and had an initial release date of March 13, 2025, for iOS, after some delays, officially released for both iPhone and Android devices on April 21, 2025.
=== Instagram Reels ===
Instagram Reels is the short-form section of the American social media platform Instagram. Reels focuses on vertical videos that are less than 90 seconds of duration and various features for user interaction. As of November 2024, Reels averages at 150 billion views a day. Creators earn money based on the amount of views they receive, or through ad revenue.
In November 2019, it was announced that Instagram would start to roll out a new feature to Brazil known as Instagram Reels. It would then expand to France and Germany. Instagram Reels was officially launched in Pakistan in August 2022, two years after its global rollout in August 2020. It functions similarly to the Chinese video service TikTok, focusing on allowing users to create short videos already set to existing sounds from other clips. Users could make up to 15 (later 30) second videos using this feature. Reels also uses existing Instagram filters and editing tools.
In July 2020, Instagram rolled out Reels to India after TikTok was banned in the country. Then, the following month, Reels officially launched in 50 countries including the United States, Canada and United Kingdom. Then in August of that year, Instagram introduced a reels button on the home page. On June 17, 2021, Instagram launched full-screen advertisements in Reels. The ads are similar to regular reels and can run up to 30 seconds. They are distinguished from regular content by the "sponsored" tag under the account name. Despite the "TikTokification" of Reels and the parent company Meta spending millions on courting content creators, user engagement continued to lag way behind TikTok as of 2022. Then Instagram started rolling out a new feature with made Reels up to 90 seconds long beginning in June 2022. After a period of testing, a duration of up to three minutes was announced in January 2025.
In a study published in 2021, researcher Devadas Menon explored the various factors influencing Instagram Reels usage behaviours. This study identified seven motivations behind Reels usage; socially rewarding self-promotion, entertainment, escape, surveillance, novelty, documentation, and trendiness. The research findings suggested that user motivations and socio-psychological predictors influence people's usage behaviours with Instagram Reels. The study observed that narcissist users exhibits higher usage behaviours with Instagram Reels; socially rewarding self-promotion and entertainment motivations predicted Reels creation and participation; escapist users exhibited higher consumption and participation behaviour, and entertainment seekers created more videos and actively participated Reels. Confirming 'lurking', this study found that those who use Reels for peeking neither created any content nor participated, instead they were only keen on watching others content.
On February 26, 2025, Instagram Reels came under fire after numerous users reported a sudden surge in violent and graphic content appearing in their feeds. Meta issued a public apology, stating that a technical error led to the unintended recommendation of such content. A Meta spokesperson explained, "We have fixed an error that caused some users to see content in their Instagram Reels feed that should not have been recommended. We apologize for the mistake."
Since its inception in 2020, the usage of Instagram Reels has continuously increased. In September 2022, Instagram Reels generated over 140 billion views daily. The number of monthly users also increased from 1.5 billion in 2022 to 1.8 billion as of 2024. Researchers from the Guizhou University of Finance and Economics and Western Michigan University found that short-form videos like YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Instagram Reels may make it easier for young adults and children to develop addictive behavior because short-form videos provide "short bursts of thrills". These researchers found that college students in the U.S. and China watch short-form videos for entertainment, knowledge, and to build social identities.
The Wall Street Journal reported that some parents are concerned about the effects of short-form videos on their children, as there is no way to disable Instagram or set limits. When children watch short-form videos, they learn to expect continual stimulation and fast-paced changes, which can cause problems when engaging in activities that require greater focus, such as reading. Recent studies highlighted the connection between short-form videos such as Instagram Reels and the brain's reward system, specifically dopamine release. According to Dr. Anna Lembke, a psychiatrist and chief of Stanford University's dual diagnosis addiction clinic, brief attention-grabbing videos act as powerful stimuli triggering dopamine surges akin to other addictive behaviors. The rapid and easily consumable nature of short-form videos can elicit high levels of dopamine; since dopamine serves as a motivator rather than a direct source of pleasure, individuals are compelled to seek rewarding activities and become addicted to them. Such neurochemical responses lead to addictive patterns and behaviors, entering a vicious cycle. Digital addiction can lead to shorter attention spans and slower cognitive processing.
=== Instagram Direct ===
In December 2013, Instagram announced Instagram Direct, a feature that lets users interact through private messaging (colloquially called "DM" OR "DMs"; in some regions, the messages may be known simply as "direct"/"directs"). Users who follow each other can send private messages with photos and videos, in contrast to the public-only requirement that was previously in place. When users receive a private message from someone they don't follow, the message is marked as pending and the user must accept to see it. Users can send a photo to a maximum of 15 people. The feature received a major update in September 2015, adding conversation threading and making it possible for users to share locations, hashtag pages, and profiles through private messages directly from the news feed. Additionally, users can now reply to private messages with text, emoji or by clicking on a heart icon. A camera inside Direct lets users take a photo and send it to the recipient without leaving the conversation. A new update in November 2016 let users make their private messages "disappear" after being viewed by the recipient, with the sender receiving a notification if the recipient takes a screenshot.
In April 2017, Instagram redesigned Direct to combine all private messages, both permanent and ephemeral, into the same message threads. In May, Instagram made it possible to send website links in messages, and also added support for sending photos in their original portrait or landscape orientation without cropping.
In April 2020, Direct became accessible from the Instagram website, allowing users to send direct messages from a web version using WebSocket technology. In August 2020, Facebook started merging Instagram Direct into Facebook Messenger. After the update (which is rolled out to a segment of the user base) the Instagram Direct icon transforms into Facebook Messenger icon.
In March 2021, a feature was added that prevents adults from messaging users under 18 who do not follow them as part of a series of new child safety policies. In August 2023, Instagram introduced new adjustments to protect user privacy and prevent harassment and spam. Users can now only receive one direct message from accounts that they do not follow, and must approve the message request before further messages can be sent. This setting can be changed to allow unlimited messages from other accounts that the user does not follow.
In September 2024, Instagram added a sticker editor which allows users to cut out elements of photos and send them privately. It also enabled sticker addition and writing on photos.
=== Instagram Stories ===
In August 2016, Instagram launched Instagram Stories, a feature that allows users to take photos, add effects and layers, and add them to their Instagram story. Images uploaded to a user's story expire after 24 hours. The media noted the feature's similarities to Snapchat. In response to criticism that it copied functionality from Snapchat, CEO Kevin Systrom told Recode that "Day One: Instagram was a combination of Hipstamatic, Twitter [and] some stuff from Facebook like the 'Like' button. You can trace the roots of every feature anyone has in their app, somewhere in the history of technology". Although Systrom acknowledged the criticism as "fair", Recode wrote that "he likened the two social apps' common features to the auto industry: Multiple car companies can coexist, with enough differences among them that they serve different consumer audiences". Systrom further stated that "When we adopted [Stories], we decided that one of the really annoying things about the format is that it just kept going and you couldn't pause it to look at something, you couldn't rewind. We did all that, we implemented that." He also told the publication that Snapchat "didn't have filters, originally. They adopted filters because Instagram had filters and a lot of others were trying to adopt filters as well."
In November, Instagram added live video functionality to Instagram Stories, allowing users to broadcast themselves live, with the video disappearing immediately after ending. In January 2017, Instagram launched skippable ads, where five-second photo and 15-second video ads appear in-between different stories.
In April 2017, Instagram Stories incorporated augmented reality stickers, a "clone" of Snapchat's functionality.
In May 2017, Instagram expanded the augmented reality sticker feature to support face filters, letting users add specific visual features onto their faces. Later in May, TechCrunch reported about tests of a Location Stories feature in Instagram Stories, where public Stories content at a certain location are compiled and displayed on a business, landmark or place's Instagram page. A few days later, Instagram announced "Story Search", in which users can search for geographic locations or hashtags and the app displays relevant public Stories content featuring the search term.
In June 2017, Instagram revised its live-video functionality to allow users to add their live broadcast to their story for availability in the next 24 hours, or discard the broadcast immediately. In July, Instagram started allowing users to respond to Stories content by sending photos and videos, complete with Instagram effects such as filters, stickers, and hashtags. Stories were made available for viewing on Instagram's mobile and desktop websites in late August 2017.
On December 5, 2017, Instagram introduced "Story Highlights", also known as "Permanent Stories", which are similar to Instagram Stories, but don't expire. They appear as circles below the profile picture and biography and are accessible from the desktop website as well. In June 2018, the daily active story users of Instagram had reached 400 million users, and monthly active users had reached 1 billion active users.
In December 2024, Instagram announced that it was trialing a feature designed to help users reconnect with content they may have missed from their mutual followers. This new functionality showcases unseen Story Highlights at the end of the Stories tray, which is situated at the top of the feed. By doing so, users can easily access curated Stories from the past week that they might not have seen previously. Importantly, this feature will only display Story Highlights—curated collections of Stories saved by users—rather than standard Stories that disappear after 24 hours. Users will only be able to view these Highlights after they have gone through all current Stories in their tray, meaning that those who follow many accounts may find it challenging to see these updates.
=== Interface redesign tests (2025) ===
In September 2025, Instagram began testing a Reels-first user interface in India and South Korea. The redesign displays the Reels page as the default home tab, with Stories remaining at the top and the direct messages (DM) button moved to the center of the navigation bar. The Reels tab now occupies the second position in the navigation, while a new Following tab sits alongside it, offering three feed options: "All" (recommended posts and Reels from followed accounts), "Friends" (content from mutual connections), and "Latest" (the newest posts and Reels). Meta stated that the test would initially reach a limited number of users, with plans for a global rollout depending on feedback.
=== Verified badges on Instagram ===
Instagram introduced a verification feature, known as the blue verified badge, in December 2014. The feature allows users to verify their accounts to confirm their authenticity.
Instagram began allowing users to request verification for their accounts in August 2018. This marked a significant shift from the previous system where verification was typically initiated by Instagram itself for accounts it deemed to be of public interest or high-profile. With the introduction of this feature, eligible users could apply for verification directly through the Instagram app.
The Instagram blue verified badge is a symbol displayed next to an account's name to signify that the account is authentic, credible, and belongs to a public figure, celebrity, brand, or entity of significant public interest. It helps users easily identify legitimate accounts amidst the vast number of profiles on the platform. The badge appears as a blue checkmark located next to the account's username in search results, profile pages, and comments.
Obtaining the blue verified badge typically requires meeting certain criteria set by Instagram, such as being notable, authentic, unique, complete, and adhering to the platform's terms of service and community guidelines. Instagram verifies accounts based on its own discretion, and not all accounts meeting the criteria may be verified. Users can apply for verification through Instagram's settings, but the decision to grant verification ultimately rests with Instagram's team.
Meta (formerly Facebook) launched paid verification on Instagram in 2021. Paid verification allowed eligible Instagram users to request verification for their accounts via paying a fee, rather than relying solely on meeting the platform's traditional criteria for verification.
=== Advertising ===
Emily White joined Instagram as Director of Business Operations in April 2013. She said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in September 2013 that the company should be ready to begin selling advertising by September 2014 as a way to generate business from a popular entity that had not yet created profit for its parent company. White left Instagram in December 2013 to join Snapchat. In August 2014, James Quarles became Instagram's Global Head of Business and Brand Development, tasked with overseeing advertisement, sales efforts, and developing new "monetization products", according to a spokesperson.
In October 2013, Instagram announced that video and image ads would soon appear in feeds for users in the United States, with the first image advertisements displaying on November 1, 2013. Video ads followed nearly a year later on October 30, 2014. In June 2014, Instagram announced the rollout of ads in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, with ads starting to roll out that autumn. In March 2015, Instagram announced it would implement "carousel ads", allowing advertisers to display multiple images with options for linking to additional content. The company launched carousel image ads in October 2015, and video carousel ads in March 2016.
In February 2016, Instagram announced that it had 200,000 advertisers on the platform. This number increased to 500,000 by September 2016, and 1 million in March 2017. In May 2016, Instagram launched new tools for business accounts, including business profiles, analytics and the ability to promote posts as ads. To access the tools, businesses had to link a corresponding Facebook page. The new analytics page, known as Instagram Insights, allowed business accounts to view top posts, reach, impressions, engagement and demographic data. Insights rolled out first in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, and expanded to the rest of the world later in 2016.
In November 2018, Instagram added the ability for business accounts to add product links directing users to a purchase page or to save them to a "shopping list". In April 2019, Instagram added the option to "Checkout on Instagram", which allows merchants to sell products directly through the Instagram app. In March 2020, via a blog post, Instagram announced that they are making major moderation changes in order to decrease the flow of disinformation, hoaxes and fake news regarding COVID-19 on its platform, "We'll remove COVID-19 accounts from account recommendations, and we are working to remove some COVID-19 related content from Explore unless posted by a credible health organization. We will also start to downrank content in feed and Stories that has been rated false by third-party fact-checkers."
In June 2021, Instagram launched a native affiliate marketing tool creators can use to earn commissions based on sales. Commission-enabled posts are labeled "Eligible for Commission" on the user side to identify them as affiliate posts. Launch partners included Sephora, MAC, and Kopari.
=== Stand-alone apps ===
Instagram has developed and released three stand-alone apps with specialized functionality. In July 2014, it released Bolt, a messaging app where users click on a friend's profile photo to quickly send an image, with the content disappearing after being seen. It was followed by the release of Hyperlapse in August, an iOS-exclusive app that uses "clever algorithm processing" to create tracking shots and fast time-lapse videos. Microsoft launched a Hyperlapse app for Android and Windows in May 2015, but there has been no official Hyperlapse app from Instagram for either of these platforms to date. In October 2015, it released Boomerang, a video app that combines photos into short, one-second videos that play back-and-forth in a loop.
=== Third-party services ===
The popularity of Instagram has led to a variety of third-party services designed to integrate with it, including services for creating content to post on the service and generating content from Instagram photos (including physical print-outs), analytics, and alternative clients for platforms with insufficient or no official support from Instagram (such as in the past, iPads).
In November 2015, Instagram announced that effective June 1, 2016, it would end "feed" API access to its platform in order to "maintain control for the community and provide a clear roadmap for developers" and "set up a more sustainable environment built around authentic experiences on the platform", including those oriented towards content creation, publishers, and advertisers. Additionally, third-party clients have been prohibited from using the text strings "insta" or "gram" in their name. It was reported that these changes were primarily intended to discourage third-party clients replicating the entire Instagram experience (due to increasing monetization of the service), and security reasons (such as preventing abuse by automated click farms, and the hijacking of accounts). In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Instagram began to impose further restrictions on its API in 2018.
Third-party services can be used for unlimited browsing of public Instagram profiles without having to create an account, as well as for anonymous browsing of someone else's Stories. Stories are more authentic than typical photos posted as posts because users know that in 24 hours their Stories will disappear if they don't add them as highlighted (however users can check who saw their Story for 48 hours after it was published). For this reason, they are very valuable for market research.
=== Fact-checking ===
On December 16, 2019, Facebook announced it would expand its fact-checking programs towards Instagram, by using third-party fact-checkers organizations false information is able to be identified, reviewed and labeled as false information. Content when rated as false or partly false is removed from the explore page and hashtag pages, additionally content rated as false or partly false are labeled as such. With the addition of Facebook fact-checking program came the use of image matching technology to find further instances of misinformation. If a piece of content is labeled false or partly false on Facebook or Instagram then duplicates of such content will also be labeled as false.
=== Algorithm and design changes ===
In April 2016, Instagram began rolling out a change to the order of photos visible in a user's timeline, shifting from a strictly chronological order to one determined by an algorithm. Instagram said the algorithm was designed so that users would see more of the photos by users that they liked, but there was significant negative feedback, with many users asking their followers to turn on post notifications in order to make sure they see updates. The company wrote a tweet to users upset at the prospect of the change, but did not back down, nor provide a way to change it back, which they reaffirmed in 2020. However, in December 2021, Adam Mosseri, in a Senate hearing on child safety issues, stated that the company is developing a version of the feed that would show user posts in chronological order. He later clarified the company would introduce two modes: a classic chronological feed and a version of it that would let users pick "favorite" users whose posts would be shown at the top in chronological order while other posts would be mixed in below.
Since 2017, Instagram has employed the ability to reduce the prominence of accounts ("shadowbanning") it believes may be generating non-genuine engagement and spam (including excessive use of unneeded hashtags), preventing posts from appearing in search results and in the app's Explore section. In a now-deleted Facebook post, Instagram wrote that "When developing content, we recommend focusing on your business objective or goal rather than hashtags". Instagram has since been accused of extending the practice to censor posts under vague and inconsistent circumstances, particularly in regards to sexually suggestive material.
Instagram caused the userbase to fall into outrage with the December 2018 update. They found an attempt to alter the flow of the feed from the traditional vertical scroll to emulate and piggy-back the popularity of their Instagram Stories with a horizontal scroll, by swiping left. Various backtracking statements were released explaining it as a bug, or as a test release that had been accidentally deployed to too large an audience.
In November 2020, Instagram replaced the activity feed tab with a new "Shop" tab, moving the activity feed to the top. The "new post" button was also relocated to the top and replaced with a Reels tab The company states that "the Shop tab gives you a better way to connect with brands and creators and discover products you love" and the Reels tab "makes it easier for you to discover short, fun videos from creators all over the world and people just like you." However, users have not responded well to the change, taking their complaints to Twitter and Reddit, and The New York Times has shunned Reels in particular, saying "Not only does Reels fail in every way as a TikTok clone, but it's confusing, frustrating and impossible to navigate".
Also in 2020, Instagram rolled out a feature titled "suggested posts", which adds posts from accounts Instagram thinks a user would like to such user's feed. The feature was met with controversy from The Verge, which reported that suggested posts would keep users glued to their feed, give Instagram more advertising space, and ultimately harm the mental health of users, while Instagram executive Julian Gutman rebutted, stating the feature was not intended to keep users glued to their screens. Suggested posts received more controversy after Fast Company stated that the feature would be impossible to turn off.
On June 23, 2021, Instagram announced a test change to the "suggested posts" feature. The company will put suggested posts ahead of posts from people who the user is following in the Instagram feed, citing positive reception as the reason for this change.
== Mental health ==
=== Internal data from Meta ===
In 2021, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) obtained and published internal research Meta had conducted. The leak included presentations seen by company executives, and the findings mentioned CEO Mark Zuckerberg in 2020.
The slides presented findings from three qualitative studies. The first interviewed 15 monthly Californian instagram users with low body image and self esteem, aged 13-21. The second recruited 10 monthly users for a 5-day diary study, where they recorded their online habits. The third selected 7 users from the diary study for a 30-minute interview. No study was designed to be a randomized controlled trial or case-control, meaning they were incapable of drawing causal inferences. The WSJ reported that Instagram can worsen poor body image of young people, with girls particularly vulnerable. Instagram has had negative effects on the body image of one in three teenagers. Instagram makes 20% of the teens feel worse about themselves and 40% better about themselves. 70% of teen girls and 40% of teen boys experience negative social comparison. According to the research, Instagram has a higher impact on appearance comparison than TikTok or Snapchat. 13% of British and 6% of American teenager users with suicidal thoughts could trace them to Instagram use.
Instagram responded to the story, saying it "focused on a limited set of findings and casts them in a negative light." Meta defended not publishing its research, saying it was "kept confidential to promote frank and open dialogue and brainstorming internally." In the wake of the backlash, Meta announced it had "paused" development of Instagram Kids. The company stated it was looking into concerns raised by the regulators and parents.
=== Depression, anxiety and stress ===
Khodarahimi & Fathi 2017 found evidence users displayed higher levels of depressive and anxious symptoms compared to non-users. However, Frison & Eggermont 2017 found that, among boys and girls, browsing could predict depressive symptoms; liking and posting seemed to have no effect. Their study showed presence of depressive symptoms in a user could positively predict they would post. The study showed viewing celebrity and peer pictures could make the moods of women negative. In a 2021 study, Mun & Kim pointed out users with a strong need for approval were more likely to falsely present themselves, which increased the likelihood of depression.
Lub & Trub 2015 showed that following more strangers increases social comparisons and depressive symptoms. Multiple studies have found that increasing time spent on Instagram increases anxiety.
=== Body image ===
Users report higher body surveillance (habitual monitoring of one's shape and size), appearance-related pressure, eating-disorder-related-pathology and lower body satisfaction than non-users. Studies have shown users who take more selfies before making a post, and those who strategically present themselves by editing selfies, report higher levels of body surveillance and body dissatisfaction, and lower esteem overall. Tiggermann et al. showed facial satisfaction can decrease when one spends greater time editing selfies. Comments related to appearance on Instagram can lead to higher dissatisfaction with one's body.
=== Loneliness and social exclusion ===
Mackson et al. 2019 found users were less lonely than non-users and Instagram membership predicts lower self-reported loneliness. A 2021 study by Büttner & Rudertb showed that not being tagged in an Instagram photo triggers the feeling of social exclusion and ostracism, especially for those with higher needs to belong. However, Brailovskaia & Margraf 2018 found a significant positive relationship between Instagram membership and extraversion, life satisfaction, and social support. Their study showed only a marginally significant negative association between Instagram membership and self-conscientiousness. Fioravanti et al. 2020 showed that women who had to take a break from Instagram for seven days reported higher life satisfaction compared to women who continued their habitual use. No significant differences were observed for men. The relationship between Instagram use and the fear of missing out, or FOMO, has been confirmed in multiple studies. Research shows Instagram browsing predicts social comparison, which generates FOMO, which can lead to depression.
=== Eating disorders ===
A comparison of users with non-users showed boys with an account differ from boys without in terms of over-evaluation of their shape and weight, skipping meals, and levels of reported disordered eating cognitions. Girls with an account only differed from girls without in skipping meals; they also had a stricter exercise schedule, a pattern not found in boys. This suggests a possible negative effect of usage on body satisfaction and disordered eating for boys and girls. Appel et al. 2016 and Feltman et al. 2017 found a positive link between the intensity of Instagram use, body surveillance and disordered eating.
=== Suicide and self-harm ===
Picardo et al. 2020 examined the relationship between self-harm posts and actual self-harm offline and found such content had negative emotional effects on some users. The study reported evidence of online posts affecting offline behavior, but stopped short of claiming causality. Some benefits for those who engage with self-harm content have been suggested. Instagram has published resources to help users in need of support.
=== Sharenting risks ===
Sharenting is when parents post content, including images, about their children. Instagram is one of the main sites for sharenting. The hashtag #letthembelittle contains over 10 million images related to children on Instagram. Bare 2020 analysed 300 randomly selected images under the hashtag and found they tended to contain children's personal information, including name, age and location.
=== Addiction ===
Sanz-Blas et al. 2019 showed that users who feel they spend too much time on Instagram report higher levels of "addiction" to Instagram, which was related to higher levels of stress induced by the app. Foroughi et al. 2021 found that the desire for recognition and entertainment were predictors of students' addiction to Instagram. The study proved addiction to Instagram negatively affected academic performance. Gezgin & Mihci 2020 found frequent Instagram usage correlated with smartphone addiction.
== User characteristics and behavior ==
=== Users ===
After being released in October 2010, Instagram had one million registered users in December 2010. In June 2011, it announced that it had 5 million users, which increased to 10 million in September. This growth continued to 30 million users in April 2012, 80 million in July 2012, 100 million in February 2013, 130 million in June 2013, 150 million in September 2013, 300 million in December 2014, 400 million in September 2015, 500 million in June 2016, 600 million in December 2016, 700 million in April 2017, and 800 million in September 2017.
In June 2011, Instagram passed 100 million photos uploaded to the service. This grew to 150 million in August 2011, and by June 2023, there were over 50 billion photos uploaded to the service. In October 2016, Instagram Stories reached 100 million active users, two months after launch. This increased to 150 million in January 2017, 200 million in April, surpassing Snapchat's user growth, and 250 million active users in June 2017.
In April 2017, Instagram Direct had 375 million monthly users.
==== Demographics ====
As of 2014, Instagram's users are divided equally, with 50% iPhone owners and 50% Android owners. While Instagram has a neutral gender-bias format, 68% of Instagram users are female and 32% are male. Instagram's geographical use is shown to favor urban areas, as 17% of U.S. adults who live in urban areas use Instagram, while only 11% of adults in suburban and rural areas do so. While Instagram may appear to be one of the most widely used sites for photo sharing, only 7% of daily photo uploads, among the top four photo-sharing platforms, come from Instagram. Instagram has been proven to attract the younger generation, with 90% of its 150 million users under the age of 35. From June 2012 to June 2013, Instagram approximately doubled their number of users. With regards to income, 15% of U.S. Internet users who make less than $30,000 per year use Instagram, while 14% of those making $30,000 to $50,000 and 12% of users who make more than $50,000 per year do so. With respect to the education demographic, respondents with some college education proved to be the most active on Instagram, with 23%. Following behind, college graduates consist of 18% and users with a high school diploma or less make up 15%. Among these Instagram users, 24% say they use the app several times a day.
=== User behavior ===
Ongoing research continues to explore how media content on the platform affects user engagement. Past research has found that media which show people's faces receive more 'likes' and comments and that using filters that increase warmth, exposure, and contrast also boosts engagement. Users are more likely to engage with images that depict fewer individuals compared to groups and they are also more likely to engage with content that has not been watermarked, as they view this content as less original and reliable compared to user-generated content. Recently Instagram has come up with an option for users to apply for a verified account badge; however, this does not guarantee every user who applies will get the verified blue tick.
The motives for using Instagram among young people are mainly to look at posts, particularly for the sake of social interactions and recreation. In contrast, the level of agreement expressed in creating Instagram posts was lower, which demonstrates that Instagram's emphasis on visual communication is widely accepted by young people in social communication.
=== Performative activism ===
In June 2020, because of the Black Lives Matter movement, Instagram became more widely used as a social justice platform. Instagram-based activism (as well as other social media) has been criticized and dismissed for being performative, reductionist, and overly focused on aesthetics.
== Censorship and restricted content ==
Like many social media sites, Instagram employs a combination of automated algorithms, user reports and human review to identify and remove illegal content such as child abuse and encouragement of terrorism. The system also aims to identify cyberbullying, hate speech and misinformation.
Although the U.S. government has little direct power to force social media sites to remove specific content, Instagram has on occasion done so voluntarily, especially to avoid being seen as aiding the spread of fake news. On October 30, 2020, Instagram temporarily removed the "recent" tab on hashtag pages to prevent the spread of misinformation regarding the 2020 United States presidential election. On January 7, 2021, following the attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, Trump was banned from Instagram "indefinitely". Zuckerberg stated "We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great."
Instagram has been criticized in India for not taking steps to counter homophobic and transphobic contents. According to the LGBT activist Indrajeet Ghorpade, "Hateful homophobic content in English is removed but the same in Indian languages is allowed to remain on the platform... despite flagging the hateful and homophobic content to Instagram, no action has been taken." In 2023, a 16-year-old queer artist allegedly died by suicide after receiving thousands of hate comments on Instagram.
=== Illicit drugs ===
Instagram has been the subject of criticism due to users publishing images of drugs they are selling on the platform. In 2013, the BBC discovered that users, mostly located in the United States, were posting images of drugs they were selling, attaching specific hashtags, and then completing transactions via instant messaging applications such as WhatsApp. Corresponding hashtags have been blocked as part of the company's response and a spokesperson engaged with the BBC explained:
Instagram has a clear set of rules about what is and isn't allowed on the site. We encourage people who come across illegal or inappropriate content to report it to us using the built-in reporting tools next to every photo, video or comment, so we can take action. People can't buy things on Instagram, we are simply a place where people share photos and videos.
However, new incidents of illegal drug trade have occurred in the aftermath of the 2013 revelation, with Facebook, Inc., Instagram's parent company, asking users who come across such content to report the material, at which time a "dedicated team" reviews the information. In 2019, Facebook announced that influencers are no longer able to post any vape, tobacco products, and weapons promotions on Facebook and Instagram.
=== Women's bodies ===
In October 2013, Instagram deleted the account of Canadian photographer Petra Collins after she posted a photo of herself in which a very small area of pubic hair was visible above the top of her bikini bottom. Collins claimed that the account deletion was unfounded because it broke none of Instagram's terms and conditions. Audra Schroeder of The Daily Dot further wrote that "Instagram's terms of use state users can't post 'pornographic or sexually suggestive photos.'" You can indeed find more sexually suggestive photos on the site than Collins', where women show the side of "femininity" the world is "used to" seeing and accepting." Nick Drewe of The Daily Beast wrote a report the same month focusing on hashtags that users are unable to search for, including #sex, #bubblebutt, and #ballsack, despite allowing #faketits, #gunsforsale and #sexytimes, calling the discrepancy "nonsensical and inconsistent".
Similar incidents occurred in January 2015, when Instagram deleted Australian fashion agency Sticks and Stones Agency's account because of a photograph including pubic hair sticking out of bikini bottoms, and March 2015, when artist and poet Rupi Kaur's photos of menstrual blood on clothing were removed, prompting a rallying post on her Facebook and Tumblr accounts with the text "We will not be censored", gaining over 11,000 shares.
The incidents have led to a #FreetheNipple campaign, aimed at challenging Instagram's removal of photos displaying women's nipples. Although Instagram has not made many comments on the campaign, an October 2015 explanation from CEO Kevin Systrom highlighted Apple's content guidelines for apps published through its App Store, including Instagram, in which apps must designate the appropriate age ranking for users, with the app's current rating being 12+ years of age. However, this statement has also been called into question due to other apps with more explicit content allowed on the store, the lack of consequences for men exposing their bodies on Instagram, and for inconsistent treatment of what constitutes inappropriate exposure of the female body.
The Iranian government offered moderators bribes up to $9,000 to delete specific accounts, with Masih Alinejad being targeted in particular.
=== Criticisms and controversies ===
On January 2020, after the Assassination of Qasem Soleimani by the United States, Instagram removed posts expressing support for General Soleimani. Instagram stated that this action with U.S. sanctions against Iran. Officials described the move as " undemocratic".
on May 2021, in The eviction of Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah, which became emblematic of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle over land rights, identity, and sovereignty in Jerusalem, Users, including journalists and human rights activists, reported that Instagram removed content, limited visibility (shadow banning), and restricted accounts referencing the potential eviction of Palestinians from East Jerusalem. Instagram denied intentional censorship and attributed the deletion of Palestinian posts to glitches. Digital rights groups such as 7amleh and Access Now argue that the removal of Palestinian content reflects broader issues of digital discrimination and have called for greater transparency from social media platforms.
On October 2023, Instagram labeled some users' profile bios as containing the term "terrorist" if they included the Palestinian flag emoji and the Arabic phrase "Alhamdulillah (Arabic: ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّٰهِ, al-Ḥamdu lillāh)," which means "Praise be to God." The platform's automated translation system incorrectly interpreted the phrase as "Palestinian terrorists are fighting for their freedom." Instagram attributed the error to a computerized translation system, apologized, and corrected the translation.
=== Censorship by countries ===
Censorship has occurred in several countries.
==== China ====
Instagram has been blocked by China following the 2014 Hong Kong protests as many confrontations with police and incidents occurring during the protests were recorded and photographed. Hong Kong and Macau were not affected as they are part of special administrative regions of China. Sometimes the phrase "Chinese Instagram" is used to refer to Xiaohongshu, a competitor social media app which is not to be confused with Instagram.
==== Cuba ====
The Cuban government blocked access to several social media platforms, including Instagram, to curb the spread of information during the 2021 Cuban protests.
==== Iran ====
Instagram was one of the last freely available global social media sites in Iran. According to the IFJ, Instagram is popular among Iranians because it is seen as an outlet for freedom and a "window to the world".
Still, Iran has sentenced citizens to prison for posts made on their Instagram accounts. The Iranian government blocked Instagram periodically during anti-government protests in 2019-20. In July 2021, Instagram temporarily censored videos with the phrase "death to Khamenei".
As of September 2022, it was blocked permanently, along with WhatsApp, with an exception made for tourists and corporations who request its use.
==== North Korea ====
A few days after a fire incident that happened in the Koryo Hotel in North Korea on June 11, 2015, authorities blocked Instagram to prevent photos of the incident from being spread.
==== Russia ====
On March 11, 2022, Russia announced it would ban Instagram due to alleged "calls for violence against Russian troops" on the platform during the ongoing 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. On March 14, the ban took effect, with almost 80 million users losing access to Instagram. Instagram along with Facebook are labelled as extremist by Russian government, making it illegal to use with VPN if the law was passed in 17 July 2025 to criminalise searching and accessing to extremist materials even with VPN, with a fines from 3000 to 5000 rubles (€30 to €50) by the 1 September 2025.
==== Turkey ====
On August 2, 2024, Instagram was banned by Information and Communication Technologies Authority (Turkey) after the Assassination of Ismail Haniyeh. The ban lasted for nine days and was lifted on August 10, 2024, with Instagram accepting the government's demands and agreeing to work with authorities.
==== United States ====
In the U.S., there is relatively little government regulation of social media content, with most content removal taking place on a voluntary basis by the companies. One exception was in January 2020, when Instagram and its parent company, Facebook, Inc., removed posts "that voice support for slain Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani to comply with US sanctions".
Following the election of Donald Trump in 2025, various sources noted possible censorship related to the Democratic Party on Instagram and other Meta platforms.
== Reception ==
=== Awards ===
Instagram was the runner-up for "Best Mobile App" at the 2010 TechCrunch Crunchies in January 2011. In May 2011, Fast Company listed CEO Kevin Systrom at number 66 in "The 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2011". In June 2011, Inc. included co-founders Systrom and Krieger in its 2011 "30 Under 30" list.
Instagram won "Best Locally Made App" in the SF Weekly Web Awards in September 2011. 7x7Magazine's September 2011 issue featured Systrom and Krieger on the cover of their "The Hot 20 2011" issue. In December 2011, Apple Inc. named Instagram the "App of the Year" for 2011. In 2015, Instagram was named No. 1 by Mashable on its list of "The 100 best iPhone apps of all time", noting Instagram as "one of the most influential social networks in the world." Instagram was listed among Time's "50 Best Android Applications for 2013" list.
=== Mental health ===
In May 2017, a survey conducted by the United Kingdom's Royal Society for Public Health, featuring 1,479 people aged 14–24 and asking them to rate social media platforms depending on anxiety, depression, loneliness, bullying and body image, concluded that Instagram was the "worst for young mental health". Some have suggested it may contribute to digital dependence, whilst this same survey noticed its positive effects, including self-expression, self-identity, and community building. In response to the survey, Instagram said that "Keeping Instagram a safe and supportive place for young people was a top priority". The company filters out the reviews and accounts. If some of the accounts violate Instagram's community guidelines, it will take action, which could include banning them.
In 2017, researchers from Harvard University and University of Vermont demonstrated a machine learning tool that successfully outperformed general practitioners' diagnostic success rate for depression. The tool used color analysis, metadata components, and face detection of users' feeds. In 2019, Instagram began to test the hiding of like counts for posts made by its users, with the feature later made available to everyone. In 2021, Instagram announced that like counts would return to be publicly viewable by default. Users can choose to switch them off for their whole feed or on a per-post basis.
Correlations have been made between Instagram content and dissatisfaction with one's body, as a result of people comparing themselves to other users. In a recent survey, half of the applicants admitted to photo editing behavior which has been linked with concerns over body image. In October 2021, CNN published an article and interviews on two young women, Ashlee Thomas and Anastasia Vlasova, saying Instagram endangered their lives due to it having toxic effects on their diets.
In October, 2023, 42 U.S. states filed a lawsuit against Instagram and parent company Meta, accusing them of contributing to a youth mental health crisis due to the addictive nature of the platforms. The lawsuit claimed that Meta and its Instagram unit repeatedly misled the public about the dangers of its platforms and knowingly induced young children and teenagers into addictive and compulsive social media use. Meta representatives replied that they were disappointed with the lawsuit and were hoping instead to continue working with other companies from the industry to create new and better standards for applications teens use.
==== Negative comments ====
In response to abusive and negative comments on users' photos, Instagram has made efforts to give users more control over their posts and accompanying comments field. In July 2016, it announced that users would be able to turn off comments for their posts, as well as control the language used in comments by inputting words they consider offensive, which will ban applicable comments from showing up. After the July 2016 announcement, the ability to ban specific words began rolling out early August to celebrities, followed by regular users in September. In December, the company began rolling out the abilities for users to turn off the comments and, for private accounts, remove followers. In June 2017, Instagram announced that it would automatically attempt to filter offensive, harassing, and "spammy" comments by default. The system is built using a Facebook-developed deep learning algorithm known as DeepText (first implemented on the social network to detect spam comments), which utilizes natural-language processing techniques, and can also filter by user-specified keywords.
In September 2017, the company announced that public users would be able to limit who can comment on their content, such as only their followers or people they follow. At the same time, it updated its automated comment filter to support additional languages. In July 2019, the service announced that it would introduce a system to proactively detect problematic comments and encourage the user to reconsider their comment, as well as allowing users the ability to "restrict" others' abilities to communicate with them, citing that younger users felt the existing block system was too much of an escalation.
An April 2022 study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate found that Instagram failed to act on 90% of abusive direct messages (DMs) sent to five high-profile women, despite the DMs being reported to moderators. The participants of the study included actress Amber Heard, journalist Bryony Gordon, television presenter Rachel Riley, activist Jamie Klingler and magazine founder Sharan Dhaliwal. Instagram disputed many of the study's conclusions.
=== Culture ===
On August 9, 2012, English musician Ellie Goulding released a new music video for her song "Anything Could Happen". The video only contained fan-submitted Instagram photographs that used various filters to represent words or lyrics from the song, and over 1,200 different photographs were submitted.
=== Security ===
In August 2017, reports surfaced that a bug in Instagram's developer tools had allowed "one or more individuals" to gain access to the contact information, specifically email addresses and phone numbers, of several high-profile verified accounts, including its most followed user, Selena Gomez. The company said in a statement that it had "fixed the bug swiftly" and was running an investigation. However, the following month, more details emerged, with a group of hackers selling contact information online, with the affected number of accounts in the "millions" rather than the previously assumed limitation on verified accounts. Hours after the hack, a searchable database was posted online, charging $10 per search. The Daily Beast was provided with a sample of the affected accounts and could confirm that, while many of the email addresses could be found with a Google search in public sources, some did not return relevant Google search results and thus were from private sources. The Verge wrote that cybersecurity firm RepKnight had found contact information for multiple actors, musicians, and athletes, and singer Selena Gomez's account was used by the hackers to post naked photos of her ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber. The company admitted that "we cannot determine which specific accounts may have been impacted", but believed that "it was a low percentage of Instagram accounts", though TechCrunch stated in its report that six million accounts were affected by the hack, and that "Instagram services more than 700 million accounts; six million is not a small number".
In 2019, Apple pulled an app which let users stalk people on Instagram by scraping accounts and collecting data. Iran has DPI blocking for Instagram.
In September 2024, Meta paid out a $101 million fine for storing up to 600 million passwords of Instagram and Facebook users in plain text. The practice was initially discovered in 2019, though reports indicate passwords were stored in plain text since 2012.
=== Content ownership ===
On December 17, 2012, Instagram announced a change to its Terms of Service policy, adding the following sentence:
To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you.
There was no option for users to opt out of the changed Terms of Service without deleting their accounts before the new policy went into effect on January 16, 2013. The move garnered severe criticism from users, prompting Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom to write a blog post one day later, announcing that they would "remove" the offending language from the policy. Citing misinterpretations about its intention to "communicate that we'd like to experiment with innovative advertising that feels appropriate on Instagram", Systrom also stated that it was "our mistake that this language is confusing" and that "it is not our intention to sell your photos". Furthermore, he wrote that they would work on "updated language in the terms to make sure this is clear".
The policy change and its backlash caused competing photo services to use the opportunity to "try to lure users away" by promoting their privacy-friendly services, and some services experienced substantial gains in momentum and user growth following the news. On December 20, Instagram announced that the advertising section of the policy would be reverted to its original October 2010 version. The Verge wrote about that policy as well, however, noting that the original policy gives the company right to "place such advertising and promotions on the Instagram Services or on, about, or in conjunction with your Content", meaning that "Instagram has always had the right to use your photos in ads, almost any way it wants. We could have had the exact same freakout last week, or a year ago, or the day Instagram launched".
The policy update also introduced an arbitration clause, which remained even after the language pertaining to advertising and user content had been modified.
=== Facebook acquisition as a violation of U.S. antitrust law ===
Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu has given public talks claiming that Facebook's 2012 purchase of Instagram was a felony. On February 26, 2019, the New York Post released an article stating that the FTC had discovered a memo authored by a senior Facebook official, revealing that the purpose behind the acquisition of Instagram was to remove a potential rival. Wu explains this is a violation of US antitrust law (see monopoly). Wu stated that this document was an email directly from Mark Zuckerberg, whereas the Post article had stated that their source had declined to say whether the high-ranking executive was the CEO.
=== Algorithmic advertisement with a rape threat ===
In 2016, Olivia Solon, a reporter for The Guardian, posted a screenshot to her Instagram profile of an email she had received containing threats of rape and murder towards her. The photo post had received three likes and countless comments, and in September 2017, the company's algorithms turned the photo into an advertisement visible to Solon's sister. An Instagram spokesperson apologized and told The Guardian that "We are sorry this happened – it's not the experience we want someone to have. This notification post was surfaced as part of an effort to encourage engagement on Instagram. Posts are generally received by a small percentage of a person's Facebook friends." As noted by the technology media, the incident occurred at the same time parent company Facebook was under scrutiny for its algorithms and advertising campaigns being used for offensive and negative purposes.
=== Human exploitation ===
In May 2021, The Washington Post published a report detailing a "black market" of unlicensed employment agents luring migrant workers from Africa and Asia into indentured servitude as maids in Persian Gulf countries and using Instagram posts containing their personal information (including in some cases, passport numbers) to market them. Instagram deleted 200 accounts that had been reported by the Post, and a spokesperson stated that Instagram took this activity "extremely seriously", disabled 200 accounts found by the Post to be engaging in these activities, and was continuing to work on systems to automatically detect and disable accounts engaging in human exploitation.
=== July 2022 updates ===
In July 2022, Instagram announced a set of updates which immediately received widespread backlash from its userbase. The changes included a feed more focused on Instagram's content algorithms, full-screen photo and video posts, and changing the format of all of its videos to Reels. The primary criticisms for these updates was that Instagram was more like TikTok than photo sharing. The backlash originated from an Instagram post and Change.org petition created by photographer Tati Bruening (under the username @illumitati) on July 23, 2022, featuring the statement "Make Instagram Instagram again. (stop trying to be TikTok; i just want to see cute photos of my friends.) Sincerely, everyone.". The post and petition gained mainstream attention after influencers Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian reposted the Instagram post; subsequently, the original post gained over 2 million likes on Instagram and over 275,000 signatures on Change.org. Instagram walked back the update on July 28, with Meta saying "We recognize that changes to the app can be an adjustment, and while we believe that Instagram needs to evolve as the world changes, we want to take the time to make sure we get this right." Despite repeated attempts by Meta to shape Instagram to appear and operate more like TikTok, user engagement continued to lag far behind its rival as of 2022.
=== Propaganda usage ===
Instagram has been used for propaganda purposes by a variety of different countries for different reasons. The reasons can be for domestic promotion of certain goals or foreign policy objectives. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Instagram was used for propaganda purposes.
== Statistics ==
The most-liked photo on Instagram is a carousel of photos from footballer Lionel Messi celebrating winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup, The post has over 76 million likes.
In 2022, Instagram was the second most downloaded mobile app of the year.
== In popular culture ==
Social Animals (documentary film): A 2018 documentary film about three teenagers growing up on Instagram
Instagram model: a term for models who gain their success as a result of the large number of followers they have on Instagram
Instapoetry is a style of poetry which formed by sharing images of short poems by poets on Instagram.
Instagram Pier: a cargo working area in Hong Kong that gained its nickname due to its popularity on Instagram
== System ==
Instagram is written in Python. Instagram artificial intelligence describes content for visually impaired people who use screen readers.
== See also ==
Criticism of Facebook
Dronestagram
Instagram face – Beauty standard based on digitally altered photographs
Instagram husband – Unacknowledged photographer behind another's social media posts
Internet celebrity – Person who has become famous through their use of the Internet
List of social networking services
Pheed – Pay-per-view social media platform
Pixnet – Taiwanese social media service
Social media and suicide – Social media's influence on suicide
Timeline of social media
== Explanatory notes ==
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Frier, Sarah (2020). No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-9821-2680-3.
== External links ==
Official website
Instagram on Instagram
Instagram on Facebook
Instagram on Threads
Instagram on Twitter
Rose, Kevin (May 30, 2013). "A #Nofilter Conversation with the founders of Instagram" (podcast). Commonwealth Club.
"Instagram: Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger" (podcast). How I Built This. NPR. September 19, 2016. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dame_Margot_(trouv%C3%A8re) | Dame Margot (trouvère) | Dame Margot (fl. 13th century) was a trouvère from Arras, in Picardy, France. One extant work of hers is jeu parti, a debate song, in which she debates Dame Maroie. This song, "Je vous pri, dame Maroie," survives in two manuscripts, which each give separate and unrelated melodies. In another jeu parti she is a judge, opposing Jehan le Cuvelier d'Arras and Jehan Bretel. She is listed as a member of the Puy d'Arras.
== References ==
== Sources ==
Berger, Roger (1981). Littérature et société arrageoises au XIIIe siècle: Les chansons et dits artésiens. Arras: Commission Départementale des Monuments Historiques du Pas-de-Calais.
Maria V. Coldwell. "Margot, Dame, and Maroie, Dame", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed October 21, 2006), grovemusic.com Archived 2008-05-16 at the Wayback Machine (subscription access).
Doss-Quinby, Eglal; Joan Tasker Grimbert; Wendy Pfeffer; Elizabeth Aubrey (2001). Songs of the Women Trouvères. New Haven: Yale UP. ISBN 0-300-08413-7. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvind_Kejriwal#:~:text=Kejriwal%20spent%20most%20of%20his,Holy%20Child%20School%20at%20Sonipat. | Arvind Kejriwal | Arvind Kejriwal (Hindi pronunciation: [əɾʋin̪d̪ ked͡ʒɾiːʋaːl]; born 16 August 1968) is an Indian politician, activist and former bureaucrat, who served as the 7th Chief Minister of Delhi. He was the chief minister from 2013 to 2014 and from 2015 to 2024. He is also the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) since 2012. He represented the New Delhi constituency in the Delhi Legislative Assembly from 2015 to 2025, and previously from 2013 to 2014.
In 2006, Kejriwal was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for his involvement in the Parivartan movement using right to information legislation in a campaign against government corruption. The same year, after resigning from government service, he founded the Public Cause Research Foundation to campaign for transparent governance. Before entering politics, Kejriwal had worked in the Indian Revenue Service. Prior to that, he was a mechanical engineer from IIT Kharagpur.
In 2012, he launched the AAP. In 2013, he assumed office as the Chief Minister of Delhi and resigned 49 days later over his inability to mobilise support for his proposed anti-corruption legislation. In the 2015 Delhi Legislative Assembly elections, the AAP registered an unprecedented majority. In subsequent 2020 elections, AAP re-emerged victorious and retained power in Delhi, following which, Kejriwal was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Delhi for the third time in a row. Outside Delhi, his party registered another major victory in 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly election.
He was arrested on 21 March 2024 by the Enforcement Directorate on allegations of a liquor scam against the Aam Aadmi Party led Delhi Government. He became the first ever sitting chief minister in India to be arrested. His other party leaders, Satyendra Jain, Sanjay Singh and Manish Sisodia have also spent months to years in jail without bail, trial or conviction. The opposition alliance called the arrest weeks before the 2024 Indian general election, a case of fabrication and "match-fixing" by the BJP. Amnesty International said that financial and terrorism laws have been weaponised to go after political opponents. On 10 May, the Supreme Court ordered Kejriwal's release on interim bail until 1 June 2024, on account of campaigning for the election. Kejriwal surrendered at Tihar Jail after the expiry of his bail period on 2 June 2024. On 13 September 2024, he was granted bail by Supreme Court with certain conditions, the case still continues. On 17 September 2024, he resigned as Delhi Chief Minister saying he will only become CM again if he receives a public mandate.
His party suffered a heavy defeat in the 2025 Delhi Legislative Assembly election, with he himself losing his seat to Parvesh Verma by a margin of over 4,000 votes from the New Delhi Assembly constituency along with many other notable party members of AAP
== Early life and education ==
Kejriwal was born in a Haryanvi Agrawal-Baniya family in Siwani in the Bhiwani district of Haryana, India on 16 August 1968, the first of the three children of Gobind Ram Kejriwal and Gita Devi. His father was an electrical engineer who graduated from the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra. Kejriwal spent most of his childhood in north Indian towns such as Sonipat, Ghaziabad and Hisar. He was educated at Campus School in Hisar and at Holy Child School at Sonipat. In 1985, he took the IIT-JEE exam and secured All India Rank (AIR) of 563. He graduated from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, majoring in mechanical engineering.
He joined Tata Steel in 1989 and was posted in Jamshedpur, Bihar (now in Jharkhand). Kejriwal resigned in 1992, having taken leave of absence to study for the Civil Services Examination. He spent some time in Calcutta (present-day Kolkata), where he met Mother Teresa, and volunteered with The Missionaries of Charity and at the Ramakrishna Mission in North-East India and at Nehru Yuva Kendra.
== Career ==
Arvind Kejriwal joined the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) as an Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax in 1995, after qualifying through the Civil Services Examination. In February 2006, he resigned from his position as Joint Commissioner of Income Tax in New Delhi.
In 2012, Arvind Kejriwal founded the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to fight corruption and improve governance. The party made its mark in the 2013 Legislative Assembly election, but his first government lasted only 49 days. In 2015, Kejriwal returned with a decisive victory, focusing on education, healthcare, and welfare. He was re-elected in 2020, further cementing his leadership in Delhi. However, his defeat in 2025 in Delhi polls revealed his short comings. Since 2012, he has acted as the main national convenor of AAP.
== Activism ==
=== Parivartan and Kabir ===
In December 1999, while still in service with the Income Tax Department, Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and others founded a movement named Parivartan (which means "change"), in the Sundar Nagar area of Delhi. A month later, in January 2000, Kejriwal took a sabbatical from work to focus on Parivartan.
Parivartan addressed citizens' grievances related to Public Distribution System (PDS), public works, social welfare schemes, income tax and electricity. It was not a registered NGO - it ran on individual donations, and was characterised as a jan andolan ("people's movement") by its members. Later, in 2005, Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia launched Kabir, a registered NGO named after the medieval philosopher Kabir. Like Parivartan, Kabir was also focused on RTI and participatory governance. However, unlike Parivartan, it accepted institutional donations. According to Kejriwal, Kabir was mainly run by Sisodia.
In 2000, Parivartan filed a public interest litigation (PIL) demanding transparency in public dealings of the Income Tax department, and also organised a satyagraha outside the Chief Commissioner's office. Kejriwal and other activists also stationed themselves outside the electricity department, asking visitors not to pay bribes and offered to help them in getting work done for free.
In 2001, the Delhi government enacted a state-level Right To Information (RTI) Act, which allowed the citizens to access government records for a small fee. Parivartan used RTI to help people get their work done in government departments without paying a bribe. In 2002, the group obtained official reports on 68 public works projects in the area, and performed a community-led audit to expose misappropriations worth ₹ 7 million in 64 of the projects. On 14 December 2002, Parivartan organised a Jan sunvai (public hearing), in which the citizens held public officials and leaders accountable for the lack of development in their locality.
In 2003 (and again in 2008), Parivartan exposed a PDS scam, in which ration shop dealers were siphoning off subsidised foodgrains in collusion with civic officials. In 2004, Parivartan used RTI applications to access communication between government agencies and the World Bank, regarding a project for privatisation of water supply. Kejriwal and other activists questioned the huge expenditure on the project and argued that it would hike water tariffs ten-fold, thus effectively cutting off the water supply to the city's poor. The project was stalled as a result of Parivartan's activism. Another campaign by Parivartan led to a court order that required private schools, which had received public land at discounted prices, to admit more than 700 poor kids without a fee.
Along with other social activists like Anna Hazare, Aruna Roy and Shekhar Singh, Kejriwal came to be recognised as an important contributor to the campaign for a national-level Right to Information Act (enacted in 2005). He resigned from his job in February 2006, and later that year, he was given the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership, for his involvement with Parivartan. The award recognised him for activating the RTI movement at the grassroots and empowering New Delhi's poor citizens to fight corruption.
By 2012, Parivartan was largely inactive. Sundar Nagri, where the movement was concentrated, suffered from irregular water supply, unreliable PDS system and poorly done public works. Calling it "ephemeral and delusionary in nature", Kejriwal noted that Parivartan's success was limited, and the changes brought by it did not last long.
=== Public Cause Research Foundation ===
In December 2006, Kejriwal established the Public Cause Research Foundation in December 2006, together with Manish Sisodia and Abhinandan Sekhri. He donated his Ramon Magsaysay Award prize money as a seed fund. Besides the three founders, Prashant Bhushan and Kiran Bedi served as the Foundation's trustees. This new body paid the employees of Parivartan. Kejriwal used the RTI Act in corruption cases in many government departments including the Income Tax Department, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the Public Distribution System and the Delhi Electricity Board.
=== Jan Lokpal movement ===
In 2010, Kejriwal protested against corruption in the Commonwealth Games. He argued that the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) did not have any powers to take any action against the guilty, while CBI was incapable of launching an unbiased investigation against the ministers who controlled it. He advocated appointment of public ombudsman - Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states.
In 2011, Kejriwal joined several other activists, including Anna Hazare and Kiran Bedi, to form the India Against Corruption (IAC) group. The IAC demanded enactment of the Jan Lokpal Bill, which would result in a strong ombudsman. The campaign evolved into the 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement. In response to the campaign, the government's advisory body - the National Advisory Council - drafted a Lokpal Bill. However, the NAC's Bill was criticised by Kejriwal and other activists on the grounds that it did not have enough powers to take action against the prime minister, other corrupt officeholders, and the judiciary. The activists also criticised the procedure for the selection of Lokpal, the transparency clauses and the proposal to disallow the Lokpal from taking cognizance of public grievances.
Amid continuing protests, the Government constituted a committee to Draft a Jan Lokpal Bill. Kejriwal was one of the civil society representative members of this committee. However, he alleged that the IAC activists had an unequal position in the committee, and the government appointees kept ignoring their recommendations. The Government argued that the activists could not be allowed to blackmail the elected representatives through protests. Kejriwal retorted that democratically elected representatives could not be allowed to function like dictators, and asked for a public debate on the contentious issues.
The IAC activists intensified their protests, and Anna Hazare organised a hunger strike. Kejriwal and other activists were arrested for defying a police directive to give a written undertaking that they will not go to JP Park. Kejriwal attacked the government on this and said there was a need for a debate over police power to detain and release people at will. In August 2011, a settlement was reached between the Government and the activists.
Besides the government, the Jan Lokpal movement was also criticised by some citizens as 'undemocratic' on the grounds that the ombudsman had powers over elected representatives. Arundhati Roy claimed that the movement was not a people's movement; instead, it was funded by foreigners to influence policymaking in India. She pointed out that the Ford Foundation had funded the Emergent Leadership category of the Ramon Magsaysay Award, and also donated $397,000 to Kejriwal's NGO Kabir. Both Kejriwal and Ford Foundation termed the allegations as baseless, stating that the donations were made to support the RTI campaigns. Besides, several other Indian organisations had also received grants from the Ford Foundation. Kejriwal also denied the allegations that the movement was a plot against the ruling Congress by the RSS, or that it was an upper-caste conspiracy against the Dalits.
By January 2012, the Government had backtracked on its promise to implement a strong Jan Lokpal, resulting in another series of protests from Kejriwal and his fellow activists. These protests attracted lower participation compared to the 2011 protests. By mid-2012, Kejriwal had replaced Anna Hazare as the face of the remaining protestors. In January 2014, Kejriwal said that he will quit from the government if Jan Lokpal Bill is not passed. In 2015, during the second term of the AAP government in Delhi, the Jan Lokpal Bill was passed by the assembly awaiting the president's approval.
== National Convener of AAP ==
One of the major criticisms directed at the Jan Lokpal activists was that they had no right to dictate terms to the elected representatives. As a result, Kejriwal and other activists decided to enter politics and contest elections. In November 2012, they formally launched the Aam Aadmi Party; Kejriwal was elected as the party's National Convener. The party name reflects the phrase Aam Aadmi, or "common man", whose interests Kejriwal proposed to represent. The establishment of AAP caused a rift between Kejriwal and Hazare.
AAP decided to contest the 2013 Delhi Legislative Assembly election, with Kejriwal contesting against the incumbent Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. Kejriwal became the fifth most-mentioned Indian politician on social media channels in the run-up to the elections.
== Chief Minister of Delhi ==
=== First term ===
In the 2013, Delhi Legislative Assembly elections for all 70 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party won 31 seats, followed by Aam Aadmi Party with 28 seats. Kejriwal defeated incumbent Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit of the Indian National Congress (INC), in her constituency of New Delhi by a margin of 25,864 votes.
AAP formed a minority government in the hung assembly, (claiming support for the action gauged from opinion polls) with outside support from the eight INC MLAs, one Janata Dal MLA and one independent MLA. Kejriwal was sworn in as the second-youngest chief minister of Delhi on 28 December 2013, after Chaudhary Brahm Prakash who became chief minister at the age of 34. He was in charge of Delhi's home, power, planning, finance, services and vigilance ministries.
On 14 February 2014, he resigned as Chief Minister after failing to table the Jan Lokpal Bill in the Delhi Assembly. He recommended the dissolution of the Assembly. Kejriwal blamed the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party for stalling the anti-corruption legislation and linked it with the government's decision to register a First Information Report (FIR) against industrialist Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries. In April 2014 he said that he had made a mistake by resigning without publicly explaining the rationale behind his decision.
=== Second term ===
Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party won 67 of the 70 constituencies in the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections, leaving the BJP with three seats and the INC with none. In those elections, he was again elected from the New Delhi constituency, defeating Nupur Sharma by 31,583 votes. He took oath on 14 February 2015 as Delhi's chief minister for a second time at Ramlila Maidan. Since then his party has passed the Jan Lokpal Bill though with some differences.
There has been a long-running dispute between Kejriwal's office and that of the Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi during Kejriwal's second term as Chief Minister. Various issues have been involved, relating which office has ultimate responsibility for various aspects of government, including some significant public appointments. Manish Sisodia characterised it as "a battle between the selected and the elected" and indicated after a legal setback that the government was prepared to take the issues to the Supreme Court of India.
Mohalla Clinics that are primary health centres in Delhi was first set up by the Aam Aadmi Party government in 2015, and as of 2018, 187 such clinics have been set up across the state and served more than 2 million residents. The Government has kept a target of setting up 1000 such clinics in the city before 2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly Elections. Mohalla Clinics offer a basic package of essential health services including medicines, diagnostics, and consultation free of cost. These clinics serve as the first point of contact for the population, offer timely services, and reduce the load of referrals to secondary and tertiary health facilities in the state. Beginning in October 2019, New Delhi began rolling out free bus transit for women on the Delhi Transport Corporation, with women travelling for free when using pink tickets carrying a message from Kejriwal. He has been criticised for his controversial remarks over Biharis and "outsiders".
Shunglu Committee submitted a report to LG of Delhi raising questions over decisions of Government of Delhi.
=== Third term ===
AAP won 62 seats out of 70 in the 2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly election. He took oath on 16 February 2020 as Delhi's chief minister for a third time at Ramlila Maidan, equalling the record of Sheila Dikshit. On 21 March 2024, he became the first ever sitting chief minister in India to be arrested and imprisoned. After being released on bail by the Supreme Court, he vowed to resign from the post of chief minister on 15 September 2024 to campaign for the upcoming Delhi assembly elections. He resigned formally on 17 September 2024 and AAP named education minister Atishi Marlena as his replacement.
==== COVID-19 Mismanagement ====
During the COVID-19 pandemic in India in April 2021, Congress accused the Kejriwal government of spending significant amounts on publicity campaigns while failing to augment oxygen storage capacity and set up new oxygen plants in the National Capital Territory over the preceding year. A Central government-appointed committee criticised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government for using state funds for advertisements that promoted Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his party, allegedly violating Supreme Court guidelines.
In a reply to a Right to Information (RTI) query, it was revealed that funds were allocated in December 2020 to establish eight oxygen plants in Delhi, but only one plant was completed. The remaining funds were reportedly diverted to advertising expenditures. During the oxygen crisis in 2021, the central government increased oxygen allocations for Delhi, prompting Kejriwal to publicly thank the central government for providing 730 tons of oxygen. Critics accused Kejriwal of being "criminally liable" for the deaths of several patients in two Delhi hospitals due to oxygen shortages.
In July 2022, a Supreme Court-appointed audit panel concluded that the Delhi government had exaggerated its oxygen requirements by four times during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
==== Attack by BJP members ====
On 30 March 2022, the official residence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was attacked by a group of BJP supporters during a protest. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia alleged that the incident was part of a conspiracy to murder Kejriwal.
Following the incident, AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj filed a petition in the Delhi High Court seeking the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the attack. The petition claimed that the attack appeared to have been carried out with the "tacit complicity" of the Delhi Police. It alleged that the attackers breached the security cordon, damaged property including CCTV cameras, and vandalised the residence while police personnel failed to intervene.
On 31 March 2022, eight individuals involved in the attack were arrested. Charges under provisions related to obstructing public servants and damaging public property were filed. The Delhi High Court observed that the security arrangements at the Chief Minister's residence were inadequate to control the crowd and sought a status report from the Delhi Police on their investigation into the incident.
==== 2024 arrest ====
After skipping nine summons from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested on 21 March 2024 by the ED after the Delhi High Court rejected his anticipatory bail in connection with the Delhi liquor policy money laundering case. This made him the first sitting chief minister of India to be arrested (all others arrested before him had resigned from their post before being arrested). The opposition alliance called it a fabricated case and "match-fixing" before the 2024 general elections by the Bharatiya Janata Party led union government. The Delhi High Court dismissed Kejriwal's petition against his arrest and all his bail requests. The Supreme Court ultimately granted him interim bail from 10 May 2024 to 1 June 2024 on account of campaigning for the elections.
Following the end of his interim bail and failure to extend it on medical grounds, Kejriwal surrendered at Tihar Jail on 2 June. He was then sent to judicial custody until 5 June 2024. A Delhi court denied the plea filed by Kejriwal seeking a seven-day interim bail and extended judicial custody until 19 June and subsequently till 3 July 2024. On 20 June 2024 Kejriwal was granted bail by the trial court on a bail bond of 100,000 INR. However, his bail was put on hold before his release as ED appealed against it in the Delhi Hight Court. Kejriwal was then questioned for 3 days by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and arrested on 26 June 2024 from Tihar Jail in the same case. Subsequently, he was sent to judicial custody till 12 July.
On 12 July 2024, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Kejriwal in money laundering case related to the alleged excise policy scam. However, he remained in jail due to the CBI arrest made in the previous month. On 5 September 2024, the Supreme court reserved an order on his bail in the CBI case. The reserved order was pronounced by the SC on 13 September 2024, granting him bail and ultimately leading to his release from Tihar Jail after five months. However he served in prison for more than 5 months.
== Electoral history ==
=== Lok Sabha elections ===
=== Delhi Legislative Assembly elections ===
== Political views ==
Kejriwal discussed his views on corruption and the state of the Indian democracy in his book Swaraj. He advocates for a decentralisation of government and the involvement of the panchayat in local decisions and budgets. He claims that foreign multinational corporations have too much power in the decision-making process of the central government and that the politicians at the centre are not being held accountable for their actions and inaction after their election.
== Personal life ==
In 1995, Kejriwal married Sunita, a 1993-batch IRS officer. She took voluntary retirement in 2016 as Commissioner of Income Tax in the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.
The couple have a daughter and a son. Kejriwal follows Hinduism. Kejriwal is a vegetarian and has been practising the Vipassanā meditation technique for many years. He is diabetic. In 2016, he underwent a surgery for his persistent cough problem.
Kejriwal considers himself an Ambedkarite and calls himself a 'devotee' of B. R. Ambedkar.
== Controversies ==
=== COVID-19 ===
In May 2021, Kejriwal called for the Indian central government to immediately stop air travel between India and Singapore, and develop "vaccine alternatives for children", due to "a new variant of coronavirus found in Singapore" which "is being said to be very dangerous for children". However, the Singapore Health Ministry stated that there was no known Singaporean variant of COVID-19; a recent report discussing the threat of COVID-19 to Singaporean children was discussing a variant of COVID-19 first detected in India: B.1.617. Many of the recent COVID-19 cases in Singapore were of B.1.617. Further, it said “There is no truth whatsoever in the assertions found within the reports”. The foreign minister of India, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and the foreign minister of Singapore, Vivian Balakrishnan, criticised Kejriwal's comment as "irresponsible" and counter-factual respectively.
In 2022, the Kejriwal government was accused by a central government panel of inflating the reported oxygen need of Delhi during the second wave of COVID-19 infections.
=== Lawsuits ===
Several defamation cases were filed against Arvind Kejriwal by his political opponents. In January 2014, Kejriwal released a list of most corrupt politicians that included several leaders across the political spectrum. Of the several on the list, Nitin Gadkari immediately filed a defamation suit against Kejriwal. Subsequently, Kejriwal apologised to union minister Nitin Gadkari for his unverified allegations and also sought apology from former minister Kapil Sibal.
In 2016, Kejriwal made allegations against Bikram Majithia, the then revenue minister of Punjab of involvement in drug trade for which Majithia filed a defamation case against him and two others from Aam Aadmi party. Kejriwal apologised to Majithia a couple of years later in March 2018.
Kejriwal made allegations against finance minister Arun Jaitley for irregularities in DDCA. Arun Jaitley filed a 10-crore defamation suit against Kejriwal. On 2 March 2016, Delhi High Court asked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and suspended BJP MP Kirti Azad to file their written statements in a civil defamation suit of Rs 5 crores filed by DDCA for their alleged remarks against the cricket body regarding its functioning and finances. Following this, in April 2018 Arvind Kejriwal and three others from his party including Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chaddha and Ashutosh apologised to Arun Jaitley in a joint letter.
In his affidavit to Election Directorate before the second term elections in 2015 Kejriwal had declared that he has 10 criminal charges and 47 total charges against him.
In 2021, a Delhi court dismissed an assault case filed by a Delhi bureaucrat against Kejriwal and ten AAP MLAs and discharged them of all charges. The court noted that "no prima facie case" was made against them.
In February 2024, Kejriwal was involved in a defamation lawsuit and issued an apology to the Supreme Court of India for retweeting YouTuber Dhruv Rathee's 2018 video on BJP IT Cell. The Delhi high court, in its earlier ruling had stated that sharing "purportedly libelous" content would fall under defamation laws. On 11 March 2025, a Delhi court ordered an FIR against Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly misusing public money on large hoardings
=== Official residence renovations ===
In late April 2023, BJP made allegations that Kejriwal had misappropriated public funds for renovations of his residence in Delhi. An investigation was announced on 29 April 2023. CBI said that they started investigating money spent on renovating Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s house complex. Its Vigilance Department said it was pursuing misappropriation of funds and financial irregularities.
=== Media fixing ===
In March 2014, in a leaked video of an interview with journalist Punya Prasun Bajpai, Kejriwal was seen giving instructions to Bajpai on promoting his interview by comparing his resignation to the sacrifice of Bhagat Singh and dropping a certain portion of interview on privatisation of industries which would portray him anti-middle class. Later, when the interview was telecasted it was found that Punya Prasun Bajpai had actually complied to the instructions and raised questions on his journalistic integrity and ethics. This controversy was called "media fixing" at that time.
=== Delhi liquor scam ===
He was arrested on 21 March 2024 by the Enforcement Directorate on allegations of a Delhi liquor scam against Aam Aadmi Party's Delhi Government. He became the first ever incumbent chief minister in India to be arrested while still holding the post. The ED also accused him of spying on their officials. He had skipped nine summons by the Enforcement Directorate as well, before that. The Delhi High Court dismissed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's petition against his arrest. He was granted bail by the Delhi High Court on 20 June 2024. His ministers, Satyendra Jain and Manish Sisodia have also been in jail without bail, trial or conviction with the exception of a bail to the former once for treatment. Satyendra Jain spent more than two years in jail. Manish Sisodia was granted bail by the Supreme Court on 9 August 2024. The opposition alliance called the arrest weeks before the 2024 Indian general election a case of fabrication and "match-fixing" by the BJP. Amnesty International said that financial and terrorism laws have been weaponised to go after political opponents while the BJP has denied that it had any political agenda to go after Kejriwal. On 20 June 2024, Kejriwal was released on bail after paying bail bond of one lakh Indian Rupees. His bail was put on hold before release as ED appealed against Kejriwal's bail. On 20 June, he was granted bail but his release was delayed due to an ED appeal. The CBI arrested him on 26 June, extending his custody to 12 July. On 12 July, the Supreme Court granted him interim bail for alleged Delhi liquor policy money laundering case, but he remains in jail in CBI case related to alleged Liquor policy scam. On 5 September 2024, the Supreme court upheld Delhi High Court's order of not granting bail to Kejriwal. On 13 September 2024, Kejriwal was granted bail by Supreme Court while imposing certain restrictions to his office of the Chief Minister.
== In the media ==
An Insignificant Man is a 2017 Hindi/English Indian socio-political documentary co-produced and directed by Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla and also co-produced by filmmaker Anand Gandhi. The documentary is about the rise of anti-corruption protests in India and the formation and rise to power of the Aam Aadmi Party and Arvind Kejriwal.
Kejriwal has appeared on the talk-shows and interviews of News channels. He spoofed himself on the third episode of the first season of The Viral Fever's Barely Speaking With Arnub, where actor Jitendra Kumar cosplayed as Kejriwal while sitting next to him in the latter half of the interview. He also appeared in stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra's YouTube interview series Shut Up Ya Kunal.
== See also ==
Fifth Legislative Assembly of Delhi
2017 Punjab Legislative Assembly election
== References ==
=== Notes ===
=== Citations ===
== External links ==
Swaraj. HarperCollins India. 2012. ISBN 978-93-5029-937-1. (co-author)
Arvind Kejriwal & the Aam Aadmi Party: An Inside Look. Bloomsbury India. 2016. ISBN 978-93-85936-98-2. by Pran Kurup
प्रदूषण खत्म करने के लिए केजरीवाल ने लॉन्च किया Green Delhi App. Archived 16 July 2021 at the Wayback Machine (Maha Khabar).
Arvind Kejriwal – profile (archived)
Arvind Kejriwal at IMDb |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsieur_Mallah | Monsieur Mallah | Monsieur Mallah is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani, the character first appeared in Doom Patrol #86 (March 1964). He is the gorilla partner and servant of the disembodied supervillain Brain. The character serves as an enemy of the Doom Patrol, Justice League, and the Teen Titans.
Monsieur Mallah appears in the third season of the HBO Max series Doom Patrol, voiced by Jonathan Lipow.
== Fictional character biography ==
=== Origin ===
A scientist experimented on a captured gorilla from Gorilla City, raising his I.Q. to the genius-level of 178. He named the gorilla Monsieur Mallah and educated him for almost a decade before making him his personal assistant.
The scientist's colleague, Niles Caulder, grows jealous of his work and arranges for the scientist to get caught in an explosion, which destroys the scientist's body. Only the brain survives, and Caulder plans on putting his brain in a robot body. Mallah rescues the scientist, taking his brain and transferring it to a computer network that keeps it functioning. Now known simply as the Brain, the scientist and Mallah form the Brotherhood of Evil in hopes of conquering the world and getting revenge on Caulder.
Caulder, now known as the Chief, through a series of other accidents that he manipulated, forms the superhero group known as the Doom Patrol. Setting out to destroy the Chief's 'pets', the Brain, Mallah, and their Brotherhood become enemies with the Patrol. Their criminal activities also put them into opposition with the Teen Titans.
=== Doom Patrol ===
During Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol run, Mallah has the Brain placed in one of Robotman's bodies. In his new body, the Brain confesses to Mallah that he is in love with him. Mallah reveals that he feels the same way, and the two kiss. However, they are both seemingly killed by a self-destruct mechanism inside Robotman's body. The two later resurface (the Brain back to floating in a jar), with no explanation of how they survived.
In the Salvation Run storyline, the Brain and Monsieur Mallah appear amongst the villains who were sent to the planet Cygnus 4019. The Brain and Mallah arrive at Joker's camp, and Mallah asks Gorilla Grodd to speak with him away from the others. Mallah proposes to Grodd that, as fellow gorillas and the natural kings of the jungle, they should team up and, through their combined might, rule the entire place by themselves. Grodd laughs at Mallah for considering himself, an "absurd science experiment", comparable to "a proud child of Gorilla City". Mallah strikes Grodd and calls him a beast, causing Grodd to fly into a rage and kill him and the Brain.
=== The New 52 ===
In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this continuity, Mallah was a gorilla who was experimented on by a New England scientist named Ernst to increase his intellect. Ernst treated Mallah as a friend and an assistant. Following an explosion in his lab, Ernst was badly burned and Mallah saved his life by preserving his brain. After becoming distrustful of humans, Brain and Mallah attack humans who they blame for their plight.
In the Dawn of DC series Unstoppable Doom Patrol, Mallah betrays and kills Brain, believing that their relationship is toxic and no longer loving.
== Powers and abilities ==
Monsieur Mallah has superhuman strength, durability, speed, agility, reflexes, and intelligence, as well as a keen sense of smell. He usually carries a machine gun or any other firearms with him.
== In other media ==
=== Television ===
Monsieur Mallah appears in Teen Titans, voiced by Glenn Shadix. This version is an arrogant member of the Brotherhood of Evil.
Monsieur Mallah appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson.
Monsieur Mallah appears in Young Justice, voiced by Dee Bradley Baker. This version is a member of the Light in the first two seasons, during which he is eventually captured by the Team, and Task Force X in the third season.
Monsieur Mallah appears in the "Doom Patrol" segment of DC Nation Shorts, voiced by David Kaye.
Monsieur Mallah appears in Teen Titans Go!, voiced by Fred Tatasciore.
Monsieur Mallah appears in Doom Patrol, voiced by Jonathan Lipow. This version is a member of the Brotherhood of Evil. After helping the Brain steal Robotman's body, Mallah leaves the former.
Monsieur Mallah appears in My Adventures with Superman, voiced by André Sogliuzzo. This version is a kind-hearted gorilla and friend of Superman.
=== Video games ===
Monsieur Mallah appears in DC Universe Online, voiced by Leif Anders.
Monsieur Mallah appears as a character summon in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.
Monsieur Mallah appears as a playable character in Lego DC Super-Villains, voiced by Peter Jessop.
=== Miscellaneous ===
Monsieur Mallah appears in Justice League Adventures #6.
Monsieur Mallah appears in Justice League Unlimited #31.
Monsieur Mallah appears in Smallville Season 11 #9.
== See also ==
List of fictional primates
== References == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szentes#:~:text=Population%C2%A0(2015,27%2C898 | Szentes | Szentes (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈsɛntɛʃ]) is a town in south-eastern Hungary, Csongrád county, near the Tisza river. The town is a cultural and educational center of the region. It is the third most populous town in Csongrad county after Szeged and Hódmezővásárhely.
== History ==
The area around Szentes has been inhabited since the Neolithic. The Szegvár-tűzkövesi idol, one of the Neolithic period's only depictions of a male deity, was discovered in the area. During the barbarian invasions, many ethnic groups moved through the region, and there is archeological evidence of hundreds of graves belonging to Iazyges, Sarmatians, Gepids, Huns, and Avars. According to certain accounts, the legendary camp of Atilla the Hun was found in this area, at the confluence of the Tisza and the Körös rivers. The town was first documented about the land-division in 1332 and called "Scenthus". It was said to be inhabited by descendants of the tribe of Ond, one of the seven tribes of Hungary, and it was also documented as containing a stone church dedicated to Andrew the Apostle. According to local tradition, Csongrad castle stood on the town's boundaries until the time of the first Mongol invasion.
Following the Hungary's defeat by Ottoman forces at the battle of Mohács, taxes were levied from Szentes by three different powers, meaning those who were able to leave the area, fled. The region suffered immensely under Ottoman rule, and entire towns were wiped off the map. The region further suffered during the Long Turkish War, with more towns going extinct, and many of Szentes' inhabitants seeking refuge by dwelling in the nearby wetlands. In 1647, Ferdinand III was defeated by Ottoman forces outside Szentes, but the Ottoman forces had to withdraw from the region. In 1693, Szentes and the surrounding region was scorched and pillaged by Crimean Tatars looking for food following their failed attempt to capture Gyula. In 1709, the town suffered an outbreak of the Plague, killing over 1000 of its inhabitants.
The townsfolk played an active role in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, and it was visited by Kossuth Lajos himself to recruit troops. After the Habsburgs crushed the revolution, many young men were forcibly enlisted in the Imperial Army as punishment, and the mayor was sentenced to hard labour.
== Notable people ==
Árpád Balázs (born 1937), classical music composer
János Bácskai 1954. november 27, actor
János Berkes (born 1946 May 24) opera singer (tenor)
István Bugyi (1898–1981) surgeon - The local hospital named after him
Dóra Dúró (born 1987), politician
Jozsef Gera (born 1937) aircraft engineer, former chief of the Dynamics and Controls Branch at NASA
László Gyimesi (born 1948), pianist
Mihály Horváth (1809–1878), Roman Catholic bishop
Tamás Kecskés (born 1986), footballer
Zsolt Koncz (born 1977), footballer
László Márkus (1881–1948), drama author, director, member of the Hungarian Opera
András Mészáros (born 1941), former cyclist
Ibolya Nagy (1864–1946), actress
Lajos Őze (1935–1984), actor
László Papp (1905–1989), wrestler
István Szelei (born 1960), fencer
Lajos Szilassi (born 1942), mathematician
Konrád Verebélyi (born 1995), footballer
Zséda (born 1974), singer
László Terney (1947–1998) architect
László Ujréti (born 1942) actor, voice actor
Péter Szalay (born 1962), quantum chemist, theoretical chemist
== Twin towns – sister cities ==
Szentes is twinned with:
== Gallery ==
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website in Hungarian, English, German, and Serbian
Városi Visszhang - Szentes
Local Radio Station - Radio 451 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natasha_C._Merle#:~:text=Law%20in%202008.-,Career,the%20Gulf%20Region%20Advocacy%20Center. | Natasha C. Merle | Natasha Clarise Merle (born 1983) is an American lawyer from New York who serves as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
== Education ==
Merle received her Bachelor of Arts in government and Spanish, with honors, from the University of Texas at Austin in 2005 and she graduated, cum laude, with a Juris Doctor from the New York University School of Law in 2008.
== Career ==
Merle began her legal career as a law clerk for Judge Robert L. Carter of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York from 2008 to 2009. From 2009 to 2011, she was a staff attorney at the Gulf Region Advocacy Center. Merle then became an assistant federal public defender at the Office of the Federal Public Defender. She also served as a law clerk for Judge John Gleeson of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York from 2012 to 2013.
From 2013 to 2015, Merle was a litigation associate and civil rights fellow at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson in New York City.
From 2016 to 2021, she served as assistant counsel and then senior counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund ("LDF"). From 2021 to 2023, she was the deputy director of litigation at LDF.
From 2019 to 2021, Merle was a adjunct professor of clinical law at the New York University School of Law and from 2020 to 2021, she was a lecturer in law at Columbia Law School.
=== Notable cases ===
In 2017, Merle was a member of the petitioner team in Buck v. Davis.
In 2017, Merle was lead counsel for NAACP LDF v. Trump.
=== Federal judicial service ===
On January 19, 2022, President Joe Biden nominated Merle to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. President Biden nominated Merle to a new seat created following the appointment of Roslynn R. Mauskopf as director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. On April 27, 2022, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. During Merle's confirmation hearing, Republican senators criticized her over comments she made in 2017 in which she said that proposals for voter ID laws and a border wall were based in white supremacy. On May 26, 2022, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 vote. On January 3, 2023, her nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate; she was renominated later the same day. On February 2, 2023, the committee failed to report her nomination by a 10–10 vote. On February 9, 2023, her nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–10 vote. On June 21, 2023, the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 51–50 vote, with Vice President Kamala Harris voting in the affirmative. Later that day, her nomination was confirmed by a 50–49 vote. Senator Joe Manchin joined all the Senate Republicans in opposing her nomination. Merle was President Biden's 100th district court judge to be confirmed. She received her judicial commission on August 11, 2023.
== See also ==
List of African-American federal judges
List of African-American jurists
Joe Biden judicial appointment controversies
== References ==
== External links ==
Natasha C. Merle at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Regional_Transport_Office_districts_in_India#MZ%E2%80%94Mizoram | List of Regional Transport Office districts in India | This is a list of the Indian Regional Transport Offices and the assigned codes for vehicle registration. These are broken down to states or union territories and their districts. These RTO offices, governed by the respective state and union territory Transport Departments, are led by Regional Transport Officers (RTOs) and are tasked with enforcing the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and its associated rules.
== AP—Andhra Pradesh ==
The Andhra Pradesh state government has decided to issue uniform registration numbers for vehicles across Andhra Pradesh. Since February 2019, all new vehicles in Andhra Pradesh are registered with AP-39 code by default. Andhra Pradesh is the first state to implement the "one state-one code" policy.
In 2023, the state government has launched new series, AP-40.
== AR—Arunachal Pradesh ==
== AS—Assam ==
== BR—Bihar ==
== CG—Chhattisgarh ==
== CH—Chandigarh ==
== DD—Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu ==
== DL—Delhi ==
== GA—Goa ==
== GJ—Gujarat ==
== HP—Himachal Pradesh ==
== HR—Haryana ==
== JH—Jharkhand ==
== JK—Jammu and Kashmir ==
== KA—Karnataka ==
== KL—Kerala ==
== LA—Ladakh ==
== LD—Lakshadweep ==
== MH—Maharashtra ==
== ML—Meghalaya ==
== MN—Manipur ==
== MP—Madhya Pradesh ==
== MZ—Mizoram ==
== NL—Nagaland ==
== OD—Odisha ==
Due to the official respelling of the state name in English (from "Orissa" to "Odisha"), the Transport Department modified the state letter on the plates with OD substituting OR on 1 September 2012.
== PB—Punjab ==
== PY—Puducherry ==
== RJ—Rajasthan ==
== SK—Sikkim ==
== TG—Telangana ==
Note * Part of GHMC Hyderabad but not part of Hyderabad Dist.
The two-letter state code for Telangana Region in Andhra Pradesh was AP until the State Bifurcation and after the formation of Telangana State, the state was chosen as TS. It continued up to May 2024 before it was changed to TG.
The AP and TS codes, however, remain valid.
== TN—Tamil Nadu ==
In Tamil Nadu, specific series are exclusively used for certain type of vehicles
All State Transport Corporation vehicles start the series with 'N' or 'AN'
All Government owned vehicles start the series with 'G', 'AG', 'BG', 'CG' or 'DG', Etc., (all Combination of G)
No RTO is assigned with number that would add up to '8'. There is no 08,17,26,35,44,53,62,71.80.
== TR—Tripura ==
== UK—Uttarakhand ==
== UP—Uttar Pradesh ==
== WB—West Bengal ==
== References ==
"Our Divisions/Field Offices | Transport | Government of Assam, India".
== Sources ==
for India as whole: Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (click on "List of RTO's in a State")
for Andhra Pradesh: Government of Andhra Pradesh – Transport Department
for Delhi: Department of Transport
for Gujarat: Transport Department Gujarat
for Himachal Pradesh: Transport Department
for Karnataka: Government of Karnataka – Transport Department
for Kerala: Motor Vehicles Department, Newspaper article in the Hindu: "New Registering Authority Codes from July 1"
for Madhya Pradesh: RTO Offices in MP
for Maharashtra: Motor Vehicle Department
for Orissa: Orissa Commerce & Transport Department
for Punjab: Government of Punjab – Department of Transport
for Tamil Nadu: Department of Transport, State Transport Authority, GIS representation
for Telangana: Telangana Transport Information Portal
for Uttarakhand: Uttarakhand Transport Department.
for India: Vehicle Owner Details. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitrovica,_Kosovo | Mitrovica, Kosovo | Mitrovica or Kosovska Mitrovica, also referred to as South Mitrovica or South Kosovska Mitrovica, is a city in northern Kosovo and administrative center of the district of Mitrovica. In 2013, the city was split into two municipalities, South Mitrovica and North Mitrovica. Settled 10 km (6.2 mi) from Ujmani/Gazivoda Lake, on the confluence of the rivers Ibër, Sitnica, Lushta, and Trepça, the city is surrounded by the mountains of Kopaonik, Rogozna, Mokna, and Çyçavica. According to the 2024 census, the municipality had 72,662 inhabitants of which 64,742 reside in southern Mitrovica and 7,920 in northern Mitrovica.
The history of Mitrovica is rooted in antiquity, with evidence of early settlements of Neolithic and Roman-era artifacts discovered in the region. During the Middle Ages, the area played an important role in the Byzantine and Serbian Empires, while the modern city was founded during the rule of the Ottoman Empire, being first mentioned in the 17th century. Its strategic location along trade routes made it an important center for commerce and cultural exchange during this time. The complex historical context of these foreign influences contributed to the diverse heritage and cultural mosaic of Mitrovica, which continues to be a notable aspect of the city's identity.
In the modern era, Mitrovica's history has been marked by various events, including the industrial development of Trepça Mines, a major mining and metallurgy complex, during the Yugoslav period; the Kosovo War and the ethnic divisions that emerged in its aftermath in 1999. In 2013, following the North Kosovo crisis, the city was divided by the Ibar River into two separate municipalities, South Mitrovica with an ethnic Albanian majority and North Mitrovica with an ethnic Serb majority.
Following the Kosovo War in 1999 and the city's ethnic division, Mitrovica suffered economic collapse, turning from the economic center of Kosovo before 1999 to the poorest region in Kosovo after. According to the Kosovo Statistics Agency, of all urban municipalities in Kosovo, Mitrovica has the highest unemployment rate and the highest number of dependents from state transfers.
Mitrovica is also an important university center with the University of Mitrovica “Isa Boletini” in the south, the faculties of the parallel institution of University of Pristina in the north and several private universities.
== Etymology ==
The name of Mitrovica derives from the name Demetrius. It was most probably named after the 8th century Byzantine church St. Demetrius which was built near Zvečan Fortress, just above the modern Mitrovica, in honor of Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki.
The earliest evidence of the name of this city dates back to 1430 when it was mentioned in a Roman document as 'Dimitrovica.' In the Republic of Ragusa, in the documents 'Lamenta de foris' from 1446, the city was referred to as De Dimitruic. Throughout the late Middle Ages and Ottoman era, various travelers documented the name of the city. The German traveler Arnold von Harff mentioned Mitrovica in 1499 as Mitrix, while Benedikt Kuripečič, in 1530, referred to the city as Bazar Mitrovica. In 1660, the Ottoman explorer Evliya Çelebi mentioned the city with the name Mitrovica for the first time. From 1878 to 1890, the city was known as Mitrovica of Bazar, most probably due to the fact that it was under the Sanjak of Novi Pazar (Jenipazar)".
After President Tito's death in 1980, each of the constituent parts of Yugoslavia had to have one place named with the word "Tito" (or "Tito's") included, the city was then known as Titova Mitrovica (Титова Митровица) in Serbian or Mitrovica e Titos in Albanian, until 1991.
The official name of the city in the Republic of Kosovo is Mitrovicë or Mitrovica (in Albanian) and Mitrovica (in Serbian), reflecting its bilingual character and regional context. In Serbian context, the name is Kosovska Mitrovica (Serbian Cyrillic: Косовска Митровица) is used to distinguish it from Sremska Mitrovica, a city in Vojvodina, Serbia. In Turkish, the city is called Mitroviça.
Since the split of the Municipality of Mitrovica into two municipalities in 2013, with the creation of Serb-majority municipality in the northern side, the official names of the municipalities have changed. The original Municipality of Mitrovica is now officially known as South Mitrovica (Albanian: Mitrovica e Jugut; Serbian: Јужна Митровица, romanized: Južna Mitrovica) while the newly formed municipality is North Mitrovica (Albanian: Mitrovica e Veriut; Serbian: Ceвepнa Митровица, romanized: Severna Mitrovica).
== History ==
=== Antiquity ===
There is archaeological evidence that proves the region of Mitrovica has been inhabited since the Neolithic era. The oldest settlements discovered in the area are the archeological sites of Zhitkoc, Karagaç and Vallaç, near Zvecan (around 5 km north of Mitrovica) and archaeological site of Fafos which is situated in the suburban area of Mitrovica.
The archaeological site of Fafos is located in the suburban area of Mitrovica, within the industrial zone adjacent to the a phosphates production factory. This site underwent excavation between 1955 and 1961, covering a total area of approximately 1,200 square meters. The findings confirmed the presence of two separate Neolithic settlements associated with the Vinča culture, situated about 200 meters apart from each other. The earlier settlement, referred to as Fafos I, consisted of characteristic semi-subterranean huts used for shelter. In contrast, the later settlement, known as Fafos II, featured house-huts arranged in a row. Notably, archaeological research indicated that a significant portion of the huts in both settlements had been destroyed by an extensive fire. Artifacts discovered in these settlements included various everyday objects such as cult items, ritual vases, and anthropomorphic figurines.
The Neolithic site of Zhitkoc, situated approximately 3 km north of Zveçan, is positioned on a plateau near the Zhitkoc train station. In 1958, a series of preliminary excavations were conducted near the banks of the Ibër River, revealing the remains of a typical Neolithic settlement that belonged to both the earlier Starčevo culture and the later Vinča culture.
The adjacent archaeological site of Karagaç is found on a lower terrace along the riverbank and was investigated between 1955 and 1960. The archaeological findings indicated occupation during the middle Neolithic period. The settlement mainly consisted of semi-subterranean, elliptical huts, protected by ditches. Inside these dwellings, a significant amount of pottery associated with the Starcevo culture was uncovered. Furthermore, the settlement persisted into a later phase, with huts constructed from interwoven timber beams coated with earth/mud. Evidence from ceramic fragments and anthropomorphic figurines suggests that this settlement was also inhabited during the earlier stage of the Late Neolithic, specifically the Vinca culture. In addition to Neolithic artifacts, traces of a settlement and cemetery from the Bronze and Iron Ages were discovered in the same area, underscoring the continuity of human habitation from prehistoric times.
=== Middle Ages ===
While there is limited historical evidence regarding the early Middle Ages when the region was under Byzantine rule, the period between the 9th and 15th centuries witnessed a series of significant events that made the area a focal point for conflicts involving the Byzantine Empire, the Medieval Kingdom of Serbia, the Bulgarian Empire and Ottoman Empire, being ruled by each of them in different periods.
During this time, the fortified settlement of Zvečan emerged as a key location, playing a pivotal role in the expansion and development of the Kingdom of Serbia under Nemanjić rule. Its strategic position made it a center of power in the region.
Simultaneously, the settlement of Trepca began to evolve into a thriving mining town. The development of mining activities and trade significantly contributed to the region's significance and economic growth.
Notable structures were constructed during this era, including the Banjska Monastery, Sokolica Monastery, and the Saxon St. Peter's Basilica Church, Stari Trg. The Saxon Church in Stan Terg, built by Saxons, underlines the importance of the mining industry during this period in the region.
With the Ottoman occupation in 1389, after the Battle of Kosovo, the fortified town of Zvecan turned into an active military site well into the 18th century, after which it was abandoned. During this time the population settled along the valley of Ibar and Sitnica, founding this way the modern settlement of Mitrovica. Mitrovica probably got the name after the 8th century Byzantine church St. Demetrius which was built near Zvečan Fortress, just above the modern Mitrovica, in honor of Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki.
Several Roman and Ragusian documents mention the city respectively as Dimitrovica in 1430 and 'De Dimitruic' 1446, while the German traveler Arnold von Harff mentioned the city in 1499 as 'Mitrix.
=== Ottoman Empire ===
Several neighborhoods in the area of Trepča according to the Ottoman defter of the 16th century were Islamised and the other neighborhoods contained people with a mixture of Christian, Albanian and Slavic names. According to Selami Pulaha, the Ottoman defters of 1591 indicate that the area of Trepča in the 16th century had a significant Albanian population, with some Albanian names being combined with other Christian or Slavic names.
Under Ottoman rule Mitrovica was a small city typical to the region. Rapid development came in the 19th century after lead ore was discovered and mined in the region, providing what has historically been one of Kosovo's largest industries.
It became an industrial town, formerly the economic centre of Kosovo because of the nearby Trepça Mines. It grew in size as a centre of trade and industry with the completion of the railway line to Skopje in 1873–1878, which linked Mitrovica to the port of Thessaloniki. Another line later linked the town to Belgrade and Western Europe.
By 1890, Mitrovica had a population of 7,000 and it had a strategic importance. For this reason, Russian Empire and Austria-Hungary opened consulates in the town.
=== World War II ===
During World War II, it took the Germans one week to conquer the whole of Kosovo. Kosovo was then divided into three occupation zones specifically into the German, Italian and Bulgarian zones. The Germans, however, reserved the right to control the mines in Mitrovica, namely the Trepça Mines, and the railway line passing through Kosovo. Mitrovica became the head of an Austrian infantry division. The city was part of Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia. In 1948, Mitrovica had a population of 13,901 and in the early 1990s of about 75,000.
=== Kosovo war and city division ===
Both the town and municipality were badly affected by the 1999 Kosovo War. According to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the area had been the scene of guerrilla activity by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) prior to the war. It came under the command of NATO's French sector; 7,000 French troops were stationed in the western sector with their headquarters in Mitrovica. They were reinforced with a contingent of 1,200 troops from the United Arab Emirates, and a small number of Danish troops.
Most of the approximately 6,000 Roma fled to Serbia, or were relocated to one of two resettlement camps, Cesmin Lug, or Osterode, in North Mitrovica. In the north, live some 17,000 Kosovo Serbs, with 2,000 Kosovo Albanians and 1,700 Bosniaks inhabiting discrete enclaves on the north bank of the Ibar River. Almost all of the Serbs living on the south bank were displaced to North Mitrovica after the Kosovo War. In 2011, the city had an estimated total population of 71,601.
Mitrovica became the focus for ethnic clashes between the two communities, exacerbated by the presence of nationalist extremists on both sides. The bridges linking the two sides of the town were guarded by armed groups determined to prevent incursions by the other side. Because of the tense situation in the town, KFOR troops and the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) police were stationed there in large numbers to head off trouble. However, violence and harassment was often directed against members of the "wrong" ethnic community on both sides of the river, necessitating the presence of troops and police checkpoints around individual areas of the city and even in front of individual buildings.
On 17 March 2004, the drowning of three Albanian children in the river prompted major ethnic violence in the town and a Serbian teenager was killed. Demonstrations by thousands of angry Albanians and Serbs mobilised to stop them crossing the river degenerated into rioting and gunfire, leaving at least eight Albanians dead and at least 300 injured. The bloodshed sparked off the worst unrest in Kosovo seen since the end of the 1999 war (in which 16 Serbs were killed).
The local prison was the scene of an international incident on 18 April 2004 when a Jordanian policeman working as a UN prison guard opened fire on a group of UN police officers leaving a class, killing three.
=== After Kosovo's independence ===
Tensions rose considerably in the city of Mitrovica after Kosovo declared independence on 17 February 2008. Some 150 Kosovo Serb police officers refused to take orders from the ethnic Albanian authorities and were suspended. Serb protesters prevented ethnic Albanian court employees from crossing the bridge over the Ibar River. UN police raided and seized the courthouse on 14 March using tear gas against Serbs and leaving some of them wounded. The explosion of a hand-grenade injured several UN and NATO staff on 17 March; UN forces were later withdrawn from the northern part of Mitrovica.
The Serbian minority initially formed the Community Assembly of Kosovo and Metohija in the city, but it has no police force. Serbs refused to accept the jurisdiction of Kosovo courts.
Kosovar leaders have expressed concern over the future of the region, stating their commitment to keep Mitrovica part of Kosovo and prevent crime or war there. With the 2013 Brussels Agreement Kosovo Serbs accepted the Pristina-run police force and courts and vote on ballots with republic of Kosovo logos. Elected Serbs swear oaths to Republic of Kosovo.
Since 2012 the northern and the southern part of the city, and in particular the New Bridge over the Ibar River are patrolled 24/7 by Italian Carabinieri from KFOR-MSU.
== Demography ==
The city of Mitrovica in 2024 had 72,662 inhabitants, 64,742 of which were living in the southern municipality, while 7,920 in North Mitrovica municipality. Kosovo Agency of Statistics, in cooperation with international experts, has evaluated the population in the four Serb-majority municipalities of North Kosovo. This assessment was necessary due to a significant boycott of the census, driven by calls from Serbian political entities. Based on this evaluation, North of Mitrovica in 2024 had 7,920 inhabitants.
According to KAS, in 2011, 58,458 inhabitants were living in the urban area of the city: 46,132 of them in southern municipality, 12,326 in the north.
The Kosovo war and post-war conflicts, the destruction of economy, especially the operating stoppage of industrial sector, as well as other socio-economic factors, have influenced high emigration (both internal and external). After 1948 (32,800 inhabitants) the city had continual high population growth tripling by 1991 to 104,885 inhabitants, but in 2011 only 84,235 inhabitants were living in Mitrovica, a decrease of 19.29% from 1991.
In 2015, a wave of mass migration of approximately 100,000 Kosovo people occurred towards Western Europe with the total population of Kosovo declining by almost 5%. During this period, 4,889 people fled south Mitrovica, which resulted in a population decline to 68,400 inhabitants. By 2015 the population of North Mitrovica municipality slightly increased to 12,223 inhabitants. In total, according to Kosovo Agency of Statistics estimation, at the end of 2015, 80,623 people were living in the city of Mitrovica.
=== Ethnic groups ===
Mitrovica as a whole is characterized with a large ethnic diversity, dominated by Albanians and followed by Serbs, Ashkali, Bosniaks, Roma, Turks, and other ethnic groups. In 2024 census conducted by Kosovo Agency of Statistics, in both municipalities of Mitrovica live 72,662 inhabitants.
According to 2024 census, in south municipality of Mitrovica, of 64,742 inhabitants Albanians made 96.8%, while other ethnic groups were Ashkali, Roma, Bosniaks Turks, Egyptians, Serbs, Gorani and others. Only 18 Serbs lived in south Mitrovica municipality in 2024.
Based on the evaluation of the population in the four Serb-majority municipalities of North Kosovo, North of Mitrovica in 2024 had 7,920 inhabitants, of which, 5,594 were Serbian, 1,489 were Albanian, 360 Bosniaks, 104 Gorani, 85 Turks, 29 Ashkali, 1 Roma, and 221 others.
=== Religion ===
The main religious group is Muslim. Small numbers of Serbian Orthodox and Roman Catholics exist in the city. Albanians, Bosniaks, Turks, Roma and other smaller ethnic groups are mainly Muslim.
In the results of 2011 census, 71,422 people or 99.32% of total population of southern municipality of Mitrovica, were Muslims. Orthodox Christians comprised 11 or 0.02% of total population of municipality, while Catholics comprised 42 or 0.06%.
As North Mitrovica municipality was not covered by population estimation in 2011 by Kosovo Agency of Statistics, there are no official data on religion.
== Economy ==
The Trepça Mines are located in Mitrovica. Once one of Europe's largest mines, its production has since dwindled and most of its operations closed off following the war. Due to Mitrovica's political instability and divisions between the Albanian and Serb communities, the city's unemployment rate is 65%. Publicly owned enterprises and local administration is largely responsible for the functioning of the economy, along with Serbian government assistance and EU donations.
== Infrastructure ==
=== Education ===
In the southern municipality of Mitrovica there are 31 primary and lower secondary schools, which, since some of the schools function in separate parallels in different areas, operate in 42 educational facilities. In the southern municipality exists also 5 upper secondary schools. Although there is only one kindergarten, it has a large capacity, available for 300 kids. The higher education is also provided through the Public University of Mitrovica "Isa Boletini" and University of Applied Sciences.
In North Mitrovica there are 11 primary schools, four secondary schools and one kindergarten. Regarding the higher education institutions:
• The public University of Pristina is functional. It hold the name University of Priština after the Serbian faculties of the University of Pristina were relocated from Pristina to North Mitrovica after the Kosovo War. However, many institutions refer to it as University of Mitrovica, including UNMIK and EUA.• The public International Business College Mitrovica (IBC-M) with 2 campuses, in both municipalities of Mitrovica. IBC-M was founded in 2010 and became public in July 2023 after the formal ratification of its new status by the Kosovo Parliament.• The private college "Fama" in South-Mitrovica.
=== Energy ===
The Bajgora Wind Farm is located in the village of Bajgorë in Mitrovica. It is the largest wind farm in Kosovo consisting of 27 turbines, with a total installed capacity of 102.6 MW. The wind farm produces approximately 320 GWh of electricity annually and it costed around €157 million.
== Culture ==
Mitrovica is one of the most important cultural centers in Kosovo. The city has the Cultural Center “Rexhep Mitrovica”, City Library “Latif Berisha”,City Museum of Mitrovica, the Professional City Theater, various ensembles, several galleries, and alternative social/cultural spaces. Additionally, it is home to many sports clubs and venues, including the Adem Jashari Olympic Stadium, Riza Lushta Stadium, Fatime Xhaka Stadium, Minatori Sports Hall and Omni Sports Center.
In the village of Stantërg, the National Museum of Crystals and Minerals is located with over 2000 exhibits of various types of crystals from the mines of the area.
The municipality of Mitrovica has seven public libraries with a collection of 152,858 books. The main library of Mitrovica has collections of 111,546, while the branch libraries have 41,312 books. The war and violent Serbian measures during the 1990s have damaged the libraries of this city in Bare, Vllahi, Banjë and Ibër with 27,061 books.
Among the most important historical monuments in the region are the 13th century remains of St. Peter's Catholic Church, the 14th century monasteries of Banjska and Sokolica, and the mosque of Mazhiq, Zveçan Fortress and Rashan and Isa Boletini Towers Complex, all located outside of the city. In the city several buildings from the past few centuries have remained, such as the former Jadran Hotel building, the house of Xhafer Deva, the Ottoman period city hamam, the house of Koroglu Family, several house buildings of Xhafer Deva, the former Jadran Hotel, the cultural house, and the Miners Monument.Ura e Ibrit has become a symbol of division and the city's main landmark.
=== Sights ===
The strategic position of the region of Mitrovica in the middle of two great rivers Ibar and Sitnica and its mineral wealth in Albanik (Monte Argentarum), made this location populated since prehistoric period. This region was populated by Illyrians, respectively Dardan tribe. The first data for the archaeological sites in the region of Mitrovica, begin with the researches of Sir Arthur John Evans, who was the first to pinpoint the Roman town of the Municipium Dardanorum.
In the archaeological sites of the region of Mitrovica were found traces and objects from different periods such as; Neolithic, Roman, late antiquity and medieval period. Objects and figurines include: fortress vestiges, necropolis, Terpsichore figure, statues, sarcophagus, altar, jewellery, etc.
=== Sports ===
Mitrovica is the home to several sports club while the most known and most successful clubs are those representing Trepça. KF Trepça and KF Trepça'89 (Minatori 89) the two southern club's play in the Football Superleague of Kosovo and won many titles being part of best clubs in the country. KF Trepça plays at the Adem Jashari Olympic Stadium, which hosted Kosovo's first FIFA-recognized friendly international football match on 5 March 2014, playing 0–0 against Haiti. Other active football clubs are KF Mitrovica or KF Bardhi while KF Remonti, KF Shala, KF Bashkimi Shipol, KF Elektroliza or KF Birliku are defunct clubs. The football women's club is called KFF Mitrovica and is the most successful club in the country. Basketball is also a popular sport in the city and is represented by KB Trepça which is one of the top three clubs in Kosovo. Handball is represented by KH Trepça.
== Notable people ==
== Twin towns – sister cities ==
Mitrovica is twinned with:
== See also ==
Populated places in Kosovo by Albanian name
Monuments in Mitrovica
== Annotations ==
== References ==
== External links ==
Photo essay about serbian part of Mitrovica (2011) Archived 30 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine
OSCE:Profile of Mitrovicë / Mitrovica
HCIC, Mitrovica Situation – HCIC, UNHCR, WEU, KFOR (22 Mar 2000)
Mitrovica Situation – HCIC, UNHCR, WEU, KFOR (24 Feb 2000)
Mitrovica: North and South of a Divided City Video about displacement and reconstruction in Mitrovica.
Burning of St. Sava church in south Mitrovica 17 March
Andrew Purvis (4 June 2008). "Postcard from Mitrovica: Almost Mellow at Kosovo's Front-Line Cafe". TIME Magazine. Archived from the original on 6 June 2008. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
ESI report: People Or Territory? A Proposal For Mitrovica (16 February 2004) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Alcala | Rodney Alcala | Rodney James Alcala (born Rodrigo Jacques Alcala; August 23, 1943 – July 24, 2021), also known as John Berger and John Burger, was an American serial killer and convicted sex offender who was sentenced to death in California for five murders committed between 1977 and 1979. He pleaded guilty and received a sentence of twenty-five years to life for two further murders committed in New York State. He was also indicted for one murder in Wyoming, although the charges filed there were dropped. While Alcala has been conclusively linked to nine murders, the true number of victims remains unknown and could be as high as 130.
Alcala compiled a collection of more than 1,000 photographs of women, teenage girls and boys, many in sexually explicit poses. In 2016 he was charged with the 1977 murder of a woman identified in one of his photos. Alcala is known to have assaulted one other photo subject and police have speculated that others could be rape or murder victims as well.
Prosecutors have said that Alcala "toyed" with his victims, strangling them until they lost consciousness then waiting until they revived, sometimes repeating this process several times before finally killing them. One police detective described Alcala as "a killing machine," and others have compared him to Ted Bundy. He is often referred to as the Dating Game Killer, as he appeared as a contestant on the television show The Dating Game in 1978, during his murder spree.
== Early life ==
Rodney Alcala was born on August 23, 1943, in San Antonio, Texas, the third of four children born to a Mexican American couple, Raul Alcala Buquor and Anna Maria Gutierrez. Alcala's father moved the family to Mexico in 1951, then abandoned them three years later.
In 1954, when he was aged 11, Alcala's mother moved him and his two sisters to suburban Los Angeles. Alcala was an academically gifted student who was reasonably popular among his peers and was supported by his family. He attended various private schools in the Los Angeles area during his youth and graduated from Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary High School, where he was on the yearbook planning committee and on the track and cross-country teams.
In 1961, at the age of 17, Alcala joined the United States Army to become a paratrooper and served as a clerk. During his service, Alcala was noted for being manipulative, vindictive and insubordinate, and he was disciplined on several occasions for assaulting young women. In 1964, after what was described as a nervous breakdown—during which he went AWOL and hitchhiked from Fort Bragg in North Carolina to his mother's house in California—Alcala was diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder and estimated to have an IQ of 135 by a military psychiatrist. He was subsequently discharged from the Army on medical grounds. Other diagnoses later proposed by various psychiatric experts at his trials included: narcissistic personality disorder, borderline personality disorder and malignant narcissism with psychopathy and sexual sadism comorbidities.
After being discharged from the Army, Alcala graduated from the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture. It was later claimed that he studied film under Roman Polanski at New York University (NYU). but this is not true and he never met Polanski during his time at NYU.
== Criminal history ==
=== Shapiro assault ===
On September 25, 1968, a passing motorist named Donald Haines called police after witnessing Alcala lure Tali Shapiro, aged eight, into his Hollywood apartment. Shapiro, who was residing at the Chateau Marmont with her family, was approached by Alcala on her way to school when he pulled up beside her in his car and asked if she needed a ride. Shapiro initially refused, but when she heard him say that he knew her parents, she got into his car. Alcala then took her to his apartment, where he told Shapiro he wanted to show her a picture. When the police arrived, Shapiro was found alive in a pool of her own blood, having been raped and beaten with a steel bar; Alcala had fled. Shapiro was in a coma for 32 days, and spent months in recovery.
=== Crilley murder ===
To evade the arrest warrant stemming from the Shapiro assault, Alcala left California and enrolled at NYU, using the name "John Berger." Cornelia Crilley, a 23-year-old Trans World Airlines flight attendant, was found raped and murdered in her Manhattan apartment on June 12, 1971. Alcala had strangled her with her own nylon stockings, leaving her dead in her apartment at 427 East 83rd Street. It is believed that Crilley met Alcala as she moved into her new apartment and she accepted his help in moving some furniture. Her murder remained unsolved until 2011.
=== Identification, arrest, and conviction ===
In 1971, Alcala obtained a job at a New Hampshire arts camp (Camp New Beginnings in the village of Georges Mills on Lake Sunapee) as a counselor for children using a slightly different alias, "John Burger." The FBI added Alcala to its list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives in early 1971. A few months later, two campers at the arts camp noticed his photo on an FBI poster at the post office. That August, Alcala was arrested and extradited to California. By then, Tali Shapiro's parents had relocated their entire family to Mexico and refused to allow Shapiro to testify at the trial. Without their primary witness, prosecutors were unwilling to charge Alcala with rape and attempted murder; he was instead convicted of child molestation, then a lesser charge, and sentenced to three years. Alcala was paroled in 1974 after thirty-four months.
=== Release and re-arrest ===
Less than two months after his release, Alcala was re-arrested and convicted for assaulting a 13-year-old girl identified in court records as "Julie J.", who had accepted what she thought would be a ride to school. Alcala was again paroled after serving two years, and released in 1977 as a registered sex offender.
=== Hover disappearance ===
After Alcala's second release in 1977, his Los Angeles parole officer made the unusual choice of permitting a repeat offender— and known flight risk — to travel to New York City. New York Police Department investigators now believe that a week after returning to Manhattan, Alcala killed Ellen Jane Hover, 23-year-old daughter of nightclub owner Herman Hover and goddaughter of Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. Hover was last seen at her New York apartment on July 15, 1977. Her datebook showed that she had an appointment to meet with one "John Berger" that same day.
Later in 1977, the FBI received a tip about Alcala's 1971 arrest in New Hampshire, related to the Shapiro case in California. Alcala admitted under questioning to knowing Hover, but investigators could not arrest him, since they had not found her body. Her remains were discovered in 1978 buried under heavy rocks on a hillside overlooking the Hudson River, near a location on the John D. Rockefeller Estate where an aspiring model would later report that "Berger" had taken photos of her.
=== Move to Los Angeles ===
In 1977, Alcala worked briefly at the Los Angeles Times as a typesetter, and was interviewed by members of the Hillside Strangler task force as part of their investigation of known sex offenders. Although Alcala was ruled out as the Strangler, he was arrested and served a brief sentence for marijuana possession. During this period, Alcala convinced hundreds of young men and women that he was a professional fashion photographer and took pictures of them for his "portfolio".
A Times co-worker later recalled that Alcala shared his photos with workmates: "I thought it was weird, but I was young; I didn't know anything," she said. "When I asked why he took the photos, he said their moms asked him to. I remember the girls were naked." Liane Leedom, who was 17 when Alcala photographed her in 1979, reported that, "He said he was a professional, so in my mind I was being a model for him." Leedom further reported that the portfolio Alcala shared with her also included "spread after spread of [naked] teenage boys."
=== Dating Game appearance ===
In 1978, in the midst of his killing spree, Alcala was a contestant on the popular game show The Dating Game. Host Jim Lange introduced him as a "successful photographer...between takes you might find him skydiving or motorcycling." Jed Mills, a fellow "bachelor" contestant on the episode, later described Alcala as a "very strange guy" with "bizarre opinions". Alcala won the competition, and a date with the episode's bachelorette, Cheryl Bradshaw, who subsequently refused to go out with him because she found him "creepy".
=== California crime spree ===
On November 9, 1977, Alcala murdered Jill Terry Barcomb, an 18-year-old girl from Oneida, New York, and disposed of her body on a dirt path near Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles. Barcomb was found in a knee-to-chest position and naked from the waist down. There were signs of sexual assault, and she had been strangled with a pair of blue rope ties and beaten. She also had three bite marks on her right breast. Initially, authorities believed Barcomb was a victim of the Hillside Strangler. However, after the arrests of Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono—neither of whom confessed to or were convicted of her murder — authorities determined that her case was unrelated.
On December 16, 1977, 27-year-old nurse Georgia Marie Wixted was discovered dead in her Malibu apartment. She was last seen when she drove another nurse, Barbara Gale, home from a bar. When Wixted did not show up for work the next day, Gale and their co-workers reported her missing. Police arrived at Wixted's apartment to find signs of forced entry. Wixted was posed naked on her bedroom floor, strangled with her nylons. She had been sexually assaulted, her skull had been bashed in and her genitals had been mutilated. Prosecutors later used DNA evidence and a handprint found at the scene to convict Alcala.
On June 24, 1978, Charlotte Lee Lamb, a 32-year-old legal secretary from Santa Monica, was found dead in the laundry room of the apartment complex where she was living in El Segundo. She had been sexually assaulted, beaten and strangled with a shoelace and was posed with her hands behind her back. DNA at the scene would match that of Alcala and DNA on a pair of earrings found in his storage locker after Robin Christine Samsoe's 1979 murder would eventually prove to match Lamb's DNA.
On February 14, 1979, Alcala picked up 15-year-old hitchhiker Monique Hoyt in Riverside County. He drove Hoyt to his apartment, where he raped her. They then traveled to a secluded mountainous area in Joshua Tree, California, where Alcala took photos of her in her underwear as well as photos of him raping her once again. He bound and gagged her and began a sustained assault, which included further rape and sodomy. Alcala bludgeoned Hoyt in the head with a rock, but Hoyt escaped when Alcala entered a gas station bathroom on the drive back to Riverside County. Hoyt filed a police report about her attack, and Alcala was arrested, but his mother posted his bail.
On June 13, 1979, Jill Marie Parenteau, a 21-year-old computer keypunch operator, left work early to go to a baseball game. When she did not make it to work the following morning, police went to her Burbank apartment and found signs of forced entry. Parenteau was dead, naked on her bathroom floor. She was posed with pillows under her shoulders. She had been sexually assaulted, beaten and strangled. Her killer cut himself crawling through a window and blood evidence would later identify Alcala as the perpetrator. Parenteau's friend, Katharine Bryant, testified that she and Parenteau had met Alcala at a club several times before.
On June 20, 1979, Robin Christine Samsoe, a 12-year-old girl from Huntington Beach, disappeared as she rode a borrowed bicycle from her Huntington Beach home to her ballet class. Her decomposing body was found 12 days later in the Los Angeles foothills, dumped off Santa Anita Canyon Road. She had been beaten, raped and stabbed with a knife. Samsoe's friends told police that a stranger had approached them on the beach asking to take their pictures. Detectives circulated a sketch of the photographer, and Alcala's parole officer recognized him.
== Arrest, trials and conviction ==
Alcala was arrested in July 1979 and held without bail. He went on trial for Samsoe's murder, was found guilty in May 1980 and sentenced to death in June. However, the verdict was overturned by the California Supreme Court in 1984 because jurors had been improperly informed of his prior sex crimes. In May 1986, after a second trial virtually identical to the first except for omission of the prior criminal record testimony, he was again convicted and sentenced to death in August.
In 1992, the California Supreme Court upheld the verdict, but Alcala filed a federal habeas corpus petition; and in 2001, a United States district court judge granted it, overturning Alcala's second conviction. That decision was upheld in 2003 by a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel, in part because a witness was not allowed to support Alcala's contention that the park ranger who found Samsoe's body had been "hypnotized by police investigators".
While preparing for their third prosecution in 2003, Orange County investigators learned that Alcala's DNA, sampled under a new state law over his objections, matched semen left at the rape-murder scenes of two women in Los Angeles. Additional evidence, including another cold case DNA match in 2004, led to Alcala's indictment for the murders of four additional women: Jill Barcomb, 18, a New York runaway found "rolled up like a ball" in a Los Angeles ravine in 1977, and originally thought to have been a victim of the Hillside Strangler; Georgia Wixted, 27, bludgeoned in her Malibu apartment in 1977; Charlotte Lamb, 31, raped, strangled and left in the laundry room of her El Segundo apartment complex in 1978; and Jill Parenteau, 21, killed in her Burbank apartment in 1979.
All of the bodies were found "posed...in carefully chosen positions". Another pair of earrings found in Alcala's Seattle storage locker had residue that matched Lamb's DNA. During his incarceration between the second and third trials, Alcala wrote and self-published a book, You, the Jury, in which he claimed innocence in the Samsoe case and suggested a different suspect. He also filed two lawsuits against the California penal system for a slip-and-fall incident and for refusing to provide him a low-fat diet.
In 2003, prosecutors entered a motion to join the Samsoe charges with those of the four newly discovered victims. Alcala's attorneys contested it. As one of them explained, "If you're a juror and you hear one murder case, you may be able to have reasonable doubt but it's very hard to say you have reasonable doubt on all five, especially when four of the five aren't alleged by eyewitnesses but are proven by DNA matches." In 2006, the California Supreme Court ruled in the prosecution's favor and in February 2010, Alcala stood trial on the five joined charges.
For the third trial, Alcala elected to act as his own attorney. He took the stand in his own defense, and for five hours played the roles of both interrogator and witness, asking himself questions and addressing himself as "Mr. Alcala" in a deeper-than-normal voice, followed by answering them. During this self-questioning and answering session, he told jurors, often in a rambling monotone, that he was at Knott's Berry Farm applying for a job as a photographer at the time Samsoe was kidnapped. He showed the jury a portion of his 1978 appearance on The Dating Game in an attempt to prove that the earrings found in his Seattle locker were his, not Samsoe's. Jed Mills, the actor who competed against Alcala on the show, told a reporter that earrings were not yet a socially acceptable accoutrement for men in 1978. "I had never seen a man with an earring in his ear," he said. "I would have noticed them on him."
Alcala made no significant attempt to dispute the four added charges, other than to assert that he could not remember killing any of the women. As part of his closing argument, he played the Arlo Guthrie song "Alice's Restaurant", in which the protagonist tells a psychiatrist that he wants to "kill". After less than two days, the jury convicted him on all five counts of first-degree murder. A surprise witness during the penalty phase of the trial was Shapiro. Richard Rappaport, a psychiatrist paid by Alcala and the only defense witness, testified that borderline personality disorder could explain Alcala's claims that he had no memory of committing the murders. The prosecutor argued that Alcala was a "sexual predator" who "knew what he was doing was wrong and didn't care". In March 2010, Alcala was sentenced to death for a third time.
After his 2010 conviction, New York authorities announced that they would no longer pursue Alcala because of his status as a convict awaiting execution. Nevertheless, in January 2011, a Manhattan grand jury indicted him for the murders of Crilley and Hover in 1971 and 1977. In June 2012, he was extradited to New York, where he initially entered not guilty pleas on both counts. In December 2012, he changed both pleas to guilty, citing a desire to return to California to pursue appeals of his death penalty conviction. On January 7, 2013, a Manhattan judge sentenced Alcala to an additional 25 years to life. The death penalty has not been an option in New York State since 2007.
== Additional victims ==
=== Unidentified photographs ===
In March 2010, the Huntington Beach, California and New York City Police Departments released 120 of Alcala's photographs and sought the public's help in identifying them in the hope of determining if any of the women and children he photographed were additional victims. Approximately 900 additional photos could not be made public, police said, because they were too sexually explicit. In the first few weeks, police reported that approximately 21 women had come forward to identify themselves, and "at least six families" said they believed they recognized loved ones who "disappeared years ago and were never found". None of the photos were unequivocally connected to a missing person case or unsolved murder until 2013. One hundred and ten of the original photos remain posted online, and police continue to solicit the public's help with further identifications. Most of the subjects remain unidentified. Police fear that some of the subjects may be additional cold case victims.
=== Morgan Rowan ===
Following Alcala's death in 2021, 68-year-old Morgan Rowan contacted Steve Hodel, one of the original investigators on the Shapiro case, and described being attacked by Alcala in July 1968, when she was 16. Rowan claimed that while she was living in Hollywood, she was approached by Alcala at a teen nightclub on the Sunset Strip and entered his car believing he would be driving to an IHOP restaurant. Instead, Alcala drove to his apartment a few blocks away, where he said he was having a party. When they arrived, Alcala dragged Rowan into his bedroom, barred the door, and then beat and raped her. Rowan was rescued by friends and acquaintances who broke into the room through a window. Alcala fled, and Rowan was pulled from the apartment by her friends.
=== Pamela Lambson ===
In March 2011, investigators in Marin County, California, north of San Francisco, announced that they were "confident" that Alcala was responsible for the October 9, 1977, murder of 19-year-old Pamela Jean "Pam" Lambson, who disappeared after making a trip to Fisherman's Wharf to meet a man who had offered to photograph her. Her battered, naked body was subsequently found in Marin County near a hiking trail. With no fingerprints or usable DNA, charges were never filed, but police claimed that there was sufficient evidence to convince them that Alcala committed the crime.
=== Christine Thornton ===
In September 2016, Alcala was charged with the murder of 28-year-old Christine Ruth Thornton. Thornton and her lover moved away from her family to live in San Antonio, Texas. After they split up in Biloxi, Mississippi, in June 1977, she was last seen hitchhiking and was never heard from again. In 2013, an image made public by Huntington Beach PD and NYPD of a dark-haired woman riding a motorcycle while wearing a yellow shirt was recognised by Thornton's sister.
Her body was found in 1982 near Granger, Wyoming, approximately 6 miles from Interstate 80, but was not identified until 2015 when DNA supplied by Thornton's relatives matched tissue samples from her remains. Alcala admitted taking the photo, but not to killing the woman, who was approximately six months pregnant at the time of her death. Thornton is the first alleged murder victim linked to the Alcala photos made public in 2010. The 73-year-old Alcala was reportedly too ill to make the journey from California to Wyoming to stand trial on the new charges.
=== Other cases ===
In 2010, Seattle police named Alcala as a "person of interest" in several unsolved murders in Washington state since Alcala had rented a Seattle-area storage locker in which investigators later found jewelry belonging to two of his California victims in 1979. Other cold cases were reportedly targeted for reinvestigation in California, New York, New Hampshire, and Arizona.
Cherry Ann Greenman, 20, was last seen in Waterville, Washington, on September 14, 1976, after she was released from Douglas County Jail. A photograph found in Alcala's locker was shown to Greenman's family and they confirmed it was not her.
Antoinette Jean Whitaker, 13, was a student who had been living in a foster home when she walked out with an unidentified man on the night of July 9, 1977. A week later, her body was found, fully clothed and propped up on her hands and knees, in a vacant lot in Lake City, Seattle. She had been stabbed to death; there was no evidence that she had been sexually assaulted.
On February 17, 1978, Joyce Francine Gaunt, 17, was found at a picnic area at Seward Park, Seattle. She was nude and lying on her face; her skull had been crushed. The developmentally disabled teen had also been beaten, strangled and sexually assaulted. She had been living in a group home on Capitol Hill when she was last seen leaving to meet with an unidentified man on February 16.
== Death ==
While on California's death row, Alcala died of a heart attack at a hospital in Kings County on July 24, 2021, at age 77.
== In media ==
In 2010, the true crime series 48 Hours Mystery broadcast on CBS did an episode about Alcala called Rodney Alcala: The Killing Game. In 2017, the true crime series Murder Made Me Famous broadcast on Reelz did an episode about Alcala called The Dating Game Killer. In 2021, the series 20/20 broadcast on ABC did an episode about Alcala called The Dating Game Killer.
In 2017, a biographical film about Alcala's life titled The Dating Game Killer was directed by Peter Medak and broadcast on the American television network Investigation Discovery.
In 2022, a three-part television documentary series about Alcala was released by Sky Crime Original called Dating Death.
In 2024, Netflix released a biographical film, titled Woman of the Hour, directed by and starring Anna Kendrick. The film depicts several of Alcala's murders as well as his appearance on The Dating Game in the midst of his killing spree.
== See also ==
John Cooper, Welsh serial killer who appeared as a game-show contestant
François Vérove, French serial killer who appeared as a game-show contestant
Horace Van Vaultz, American serial killer who retained dozens of photographs of women in his home
List of serial killers by number of victims
List of serial killers in the United States
== References ==
== External links ==
"Federal Judge Overturns Alcala Conviction 2001", Los Angeles Times
Rodney Alcala at IMDb
"'48 Hours Mystery:' Rodney Alcala's Killing Game", CBS Archived November 21, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
"Serial Killer's Secret Photos", CBS Archived October 24, 2013, at the Wayback Machine |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_of_Yuna_and_Minu_Jo#Discovery_and_investigation | Deaths of Yuna and Minu Jo | In August 2022 the bodies of two children, Yuna and Minu Jo, were found in suitcases in Auckland, New Zealand. The suitcases were bought from the sale of an abandoned storage unit where the bodies are suspected to have been stored for multiple years. In September 2022, Hakyung Lee, the mother of the children, was arrested in South Korea. She was extradited to New Zealand, and has been charged with the children's murder. Her trial started on 8 September 2025. Following a two-week trial, Lee was convicted of murdering her two children on 23 September 2025. She was sentenced to life imprisonment on 26 November 2025.
== Hakyung Lee ==
=== Early life and family ===
The defendant, Hakyung Lee, who was born Ji Eun Lee, is the mother of the two victims, who were subsequently identified as Minu and Yuna Jo in September 2023. Lee migrated with her family from South Korea to New Zealand in 1993 at the age of 13. Following the death of her father in 1998, Lee returned to Korea for her university education at the age of 18 years. After two years in South Korea, she subsequently returned to New Zealand to study hospitality and met her future husband Ian Jo at a church, where she also served as a Sunday school teacher. In 2006, the couple married. The couple lived in an apartment before moving to a house in West Auckland.
Lee's daughter, Yuna Jo, was born in September 2009 while her son Minu Jo was born in March 2012. The son Minu had a speech impediment caused by cleft palate. The couple settled in a house in Papatoetoe following the birth of their children. The children attended Papatoetoe South School. According to teacher Mary Robinson, the children were well-behaved. She described Lee and Ian Jo as "caring parents" who were interested in their children's education. While Jo worked as a supervisor at Auckland Airport, Lee became a homestay mother for their two children.
=== Husband's death and mental health deterioration ===
In November 2017, Ian Jo died from cancer. Lee was grief-stricken following her husband's death and did not inform her children that their father had died. In the months following Jo's death, Lee became suicidal, isolated and allegedly insane. Lee also told her mother that she wanted herself and her children to die with her late husband. In December 2017, Lee took her children on a two-month holiday in South Korea, staying at luxury hotels and spending NZ$32,000. In April 2018, Lee also stayed at a Hilton hotel in Taupō. In May 2018, Lee and her children travelled to the Gold Coast in Australia where they stayed at another Hilton hotel. In mid June 2018, Lee and her two children visited Queenstown in the South Island where they stayed at a Hilton hotel and visited several restaurants. The children were last seen by relatives on 26 April 2018.
=== Children's deaths ===
According to Stuff and Radio New Zealand, the children last logged into Minecraft on 27 June 2018, where they each gained trophies. Minu was later found wearing underwear with "Wednesday" written on it. Lee killed her children around late June 2018 by serving them juice mixed with the antidepressant drug Nortriptyline. The children did not awake from their sleep. Following their deaths, she wrapped and hid their bodies inside suitcases in a storage unit. Due to the condition of their remains, the pathologist was unable to determine whether the children died from the drug or were incapacitated by the drug, and killed by other means. While both the prosecution and defence agree that Lee caused her children's deaths, they disagree on whether she was insane at the time.
=== Relocation to Korea ===
Following her children's deaths, Lee attempted suicide. While Lee said that she later regretted her actions, she claimed that she believed that she was doing the right thing at the time. Due to self loathing and guilt stemming from killing her children, Lee changed her name from Ji Eun Lee to Hakyung Lee. She returned to South Korea on a business class flight in July 2018. According to Stuff, Lee also spent money on beauty treatments in order to start a new life in Korea. While in Korea, Lee went to a clinic where she was diagnosed with depression and prescribed medication. In 2021, Lee began dating a man whom she met via a dating app. Lee described this relationship as traumatic and alleged that the man assaulted her.
In mid-June 2022, Lee's mother Choon Ja Lee learnt from her pastor that her daughter was a patient at a psychiatric ward of a South Korean hospital. Lee's mother subsequently visited her daughter in Korea. During their visit, Lee did not disclose the whereabouts of her children but asked her mother to buy her contact lenses, clothes and a phone. Following her return to New Zealand, Lee's mother was contacted by Police about the discovery of her grandchildren's remains.
== Discovery and investigation ==
On 11 August 2022, human remains were found in two suitcases in Moncrieff Ave, Clendon Park. The suitcases were bought by a family as part of a storage unit auction from Safe Store Papatoetoe. The family brought the suitcases home along with other household objects. They smelled something strange, opened one of the suitcase, discovered a body later identified as Minu Jo, then called the police. New Zealand Police confirmed the family who bought the suitcases were not connected to the children's deaths.
On 26 August, Police said the children may have been dead for up to four years. In late September 2023, interim name suppression of the children was lifted by Coroner Tania Tetitaha. Their names were Minu Jo, who was born in March 2012, and Yuna Jo, who was born in September 2009. At the time of their deaths, the children were aged about six and eight years respectively.
=== Arrest and extradition ===
On 22 August 2022, New Zealand Police confirmed that they were aware that the children's mother had returned to South Korea in 2018. On 15 September 2022 the arrest of the children's mother in Ulsan, South Korea was announced. New Zealand authorities commenced extradition proceedings through the South Korean court system. The woman was arrested by Korean police on suspicion of "crimes against humanity", and will face two murder charges in New Zealand.
In November 2022, the South Korean Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon approved the suspect's extradition. Earlier, the Seoul High Court had approved the woman's extradition after she had granted written consent. On 29 November, the children's mother was extradited by South Korean authorities, who also submitted "significant pieces of evidence" to their New Zealand counterparts.
== Legal proceedings and trial ==
=== Pre-trial procedures ===
On 30 November 2022, the suspect appeared at the Manukau District Court in South Auckland where she entered no plea. She was remanded into custody and the identities of the suspect, her children, and an unidentified relative were suppressed. On 14 December, she pleaded not guilty and was remanded in custody. On 3 May 2023, during an administrative hearing she said "I'm going to prove my innocence". On 8 May, her lawyers argued for continued name suppression in the Court of Appeals.
On 19 July 2023, the suspect was identified as Hakyung Lee, the mother of the two children. The New Zealand Court of Appeal lifted name suppression, rejecting her lawyer Chris Wilkinson-Smith's argument that publishing her identity would result in extreme hardship, endanger her safety, and prejudice her ability to engage in court proceedings or medical assessments. Lee has denied murdering her children and has pleaded not guilty. On 25 September 2023, Coroner Tania Tetitaha lifted interim name suppression for the deceased children. In response to the lifting of name suppression, two New Zealand-based relatives applied to have their names and identifying details suppressed.
=== Arraignment ===
Lee's trial was scheduled to start on 29 April 2024, but for undisclosed legal reasons was postponed to 8 September 2025.
On 8 September 2025, Lee pleaded not guilty to two murder charges at the Auckland High Court. Justice Geoffrey Venning indicated that she would raise an insanity defence. She is representing herself with the assistance of two court-appointed lawyers Lorraine Smith and Chris Wilkinson Smith. The Crown was represented by solicitor Natalie Walker and prosecutors Jay Tausi and Jong Kim.
=== Opening arguments ===
On 9 September, trial proceedings opened with both the Crown and defence delivering their opening addresses. Walker told the court that a toxicology test of the remains of Yuna and Minu Jo had concluded that the children had died "by homicide of unspecified means associated with an antidepressant drug." Walker also told the court that Lee had been prescribed 60 Nortriptyline tablets in August 2017 after telling her doctor that she was struggling with sleeping difficulties. While both the Crown and defence agreed that Lee had caused her children's deaths and placed their remains in the suitcases inside the storage units, Walker disputed the defence argument that Lee was insane during and after her children's deaths. Walker argued that the defendant knew what she was doing was wrong, citing her behaviour following their deaths including hiring a storage unit, hiding their bodies, changing her name and returning to South Korea in July 2018 on a business class flight. She said that the Crown would be presenting evidence extracted from the children's PlayStation.
During the defence opening address, stand-by defence counsel Lorraine Smith argued that Lee was insane when she killed her two children. She told the court that Lee was driven into insanity by the loss of her husband to cancer in November 2017. The defendant became suicidal and isolated over the following months and came to believed that it was best for Yuna and Mino to die rather than face an "an unhappy and parentless future." Smith also gave a brief background into Lee's biography.
=== Trial evidence ===
The Crown summoned several witnesses including "Safe Store" staff member Shi-Hui Cong (Tracey), the children's former teacher Mary Robertson, Lee's brother-in-law Jimmy Sae Wook Cho, Cho's wife Bo Ram Lim, Lee's friend Gina Min, New Zealand Institute for Public Health and Forensic Science forensic toxicologist Helen Poulsen, the family's doctor Doctor Rama Velalagan, and the nurses Lin Ni, Kayleen Palatchie, and Natalie Woodward. Other key witnesses included Lee's mother Choon Ja Lee, forensic accountant Andrew Yoon, South Korean Detective Sergeant Sung Kyu Hwang, Detective Sergeant Ryan Singleton and digital forensic analyst Damian Govender.
The defence's sole witness was the psychiatrist Dr. Yvette Kelly, who argued that Lee met the criteria of insanity under Section 23 of the Crimes Act 1961. Kelly told the court that the defendant had confessed to killing her children by serving them juice with the anti-depressant drug Nortriptyline but argued that the defendant was legally insane at the time of the killings. In response, the Crown's rebuttal witness, forensic psychiatrist Erik Monasterio, presented evidence showing that Lee did not display symptoms of schizophrenia.
=== Closing arguments ===
On 22 September, the court heard closing arguments from both the Crown and defence. Prosecutor Walker argued that Lee was not insane when she killed her children, citing her actions following their deaths including changing her name, accessing a storage facility, cleaning and vacating her rental property, and booking a business-class flight to South Korea. She also pointed out that Lee had told several lies to her family, police and doctors about her children's deaths. Walker also argued that Lee had lied about her suicide attempts. She also cited Monasterio's testimony that the defendant did not display symptoms of psychosis or indicate that she was unaware that her actions were morally wrong.
Defence stand-by counsel Smith told the court that Lee had been mentally unwell throughout her life and that her mental state had deteriorated following the death of her husband. Smith said that Lee had made three previous suicide attempts including one following her father's death when she was 18 years old. She argued that Lee's mental health deteriorated in the seven months following the death of her husband. Consequently, Lee came to believed that the only solution was killing herself and her children. Smith argued that Lee's belief that she had caused her father and husband's death, and her son's cleft pallet demonstrated that she was "disconnected from reality."
=== Verdict ===
The jury began deliberating on 23 September. After three and half hours of deliberating, the jury convicted Lee of murdering her two children Yuna and Minu Jo. Justice Venning confirmed the verdict and remanded Lee into custody until her sentencing on 26 November. She was subsequently given a life sentence and would be eligible for parole after 17 years.
== References == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021%E2%80%9322_Premier_League | 2021–22 Premier League | The 2021–22 Premier League was the 30th season of the Premier League, the top English professional league for association football clubs since its establishment in 1992, and the 123rd season of top-flight English football overall. The start and end dates for the season were released on 25 March 2021, and the fixtures were released on 16 June 2021.
Manchester City successfully defended their title, winning for the second consecutive year, securing a sixth Premier League title and eighth English league title overall on the last day of the campaign; it was also the club's fourth title in the last five seasons.
== Summary ==
Manchester City were the defending champions, having won their fifth Premier League title during the previous season.
This season saw the return of full attendance, after the final third of the 2019–20 and the entirety of the 2020–21 seasons were held with limited or no attendance due to the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This season was the second season to feature a winter break, with no Premier League matches scheduled between 23 January and 7 February 2022.
=== The race for first place ===
The early title race was dominated by Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea, who were separated by two points by early December. By December, Chelsea led the way following a run of just one defeat in 14 matches until a shock defeat to West Ham United gave City the edge. A run of 12 consecutive victories, concluding in a victory over Chelsea that essentially ended their title hopes, gave Manchester City a 13-point lead by January (though Liverpool had two games in hand due to COVID-19 postponements). Liverpool then went on a 10-game winning run, including both their games in hand, helped by a costly 2–3 home loss for City to Tottenham Hotspur in February, to cut City's lead to a single point ahead of their meeting at the Etihad on 10 April. A 2–2 draw retained City's narrow lead going into the final weeks of the season.
=== Newcastle takeover ===
On 7 October, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund purchased an 80% stake and completed the £300m takeover of Newcastle United, ending the 14-year ownership of Mike Ashley. On 12 October 2021, an emergency meeting was convened by the other 19 Premier League clubs between themselves and the Premier League, where they voiced their anger at the league's decision to ratify the takeover; Newcastle United were the only Premier League club to be excluded from attending the meeting. On 18 November 2021, Premier League clubs voted to tighten the Premier League's financial controls in order to limit Newcastle United's spending power.
At the time of the takeover, Newcastle were in 19th position having failed to win any of their first seven games. The new ownership announced the departure of Steve Bruce and hired Eddie Howe; while Newcastle did not win a game until the 15th attempt, their form improved dramatically after five signings in the January transfer window. A run of 12 wins in their final 18 games secured an 11th place finish.
=== COVID-19 outbreaks force postponements ===
In December 2021, multiple matches were postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreaks in multiple clubs, with many clubs calling for the league to shut down until 2022. Following a meeting on 20 December involving all 20 Premier League clubs, a decision was made to fulfil the fixtures over the Christmas period "where it is safe to do so". Clubs were advised that if they had 13 fit players, plus a goalkeeper, then they should fulfil their fixtures.
=== Abramovich sanctions ===
On 2 March, Roman Abramovich announced that he planned to sell Chelsea, stating his intent to donate all proceeds of the sale to the victims of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the following days, numerous reports about interested buyers surfaced including Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, Los Angeles Dodgers and Lakers shareholder Todd Boehly, Pakistani businessman Javed Afridi, and other unnamed parties.
On 10 March, the British government froze all of Roman Abramovich's assets due to his close personal ties with Vladimir Putin, leaving Chelsea unable to sell tickets or merchandise, buy or sell players, and negotiate contracts. The UK government issued Chelsea a licence that allowed the club to continue footballing activities, ensured that employees continued to be paid, and allowed season-ticket holders to continue to attend games.
=== Final day climax ===
Going into the last day of the season, the title race, Champions League, Europa League, Conference League qualifications, and the relegation battle were all decided on the final day for the first time in Premier League history.
==== Title ====
With a one point advantage over Liverpool, Manchester City needed to match or better Liverpool's result to clinch back-to-back titles. Liverpool needed to win and hope that Manchester City dropped points to Aston Villa, managed by former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard.
Liverpool went behind to Wolves in the 3rd minute, but quickly equalised. Aston Villa took a shock 2–0 lead after 63 minutes thanks to goals from Matty Cash and Philippe Coutinho. Manchester City then scored three goals (from substitute Ilkay Gundogan and Rodri) in under six minutes to take the lead in the match. Two late goals from Liverpool's Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson meant they won their game 3–1, but their result was irrelevant as City's 3–2 comeback win over Villa confirmed City as champions for the fourth time in five seasons.
This season is mainly remembered for the great quality of play expressed by Manchester City and Liverpool, which gave rise to a fantastic title fight (as was the case in the 2018–2019 season that also ended with the Citizens' victory) but it is also true that VAR in its third season in England caused various problems, often due to a "high bar" that forced and twisted the protocol and made VAR intervene on very few occasions, the goal was to intervene in a targeted manner as UEFA did at EURO 2020, but despite the good will, some mistakes were made, among the most glaring being the failure to award a penalty in Everton-Manchester City in favour of the home team due to a handball of Rodri, an episode that affected the title race.
==== Relegation ====
Norwich City, who were promoted from the Championship last season, suffered relegation with four games to spare following a 10th loss in 12 matches, against Aston Villa. Norwich also recorded the worst goal difference since Derby County in 2007–08. The next weekend Watford, who were also promoted, were the second to go down after defeat to Crystal Palace.
The final relegation spot was contested by Everton, Burnley and Leeds United, all of whom spent time in the bottom three in the final months of the season. Everton endured a run of just three wins between October and April, but victories against Manchester United, Chelsea and Leicester City meant that victory over Crystal Palace in their final home game of the season would secure safety. Although they went 2–0 down at half time, Dominic Calvert-Lewin's goal in the 85th minute to put Everton 3–2 ahead had fans invading the pitch. Fans stormed the pitch again at full time, after avoiding what would have been the club's first relegation since 1951 and prolonging their top-flight status for a 69th year running.
Burnley and Leeds went into the final day level on 35 points, with Burnley having the edge over Leeds due to a superior goal difference. Burnley fell behind 2–0 to Newcastle, while a Raphinha penalty put Leeds ahead against Brentford in the 54th minute. A 78th minute equaliser from Brentford and a Maxwel Cornet goal gave Burnley hope of survival, but an added time winner from Jack Harrison confirmed safety for Leeds and relegated Burnley after six consecutive seasons in the Premier League.
==== Champions League, Europa League and Conference League spots ====
With Chelsea securing a top-four finish for a fourth straight season, only Tottenham and Arsenal were in the hunt for the final Champions League spot. Arsenal were in 4th with three games remaining, but Arsenal's defeats against Tottenham in the North London derby and Newcastle in their final away game combined with Tottenham victory against Burnley in their final home game saw Tottenham leapfrog them with one game remaining. Spurs just needed a point against already relegated Norwich on the final day to secure Champions League qualification for the first time in three years, and won 5–0 with two goals from Son Heung-min, who secured a joint Golden Boot with Mohamed Salah. Arsenal failed to qualify for the Champions League for a sixth season, despite beating Everton 5–1.
Manchester United suffered another difficult season, culminating in the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjær on 21 November 2021, which followed a humiliating 4–1 defeat to Watford. Ralf Rangnick would be appointed as interim manager for the rest of the season. The club ultimately finished the season in 6th, with a goal difference of zero and their worst points tally in the Premier League era, at just 58, as well as losing on the final day. United still managed to qualify for the Europa League, as West Ham's 3–1 defeat at Brighton prevented them from qualifying for back-to-back Europa League spots; they instead had to settle for a spot in the Europa Conference League.
=== Other teams ===
Brentford manager Thomas Frank had a promising first season in the Premier League. Thanks to January signing Christian Eriksen, the team won seven out of their last 11 games of the season, which included a 4–1 victory against Chelsea. The Dane guided the Bees to a 13th place finish, 11 points above the relegation zone and not spending a single week in the relegation zone.
Brighton had their best season in the top-flight with Graham Potter's side finishing ninth with a total of 51 points, despite their poor home record. Their 4–0 win against Manchester United was another new high for them, as it was also their biggest top-flight win.
== Teams ==
Twenty teams competed in the league – the top seventeen teams from the previous season and the three teams promoted from the Championship. The promoted teams were Norwich City, Watford (who both returned to the top flight after a year's absence) and Brentford (who returned to the top flight after a seventy-four year absence). This was also Brentford's first season in the Premier League. They replaced Fulham, West Bromwich Albion (both teams relegated to the Championship after just one year in the top flight) and Sheffield United (relegated after a two-year top flight spell).
=== Stadiums and locations ===
Note: Table lists in alphabetical order. Source:
=== Personnel and kits ===
a.^ Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was club captain at Arsenal until 14 December 2021, when he was stripped of the captaincy following a disciplinary breach; he was later let go by the club on 1 February. Alexandre Lacazette served as the de facto captain until early February, when he was officially named to the role.
b.^ Troy Deeney was club captain at Watford at the start of the season, but left the club on 30 August. Moussa Sissoko was named the captain following Deeney's departure.
c. ^ Three and Hyundai suspended their sponsorships of Chelsea in response to sanctions imposed on the club and Roman Abramovich following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The former does however remain on the club's shirt and will at least until a new kit is released the following season. Should the sponsorship be put back on hold, Three will remain Chelsea's shirt sponsor.
=== Managerial changes ===
== League table ==
== Results ==
== Season statistics ==
=== Top scorers ===
==== Hat-tricks ====
Notes
4 Player scored 4 goals(H) – Home team(A) – Away team
=== Clean sheets ===
=== Discipline ===
==== Player ====
Most yellow cards: 11
Junior Firpo (Leeds United)
Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa)
James Tarkowski (Burnley)
Most red cards: 2
Raúl Jiménez (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa)
==== Club ====
Most yellow cards: 101
Leeds United
Most red cards: 6
Everton
== Awards ==
=== Monthly awards ===
=== Annual awards ===
== Attendances ==
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rana_Ayyub#:~:text=In%20September%202019%2C%20Washington%20Post,to%20the%20Global%20Opinions%20section. | Rana Ayyub | Rana Ayyub (born 1 May 1984) is an Indian journalist and opinion columnist with The Washington Post. She is author of the investigative book Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up.
== Background and family ==
Rana Ayyub was born in Mumbai, India. Her father Mohammad Ayyub Waqif, was a writer with Blitz, a Mumbai-based magazine, and a member of the progressive writers movement. Her uncle, Abdul Haq Azmi, was a distinguished scholar of Hadith and served as a senior professor at Darul Uloom Deoband.
She contracted polio at the age of five, leaving her left hand and right leg immobile, and eventually recovered from the disease. When Mumbai witnessed riots in 1992–93, Ayyub's father was warned by a Sikh friend that local men were coming after his daughters. Rana, nine at the time, fled with her sister to stay with the Sikh friend's relatives for three months before reuniting with their family in Deonar, a Muslim-majority suburb, which is where she largely grew up. Ayyub is a practising Muslim.
She graduated in English literature from Sophia College, Mumbai where she was a classmate of Richa Chada and Shuchi Talati.
== Career ==
=== Investigative journalist at Tehelka ===
Ayyub worked for Tehelka (lit. "commotion/uproar"), a Delhi-based investigative and political news magazine. By her own account, a report by her was instrumental in sending Amit Shah, a close associate of Narendra Modi, to jail for several months in 2010.
At Tehelka, Ayyub worked as an investigative journalist and her big assignment was to carry out the sting operation upon which her book Gujarat Files was based. At the end of the sting operation, the management of Tehelka refused to publish any story written by Rana or based on the data collected by her. Ayyub continued to work with Tehelka for several months more. In November 2013, her boss Tarun Tejpal, the editor-in-chief and major shareholder of Tehelka, was accused of sexual harassment by one of his journalist subordinates. Ayyub resigned from Tehelka in protest against the organisation's handling of the charge against Tejpal. She now works independently.
=== Opinions writer at The Washington Post ===
In September 2019, Washington Post nominated Ayyub as Contributing Global Opinions Writer with the paper.
In 2021, on the BBC show HARDtalk, Ayyub explained that she is in a position to express critical views about the government because she writes of international media, given that Indian media publications are censoring their journalists.
In October 2020, HarperCollins India published an open letter written by Ayyub, to protest the controversial appointment of Actor Gajendra Chauhan as the Chairman of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), as part of the book Inquilab: A Decade of Protest which contains speeches, lectures and letters said to "capture the most important events and issues of the past ten years."
== Notable work ==
=== The Gujarat sting operation ===
As an investigative journalist working with Tehelka, Rana Ayyub took up a project to conduct a prolonged sting operation aimed at snaring politicians and government officials of Gujarat and get them to reveal any potential cover-ups regarding the Gujarat riots of 2002. Rana Posing as Maithili Tyagi, a filmmaker from the American Film Institute, and set about befriending her intended targets. She spent around ten months in disguise, and got paid a regular monthly salary from Tehelka during this period. However, at the end of the exercise, the management of Tehelka felt that the recordings which she had made over the months did not provide any new or sensational information, that the data gathered by her was of inadequate quality, and that they could not publish any story on the basis of the new data.
==== The book ====
In her book Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up, Ayyub documented the verbatim transcripts of recordings, made using a concealed recording device, of many bureaucrats and police officers of Gujarat. The recordings were made in the course of an undercover investigation to reveal the views of bureaucrats and police officers on encounter killings and the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat violence. Ayyub had been posing as 'Maithili Tyagi', a student of the American Film Institute, having an ideological affinity for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's beliefs, to enable her to make the recordings.
==== Dispute with Tehelka ====
Tarun Tejpal and Shoma Chaudhury have disputed Ayyub's claim that her story on fake encounters in Gujarat, which was the result of an eight-month long undercover investigation, was dropped by them. According to Tejpal, Ayyub's story was "incomplete". According to Chaudhury, Ayyub's story "did not meet the necessary editorial standards." Ayyub has responded to Tejpal and Chaudhury's assertions by noting that:I must say I am not the only one to complain about dropped stories in Tehelka, the list is fairly big… Shoma Choudhury and Tarun Tejpal of Tehelka cited editorial decisions and gaps. The book is a bestseller and is getting rave reviews for its content. Let the reader be the judge.
==== Reception ====
Historian Ramachandra Guha had called Ayyub's Gujarat Files "a brave book." Jyoti Malhotra has noted that many journalists have privately applauded Ayyub's courage in authoring Gujarat Files. Priya Ramani has commented: "The abuses from the paid foot soldiers on Twitter bounce off her spiral curls smoothly." Reflecting on the procedure used by Ayyub in composing Gujarat Files, Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay has observed: "Going undercover and interviewing many who had been in the thick of gruesome extra-constitutional operations required bravado and this must be appreciated."
Ayyub's investigation of the alleged Gujarat fake encounters has been listed by Outlook magazine as one of the twenty greatest magazine stories of all time across the world.
In 2018, Ayyub was awarded the "most Resilient Global journalist" by Dutch non-profit Free Press Unlimited for resisting attempts to stifle her work.
In the Haren Pandya murder case, the Supreme Court of India dismissed Rana Ayyub's book, stating that "it is based upon surmises, conjectures, and suppositions and has no evidentiary value." Ayyub termed the court's comments "puzzling", stating that the CBI had used her work as evidence in other related cases, and noting that no officer or bureaucrat had denied her claims or taken her to court.
=== Reporting from Kashmir ===
In 2019, Ayyub accompanied Dexter Filkins from The New Yorker on a trip to Kashmir to report on the violence by the government towards the Kashmiri population following the revocation of the special status of Kashmir by the Modi-led Indian government. Their report of torture inflicted on the Kashmiri population, including minors, sharply contrasted with official accounts from the Indian state and state media, which portrayed the region as calm. Prior to their report, the Indian government’s claims could not be verified due to a full communication blackout and a de facto curfew imposed in Kashmir.
== Controversies ==
=== Judicial proceedings ===
In February 2022, Ayyub received scrutiny after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) locked assets worth over ₹1.77 crore of hers. This was done in relation to a money laundering case filed against her, for allegedly embezzling funds she acquired from the public in the name of charity. ED stated that Ayyub had transferred those funds to other accounts for personal spendings.
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) in Mumbai has pointed out that only 10 per cent of the COVID relief funds were used for relief work, and the rest of the funds were transferred to her father's and sister's accounts and then transferred again to her personal account.
The money laundering charges against Ayyub have been described as sham charges by international observers. According to commentators, the money laundering allegations are part of a broader campaign by the Indian authorities aimed at intimidating Ayyub and silencing her criticism of Modi's government.
FIR was filed against Ayyub in Dharwad due to her alleged comments against anti-hijab protestors as Hindu terrorists.
In 2022, UN experts have called on the Indian government to stop the judicial harassment against Ayyub, that included twice freezing Ayyub's bank account. The experts labelled the accusations related to the funds raised by Ayyub for pandemic relief work as "the bogus allegations [that] can be traced back to a far-right social media group."
== Awards and recognition ==
In October 2011, Rana Ayyub received the Sanskriti award for excellence in journalism.
The 'Citation of Excellence' was conferred to Rana Ayyub in the 2017 edition of the Global Shining Light Award for her undercover investigation revealing state's top officials’ complicity during the 2002 Gujarat Riots.
Actress Richa Chadda claimed to have been inspired by Rana Ayyub, who is also her friend, in 2016 film Chalk n Duster, where she plays a journalist.
In 2018, Ayyub was awarded the Most Resilient Journalist Award by Free Press Unlimited for continuing her work "despite being harassed both online and offline and receiving death threats."
In 2019, Ayyub has been listed as one of ten global journalists who face maximum threats to their lives by the Time magazine.
In February 2020, Ayyub was awarded with McGill Medal for journalistic courage at University of Georgia's Grady College.
Ayyub is the 2020 Voices of Courage and Conscience Awardee from the Muslim Public Affairs Council of America.
In 2021, Ayyub received the Excellence in International Journalism and Human Rights Award by Texas Tech University College of Media and Communication.
In 2021, Ayyub was awarded the Overseas Press Club Award for best commentary on international news for her op-eds in The Washington Post.
On 28 June 2022, Ayyub was awarded the International John Aubuchon Award by the National Press Club.
On 23 October 2024, Ayyub was awarded Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) International Press Freedom Award.
== Threats ==
Online violence against Ayyub is primarily driven by Twitter users aligned with Hindu nationalism and the ruling BJP. An International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) report found that Twitter has failed to address the abuse against her while withholding some of her tweets at the demand of the Indian Government. As per ICFJ's analysis, Ayyub receives abuse within 14 seconds of posting a tweet.
In 2018, Ayyub was at the receiving end of multiple death and rape threats on twitter. Her personal details were made public and a deepfake pornographic video was released. In April 2018 she filed a complaint with Delhi Police, who subsequently decided to close the case in August 2020 saying that "despite efforts the culprits could not be identified yet."
Several United Nations Special Rapporteurs, associated with the Human Rights Council have intervened in her case three times, warned of the "serious risk" to her life, and called on the authorities in India to "act urgently to protect" her from death threats following an online hate campaign. The US State department's 2020 Human Rights Report specifically mentions the online trolling and death threats faced by Ayyub. In its report documenting online attacks against journalists around the world, the international non-profit Reporters Without Borders discussed the hate speech unleashed against Ayyub and called on the government and Delhi police to protect her.
In 2022, Trads (members of Hindu nationalist alt-right groups) had created Bulli Bai, an app for fake online auction of Muslim women in India with intention to denigrate and harass the minorities. Ayyub and several prominent women journalists in India were targeted. They were also targeted with thousands of hate messages by the secret app Tek Fog allegedly used by the BJP supporters. The app was used to spread right wing propaganda online.
in November 2024, Ayyub was doxxed, and her phone number was leaked by a right-wing account on X. As a result, she received hundreds of calls and messages and states that she received no respite despite filing a complaint with the police.
In November 2025, Ayyub received threats of violence against her and her father from an unknown international number. Rana claimed that these threats were made to intimidate her into writing a column on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that occurred after the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
== References ==
== External links ==
Media related to Rana Ayyub at Wikimedia Commons
Rana Ayyub on Twitter
Rana Ayyub at Washington Post |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindy_Sherman#Exhibitions | Cindy Sherman | Cynthia Morris Sherman (born January 19, 1954) is an American artist whose work consists primarily of photographic self-portraits, depicting herself in many different contexts and as various imagined characters.
Her breakthrough work is often considered to be the collection Untitled Film Stills, a series of 70 black-and-white photographs of herself evoking typical female roles in performance media (especially arthouse films and popular B-movies).
== Early life and education ==
Sherman was born in 1954, in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, the youngest of the five children of Dorothy and Charles Sherman. Shortly after her birth, her family moved to the township of Huntington, Long Island. Her father worked as an engineer for Grumman Aircraft. Her mother taught reading to children with learning difficulties. Sherman has described her mother as good to a fault, and her father as strict and cruel. She was raised Episcopalian.
In 1972, Sherman enrolled in the visual arts department at Buffalo State University, where she majored in painting. During this time, she began to explore the ideas which became a hallmark of her work: She dressed herself as different characters, cobbled together from thrift-store clothing. Frustrated with what she saw as the limitations of painting as a medium of art, she abandoned it and took up photography. "[T]here was nothing more to say [through painting]", she recalled. "I was meticulously copying other art, and then I realized I could just use a camera and put my time into an idea instead." Sherman has said about this time:
"One of the reasons I started photographing myself was that supposedly in the spring one of my teachers would take the class out to a place near Buffalo where there were waterfalls and everybody romps around without clothes on and takes pictures of each other. I thought, 'Oh, I don't want to do this. But if we're going to have to go to the woods I better deal with it early.' Luckily we never had to do that." She spent the remainder of her college education focused on photography. Though Sherman had failed a required photography class as a freshman, she repeated the course with Barbara Jo Revelle, whom she credited with introducing her to conceptual art and other contemporary forms. At college she met Robert Longo, a fellow artist who encouraged her to record her process of "dolling up" for parties. This was the beginning of her Untitled Film Stills series.
In 1974, together with Longo, Charles Clough and Nancy Dwyer, she created Hallwalls, an arts center intended as a space that would accommodate artists from diverse backgrounds. Sherman was also exposed to the contemporary art exhibited at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the two Buffalo campuses of the SUNY school system, Media Studies Buffalo, and the Center for Exploratory and Perceptual Arts, and Artpark, in nearby Lewiston, N.Y.
It was in Buffalo that Sherman encountered the photo-based conceptual works of artists Hannah Wilke, Eleanor Antin, and Adrian Piper. Along with artists like Laurie Simmons, Louise Lawler, and Barbara Kruger, Sherman is considered to be part of the Pictures Generation. She graduated with a BA in 1976.
== Photography ==
Sherman works in series, typically photographing herself in a range of costumes. To create her photographs, Sherman shoots alone in her studio, assuming multiple roles as author, director, make-up artist, hairstylist, wardrobe mistress, and model.
=== Early work ===
Bus Riders (1976–2000) is a series of photographs that feature the artist as a variety of meticulously observed characters. The photographs were shot in 1976 for the Bus Authority for display on a bus. Sherman used costumes and make-up, including blackface, to transform her identity for each image, and the cutout characters were lined up along the bus's advertising strip. Some critiques say that this work showed insensitivity to race through the use of blackface makeup while others state that it was rather with the intention of exposing racism embedded in society. The American theatre critic Margo Jefferson has written, "[The African-American figures] all have nearly the same features, too, while Ms. Sherman is able to give the white characters she impersonates a real range of skin tones and facial features. This didn't look like irony to me. It looked like a stale visual myth that was still in good working order."
Other early works involved cutout figures, such as the Murder Mystery and Play of Selves.
In her landmark photograph series Untitled Film Stills, (1977–80), Sherman appears as B-movie and film noir actresses. When asked if she considers herself to be acting in her photographs, Sherman said, "I never thought I was acting. When I became involved with close-ups I needed more information in the expression. I couldn't depend on background or atmosphere. I wanted the story to come from the face. Somehow the acting just happened."
Many of Sherman's photo series, like the 1981 Centerfolds, call attention to stereotypes of women in society, films, television and magazines. When talking about one of her centerfold pictures Sherman stated, "In content I wanted a man opening up the magazine suddenly look at it with an expectation of something lascivious and then feel like the violator that they would be looking at this woman who is perhaps a victim. I didn't think of them as victims at the time... Obviously I'm trying to make someone feel bad for having a certain expectation".
She explained to The New York Times in 1990, "I feel I'm anonymous in my work. When I look at the pictures, I never see myself; they aren't self-portraits. Sometimes I disappear." She describes her process as intuitive, and that she responds to elements of a setting such as light, mood, location, and costume, and will continue to change external elements until she finds what she wants. She has said of her process, "I think of becoming a different person. I look into a mirror next to the camera...it's trance-like. By staring into it I try to become that character through the lens ... When I see what I want, my intuition takes over—both in the 'acting' and in the editing. Seeing that other person that's up there, that's what I want. It's like magic."
=== Untitled Film Stills ===
The series Untitled Film Stills (1977–1980), with which Cindy Sherman achieved international recognition, consists of 69 black-and-white photographs. The artist poses in different roles (librarians, hillbillies, and seductresses), and settings (streets, yards, pools, beaches, and interiors), producing a result reminiscent of stills typical of Italian neorealism or American film noir of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
Sherman avoided putting titles on the images in order to preserve their ambiguity. She would often pose her heroines as alone, expressionless, and in private. An overarching characteristic of her heroines were those that did not follow conventional ideas of marriage and family; they were rebellious women who either died as that or who were later tamed by society. In this series, the gaze seems to come from another subject – "usually a man" – to highlight the concept of the male gaze.
Modest in scale compared to Sherman's later cibachrome photographs, they are all 8 1/2 by 11 inches, each displayed in identical, simple black frames.
Sherman used her own possessions as props, or sometimes borrowed, as in Untitled Film Still #11 in which the doggy pillow belongs to a friend. The shots were also largely taken in her own apartment.
The Untitled Film Stills fall into several distinct groups:
The first six are grainy and slightly out of focus (e.g. Untitled #4).
The next group was taken in 1978 at Robert Longo's family beach house on the north fork of Long Island. (Sherman met Longo in 1976 and began a relationship with him)
Later in 1978, Sherman began taking shots in outdoor locations around the city. E.g. Untitled Film Still #21
Sherman later returned to her apartment, preferring to work from home. She created her version of a Sophia Loren character from the movie Two Women. (E.g. Untitled Film Still #35 (1979))
She took several photographs in the series while preparing for a road trip to Arizona with her parents. Untitled Film Still#48 (1979), also known as The Hitchhiker, was shot by Sherman's father at sunset one evening during the trip.
The remainder of the series was shot around New York, like Untitled #54, often featuring a blonde victim typical of film noir.
The Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan purchased the series for an estimated $1 million in 1995.
Untitled Film Still #21 was listed as one of the 100 influential photographs by TIME Magazine.
=== 1980s ===
In addition to her film stills, Sherman has appropriated a number of other visual forms—the centerfold, fashion photograph, historical portrait, and soft-core sex image. These and other series, like the 1980s Fairy Tales and Disasters sequence, were shown for the first time at the Metro Pictures Gallery in New York City.
It was with her series Rear Screen Projections, 1980, that Sherman switched from black-and-white to color and to clearly larger formats. Centerfolds/Horizontals, 1981, are inspired by the center spreads in fashion and pornographic magazines. The twelve (24 by 48 inches) photographs were initially commissioned — but not used — by Artforum's Editor in Chief Ingrid Sischy for an artist's section in the magazine. She poses either on the floor or in bed, usually recumbent and often supine. About her aims with the self-portraits, Sherman has said: "Some of them I'd hope would seem very psychological. While I'm working I might feel as tormented as the person I'm portraying."
In 1982, Sherman began her Pink Robes series which includes Untitled #97, #98, #99 and #100.
In Fairy Tales, 1985, and Disasters, 1986–1989, Cindy Sherman uses visible prostheses and mannequins for the first time. Provoked by the 1989 NEA funding controversy involving photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe and Andres Serrano at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, as well as the way Jeff Koons modeled his porn star wife in his "Made in Heaven" series, Sherman produced the Sex series in 1989. For once she removed herself from the shots, as these photographs featured pieced-together medical dummies in flagrante delicto.
Between 1989 and 1990, Sherman made 35 large, color photographs restaging the settings of various European portrait paintings of the fifteenth through early 19th centuries under the title History Portraits.
Rear Screen Projections
Rear Screen Projections is a series of photographs created by Cindy Sherman in 1980. This particular body of work features herself as the model in each image, posing in front of various rear-projected landscape scenes. Sherman appears in various guises, often described as "hitchhiker" or "runaway" types. The use of rear-projected images creates a sense of artifice and theatricality, as Sherman's character seems to be placed within, but not truly a part of, the depicted landscape. The settings range from mundane roadside scenes to more exotic, dreamlike vistas.
The series is seen as a continuation of themes explored in Sherman's earlier work Untitled Film Stills (1977-1980), particularly the exploration of female stereotypes and the construction of identity through photography. However, Rear Screen Projections differs in its overt use of artifice, drawing attention to the constructed nature of the image.
This body of work is considered a significant series in Sherman's oeuvre, bridging her early work with her later, more elaborate series. It's recognized for its innovative use of rear projection and its continued exploration of themes of identity, representation, and the constructed nature of reality. [11] The series has been influential on subsequent generations of photographers and artists working with constructed photography and staged self-portraiture.
Fairy Tales
Fairy Tales is a series of photographs created by Cindy Sherman in 1985. The series marks a significant departure from her earlier work, such as the Untitled Film Stills, in its overt engagement with grotesque and abject imagery.
In Fairy Tales, Sherman transforms herself into a cast of disturbing and often repulsive characters, drawing inspiration from classic fairy tales, though not illustrating specific narratives. The photographs feature Sherman in elaborate costumes and makeup, often surrounded by decaying props, discarded objects, and unsettling environments. The images evoke a sense of decay, horror, and psychological distress, subverting the traditional, idealized representations of fairy tale characters.
The series is characterized by its use of vivid color, theatrical staging, and a focus on the grotesque. Sherman employs prosthetics, masks, and other theatrical devices to create monstrous and deformed figures, challenging conventional notions of beauty and femininity.
=== 1990s ===
==== Sex Pictures ====
Sherman uses prosthetic limbs and mannequins to create her Sex Pictures series (1992). Hal Foster, an American art critic, describes Sherman's Sex Pictures in his article Obscene, Abject, Traumatic as "[i]n this scheme of things the impulse to erode the subject and to tear at the screen has driven Sherman [...] to her recent work, where it is obliterated by the gaze."
Reviewer Jerry Saltz told New York magazine that Sherman's work is "[f]ashioned from dismembered and recombined mannequins, some adorned with pubic hair, one posed with a tampon in vagina, another with sausages being excreted from vulva, this was anti-porn porn, the unsexiest sex pictures ever made, visions of feigning, fighting, perversion. ... Today, I think of Cindy Sherman as an artist who only gets better."
Greg Fallis of Utata Tribal Photography describes Sherman's Sex Pictures series and her work as follows: "With her Sex Pictures, Sherman posed medical prostheses in sexualized positions, recreating—and strangely modifying—pornography. An example of this can be seen in her work entitled Untitled,#264. Sherman displays herself with a body made of prosthetic. Her face is the only part of her that shows but is covered by a gas mask meant to emphasize the parts of the female body that tend to be over-sexualized.
=== Society Portraits ===
The Society Portraits is a series of photographs created by Cindy Sherman in 2008. The series features Sherman posing as wealthy, older women.
In Society Portraits, Sherman embodies a range of aging, affluent women. The portraits are characterized by their elaborate costumes, styled hair, and heavy makeup. The women are often adorned with jewelry and designer clothing, and posed in luxurious, though somewhat sterile, settings. Despite the trappings of wealth, the portraits often convey a sense of loneliness, vulnerability, and anxiety. Sherman employs digital manipulation in this series, enhancing wrinkles, sagging skin, and other signs of aging, contributing to the overall effect of unease.
=== 2000s ===
Between 2003 and 2004, Sherman produced the Clowns cycle, where the use of digital photography enabled her to create chromatically garish backdrops and montages of numerous characters. Set against opulent backdrops and presented in ornate frames, the characters in Sherman's 2008 untitled Society Portraits are not based on specific women, but the artist has made them look entirely familiar in their struggle with the standards of beauty that prevail in a youth- and status-obsessed culture.
Her exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 2012 also presented a photographic mural (2010–11) accompanied by films selected by Sherman. In this mural, she photoshopped her face with a decorative backdrop to transform herself into a fictitious environment. Along with other characters, Sherman toys with the idea of reality and fantasy together. Based on a 32-page insert Sherman did for POP using vintage clothes from Chanel's archive, a more recent series of large-scale pictures from 2012 depict outsized enigmatic female figures standing in striking isolation before ominous painterly landscapes the artist had photographed in Iceland during the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull and on the isle of Capri.
In 2017, she collaborated on a "selfie" project with W Magazine that was based on the concept of the "plandid", or "the planned candid photograph". Sherman utilized a variety of photo-correction apps to create her Instagram portraits.
From 2019 she showed self-portraits executed as tapestries by a Belgian workshop.
=== Fashion ===
Sherman's career has also included several fashion series, including designs for Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, and Marc Jacobs. In 1983, fashion designer and retailer Dianne Benson commissioned her to create a series of advertisements for her store, Dianne B., that appeared in several issues of Interview magazine. Untitled #122 from this collection was especially iconic; by working to deemphasise the clothing, she played with the conventions of fashion photography popular at this time. Sherman also created photographs for an editorial in Harper's Bazaar in 1993. In 1994, she produced the Post Card Series for Comme des Garçons for the brand's autumn/winter 1994–95 collections in collaboration with Rei Kawakubo.
In 2006, Sherman created a series of fashion advertisements for designer Marc Jacobs. The advertisements themselves were photographed by Juergen Teller and released as a monograph by Rizzoli. For Balenciaga, Sherman created the six-image series Cindy Sherman: Untitled (Balenciaga) in 2008; they were first shown to the public in 2010. Also in 2010, Sherman collaborated with Anna Hu on a design for a piece of jewelry. She returned to working with Teller on Marc Jacobs' Spring/Summer 2024 campaign.
== Music and films ==
In the early 1990s, Sherman worked with Minneapolis band Babes in Toyland, providing photographs for covers for the albums Fontanelle and Painkillers, creating a stage backdrop used in live concerts, and acting in the promotional video for the song "Bruise Violet." She also worked as a film director.
Sherman moved from photographs to film with her movie Office Killer in 1997, starring Jeanne Tripplehorn, Molly Ringwald and Carol Kane. Dorine, played by Carol Kane, is a stand-in for Sherman. They have a shared interest in arranging bodies, like a puppeteer, in diorama-like scenes. According to author Dahlia Schweitzer, Office Killer is full of unexpected characters and plot twists. Schweitzer considers the film to be a comedy, horror, melodrama, noir, feminist statement, and an art piece. Echoing similar grisly and gory elements as her Untitled Horror series, the film includes several artistically executed murder scenes. Office Killer grossed $37,446 and received generally poor reviews, which called the film "crude" and "laugh-free." In a review for The New York Times, art critic Roberta Smith states that the film lacks the artist's usual finesse and is a retrospective of her work – "a fascinating if lumpish bit of Shermaniana." Movie critic colleague to Roberta Smith, Stephen Holden, called the film "sadly inept."
Later, she had a cameo role in John Waters' film Pecker, and also appeared in The Feature in 2008, starring ex-husband Michel Auder, which won a New Vision Award.
In 2009, Paul Hasegawa-Overacker and Tom Donahue completed a feature documentary, Guest of Cindy Sherman, about the former's relationship with Sherman. She was initially supportive, but later opposed the project.
In the catalog essay by Philipp Kaiser for Sherman's 2016 exhibition at the Metro Pictures Gallery, he mentioned six short films that Sherman made while in college, and how they were the precursors that eventually led to Office Killer being created. The catalog also includes a conversation between Sherman and the director of the exhibit, Sofia Coppola, in which Sherman admits that she may star in an upcoming film project.
== Exhibitions ==
Sherman's first solo show in New York was presented at a noncommercial space The Kitchen in 1980. When the Metro Pictures Gallery opened later that year, Sherman's photographs were the first show. "Untitled Film Stills" were shown first at the non-profit gallery Artists Space where Sherman was working as a receptionist. Her first solo exhibitions in France were presented by Galerie Chantal Crousel in Paris.
Sherman has since participated in many international events, including SITE Santa Fe (2004); the Venice Biennale (1982, 1995); and five Whitney Biennials. In addition to numerous group exhibitions, Sherman's work was the subject of solo exhibitions at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (1982), Whitney Museum of American Art in New York (1987), Kunsthalle Basel (1991), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. (1995), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1998), the Serpentine Gallery in London and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (2003), and Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin (2007), among others. Major traveling retrospectives of Sherman's work have been organized by the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen in Rotterdam (1996); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1997), which was sponsored by Madonna; and Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria, Louisiana Museum for Moderne Kunst, Denmark, and Jeu de Paume in Paris (2006–2007). In 2009, Sherman was included in the seminal show "The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In 2012, the Museum of Modern Art mounted Cindy Sherman, a show that chronicled Sherman's work from the mid-1970s on and include more than 170 photographs. The exhibition travelled to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. In 2013, Sherman was invited to organize a show within that year's Venice Biennale.
In 2016, after a sabbatical from her studio which was spent "coming to terms with health issues and getting older," Sherman produced and staged her first photo gallery in five years. The series, "The Imitation of Life," named after a 1959 melodrama by Douglas Sirk, tackles aging by presenting Sherman in highly stylized glamour portraits inspired by the divas of old Hollywood, such as Gloria Swanson, Mary Pickford, and Ruby Keeler. The series was exhibited in 2016 at the Metro Pictures Gallery in New York City, and also at the Broad Museum in Los Angeles. In 2017 it was shown at the Spruth Magers gallery in Berlin, Germany, and at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio.
In 2019, the National Portrait Gallery, London, organized a major retrospective of Sherman's works from the mid-1970s to the present. In 2024, at the Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens, Sherman's first exhibition in Greece was held, gathering together over a hundred of her early works.
In 2024, Cindy Sherman exhibited Tapestries at Fotografiska Stockholm, presenting a series of tapestries based on her digitally altered Instagram selfies, marking her first major exploration of this medium.
== Feminism ==
In Sherman's Imitation of Life series of 2016 she poses, in vintage costume and theatrical makeup, as a variety of ageing actress-like women.
When writing about Sherman's "Film Stills" in the journal October, the scholar Douglas Crimp states that Sherman's work is "a hybrid of photography and performance art that reveals femininity to be an effect of representation."
However, Sherman does not consider her work or herself to be feminist, stating "The work is what it is and hopefully it's seen as feminist work, or feminist-advised work, but I'm not going to go around espousing theoretical bullshit about feminist stuff."
Many scholars emphasize the relationship Cindy Sherman's work has with the concept of the gaze. In particular, scholars like Laura Mulvey have analyzed Sherman's Untitled series in relation to the male gaze. In a 1991 essay on Sherman, Mulvey states that ″the accouterments of the feminine struggle to conform to a facade of desirability haunt Sherman's iconography,″ which functions as a parody of different voyeurisms captured by the camera.
Others question whether this confrontation with the male gaze and a feminine struggle was an intentional consideration of Sherman's, and whether this intentionality is important in considering the feminist standpoint of Sherman's photography.
Sherman herself has identified an uncertainty toward the Untitled series' relationship with the male gaze. In a 1991 interview with David Brittain in Creative Camera, Sherman said that "I didn't really analyze it at the time as far as knowing that I was commenting upon some feminist issue. The theories weren't there at all... But now I can look back on some of them, and I think some of them are a little blatantly obvious, too much like the original pin-up pictures of those times, so I have mixed feelings about them now as a whole series."
In addition to questions of the gaze, Sherman's work is also given feminist analysis in the context of abjection. Scholars like Hal Foster and Laura Mulvey interpret Sherman's use of the abject via the grotesque in 1980s projects like Vomit Pictures as de-fetishizing the female body.
Scholar Michele Meager interprets Sherman as having been "crowned a resistant celebrity" to feminist theory.
== Art market ==
In 2010, Sherman's nearly six foot tall chromogenic color print Untitled#153 (1985), featuring the artist as a mud-caked corpse, was sold by Phillips de Pury & Company for $2.7 million, near the $3 million high estimate. In 2011, a print of Untitled#96 fetched $3.89 million at Christie's, making it the most expensive photograph at that time.
Sherman was represented by Metro Pictures for 40 years and also by Sprüth Magers before moving to Hauser & Wirth in 2021.
In April 2023, Phillips NY auctioned the 159 cm x 359 cm sized-Untitled #546 (2010) for a well above-estimate $355,600.
== Influence on contemporary artists ==
Sherman's work is often credited as a major influence for contemporary portrait photographers. One such photographer is Ryan Trecartin, who manipulates themes of identity in his videos and photography. Her influence stretches to artists in other art mediums, including painter Lisa Yuskavage, visual artist Jillian Mayer, and performance artist Tracey Ullman.
In April 2014, actor and artist James Franco exhibited a series of photographs at the Pace Gallery called New Film Stills, in which Franco restaged twenty-nine images from Sherman's Untitled Film Stills. The exhibit garnered mainly negative reviews, calling Franco's appropriations 'sophomoric,' 'sexist,' and 'embarrassingly clueless.'
== Personal life ==
Sherman lived with artist Robert Longo, from 1974 to 1980, who also included her in his 'Men in the Cities' series of photographs. She married director Michel Auder in 1984, making her stepmother to Auder's daughter, Alexandra, and her half-sister Gaby Hoffmann. They divorced in 1999. She was then in a 5-year relationship with Paul Hasegawa-Overacker, creator of a documentary film about Sherman. From 2007 to 2011, she had a relationship with the artist David Byrne.
Between 1991 and 2005, Sherman lived in a fifth-floor co-op loft at 84 Mercer Street in Manhattan's Soho neighborhood; she later sold it to actor Hank Azaria. She bought two floors in a 10-story condo building overlooking the Hudson River in West Soho, and currently uses one as her apartment and the other as her studio and office.
For many years, Sherman spent her summers in the Catskill Mountains. In 2000, she bought songwriter Marvin Hamlisch's 4,200-square-foot house on 0.4 acre in Sag Harbor for $1.5 million. She later acquired a 19th-century home on a ten-acre waterfront property on Accabonac Harbor in East Hampton, New York.
Sherman has expressed contempt for social media platforms, calling them "so vulgar." However, she maintains an active Instagram account featuring her selfies.
== Industry and advocacy work ==
Sherman serves on the artistic advisory committee of the New York City-based Stephen Petronio Company and on the Artists Committee of the Americans for the Arts. Along with David Byrne, she was a member of Portugal's Estoril Film Festival's jury in 2009.
In 2012, she joined Yoko Ono and nearly 150 fellow artists in the founding of Artists Against Fracking, a group in opposition to hydraulic fracturing to remove gas from underground deposits.
In 2023, Sherman served on the jury that chose Sarah Lucas as first winner of the New Museum's $400,000 Hostetler/Wrigley Sculpture Award.
Ahead of the 2024 United States presidential election, Sherman was one of 165 leading contemporary artists who contributed pieces to Artists for Kamala, an online sale with all proceeds raised going directly to Kamala Harris' campaign.
== Publications ==
Inverted Odysseys: Claude Cahun, Maya Deren, Cindy Sherman. MIT Press, 1999. Edited by Shelley Rice. ISBN 0-262-68106-4.
Essential, The: Cindy Sherman. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1999. ISBN 0-8109-5808-2.
Cindy Sherman: Retrospective (Paperback). Thames & Hudson, 2000. By Amanda Cruz and Elizabeth A. T. Smith. ISBN 0-500-27987-X.
In Real Life: Six Women Photographers. Holiday House, 2000. By Leslie Sills, et al. ISBN 0-8234-1498-1.
Early Work of Cindy Sherman. Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, 2001 ISBN 0-9654020-3-7.
Cindy Sherman: Photographic Works 1975-1995 (Paperback). Schirmer/Mosel, 2002. By Elisabeth Bronfen, et al. ISBN 3-88814-809-X.
Cindy Sherman: The Complete Untitled Film Stills. Museum of Modern Art, 2003. ISBN 0-87070-507-5.
Cindy Sherman: Centerfolds. Skarstedt Fine Art, 2004. ISBN 0-9709090-2-0.
Cindy Sherman: Working Girl. St. Louis, Missouri: Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, 2006. ISBN 978-0-9712195-8-8.
Cindy Sherman. The MIT Press, 2006. Edited by Johanna Burton. ISBN 0-262-52463-5.
Cindy Sherman: A Play of Selves. Hatje Cantz, 2007. ISBN 978-3-7757-1942-1.
Cindy Sherman. Museum of Modern Art, 2012. ISBN 0870708120.
Cindy Sherman: Untitled Horrors. Hatje Cantz, 2013. ISBN 978-3-7757-3487-5.
Cindy Sherman's Office Killer: Another Kind of Monster. Intellect Books, 2014. By Dahlia Schweitzer. ISBN 1841507075.
== Films ==
Cindy Sherman [videorecording] : Transformations. by Paul Tschinkel; Marc H Miller; Sarah Berry; Stan Harrison; Cindy Sherman; Helen Winer; Peter Schjeldahl; Inner-Tube Video. 2002, 28 minutes, Color. NY: Inner-Tube Video.
== Artistic Style ==
Cindy Sherman’s artistic style is rooted in conceptual photography and explores the construction of identity, gender, and social roles through self-portraiture.She often assumes multiple characters in her work, using costumes, makeup, and props to transform herself, challenging traditional representations of women in media and popular culture. Her early work, such as the Untitled Film Stills series, is characterized by cinematic references and the portrayal of archetypal female figures, highlighting the influence of visual culture on individual identity.In later series, Sherman experimented with digital manipulation and grotesque imagery to question notions of beauty, fame, and social perception.
Sherman’s style is widely recognized for its critical approach to representation, blending realism with theatricality, and making the viewer aware of the artificiality inherent in images.
== Awards and other recognition ==
1981: Artist-in-residence, Light Work, Syracuse, New York
1994: Larry Aldrich Foundation Award
1995: MacArthur Fellowship
1997: Wolfgang Hahn Prize
1999: Hasselblad Award from the Hasselblad Foundation
2001: National Arts Award
2003: American Academy of Arts and Sciences Award
2005: Guild Hall Academy of the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award for Visual Arts
2009: Jewish Museum's Man Ray Award
2009: International Artist Award from Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, Colorado.
2010: Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Arts, London
2012: Roswitha Haftmann Prize
2012: Honored by actor Steve Martin at the 10th anniversary Gala in the Garden at the Hammer Museum
2012: Sherman was among the artists whose works were given as trophies to the filmmakers of winning pictures in the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival's jury competitions
2013: Honorary doctorate degree from the Royal College of Art, London
2017: Induction into the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum
2020: Wolf Prize in Art
2024: Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, presented by Awards Council member Jeff Koons
== Collections ==
Works by Sherman are held in the following collections:
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
The Broad, Los Angeles, CA
Jewish Museum (Manhattan), New York, NY
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI
Menil Collection, Houston, TX
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Tate Modern, Bankside, London
== See also ==
Self-portraiture
Blackface in contemporary art
Laurel Nakadate
List of most expensive photographs
Nikki S. Lee
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Kelly, Michael, "Danto and Krauss on Cindy Sherman". In: M. A. Holly & K. Moxey (eds.), Art History, Aesthetics, Visual Studies. Massachusetts: Clark Art Institute, 2002.
Grosenick, Uta; Riemschneider, Burkhard, eds. (2005). Art Now (25th anniversary ed.). Köln: Taschen. pp. 288–291. ISBN 9783822840931. OCLC 191239335.
Hoban, Phoebe, "The Cindy Sherman Effect". Artnews.com. 2012.
== External links ==
Video on Untitled Film Stills and mass media representations |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Kentridge#Exhibitions | William Kentridge | William Kentridge (born 28 April 1955) is a South African artist best known for his prints, drawings, and animated films. He is especially noted for a sequence of hand-drawn animated films he produced during the 1990s, constructed by filming a drawing, making erasures and changes, and filming it again. He continues this process meticulously, giving each change to the drawing a quarter of a second's to two seconds' screen time. A single drawing will be altered and filmed this way until the end of a scene. These palimpsest-like drawings are later displayed along with the films as finished pieces of art.
Kentridge has created artwork as part of design of theatrical productions, both plays and operas. He has served as art director and overall director of numerous productions, collaborating with other artists, puppeteers and others in creating productions that combine drawings and multi-media combinations.
== Early life and career ==
Kentridge was born in Johannesburg in 1955 to Sydney Kentridge and Felicia Geffen, a Jewish family. Both were advocates (lawyers) who represented people marginalized by the apartheid system. He was educated at King Edward VII School in Houghton, Johannesburg. He showed great artistic promise from an early age, and began taking classes with charcoal at age eight. In 2016, he became perhaps the first artist to have a catalogue raisonné devoted exclusively to his juvenilia.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Politics and African Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand and then a diploma in Fine Arts from the Johannesburg Art Foundation. In the early 1980s, he studied mime and theatre at the L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris. He originally hoped to become an actor, but said later: "I was fortunate to discover at a theatre school that I was so bad at being an actor [... that] I was reduced to an artist, and I made my peace with it." Between 1975 and 1991, he was acting and directing with Johannesburg's Junction Avenue Theatre Company. In the 1980s, he worked on television films and series as an art director.
== Work ==
Kentridge believed that being ethnically Jewish gave him a unique position as a third-party observer in South Africa. His parents were lawyers, well-known for their defence of victims of apartheid. The basics of South Africa's socio-political condition and history must be known to grasp his work fully, much the same as in the cases of such artists as Francisco Goya and Käthe Kollwitz.
Kentridge has practiced expressionist art, where form often alludes to content and vice versa. The feeling that is manipulated by the use of palette, composition and media, among others, often plays an equally vital role in the overall meaning as the subject and narrative of a given work. One must use one's gut reactions as well as one's interpretive skills to find meaning in Kentridge's work, much of which reveals very little content. Due to the sparse, rough and expressive qualities of Kentridge's handwriting, the viewer sees a sombre picture upon first glance, an impression that is perpetuated as the image illustrates a vulnerable and uncomfortable situation.
Aspects of social injustice that have transpired over the years in South Africa have often become fodder for Kentridge's pieces. Casspirs Full of Love, viewable at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, appears to be nothing more than heads in boxes to the average American viewer, but South Africans know that a casspir is a vehicle used to put down riots, a kind of a crowd-control tank.
The title, Casspirs Full of Love, written along the side of the print, is suggestive of the narrative and is oxymoronic. A casspir full of love is much like a bomb that bursts with happiness – it is an intangible improbability. The purpose of a machine such as this is to instil "peace" by force, but Kentridge noted that it was used as a tool to keep lower-class natives from taking colonial power and money.
=== Prints and drawings ===
By the mid-1970s, Kentridge was making prints and drawings. In 1979, he created 20 to 30 monotypes, which soon became known as the "Pit" series. In 1980, he executed about 50 small-format etchings which he called the "Domestic Scenes". These two extraordinary groups of prints served to establish Kentridge's artistic identity, an identity he has continued to develop in various media. Despite his ongoing exploration of non-traditional media, the foundation of his art has always been drawing and printmaking.
In 1986, he began a group of charcoal and pastel drawings based, very tenuously, on Watteau's The Embarkation for Cythera. These extremely important works, the best of which reflect a blasted, dystopic urban landscape, demonstrate the artist's growing consciousness of the flexibility of space and movement.
In 1996–1997, he produced a portfolio of eight prints titled Ubu Tells the Truth, based on Alfred Jarry's 1896 play Ubu Roi. These prints also relate to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission conducted in South Africa after the end of apartheid. One of the stark and somber prints from this portfolio, in the collection of the Honolulu Museum of Art, is illustrated.
The Six Drawing Lessons, delivered as part of The Norton Lectures series at Harvard University in 2012, consider the work in the studio and the studio as a place of making meaning developed. A series of large drawings of trees in Indian ink on found encyclopedia pages, torn up and reassembled, analyzes the form of different trees indigenous to southern Africa. Drawn across multiple pages from books, each drawing is put together as a puzzle – the single pages first painted, then the whole pieced together.
"My drawings don't start with a 'beautiful mark'," writes Kentridge, thinking about the activity of printmaking as being about getting the hand to lead the brain, rather than letting the brain lead the hand. "It has to be a mark of something out there in the world. It doesn't have to be an accurate drawing, but it has to stand for an observation, not something that is abstract, like an emotion."
=== Animated films ===
Between 1989 and 2003, Kentridge made a series of nine short films, which he eventually gathered under the title 9 Drawings for Projection. In 1989, he began the first of those animated movies, Johannesburg, 2nd Greatest City After Paris. The series runs through Monument (1990), Mine (1991), Sobriety, Obesity & Growing Old (1991), Felix in Exile (1994), History of the Main Complaint (1996), Weighing and Wanting (1997), and Stereoscope (1999), and Tide Table (2003).
In 2011, Kentridge released a tenth film in the series, Other Faces (2011).
For the series, he used a technique that would become a feature of his work – successive charcoal drawings, always on the same sheet of paper, contrary to the traditional animation technique in which each movement is drawn on a separate sheet. In this way, Kentridge's videos and films came to keep the traces of the previous drawings. His animations deal with political and social themes from a personal and, at times, autobiographical point of view, since the author includes his self-portrait in many of his works.
The political content and unique techniques of Kentridge's work have propelled him into the realm of South Africa's top artists. Working with what is in essence a very restrictive media, using only charcoal and a touch of blue or red pastel, he has created animations of astounding depth. A theme running through all of his work is his peculiar way of representing his birthplace. While he does not portray it as the militant or oppressive place that it was for black people, he does not emphasise the picturesque state of living that white people enjoyed during apartheid either; he presents instead a city in which the duality of man is exposed. In a series of ten short films, he introduces two characters – Soho Eckstein and Felix Teitlebaum. These characters depict an emotional and political struggle that ultimately reflects the lives of many South Africans in the pre-democracy era.
In an introductory note to Felix In Exile, Kentridge writes,
"In the same way that there is a human act of dismembering the past there is a natural process in the terrain through erosion, growth, dilapidation that also seeks to blot out events. In South Africa this process has other dimensions. The very term 'new South Africa' has within it the idea of a painting over the old, the natural process of dismembering, the naturalization of things new."
Not only in Felix In Exile but in all his animated works, the concepts of time and change comprise a major theme. He conveys it through his erasure technique, which contrasts with conventional cel-shaded animation, whose seamlessness de-emphasizes the fact that it is actually a succession of hand-drawn images. This he implements by drawing a key frame, erasing certain areas of it, re-drawing them and thus creating the next frame. He is able in this way to create as many frames as he wants based on the original key frame simply by erasing small sections. Traces of what has been erased are still visible to the viewer; as the films unfold, a sense of fading memory or the passing of time and the traces it leaves behind are portrayed. Kentridge's technique grapples with what is not said, what remains suppressed or forgotten but can easily be felt.
In the ten films that follow Soho Eckstein's life, an increasing vehemence is placed on the health of the individual and contemporary South African society. Conflicts between anarchic and bourgeois individualistic beliefs, again a reference to the duality of man, indicate the idea of social revolution by poetically disfiguring surrounding buildings and landscapes. Kentridge states that, although his work does not focus on apartheid in a direct and overt manner, but on the contemporary state of Johannesburg, his drawings and films are certainly influenced by the brutalised society that resulted from the regime.
As for more direct political issues, Kentridge says his art presents ambiguity, contradiction, uncompleted movements and uncertain endings, all of which seem like insignificant subtleties but can be attributed to most of the calamity presented in his work. In a mixed-media triptych entitled The Boating Party (1985), based on Renoir's painting of a similar name, the havoc caused by a seemingly-uninterested aristocracy is perhaps his most severe comment on the state of South Africa during apartheid. The languid diners sit at ease while the surrounding area is ravaged, torn and burned, a contrast that is reflected in his style and choice of colours.
In 1988, Kentridge co-founded Free Film-makers Co-Operative in Johannesburg. In 1999, he was appointed a film-maker by Stereoscope.
"Purely in the context of my own work," he wrote in a published playscript of his celebrated Ubu and the Truth Commission, "I would repeat my trust in the contingent, the inauthentic, the whim, the practical, as strategies for finding meaning. I would repeat my mistrust in the worth of Good Ideas. And state a belief that somewhere between relying on pure chance on the one hand, and the execution of a programme on the other, lies the most uncertain but the most fertile ground for the work we do [...]. I think I have shown that it is not the clear light of reason or even aesthetic sensibility which determines how one works, but a constellation of factors only some of which we can change at will."In 2001, Creative Time aired his film Shadow Procession on the NBC Astrovision Panasonic screen in Times Square.
=== Opera ===
Kentridge has been commissioned to create stage design and act as a theatre director in opera. His political perspective is expressed in his opera directions, which involves different layers: stage direction, animation movies, and influences of the puppet world. He has staged Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (Monteverdi), Die Zauberflöte (Mozart) and The Nose (Shostakovich). Following the last work, he collaborated with the French composer François Sarhan on a short show called Telegrams from the Nose, for which he made the stage and set design for the performance.
In November 2015 his "provocative and visually stunning new staging" of Berg's Lulu, premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, a co-production with the English National Opera and the Dutch National Opera. On 8 August 2017, William Kentridge's Wozzeck (Alban Berg) premiered at the Salzburg Festival and received enthusiastic reactions.
In 2023, Kentridge received the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera for the production of 'Sybil' at the Barbican Theatre, London.
=== Tapestries ===
Kentridge's protean artistic investigation continues in his series of tapestries begun in 2001. The tapestries stem from a series of drawings in which he conjured shadowy figures from ripped construction paper; he made a collage of these with the web-like background of nineteenth-century atlas maps. To adapt these figures as tapestry, Kentridge worked in close collaboration with the Johannesburg-based Stephens Tapestry Studio, mapping cartoons from enlarged photographs of the drawings and hand-picking dyes to colour the locally spun mohair (goat hair).
=== Sculpture ===
In 2009, Kentridge, in partnership with Gerhard Marx, created a 10m-tall sculpture for his home city of Johannesburg entitled Fire Walker. In 2012 his sculpture, Il cavaliere di Toledo, was unveiled in Naples. Rebus (2013), referring in title to the allusional device using pictures to represent words or parts of words, is a series of bronze sculptures that form two distinct images when turned to a certain angle; when paired in correspondence, for example, a final image – a nude – is created from two original forms – a stamp and a telephone.
=== Murals ===
In 2016, the anniversary of Rome's legendary founding in 753BC, Kentridge unveiled Triumphs and Laments, a monumental mural along the right bank of the river Tiber. The 550m-long frieze depicting a procession of more than 80 figures from Roman mythology to the present is Kentridge’s largest public work to date. To celebrate its launch, he and his long-time collaborator, the composer Philip Miller, devised a series of performances featuring live shadow play and more than 40 musicians.
== Family ==
Kentridge is married to Anne Stanwix, a rheumatologist, and they have three children. A third-generation South African of Lithuanian-Jewish heritage, he is the son of the South African lawyer Sydney Kentridge and the lawyer and activist Felicia Kentridge.
== Films ==
Kentridge's films were shown at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.
== Exhibitions ==
2024 Sharjah Art Foundation
2025 Art Gallery of Alberta
2025 Hauser & Wirth, New York William Kentridge: A Natural History of the Studio
2025/6 Yorkshire Sculpture Park
== Collections ==
Kentridge's works are included in the following permanent collections: Honolulu Museum of Art, the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art (New York), and the Tate Modern (London). An edition of the five-channel video installation The Refusal of Time (2012), which debuted at documenta 13, was jointly acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. In 2015, Kentridge gave the definitive collection of his archive and art – films, videos and digital works – to the George Eastman Museum, one of the world's largest and oldest photography and film collections.
== Awards ==
Kentridge's Five Themes exhibit was included in the 2009 Time 100, an annual list of the one hundred top people and events in the world. That same year, the exhibition was awarded First Place in the 2009 AICA (International Association of Art Critics Awards) Best Monographic Museum Show Nationally category.
In 2012, Kentridge was in residence at Harvard University invited to deliver the distinguished Charles Eliot Norton lectures in early 2012.
That same year, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.
== Art market ==
Kentridge's artworks are among the most sought-after and expensive works in South Africa: "a major charcoal drawing by world-renowned South African artist William Kentridge could set you back some £250,000". Kentridge is represented by Goodman Gallery, Lia Rumma Gallery and Hauser & Wirth (since 2024). From 1999 to 2024, he worked with Marian Goodman Gallery.
The South African record for Kentridge is R6.6 million ($320,000), set at Aspire Art Auctions in Johannesburg in 2018. One of his bronze pieces reached $1.5 million at Sotheby's New York in 2013.
== Notes ==
== References ==
Cameron, Dan; Christov-Bakargiev, Carolyn; Coetzee, JM. William Kentridge. New York: Phaidon Press, 1999.
Christov-Bakargiev, Carolyn. William Kentridge. Societé des Expositions du Palais de Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles, 1998.
Cole, William. "On Some Early Prints by William Kentridge", Print Quarterly vol. XXVI no. 3 (2009), 268–273.
Cole, William. "Privileged Access, Judiciously Shared. Matthew Kentridge, The Soho Chronicles: 10 Films by William Kentridge." Art Journal vol. 74, no. 4 (winter 2015).
Cole, William. The Juvenilia of William Kentridge: An Unauthorized Catalogue Raisonné. Sitges: Cole & Contreras, 2016.
Coumans, Sandra. "Geschichte und Identität. Black Box / Chambre noire von William Kentridge", Regiospectra Verlag Berlin, 2012.
Edmunds, Paul. "William Kentridge's SANG Retrospective", Artthrob: Contemporary Art in South Africa 65 (2003).
Greg Kucera Gallery. "William Kentridge". 2007.
Kasfir, Sidney Littlefield (2000). Contemporary African Art. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-20328-6.
Kentridge, William. "Director's Note". In Ubu and the Truth Commission, by Jane Taylor, viii-xv. Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press, 2007.
McCulloch, Samantha; Williams-Wynn, Christopher (2015). "Conflicts between context and content in William Kentridge: Five Themes: a case study of the Melbourne exhibition". Museum Management and Curatorship. 30 (4): 283–295. doi:10.1080/09647775.2015.1060866. ISSN 0964-7775. S2CID 142528621 – via Taylor & Francis.
Taylor, Jane. Ubu and the Truth Commission. Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press, 2007.
== External links ==
Kentridge Studio – Official site for William Kentridge
William Kentridge at Goodman Gallery
William Kentridge: The Refusal of Time at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
In Praise of Shadows: William Kentridge in the Collection 2014 exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Artworks by William Kentridge
Interview with William Kentridge, by Lilian Tone
William Kentridge believes South Africa let Nelson Mandela down Archived 21 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Interview with William Kentridge, by Flavia Foradini, The Art Newspaper, online edition, 13 Dec 2013
How We Make Sense of the World. An interview with William Kentridge Video by Louisiana Channel
culturebase: William Kentridge |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minister_of_Croatian_Affairs_of_Hungary#:~:text=In%20December%201868%2C%20Koloman%20Bedekovi%C4%87,first%20Minister%20of%20Croatian%20Affairs. | Minister of Croatian Affairs of Hungary | The minister of Croatian affairs of Hungary (Hungarian: horvát-szlavón-dalmát tárca nélküli miniszter; Croatian: hrvatsko-slavonsko-dalmatinski ministar bez lisnice) was a member of the Hungarian cabinet in Austria-Hungary.
The position was created following the Croatian–Hungarian Agreement in 1868. The minister was appointed by the emperor-king. The officeholder kept a connection between Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia and the Hungarian Kingdom (and also the Austrian part of Austria-Hungary). This position was without portfolio.
== History of the position ==
In accordance with the Article 44 of the Croatian–Hungarian Settlement the position of minister without portfolio emerged, representing the interests of Croatia-Slavonia and Dalmatia in the Hungarian cabinet, who became responsible to the National Assembly in Pest (later Budapest), which also functioned as a joint legislature after 1868 (however the separately administered Dalmatia sent delegates to the Imperial Council, not the Hungarian parliament). In December 1868, Koloman Bedeković was appointed the first Minister of Croatian Affairs. On 31 January 1869, Emperor-King Franz Joseph I ordered the abolition of the Croatian Court Chancellery in Vienna which was officially replaced by the Royal Ministry of Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia (after 1873 Ministry of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia) in the Hungarian capital and the autonomous Royal Land Government in Zagreb. By May 1869 the ministry moved to Buda and seated at 16 Dísz Square.
== Ministers of Croatian affairs of Hungary (1868–1919) ==
=== Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen (1868–1918) ===
Parties
Croatian Unionist Party
Croatian People's Party
Liberal Party/National Party of Work
National Constitution Party
Catholic People's Party
MSZDP
Independent
=== Hungarian People's Republic (1918–1919) ===
Parties
MSZDP
== After World War I ==
After the First World War the ministry was dissolved because Croatia-Slavonia became part of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and subsequently the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. However, the position de jure existed until the proclamation of the Hungarian Soviet Republic in March 1919.
Zsigmond Kunfi, as the last de facto minister of Croatian Affairs, was entrusted with the ministry's liquidation between 6 November 1918 and 19 January 1919.
== See also ==
List of Croatian bans
List of dukes and kings of Croatia
List of heads of state of Hungary
List of prime ministers of Hungary
Politics of Croatia
Politics of Hungary
Cabinet ministers
Minister of Agriculture (Hungary)
Minister of Civilian Intelligence Services (Hungary)
Minister of Defence (Hungary)
Minister of Education (Hungary)
Minister of Finance (Hungary)
Minister of Foreign Affairs (Hungary)
Minister of the Interior (Hungary)
Minister of Justice (Hungary)
Minister of Public Works and Transport (Hungary)
== References ==
== Sources ==
Holjevac, Željko (2015). "A budapesti horvát minisztérium (1868–1918)". In Fodor, Pál; Sokcsevits, Dénes (eds.). A horvát–magyar együttélés fordulópontjai. Intézmények, társadalom, gazdaság, kultúra [Turning Points of the Croato-Hungarian Coexistence: Institutions, Society, Economy, Culture] (in Hungarian). MTA Bölcsészettudományi Kutatóközpont. pp. 419–425. ISBN 978-963-416-019-9. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_Prize | Morgan Prize | The Morgan Prize (full name Frank and Brennie Morgan Prize for Outstanding Research in Mathematics by an Undergraduate Student) is an annual award given to an undergraduate student in the US, Canada, or Mexico who demonstrates superior mathematics research. The $1,200 award, endowed by Mrs. Frank Morgan of Allentown, Pennsylvania, was founded in 1995. The award is made jointly by the American Mathematical Society, the Mathematical Association of America, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. The Morgan Prize has been described as the highest honor given to an undergraduate in mathematics.
== Previous winners ==
1995
Winner: Kannan Soundararajan (Analytic Number Theory, University of Michigan)
Honorable mention: Kiran Kedlaya (Harvard University)
1996
Winner: Manjul Bhargava (Algebra, Harvard University)
Honorable mention: Lenhard Ng (Harvard University)
1997
Winner: Jade Vinson (Analysis and Geometry, Washington University in St. Louis)
Honorable mention: Vikaas S. Sohal (Harvard University)
1998
Winner: Daniel Biss (Combinatorial Group Theory and Topology, Harvard University)
Honorable mention: Aaron F. Archer (Harvey Mudd College)
1999
Winner: Sean McLaughlin (Proof of the Dodecahedral Conjecture, University of Michigan)
Honorable mention: Samit Dasgupta (Harvard University)
2000
Winner: Jacob Lurie (Lie Algebras, Harvard University)
Honorable mention: Wai Ling Yee (University of Waterloo)
2001
Winner: Ciprian Manolescu (Floer Homology, Harvard University)
Honorable mention: Michael Levin (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
2002
Winner: Joshua Greene (Proof of the Kneser conjecture, Harvey Mudd College)
Honorable mention: None
2003
Winner: Melanie Wood (Belyi-extending maps and P-orderings, Duke University)
Honorable mention: Karen Yeats (University of Waterloo)
2004
Winner: Reid W. Barton (Packing Densities of Patterns, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Honorable mention: Po-Shen Loh (California Institute of Technology)
2005
Winner: Jacob Fox (Ramsey theory and graph theory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Honorable mention: None
2007
Winner: Daniel Kane (Number Theory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Honorable mention: None
2008
Winner: Nathan Kaplan (Algebraic number theory, Princeton University)
Honorable mention: None
2009
Winner: Aaron Pixton (Algebraic topology and number theory, Princeton University)
Honorable mention: Andrei Negut (Algebraic cobordism theory and dynamical systems, Princeton University)
2010
Winner: Scott Duke Kominers (Number theory, computational geometry, and mathematical economics, Harvard University)
Honorable mention: Maria Monks (Combinatorics and number theory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
2011
Winner: Maria Monks (Combinatorics and number theory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Honorable mention: Michael Viscardi (Algebraic geometry, Harvard University), Yufei Zhao (Combinatorics and number theory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
2012
Winner: John Pardon (Solving Gromov's problem on distortion of knots, Princeton University)
Honorable mention: Hannah Alpert (Combinatorics, University of Chicago), Elina Robeva (Algebraic geometry, Stanford University)
2013
Winner: Fan Wei (Analysis and combinatorics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Honorable mention: Dhruv Ranganathan (Toric Gromov–Witten theory, Harvey Mudd College), Jonathan Schneider (Combinatorics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
2014
Winner: Eric Larson (Algebraic geometry and number theory, Harvard University)
Honorable mention: None
2015
Winner: Levent Alpoge (Number theory, probability theory, and combinatorics, Harvard University)
Honorable mention: Akhil Mathew (Algebraic topology, algebraic geometry, and category theory, Harvard University)
2016
Winner: Amol Aggarwal (Combinatorics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Honorable mention: Evan O'Dorney (Number Theory, algebra, and combinatorics, Harvard University)
2017
Winner: David H. Yang (Algebraic geometry and geometric representation theory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Honorable mention: Aaron Landesman (Algebraic geometry, number theory, combinatorics, Harvard University)
2018
Winner: Ashvin Swaminathan (Algebraic geometry, number theory, and combinatorics, Harvard University)
Honorable mention: Greg Yang (Homological theory of functions, Harvard University)
2019
Winner: Ravi Jagadeesan (Algebraic geometry, mathematical economics, statistical theory, number theory, and combinatorics, Harvard University)
Honorable mention: Evan Chen (Number theory, Combinatorics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Huy Tuan Pham (Additive Combinatorics, Stanford University)
2020
Winner: Nina Zubrilina (Mathematical analysis and analytic number theory, Stanford University)
Honorable mention: Mehtaab Sawhney (Combinatorics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Cynthia Stoner (Combinatorics, Harvard University), Ashwin Sah (Combinatorics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Murilo Corato Zanarella (Princeton University)
2021
Winner: Ashwin Sah (Combinatorics, discrete geometry, and probability, Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Mehtaab Sawhney (Combinatorics, discrete geometry, and probability, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Honorable mention: Noah Kravitz (Yale University)
2022
Winner: Travis Dillon (Number theory, combinatorics, discrete geometry, and symbolic dynamics, Lawrence University)
Honorable mention: Sophie Kriz (University of Michigan), Alex Cohen (Yale University)
2023
Winner: Letong (Carina) Hong (Number theory, combinatorics, and probability, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Honorable mention: Sophie Kriz (University of Michigan), Egor Lappo (Stanford University)
2024
Winner: Faye Jackson (analytic number theory, University of Michigan)
Honorable mention: Rupert Li (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Daniel Zhu (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
2025
Winner: Kenta Suzuki (Representation theory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Honorable mention: None
2026
Winner: Yunseo Choi (Number Theory and combinatorics, Harvard University)
Honorable mention: Eliot Hodges (Harvard University), Daniel Larsen (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
== See also ==
List of mathematics awards
LeRoy Apker Award, an award for outstanding undergraduate (experimental) physics
== References ==
== External links ==
Frank and Brennie Morgan Prize at the American Mathematical Society
List of Morgan Prize Recipients at the Mathematical Association of America
A brief overview of the career paths of the Morgan Prize winners as of 2015. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Ben%C3%ADtez#:~:text=After%20a%202%E2%80%931%20defeat,of%20their%20previous%20thirteen%20games. | Rafael Benítez | Rafael Benítez Maudes (born 16 April 1960) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of Super League Greece club Panathinaikos.
Benítez joined Real Madrid's coaching staff at the age of 26, going on to work as the under-19 and reserve team coach, and assistant manager for the senior team. He moved away from Real Madrid in 1995, but management spells at Real Valladolid and Osasuna were short-lived and unsuccessful. He guided Segunda División club Extremadura back to La Liga in his first season in the 1997–98 season, but the team was relegated the following season. He left the club, and coached Tenerife in 2000, winning promotion in his only season.
Benítez was appointed coach of Valencia and won La Liga in the 2001–02 and 2003–04 seasons, with the UEFA Cup alongside the latter. After leaving Valencia, Benitez moved to English club Liverpool of the Premier League, guiding the club to victory in the UEFA Champions League in 2005. For the second consecutive season, he was named UEFA Manager of the Year. He also won the FA Cup in 2006 and reached the 2007 Champions League final, but was unable to win the Premier League, with Liverpool's best league performance under Benítez a second-place finish in 2008–09.
After leaving Liverpool in June 2010, Benítez was appointed manager of treble-winning side Inter Milan. Despite attaining silverware with the Supercoppa Italiana and Club World Cup, his reign at the club was short, and he was dismissed midway through the 2010–11 season. In November 2012, he was appointed interim manager of Chelsea for the remainder of the season, and he went on to win the 2013 Europa League. He returned to Italy in 2013 to coach Napoli, where he won the Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana. He then left Napoli and became coach of Real Madrid in June 2015 on an initial three-year contract, lasting six months.
Benítez was appointed manager of Newcastle United in March 2016. He was unable to avoid relegation, but earned promotion back to the Premier League by winning the Championship. He left the club in June 2019, and joined Chinese Super League club Dalian Professional. He left the club by mutual consent in January 2021, before taking over as manager at Everton in June. He was dismissed in January 2022, and then managed Celta Vigo in 2023–24.
== Early career ==
Benítez played as a midfielder for both Real Madrid Aficionados in the Tercera División and Real Madrid Castilla in the Segunda División. He also enrolled as a student at INEF, the sports faculty at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid; in 1982, he obtained a degree in physical education.
In 1979, Benítez was selected to play for the Spain Youth U-19s at the World Student Games in Mexico City, and he scored a penalty in the opening game, a 10–0 win against Cuba. In the next game, a 0–0 draw against Canada, he was injured in a hard tackle. The injury saw him sidelined for a year, and hampered his chances of becoming a major player. In 1981, Benítez joined Tercera División side Parla. Initially, he joined Parla on loan, but eventually signed for them permanently and helped them gain promotion to Segunda División B. He also played a further three games for the Spain Universities XI. In 1985, he signed for Segunda División B club Linares and under Enrique Mateos, he served as a player/coach. Further injury problems saw him miss almost the entire 1985–86 season, and he subsequently retired as a player.
== Managerial career ==
=== Real Madrid youth coach ===
In 1986, at the age of 26, Benítez returned to Real Madrid to join the club's coaching staff. At the start of the 1986–87 season, he was appointed coach of Real Madrid Castilla. With this team, he won two league titles in 1987 and 1989. He won a third league title with the Real Madrid youth in 1990. Halfway through the 1990–91 season, he succeeded José Antonio Camacho as the coach of Real Madrid's under-19 team. He won the Spain Under 19s Cup in 1991 and 1993, defeating Barcelona in both finals. In 1993, the team completed a double when they also won the national under-19 league. While at Real, Benítez also gained his coaching certificate in 1989 – and in the summer of 1990, taught at a football camp at the University of California in Davis, California.
During the 1992–93 season, Benítez also worked as an assistant coach to Mariano García Remón at Real Madrid B. After his success with the U19s, Benítez then succeeded García Remón at the start of the 1993–94 season. Real Madrid B were then playing in the Segunda División, and on 4 September 1993, he made his debut as a Segunda División manager with a 3–1 over Hércules. In March 1994, he became an assistant to Vicente del Bosque with the senior Real Madrid team, before returning to coach Real Madrid B for the 1994–95 season.
=== Early coaching ===
The first attempts by Benítez at senior management away from the Real Madrid fold were less than successful. He was appointed manager of Real Valladolid for the 1995–96 season, but was dismissed after only two wins in 23 games, with the club bottom of La Liga. During the 1996–97 season, Benítez took charge at Osasuna in the Segunda División, but after only nine games and one win, he was dismissed. He did, however, meet the fitness instructor Pako Ayestarán at the club, and went on to form a partnership with him at several clubs for the next decade. In 1997, he joined another Segunda División side, Extremadura, and this time led them to promotion, finishing second in the table behind Alavés, after winning 23 out of 42 games. Extremadura only survived one season in La Liga, however, and were relegated in 1999, after finishing 17th and losing a play-off to Rayo Vallecano.
Benítez subsequently resigned at Extremadura, and took a year off from football to study in England and Italy. He also worked as a commentator/analyst for Eurosport, Marca, El Mundo and local Madrid TV. In 2000, he was appointed manager of Tenerife of the Segunda División, and with a team that included Mista, Curro Torres and Luis García, he gained promotion to La Liga by finishing third in the league behind Sevilla and Real Betis.
=== Valencia ===
==== 2001–04: Twice Spanish champions and UEFA Cup winners ====
In 2001, Benítez was appointed coach of Valencia, replacing Argentine Héctor Cúper. Cúper had led the club to two consecutive UEFA Champions League finals (both of which they lost), and departed to join Italian side Inter Milan. Valencia had previously approached Javier Irureta, Mané and Luis Aragonés, and had been turned down by all three. However, club director Javier Subirats recognised the potential of Benítez, and campaigned for his appointment. According to Santiago Cañizares, the squad was initially surprised, but they were immediately won over by his modesty as he presented himself as quoted: "You come from the Champions League final and I come from Segunda División, but humbly I think I have tools to make you improve". Shortly after his signing was announced in June 2001, Valencia president Pedro Cortes claimed that, "we believe he's the ideal coach. He's a professional who is highly qualified to take charge of the sort of team we want — young, aggressive and with a winning attitude." Benitez signed a two-year deal, with an annual salary of €450,000. It was well below the €1.2 million Cúper had earnt the previous season.
Valencia fans also were soon won over by Benítez, after he introduced a more attacking style of play than his predecessor. He also brought in both Mista from his former club and Francisco Rufete from Málaga, with Mista going on to become top goalscorer for Valencia, with 19 goals in the 2003–04 season. In 2002, these tactics saw Benítez lead Valencia to their first La Liga title in 31 years, winning it by a seven-point margin over second-placed Deportivo La Coruña.
However, the following season was a disappointing one; the club failed to follow up on their title success, finishing 18 points behind champions Real Madrid, and missed out on the top four by a single point. The season also saw Benítez make his debut in the Champions League, where his side reached the quarter-finals, losing to Inter Milan.
In the 2003–04 season, Valencia won La Liga with three games to spare, and beat Marseille 2–0 in the UEFA Cup final. Despite this success, Benítez fell out with Jesús García Pitarch, the club's director of football, over control of new signings, and the club's failure to reinforce the squad with the players he wanted. He said: "I was hoping for a sofa [a defender] and they've brought me a lamp [Fabián Canobbio]," in reference to the positions he wanted to be strengthened. These differences of opinion saw Benítez resign as Valencia coach on 1 June 2004.
=== Liverpool ===
On 16 June 2004, Benítez was appointed manager of Liverpool, replacing Gérard Houllier, becoming the first Spaniard to manage in the Premier League. On his arrival he stated: "It is like a dream to be here. I am very, very proud to be joining one of the most important clubs in the world in one of the best leagues in the world – and I want to win."
==== 2004–06: Early successes ====
One of Benítez's first tasks at Liverpool was to convince club captain Steven Gerrard not to move to Chelsea. He was unable, however, to convince Michael Owen to extend his contract; he was subsequently sold to Real Madrid. Later in the summer transfer window, Benítez signed several players from La Liga, most notably Luis García and Xabi Alonso.
During his first season, Benítez was unable to improve Liverpool's form in the Premier League. Key players missed much of the season through injury, and Liverpool failed to challenge Chelsea and Arsenal for the league title, finishing fifth. Benítez, however, did reach his first English domestic cup final, losing the League Cup final against Chelsea at the Millennium Stadium 3–2 after extra time.
In the Champions League, Liverpool were minutes away from going out of the competition in the group stages. However, an 87th-minute goal by Steven Gerrard defeated Olympiacos 3–1, and saw the club progress to the last 16 on head-to-head difference. After defeating Bayer Leverkusen and Juventus, Liverpool faced Chelsea in the semi-final. A controversial early goal in the second leg from Luis García saw Liverpool win 1–0 on aggregate and reach the final against Milan.
In a classic final, dubbed the Miracle of Istanbul, Liverpool came from 3–0 down at half time to level the score at 3–3 in the space of just six minutes, eventually triumphing 3–2 on penalties with the assistance of goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek. Benítez's calm, methodical approach at half time was said to give the players the belief they could pull off an improbable comeback, and win Liverpool an historic fifth European Cup. In doing so, Benítez became only the third manager in history (after Bob Paisley and José Mourinho) to win the UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League in successive seasons, and the second Liverpool manager (after Joe Fagan) ever to win the UEFA Champions League/European Cup in his first season in charge.
Dudek's performance in the final was not enough for him to stay as first-choice goalkeeper, as newly signed Pepe Reina replaced him in from the start of the 2005–06 season. Benítez also quickly discarded Vladimír Šmicer and Igor Bišćan, who played key roles in the European success. Benítez also quickly sold Josemi and Antonio Núñez, two of his first signings in English football, after they failed to establish themselves, with the likes of Peter Crouch, Mohamed Sissoko, Daniel Agger, as well as former Liverpool player Robbie Fowler, being brought in to strengthen the side.
Benítez's signings helped the club's Premier League form improve considerably. Liverpool finished third in the league, missing out on second place by one point. Liverpool also won the FA Cup, beating both Manchester United and Chelsea, as well as a thrilling 5–3 win against Luton Town in the third round, on the way to the final against West Ham United. History repeated itself in the final, as they then went on to lift the trophy after a penalty shoot-out, following a dramatic 3–3 draw. Liverpool came from 2–0 down, and were losing 3–2 in stoppage time, when Steven Gerrard scored a dramatic late equalizer. This time, Pepe Reina saved three penalties during the shoot-out to secure the silverware.
==== 2006–08 Confrontation with new owners ====
Following Benítez's great early success, the English media were predicting Liverpool would challenge Chelsea for the 2006–07 Premier League title after Benítez addressed Liverpool's perceived weaknesses in the transfer window, a belief reaffirmed after his side won the Community Shield with a 2–1 victory over Chelsea. The title challenge, however, fizzled out early in the season, with Liverpool's poor form away from Anfield leading to speculation Benítez's tenure at Liverpool was short-lived, with his agent quoted as saying Benítez would consider offers to manage in Italy. Benítez swiftly issued a statement through the club's website, re-affirming his desire to remain with Liverpool for the long-term.
Supporters and manager joined to welcome new owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks, with the hope the new owners would bring funding for new players and a new stadium. Gillett declared himself delighted with the manager of his new investment, as Benítez overcame his domestic difficulties to lead Liverpool to another Champions League final. After Liverpool again defeated Chelsea in the semi-final, this time on penalties, Gillett stated, "Rafa has been tremendous ... We knew of him but I don't think we realized how good he was, and not just as a coach. Not only was he a brilliant coach but he is a very sharp, savvy businessman. He knows what he wants and how to get it. The more we have seen of him the more impressed we have become." Benítez did not reciprocate his owner's kind words, demanding that his club's new owners back him in the transfer market in order for Liverpool to progress following his side's 2–1 loss to Milan in the final. It was reported Benítez did not feel he had the complete support of the new owners, a thought that was compounded by Liverpool's initial lack of activity in the transfer window, although the club played these rumours down.
Benítez's spending was, eventually, significant, breaking Liverpool's transfer record when signing Spanish striker Fernando Torres from Atlético Madrid, as well as signing Ryan Babel, Yossi Benayoun, Lucas Leiva and Andriy Voronin. Among those Benítez sold was Craig Bellamy, who was notably phased out of the first team, following an altercation with John Arne Riise in the buildup to Liverpool's remarkable victory over Barcelona in the Camp Nou en route to the Champions League final.
Liverpool made a good start to the 2007–08 season, topping the Premier League table for the first time under Benítez, after a comprehensive 6–0 win over Derby County. Despite this, poor results in the Champions League and a disagreement over future transfers lead to a public falling-out with the club's owners, which played out in the media at the end of November. It was suggested that Benítez's position was now under serious threat. The resulting coverage resulted in a show of support by fans in support of Benítez which culminated in a fans' march in support of Benítez ahead of the critical Champions League home tie with Porto, which they won 4–1. It later emerged that Jürgen Klinsmann had been offered Benítez's job before eventually accepting the post of Bayern Munich manager. Such a revelation damaged Benítez's relations with the Americans, with constant rumours linking the Spaniard with a move back to Real Madrid. Benítez, however, said that his future was at Liverpool and appointed Sammy Lee as his new assistant to replace his long-time right-hand man, Pako Ayestarán, who quit after a reported disagreement.
Benítez was unable to win any trophies as Liverpool's domestic campaign falter in the winter months – including a shock FA Cup exit at home to Barnsley, with his side losing to Chelsea in the Champions League semi-finals. Despite the lack of silverware, the main talking points were off the pitch, with Benítez in the middle of a power struggle with the Liverpool board.
==== 2008–09: League runner-up ====
In a sign of the increasingly strained relationship between the Liverpool manager and his board, Benítez was reportedly close to quitting Liverpool in the summer of 2008 over the board's failure to back him in his bid to purchase Gareth Barry from Aston Villa. Benítez had reportedly intended to sell Xabi Alonso to fund the purchase of Barry, but Liverpool CEO Rick Parry was reported to have prioritised signing Robbie Keane over Barry, causing tension when Barry did not arrive. Striker Keane was later re-sold back to Tottenham Hotspur in the January transfer window, with some analysts claiming he was a "pawn in a power struggle" between Benítez and the club's owners. This off-field turmoil was in contrast to Liverpool's impressive start to the 2008–09 season in the Premier League, including Benítez' first ever league win against Manchester United at Anfield on 13 September and ending Chelsea's 86 match unbeaten run in the league at Stamford Bridge. Liverpool finished the calendar year top of the Premier League for the first time since 1996.
However, Liverpool's poor results in the New Year led to a sharper focus on Benítez, who had missed Liverpool's draw at Arsenal in December due to an operation to remove kidney stones. An infamous attack on Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson in the media led some pundits and opposition supporters to suggest Benítez was "cracking up" under the pressure of a title bid. Benítez still appeared to be at odds with Liverpool's owners, publicly turning down a contract extension and demanding more control over transfers. At one point, rumours of Benítez quitting or being dismissed became so great that bookmakers had to suspend betting on the subject.
Nevertheless, on 18 March 2009, shortly after registering a 4–0 victory over Real Madrid and 4–1 victory over Manchester United, Benítez signed a new five-year deal with the club. Benítez said, "My heart is with Liverpool, so I'm delighted to sign this new deal, I love the club, the fans and the city and with a club and supporters like this, I could never say no to staying." With ten wins in their last 11 games, Liverpool finished the season on a high, finishing second in the league for the first time under Benítez, four points off champions Manchester United, with Liverpool playing an attractive brand of attacking football at odds with the side that struggled through the winter months.
==== 2009–10: Decline and dismissal ====
Prior to Benítez's final season at Liverpool, Xabi Alonso, one of the key members of Benítez's squad, was sold to Real Madrid following a lengthy pursuit in a deal reportedly worth £30 million. Alonso said that Benítez's attempts to sell him the previous summer were a deciding factor in his move. Alonso was immediately replaced in the squad by Italian midfielder Alberto Aquilani, signed from Roma for £17 million, who was recovering from a long-term injury. Also added was England defender Glen Johnson for a £17.5 million fee. A "sell to buy" policy enforced by the ownership due to increasing debt, combined with Alonso's departure, prompted discontent amongst considerable sections of the club's fanbase who believed Benítez was not being backed sufficiently in the transfer market. Benítez's decision to sell Alonso and replace him in the side with Lucas Leiva, in addition to Aquilani having arrived at the club injured, was called into question as Liverpool's title campaign began with two defeats in the first three games. Benítez defended his decisions, arguing Liverpool's slow start was due to key players such as Steven Gerrard being below par.
Liverpool's worst run in 22 years combined with an exit from the Champions League at the group stages led to the first major vocal criticism of Benítez by Liverpool fans. It was suggested that this Liverpool team was missing Benítez's characteristic defensive rigidity despite the fact that only Manchester United and Chelsea conceded fewer goals than Liverpool, and lacked the necessary depth to cope with injuries to key players such as Gerrard and Fernando Torres while Benítez's decision making was called into question. The club subsequently exited the UEFA Europa League at the hands of Atlético Madrid.
Benítez left the club "by mutual consent" on 3 June 2010 with a reported £6 million pay-off; the media speculated that this was because the team had finished seventh in the Premier League, missing out on the Champions League, and suffered poor results, including the defeat by Wigan Athletic. Shortly after his departure from Anfield, Benítez made a £96,000 donation to the Hillsborough Family Support Group.
=== Inter Milan ===
On 10 June 2010, and only a few days after leaving Liverpool, Benítez agreed a deal to become the new head coach of Serie A and reigning European champions Inter Milan, taking over from José Mourinho, who had left to manage Real Madrid. On 15 June 2010, Benítez was presented to the Italian media for the first time, after signing a two-year deal.
On 21 August 2010, Benítez won his first trophy as manager, the Italian Super Cup, after they defeated Roma 3–1. On 27 August 2010 in Monaco, Inter lost to Atlético Madrid in the 2010 UEFA Super Cup. Benítez's first Serie A game in charge was on 31 August 2010 in a 0–0 draw away to Bologna at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara. His first league win as manager came on 11 September 2010, a 2–1 win against Udinese at the San Siro.
By December 2010, Inter had slumped to sixth in Serie A, 13 points adrift of the top (though with two games in hand at the time), having suffered consecutive defeats against arch rivals Milan (which ended a 46 match unbeaten home record), Chievo and Lazio, as well as losing at Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League, leading to speculation that Benítez's position was under threat. Despite criticism, Benítez guided Inter to win the FIFA Club World Cup in December 2010. Buoyed by the Club World Cup victory, he told Inter to back him with new signings, or consider whether they wanted to keep him as coach, despite the side having won the treble only a few months earlier. Benítez's demands were dismissed out of hand by the ownership, with Massimo Moratti refusing to comment on Benítez's continued employment by the club. On 23 December 2010, just five days after bringing Inter to triumph, Benítez was dismissed.
=== Chelsea ===
On 21 November 2012, following the dismissal of Roberto Di Matteo, Chelsea appointed Benítez as the interim first-team manager until the end of the 2012–13 season. He was unveiled as the new Chelsea manager at a press conference on 22 November 2012. He appointed Boudewijn Zenden as his new assistant manager at Chelsea on the same day.
The appointment was initially unpopular, with many Chelsea fans due to Benítez' association with Liverpool and comments he had previously made about Chelsea, and he received a "fiercely hostile reception" as he was introduced at his first home game, a 0–0 draw with Manchester City on 25 November 2012. This was followed by a 0–0 draw at home to Fulham and a 3–1 loss to West Ham. On 5 December 2012, Benítez recorded his first win as Chelsea manager, a 6–1 victory at home to Nordsjælland in the Champions League. Despite this win, Chelsea failed to progress beyond the group stage of the competition. This was followed by a 3–1 away victory to Sunderland, with Benítez presiding over his first league win as Chelsea manager.
At the FIFA Club World Cup in December 2012, Chelsea defeated Monterrey 3–1 to reach the final, where they were beaten 1–0 by Brazilian side Corinthians. Chelsea progressed to the League Cup semi-finals with a 5–1 win over Leeds United at Elland Road, and then recorded an 8–0 win over Aston Villa, equalling their record top-flight victory. They subsequently lost 1–0 at home to 20th-placed Queens Park Rangers in the Premier League, and were knocked out of the League Cup semi-finals by underdogs Swansea City 2–0 on aggregate.
On 27 February 2013, following a 2–0 win at Middlesbrough in the FA Cup fifth-round, Benítez heavily criticised the Chelsea board for giving him the title of "interim manager" and the Chelsea fans for their protests against him. He also confirmed that he would be leaving the club at the end of the season. He described his relationship with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich as "excellent" and expressed his desire to remain as Chelsea manager until the end of the season. Results continued to be mixed, and at one point, Chelsea found themselves 16 points behind league leaders Manchester United, having been just four behind when Benítez was appointed. Chelsea reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup, losing 2–1 to Manchester City at Wembley Stadium, and also progressed to the final of the UEFA Europa League. In the penultimate league game of the season, Chelsea won 2–1 away to Aston Villa, a game in which Frank Lampard set the all-time scoring record at Chelsea. The win secured a top-four Premier League finish, and with it a place in the following season's Champions League.
In the Europa League final against Benfica on 15 May, Chelsea won 2–1. This made Benítez only the second manager after Giovanni Trapattoni to have won the UEFA Cup/Europa League with two different teams, and Chelsea became the fourth club overall and first in Britain to have won all three major European trophies. Defender David Luiz credited Benítez with making critical changes at half time, saying, "He changed some of our positions in the second half. That's why we played better and won the title. He spoke a lot to us to change the intensity." On the winning goal scored by Branislav Ivanović, Juan Mata said, "Rafa told us we had to aim to the far post, because it was Artur's weakest place. I just tried to put the ball there and Ivanovic did the rest."
On 19 May, in his final competitive game as Chelsea manager, Benítez managed the team to a 2–1 home win over Everton, ensuring a third-place finish in the Premier League, and a direct spot in the following season's Champions League group stage. Benitez did not take part in the lap of honour after the match, but many fans showed their appreciation for his efforts during the season, a notable contrast to the hostile reception he received before.
=== Napoli ===
On 27 May 2013, it was announced that Benítez had signed for Napoli, whose previous manager Walter Mazzarri had resigned. Benítez agreed a two-year contract after meeting club president Aurelio De Laurentiis in London.
In his first season in charge, Benítez guided the club to victory in the Coppa Italia, defeating Fiorentina 3–1 in the final, and into the last 16 of the Europa League, exiting after a 3–2 aggregate defeat to Porto. Napoli finished third in Serie A in 2013–14 to qualify for the next season's Champions League. They lost 4–2 on aggregate to Athletic Bilbao in the qualifying stages, thus entering the Europa League.
Benítez announced that he would resign at the end of the 2014–15 season. His final match was a 4–2 defeat to Lazio, who took the final place in the Champions League at Napoli's expense.
=== Real Madrid ===
On 3 June 2015, Benítez was confirmed as the new Real Madrid manager, signing a three-year contract. Real Madrid remained unbeaten in the league, until a 3–2 loss at Sevilla in the eleventh matchday. This was followed by a 4–0 home loss in the first Clásico of the season against Barcelona. Madrid later played Cádiz in the Copa del Rey round of 32, winning away 3–1 in the first leg. However, Madrid fielded an ineligible player in the second leg and was ultimately disqualified. Meanwhile, Real topped their UEFA Champions League group with 16 points.
On 4 January 2016, Benítez's contract was terminated following allegations of unpopularity with supporters, displeasure with players and a failure to get good results against top sides. At the time of his dismissal, Real were third in La Liga, four points behind leaders Atlético Madrid and two points behind arch-rivals Barcelona, the latter of whom had a game in hand.
=== Newcastle United ===
On 11 March 2016, Benítez was appointed manager of relegation threatened Newcastle United, signing on an initial three-year deal. He lost his first match in charge, 1–0 away to eventual champions Leicester City on 14 March. He won for the first time in his fifth game on 16 April, 3–0 over Swansea City in the Premier League.
Newcastle ended the season with a six-match unbeaten run, including a 5–1 final day win over third-place Tottenham Hotspur. However, the team was relegated to the Championship due to rivals Sunderland claiming 12 points from their final six fixtures. On 25 May 2016, it was confirmed that Benítez would remain as manager.
In May 2017, Newcastle achieved promotion, and made an immediate return to the Premier League, after one season in the Championship.
On 24 June 2019, Newcastle announced that Benítez would step down as manager upon the expiration of his contract at the end of the month. Mike Ashley criticised Benítez following his departure, stating that Benítez's demands made it impossible for him to remain in charge. However, in an interview with The Athletic in December 2020, Benítez stated he was left no choice but to leave the role, due to disagreements with Ashley, describing him as "a businessman who I don't believe really cares about his team."
Two of the signings made by Benitez (Fabian Schär and Jacob Murphy) went on to play in the 2025 EFL Cup final and become part of the first Newcastle United team to win a major trophy in 70 years.
=== Dalian Professional ===
On 2 July 2019, Benítez was appointed manager of Chinese Super League side Dalian Professional (formerly Dalian Yifang), signing a two-and-a-half-year deal. On 23 January 2021, Benítez left the club by mutual consent, citing concerns over the health and wellbeing of his family due to the COVID-19 pandemic as a reason for his departure.
=== Everton ===
Benítez was appointed manager of Premier League club Everton on a three-year contract on 30 June 2021, replacing Carlo Ancelotti who left to re-join Real Madrid. Before signing the contract, he was a subject to threats from a group of Everton supporters, who opposed his appointment and who left a banner near his home, reading: "We know where you live. Don't sign." Benitez is only the second person to manage both Liverpool and Everton, since William Edward Barclay in the 1890s.
Under Benitez, Everton enjoyed a winning streak across the Premier League and EFL Cup in their first four games. He won his first league game in charge, beating Southampton 3–1. This win was followed up with a 2–2 draw at Leeds United, a 2–1 win at Huddersfield Town in the EFL Cup and a 2–0 win against Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League. Due to this unbeaten run, Benitez was nominated for the Manager of the Month award.
Everton's form declined in the following months, with the club winning only one game (2–1 against Arsenal) between matchdays 7 and 22. After a 2–1 defeat to bottom-placed Norwich City at Carrow Road, Benitez was relieved of his duties on 16 January 2022, after six-and-a-half months in charge, with Everton in 15th place, six points above the relegation zone, having lost nine of their previous thirteen games. With his sacking, Benitez became the fifth Everton manager to lose his job in the previous six years.
=== Celta Vigo ===
On 23 June 2023, Benítez was appointed manager of La Liga club Celta Vigo on a three-year contract, replacing Carlos Carvalhal.
On 12 March 2024, Benítez was sacked after gathering just five wins and 24 points from 28 matches, leaving the club sitting two points from the relegation zone. He had led Celta to the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey for the first time since 2017 in his brief stint in charge, losing 1–2 to Real Sociedad in January. His last game in charge was a 4–0 defeat to Real Madrid.
=== Panathinaikos ===
On 19 October 2025, Benitez became manager of Panathinaikos F.C. on a 2.5-year contract.
== Relations with other managers ==
Benítez has had confrontations with both José Mourinho (Chelsea manager from 2004 to 2007) and Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson during his time in English football. Benítez made a number of suggestions during Mourinho's tenure as manager that Roman Abramovich's money had bought Chelsea's success, and the pair refused to shake hands after some matches (although Mourinho declared the feud to be over after a league game in 2006). When Mourinho exited Chelsea in 2007, Benítez said, "You know my relationship with him, it is better that I do not say anything", declining to comment as Ferguson and Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger had.
On 9 January 2009, Benítez delivered a controversial appraisal of certain aspects of Sir Alex Ferguson's tenure, accusing Ferguson and Manchester United of being nervous because Liverpool were at the top of the league, then accused the Manchester United manager of not being punished for breaking FA rules, suggesting he was "the only manager in the league that cannot be punished for these things", referring to Ferguson not being punished following an FA charge for comments he made about officials Martin Atkinson and Keith Hackett following an FA Cup tie with Portsmouth. In his 2013 autobiography, Ferguson said that "Benitez bought badly and made the feud personal".
Benítez has also had confrontations with Sam Allardyce when he was manager of Newcastle United and Blackburn Rovers. When Allardyce was manager of Newcastle, he suggested Benítez would have been dismissed had Liverpool's European form been as bad as their league form. In a match in April 2009 when Allardyce was manager of Blackburn, he accused Benítez of arrogance over a gesture he made when Fernando Torres scored Liverpool's second goal. Allardyce suggested that Benítez had signalled the game was over despite Liverpool only having a two-goal lead. This view was later supported by Sir Alex Ferguson. Benítez, however, later explained this gesture: he said he had previously told Xabi Alonso to take a short free-kick. This instruction was ignored, which resulted in a goal. Benítez said that he had jokingly signalled to Alonso to ignore his instructions and not that he thought the game was effectively over.
== Management style ==
Benítez developed a reputation in English football as a hard man to please, with former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard admitting he longed for a "well done" from Benítez after good performances. Benítez's ruthlessness can also be seen in the way he disposed of all but Gerrard and Jamie Carragher from his Champions League winning squad within four seasons, with penalty shoot-out hero Jerzy Dudek made back-up goalkeeper the very season after the European triumph.
Benítez's preferred formation is a 4–2–3–1 which he adopted during his time at Valencia and Liverpool. He was highly regarded for his tactical acumen particularly in European ties, setting his team up to exploit opposition weaknesses. His calm demeanour and tactical changes at half time of the 2005 UEFA Champions League final were said to give players belief they could battle back from 3–0 down, although he had to correct his plans when it was pointed out to him his new formation would require 12 players on the pitch. Benítez often plays key players in unorthodox positions to suit a formation – notably converting both Steven Gerrard (in the 2005–06 season) and Dirk Kuyt into right-wingers. As a right winger/midfielder, Steven Gerrard had the most productive seasons trophy-wise, claiming a Champions League title, and an FA Cup.
Benítez is a firm believer in squad rotation and zonal marking. Despite heavy criticism from the English press Benítez persisted with the reward of a Champions League and FA Cup triumph in his first two seasons. Benítez argued he needed to rotate his small squad to ensure key players were fit for the latter stages of these knockout competitions.
The tactic of zonal marking was criticised by pundits when Liverpool conceded from set-pieces in spite of the fact that Benítez's squads are usually renowned for their defensive nature and low number of goals scored against them. Benítez stood by his tactic, pointing out that teams who man-mark concede just as many, if not more, goals from set pieces.
Benítez instigated a host of backroom changes at the end of the 2008–09 season to improve the club's youth development, including the appointment of club legend Kenny Dalglish in a senior role at the academy.
== Personal life ==
Benítez's father, Francisco, worked as a hotelier. His mother is Rosario Maudes. Rosario is a big football fan and supported Real Madrid, while his father supported Atlético Madrid. Francisco died in December 2005 while Benítez was in Japan for the FIFA Club World Championship.
Rafael Benítez married Maria Montserrat in 1998. They have two daughters: one who was born in Madrid in 1999 and one who was born in Valencia in 2002. Benítez is fluent in Spanish, English, French and Italian.
== Managerial statistics ==
As of match played 11 December 2025
== Honours ==
=== Player ===
Parla
Tercera División: 1981–82
=== Manager ===
Source:
Valencia
La Liga: 2001–02, 2003–04
UEFA Cup: 2003–04
Liverpool
FA Cup: 2005–06
FA Community Shield: 2006
UEFA Champions League: 2004–05; runner-up: 2006–07
UEFA Super Cup: 2005
Football League Cup runner-up: 2004–05
FIFA Club World Championship runner-up: 2005
Inter Milan
Supercoppa Italiana: 2010
FIFA Club World Cup: 2010
Chelsea
UEFA Europa League: 2012–13
Napoli
Coppa Italia: 2013–14
Supercoppa Italiana: 2014
Newcastle United
EFL Championship: 2016–17
Individual
La Liga Best Coach: 2002
UEFA Manager of the Year: 2003–04, 2004–05
LMA Special Merit Award: 2006
Premier League Manager of the Month: November 2005, December 2005, January 2007, October 2008, March 2009, April 2013, November 2018
EFL Championship Manager of the Month: October 2016
== See also ==
List of European Cup and UEFA Champions League winning managers
List of UEFA Cup and Europa League winning managers
== References ==
== External links ==
Biographies
Liverpool FC Official Website profile
"Manager profile at LFChistory.net". Archived from the original on 4 October 2007. Retrieved 11 October 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
Manager profile at This Is Anfield
Statistics
Complete management career stats at Liverpool-kop.com
Rafael Benítez management career statistics at Soccerbase
Rafael Benítez manager profile at BDFutbol
Rafael Benítez – UEFA coaching record (archived)
Valencia CF
"2001–02 (ciberche.net)". Archived from the original on 2 March 2009. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
"2002–03 (ciberche.net)". Archived from the original on 25 September 2009. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
"2003–04 (ciberche.net)". Archived from the original on 1 November 2009. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
Awards
Spanish football awards |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Brisson#Brisson's_1st_Ministry,_6_April_1885_%E2%80%93_7_January_1886 | Henri Brisson | Eugène Henri Brisson (French: [ɑ̃ʁi bʁisɔ̃]; 31 July 1835 – 14 April 1912) was a French statesman, who was twice Prime Minister of France, between 1885–1886 and in 1898.
== Biography ==
He was born at Bourges (Cher), and followed his father's profession of advocate. Having made his mark in opposition during the last days of the empire, he was appointed deputy-mayor of Paris after the government was overthrown. He was elected to the Assembly on 8 February 1871, as a member of the extreme Left. While not approving of the Commune, he was the first to propose amnesty for the condemned (on 13 September 1871), but the proposal was voted down. He strongly supported compulsory primary education, and was firmly anti-clerical. He was president of the chamber from 1881 — replacing Léon Gambetta — to March 1885, when he became prime minister upon the resignation of Jules Ferry; but he resigned when, after the general elections of that year, he only just obtained a majority for the vote of credit for the Tonkin expedition.
He remained conspicuous as a public man, took a prominent part in exposing the Panama scandals, was a strong candidate for the presidency of France after the murder of President Carnot in 1894; however, he lost to Jean Casimir-Perier. Brisson was once again president of the chamber from December 1894 to 1898. Brisson stood once again as a candidate for the presidency of France in 1895, but lost once again to Félix Faure. Following the 1898 French legislative election, whilst the country was violently excited over the Dreyfus affair, the incumbent Premier, Jules Méline, lost the confidence of the Chamber of Deputies - subsequently allowing Brisson be re-appointed as Premier and form a new cabinet in June 1898. Brisson's firmness and honesty increased popular respect for him, but a chance vote on a matter of especial excitement overthrew his ministry in October. As a leader of the radicals he actively supported the ministries of Waldeck-Rousseau and Combes, especially concerning the laws on the religious orders and the separation of church and state. In May 1906, he was re-elected president of the chamber of deputies by 500 out of 581 votes.
== Brisson's 1st Ministry, 6 April 1885 – 7 January 1886 ==
Henri Brisson – President of the Council and Minister of Justice
Charles de Freycinet – Minister of Foreign Affairs
Jean-Baptiste Campenon – Minister of War
François Allain-Targé – Minister of the Interior
Jean Clamageran – Minister of Finance
Charles Eugène Galiber – Minister of Marine and Colonies
René Goblet – Minister of Public Instruction, Fine Arts, and Worship
Hervé Mangon – Minister of Agriculture
Sadi Carnot – Minister of Public Works
Ferdinand Sarrien – Minister of Posts and Telegraphs
Pierre Legrand – Minister of Commerce
Changes
16 April 1885 – Sadi Carnot succeeds Clamageran as Minister of Finance. Charles Demôle succeeds Carnot as Minister of Public Works.
9 November 1885 – Pierre Gomot succeeds Mangon as Minister of Agriculture. Lucien Dautresme succeeds Legrand as Minister of Commerce.
== Brisson's Second Ministry, 28 June – 1 November 1898 ==
Henri Brisson – President of the Council and Minister of the Interior
Théophile Delcassé – Minister of Foreign Affairs
Godefroy Cavaignac – Minister of War
Paul Peytral – Minister of Finance
Ferdinand Sarrien – Minister of Justice and Worship
Édouard Locroy – Minister of Marine
Léon Bourgeois – Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts
Albert Viger – Minister of Agriculture
Georges Trouillot – Minister of Colonies
Louis Tillaye – Minister of Public Works
Émile Maruéjouls – Minister of Commerce, Industry, Posts, and Telegraphs
Changes
5 September 1898 – Émile Zurlinden succeeds Cavaignac as Minister of War
17 September 1898 – Charles Chanoine succeeds Zurlinden as Minister of War. Jules Godin succeeds Tillaye as Minister of Public Works.
25 October 1898 – Édouard Locroy succeeds Chanoine as interim Minister of War, remaining also Minister of Marine.
== References ==
Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Brisson, Eugène Henri". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 574.
== External links == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_seeding#References | Cloud seeding | Cloud seeding is a type of weather modification that aims to change the amount or type of precipitation, mitigate hail, or disperse fog. The usual objective is to increase rain or snow, either for its own sake or to prevent precipitation from occurring in days afterward.
Cloud seeding is undertaken by dispersing substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation or ice nuclei. Common agents include silver iodide, potassium iodide, and dry ice, with hygroscopic materials like table salt gaining popularity due to their ability to attract moisture. Techniques vary from static seeding, which encourages ice particle formation in supercooled clouds to increase precipitation, to dynamic seeding, designed to enhance convective cloud development through the release of latent heat.
Methods of dispersion include aircraft and ground-based generators, with newer approaches involving drones delivering electric charges to stimulate rainfall, or infrared laser pulses aimed at inducing particle formation. Despite decades of research and application, cloud seeding's effectiveness remains a subject of debate among scientists, with studies offering mixed results on its impact on precipitation enhancement.
Environmental and health impacts are considered minimal due to the low concentrations of substances used, but concerns persist over the potential accumulation of seeding agents in sensitive ecosystems. The practice has a long history, with initial experiments dating back to the 1940s, and has been used for various purposes, including agricultural benefits, water supply augmentation, and event planning. Legal frameworks primarily focus on prohibiting the military or hostile use of weather modification techniques, leaving the ownership and regulation of cloud-seeding activities to national discretion. Despite skepticism and debate over its efficacy and environmental impact, cloud seeding continues to be explored and applied in regions worldwide as a tool for weather modification.
== Methods ==
=== Salts ===
The most common chemicals used for cloud seeding include silver iodide, potassium iodide and dry ice (solid carbon dioxide). Liquid propane, which expands into a gas, has also been used. It can produce ice crystals at higher temperatures than silver iodide. After promising research, the use of hygroscopic materials, such as table salt, is becoming more popular.
When cloud seeding, increased snowfall takes place when temperatures within the clouds are between −20 and −7 °C (-4 °F and 20 °F). Freezing nucleation is induced by the introduction of substances similar to silver iodide, which has a crystalline structure like ice.
=== Electric charges ===
Since 2021, the United Arab Emirates have been using drones equipped with a payload of electric-charge emission instruments and customized sensors that fly at low altitudes and deliver an electric charge to air molecules. This method may have contributed to a significant rainstorm in July 2021. For instance, in Al Ain it rained 6.9 millimeters (¼ inch) on 20–21 July.
=== Infrared laser pulses ===
An electronic mechanism was tested in 2010, when infrared laser pulses were directed to the air above Berlin by researchers from the University of Geneva. The experimenters posited that the pulses would encourage atmospheric sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide to form particles that would then act as seeds.
== Effectiveness ==
Despite decades of research and application, cloud seeding's effectiveness remains a subject of debate among scientists, with studies offering mixed results on its impact on precipitation enhancement, according to a report issued by the US Government Accountability Office in December 2024. Whether cloud seeding is effective in producing a statistically significant increase in precipitation has been a matter of academic debate, with contrasting results depending on the study in question and contrasting opinion among experts.
A study conducted by the United States National Academy of Sciences failed to find statistically significant support for cloud seeding's effectiveness. Based on its findings, Stanford University ecologist Jerry Bradley said: "I think you can squeeze out a little more snow or rain in some places under some conditions, but that's quite different from a program claiming to reliably increase precipitation." Data similar to that of the NAS study was acquired in a separate study conducted by the Wyoming Weather Modification Pilot Project, but whereas the NAS study concluded that "it is difficult to show clearly that cloud seeding has a very large effect", the WWMPP study concluded that "seeding could augment the snowpack by a maximum of 3% over an entire season."
In 2003, the US National Research Council (NRC) released a report stating, "science is unable to say with assurance which, if any, seeding techniques produce positive effects. In the 55 years following the first cloud-seeding demonstrations, substantial progress has been made in understanding the natural processes that account for our daily weather. Yet scientifically acceptable proof for significant seeding effects has not been achieved".
A 2010 Tel Aviv University study claimed that the common practice of cloud seeding to improve rainfall, with materials such as silver iodide and frozen carbon dioxide, seems to have little if any impact on the amount of precipitation. A 2011 study suggested that airplanes may produce ice particles by freezing cloud droplets that cool as they flow around the tips of propellers, over wings or over jet aircraft, and thereby unintentionally seed clouds. This could have potentially serious consequences for particular hail stone formation.
In 2016, Jeff Tilley, director of weather modification at the Desert Research Institute in Reno, claimed that new technology and research has produced reliable results that make cloud seeding a dependable and affordable water supply practice for many regions. Moreover, in 1998 the American Meteorological Society held that "precipitation from supercooled orographic clouds (clouds that develop over mountains) has been seasonally increased by about 10%."
Despite the mixed scientific results, cloud seeding was attempted during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing to coax rain showers out of clouds before they reached the city in order to prevent rain during the opening and closing ceremonies. Whether this attempt was successful is a matter of dispute, with Roelof Bruintjes, who leads the National Center for Atmospheric Research's weather-modification group, remarking, "we cannot make clouds or chase clouds away".
== Impact on environment and health ==
With an NFPA 704 health hazard rating of 2, silver iodide can cause temporary incapacitation or possible residual injury to humans and other mammals with intense or chronic exposure. But several detailed ecological studies have shown negligible environmental and health impacts. The toxicity of silver and silver compounds (from silver iodide) was shown to be of low order in some studies. These findings likely result from the minute amounts of silver generated by cloud seeding, which are about one percent of industry emissions into the atmosphere in many parts of the world, or individual exposure from tooth fillings.
Accumulations in the soil, vegetation, and surface runoff have not been large enough to measure above natural background. A 1995 environmental assessment in the Sierra Nevada of California and a 2004 independent panel of experts in Australia confirmed these earlier findings.
"In 1978, an estimated 3,000 tonnes of silver were released into the US environment. This led the US Health Services and EPA to conduct studies regarding the potential for environmental and human health hazards related to silver. These agencies and other state agencies applied the Clean Water Act of 1977 and 1987 to establish regulations on this type of pollution."
Cloud seeding over Kosciuszko National Park – a biosphere reserve – is problematic in that several rapid changes of environmental legislation were made to enable the trial. Environmentalists are concerned about the uptake of elemental silver in a highly sensitive environment affecting the pygmy possum, among other species, as well as recent high-level algal blooms in once pristine glacial lakes. Research 50 years ago and analysis by the former Snowy Mountains Authority led to the cessation of the cloud seeding program in the 1950s with non-definitive results. Formerly, cloud seeding was rejected in Australia on environmental grounds because of concerns about the pygmy possum. The claims of negative environmental impact are disputed by peer-reviewed research, as summarized by the International Weather Modification Association.
== History ==
In 1891, Louis Gathmann suggested shooting liquid carbon dioxide into rain clouds to cause them to rain. During the 1930s, the Bergeron–Findeisen process theorized that supercooled water droplets present, while ice crystals are released into rain clouds, would cause rain. While researching aircraft icing, General Electric (GE)'s Vincent Schaefer and Irving Langmuir confirmed the theory. Schaefer discovered the principle of cloud seeding in July 1946 through a series of serendipitous events. Following ideas he and Langmuir generated while climbing Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, Schaefer, Langmuir's research associate, created a way of experimenting with supercooled clouds using a deep freeze unit of potential agents to stimulate ice crystal growth, i.e., table salt, talcum powder, soils, dust, and various chemical agents with minor effect. Then, on July 14, 1946, he wanted to try a few experiments at GE's Schenectady Research Lab.
He was dismayed to find that the deep freezer was not cold enough to produce a "cloud" using breath air. He decided to move the process along by adding a chunk of dry ice just to lower the temperature of his experimental chamber. To his astonishment, as soon as he breathed into the deep freezer, he noted a bluish haze, followed by an eye-popping display of millions of microscopic ice crystals, reflecting the strong light rays from the lamp illuminating a cross-section of the chamber. He instantly realized that he had discovered a way to change super-cooled water into ice crystals. The experiment was easily replicated, and he explored the temperature gradient to establish the −40 °C (−40 °F) limit for liquid water.
Within the month, Schaefer's colleague, the atmospheric scientist Bernard Vonnegut, was credited with discovering another method for "seeding" super-cooled cloud water. Vonnegut accomplished his discovery at the desk, looking up information in a basic chemistry text and then tinkering with silver and iodide chemicals to produce silver iodide. Together with Professor Henry Chessin, of SUNY Albany, a crystallographer, he co-authored a publication in Science and received a patent in 1975. Both methods were adopted for use in cloud seeding during 1946 while working for GE in the state of New York.
Schaefer's method altered a cloud's heat budget; Vonnegut's altered formative crystal structure, an ingenious property related to a good match in lattice constant between the two types of crystal. (The crystallography of ice later played a role in Vonnegut's brother Kurt Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle). The first attempt to modify natural clouds in the field through "cloud seeding" began during a flight that began in upstate New York on 13 November 1946. Schaefer was able to cause snow to fall near Mount Greylock in western Massachusetts after he dumped six pounds (2.5 kg) of dry ice into the target cloud from a plane after a 60-mile (100 km) easterly chase from the Schenectady County Airport.
Dry ice and silver iodide agents are effective in changing super-cooled clouds' physical chemistry, and thus useful in augmenting winter snowfall over mountains and, under certain conditions, in lightning and hail suppression. While not a new technique, hygroscopic seeding for enhancement of rainfall in warm clouds is enjoying a revival, based on positive indications from research in South Africa, Mexico, and elsewhere. The hygroscopic material most commonly used is table salt. It is postulated that hygroscopic seeding causes the droplet size spectrum in clouds to become more maritime (bigger drops) and less continental, stimulating rainfall through coalescence. From 1967 to 1972, the U.S. military's Operation Popeye cloud-seeded silver iodide to extend the monsoon season over North Vietnam, specifically the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The operation extended the monsoon period an average of 30 to 45 days in the targeted areas. The 54th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron carried out the operation to "make mud, not war".
An attempt by the U.S. military to modify hurricanes in the Atlantic basin using cloud seeding in the 1960s was called Project STORMFURY. Scientists tested four hurricanes across eight days and observed decreased wind speeds of 10% to 30% on four of these days. They originally attributed the lack of results to faulty execution, but the results came into question because of the lack of supercooled water in the hurricane and the inability to determine if the effects were due to human intervention or the natural processes of hurricanes.
Two federal agencies have supported various weather modification research projects, which began in the early 1960s: The United States Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation; Department of the Interior) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA; Department of Commerce). Reclamation sponsored several cloud-seeding research projects under the umbrella of Project Skywater from 1964 to 1988, and NOAA conducted the Atmospheric Modification Program from 1979 to 1993. The sponsored projects were carried out in several states and two countries (Thailand and Morocco), studying both winter and summer cloud seeding. From 1962 to 1988 Reclamation developed cloud seeding applied research to augment water supplies in the western U.S. The research focused on winter orographic seeding to enhance snowfall in the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada, and precipitation in coast ranges of southern California. In California Reclamation partnered with the California Department of Water Resources (CDWR) to sponsor the Serra Cooperative Pilot Project (SCPP), based in Auburn, to conduct seeding experiments in the central Sierra. The University of Nevada and Desert Research Institute provided cloud physics, physical chemistry, and other field support. The High Plains Cooperative Pilot Project (HIPLEX) focused on convective cloud seeding to increase rainfall during the growing season in Montana, Kansas, and Texas from 1974 to 1979.
In 1979, the World Meteorological Organization and other member-states led by the Government of Spain conducted a Precipitation Enhancement Project (PEP) in Spain, with inconclusive results due probably to location selection issues.
Reclamation sponsored research at several universities, including Colorado State University, the Universities of Wyoming, Washington, UCLA, Utah, Chicago, NYU, Montana, and Colorado, and research teams at Stanford, Meteorology Research Inc., and Penn State University, and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, North Dakota, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma. Cooperative efforts with state water resources agencies in California, Colorado, Montana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Arizona assured that the applied research met state water management needs. HIPLEX also partnered with NASA, Environment Canada, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). From 2002 to 2006, in cooperation with six western states, Reclamation sponsored a small cooperative research program called the Weather Damage Modification Program.
In the U.S., funding for research has declined in the last two decades. But the Bureau of Reclamation sponsored a six-state research program from 2002 to 2006 called the "Weather Damage Modification Program". A 2003 study by the United States National Academy of Sciences urges a national research program to clear up remaining questions about weather modification's efficacy and practice.
In Australia, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) conducted major trials between 1947 and the early-1960s:
1947–1952: CSIRO scientists dropped dry ice into the tops of cumulus clouds. The method worked reliably with clouds that were very cold, producing rain that would not have otherwise fallen.
1953–1956: CSIRO carried out similar trials in South Australia, Queensland and other states. Experiments used both ground-based and airborne silver iodide generators.
Late 1950s and early 1960s: Cloud seeding in the Snowy Mountains, on the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, in the New England District of New South Wales, and in the Warragamba catchment area west of Sydney.
Only the trial conducted in the Snowy Mountains produced statistically significant rainfall increases over the entire experiment.
Hydro Tasmania (at the time still known as the Hydro Electric Commission) began experimenting with cloud-seeding over lake catchments in central Tasmania in the early 1960s in order to determine if their electricity-producing dams could be kept at high water levels through cloud seeding. Tasmania proved to be one place where cloud seeding was highly effective. Various trials were undertaken between 1964 and 2005, and again between 2009 and 2016, but none have taken place since then. Hydro Tasmania also undertook soil and water survey samples and found negligible trace elements of the materials used for cloud seeding (such as silver iodine), and determined it did not have a detrimental effect on the environment.
An Austrian study to use silver iodide seeding for hail prevention ran during 1981–2000, and the technique is still actively deployed there.
=== Asia ===
==== China ====
The largest cloud seeding system is in the People's Republic of China. They believe that it increases the amount of rain over several increasingly arid regions, including its capital city, Beijing, by firing silver iodide rockets into the sky where rain is desired. There is even political strife caused by neighboring regions that accuse each other of "stealing rain" using cloud seeding. China used cloud seeding in Beijing just before the 2008 Olympic Games in order to have a dry Olympic season. In February 2009, China also blasted iodide sticks over Beijing to artificially induce snowfall after four months of drought, and blasted iodide sticks over other areas of northern China to increase snowfall. The snowfall in Beijing lasted for approximately three days and led to the closure of 12 main roads around Beijing. At the end of October 2009 Beijing claimed it had its earliest snowfall since 1987 due to cloud seeding. According to "research paper from Tsinghua University, the Chinese weather authorities used weather modification to ensure the sky was clear and lower air pollution" on July 1, 2021. The Chinese Communist party celebrated its centenary on July 1 with a major celebration. The celebration took place in Tiananmen Square. The paper was published on November 26, 2021 in a peer-review journal called Environment Science (via South China Morning Post). The research shows that the Chinese government used cloud-seeding techniques to force rainfall the evening before the celebration event. This rainfall lowered the amount of PM2.5 pollution by more than two-thirds. That helped improve the air quality at the time from "moderate" to "good".
==== India ====
In India, cloud seeding operations were conducted during the years 1983, 1984–87, and 1993–94 by the Tamil Nadu Government due to severe drought. In the years 1999 to 2004, 2006 and 2010 Karnataka government attempted cloud seeding without much success. Cloud seeding operations were also conducted in 2003 and 2004 through in the state of Maharashtra with inconclusive results.
In October 2025, cloud seeding was conducted to improve the air quality over Delhi but the experiment yielded no significant results.
==== Iran ====
In 1946, the Iranian government tried to fertilize Iran's clouds with the help of Americans, but it was unsuccessful. Then in 1947, in Article 19 of the Law on Water and its Nationalization, the then Ministry of Water and Electricity was obliged to provide the water needed by the country in various ways, including cloud fertilization. Accordingly, the Ministry of Energy between 1953 and 1957, in cooperation with a Canadian company and using aircraft and silver iodide compound fertilized the clouds that were over the Karaj and Jajrud dam area.
After the revolution of 1978, in the years 1989 to 1995, cloud fertilization was carried out in a scattered manner using ground generators in the heights of Shirkuh, Yazd. Then, with the announcement of the Minister of Energy in February 1996, the National Center for Cloud Fertility Research and Studies was established in Yazd and officially started working in 1997.
==== Israel ====
Israel conducted experimental cloud seeding for seven years from 2014 to 2021. The practice involved emitting silver iodide from airplanes and ground stations and took place only in the northern parts of the country. Israel stopped the rain enhancement project in 2021 due to the experiment data showing that the practice was largely ineffective and expensive, and because there had been some recent years of unrelated significant rainfall.
==== Kuwait ====
To counter drought and a growing population in a desert region, Kuwait is embarking on its own cloud seeding program, with the local Environment Public Authority conducting a study to gauge its viability locally.
==== North Korea ====
Cloud seeding projects have been carried out in North Korea since the 1960s. Their initial purpose was to ensure a steady supply of water for the hydroelectric power stations located in the South Hamgyong Province. In the following decades, however, while research on utilising cloud resources was carried out, seeding operations themselves were almost nonexistent. Cloud seeding operations were prioritised again in the twenty-first century due to socio-economic requirements, and to mitigate natural disasters such as droughts and hailstorms. More recently, between 2017 and 2020, the Chungsan region was selected to carry out cloud seeding experiments over, which were seen to have enhanced precipitation in the region.
==== Pakistan ====
Pakistan has undergone its first-ever artificial rain experiment using cloud seeding, in a move carried out with the help of the United Arab Emirates.there was drizzle in 'at least 10 areas' of Lahore, consistently ranked the most polluted city in the world.
On Friday, November 15, 2024, Pakistan successfully conducted a cloud seeding operation using locally developed technology, resulting in artificial rainfall to tackle the region’s smog crisis. The Meteorological Department confirmed rainfall in Jhelum, Gujar Khan, Chakwal, and Talagang, attributing it to the cloud seeding effort. Cloud seeding was conducted around 14:00, with subsequent rainfall observed within hours in Jhelum and Gujar Khan.
==== Sri Lanka ====
In January 2019, the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) and Ministry of Power, Energy and Business Development signed an agreement for a cloud seeding project, created in response to lower water levels for hydroelectric power due to dry weather. In February of that year, a group of officials from the SLAF, Ceylon Electricity Board, and meteorology and irrigation departments were sent to Thailand to study rainmaking projects carried out by the Department of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation. On March 22, a Harbin Y-12 flew over the Maskeliya Reservoir at 2,400 m (7,900 ft), dispersing cloud seeding chemicals. Rain arrived the next day on March 23, though project members had expected it to appear earlier on the 22nd. News First proclaimed that the pilot project had "proven to be a success", while Mongabay described it as a "failed attempt" that had "fallen short" and highlighted various climate experts who recommended that the government conduct more research into the project's potential environmental effects before proceeding further.
==== United Arab Emirates ====
=== Southeast Asia ===
In Southeast Asia, open-burning haze pollutes the regional environment. Cloud seeding has been used to improve the air quality by encouraging rainfall. On 20 June 2013, Indonesia said it will begin cloud-seeding operations following reports from Singapore and Malaysia that smog caused by forest and bush fires in Sumatra have disrupted daily activities in the neighboring countries. On 25 June 2013, hailstones were reported to have fallen over some parts of Singapore. Despite NEA denials, some believe that the hailstones are the result of cloud seeding in Indonesia.
==== Indonesia ====
In Jakarta, cloud seeding was tested in 2013 to minimize flood risk in anticipation of heavy floods, according to the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology. The practice has continued up to March 2025, national and provincial disaster agencies used cloud seeding over the sea north of Jakarta, with the aim of shifting rainfall away from land and toward the sea, costing about 200 million rupiahs (US$12,292) for each flyover.
==== Malaysia ====
In Malaysia, cloud seeding was first used in 1988 for three purposes: filling up dams, lessening the effects of haze, and fighting forest fires. In 2015, cloud seeding was done daily in Malaysia since the haze began in early-August. Johor Water Regulatory Body focused to produce rain over dams with critically low water levels. They used Cessna 340 with tubes of ioidised salt, flying from their operation base at Senai International Airport.
==== Thailand ====
The Thailand Royal Rainmaking Project (Thai: โครงการฝนหลวง, RTGS: khrongkan fon luang) was initiated in November 1955 by King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Thai farmers repeatedly suffered the effects of drought. The king resolved to do something about it and proposed a solution to the dearth of rain: artificial rainmaking, or cloud seeding. The program is run by the Department of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation. Thailand started a rain-making project in the late-1950s, known today as the Royal Rainmaking Project. Its first efforts scattered sea salt in the air to catch the humidity and dry ice to condense the humidity to form clouds. The project took about ten years of experiments and refinement. The first field operations began in 1969 above Khao Yai National Park. Since then the Thai government claims that rainmaking has been successfully applied throughout Thailand and neighboring countries. The king received recognition for the Royal Rainmaking Project from the Eureka organization in 2001 for an invention that is beneficial to the world. In 2009, Jordan received permission from Thailand to use the technique. On 12 October 2005 the European Patent Office granted to King Bhumibol Adulyadej the patent EP 1 491 088 Weather modification by royal rainmaking technology. The budget of the Department of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation in FY2019 was 2,224 million baht.
==== Vietnam ====
In Vietnam, during the leadup to and initial stages of the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ in 1954, the French Far East Expeditionary Corps looked into the possibility of using cloud seeding to impede Việt Minh flow of supplies through Route Provinciale 41, a dirt road leading into Điện Biên Phủ that would become more difficult to navigate during the rainy season. General Henri Navarre authorized research into using cloud seeding this way on March 16, just before the outbreak of the battle, and a test commenced the following month. Results were disappointing; while it did not take long for the rain clouds to form and release precipitation, they often drifted away from Route Provinciale 41 in the process, reducing their ability to hinder Việt Minh logistics.
=== North America ===
==== United States ====
In the United States, cloud seeding is used to increase precipitation in areas experiencing drought, to reduce the size of hailstones that form in thunderstorms, and to reduce the amount of fog in and around airports. In the summer of 1948, the usually humid city of Alexandria, Louisiana, under Mayor Carl B. Close, seeded a cloud with dry ice at the municipal airport during a drought; quickly 0.85 inches (22 mm) of rain fell.
Major ski resorts occasionally use cloud seeding to induce snowfall. Eleven western states and one Canadian province (Alberta) had ongoing weather modification operational programs in 2012. In 2006, an $8.8 million project began in Wyoming to examine cloud seeding's effects on snowfall over Wyoming's Medicine Bow, Sierra Madre, and Wind River mountain ranges.
In Oregon, Portland General Electric used Hood River seeding to produce snow for hydro power in 1974-1975. The results were substantial, but caused an undue burden on the locals, who experienced overpowering rainfall, causing street collapses and mudslides. PGE discontinued its seeding practices the next year.
In 1978, the U.S. signed the Environmental Modification Convention, which bans the use of weather modification for hostile purposes.
As of 2022, seven agencies in California are conducting cloud seeding operations using silver iodide, including the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, which began employing the technique in 1969 to increase the water supply to its hydroelectric power plants, and reported that it results in "an average of 3 to 10% increase in [Sierra Nevada] snowpack".
==== Canada ====
During the sixties, Irving P. Krick & Associates operated a successful cloud seeding operation in the area around Calgary, Alberta. This utilized both aircraft and ground-based generators that pumped silver iodide into the atmosphere in an attempt to reduce the threat of hail damage. Ralph Langeman, Lynn Garrison, and Stan McLeod, all ex-members of the RCAF's 403 Squadron, attending the University of Alberta, spent their summers flying hail suppression. The Alberta Hail Suppression Project is continuing with C$3 million a year in funding from insurance companies to reduce hail damage in southern Alberta.
=== Europe ===
==== Bulgaria ====
Bulgaria operates a national network of hail protection, silver iodide rocket sites, strategically located in agricultural areas such as the rose valley. Each site protects an area of 10 sq. km (4 sq. mi.), the density of the site clusters is such that at least 2 sites will be able to target a single hail cloud, initial detection of hail cloud formation to firing of the rockets is typically 7–10 minutes in its entire process with a view to seed the formation of much smaller hailstones, high in the atmosphere that will melt before reaching ground level.
Data collated since the 1960s suggests huge agricultural sector losses are avoided yearly with the protection system, unseeded the hail will flatten entire regions, with seeding this can be reduced to minor leaf damage from the smaller hailstones that failed to melt.
==== France and Spain ====
Cloud seeding began in France during the 1950s with the intent of reducing hail damage to crops. The ANELFA ([1]) project consists of local agencies acting within a non-profit organization. A similar project in Spain is managed by the Consorcio por la Lucha Antigranizo de Aragon. The success of the French program was supported by analysis made by Jean Dessens based on insurance data; that of the Spanish program in studies conducted by the Spanish Agricultural Ministry. However, Jean Dessens's results were heavily criticized and doubt was cast on the effectiveness of ground generator seeding. ([2])
==== Russia ====
The Soviet Union created a specifically designed version of the Antonov An-30 aerial survey aircraft, the An-30M Sky Cleaner, with eight containers of solid carbon dioxide in the cargo area plus external pods containing meteorological cartridges that could be fired into clouds. Russian government spends millions on 'cloud seeding' technology to ensure it doesn't rain on May Day public holiday. A single contractor was hired to employ a technique which involves dispersing clouds and forcing them to rain before the time they naturally would – dropping the rain on other places and at other times, so they don’t affect specific events. In 2020, Russia used cloud seeding to help fight Siberian forest fires. The Russian government has also used cloud seeding technology in Crimea to alleviate drought which was caused as a result of Ukraine blocking the Crimean Canal.
Russia published a review of the weather electromagnetic correction technology in 2015, which was developed in the 1980s in the USSR and shares technology with India.
==== Germany ====
In Germany civic engagement societies organize cloud seeding on a region level. A registered society maintains aircraft for cloud seeding to protect agricultural areas from hail in the district Rosenheim, the district Miesbach, the district Traunstein (all located in southern Bavaria, Germany) and the district Kufstein (located in Tyrol, Austria).
Cloud seeding is also used in Baden-Württemberg, a federal state particularly known for its winegrowing culture. The districts of Ludwigsburg, Heilbronn, Schwarzwald-Baar and Rems-Murr, as well as the cities Stuttgart and Esslingen participate in a program to prevent the formation of hailstones. Reports from a local insurance agency suggest that the cloud seeding activities in the Stuttgart area have prevented about 5 million euro in damages in 2015 while the project's annual upkeep is priced at only 325.000 euro. Another society for cloud seeding operates in the district of Villingen-Schwenningen.
==== Austria ====
Austria has two hail defense organizations: Steirische Hagel Abwehr, with four aircraft: Cessna 182 and Südflug with three aircraft: Cessna 150L, Cessna 182P, Partenavia P.68 at Graz Airport.
==== Slovenia ====
Slovenia's oldest aeroclub Letalski center Maribor carries air defense against hail as a specialized EASA operation. The Cessna TU206G Turbo Stationair 6 II is equipped with external aggregates and flares for flying. Three crew members work in the operation. Two are the pilots in the plane and the third is the radar operator on the ground. The purpose of the defense is to prevent damage to farmland and cities in the areas of Styria and Prekmurje - aircraft hail suppression. They have been carrying out defense since 1983. Silver iodide is used as a reagent. The base is at Maribor Edvard Rusjan Airport. The activity is financed by local communities and the Ministry of Agriculture, it has great support among people and farmers from all over the countryside.
==== United Kingdom ====
Project Cumulus was a UK government initiative to investigate weather manipulation, in particular through cloud seeding experiments, operational between 1949 and 1952. A conspiracy theory has circulated that the Lynmouth flood of 1952 was caused by secret cloud seeding experiments carried out by the Royal Air Force. However, meteorologist Philip Eden has given several reasons why "it is preposterous to blame the Lynmouth flood on such experiments".
=== Australia ===
In Australia, summer activities of CSIRO and Hydro Tasmania over central and western Tasmania between the 1960s and the present day appear to have been successful. Seeding over the Hydro-Electricity Commission catchment area on the Central Plateau achieved rainfall increases as high as 30 percent in autumn. The Tasmanian experiments were so successful that the Commission has regularly undertaken seeding ever since in mountainous parts of the State.
In 2004, Snowy Hydro Limited began a trial of cloud seeding to assess the feasibility of increasing snow precipitation in the Snowy Mountains in Australia. The test period, originally scheduled to end in 2009, was later extended to 2014. The New South Wales (NSW) Natural Resources Commission, responsible for supervising the cloud seeding operations, believes that the trial may have difficulty establishing statistically whether cloud seeding operations are increasing snowfall. This project was discussed at a summit in Narrabri, NSW on 1 December 2006. The summit met with the intention of outlining a proposal for a 5-year trial, focusing on Northern NSW.
The various implications of such a widespread trial were discussed, drawing on the combined knowledge of several worldwide experts, including representatives from the Tasmanian Hydro Cloud Seeding Project however does not make reference to former cloud seeding experiments by the then-Snowy Mountains Authority, which rejected weather modification. The trial required changes to NSW environmental legislation in order to facilitate placement of the cloud seeding apparatus. The modern experiment is not supported for the Australian Alps.
In December 2006, the Queensland government of Australia announced a $7.6 million in funding for "warm cloud" seeding research to be conducted jointly by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the United States National Center for Atmospheric Research. Outcomes of the study are hoped to ease continuing drought conditions in the states South East region.
In March 2020, scientists from the Sydney Institute of Marine Science and Southern Cross University trialled marine cloud seeding off the coast of Queensland, Australia, with the aim to protect Great Barrier Reef from coral bleaching and dieoff during marine heatwaves. Using two high-pressure turbines, the team sprayed microscopic droplets of saltwater into the air. These then evaporate leaving behind very small salt crystals, which water vapour clings to, creating clouds that reflect the sun more effectively.
=== Africa ===
In Mali and Niger, cloud seeding is also used on a national scale. In 1985 the Moroccan Government started with a Cloud seeding program called 'Al-Ghait'. The system was first used in Morocco in 1999; it has also been used between 1999 and 2002 in Burkina Faso and from 2005 in Senegal. Cloud seeding experiments and operations were also conducted in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) between 1968 and 1980.
== Legal frameworks and implications ==
=== Existing international legislation ===
The Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques (ENMOD) is the only international framework related to the regulation of weather and climate modification technologies. Developed after cloud-seeding operations were conducted during the Vietnam War and the Cold War, the convention's scope of application solely encompasses military or any other hostile uses of weather modification technologies. Indeed, the use of weather modification programs for peaceful purposes is not prohibited by the treaty. ENMOD has been criticised for its many weaknesses, notably regarding the vagueness and ambiguity of notions leaving room for various interpretations.
=== Ownership of clouds ===
Given the growing attractiveness of weather modification programs, the legal framework offered by ENMOD is arguably insufficient, as the question of "ownership" is not answered. A 1948 article in the Stanford Law Review stated that attributing a "legal title to a cloud would be ridiculous" due to the distinct nature of clouds, their perpetual change of form and location, their emergence, disappearance and renewal. Similarly, Brooks considers private ownership of clouds as "nonsense" as control is limited to the short moment of the cloud being above somebody's land. Quilleré-Majzoub (2004) dismisses the concept of ownership of clouds altogether, given their specific nature, rendering the idea of a cloud ever belonging to somebody unsubstantiated. Indeed, clouds are beyond occupancy – similar to air, running water, the sea and animals ferae naturae – and should thus be considered as common property. Based on this assumption, according to Quilleré-Majzoub it follows that a distinction between res communis, belonging to everybody and thus necessitating international regulation, and res nullius, belonging to nobody with states serving themselves as they please, is more suitable. Although water is generally considered as res nullius in international law, there is strong pressure to acknowledging it as res communis, but cloud moisture does currently not have a clearly defined status. She thus suggests that international law should elaborate a jurisdictional regime that takes into account both the particular nature of clouds and the implications of new technologies.
According to Brooks (1948) the picture changes once the moisture in the clouds is made accessible through artificial rainmaking technologies, as the rainwater can now be occupied. Typically, regarding naturally occurring precipitation, the first to reduce it to possession, normally the landowner, will gain rights in it as long as no existing rights are violated. Given that this benefit is accorded by nature, these natural rights should not allow the landowner to claim artificially induced rain. California legislation binds water generated through seeding to existing surface water rights and groundwater regulations, considering the produced water "natural supply". Yet courts could decide that the induced rain should be designated as "additional precipitation", permitting the cloud-seeding entity to claim a portion of this generated water. This approach would also face challenges, given the difficulty of determining the fraction of extra water procured by cloud seeding.
== Conspiracy theories ==
Cloud seeding has been the focus of many theories based on the belief that governments manipulate the weather in order to control various conditions, including global warming, populations, military weapons testing, public health, and flooding. This speculation has been fueled in part by government interventions and programs like Operation Popeye.
A 2016 classified ad placed by Los Angeles County's Department of Public Works in the Pasadena Star News sparked claims that widespread weather modification was being confirmed. The department followed up with a clarification that it was only describing cloud seeding, used as an anti-drought measure intermittently for more than half a century in Los Angeles.
== See also ==
Hail cannon
2015 Southeast Asian haze
Anthropogenic cloud
Atmospheric moisture extraction
Bioprecipitation
Cloudbuster – a pseudoscientific device claimed to create clouds and rain via energy manipulation
Fog collection
Marine cloud brightening
The Avengers – A Surfeit of H2O
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Schaefer, Vincent J. Serendipity in Science: My Twenty Years at Langmuir University 2013 Compiled and Edited by Don Rittner. Square Circle Press, Voorheesville, NY ISBN 978-0985692636
Note: Chapter Six "The War Ends as I Discover Cloud Seeding" Schaefer discusses the conversations with Langmuir while climbing Mount Washington (pp. 118–119) and then describes the event "My Discovery of Dry Ice Seeding" on pp. 128–129. References by his son, James M Schaefer, Ph.D.
== External links ==
Rainmaking in China
Nevada State Cloud Seeding Program
European patent EP 1 491 088 Weather modification by royal rainmaking technology
Dunning, Brian (14 January 2025). "Skeptoid #971: Cloud Seeding". Skeptoid. Retrieved 14 January 2025. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Turner_(North_Carolina_politician) | James Turner (North Carolina politician) | James Turner (December 20, 1766 – January 15, 1824) was the 12th Governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1802 to 1805. He later served as a U.S. Senator from 1805 to 1816.
Turner was born in Southampton County in the Colony of Virginia; his family moved to the Province of North Carolina in 1770. Raised in a family of farmers, Turner served in the North Carolina volunteer militia during the American Revolutionary War in 1780. He served under Nathanael Greene alongside Nathaniel Macon, with whom he formed a lasting friendship and political alliance.
== Politics ==
In 1798, Turner was elected to the North Carolina House of Commons; he served there from 1799 to 1800, and served in the North Carolina Senate from 1801 to 1802.
=== Governor ===
In 1802, the General Assembly elected John Baptista Ashe governor, but he died before he could assume office; Turner was chosen in his place and sworn in on December 5, 1802. He served the constitutional limit of three one-year terms and, at the end of his time as governor, was elected to the United States Senate when Montfort Stokes resigned before serving the term to which he had been elected.
=== U.S. Senate ===
Turner served as a senator for eleven years, re-elected to a second term in 1811, resigning due to ill health in 1816. During his time in office, he supported the administration of James Madison during the War of 1812. Around 1805, he introduced to the Senate a bill outlawing the importation of slaves.
== Personal life, death, legacy ==
Turner was married three times; first to Marian Anderson in 1793 (they had four children), then to Ann Cochran in 1802, with no children, and finally to Elizabeth Johnston in 1810 (resulting in two children). Turner died in 1824 and is buried on his "Bloomsbury" plantation in Warren County. In addition to Bloomsbury, he owned a second home, "Oakland," in present-day Vance County.
His son Daniel Turner served in the US House of Representatives from 1827 to 1829.
== Sources ==
Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789–1978, Robert Sobel and John Raimo, eds. Westport, CT: Meckler Books, 1978. (ISBN 0-930466-00-4)
North Carolina Historical Marker Archived July 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine James Moody Turner
Charles L. Coon, The Beginnings of Public Education in North Carolina: A Documentary History, 1790–1840 (1908)
Delbert H. Gilpatrick, Jeffersonian Democracy in North Carolina, 1789–1816 (1931)
William S. Powell, ed., Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, VI, 65—sketch by Roy Parker Jr. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Ceja,_Antioquia | La Ceja, Antioquia | La Ceja del Tambo, known as La Ceja, is a town and municipality in the Antioquia Department of Colombia. It is part of the subregion of Eastern Antioquia. La Ceja borders the Rionegro and Carmen de Viboral municipalities to the north, La Unión to the east, and Montebello and Retiro to the west. It is located approximately 41 kilometers from Medellín, the department capital.
The town is known for being well-connected with other towns and municipalities in Antioquia through its extensive roads and highways, including the Medellin-Bogota highway, the Las Palmas roads, and the Medellín Santa Elena road. It also has a dirt road that leads to the Mesopotamia neighborhood of La Unión.
Father Germán Montoya wrote the hymn for the town, called "Hymn of La Ceja del Tambo". Donato Duque Patiño created the flag.
== History ==
The territory today known as "La Ceja" was first inhabited by the Tahamíes. Tahamíes is an indigenous people dedicated to agriculture, specifically the cultivation of maize. By 1541 the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the town, led by Álvaro de Mendoza, deputy to Marshal Jorge Robledo. On arrival to this region, Mendoza discovered a vast and fertile valley full of green meadows furrowed by abundant and clean water. He called it the "Valley of Santamaría", which today is known as the "Valley of La Ceja del Tambo".
Since the early 17th century, many people from Antioquia, especially residents of Medellín and Santa Fe de Antioquia, moved to the area due to its natural attractions and fertile land suitable for agricultural industry and livestock.
In 1683, a path was cleared between San Nicolás de Rionegro and Santiago de Arma, which in turn led to Popayán. The locals built a shelter, or "tambo" to the side of this route, which originated the subsequent naming of this town as "La Ceja del Tambo".
The town was founded as "La Ceja" on 7 December 1789. It was founded by María Josefa Marulanda Londoño and Father José Pablo de Villa.
By 1824, the town had 2,012 inhabitants, of which 98 were slaves.
La Ceja was elevated to the status of municipality in 1855. In 1905, the first studies for the installation of an aqueduct were made and in 1927 came into operation the first aqueduct and sewerage systems.
== Demography ==
The population was 64,889 at the 2018 census.
Total population: 48,879 inhabitants (2009)
Urban population: 41,587
Rural population: 7,292
=== Ethnography ===
According to figures presented by DANE census in 2005, the ethnic makeup of the township is the following:
White & Mestizo: 92.1%
Afro-Colombian: 7.9%
== Economy ==
Unlike other towns in eastern Antioquia that focus on mining, La Ceja has traditionally been a town of agriculture and raising livestock.
The main agricultural products of the Municipality are tamarillo, bananas, blackberries, caturro and coffee, and other fruits and vegetables.
Traditionally, dairy farming has been a very important part of the economy. Currently about 70,000 litres of milk per day are produced in the region.
To the north of the city, there are many cut flower growers and exporters, which provide the main source of employment for La Ceja's inhabitants. The majority of the production from these flower farms is exported to the United States. The main flower varieties in production are chrysanthemums, hydrangeas, gerberas, and asters.
== Places of interest ==
The town has more than a thousand commercial establishments: restaurants, cafes, bars, entertainment centers, newsstands, clothing stores, Internet cafes, drugstores, supermarkets, hotels, shops, travel agencies and leases, health centers, schools, and more.
The main plaza also has two churches, the Chapel of Our Lady of Chiquinquirá and the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Carmen. The former chapel is also considered a museum of religious art, and contains works by artists such as Gregorio Vasquez de Arce y Ceballos.
Additional attractions include the following:
Buey river waterfall
Pantanillo river
Juan de Dios Aranzazu Theater
Gregorio Gutiérrez González House of Culture
In addition to all the typical gastronomy of the Paisa region, La Ceja is famous for its sweets and preserves such as custards, jams, jellies, arequipes, chocolate delicacies, and panelitas.
== Gallery ==
== See also ==
Tequendamita Falls
== References ==
Gaviria Correa, Anibal (Dirección) (2000). Municipios de Mi Tierra. 31 El Retiro-La Ceja-Carmen de Viboral, Oriente. Editorial El Mundo, Medellín.
== External links ==
(in Spanish) La Ceja official website
(in Spanish) ViveLaCeja - Culture and tourism website |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_M._Knight#:~:text=Knight%20married%20Alice%20Tobey%2C%20step,their%20daughter%2C%20also%20named%20Alice. | Austin M. Knight | Austin Melvin Knight (December 16, 1854 – February 26, 1927) was an admiral in the United States Navy. He was commander in chief of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet from 1917 to 1918. His 1901 textbook Modern Seamanship was a standard reference for over eight decades.
== Early career ==
Born in Ware, Massachusetts, to future American Civil War veteran Charles Sanford Knight and Cordelia Cutter Knight, Austin Melvin Knight was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy from Florida on June 30, 1869, graduating in 1873. After service as a passed midshipman, he was commissioned ensign on July 16, 1874. He served in various sea and shore assignments over the next two decades, including tours at the Naval Academy, and in Tuscarora, Constellation, Chicago, Monongahela, and Lancaster.
During the Spanish–American War Knight served as navigator aboard the new monitor Puritan, participating in the blockade of Cuba and the taking of Puerto Rico in 1898. After attending the Naval War College at Newport in 1901, he commanded the armed yacht Yankton off the Cuban coast from 1901 to 1903, and the gunboat Castine in the Atlantic from 1903 to 1904. During the next three years, he presided over a naval ordnance board and a joint Army-Navy board on smokeless powder. Knight was promoted to captain in 1907 and given command of the armored cruiser Washington in the Pacific. He resumed the presidency of the naval ordnance board in 1909.
== Court martial ==
In November 1910, the monitor Puritan was wrecked by an explosion of four hundred pounds of gelatin during ordnance tests being conducted under Knight's direction. The board of inquiry reported that the monitor had been allowed to sink into the mud despite having remained afloat for twenty-two hours, subsequently requiring the services of a wrecking company to raise. Congress blamed Knight for this perceived lapse and ordered that he be prosecuted for "culpable negligence and inefficiency in the performance of duty". A court-martial of seven rear admirals convened at the Norfolk Navy Yard, and honorably acquitted Knight. Secretary of the Navy George von Lengerke Meyer disapproved the finding and referred the case back to the court for reconsideration, but the court reaffirmed Knight's acquittal and he was restored to active duty.
Knight was placed under arrest while on trial, and his wife fell ill and died during his detainment. The court-martial also threatened to derail his previously scheduled promotion to rear admiral. His private and professional travails coupled with the perception that he had been scapegoated by the political establishment made him a sympathetic figure among his fellow officers.
== Flag rank ==
Following his acquittal, Knight was promoted to rear admiral in May 1911 (backdated to January 29) and assigned to command the Narragansett Bay Naval Station. He served as commander in chief of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet from 1912 to 1913, interrupted by temporary duty to command a special squadron consisting of the armored cruisers Tennessee and Montana that was dispatched to the Eastern Mediterranean in November 1912 to protect American citizens in Turkey during the Balkan War.
As President of the Naval War College from December 15, 1913, to February 16, 1917, Knight was extensively quoted in Hudson Maxim's influential 1915 book Defenseless America, which exhorted America to rearm.
Knight aligned himself with naval reformers such as Bradley Fiske and William Sims who agitated for a navy general staff headed by a strong chief of naval operations with authority to command both the line and the bureaus. President Woodrow Wilson and Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels strongly opposed the idea, and Wilson instructed Daniels to reprimand Knight after he publicly advocated a general staff in a speech in New York City.
== Commander in Chief, U.S. Asiatic Fleet ==
On May 22, 1917, Knight raised his flag aboard the armored cruiser Brooklyn as commander in chief of the Asiatic Fleet with the temporary rank of admiral. He directed American naval operations during the Allied intervention at Vladivostok during the Russian Civil War, and was chairman of the ten-nation council tasked with preserving order in the Russian Far East.
Knight relinquished command on December 7, 1918, and reverted to his permanent rank of rear admiral. He transferred to the retired list on December 16, 1918.
== Knight Board of Awards ==
Knight was recalled to active duty from March 13, 1919, until June 30, 1920, to serve as Senior Member of the Board of Awards. No medals had been awarded for naval service during World War I prior to the armistice, so on March 6, 1919, Secretary Daniels appointed Knight to head a board to review all recommendations of commanding officers for the Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Medal, and Navy Cross, and to submit a uniform list of recommended honors. The board comprised Knight and eight other retired officers, a roster that drew harsh criticism as most of the board members had retired prior to America's entry into the war and none had any personal familiarity with conditions in the war zone. (Knight himself had spent the war in a distant theater.)
The Knight Board was in session from March 17, 1919, to October 31, 1919, when it was suddenly dissolved by Secretary Daniels before completing its work and before many of the most important recommendations had been received. Daniels disregarded most of the board's recommendations and drew up his own list of awards. Daniels' list aroused immediate outrage for its perceived caprice; in particular, every commanding officer of a ship that had been sunk by the enemy received the Distinguished Service Medal, while many commanding officers of ships that sank enemy vessels received no medal. Many officers refused the medals awarded them, most prominently Admiral William Sims. Daniels hastily reconvened the Knight Board, but the second session's recommendations fared little better than the first, as the final decision over which medals to award remained the sole prerogative of the Secretary of the Navy.
The awards fiasco led directly to the creation of a largely independent Navy Department Board of Decorations and Medals.
== Legacy ==
Knight died February 26, 1927, at Washington, D.C., and was buried at the Naval Academy Cemetery. He was President of the Naval Historical Foundation from 1926 until his death. On November 17, 1930, he was posthumously advanced to admiral on the retired list with date of rank February 26, 1927, in recognition of his World War I service.
Knight was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for meritorious service as commander in chief of the Asiatic Fleet during Allied naval operations at Vladivostok, Siberia. He was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Rising Sun by the government of Japan.
In 1901, Knight wrote Modern Seamanship, a guide to shiphandling and safety which became famous as the sailor's bible for pleasure boaters and professional seamen alike. The textbook was repeatedly updated for over eighty years, publishing its eighteenth edition in 1988.
Knight married Alice Tobey, step-daughter of Wisconsin Governor Harrison Ludington, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on January 3, 1878. Alice died the following year, a few days after giving birth to their daughter, also named Alice.
Several years later, at Annapolis, Maryland, on April 29, 1886, Knight married Elizabeth Harwood Welsh. He and Elizabeth had three children, Dorothy, Richard, and Katharine, the latter of whom married World War II amphibious commander Rear Admiral Forrest B. Royal. A younger sister, Bertha Knight Landes, served as mayor of Seattle, Washington, from 1926 to 1928, the first female mayor of a major American city. Another younger sister, Jessie Knight Jordan, married Stanford University president David Starr Jordan.
== Namesake ==
He was the namesake of the destroyer USS Knight (DD-633), launched on September 27, 1941, and sponsored by his granddaughter, Elizabeth H. Royal.
== Dates of rank ==
Midshipman – June 30, 1869
Passed Midshipman – May 31, 1873
Ensign – July 16, 1874
Master – October 27, 1879
Lieutenant, Junior Grade – March 3, 1883
Lieutenant – December 19, 1885
Lieutenant Commander – March 3, 1899
Commander – June 16, 1902
Captain – 1907
Rear Admiral – January 29, 1911
Admiral – May 22, 1917
== See also ==
== Notes ==
== References ==
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Colinet | Marie Colinet | Marie Colinet (Fabry) (ca. 1560–after 1638) was a midwife and surgeon who introduced the use of heat for dilating and stimulating the uterus during labor. In addition, she performed caesarian sections successfully, and also was the first person to use a magnet to extract a piece of metal from a patient's eye.
== Background ==
Marie Colinet was born in Geneva, Republic of Geneva in the 1560s, the daughter of a Genevan printer. Her work spanned the late 16th and early 17th centuries. She was originally a midwife in Geneva. On July 25, 1587, at St. Gervais church in Geneva, she married a surgeon, Wilhelm Fabry (also William Fabry, Guilelmus Fabricius Hildanus, or Fabricius von Hilden, b. June 25, 1560, d. February 15, 1634, often called the "Father of German surgery"). Wilhelm Fabry became Germany's foremost 17th-century surgeon and a prolific author of medical treatises. Her husband taught Colinet surgery, but by his own admission she excelled him. Wilhelm Fabry remarked his wife to be "a constant source of help and happiness." Documents of her whereabouts after the death of her husband have not yet been found. From 1602 to 1610, the Fabrys stationed in Payerne, CT. Vaud, after which they traveled through Switzerland, Holland and the Rhineland, finally in 1615, they settled in Bern, where both were recognized by the award of citizenship. She was the mother of eight children, only one of whom (Johannes, later a surgeon himself) outlived her.
== Career ==
Colinet was a midwife and skillful surgeon, who treated many patients throughout Germany. She performed many medical procedures from minor surgeries to Caesarean section delivery. Colinet was regarded as the "most famous midwife of Switzerland" and performed the first successful caesarean section in 1603. By training, Colinet was a midwife-surgeon who improved the techniques in Germany of Caesarean section delivery. Aside from being a midwife, Colinet was also an obstetrician and ophthalmologist. In addition, she assisted her husband in his surgical practice and took care of his patients while he was traveling. She did everything from minor surgery to C-sections, as well as, treating fractures. The professional highlight of her career came when she encountered a patient whose sight was being threatened by a sliver of metal.
== Contribution ==
In 1624, after her husband had attempted unsuccessfully to extract metal from a patient's eye, she came up with the idea to use a magnet—a technique which worked then and still is in use today. Although her husband gave her full credit for this technique, he often receives full credit for the procedure. She used heat to expand and stimulate the uterus in childbirth, performed Caesarian sections, and successfully removed eye splinters. In one especially difficult case of a man with two shattered ribs, she had to open his chest and wire together the fragments of bone. On re-closing the wound, she covered it with a dressing of oil of roses and a plaster of barley flows, powdered roses, and wild pomegranate flowers, mixed with cypress nuts and raw eggs. Then bandaged it with padded splints. After that, she regulated his diet and stayed with him for ten days. The man was well after four weeks. Her complex herbal plasters prevented infection and promoted healing. Her husband wrote a detailed description of the procedure in his Centuriae, where he praised her skill as bonesetter and placed an effective dressing containing oil of dressing. He went on to explicitly mention his wife as inventing this specific procedure, however, it was he who was given credit for her work. Marie Colinet was extremely intelligent and educated. She went on to write two books.
== Honors ==
- The first to use a magnet to remove fragments of iron or steel from the eye
- Mentioned by Judy Chicago in her art work The Dinner Party: Heritage Floor
== Praises ==
In 1993, a street in Hilden was named after Marie Colinet. In addition, a secondary school in Hilden (since 2016) has been named after her- Marie-Colinet-Sekundarschule Hilden. This school has been named after Colinet because of her admirable personality and strength as a woman. The schools states that Marie Colinet was a "self-confident woman and a very good role model for students."
== External links ==
Marie Colinet and Guillaume Fabri, in the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
== References == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_William_Bacot#:~:text=He%20developed%20breeding%20experiments%20with%20the%20geometrid%20moth%20Acidalia%20virginaria%20(binomial%20name%20Scopula%20modicaria) | Arthur William Bacot | Arthur William Bacot (28 April 1866 – 12 April 1922) was an entomologist at the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine.
== Early life ==
Bacot was born in North London, the third son and fourth child of Edmund Alexander Bacot and his wife Harriet. He was a poor attender at school which he left at the age of sixteen in 1882. He then became an office worker in the City of London. He appears to have had no formal training in science apart from being a member of the London Natural History Society.
== Career ==
He had been a keen butterfly collector and produced over fifty papers from 1893 and 1909 on British lepidoptera. In 1908 he developed an interest in morphological and genetic research. He developed breeding experiments with the geometrid moth Acidalia virginaria (binomial name Scopula modicaria). As a result of this he gave details in a presentation to the London Hospital Medical School. Professor Greenwood of the Advisory Committee for Plague Investigation was looking for someone to study the breeding habits of the rat flea and how it passes on the plague virus. Bacot was asked to do the research in his spare time with a small fee and all expenses paid. The program was a success and as a result Bacot joined the Lister Institute.
In 1914 during the First World War he went to Sierra Leone in British West Africa to study Yellow Fever.
By autumn 1917 there was concern about the reduced efficiency of the British Expeditionary Force in France caused by trench fever. In 1917 he went together with Joseph Arkwright to investigate the cause and prevention of this incapacitating epidemic. He discovered the relationships of lice with both typhus and trench fever. Bacot caught the latter disease himself whilst in Warsaw.
== Death ==
In 1922 he went to Cairo with Arkwright at the request of the Egyptian Government to study typhus. Both caught the disease from lice. Arkwright survived after a long illness; Bacot died aged 55.
== References == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alma_S._Woolley#:~:text=Early%20years%20and%20education,-Woolley%20grew%20up&text=At%20Hunter%2C%20she%20won%20the,a%20bachelor's%20degree%20in%201954. | Alma S. Woolley | Alma S. Woolley (October 3, 1931, New York City – December 17, 2005, Baltimore) was an American nurse, nurse educator, nursing historian, and author. She led several schools of nursing, and authored a number of books and articles on nursing education, the history of nursing education, and nurses.
== Early years and education ==
Woolley grew up a child of the depression in the Bronx, New York City: Her father, hit by a truck, died on his way to a public hospital; her maternal grandmother who had worked in a sweatshop made all her clothes; her widowed mother worked as a stenographer for GM; but Woolley, who said "as a twelve year old, I admired the smart gray uniforms with the red trimming" of the Cadet Nurse Corps (during World War II), was selected to go to the elite all-girls Hunter College High School to which she commuted by public transport one hour each way. At Hunter, she won the all-city Latin Poetry Contest in 1949 and graduated second in her class, subsequently attending Queens College and then Cornell University's School of Nursing, which granted her a bachelor's degree in 1954. She subsequently joined the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, married, and worked at a number of hospitals including Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica, Queens and, moving to Philadelphia with her husband, Arthur E. Woolley, at Philadelphia General Hospital, and Jefferson Medical College. She later became a nursing instructor at the University of Pennsylvania, enrolled in their graduate program and was granted an M.S. in medical-surgical nursing in 1965, an accomplishment which led to one of her early articles in The American Journal of Nursing, "My Lamp Is Refueled," explaining how and why she kept up with her field while rearing four small children.
== Career ==
Having moved to New Jersey with her husband and children in 1969, Woolley became an instructor at Atlantic Community College, but was soon offered the task of creating a B.S. degree program in nursing for The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey which had opened its doors in 1971. The original program she designed was for registered nurses, R.N.'s, without a university degree, to complete a Bachelor of Science in nursing. The transition of nursing education from that of R.N.'s trained in non-university programs, to 4-year B.S.N. programs or their equivalent was a matter of advocacy for Woolley as well as profession, and she subsequently published a number of pieces demonstrating the benefits of university-based nursing programs.
In 1980, she was awarded a doctorate in nursing education by the University of Pennsylvania. In 1981, she was appointed Director of the School of Nursing at Illinois Wesleyan University and the Caroline F. Rupert Professor of Nursing, and in 1986 left Wesleyan to become Dean of Georgetown University School of Nursing and Health Studies. In 1989 she received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Cornell School of Nursing Alumni Association. She stepped down as dean of Georgetown's School of Nursing in 1992 and returned to teaching and writing, retiring as professor emeritus of nursing in 1996, and becoming visiting professor at both the University of Maryland School of Nursing in Baltimore, Md, and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
She wrote or contributed to biographies of nurses including Maude Francis Essig who served with American combat troops in World War I, and Virginia Matthews Dunbar, an early advocate of university curricula for nurses.
Reflecting her view that "the history of nursing education is an important lacuna in general histories of nursing" and that "as part of public history in the United States, nursing education can cite many accomplishments in the realm of health care policy," Woolley also published histories of nursing schools, including "Nuns and Guns" and Learning, Faith and Caring. But before her death in 2005, she was working on oral histories of women who, like her, had been recently admitted as members to the once all-male Cosmos Club of Washington, D.C.
== References ==
== External links ==
Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing
Learning, Faith, and Caring.
Georgetown University School of Nursing and Health Studies |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Spencer_Perceval | Assassination of Spencer Perceval | On 11 May 1812, at about 5:15 pm, Spencer Perceval, the prime minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was shot dead in the lobby of the House of Commons by John Bellingham, a Liverpool merchant with a grievance against the government. Bellingham was detained; four days after the murder, he was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. He was hanged at Newgate Prison on 18 May, one week after the assassination and one month before the start of the War of 1812. Perceval remains the sole British prime minister to have been assassinated.
Perceval had led the Tory government since 1809, during a critical phase of the Napoleonic Wars. His determination to prosecute the war using the harshest of measures caused widespread poverty and unrest on the home front; thus the news of his death was a cause of rejoicing in the worst-affected parts of the country. Despite initial fears that the assassination might be linked to a general uprising, it transpired that Bellingham had acted alone, protesting against the government's failure to compensate him for his treatment a few years previously when he had been imprisoned in Russia for a trading debt. Bellingham's lack of remorse, and apparent certainty that his action was justified, raised questions about his sanity, but at his trial he was judged to be legally responsible for his actions. After Perceval's death, Parliament made generous provision to his widow and children and approved the erection of monuments. Thereafter his ministry was soon forgotten, his policies reversed, and he is generally better known for the manner of his death than for any of his achievements. Later historians have characterised Bellingham's hasty trial and execution as contrary to the principles of justice. The possibility that he was acting within a conspiracy, on behalf of a consortium of Liverpool traders hostile to Perceval's economic policies, was the subject of a 2012 study.
== Background ==
=== Biography ===
Spencer Perceval was born on 1 November 1762, the second son from the second marriage of John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont. He attended Harrow School and, in 1780, entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a noted scholar and prizewinner. A deeply religious boy, he became closely aligned with evangelicalism at Cambridge and remained faithful all his life. Under the rule of primogeniture, Perceval had no realistic prospect of a family inheritance and needed to earn his living; on leaving Cambridge in 1783, he entered Lincoln's Inn to train as a lawyer. After being called to the bar in 1786, Perceval joined the Midland Circuit, where his family connections helped him to acquire a lucrative practice. In 1790 he married Jane Wilson. The marriage proved happy and prolific; twelve children (six sons and six daughters) were born over the following fourteen years.
Perceval's politics were highly conservative, and he acquired a reputation for his attacks on radicalism. As a junior prosecuting counsel in the trials of Thomas Paine and John Horne Tooke, he was noticed by senior politicians in the ruling Pitt ministry. In 1796, having refused the post of Chief Secretary for Ireland, Perceval was elected to Parliament as the Tory member for Northampton, and won acclaim in 1798 with a speech defending William Pitt's government against attacks by the radicals Charles James Fox and Francis Burdett. He was generally seen as a rising star in his party; his short stature and slight build earned him the nickname "Little P".
Following Pitt's resignation in 1801, Perceval served as Solicitor General, and then as Attorney General, in the Addington ministry of 1801–1804, continuing in the latter office through the Pitt ministry of 1804–1806. His deep evangelical convictions led him to his unwavering opposition to the Roman Catholic Church and to Catholic emancipation, and his equally fervent support for the abolition of the slave trade, when he worked with fellow evangelicals such as William Wilberforce to secure the passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807.
When Pitt died in 1806 his government was succeeded by the cross-party "Ministry of All the Talents", under Lord Grenville. Perceval remained in opposition during this short-lived ministry, but when the Duke of Portland formed a new Tory administration in March 1807, Perceval took office as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons. Portland was elderly and ailing, and on his resignation in October 1809, Perceval succeeded him as First Lord of the Treasury—the formal title by which prime ministers were then known—after a wounding internecine leadership struggle. In addition to his duties as head of the government he retained the Chancellorship, largely because he could find no minister of appropriate stature who would accept the office.
=== Troubled times ===
Perceval's government was weakened by the refusals to serve of former ministers such as George Canning and William Huskisson. It faced massive problems at a time of considerable industrial unrest and at a low point in the war against Napoleon. The unsuccessful Walcheren Campaign in the Netherlands was unravelling, and the army of Sir Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, was pinned down in Portugal. At the outset of his ministry Perceval enjoyed the strong support of King George III, but in October 1810 the king lapsed into insanity and was permanently incapacitated. Perceval's relationship with the Prince of Wales, who became prince regent, was initially far less cordial, but in the following months he and Perceval established a reasonable affinity, perhaps motivated in part by the prince's fear that the king might recover and find his favourite statesman deposed.
When the final British forces withdrew from Walcheren in February 1810, Wellington's force in Portugal was Britain's only military presence on the continent of Europe. Perceval insisted that it remain there, against the advice of most of his ministers and at great cost to the British exchequer. Ultimately this decision was vindicated, but for the time being his main weapon against Napoleon was the Orders in Council of 1807, inherited from the previous ministry. These had been issued as a tit-for-tat response to Napoleon's Continental System, a measure designed to destroy Britain's overseas trade. The Orders permitted the Royal Navy to detain any ship thought to be carrying goods to France or its continental allies. With both warring powers employing similar strategies, world trade shrank, leading to widespread hardship and dissatisfaction in key British industries, particularly textiles and cotton. There were frequent calls for modification or repeal of the Orders, which damaged relations with the United States to the point that, by early 1812, the two nations were on the brink of war. British manufacturers and merchants, many of whom faced bankruptcy, petitioned Parliament for the repeal of the Orders. Petitions from key industrial regions, including Yorkshire, Lancashire, Birmingham, and the Staffordshire Potteries, were supported by testimonies from over one hundred witnesses who detailed the economic devastation, poverty, and widespread distress caused by the restrictions on trade. Critics of the Orders argued that their repeal was essential to restoring American trade and alleviating domestic hardship.
At home, Perceval upheld his earlier reputation as scourge of radicals, imprisoning Burdett and William Cobbett, the latter of whom continued to attack the government from his prison cell. Perceval was also faced with the anti-machine protests known as "Luddism", to which he reacted by introducing a bill making machine-breaking a capital offence; in the House of Lords the youthful Lord Byron called the legislation "barbarous". Despite these difficulties Perceval gradually established his authority, so that in 1811 Lord Liverpool, the war minister, observed that Perceval's authority in the House now equalled that of Pitt. Perceval's use of sinecures and other patronage to secure loyalties meant that by May 1812, despite much public protest against his harsh policies, his political position had become unassailable. According to the humorist Sydney Smith, Perceval combined "the head of a country parson with the tongue of an Old Bailey lawyer".
Early in 1812 agitation for repeal of the Orders in Council increased. After riots in Manchester in April, Perceval consented to a House of Commons enquiry into the operation of the Orders; hearings began in May. Perceval was expected to attend the session on 11 May 1812; among the crowd in the lobby awaiting his arrival was a Liverpool merchant named John Bellingham.
== John Bellingham ==
=== Early life ===
John Bellingham was born in about 1770, in the county of Huntingdonshire. His father, also named John, was a land agent and painted miniature portraits. His mother Elizabeth was from a well-to-do Huntingdonshire family. In 1779, John senior became mentally ill, and, after confinement in an asylum, died in 1780 or 1781. The family were then provided for by William Daw, Elizabeth's brother-in-law, a prosperous lawyer who arranged Bellingham's appointment as an officer cadet on board the East India Company's ship Hartwell. En route to India the ship mutinied, and was wrecked off the coast of the Cape Verde islands; Bellingham survived and returned home. Daw then helped him to set up in business as a tin plate manufacturer in London, but after a few years the business failed and Bellingham was declared bankrupt in 1794. Bellingham appears to have escaped debtors' prison, perhaps through the further intervention of Daw. Chastened by this experience, he decided to settle down and obtained a post as a book-keeper with a firm engaged in trade with Russia. Bellingham worked hard, and was sufficiently regarded by his employers to be appointed in 1800 as the firm's resident representative in Arkhangelsk, Russia. On his return home, he set up his own trading business and moved to Liverpool. In 1803, he married Mary Neville from Dublin.
=== In Russia ===
In 1804 Bellingham returned to Archangelsk to supervise a major commercial venture, accompanied by Mary and their infant son. His business completed, in November he prepared to return home, but was detained on account of a supposed unpaid debt. This arose from losses incurred by a business associate for which Bellingham was deemed liable. Bellingham denied any responsibility for the debt; his detention, he thought, was an act of revenge by powerful Russian merchants who—erroneously—thought that he had frustrated an insurance claim relating to a lost ship. Two arbitrators appointed by the governor of Archangelsk determined that he was responsible for a sum of 2,000 roubles (about £200), a fraction of the original amount claimed. Bellingham rejected this judgement.
With the issue still unresolved, Bellingham obtained passes for him and his family to travel to the Russian capital, St Petersburg. In February 1805, as they prepared to set out, Bellingham's pass was revoked; Mary and the child were permitted to proceed, but he was arrested and imprisoned in Archangelsk. When he sought help from Lord Granville Leveson-Gower, the British ambassador in St Petersburg, the matter was dealt with by the British consul, Sir Stephen Shairp, who informed Bellingham that as the dispute involved a civil debt, he could not interfere. Bellingham remained in custody in Archangelsk until November 1805, when a new city governor ordered his release and allowed him to join Mary in St Petersburg. Here, instead of arranging his family's swift return to England, Bellingham laid charges against the Archangelsk authorities for false imprisonment and demanded compensation. In doing so he outraged the Russian authorities, who in June 1806 ordered his imprisonment. According to his later account, Bellingham was "often marched publicly through the city with gangs of felons and criminals of the worse description [to the] heart-rending humiliation of himself".
Mary had meanwhile returned to England with her son (she was pregnant with her second child), eventually settling in Liverpool where she set up a millinery business with a friend, Mary Stevens. For the next three years Bellingham made constant demands for release and compensation, seeking help from Shairp, Leveson-Gower, and the latter's successor as ambassador, Lord Douglas. None were prepared to intercede on his behalf: "Thus", he later wrote when petitioning for redress, "without having offended any law, either civil or criminal, and without having injured any individual ... was your Petitioner bandied from one prison to another". Bellingham's position worsened in 1807 when Russia signed the Treaty of Tilsit and aligned itself with Napoleon. Two further years passed before, after a direct petition to Tsar Alexander, he was released and ordered to leave Russia. Bellingham arrived in England, uncompensated, in December 1809, determined to secure justice.
=== Seeking redress ===
On his return to England Bellingham spent six months in London, seeking compensation for the imprisonment and financial losses he had suffered in Russia. He considered the British authorities to be responsible through their neglect of his repeated requests for help. Successively he petitioned the Foreign Office, the Treasury, the Privy Council, and Perceval himself; in each case his claims were politely rejected. Defeated and exhausted, in May 1811 Bellingham accepted his wife's ultimatum to abandon his campaign or otherwise lose her and his family. He joined her in Liverpool to begin life afresh.
During the following eighteen months, Bellingham worked to rebuild his commercial career with modest success. Mary continued to work as a milliner. The fact that he remained uncompensated continued to rankle. In December 1811 Bellingham returned to London, ostensibly to conduct business there, but in reality to resume his campaign for redress. He petitioned the Prince Regent before resuming his efforts with the Privy Council, the Home Office and the Treasury, only to receive the same polite refusals as before. He then sent a copy of his petition to every member of Parliament, again to no avail. On 23 March 1812, Bellingham wrote to the magistrates at Bow Street Magistrates' Court, arguing that the government had "completely endeavoured to close the door of justice", and asking the court to intervene. He received a perfunctory reply. After consulting his own MP, Isaac Gascoyne, Bellingham made a final attempt to present his case to the government. On 18 April, he met with a Treasury official, Mr Hill, to whom he said that if he could get no satisfaction, he would take justice into his own hands. Hill, not perceiving these words as a threat, told him he should take whatever action he deemed proper. On 20 April, Bellingham purchased two .50 calibre (12.7 mm) pistols from a gunsmith of 58 Skinner Street. He also had a tailor sew an inside pocket to his coat.
== Assassination ==
=== House of Commons, 11 May 1812 ===
Bellingham's presence in the House of Commons lobby on 11 May caused no particular suspicion; he had made several recent visits, sometimes asking journalists to confirm specific ministers' identities. Bellingham's activities earlier that day did not overtly indicate a man preparing desperate measures. He had spent the morning writing letters and visiting his wife's business partner, Mary Stevens, who was in London at the time. In the afternoon he had accompanied his landlady and her son on a visit to the European Museum, in the St James's district of London. From there he made his way alone to the Palace of Westminster, arriving in the lobby shortly before five o'clock.
In the House, as the session began at 4:30 pm, the Whig MP Henry Brougham, a leading opponent of the 1807 Orders, drew attention to Perceval's absence and remarked that he ought to be there. A messenger was sent to fetch Perceval from Downing Street, but met him in Parliament Street (Perceval having decided to walk and dispense with his usual carriage) on his way to the House, where he arrived at about 5:15. As Perceval entered the lobby, he was confronted by Bellingham who, drawing a pistol, shot the prime minister in the chest. Perceval staggered forward a few steps and exclaimed, "I am murdered!" before falling face down at the feet of William Smith, the MP for Norwich. (It was also variously reported Perceval had said, "Murder" or, "Oh my God".) Smith only realised that the victim was Perceval when he turned the body face upwards, having initially thought it was his friend William Wilberforce, an MP for Yorkshire, who had been shot. By the time he had been carried into the adjoining Speaker's quarters and propped up on a table with his feet on two chairs, Perceval was senseless, although there was still a faint pulse. When a surgeon arrived a few minutes later, the pulse had stopped, and Perceval was declared dead.
In the pandemonium that followed, Bellingham sat quietly on a bench as Perceval was carried into the Speaker's quarters. In the lobby, such was the confusion that, according to a witness, had Bellingham "walked quietly out into the street, he would have escaped, and the committer of the murder would never have been known". As it was, an official who had seen the shooting identified Bellingham, who was seized, disarmed, manhandled and searched. He remained calm, submitting to his captors without a struggle. When asked to explain his actions, Bellingham replied that he was rectifying a denial of justice on the part of the government. Bellingham's own local MP, Isaac Gascoyne, who was present at the shooting, also identified Bellingham.
The Speaker ordered that Bellingham be transferred to the Serjeant-at-Arms's quarters, where MPs who were also magistrates would conduct a committal hearing under the chairmanship of Harvey Christian Combe. The makeshift court heard evidence from eyewitnesses to the crime and sent messengers to search Bellingham's lodgings. The prisoner kept his composure throughout; although warned against self-incrimination, he insisted on explaining himself: "I have been ill-treated ... I have sought redress in vain. I am a most unfortunate man and feel here"—placing hand on heart—"sufficient justification for what I have done." He had, he said, exhausted all proper avenues and had made it clear to the authorities that he proposed to take independent action. He had been told to do his worst: "I have obeyed them. I have done my worst, and I rejoice in the deed." At around eight o'clock, Bellingham was formally charged with Perceval's murder, and was committed to Newgate Prison to await trial.
=== Reaction ===
Reports of the assassination spread quickly; in his history of the times, Arthur Bryant records the crude delight with which the news was received by hungry workers who had received nothing but woe from Perceval's government. The pamphleteer William Cobbett, at the time imprisoned for seditious libel, understood their feelings; the shooting, he wrote, had "ridded them of one whom they looked upon as the leader among those whom they thought totally bent on the destruction of their liberties". The scenes outside the Palace of Westminster as Bellingham was taken out for transfer to Newgate were consistent with this mood; Samuel Romilly, the law reformer and MP for Wareham, heard from the assembled crowd "the most savage expressions of joy and exultation ... accompanied with regret that others, and particularly the attorney general, had not shared the same fate". The throng surged around the hackney coach carrying Bellingham; many tried to shake his hand, others mounted the coach-box and had to be beaten off with whips. Bellingham was hustled back into the building and kept there until the disorder had died down sufficiently for him to be moved, with a full military escort.
Among the governing classes there were initial fears that the assassination might be part of a general insurrection, or might spark one. The authorities took precautions; the Foot Guards and mounted troops were deployed, as was the City militia, while local watches were reinforced. In contrast to the public's evident approval of Bellingham's actions, the mood among Perceval's friends and colleagues was sombre and sorrowful. When Parliament met the next day, Canning spoke of "a man ... of whom it might with particular truth be said that, whatever was the strength of political hostility, he had never before that last calamity provoked a single enemy". After further tributes from government and opposition members, the House moved a grant of £50,000 and an annuity of £2,000 to Perceval's widow, which provision, slightly amended, was approved in June.
The regard in which Perceval was held by his peers was made evident in an anonymous 1812 poem, "Universal Sympathy, or, The Martyr'd Statesman":
== Proceedings ==
=== Preliminaries ===
An inquest into Perceval's death was held on 12 May, at the Rose and Crown public house in Downing Street. Among those who gave evidence were Gascoyne, Smith, and Joseph Hume, a doctor and Radical MP. Hume had helped to detain Bellingham and now testified that from his controlled behaviour after the shooting, he appeared "perfectly sane". The coroner duly registered the cause of death as "wilful murder by John Bellingham". Armed with this verdict the Attorney General, Sir Vicary Gibbs, requested the Lord Chief Justice to arrange the earliest possible trial date.
In Newgate Prison, Bellingham was questioned by magistrates. His calm demeanour and poise led them, unlike Hume, to doubt his sanity, although his keepers had observed no signs of unbalanced behaviour. James Harmer, Bellingham's solicitor, knew that insanity would provide the only conceivable defence for his client, and despatched agents to Liverpool to make enquiries there. While awaiting their reports he learned from an informant that Bellingham's father had died insane; he also heard evidence of his supposed derangement from Ann Billett, the prisoner's cousin, who had known him from childhood. On 14 May, a grand jury met in the Sessions House, Clerkenwell, and after hearing evidence from the eyewitnesses, found "a true Bill against John Bellingham for the murder of Spencer Perceval". The trial was arranged to take place the next day, Friday 15 May 1812, at the Old Bailey.
When Bellingham received news of his forthcoming trial he asked Harmer to arrange for him to be represented in court by Brougham and Peter Alley, the latter an Irish lawyer with a reputation for flamboyance. Confident of his acquittal, Bellingham refused to discuss the case further with Harmer, and spent the afternoon and evening making notes. After drinking a glass of porter, he went to bed and slept soundly.
=== Trial ===
Bellingham's trial began at the Old Bailey on Friday 15 May 1812, under the presiding judge Sir James Mansfield, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. The prosecuting team was led by the Attorney General, Gibbs, whose assistants included William Garrow, himself a future Attorney General. Brougham having declined, Bellingham was represented by Alley, assisted by Henry Revell Reynolds. The law at that time limited the role of defending counsel in capital cases; they could advise on points of law, and could examine and cross-examine witnesses, but otherwise Bellingham would have to present his own defence.
After Bellingham had entered a not guilty plea, Alley asked for a postponement to allow him time to locate witnesses who could attest to the prisoner's insanity. This was opposed by Gibbs as a mere ploy to delay justice; Mansfield concurred, and the trial proceeded. Gibbs then summarised the prisoner's business activities before meeting misfortune in Russia—"whether through his own misconduct or by the justice or injustice of that country, I know not". He recounted Bellingham's unsuccessful efforts to obtain redress and the consequent growth of a desire for revenge.
Having described the shooting, Gibbs dismissed the possibility of insanity, maintaining that Bellingham was, at the time of the deed, fully in control of his actions. Numerous eyewitnesses testified to what they had seen in the Commons lobby. The court also heard from a tailor who, shortly before the attack had, on Bellingham's instructions, modified the latter's coat by adding a special inside pocket, in which Bellingham had concealed his pistols.
When Bellingham rose, he thanked the attorney general for rejecting the "insanity" strategy: "I think it is far more fortunate that such a plea ... should have been unfounded, than it should have existed in fact". He began his defence by asserting that "all the miseries which it is possible for human nature to endure" had fallen on him. He then read the petition that he had sent to the Prince Regent, and recalled his fruitless dealings with various government agencies. In his view the principal blame lay not with "that truly amiable and highly lamented individual, Mr Perceval", but with Leveson-Gower, the ambassador in St Petersburg who he felt had originally denied him justice, and who he said deserved the shot rather than the eventual victim.
Bellingham's main witnesses were Ann Billett and her friend, Mary Clarke, both of whom testified to his history of derangement, and Catherine Figgins, a servant in Bellingham's lodgings. She had found him recently confused, but otherwise an honest and admirable lodger. As she stood down, Alley informed the court that two more witnesses had arrived from Liverpool. However, when they saw Bellingham, they realised that he was not the man to whose derangement they had come to attest and withdrew. Mansfield then began his summing up, during the course of which he clarified the law: "The single question is whether at the time this act was committed, he possessed a sufficient degree of understanding to distinguish good from evil, right from wrong". The judge advised the jury before they retired that the evidence showed Bellingham to be "in every respect a full and competent judge of all his actions".
=== Verdict and sentence ===
The jury retired, and within fifteen minutes returned with a guilty verdict. Bellingham appeared surprised but, from Thomas Hodgson's contemporary trial account, was calm, "with[out] any demonstrations of that concern which the awfulness of his situation was calculate to produce". Asked by the court clerk if he had anything to say, he remained silent.
The judge then read the sentence, Hodgson records, "in a most solemn and affecting manner, which bathed many of the auditors in tears". First, he damned the crime "as odious and abominable in the eyes of God as it is hateful and abhorrent to the feelings of man". He reminded the prisoner of the short time, "a very short time", that remained for him to seek for mercy in another world, and then pronounced the sentence of death itself: "You shall be hanged by the neck until you be dead, your body to be dissected and anatomized". The entire trial had lasted less than eight hours.
=== Execution ===
Bellingham's execution was fixed for the morning of Monday 18 May. The day before, he was visited by the Revd Daniel Wilson, curate at St John's Chapel, Bedford Row, a future Bishop of Calcutta who hoped that Bellingham would show true repentance for his act. The clergyman was disappointed, concluding that "a more dreadful instance of depravity and hardness of heart has surely never occurred". Late on Sunday, Bellingham wrote a last letter to his wife, in which he appeared confident of his soul's destination: "Nine hours more will waft me to those happy shores where bliss is without alloy".
Large crowds gathered outside Newgate Prison on 18 May; a force of troops stood by, since warnings had been received of a "Rescue Bellingham" movement. The crowd was calm and restrained, as was Bellingham when he appeared at the scaffold shortly before 8 o'clock. Hodgson records that Bellingham mounted the steps "with the utmost celerity ... his tread was bold and firm ... no indication of trembling, faltering, or irresolution appeared". Bellingham was then blindfolded, the rope fastened, and a final prayer was said by the chaplain. As the clock struck eight the trap door was released, and Bellingham dropped to his death. Cobbett, still incarcerated in Newgate, observed the crowd's reactions: "anxious looks ... half-horrified countenances ... mournful tears ... unanimous blessings". In accordance with the court's sentence, the body was cut down and sent to St Bartholomew's Hospital for dissection. In what the press described as "morbid sensationalism", Bellingham's clothes were sold for high prices to members of the public.
== Aftermath ==
On 15 May, the House of Commons voted for the erection of a monument to the assassinated prime minister in Westminster Abbey. Later, memorials were placed in Lincoln's Inn and within Perceval's Northampton constituency. There is also a memorial to Perceval in St Luke's Church, Charlton, where he was buried, in the form of a bust and his brother's hatchment with the Perceval's coat of arms.
On 8 June, the Regent appointed Lord Liverpool to head a new Tory administration. Despite their eulogies to their fallen leader, members of the new government soon began to distance themselves from his ministry. Many of the changes that Perceval had opposed were gradually introduced: greater press freedom, Catholic emancipation and parliamentary reform. The 1807 Orders in Council were repealed on 23 June, but too late to avoid the declaration of war on the United Kingdom by the United States. Lord Liverpool's government did not maintain Perceval's resolution in acting against the illegal slave trade, which began to flourish as the authorities looked the other way. British historian Andro Linklater estimates that around 40,000 slaves were illegally transported from Africa to the West Indies because of lax enforcement of the law.
Linklater cites Perceval's greatest achievement as his insistence on keeping Wellington's army in the field, a policy which helped to turn the tide in the Napoleonic Wars decisively in Britain's favour. Despite this, with the passage of time Perceval's reputation faded; Charles Dickens considered him "a third-rate politician scarcely fit to carry Lord Chatham's crutch". In due course, little but the fact of his assassination lingered in public memory. As the bicentenary of the shooting approached, Perceval was described in newspapers as "the prime minister that history forgot".
The justice of Bellingham's conviction was first questioned by Brougham, who condemned the trial as "the greatest disgrace to English justice". In a study published in 2004, the American academic Kathleen S. Goddard criticises the timing of the trial so soon after the act, when passions were running high. She also draws attention to the court's refusal to allow an adjournment that would permit the defence to contact possible witnesses. There was, she maintains, insufficient evidence produced at the trial to determine the true state of Bellingham's sanity, and Mansfield's summing-up showed significant bias. Bellingham's claim to have acted alone was accepted in court; Linklater's 2012 study posits that he could have been an agent of other interests—perhaps Liverpool merchants, who bore the main brunt of Perceval's economic policies and had much to gain by his demise. Comments by a Liverpool newspaper, says Linklater, indicate that talk of assassination was common in the city. It remains unknown how Bellingham gained the funds to spend freely in the months preceding the assassination, when he was not apparently engaged in any business. This conspiracy theory has not convinced other historians; the columnist Bruce Anderson points to the lack of any concrete evidence to support it.
In the months immediately following her husband's execution, Mary Bellingham continued to live and work in Liverpool. By the end of 1812 her business had failed, and thereafter her movements are obscure; she may have reverted to her maiden name. In January 1815, Jane Perceval married Sir Henry William Carr; she died, aged 74, in 1844.
In 1828, The Times reported that Cornish industrialist landowner John Williams the Third (1753–1841) received a dream warning of Perceval's assassination on 2 or 3 May 1812, nearly ten days before the event, "correct in every detail". Perceval himself had a series of dreams culminating on 10 May with one of his own death, which he had while spending the night at the house of the Earl of Harrowby. He told the Earl of his dream, and the Earl tried to persuade Perceval not to attend Parliament that day, but Perceval refused to be scared off by "a mere dream" and headed for Westminster on the afternoon of 11 May.
A distant kinsman of the assassin, Henry Bellingham, became Conservative MP for North West Norfolk in 1983 and held junior office in the Cameron–Clegg coalition of 2010–2015. When he temporarily lost his seat in 1997—he regained it in 2001—his narrow defeat was widely regarded as arising from the intervention of Roger Percival, the candidate for the Referendum Party whose votes largely came from disgruntled Conservatives. Despite the different spelling, media accounts asserted Percival's descent from the assassinated prime minister's family, and reported the defeat as a belated form of revenge.
The greater part of the Palace of Westminster (Westminster Hall apart) that stood at the time of the assassination was destroyed by an accidental fire in 1834, following which the Houses were comprehensively rebuilt and expanded. In July 2014, a brass memorial plaque was unveiled in St Stephen's Hall, Houses of Parliament, close to the place where Perceval was killed. Michael Ellis, Conservative MP for Northampton North (part of Perceval's old Northampton constituency) had campaigned for the plaque after four patterned floor tiles that were said to mark the spot had been removed by workmen in a recent renovation.
== References ==
=== Citations ===
=== Sources ===
==== Books and news articles ====
==== Online ==== |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_(footballer,_born_1983)#:~:text=Michael%20Anderson%20Pereira%20da%20Silva,Brazilian%20former%20professional%20football%20player. | Michael (footballer, born 1983) | Michael Anderson Pereira da Silva (born February 16, 1983) better known as simply Michael, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a left midfielder.
== Career ==
Michael started his professional career in Santo André, and soon moved to Cruzeiro, however after 1 season he moved to São Paulo playing for Palmeiras. After two seasons with Palmeiras in July 2007, Michael signed a three-year deal with Ukrainian club Dynamo Kyiv.
Michael debuted for Dynamo on 22 July against Arsenal Kyiv and managed to score a double in his debut.UPL Round 2 Silva made his UEFA Champions League debut in a group stage game against Italian team Roma. Most of the autumn and winter 2007 Michael was injured and was undergoing treatment in Brazil, however he has recovered and returned since. On 13 May 2009, he moved on loan from Dynamo Kyiv to Botafogo until 31 December 2009.
Michael moved from Kyiv to Portuguesa on 23 May 2011.
== Career statistics ==
(Correct as of December 23, 2010)
according to combined sources on the Flamengo official website and Flaestatística.
== References ==
== External links ==
Michael at WorldFootball.net
(in Ukrainian) Michael's profile at Dynamo's official website
sambafoot
Michael adds depth to Dynamo |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Wade | Arthur C. Wade | Arthur C. Wade (December 12, 1852 – August 21, 1914) was an American lawyer and politician from New York.
== Life ==
Wade was born in Charlotte, New York on December 12, 1852. His parents were farmer George L. Wade and Jane E. Pearson.
After he finished school, he worked at a saw mill where he lost his left arm in an accident. He then attended Ellington Academy and the Chamberlain Institute in Randolph. Afterwards, he read law under Theodore M. Case of Ellington for 18 months. He entered Albany Law School in 1876, graduating with a law degree and getting admitted to the state bar in 1877.
After he passed the bar, he practiced law in Ellington as a law partner with Case. In 1883, he ended the partnership and moved to Jamestown, where he worked in the law office of Judge Orsell Cook. Among his most notable moments in courts was his defense of Howard C. Benham of Batavia, accused of murdering his wife. Benham was already found guilty and sentenced to death when Wade asked for a new trial, which was granted. In 1898, after a four-week trial, Wade successfully had the sentence overturned and Benham found not guilty.
Wade was also involved in a number of manufacturing and transportation companies. He was president of the Fenton Metallic Mfg. Co., the Jamestown Felt Mills, the Ulster Oil Co., and the United States Voting Machine Co. He was also secretary of the Waverly, Sayre, & Athens Traction Co., and secretary and treasurer of Chautauqua Steamboat Co. He also served as president of the Art Metal Construction Co., the Jamestown Metal Furnishing Company, the Ahlstrom Piano Company, D. H. Grandin Milling Company, Chautauqua Towel Mills, and Home Telephone Company, as well as vice-president of the Post Publishing Company, and director of the First National Bank of Jamestown and the Allen Square Company.
In the 1891 New York State election, Wade was the Republican candidate for New York State Comptroller, but lost the election to Frank Campbell. In 1903, Wade was elected to the New York State Assembly, representing the Chautauqua County 1st District. He served in the Assembly in 1904, 1905, and 1906.
Wade was a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His wife was Frances Briggs. They had no surviving children.
Wade died at home on August 21, 1914. He was buried in Lake View Cemetery
== References ==
== External links ==
The Political Graveyard
Arthur C. Wade at Find a Grave |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Photography_Awards#2017 | International Photography Awards | The International Photography Awards are a group of awards for professional, non-professional and student photographers on a global scale which are awarded annually at the Lucie Awards gala. The winners of the main categories are invited to attend the gala to compete for the main award of International Photographer of the Year, receiving a Lucie statue and a cash prize of $10,000.
== History ==
The International Photography Awards were created by Hossein Farmani as part of the mission of the Lucie Foundation. They were initially presented in December 2003 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, California, at the Lucie Awards gala produced by Golden Globe nominee, Michelle Burstin.
In addition to honoring photographers, the Lucie Awards also showcase the finalists and winners of the International Photography Awards (Lucie Foundation's sister-effort) annual photography competition, presenting over $15,000 in cash prizes and two distinct titles: The International Photographer of the Year (given to a professional) and the Discovery of the Year (awarded to a non-professional).
In 2012, the Moving Image Photographer of the Year category was added, where six finalists competed to receive a Lucie statue and $2,500.
== Annual ceremonies and honorees ==
=== 2025 ===
Pro
Advertising Photographer Of the Year – Jonathan Knowles
Analog / Film Photographer Of the Year – Piotr Zbierski
Architecture Photographer Of the Year – Romain Thiery
Book Photographer Of the Year – Autori Multipli
Editorial / Press Photographer Of the Year – Abdelrahman Alkahlout
Event Photographer Of the Year – Savadmon Avalachamveettil
Fine Art Photographer Of the Year – Julia Fullerton-Batten
Nature Photographer Of the Year – Sho Otani
People Photographer Of the Year – Natasha Pszenicki
Special Photographer Of the Year – Pedro Luis Ajuriaguerra Saiz
Sports Photographer Of the Year – Todd Antony
Non-pro
Advertising Photographer Of the Year – Natalie Vorontsoff
Analog / Film Photographer Of the Year – Yehor Lemzyakoff
Architecture Photographer Of the Year – Mohammad Awadh
Book Photographer Of the Year – Markus Naarttijarvi
Editorial / Press Photographer Of the Year – Sebastian Piorek
Event Photographer Of the Year – Yu Ling Ho
Fine Art Photographer Of the Year – Marie Sueur
Nature Photographer Of the Year – Ilene Meyers
People Photographer Of the Year – Ilona Schong
Special Photographer Of the Year – Monia Marchionni
Sports Photographer Of the Year – Kohei Kawashima
=== 2024 ===
International Photographer of the Year – Charles Niell Jr. Chaz
Discovery of the Year – Malgorzata Fober
Pro
Advertising Photographer Of the Year – Tom Franks
Analog / Film Photographer Of the Year – Drew Gardner
Architecture Photographer Of the Year – Gleici Rufatto
Book Photographer Of the Year – Sebastian Copeland
Editorial / Press Photographer Of the Year – Mustafa Hassona
Event Photographer Of the Year – Charles Niell Jr. Chaz
Fine Art Photographer Of the Year – Paul Szimák
Nature Photographer Of the Year – Benjamin Yavar
People Photographer Of the Year – Maryam Firuzi
Special Photographer Of the Year – Dale May
Sports Photographer Of the Year – Peter Muller
Non-pro
Advertising Photographer Of the Year – Andrea Paolini Merlo
Analog / Film Photographer Of the Year – Blake Burton
Architecture Photographer Of the Year – Kiyoshi Karimizu
Book Photographer Of the Year – Yuji Haikal
Editorial / Press Photographer Of the Year – Jakub Laichter
Event Photographer Of the Year – Mark Fromson
Fine Art Photographer Of the Year – César Guardia Alemañi
Nature Photographer Of the Year – Malgorzata Fober
People Photographer Of the Year – Renee Barron
Special Photographer Of the Year – Yukihito Ono
Sports Photographer Of the Year – Markus Naarttijarvi
=== 2023 ===
Pro
Advertising Photographer Of the Year – Thomas Broening
Analog / Film Photographer Of the Year – Edgar Martins
Architecture Photographer Of the Year – Gang Wang
Book Photographer Of the Year – 93 photojournalists
Editorial / Press Photographer Of the Year – Wolfgang Schwan
Event Photographer Of the Year – Nabil West
Fine Art Photographer Of the Year – Julia Fullerton-Batten
Nature Photographer Of the Year – Barbara and Maciej Noskowski
People Photographer Of the Year – Allison Hunter
Special Photographer Of the Year – Horst Kistner
Sports Photographer Of the Year – Finn O’Hara
Non-pro
Advertising Photographer Of the Year – Yuliy Vasilev
Analog / Film Photographer Of the Year – Daniela Balestrin
Architecture Photographer Of the Year – Steffen Reichardt
Book Photographer Of the Year – Jan Schölzel
Editorial / Press Photographer Of the Year – Or Adar
Event Photographer Of the Year – Thamarong Wanarithikul
Fine Art Photographer Of the Year – Bevil Templeton-Smith
Nature Photographer Of the Year – Claudia Gaupp
People Photographer Of the Year – Carlo Marrazza
Special Photographer Of the Year – Daniil Kobizskiy
Sports Photographer Of the Year – Tony Law
=== 2022 ===
Advertising Photographer Of the Year – Jodie Mann
Analog / Film Photographer Of the Year – Lukasz Spychala
Architecture Photographer Of the Year – Ramin Barzegar
Book Photographer Of the Year – Ed Kashi
Deeper Perspective Photographer Of the Year – Paula Bronstein
Editorial / Press Photographer Of the Year – Juan Carlos
Event Photographer Of the Year – Alessandro Iasevoli
Fine Art Photographer Of the Year – Nils Riedweg
Nature Photographer Of the Year – Lars Beusker
People Photographer Of the Year – Aaron Anderson
Special Photographer Of the Year – Martin Stranka
Sports Photographer Of the Year – James Lightbown
Still in Motion / Video Photographer Of the Year – Sandro Miller
=== 2021 ===
Pro
Advertising Photographer Of the Year – John Huet
Analog / Film Photographer Of the Year – Angélique Boissière
Architecture Photographer Of the Year – Julia Anna Gospodarou
Book Photographer Of the Year – Delphine Blast
Deeper Perspective Photographer Of the Year – Bob Newman
Editorial / Press Photographer Of the Year – Mel D. Cole
Event Photographer Of the Year – Chong Kok Yew
Fine Art Photographer Of the Year – Mikael Owunna
Nature Photographer Of the Year – Liselotte Schuppers
People Photographer Of the Year – Art Streiber
Special Photographer Of the Year – Howard Schatz
Sports Photographer Of the Year – Andre Magarao
Still in Motion / Video Photographer Of the Year – Shilpa Narayanan
Nature and Astrophotography Of the Year – Gary W. Lopez
Non-pro
Advertising Photographer Of the Year – Antonio Coelho
Analog / Film Photographer Of the Year – Chris Round
Architecture Photographer Of the Year – César Cedano
Book Photographer Of the Year – Sue Park
Deeper Perspective Photographer Of the Year – Joanna Borowiee
Editorial / Press Photographer Of the Year – Sharwar Hussain
Event Photographer Of the Year – Brian Wotring
Fine Art Photographer Of the Year – Jiale Liu
Nature Photographer Of the Year – Javier Rupérez
People Photographer Of the Year – Elisa Miller
Special Photographer Of the Year – Bernd Schirmer
Sports Photographer Of the Year – Masatoshi Ujihara
Still in Motion / Video Photographer Of the Year – Aitor del Arco
=== 2020 ===
International Photographer of the Year – Julia Fullerton-Batten
Advertising Photographer Of the Year – Mike Dodd
Analog / Film Photographer Of the Year – Paulius Makauskas
Architecture Photographer Of the Year – Jesus M.Chamizo
Book Photographer Of the Year – Sebastian Copeland
Deeper Perspective Photographer Of the Year – Nicolo Filippo Rosso
Editorial / Press Photographer Of the Year – Kiran Ridley
Event Photographer Of the Year – Katja Ogrin
Fine Art Photographer Of the Year – Chloe Meynier
Nature Photographer Of the Year – Ari Rex
Nature and Astrophotography Of the Year – Gary W. Lopez
People Photographer Of the Year – Brian Hodges
Special Photographer Of the Year – Sawyer Russel
Sports Photographer Of the Year – Howard Schatz
Still in Motion / Video Photographer Of the Year – Iwona Podlasinska
=== 2019 ===
The 18th Annual Lucie Awards were postponed and will be rescheduled.
International Photographer of the Year – Mustafa Hassona
Discovery of the Year – Mikkel Hørlyck
Advertising Photographer Of the Year – Jonathan Knowles
Analog / Film Photographer Of the Year – Snezhana Von Büdingen
Architecture Photographer Of the Year – Evgeny Stetsko
Book Photographer Of the Year – Joey L.
Deeper Perspective Photographer Of the Year – K. M. Asad
Editorial / Press Photographer Of the Year – Mustafa Hassona
Event Photographer Of the Year – Sandro Miller
Fine Art Photographer Of the Year – David Knox
Nature Photographer Of the Year – Tom Putt
People Photographer Of the Year – Evgeny Stetsko
Special Photographer Of the Year – James Ritchie
Sports Photographer Of the Year – Kohei Ueno
Still in Motion / Video Photographer Of the Year – Jean Bérard
=== 2018 ===
The 2018 awards ceremony was held at the Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, in New York City on October 28, 2018.
International Photographer of the Year – Tawny Chatmon
Discovery of the Year – Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
First Place winners in different categories were:
Special – James Rushforth
Advertising, Sandro Miller
Book, Randal Ford
Architecture, Stephan Zirwes
Sports, Divyakant Solanki
Moving image, Emily Kassie
Deeper Perspective, Barry Salzman
People, Tawny Chatmon
Editorial, Rasmus Flindt Pedersen
Event, Mia Collis
Fine Art, Rodd Owen
Nature, Melissa Cormican
=== 2017 ===
The 2017 edition of the Lucie Awards was held at the Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, in New York City on October 29, 2017.
Moving Image Photographer of the Year– Lebohang Kganye
International Photographer of the Year – Alex Telfer
Discovery of the Year – Mariano Belmar
Deeper Perspective of the Year – Giles Clarke
=== 2016 ===
The Lucie Awards in 2016, was held on October 23 at the Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, in New York City.
Moving Image Photographer of the Year -Lily Gilboy
International Photographer of the Year – Marinka Masséus
Discovery of the Year – David Nam Lip LEE
Deeper Perspective of the Year – Andrea Star Reese
=== 2015 ===
For the third year, the 2015 Awards ceremony was held at the Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, in New York City on October 27, 2015.
Moving Image Photographer of the Year – Kerry Payne Stailey
International Photographer of the Year – Maxim Dondyuk
Discovery of the Year – Ville Kansanen
Deeper Perspective of the Year – David Jay
Honorable Mention(s) of the Year – Haider Ali (haidertonight)
=== 2014 ===
The Lucie Awards ceremony in 2014 was held at the Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, in New York City on November 22.
Moving Image Photographer of the Year – Yannick Wegner
International Photographer of the Year – Sandro Miller
Discovery of the Year – Vyacheslav Mishchenko
Deeper Perspective of the Year – K M Asad
=== 2013 ===
The 2013 awards ceremony was held at the Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, in New York City on October 27, 2013.
Moving Image Photographer of the Year – Carson Davis Brown
International Photographer of the Year – Brooks Kraft
Discovery of the Year – Carlotta Cardana
Deeper Perspective of the Year – Ebrahim Noroozi
=== 2012 ===
The 2012 awards ceremony returned to its root, being held at the International Ballroom at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, the site of the first awards ceremony, in Los Angeles on October 8, 2012.
Moving Image Photographer of the Year – Mark Bramley
International Photographer of the Year – Alinka Echeverría
Discovery of the Year – Viktoria Sorochinski
Deeper Perspective of the Year – Fernando Moleres
=== 2011 ===
The 2011 awards ceremony was held at the Rose Theater, Jazz at the Lincoln Center in New York City on October 24, 2011.
International Photographer of the Year – Majid Saeedi
Discovery of the Year – Anna di Prospero
Deeper Perspective of the Year – Daniel Beltrá
=== 2010 ===
The 2010 awards ceremony was held at the Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York City on October 27, 2010.
International Photographer of the Year – Jim Krantz
Discovery of the Year – Kristina Kostadinova
Deeper Perspective of the Year – Rodney Rascona
=== 2009 ===
The 2009 awards ceremony was held at the Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York City on October 19, 2009.
International Photographer of the Year – Nadav Kander
Discovery of the Year – Elliott Wilcox
Deeper Perspective of the Year – Rachel Papo
=== 2008 ===
The 2008 awards ceremony was held at the Avery Fisher Hall in the Lincoln Center in New York City on October 30, 2008.
International Photographer of the Year – Brent Stirton
Discovery of the Year – John Delaney
Deeper Perspective of the Year – Justin Maxon
=== 2007 ===
The 2007 awards ceremony was held at the Avery Fisher Hall in the Lincoln Center in New York City on October 15, 2007.
International Photographer of the Year – Massimo Mastrorillo
Discovery of the Year – Larry Louie
Deeper Perspective of the Year – Charlie Crane
=== 2006 ===
The 2006 awards ceremony was held at the American Airlines Theater in New York City on October 30, 2006.
International Photographer of the Year – Gerd Ludwig
Discovery of the Year – Ghada Khunji
=== 2005 ===
The 2005 awards ceremony was held at the American Airlines Theater in New York City on October 17, 2005.
International Photographer of the Year – Jim Fiscus
Discovery of the Year – Carol Watson
=== 2004 ===
The 2004 awards ceremony changed location and time of year, held at the American Airlines Theater in New York City on October 18, 2004.
International Photographer of the Year – Timothy White
Discovery of the Year – Marrigje De Maar
=== 2003 ===
The 2003 awards ceremony was the first, held at the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, California on December 7, 2003.
International Photographer of the Year – Chris Frazer Smith
Discovery of the Year – Robert Vizzini
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Chemistry_Award#:~:text=catalysis%20%5B6%5D-,2012%3A%20Edman%20Tsang,-(University%20of | Green Chemistry Award | First awarded in 2001, the Green Chemistry Award was presented every two years by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) for advances in environmentally focused chemistry. In addition to a prize of £2000, winners of the award complete a UK based lecture tour. The award was discontinued in 2020.
== Winners ==
2001 (2001): Keith Smith
2003 (2003): Varinder Aggarwal (University of Bristol)
2006 (2006): Andrew P Abbott (University of Leicester)
2010 (2010): Roger Sheldon (Delft University of Technology) for his work in the field of catalysis
2012 (2012): Edman Tsang (University of Oxford) for development of nanoparticulate catalysts for use in manufacturing
2014 (2014): Michael North, University of York for his work on Carbon Dioxide as a chemical feedstock.
2016 (2016): Paul Anastas (Yale University) for his seminal work in developing innovative methods in molecular design, leading to products and processes that reduce environmental impacts.
2018 (2018): James Clark, University of York, for the promotion of applied, market-driven green chemistry.
2020: Paul Dyson, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
== See also ==
List of chemistry awards
List of environmental awards
== References == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Walls | Bob Walls | Robert “Bob” Guy Walls (8 June 1927 – 11 November 1999) was a painter born in Upper Hutt, New Zealand.
After finishing his education at Wellington College, Walls worked for the Union Steamship Company. He spent 17 years (1943 to 1960) employed by the shipping company, including 12 years at sea as a purser on ships trading mainly between New Zealand and Canada, and as shipping representative in Tonga and the Cook Islands. It was during this time that he began painting as a hobby.
Walls arrived in London in 1960, and subsequently studied at the Chelsea School of Art (1960–1963). His first solo exhibition was in 1964 at the Drian Galleries in London. He painted full-time for many years, along with some lecturing and teaching.
By the 1970s, Walls was finally obliged to obtain employment to ease the insecurity of living off an artist’s income. He worked briefly at the Foreign Office, and then at the British Museum. Here, he worked as a curator until 1992 in the Prehistoric and Romano-British Departments, among other things being involved with arrangements for the famous Lindow Man and in displaying the Vindolanda Tablets, the earliest written materials yet found in Britain. Walls held many exhibitions in Europe, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, and his works are in numerous collections both public and private, including those of the Contemporary Art Society and the New Zealand National Gallery.
== Painting ==
Walls painted using various media, including oils, water colour and pastels, and gouache. His works are typically of land, sea and townscapes, the landscapes being mainly those of Yorkshire, Scotland, Spain and New Zealand.
== Personal life ==
Walls lived much of his adult life in London, with his partner John McLeod.
== References == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Salcedo#Recognition | Doris Salcedo | Doris Salcedo (born 1958) is a Colombian-born visual artist and sculptor. Her work is influenced by her experiences of life in Colombia and is generally composed of commonplace items such as wooden furniture, clothing, concrete, grass, and rose petals. Salcedo's work gives form to pain, trauma, and loss, while creating space for individual and collective mourning. These themes stem from her own personal history. Members of her own family were among the many people who have disappeared in politically troubled Colombia. Much of her work deals with the fact that, while the death of a loved one can be mourned, their disappearance leaves an unbearable emptiness. Salcedo lives and works in Bogotá, Colombia.
== Early life and education ==
Doris Salcedo was born in 1958 in Bogotá, Colombia. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Jorge Tadeo Lozano University in 1980, before traveling to New York City, where she completed a Master of Fine Arts degree at New York University in 1984. She then returned to Bogotá to teach at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. She is married to Colombian novelist and sociologist Azriel Bibliowicz, whose work investigates the Jewish experience in Colombia. The couple lives and works in Bogotá.
== Art as repair ==
Salcedo addresses the question of forgetting and memory in her installation artwork. In pieces such as Unland: The Orphan's Tunic from 1997 and the La Casa Viuda series from the early 1990s, Salcedo takes ordinary household items, such as a chair and table, and transforms them into memorials for victims of the Civil War in Colombia.
In his book Present Pasts: Urban Palimpsests and the Politics of Memory, Andreas Huyssen dedicates a chapter to Salcedo and Unland: The Orphan's Tunic, presenting her work as “Memory Sculpture.” Huyssen offers a detailed description of the piece, a seemingly mundane table that, when considered closely, “captures the viewer's imagination in its unexpected, haunting visual and material presence.” A seemingly everyday piece of furniture is in fact made of two destroyed tables joined and covered with a whitish veil of fabric, presumably the orphan's original tunic. Upon even closer inspection, hundreds of small human hairs appear to be the thread that is attaching the tunic to the table. Huyssen equates the structure of the tables to the body. “If the tunic is like a skin...then the table gains a metaphoric presence as body, not now of an individual orphan but an orphaned community.” Salcedo's Unland is a memory sculpture, presenting the past of her own country of Colombia to the international art audience.
During a conversation with Carlos Basualdo, Salcedo discusses her own approach to producing art:
“The way that an artwork brings materials together is incredibly powerful. Sculpture is its materiality. I work with materials that are already charged with significance, with meaning they have required in the practice of everyday life...then, I work to the point where it becomes something else, where metamorphosis is reached.”
Again, in a 1998 interview with Charles Merewether, Salcedo expounds upon this notion of the metamorphosis, describing the experience of the viewer with her own artistic repair or restoration of the past.
“The silent contemplation of each viewer permits the life seen in the work to reappear. Change takes place, as if the experience of the victim were reaching out...The sculpture presents the experience as something present- a reality that resounds within the silence of each human being that gazes upon it.”
Salcedo employs objects from the past, objects imbued with an important sense of history and, through these contemporary memory sculptures, illustrates the flow of time. She joins the past and the present, repairs what she sees as incomplete and, in the eyes of Huyssen, presents “memory at the edge of an abyss...memory in the literal sense...and memory as process.”
== Installations ==
Salcedo's work has become increasingly installation-based. She uses gallery spaces or unusual locations to create art and environments that are politically and historically charged. Noviembre 6 y 7 (2002) is a work commemorating the seventeenth anniversary of the violent seizing of the Supreme Court in Bogotá on November 6 and 7, 1985. Salcedo placed this piece in the new Palace of Justice. It took her over the course of 53 hours (the duration of the original siege) to place wooden chairs against the façade of the building being lowered from different points on its roof. Salcedo did this as creating “an act of memory”. Her goal was to re-inhabit the space that was forgotten.
In 2003, in a work she called Installation for the 8th Istanbul Biennial, she did an installation in a commonplace street consisting of 1,500 wooden chairs stacked precariously in the space between two buildings.
In 2005, at the Castello di Rivoli, Salcedo reworked one of the institution's major rooms by extending the existing vaulted brick ceiling of the gallery. Subtly transforming the existing space, Abyss was designed to evoke thoughts of incarceration and entombment.
In 2007, Salcedo became the eighth artist to have been commissioned to produce work for the Unilever turbine hall of the Tate Modern gallery in London for which she created Shibboleth, a 167-metre-long crack running the length of the hall's floor. Salcedo said it "represents borders, the experience of immigrants, the experience of segregation, the experience of racial hatred. It is the experience of a Third World person coming into the heart of Europe". In this way her installation represented exclusion, separation and otherness. It was named by Frieze as No.21 of "The 25 Best Works of the 21st Century".
== Exhibitions ==
Salcedo has exhibited in group exhibitions internationally including Carnegie International (1995), XXIV São Paulo Biennial (1998), Trace, The Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art (1999), Documenta XI, Kassel (2002), 8th Istanbul Biennial (2003), 'NeoHooDoo', PS1 Contemporary Art Centre, New York, The Menil Collection, Houston (2008), 'The New Décor', Hayward Gallery, London (2010), and the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College (2014–15). Solo exhibitions include The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (1998), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1999 and 2005), Tate Britain, London (1999), Camden Arts Centre, London (2001), White Cube, London (2004), Tate Modern, London (2007), The 80's: A Topology (2007), and Inhotim, Centro de Arte Contemporânea, Belo Horizonte, (2008). From April 2010 through February 2013, the artist's installation “plegaria Muda” traveled to museums throughout Europe and South America, including MUAC, Mexico; Moderna Museet, Malmö and CAM Gulbenkian, Lisbon (2011); MAXXI Rome and Pinacoteca São Paulo (2012), the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2015), and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. (2015); and Harvard Art Museums (2016).
== Recognition ==
1995 – Guggenheim Fellowship
2005 – The Ordway Prize, from the Penny McCall Foundation
2010 – Velázquez Visual Arts Prize
2014 – Hiroshima Art Prize
2016 – Inaugural Nasher Prize for Sculpture, Nasher Sculpture Center
2017 – Rolf Schock Prizes in Visual Arts
2019 – Nomura Art Award
== Analysis of individual artworks ==
Istanbul is an installation made up of 1,550 chairs stacked between two tall urban buildings. Salcedo's idea with this piece was to create what she called "a topography of war." She clarifies this by saying it is meant to "represent war in general and not a specific historical event". Salcedo is quoted saying "seeing these 1,550 wooden chairs piled high between two buildings in central Istanbul, I'm reminded of mass graves. Of anonymous victims. I think of both chaos and absence, two effects of wartime violence." Salcedo explains, “What I'm trying to get out of these pieces is that element that is common in all of us.” “And in a situation of war, we all experience it in much the same way, either as victim or perpetrator. So I'm not narrating a particular story. I'm just addressing experiences.” In 2007, four years after Salcedo's installation in Istanbul, another artist, Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei, used chairs to create a memory effect in his piece Fairytale. He installed the set of 1001 Ming and Qing dynasty chairs at Documenta 12 in Kassel, Germany, one chair for each of the 1001 Chinese travelers displaced. His piece focused on Chinese displacement, a similar topic to Salcedo.
Atrabiliarios is an installation that incorporates plywood, shoes, animal fiber, thread, and sheepskin all in six different niches. In her piece old shoes, in pairs and singles, are encased behind sheets of translucent animal skin inside alcoves or niches in the gallery wall. The skin is crudely stitched to the wall with medical sutures. On the floor underneath are some small boxes made from the same animal skin. The worn shoes all belonged to women who 'disappeared', and were donated to Salcedo by the victims' families. The use of these shoes in Atrabiliarios is meant to echo the memory of those whose fate and whereabouts is unknown. Salcedo describes this a being "permanently suspended between the present and the past". Therefore, Atrabiliarios is "not only a portrait of disappearance, but a portrait of the survivors' mental condition of uncertainty, longing and mourning." Salcedo is seeking not only to express the horror of violence but also to investigate the way people prevail in times of torture, repairing their physical and psychological wounds, as well as raising resistance and remembering those who are missing.
Shibboleth was her Turbine Hall installation at Tate Modern in London. Salcedo was the first artist to change the physical building. Salcedo used this piece to give voice to the victims of all the injustices that have separated people and armed them against one another. Rather than fill Turbine Hall with an installation, she opened up a subterranean wound in the floor that stretched the entire length of the former power station. The concrete walls of the crevice were ruptured by a steel mesh fence, creating a tension between elements that resisted each other and at the same time depended on one another. The installation began as a thin, almost invisible line at the main entrance and gradually widened into a chasm at the far end. This design was meant to evoke the brokenness and separateness of post-colonial cultures especially in her homeland of Colombia. Shibboleth raised questions about the interaction of ideological foundations on which Western notions of modernity are built and questions about racism and colonialism that underlie the modern world. “The history of racism,” Salcedo said, “runs parallel to the history of modernity and is its untold dark side.” With Shibboleth, Salcedo focused attention on the existence of a large, socially excluded underclass present in all societies. Salcedo said that breaking open the floor of Turbine Hall symbolized the fracture in modernity itself. This urged viewers to confront uncomfortable truths about history and people. The crack also represented the divide between rich and poor, which can start off relatively little but ultimately turn into a great divide that is capable of dismantling cultures. The crack was made whole at the conclusion of the show, yet there is a sliver that will always be there in the flooring.
Flor de Piel is a room-sized installation first publicly exhibited at the Harvard Art Museums in Salcedo's 2016-2017 solo exhibition, Doris Salcedo: The Materiality of Mourning. A Flor de Piel, measuring 340 cm x 500 cm, is a tapestry of thousands of preserved, hand-sewn red rose petals, that undulates softly on the floor. Suspended in a state of transformation, the petals linger between life and death and are so vulnerable that they tear if touched. The artist intended the work to be a shroud for a nurse who was tortured to death in the Colombian war. Salcedo created the piece in 2013, working with rose petals and thread as her materials; A Flor de Piel was acquired by the Harvard Art Museums in 2014.
Plegaria Muda is a series of sculptures, each composed of two hand-crafted tables, which are approximately the same shape and size of a coffin. One table lays upside down on the other, with an earthlike layer with grass growing between the two table tops. "Plegaria Muda" translates roughly to "silent prayer", and is a comment on the relationships between the perpetrators of gang violence and their victims, as well as a homage to the mass grave sites In Colombia where victims of gang violence are often buried.
== Current research and themes ==
Since 1988 Salcedo has interviewed people whose relatives have been "disappeared" by presumably order of the military associated with Colombia's civil war and illegal drug trade. She regularly visits abandoned villages, murder sites, and mass graves. Salcedo reports that she has been doing much of the same research for many years with only small variations. For many years she kept files on concentration camps, these included both historical and more contemporary camps. She is most interested in how they vary from one another because they are always there just presented in different forms. Salcedo states that her one focus has always been political violence and that "violence defines the evils of our society."
"I was amazed when Guantanamo was opened in Cuba, because Cuba was the first place that had a concentration camp. Actually it was a Spanish invention. A Spanish general, Martinez Campos, thought it up in 1896. At that time they implemented it in Cuba. It's amazing to see how it has come full circle. Now you have Guantanamo again in Cuba. But of course the British had it at the end of the nineteenth century in South Africa. Then the Germans had it in West Africa. Then you have killing fields, forced labor camps, gulags—the list is endless. I have come to the conclusion that the industrial prison system in the United States has many of these elements, where people, for really no reason, for possession of marijuana or things like that are going to jail, where some minor crimes have become felonies. I'm really shocked by the sheer numbers of people being thrown into jails. And also I think it's amazing how this system, being in jail and then going out, has so many collateral effects that a fairly large portion of the population are not allowed to be alive. The idea of having a large portion of the population excluded from civil rights, from many, many possibilities, implies that you have people that can almost be considered socially dead. What does it mean to be socially dead? What does it mean to be alive and not able to participate? It's like being dead in life. That's what I am researching now, and that is the perspective I have been looking at events from for a long time."
== See also ==
Andreas Huyssen
Dario Robleto
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Bal, Mieke. Of What One Cannot Speak: Doris Salcedo's Political Art, University of Chicago Press, 2011, 264 pages
Princenthal, Nancy, Carlos Basualdo and Andrea Huyssen, Doris Salcedo, Phaidon, London, 2000, 160 pages
Saggio, Antonino, "Doris Salcedo o del fare", L'Architetto Italiano, n.24 pp. 86–87
Widholm, Julie Rodrigues and Madeleine Grynsztejn, eds. Doris Salcedo, University of Chicago Press, 2015, 240 pages
== External links ==
White Cube: Doris Salcedo
Alexandre and Bonin: Doris Salcedo Archived 21 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
Tate Modern Turbine Hall: Shibboleth Archived 2008-09-10 at the Wayback Machine
Madeleine Grynstejn on Doris Salcedo
Doris Salcedo, on RAI Arts portal
WSJ on Doris Salcedo wins Nasher Prize
Doris Salcedo
Watch Doris Salcedo in conversation with Francesca Pietropaolo (Brooklyn Rail, August 25, 2023):https://brooklynrail.org/events/2023/08/25/doris-salcedo/ |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhur_Canteen | Madhur Canteen | Madhur Canteen (Bengali: মধুর রেস্তোরা, romanized: Modhur restora, lit. 'Madhu's canteen') is a familiar name in the history of the Dhaka University as well as in the national politics of Bangladesh because of its association with various political movements which originated from the Dhaka University. The canteen's current location holds important architectural and heritage value.
Madhusudan Dey (Modhu), the canteen's founder, is an equally important figure in the socio-political history of the region. He was killed on 25 March 1971 at the beginning of the Bangladesh Liberation War. As part of Operation Searchlight, the Pakistan Army attacked the Dhaka University. Madhusudan Dey was taken to Jagannath Hall by the Pakistani armed forces, where he was executed along with many university students. After the Liberation War, Arun Kumar Dey assumed the responsibility of running the canteen. Years after Modhu's death, the canteen remains a significant landmark and also a place for gathering in the community.
== History of the canteen ==
=== Origin ===
Madhur Canteen was started in 1921, when Madhusudan Dey (Modhu) came to Dhaka with his father, Aditya Chandra, at the age of 15. Aditya Chandra, with the permission of the university authorities, began selling food in the Dhaka University Campus which was, at the time, located in the present Dhaka Medical College building. The canteen was shifted later when the Arts Faculty of the university was shifted to a new building at Nilkhet.
=== Political movements ===
Madhur canteen played a pivotal role in the Bangladesh Liberation Movement. It was the focal point for the start of various political movements in the country. The canteen played a significant part in the Language Movements of 1948 and 1952, the movement of fourth-class Dhaka University employees in 1949, the student's revolt against the black laws (kala kanoon) of the university, and the 1969 mass uprising in East Pakistan. During these critical political moments, Madhur Canteen was a social epicentre frequented by student leaders and activists. The Pakistani army targeted Madhur Canteen on 25 March 1971, with the beginning of operation Searchlight.
=== Massacre ===
Madhusudan Dey was killed on 26 March 1971. The Pakistani military stormed his house and started firing in the early morning hours. Dey's wife, son and daughter-in-law were amongst those killed. Madhusudan Dey was injured in the firing, arrested and taken to the Jagannath Hall playground where he was killed alongside many students.
== Present location ==
Madhur Canteen was reconstructed after suffering severe damage during the liberation war. The canteen was relocated from its original location in the present-day Dhaka Medical college building to an old structure. The canteen's present location served as the Durbar Hall of the Dhaka Nawabs. Apart from being used as a venue for formal and informal meetings, it also served as a skating rink and ballroom for the enjoyment of the Nawabs. Construction of the building began in 1873 which continued over several years. In 1906, a conference was held in the building, sponsored by Nawab bahadur Sir Khwaja Salimullah, the Nawab of Dhaka, that led to the formation of the All-India Muslim League.
In 1995, a statue of Madhusudan Dey created by Toufiq Hosen Khan, a student of fine arts, was installed in front of the Madhur Canteen.
== Gallery ==
== See also ==
Haji Biriyani
Star Kabab
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Muntassir Mamoon 2003 Dhaka Shomogro, ISBN 978-984-412-369-4
Mahbubur Rahman 2011, City of an architect, ISBN 978-984-33-2451-1
Gopal Das 2007, Manidipto Campus |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Fields#Personal_life | Kim Fields | Kim Fields Morgan (née Fields; born May 12, 1969) is an American actress and director. She first gained fame as a child actress on the television series Good Times (1978–1979), and rose to greater prominence for her role as Dorothy "Tootie" Ramsey on the NBC sitcom Diff'rent Strokes (1979–1981), as well as its spin-off The Facts of Life (1979–1988).
Fields made her transition into mature roles as Regine Hunter on the Fox sitcom Living Single (1993–1998). Afterwards, she began work as a director on the Nickelodeon sitcom Kenan & Kel, as well as Tyler Perry's House of Payne. She currently stars in the Netflix original series The Upshaws (2021–present).
== Career ==
Before appearing on The Facts of Life, Fields co-starred in a short-lived sitcom called Baby, I'm Back with Demond Wilson and Denise Nicholas, and she appeared in a television commercial for Mrs. Butterworth's syrup. She later appeared on two episodes of Good Times as a friend of Penny Gordon Woods, played by Janet Jackson. Fields' episodes on Good Times were "The Snow Storm" and "The Physical".
Fields played the role of Dorothy "Tootie" Ramsey on the NBC sitcom The Facts of Life from 1979 to 1988. Even years later, many still recognize her catchphrase, "We're in troouu-ble! ". When the show began production, Fields was so short that the producers put her on roller skates during the first season so that they could avoid difficult camera angles. However, she later lost a role as Arnold Jackson's girlfriend on The Facts of Life's parent show Diff'rent Strokes because she was taller than Gary Coleman, who played Arnold. In 1984, during the run of The Facts of Life, Fields released two singles on the Critique Records label: the disco/Hi-NRG "He Loves Me He Loves Me Not" (which became a minor club hit), and "Dear Michael" (which became a minor R&B hit, reaching No. 50).
After taking time away from acting to attend Pepperdine University to earn her bachelor's degree in telecommunications, Fields appeared in a 1993 episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, in which Will Smith pretended to marry her in an attempt to seduce her. Fields had a starring role in the hit Fox sitcom Living Single as Regina "Reginé" Hunter from 1993 to 1998. In this role, Fields would act alongside her real-life mother Chip Fields, who played her character's mother on the show.
Following the end of Living Single, Fields began performing R&B and rap music with a group called Impromp 2. With her degree from Pepperdine University, Fields also began directing. Fields directed a number of episodes of the All That! spin-off Kenan & Kel, in which she also appeared in two episodes. She has worked as a director on the sitcoms Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns, Tyler Perry's House of Payne and BET's Let's Stay Together.
Fields guest-starred on television shows such as UPN's One on One, The Golden Palace, and Martin. She appeared as herself on HBO's The Comeback. On February 1, 2007, Fields was reunited with her co-star Lisa Whelchel on WFAA-TV's Good Morning Texas. Fields was in Dallas to promote her appearance in the production Issues: We've All Got 'Em when Whelchel was introduced as a surprise guest. It marked the first time in six years (since The Facts of Life Reunion movie) that Fields and Whelchel had seen each other.
Fields has worked with her husband Christopher Morgan on projects. In 2010, she and Morgan produced and directed a Christmas television special called Holiday Love. They shot the entire show in three days. Holiday Love aired on TV One and a second episode aired for Christmas, 2011. In an interview that included background on the show, Fields described the special as "restorative and transformative" of her Christian faith. Fields revived Holiday Love on the Internet in 2013.
On August 18, 2015, it was announced that she would be joining the cast of the Bravo reality television show The Real Housewives of Atlanta for its eighth season. On March 21, 2016, she announced that she would not return to the show for another season.
On March 8, 2016, Fields was announced as one of the celebrities who will compete on season 22 of Dancing with the Stars. She was partnered with professional dancer Sasha Farber. On May 2, 2016, during a double elimination, Fields and Farber were eliminated and finished the competition in 8th place.
In 2017, Fields played the role of Theresa Newman in the Christian film A Question of Faith, which featured Fields' first co-starring appearance in a feature film and premiered in theaters on September 29, 2017.
Since May 2021, Fields has starred on Netflix's The Upshaws, but left the show in 2025.
== Personal life ==
Fields was married to film producer Johnathon Franklin Freeman from 1995 to 2001. Fields gave birth to her first child, Sebastian Alexander Morgan, by then-boyfriend Broadway actor Christopher Morgan, on May 4, 2007. The couple introduced their son the following week in People magazine. On July 23, 2007, they were married in a private ceremony officiated by Pastor Donnie McClurkin. In July 2013, Fields announced on the talk show The Real that she and her husband were expecting another son; on December 3, 2013, they welcomed Quincy Xavier Morgan in Atlanta, Georgia.
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
=== Television ===
=== Music videos ===
=== Directing ===
== References ==
== External links ==
Kim Fields at IMDb |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesse | Hesse | Hesse or Hessen (German: Hessen [ˈhɛsn̩] ), officially the State of Hesse (German: Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major historic cities are Darmstadt and Kassel. With an area of 21,114.73 square kilometers and a population of over six million, it ranks seventh and fifth, respectively, among the sixteen German states. Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Germany's second-largest metropolitan area (after Rhine-Ruhr), is mainly located in Hesse.
As a cultural region, Hesse also includes the area known as Rhenish Hesse (Rheinhessen) in the neighboring state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
== Etymology ==
The German name Hessen, like the names of other German regions (Schwaben "Swabia", Franken "Franconia", Bayern "Bavaria", Sachsen "Saxony"), derives from the dative plural form of the name of the inhabitants or eponymous tribe, the Hessians (Hessen, singular Hesse). The geographical name represents a short equivalent of the older compound name Hessenland ("land of the Hessians"). The Old High German form of the name is recorded as Hessun (dative plural of Hessi); in Middle Latin it appears as Hassonia, Hassia, Hessia. The name of the Hessians ultimately continues the tribal name of the Chatti. The ancient name Chatti by the 7th century is recorded as Chassi, and from the 8th century as Hassi or Hessi.
An inhabitant of Hesse is called a "Hessian" (German: Hesse (masculine), plural Hessen, or Hessin (feminine), plural Hessinnen). The American English term "Hessian" for 18th-century British auxiliary troops originates with Landgrave Frederick II of Hesse-Kassel hiring out regular army units to the government of Great Britain to fight in the American Revolutionary War.
The English form Hesse was in common use by the 18th century, first in the hyphenated names of the states of Hesse-Cassel and Hesse-Darmstadt, but the latinate form Hessia remained in common English usage well into the 19th century.
The European Commission uses the German form Hessen, even in English-language contexts.
The synthetic element hassium, number 108 on the periodic table, was named after the state of Hesse in 1997, following a proposal of 1992.
== History ==
The territory of Hesse was delineated only in 1945, as Greater Hesse, under American occupation. It corresponds loosely to the medieval Landgraviate of Hesse.
In the 19th century, prior to the unification of Germany, the territory of what is now Hesse comprised the territories of Grand Duchy of Hesse (also known as Hesse-Darmstadt), the Duchy of Nassau, the free city of Frankfurt, the Electorate of Hesse (also known as Hesse-Kassel), the Principality of Waldeck and the Landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg.
=== Early history ===
The Central Hessian region was inhabited in the Upper Paleolithic. Finds of tools in southern Hesse in Rüsselsheim suggest the presence of Pleistocene hunters about 13,000 years ago. A fossil hominid skull that was found in northern Hesse, just outside the village of Rhünda, has been dated at 12,000 years ago. The Züschen tomb (German: Steinkammergrab von Züschen, sometimes also Lohne-Züschen) is a prehistoric burial monument, located between Lohne and Züschen, near Fritzlar, Hesse, Germany. Classified as a gallery grave or a Hessian-Westphalian stone cist (hessisch-westfälische Steinkiste), it is one of the most important megalithic monuments in Central Europe. Dating to c. 3000 BC, it belongs to the Late Neolithic Wartberg culture.
An early Celtic presence in what is now Hesse is indicated by a mid-5th-century BC La Tène-style burial uncovered at Glauberg. The region was later settled by the Germanic Chatti tribe around the 1st century BC, and the name Hesse is a continuation of that tribal name.
The ancient Romans had a military camp in Dorlar, and in Waldgirmes directly on the eastern outskirts of Wetzlar was a civil settlement under construction. Presumably, the provincial government for the occupied territories of the right bank of Germania was planned at this location. The governor of Germania, at least temporarily, likely had resided here. The settlement appears to have been abandoned by the Romans after the devastating Battle of the Teutoburg Forest failed in the year AD 9. The Chatti were also involved in the Revolt of the Batavi in AD 69.
Hessia, from the early 7th century on, served as a buffer between areas dominated by the Saxons (to the north) and the Franks, who brought the area to the south under their control in the early sixth century and occupied Thuringia (to the east) in 531. Hessia occupies the northwestern part of the modern German state of Hesse; its borders were not clearly delineated. Its geographic center is Fritzlar; it extends in the southeast to Hersfeld on the river Fulda, in the north to past Kassel and up to the rivers Diemel and Weser. To the west, it occupies the valleys of the rivers Eder and Lahn (the latter until it turns south). It measured roughly 90 kilometers north–south, and 80 north-west.
The area around Fritzlar shows evidence of significant pagan belief from the 1st century on. Geismar was a particular focus of such activity; it was continuously occupied from the Roman period on, with a settlement from the Roman period, which itself had a predecessor from the 5th century BC. Excavations have produced a horse burial and bronze artifacts. A possible religious cult may have centered on a natural spring in Geismar, called Heilgenbron; the name "Geismar" (possibly "energetic pool") itself may be derived from that spring. The village of Maden, Gudensberg, now a part of Gudensberg near Fritzlar and less than ten miles from Geismar, was likely an ancient religious center; the basaltic outcrop of Gudensberg is named after Wodan, and a two-meter tall quartzite megalith called the Wotanstein is at the center of the village.
By the mid-7th century, the Franks had established themselves as overlords, which is suggested by archeological evidence of burials, and they built fortifications in various places, including Christenberg. By 690, they took direct control over Hessia, apparently to counteract expansion by the Saxons, who built fortifications in Gaulskopf and Eresburg across the river Diemel, the northern boundary of Hessia. The Büraburg (which already had a Frankish settlement in the sixth century) was one of the places the Franks fortified to resist the Saxon pressure, and according to John-Henry Clay, the Büraburg was "probably the largest man-made construction seen in Hessia for at least seven hundred years". Walls and trenches totaling one kilometer in length were made, and they enclosed "8 hectares of a spur that offered a commanding view over Fritzlar and the densely-populated heart of Hessia".
Following Saxon incursions into Chattish territory in the 7th century, two gaue had been established; a Frankish one, comprising an area around Fritzlar and Kassel, and a Saxonian one. In the 9th century, the Saxon Hessengau also came under the rule of the Franconians.
=== Holy Roman Empire ===
From 962 the land which would become Hesse was part of the Holy Roman Empire. In the 10th and 11th centuries it was mostly encompassed by the Western or Rhenish part of the stem duchy of Franconia.
In the 12th century, Hessengau passed to the Landgraviate of Thuringia. As a result of the War of the Thuringian Succession (1247–1264) the former Thuringian lands were partitioned between the Wettin Margraviate of Meissen, which gained Thuringia proper, and the new Landgraviate of Hesse, which remained with the Ludovingians. From that point on the Ludovingian coat of arms came to represent both Thuringia and Hesse.
It rose to prominence under Landgrave Philip the Magnanimous, who was one of the leaders of German Protestantism. After Philip's death in 1567, the territory was divided among his four sons from his first marriage (Philip was a bigamist) into four lines: Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Rheinfels, and the also previously existing Hesse-Marburg. As the latter two lines died out quite quickly (1583 and 1605, respectively), Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Darmstadt were the two core states within the Hessian lands. Several collateral lines split off during the centuries, such as in 1622, when Hesse-Homburg split off from Hesse-Darmstadt, and in 1760 when Hesse-Hanau split off from Hesse-Kassel. In the late 16th century, Kassel adopted Calvinism, while Darmstadt remained Lutheran and consequently the two lines often found themselves on opposing sides of conflicts, most notably in the disputes over Hesse-Marburg and in the Thirty Years' War, when Darmstadt fought on the side of the Emperor, while Kassel sided with Sweden and France.
The Landgrave Frederick II (1720–1785) ruled Hesse-Kassel as a benevolent despot, from 1760 to 1785. He combined Enlightenment ideas with Christian values, cameralist plans for central control of the economy, and a militaristic approach toward diplomacy. He funded the depleted treasury of the poor government by loaning 19,000 soldiers in complete military formations to Great Britain to fight in North America during the American Revolutionary War, 1776–1783. These soldiers, commonly known as Hessians, fought under the British flag. The British used the Hessians in several conflicts, including in the Irish Rebellion of 1798. For further revenue, the soldiers were loaned to other places as well. Most were conscripted, with their pay going to the Landgrave.
=== Modern history ===
==== French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars ====
In 1789 the French Revolution began and in 1794, during the War of the First Coalition, the French Republic occupied the Left Bank of the Rhine, including part of Lower Katzenelnbogen (Niedergrafschaft Katzenelnbogen, Hesse-Kassel's part of the former County of Katzenelnbogen which was held by the appanage Hesse-Rotenburg). Emperor Francis II formally recognised the annexation of the Left Bank in the 1801 Treaty of Lunéville. This led in 1803 to the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, a substantial reorganisation (mediatisation) of the states and territories of the Empire. Several exclaves of Mainz were mediatised to Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Darmstadt, and Hesse-Darmstadt also gained the Duchy of Westphalia from Cologne, the parts of Worms on the right-bank of the Rhine, and the former Free City of Friedberg. Nassau-Weilburg gained the right-bank territories of Trier among other territories. Orange-Nassau gained the Prince-Bishopric of Fulda (as the Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda). The Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel was also elevated to the status of Prince-Elector (Kurfürst), with his state thereby becoming the Electorate of Hesse or Electoral Hesse (German: Kurhessen, Kur being the German-language term for the Empire's College of Electors).
In July 1806 Hesse-Darmstadt, Nassau-Weilburg, Nassau-Usingen, and the newly merged Principality of Isenburg became founding members of Napoleon's Confederation of the Rhine. Hesse-Darmstadt expanded further in the resulting mediatisation, absorbing numerous small states (including Hesse-Homburg and much of the territory of the Houses of Solms, Erbach and Sayn-Wittgenstein). It was also elevated by Napoleon to the status of Grand Duchy, becoming the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Orange-Nassau, which refused to join the Confederation, lost Siegen, Dillenburg, Hadamar and Beilstein to Berg and Fulda to the Prince-Primate of the Confederation (and former Elector of Mainz) Karl Theodor von Dalberg; the remainder of its territory was merged with that of Nassau-Usingen and Nassau-Weilburg in August 1806 to form the Duchy of Nassau. Waldeck also joined the Confederation in 1807.
The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in August 1806, rendering Hesse-Kassel's electoral privilege meaningless. Hesse-Kassel was occupied by the French in October 1806 and the remainder of Lower Katzenelnbogen was annexed to the French Empire as Pays réservé de Catzenellenbogen. The rest of its territory was annexed to the Kingdom of Westphalia in 1807; Hesse-Hanau (a secundogeniture of Hesse-Kassel) was annexed to the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt in 1810 along with the other territories held by the Prince-primate: Frankfurt, Fulda, Aschaffenburg and Wetzlar.
As a result of the German campaign of 1813 the Kingdom of Westphalia and the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt were dissolved and Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Hanau were restored; Orange-Nassau was also restored in its territories previously lost to Berg.
As a result of the 1815 Congress of Vienna Hesse-Kassel gained Fulda (roughly the western third of the former Prince-Bishopric, the rest of which went to Bavaria and Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach) from Frankfurt and part of Isenburg, while several of its small northern exclaves were absorbed into Hanover, some small eastern areas were ceded to Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and Lower Katzenelnbogen was ceded to Nassau. Hesse-Darmstadt lost the Duchy of Westphalia and the Sayn-Wittgensteiner lands to the Prussian Province of Westphalia but gained territory on the left bank of the Rhine centred on Mainz, which became known as Rhenish Hesse (Rheinhessen), and the remainder of Isenburg. Orange-Nassau, whose ruler was now also King William I of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg, was ceded to Prussia but most of its territory aside from Siegen was then ceded on to Nassau. Hesse-Homburg and the Free City of Frankfurt were also restored.
While the other former Electors had gained other titles, becoming either Kings or Grand Dukes, the Elector of Hesse-Kassel alone retained the anachronistic title of Prince-Elector; a request to be recognised as "King of the Chatti" (König der Katten) was rejected by the Congress.
Following mediation, the Congress of Vienna had significantly fewer states remained in the region that is now Hesse: the Hessian states, Nassau, Waldeck and Frankfurt. The Kingdoms of Prussia and Bavaria also held some territory in the region. The Congress established the German Confederation, of which they all became members. Hesse-Hanau was (re-)absorbed into Hesse-Kassel in 1821.
==== German Empire ====
In the 1866 Austro-Prussian War the states of the region allied with Austria were defeated during the Campaign of the Main. Following Prussia's victory and dissolution of the German Confederation, Prussia annexed Electoral Hesse, Frankfurt, Hesse-Homburg, Nassau and small parts of Bavaria and the Grand Duchy of Hesse, which were then combined into the Province of Hesse-Nassau. The name Kurhessen survived, denoting the region around Kassel. The Grand Duchy of Hesse retained its autonomy in defeat because a greater part of the country was situated south of the river Main and it was feared that Prussian expansion beyond the Main might provoke France. However, Upper Hesse (German: Oberhessen: the parts of Hesse-Darmstadt north of the Main around the town of Gießen) was incorporated into the North German Confederation (Norddeutscher Bund), a tight federation of German states established by Prussia in 1867, while also remaining part of the Grand Duchy. In 1871, after France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, the whole of the Grand Duchy joined the German Empire.
Around the turn of the 20th century, Darmstadt was one of the centres of the Jugendstil. Until 1907, the Grand Duchy of Hesse used the Hessian red and white lion barry as its coat-of-arms.
==== Weimar and Nazi periods ====
The revolution of 1918 following the German defeat in WWI transformed Hesse-Darmstadt from a monarchy to a republic, which officially renamed itself the People's State of Hesse (Volksstaat Hessen). The state parliament, or Landtag consisted of 70 deputies elected on the basis of proportional representation. There were six Landtag elections between 1919 and 1932. Following the Nazi seizure of power in Berlin, the Landtag was formally abolished as a result of the "Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich" of 30 January 1934, which replaced the German federal system with a unitary state.
The parts of Hesse-Darmstadt on the left bank of the Rhine (Rhenish Hesse), as well as those right-bank areas of Hesse-Darmstadt and Hesse-Nassau within 30 km (19 mi) of Koblenz or Mainz were occupied by French troops until 1930 under the terms of the Versailles peace treaty that officially ended World War I in 1919. The Kingdom of Prussia became the Free State of Prussia, of which Hesse-Nassau remained a province.
In 1929 the Free State of Waldeck was dissolved and incorporated into Hesse-Nassau. In 1932 Wetzlar (Landkreis Wetzlar), formerly an exclave of the Prussian Rhine Province situated between Hesse-Nassau and the Grand Duchy's Upper Hesse, was transferred to Hesse-Nassau. The former Hessian exclave of Rinteln (Kreis Rinteln, the Hessian part of the former County of Schaumburg) was also detached and transferred to the Province of Hanover.
On 1 July 1944 the Prussian Province of Hesse-Nassau was formally divided into the provinces of Kurhessen and Nassau. At the same time the former Hessian Schmalkalden exclaves (Landkreis Herrschaft Schmalkalden), together with the Regierungsbezirk Erfurt of the Province of Saxony, were transferred to Thuringia. The territories of the new provinces did not directly correspond with their pre-1866 namesakes but rather with the associated NSDAP Gaue: Gau Electoral Hesse and Gau Hesse-Nassau (excluding the areas which were part of the People's State of Hesse).
==== Post-World War II ====
After World War II, the Hessian territory west of the Rhine was again occupied by France, while the rest of the region was part of the US occupation zone. On 17 September 1945 the Wanfried agreement adjusted the border between American-occupied Kurhessen and Soviet-occupied Thuringia. The United States proclaimed the state of Greater Hesse (Groß-Hessen) on 19 September 1945, out of the People's State of Hesse and most of what had been the Prussian Provinces of Kurhessen and Nassau. The French incorporated their parts of Hesse (Rhenish Hesse) and Nassau (as Regierungsbezirk Montabaur) into the newly founded state of Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz) on 30 August 1946.
On 4 December 1946, Greater Hesse was officially renamed Hessen.
Hesse in the 1940s received more than a million displaced ethnic Germans.
Due to its proximity to the Inner German border, Hesse became an important location of NATO installations in the 1950s, especially military bases of the US V Corps and United States Army Europe.
The first elected minister president of Hesse was Christian Stock, followed by Georg-August Zinn (both Social Democrats). The German Social Democrats gained an absolute majority in 1962 and pursued progressive policies with the so-called Großer Hessenplan. The CDU gained a relative majority in the 1974 elections, but the Social Democrats continued to govern in a coalition with the FDP. Hesse was first governed by the CDU under Walter Wallmann during 1987–1991, replaced by a SPD-Greens coalition under Hans Eichel during 1991–1999. From 1999, Hesse was governed by the CDU under Roland Koch (retired 2010) and Volker Bouffier (incumbent as of 2020).
Frankfurt during the 1960s to 1990s developed into one of the major cities of West Germany. As of 2016, 12% of the total population of Hesse lived in the city of Frankfurt.
== Geography ==
The only state to straddle west and central portions of Germany where the eight ordinal directions (compass points) and the centre is considered, Hesse borders six other states. These are, from north, clockwise: Lower Saxony, Thuringia, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, and North Rhine-Westphalia.
The most populous towns and cities of Hesse are in the southwest, the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region namely Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Offenbach, Hanau, Giessen, Wetzlar, and Rüsselsheim am Main. Outside, but very near the south-west corner of Hesse are four populous, highly technologised, places: Worms, Ludwigshafen, Mannheim, and Heidelberg.
Other large Hessian towns are Fulda in the east, Kassel and Marburg an der Lahn in the north and Limburg an der Lahn in the west. All of the "on the river" suffixes are locally and, informally far beyond, omitted of these cities. The plain between the rivers Main, Rhine, and lower Neckar, and the Odenwald ridge of low mountains or very high hills is called the Ried which continues to north, across the Main, as the Wetterau. Both plains which are quite densely populated also have a substantial built environment such as the country's largest airport, contrasting with the more forested, hillier middle and northern thirds of Hesse.
The longest rivers in Hesse are the Eder and moreover its distributary the Fulda draining most of the north, the Lahn in the centre-west and, as to those navigable by large vessels, the Main and very broad Rhine in the south. The countryside is hilly and the topographical map, inset, names 14 short, low to medium-height mountain ranges including the Rhön, the Westerwald, the Taunus, the Vogelsberg, the Knüll and the Spessart. The notable range forming the southern taper of Hesse (shared with a narrowing of the Ried, the Rhine's eastern plain) and briefly spanning the middle Neckar valley which begins directly east of Heidelberg (thus also in Baden-Württemberg) is the Odenwald. Forming a mid-eastern tiny projection into mostly Thuringia is the uppermost part of the Ulster, commanding the west valley side of which is the Hessian highest point, Wasserkuppe at 950m above sea level – in the Rhön.
The Rhine forms the long southwest border of Hesse. Two notables oxbow lakes, the Stockstadt-Erfelder Altrhein and Lampertheimer Altrhein are in the south-west fringe.
Hesse, 42% forest, is by that measure the greenest state in Germany.
== Administration ==
Hesse is a unitary state governed directly by the Hessian government in the capital city Wiesbaden, partially through regional vicarious authorities called Regierungspräsidien. Municipal parliaments are, however, elected independently from the state government by the Hessian people. Local municipalities enjoy a considerable degree of home rule.
=== Districts ===
The state is divided into three administrative provinces (Regierungsbezirke): Kassel in the north and east, Gießen in the centre, and Darmstadt in the south, the latter being the most populous region with the Frankfurt Rhine-Main agglomeration in its central area. The administrative regions have no legislature of their own, but are executive agencies of the state government.
Hesse is divided into 21 districts (Kreise) and five independent cities, each with their own local governments. They are, shown with abbreviations as used on vehicle number plates:
Bergstraße (Heppenheim) (HP)
Darmstadt-Dieburg (Darmstadt) (DA, DI)
Groß-Gerau (Groß-Gerau) (GG)
Hochtaunuskreis (Bad Homburg) (HG, USI)
Main-Kinzig-Kreis (Gelnhausen) (MKK, GN, HU, SLÜ)
Main-Taunus-Kreis (Hofheim am Taunus) (MTK)
Odenwaldkreis (Erbach) (ERB)
Offenbach (Dietzenbach) (OF)
Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis (Bad Schwalbach) (RÜD, SWA)
Wetteraukreis (Friedberg) (FB, BÜD)
Gießen (Gießen) (GI)
Lahn-Dill-Kreis (Wetzlar) (LDK, DIL, WZ)
Limburg-Weilburg (Limburg) (LM, WEL)
Marburg-Biedenkopf (Marburg) (MR, BID)
Vogelsbergkreis (Lauterbach) (VB)
Fulda (Fulda) (FD)
Hersfeld-Rotenburg (Bad Hersfeld) (HEF, ROF)
Kassel (Kassel) (KS, HOG, WOH)
Schwalm-Eder-Kreis (Homberg (Efze)) (HR, ZIG, FZ)
Werra-Meißner-Kreis (Eschwege) (ESW, WIZ)
Waldeck-Frankenberg (Korbach) (KB, FKB, WA)
Independent cities:
Darmstadt (DA)
Frankfurt am Main (F)
Kassel (KS)
Offenbach am Main (OF)
Wiesbaden (WI)
=== Rhenish Hesse ===
The term "Rhenish Hesse" (German: Rheinhessen) refers to the part of the former Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt located west of the Rhine. It has not been part of the State of Hesse since 1946 due to divisions in the aftermath of World War II. This province is now part of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is a hilly countryside largely devoted to vineyards; therefore, it is also called the "land of the thousand hills". Its larger towns include Mainz, Worms, Bingen, Alzey, Nieder-Olm, and Ingelheim. Many inhabitants commute to work in Mainz, Wiesbaden, or Frankfurt.
== State symbols and politics ==
Hesse has been a parliamentary republic since 1918, except during Nazi rule (1933–1945). The German federal system has elements of exclusive federal competences, shared competences, and exclusive competences of the states. Hesse is famous for having a rather brisk style in its politics with the ruling parties being either the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) or the center-left Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Due to the Hessian electoral laws, the biggest party normally needs a smaller coalition partner.
=== Head of state ===
As Hesse is a partly sovereign federated state, its constitution combines the offices of the head of state and head of government in one office called the Minister-President (German: Ministerpräsident) which is comparable to the office of a prime minister.
=== 2023 election ===
After the 2023 election, the coalition government in Hesse changed from a Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Alliance 90/The Greens coalition to an agreement between the CDU and Social Democratic Party.
=== 2018 election ===
In the 2018 state elections the two leading parties, CDU and SPD, lost 11.3% (7 seats) and 10.9% (8 seats) of the vote respectively. The Green party, a member of Hesse's previous governing coalition with CDU, gained 8.7% (16 seats). The largest gains during the election were made by Alternative for Germany (AfD) at 13.1%. As AfD had not passed the 5% threshold in the 2013 state election, this marked its first entry into the Hessian parliament (Hessischer Landtag). The two other parties also made gains. The major losses of the two leading parties (whose coalition made up the federal cabinet during the election) closely mirrors the results of the 2018 state elections in Bavaria. In the 2018-2023 parliament, the conservative CDU held 40 seats, the centre-left SPD and the leftist Green party each held 29 seats, the right-wing AfD held 19 seats, the liberal FDP party held 11 seats and the socialist party The Left held 9 seats.
=== Foreign affairs ===
As a member state of the German federation, Hesse does not have a diplomatic service of its own. However, Hesse operates representation offices in such foreign countries as the United States, China, Hungary, Cuba, Russia, Poland, and Iran. These offices are mostly used to represent Hessian interests in cultural and economic affairs. Hesse has also permanent representation offices in Berlin at the federal government of Germany and in Brussels at the institutions of the European Union.
=== Flag and anthem ===
The flag colors of Hesse are red and white, which are printed on a Hessian sack. The civil flag of Hesse resembles that of Monaco's and, particularly, Indonesia's. The Hessian coat of arms shows a lion rampant striped with red and white (silver), on a blue field. The official anthem of Hesse is called "Hessenlied" ("Song of Hesse") and was written by Albrecht Brede (music) and Carl Preser (lyrics).
== Demographics ==
Hesse has a population of over 6 million, nearly 4 million of which is concentrated in the Rhein-Main region (German: Rhein-Main Gebiet) in the south of the state, an area that includes the most populous city, Frankfurt am Main, the capital Wiesbaden, and Darmstadt and Offenbach. The population of Hesse is predicted to shrink by 4.3% by 2030, with the biggest falls in the north of the state, especially in the area around the city of Kassel. Frankfurt is the fastest growing city with a predicted rise in population of 4.8% by 2030. Frankfurt's growth is driven by its importance as a financial centre and it receives immigrants from all over the world: in 2015 over half of the city's population had a migration background.
=== Vital statistics ===
Source:
Births January–March 2017 = 14,537
Births January–March 2018 = 14,202
Deaths January–March 2017 = 19,289
Deaths January–March 2018 = 18,831
Natural growth January–March 2017 = −4,752
Natural growth January–March 2018 = −4,629
=== Language ===
Three different languages or dialect groups are spoken in Hesse: The Far North is part of the Low Saxon language area, divided into a tiny Eastphalian and a larger Westphalian dialect area. Most of Hesse belongs to the West Middle German dialect zone. There is some disagreement as to whether all Hessian dialects south of the Benrath line may be subsumed under one dialect group: Rhine Franconian, or whether most dialects should be regarded as a dialect group of its own: Hessian, whereas only South Hessian is part of Rhine Franconian. Hessian proper can be split into Lower Hessian in the north, East Hessian in the East around Fulda and Central Hessian, which covers the largest area of all dialects in Hesse. In the extreme Northeast, the Thuringian dialect zone extends into Hesse, whereas in the Southeast, the state border to Bavaria is not fully identical to the dialect border between East Franconian and East Hessian.
Since approximately World War II, a spoken variety of Standard German with dialect substrate has been superseding the traditional dialects mentioned so far. This development knows a north-to-south movement, the north being early to supplant the traditional language, whereas in the south, there is still a considerable part of the population that communicates in South Hessian. In most of the areas, however, the traditional language is close to extinction, whereas until the first half of the 20th century, almost the entire population spoke dialect in almost all situations. The Upper Class started to speak Standard German beginning in the late 19th century, so for decades, the traditional language served as a sociolect.
The prominent written language in Hesse has been Standard German since the 16th century. Before, the Low Saxon part used Middle Low German, the rest of the Land Early Modern German as prominent written languages. These had supplanted Latin in the High Middle Ages.
=== Religion ===
In 2016 Christianity was the most widespread religion in the state (63%). In 2011, 40% of Hessians belonged to the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau or Evangelical Church of Hesse Electorate-Waldeck (members of the Protestant Church in Germany), 25% adhered to the Roman Catholic Church, while other Christians constituted some 3%; the next most common religion of the Hessian population was Islam, adhered to by 7%.
In a 2011 study of the region, German sociologist of religion and theologian Michael N. Ebertz and German television presenter and author Meinhard Schmidt-Degenhard concluded that "Six religious orientation types can be distinguished: 'Christians'—'non-Christian theists'—'Cosmotheists'—'Deists, Pandeists and Polytheists'—'Atheists'—'Others'“.
== Education and research ==
=== Higher education ===
The Hessian government has overall responsibility for the education within the state.
Hesse has the following universities:
Goethe University Frankfurt (43,972 students; Budget: €666,4 Mio.)
Technical University of Darmstadt (25,355 students; Budget: €482,8 Mio.)
Justus Liebig University Giessen (28,480 students; Budget: €425,4 Mio.)
Philipps University of Marburg (24,394 students; Budget: €374,3 Mio.)
University of Kassel (25,103 students; Budget: €291,5 Mio.)
None of Hesse's universities are included in German Excellence Universities.
There are many international schools in Hesse, primarily centred in and around Frankfurt.
Hesse is the only state in Germany where students have to study all three stanzas of the "Das Deutschlandlied".
=== Research ===
==== Physics and astronomy ====
The GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt-Wixhausen, with 1,520 employees, is a major research institute in Hesse. The Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research is under construction and is expected to be completed in 2025.
Two major European space organizations, the European Space Operations Center and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, are based in Darmstadt.
==== Health and medicine ====
Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Bad Nauheim
Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt-am-Main
Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, Frankfurt-am-Main
Max Planck Research Center for Neurogenetics, Frankfurt-am-Main
Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology, Frankfurt-am-Main
Paul Ehrlich Institute (vaccines), Langen
Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg
Institute of Virology (Marburg)(research of Ebolavirus and Marburgvirus; Parasitology) with BSL4-Labor, Marburg
Center for undiagnosed and rare diseases, Marburg
Marburg Heavy Ion Beam Therapy Center, Marburg
Sigmund Freud Institute (psychoanalysis), Frankfurt-am-Main
==== Informatics and software ====
German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence, Darmstadt
Hessian Center for Artificial Intelligence (hessian.AI), HQ in Darmstadt, more locations in Hesse
Athene (research center), Darmstadt
Center for Advanced Security Research Darmstadt, Darmstadt
Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology, Darmstadt
Fraunhofer Institute for Graphic Data Processing, Darmstadt
==== Others ====
Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability, Darmstadt
Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology, HQ in Kassel, other location in Rothwesten and Bad Hersfeld
Fraunhofer Facility for Material Cycles and Resource Strategy, Hanau
Max-Planck-Institut für europäische Rechtsgeschichte, Frankfurt-am-Main
Institut für Sozialforschung at Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt-am-Main
Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsforschung und Bildungsinformation, Frankfurt-am-Main
Forschungsinstitut für Deutsche Sprache – Deutscher Sprachatlas – at Philipps-Universität Marburg
Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, * Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Senckenberg, Frankfurt am Main
Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, Frankfurt-am-Main
Institut für sozial-ökologische Forschung, Frankfurt-am-Main
== Culture ==
Hesse has a rich and varied cultural history, with many important cultural and historical centres and several UNESCO world-heritage sites.
=== Architecture, art, literature and music ===
Darmstadt has a rich cultural heritage as the former seat of the Landgraves and Grand Dukes of Hesse. It is known as centre of the Art Nouveau Jugendstil and modern architecture and there are also several important examples of 19th century architecture influenced by British and Russian imperial architecture due to close family ties of the Grand Duke's family to the reigning dynasties in London and Saint Petersburg in the Grand Duchy period. Darmstadt is an important centre for music, home of the Darmstädter Ferienkurse for contemporary classical music and the Jazz Institute Darmstadt, Europe's largest public jazz archive.
Frankfurt am Main is a major international cultural centre. Over 2 million people visit the city's approximately 60 exhibition centres every year. Amongst its most famous art galleries are the Schirn Kunsthalle, a major centre for international modern art, and the Städel, whose large collections include over 3000 paintings, 4000 photographs, and 100,000 drawings including works by Picasso, Monet, Rembrandt and Dürer. Goethe was born in Frankfurt and there is a museum in his birthplace. Frankfurt has many music venues, including an award-winning opera house, the Alte Oper, and the Jahrhunderthalle. Its several theatres include the English Theatre, the largest English-speaking theatre on the European continent.
Kassel has many palaces and parks, including Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, a Baroque landscape park and UNESCO World Heritage site. The Brothers Grimm lived and worked in Kassel for 30 years and the recently opened Grimmwelt museum explores their lives, works and influence and features their personal copies of the Children's and Household Tales, which are on the UNESCO World Heritage "Memory of the World" Document register. The Fridericianum, built in 1779, is one of the oldest public museums in Europe. Kassel is also home to the documenta, a large modern art exhibition that has taken place every five years since the 1950s.
The Hessian Ministry of the Arts supports numerous independent cultural initiatives, organisations, and associations as well as artists from many fields including music, literature, theatre and dance, cinema and the new media, graphic art, and exhibitions. International cultural projects aim to further relations with European partners.
From an archaeological point of view, the old watercourses of Hesse provide evidence of the wider history of the landscape and their protection has required cooperation.
=== UNESCO World Heritage Sites ===
Hesse has several UNESCO World Heritage sites. These include:
Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe in Kassel
Kellerwald-Edersee National Park in North Hesse
Lorsch Abbey
The Messel Fossil Pit. Exhibits from the Messel Pit can be seen in Messel town museum, the Museum of Hessen in Darmstadt, and the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt.
The Saalburg, part of the Roman Limes.
Darmstadt Artists' Colony
=== Sports ===
Frankfurt hosts the following professional sports teams or clubs:
Frankfurt is host to the classic cycle race Eschborn-Frankfurt City Loop (known as Rund um den Henninger-Turm from 1961 to 2008). The city hosts also the annual Frankfurt Marathon and the Ironman Germany.
Outside Frankfurt, notable professional sports teams include Kickers Offenbach, SV Darmstadt 98, Marburg Mercenaries, Gießen 46ers, MT Melsungen, VfB Friedberg, and the Kassel Huskies.
=== TV and radio stations ===
The Hessian state broadcasting corporation is called HR (Hessischer Rundfunk). HR is a member of the federal ARD broadcasting association. HR provides a statewide TV channel as well as a range of regional radio stations (HR 1, HR 2, HR 3, HR 4, you fm and HR info). Besides the state run HR, privately run TV stations exist and are an important line of commerce. Among the commercial radio stations that are active in Hesse, Hit Radio FFH, Planet Radio, Harmony FM, Radio BOB and Antenne Frankfurt are the most popular.
== Economy ==
=== Financial ===
With Hesse's largest city Frankfurt am Main being home of the European Central Bank (ECB), the German Bundesbank and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Hesse is home to the financial capital of mainland Europe. Furthermore, Hesse has always been one of the largest and healthiest economies in Germany. Its GDP in 2013 exceeded €236 billion (about US$316 billion). This makes Hesse itself one of the largest economies in Europe and the 38th largest in the world. According to GDP-per-capita figures, Hesse is the wealthiest state (after the city-states Hamburg and Bremen) in Germany with approx. US$52,500.
Frankfurt is crucial as a financial center, with both the European Central Bank and the Deutsche Bundesbank's headquarters located there. Numerous smaller banks and Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank, KfW Bank, Commerzbank are also headquartered in Frankfurt, with the offices of several international banks also being housed there. Frankfurt is also the location of the most important German stock exchange, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Insurance companies have settled mostly in Wiesbaden. The city's largest private employer is the R+V Versicherung, with about 3,900 employees, other major employers are DBV-Winterthur, the SV SparkassenVersicherung and the Delta Lloyd Group.
=== Chemical and pharma ===
The Rhine-Main Region has the second largest industrial density in Germany after the Ruhr area. The main economic fields of importance are the chemical and pharmaceutical industries with Sanofi, Merck, Heraeus, Stada, Messer Griesheim, Bayer Crop Science, SGL Carbon, Celanese, Cabot, Clariant, Akzo Nobel, Kuraray, Ineos, LyondellBasell, Allessa and Evonik Industries. But also other consumer goods are produced by Procter & Gamble, Coty and Colgate Palmolive. The Rhine-Main Region is not restricted only to Hesse, smaller part is in Rhineland-Palatinate. There situated 2 important pharma companies: BioNTech(HQ), which found the first mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 in the world (licensed to Pfizer), and Boehringer Ingelheim, close to Hesse's border in Mainz and Ingelheim respectively. It supports from Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research and Paul Ehrlich Institute.
Also in other part of Hesse there is important pharma and medical manufacturers, especially in Marburg where there is industry park based on ex-Behring Werke: BioNTech (mRNA vaccines), CSL Behring, Temmler and Melsungen with B. Braun. Pharma activity in Marburg is also supported from research facilities: Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Center for undiagnosed and rare diseases, Institute of Virology (Marburg)(research of Ebolavirus and Marburgvirus; Parasitology) with BSL4-Labor, Marburg Heavy Ion Beam Therapy Center.
Merck controls ca. 60% of world's liquid crystal market.
Heraeus, Umicore and Evonik Industries manufacture different type of catalysts from Platinum metals, Vanadium, Neodymium, Manganese, Copper etc.
In east Fulda there is the tire plant (Fulda Reifen). 2 other tire plants are in Korbach from Continental and Hanau from Goodyear.
=== Metallurgy and nuclear ===
Specialised metallurgical industry focused on platinum metals has been represented by Heraeus and Umicore and magnetic materials have been a focus of Vacuumschmelze based in Hanau. Also in Hanau there used to be a plant producing nuclear fuel (classical uranium, but also MOX fuel), but the production has stopped and the facility has been mothballed. Heraeus continues to manufacture irradiation sources from Cobalt and Iridium.
=== Engineering ===
In the mechanical and automotive engineering field Opel in Rüsselsheim is worth mentioning. After acquisition Opel by Stellantis, it is in rapid decline of production and employment. Which has also negative effect on automotive parts supplier, Continental will close a plant in Karben and cut jobs at other location in Hesse. In northern Hesse, in Baunatal, Volkswagen AG has a large factory that manufactures spare parts, not far-away from it there is also a Daimler Truck plant, which produces an axes.
Alstom, after takeover of Bombardier, has a large plant that manufactures Traxx locomotives in Kassel. Industrial printers (Manroland, Gallus Holding), x-ray airport check equipment (Smiths), handling and loading equipment (Dematic), chemical equipment (Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions), vacuum pumps (Pfeiffer Vacuum), vacuum industrial furnace (ALD Vacuum Technologies), textile machines (Karl Mayer), shavers (Braun), medical (Fresenius, Sirona) and industrial (Schenck Process, Samson) apparatuses are produced in Rhine-Main Region.
Manufacturing of heating boilers and heat pumps are typical for Hesse and represented with Bosch Thermotechnik and Viessmann.
Vistec produces electron-beam lithography systems for semiconductor industry in Weilburg, also there is manufacturing of inspection, testing and measurement equipment for semiconductor fabrication process from KLA-Tencor.
Leica Microsystems manufactures different types of microscopes, inclusive they with special light microscopic optics, which are used in wafer and photo mask testing. PVA TePla from Wettenberg is specialist for crystal growing process (Si, Ge, GaAs, GaP, InP) with Czochralski Process, Float-Zone Process, High-Temperature Chemical Vapor Deposition, Vertical Gradient Freeze equipment, quality inspection apparatus, plasma and vacuum machine. ABB Robotics is in Friedberg. Satisloh is a machine manufacturer in Wetzlar for the production of lenses and components for the optical industry.
=== Aerospace ===
The company operating Frankfurt Airport is one of the largest employers in Hesse with nearly 22,000 employees. Aerospace cluster contains also Rolls-Royce's aviation engine work in Oberursel and APU manufacturing plant and service center of Honeywell in Raunheim.
=== Optics and electronics ===
Companies with an international reputation are located outside the Rhine-Main region in Wetzlar. There is the center of the optical, electrical and precision engineering industries, Leitz, Leica, Minox, Hensoldt (Zeiss) and Brita with several plants in central Hesse.
Oculus Optikgeräte manufactures Scheimpflug tomographs for examining the anterior segment of the eye, topographers for measuring the anterior surface of the cornea, tonometers for assessing the biomechanical properties of the cornea, a wide-angle observation system for vitreous body surgery, universal trial goggles for subjective refraction, various perimeters for visual field testing and vision testing devices for testing eyesight.
Electrical transformers are produced by Hitachi ABB Power Grids in Hanau and Siemens Energy in Frankfurt-am-Main. SMA Solar Technology manufactures an inverters for photovoltaic systems. Rittal is specialized on electrical enclosure situated in Herborn and Eschenburg. Power semiconductors from IXYS in Lampertheim and UV and infrared lamps from Heraeus.
=== IT and telecom ===
Many IT and telecommunications companies are located in Hesse, many of them in Frankfurt and Darmstadt, like Software AG (Darmstadt), T-Systems (Frankfurt and Darmstadt), Deutsche Telekom (laboratories in Darmstadt), DB Systel (Frankfurt), Lufthansa Systems (Raunheim near Frankfurt) and DE-CIX (Frankfurt).
=== Food and beverage ===
Sweet making is typical, there are 2 big factories: Ferrero, Stadtallendorf and Baronie (Sarotti), Hattersheim am Main. Frankfurter Sausage is famous, but there is also other sorts like Frankfurter Rindswurst, Ahle Wurst.
Beverage industry is well-developed and manufactures sparkling wine (Sekt), white wine (Riesling), mineral waters (Selters), beers (Radeberger) and cider.
In Frankfurt-Oberrad exists growing of wild herbs for green sauce and monument.
=== Defunct industries ===
The leather industry was predominantly based in Offenbach, but is now extinct, existing only in museums. The same happened with Frankfurt's fur industry and Hanau's jewelry industry.
=== Typical Hesse's products ===
=== Unemployment ===
The Hochtaunuskreis has the lowest unemployment rate at 3.8% while the independent city of Kassel has the highest rate nationally at 12.1%. In October 2018 the unemployment rate stood at 4.4% and was lower than the national average.
== Traffic and public transportation ==
=== Road transport ===
Hesse has a dense highway network with a total of 24 motorways. The internationally important motorway routes through Hesse are the A3, A5, and A7. Close to Frankfurt Airport is the Frankfurter Kreuz, Germany's busiest and one of Europe's busiest motorway junctions, where the motorways A3 (Arnhem-Cologne-Frankfurt-Nuremberg-Passau) and A5 (Hattenbach-Frankfurt-Karlsruhe-Basel) intersect. The A5 becomes as wide as four lanes in each direction near the city of Frankfurt am Main, and during the rush-hour, it is possible to use the emergency lanes on the A3 and A5 motorway in the Rhine-Main Region, adding additional lanes. Other major leading Hesse highways are the A4, the A44, the A45, the Federal Highway A66 and the A67. There are also a number of smaller motorways and major trunk roads, some of which are dual carriageways.
=== Railway transport ===
Hesse is accessed by many major rail lines, including the high-speed lines Cologne–Frankfurt(op.speed 300 km/h) and Hanover–Würzburg. Other north-south connections traverse major east–west routes from Wiesbaden and Mainz to Frankfurt and from Hanau and Aschaffenburg to Fulda and Kassel. The Frankfurt Central Station is the most important hub for German trains, with over 1,100 trains per day.
The region around Frankfurt has an extensive S-Bahn network, the S-Bahn Rhein-Main, which is complemented by many regional train connections. In the rest of the country, the rail network is less extensive. Since 2007, the region around Kassel has been served by the RegioTram, a tram-train-concept similar to the Karlsruhe model.
=== Air transport ===
Frankfurt Airport is by far the largest airport in Germany with more than 57 million passengers each year, is and among the world's ten largest. Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport lies to the south, and is frequented by general aviation and private planes. Kassel Airport offers a few flights to holiday destinations, but has struggled to compete. There are also a number of sports airfields. Low-cost airlines, especially Ryanair, use Frankfurt-Hahn Airport as a major base, although the airport is actually located about 100 km from Frankfurt in the neighbouring state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The DFS (German air traffic control) has its headquarters in Langen. A Boeing 747 owned by Lufthansa was named after Hesse, on 20 November 1974, the aircraft crashed in Kenya killing 59 of the 157 passengers and crew on board.
== Notes ==
== References ==
== Sources ==
Ingrao, Charles W. The Hessian mercenary state: ideas, institutions, and reform under Frederick II, 1760–1785 (Cambridge University Press, 2003).
Ingrao, Charles. "" Barbarous Strangers": Hessian State and Society during the American Revolution." American Historical Review 87.4 (1982): 954–976. online
Wegert, Karl H. "Contention with Civility: The State and Social Control in the German Southwest, 1760–1850." Historical Journal 34.2 (1991): 349–369. online
Wilder, Colin F. "" The rigor of the law of exchange": How People Changed Commercial Law and Commercial Law Changed People (Hesse-Cassel, 1654–1776)." Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung (2015): 629–659. online
Clay, John-Henry (2010). In the Shadow of Death: Saint Boniface and the Conversion of Hessia, 721-54. Brepols. ISBN 978-2-503-53161-8.
Rau, Reinhold (1968). Briefe des Bonifatius, Willibalds Leben des Bonifatius; Nebst Einigen Zeitgenössischen Dokumenten. Ausgewählte Quellen zur Deutschen Geschichte des Mittelalters (in German). Vol. IVb. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
== External links ==
Hessian Bibliography
Official government portal
"Hesse". Catholic Encyclopedia.
Geographic data related to Hesse at OpenStreetMap |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Regional_Transport_Office_districts_in_India#NL%E2%80%94Nagaland | List of Regional Transport Office districts in India | This is a list of the Indian Regional Transport Offices and the assigned codes for vehicle registration. These are broken down to states or union territories and their districts. These RTO offices, governed by the respective state and union territory Transport Departments, are led by Regional Transport Officers (RTOs) and are tasked with enforcing the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and its associated rules.
== AP—Andhra Pradesh ==
The Andhra Pradesh state government has decided to issue uniform registration numbers for vehicles across Andhra Pradesh. Since February 2019, all new vehicles in Andhra Pradesh are registered with AP-39 code by default. Andhra Pradesh is the first state to implement the "one state-one code" policy.
In 2023, the state government has launched new series, AP-40.
== AR—Arunachal Pradesh ==
== AS—Assam ==
== BR—Bihar ==
== CG—Chhattisgarh ==
== CH—Chandigarh ==
== DD—Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu ==
== DL—Delhi ==
== GA—Goa ==
== GJ—Gujarat ==
== HP—Himachal Pradesh ==
== HR—Haryana ==
== JH—Jharkhand ==
== JK—Jammu and Kashmir ==
== KA—Karnataka ==
== KL—Kerala ==
== LA—Ladakh ==
== LD—Lakshadweep ==
== MH—Maharashtra ==
== ML—Meghalaya ==
== MN—Manipur ==
== MP—Madhya Pradesh ==
== MZ—Mizoram ==
== NL—Nagaland ==
== OD—Odisha ==
Due to the official respelling of the state name in English (from "Orissa" to "Odisha"), the Transport Department modified the state letter on the plates with OD substituting OR on 1 September 2012.
== PB—Punjab ==
== PY—Puducherry ==
== RJ—Rajasthan ==
== SK—Sikkim ==
== TG—Telangana ==
Note * Part of GHMC Hyderabad but not part of Hyderabad Dist.
The two-letter state code for Telangana Region in Andhra Pradesh was AP until the State Bifurcation and after the formation of Telangana State, the state was chosen as TS. It continued up to May 2024 before it was changed to TG.
The AP and TS codes, however, remain valid.
== TN—Tamil Nadu ==
In Tamil Nadu, specific series are exclusively used for certain type of vehicles
All State Transport Corporation vehicles start the series with 'N' or 'AN'
All Government owned vehicles start the series with 'G', 'AG', 'BG', 'CG' or 'DG', Etc., (all Combination of G)
No RTO is assigned with number that would add up to '8'. There is no 08,17,26,35,44,53,62,71.80.
== TR—Tripura ==
== UK—Uttarakhand ==
== UP—Uttar Pradesh ==
== WB—West Bengal ==
== References ==
"Our Divisions/Field Offices | Transport | Government of Assam, India".
== Sources ==
for India as whole: Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (click on "List of RTO's in a State")
for Andhra Pradesh: Government of Andhra Pradesh – Transport Department
for Delhi: Department of Transport
for Gujarat: Transport Department Gujarat
for Himachal Pradesh: Transport Department
for Karnataka: Government of Karnataka – Transport Department
for Kerala: Motor Vehicles Department, Newspaper article in the Hindu: "New Registering Authority Codes from July 1"
for Madhya Pradesh: RTO Offices in MP
for Maharashtra: Motor Vehicle Department
for Orissa: Orissa Commerce & Transport Department
for Punjab: Government of Punjab – Department of Transport
for Tamil Nadu: Department of Transport, State Transport Authority, GIS representation
for Telangana: Telangana Transport Information Portal
for Uttarakhand: Uttarakhand Transport Department.
for India: Vehicle Owner Details. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puntsagiin_Jasrai | Puntsagiin Jasrai | Puntsagiin Jasrai (Mongolian: Пунцагийн Жасрай; 26 November 1933 – 25 October 2007) was a Mongolian politician. He was the Prime Minister of Mongolia from 21 July 1992 until 19 July 1996.
== Education and early career ==
Jasrai was born in 1933 in the sum (district) of Bugat in the Govi-Altai Province. In 1950, he graduated from high school in Tonkhil district of Govi-Altai Province. He then worked for six years as Education inspector from 1950 to 1956. During this time he joined the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) in 1951. In 1961 he graduated from the Moscow Higher School of Economics with a degree in agricultural economics. From 1970 to 1975, he served as chairman of the State Prices Committee. In 1973, he was elected a deputy of the State Great Khural, for the first of four times from 1973 to 1986. From 1976 to 1978, he was head of the planning and finance department of the MPRP Central Committee. In 1978, he became first deputy chairman of the State Planning Commission and in 1984, he was appointed deputy charman of the Council of Ministers. In 1988, he became first deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers. He became a candidate member of the Politburo in 1989.
In the mid-1980s, Jasrai became one of Mongolia's earliest proponents of free market reforms.
With the collapse of communist power in 1990 Jasrai resigned his government and party posts and became president of the Association of Mongolian Production and Services Cooperatives. In this role he was able to make several consultative visits to foreign countries where he established important contacts for the development of Mongolia's economy. He was characterized as straightforward and honest.
== Prime minister ==
Jasrai was elected to the Mongolian State Great Hural on June 28, 1992 representing constituency 26 in Ulaanbaatar. At the Hural's first session on 20 July 1992 he was appointed prime minister. Before the selection Jasrai had told the members of the State Great Hural that he was "not a politician, rather a simple Economist" and promised that, if elected, he would work towards the expanding economic development and democracy in Mongolia.
In June 1993, Jasrai visited the United States and met with government representatives and took part in an economic symposium. He also met with World Bank and International Monetary Fund representatives and spoke at the National Press Club.
In summer 1993, opposition parties strongly criticized Jasrai and his government for not doing enough to prevent a worsening of the economy and they continued calls for his resignation throughout most of his term in office. During this period opposition parties joined to create the Mongolian Democratic Union coalition. In the July 1996 parliamentary elections, the Democratic Union proved victorious, ushering the first non-MPRP government since Mongolia's independence in 1921. Mendsaikhany Enkhsaikhan was subsequently appointed Prime Minister. Jasrai retained his seat in the State Great Hural until 2004.
== Death ==
Jasrai died on 25 October 2007 in Ulan Bator at the age of 73.
== References ==
Puntsagiin Jasrai Who is who in Mongolian politics (German) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liversidge_Award#:~:text=1946,Harold%20Urey | Liversidge Award | The Liversidge Award recognizes outstanding contributions to physical chemistry. Named for the chemist Archibald Liversidge, it is awarded by the Faraday Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
In 2020 the Liversidge Award was merged with the Bourke Award to create the Bourke-Liversidge Award.
== Winners ==
The following have won the Liversidge Award:
== See also ==
List of chemistry awards
== References == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limpho_Hani | Limpho Hani | Limpho Hani (née Sekamane; born 31 January 1948) is a Mosotho–South African activist who is the widow of anti-apartheid activist Chris Hani. After her husband was assassinated in 1993, she had her own brief political career in the post-apartheid government, representing the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from May 1994 to August 1999. She also served on the ANC's National Executive Committee during that period. She has since remained in the public eye, partly because of the national symbolic importance of her husband's murder and partly because of her own activism in seeking to oppose parole for the killers.
== Early life ==
She was born Limpho Sekamane on 31 January 1948 and is from Sea Point in Maseru, the capital of Lesotho.
== Life with Chris Hani: 1973–1993 ==
She married Chris Hani in 1974 at a magistrate's court in Lusaka, Zambia; they had a celebratory wedding lunch at Wimpy. After her wedding, Hani spent time studying overseas in Yugoslavia, but upon her return to Southern Africa in late 1975, she and her husband moved into a house in Lithabaneng in the suburbs of Maseru; the house came to be known to ANC members as "Moscow House". The couple had three daughters together: Neo (born 1973), Nomakhwezi (born 1978, died 2001), and Lindiwe (born 1981).
Hani's husband was a senior leader in Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC), and the South African Communist Party (SACP); the organisations were at that time operating in exile in Southern Africa – primarily out of Lusaka – because they were banned by the apartheid government in South Africa. Hani herself worked for the Lesotho Tourism Board, but she also became increasingly involved in MK operations; after the 1976 Soweto Uprising swelled the ANC's numbers, she was personally involved in smuggling new MK recruits across the South African border and through Swaziland. She was detained by the South African authorities for several months in 1977–1978 and during that time, according to her husband's biographer Hugh Macmillan, she gave evidence for the apartheid state against Mountain Qumbela, a former ANC leader in the Cape.
Hani's husband was subject to an assassination attempt in 1982, and in the aftermath she left her job at the Lesotho Tourism Board to move with him to Lusaka. She returned to Maseru in 1984 and took up employment with the local office of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and then, from 1985, at the Swedish Embassy in Maseru. Hani and her family moved to South Africa in 1990 after the ANC was unbanned during the negotiations to end apartheid. During an advanced stage of the negotiations, on 10 April 1993, Chris Hani was assassinated outside their home in Dawn Park in Boksburg; his teenage daughter Nomakhwezi was with him.
== Political career: 1994–1999 ==
In South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in April 1994, Hani was elected to represent the ANC as a Member of the National Assembly, the lower house of the new South African Parliament. She was re-elected in the next general election in June 1999, but she resigned from her seat on 17 August 1999; her seat was filled by Kay Moonsamy. At the same time, she served on the National Executive Committee of the ANC: she was first elected onto the body at the ANC's 49th National Conference in Bloemfontein in December 1994 and she was re-elected in December 1997, but she resigned during her second term "due to other commitments".
== TRC and widowhood ==
In the immediate and long-term aftermath of her husband's murder, Hani did not abide sentiments of forgiveness towards the killers, leading Sisonke Msimang to describe "her public refusal to forgive" as "almost heretical" given the conciliatory nation-building narrative exemplified by Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first post-apartheid president. During the post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission, two right-wing extremists, assassin Janusz Waluś and accomplice Clive Derby-Lewis, expressed regret to the family and applied for amnesty for their role in the murder, but Hani and her family – represented by George Bizos – vociferously, and successfully, opposed amnesty.
When a court approved medical parole for Derby-Lewis in 2014, Hani expressed outrage, saying that it was "a very sad day in South Africa". In 2022, Waluś was also granted parole, but only after a sustained campaign by Hani and the SACP to block it. Explaining her decision to continue opposing Waluś's parole, Hani told the media:This chap, whatever his name is, he murdered my husband in cold blood which resulted in my late daughter [Nomakhwezi] attempting to commit suicide twice... this child was going for counseling for six years and then died. In my view, he killed my husband and my daughter... this chap, I won't say his name, 20 years later he says he is sorry. He doesn't say it to me... I will never forgive. He took my husband's life [and] he took my children father... why should I forgive him?... I will never forgive him. All I am asking for is justice nothing more, nothing less.The case was ultimately arbitrated by the Constitutional Court, which ruled in November 2022 that the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services had been irrational in denying parole to Waluś, who had been eligible for release for more than 15 years. In a widely publicised outburst, Hani stormed out of the court after the verdict and told reporters that the judgement was "diabolical" and that the court and Chief Justice Raymond Zondo had "failed this country completely". She said, "This country is finished. In this country, a foreign white [Polish Waluś] can come into South Africa and kill my husband". She also expressed sympathy with the views of Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, who had recently received public attention for attacks on the judiciary and who Hani said was "the only one in this country who saw through these guys". A subsequent application by Hani and the SACP for rescission of the court's order was unanimously dismissed.
== References == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._Russell_Wartinbee | D. Russell Wartinbee | David Russell Wartinbee (November 11, 1903 – March 27, 1977) was an American, Republican politician and educator from Wisconsin.
Born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Wartinbee received his degree in music from University of Wisconsin–Madison and his masters from University of Minnesota. He also went to what is now University of Wisconsin–La Crosse. He taught music and then history and social problems at La Crosse Central High School. He served in the Wisconsin State Assembly 1961–1967. He died in La Crosse in 1977
== Notes == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Ormes#Early_life_and_career | Jackie Ormes | Jackie Ormes (August 1, 1911 – December 26, 1985) was an American cartoonist. She is known as the first African-American woman cartoonist and creator of the Torchy Brown comic strip and the Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger panel.
== Early life and career ==
Jackie Ormes was born Zelda Mavin Jackson on August 1, 1911, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to parents William Winfield Jackson and Mary Brown Jackson. Her father William, the owner of a printing company and movie theater proprietor, was killed in an automobile accident in 1917. This resulted in the then six-year old Jackie and her older sister Dolores being placed in the care of their aunt and uncle for a brief period of time. Eventually, Jackie's mother remarried and the family relocated to the nearby city of Monongahela. Ormes described the suburb in a 1985 interview for the Chicago Reader as "spread out and simple. Nothing momentous ever happens here." She graduated from high school in Monongahela in 1930.
Ormes drew and wrote throughout high school. She was arts editor for the 1929–1930 Monongahela High School Yearbook where her earliest efforts as a cartoonist can be seen in the lively caricatures of her school's students and teachers. It was during this period that she wrote a letter to the editor of the Pittsburgh Courier, a weekly African-American newspaper that was published on Saturdays. The then-editor, Robert Vann, wrote back. This correspondence led to her first writing assignment—covering a boxing match. Her coverage of subsequent matches led to her becoming an avid fan of the sport.
Ormes started in journalism as a proofreader for the Pittsburgh Courier. She also worked as an editor and as a freelance writer, writing on police beats, court cases and human-interest topics. While she enjoyed "a great career running around town, looking into everything the law would allow, and writing about it," what she really wanted to do was draw.
== Cartooning ==
Ormes's first comic strip, Torchy Brown in Dixie to Harlem, first appeared in the Pittsburgh Courier on May 1, 1937. Her work was not syndicated in the usual sense, but, since the Courier had fourteen city editions, she was indeed read from coast to coast. The strip, starring Torchy Brown, was a humorous depiction of a Mississippi teen who found fame and fortune singing and dancing in the Cotton Club. Torchy's journey from Mississippi to New York City mirrored the journey of many African-Americans who ventured northward during the Great Migration. It was through Torchy Brown that Ormes became the first African-American woman to produce a nationally appearing comic strip. The strip ran until April 30, 1938. The reason for the strip's abrupt end is uncertain, but it is presumed to have been due to an end of her contract.
Ormes moved to Chicago in 1942. She soon began writing occasional articles and, briefly, a social column for The Chicago Defender, one of the nation's leading black newspapers, a weekly at that time. For a few months at the end of the war, her single panel cartoon, Candy, about an attractive and wisecracking housemaid, appeared in the Defender; the panel ran from March 24 to July 21, 1945.
By August 1945, Ormes's work was back in the Courier, with the advent of Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger, a single-panel cartoon which ran for 11 years. It featured a big sister-little sister set-up, with the precocious, insightful and socially/politically-aware child as the only speaker and the beautiful adult woman as a sometime pin-up figure and fashion mannequin. The strip ran from September 1, 1945 to September 22, 1956.
Starting August 19, 1950, the Courier began an eight-page color comics insert, where Ormes re-invented her Torchy character in a new comic strip, Torchy in Heartbeats. This Torchy was a beautiful, independent woman who finds adventure while seeking true love. Ormes expressed her talent for fashion design as well as her vision of a beautiful black female body in the accompanying paper doll topper, Torchy Togs. The strip is probably best known for its last installment on September 18, 1954, when Torchy and her doctor boyfriend confront racism and environmental pollution. Ormes used Torchy in Heartbeats as a sounding board for several big issues of the time. In a 1985 interview for Chicago Reader she claimed she was "anti-war-I was anti-everything-that's-smelly". Torchy presented an image of a black woman who, in contrast to the contemporary stereotypical media portrayals, was confident, intelligent, and brave.
== Patty-Jo dolls ==
Ormes contracted with the Terri Lee doll company in 1947 to produce a play doll based on her little girl cartoon character. The Patty-Jo doll was on the shelves in time for Christmas and was the first American black doll to have an extensive upscale wardrobe. As in the cartoon, the doll represented a real child, in contrast to the majority of dolls that were mammy and Topsy-type dolls. The dolls were popular with both black and white children. In December 1949, Ormes's contract with the Terri Lee company was not renewed, and production ended. Patty-Jo dolls are now highly sought collector's items.
== Content and influence ==
Her heroines, including the iconic Torchy in Heartbeats, are strong and independent women who are socially and politically aware, who strive for their goals against all odds, defy social norms, and pick themselves up by the bootstraps and move on to the next adventure. In an interview towards the end of her life Ormes said, "I have never liked dreamy little women who can't hold their own." Ormes's creations not only defied expectations for black women, but gave her readership strong models for what the next powerful generation of young black women could become.
Jackie Ormes' heroines faced challenges that were not dragons or evil stepmothers, but instead relatable and contemporary issues, such as smothering aunts or the dangers of being taken advantage of in an unfamiliar environment. While she generated a fanciful career path for Torchy Brown, the young performer’s tale is woven with seeds of reality. Torchy faced deception, unsympathetic peers, racism, danger, and heartbreak—but, no matter the odds, she came through. Ormes created women that her readership could believe in, root for, and aspire to be.
Ormes tackled social and political issues everywhere from race to sex to environmental pollution. In each aspect of her life the cartoonist was involved in humanitarian causes, and her passion for left-wing ideologies post-World War II even led to an investigation by the FBI.
== Retirement ==
Jackie Ormes married accountant Earl Ormes in 1931. The couple initially moved to Salem, Ohio so Earl could be close to his family. But Ormes was not happy there, and they eventually moved to Chicago. The pair had one child, Jacqueline, who died of a brain tumor at the age of three. Ormes and Earl remained married until his death in 1976.
She retired from cartooning in 1956, although she continued to create art, including murals, still lifes and portraits until rheumatoid arthritis made this impossible. She contributed to her South Side Chicago community by volunteering to produce fundraiser fashion shows and entertainments. She was also on the founding board of directors for the DuSable Museum of African American History. Ormes was a passionate doll collector, with 150 antique and modern dolls in her collection, and she was active in Guys and Gals Funtastique Doll Club, a United Federation of Doll Clubs chapter in Chicago. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Chicago on December 26, 1985. Ormes was posthumously inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame in 2014, and was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Industry Eisner Award Hall of Fame as a Judges' Choice in 2018.
== Legacy ==
A Google Doodle on September 1, 2020, paid homage to her work.
== See also ==
Ormes Society
Barbara Brandon-Croft
== Further reading ==
Goldstein, Nancy (2008). Jackie Ormes: The First African American Woman Cartoonist. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-11624-9. OCLC 1176131351.
Hatch, Shari Dorantes (2009). Encyclopedia of African-American writing: Five Centuries of Contribution: Trials & Triumphs of Writers, Poets, Publications and Organizations. Grey House Pub. ISBN 978-1592372911. OCLC 173807586.
Nicholson, Hope (2017). "Torchy Brown". The Spectacular Sisterhood of Superwomen: Awesome Female Characters from Comic Book History. Quirk Books. ISBN 978-1-59474-948-3. OCLC 1033462116.
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website
Torchy Brown website |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodwill_Zwelithini | Goodwill Zwelithini | Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu (27 July 1948 – 12 March 2021) was the King of the Zulu Nation from 1968 to his death in 2021.
He became King on the death of his father, King Cyprian Bhekuzulu, in 1968 aged 20 years. Prince Israel Mcwayizeni acted as the regent from 1968 to 1971 while the King took refuge in the then Transkei province of South Africa for three years to avoid assassination. After his 21st birthday and his first marriage, Zwelithini was installed as the eighth monarch of the Zulus at a traditional ceremony at Nongoma on 3 December 1971, attended by 20,000 people. Zwelithini died on 12 March 2021, aged 72, after reportedly being admitted to hospital for diabetes-related illness. During preparations for his funeral, the king's traditional prime minister, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, announced that he had died of COVID-19.
== Political role ==
In the power vacuum created in the 1990s as Apartheid and the domination of the country by White South Africans was abolished, the King was increasingly drawn to partisan politics. The Zulu-dominated Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) initially opposed parts of the new constitution advocated by the African National Congress (ANC) regarding the internal governance of KwaZulu. In particular, the IFP campaigned aggressively for an autonomous and sovereign Zulu king, as constitutional head of state. As a result, the IFP abstained from registering its party for the 1994 election until the king's role in the new democracy is clarified. Mandela and president De Klerk arranged a special meeting where it was agreed that international mediators would be called to try and sort out the issue of a king. As a result, the IFP was registered for the elections. It demonstrated its political strength by taking the majority of the provincial votes for KwaZulu-Natal in the said election.
Although the constitution makes the role of the King largely ceremonial, it is incumbent upon him to act on the official advice of the provincial premier. On occasion, South African President Nelson Mandela made efforts to bypass the IFP in negotiating with the Zulus, instead making direct overtures to the King (Mandela's daughter, Zeni, is married to Prince Thumbumuzi Dlamini, a brother of King Zwelithini's Great Wife, Queen Mantfombi). Nonetheless, the IFP remained in power in the province until 2003.
During most of the King's reign, his cousin (uncle in Zulu African reckoning), Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Prince of KwaPhindangene and founder/head of IFP, was the Zulu prime minister. But, in September 1994, tension between the previously allied kinsmen peaked publicly as the annual Shaka Zulu celebration approached. Rumours that the King was manoeuvring to replace Buthelezi as Zulu prime minister with former regent Prince Mcwayizeni, who had joined the ANC in 1990, seemed likely after the King announced that Buthelezi would no longer be his chief advisor, and simultaneously cancelled the holiday ceremony. For his safety, federal troops escorted King Zwelithini by helicopter to Johannesburg. Although Buthelezi was then serving as Minister of Home Affairs in South Africa's Cabinet, President Mandela's efforts to broker a reconciliation failed. Buthelezi moved the event from Nongoma to Stanger, and addressed a throng of 10,000 of his Zulu supporters.
Subsequently, the King's spokesman, Prince Sifiso Zulu, was being interviewed on television at the South African Broadcasting Corporation's studio when Buthelezi and his bodyguards forcibly interrupted the programme, physically intimidating Prince Sifiso. The televised incident drew national attention and a public rebuke from Mandela, prompting Buthelezi to apologise to the Zulu Royal Family, Cabinet and nation for his behaviour. Relations between Zwelithini and Buthelezi later improved.
King Zwelithini has cooperated as the law requires with the ANC since it took over the reins of government in KwaZulu-Natal. The King's finances are controlled by KwaZulu-Natal provincial authorities.
In 1989 he criticized the ANC leadership for not inviting him and Buthelezi to a rally welcoming back the Rivonia Trial defendants, who had been released after almost three decades of imprisonment.
As the constitutional monarch of the kingdom of KwaZulu-Natal, he was head of the Ubukhosi, the state-recognized institution of Traditional Leadership that consists of local chiefs. His leadership role also entailed chairmanship of the Usuthu Tribal Authority and Nongoma Regional Authority, both established under the provisions of the KwaZulu Amakhosi and Iziphakanyiswa Act. In his address upon the opening of the Provincial Parliament on 28 September 2003, the King advised the government and legislators to give more heed to the Ubukhosi: Traditional Leaders are neither consulted nor involved in the process of formulating policies that have a direct bearing on their day to day activities. The institution of Ubukhosi has been in existence from time immemorial and has survived many hardships under past colonial regimes. From the point of view of the ordinary citizen, an Inkosi's most important role may lie in his symbolizing of community solidarity. So any notion that the institution of Ubukhosi, now that we have a democratic government in place, can just be wished away, remains a pipe-dream. Some countries just across our borders had decided to do away with the institution of traditional leadership immediately after attaining independence from colonial rulers. However, they have since realised that they had committed gross mistakes and were now re-inventing these institutions at great costs. As King of the Zulu Nation I am proud of the role played by the Prime Minister of the Zulu Nation, Prince of KwaPhindangene, Dr MG Buthelezi who had singlehandedly championed the cause of the Institution of Traditional Leadership in this country.
== Cultural role ==
The King was chairman of the Ingonyama Trust, a corporate entity established to administer the land traditionally owned by the king for the benefit, material welfare and social well-being of the Zulu nation. This land consists of 32% of the area of KwaZulu/Natal.
As the custodian of Zulu traditions and customs, King Zwelithini revived cultural functions such as the Umhlanga, the colourful and symbolic reed dance ceremony which, amongst other things, promotes moral awareness and AIDS education among Zulu women, and the Ukweshwama, the first fruits ceremony, which is a traditional function involving certain traditional rituals including the killing of a bull. The latter ceremony was subject to a lawsuit brought in November 2009 by Animal Rights Africa, alleging that the method of killing the animal was cruel and barbaric. He has also traveled abroad extensively to promote tourism and trade in the West for KwaZulu-Natal, and to fundraise for Zulu-supported charities, often accompanied by one of his queens consort. On such occasions he was frequently officially hosted by local Zulu organizations, and granted audiences to Zulus living abroad.
In June 1994, the University of Zululand conferred an honorary doctorate in agriculture upon the King. He was Chancellor of the South African branch of the American-based Newport University. In March 1999 Coker College of South Carolina awarded him an honorary doctorate in law. During the first half of 2001 he was inaugurated as Chancellor of the ML Sultan Technikon in KwaZulu-Natal.
The King's authorized biography, King of Goodwill, was published in 2003. The musical dramatization of this work premiered at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg on 16 March 2005.
The King spoke at The Synagogue Church Of All Nations in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2004 regarding the importance of trade and peace.
== Controversies ==
In January 2012, while speaking at an event commemorating the 133rd anniversary of the Battle of Isandlwana, the King caused controversy with his statement that same-sex relations were "rotten". His statements were condemned by the South African Human Rights Commission as well as LGBT rights groups. President Jacob Zuma rebuked the king for his comments. The Zulu Royal Household later said that the King's comments had been mistranslated and that he had not condemned same-sex relations, only expressed concern about a state of moral decay in South Africa that has led to widespread sexual abuse, including male-on-male sexual abuse.
In September 2012, King Goodwill Zwelithini asked the KwaZulu-Natal government for R18 million to build new property, including a new R6 million palace for his youngest wife Queen Mafu and upgrades to Queen MaMchiza's palace. The King's royal household department CFO, Mduduzi Mthembu, told a parliamentary committee that the money was needed. The department also requested $1.4 million USD for improvements to Queen MaMchiza's palace. The government had already budgeted around $6.9 million USD for the royal family during 2012, not for the first time prompting accusations of lavish spending; in 2008, opposition parties criticised King Zwelithini's wives for spending around $24,000 USD on linen, designer clothes, and expensive holidays.
Speaking at Phongolo UPhongolo Local Municipality community meeting in March 2015, King Zwelithini acknowledged that while other nations had participated in efforts which led to South Africa's liberation, that should not be considered an excuse for foreigners to cause inconvenience in the country now by competing with locals for scarce economic opportunities. Contending that he was free to say what politicians were not, he asked that foreigners please return to their native lands since, he maintained, South African nationals in diaspora had not gone on to open businesses in host countries. These observations were made during a time of growing unease between South Africans and non-nationals, violence having erupted in Soweto in January and spread to KwaZulu-Natal, resulting in three deaths. The Democratic Alliance's spokesman, calling for a public retraction and apology, criticised the remarks as "highly irresponsible", while a SAHRC official labelled them xenophobic in light of recent attacks on foreigners. Alleged to have sparked violence against non-nationals, although Zwelithini's remarks about anti-social behaviour and the desirability of foreigners believed responsible leaving South Africa did not distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants, his spokesman subsequently said that he was referring only to those present in the country illegally.
== Wives and children ==
King Goodwill Zwelithini had six wives and around 40 children. These include
MaDlamini of Kwa-Khethomthandayo Royal House, Nongoma, (born Sibongile Winifred Dlamini), married 27 December 1969 at St Margaret's Church, Nongoma.
Prince Lethukuthula Zulu (by Ndlunkulu Sibongile MaDlamini), born 1970 - died 2020.
Princess Nombuso Zulu (by Ndlunkulu Sibongile MaDlamini), owner of Durban-based Ilembe Catering Services, born 1973.
Princess Ntombizosuthu Ka Zwelithini Duma (by Ndlunkulu Sibongile MaDlamini), a businesswoman who co-owns Strategic Persuasions and Zamalwandle Transport Logistics with her husband. Born 1979, married to Mbongiseni Duma, a Johannesburg-based businessman.
Princess Ntandoyenkosi Ka Zwelithini Ngcaweni (by Ndlunkulu Sibongile MaDlamini), an Asset Manager at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), born 1982. Married to Busani Ngcaweni, who headed the office of the former Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa, Kgalema Motlanthe.
Princess Sinethemba Bati Zulu (by Ndlunkulu Sibongile Dlamini), born 1989, pursued a degree in International Relations, at the University of Witwatersrand.
Buhle KaMathe of Kwa-Dlamahlahla Royal House, Nongoma, born c. 1951. In May 1996, she and her daughter were seriously wounded in an assault during which they were clubbed, stabbed and shot.
Princess Sibusile Zulu (by Ndlunkulu Buhle KaMathe), born 1972.
Princess Nandi Zulu (by Ndlunkulu Buhle KaMathe), born 1977, married (civil) 6 December 2002 in St John's Cathedral, Mthatha, by Bishop Sitembele Mzamane and (traditional) 7 December at the Thembu Great Place near Qunu, to Chief Mfundo Bovulengwa Mtirara, born 25 March 1973, Acting Deputy Paramount Chief of the Thembu from 2000, Chief of the Matye'ngqina Traditional Authority Area.
Prince Phumuzuzulu (by Ndlunkulu Buhle KaMathe – Phumuza), named after his great grandfather King Phumuzululu kaDinuzulu, son of King kaCetshwayo
Prince Nhlanganiso Zulu (by Ndlunkulu Buhle KaMathe), married Wandile
Prince Buzabazi, proposed to succeed his father by a royal faction
late Prince Butho Zulu
Princess Khonza Zulu
Prince Shlobosenkosi Zulu (by Ndlunkulu Buhle KaMathe), born 1988, studied at Kearsney College in Botha's Hill, Durban.
Mantfombi Dlamini, of Kwa-Khangelamankengane Royal House, Nongoma, the Great Wife, 1953–2021, daughter of Sobhuza II of Swaziland and sister of King Mswati III, married 1977. Her Highness was also a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and was the acting regent upon her husband's death.
King Misuzulu Zulu (by Ndlunkulu Mantfombi), born 23 September 1974 in Kwahlabisa, KwaZulu-Natal, with a degree in International Studies from Jacksonville, Florida, King of Zulu from 7 May 2021. He is married and has two children with his wife. Educated at St. Charles College, Pietermaritzburg
Princess Ntandoyesizwe Zulu (by Ndlunkulu Mantfombi), born 1976, married 13 April 2002 at Enyokeni Royal Palace, Nongoma, to late Prince Oupa Moilwa, Chief of the Bahurutshe BagaMoilwa. Civil ceremony 11 July 2004, in Pongola. Educated at St. John's Diocesan School for Girls, Pietermaritzburg
Princess Nomkhosi (by Ndlunkulu Mantfombi), born 1978, fiancee Melusi Moyo. Educated at The Wykeham Collegiate
Prince Bambindlovu (Makhosezwe), born 1981 (by Ndlunkulu Mantfombi) a farmer, interior designer and artist. Educated at St. Charles College, Pietermaritzburg
Princess Bukhosibemvelo, (by Ndlunkulu Mantfombi), born 1985, married Sipho Nyawo, who paid 120 cows as part of the ilobolo for her. Educated at Epworth School, Pietermaritzburg
Prince Lungelo, born 1984 (by Ndlunkulu Mantfombi), once a student at Michaelhouse boarding school in KwaZulu-Natal.
Prince Mandlesizwe, born 1990 (by Ndlunkulu Mantfombi)
Prince Simangaye, born 1991 (by Ndlunkulu Mantfombi)
Thandekile "Thandi" Jane Ndlovu of Linduzulu Royal House, Nongoma, married 1988
Prince Sihlangu Zulu (by Ndlunkulu Thandi), artist by name zulusoul
Princess Mukelile Zulu (by Ndlunkulu Thandi)
Nompumelelo Mchiza of oSuthu/enyokeni Royal House, Nongoma, married 25 July 1992.
Princess Nqobangothando Zulu (by Ndlunkulu Nompumelelo)
Prince Nhlangano Zulu (by Ndlunkulu Nompumelelo)
Princess Cebo Zulu (by Ndlunkulu Nompumelelo)
Zola Zelusiwe Mafu of Ondini Royal House, Ulundi, born c. 1986, betrothed 2006, married 2014.
Prince Nhlendlayenkosi Zulu (by Ndlunkulu LaMafu)
== See also ==
List of Zulu kings
== References ==
== External links ==
Tourism site describing the Reed dance ceremony
Non-European Royalty website
Zulu royals 'travel in style' News24 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Young_(basketball) | Mike Young (basketball) | Michael Kent Young (born May 1, 1963) is an American college basketball coach and currently the head men's basketball coach at Virginia Tech. He was hired on April 7, 2019, after a 17-year stint where he went 299–244 (.545) as the head coach at Wofford College.
== Career ==
Born in Radford, Virginia, Young played collegiately at Emory & Henry College. After completing his career, which included serving as team captain during his junior and senior seasons, Young began his coaching career as an assistant coach at his alma mater. In 1988, he left Emory & Henry to serve one year as an assistant to Oliver Purnell at Radford University.
In 1989, Young began his tenure as an assistant coach at Wofford. He would go on to spend the next 30 years at the school, helping to guide the Terriers in their transition from Division II to Division I independent status, and finally to a spot in the Southern Conference, where the Terriers compete today.
In December 2001, Wofford announced that then-head coach Richard Johnson would be promoted to athletic director, leaving Young to take control of the team starting for the 2002–03 season. His first six years were fairly uneventful, with high points of a .500 conference record in his first season, and overall records of .500 during the 2004–05 and 2007–08 seasons.
However, 2008–09 saw new school records in the Division I era, marking the Terriers' first winning season as a Division I school and the first winning SoCon record in school history. In 2009–10, Young continued to build on this success, leading the Terriers to the Southern Conference regular season and tournament championships, which earned Wofford its first bid to the NCAA tournament. In recognition of his achievements, Young was named the 2010 Southern Conference Coach of the Year [1], as well as the Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year [2].
On December 21, 2017, Young led Wofford to a stunning 79–75 win over #5 North Carolina, giving the program its first ever win over a top 25 team. The next season, it defeated Seton Hall 84–68 in the 2019 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament for the first NCAA Tournament win of Young's career. On November 5, 2019, Young recorded his 300th win, and first win as Virginia Tech's men's basketball coach, by defeating Clemson 67–60.
On November 20, 2019, Young led Virginia Tech to a 100–64 win over Delaware State, giving the program a new school record and also set an ACC record with its 21 3-pointers made. On November 25, 2019, Young led Virginia Tech to a 71–66 victory over No. 3 Michigan State in the Maui Invitational, Young's first victory over a ranked team as head coach of the Hokies. At the close of the 2020–21 regular season, Young was named the ACC Coach of the Year.
On March 12, 2022, Young led the Hokies to the ACC Tournament title for the first time in school history. The tournament final was played against Mike Krzyzewski's Duke Blue Devils in Coach K's final ACC tournament game. Tech, the seven seed, won 82–67 and only reached the final after beating Clemson, Notre Dame, and North Carolina in consecutive nights. The Hokies were the first seven seed to win the tournament in its long history.
== Head coaching record ==
== References ==
== External links ==
Virginia Tech profile |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._W._Botha#:~:text=and%20three%20daughters.-,Parliamentary%20career,46%2Dyear%20tenure%20in%20power. | P. W. Botha | Pieter Willem Botha, (locally BOOR-tə, Afrikaans pronunciation: [ˈpitər ˈvələm ˈbuəta]; 12 January 1916 – 31 October 2006) was a South African politician who served as the last Prime Minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and as the first executive State President of South Africa from 1984 until his resignation in 1989. Nicknamed 'Die Groot Krokodil' (Afrikaans for 'The Big Crocodile') due to his tough political stance, he was considered the final hardline leader of South Africa during the apartheid era.
Born on a small farm in the Orange Free State in 1916, Botha was raised in a conservative Afrikaner family with strong nationalist beliefs. Botha studied law at Grey University College but left before completing his degree to pursue a career in politics. He became involved in the National Party's youth wing and worked as a political organizer, laying the foundation for his rise within the party. He supported the NPs opposition to South Africa's involvement in World War II on the side of Britain, and actively campaigned for a German victory. In the 1948 general election, he was elected to the House of Assembly as the MP from George, a position he held for over four decades. His influence within the party grew, and in 1958, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs by Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd. In 1961, Botha became Minister of Community Development and Coloured Affairs, overseeing forced removals, including the controversial clearance of District Six. His role expanded in 1966, when he was appointed Minister of Defence by Prime Minister John Vorster. During his tenure, he transformed the South African Defense Forces, increasing military spending, implementing conscription, and launching covert operations against anti-apartheid movements. Botha also played a key role in South Africa's nuclear weapons program and its military interventions in Angola and Namibia during the Cold War.
Botha was elected leader of the National Party and assumed office as Prime Minister on 4 September 1978, following the resignation of John Vorster. His tenure was marked by a focus on maintaining apartheid through military expansion and internal security measures while introducing limited reforms, such as the Tricameral Parliament in 1983, which granted limited political representation to Coloured and Indian South Africans, but excluded Black South Africans. The 1983 referendum on the Tricameral Parliament passed with support from white voters. In 1984, Botha became South Africa's first executive State President, consolidating executive power and continuing apartheid policies. His presidency faced increasing internal unrest, protests, and international sanctions. After suffering a stroke in 1989, he resigned as Leader of the National Party and later State President, and was succeeded by F. W. de Klerk.
After resigning as State President, Botha remained influential in South African politics. He opposed the reforms initiated by his successor, F.W. de Klerk, particularly the negotiations to dismantle apartheid and the unbanning of the ANC, and advocated for a no vote in the 1992 referendum. Botha became a vocal critic of the move toward democracy, maintaining his belief in the necessity of apartheid. In the late 1990s, he faced legal challenges related to his role in the apartheid-era policies, notably during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, where he was called to account for his actions but refused to fully cooperate. Botha's health continued to decline, and he died on 31 October 2006, at the age of 90.
== Personal life ==
=== Early life and education ===
Pieter Willem Botha was born on 12 January 1916 on a small farm in the Paul Roux district of the Orange Free State Province (now Free State Province). The son of Afrikaner parents, his father, Pieter Willem Botha Sr., fought as a commando against the British in the Second Boer War. His mother, Hendrina Christina Botha (née de Wet), was interned in a British concentration camp during the war.
Botha's upbringing was heavily influenced by Afrikaner culture and Calvinist religious teachings. His parents emphasized discipline, hard work, and loyalty to the Afrikaner cause. Growing up in the aftermath of the Second Boer War and amid increasing Afrikaner nationalism, he absorbed the prevailing belief that Afrikaners needed to assert political and economic control over South Africa. This environment helped shape his later political ideology and commitment to apartheid policies.
Botha initially attended the Paul Roux School and matriculated from Bethlehem Voortrekker High School. In 1934, he entered the Grey University College (now the University of the Free State) in Bloemfontein to study law, but left early at the age of twenty in order to pursue a career in politics. He began working for the National Party as a political organiser in the neighbouring Cape Province. Botha joined the Ossewabrandwag, an Afrikaner nationalist group which was sympathetic to the German Nazi Party, and helped found its Cape Town branch in 1939. After the German attack on the USSR, Botha condemned the Ossewabrandwag in August 1941, changing his ideological allegiance to Christian nationalism, and was expelled from the organisation soon after.
=== Family ===
In 1943, Botha married Anna Elizabeth Rossouw (Elize). The couple had five children; two sons (Piet and Rossouw) and three daughters (Elsa, Amelia and Rozanne). In the 1980s, Rozanne Botha, emerged as a minor celebrity figure in the country. She released Afrikaans pop songs and appeared on the covers of magazines such as Sarie and Style, where she was dubbed "First Daughter of the Land".
In 1998, he married Barbara Robertson, a legal secretary 25 years his junior, following Elize's death the previous year.
In 2022, two of his daughters died. Amelia Paschke, died in a car crash driving back from Betty's Bay. In the same year, Rozanne also died, of cancer.
== Parliamentary career ==
Botha was elected to parliament in 1948 as an MP for the National Party from the constituency of George. His entry into politics coincided with the National Party's rise to power under Prime Minister D.F. Malan, whos government formally instituted the policy of Apartheid. As a staunch supporter of Afrikaner nationalism, Botha aligned himself with the baasskap faction of the party, advocating for stricter racial policies and the consolidation of white minority rule.
Botha gained a reputation for his tough and uncompromising rhetoric, often warning of the dangers of communism, black liberation movements, and international pressure against apartheid. His speeches in Parliament were marked by aggressive language, emphasizing the need for strong leadership to defend white rule. He displayed authoritarian tendencies, advocating for increased state power to suppress opposition and enforce apartheid policies. His biggest opponents during his career in Parliament were Helen Suzman and Harry Schwarz, whom he often verbally attacked in Parliament.
After retaining his seat in the 1953 and 1958 elections, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs by Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd. In his capacity, he assisted the administration with the enforcement of the Population Registration Act, which classified all South Africans into one of four racial groups.
In 1961, he was appointed Minister of Community Development and Coloured Affairs, a position that gave him direct control over policies related to urban segregation and forced removals. He was responsible for implementing large-scale resettlement programs that forcibly relocated non-white communities from urban centers to designated areas under the Group Areas Act.
In 1966, he was appointed Minister of Defence, a title in which he held for over 15 years. As Defence Minister, he rapidly expanded the state's military capabilities, responding to growing resistance to apartheid and perceived external threats from neighboring African countries and international sanctions. He began South Africa's nuclear weapons program through a doctrine of "strategic deterrence", aiming to deter Soviet-backed forces in Southern Africa from intervening. He was instrumental in establishing the policy of "total onslaught", which framed South Africa's racial policies as a broader Cold War struggle against communism and black liberation movements. Under his 15 years in charge of the ministry, the South African Defence Force (SADF) reached a zenith, at times consuming 20% of the national budget, compared to 1.3% in 1968, and was involved in the South African Border War.
=== Prime Minister (1978–1984) ===
When Prime Minister John Vorster resigned following allegations of his involvement in the Muldergate Scandal in 1978, Botha was elected as his successor by the National Party caucus, besting the electorate's favourite, 45-year-old Foreign Minister Pik Botha. In the final internal ballot, he beat Connie Mulder, the scandal's namesake, in a 78–72 vote. On 5 December 1978, he was absolved in a judicial report of blame in the scandal.
Upon becoming Prime Minister, Botha retained the defence portfolio until October 1980, when he appointed SADF Chief General Magnus Malan, his successor. From his ascension to the cabinet, Botha pursued an ambitious military policy designed to increase South Africa's military capability. He sought to improve relations with the West – especially the United States – but with mixed results. He argued that the preservation of the apartheid government, though unpopular, was crucial to stemming the tide of African Communism, which had made in-roads into neighbouring Angola and Mozambique after these two former Portuguese colonies obtained independence.
In one of his first moves as Prime Minister, he appointed Piet Koornhof as minister responsible for black affairs. Koornhof, who joined the ANC in the post-apartheid era, was regarded as one of the most reform‐minded ministers in the government. Botha had led a campaign to demolish Crossroads, a high-density township in Cape Town in 1978. Amid significant opposition, Botha and Koornhof agreed to "indefinitely delay" the demolitions.
A challenge he faced within his first two months in office was the election of Andries Treurnicht as leader of the Transvaal province. Treurnicht was vocally opposed to apartheid reforms and now had a power base controlling a strong majority of seats in the all-white parliament. The election highlighted differences between Afrikaners in Botha's Cape Province and Treurnicht's. In the former, there was a higher level of tolerance towards racial groups, with attitudes mostly formed by contact with Cape Coloureds. Botha had in 1974 said that the Nico Malan Theatre should be open to patrons of all races. However, he was opposed to blacks becoming a majority in the Western Cape and sought demolitions of unplanned black townships.
In January 1979, he became the first premier to visit Robben Island, known primarily as a prison for mostly black political prisoners. He declined to say whether he had met with any of the prisoners, stating that it was a "routine" visit. In April of the same year, Botha offered military and economic support to Abel Muzorewa's incoming government for Zimbabwe Rhodesia. Botha held high-level talks with Muzorewa in June 1979.
In the weeks leading up to the 1981 South African general election, he was confronted by hard-line Afrikaner hecklers, some of whom were supporters of the Herstigte Nasionale Party, resisting to changes to the status quo of apartheid. On the final night of the campaign trail, Botha vowed that "As long as there is a National Party Government, we won't hand over South-West Africa to the authority of SWAPO." In the election, his party garnered 58% of the all-white vote and 131 seats. This was down from 65% and 134 seats in the 1977 South African general election, with the party losing votes to the Herstigte Nasionale Party.
In April 1981, the passport of Desmond Tutu was seized. Tutu on visits to Europe and the United States, called for economic pressure on South Africa to make Botha's government enter into negotiations with the country's leadership. Botha was angered by these visits and had vowed to seize Tutu's passport. In the same year, he authorised Operation Beanbag, a series of raids by the South African Defence Force against safe houses of uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), armed wing of the ANC in Mozambique.
In February 1982, he survived a significant challenge to his leadership from Andries Treurnicht. He was able to secure 172 votes versus 36 on a motion of support in his leadership and his route of power-sharing with other racial groups.
On 22 April 1983, Botha announced a special commission to consider repealing the Immorality Act and the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, 1949. Botha said: "I am personally opposed to immoral practices, but the Government does not see these two laws as guarantees for the survival of South Africa,".
On 19 May 1983, South Africa was the subject of resolutions taken by the International Press Institute condemning the "continued harassment and persecution" of the media in South Africa. The institute appealed to Botha to "to accept press freedom as a prerequisite for a country that regards itself as part of the democratic world." The institute also cited the increasing difficulty for foreign journalists to obtain visas to report and work from South Africa. The resolution also highlighted the forthcoming trials of journalists, Allister Sparks, his wife, Suzanne and Bernard Simon. The charges against all three were dropped in March 1984.
In May 1983 he condemned the Church Street, Pretoria bombing committed by uMkhonto weSizwe, saying that it confirmed "that we are dealing with a Communist-inspired onslaught."
In 1983, Botha proposed a new constitution, which was then put to a vote of the white population on 2 November. The constitution was endorsed by the white electorate.
Though it did not implement a federal system, it implemented what was ostensibly a power-sharing agreement with Coloureds and Indians. The new constitution created two new houses of parliament alongside the existing, white-only House of Assembly—the House of Representatives for Coloureds and the House of Delegates for Indians. The three chambers of the new Tricameral Parliament had sole jurisdiction over matters relating to their respective communities. Legislation affecting "general affairs", such as foreign policy and race relations, had to pass all three chambers after consideration by joint standing committees. At the time, White South Africans outnumbered Coloureds and Indians together, hence preserving white dominance within the framework of a "power-sharing" system.
The plan included no chamber or system of representation for the black majority. Each Black ethno-linguistic group was allocated a 'homeland' which would initially be a semi-autonomous area. However, blacks were legally considered citizens of the Bantustans, not of South Africa, and were expected to exercise their political rights there. Bantustans were expected to gradually move towards a greater state of independence with sovereign nation status being the final goal. During Botha's tenure, Ciskei, Bophutatswana and Venda all achieved nominal sovereignty and nationhood, which were only recognised by each other and by South Africa . These new countries, set up within the borders of South Africa, never gained international recognition, and economically all remained heavily dependent on South Africa. Over half of the Bantustans, most notably KwaZulu led by Mangosuthu Buthelezi, rejected independence due to their leaders' commitment to opposing apartheid from within.
The new constitution also changed the executive branch from the parliamentary system that had been in place in one form or another since 1910, to a presidential system. The prime minister's post was abolished, and its functions were merged with those of the state president, which became an executive post with sweeping powers. In a departure from general presidential systems, however, the president was to be elected not by universal suffrage (or white suffrage) but by an electoral college, whose members were elected by the three chambers of the Parliament. The state president and cabinet had sole jurisdiction over "general affairs". Disputes between the three chambers regarding "general affairs" were resolved by the President's Council, composed of members from the three chambers and members directly appointed by the state president. In practice, the composition of the President's Council and the electoral college made it impossible for the Coloured and Indian chambers to outvote the white chamber on any substantive matter, even if they voted as a bloc. Thus, the real power remained in white hands — and in practice, in the hands of Botha's National Party, which commanded a large majority in the white chamber due to the first past the post voting system. Only with the challenge posed by the Conservative Party, which was against the reforms due to the fears of apartheid breaking up, was the Botha's position put in question.
The new constitution was criticised by the black majority for failing to grant them any formal role in government. The African National Congress and Chief Buthelezi were among its opponents. Their stand was supported by many coloured, white and Indian groups, including the official opposition, the Progressive Federal Party. Although many international commentators such as the Reagan Administration praised it as a "first step" in what was assumed to be a series of reforms.
=== State President (1984–1989) ===
On 14 September 1984, Botha was elected as the first state president under the newly approved constitution.
Implementing the presidential system was seen as a key step in consolidating Botha's personal power. In previous years, he had succeeded in getting a number of strict laws that limited freedom of speech through parliament, and thus suppressed criticism of government decisions. States of emergencies became frequent, including extrajudicial killings either during riots or through special forces, such as the Koevoet.
In many western countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom (where the Anti-Apartheid Movement was based) and the Commonwealth, there was much debate over the imposition of economic sanctions in order to weaken Botha and undermine the white regime. By the late 1980s – as foreign investment in South Africa declined – disinvestment began to have a serious effect on the nation's economy.
State President Botha's loss of influence can be directly attributed to decisions taken at the Ronald Reagan/Mikhail Gorbachev summit of the leaders of the US and the Soviet Union in Moscow (29 May – 1 June 1988) that paved the way to resolving the problem of Namibia which, according to foreign minister Pik Botha, was destabilising the region and "seriously complicating" the major issue which South Africa itself would shortly have to face. Soviet military aid would cease and Cuban troops be withdrawn from Angola as soon as South Africa complied with UN Security Council Resolution 435 by relinquishing control of Namibia and allowing UN-supervised elections there. The Tripartite Agreement, which gave effect to the Reagan/Gorbachev summit decisions, was signed at UN headquarters in New York on 22 December 1988 by representatives of Angola, Cuba and South Africa.
On 18 January 1989, Botha (then aged 73) suffered a mild stroke which prevented him from attending a meeting with Namibian political leaders on 20 January 1989. Botha's place was taken by acting president J. Christiaan Heunis. On 2 February 1989, Botha resigned as leader of the National Party (NP), anticipating his nominee – finance minister Barend du Plessis – would succeed him. Instead, the NP's parliamentary caucus selected as leader education minister F. W. de Klerk, who moved quickly to consolidate his position within the party as a reformist, while hardliners supported Botha. In March 1989, the NP elected De Klerk as state president but Botha refused to resign, saying in a television address that the constitution entitled him to remain in office until March 1990 and that he was even considering running for another five-year term. Following a series of acrimonious meetings in Cape Town, and five days after UNSCR 435 was implemented in Namibia on 1 April 1989, Botha and De Klerk reached a compromise: Botha would retire after the parliamentary elections in September, allowing de Klerk to take over as state president.
However, Botha abruptly resigned from the state presidency on 14 August 1989, complaining that he had not been consulted by De Klerk over his scheduled visit to see President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia:
"The ANC is enjoying the protection of president Kaunda and is planning insurgency activities against South Africa from Lusaka", Botha declared on nationwide television. He said he had asked the cabinet what reason he should give the public for abruptly leaving office. "They replied I could use my health as an excuse. To this, I replied that I am not prepared to leave on a lie. It is evident to me that after all these years of my best efforts for the National Party and for the government of this country, as well as the security of our country, I am being ignored by ministers serving in my cabinet."
De Klerk was sworn in as acting state president on 14 August 1989 and the following month was nominated by the electoral college to succeed Botha in a five-year term as state president. De Klerk soon announced the removal of legislation against anti-apartheid groups – including the African National Congress – and the release of Nelson Mandela. De Klerk's term saw the dismantling of the apartheid system and negotiations that eventually led to South Africa's first racially inclusive democratic elections on 27 April 1994.
In a statement on the death of Botha in 2006, De Klerk said:
"Personally, my relationship with P. W. Botha was often strained. I did not like his overbearing leadership style and was opposed to the intrusion of the State Security Council system into virtually every facet of government. After I became leader of the National Party in February 1989, I did my best to ensure that P. W. Botha would be able to end his term as president with full dignity and decorum. Unfortunately, this was not to be."
== Apartheid government ==
Botha undertook some changes to apartheid practices, but these were rejected by many as superficial and inadequate. He legalised interracial marriage and miscegenation, both completely banned since the late 1940s. The constitutional prohibition on multiracial political parties was lifted. He also relaxed the Group Areas Act, which barred non-whites from living in certain areas. In 1988, a new law created "Open Group Areas" or racially mixed neighbourhoods but these neighbourhoods had to receive a Government permit, had to have the support of the local whites immediately concerned, and had to be an upper-class neighbourhood in a major city in order to be awarded a permit. In 1983, the aforementioned constitutional reforms granted limited political rights to "Coloureds" and "Indians". Botha also became the first South African government leader to authorise contacts with Nelson Mandela, the imprisoned leader of the African National Congress (ANC).
Even these meagre reforms went too far for a group of NP hardliners, led by former Education Minister Andries Treurnicht. In 1982, the group broke away to form the Conservative Party. However, they did not even begin to meet the demands of the opposition. In the face of rising discontent and violence, Botha refused to cede political power to blacks and imposed greater security measures against anti-apartheid activists. Botha also refused to negotiate with the ANC.
In 1985, Botha delivered the Rubicon speech, a policy address in which he refused to give in to demands by the black population, including the release of Mandela. Botha's defiance of international opinion further isolated South Africa, leading to economic sanctions and a rapid decline in the value of the rand. The following year, when the United States introduced the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, Botha declared a nationwide state of emergency. He is famously quoted during this time as saying, "This uprising will bring out the beast in us".
As economic and diplomatic actions against South Africa increased, civil unrest spread amongst the black population, supported by the ANC and neighbouring black-majority governments. On 16 May 1986, Botha publicly warned neighbouring states against engaging in "unsolicited interference" in South Africa's affairs. Four days later, Botha ordered air strikes against selected targets in Lusaka, Harare, and Gaborone, including the offices of exiled ANC activists. Botha charged that these raids were just a "first installment" and showed that "South Africa has the capacity and the will to break the [ANC]."
In spite of the concessions made by Botha, his rule was still very repressive. Thousands were detained without trial during Botha's tenure, while others were tortured and killed. The TRC found Botha responsible for gross violations of human rights. He was also found to have directly authorised "unlawful activity which included killing." Botha declined to apologise for apartheid. In a 2006 interview to mark his 90th birthday, he suggested that he had no regrets about the way he had run the country. Botha denied that he had ever considered black South Africans to be in any way inferior to whites, but conceded that "some" whites did hold that view. He also claimed that the racial segregation laws of apartheid "started in Lord Milner's time" and the National Party merely inherited them; however, Botha conceded that the Afrikaner population had been "happy to perpetuate [apartheid]", as many of them "were, and some of them still are... 'racists at heart'".
== Post-presidency ==
Botha and his wife Elize retired to their home, Die Anker, in the town of Wilderness, 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from the city of George and located on the Indian Ocean coast of the Western Cape. Elize died in 1997 after a heart attack. He was briefly engaged to Reinette Water Naude, an independently wealthy woman 31 years his junior. However, on 22 June 1998, he married Barbara Robertson, a legal secretary 25 years his junior.
Botha remained largely out of sight of the media and it was widely believed that he remained opposed to many of F. W. de Klerk's reforms. He resigned from the Afrikaner Broederbond.
Then-president Nelson Mandela arranged a dinner with Botha's daughters, Rozanne and Elsa, and their husbands. Mandela had hoped to lobby the family so that they would persuade Botha to testify at the new government's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), set up to expose apartheid-era crimes and chaired by his cultural and political nemesis, Archbishop Desmond Tutu. There was no unanimous agreement between the family, with Rozanne vocally opposed, believing that her father could face prosecution and/or humiliation in the court.
The TRC found that he had ordered the 1988 bombing of the South African Council of Churches headquarters in Johannesburg. In August 1998, he was fined and given a suspended jail sentence for his refusal to testify on human rights violations and violence sanctioned by the State Security Council (SSC) which he, as president until 1989, had directed.
In June 1999, Botha successfully appealed to the High Court against his conviction and sentence. The Court's ruling by Judge Selikowitz (with Judge Foxcroft concurring) found that the notice served on Botha to appear before the TRC was technically invalid.
=== Death and funeral ===
Botha died of natural causes at his home in Wilderness on Tuesday 31 October 2006, aged 90. His death was met with magnanimity by many of his former opponents. Former President Nelson Mandela was reported as saying "while to many Mr. Botha will remain a symbol of apartheid, we also remember him for the steps he took to pave the way towards the eventual peacefully negotiated settlement in our country".
President Thabo Mbeki announced that flags would be flown at half mast to mark the death of a former head of state. The offer of a state funeral was declined by Botha's family, and a private funeral was held on 8 November in the town of George, where Botha's body was buried. Mbeki attended the funeral.
However, the government's decision to honour Botha with official gestures, such as flying the national flag at half-mast and offering a state funeral, was met with public criticism. Organisations including the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and COSATU expressed strong opposition, arguing that a man widely regarded as a symbol of apartheid oppression should not receive national recognition.
== Honours and awards ==
=== National honours ===
Decoration for Meritorious Services, May 1976
Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of South Africa, November 1979
=== Foreign honours ===
== Notes ==
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Botha's last interview before he died
The Mandela Document, dated prior to Mandela's release
"Fighter and Reformer: Extracts from the Speeches of P. W. Botha", Compiled by J.J.J. Scholtz, Published: Bureau for Information, Pretoria, 1989
The life and times of PW Botha – IOL
PW, Tambo 'partners in peace' – News24
'He was my bread and botha' (By artists) – Mail&Guardian
Zuma on PW: 'He saw the need for change' – Mail&Guardian
Thabo Mbeki on PW – Moneyweb |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiryas_Joel,_New_York | Kiryas Joel, New York | Kiryas Joel (Yiddish: קרית יואל, romanized: Kiryas Yoyel, Yiddish pronunciation: [ˈkɪr.jəs ˈjɔɪ.əl] ; often locally abbreviated as KJ) is a village coterminous with the Town of Palm Tree in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 32,954 at the 2020 census, approximately 5% of the estimated 712,000 population of the Kiryas Joel–Poughkeepsie–Newburgh metropolitan area. The vast majority of its residents are Yiddish-speaking Hasidic Jews who belong to the worldwide Satmar sect of Hasidism.
According to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, Kiryas Joel has by far the youngest median age population of any municipality in the United States, and the youngest, at 11.4 years old, of any population center of over 5,000 residents in the United States. Residents of Kiryas Joel, like those of other Haredi and Orthodox Jewish communities, typically have high birth rates, and this has driven rapid population growth. According to 2020 census figures, the village has a high poverty rate with about 40% of the residents living below the federal poverty line. It is also the place in the United States with the highest percentage of people who reported Hungarian ancestry, as 18.9% of the population reported Hungarian descent in 2000.
Abe Wieder has served as mayor of Kiryas Joel since 1997; Gedalye Szegedin has served as its administrator since 2004 or earlier.
== History ==
Kiryas Joel is named for Joel Teitelbaum, the late rebbe of Satmar and driving spirit behind the project.
The Satmar Hasidim came from Satu Mare, Romania, known when under Hungarian rule as Szatmár. Teitelbaum, originally from Austria-Hungary, rebuilt the Satmar Hasidic dynasty after World War II.
In 1947, Teitelbaum settled with his followers in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, a borough of New York City.
By the 1970s, he decided to move the growing community to the Town of Monroe, a suburban location in Upstate New York that was more secluded from what he considered the harmful influences and immorality of the outside world, yet still close enough to the New York metropolitan area's commercial center. The land for Kiryas Joel was purchased in the early 1970s, and 14 Satmar families settled there in the summer of 1974. Monroe town officials initially expressed skepticism over Teitelbaum's and his followers' plans to build multi-family housing in Kiryas Joel, but they eventually allowed the village to incorporate in 1976. When he died in 1979, Teitelbaum was the first person to be buried in the village's cemetery. His funeral reportedly brought over 100,000 mourners to Kiryas Joel.
In 2001, Kiryas Joel held a competitive election in which all candidates supported by the grand rebbe were re-elected by a 55–45% margin.
In 2019, the village of Kiryas Joel separated from the town of Monroe, to become part of the town of Palm Tree, New York's first new town in 38 years. On July 1, 2018, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill to create Palm Tree, triggering elections for the first governing board. The new town had 10 elected positions on the November 2018 ballot, including a supervisor, four council members, and two justices to preside over a town court.
The name "Palm Tree" is a calque (translation) of the surname/family name of Joel Teitelbaum. In Yiddish, teitel (טייטל) means "date palm" and baum means "tree".
== Geography ==
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 1.1 square miles (2.8 km2), and only a very small portion of the area (a small duck pond called "Forest Road Lake" in the center of the village) is covered with water.
== Demographics ==
Kiryas Joel began with a 1977 founding population of 500 people.
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,229 households, and 2,137 families residing in the village. The population density was 11,962.2 inhabitants per square mile (4,618.6/km2). There were 2,233 housing units, at an average density of 2,033.2 per square mile (785.0/km2). The racial make-up of the village was 99.02% White, 0.21% African American, 0.02% Asian, 0.12% from other races, and 0.63% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.93% of the population.
Kiryas Joel has the highest percentage of people who reported Hungarian ancestry in the United States, as 18.9% of the population reported Hungarian ancestry in 2000. 3% of the residents of Kiryas Joel were Israeli, 2% Romanian, 1% Polish, and 1% European.
The 2000 census also reported that 6.3% of village residents spoke only English at home, one of the lowest such percentages in the United States. 91.5% of residents spoke Yiddish at home, while 2.3% spoke Hebrew. Of the overall population in 2000, 46% spoke English "not well" or "not at all".
There were 2,229 households, out of which 79.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 93.2% were married couples living together, 1.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 4.1% were non-families. 2.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 2.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 5.74, and the average family size was 5.84. In the village, the population was very young, with 57.5% under the age of 18, 17.2% from 18 to 24, 16.5% from 25 to 44, 7.2% from 45 to 64, and 1.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 15 years. For every 100 females, there were 116.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 118.0 males.
The village abides by strict Jewish customs, and its welcome sign, which was installed in 2010, asks visitors to dress conservatively and to "maintain gender separation in all public areas".
== Poverty and crime ==
The median income for a household in the village is $40,218, and the per capita income for the village is $12,114.
According to 2020 census figures, the village has a high poverty rate with about 40% of the residents living below the federal poverty line. A 2011 New York Times report noted that, despite the town's very high statistical poverty rates, "It has no slums or homeless people. No one who lives there is shabbily dressed or has to go hungry. Crime is virtually non-existent."
== Transportation ==
Kiryas Joel has a very high rate of public transportation usage. Local transit within the area is operated by the Village of Kiryas Joel Bus System, and also has service to Manhattan and to the heavily Haredi Jewish-populated Williamsburg and Borough Park sections of Brooklyn.
== Effects ==
=== Of growth ===
==== Friction with surrounding jurisdictions ====
The village has become a contentious issue in Orange County for several reasons, mainly related to its rapid growth. Unlike most other small communities, it lacks a real downtown and much of it is given over to residential property, which has mostly taken the form of contemporary townhouse-style condominiums. New construction is ongoing throughout the community.
Population growth in Kiryas Joel is strong. In 2005, the population had risen to 18,300. The 2010 census showed a population of 20,175, for a population growth rate of 53.6% between 2000 and 2010, which was less than anticipated, as it was projected that the population would double in that time period.
There are three religious tenets that drive our growth: Our women don't use birth control, they get married young, and after they get married, they stay in Kiryas Joel and start a family. Our growth comes simply from the fact that our families have a lot of babies, and we need to build homes to respond to the needs of our community.
==== Locally ====
The Town of Monroe also contains two other villages – Monroe, and Harriman. Kiryas Joel's boundaries also come close to the neighboring towns of Blooming Grove and Woodbury.
Residents of these communities and local Orange County politicians view the village as encroaching on them. Due to the rapid population growth in Kiryas Joel, resulting almost entirely from the high birth rates of its Hasidic population, the village government has undertaken various annexation efforts to expand its area, to the dismay of the majority of the residents of the surrounding communities. Many of these area residents see the expansion of the high-density residential-commercial village as a threat to the quality of life in the surrounding suburban communities, due to suburban sprawl. Other concerns of the surrounding communities are the impact on local aquifers and the projected increased volume of sewage reaching the county's sewerage treatment plants, already near capacity by 2005.
On August 11, 2006, residents of Woodbury voted, by a 3-to-1 margin, to incorporate much of the town as a village, to constrain further annexation. Kiryas Joel has opposed such moves in court.
In March 2007, the village of Kiryas Joel sued the county to stop it from selling off 1 million US gallons (3,800 m3) of excess capacity at its sewage plant in Harriman. Two years earlier, the county had sued the village to stop its plans to tap into New York City's Catskill Aqueduct, arguing that the village's environmental review for the project had inadequately addressed concerns about the additional wastewater it would generate. The village was appealing an early ruling which sided with the county. In its action, Kiryas Joel accused the county of inconsistently claiming limited capacity in its suit when it is selling the million gallons to three communities outside its sewer district.
In 2017, the village proposed to settle a lawsuit over some additional annexations it had proposed by petitioning the county legislature to allow it to become the county's 21st town. It would be named Palm Tree, after the English translation of Joel Teitelbaum's name. In return for the village dropping its request to annex 507 acres (205 ha), United Monroe and Preserve Hudson Valley, the plaintiffs, agreed to withdraw their appeal of a decision allowing the annexation of a 164-acre (66 ha) parcel. The new town would also be prohibited from filing annexation proposals or encouraging the creation of new villages for 10 years. Two-thirds of the county legislature must approve the creation of the new town, and a vote of Monroe residents may also be required. The referendum passed on November 7, 2017.
=== Local politics ===
Critics of the village cite its impact on local politics. Villagers are perceived as voting in a solid bloc. While this is not always the case, the highly concentrated population often does skew strongly toward one candidate or the other in local elections, making Kiryas Joel a heavily courted swing vote for whichever politician offers Kiryas Joel the most favorable environment for continued growth. In the hotly contested 2013 Town Supervisors race, the Kiryas Joel bloc vote elected Harley Doles to the position of town supervisor. Kiryas Joel then sought to annex 510 acres (210 ha) of land into their village and the new Monroe Town Board has had no comment on this issue. In late 2014 village leadership proposed alternatively that a new village, to be called Gilios Kiryas Joel, be created on the 1,140 acres (460 ha) south of the village within Monroe, including all the land it had wanted to annex.
Kiryas Joel played a major role in the 2006 Congressional election. The village was at that time in the congressional district represented by Republican Sue Kelly. Village residents had been loyal to Kelly in the past, but in 2006, voters were upset over what they saw as lack of adequate representation from Kelly for the village. In a bloc, Kiryas Joel swung around 2,900 votes to Kelly's Democratic opponent, John Hall. The vote in Kiryas Joel was one reason Hall carried the election, which he did by 4,800 votes.
In the 2020 presidential election, 98.5% of Kiryas Joel voters voted for Trump, one of the highest percentages in the country.
==== Internal friction ====
Joel Teitelbaum had no son, and thus no clear successor. His nephew, Moses, was appointed by the community's committee members. But not all Satmar accepted Moses as the community leader, and even some of those who did questioned some of his actions and pronouncements. He responded by running the village in what they called an autocratic manner, through his deputy, Abraham Weider, who also served as mayor and president of the school board, as well as the main synagogue and yeshiva in the village.
In 1989, the village forbade any property owner from selling or renting an apartment without its permission. Teitelbaum elaborated that "anyone that rents without this permission has to be dealt with like a real murderer ... and he should be torn out from the roots".
In the early 1990s, the New York State Police responded many times to the village, which has a generally low crime rate otherwise, when self-described dissidents reported harassment such as broken windows and graffiti containing profanity on their property. In one incident, troopers rode a school bus undercover to catch teenage boys stoning it; the boys later stoned a back-up police cruiser when it arrived. One of Weider's nephews was among those arrested. He admitted that some of the village's young men took it upon themselves to act violently against dissidents because they could not bear to hear the grand rebbe criticized, although he said most of them were provoked to do so by dissidents.
"Someone not following breaks down the whole system of being able to educate and being able to bring up our children with strong family values", Weider told The New York Times in 1992. "Why do you think we have no drugs? If we lost respect for the Grand Rabbi, we lose the whole thing."
In January 1990, the village held its first, and, for a decade, only, school board election. "It's like this", Teitelbaum explained when he announced the names of seven hand-picked candidates. "With the power of the Torah, I am here the authority in the rabbinical leadership ... As you know, I want to nominate seven people, and I want these people to be the people."
One dissident, Joseph Waldman, decided nevertheless to run on his own. He was made unwelcome at the synagogue, his children were expelled from yeshiva, his car's tires slashed, and his windows broken. Several hundred residents marched in the streets in front of his house chanting, "Death to Joseph Waldman!", after posters calling for that fate were posted in the synagogue. After the election, in which Waldman finished last, but still won 673 votes, 60 families who were known to have voted for him were barred from visiting their fathers' graves in the village cemetery that was owned by the rabbi, and banned from the synagogue (also, at the time, the village's only polling place). Waldman compared Teitelbaum to Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini.
After the election, a state court ruled that Waldman's children had to be reinstated at the yeshiva, an action that was only taken after the judge held Teitelbaum in contempt and fined him personally. Friction continued as some of the dissidents banned from the synagogue circulated a petition calling for the polls to be moved to a neutral location. It originally drew 150 signatures, but all but 15 retracted their names after being threatened with excommunication by the grand rabbi, signing a document that they had not actually read the petition. One of the dissidents who signed was attacked while praying, and state troopers had to be called in again to disperse a mob that gathered on Waldman's lawn and broke his windows.
In November 2017, a local divorce mediator and an Israeli rabbi with ties to the village were involved in the planning of a contract killing on an estranged husband. They were sentenced to prison.
==== Electoral fraud allegations ====
On four occasions since 1990, the Middletown Times-Herald Record has run lengthy investigative articles on claims of electoral fraud in the village. A 1996 article found that Kiryas Joel residents who were students at yeshivas in Brooklyn had on many occasions apparently registered and voted in both the village and in Brooklyn; a year later, the paper reported that it had happened again. In 2001, absentee ballots were apparently cast by voters who did not normally reside in the village. In some cases, ballots were cast by people who seemed to reside in Antwerp, Belgium, without a set date of expected return, and, thus, would not be allowed under New York law to vote in any election for state or local office. That article led to a county grand jury investigation in 2001, which concluded that while procedures were not followed, and many mistakes were made, there was no evidence of deliberate intent to violate the law.
Before the 2013 Republican primary in that year's special election for the state assembly seat vacated by Annie Rabbitt, later elected county clerk, members of United Monroe, a local group that organizes and co-ordinates political opposition to the village and those local officials it believes support it, asked the county's Board of Elections to assign them to Kiryas Joel as election inspectors, who verify that voters are registered before allowing them to vote. The board's Democratic commissioner, Sue Bahrens, initially agreed to appoint six to serve in the village, but later reversed that decision. The six sued the county, alleging religious discrimination; it responded that they had no standing to sue. Village Manager Gedalye Szegedin said the citizens were entitled to have inspectors who spoke Yiddish and understood their culture and customs. A state court justice dismissed the discrimination claim, but ruled that the United Monroe inspectors had been dismissed arbitrarily and capriciously, and were entitled to their appointments, but did not say when or where.
In 2014, the newspaper examined claims by poll watchers from United Monroe that they were intimidated and harassed by other poll watchers sympathetic to the village government when they tried to challenge voters whose signatures did not initially appear to match those on file during the previous year's elections for county offices. They further alleged that election inspectors in the polling place, a banquet hall where 6,000 residents voted, sometimes gave the voters ballots before the signatures could be checked.
Some of the United Monroe poll watchers claimed that Langdon Chapman, an attorney for the Monroe town board, which they believe is controlled by members deferential to Kiryas Joel and its interests, was one of those who intimidated them. Coleman told the Record that while he had been at the banquet hall in question, he had only insisted that poll watchers state the reason for their challenges, as legally required, and had left after two hours. He was subsequently appointed county attorney (the lawyer who represents the county in civil matters) by new county executive Steve Neuhaus, whose margin of victory included all but 20 of the votes from the village.
After the election, United Monroe members found more than 800 voters in Kiryas Joel whose signatures did not match those on file, in addition to 25 they had challenged at the polls, three of whom were later investigated by the county sheriff; the rest were considered unfounded. Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler, elected along with Neuhaus, told the newspaper it was difficult to investigate the allegations, since they could not verify the identity of either signer, if, in fact, there were two. The Record attempted to contact some of those voters; the only one they reached hung up when asked about the election.
=== Large families ===
Women in Kiryas Joel usually stop working outside the home after the birth of a second child. Most families have only one income, and many children. The resulting poverty rate makes a disproportionate number of families in Kiryas Joel eligible for welfare benefits, when compared to the rest of the county. The New York Times wrote,
Because of the sheer size of the families (the average household here has six people, but it is not uncommon for couples to have 8 or 10 children), and because a vast majority of households subsist on only one salary, 62 percent of the local families live below poverty level and rely heavily on public assistance, which is another sore point among those who live in neighboring communities.
A 60-bed post-natal maternal care center was built with $10 million in state and federal grants. Mothers can recuperate there for two weeks away from their large families.
==== Hepatitis A and vaccine trial ====
In the 1990s, the first clinical trials for the hepatitis A vaccine took place in Kiryas Joel, where 70 percent of residents had been affected. This disproportionate rate of hepatitis A infection was due in part to Kiryas Joel's high birth rate and crowded conditions among children, who bathed together in pools and ate from communal food at school. Children who were not infected with hepatitis A were separated into two groups, one receiving the experimental vaccine and the other receiving a placebo injection. Based on this study, the vaccine was declared 100 percent effective. Merck licensed the vaccine in 1995, and it became available in 1996, after which the hepatitis A infection rate fell by 75 percent in the United States.
=== Litigation ===
The unusual lifestyle and growth pattern of Kiryas Joel has led to litigation on a number of fronts. In 1994, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet that the Kiryas Joel School District, which covered only the village, was designed in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, because the design accommodated one group on the basis of religious affiliation. Subsequently, the New York State Legislature established a similar school district in the village that has passed legal muster. Further litigation has resulted over what entity should pay for the education of children with disabilities in Kiryas Joel, and over whether the community's boys must ride buses driven by women.
In 2011, a case (Kiryas Joel Alliance v. Village of Kiryas Joel) against the village was heard in federal district court; the plaintiffs, who were followers of competing factions of Satmar to Rebbe Aron Teitelbaum's, argued that the control of the village government by the Aronite faction's supporters was being abused to discriminate against them. The case was dismissed, and in 2012 the Second Circuit rejected their appeal of the dismissal.
== Education ==
Most students go to private religious schools; in 2021 there were about 12,000 students attending them. In 2020, the area had nearly two dozen such schools. In 1994 Kiryas Joel had 5,000 children in the K-12 level with the majority going to private yeshivas and about 200 going to the public special education school.
The public Kiryas Joel School District has a school for special education students. Before 1985, special education students were taught by public school teachers in separate classes within yeshivas, and between 1985 and 1989 special education students were taught in Monroe–Woodbury Central School District facilities. In 2022–2023, the school district had a public school enrollment of 165 students.
== In Media ==
The village is explored in the 2018 documentary City of Joel.
== See also ==
New Square, New York − an all-Hasidic village in a neighboring county
Kaser, New York − an all-Hasidic village in a neighboring county
Kiryas Tosh, Quebec − an all-Hasidic community in Quebec, Canada
Qırmızı Qəsəbə
Shtetl
== References ==
=== Notes ===
=== Footnotes ===
=== Further reading ===
Foderaro, Lisa W. (October 13, 1999). "Hasidic Public School Loses Again Before U.S. Supreme Court, but Supporters Persist". The New York Times.
Kiryas Joel Ranks at Top of National List of Municipalities that Lobby the Federal Government OpenSecrets, September 2009)
2006 Census
Levin, Dan (December 16, 2007). "A Display of Disapproval That Turned Menacing". The New York Times. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
Grumet, L.; Caher, J. M. (2016). The Curious Case of Kiryas Joel: The Rise of a Village Theocracy and the Battle to Defend the Separation of Church and State. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 9781613735008.'
Stolzenberg, Nomi M.; Myers, David N. (2022). American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691199771.
== External links ==
Orange County: Kiryas Joel
The Kiryas Joel Voice Archived August 26, 2005, at the Wayback Machine |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farooq_Abdullah | Farooq Abdullah | Farooq Abdullah (born 21 October 1937) is an Indian politician who serves as current president of the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference. He has served as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on several occasions since 1982 till 2002, and as the union minister for New and Renewable Energy between 2009 and 2014. His father Sheikh Abdullah was the 1st elected chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, while his son Omar Abdullah is the current chief minister.
== Early life and education ==
Farooq Abdullah was born to the veteran statesman and National Conference leader Sheikh Abdullah and Begum Akbar Jehan Abdullah. He studied at Tyndale Biscoe School, and subsequently received his MBBS degree from SMS Medical College, Jaipur. He subsequently travelled to the UK to practice medicine.
== Family ==
He is married to Molly, a nurse of British origin. They have a son, Omar, and three daughters, Safia, Hinna, and Sara. Their son Omar Abdullah is also involved in state and national politics, and is the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Sara was married to Congress leader Sachin Pilot, but they divorced in late 2023.
== Political career ==
=== Entry into politics ===
At that time his father Sheikh Abdullah was serving as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Farooq
Abdullah was elected to the Lok Sabha unopposed as a founding party member of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference from Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency in the 1980 General Election.
=== Chief Minister, 1982–1984 ===
Abdullah was a novice in the political arena of Jammu and Kashmir when he was appointed president of the National Conference in August 1981. His main qualification was that he was the son of Sheikh Abdullah. After his father's death in 1982, Farooq Abdullah became the chief minister of the state. In 1984, a faction of the National conference led by his brother-in-law Ghulam Mohammad Shah broke away, leading to the collapse of his government and his dismissal. Shah subsequently became the Chief Minister with the support of the Congress.
=== 1984–1996 ===
In 1986, G.M. Shah's government was dismissed after the communal 1986 Kashmir riots in South Kashmir, and a new National Conference–Congress government was sworn in with Abdullah as the chief minister, after the Rajiv-Farooq accord.
A new election was held in 1987 and the National Conference–Congress alliance won the election amid allegations of fraud and widespread election rigging by the National Conference. This period saw a rise in militancy in the state, with the return of trained militants in J&K and incidents that included the kidnapping of the daughter of the Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. The period also witnessed the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley. Subsequently, Farooq Abdullah resigned in protest after Jagmohan was appointed the governor, and the state's assembly was dismissed.
He subsequently moved to the United Kingdom.
=== Chief Minister, 1996–2002 ===
After returning to India, and winning the Legislative Assembly elections in 1996, Abdullah was once again sworn in as chief minister of the state, his fifth time. His government lasted for a full six-year term. In 1999, the National Conference joined the Atal Bihari Vajpayee led National Democratic Alliance, and his son Omar Abdullah was subsequently appointed a union minister of state for External Affairs.
=== Subsequent political career ===
In the 2002 Legislative Assembly elections, Omar Abdullah was chosen to lead the National Conference, while Farooq Abdullah intended to continue his political career at the Central level. The National Conference lost the election and a coalition government headed by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed took office. On that year Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2002 promised to make Abdullah the vice-president, but later reneged on his promise because of Abdul Kalam's nomination to President and Krishan Kant's disagree.
Farooq Abdullah was subsequently elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2002 from Jammu and Kashmir and re-elected in 2009. He resigned from the Rajya Sabha in May 2009 and won a seat in the Lok Sabha from Srinagar. Abdullah joined the United Progressive Alliance government as a Cabinet Minister of New and Renewable Energy.
Abdullah contested the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat again in the 2014 General Election, but was defeated by the People's Democratic Party candidate Tariq Hameed Karra. In 2017, Tariq Hameed Karra resigned from the position, leading to a by-election for the Srinagar parliamentary seat. Abdullah got 48,555 votes and defeated PDP candidate Nazir Ahmed Khan by 10,700 votes.
On 16 September 2019, Abdullah became the first mainstream politician to be detained under the Public Safety Act. Prior to this, Abdullah was under house arrest since the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution of India. He was released from house detention under the PSA after seven and a half months on 13 March 2020.
In 2022, before the election of the President of India, Mamata Bannerjee along with several other opposition leaders had proposed Abdullah's name as the Opposition's candidate. But Abdullah declined the offer stating that he wanted to remain in active politics for more years and concentrated on the Kashmir Union Territory issue.
=== 370 Hearing ===
After his son Omar Abdullah, Farooq Abdullah made his presence in the Supreme court of India in relation to Article 370 hearing.
== References ==
== External links == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Marley_Museum | Bob Marley Museum | The Bob Marley Museum is a tourist attraction in Kingston, Jamaica, dedicated to the reggae musician Bob Marley. The museum is located at 56 Hope Road, Kingston, and is Bob Marley's former place of residence. It was home to the Tuff Gong reggae record label which was founded by The Wailers in 1970. In 1976, it was the site of a failed assassination attempt on Bob Marley. It was converted into a museum in 1986 by his wife, Rita Marley after his death.
The song "56 Hope Road" from the album In the Pursuit of Leisure by Sugar Ray featuring Shaggy is named in reference to the home.
== See also ==
List of music museums
== References ==
== External links ==
Aerial view.
The museum at the Bob Marley Foundation's website. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_UH-1_Iroquois | Bell UH-1 Iroquois | The Bell UH-1 Iroquois (nicknamed "Huey") is a utility military helicopter designed and produced by the American aerospace company Bell Helicopter. It is the first member of the prolific Huey family, as well as the first turbine-powered helicopter in service with the United States military.
Development of the Iroquois started in the early 1950s, a major impetus being a requirement issued by the United States Army for a new medical evacuation and utility helicopter. The Bell 204, first flown on 20 October 1956, was warmly received, particularly for the performance of its single turboshaft engine over piston engine-powered counterparts. An initial production contract for 100 HU-1As was issued in March 1960. In response to criticisms over the rotorcraft's power, Bell quickly developed multiple models furnished with more powerful engines; in comparison to the prototype's Lycoming YT53-L-1 (LTC1B-1) engine, producing 700 shaft horsepower (520 kW), by 1966, the Lycoming T53-L-13, capable of 1,400 shaft horsepower (1,000 kW), was being installed on some models. A stretched version of the Iroquois, first flown during August 1961, was also produced in response to Army demands for a version that could accommodate more troops. Further modifications would include the use of all-aluminium construction, the adoption of a rotor brake, and alternative powerplants.
The Iroquois was first used in combat operations during the Vietnam War, the first examples being deployed in March 1962. It was used for various purposes, including conducting general support, air assault, cargo transport, aeromedical evacuation, search and rescue, electronic warfare, and ground attack missions. Armed Iroquois gunships carried a variety of weapons, including rockets, grenade launchers, and machine guns, and were often modified in the field to suit specific operations. The United States Air Force deployed its Iroquois to Vietnam, using them to conduct reconnaissance operations, psychological warfare, and other support roles. Other nations' armed air services, such as the Royal Australian Air Force, also dispatched their own Iroquois to Vietnam. In total, around 7,000 Iroquois were deployed in the Vietnam theater, over 3,300 of which were believed to be destroyed. Various other conflicts have seen combat deployments of the Iroquois, such as the Rhodesian Bush War, Falklands War, War in Afghanistan, and the 2007 Lebanon conflict.
The Iroquois was originally designated HU-1, hence the Huey nickname, which has remained in common use, despite the official redesignation to UH-1 in 1962. Various derivatives and developments of the Iroquois were produced. A dedicated attack helicopter, the Bell AH-1 Cobra, was derived from the UH-1, and retained a high degree of commonality. The Bell 204 and 205 are Iroquois versions developed for the civilian market. In response to demands from some customers, a twin-engined model, the UH-1N Twin Huey, was also developed during the late 1960s; a further updated four blades model, the Bell 412, entered service in Canada but not the US. A further updated UH-1 with twin engines and four-bladed derivative, the Bell UH-1Y Venom, was also developed during the early twenty-first century for the USMC. In US Army service, the Iroquois was gradually phased out following the introduction of the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk and the Eurocopter UH-72 Lakota in the early 21st century. However, hundreds were still in use more than 50 years following the type's introduction. In excess of 16,000 Iroquois have been built since 1960. With new orders from Japan and the Czech Republic, the UH-1 remains in production. Several export customers, such as Canada, Germany, Taiwan, Japan, and Italy, opted to produce the type under license. Operators have been located across the world, including the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the Pacific region.
== Development ==
In 1952, the U.S. Army identified a requirement for a new helicopter to serve as medical evacuation (MEDEVAC), instrument trainer, and general utility aircraft. The Army determined that current helicopters were too large, underpowered, or too complex to maintain easily. During November 1953, revised military requirements were submitted to the Department of the Army. Twenty companies submitted designs in their bid for the contract, including Bell Helicopter with the Model 204 and Kaman Aircraft with a turbine-powered version of the H-43. On 23 February 1955, the Army announced its decision, selecting Bell to build three copies of the Model 204 for evaluation with the designation XH-40.
=== Model 204 ===
Powered by a prototype Lycoming YT53-L-1 (LTC1B-1) engine producing 700 shp (520 kW), the XH-40 first flew on 20 October 1956, at Fort Worth, Texas, with Bell's chief test pilot, Floyd Carlson, at the controls. Even prior to the first flight, the Army had placed an order for six YH-40 service test helicopters. During 1957, a further two prototypes were completed. In 1959, the Army awarded Bell a production contract for 182 aircraft, which was designated "HU-1A" and officially named Iroquois after the Native American nations.
The helicopter quickly developed a nickname derived from its HU-1 designation, which came to be pronounced as "Huey". The reference became so popular that Bell began casting the name on the helicopter's anti-torque pedals. The official U.S. Army name was almost never used in practice. Even after September 1962, at which point the designation for all models was changed to UH-1 under a unified Department of Defense (DOD) designation system, yet the nickname persisted.
While glowing in praise for the helicopter's advances over piston-engined helicopters, the Army reports from the service tests of the YH-40 found it to be underpowered with the production T53-L-1A powerplant producing a maximum continuous 770 shaft horsepower (570 kilowatts). The Army indicated the need for improved follow-on models even as the first UH-1As were being delivered. In response, Bell proposed the UH-1B, equipped with the Lycoming T53-L-5 engine producing 960 shp (720 kW) and a longer cabin that could accommodate either seven passengers or four stretchers and a medical attendant. Army testing of the UH-1B started in November 1960, with the first production aircraft delivered in March 1961.
Bell commenced development of the UH-1C in 1960 to correct aerodynamic deficiencies of the armed UH-1B. Bell fitted the UH-1C with a 1,100 shp (820 kW) T53-L-11 engine to provide the power needed to lift all weapons systems in use or under development. The Army eventually refitted all UH-1B aircraft with the same engine. A new rotor system was developed for the UH-1C to allow higher air speeds and reduce the incidence of retreating blade stall during diving engagements. The improved rotor resulted in better maneuverability and a slight speed increase. The increased power and a larger diameter rotor required Bell's engineers to design a new tail boom for the UH-1C. The longer tail boom incorporated a wider chord vertical fin on the tail rotor pylon and larger synchronized elevators.
Bell also introduced a dual hydraulic control system for redundancy as well as an improved inlet filter system for the dusty conditions found in southeast Asia. The UH-1C fuel capacity was increased to 242 US gallons (920 liters), and gross weight was raised to 9,500 lb (4,309 kg), giving a nominal useful load of 4,673 lb (2,120 kg). UH-1C production started in June 1966 with a total of 766 aircraft produced, including five for the Royal Australian Navy and five for Norway.
=== Model 205 ===
While earlier short-body Hueys were a success, the Army wanted a version that could carry more troops. Bell's solution was to stretch the HU-1B fuselage by 41 in (104 cm) and use the extra space to fit four seats next to the transmission, facing out. Seating capacity increased to 15, including crew. The enlarged cabin could also accommodate six stretchers and a medic, two more than the earlier models. In place of the earlier model's sliding side doors with a single window, larger doors were fitted which had two windows, plus a small hinged panel with an optional window, providing enhanced access to the cabin. The doors and hinged panels were quickly removable, allowing the Huey to be flown in a doors off configuration.
The Model 205 prototype flew on 16 August 1961. Seven pre-production/prototype aircraft had been delivered for testing at Edwards AFB starting in March 1961. The 205 was initially equipped with a 44-foot (13 m) main rotor and a Lycoming T53-L-9 engine with 1,100 shp (820 kW). The rotor was lengthened to 48 feet (15 m) with a chord of 21 in (53 cm). The tailboom was also lengthened, to accommodate the longer rotor blades. Altogether, the modifications resulted in a gross weight capacity of 9,500 lb (4,309 kg). The Army ordered production of the 205 in 1963, produced with a T53-L-11 engine for its multi-fuel capability. The prototypes were designated as YUH-1D and the production aircraft was designated as the UH-1D.
During 1966, Bell installed the 1,400 shp (1,000 kW) Lycoming T53-L-13 engine to provide more power for the helicopter. The pitot tube was relocated from the nose to the roof of the cockpit to prevent damage during landing. Production models in this configuration were designated as the UH-1H.
=== Marine Corps ===
In 1962, the United States Marine Corps held a competition to choose an assault support helicopter to replace the Cessna O-1 fixed-wing aircraft and the Kaman OH-43D helicopter. The winner was the UH-1B, which was already in service with the Army. The helicopter was designated the UH-1E and modified to meet Marine requirements. The major changes included the use of all-aluminium construction for corrosion resistance, radios compatible with Marine Corps ground frequencies, a rotor brake for shipboard use to stop the rotor quickly on shutdown and a roof-mounted rescue hoist.
The UH-1E was first flown on 7 October 1963, and deliveries commenced on 21 February 1964; a total of 192 Iroquois of this model were completed. Due to production line realities at Bell, the UH-1E was produced in two versions, both with the same UH-1E designation. The first 34 built were essentially UH-1B airframes with the Lycoming T53-L-11 engine producing 1,100 shp (820 kW). When Bell switched production to the UH-1C, the UH-1E production benefited from the same changes. The Marine Corps later upgraded UH-1E engines to the Lycoming T53-L-13, which produced 1,400 shp (1,000 kW), after the Army introduced the UH-1M and upgraded their UH-1C helicopters to the same engine.
=== Air Force ===
The United States Air Force (USAF) held a competition for a helicopter to be used for support on missile bases included a specific requirement to mandate the use of the General Electric T58 turboshaft as a powerplant. The Air Force had a large inventory of these engines on hand for its fleet of HH-3 Jolly Green Giant rescue helicopters and using the same engine for both helicopters would save costs. In response, Bell proposed an upgraded version of the 204B with the T58 engine. Because the T58 output shaft is at the rear, and was thus mounted in front of the transmission on the HH-3, it had to have a separate offset gearbox (SDG or speed decreaser gearbox) at the rear, and shafting to couple to the UH-1 transmission.
=== Twin-engine variants ===
The single-engine UH-1 variants were followed by the twin-engine UH-1N Twin Huey (Bell 212) and years later the UH-1Y Venom. Bell began development of the UH-1N for Canada in 1968. It changed to the more powerful Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6T twin-engine set. The US also ordered the helicopter with the USAF receiving it in 1970. Canada's military, the U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Navy first received the model in 1971.
In 1996, the USMC launched the H-1 upgrade program via the award of a contract to Bell Helicopter for development of the improved UH-1Y and AH-1Zs variants. The UH-1Y includes a lengthened cabin, four-blade rotor, and two more powerful GE T700 engines. The UH-1Y entered service with the USMC in 2008.
The Bell 412 is an improved four-blade main rotor version of the twin-engined Bell 212, and while not adopted by the US, was chosen by Canada (CH-146 Griffon), license produced in Italy as the Augusta-Bell AB412, and is going to be made for the Japan Self Defense Force in Japan by Subaru. It is a popular commercial and military helicopter, and it competed in the early 2000s Army Light Utility Helicopter program, but lost to what would be the UH-72 Lakota. That program replaced aging UH-1 and OH-58A/C models being used by the National Guard.
== Design ==
The Bell UH-1 Iroquois is a utility helicopter designed for military use. It has a metal fuselage of semi-monocoque construction with tubular landing skids and two rotor blades on the main rotor. Early UH-1 models featured a single Lycoming T53 turboshaft engine in versions with power ratings from 700 to 1,400 shp (522 to 1,040 kW). Later UH-1 and related models often featured twin engines and four-blade rotors. All members of the UH-1 family have similar construction. The UH-1H is the most-produced version, and is representative of all types. The main structure consists of two longitudinal main beams that run under the passenger cabin to the nose and back to the tail boom attachment point. The main beams are separated by transverse bulkheads and provide the supporting structure for the cabin, landing gear, under-floor fuel tanks, transmission, engine and tail boom. The main beams are joined at the lift beam, a short aluminum girder structure that is attached to the transmission via a lift link on the top and the cargo hook on the bottom and is located at the aircraft's center of gravity. The lift beams were changed to steel later in the UH-1H's life, due to cracking on high-time airframes. The semi-monocoque tail boom attaches to the fuselage with four bolts.
The UH-1H's dynamic components include the engine, transmission, rotor mast, main rotor blades, tail rotor driveshaft, and the 42-degree and 90-degree gearboxes of the tail rotor. The main rotor transmission consists of a 90-degree bevel gear assembly with a reduction ratio of 2.14:1, followed by a 2-stage planetary gearset with a ratio of 9.53:1 (two stages of 3.087:1 each). This is in addition to the output gearbox of the T53 engine with a reduction ratio of 3.19:1. This combined reduction results in 324 rpm at the main rotor. The two-bladed, semi-rigid rotor design, with pre-coned and underslung blades, is a development of early Bell model designs, such as the Bell 47 with which it shares common design features, including a damped stabilizer bar. The two-bladed system reduces storage space required for the aircraft, but at a cost of higher vibration levels. The two-bladed design is also responsible for the characteristic 'Huey thump' sound when the aircraft is in flight, which is particularly evident during descent and in turning flight. The tail rotor is driven from the main transmission, via the two directional gearboxes which provide a tail rotor speed approximately six times that of the main rotor to increase tail rotor effectiveness.
The UH-1H also features a synchronized elevator on the tail boom, which is linked to the cyclic control and allows a wider center of gravity range. The standard fuel system consists of five interconnected fuel tanks, three of which are mounted behind the transmission and two of which are under the cabin floor. The landing gear consists of two arched cross tubes joining the skid tubes. The skids have replaceable sacrificial skid shoes to prevent wear of the skid tubes themselves. Skis and inflatable floats may be fitted. While the five main fuel tanks are self-sealing, the UH-1H was not equipped with factory armor, although armored pilot seats were available.
Internal seating is made up of two pilot seats and additional seating for up to 13 passengers or crew in the cabin. The maximum seating arrangement consists of a four-man bench seat facing rearwards behind the pilot seats, facing a five-man bench seat in front of the transmission structure, with two, two-man bench seats facing outwards from the transmission structure on either side of the aircraft. All passenger seats are constructed of aluminum tube frames with canvas material seats, and are quickly removable and reconfigurable. The cabin may also be configured with up to six stretchers, an internal rescue hoist, auxiliary fuel tanks, spotlights, or many other mission kits. Access to the cabin is via two aft-sliding doors and two small, forward-hinged panels. The doors and hinged panels may be removed for flight or the doors may be pinned open. Pilot access is via individual hinged doors.
The UH-1H's dual controls are conventional for a helicopter and consist of a single hydraulic system boosting the cyclic stick, collective lever and anti-torque pedals. The collective levers have integral throttles, although these are not used to control rotor rpm, which is automatically governed, but are used for starting and shutting down the engine. The cyclic and collective control the main rotor pitch through push-pull tube linkages to the swashplate, while the anti-torque pedals change the pitch of the tail rotor via a tensioned cable arrangement. Some UH-1Hs have been modified to replace the tail rotor control cables with push-pull tubes similar to the UH-1N Twin Huey.
== Operational history ==
=== U.S. Army ===
The HU-1A (later redesignated UH-1A) first entered service with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, the 82nd Airborne Division, and the 57th Medical Detachment. Although intended for evaluation only, the Army quickly pressed the new helicopter into operational service, and Hueys with the 57th Medical Detachment arrived in South Vietnam in March 1962. The UH-1 has long been a symbol of US involvement in Southeast Asia in general and Vietnam in particular, and as a result of that conflict, has become one of the world's most recognized helicopters. In Vietnam primary missions included general support, air assault, cargo transport, aeromedical evacuation, search and rescue, electronic warfare, and later, ground attack. During the conflict, the craft was upgraded, notably to a larger version based on the Model 205. This version was initially designated the UH-1D and flew operationally from 1963.
During its Vietnam War service, the UH-1 was used for various purposes and various terms for each task abounded. UH-1s tasked with ground attack or armed escort were outfitted with rocket launchers, grenade launchers, and machine guns. As early as 1962, UH-1s were modified locally by the companies themselves, who fabricated their own mounting systems. These gunship UH-1s were commonly referred to as "Frogs" or "Hogs" if they carried rockets, and "Cobras" or simply "Guns" if they had guns. UH-1s tasked and configured for troop transport were often called "Slicks" due to an absence of weapons pods. Slicks did have door gunners, but were generally employed in the troop transport and medevac roles.
UH-1s also flew hunter-killer teams with observation helicopters, namely the Bell OH-58A Kiowa and the Hughes OH-6 Cayuse (Loach). Towards the end of the conflict, the UH-1 was tested with TOW missiles, and two UH-1B helicopters equipped with the XM26 Armament Subsystem were deployed to help counter the 1972 Easter Invasion. USAF Lieutenant James P. Fleming piloted a UH-1F on a 26 November 1968 mission that earned him the Medal of Honor.
During the course of the conflict, the UH-1 went through several upgrades. The UH-1A, B, and C models (short fuselage, Bell 204) and the UH-1D and H models (stretched-fuselage, Bell 205) each had improved performance and load-carrying capabilities. The UH-1B and C performed the gunship, and some of the transport, duties in the early years of the Vietnam War. The first batch of 77 UH-1Ds arrived in South Vietnam in April 1965. UH-1B/C gunships were replaced by the new AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter from 1967 to late 1968. The increasing intensity and sophistication of North Vietnamese anti-aircraft defenses made continued use of UH-1 gunships impractical, and after Vietnam the Cobra was adopted as the Army's main attack helicopter. Devotees of the UH-1 in the gunship role cite its ability to act as an impromptu Dustoff if the need arose, as well as the superior observational capabilities of the larger Huey cockpit, which allowed return fire from door gunners to the rear and sides of the aircraft. In air cavalry troops (i.e., companies) UH-1s were combined with infantry scouts, OH-6 and OH-58 aero-scout helicopters, and AH-1 attack helicopters to form several color-coded teams (viz., blue, white, red, purple, and pink) to perform various reconnaissance, security, and economy of force missions in fulfilling the traditional cavalry battlefield role.
The Army tested a great variety of experimental weapons on the UH-1; nearly anything that could be carried. The Army desired weapons with large calibers and high rates of fire, which led to the testing of a 20 mm cannon on a large mount bolted to the cabin floor. The size of the weapon allowed very little room for movement. The Army further tested a full-size Vulcan cannon firing out the door of a UH-1. It was capable of firing 2400 rounds per minute, or about 40 rounds per second. Despite this being a significant reduction from the nearly 100 rounds per second fired by a standard Vulcan cannon, the installation proved too kinetic for the UH-1. Podded versions of the M24 20 mm cannon were tested in combat over Vietnam. There was a wide variety of 7.62 mm automatic weapons tested, including different installations of the M60 machine gun. AS-10 and SS-11 missiles were tested in several different configurations. High-capacity rocket launchers were also tested, such as the XM3 launcher, which had 24 launching tubes. Press photos were taken with the XM5 and XM3 installed on the same aircraft, but this arrangement could not be used because it was more than the gross take-off weight of the aircraft.
During the Easter Offensive of 1972 by North Vietnam, experimental models of the TOW-firing XM26 were taken out of storage and sent to South Vietnam in response to the onslaught. The pilots had never fired a TOW missile before, and were given brief crash courses. Despite having little training with the units, the pilots managed to hit targets with 151 of the 162 missiles fired in combat, including a pair of tanks. The airborne TOW launchers were known as "Hawks Claws" and were based at Camp Holloway. During the conflict, 7,013 UH-1s served in Vietnam and of these 3,305 were destroyed. In total, 1,151 pilots were killed, along with 1,231 other crew members (these figures are not including Army of the Republic of Vietnam losses).
Post Vietnam, the US Army continued to operate large numbers of Iroquois; they would see further combat during the US invasion of Grenada in 1983, the US invasion of Panama in 1989, and the Gulf War in 1991. In the latter conflict, in excess of 400 Iroquois performed a variety of missions in the region; over a nine-month period, the fleet cumulatively reached 31,000 flight hours and achieved a stable fully mission capable rate of 70%. The type comprised more than 20% of all rotorcraft across the coalition and recorded 21% of the overall flying hours. Even after the Gulf War, the US Army had more than 2,800 Iroquois in its inventory; in particular, 389 UH-1Vs comprised 76% of the Army's medevac aircraft. Nevertheless, plans were mooted as early as 1992 to undertake a slow withdrawal of the aging type in favor of larger and more technologically advanced rotorcraft.
The US Army began phasing out the UH-1 with the introduction of the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk starting in the 1980s, although the Army UH-1 Residual Fleet had around 700 UH-1s that were to be retained until 2015, primarily in support of Army Aviation training at Fort Rucker and in selected Army National Guard units. Army support for the craft was intended to end in 2004; The UH-1 was retired from active Army service in early 2005. During 2009, Army National Guard retirements of the UH-1 accelerated with the introduction of the Eurocopter UH-72 Lakota. In 2009 the Army National Guard marked 50 years of service of the Huey in the Army, and 40 with the National Guard and had a ceremonial end to its service at that time; in the coming years many final flights of the Huey in State National Guard took place. The Washington, D.C. Army National Guard had its last flight in 2011, and Pennsylvania in 2010. The final U.S. Army UH-1 was retired in late 2016, and transferred to a State police department. In context, the Huey is still in service with Armed Forces overall, and the Air Force UH-1N were still in service as of 2024, but scheduled for replacement.
=== U.S. Air Force ===
In October 1965, the United States Air Force (USAF) 20th Helicopter Squadron was formed at Tan Son Nhut Air Base in South Vietnam, equipped initially with CH-3C helicopters. By June 1967, the UH-1F and UH-1P were also added to the unit's inventory and, by the end of the year, the entire unit had shifted from Tan Son Nhut to Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base, with the CH-3s transferring to the 21st Helicopter Squadron. On 1 August 1968, the unit was redesignated the 20th Special Operations Squadron. The 20th SOS's UH-1s were known as the Green Hornets, stemming from their color, a primarily green two-tone camouflage (green and tan) was carried, and radio call-sign "Hornet". The main role of these helicopters were to insert and extract reconnaissance teams, provide cover for such operations, conduct psychological warfare, and other support roles for covert operations especially in Laos and Cambodia during the so-called Secret War.
USAF UH-1s were often equipped with automatic grenade launchers in place of the door guns. The XM-94 grenade launcher had been tested on Army rotorcraft prior to its use by the USAF. The unit was capable of firing 400 grenades per minute, up to 1,500 yards effective range.
Into the twenty-first century, the USAF operates the UH-1N for support of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) sites, including transport of security personnel and distinguished visitors. On 24 September 2018, the USAF announced that the Boeing/Leonardo MH-139 (an AW-139 variant) had won a competition to replace the UH-1N fleet. The UH-1N fleet is in service as of 2024, as production of the new type is ramped up.
=== U.S. Navy ===
The US Navy acquired a number of surplus UH-1B helicopters from the U.S. Army, these rotorcraft were modified into gunships, outfitted with special gun mounts and radar altimeters. They were known as Seawolves in service with Navy Helicopter Attack (Light) (HA(L)-3). UH-1C helicopters were also acquired during the 1970s. The Seawolves worked as a team with Navy river patrol operations.
Four years after the disestablishment of HA(L)-3, the Navy determined that it still had a need for gunships, establishing two new Naval Reserve Helicopter Attack (Light) Squadrons as part of the newly formed Commander, Helicopter Wing Reserve (COMHELWINGRES) in 1976. Helicopter Attack Squadron (Light) Five (HA(L)-5), nicknamed the "Blue Hawks", was established at Naval Air Station Point Mugu, California on 11 June 1977 and its sister squadron, Helicopter Attack Squadron (Light) Four (HA(L)-4), known as the Red Wolves, was formed at Naval Air Station Norfolk, Virginia on 1 July 1976.
The last regular Navy Huey's, HH-1's for search and rescue were retired in 2009 and replaced by H-60 Seahawks, and the last Marine Corps UH-1N were retired in 2014.
=== Drug Enforcement Administration ===
The UH-1H has been used on multiple occasions by the American Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); initially, these were usually borrowed from the U.S. Army to support planned missions, such for Operation Snowcap, a large multi-year counter-narcotics action covering nine countries across Latin America.
During the War in Afghanistan, the DEA made use of a number of UH-1s stationed in the country for the purpose of conducting counter-narcotics raids. Operated by contractors, these Hueys provide transportation, surveillance, and air support for DEA FAST teams. During July 2009, four UH-1Hs and two Mi-17s were used in a raid that led to the arrest of an Afghan Border Police commander on corruption charges.
=== Argentina ===
Nine Argentine Army Aviation UH-1Hs and two Argentine Air Force Bell 212 were included with the aircraft deployed during the Falklands War. They performed general transport and SAR missions and were based at Port Stanley (BAM Puerto Argentino). Two of the Hueys were destroyed and, after the hostilities had ended, the remainder were captured by the British military. Three captured aircraft survive as museum pieces in England and Falklands.
=== Australia ===
The Royal Australian Air Force employed the UH-1H until 1989. Iroquois helicopters of No. 9 Squadron RAAF were deployed to South Vietnam in mid 1966 in support of the 1st Australian Task Force. In this role they were armed with single M60 doorguns. In 1969 four of No. 9 Squadron's helicopters were converted to gunships (known as 'Bushrangers'), armed with two fixed forward firing M134 7.62 mm minigun (one each side) and a 7-round rocket pod on each side. Aircrew were armed with twin M60 flexible mounts in each door. UH-1 helicopters were used in many roles including troop transport, medevac and Bushranger gunships for armed support. No. 35 Squadron and No. 5 Squadron also operated the Iroquois in various roles through the 1970s and 1980s. Between 1982 and 1986, the squadron contributed aircraft and aircrew to the Australian helicopter detachment which formed part of the Multinational Force and Observers peacekeeping force in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. During 1988, the RAAF began to re-equip with S-70A Blackhawks.
In 1989 and 1990, the RAAF's UH-1H Iroquois were subsequently transferred to the 171st Aviation Squadron in Darwin, Northern Territory and the 5th Aviation Regiment based in Townsville, Queensland following the decision that all battlefield helicopters would be operated by the Australian Army. On 21 September 2007, the Australian Army retired the last of their Bell UH-1s. The last flight occurred in Brisbane on that day with the aircraft replaced by MRH-90 medium helicopters and Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopters.
The Royal Australian Navy's 723 Squadron also operated seven UH-1B from 1964 to 1989, with three of these aircraft lost in accidents during that time. 723 Squadron deployed Iroquois aircraft and personnel as part of the Experimental Military Unit during the Vietnam War.
=== El Salvador ===
Numerous UH-1s were operated by the Salvadoran Air Force; during the 1980s, it became the biggest and most experienced combat helicopter force in Central and South America, fighting for over a decade during the Salvadoran Civil War and having been trained by US Army in tactics developed during the Vietnam War. By the start of 1985, El Salvador had 33 UH-1s in its inventory, some configured as gunships and others as transports; furthermore, in the following years, the country expanded its UH-1 fleet further with assistance from the US government. Several Salvadoran UH-1M and UH-1H helicopters used were modified to carry bombs instead of rocket pods. The UH-1s enabled the military to avoid ground routes vulnerable to guerrilla ambushes; the gunships were typically used to suppress hostile forces ahead of troops being inserted by UH-1 transports.
=== Germany ===
The German aerospace company Dornier constructed 352 UH-1Ds under license between 1967 and 1981 for the West German Bundeswehr. These saw service with both the German Army and German Air Force as utility helicopters, they were also commonly used for search and rescue (SAR) missions. After being replaced by newer twin-engine Eurocopter EC145s, the last UH-1Ds in German service were withdrawn on 12 April 2021.
=== Israel ===
Israel withdrew its UH-1s from service in 2002, after 33 years of operation. They were replaced by Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters with an initial batch of 10 delivered during 1994. While some were passed on to pro-Israeli militias in Lebanon, eleven other UH-1Ds were reportedly sold to a Singapore-based logging company but were, instead, delivered in October 1978 to the Rhodesian Air Force to skirt a United Nations-endorsed embargo imposed on the country during the Rhodesian Bush War.
=== Japan ===
In 1960, Subaru made an agreement to produce the HU-1B for Japan, which was renamed the UH-1B in 1962, along with the HU-1H, renamed UH-1H. Bell and Subaru developed the UH-1J.
Entering service starting in 1993, 130 UH-1J were produced by Fuji for the Japanese Self-Defense Force.
In 2005, a pair of Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) UH-1 helicopters were deployed to Pakistan for earthquake disaster relief. During 2010, after floods in Pakistan, UH-1s were again deployed to the country to aid in disaster relief. Japanese UH-1s have also been periodically used to conduct water bombing against fires.
In the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Japan's UH-1 fleet was extensively deployed across the country for disaster relief purposes; they also conducted reconnaissance flights over the stricken Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant while carrying radiation detection equipment to help inform planners of the plant's condition.
By the early 2020s, Japan's Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency was in the process of recapitalizing much of the JGSDF's rotarywing capability; it is planned for a locally-built model of the twin-engined multirole Bell 412 helicopter to replace the remaining older UH-1s in Japanese service; the new helicopter will be called the H-2 in JSDF service. The first flight of the Subaru UH-2 took place in 2022.
=== Lebanon ===
During the early 1990s, the Lebanese Air Force (LAF) inducted their first UH-1 helicopters. During the 2007 Lebanon conflict, at the Battle of Nahr el-Bared in North Lebanon, the Lebanese Army, lacking fixed-wing aircraft, modified several UH-1Hs to carry 500 lb (227 kg) Mark 82 bombs, enabling it to perform helicopter bombing, and used it to strike militant-held positions. Specifically, special mounting points were installed along the sides of each Huey for the carriage of these high explosive bombs. In the aftermath of the 2020 Beirut explosion, UH-1s participated in the disaster response, and were used to extinguish fires.
Typically, the fleet is tasked with performing search and rescue, troop transport, aerial firefighting and utility missions. In the late 2010s, specially modified UH-1Ds participated in the first LIDAR mapping exercise in the country. During February 2021, an additional three Bell UH-1H-IIs were delivered to the LAF by Bell to augment their existing fleet.
=== New Zealand ===
The Royal New Zealand Air Force had an active fleet of 13 Iroquois serving with No. 3 Squadron RNZAF. The first delivery was five UH-1D in 1966 followed in 1970 by nine UH-1H and one more UH-1H in 1976. All of the UH-1D aircraft were upgraded to 1H specification during the 1970s. Two ex-U.S. Army UH-1H attrition airframes were purchased in 1996. Three aircraft have been lost in accidents.
The RNZAF has retired the Iroquois, with the NHIndustries NH90 as its replacement. Eight active NH90 helicopters plus one spare have been procured. This process was initially expected to be completed by the end of 2013, but was delayed until 2016. Individual aircraft were retired as they reach their next major group servicing intervals; the UH-1H was retired as the NH90 fleet stood up. On 21 May 2015, the remaining UH-1H fleet of six helicopters conducted a final tour of the country ahead of its planned retirement on 1 July. During 49 years of service the type had seen service in areas including the UK, Southeast Asia, Timor, the Solomon Islands, various South Pacific nations, and the Antarctic.
One was preserved in the New Zealand National museum after its retirement from service in 2013, delivered to the museum in 2015; it had had been in service many decades entering RNZAF service in 1966.
=== Pakistan ===
During the 1973 floods in Pakistan, the U.S. was the first to send a relief team with six UH-1H helicopters, which operated mainly in the south of Pakistan. After completing their mission, the helicopters were left at Dhamial. Initially idle for a few months, they were later gifted to Pakistan by the U.S. government, following a proposal made to Prime Minister Bhutto before his state visit to the U.S. in 1974.
=== Philippines ===
The Philippine Air Force (PAF) has a long history of acquiring United States Air Force assets, including the Bell UH-1.On 29 March 1969 the PAF received the first UH-1 Hueys and a unit was reorganized into the 205th Tactical Helicopter Wing. The Huey platforms were brand-new equipped with the latest avionics and pilots were provided ballistics helmets. The first four helicopters with tail numbers 290, 291, 292 and 293 came straight out of the factory, the US Army having started commissioning initials productions only two years before.
In PAF service, the type was regularly used to combat local insurgents as well as to conduct disaster relief operations after several earthquakes and typhoons hit the nation. Learning from this experience, the PAF decided to arm the Hueys with machineguns. In February 1971, aircrew members of the unit underwent gunnery training at Fort Magsaysay. The sparkling new M-60 machineguns now enhanced the Hueys' capability to provide fire support from the air. The new-found fire power was ably demonstrated in punitive operations at Barrio Talbac, San Ildefonso, Bulacan, on 7–8 April 1971. In the ensuing encounter, Huk Commander Beto and his aide named Yoyong were killed. Francis Ford Coppola filmed Apocalypse Now in the Philippines primarily because President Ferdinand Marcos agreed to let Coppola use Philippine Hueys to film the iconic scene with Robert Duvall as Lt. Colonel Kilgore.In 2004, the Philippine Air Force (PAF) procured 20 refurbished UH-1H 'Huey' helicopters from Singapore Technologies Aerospace (ST Aero) in a deal worth US$12 million.
In 2013, due to urgent operational requirements the PAF Procured Brand New Bell 412 delivered in 2015. Procured another batch of 21 units refurbished Bell UH-1D now with Nigh Vision Compatible Cockpit with a budget of PHP1.26bn ($28m) contract with Rice Aircraft Services and Eagle Copters joint venture (JV) delivered in 2015.
Furthermore, during October 2019, the Philippines made a deal with Japan to acquire some of its spare parts inventory; this reportedly was to facilitate the restoration of 7 units stored UH-1s to flightworthy condition. By January 2021, the PAF had 13 UH-1H and 10 UH-1D helicopters in an operational condition.On 2021, a plan to retire all of the PAF's remaining UH-1 helicopters was raised, following a series of crashes involving the type. On 14 October 2021, the PAF officially decommissioned the remainder of its UH-1D fleet, the retired rotorcraft were stored at Clark Air Base. However airworthy airframes were returned to service due to lack of aircraft. The role of the UH-1 is to be performed by recently delivered Poland Built PZL Mielec (Sikorsky S-70i) helicopters which were acquired through Multi-Year Contractual Authority (MYCA); in January 2022
In 2022, the Philippines said that some of the retired Huey's will be reactivated with the help of Turkish company ASFAT. Also, in 2022, Japan planned to donate UH-1s leaving its service to the Philippine Army. Japan is introducing new Huey's as replacement. As of December 2024, twenty-three units are in active service.
=== Rhodesia ===
Very late in the Rhodesian Bush War, the Rhodesian Air Force obtained 11 former Israeli Agusta-Bell 205As in violation of sanctions on the nation, allegedly having used a series of intermediaries to evade them. Locally known as Cheetahs, these helicopters were returned to a flightworthy condition and then assigned to No. 8 Squadron, after which they usually functioned as armed gunships as well as troop transports. During September 1979, one Cheetah was lost in combat after being hit by an RPG while flying over Mozambique. At least another three other UH-1s were also lost. The surviving helicopters were put up for sale in 1990.
=== Yemen ===
In July 2009, Yemen received four UH-1Hs. These remained grounded for almost all the time they were in Yemen; at least one helicopter was heavily damaged during Saudi-led airstrikes on Al Daylami and Al Anad Air Bases.
== Variant overview ==
=== U.S. military variants ===
XH-40: The initial Bell 204 prototype. Three prototypes were built, equipped with the Lycoming XT-53-L-1 engine of 700 shp (520 kW).
YH-40: Six aircraft for evaluation, as XH-40 with 12-inch (300 mm) cabin stretch and other modifications.
Bell Model 533: One YH-40-BF rebuilt as a flight test bed with turbojet engines and wings.
HU-1A: Initial Bell 204 production model, redesignated as the UH-1A in 1962. 182 built.
TH-1A: UH-1A with dual controls and blind-flying instruments, 14 conversions.
XH-1A: A single UH-1A was redesignated for grenade launcher testing in 1960.
HU-1B: Upgraded HU-1A, various external and rotor improvements. Redesignated UH-1B in 1962. 1014 built plus four prototypes designated YUH-1B.
NUH-1B: a single test aircraft, serial number 64–18261.
UH-1C: The UH-1B gunship lacked the power necessary to carry weapons and ammunition and keep up with transport Hueys. So Bell designed yet another variant, the UH-1C, intended strictly for the gunship role. It is an UH-1B with improved engine, modified blades and rotor-head for better performance in the gunship role. 767 built.
YUH-1D: Seven pre-production prototypes of the UH-1D.
UH-1D Iroquois: Initial Bell 205 production model (long fuselage version of the 204). Designed as a troop carrier to replace the CH-34 then in US Army service. 2008 built; many later converted to UH-1H standard.
HH-1D: Army crash rescue variant of UH-1D.
UH-1E: UH-1B/C for USMC with different avionics and equipment. 192 built.
NUH-1E: UH-1E configured for testing.
TH-1E: UH-1C configured for Marine Corps training. Twenty were built in 1965.
UH-1F: UH-1B/C for USAF with General Electric T58-GE-3 engine of 1,325 shp (988 kW). 120 built.
TH-1F: Instrument and Rescue Trainer based on the UH-1F for the USAF. 26 built.
UH-1H: Improved UH-1D with a Lycoming T53-L-13 engine of 1,400 shp (1,000 kW). 5435 built.
CUH-1H: Canadian Forces designation for the UH-1H utility transport helicopter. Redesignated CH-118. A total of 10 built.
EH-1H: Twenty-two aircraft converted by installation of AN/ARQ-33 radio intercept and jamming equipment for Project Quick Fix.
HH-1H: Search and rescue (SAR) variant for the USAF with rescue hoist. A total of 30 built.
JUH-1: Five UH-1Hs converted to SOTAS battlefield surveillance configuration with belly-mounted airborne radar.
TH-1H: Recently modified UH-1Hs for use as basic helicopter flight trainers by the USAF.
HH-1K: Purpose-built SAR variant of the Model 204 for the US Navy with USN avionics and equipment. 27 built.
TH-1L: Helicopter flight trainer based on the HH-1K for the USN. A total of 45 were built.
UH-1L: Utility variant of the TH-1L. Eight were built.
UH-1M: Gunship specific UH-1C upgrade with Lycoming T53-L-13 engine of 1,400 shp (1,000 kW).
UH-1N: Initial Bell 212 production model, the Bell "Twin Pac" twin-engined Huey powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada T400-CP-400.
UH-1P: UH-1F variant for USAF for special operations use and attack operations used solely by the USAF 20th Special Operations Squadron, "the Green Hornets".
EH-1U: No more than two UH-1H aircraft modified for Multiple Target Electronic Warfare System (MULTEWS).
UH-1V: Aeromedical evacuation, rescue version for the US Army.
EH-1X: Ten Electronic warfare UH-1Hs converted under "Quick Fix IIA".
UH-1Y: Upgraded variant developed from existing upgraded late model UH-1Ns, with additional emphasis on commonality with the AH-1Z.
Note: In U.S. service, the G, J, Q, R, S, T, W and Z model designations are used by the AH-1. The UH-1 and AH-1 are considered members of the same H-1 series. The military does not use I (India) or O (Oscar) for aircraft designations to avoid confusion with "one" and "zero" respectively.
=== Other military variants ===
Bell 204: Bell Helicopters company designation, covering aircraft from the XH-40, YH-40 prototypes to the UH-1A, UH-1B, UH-1C, UH-1E, UH-1F, HH-1K, UH-1L, UH-1P and UH-1M production aircraft.
Agusta-Bell AB 204: Military utility transport helicopter. Built under license in Italy by Agusta.
Agusta-Bell AB 204AS: Anti-submarine warfare, anti-shipping version of the AB 204 helicopter.
Fuji-Bell HU-1B/HU-1H: Military utility transport helicopter for the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. Built under license in Japan by Fuji Heavy Industries.
Bell 205: Bell Helicopters company designation of the UH-1D and UH-1H helicopters.
Bell 205A-1: Military utility transport helicopter version, initial version based on the UH-1H.
Bell 205A-1A: As 205A-1, but with armament hardpoints and military avionics. Produced specifically for Israeli contract.
Agusta-Bell 205: Military utility transport helicopter. Built under license in Italy by Agusta.
AIDC UH-1H: Military utility transport helicopter. Built under license in Taiwan by Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation.
Dornier UH-1D: Military utility transport helicopter. Built under license in Germany by Dornier Flugzeugwerke.
UH-1G: Unofficial name applied locally to at least one armed UH-1H by the Khmer Air Force in Cambodia.
Fuji-Bell UH-1J: An improved Japanese version of the UH-1H built under license in Japan by Fuji Heavy Industries was locally given the designation UH-1J. Among improvements were a Lycoming T53-L-703 turboshaft engine providing 1,343 kW (1,800 shp), a vibration-reduction system, infrared countermeasures, and a night-vision-goggle (NVG) compatible cockpit.
Bell 211 Huey Tug With up-rated dynamic system and larger wide chord blades, the Bell 211 was offered for use as the US Army's prime artillery mover, but not taken up.
Bell Huey II: A modified and re-engined UH-1H, improvements were an Allison T53-L-703 turboshaft engine providing 1,343 kW (1,800 shp), a vibration-reduction system, infrared countermeasures and a night-vision-goggle (NVG) compatible cockpit. This significantly improves performance and cost-effectiveness. Currently offered by Bell to all current military users of the type.
UH-1/T700 Ultra Huey: Upgraded commercial version, fitted with a 1,400-kW (1900-shp) General Electric T700-GE-701C turboshaft engine.
Bell 412 a four rotor version of the Bell 212 used by Canada as the CH-146 Griffon, license produced in Italy as the Augusta-Bell 412, and is going to be made in Japan.
UH-1H II is a modernized version of the UH-1H that mixes in Bell 212 components.
H.6: (Thai: ฮ.๖) Royal Thai Armed Forces designation for the UH-1H.
H.LL.1: (Thai: ฮ.ลล.๑) Royal Thai Armed Forces designation for the UH-1D.
== Operators ==
== Aircraft on display ==
== Accidents ==
23 July 1982 (1982-07-23): Twilight Zone accident: A UH-1 crashed at Indian Dunes in Valencia, California, during the making of Twilight Zone: The Movie. Actor Vic Morrow and two child actors were killed.
11 August 1989: A Spanish Army UH-1H helicopter was reportedly downed by a rock thrown during training near Madrid, injuring three crew members. The incident occurred when a farmer allegedly threw the rock, leading to the crash in El Boalo.
17 January 2018 (2018-01-17): A Sapphire Aviation UH-1H crashed near Raton, New Mexico, United States. Five of the six people on board were killed, including Zimbabwean politician Roy Bennett.
8 September 2024: 2024 Pasaquina Bell UH-1 crash: A UH-1 crashed in the Pasaquina municipality of La Unión Department in El Salvador. All nine people on board were killed, among the victims was the Director of the National Civil Police of El Salvador, Mauricio Arriaza Chicas.
== Specifications (UH-1H) ==
Data from Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1987-88General characteristics
Crew: 1–4
Capacity: 3,880 pounds (1,760 kg) including 11–14 troops, 6 stretchers and attendant, or equivalent cargo
Length: 57 ft 9+5⁄8 in (17.618 m) with rotors
Width: 9 ft 6+1⁄2 in (2.908 m) (over skids)
Height: 14 ft 5+1⁄2 in (4.407 m) (tail rotor turning)
Empty weight: 5,210 lb (2,363 kg)
Gross weight: 9,039 lb (4,100 kg) (mission weight)
Max takeoff weight: 9,500 lb (4,309 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Lycoming T53-L-13 turboshaft, 1,400 shp (1,000 kW) (limited to 1,100 shp (820 kW) by transmission)
Main rotor diameter: 48 ft 0 in (14.63 m)
Main rotor area: 1,809.56 sq ft (168.114 m2)
Performance
Maximum speed: 127 mph (204 km/h, 110 kn) (at maximum takeoff weight; also Vne at this weight)
Cruise speed: 127 mph (204 km/h, 110 kn) (at 5,700 ft (1,700 m) at maximum takeoff weight)
Range: 318 mi (511 km, 276 nmi) (with maximum fuel, no reserves, at sea level)
Service ceiling: 12,600 ft (3,800 m) (at maximum takeoff weight)
Rate of climb: 1,600 ft/min (8.1 m/s) at sea level (at maximum takeoff weight)
Disk loading: 5.25 lb/sq ft (25.6 kg/m2)
Power/mass: 0.1159 hp/lb (0.1905 kW/kg)
Armament
various including:
7.62 mm machine guns
2.75 in (70 mm) rocket pods
== Notable appearances in media ==
The image of American troops disembarking from a Huey has become an iconic image of the Vietnam War, and can be seen in many films, video games and television shows on the subject, as well as more modern settings. The UH-1 is seen in many films about the Vietnam War, including The Green Berets, The Deer Hunter, Platoon, Hamburger Hill, Apocalypse Now, Casualties of War, and Born on the Fourth of July. It is prominently featured in We Were Soldiers as the main helicopter used by the Air Cavalry in the Battle of Ia Drang. Author Robert Mason recounts his career as a UH-1 "Slick" pilot in his memoir, Chickenhawk.
The 2002 journey of Huey 091, displayed in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, is outlined in the 2004 documentary In the Shadow of the Blade.
== See also ==
Bell Huey family – overview of all models
Related development
Bell AH-1 Cobra
Bell 212
Bell 214
Bell 412
Bell 533
Bell UH-1N Twin Huey
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
Sikorsky XH-39
Related lists
List of active United States military aircraft
List of most-produced rotorcraft
== References ==
=== Footnotes ===
=== Citations ===
=== Bibliography ===
Andrade, John M. (1979). U.S. Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909. Hersham, Surrey, UK: Midland Counties Publications. ISBN 0-904597-22-9.
Apostolo, Giorgio (1984). Bell 204, Bell 205: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Helicopters. New York: Bonanza Books. ISBN 0-517-43935-2.
Australian Naval Aviation Museum, (ANAM) (1998). Flying Stations: A Story of Australian Naval Aviation. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86448-846-8.
Brent, W. A. (1988). Rhodesian Air Force A Brief History 1947–1980. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Freeworld Publications. ISBN 0-620-11805-9.
Chant, Christopher (1996). Fighting Helicopters of the 20th Century: 20th Century Military Series. Christchurch, Dorset, UK: Graham Beehag Books. ISBN 1-85501-808-X.
Debay, Yves (1996). Combat Helicopters. Paris: Histoire & Collections. ISBN 2-908182-52-1.
Donald, David, ed. (1997). Bell Model 212 Twin Two-Twelve: The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft. New York: Barnes & Noble Books. ISBN 0-7607-0592-5.
Drendel, Lou (1974). Gunslingers in Action. Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications. ISBN 0-89747-013-3.
Drendel, Lou (1983). Huey. Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications. ISBN 0-89747-145-8..
Eather, Steve (1995). Flying Squadrons of the Australian Defence Force. Weston Creek, ACT: Aerospace Publications. ISBN 1-875671-15-3.
Eden, Paul, ed. (2004). Bell UH-1 Iroquois: Encyclopedia of Modern Military Aircraft. London: Amber Books. ISBN 1-904687-84-9.
Elliot, Bryn (March–April 1997). "Bears in the Air: The US Air Police Perspective". Air Enthusiast. No. 68. pp. 46–51. ISSN 0143-5450.
Francillon, René, J. (1987). Vietnam: The War in the Air. New York: Arch Cape Press. ISBN 0-517-62976-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Guilmartin, John Francis; O'Leary, Michael (1988). The Illustrated History of the Vietnam War, Volume 11: Helicopters. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 0-553-34506-0.
McGowen, Stanley S. (2005). Helicopters: An Illustrated History of Their Impact. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-85109-468-4.
Mesko, Jim (1984). Airmobile: The Helicopter War in Vietnam. Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications. ISBN 0-89747-159-8.
Mikesh, Robert C. (1988). Flying Dragons: The South Vietnamese Air Force. London: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 0-85045-819-6.
Morales, Joao-Paulo & Mitilian, Vatche (April 2018). "Heavy Duty: Lebanon's DIY "Hueybombers"". The Aviation Historian (23): 100–108. ISSN 2051-1930.
Mutza, Wayne (2012). Helicopter Gunships: Deadly Combat Weapon Systems. Specialty Press. ISBN 978-1-58007-154-3.
Mutza, Wayne (1986). UH-1 Huey in Action. Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications. ISBN 0-89747-179-2.
Mutza, Wayne (December 1986 – April 1987). "Covertly to Cambodia". Air Enthusiast. No. 32. Bromley, UK: Pilot Press. pp. 22–31. ISSN 0143-5450.
Mutza, Wayne (1992). UH-1 Huey in Color. Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications. ISBN 0-89747-279-9.
Pattillo, Donald M. (2001). Pushing the Envelope: The American Aircraft Industry. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-08671-9.
Specifications for Bell 204, 205 and 214 Huey Plus
== External links ==
Bell Huey II page on BellHelicopter.com
UH-1D/UH-1H Iroquois utility helicopter and UH-1 Factsheet on Army.mil
UH-1 history on Navy Air web site
The Bell UH-1 Huey at Greg Goebel's Air Vectors site
"RETROSPECTIVE: How the UH-1 'Huey' changed modern warfare" on FlightGlobal.com |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Cowie | Catherine Cowie | Catherine Christine Cowie is an American epidemiologist. She is a program director and senior advisor at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
== Education ==
Cowie completed a master of public health from University of Michigan School of Public Health in 1979. She completed a Ph.D. at University of Michigan and worked as a research associate and graduate teaching assistant from 1981 to 1988. Her dissertation was titled Racial disparity in diabetic end-stage renal disease: trends in incidence, survival and possible explanatory factors. Victor M. Hawthorne was the chairperson of her dissertation.
== Career ==
From 1979 to 1981, Cowie was an epidemiologist at Upjohn. She was an epidemiologist focused on social and scientific systems at National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) from 1988 to 1996. She is a program director and senior advisor in the NIDDK Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolic Diseases. Cowie directs programs researching diabetes epidemiology. Her responsibilities include scientific oversight of the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial/Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications study (DCCT/EDIC). She manages diabetes epidemiology interests (e.g., developing national survey components, analyzing and publishing resultant data, mentoring epidemiologists, and directing computer programmers). Cowie chairs the NIDDK Epidemiology Group Committee. She edited the books Diabetes in America and Diabetes Public Health: From Data to Policy. Currently, Cowie manages the development of and analysis for the third edition of Diabetes in America. She represents the NIDDK on the National Diabetes Statistics Report, is involved in a variety of other HHS diabetes epidemiology projects, and is a member of various trans-NIDDK, NIH, and HHS committees related to clinical and epidemiologic research.
== Awards and honors ==
In June 2018, Cowie received the American Diabetes Association Kelly West Award for Outstanding Achievement in Epidemiology in recognition of her significant contributions to the field of diabetes epidemiology.
== References == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Carter | Aaron Carter | Aaron Charles Carter (December 7, 1987 – November 5, 2022) was an American singer and rapper. He came to fame as a teen pop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among preteen and teenage audiences during the first years of the 2000s, with his four studio albums.
Carter began performing at age seven, after the formation of his brother Nick's group the Backstreet Boys, and released his self-titled debut album in 1997 at age nine, selling a million copies worldwide. His second album Aaron's Party (Come Get It) (2000) sold three million copies in the United States, and Carter began making guest appearances on Nickelodeon and touring with the Backstreet Boys shortly after the record's release. Carter's next album, Oh Aaron, also went platinum, and in 2002 he released what would be his last studio album for over 15 years, Another Earthquake!, followed by his 2003 Most Requested Hits collection.
Carter appeared on Dancing with the Stars, and in the Broadway musical Seussical and the off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks, and made several one-off performances. In 2014, he released a single featuring rapper Pat SoLo, "Ooh Wee". Carter released the single "Fool's Gold" in 2016, and an EP titled Love in 2017. His fifth studio album, also titled Love, was released in 2018. A sixth album, Blacklisted, was released two days after his accidental drug-related death.
== Early life ==
Aaron Charles Carter was born on December 7, 1987, in Tampa, Florida. His parents, Jane Eleonora Schneck (née Spaulding, previously Carter) and Robert Gene Carter (1952–2017), ran a retirement home. He had an older brother, Nick, a member of the Backstreet Boys, and three sisters: his twin, Angel, a model; Bobbie Jean (BJ) (1982–2023); and Leslie (1986–2012). In addition to his full siblings, he also had an older half-sister, Ginger Lee Carter (1972–2023), and a younger half-brother, Kaden Carter. The family is originally from Jamestown, New York. Carter attended Frank D. Miles Elementary School and the Ruskin School in Florida.
Carter's parents divorced in 2004; he was told about the divorce one hour before filming his MTV Cribs episode. In accordance with the California Child Actor's Bill, Carter's parents were supposed to put 15% of his earnings into a Coogan account. As per Carter, "I got [...] $2 million when I turned 18 years old. I should have had at least $20 million in my account." After he turned 18 in 2005, Carter learned that he owed $4 million in back taxes. Carter claimed that his earnings had helped his parents purchase 30 cars and 15 houses; however, he did not receive any portion of the profits when they sold the properties. He also claimed that his father fired a .44 Magnum near his ear to coerce him into signing a $256,000 check. This left Carter with 70% deafness in one ear.
Carter also had a tumultuous relationship with his siblings, with many of their feuds playing out on social media in later years. In September 2019, Carter leveled allegations of sexual abuse against his sister Leslie, who died of a drug overdose in 2012. Carter reported that the abuse began when he was ten years old, ended when he was 13, and occurred when Leslie would fail to take prescribed medication for her bipolar disorder. He also accused his brother Nick of life-long abuse, and implied that Nick also abused a female family member. Nick's legal team denied the allegations, which surfaced after Nick and their sister Angel sought restraining orders against Aaron, who reportedly confessed to thoughts of killing Nick's then-pregnant wife, Lauren.
== Career ==
=== 1997–1999: Music beginnings and self-titled debut album ===
Carter began his career as the lead singer of Dead End as a 7-year-old. He left the band after two years because he wanted to perform pop music, while the other members were interested in alternative rock.
Carter made his first solo appearance at age 9, singing The Jets' "Crush on You" when opening for the Backstreet Boys in Berlin in March 1997. The performance was followed by a record contract, and in the fall of 1997, he released his first single "Crush on You". Carter's self-titled debut studio album was released on December 1, 1997. The album achieved gold status in Canada, Denmark, Germany, Norway, and Spain, and was released in the United States on June 16, 1998.
=== 2000–2001: Aaron's Party (Come Get It), acting debut, and Oh Aaron ===
Carter's second studio album, Aaron's Party (Come Get It), was released in the United States on September 26, 2000, under the Jive label. The album sold more than three million copies in the United States and was certified 3× platinum by RIAA. Tracks included the hit singles, "I Want Candy", "Aaron's Party (Come Get It)", "That's How I Beat Shaq", and "Bounce", all of which received airplay on Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. He also made several guest appearances on Nickelodeon and performed as the opening act in several concerts for the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears' Oops!... I Did It Again Tour.
In March 2001, he made his acting debut, guest starring on an episode of the Disney Channel series Lizzie McGuire. That same month, he and fellow teen star Samantha Mumba performed a concert at MGM Studios live on Disney Channel, titled Aaron Carter and Samantha Mumba in Concert. Carter's part of the concert was released on DVD the same month as Aaron's Party: Live in Concert. In April 2001, he made his Broadway debut, playing JoJo the Who in the musical Seussical.
At the age of 13, Carter recorded his third studio album Oh Aaron, released on August 7, 2001, which featured his first duet recording with his brother Nick, and a song with the group No Secrets. Play Along Toys created an Aaron Carter doll in conjunction with the album's release. Oh Aaron went platinum that same year and a live concert at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was released to DVD as Oh Aaron: Live in Concert. His songs "Leave It Up to Me", "A.C.'s Alien Nation", and "Go Jimmy Jimmy" were used in the soundtrack for the 2001 film Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.
=== 2002–2008: Another Earthquake, Most Requested Hits, Saturday Night and House of Carters ===
Carter's fourth studio album, Another Earthquake!, was released on September 3, 2002, during the Rock, Rap and Retro Tour. The album featured the patriotic-themed "America A.O." and the ballad "Do You Remember". He guest-starred on three episodes of the Nickelodeon television series All That and also sang "Through My Own Eyes", the theme song to the PBS animated series Liberty's Kids, alongside Kayla Hinkle.
In 2002, Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager Lou Pearlman, alleging failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on Carter's 1998 album, which was released through Pearlman's label and production company Trans Continental. On March 13, 2003, Pearlman was declared in contempt of court for ignoring a court order to produce documents relating to royalty payments; however, the suit itself was settled out of court.
Carter's Most Requested Hits, a collection including tracks from his last three albums as well as a new single, "One Better", was released on November 3, 2003.
"Saturday Night" was released on March 22, 2005, and promoted by Carter that summer. The song was released by Trans Continental label, with Lou Pearlman as executive producer. The single was also featured in the soundtrack of the film Popstar, in which Carter starred. The direct-to-video film was based heavily on his own life as a performer. A real-life motocross racer, Carter also appeared in the 2005 film Supercross.
On March 21, 2006, Trans Continental filed a lawsuit against Carter with the Los Angeles County Superior Court, citing that Carter reneged on a recording deal. Carter signed the contract on December 7, 2004, when he was 17; his attorney argued that Carter had the right to "cancel or void various agreements" that were signed when he was a minor.
Carter and his siblings starred in a reality show, House of Carters, which ran from October to November 2006 on E!. The series featured all five Carter siblings reuniting to live in the same house.
=== 2009–2013: Dancing with the Stars and return to touring ===
In 2009, Carter joined season 9 of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with Karina Smirnoff; they finished in fifth place. During this time he also released some music online, including the single "Dance with Me" featuring Flo Rida.
On January 23, 2011, Carter's manager Johnny Wright announced that Carter entered a treatment facility "to heal some emotional and spiritual issues he was dealing with." After entering the facility, Carter's first message to his fans was, "The main thing in life is not to be afraid of being human." On February 10, 2011, it was announced that Carter had successfully completed a month of rehab at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California.
On November 7, 2011, Carter began starring in the off-Broadway production of the world's longest running musical, The Fantasticks, at the Snapple Theater Center in New York City. Carter was cast in the role of Matt, the play's central character.
In January 2012, Carter was one of eight celebrities participating in the Food Network reality series Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off. He was eliminated in the first episode.
In 2013, Carter kicked off his first tour in eight years, the After Party Tour. The tour ran from February to December 2013, and included over 150 shows in the United States and Canada.
=== 2014–2022: The Music Never Stopped, LØVË and posthumous releases ===
In June 2014, Carter went on an 11-city Canadian tour during which he performed new songs from his upcoming album. Carter also announced that he would be embarking on a worldwide tour entitled the Wonderful World Tour, named for a song titled "Wonderful World" off of his upcoming album. The tour included 50 dates and ran from September 2014 until January 2015. In July, Carter appeared on Good Day L.A., where he performed "Ooh Wee", a single featuring Pat SoLo. In February 2015, Carter released an EP through SoundCloud titled The Music Never Stopped.
On January 31, 2016, Carter released his music video for "Curious" under the name Kid Carter, co-directed by MDM Media's Michael D. Monroe, Ben Epstein, and himself.
In April 2016, Carter released the single "Fool's Gold". Another single, "Sooner or Later", was released in January 2017. Both songs appeared on the EP LØVË, released in February 2017, written by Carter, Jon Asher, Melanie Fontana, Taylor "Lakestreet Louie" Helgeson, and Michel Schulz, produced and independently released by Carter on his new venture Rakkaus Records. An album of the same name was released as his fifth studio album on February 16, 2018.
Two days after his death (see § Death below) on November 5, 2022, Blacklisted was released on all music platforms by its producers as a tribute to Carter. The album was originally to be released on December 7, which would have been Carter's 35th birthday. Its posthumous release was however criticized by Carter's management, who had not authorized the release. It was deleted during late November and is now unavailable. Some songs however were later re-released on an EP entitled The Prince of Pop by Carter's collaborator 3D Friends.
On April 5, 2024, a new posthumous release was announced. Entitled "Recovery", it was released on May 24.
== Personal life ==
=== Relationships ===
As a teenager, Carter dated several high-profile celebrities, including Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan. On September 17, 2006, at age 18, Carter became engaged to former beauty queen and Playboy model Kari Ann Peniche; he proposed to her on stage while performing at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Carter broke off the engagement after six days, saying his decision to propose was impulsive. He began dating Madison Parker in 2016; they broke up in August 2017.
Carter came out as bisexual in August 2017 through Twitter, and in December he made a guest appearance on the podcast LGBTQ&A to discuss both his career and sexuality. He reaffirmed his bisexuality publicly on at least one other occasion, but he said all his past relationships were with women.
Carter had a son who was born November 22, 2021, with then-fiancée Melanie Martin.
=== Finances ===
On November 22, 2013, Carter filed a bankruptcy petition to shed more than $3.5 million in debt, mostly taxes owed from the money made at the height of his popularity when he was a minor. The petition states that Carter owed the Internal Revenue Service $1.3 million in back taxes from his income in 2003. Carter settled all of his tax debt in 2014.
In March 2020, Carter set up an OnlyFans account, which is popular in the adult entertainment industry, to make money. Carter began charging $50 to $100 per nude photo, or $26 a month. PinkNews stated "the prices are steep and the content is bizarre", while Queerty stated: "The reviews of Aaron Carter's OnlyFans page are in and they're not good."
=== Health ===
In September 2017, Carter appeared on The Doctors, a syndicated health-focused talk show, to discuss public attention generated by his gaunt appearance and drug-related arrests. A series of tests revealed Carter did not have cancer or any sexually transmitted disease, but he did have a candida infection, which can be a sign of a weakened immune system. Carter tested negative for illegal drugs, but he tested positive for "a mixture of benzodiazepines with opioids", a potentially dangerous combination of prescription medications that Carter said he took for anxiety and sleep.
Carter was malnourished and underweight at 115 pounds (52 kg), and was advised to enter a drug rehabilitation program and remain under medical care; he later admitted himself to Alo House, a treatment center in Malibu, California. In February 2018, he reported improvement and that his weight was 160 pounds (73 kg). In 2019, Carter and his mother, Jane, appeared in the We TV reality series Marriage Bootcamp: Family Edition. The series focuses on attempting to repair strained relationships through unconventional therapy.
In a further appearance on The Doctors in 2019, Carter disclosed that he had been diagnosed with both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
=== Legal issues ===
In February 2008, Carter was arrested in Kimble County, Texas, when he was pulled over for speeding, and authorities found just under two ounces of marijuana in his car. In July 2017, Carter was arrested in Georgia on suspicion of driving under the influence and marijuana charges. He agreed to plead no contest to reckless driving and was placed on probation and, among other conditions, was ordered to perform community service and pay $1,500 in court fees and fines.
In August 2019, Carter was granted a restraining order against his ex-girlfriend, Russian model Lina Valentina, after she reportedly threatened to stab him. In March 2020, his girlfriend Melanie Martin was arrested in Los Angeles following an alleged domestic violence incident against him.
=== Controversies ===
In January 2020, German artist Jonas Jödicke tweeted that Carter was making unauthorized use of Jödicke's copyrighted artwork to promote merchandise. Carter replied on Twitter that Jödicke "should've taken it as a compliment". Following the incident, Jödicke was interviewed by Forbes, saying he was "absolutely amazed" at Carter's response. In June 2021, Carter agreed to pay Jödicke $12,500.
In August 2021, Carter was announced as a performer in the Las Vegas production of Naked Boys Singing!. He was let go before the show's debut because he refused to be vaccinated for COVID-19.
== Death ==
On November 5, 2022, Carter died at his home in Lancaster, California, at age 34. His body was found in his bathtub by a housekeeper. He was cremated, and his ashes were left in the care of his twin sister Angel. The cause of death was not immediately publicized, but the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner later ruled that Carter's death was accidental drowning after inhaling difluoroethane and taking alprazolam (Xanax).
Carter's ashes were interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
== Discography ==
=== Studio albums ===
Aaron Carter (1997)
Aaron's Party (Come Get It) (2000)
Oh Aaron (2001)
Another Earthquake! (2002)
Love (2018)
Blacklisted (2022)
Recovery (2024)
== Tours ==
Headlining
Party Tour (2000–2001)
Aaron's Winter Party (2002)
Rock, Rap and Retro Tour (2002)
Jukebox Tour (2003–2004)
Remix Tour (2005)
After Party Tour (2013)
Aaron Carter's Wonderful World Tour (2014)
Co-headlining
Kids Go Music Festival (1998) (with Take 5, No Authority, and 911)
Kids Go Christmas Festival (1998) (with R&B)
All That! Music and More Festival (1999) (with Monica, 98 Degrees, B*Witched, Tatyana Ali, 3rd Storee, and No Authority)
Radio Disney Live! 2001 World Tour (2001) (with Krystal Harris, Hoku, Baha Men, Myra, True Vibe, Jump5, Brooke Allison, Plus One, Kaci, Play, and A-Teens)
Pop 2000 Tour (2018–2020)
Opening act
Backstreet Boys: Live In Concert Tour (1997) (Germany, Switzerland, Austria)
Backstreet's Back Tour (1998) (United States, Canada)
Oops!... I Did It Again Tour (2000) (England, Germany)
Promotional
Eurasian Tour (1998)
Australian Tour (2000)
Wal-Mart Promo Tour (2000)
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
=== Television ===
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website
Aaron Carter at IMDb |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OTO_Melara_Mod_56 | OTO Melara Mod 56 | The OTO Melara Mod 56 is an Italian-made 105 mm pack howitzer built and developed by OTO Melara. It fires the standard US type M1 ammunition.
== History ==
The OTO Melara 105 mm Mod 56 began life in the 1950s to meet the requirement for a modern light-weight howitzer that could be used by the Italian Army's Alpini brigades mountain artillery regiments. That it remained in service with those units a full half century after its introduction is a testament to the gun's quality. The Mod 56 has a number of unique characteristics for a weapon of its caliber, including the ability for its crew to manhandle the gun (due to its light weight), and the capability of being used in the direct fire role. Being a pack howitzer, it is designed to be broken down into 12 parts, each of which can be transported easily.
Its ability to be "knocked-down" allows the sections to be transported a number of ways, although the original design was for mule-pack using special pack saddles. More often it is towed by a light vehicle such as a jeep or Land Rover. With the shield removed it can be carried inside an M113 armored personnel carrier. Its particular attraction to Western armies in the 1960s was that its light weight meant it could be lifted in one piece by helicopter, which made the gun popular with light artillery units in many countries as well as the more specialized mountain and airborne troops. Overall, the Mod 56 has served in more than 30 countries worldwide, of which a partial listing of the major operators is below.
As an added refinement to the gun's mass, the Mod 56 is built to be an artillery piece with a reputation of ease with which it can be assembled and then disassembled into twelve components within minutes. The gun's light weight did have the drawback that it lacked the robustness necessary for sustained operations. Australian and New Zealand gunners in South Vietnam found the weapon unsuitable for continuous operations. The guns were replaced by the sturdy US-made M101A1 after some two years. The lack of durability also led to their being carried on trucks for longer distances outside the combat zone. The Mod 56 offered limited protection to its crew.
The Chinese manufacturer NORINCO offers a version of the Model 56 pack howitzer and its associated ammunition.
In Commonwealth service, the gun was known simply as the "L5 pack howitzer" with L10 ordnance. However, its lack of range and the indifferent lethality of its ammunition led the UK to start development of its replacement, the L118 light gun, which provided British Gunners a significant advantage in range when facing the Argentine OTO Melaras during the Falklands war.
The gun became the standard equipment of the Allied Command Europe Mobile Force (AMF ACE Mobile Force (Land)) artillery, equipping the batteries provided by Canada, Belgium, Germany, Italy and the UK until 1975.
=== Combat service ===
Identified combat use includes:
Argentine Army 3rd and 4th Artillery Groups during the 1982 Falklands War
British Army during the Aden Emergency in South Yemen (1st Light Regiment Royal Horse Artillery and 19 Light Regiment RA) and Borneo (4, 6, 29 Cdo, 40, 45 and 95 Cdo Light Regiments RA)
Australian Army during the Malayan Emergency in Borneo and Malaya (102 Field Battery) and during the Vietnam War in 1965–1967 (and very limited use thereafter) by 101, 103, 105, 106, and 108 Field Batteries
Malaysian Army in Borneo and Malaysian Peninsular during the Second Malayan Emergency (1968–1989) also use during 2013 Lahad Datu standoff
Nigerian Army during Nigerian Civil War. Some were captured by Biafrans.
New Zealand Army deployed rotations of 4 guns during the Vietnam War (161 Battery of the 16th Field Regiment).
Ukrainian Army during the Russo-Ukrainian War (2022–present) in Bakhmut, Ukraine in March 2023
== Operators ==
=== Current operators (2024) ===
Argentina - 64 (Army) and 13 (Naval Infantry)
Bangladesh - 170
Botswana - 6
Brazil - 60
Chile - 104
Ecuador - 24
Kenya - 7
Malaysia - 100
Peru - 24
Philippines - 100 (Army) 20 (Marine Corps)
San Marino - 2
Spain - 148 (Army) and 24 (Naval Infantry)
Ukraine - 6 donated to Ukraine by Spain. At least one was lost in combat.
Venezuela - 40
Zambia - 18
=== Former operators ===
Australia
Austria
Belgium - 2 in 2003
Biafra - captured from Nigeria
Burkina Faso - 2 in 2003
Canada - 22 in 2003
China - 2 in 2003
Cyprus - 54 in 2003
Djibouti - 1 in 2003
Ethiopia - 2 in 2003
France - 28 in 2003
Germany - 19 in 2003
Ghana
Greece - 18
India - 50
Indonesia - 10 in 2003
Iraq - 118 in 2003
Iran - 12 in 2003
Italy - 18
Kuwait - 6 in 2003
Morocco - 16 in 2003
Nepal - 14
New Zealand - 8 in 2003
Nigeria - 50
Boko Haram: At least 1 captured from Nigeria
Pakistan - 213
Portugal - 24 in 2003
Saudi Arabia - 24 in 2003
Somalia - 89 in 2003
Sudan
Thailand - 12
United Arab Emirates - 18 in 2003
United Kingdom - 52 in 2003
Yemen - 4 in 2003
Yugoslavia. After its dissolution the guns come under control of the new states, as follows:
Bosnia and Herzegovina - 3 in 2003
Croatia - 2 in 2003
Macedonia - 2 in 2003
Serbia and Montenegro Federation - 17 in 2003
Zimbabwe - 9 in 2003
== References ==
Notes
== Further reading ==
https://www.museonazionalealpini.it/index.php/it/pillole-di-storia/111-obice-105-14-mod-56-parte-prima Original reports of tests conducted. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract:_The_Art_of_Design#External_links | Abstract: The Art of Design | Abstract: The Art of Design is a Netflix original documentary series highlighting artists in the field of design. It was released on Netflix on February 10, 2017. The series was created by former Wired editor-in-chief Scott Dadich.
The first season profiled illustrator Christoph Niemann, Nike shoe designer Tinker Hatfield, stage designer Es Devlin, architect Bjarke Ingels, automotive designer Ralph Gilles, graphic designer Paula Scher, photographer Platon, and interior designer Ilse Crawford.
In 2019, Netflix announced that the series had been renewed for a second season, which was released on September 25, 2019.
== Episodes ==
=== Season 1 (2017) ===
=== Season 2 (2019) ===
== References ==
== External links ==
Abstract: The Art of Design on Netflix
Abstract: The Art of Design at IMDb |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Boury#:~:text=Vincent%20Boury%20(born%2021%20June,a%20French%20table%20tennis%20player.&text=He%20represented%20France%20at%20the,St%C3%A9phane%20Molliens%20to%20win%20gold. | Vincent Boury | Vincent Boury (born 21 June 1969 in Colmar) is a French table tennis player.
He represented France at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, in class 2, and beat fellow French competitor Stéphane Molliens to win gold.
He had previously won a silver medal at the 1996 Summer Paralympics, and a bronze at the 2000 Games. He has also been vice-world champion in 1998, 2002 and 2006, and won the team event at the 2002 World Cup.
Boury works as a security engineer.
== References ==
== External links ==
Vincent Boury at the International Paralympic Committee
Vincent Boury at Équipe de France (in French)
Vincent Boury at France Paralympique (in French) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehbooba_Mufti#Political_career | Mehbooba Mufti | Mehbooba Bur Mufti Sayed; (born 22 May 1959) is an Indian politician and leader of the Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party;(PDP), who served as the 9th chief minister of the erstwhile state Jammu and Kashmir from 4 April 2016 to 19 June 2018. She is the first female chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. After the revocation of Article 370 of the constitution in August 2019, Mufti was detained without any charges at first and later under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act.
Mufti was the first woman to hold the office of chief minister in the Jammu and Kashmir. She formed a coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir jointly with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She resigned in June 2018 after the BJP withdrew from the coalition.
Mufti was the president of the PDP and was a member of the Indian parliament, representing Anantnag in the 16th Lok Sabha before she was sworn in as the chief minister of the Jammu and Kashmir. She also represented Anantnag in the 14th Lok Sabha (2004–09) and has also been a Leader of Opposition in Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.
== Early life ==
She is the daughter of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Gulshan Ara, born in 1959 in Akhran Nowpora, J&K, India. She graduated in English literature from Government College for Women in Jammu, and has a law degree from the University of Kashmir. Post 1989, she shifted to N. Delhi and joined the Bombay Mercantile Bank, after which she worked with East West Airlines, before moving back to J&K. Mehbooba Mufti married Javed Iqbal Shah in 1984, but they later divorced. Her Ex Husband is the first cousin of her father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. This means that, before their marriage, Mehbooba Mufti was Javed Iqbal Shah's niece in relation. She has two daughters, Iltija and Irtiqa. Her ex-husband is a political analyst, an animal-rights activist, and was briefly with National Conference party.
== Political career ==
When elections for the state assembly were held in 1996, Mehbooba became one of the most popular members elected from Bijbehara on an Indian National Congress ticket. Her father had returned to the Congress, which he had left in 1987, angry at the alliance that party had formed with its traditional rival in the state, the National Conference. She later served as the leader of the opposition in the assembly, taking on the government of chief minister Farooq Abdullah with asperity.
She resigned her assembly seat and went on to contest the parliamentary elections in 1999 from Srinagar, where she lost to incumbent member Omar Abdullah. She won the Pahalgam seat in the state assembly from South Kashmir, defeating Rafi Ahmed Mir, when assembly elections were held again in 2002. She was elected to the Lok Sabha from Anantnag seat in 2004 and 2014. She defeated Mirza Mehboob Beg who was the incumbent MP in 2014 Lok Sabha Elections.
After her father's death in January 2016, when he was heading the coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir, she took forward the same alliance with Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), the second time the BJP and the PDP formed a government in Jammu and Kashmir. On 4 April 2016, she took the oath and became the first woman Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
On 25 June 2016, she won an Assembly seat in a by-election in Anantnag with the highest margin in any recent elections there and thereafter focussed on settling of Rohingyas.
On 19 June 2018, she resigned as chief minister of Kashmir. Her government had been an alliance between the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) and the BJP, but there was a rift in the alliance in February 2018, when two BJP ministers expressed public support for a man who was alleged to have raped and killed an eight-year-old girl in Kathua District. The BJP's National General Secretary, Ram Madhav, announced the end of the alliance between the BJP and the PDP, and said that it was because of the deteriorating security situation. Mehbooba and the state government had tried suspending security operations for Ramadan, but the militants had not reciprocated, and 30 people were killed during the ceasefire. So the BJP withdrew from the alliance with the PDP so that the Indian government could get tough with the militants. When the alliance between the PDP and the BJP ended, Mehbooba resigned as chief minister. Mehbooba said "the muscular policy will not work in Kashmir".
She contested 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Anantnag seat but lost it to Hasnain Masoodi of National Conference, and later also lost the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Anantanag - Rajouri seat to Mian Altaf Ahmed Larvi of National Conference [1] with 2.3 lakh votes.
== Detention ==
On 5 August 2019, she was detained by the Central government. Her daughter Iltija Mufti took over her mother's Twitter account on the 46th day of detention. In November, Iltija Mufti wrote a letter to the Srinagar Deputy Commissioner to shift her mother to a place better equipped for the valley's winter.
In February 2020 she was further detained under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act. She was released on 13 October 2020.
On 25 November 2020, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti was detained by Jammu and Kashmir Police and was not allowed to visit South Kashmir's Pulwama to meet the family of senior PDP leader Waheed Para, who was arrested by the National Investigating Agency earlier that week.
Mufti said that her daughter Iltija Mufti has also been placed under house arrest.
== See also ==
Mehbooba Mufti ministry (2016–2018)
== Notes ==
== References ==
== External links ==
Official biographical sketch in Parliament of India website
State Assembly hall security remove opposition People's Democratic Party
Jolly, Asit (15 May 2017). "Mehbooba Mufti under Siege. Can She Stem the Rot?". India Today. pp. 30–38. ("Buffeted by Insurgency and Dissent within Her Party, She Needs All the Help She Can Get from a Reluctant Centre.") indiatoday.intoday.on 4 May 2017 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eger_V._Murphree#:~:text=Among%20his%20awards%20were%20the%20Perkin%20Medal%20in%201950 | Eger V. Murphree | Eger Vaughan Murphree (November 3, 1898 – October 29, 1962) was an American chemist, best known for his co-invention of the process of fluid catalytic cracking.
== Biography ==
Murphree was born on November 3, 1898, in Bayonne, New Jersey, moving as a child to Kentucky. He graduated from Kentucky University with degrees in chemistry and mathematics in 1920, and a master's degree in chemistry in 1921. Murphree played college football as Kentucky as a tackle and was captain of the 1920 Kentucky Wildcats football team.
After teaching physics and math and coaching football for a year at Paris High School in Paris, Illinois, Murphree spent several years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a staff assistant and research associate in the Chemical Engineering Department. In 1930, he joined what was then Standard Oil of New Jersey.
During the Second World War Murphree was a member of the committee that organized the Manhattan Project and was widely recognized as a leader in the fields of synthetic toluene, butadiene and hydrocarbon synthesis, fluid cat cracking, fluid hydroforming, and fluid coking.
He was also involved in the early Manhattan Project as a member of the S-1 Section. Murphree was head of the centrifuge project (soon abandoned) and overall engineer for the Manhattan Project in June 1942. He struck Deputy District Engineer Kenneth Nichols as "more like the industrial engineers I was accustomed to dealing with. He was stable, conservative, thorough and precise". He was to have been on the Lewis Committee reviewing the entire project in November 1942, but was sick. He (and James Conant) disagreed with the committee recommendation to build only a small electromagnetic plant, and a full-size plant was built. In the 1950s he served in the Defense Department on scheduling missiles and coordinating the programs of the three services (as Nichols had done earlier).
From 1947 to 1962 he served as Vice President of research and engineering Standard Oil of New Jersey, the company later known as Exxon.
Among his awards were the Perkin Medal in 1950 and the Industrial Research Institute (IRI) Medal in 1953. The E. V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry awarded annually by the American Chemical Society is named in his honor.
Murphree died on October 29, 1962, at Overlook Hospital in Summit, New Jersey of coronary thrombosis.
== Legacy ==
Murphree was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1999.
== References ==
== External links ==
Eger V. Murphree
U.S. patent 2,451,804 Method of and Apparatus for Contacting Solids and Gases, October 19, 1948
Eger V. Murphree—Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Space:_1999_episodes | List of Space: 1999 episodes | Space: 1999, a British science fiction television series, ran for 48 episodes from 1975 to 1977. The first series of 24 episodes (often referred to as "Year One") premiered in the UK on 4 September 1975, though the first episode had begun production in 1973.
The various ITV franchises showed the episodes in different orders. The airdates shown below reflect the order of first UK broadcast. These dates and order are different from those in Australia, where the series premiered earlier, in July 1975.
== Series 1 (1975–1976) ==
=== Episodes ===
=== Notes ===
The description for "Black Sun" is modified from the original ITC summary, which states that the Moon is on collision course with an asteroid that turns into a black sun. In the episode, an asteroid changes course and is destroyed by what the Alphans discover to be a "black sun" or black hole.
== Series 2 (1976–1977) ==
=== Episodes ===
=== Notes ===
The Year Two episodes aired on Associated Television over the course of more than a year. In some regions of the UK, the final episode, "The Dorcons", did not air until the summer of 1978. In others, it did not appear until the 1998 BBC Two repeat run.
Star Trek also has an episode titled "The Immunity Syndrome".
== References ==
== External links ==
Space: 1999 at IMDb
Space: 1999 at epguides.com
List of Space: 1999 episodes (Year One) at Fanderson.org.uk
List of Space: 1999 episodes (Year Two) at Fanderson.org.uk
List of Space: 1999 episodes (Year One) at Space1999.net
List of Space: 1999 episodes (Year Two) at Space1999.net
List of Space: 1999 episodes at CliveBanks.co.uk
List of Space: 1999 episodes at TheVervoid.com |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saboy%C3%A1 | Saboyá | Saboyá is a town and municipality in the Western Boyacá Province, part of the Colombian department of Boyacá.
== Etymology ==
Saboyá is an Italian name brought by European colonizers.
== History ==
Before the Spanish conquest of the Muisca on the central highlands of the Colombian Andes, Saboyá was ruled by a cacique with the same name.
The first encomendero of Saboyá was Pedro de Galeano, brother of Martín Galeano and soldier in the army of Hernán Pérez de Quesada, brother of Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada. Modern Saboyá was founded on October 4, 1556.
Simón Bolívar visited Saboyá on three occasions: January 2, 1821, September 6, 1827 and June 9, 1828.
== Economy ==
Main economical activities in Saboyá are agriculture and livestock farming. Among the agricultural products potatoes, maize and the fruits curuba, blackberries, tree tomatoes and strawberries are cultivated.
== References == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jock_Zonfrillo#:~:text=Italy%20in%202023.-,Death,check%20at%20Zagame's%20House%20hotel. | Jock Zonfrillo | Barry "Jock" Zonfrillo (4 August 1976 – 1 May 2023) was a Scottish chef, television presenter and restaurateur. He was the founder of the Orana Foundation and a judge on MasterChef Australia.
== Early life ==
Zonfrillo was born in Glasgow, Scotland and raised in Ayr. His father, Ivan, was a barber and his mother, Sarah, was a hairdresser. His mother's family is Scottish from Dalmellington, Ayrshire, while his father is from Scauri, Italy. He had an older sister, Carla. Zonfrillo attended Belmont Academy in Ayr.
== Career ==
=== Rise to head chef ===
Zonfrillo started working in kitchens at the age of 12 as a part-time dishwasher at the restaurant in which his older sister was waitressing. He started learning to cook at the restaurant three weeks later when one of the chefs had a motorbike accident. Zonfrillo left school at age 15 and started an apprenticeship in the kitchens of The Turnberry Hotel. He stated that he started taking drugs, including heroin at this time. In 1993, at the age of 16, Zonfrillo was named Young Scottish Chef of the Year.
After completing his apprenticeship, Zonfrillo got a job at the one-Michelin-starred Arkle Restaurant in Chester. While working at Arkle, he claimed that he started selling drugs to fund his heroin addiction. Zonfrillo was fired from the restaurant after a foul-mouthed outburst that was overheard in the dining room.
Zonfrillo next travelled to London where he worked for Marco Pierre White at The Restaurant Marco Pierre White. He also worked at Quaglino's and at Chapter One with David Cavalier before heading to Australia in 1994 for 12 months. As a traveller, he was rejected by many of the restaurants he wanted to work at until he was hired by Dietmar Sawyere at Restaurant 41 in Sydney. Starting out as a line cook, Zonfrillo rose to become sous-chef after two months.
When his visa expired, Zonfrillo returned to London and worked for three months at Gordon Ramsay's Aubergine. He subsequently resumed working for White at the Oak Room and Les Saveurs, before joining Pharmacy. Zonfrillo was appointed to his first head chef position, at age 22, at The Tresanton Hotel in Cornwall.
=== Move to Australia ===
Zonfrillo immigrated to Australia in 2000. He stated that he quit heroin cold turkey upon arrival in Sydney, and remained clean since then. He became head chef of Restaurant 41 where he began using Australian native ingredients in his cooking. In 2002, Zonfrillo set fire to the pants of an apprentice chef for working too slowly. The chef, Martin Krammer, sued Zonfrillo after suffering burns to his hand and was awarded damages in excess of $75,000 in 2007. In May 2007, Zonfrillo was declared bankrupt after a creditor's petition from Krammer was successful in the Federal Magistrates Court. According to Krammer, "He [Zonfrillo] never paid me a cent."
Zonfrillo was fired from Restaurant 41 after the incident. He started importing and selling kitchen equipment and doing some consultancy, then briefly worked at the Austral after moving to Adelaide. In 2011, Zonfrillo was named head chef at Penfolds Magill Estate Restaurant in South Australia but left after 18 months.
=== Restaurants ===
In November 2013, he opened Orana and Street ADL in Adelaide replacing Street ADL with Bistro Blackwood in September 2017. In August 2017, Orana was named Australia's 2018 Restaurant of the Year by Gourmet Traveller magazine; the same year Zonfrillo was named Australia's 2018 Hottest Chef in The Australian. In October 2018, Orana was named Australia's 2019 Restaurant of the Year by The Good Food Guide, as well as being a three hatted restaurant in the 2019 and 2020 Chef Hat Awards.
In 2016 and 2017, Zonfrillo ran a fixed food truck called Nonna Mallozzi, serving Italian food. Zonfrillo opened a bar called Mallozzi in December 2018. He closed it in July 2019 after posting losses exceeding $140,000 in the time it was open. In late 2019, Bistro Blackwood closed, followed by Orana in March 2020. On 5 October 2020, the companies which operated the restaurants entered into voluntary administration, with substantial unpaid debts, amounting to approximately $3.2 million. A preliminary report filed by the administrators with ASIC in October 2020, recorded that initial investigations were being undertaken into whether the restaurant companies were trading while insolvent, if there had been unfair preferences or potential breaches of director duties, and concerning related party loans. Zonfrillo also had to sell his family home in the Adelaide Hills after the closure of Orana.
=== The Orana Foundation ===
In 2016, Zonfrillo started The Orana Foundation, to preserve historical cooking techniques and ingredients of Indigenous Australians. The foundation was awarded The Good Food Guide Food for Good Award in October 2017. One of the foundation's projects was a database of 1,443 Aboriginal food plants created in partnership with the University of Adelaide. Launched in September 2020, the database provided information about the plants' nutritional profile, taste, flavour, and optimal methods of preparation and cooking.
Questions were raised by The Australian in August 2020 regarding Zonfrillo's management of the foundation. Zonfrillo launched defamation proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia against the newspaper. The Australian's publisher Nationwide News settled the court case. An apology was printed in The Australian newspaper on 17 December 2020 and published on their website.
=== Television ===
In 2014, Zonfrillo hosted the Discovery Channel show Nomad Chef which saw him travel to communities in 10 countries to learn how they gather ingredients and cook. In 2015, he hosted the cooking reality television series Restaurant Revolution. In 2016, Zonfrillo co-hosted Chef Exchange with chef Qu Jianmin from Adelaide's sister city Qingdao. Running for two seasons, the show focused on the two chefs exploring each other's food and wine cultures.
In October 2019, Zonfrillo was announced as one of the new judges for MasterChef Australia, alongside Melissa Leong and Andy Allen. He had previously appeared as a guest chef on the show across three seasons.
In July 2020, Zonfrillo was announced as one of the judges for Junior MasterChef Australia in 2020.
=== Other work ===
Zonfrillo was programming director of the Tasting Australia food festival from 2016 to 2019.
In July 2021, Zonfrillo began selling "worry beads" bracelets with skulls on them for up to $500 each, under the brand Caim.
=== Memoir ===
On 28 July 2021, Simon & Schuster published Zonfrillo's memoir, Last Shot. A subsequent feature in The Sydney Morning Herald questioned his stories, notably his claims of having visited "hundreds of Indigenous communities", as well as stories of his drug use. Marco Pierre White, referred to as a father figure in the book, stated that "almost everything he has written about me is untrue". Simon & Schuster replied that the book was "a historical account written from the personal knowledge of the subject writing it."
== Personal life ==
Zonfrillo met his first wife, Kelly, in Sydney in 1996. They separated in 2002.
On 1 January 2017, Zonfrillo married his third wife, Lauren Fried. The couple met on Twitter in October 2014. In February 2018, Fried and Zonfrillo had a son who was born two months premature and weighed only 1.2 kg. Fried and Zonfrillo had a daughter in October 2020. Zonfrillo had two other daughters from his two previous marriages.
After the closure of his restaurants, Zonfrillo and his family relocated to Melbourne around March 2020. Prior to his death, the family resided in Carlton and moved to Rome, Italy in 2023.
Daily Mail Australia reported that he had been battling bowel cancer since 2021, and that when he was not filming MasterChef, he was receiving treatment for the disease.
== Death ==
Zonfrillo died in Melbourne, Australia, on 1 May 2023, at age 46. His body was found after police were called to conduct a welfare check at Zagame's House hotel. There was no immediate confirmation of his cause of death, but the police were not treating the death as suspicious and were preparing a report for the coroner. The 15th season of MasterChef Australia, which Zonfrillo had already filmed, was scheduled to premiere on 1 May 2023 but was postponed to 7 May. It was preceded by a special episode of The Sunday Project reflecting on Zonfrillo's life. His funeral was held at the Macquarie Park Cemetery and Crematorium on 13 May 2023 and attended by around 200 people.
== Recognitions ==
1993 Young Scottish Chef of the Year – The Federation of Chefs Scotland
2014 South Australian Best New Restaurant and South Australian Restaurant of the Year – The Advertiser Food Awards
2015 South Australian Restaurant of the Year – The Advertiser Food Awards
2015 Chef of The Year – Restaurant & Catering Awards
2015 and 2016 Australia's Hot 50 Restaurants – The Australian
2017 Hottest Chef & Hottest South Australian Restaurant – The Australian
2017 Food for Good Award – The Good Food Guide
2018 Australian Restaurant of the Year – Gourmet Traveller magazine
2018 Australia's Hottest Chef – The Australian
2018 Australian Food for Good Award – The Good Food Guide
2018 Basque Culinary World Prize – Basque Culinary Center
2019 Australian Restaurant of the Year – The Good Food Guide.
== Filmography ==
== References == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_Medal | Darwin Medal | The Darwin Medal is one of the medals awarded by the Royal Society for "distinction in evolution, biological diversity and developmental, population and organismal biology".
In 1885, the International Darwin Memorial Fund was transferred to the Royal Society. The fund was devoted for promotion of biological research, and was used to establish the Darwin Medal. The medal was first awarded to Alfred Russel Wallace in 1890 for "his independent origination of the theory of the origin of species by natural selection." The medal commemorates the work of English biologist Charles Darwin (1809–1882). Darwin, most famous for his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, was a fellow of the Royal Society, and had received the Royal Medal in 1853 and the Copley Medal in 1864.
The diameter of the Darwin Medal is 2+1⁄4 inch (5.7 cm). It is made of silver. The obverse has Darwin's portrait, while the reverse has a wreath of plants with Darwin's name in Latin, "Carolus Darwin". It is surrounded by the years of his birth and death in Roman numerals (MDCCCIX and MDCCCLXXXII). The general design of the medal was by John Evans, the president of the Royal Numismatic Society.
Since its creation the Darwin Medal has been awarded over 60 times. Among the recipients are Francis Darwin, Charles Darwin's son, and two married couples: Jack and Yolande Heslop-Harrison in 1982 and Peter and Rosemary Grant in 2002. Initially accompanied by a grant of £100, the medal is currently awarded with a grant of £2,000. All citizens who have been residents of the United Kingdom, Commonwealth of Nations, or the Republic of Ireland for more than three years are eligible for the medal. The medal was awarded biennially from 1890 until 2018; since then it is awarded annually.
== List of recipients ==
== See also ==
Awards, lectures and medals of the Royal Society
== References ==
== External links ==
Media related to Royal Society at Wikimedia Commons |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Annabel_Goldsmith#Background_and_image | Lady Annabel Goldsmith | Lady Annabel Goldsmith (née Vane-Tempest-Stewart, formerly Birley; 11 June 1934 – 18 October 2025) was an English socialite, author, and political activist. She was the eponym of Annabel's, the exclusive Mayfair nightclub founded by her first husband, businessman Mark Birley. A prominent London society hostess during the 1960s and 1970s, she attracted media attention for her relationship with financier Sir James Goldsmith, which began during her marriage to Birley and later led to their own marriage. In her later years, she published memoirs and supported political and philanthropic causes.
== Background and image ==
Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart was born on 11 June 1934 in London, the second of three children in an Anglo-Irish aristocratic family with roots in Ulster and County Durham. She was the younger daughter of Robin Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 8th Marquess of Londonderry, and Romaine Combe, whose father was Major Boyce Combe of Surrey.
She became Lady Annabel as a young girl in February 1949, when her father became marquess on the death of his father, the controversial Ulster Unionist politician The 7th Marquess of Londonderry. Her mother died of cancer in 1951, but the illness was kept a secret by her parents. She later said, "Cancer was such a taboo then – Mummy didn't even tell her sisters." Subsequently, her father became a chronic alcoholic and died from liver failure at the age of 52 on 17 October 1955. "My father was a really wonderful man but after my mother died, we couldn't talk to him as we had done before. He couldn't face life without her and he turned into Jekyll and Hyde almost overnight", she explained.
She was named after her mother's favourite song, "Miss Annabel Lee", and grew up as a country child at her family's former estates of Mount Stewart, Wynyard Park, and Londonderry House. She was educated at Southover Manor School in Sussex and Cuffy's Tutorial College in Oxford. Awkward and shy in her youth, she was an avid reader, equestrian, and a Girl Guide for the Bullfinch Patrol. She transformed from an unconfident and self-described "skinny, gauche young girl" into a socialite during the 1950s and 1960s. Queen Elizabeth II attended her coming-out ball in 1952. As part of the London social circle, she was known for her sense of humour, down-to-earth personality, and love of children and dogs. She was never a drinker. She chain-smoked until the age of 40.
== Personal life ==
Lady Annabel was the mother of Rupert, Robin, India Jane Birley and Jemima, Zac, and Ben Goldsmith. She had referred to herself as "an incredible mother, rather a good mistress, but not a very good wife". With six children and five miscarriages, her primary vocation was motherhood, which prompted her to say: "I'm not judgmental about women who work, but I was so besotted with my children I never wanted them out of my sight." She was also considered a mother figure by her nieces, Ladies Cosima and Sophia Vane-Tempest-Stewart, and Diana, Princess of Wales. As the wife and ex-wife of two unfaithful men, she explained her marriage philosophy to the Times in 1987: "I can never understand the wives who really mind, the wives who set such store by fidelity. How extraordinary, and how mad they are. Because, surely, if the man goes out and he comes back, it's not actually doing any harm."
=== Annabel's and the Birleys ===
On 10 March 1954, at the age of 19, she married businessman Mark Birley at the Caxton Hall register office in London. Birley famously paid tribute to her by naming in her honour his nightclub, Annabel's, which opened on 4 June 1963 and was run by Birley for more than forty years. During the 1960s, Lady Annabel was a constant presence at Annabel's, known as one of the grandest nightclubs of the sixties and seventies, where she entertained guests ranging from Ted and Robert F. Kennedy to Frank Sinatra, Prince Charles, Richard Nixon, and Muhammad Ali. "I used to be there every night, even when I had three small children to take to school the next day. It was like a second home to me", she recalled.
She raised her three children with Birley at Pelham Cottage. Her eldest son Rupert, who was born on 20 August 1955, studied at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford. In 1986, he disappeared off the coast of Togo in West Africa, where he was presumed drowned. "There really is nothing worse than losing a child – and there is something special about your first-born", she said, adding that, "Because I was so young when Rupert was born ... we were more like good friends than mother and son." Her second son Robin (b. 19 February 1958) is a businessman, whose face was disfigured as a child when he was mauled by a tigress at John Aspinall's private zoo. Having let him go near the pregnant tigress, Lady Annabel said, "It was my own fault. I was, am, angry with myself." Her first daughter India Jane (born 14 January 1961), the granddaughter of society portrait painter Sir Oswald Birley, is an artist.
The Birleys separated in 1972 and later divorced in 1975 after the birth of her second child with James Goldsmith. "Our breakup was because of Mark's infidelities, not because I fell in love with Jimmy", she told Vanity Fair writer Maureen Orth after Birley's death. Revealing that Birley had numerous other girlfriends from the beginning of their relationship, she added: "I think he was absolutely incapable of being faithful. He was a serial adulterer. Like a butterfly, he had to seduce every woman."
Despite their divorce, the two remained best friends, talking to each other every day and holidaying together until Birley's death in August 2007. Birley said they were "the true loves of each other's lives".
=== Goldsmith affair and remarriage ===
In 1964, she embarked on a decade-long extramarital affair with Sir James Goldsmith, a member of the Goldsmith family. Though both she and Goldsmith, who was then married to his second wife Ginette Lery, believed that the affair would be a passing fling, it soon gained her notoriety in London's gossip columns as a modern mistress. She was eventually coaxed into having his children by their friend John Aspinall, who was also a former friend of Mark Birley who introduced her to Goldsmith.
While still legally married to Birley, she gave birth to Jemima (b. 30 January 1974) and Zac (b. 20 January 1975). Her last child Ben Goldsmith was born on 28 October 1980 at 46, after two consecutive miscarriages. The children were raised in Ormeley Lodge in Ham, London. The half-Jewish and half-Catholic Goldsmith was an occasional presence in their lives as he divided time between three families. In 1978, Goldsmith and Lady Annabel married solely to legitimise their children.
Goldsmith moved to New York with his new mistress Laure Boulay de la Meurthe, daughter of Alfred, Comte Boulay de la Meurthe, in 1981 and spent the last years of his life mostly in France and Mexico. He became known for quoting Sacha Guitry's words, "If you marry your mistress you create a job vacancy." Often wrongly credited with the quote, Goldsmith admitted, "I quoted him at dinner, and it was pinned on me. I don't mind. ... I just don't want to claim what's not mine." In 1997, she and her youngest three children inherited a portion of Goldsmith's wealth, estimated varyingly at £1.6 and $1.7–$2.4 billion.
She resided in Ormeley Lodge, a 6-acre (2.4 ha) Georgian mansion on the edge of Richmond Park, with two Grand Basset Griffon Vendéens, Daisy and Lily, and three Norfolk terriers, Barney, Boris and Bindy. In 2003, she remarked on her children's varied marital patterns by observing, "All my children with James marry young and breed, and my children with Mark do the opposite."
=== Later life and death ===
Lady Annabel had fourteen grandchildren. She spent part of each year at her 250-acre (1.0 km2) organic farm in the hills above Benahavís and had a 1930s holiday home by the seaside in Bognor Regis, West Sussex. Asked about her regrets in life, in 2004, she confessed wishing that she had, instead of marrying twice, been "a one-man woman".
Lady Annabel died on 18 October 2025, at the age of 91.
== Activism and philanthropy ==
Lady Annabel was president of the Richmond Park branch of the Royal Society of St George, a patriotic outreach society aimed to motivate youth. She was a donor to and supporter of the Countryside Alliance, the environmental charity The Soil Association, and African Solutions to African Problems (ASAP), which works to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa. As an animal lover, she was also one of the patrons of the Dogs Trust and a supporter of the Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, along with being vice-president of the British Show Pony Society.
She had an early interest in journalism but declined a low-level position at the Daily Mail at age 19 to get married instead. She contributed opinion editorials to national newspapers The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph, among others.
Inspired by Hungarian Premier Imre Nagy's radio address during the Hungarian Revolution, in November 1956, she and Birley volunteered with the Save the Children organisation in Vienna. She organised charitable donations and travelled daily to look after refugees who crossed the Austrian border into the frontier town of Andau. In May 1997, she campaigned with her second husband in Putney, the constituency unsuccessfully contested by Goldsmith for his Referendum Party. She continued to support her husband's ideas, like the single currency referendum, after his death as part of the Referendum Movement, which was headed by Paul Sykes and Lord McAlpine of West Green and of which she became honorary president.
In January 1999, she launched the Democracy Movement, of which she was president and her son Robin was chairman until 2004. Starting from 12 January 2001, the organisation launched a £500,000 advertising and leafleting campaign to expose the parliamentary votes of pro-Brussels candidates in 120 "target" seats before the May general elections. The Democracy Movement released two million pamphlets carrying gloom-ridden headlines about a European state and published full page local newspaper advertisements in the constituencies of 70 Labour MPs, 35 Liberal Democrats, six Conservatives and three Scottish National Party candidates. Describing the campaign as an effort "in memory of Jimmy", she said:
I'm not anti-European – my husband was half European and my children are a quarter French. I just don't want to be governed by Brussels, and I don't think people want to give up their sovereignty. Jimmy used to describe it as sitting at the top of the mountain watching a train crash – that was like us heading for the European superstate.
On 17 December 2007, she testified at the inquest into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, where she denied the rumour that the princess was in love with and/or pregnant by Dodi Fayed. "She was in love with Hasnat Khan. I felt she was still on the rebound from Hasnat Khan... She might have been having a wonderful time with him, I'm sure, but I thought her remark that she needed marriage like a rash meant that she was not serious about it", Lady Annabel told the jury.
== Books ==
In March 2004, Weidenfeld & Nicolson published her memoirs Annabel: An Unconventional Life, which recounted her life from a pre-World War II aristocratic childhood and her glamorous social circle of the 1960s to her status as an active grandmother. The book was serialised in The Mail on Sunday. On the promotion tour, she gave numerous interviews and participated in a discussion with historian Andrew Roberts at the annual Cheltenham Festival of Literature in April 2004. A Daily Telegraph profile observed that, "What seems to have kept Annabel afloat is her almost naive ability to let bygones be bygones". Claudia FitzHerbert's review in the same newspaper denounced the autobiography as "woodenly hilarious" and "disappointingly vague".
David Chapman, reviewing the book for the Newsquest Media Group Newspapers, concluded, "This is a decidedly funny memoir that includes the scrapes and japes of nob culture." Lorne Jackson of the Sunday Mercury was totally dismissive of what he called "a dull memoir", stating: "This could have all been explained in one page, possibly two if the type was particularly large." The Sunday Times commented that, "Annabel comes across as a decent woman ... but her writing is flat, with a few too many clumsy constructions, and her story lacks drama, even when terrible things happen to her." Biographer Selina Hastings called it "a well-ordered, decently written book," while the Evening Standard wrote, "Goldsmith herself comes across as fun and warm, a good sport, if sometimes strangely submissive and a little overfond of her own breasts." Annabel became a No.1 London best-seller for non-fiction. Nationally, the memoirs reached the top ten non-fiction best-sellers in England, fluctuating from No. 7 to No. 4 and then No. 6.
She followed her autobiography, two years later in September 2006, by ghost-writing her pet dog Copper's autobiography in the name of Copper: A Dog's Life. Her daughter India Jane illustrated the book. Copper was originally bought by the Goldsmiths as a reward to their daughter Jemima for passing her Common Entrance Examination, but he remained in Lady Annabel's care for most of his life and had an adventurous time in Richmond. "Amid tough competition, he was probably the greatest character I ever knew", she told The Daily Telegraph. The mongrel, who died in 1998, was famed for travelling by bus, chasing joggers and visiting a Richmond pub, the Dysart Arms.
Her literary efforts originated after the experience, according to her, of a life-defining moment on 29 December 2000. She, her son Benjamin, daughter Jemima and her two sons, plus her niece Lady Cosima Somerset and her two children were travelling to Kenya, when a passenger on their British Airways plane stormed into the cockpit and tried to seize the controls. The autopilot on the flight to Nairobi became temporarily disengaged and the jumbo was knocked off course, abruptly diving and plunging 17,000 feet (5,200 m) below. "Nobody on that plane thought, 'am I going to die?'" she later recalled. "They all thought, 'we are going to die'. It was horrible, horrible." This near-death incident was credited by Lady Annabel as the catalyst for her writings. "I had always thought that I would write a book", she claimed, "but writing my memoirs didn't really come into my head until after that flight." In the introduction to Annabel, she wrote:
Shortly after the accident, with an awareness of how close my children and their children came to being denied their future, an understanding of the fragility of my own hold on life and a profound appreciation for my own past, I decided to write this book.
Her third book, No Invitation Required: The Pelham Cottage Years, was released in November 2009. The book is composed of "intimate and perceptive essays [and] pen-portraits of some of the extraordinary figures that entered the Birley and Goldsmith circles – among them, Lord Lambton, Patrick Plunket, John Aspinall, Geoffrey Keating, Lord Lucan, Dominic Elwes and Claus von Bülow."
== Bibliography ==
Goldsmith, Annabel (2004). Annabel: An Unconventional Life: The Memoirs of Lady Annabel Goldsmith. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-82966-1.
—— (2006). Copper: A Dog's Life. Illustrated by India Jane Birley. London: Time Warner. ISBN 0-316-73204-4.
—— (2009). No Invitation Required: The Pelham Cottage Years. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 978-0-297-85451-7.
== References ==
== External links ==
Lady Annabel Goldsmith at IMDb
Woman's Hour: Leading Women interview, audio appearance during promotional tour for Annabel—BBC Radio 4
Democracy Movement, a non-party and anti-EU pressure group founded by Lady Annabel |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susumu_Kitagawa | Susumu Kitagawa | Susumu Kitagawa (北川 進, Kitagawa Susumu; born 4 July 1951) is a Japanese Nobel Prize-winning chemist specializing in coordination chemistry, with a focus on organic–inorganic hybrid compounds and the chemical and physical properties of porous coordination polymers, particularly metal-organic frameworks. He is Distinguished Professor at Kyoto University's Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS), which he co-founded. In 2025, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly with Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi.
== Life ==
Kitagawa was born on 4 July 1951 in Kyoto.
He earned his PhD in hydrocarbon chemistry from Kyoto University in 1979, having completed his undergraduate studies at the same institution. That year, he was appointed assistant professor at Kindai University, where he was promoted to lecturer in 1983 and associate professor in 1988.
In 1992, he became professor of inorganic chemistry at Tokyo Metropolitan University. He returned to Kyoto University in 1998 as a professor of inorganic functional chemistry in the Department of Synthetic Chemistry and Biological Chemistry. In 2007, he co-founded the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS), serving as founding deputy director, then as director from 2013 to 2023. In 2024, he was appointed Executive Vice-President for Research Promotion at Kyoto University.
His overseas academic postings include a postdoctoral fellowship at Texas A&M University with F. Albert Cotton (1986–1987) and a guest professorship at the City University of New York (1996). He received an honorary doctorate from the Technical University of Munich in 2018.
Kitagawa served as a member and associate member of the Science Council of Japan from 2011 to 2023.
In 2025, Kitagawa, along with Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their foundational work on molecular building blocks for metal-organic frameworks.
== Research ==
Following the discoveries of Makoto Fujita (1994) and Omar M. Yaghi (1995), Kitagawa demonstrated in 1997 that coordination polymer structures possess gas adsorption properties, a key finding for the development of functional porous materials.
His most influential works include:
A 1997 seminal report on a porous coordination polymer (MOF) for small molecule adsorption.
A 2004 early review of functional porous coordination polymers.
A 2009 review of "soft porous crystals," which feature large-scale structural transformability upon chemical or physical stimulation.
== Awards ==
2003 – Chemical Society of Japan (CSJ) Prize for Creative Work
2008 – Humboldt Research Prize
2009 – Chemical Society of Japan Award
2010 – Thomson Reuters Citation Laureates
2011 – Medal with Purple Ribbon
2013 – De Gennes Prize
2016 – Japan Academy Prize
2016 – Fred Basolo Medal, Northwestern University
2017 – Chemistry for the Future Solvay Prize
2017 – Fujihara Award, The Fujihara Foundation of Science
2019 – Grand Prix de la Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie
2019 – Emanuel Merck Lectureship
2019 – Member of the Japan Academy
2023 – Fellow of the Royal Society
2025 – Nobel Prize in Chemistry
2025 – Person of Cultural Merit
2025 – Order of Culture
== References ==
== External links ==
Dr. Susumu KITAGAWA | Japan-Taiwan Symposium (Fu Jen Catholic University)
Susumu Kitagawa on Nobelprize.org |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon | Radon | Radon is a chemical element; it has symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive noble gas and is colorless and odorless. Of the three naturally occurring radon isotopes, only 222Rn has a sufficiently long half-life (3.825 days) for it to be released from the soil and rock where it is generated. Radon isotopes are the immediate decay products of radium isotopes.
The instability of 222Rn, its most stable isotope, makes radon one of the rarest elements. Radon will be present on Earth for several billion more years despite its short half-life, because it is constantly being produced as a step in the decay chains of 238U and 232Th, both of which are abundant radioactive nuclides with half-lives of at least several billion years. The decay of radon produces many other short-lived nuclides, known as "radon daughters", ending at stable isotopes of lead. 222Rn occurs in significant quantities as a step in the normal radioactive decay chain of 238U, also known as the uranium series, which slowly decays into a variety of radioactive nuclides and eventually decays into stable 206Pb. 220Rn occurs in minute quantities as an intermediate step in the decay chain of 232Th, also known as the thorium series, which eventually decays into stable 208Pb.
Radon was discovered in 1899 by Ernest Rutherford and Robert B. Owens at McGill University in Montreal, and was the fifth radioactive element to be discovered. First known as "emanation", the radioactive gas was identified during experiments with radium, thorium oxide, and actinium by Friedrich Ernst Dorn, Rutherford and Owens, and André-Louis Debierne, respectively, and each element's emanation was considered to be a separate substance: radon, thoron, and actinon. Sir William Ramsay and Robert Whytlaw-Gray considered that the radioactive emanations may contain a new element of the noble gas family, and isolated "radium emanation" in 1909 to determine its properties. In 1911, the element Ramsay and Whytlaw-Gray isolated was accepted by the International Commission for Atomic Weights, and in 1923, the International Committee for Chemical Elements and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) chose radon as the accepted name for the element's most stable isotope, 222Rn; thoron and actinon were also recognized by IUPAC as distinct isotopes of the element.
A common source of environmental radon is uranium-containing minerals in the ground. Radon can also occur in ground water, such as spring waters and hot springs. Radon trapped in permafrost may be released by climate-change-induced thawing of permafrosts, and radon may also be released into groundwater and the atmosphere following seismic events leading to earthquakes, which has led to its investigation in the field of earthquake prediction. It is possible to test for radon in buildings, and to use techniques such as sub-slab depressurization for mitigation.
Epidemiological studies have shown a clear association between breathing high concentrations of radon and incidence of lung cancer. Radon is a contaminant that affects indoor air quality worldwide. Because radon is denser than air it accumulates in basements and crawlspaces under dwellings.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), radon is the second most frequent cause of lung cancer, after cigarette smoking, causing 21,000 lung cancer deaths per year in the United States. About 2,900 of these deaths occur among people who have never smoked. While radon is the second most frequent cause of lung cancer, it is the number one cause among non-smokers, according to EPA policy-oriented estimates. Significant uncertainties exist for the health effects of low-dose exposures. Due to local differences in geology, the level of exposure to radon gas differs by location.
== Characteristics ==
=== Physical properties ===
Radon is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas and therefore is not detectable by human senses alone. At standard temperature and pressure, it forms a monatomic gas with a density of 9.73 kg/m3, about 8 times the density of the Earth's atmosphere at sea level, 1.217 kg/m3. It is one of the densest gases at room temperature (a few are denser, e.g. CF3(CF2)2CF3 and WF6) and is the densest of the noble gases. Although colorless at standard temperature and pressure, when cooled below its freezing point of 202 K (−71 °C; −96 °F), it emits a brilliant radioluminescence that turns from yellow to orange-red as the temperature lowers. Upon condensation, it glows because of the intense radiation it produces. It is sparingly soluble in water, but more soluble than lighter noble gases. It is appreciably more soluble in organic liquids than in water. Its solubility equation is as follows:
χ
=
exp
(
B
/
T
−
A
)
{\displaystyle \chi =\exp(B/T-A)}
where
χ
{\displaystyle \chi }
is the molar fraction of radon,
T
{\displaystyle T}
is the absolute temperature, and
A
{\displaystyle A}
and
B
{\displaystyle B}
are solvent constants.
=== Chemical properties ===
Radon is a member of the zero-valence elements that are called noble gases, and is chemically not very reactive. The inert pair effect stabilizes the 6s shell, making it unavailable for bonding—a consequence only understood within relativistic quantum chemistry. The 3.8-day half-life of 222Rn makes it useful in physical sciences as a natural tracer. Because radon is a gas at standard conditions, unlike its decay-chain parents, it can readily be extracted from them for research.
It is inert to most common chemical reactions, such as combustion, because the outer valence shell contains eight electrons. This produces a stable, minimum energy configuration in which the outer electrons are tightly bound. Its first ionization energy—the minimum energy required to extract one electron from it—is 1037 kJ/mol. In accordance with periodic trends, radon has a lower electronegativity than the element one period before it, xenon, and is therefore more reactive. Early studies concluded that the stability of radon hydrate should be of the same order as that of the hydrates of chlorine (Cl2) or sulfur dioxide (SO2), and significantly higher than the stability of the hydrate of hydrogen sulfide (H2S).
Because of its cost and radioactivity, experimental chemical research is seldom performed with radon, and as a result there are very few reported compounds of radon, all either fluorides or oxides. Radon can be oxidized by powerful oxidizing agents such as fluorine, thus forming radon difluoride (RnF2). It decomposes back to its elements at a temperature of above 523 K (250 °C; 482 °F), and is reduced by water to radon gas and hydrogen fluoride: it may also be reduced back to its elements by hydrogen gas. It has a low volatility and was thought to be RnF2. Because of the short half-life of radon and the radioactivity of its compounds, it has not been possible to study the compound in any detail. Theoretical studies on this molecule predict that it should have a Rn–F bond distance of 2.08 ångströms (Å), and that the compound is thermodynamically more stable and less volatile than its lighter counterpart xenon difluoride (XeF2). The octahedral molecule RnF6 was predicted to have an even lower enthalpy of formation than the difluoride. The [RnF]+ ion is believed to form by the following reaction:
Rn (g) + 2 [O2]+[SbF6]− (s) → [RnF]+[Sb2F11]− (s) + 2 O2 (g)
For this reason, antimony pentafluoride together with chlorine trifluoride and N2F2Sb2F11 have been considered for radon gas removal in uranium mines due to the formation of radon–fluorine compounds. Radon compounds can be formed by the decay of radium in radium halides, a reaction that has been used to reduce the amount of radon that escapes from targets during irradiation. Additionally, salts of the [RnF]+ cation with the anions SbF−6, TaF−6, and BiF−6 are known. Radon is also oxidised by dioxygen difluoride to RnF2 at 173 K (−100 °C; −148 °F).
Radon oxides are among the few other reported compounds of radon; only the trioxide (RnO3) has been confirmed. The higher fluorides RnF4 and RnF6 have been claimed, are calculated to be stable, but have not been confirmed. They may have been observed in experiments where unknown radon-containing products distilled together with xenon hexafluoride: these may have been RnF4, RnF6, or both. Trace-scale heating of radon with xenon, fluorine, bromine pentafluoride, and either sodium fluoride or nickel fluoride was claimed to produce a higher fluoride as well which hydrolysed to form RnO3. While it has been suggested that these claims were really due to radon precipitating out as the solid complex [RnF]+2[NiF6]2−, the fact that radon coprecipitates from aqueous solution with CsXeO3F has been taken as confirmation that RnO3 was formed, which has been supported by further studies of the hydrolysed solution. That [RnO3F]− did not form in other experiments may have been due to the high concentration of fluoride used. Electromigration studies also suggest the presence of cationic [HRnO3]+ and anionic [HRnO4]− forms of radon in weakly acidic aqueous solution (pH > 5), the procedure having previously been validated by examination of the homologous xenon trioxide.
The decay technique has also been used. Avrorin et al. reported in 1982 that 212Fr compounds cocrystallised with their caesium analogues appeared to retain chemically bound radon after electron capture; analogies with xenon suggested the formation of RnO3, but this could not be confirmed.
It is likely that the difficulty in identifying higher fluorides of radon stems from radon being kinetically hindered from being oxidised beyond the divalent state because of the strong ionicity of radon difluoride (RnF2) and the high positive charge on radon in RnF+; spatial separation of RnF2 molecules may be necessary to clearly identify higher fluorides of radon, of which RnF4 is expected to be more stable than RnF6 due to spin–orbit splitting of the 6p shell of radon (RnIV would have a closed-shell 6s26p21/2 configuration). Therefore, while RnF4 should have a similar stability to xenon tetrafluoride (XeF4), RnF6 would likely be much less stable than xenon hexafluoride (XeF6): radon hexafluoride would also probably be a regular octahedral molecule, unlike the distorted octahedral structure of XeF6, because of the inert pair effect. Because radon is quite electropositive for a noble gas, it is possible that radon fluorides actually take on highly fluorine-bridged structures and are not volatile. Extrapolation down the noble gas group would suggest also the possible existence of RnO, RnO2, and RnOF4, as well as the first chemically stable noble gas chlorides RnCl2 and RnCl4, but none of these have yet been found.
Radon carbonyl (RnCO) has been predicted to be stable and to have a linear molecular geometry. The molecules Rn2 and RnXe were found to be significantly stabilized by spin-orbit coupling. Radon caged inside a fullerene has been proposed as a drug for tumors. Despite the existence of Xe(VIII), no Rn(VIII) compounds have been claimed to exist; RnF8 should be highly unstable chemically (XeF8 is thermodynamically unstable).
Radon reacts with the liquid halogen fluorides ClF, ClF3, ClF5, BrF3, BrF5, and IF7 to form RnF2. In halogen fluoride solution, radon is nonvolatile and exists as the RnF+ and Rn2+ cations; addition of fluoride anions results in the formation of the complexes RnF−3 and RnF2−4, paralleling the chemistry of beryllium(II) and aluminium(III). The standard electrode potential of the Rn2+/Rn couple has been estimated as +2.0 V, although there is no evidence for the formation of stable radon ions or compounds in aqueous solution.
=== Isotopes ===
Radon has no stable isotopes. Thirty-nine radioactive isotopes have been characterized, with mass numbers ranging from 193 to 231. Six of them, from 217 to 222 inclusive, occur naturally. The most stable isotope is 222Rn (half-life 3.82 days), which is a decay product of 226Ra, the latter being itself a decay product of 238U. A trace amount of the (highly unstable) isotope 218Rn (half-life about 35 milliseconds) is also among the daughters of 222Rn. The isotope 216Rn would be produced by the double beta decay of natural 216Po; while energetically possible, this process has however never been seen.
Three other radon isotopes have a half-life of over an hour: 211Rn (about 15 hours), 210Rn (2.4 hours) and 224Rn (about 1.8 hours). However, none of these three occur naturally. 220Rn, also called thoron, is a natural decay product of the most stable thorium isotope (232Th). It has a half-life of 55.6 seconds and also emits alpha radiation. Similarly, 219Rn is derived from the most stable isotope of actinium (227Ac)—named "actinon"—and is an alpha emitter with a half-life of 3.96 seconds.
=== Daughters ===
222Rn belongs to the radium and uranium-238 decay chain, and has a half-life of 3.8235 days. Its first four products (excluding marginal decay schemes) are very short-lived, meaning that the corresponding disintegrations are indicative of the initial radon distribution. Its decay goes through the following sequence (only main decay branches shown):
222Rn, 3.82 days, alpha decaying to...
218Po, 3.10 minutes, alpha decaying to...
214Pb, 26.8 minutes, beta decaying to...
214Bi, 19.9 minutes, beta decaying to...
214Po, 0.1643 ms, alpha decaying to...
210Pb, which has a much longer half-life of 22.3 years, beta decaying to...
210Bi, 5.013 days, beta decaying to...
210Po, 138.376 days, alpha decaying to...
206Pb, stable.
The radon equilibrium factor is the ratio between the activity of all short-period radon progenies (which are responsible for most of radon's biological effects), and the activity that would be at equilibrium with the radon parent.
If a closed volume is constantly supplied with radon, the concentration of short-lived isotopes will increase until an equilibrium is reached where the overall decay rate of the decay products equals that of the radon itself. The equilibrium factor is 1 when both activities are equal, meaning that the decay products have stayed close to the radon parent long enough for the equilibrium to be reached, within a couple of hours. Under these conditions, each additional pCi/L of radon will increase exposure by 0.01 working level (WL, a measure of radioactivity commonly used in mining). These conditions are not always met; in many homes, the equilibrium factor is typically 40%; that is, there will be 0.004 WL of daughters for each pCi/L of radon in the air. 210Pb takes much longer to come in equilibrium with radon, dependent on environmental factors, but if the environment permits accumulation of dust over extended periods of time, 210Pb and its decay products may contribute to overall radiation levels as well. Several studies on the radioactive equilibrium of elements in the environment find it more useful to use the ratio of other 222Rn decay products with 210Pb, such as 210Po, in measuring overall radiation levels.
Because of their electrostatic charge, radon progenies adhere to surfaces or dust particles, whereas gaseous radon does not. Attachment removes them from the air, usually causing the equilibrium factor in the atmosphere to be less than 1. The equilibrium factor is also lowered by air circulation or air filtration devices, and is increased by airborne dust particles, including cigarette smoke. The equilibrium factor found in epidemiological studies is 0.4.
== History and etymology ==
Radon was discovered in 1899 by Ernest Rutherford and Robert B. Owens at McGill University in Montreal. It was the fifth radioactive element to be discovered, after uranium, thorium, radium, and polonium. In 1899, Pierre and Marie Curie observed that the gas emitted by radium remained radioactive for a month. Later that year, Rutherford and Owens noticed variations when trying to measure radiation from thorium oxide. Rutherford noticed that the compounds of thorium continuously emit a radioactive gas that remains radioactive for several minutes, and called this gas "emanation" (from Latin: emanare, to flow out, and emanatio, expiration), and later "thorium emanation" ("Th Em"). In 1900, Friedrich Ernst Dorn reported some experiments in which he noticed that radium compounds emanate a radioactive gas he named "radium emanation" ("Ra Em"). In 1901, Rutherford and Harriet Brooks demonstrated that the emanations are radioactive, but credited the Curies for the discovery of the element. In 1903, similar emanations were observed from actinium by André-Louis Debierne, and were called "actinium emanation" ("Ac Em").
Several shortened names were soon suggested for the three emanations: exradio, exthorio, and exactinio in 1904; radon (Ro), thoron (To), and akton or acton (Ao) in 1918; radeon, thoreon, and actineon in 1919, and eventually radon, thoron, and actinon in 1920. (The name radon is not related to that of the Austrian mathematician Johann Radon.) The likeness of the spectra of these three gases with those of argon, krypton, and xenon, and their observed chemical inertia led Sir William Ramsay to suggest in 1904 that the "emanations" might contain a new element of the noble-gas family.
In 1909, Ramsay and Robert Whytlaw-Gray isolated radon and determined its melting temperature and critical point. Because it does not conform to expected periodic trends, their obtained melting point (the only experimental value) was questioned in 1925 by Friedrich Paneth and E. Rabinowitsch, but ab initio Monte Carlo simulations from 2018 agree almost exactly with Ramsay and Gray's result. In 1910, they determined its density (that showed it was the heaviest known gas) and its position in the periodic table. They wrote that "L'expression l'émanation du radium est fort incommode" ("the expression 'radium emanation' is very awkward") and suggested the new name niton (Nt) (from Latin: nitens, shining) to emphasize the radioluminescence property, and in 1912 it was accepted by the International Commission for Atomic Weights. In 1923, the International Committee for Chemical Elements and International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) chose the name of the most stable isotope, radon, as the name of the element. The isotopes thoron and actinon were later renamed 220Rn and 219Rn. This has caused some confusion in the literature regarding the element's discovery as while Dorn had discovered radon the isotope, he was not the first to discover radon the element.
As late as the 1960s, the element was also referred to simply as emanation. The first synthesized compound of radon, radon fluoride, was obtained in 1962. Even today, the word radon may refer to either the element or its isotope 222Rn, with thoron remaining in use as a short name for 220Rn to stem this ambiguity. The name actinon for 219Rn is rarely encountered today, probably due to the short half-life of that isotope.
The danger of high exposure to radon in mines, where exposures can reach 1,000,000 Bq/m3, has long been known. In 1530, Paracelsus described a wasting disease of miners, the mala metallorum, and Georg Agricola recommended ventilation in mines to avoid this mountain sickness (Bergsucht). In 1879, this condition was identified as lung cancer by Harting and Hesse in their investigation of miners from Schneeberg, Germany. The first major studies with radon and health occurred in the context of uranium mining in the Joachimsthal region of Bohemia. In the US, studies and mitigation only followed decades of health effects on uranium miners of the Southwestern US employed during the early Cold War; standards were not implemented until 1971.
In the early 20th century in the US, gold contaminated with the radon daughter 210Pb entered the jewelry industry. This was from gold brachytherapy seeds that had held 222Rn, which were melted down after the radon had decayed.
The presence of radon in indoor air was documented as early as 1950. Beginning in the 1970s, research was initiated to address sources of indoor radon, determinants of concentration, health effects, and mitigation approaches. In the US, the problem of indoor radon received widespread publicity and intensified investigation after a widely publicized incident in 1984. During routine monitoring at a Pennsylvania nuclear power plant, a worker was found to be contaminated with radioactivity. A high concentration of radon in his home was subsequently identified as responsible.
== Occurrence ==
=== Concentration units ===
Discussions of radon concentrations in the environment refer to 222Rn, the decay product of uranium and radium. While the average rate of production of 220Rn (from the thorium decay series) is about the same as that of 222Rn, the amount of 220Rn in the environment is much less than that of 222Rn because of the short half-life of 220Rn (55 seconds, versus 3.8 days respectively).
Radon concentration in the atmosphere is usually measured in becquerel per cubic meter (Bq/m3), the SI derived unit. Another unit of measurement common in the US is picocuries per liter (pCi/L); 1 pCi/L = 37 Bq/m3. Typical domestic exposures average about 48 Bq/m3 indoors, though this varies widely, and 15 Bq/m3 outdoors.
In the mining industry, the exposure is traditionally measured in working level (WL), and the cumulative exposure in working level month (WLM); 1 WL equals any combination of short-lived 222Rn daughters (218Po, 214Pb, 214Bi, and 214Po) in 1 liter of air that releases 1.3 × 105 MeV of potential alpha energy; 1 WL is equivalent to 2.08 × 10−5 joules per cubic meter of air (J/m3). The SI unit of cumulative exposure is expressed in joule-hours per cubic meter (J·h/m3). One WLM is equivalent to 3.6 × 10−3 J·h/m3. An exposure to 1 WL for 1 working-month (170 hours) equals 1 WLM cumulative exposure. The International Commission on Radiological Protection recommends an annual limit of 4.8WLM for miners. Assuming 2000 hours of work per year, this corresponds to a concentration of 1500 Bq/m3.
222Rn decays to 210Pb and other radioisotopes. The levels of 210Pb can be measured. The rate of deposition of this radioisotope is weather-dependent.
Radon concentrations found in natural environments are much too low to be detected by chemical means. A 1,000 Bq/m3 (relatively high) concentration corresponds to 0.17 picogram per cubic meter (pg/m3). The average concentration of radon in the atmosphere is about 6×10−18 molar percent, or about 150 atoms in each milliliter of air. The radon activity of the entire Earth's atmosphere originates from only a few tens of grams of radon, consistently replaced by decay of larger amounts of radium, thorium, and uranium.
=== Natural ===
Radon is produced by the radioactive decay of radium-226, which is found in uranium ores, phosphate rock, shales, igneous and metamorphic rocks such as granite, gneiss, and schist, and to a lesser degree, in common rocks such as limestone. Every square mile of surface soil, to a depth of 6 inches (2.6 km2 to a depth of 15 cm), contains about 1 gram of radium, which releases radon in small amounts to the atmosphere. It is estimated that 2.4 billion curies (90 EBq) of radon are released from soil annually worldwide. This is equivalent to some 15.3 kilograms (34 lb).
Radon concentration can differ widely from place to place. In the open air, it ranges from 1 to 100 Bq/m3, even less (0.1 Bq/m3) above the ocean. In caves or ventilated mines, or poorly ventilated houses, its concentration climbs to 20–2,000 Bq/m3.
Radon concentration can be much higher in mining contexts. Ventilation regulations instruct to maintain radon concentration in uranium mines under the "working level", with 95th percentile levels ranging up to nearly 3 WL (546 pCi 222Rn per liter of air; 20.2 kBq/m3, measured from 1976 to 1985).
The concentration in the air at the (unventilated) Gastein Healing Gallery averages 43 kBq/m3 (1.2 nCi/L) with maximal value of 160 kBq/m3 (4.3 nCi/L).
Radon mostly appears with the radium/uranium series (decay chain) (222Rn), and marginally with the thorium series (220Rn). The element emanates naturally from the ground, and some building materials, all over the world, wherever traces of uranium or thorium are found, and particularly in regions with soils containing granite or shale, which have a higher concentration of uranium. Not all granitic regions are prone to high emissions of radon. Being a rare gas, it usually migrates freely through faults and fragmented soils, and may accumulate in caves or water. Owing to its very short half-life (four days for 222Rn), radon concentration decreases very quickly when the distance from the production area increases. Radon concentration varies greatly with season and atmospheric conditions. For instance, it has been shown to accumulate in the air if there is a meteorological inversion and little wind.
High concentrations of radon can be found in some spring waters and hot springs. The towns of Boulder, Montana; Misasa; Bad Kreuznach, Germany; and the country of Japan have radium-rich springs that emit radon. To be classified as a radon mineral water, radon concentration must be above 2 nCi/L (74 kBq/m3). The activity of radon mineral water reaches 2 MBq/m3 in Merano and 4 MBq/m3 in Lurisia (Italy).
Natural radon concentrations in the Earth's atmosphere are so low that radon-rich water in contact with the atmosphere will continually lose radon by volatilization. Hence, ground water has a higher concentration of 222Rn than surface water, because radon is continuously produced by radioactive decay of 226Ra present in rocks. Likewise, the saturated zone of a soil frequently has a higher radon content than the unsaturated zone because of diffusional losses to the atmosphere.
In 1971, Apollo 15 passed 110 km (68 mi) above the Aristarchus plateau on the Moon, and detected a significant rise in alpha particles thought to be caused by the decay of 222Rn. The presence of 222Rn has been inferred later from data obtained from the Lunar Prospector alpha particle spectrometer.
Radon is found in some petroleum. Because radon has a similar pressure and temperature curve to propane, and oil refineries separate petrochemicals based on their boiling points, the piping carrying freshly separated propane in oil refineries can become contaminated because of decaying radon and its products.
Residues from the petroleum and natural gas industry often contain radium and its daughters. The sulfate scale from an oil well can be radium rich, while the water, oil, and gas from a well often contains radon. Radon decays to form solid radioisotopes that form coatings on the inside of pipework.
=== Accumulation in buildings ===
Measurement of radon levels in the first decades of its discovery was mainly done to determine the presence of radium and uranium in geological surveys. In 1956, most likely the first indoor survey of radon decay products was performed in Sweden, with the intent of estimating the public exposure to radon and its decay products. From 1975 up until 1984, small studies in Sweden, Austria, the United States and Norway aimed to measure radon indoors and in metropolitan areas.
High concentrations of radon in homes were discovered by chance in 1984 after the stringent radiation testing conducted at the new Limerick Generating Station nuclear power plant in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States revealed that Stanley Watras, a construction engineer at the plant, was contaminated by radioactive substances even though the reactor had never been fueled and Watras had been decontaminated each evening. It was determined that radon levels in his home's basement were in excess of 100,000 Bq/m3 (2.7 nCi/L); he was told that living in the home was the equivalent of smoking 135 packs of cigarettes a day, and he and his family had increased their risk of developing lung cancer by 13 or 14 percent. The incident dramatized the fact that radon levels in particular dwellings can occasionally be orders of magnitude higher than typical. Since the incident in Pennsylvania, millions of short-term radon measurements have been taken in homes in the United States. Outside the United States, radon measurements are typically performed over the long term.
In the United States, typical domestic exposures are of approximately 100 Bq/m3 (2.7 pCi/L) indoors. Some level of radon will be found in all buildings. Radon mostly enters a building directly from the soil through the lowest level in the building that is in contact with the ground. High levels of radon in the water supply can also increase indoor radon air levels. Typical entry points of radon into buildings are cracks in solid foundations and walls, construction joints, gaps in suspended floors and around service pipes, cavities inside walls, and the water supply. Radon concentrations in the same place may differ by double/half over one hour, and the concentration in one room of a building may be significantly different from the concentration in an adjoining room.
The distribution of radon concentrations will generally differ from room to room, and the readings are averaged according to regulatory protocols. Indoor radon concentration is usually assumed to follow a log-normal distribution on a given territory. Thus, the geometric mean is generally used for estimating the "average" radon concentration in an area. The mean concentration ranges from less than 10 Bq/m3 to over 100 Bq/m3 in some European countries.
Some of the highest radon hazard in the US is found in Iowa and in the Appalachian Mountain areas in southeastern Pennsylvania. Iowa has the highest average radon concentrations in the US due to significant glaciation that ground the granitic rocks from the Canadian Shield and deposited it as soils making up the rich Iowa farmland. Many cities within the state, such as Iowa City, have passed requirements for radon-resistant construction in new homes. The second highest readings in Ireland were found in office buildings in the Irish town of Mallow, County Cork, prompting local fears regarding lung cancer.
Since radon is a colorless, odorless gas, the only way to know how much is present in the air or water is to perform tests. In the US, radon test kits are available to the public at retail stores, such as hardware stores, for home use, and testing is available through licensed professionals, who are often home inspectors. Efforts to reduce indoor radon levels are called radon mitigation. In the US, the EPA recommends all houses be tested for radon. In the UK, under the Housing Health & Safety Rating System, property owners have an obligation to evaluate potential risks and hazards to health and safety in a residential property. Alpha-radiation monitoring over the long term is a method of testing for radon that is more common in countries outside the United States.
=== Industrial production ===
Radon is obtained as a by-product of uraniferous ores processing after transferring into 1% solutions of hydrochloric or hydrobromic acids. The gas mixture extracted from the solutions contains H2, O2, He, Rn, CO2, H2O and hydrocarbons. The mixture is purified by passing it over copper at 993 K (720 °C; 1,328 °F) to remove the H2 and the O2, and then KOH and P2O5 are used to remove the acids and moisture by sorption. Radon is condensed by liquid nitrogen and purified from residue gases by sublimation.
Radon commercialization is regulated, but it is available in small quantities for the calibration of 222Rn measurement systems. In 2008 it was priced at almost US$6,000 (equivalent to $8,763 in 2024) per milliliter of radium solution (which only contains about 15 picograms of actual radon at any given moment). Radon is produced commercially by a solution of radium-226 (half-life of 1,600 years). Radium-226 decays by alpha-particle emission, producing radon that collects over samples of radium-226 at a rate of about 1 mm3/day per gram of radium; equilibrium is quickly achieved and radon is produced in a steady flow, with an activity equal to that of the radium (50 Bq). Gaseous 222Rn (half-life of about four days) escapes from the capsule through diffusion. Radon sources have also been produced for scientific purposes through the implantation of radium-226 into solid stainless steel.
=== Concentration scale ===
== Applications ==
=== Medical ===
==== Hormesis ====
An early-20th-century form of quackery was the treatment of maladies in a radiotorium. It was a small, sealed room for patients to be exposed to radon for its "medicinal effects". The carcinogenic nature of radon due to its ionizing radiation became apparent later. Radon's molecule-damaging radioactivity has been used to kill cancerous cells, but it does not increase the health of healthy cells. The ionizing radiation causes the formation of free radicals, which results in cell damage, causing increased rates of illness, including cancer.
Exposure to radon has been suggested to mitigate autoimmune diseases such as arthritis in a process known as radiation hormesis. As a result, in the late 20th century and early 21st century, "health mines" established in Basin, Montana, attracted people seeking relief from health problems such as arthritis through limited exposure to radioactive mine water and radon. The practice is discouraged because of the well-documented ill effects of high doses of radiation on the body.
Radioactive water baths have been applied since 1906 in Jáchymov, Czech Republic, but even before radon discovery they were used in Bad Gastein, Austria. Radium-rich springs are also used in traditional Japanese onsen in Misasa, Tottori Prefecture. Drinking therapy is applied in Bad Brambach, Germany, and during the early 20th century, water from springs with radon in them was bottled and sold (this water had little to no radon in it by the time it got to consumers due to radon's short half-life). Inhalation therapy is carried out in Gasteiner-Heilstollen, Austria; Świeradów-Zdrój, Czerniawa-Zdrój, Kowary, Lądek-Zdrój, Poland; Harghita Băi, Romania; and Boulder, Montana. In the US and Europe, there are several "radon spas", where people sit for minutes or hours in a high-radon atmosphere, such as at Bad Schmiedeberg, Germany.
==== Nuclear medicine ====
Radon has been produced commercially for use in radiation therapy, but for the most part has been replaced by radionuclides made in particle accelerators and nuclear reactors. Radon has been used in implantable seeds, made of gold or glass, primarily used to treat cancers, known as brachytherapy. The gold seeds were produced by filling a long tube with radon pumped from a radium source, the tube being then divided into short sections by crimping and cutting. The gold layer keeps the radon within, and filters out the alpha and beta radiations, while allowing the gamma rays to escape (which kill the diseased tissue). The activities might range from 0.05 to 5 millicuries per seed (2 to 200 MBq). The gamma rays are produced by radon and the first short-lived elements of its decay chain (218Po, 214Pb, 214Bi, 214Po).
After 11 half-lives (42 days), radon radioactivity is at 1/2,048 of its original level. At this stage, the predominant residual activity of the seed originates from the radon decay product 210Pb, whose half-life (22.3 years) is 2,000 times that of radon and its descendants 210Bi and 210Po.
211Rn can be used to generate 211At, which has uses in targeted alpha therapy.
=== Scientific ===
Radon emanation from the soil varies with soil type and with surface uranium content, so outdoor radon concentrations can be used to track air masses to a limited degree. Because of radon's rapid loss to air and comparatively rapid decay, radon is used in hydrologic research that studies the interaction between groundwater and streams. Any significant concentration of radon in a river may be an indicator that there are local inputs of groundwater.
Radon soil concentration has been used to map buried close-subsurface geological faults because concentrations are generally higher over the faults. Similarly, it has found some limited use in prospecting for geothermal gradients.
Some researchers have investigated changes in groundwater radon concentrations for earthquake prediction. Increases in radon were noted before the 1966 Tashkent and 1994 Mindoro earthquakes. Radon has a half-life of approximately 3.8 days, which means that it can be found only shortly after it has been produced in the radioactive decay chain. For this reason, it has been hypothesized that increases in radon concentration is due to the generation of new cracks underground, which would allow increased groundwater circulation, flushing out radon. The generation of new cracks might not unreasonably be assumed to precede major earthquakes. In the 1970s and 1980s, scientific measurements of radon emissions near faults found that earthquakes often occurred with no radon signal, and radon was often detected with no earthquake to follow. It was then dismissed by many as an unreliable indicator. As of 2009, it was under investigation as a possible earthquake precursor by NASA; further research into the subject has suggested that abnormalities in atmospheric radon concentrations can be an indicator of seismic movement.
Radon is a known pollutant emitted from geothermal power stations because it is present in the material pumped from deep underground. It disperses rapidly, and no radiological hazard has been demonstrated in various investigations. In addition, typical systems re-inject the material deep underground rather than releasing it at the surface, so its environmental impact is minimal. In 1989, a survey of the collective dose received due to radon in geothermal fluids was measured at 2 man-sieverts per gigawatt-year of electricity produced, in comparison to the 2.5 man-sieverts per gigawatt-year produced from 14C emissions in nuclear power plants.
In the 1940s and 1950s, radon produced from a radium source was used for industrial radiography. Other X-ray sources such as 60Co and 192Ir became available after World War II and quickly replaced radium and thus radon for this purpose, being of lower cost and hazard.
== Health risks ==
=== In mines ===
222Rn decay products have been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as being carcinogenic to humans, and as a gas that can be inhaled, lung cancer is a particular concern for people exposed to elevated levels of radon for sustained periods. During the 1940s and 1950s, when safety standards requiring expensive ventilation in mines were not widely implemented, radon exposure was linked to lung cancer among non-smoking miners of uranium and other hard rock materials in what is now the Czech Republic, and later among miners from the Southwestern US and South Australia. Despite these hazards being known in the early 1950s, this occupational hazard remained poorly managed in many mines until the 1970s. During this period, several entrepreneurs opened former uranium mines in the US to the general public and advertised alleged health benefits from breathing radon gas underground. Health benefits claimed included relief from pain, sinus problems, asthma, and arthritis, but the government banned such advertisements in 1975, and subsequent works have debated the truth of such claimed health effects, citing the documented ill effects of radiation on the body.
Since that time, ventilation and other measures have been used to reduce radon levels in most affected mines that continue to operate. In recent years, the average annual exposure of uranium miners has fallen to levels similar to the concentrations inhaled in some homes. This has reduced the risk of occupationally induced cancer from radon, although health issues may persist for those who are currently employed in affected mines and for those who have been employed in them in the past. As the relative risk for miners has decreased, so has the ability to detect excess risks among that population.
Residues from processing of uranium ore can also be a source of radon. Radon resulting from the high radium content in uncovered dumps and tailing ponds can be easily released into the atmosphere and affect people living in the vicinity. The release of radon may be mitigated by covering tailings with soil or clay, though other decay products may leach into groundwater supplies.
Non-uranium mines may pose higher risks of radon exposure, as workers are not continuously monitored for radiation, and regulations specific to uranium mines do not apply. A review of radon level measurements across non-uranium mines found the highest concentrations of radon in non-metal mines, such as phosphorus and salt mines. However, older or abandoned uranium mines without ventilation may still have extremely high radon levels.
In addition to lung cancer, researchers have theorized a possible increased risk of leukemia due to radon exposure. Empirical support from studies of the general population is inconsistent; a study of uranium miners found a correlation between radon exposure and chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and current research supports a link between indoor radon exposure and poor health outcomes (i.e., an increased risk of lung cancer or childhood leukemia). Legal actions taken by those involved in nuclear industries, including miners, millers, transporters, nuclear site workers, and their respective unions have resulted in compensation for those affected by radon and radiation exposure under programs such as the compensation scheme for radiation-linked diseases (in the United Kingdom) and the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (in the United States).
=== Domestic-level exposure ===
Radon has been considered the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States and leading environmental cause of cancer mortality by the EPA, with the first one being smoking. Others have reached similar conclusions for the United Kingdom and France. Radon exposure in buildings may arise from subsurface rock formations and certain building materials (e.g., some granites). The greatest risk of radon exposure arises in buildings that are airtight, insufficiently ventilated, and have foundation leaks that allow air from the soil into basements and dwelling rooms. In some regions, such as Niška Banja, Serbia and Ullensvang, Norway, outdoor radon concentrations may be exceptionally high, though compared to indoors, where people spend more time and air is not dispersed and exchanged as often, outdoor exposure to radon is not considered a significant health risk.
Radon exposure (mostly radon daughters) has been linked to lung cancer in case-control studies performed in the US, Europe and China. There are approximately 21,000 deaths per year in the US (0.0063% of a population of 333 million) due to radon-induced lung cancers. In Europe, 2% of all cancers have been attributed to radon; in Slovenia in particular, a country with a high concentration of radon, about 120 people (0.0057% of a population of 2.11 million) die yearly because of radon. One of the most comprehensive radon studies performed in the US by epidemiologist R. William Field and colleagues found a 50% increased lung cancer risk even at the protracted exposures at the EPA's action level of 4 pCi/L. North American and European pooled analyses further support these findings. However, the conclusion that exposure to low levels of radon leads to elevated risk of lung cancer has been disputed, and analyses of the literature point towards elevated risk only when radon accumulates indoors and at levels above 100 Bq/m3.
Thoron (220Rn) is less studied than 222Rn in regards to domestic exposure due to its shorter half-life. However, it has been measured at comparatively high concentrations in buildings with earthen architecture, such as traditional half-timbered houses and modern houses with clay wall finishes, and in regions with thorium- and monazite-rich soil and sand. Thoron is a minor contributor to the overall radiation dose received due to indoor radon exposure, and can interfere with 222Rn measurements when not taken into account.
==== Action and reference level ====
WHO presented in 2009 a recommended reference level (the national reference level), 100 Bq/m3, for radon in dwellings. The recommendation also says that where this is not possible, 300 Bq/m3 should be selected as the highest level. A national reference level should not be a limit, but should represent the maximum acceptable annual average radon concentration in a dwelling.
The actionable concentration of radon in a home varies depending on the organization doing the recommendation, for example, the EPA encourages that action be taken at concentrations as low as 74 Bq/m3 (2 pCi/L), and the European Union recommends action be taken when concentrations reach 400 Bq/m3 (11 pCi/L) for old houses and 200 Bq/m3 (5 pCi/L) for new ones. On 8 July 2010, the UK's Health Protection Agency issued new advice setting a "Target Level" of 100 Bq/m3 whilst retaining an "Action Level" of 200 Bq/m3. Similar levels (as in the UK) are published by Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (DSA) with the maximum limit for schools, kindergartens, and new dwellings set at 200 Bq/m3, where 100 Bq/m3 is set as the action level.
==== Inhalation and smoking ====
Results from epidemiological studies indicate that the risk of lung cancer increases with exposure to residential radon. A well known example of source of error is smoking, the main risk factor for lung cancer. In the US, cigarette smoking is estimated to cause 80% to 90% of all lung cancers.
According to the EPA, the risk of lung cancer for smokers is significant due to synergistic effects of radon and smoking. For this population about 62 people in a total of 1,000 will die of lung cancer compared to 7 people in a total of 1,000 for people who have never smoked. It cannot be excluded that the risk of non-smokers should be primarily explained by an effect of radon.
Radon, like other known or suspected external risk factors for lung cancer, is a threat for smokers and former smokers. This was demonstrated by the European pooling study. A commentary to the pooling study stated: "it is not appropriate to talk simply of a risk from radon in homes. The risk is from smoking, compounded by a synergistic effect of radon for smokers. Without smoking, the effect seems to be so small as to be insignificant."
According to the European pooling study, there is a difference in risk for the histological subtypes of lung cancer and radon exposure. Small-cell lung carcinoma, which has a high correlation with smoking, has a higher risk after radon exposure. For other histological subtypes such as adenocarcinoma, the type that primarily affects non-smokers, the risk from radon appears to be lower.
A study of radiation from post-mastectomy radiotherapy shows that the simple models previously used to assess the combined and separate risks from radiation and smoking need to be developed. This is also supported by new discussion about the calculation method, the linear no-threshold model, which routinely has been used.
A study from 2001, which included 436 non-smokers with lung cancer and a control group of 1649 non-smokers without lung cancer, showed that exposure to radon increased the risk of lung cancer in non-smokers. The group that had been exposed to tobacco smoke in the home appeared to have a much higher risk, while those who were not exposed to passive smoking did not show any increased risk with increasing radon exposure.
==== Absorption and ingestion from water ====
The effects of radon if ingested are unknown, although studies have found that its biological half-life ranges from 30 to 70 minutes, with 90% removal at 100 minutes. In 1999, the US National Research Council investigated the issue of radon in drinking water. The risk associated with ingestion was considered almost negligible; Water from underground sources may contain significant amounts of radon depending on the surrounding rock and soil conditions, whereas surface sources generally do not. Radon is also released from water when temperature is increased, pressure is decreased and when water is aerated. Optimum conditions for radon release and exposure in domestic living from water occurred during showering. Water with a radon concentration of 104 pCi/L can increase the indoor airborne radon concentration by 1 pCi/L under normal conditions. However, the concentration of radon released from contaminated groundwater to the air has been measured at 5 orders of magnitude less than the original concentration in water.
Ocean surface concentrations of radon exchange within the atmosphere, causing 222Rn to increase through the air-sea interface. Although areas tested were very shallow, additional measurements in a wide variety of coastal regimes should help define the nature of 222Rn observed.
=== Testing and mitigation ===
There are relatively simple tests for radon gas. In some countries these tests are methodically done in areas of known systematic hazards. Radon detection devices are commercially available. Digital radon detectors provide ongoing measurements giving both daily, weekly, short-term and long-term average readouts via a digital display. Short-term radon test devices used for initial screening purposes are inexpensive, in some cases free. There are important protocols for taking short-term radon tests and it is imperative that they be strictly followed. The kit includes a collector that the user hangs in the lowest habitable floor of the house for two to seven days. The user then sends the collector to a laboratory for analysis. Long term kits, taking collections for up to one year or more, are also available. An open-land test kit can test radon emissions from the land before construction begins. Radon concentrations can vary daily, and accurate radon exposure estimates require long-term average radon measurements in the spaces where an individual spends a significant amount of time.
Radon levels fluctuate naturally, due to factors like transient weather conditions, so an initial test might not be an accurate assessment of a home's average radon level. Radon levels are at a maximum during the coolest part of the day when pressure differentials are greatest. Therefore, a high result (over 4 pCi/L) justifies repeating the test before undertaking more expensive abatement projects. Measurements between 4 and 10 pCi/L warrant a long-term radon test. Measurements over 10 pCi/L warrant only another short-term test so that abatement measures are not unduly delayed. The EPA has advised purchasers of real estate to delay or decline a purchase if the seller has not successfully abated radon to 4 pCi/L or less.
Because the half-life of radon is only 3.8 days, removing or isolating the source will greatly reduce the hazard within a few weeks. Another method of reducing radon levels is to modify the building's ventilation. Generally, the indoor radon concentrations increase as ventilation rates decrease. In a well-ventilated place, the radon concentration tends to align with outdoor values (typically 10 Bq/m3, ranging from 1 to 100 Bq/m3).
The four principal ways of reducing the amount of radon accumulating in a house are:
Sub-slab depressurization (soil suction) by increasing under-floor ventilation;
Improving the ventilation of the house and avoiding the transport of radon from the basement into living rooms;
Installing a radon sump system in the basement;
Installing a positive pressurization or positive supply ventilation system.
According to the EPA, the method to reduce radon "...primarily used is a vent pipe system and fan, which pulls radon from beneath the house and vents it to the outside", which is also called sub-slab depressurization, active soil depressurization, or soil suction. Generally indoor radon can be mitigated by sub-slab depressurization and exhausting such radon-laden air to the outdoors, away from windows and other building openings. "[The] EPA generally recommends methods which prevent the entry of radon. Soil suction, for example, prevents radon from entering your home by drawing the radon from below the home and venting it through a pipe, or pipes, to the air above the home where it is quickly diluted" and the "EPA does not recommend the use of sealing alone to reduce radon because, by itself, sealing has not been shown to lower radon levels significantly or consistently".
Positive-pressure ventilation systems can be combined with a heat exchanger to recover energy in the process of exchanging air with the outside, and simply exhausting basement air to the outside is not necessarily a viable solution as this can actually draw radon gas into a dwelling. Homes built on a crawl space may benefit from a radon collector installed under a "radon barrier" (a sheet of plastic that covers the crawl space). For crawl spaces, the EPA states that "[a]n effective method to reduce radon levels in crawl space homes involves covering the earth floor with a high-density plastic sheet. A vent pipe and fan are used to draw the radon from under the sheet and vent it to the outdoors. This form of soil suction is called submembrane suction, and when properly applied is the most effective way to reduce radon levels in crawl space homes."
== See also ==
International Radon Project
Lucas cell
Pleochroic halo (aka radiohalo)
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act
== Notes ==
== References ==
== External links ==
Radon at the United States Environmental Protection Agency
Global Radon Map
Radon at The Periodic Table of Videos (University of Nottingham)
Radon and Lung Health from the American Lung Association
The Geology of Radon, James K. Otton, Linda C.S. Gundersen, and R. Randall Schumann
Home Buyer's and Seller's Guide to Radon An article by the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (InterNACHI)
Toxicological Profile for Radon, Draft for Public Comment, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, September 2008 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popping_Cherry | Popping Cherry | "Popping Cherry" is the third episode of the first season of the American crime drama television series Dexter. The episode was written by co-executive producer Daniel Cerone, and directed by co-executive producer Michael Cuesta. It originally aired on Showtime on October 15, 2006.
Set in Miami, the series centers on Dexter Morgan, a forensic technician specializing in bloodstain pattern analysis for the fictional Miami Metro Police Department, who leads a secret parallel life as a vigilante serial killer, hunting down murderers who have not been adequately punished by the justice system due to corruption or legal technicalities. In the episode, Dexter follows a paroled killer, while the police finds a possible suspect in the Ice Truck Killer case. Dexter's first kill is also explored.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by an estimated 0.38 million household viewers and gained a 0.2 ratings share among adults aged 18–49. The episode received positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances and pacing.
== Plot ==
A new victim of the Ice Truck Killer, nicknamed Cherry, is found at a hockey stadium. Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) knew Cherry, as she was a prostitute who often helped her. The police concludes that they must find the stadium's missing guard, Tony Tucci (Brad William Henke). As Dexter (Michael C. Hall) helps the police, he also follows Jeremy Downs (Mark L. Young), a teenage murderer who recently got paroled.
While LaGuerta (Lauren Vélez) believes Tucci is the Ice Truck Killer given his criminal record, Debra is still not convinced, given that the clues do not lead to Tucci as he does not have a car. They retrieve surveillance footage of Tucci placing Cherry's chopped body in the ice rink, but they deduce he is being instructed by a person off-screen. Debra gives this information to Tom Matthews (Geoff Pierson), asking him for help. While Matthews is not content with Debra ignoring protocol, he scolds LaGuerta for not listening to her. Dexter follows Jeremy to a swamp, where he has taken another boy, certain he will recreate his first murder. Dexter intervenes, forcing them to flee. Dexter regrets having tried to intervene, and also discovers that Jeremy stole his wallet from his car.
Rita (Julie Benz) is stalked by Ricky, her ex-husband Paul's dealer. As Paul never paid him money, he decides to take Rita's car as a collateral. Dexter offers to report him to the police, but Rita asks him not to intervene. Dexter is forced to help Rita when a social worker checks on the house, noting that Rita has lost her vehicle. The absence of Rita's car causes Astor (Christina Robinson) to stay in school after everyone left, so Dexter picks her up to take her home.
In flashbacks, a young Dexter (Dominic Janes) and Harry (James Remar) go hunting. Harry teaches Dexter in controlling his urge by shooting a deer, but letting him mercy kill the deer. Years later, Harry's health deteriorates, and he asks Dexter to remember everything he taught him. He tells Dexter that his nurse, Mary (Denise Crosby), is trying to kill him by overdosing him, something she has done to other patients. Harry gives his blessing to Dexter to kill her, and Dexter kills her at her house, becoming his first victim. Without her influence, Harry finally leaves the hospital, although he dies one year later from a different condition.
Doakes (Erik King) continues investigating Guerrero, believing he was involved in the death of a police officer. Guerrero warns him to not go forward with his plan. While going out with a few detectives, the detectives beat one of Guerrero's entrusted henchmen. Doakes is horrified, and the detectives tell him they know he will be framed but are doing it after he slept with Officer Ricky’s wife, Kara. Afterwards, Guerrero gets his men to follow Doakes. Dexter breaks into the halfway house Jeremy is living in and attacks him, but stops short when he realizes Jeremy killed his rapist. Sympathizing with Jeremy, Dexter simply takes back his wallet and leaves. The following day, he gets a new car for Rita.
== Production ==
=== Development ===
The episode was written by co-executive producer Daniel Cerone, and directed by co-executive producer Michael Cuesta. This was Cerone's first writing credit, and Cuesta's third directing credit.
== Reception ==
=== Viewers ===
In its original American broadcast, "Popping Cherry" was seen by an estimated 0.38 million household viewers with a 0.2 in the 18–49 demographics. This means that 0.2 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode. This was a slight decrease in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by an estimated 0.42 million household viewers with a 0.2 in the 18–49 demographics.
A censored version of the episode was broadcast on CBS on March 2, 2008. It was seen by an estimated 6.90 million household viewers with a 2.0/5 in the 18–49 demographics.
=== Critical reviews ===
"Popping Cherry" received positive reviews from critics. Eric Goldman of IGN gave the episode a "great" 8 out of 10, and wrote, "The portrayal of Dexter's first "mission", and the sloppiness of it, compared to the cold precision he kills with now, was a subversive look at how far Dexter's come; it's easy to admire the skills he's honed, until you remember what those skills are exactly."
Paula Paige of TV Guide wrote, "He does have a heart. He just doesn't want to show it, and it has something to do with whatever happened to him before Harry and his wife took him in as their foster child. It's alluded to again in this ep."
Jonathan Toomey of TV Squad wrote, "Plenty was revealed this week and so far, Dexter has been moving at a very brisk, but sensible pace. Unlike some other shows that seem to have been dragging their feet as of late, Dexter is proving that viewers can be kept engaged by revealing a boatload of information, yet make them feel like they're still in the dark by episode's end." Television Without Pity gave the episode an "A" grade.
== Notes ==
== References ==
== External links ==
"Popping Cherry" at IMDb
"Popping Cherry" at Showtime's website |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Matafeo | Rose Matafeo | Rose Matafeo (; born 25 February 1992) is a New Zealand comedian, actress and TV presenter. She was a writer and performer on the New Zealand late-night comedy sketch show Funny Girls. In 2018, she won the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for her show Horndog.
== Early life ==
Matafeo was born in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1992, to parents John Matafeo and Diane Vuletich. Her parents are Rastafarians, who first met each other through their participation in the same Twelve Tribes of Israel denomination. As a child, Rose would attend monthly services with her family at the group's local headquarters in New Lynn, Auckland.
Rose's father John is a Samoan man and a first-generation immigrant to New Zealand; he joined the Polynesian Panthers movement when he was a teenager, and went on to work in an administrative role at the Rastafarian Church. Her mother Diane is a Pākehā New Zealander of Scottish and Croatian heritage; she works as a teacher, and moved to Kampala, Uganda to teach English in the 2010s.
Matafeo grew up in Ponsonby, Auckland, and attended Auckland Girls' Grammar School, where she was head girl. She has two older brothers. Matafeo has described her upbringing as "quite relaxed".
At the age of 15, Matafeo started doing stand-up comedy through the platform of the "Class Comedians" programme put on by the New Zealand Comedy Trust, and went on to win the "Nailed It on the Night" award at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival in 2007. She has been a regular at the festival since.
== Career ==
Since graduating from the "Class Comedians" programme, Matafeo went on to win best newcomer at the 2010 New Zealand International Comedy Festival. She became a host of the popular comedy festival show "Fanfiction Comedy" in 2012. She has had success with her solo stand-up comedy shows at the festival: Life Lessons I've Learnt from the 60s Based on Things I've Seen on Television (2011), Scout's Honour (2012) and The Rose Matafeo Variety Hour (2013).
Matafeo won the Billy T Award, which recognises the potential of up-and-coming New Zealand comedians, for The Rose Matafeo Variety Hour in 2013, having previously been nominated for her show Scout's Honour in 2012. Her 2014 show at the festival was titled Pizza Party. In 2015, she performed a duo show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with Guy Montgomery titled Rose Matafeo and Guy Montgomery Are Friends. On 25 August 2018, Matafeo won the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, for her show Horndog, collecting a £10,000 prize. She was the first person of colour to win the prestigious award for a solo show, and the first New Zealander. Only four other female solo stand-up comedians had won the award before her.
She was a TV presenter and host of U Live, which ran on the TVNZ U channel from 13 March 2011 until 31 August 2013, when the channel came to an end. Upon TVNZ U finishing, she took on a new role as a writer for Jono and Ben at Ten, a satirical news and comedy sketch show. Matafeo co-created and starred in the New Zealand sketch comedy show Funny Girls for three seasons from 2015 until 2018. She has been playing the role of Talia in the ABC comedy Squinters since 2018.
Matafeo appeared on Jon Richardson: Ultimate Worrier as an investigator into worrisome topics, and also appeared with Richardson in 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown (S19, Ep1), for Channel 4 TV in January 2020. She was a contestant on series three of Richard Osman's House of Games and the ninth series of Taskmaster.
Having toured as a stand-up comedian for ten years, Matafeo said in 2018 that she wanted to "take a break from hour long comedy" and instead act more, write more, and also direct. Matafeo went on to serve as director on five episodes of the 2019 New Zealand TV comedy Golden Boy.
Matafeo had her US television debut as a comedian on Conan O'Brien's talk show Conan on TBS on 9 May 2019.
In 2019, Matafeo appeared on James Acaster and Josh Widdicombe's show Hypothetical on Dave.
She currently hosts the podcast Boners of the Heart with comedian and writer Alice Snedden on the Little Empire Podcast Network. She was a guest on Deborah Frances-White's The Guilty Feminist podcast and on the RHLSTP podcast with Richard Herring.
In 2019, Matafeo directed five episodes in the first season of Golden Boy, a New Zealand sitcom for TV3. In 2020, she returned to the set of Golden Boy in the second season as one of the supporting cast.
In July 2020, Matafeo joined Guy Montgomery on the comedy show Tiny Tour of Aotearoa travelling across New Zealand.
On 20 August 2020, Matafeo's comedy special Horndog was released on HBO Max.
Matafeo was cast as the lead in the 2020 comedy film Baby Done.
In April 2021, Starstruck, a six-part rom-com created by and starring Matefeo aired on the BBC (UK), HBO (US), TVNZ (New Zealand), and ABC (Australia). Co-written by Matafeo and Alice Snedden, the cast included actor Nikesh Patel, as leading man and love interest Tom. Filming for the first series was delayed due to the COVID pandemic, however a second series of the show was commissioned before the first series had even begun filming. A third series was released in September 2023.
In 2023, Matafeo guest presented the British quiz show Pointless. In 2024 she appeared in Moana 2 as Loto, an engineer who works on boats, and took up the role of Taskmaster in Junior Taskmaster, a Taskmaster spin-off for children aged 9–11, with Mike Wozniak as the assistant.
== Personal life ==
Matafeo previously dated the New Zealand comedian Guy Williams. In 2015, she moved to London, where her then-boyfriend James Acaster lived; she shared a flat with comedian Nish Kumar. Matafeo and Acaster broke up in 2017.
One of Matafeo's interests is mukbang videos (in which the host eats large amounts of food while interacting with the audience). In July 2018, she decided to make her own mukbang video using takeaways purchased from Double Happy Takeaways in Auckland. It was featured on The Spinoff.
Matafeo is a supporter of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand and was scheduled to host their campaign launch for the 2020 general election, but was later asked to step down from the role. The Green Party said this was due to a miscommunication within the party.
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
=== Television ===
== References ==
== External links ==
Media related to Rose Matafeo at Wikimedia Commons
Rose Matafeo at IMDb
Rose Matafeo on Twitter
Rose Matafeo on Instagram
CV at agents' website |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2-XL | 2-XL | 2-XL (2-XL Robot, 2XL Robot, 2-XL Toy) is an educational toy robot that was marketed from 1978–1981 by the Mego Corporation, and from 1992–1995 by Tiger Electronics. 2-XL was the first "smart-toy" in that it exhibited rudimentary intelligence, memory, gameplay, and responsiveness. 2-XL was infused with a "personality" that kept kids focused and challenged as they interacted with the verbal robot. Learning was enhanced via the use of jokes and funny sayings as verbal reinforcements for performance. 2-XL was heralded as an important step in the development of toys, particularly educational ones. 2-XL won many awards, and Playthings, a toy industry magazine, placed 2-XL on its 75th anniversary cover as one of the industry's top-ten toys of all time. The 2-XL name is a pun of the phrase "to excel".
== History and development ==
The toy was invented and licensed for manufacture by Michael J. Freeman, inventor, Ph.D. and was patented. 2-XL exhibited rudimentary intelligence, memory, gameplay, and responsiveness. Dubbed the "Toy with a Personality", 2-XL could respond verbally to the user depending upon which "input or answer" buttons were chosen. 2-XL during its run was one of the most popular toys in terms of market revenue and was dubbed the Talking Robot with a mind of its own. The toy was voiced by Freeman, using a synthesizer to make his voice a high-pitched robot-like sound; it was through this process that Freeman developed 2-XL's personality. 2-XL was first introduced in 1978 by the Mego Corporation, a publicly traded US-based toy company in New York City and it subsequently became a success. The toy was sold in different countries and the tapes were translated into seven foreign languages. Games were also developed for the toy.
Mego, otherwise known for its production of dolls and classic action figures in the 1970s, was seen as an innovator combining toys and education. The toy's name literally meant "To Excel". The toy was voice capable, was able to tell stories, and sing using its special 8-track tapes. The toy's tapes asked multiple-choice questions (MCQs) that were answered by pushing a YES or NO button that changed the tracking of the tape. It was a crude but reportedly innovative use of the technology that was present in that era.
In addition to its general popularity, 2-XL was unprecedented in terms of market revenue. Playthings magazine, in its cover story of September 1978, considered the 2-XL robot as one of the most important toys ever developed, and included it in a class of "toys with impact" along with the Teddy Bear, Barbie Doll, Raggedy Ann, Mickey Mouse among others. The robot was a popular educational toy whose success anticipated the dominant influence of technology in education today. Dubbed the "Toy with a Personality", 2-XL could respond verbally to the user depending upon which "input or answer" buttons were chosen. Part of the reason for this is the connection the toy made between education and fun.
2-XL was interactive playing various tracks from a magnetic audio tape depending on the user's actions. 2-XL's personality was popular and kids loved the back-and-forth banter. For example, if a child got an answer wrong 2-XL might utter something like "Perhaps your brain went on strike! You are Wrong" or, "Nice try but (whispering) you are wrong, but go ahead, I will be a nice little toy robot and give you a second chance now". Other lines from 2-XL included: "Even though you needed two chances you finally got the answer right, elephant is the correct answer"'; "But do not get too excited, you have now earned yourself a more difficult question. Hold on to your hat, here it comes". If the child was right, 2-XL might say: "Although I have the looks you have the brains. You must be a genius. Good work", or, "It is amazing that big brain of yours fits into the head of a child. Nice answer, football is correct".
In 1981, the toy's popularity waned, and it was later discontinued. In 1992, 2-XL was re-introduced by Tiger Electronics, a toy company based in Vernon Hills, Illinois. The toy was changed into a more modern design, and new programmed toy cartridges were also introduced. The voice for this version was done by Freeman as well, and all programs were translated into many different languages.
== Versions ==
=== Mego Corporation version ===
The original version, created by Mego Corporation, was made of brown plastic with white plastic found on the anterior face of the robot. It had two red light bulbs for the eyes. These bulbs also flashed at moments while 8-track cartridge tape programs played. It had four red buttons on its stomach with designated options for answers to questions asked by the toy, such as "Question", "A or Yes Or True", "B or More Info", and "C or No or False" (NOTE: Some programs came with overlay cards for the buttons that redefined the choices the user could make for that specific program). A knob is also found on the lower right portion of the toy which controlled its volume and power. The "mouth" was reused detail molding taken from the Micronauts Battle Cruiser. At the bottom was a large slot for 8-track cartridge tapes: this version was essentially a regular 8-track tape player, but by employing mathematical decision tree programming methods over 20 interactive modes of operation were achieved. The result had enough information and interactive questions to entertain and educate a person for up to two hours. Subjects included sports quiz, Guinness Book of World Records, the metric system, general information and jokes.
The mold and look received a minor revision in 1980. The eye lights became red and responded to the voice. The flashing lights were also brighter, and the speaker in the back of the unit was changed from a hexagon shape to a more traditional round. The plastic had a glossier appearance. There was a modified version of 2-XL made just for schools with extra earphone jacks, specialty tapes for school curricula, and a teacher's manual to go with each educational tape.
=== Tiger Electronics version ===
Tiger Electronics re-introduced 2-XL in 1992. Instead of using 8-track cartridge tapes, this version used cassette tapes that were twice the length of the tapes in the previous version and had a better sound quality. Freeman again recorded the 2-XL voice for the cassette tapes in a professional sound studio. In addition to eyes that would light up, the toy now sported a circle for a mouth that could light up as the machine talked. The toy could now run on batteries and had a headphone jack. Instead of the buttons simply switching tracks on the 8-track tape as in the old version, the cassette version took advantage of the fact that a cassette has a total of four tracks - one for the left and right channel on each side. The tape head in the player could play any of the four parallel tracks, based on which button was pressed. Playing a 2-XL tape in a standard tape player would result in different audio on the left and right channels, and if the reverse side was played, one would hear the other two tracks played in reverse.
Using all four tracks simultaneously in one direction was not unique in toys to the 2-XL since the concept had been borrowed from the Talk 'n Play educational system in existence from 1983-1992 and provided the basis for the interactive give and take on both toys. That concept in turn had been borrowed both from early home-portastudio cassette recorders with the built-in mixing board used by garage bands to put their demos together to try and get hired or get a record deal. The earliest instances were the 4.0 surround sound cassette experiments in the mid '70s to again try to supplant with a cassette counterpart the quadraphonic 8-track (which was just as prone to breaking and jamming as the original 2-XL tapes).
As with the previous version, this version could play any standard type of similar tape, but the user needed to first push the "Question" button (or the "2/A/No" button would work as well, playing the correct (left/dominant) channel of the (forward/A-side) of the program. Pressing buttons labeled 3 or 4 would play the left or right channel of the B-side of the tape in reverse.
Newly released tapes were branded with famous fictional characters and popular film and TV properties, including Spider-Man, X-Men, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Tales from the Cryptkeeper, Jurassic Park, Superman and Batman. These particular 2-XL programs would allow the user to go on an adventure with various characters, deciding their fate by pushing one of the buttons (much like the old Choose Your Own Adventure books).
The second version was on the market from 1992 through 1996, and about 45 tapes were released in total. The toy was sold internationally, including in Japan, Germany, Hungary, Italy, France, UK, Ireland, Canada, Brazil (where it was distributed by Nintendo's official local licenser Playtronic) and others. The tapes were translated into many foreign languages, but were not recorded by Freeman.
== Television series spin-off ==
The toy's success was also the basis for a game show called Pick Your Brain produced by Marc Summers Productions and Summit Media Group. The 2-XL robot in the show served as the assistant of Marc Summers. 2-XL was also a spokesrobot for basketball player Michael Jordan and his charitable foundation in 1992 and 1993 and appeared in a number of PSA (public service announcements) with Jordan.
== Tapes ==
=== List of 2-XL tapes manufactured by Mego Corporation between 1978 and 1981 ===
General Information was included with each toy robot. The remainder programs were each sold separately:
=== List of 2-XL tapes manufactured by Tiger Electronics between 1992 and 1995 ===
The World of 2-XL was sold with each toy robot. The remainder programs were each sold separately. For foreign sales, the Freeman voiced 2-XL English language tapes were translated into foreign languages performed by a professional that spoke the designated language.
=== Trilex ===
One of the last tapes released for the Mego Corporation version of 2XL was "Trilex", a complete board game designed to be played against 2XL. The tape came with a board which fitted over the front of the 2XL unit itself, with the board in front of the tape slot. The game board consisted of an inverted pyramid shape, 4 squares wide at the top to 1 square at the bottom, with each row colored in a different color (Blue, Yellow, Green, and Tan), and 4 slots through which pieces (which 2XL called "checkers") could be dropped into the pyramid. The slots aligned with 2XL's 4 buttons, with the intention that dropping the checker would also press the appropriate track button on 2XL. The objective of the game was to create either a line or a triangle of three checkers of a selected color. The game and tape design are interesting because they enabled the 4-track tape player to provide a passable simulation of a game-playing AI.
== Merchandising ==
A number of secondary products were licensed under the 2-XL (2XL) name including: laptop computer bags, earphones, lunch boxes and more.
== Awards ==
During its time, both iterations of 2-XL won hundreds of awards, including FamilyFun magazine's award for best toy of 1992, and Right Start Magazine's honor as Europe's best toy in the 3-5 year-old category for 1993. For the 75th anniversary issue of Playthings magazine, 2-XL was featured on the cover and named one of the top ten toys of all time. The Tiger 2-XL was also the winner of the 1992 Walt Disney Company Best Learning Toy for 1992.
== See also ==
Talk 'n Play, another toy created by Dr. Freeman
== References ==
== External links ==
World of 2-XL - an extensive source on anything regarding 2-XL and its inventor, Dr. Michael J. Freeman.
Unofficial 2-XL Page
2-XL Simulator – an online web simulator with dozens of the original cartridges.
2XLBot.com - updated and complete version of the above site.
The original 2-XL patent retrieved from Google Patents
The Old Robots |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Disaster#Death | Major Disaster | Major Disaster (Paul Booker) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He started out as an enemy of Green Lantern and the Justice League before reforming and becoming a superhero.
== Publication history ==
Major Disaster first appeared in Green Lantern (volume 2) #43, and was created by Gardner Fox and Gil Kane.
== Fictional character biography ==
Paul Booker is a low-level crook who accidentally discovers the secret identities of Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) and the Flash after finding Thomas Kalmaku's casebook. He then becomes a criminal using devices that can create natural disasters and protect him from them. After Major Disaster is defeated, Green Lantern uses his ring to erase the memory of the Flash's secret identity and placed a mental block stopping him from telling anyone else about the Green Lantern's own identity. Major Disaster continues to battle Green Lantern and allies with Epoch.
Major Disaster later learns that he has gained his device's power innately, but his powers are growing in magnitude and slowly destroying him. For a time, he serves as an operative of the international crime cartel SKULL.
While in prison, Major Disaster meets Mighty Bruce, a computer wizard who steals money from corporations to give to charity. Bruce and Disaster form the Injustice League alongside Multi-Man, Cluemaster, Big Sir, and Clock King and obtain a Thanagarian warship left over from a recent invasion. Guy Gardner intercepts the group's radio transmission, destroys the warship, and takes the League into custody.
Once free, the League decides to move to Paris, but is confronted by Justice League Europe and quickly deported. Their next mission involves breaking into the League's casino on the island Kooey Kooey Kooey. While the operation is a success, they are unable to spend their winnings; Kooey Kooey Kooey is revealed to be sentient and drifts into the ocean. Recruited by the JLA, Disaster helps Aquaman anchor Kooey Kooey Kooey to an underground volcano. He chooses to stay and face justice rather than flee, despite having the opportunity to do so.
Attempting to go legit, the Injustice League are sent to the South Pole to form the Justice League Antarctica, along with G'nort and the Scarlet Skier. After inadvertently devastating Times Square during a battle with Despero, Major Disaster leaves the League.
The Injustice League team receives an offer from the government to work on the Suicide Squad. They are sent to a small island off the coast of Iceland to deal with a terrorist situation and an out-of-control genetic experiment, during which Big Sir is killed and Multi-Man, Clock King, and Cluemaster are injured.
After the Justice League are lost in time and presumed dead, Batman recruits Major Disaster into a substitute Justice League group consisting of Nightwing, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkgirl, Firestorm, Jason Blood, and Faith. Major Disaster later joins the Justice League Elite, a covert-ops arm of the Justice League led by Vera Black. Major Disaster is revealed to be alcoholic; during a battle with the Justice Society of America, he uses his powers while drunk, resulting in Hawkgirl being severely injured and Manitou Raven killed. At the end of the Justice League Elite series, Major Disaster resigns from the League.
In Infinite Crisis, Major Disaster is killed by Superboy-Prime. He is later resurrected as a Black Lantern during the Blackest Night event and attempts to seek revenge before Prime kills him using a black ring.
In 2011, The New 52 rebooted the DC universe. Major Disaster returned in Superman/Wonder Woman confronting the heroes alongside the Atomic Skull.
In 2016, DC Comics implemented a relaunch of its books called "DC Rebirth" which restored its continuity to a form much as it was prior to "The New 52". Major Disaster is revealed to have a daughter named Penny who debuted as Minor Disaster in the Harley Quinn comic, utilizing a H-Dial-resembling device called the Disaster Dial and teaming up with her neglectful father.
== Powers and abilities ==
Major Disaster's powers originally came from a set of weapons he used to cause natural disasters. Over time, exposure to these weapons made the powers internalize and now Disaster can cause chaos at will. Disaster later makes a deal with Neron that greatly enhances his powers, enabling him to see the strands of chaos around him. The disasters he can now control theoretically range from being able to command asteroid showers without breaking a sweat to causing heart attacks, nose bleeds, and even making people trip up. He appears to have no real limitations, though he lacks fine control. He has devised a force field for himself, using his powers to redirect attacks, though he seems not to use it much. While Major Disaster is adept at creating chaos, it takes him great effort to stop disasters, whether his own or natural.
== In other media ==
Major Disaster makes non-speaking cameo appearances in Justice League Unlimited as a member of Gorilla Grodd's Secret Society before being killed by Darkseid.
Major Disaster appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by James Arnold Taylor.
Major Disaster appears as a character summon in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.
== References == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soko_522 | Soko 522 | The Soko 522 was a two-seater Yugoslav military training and light attack aircraft produced in the 1950s by SOKO in Yugoslavia.
== History ==
The Soko 522 was designed by Yugoslav engineers Šostarić, Marjanović and Čurčić at the Ikarus Aircraft Factory in Zemun. The first prototype flew in February 1955. After the initial success of the new aircraft, production was transferred to the Soko aircraft factory in Mostar. Production lasted until 1961 and totalled 110 units. The Soko 522 was used as the primary trainer aircraft for the Yugoslav air force until it was retired in 1978.
It gained some fame for its role in war movies filmed in Yugoslavia during the 1960s and 1970s, where it was used to portray the Fw 190 German fighter. Some of its prominent movie roles were in the Yugoslav Oscar candidate Battle of Neretva and Kelly's Heroes, starring Clint Eastwood.
== Operators ==
Yugoslavia
Yugoslav Air Force
460th Light Combat Aviation Squadron (1961–1967)
461st Light Combat Aviation Squadron (1961–1968, 1973–1977)
462nd Light Combat Aviation Squadron (1961–1968, 1973–1977)
463rd Light Combat Aviation Squadron (1961–1966)
464th Light Combat Aviation Squadron (1961–1966)
465th Light Combat Aviation Squadron (1961–1966)
== Surviving aircraft ==
France
60168 – Soko 522 airworthy.
Serbia
60132 – Soko 522 on static display at the Museum of Aviation in Belgrade.
60157 – Soko 522 on static display at the Museum of Aviation in Belgrade.
60204 – Soko 522 on static display at the Museum of Aviation in Belgrade.
????? Soko 522 on static display in park at Tovariševo
Bosnia and Herzegovina
60143 – Soko 522 on static display at Mostar Airport in Mostar, Herzegovina-Neretva.
Slovenia
Soko 522 on static display at the Pivka Park of Military History in Pivka.
United States
Soko 522 owned by John Magoffin in Tucson, Arizona. It was damaged in a wheels up landing.
== Specifications (Soko 522) ==
Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1961–62General characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 9.20 m (30 ft 2 in)
Wingspan: 11.00 m (36 ft 1 in)
Height: 3.58 m (11 ft 9 in)
Gross weight: 1,089 kg (2,400 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney R-1340-AN-1 Wasp air-cooled radial engine, 450 kW (600 hp)
Performance
Maximum speed: 351 km/h (218 mph, 190 kn)
Range: 978 km (608 mi, 528 nmi)
Service ceiling: 7,000 m (23,000 ft)
Armament
Avionics
radio AN-ARC-3, VKT 100-156 MHz range 45 km at 1000 ft, 200 km at 10,000 ft
radiocompass AN-ARN-6 100-1750 kHz or AD-722
== See also ==
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
Yakovlev Yak-11
== References ==
=== Notes ===
=== Bibliography === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pherzawl_district#History | Pherzawl district | Pherzawl district is located in the southern part of the state of Manipur. It is bounded on the east by Churachandpur District; on the north by Tamenglong District, Noney District and Jiribam district; on the west by the Cachar District of Assam and on the South by Sinlung Hills, Mizoram. Pherzawl District has approximately 200 villages.
== History ==
The Pherzawl district was formed in 2017 from two western subdivisions of Churachandpur district, viz., Tipaimukh subdivision and Thanlon subdivision. Two more subdivisions have since been created: Vangai Range subdivision out of Tipaimukh, and the Pherzawl subdivision out of Thanlon. The latter is described as "non-functional", which probably means that it does not have separate subdivisional offices. The district was inaugurated on 16 December 2018 by chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh.
== Geography ==
Pherzawl District is located between 93° 11' 16" East longitude and 24° 15' 43" North latitude, and is in the southwestern part of Manipur. The district's elevation is approximately 1037 meters, equivalent to 3,402 feet above sea level. Situated in the extreme southwest of Manipur, it shares borders with Churachandpur, Noney, Tamenglong and Jiribam districts of Manipur, as well as the states of Assam and Mizoram.
The district covers a total area of 2285 sq.km, characterized by rugged hill terrain with prominent rivers such as Barak (Tuiruong), Tuipi, Tuivai, and Hringtuinek (Sartuinek), along with numerous streams and rivulets. Tipaimukh (Ruonglevaisuo), the confluence of Tuivai and Barak rivers, serves as a significant trading hub and port for river transportation. It is also the proposed site for the controversial Tipaimukh Dam project, aimed at flood control and Hydroelectric power generation. Pherzawl District experiences a humid subtropical climate, with moderately fertile soil conducive to agriculture. The district's main crops include rice, maize, and ginger, with agriculture being the primary occupation of the residents.
The region falls within a humid subtropical climate classification. Its soil composition predominantly consists of moderately fertile clay loam, interspersed with patches of clay and loam. Temperature fluctuations span from a minimum of 3.4 °C (38.1 °F) to a maximum of 34.1 °C (93.4 °F). Annual precipitation levels vary between 670 to 1,450 mm (26 to 57 in).
== Administration ==
Pherzawl District is administered by a Deputy Commissioner, supported by an Additional Deputy Commissioner, Sub-Divisional Officer, and other field staff. The district is divided into four sub-divisions, each with its own administrative setup, including a Sub-Divisional Officer responsible for both administrative and developmental initiatives. Its current MLA is Ngursanglur Sanate from Tipaimukh AC, a constituency which covers the majority of Pherzawl district.
== Facilities ==
Pherzawl district is connected with the state capital Imphal via National Highway 2. There is also helicopter service at Parbung. A bus service running between Imphal and Pherzawl began in 2017. The district has one Community Health Centre (CHC) at Parbung.
== Languages ==
== Notable people ==
Ngursanglur Sanate
Ngurdinglien Sanate
Lalthlamuong Keivom
Lal Dena
Rochunga Pudaite
== Villages ==
Damdiei
Parbung
Pherzawl
Phulpui
Senvawn
Sipuikawn
Taithu
Sartuinek
Lungthulien
Leisen
Patpuihmun
Loibuol (Lawibual/Lawibuol)
Ankhasuo
== See also ==
List of populated places in Pherzawl district
Hmar Ethnic Cultural Sites
== Notes ==
== References ==
== External links ==
Official government site
Pherzawl Diksawnari - Hmar to English Dictionary |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_August_Folkers | Karl August Folkers | Karl August Folkers (September 1, 1906 – December 7, 1997) was an American biochemist who made major contributions to the isolation and identification of bioactive natural products.
== Career ==
Folkers graduated from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois in 1928. In 1986, the institution awarded him its Alumni Achievement Award.
His career was mainly spent at Merck. He played a prominent role in the isolation of vitamin B12 in 1947, which is one of the most structural complex of the vitamins. As a Merck Pharmaceuticals research team, Folkers, Fern P. Rathe, and Edward Anthony Kaczka were the first to isolate the antibiotic cathomycin in 1955. His team also isolated the antibiotic cycloserine. In 1958 his Merck team determined the structure of coenzyme Q10.
He later served as director of the Institute of Biomedical Research at the University of Texas at Austin, where he was also Ashbel Smith Professor of Chemistry.
In recognition for his scientific contributions, he received the Perkin Medal in 1960, the William H. Nichols Medal in 1967, the Priestley Medal in 1986, and the National Medal of Science in 1990.
== References ==
== External links ==
Karl August Folkers, biographical memoir by William Shive |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleabag#Critical_response | Fleabag | Fleabag is a British comedy-drama television series created and written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, based on her one-woman show first performed in 2013 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The series was produced by Two Brothers Pictures for digital channel BBC Three, in a co-production agreement with Amazon Studios. Waller-Bridge stars as the title character, a free-spirited but angry and confused young woman living in London. Sian Clifford co-stars as Fleabag's sister Claire, with Andrew Scott joining in the second season; most of the show's main characters are never named, including Waller-Bridge's and Scott's. The protagonist frequently breaks the fourth wall, providing exposition, internal monologues, and running commentary to the audience.
The show premiered on 21 July 2016 and concluded its second and final series on 8 April 2019. It received widespread acclaim from critics, particularly for its writing, acting, and the uniqueness and personality of the title character. Many critics and viewers have called it one of the greatest comedy series of all time as well as one of the greatest television series of all time. Waller-Bridge won the British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for the first series, with the second series earning her Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actress, and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series; additional nominations include acting categories received by Clifford, Olivia Colman, and guest stars Fiona Shaw and Kristin Scott Thomas. The series received the Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Series and Best Actress for Waller-Bridge, and a nomination for Scott.
== Background ==
The show is adapted from Waller-Bridge's 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe one-woman play of the same name which won a Fringe First Award. The initial idea of the character of Fleabag came from a challenge by a friend, where Waller-Bridge was given the task of creating a sketch for a 10-minute section in a stand-up storytelling night.
== Cast and characters ==
=== Main ===
Phoebe Waller-Bridge as "Fleabag"
Sian Clifford as Claire, Fleabag's sister with whom she shares an uneasy relationship
Andrew Scott as the priest (series 2), with whom Fleabag falls in love
=== Supporting ===
Ben Aldridge as Arsehole Guy (series 1; guest series 2), one of Fleabag's love interests, so named for his taste for anal sex
Hugh Skinner as Harry, Fleabag's on-off boyfriend then eventual ex
Hugh Dennis as Bank Manager (series 1; guest series 2), approached by Fleabag for a loan
Jenny Rainsford as Boo, Fleabag's deceased best friend and business partner
Bill Paterson as Fleabag and Claire's father
Olivia Colman as Fleabag and Claire's godmother, who began a relationship with their father not long after their mother's death and eventually becomes their stepmother
Brett Gelman as Martin, Claire's aggressive alcoholic husband
=== Guest ===
Jamie Demetriou as Bus Rodent (series 1), one of Fleabag's love interests
Fiona Shaw as Fleabag's counsellor (series 2)
Jo Martin as Pam (series 2), who works at the priest's church
Ray Fearon as Hot Misogynist (series 2), who serves as Fleabag's lawyer and one of her love interests
Angus Imrie as Jake (series 2), Martin's teenage son and Claire's stepson
Kristin Scott Thomas as Belinda (series 2), a successful businesswoman who meets Fleabag at an awards ceremony presented by Claire
Jenny Robbins as Lesley (series 2), Claire's co-worker
Christian Hillborg as Klare (series 2), Claire's Finnish business partner and love interest
== Episodes ==
=== Series 1 (2016) ===
=== Series 2 (2019) ===
== Distribution and broadcast ==
BBC Three was the original broadcast channel for the show with a repeat run broadcast on BBC Two between 21 August and 25 September 2016. The second series was broadcast on BBC One at the same time as being released on BBC Three, by this time only available online.
It was picked up by the on-demand Amazon Prime Video (formerly Amazon Video) service and premiered in the United States on 16 September 2016. Series 2 was released in the US on 17 May 2019. Fleabag is also available on IFC in the US. In the Netherlands, it was picked up by Net5.
The show has been remade for French television by Jeanne Herry. Titled Mouche (French for 'fly', the insect), it started airing on 3 June 2019 on pay channel Canal+. Mouche is a close remake, though set in Paris with Camille Cottin in the starring role.
== Production ==
=== Filming ===
Filming took place in and around London, mostly North West and Central with the primary location being Dartmouth Park, North West London. Street scenes were filmed on five main roads in the area, including Southampton Road, Laurier Road, Croftdown Road, Highgate Road, and York Rise. Other locations include Twickenham, Hampton Hill, Highgate, Tufnell Park, Belsize Park, Maida Vale, Kentish Town, Parliament Hill Fields in Hampstead Heath, Southwark, Bloomsbury, Soho, Stanmore, Lincoln's Inn Fields and Finsbury Square.
Bold Café & Restaurant in Dartmouth Park was used for Fleabag's Guinea Pig Café. Dad and Godmother's house was on Cambridge Park Road in Twickenham. The feminist lecture was at the British Museum's Lecture Theatre in Russell Square. The graveyard that Fleabag jogged through daily was at Kensal Green Cemetery. The silent retreat that Fleabag and Claire attended on Mother's Day was filmed at Hedsor House, an Italianate-style mansion used as a wedding venue in Maidenhead, Berkshire.
The second and final series premiered with a family dinner party filmed at the American steakhouse, Smith & Wollensky in Covent Garden. Hot Priest's church was the Romanian Orthodox and former Anglican church St. Andrew's in Kingsbury. Godmother's sexhibition was held at the Tate Modern in Bankside. Claire's penthouse office was filmed from Heron Tower in Bishopsgate. The funeral was filmed at St Dunstan and All Saints Church in Stepney. The hair salon was 137 – Taylor and Taylor in Shoreditch.
Filming for the first series started in late April 2016, and was released from 21 July to 25 August 2016. Filming for the second and final series started in late August 2018 and was released from 4 March to 8 April 2019.
=== Music ===
Waller-Bridge's sister, Isobel Waller-Bridge, composed the music for both series.
== Reception ==
=== Critical response ===
Both series of Fleabag received widespread acclaim from television critics. At review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, both series received approval ratings of 100%. The first series received an average rating of 8.5/10, based on 42 reviews, with the site's critical consensus reading: "Clever and viciously funny, Fleabag is a touching, wildly inventive comedy about a complicated young woman navigating the aftermath of trauma." The second series received an average rating of 9.3/10, based on 99 reviews, with the critical consensus stating: "Fleabag jumps back into the fray with a bracing second season that upholds its predecessor's frenzied wit and delicate heart, replete with Phoebe Waller-Bridge's indefatigable charisma". At Metacritic, the first series received a weighted average score of 88 out of 100, based on 19 critics, while the second series received a score of 96, based on 21 critics, both signifying "universal acclaim".
Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker described the first series as "a precision black-humour mechanism, a warped and affecting fable about one single woman's existence." Maureen Ryan at Variety called it "scathingly funny", concluding that "long after it's pulled you in with its irreverence and jokes about sex, and beguiled you with its cutting wit and messily human characters, it reveals that it's actually a tragedy". Hank Stuever of The Washington Post characterised it as a "funny, highly profane but surprisingly poignant dramedy". Mike Hale in The New York Times praised the show for its "restless, almost feral energy and its slap-in-the-face attitude." Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times commended its unpredictability, acting, and "clear eye for truth that often becomes, like all good comedy, quite devastating".
The second series received unanimous acclaim and was considered a cultural phenomenon. Serena Davies of The Daily Telegraph lauded the second series as "a near-perfect work of art". Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon praised its "brilliant swan song", finding the series's conclusion satisfying and "well-earned". For Rolling Stone, Alan Sepinwall wrote that the "tragicomic masterpiece reaches new heights in its second outing". James Poniewozik of The New York Times wrote that "the new season feels immediately confident, if inevitably less groundbreaking. Yet it continues to push its form". Hannah Jane Parkinson of The Guardian described the conclusion as "the most electrifying, devastating TV in years," writing of the second series that "it seems as though many who either did not watch the first series, or who didn't think it lived up to the hype, have been converted".
According to Metacritic's aggregate of decade-end lists, Fleabag was the second-highest ranked show of the 2010s. It has since been considered by multiple publications to be one of the greatest television series of all time.
Former United States President Barack Obama named the second season of Fleabag among his favourite films and television series of 2019. In his annual list, which he released on Twitter on 29 December 2019, he added a small addendum with the title, "and a quick list of TV shows that I considered as powerful as movies: Fleabag: Season 2, Unbelievable, and Watchmen."
=== Accolades ===
== Home media ==
== References ==
== External links ==
Fleabag at BBC Online
Fleabag at IMDb |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_George_Stokes_Award | Sir George Stokes Award | The Sir George Stokes Award (colloquially the Stokes Medal) is named after George Gabriel Stokes and is awarded biennially by the Analytical Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry. It was established in 1999 to recognize the multidisciplinary nature of analytical chemistry and is given:
For outstanding and sustained contributions to analytical science by someone working in a complementary field, which has led to developments of seminal importance to chemical analysis.
There is no restriction on the nationality of those who can be considered for the award.
== Winners ==
Source: Royal Society of Chemistry
2019 (2019): Tuan Vo-Dinh, Duke University
2017 (2017): Tony Cass, Imperial College London
2015 (2015): Sergei G. Kazarian, Imperial College London
2013 (2013): Richard P. Van Duyne
2011 (2011): Richard Compton
2009 (2009): Robin Clark
2007 (2007): Kenneth Suslick
2005 (2005): John Meurig Thomas
2003 (2003): No award
2001 (2001): Karl H. Norris
1999 (1999): Alec Jeffreys
== See also ==
List of chemistry awards
== References == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buster_Smith | Buster Smith | Henry Franklin "Buster" Smith (August 24, 1904 – August 10, 1991), also known as Professor Smith, was an American jazz alto saxophonist and mentor to Charlie Parker. Smith was instrumental in instituting the Texas Sax Sound with Count Basie and Lester Young in the 1930s.
Smith played saxophone for a number of prominent band leaders including Duke Ellington and Earl Hines as well as vocalist Ella Fitzgerald. He recorded his only album as leader in 1959 and despite intending to record a follow-up, he was injured in an accident and nothing else was released.
== Biography ==
=== Early life ===
Smith was born and raised in Alsdorf, Texas, a small township near Telico in the outskirts of Dallas, where he attended school as a child. Smith earned the name "Buster" from his parents as a baby, as he was born as an overweight child. Buster was the third of five boys and had no sisters, though both of his older brothers died in childhood of measles.
Smith's early musical influences were his mother, and his father, who played guitar. At the age of four years, Buster was playing the organ with his brother, pianist Boston Smith; Buster played the keys and Boston stepped on the pedals. Soon thereafter, his grandfather gave away the family organ because he believed it would only direct Buster to a life of sin.
=== Early career ===
In 1919, Smith picked cotton for a week to earn himself the money to buy a $3.50 clarinet. Smith learned to play several instruments by the time he was eighteen years old. In 1922, Smith and his family moved to Dallas. He joined the Voodie White Trio, playing Alto saxophone and clarinet. In 1923, he began his professional music career playing alto saxophone with the medicine shows, though he had to play very loudly to draw in more customers. This experience led to Smith defining his own musical style, known for being loud. The time with the medicine shows also led to Oran "Hot Lips" Page inviting Smith to join his group, the Oklahoma City Blue Devils, in 1925. Over the next few years, Smith wrote much of the group's music, learning from banjo player Johnny Clark, writing lyrics with co-workers from the bank that he worked in.
=== Peak success ===
When Smith joined the Blue Devils, the line-up consisted of Walter Page, Oran Page, Lester Young, Count Basie, Jimmy Rushing, and Emir "Bucket" Coleman. They toured the Kansas City area and the Midwest, playing jazz for a year, bringing all of its members into prominence. Basie and Page both left the group; however Smith decided to stay on, though this was very short lived and soon after he left also. After leaving the group, he and Basie formed the Buster Smith-Count Basie Band of Rhythm, where the two innovated a louder style of Jazz. Buster's contribution to the unique sound was by using a tenor saxophone reed in his alto saxophone to achieve a louder, "fatter" sound. Lester Young also joined the band and, to complement Smith's louder sound, he also opted for a harder reed, using a baritone saxophone reed on his tenor saxophone. This sound was later labelled the Texas Sax Sound. Smith gained a great amount of influence in the Texan music community and industry. Smith mentored legendary saxophonist Charlie Parker during the 1930s, developing a "father-son relationship" through mentoring Parker.
In 1941, Smith decided to return to Dallas and to cease touring, though he remained active in the local music scene. In the following years, he wrote for jazz and blues bands, played often, and taught many young Texan musicians, including Aaron "T-Bone" Walker and Red Garland among others. He also performed session work with artists such as Pete Johnson's Boogie-Woogie Boys, Eddie Durham, Leo "Snub" Mosley, Bon and His Buddies, and the Don Redman Orchestra.
=== Solo career ===
In 1959, Buster led his first solo recording session in Fort Worth, as prompted by Atlantic Records. From these sessions, released by Atlantic with the title The Legendary Buster Smith, Smith's notable songs included "Kansas City Riffs," "Buster's Tune," "E Flat Boogie," and Kurt Weill's "September Song." For the sessions, Buster enlisted his brother Boston Smith to play piano, along with musicians spanning his career to date.
=== Later life ===
In the 1960s, Smith was involved in an auto accident, in which he was injured and no longer able to play the saxophone. In order to continue playing music, he started to play the bass guitar throughout Dallas and continued to participate in the Dallas musical community. Buster led a dance music band until 1980, and played in the Legendary Revelations in the mid-1980s. Smith died in Dallas on August 10, 1991, of a heart attack.
== Discography ==
The Legendary Buster Smith, Atlantic Records, 1959 (Reissued by Koch Records, 1999)
== References ==
=== Further reading ===
Who's Who of Jazz: Storyville to Swing Street by John Chilton (First published 1970).
Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians by Eileen Southern (First edition 1982).
Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop - A History by Frank Driggs & Chuck Haddix (First published Oxford 2005; ISBN 0-19-530712-7, Page 165).
=== Footnotes === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Oberhoffer#Biography | Emil Oberhoffer | Emil Oberhoffer (10 August 1867 – 22 May 1933) was a German-born American conductor and minor composer. He founded the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (now known as the Minnesota Orchestra), and was its conductor for the first 19 years of its existence.
== Biography ==
Emil Johann Oberhoffer was born near Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria on 10 August 1867 to a musical family, his father being a well known organist, composer and provincial conductor, and his mother and siblings also making their marks. He showed early promise on the organ and violin, and was sent for training with the Josef Rheinberger disciple Cyrill Kistler, and later to Paris for intensive piano study with Isidor Philipp.
He emigrated to New York City in 1885, became an American citizen in 1893, and moved to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1897 as a teacher, lecturer, concert performer and conductor. He conducted the Apollo Club of Minneapolis, a notable choral society. He also organised the Schubert Choral Association and the Schubert Orchestra in St. Paul, and he was director of the Minneapolis Philharmonic Club, a choral group. He became frustrated at the quality of the scratch ensembles used for accompaniments for these groups, and this became the catalyst for the establishment a permanent orchestra in Minneapolis. The Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra gave its first performance, under Oberhoffer's direction, on 5 November 1903.
He was also organist and director of music at the Church of the Redeemer, and he founded the chair of music at the University of Minnesota. He was personally very active and energetic, and instigated a practice of touring the orchestra widely, making it better known than most of its metropolis-bound counterparts. The orchestra made its Carnegie Hall debut in 1912.
Oberhoffer left Minneapolis in 1922 after increasing friction with the orchestra's management. His place was taken by Bruno Walter as guest conductor for 1922–23, then by Henri Verbrugghen. His tenure of 19 years with the Minneapolis Symphony was not equalled until Stanisław Skrowaczewski (1960–79).
He moved to California, and became guest conductor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Detroit Symphony Orchestra. On 8 July 1926, he conducted the first performance by the LA Philharmonic of Maurice Ravel's Alborada del gracioso.
His compositions include: Hora Novissima (a vocal scene about the last hours of a dying child at whose side his mother waits while a bell tolls), and Mélodie élégiaque, dedicated to the French violinist Camilla Urso.
Emil Oberhoffer died in San Diego, California on 22 May 1933, aged 65. He is buried in the Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, where the Oberhoffer Obelisk stands in his memory.
== Legacy ==
The Emil J. Oberhoffer House overlooks Orchard Lake in Lakeville, Minnesota.
== References ==
== External links ==
Emil Oberhoffer at Find a Grave
"Oberhoffer, Emil" . Encyclopedia Americana. 1920. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassily_Kandinsky#:~:text=Kandinsky%20was%20born%20in%20Moscow,great%2Dgrandmothers%20was%20Princess%20Gantimurova. | Wassily Kandinsky | Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (16 December [O.S. 4 December] 1866 – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist active in Germany during the late Belle Époque and Interwar eras. Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstraction in Western art. Born in Moscow, he began painting studies (life-drawing, sketching and anatomy) at the age of 30.
In 1896, Kandinsky settled in Munich, studying first at Anton Ažbe's private school and then at the Academy of Fine Arts. During this time, he was first the teacher and then the partner of German artist Gabriele Münter. He returned to Moscow in 1914 after the outbreak of World War I. Following the Russian Revolution, Kandinsky "became an insider in the cultural administration of Anatoly Lunacharsky" and helped establish the Museum of the Culture of Painting. However, by then, "his spiritual outlook... was foreign to the argumentative materialism of Soviet society" and opportunities beckoned in Germany, to which he returned in 1920. There, he taught at the Bauhaus school of art and architecture from 1922 until the Nazis closed it in 1933. He then moved to France, where he lived for the rest of his life, becoming a French citizen in 1939 and producing some of his most prominent art. He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1944.
== Early life ==
Kandinsky was born in Moscow, the son of Lidia Ticheeva and Vassily Silvestrovich Kandinsky, a tea merchant. One of his great-grandmothers was Princess Gantimurova. Kandinsky learned from a variety of sources while in Moscow. He studied many fields while in school, including law and economics. Later in life, he would recall being fascinated and stimulated by colour as a child. His fascination with colour symbolism and psychology continued as he grew.
In 1889, at age 23, he was part of an ethnographic research group that travelled to the Vologda region north of Moscow. In Looks on the Past, he relates that the houses and churches were decorated with such shimmering colours that upon entering them, he felt that he was moving into a painting. This experience, as well as his study of the region's folk art (particularly the use of bright colours on a dark background), were reflected in much of his early work.
A few years later, he first likened painting to composing music in the manner for which he would become noted, writing "Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmony, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand which plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul".
Kandinsky was also the uncle of Russian-French philosopher Alexandre Kojève (1902–1968).
== Artistic periods ==
Kandinsky's creation of abstract work followed a long period of development and maturation of intense thought based on his artistic experiences. He called this devotion to inner beauty, fervor of spirit and spiritual desire "inner necessity"; it was a central aspect of his art. Some art historians suggest that Kandinsky's passion for abstract art began when one day, coming back home, he found one of his own paintings hanging upside down in his studio and he stared at it for a while before realizing it was his own work, suggesting to him the potential power of abstraction.
In 1896, at the age of 30, Kandinsky gave up a promising career teaching law and economics to enroll in the Munich Academy where his teachers would eventually include Franz von Stuck. He was not immediately granted admission and began learning art on his own. That same year, before leaving Moscow, he saw an exhibit of paintings by Monet. He was particularly taken with the impressionistic style of Haystacks; this, to him, had a powerful sense of colour almost independent of the objects themselves. Later, he would write about this experience:
That it was a haystack the catalogue informed me. I could not recognise it. This non-recognition was painful to me. I considered that the painter had no right to paint indistinctly. I dully felt that the object of the painting was missing. And I noticed with surprise and confusion that the picture not only gripped me, but impressed itself ineradicably on my memory. Painting took on a fairy-tale power and splendour.
Kandinsky was similarly influenced during this period by Richard Wagner's Lohengrin which, he felt, pushed the limits of music and melody beyond standard lyricism. He was also spiritually influenced by Madame Blavatsky (1831–1891), the best-known exponent of theosophy. Theosophical theory postulates that creation is a geometrical progression, beginning with a single point. The creative aspect of the form is expressed by a descending series of circles, triangles, and squares. Kandinsky's book Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1910) and Point and Line to Plane (1926) echoed this theosophical tenet. Illustrations by John Varley in Thought-Forms (1901) influenced him visually.
=== Metamorphosis ===
In the summer of 1902, Kandinsky invited Gabriele Münter to join him at his summer painting classes just south of Munich in the Alps. She accepted the offer and their relationship became more personal than professional.
Art school, usually considered difficult, was easy for Kandinsky. It was during this time that he began to emerge as an art theorist as well as a painter. The number of his existing paintings increased at the beginning of the 20th century; much remains of the landscapes and towns he painted, using broad swaths of colour and recognisable forms. For the most part, however, Kandinsky's paintings did not feature any human figures; an exception is Sunday, Old Russia (1904), in which Kandinsky recreates a highly colourful (and fanciful) view of peasants and nobles in front of the walls of a town. Couple on Horseback (1907) depicts a man on horseback, holding a woman as they ride past a Russian town with luminous walls across a blue river. The horse is muted while the leaves in the trees, the town, and the reflections in the river glisten with spots of colour and brightness. This work demonstrates the influence of pointillism in the way the depth of field is collapsed into a flat, luminescent surface. Fauvism is also apparent in these early works. Colours are used to express Kandinsky's experience of subject matter, not to describe objective nature.
Perhaps the most important of his paintings from the first decade of the 1900s was The Blue Rider (1903), which shows a small cloaked figure on a speeding horse rushing through a rocky meadow. The rider's cloak is medium blue, which casts a darker-blue shadow. In the foreground are more amorphous blue shadows, the counterparts of the fall trees in the background. The blue rider in the painting is prominent (but not clearly defined), and the horse has an unnatural gait (which Kandinsky must have known) . This intentional disjunction, allowing viewers to participate in the creation of the artwork, became an increasingly conscious technique used by Kandinsky in subsequent years; it culminated in the abstract works of the 1911–1914 period. In The Blue Rider, Kandinsky shows the rider more as a series of colours than in specific detail. This painting is not exceptional in that regard when compared with contemporary painters, but it shows the direction Kandinsky would take only a few years later.
From 1906 to 1908, Kandinsky spent a great deal of time travelling across Europe (he was an associate of the Blue Rose symbolist group of Moscow) until he settled in the small Bavarian town of Murnau. In 1908, he bought a copy of Thought-Forms by Annie Besant and Charles Webster Leadbeater. In 1909, he joined the Theosophical Society. The Blue Mountain (1908–1909) was painted at this time, demonstrating his trend toward abstraction. A mountain of blue is flanked by two broad trees, one yellow and one red. A procession, with three riders and several others, crosses at the bottom. The faces, clothing, and saddles of the riders are each a single colour, and neither they nor the walking figures display any real detail. The flat planes and the contours also are indicative of Fauvist influence. The broad use of colour in The Blue Mountain illustrates Kandinsky's inclination toward an art in which colour is presented independently of form, and in which each colour is given equal attention. The composition is more planar; the painting is divided into four sections: the sky, the red tree, the yellow tree, and the blue mountain with the three riders.
In 1909, Wassily Kandinsky witnessed a presentation Aleksandra Unkovskaya made (at the Theosophical Congress in Budapest) regarding her innovative system in music education, sound-to-colour synesthesia or Chromesthesia which is a type of synesthesia in which sound involuntarily evokes an experience of colour, shape and movement, which led to his own discoveries in his art. Kandinsky stated: "to impress a tune upon unmusical children with the help of colours ... She (Unkovskaya) has constructed a special, precise method of 'translating' the colorus of nature into music, of painting the sounds of nature, of seeing sounds." This transcended the spiritual in art and led him to develop the concept and formula of a chain reaction experience (reciprocal relationship/artist and viewer): "Emotion — sensation — the work of art — sensation — emotion." The concept was based on the principle of the resonance of string instruments.
=== Blue Rider Period (1911–1914) ===
Kandinsky's paintings from this period are large, expressive coloured masses evaluated independently from forms and lines; these serve no longer to delimit them, but overlap freely to form paintings of extraordinary force. Music was important to the birth of abstract art since it is abstract by nature; it does not try to represent the exterior world, but expresses the inner feelings of the soul in an immediate way. Kandinsky sometimes used musical terms to identify his works; he called his most spontaneous paintings "improvisations" and described more elaborate works as "compositions."
In addition to painting, Kandinsky was an art theorist; his influence on the history of Western art stems perhaps more from his theoretical works than from his paintings. He helped found the Neue Künstlervereinigung München (Munich New Artists' Association), becoming its president in 1909. However, the group could not integrate the radical approach of Kandinsky (and others) with conventional artistic concepts and the group dissolved in late 1911. Kandinsky then formed a new group, The Blue Rider (Der Blaue Reiter) with like-minded artists such as August Macke, Franz Marc, Albert Bloch, and Gabriele Münter. The group released an almanac (The Blue Rider Almanac) and held two exhibits. More of each were planned, but the outbreak of World War I in 1914 ended these plans and sent Kandinsky back to Russia via Switzerland and Sweden.
His writing in The Blue Rider Almanac and the treatise "On the Spiritual in Art" (which was released in 1910) were both a defence and promotion of abstract art and an affirmation that all forms of art were equally capable of reaching a level of spirituality. He believed that colour could be used in a painting as something autonomous, apart from the visual description of an object or other form.
These ideas had an almost-immediate international impact, particularly in the English-speaking world. As early as 1912, On the Spiritual in Art was reviewed by Michael Sadleir in the London-based Art News. Interest in Kandinsky grew quickly when Sadleir published an English translation of On the Spiritual in Art in 1914. Extracts from the book were published that year in Percy Wyndham Lewis's periodical Blast, and Alfred Orage's weekly cultural newspaper The New Age. Kandinsky had received some notice earlier in Britain, however; in 1910, he participated in the Allied Artists' Exhibition (organised by Frank Rutter) at London's Royal Albert Hall. This resulted in his work being singled out for praise in a review of that show by the artist Spencer Frederick Gore in The Art News.
Sadleir's interest in Kandinsky also led to Kandinsky's first works entering a British art collection; Sadleir's father, Michael Sadler, acquired several wood-prints and the abstract painting Fragment for Composition VII in 1913 following a visit by father and son to meet Kandinsky in Munich that year. These works were displayed in Leeds, either in the university or the premises of the Leeds Arts Club, between 1913 and 1923.
=== Return to Russia (1914–1921) ===
The sun melts all of Moscow down to a single spot that, like a mad tuba, starts all of the heart and all of the soul vibrating. But no, this uniformity of red is not the most beautiful hour. It is only the final chord of a symphony that takes every colour to the zenith of life that, like the fortissimo of a great orchestra, is both compelled and allowed by Moscow to ring out.
From 1918 to 1921, Kandinsky was involved in the cultural politics of Russia and collaborated in art education and museum reform. He painted little during this period, but devoted his time to artistic teaching with a program based on form and colour analysis; he also helped organize the Institute of Artistic Culture in Moscow (of which he was its first director). His spiritual, expressionistic view of art was ultimately rejected by the radical members of the institute as too individualistic and bourgeois. In 1921, Kandinsky was invited to go to Germany to attend the Bauhaus of Weimar by its founder, architect Walter Gropius.
=== Back in Germany and the Bauhaus (1922–1933) ===
In May 1922, he attended the International Congress of Progressive Artists and signed the "Founding Proclamation of the Union of Progressive International Artists".
Kandinsky taught the basic design class for beginners and the course on advanced theory at the Bauhaus; he also conducted painting classes and a workshop in which he augmented his colour theory with new elements of form psychology. The development of his works on forms study, particularly on points and line forms, led to the publication of his second theoretical book (Point and Line to Plane) in 1926. His examinations of the effects of forces on straight lines, leading to the contrasting tones of curved and angled lines, coincided with the research of Gestalt psychologists, whose work was also discussed at the Bauhaus. Geometrical elements took on increasing importance in both his teaching and painting—particularly the circle, half-circle, the angle, straight lines and curves. This period was intensely productive. This freedom is characterised in his works by the treatment of planes rich in colours and gradations—as in Yellow – red – blue (1925), where Kandinsky illustrates his distance from the constructivism and suprematism movements influential at the time.
The two-metre-wide (6 ft 7 in) Yellow – red – blue (1925) of several main forms: a vertical yellow rectangle, an inclined red cross and a large dark blue circle; a multitude of straight (or sinuous) black lines, circular arcs, monochromatic circles and scattered, coloured checker-boards contribute to its delicate complexity. This simple visual identification of forms and the main coloured masses present on the canvas is only a first approach to the inner reality of the work, whose appreciation necessitates deeper observation—not only of forms and colours involved in the painting but their relationship, their absolute and relative positions on the canvas and their harmony.
Kandinsky was one of Die Blaue Vier (The Blue Four), which was a group that was formed in 1923 with Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger and Alexej von Jawlensky at the instigation of Galka Scheyer, who promoted their work in the United States from 1924 onward. Due to right-wing hostility, the Bauhaus left Weimar for Dessau in 1925. Following a Nazi smear campaign, the Bauhaus left Dessau in 1932 for Berlin, where it remained until its dissolution in July 1933. Kandinsky then left Germany, settling in Paris.
=== Great Synthesis (1934–1944) ===
Living in an apartment in Paris, Kandinsky created his work in a living-room studio. Biomorphic forms with supple, non-geometric outlines appear in his paintings—forms which suggest microscopic organisms but express the artist's inner life. Kandinsky used original colour compositions, evoking Slavic popular art. He also occasionally mixed sand with paint to give a granular, rustic texture to his paintings.
This period corresponds to a synthesis of Kandinsky's previous work in which he used all elements, enriching them. In 1936 and 1939, he painted his final two major compositions, the type of elaborate canvases he had not produced for many years. Composition IX has highly contrasted, powerful diagonals whose central form gives the impression of an embryo in the womb. Small squares of colours and coloured bands stand out against the black background of Composition X as star fragments (or filaments), while enigmatic hieroglyphs with pastel tones cover a large maroon mass which seems to float in the upper-left corner of the canvas. In Kandinsky's work, some characteristics are obvious, while certain touches are more discreet and veiled; they reveal themselves only progressively to those who deepen their connection with his work. He intended his forms (which he subtly harmonised and placed) to resonate with the observer's soul.
== Kandinsky's conception of art ==
=== The artist as prophet ===
Writing that "music is the ultimate teacher", Kandinsky embarked upon the first seven of his ten Compositions. The first three survive only in black-and-white photographs taken by fellow artist and friend Gabriele Münter. Composition I (1910) was destroyed by a British air raid on the city of Braunschweig in Lower Saxony on the night of 14 October 1944.
While studies, sketches, and improvisations exist (particularly of Composition II), a Nazi raid on the Bauhaus in the 1930s resulted in the confiscation of Kandinsky's first three Compositions. All three were destroyed during World War II.
Some of Kandinsky's works such as his now-lost painting Zweierlei Rot (1916) were displayed in the state-sponsored Degenerate Art exhibition. Works confiscated during the "degenerate art" campaign were either sold, exchanged or destroyed. A full inventory of more than 16,000 pieces of art can be accessed through the Victoria and Albert Museum website. This includes works by Kandinsky.
Fascinated by Christian eschatology and the perception of a coming New Age, a common theme among Kandinsky's first seven Compositions is the apocalypse (the end of the world as we know it). Writing of the "artist as prophet" in his book, Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Kandinsky created paintings in the years immediately preceding World War I showing a coming cataclysm which would alter individual and social reality. Having a devout belief in Orthodox Christianity, Kandinsky drew upon the biblical stories of Noah's Ark, Jonah and the whale, Christ's resurrection, the four horsemen of the Apocalypse in the book of Revelation, Russian folktales and the common mythological experiences of death and rebirth. Never attempting to picture any one of these stories as a narrative, he used their veiled imagery as symbols of the archetypes of death–rebirth and destruction–creation he felt were imminent in the pre-World War I world.
As he stated in Concerning the Spiritual in Art (see below), Kandinsky felt that an authentic artist creating art from "an internal necessity" inhabits the tip of an upward-moving pyramid. This progressing pyramid is penetrating and proceeding into the future. What was odd or inconceivable yesterday is commonplace today; what is avant garde today (and understood only by the few) is common knowledge tomorrow. The modern artist–prophet stands alone at the apex of the pyramid, making new discoveries and ushering in tomorrow's reality. Kandinsky was aware of recent scientific developments and the advances of modern artists who had contributed to radically new ways of seeing and experiencing the world.
Composition IV and later paintings are primarily concerned with evoking a spiritual resonance in viewer and artist. As in his painting of the apocalypse by water (Composition VI), Kandinsky puts the viewer in the situation of experiencing these epic myths by translating them into contemporary terms (with a sense of desperation, flurry, urgency, and confusion). This spiritual communion of viewer-painting-artist/prophet may be described within the limits of words and images.
=== Artistic and spiritual theorist ===
As the Der Blaue Reiter Almanac essays and theorising with composer Arnold Schoenberg indicate, Kandinsky also expressed the communion between artist and viewer as being available to both the senses and the mind (synesthesia). Hearing tones and chords as he painted, Kandinsky theorised that (for example), yellow is the colour of middle C on a brassy trumpet; black is the colour of closure, and the end of things; and that combinations of colours produce vibrational frequencies, akin to chords played on a piano. In 1871 the young Kandinsky learned to play the piano and cello.
Kandinsky also developed a theory of geometric figures and their relationships, claiming (for example) that the circle is the most peaceful shape and represents the human soul. These theories are explained in Point and Line to Plane.
Kandinsky's legendary stage design for a performance of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition illustrates his synesthetic concept of a universal correspondence of forms, colours and musical sounds. In 1928, the stage production premiered at a theater in Dessau. In 2015, the original designs of the stage elements were animated with modern video technology and synchronized with the music according to the preparatory notes of Kandinsky and the director's script of Felix Klee.
In another episode with Münter during the Bavarian abstract expressionist years, Kandinsky was working on Composition VI. From nearly six months of study and preparation, he had intended the work to evoke a flood, baptism, destruction, and rebirth simultaneously. After outlining the work on a mural-sized wood panel, he became blocked and could not go on. Münter told him that he was trapped in his intellect and not reaching the true subject of the picture. She suggested he simply repeat the word uberflut ("deluge" or "flood") and focus on its sound rather than its meaning. Repeating this word like a mantra, Kandinsky painted and completed the monumental work in a three-day span.
== Signature style ==
Wassily Kandinsky's art has a confluence of music and spirituality. With his appreciation for music of his times and kinesthetic disposition, Kandinsky's artworks have a marked style of expressionism in his early years. But he embraced all types of artistic styles of his times and his predecessors i.e. Art Nouveau (sinuous organic forms), Fauvism and Blaue Reiter (shocking colours), Surrealism (mystery) and Bauhaus (constructivism) only to move towards abstractionism as he explored spirituality in art. His object-free paintings display spiritual abstraction suggested by sounds and emotions through a unity of sensation. Driven by the Christian faith and the inner necessity of an artist, his paintings have the ambiguity of the form rendered in a variety of colours as well as resistance against conventional aesthetic values of the art world.
His signature or individual style can be further defined and divided into three categories over the course of his art career: Impressions (representational element), Improvisations (spontaneous emotional reaction) and Compositions (ultimate works of art).
As Kandinsky started moving away from his early inspiration from Impressionism, his paintings became more vibrant, pictographic and expressive with more sharp shapes and clear linear qualities.
But eventually, Kandinsky went further, rejecting pictorial representation with more synesthetic swirling hurricanes of colours and shapes, eliminating traditional references to depth and laying out bare and abstracted glyphs; however, what remained consistent was his spiritual pursuit of expressive forms.
Emotional harmony is another salient feature in the later works of Kandinsky. With diverse dimensions and bright hues balanced through a careful juxtaposition of proportion and colours, he substantiated the universality of shapes in his artworks thus paving the way for further abstraction.
Kandinsky often used black in his paintings to heighten the impact of brightly coloured forms while his forms were often biomorphic approaches to bring surrealism in his art.
== Theoretical writings on art ==
Kandinsky's analyses on forms and colours result not from simple, arbitrary idea-associations but from the painter's inner experience. He spent years creating abstract/sensorially rich paintings, working with form and colour, tirelessly observing his own paintings (along with those of other artists) and noting their effects on his sense of colour. This subjective experience is something that anyone can do—not scientific/objective observations, but inner/subjective ones, referred to by French philosopher Michel Henry as "absolute subjectivity" or the "absolute phenomenological life".
Published in Munich in 1911, Kandinsky's text Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the spiritual in art) defines three types of painting: impressions, improvisations and compositions. While impressions are based on an external reality that serves as a starting point, improvisations and compositions depict images emergent from the unconscious, though composition is developed from a more formal point of view.
== Personal life ==
After graduating in 1892, Kandinsky married his cousin, Anja Chimiakina, and became a lecturer in Jurisprudence at the University of Moscow.
In the summer of 1902, Kandinsky invited Gabriele Münter to join him at his summer painting classes just south of Munich in the Alps. She accepted the offer and their relationship became more personal than professional. In 1911, the German expressionist painter was one of several artists joining Kandinsky in his Blue Rider (Der Blaue Reiter) group, which ended with the onset of World War I.
Kandinsky and Münter became engaged in the summer of 1903 while he was still married to Anja and travelled extensively through Europe, Russia and North Africa until 1908. He separated from Anja in 1911.
From 1906 to 1908, Kandinsky travelled across Europe. In 1909, Münter bought a summerhouse in the small Bavarian town of Murnau and the couple happily entertained colleagues there. The property is still known as Russenhaus and she would later use the basement to hide many works (by Kandinsky and others) from the Nazis. Upon returning to Munich, Kandinsky founded the Neue Kunstler Vereinigung (New Artists' Association) in 1909.
He returned to Moscow in 1914 when the first World War broke out. The relationship between Kandinsky and Münter worsened due to mutual tensions and disappointments over his lack of commitment to marriage. Their relationship formally ended in 1916 in Stockholm.
In 1916, he met Nina Nikolaevna Andreevskaya (1899–1980), whom he married on 11 February 1917 when she was 17 or 18 and he was 50 years old. At the end of 1917, they had a son, Wsevolod, or Lodya as he was called in the family. Lodya died in June 1920 and there were no more children.
After the Russian Revolution, he had opportunities in Germany, to which he returned in 1920. There, he taught at the Bauhaus school of art and architecture from 1922 until the Nazis closed it in 1933.
He then moved to France with his wife, where he lived for the rest of his life, becoming a French citizen in 1939 and producing some of his most prominent art.
He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine on 13 December 1944.
== Art market ==
In 2012, Christie's auctioned Kandinsky's Studie für Improvisation 8 (Study for Improvisation 8), a 1909 view of a man wielding a broadsword in a rainbow-hued village, for $23 million. The painting had been on loan to the Kunstmuseum Winterthur in Switzerland since 1960 and was sold to a European collector by the Volkart Foundation, the charitable arm of the Swiss commodities trading firm Volkart Brothers. Before this sale, the artist's last record was set in 1990 when Sotheby's sold his Fugue (1914) for $20.9 million. On 16 November 2016, Christie's auctioned Kandinsky's Rigide et courbé (Rigid and bent), a large 1935 abstract painting, for $23.3 million, a new record for Kandinsky. Solomon R. Guggenheim originally purchased the painting directly from the artist in 1936, but it was not exhibited after 1949; it was then sold at auction to a private collector in 1964 by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
== Nazi-looted art ==
In July 2001, Jen Lissitzky, the son of artist El Lissitzky, filed a restitution claim against the Beyeler Foundation in Basel, Switzerland for Kandinsky's Improvisation No. 10. A settlement was reached in 2002.
In 2013, the Lewenstein family filed a claim for the restitution of Kandinsky's Painting with Houses held by the Stedelijk Museum. In 2020, a committee established by the Dutch minister of culture found fault with the behaviour of the Restitution Committee, causing a scandal where two of its members, including its chairman, resigned. Later that year, a court in Amsterdam ruled that the Stedelijk Museum could retain the painting from the Jewish Lewenstein collection despite the Nazi theft. However, in August 2021, the Amsterdam City Council decided to return the painting to the Lewenstein family.
In 2017, Robert Colin Lewenstein, Francesca Manuela Davis and Elsa Hannchen Guidotti filed suit against Bayerische Landesbank (BLB) for the restitution of Kandinsky's Das Bunte Leben.
== See also ==
== Notes ==
== References ==
=== Citations ===
=== Books by Kandinsky ===
Wassily Kandinsky, M. T. Sadler (Translator), Adrian Glew (Editor). Concerning the Spiritual in Art. (New York: MFA Publications and London: Tate Publishing, 2001). 192 pp. ISBN 0-87846-702-5
Wassily Kandinsky, M. T. Sadler (Translator). Concerning the Spiritual in Art. Dover Publ. (Paperback). 80 pp. ISBN 0-486-23411-8. or: Lightning Source Inc Publ. (Paperback). ISBN 1-4191-1377-1
Wassily Kandinsky. Klänge. Verlag R. Piper & Co., Munich
Wassily Kandinsky. Point and Line to Plane. Dover Publications, New York. ISBN 0-486-23808-3
Wassily Kandinsky. Kandinsky, Complete Writings on Art. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80570-7
=== References in English ===
Ulrike Becks-Malorny. Wassily Kandinsky 1866–1944: The Journey to Abstraction (Taschen, 2007). ISBN 978-3-8228-3564-7
John E. Bowlt and Rose-Carol Washton Long, eds. The Life of Vasilii Kandinsky in Russian Art: A Study of "On the Spiritual in Art" by Wassily Kandinsky. (Newtonville, MA.: Oriental Research Partners, 1984). ISBN 0-89250-131-6
Magdalena Dabrowski. Kandinsky Compositions. (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2002). ISBN 0-87070-405-2
Esther da Costa Meyer, Fred Wasserman, eds. Schoenberg, Kandinsky, and the Blue Rider (New York: The Jewish Museum, and London: Scala Publishers Ltd, 2003). ISBN 1-85759-312-X
Hajo Düchting. Wassily Kandinsky 1866–1944: A Revolution in Painting. (Taschen, 2000). ISBN 3-8228-5982-6
Hajo Düchting. Wassily Kandinsky. (Prestel, 2008).
Sabine Flach. "Through the Looking Glass", in Intellectual Birdhouse (London: Koenig Books, 2012). ISBN 978-3-86335-118-2
Friedel, Helmut, and Hoberg, Annegret, eds. Vasily Kandinsky (2016). Prestel. ISBN 978-3791382920
Will Grohmann. Wassily Kandinsky: Life and Work. (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1958).
Michel Henry. Seeing the Invisible: On Kandinsky (Continuum, 2009). ISBN 1-84706-447-7
Thomas M. Messer. Vasily Kandinsky. (New York: Harry N Abrams Inc, 1997). (Illustrated). ISBN 0-8109-1228-7.
Margarita Tupitsyn. Against Kandinsky (Munich: Museum Villa Stuck, 2006).
Annette and Luc Vezin. Kandinsky and the Blue Rider (Paris: Pierre Terrail, 1992). ISBN 2-87939-043-5
Julian Lloyd Webber. "Seeing red, looking blue, feeling green", The Daily Telegraph 6 July 2006.
Peg Weiss. Kandinsky in Munich: The Formative Jugendstil Years (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979). ISBN 0-691-03934-8
Vasily Kandinsky: From Blaue Reiter to the Bauhaus, 1910-1925. Exhibition Catalogue, edited by Neue Galerie New York (Hatje Cantz, 2013). ISBN 978-3-77573-734-0
=== References in French ===
Michel Henry. Voir l'invisible. Sur Kandinsky (Presses Universitaires de France) ISBN 2-13-053887-8
Nina Kandinsky. Kandinsky et moi (éd. Flammarion) ISBN 2-08-064013-5
Jéléna Hahl-Fontaine. Kandinsky (Marc Vokar éditeur) ISBN 2-87012-006-0
François le Targat. Kandinsky (éd. Albin Michel, les grands maîtres de l'art contemporain) ISBN 2-226-02830-7
Kandinsky. Rétrospective (Foundation Maeght) ISBN 2-900923-26-3 ISBN 2-900923-27-1
Kandinsky. Œuvres de Vassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) (Centre Georges Pompidou) ISBN 2-85850-262-5
== External links ==
Video remake of the stage production of "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Kandinsky in 1928 in Dessau, 2015.
Wassily Kandinsky papers, 1911–1940. The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, California.
Discussion of Yellow – Red – Blue by Janina Ramirez and Marc Canham: Art Detective Podcast, 19 April 2017 Archived 13 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine
Kandinsky's Introspective Path to Abstract Reality
"2021 French stamps featuring Kandinsky's works". Retrieved 21 August 2023.
Kandinsky in Russia: The Language of Music
Kandinsky. Watercolours. Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich 2004-05 exhibit at the Museo de Arte Abstracto Español, Cuenca and 2005 Museu Fundación Juan March, Palma, featuring works from the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich
Kandinsky and the Harmony of Silence Painting with White Border 2011 exhibition at The Phillips Collection
Vasily Kandinsky: From Blaue Reiter to the Bauhaus, 1910-1925 2013-2014 exhibition at the Neue Galerie, New York City
Kandinsky: La musique des couleurs 2025-26 exhibition at the Philharmonie de Paris's Musée de la Musique
Writing by Kandinsky
Works by Wassily Kandinsky at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Wassily Kandinsky at the Internet Archive
Works by Wassily Kandinsky at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
"Concerning the Spiritual in Art". Guggenheim Internet Archives. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
Paintings by Kandinsky
Wassily Kandinsky at the Museum of Modern Art
Artcyclopedia.com, Wassily Kandinsky at ArtCyclopedia
Glyphs.com, Kandinsky's compositions with commentary
Wassilykandinsky.net – 500 paintings, 60+ photos, biography, quotes, articles |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Hollister#cite_note-FOOTNOTEAnable2-3 | Gloria Hollister | Gloria Hollister Anable (June 11, 1900 – February 19, 1988) was an American explorer, scientist, and conservationist. She served as research associate in the Department of Tropical Research of the New York Zoological Society (now the Wildlife Conservation Society), specializing in fish osteology, and she made record-setting dives in a submersible called the Bathysphere off the coast of Bermuda in the 1930s. During the 1950s, she helped to found the committee that preserved that Mianus River Gorge, which subsequently became the Nature Conservancy's first land project.
== Early life ==
Gloria Elaine Hollister was born to Elaine Shirley Hollister and Dr. Frank Canfield Hollister in the family's home at 264 West 77th Street in New York City. The home also served as the office and laboratory of Dr. Hollister, a physician and diagnostician who attended Physicians and Surgeons College at Bellevue Hospital. Through both of her parents, Gloria Hollister was of notable early American ancestry: her father was the direct descendant of Captain John Hollister of England, who settled at Wethersfield, Connecticut, in the early 1640s, while her mother's relatives included William Shirley, the final governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1741 to 1745.
As a child, along with her brother Frank, Gloria Hollister spent her summers at the family's summer home in Suffern, New York, at the foot of the Ramapo Mountains. It was here that she developed her lifelong passion for and interest in animals and the natural world. Her father encouraged this love and partnered with her to raise and care for prize-winning poultry and horses as well as a host of pet cats and dogs. Her father also satisfied her deep curiosity about the natural world by performing for her benefit dissections of specimens that died on the farm. Inspired by these sessions, she hoped to follow in his footsteps and become a doctor herself, but her father disapproved; he did not believe in women doctors. Instead, he guided her toward a career in the natural sciences.
=== Education and early career ===
In 1920, Gloria Hollister enrolled at Connecticut College for Women, taking her childhood love and applying it toward a major in Zoology under the tutelage of Pauline Dederer. She graduated in 1924. During her college career, she served as class president and graduated Phi Beta Kappa; she was also heavily involved in sports and played varsity basketball and soccer, was a high jumper and a discus thrower on the track team, and was chosen in 1920 as a member of the All-American girls' hockey team.
In Fall 1924, she continued her studies in Zoology at Columbia University, working under Florence Lowther and William K. Gregory. She received her MS in Zoology from Columbia in Spring 1925.
Following her graduate studies, she served as research assistant to the renowned biologist Alexis Carrel at the Rockefeller Institute, working in his laboratory on cancer research.
== Career with the Department of Tropical Research ==
In early 1928, weary of spending long hours inside of a laboratory and yearning for an opportunity to return to the outdoors, Gloria Hollister applied for a position with the famed naturalist William Beebe in his Department of Tropical Research (DTR) at the New York Zoological Society. Beebe was seeking a professional naturalist, skilled at dissecting, to join his staff for an upcoming oceanographic expedition to Bermuda. Dismissing concerns from some about the capabilities of women scientists, Beebe hired Hollister and several other women, including Jocelyn Crane, to join the team.
During the DTR's Bermuda Oceanographic Expeditions of 1928 to 1940, Hollister honed her expertise in fish osteology and continued this work in the DTR's West Indies Oceanographic Expedition (1932–1933) and the Pearl Islands Oceanographic Expedition (1934). In Bermuda she developed a new technique for preparing fish specimens in which the skin and internal organs of the fish were made transparent, rendering their skeletons far more useful for study than under previous methods. Her work helped to extend scientific knowledge about deep sea and reef fish.
Also in Bermuda, Hollister set the world record for the deepest dive undertaken by a woman. She performed the dive in the Bathysphere, a large steel submersible in which Beebe and the Bathysphere's engineer, Otis Barton, undertook deep sea explorations throughout the early 1930s. On June 11, 1930, her thirtieth birthday, she went down 410 feet for the women's descent record. In 1934, she would nearly triple her own record by descending to 1,208 feet. The dives were not simply feats for Hollister but, as for Beebe, a chance to explore the deep-sea world.
In 1936, having served as part of the oceanographic expeditions under Beebe's leadership, Hollister undertook her own expedition for the DTR, leading an exploring party 200 miles through the jungles of Guyana (then known as British Guiana) to the Kaieteur Plateau. Using a light plane on that trip, she recorded 43 waterfalls, many of which had not been observed by anyone outside of local peoples. Along the way, she also studied the golden frog, the rainbow tanager, and the elusive hoatzin, and brought back the first captive specimens of these animals to the Bronx Zoo, the DTR's headquarters.
Gloria Hollister lectured extensively on behalf of the DTR about the team's expeditions and scientific findings. Filled with her personal experiences and photographs as well as scientific information, her lectures were very popular, and through them she raised two-thirds the costs of the Guyana expedition she led.
Her expeditions, the publicity surrounding them, and her scientific publications brought her recognition. She was a member of the Society of Woman Geographers and later received their Outstanding Achievement Award. In addition to her mentors Carrick and Beebe, she counted among her friends Dan Beard, Lincoln Ellsworth, Amelia Earhart, Raymond Ditmars, Roy Chapman Andrews, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, and Martin and Osa Johnson.
== Marriage and career with the Red Cross ==
In 1941, Hollister met Anthony Anable, a chemical and metallurgical engineer, and they married that year. In December 1941, following the US's entry into World War II, Hollister resigned from the DTR and joined the American National Red Cross where she helped to found the nation's first blood donor center in Brooklyn, and later served as the assistant chief of the Speaker's Bureau of the American Red Cross in Washington, DC.
== Mianus River Gorge conservationist ==
In 1952, having settled in Connecticut with her husband, Gloria (now Anable) became enchanted with the Mianus River Gorge and subsequently concerned about its preservation. On December 12, 1953, the Anables, along with Edna Edgerton, James Todd, and Robert Hamershlag, founded the Mianus River Gorge Conservation Committee. The committee became a full member of The Nature Conservancy in 1954, and the Mianus River Gorge became The Nature Conservancy's pioneer land project.
In the summer of 1954, Gloria Anable undertook a major effort to acquaint local associations with the Gorge and the threats it faced from subdivision. She took more than 400 visitors through the Gorge that year, and support for its preservation grew. She served as the committee's secretary, chairman, and later chairman emeritus. In 1964, the Gorge became the country's first natural history landmark to be registered by the Department of the Interior. The preserve, originally 60 acres, now includes 770 acres, with another 176 acres under conservation easements.
== Personal life ==
Hollister married Anthony Anable. She spent the last three years of her life in the Carolton Convalescent Hospital in Fairfield, Connecticut, and died of cardiac arrest on February 19, 1988, at the age of 87.
== References ==
== External links ==
Gloria Hollister Anable collection finding aid Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, Wildlife Conservation Society Archives
Department of Tropical Research collections finding aids, Wildlife Conservation Society Archives
Gloria Hollister Anable papers, 1916-2003, Library of Congress |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respiratory_syncytial_virus#:~:text=Respiratory%20syncytial%20virus%20(RSV)%20was,coryza%20agent%22%20(CCA). | Respiratory syncytial virus | Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), also called human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) and human orthopneumovirus, is a virus that causes infections of the respiratory tract. It is a negative-sense, single-stranded RNA virus. Its name is derived from the large, multinucleated cells known as syncytia that form when infected cells fuse.
RSV is a common cause of respiratory hospitalization in infants, and reinfection remains common in later life, though often with less severity. It is a notable pathogen in all age groups. Infection rates are typically higher during the cold winter months. Infections can cause bronchiolitis in infants, common colds in adults, and more serious respiratory illnesses, such as pneumonia, in older individuals and those with immunocompromise resulting from, e.g., cardiopulmonary disease.
RSV can cause outbreaks in both community and hospital settings. Following initial infection via the eyes or nasal passages, the virus infects the epithelial cells of the upper and lower airways, causing inflammation, cell damage, and airway obstruction. A variety of methods are available for detecting and diagnosing RSV, including antigen testing, molecular testing, and viral culture.
Other than vaccination, prevention measures include hand-washing and avoiding close contact with infected individuals. The carriage of RSV in respiratory aerosols, along with the production of fine and ultrafine aerosols during normal breathing, talking, and coughing, and the emerging scientific consensus around transmission of all respiratory infections, may suggest airborne precautions are needed for reliable protection. In May 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first RSV vaccines, Arexvy (developed by GSK plc) and Abrysvo (Pfizer). The prophylactic use of palivizumab or nirsevimab (both are monoclonal antibody treatments) can prevent RSV infection among infants with high-risk predispositions.
Treatment for severe illness is primarily supportive, including oxygen therapy and more advanced breathing support with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) or nasal high flow oxygen, as required. In cases of severe respiratory failure, intubation and mechanical ventilation may be required. Ribavirin is an antiviral medication licensed for the treatment of RSV infection in children.
== History ==
RSV was discovered in 1956 when researchers isolated a virus from a population of chimpanzees with respiratory illness. They named the virus chimpanzee coryza agent (CCA). In 1957, this same virus was identified by Robert M. Chanock in children with respiratory illness. Studies of human antibodies in infants and children revealed that the infection was common in early life.
The virus was later renamed human orthopneumovirus, or human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV).
Several other pneumoviruses show great similarity to hRSV. Bovine RSV (bRSV) shares approximately 80% of its genome with hRSV. It also shares hRSV's predilection for the young, causing more severe disease in calves less than six months old. Because bRSV-infected calves have almost identical symptoms to hRSV-infected children, they have proven to be an important animal model in RSV research.
== Signs and symptoms ==
RSV infection can present with a wide variety of signs and symptoms that range from mild upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) to severe and potentially life-threatening lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) requiring hospitalization and mechanical ventilation. While RSV can cause respiratory tract infections in people of all ages and is among common childhood infections, its presentation often varies between age groups and immune status. Reinfection is common throughout life, but infants and the elderly remain at risk for symptomatic infection.
=== Children ===
Nearly all children in the United States experience at least one RSV infection before two years of age. Childhood RSV infections are fairly self-limited with typical upper respiratory tract signs and symptoms, such as nasal congestion, runny nose, cough, and low-grade fever. Inflammation of the nasal mucosa (rhinitis) and throat (pharyngitis), as well as redness of the eyes (conjunctival infection), may be seen on exam. Approximately 15–50% of children will go on to develop more serious lower respiratory tracts infections, such as bronchiolitis, viral pneumonia, or croup. Infants are at the highest risk of disease progression.
Bronchiolitis is a common lower respiratory tract infection characterized by inflammation and obstruction of the small airways in the lungs. While several viruses can cause bronchiolitis, RSV is responsible for about 70% of cases. It usually presents with 2 to 4 days of runny nose and congestion followed by worsening cough, noisy breathing, tachypnea (fast breathing), and wheezing. As infants work harder to breathe, they can also show signs of respiratory distress, such as subcostal retractions (when the belly pulls under the ribcage), intercostal retractions (when the muscles between the ribs pull inward), grunting, and nasal flaring. If the child has not been able to feed adequately, signs of dehydration may also be present. Fever may be present, but high-grade fever is uncommon. Crackles and wheezing can often be heard on auscultation, and oxygen saturation levels may be decreased.
In very young infants under six weeks of age, especially premature infants, signs of infection may be less specific. They may have minimal respiratory involvement. Instead, they may exhibit decreased activity, irritability, poor feeding, or breathing difficulties. This can also be accompanied by apneic spells, or brief pauses in breathing.
=== Adults ===
Reinfection with RSV remains common throughout life. Reinfection in adulthood often produces only mild to moderate symptoms indistinguishable from the common cold or sinus infection. Infection may also be asymptomatic. If present, symptoms are generally isolated to the upper respiratory tract: runny nose, sore throat, fever, and malaise. In most cases, nasal congestion precedes the development of cough. Unlike other upper respiratory infections, RSV is more likely to cause new onset wheeze in adults. About 25% of infected adults will progress to significant lower respiratory tract infections, such as bronchitis or tracheobronchitis.
While RSV very rarely causes severe disease in healthy adults, it can cause morbidity and mortality in the elderly and in those with underlying immune compromise or cardiopulmonary disease. Older adults have a similar presentation to younger adults but tend to have greater symptom severity with an increased risk of lower respiratory tract involvement. In particular, the elderly are more likely to experience pneumonia, respiratory distress, and death.
=== Immunocompromised ===
In both adults and children, those who are immunocompromised are at an increased risk of severe infection with RSV. Infected individuals in this group are more likely to progress from upper to lower respiratory tract involvement and have prolonged viral shedding. Symptom severity seems closely related to the extent of immune suppression. Those who have undergone hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT), intensive chemotherapy, and lung transplant are particularly susceptible. Bone marrow transplant patients appear to be at the highest risk, especially before marrow engraftment. In this group, RSV infection carries a nearly 80% risk of both pneumonia and death.
=== Elderly ===
RSV or Respiratory syncytial virus affects many populations differently. The most at-risk populations for RSV complications are older adults and those with underlying medical conditions or immunocompromised individuals. Between 60,000-160,000 older adults in the United States are hospitalized annually with RSV. Between 6,000 and 10,000 older adults die from RSV infection each year. Additionally RSV can "... lead to worsening of serious conditions such as, Asthma, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – a chronic disease of the lungs that makes it hard to breathe, and even Congestive heart failure – when the heart can't pump enough blood and oxygen through the body." Expedient and proper medical care is important for older adults as waiting or receiving a misdiagnosis can be associated with an increased risk of complications. As of August 2023, adults aged 60 years and older qualify for vaccination against RSV in Canada and the United States.
=== Complications ===
== Risk factors ==
Risk factors for the development of severe lower respiratory tract infection with RSV vary by population.
== Virology ==
=== Taxonomy ===
RSV is a negative-sense, single-stranded RNA virus. The scientific name for this viral species is human orthopneumovirus. This is synonymous with human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV), which is often shortened to just RSV. It belongs to the genus Orthopneumovirus, family Pneumoviridae, order Mononegavirales. Its name comes from the fact that F proteins on the surface of the virus cause neighboring cell membranes to merge, creating large multinucleated syncytia.
=== Antigenic subtypes ===
RSV is divided into two antigenic subtypes, A and B, based on the reactivity of the F and G surface proteins to monoclonal antibodies. The subtypes tend to circulate simultaneously within local epidemics, although subtype A tends to be more prevalent. Generally, RSV subtype A (RSVA) is thought to be more virulent than RSV subtype B (RSVB), with higher viral loads and faster transmission time. To date, 16 RSVA and 22 RSVB clades have been identified. Among RSVA, the GA1, GA2, GA5, and GA7 clades predominate; GA7 is found only in the United States. Among RSVB, the BA clade predominates worldwide.
=== Genome ===
RSV has a negative-sense, single-stranded RNA genome. The genome is linear and approximately 15,000 nucleotides in length. It has 10 genes encoding for 11 proteins. The gene order is NS1-NS2-N-P-M-SH-G-F-M2-L, with the NS1 and NS2 gene serving as nonstructural promoter genes.
=== Structure and proteins ===
RSV is a medium-sized (~150 nm) enveloped virus. While many particles are spherical, filamentous species have also been identified. The genome rests within a helical nucleocapsid and is surrounded by matrix protein and an envelope containing viral glycoproteins. There are 11 proteins, described further in the table below.
==== G protein ====
Surface protein G (glycoprotein) is primarily responsible for viral attachment to host cells. This protein is highly variable between strains. G protein exists in both membrane-bound and secreted forms. The membrane-found form is responsible for attachment by binding to glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), such as heparan sulfate, on the surface of host cells. The secreted form acts as a decoy, interacting with antigen-presenting cells to inhibit antibody-mediated neutralization. G protein also contains a CX3C fractalkine-like motif that binds to the CX3C chemokine receptor 1 (CX3CR1) on the surface of ciliated bronchial host cells. This binding may alter cellular chemotaxis and reduce the migration of immune cells into the lungs of infected individuals. G protein also alters host immune response by inhibiting signaling from several toll-like receptors, including TLR4.
==== F protein ====
Surface protein F (fusion protein) is responsible for the fusion of viral and host cell membranes, as well as syncytium formation between viral particles. Its sequence is highly conserved between strains. While viral attachment appears to involve both F and G proteins, F fusion occurs independently of G. F protein exists in multiple conformational forms. In the prefusion state (PreF), the protein exists in a trimeric form and contains the major antigenic site Ø. Ø serves as a primary target of neutralizing antibodies in the body. After binding to its target on the host cell surface (its exact ligand remains unclear), PreF undergoes a conformational change during which Ø is lost. This change enables the protein to insert itself into the host cell membrane and leads to fusion of the viral and host cell membranes. A final conformational shift results in a more stable and elongated form of the protein (postfusion, PostF). Opposite of the RSV G protein, the RSV F protein also binds to and activates toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), initiating the innate immune response and signal transduction.
=== Replication cycle ===
Following the fusion of the viral and host cell membranes, the viral nucleocapsid (containing the viral genome) and the associated viral polymerase are delivered into the host cell cytoplasm. Transcription and translation both occur within the cytoplasm. RNA-dependent RNA polymerase transcribes the genome into 10 segments of messenger RNA (mRNA) which is translated into structural proteins by host cell machinery. During replication of the negative-sense viral genome, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase synthesizes a positive-sense complement called the antigenome. This complementary strand is used as a template to construct genomic negative-sense RNA, which is packaged into nucleocapsids and transported to the plasma membrane for assembly and particle budding.
== Mechanism ==
=== Transmission ===
RSV is highly contagious and can cause outbreaks from both community and hospital transmission. For each person infected with RSV, it is estimated that an average of 5 to 25 uninfected people will become infected. RSV can spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes, releasing contaminated droplets into the air. Transmission usually occurs when these droplets come into contact with another person's eyes, nose, or mouth. As with all respiratory pathogens once presumed to transmit via respiratory droplets, it is highly likely to be carried by the aerosols generated during routine breathing, talking, and even singing. RSV can also live for up to 25 minutes on contaminated skin (i.e. hands) and several hours on other surfaces like countertops and doorknobs. It has an incubation period of 2 to 8 days. Once infected, people are usually contagious for 3 to 8 days. In infants and in people with weakened immune systems, however, the virus may continue to spread for up to 4 weeks (even after they are no longer showing symptoms).
=== Pathogenesis ===
Following transmission through the nose or eyes, RSV infects ciliated columnar epithelial cells of the upper and lower airway. RSV continues to replicate within these bronchial cells for about 8 days. After the first several days, RSV-infected cells will become more rounded and ultimately slough into the smaller bronchioles of the lower airway. This sloughing mechanism is also thought to be responsible for the spread of the virus from the upper to lower respiratory tract. Infection causes generalized inflammation within the lungs, including the migration and infiltration of inflammatory cells (such as monocytes and T-cells), epithelial necrosis, edema, and increased mucous production. Inflammation and cell damage tend to be patchy rather than diffuse. Together, the sloughed epithelial cells, mucous plugs, and accumulated immune cells obstruct the lower airway.
=== Reinfection ===
After recovery of "respiratory diseases associated with RSV infection, the virus interferes with the establishment of immunological memory, which leads to recurrent reinfections." An estimated of "36% of individuals" can be reinfected with RSV "at least once, during the winter season." Reinfections like these can be a result of "an initial encounter with RSV" that "fails to initiate adequate humoral and cellular immune responses to generate protective memory lymphocytes."
RSV reinfection can happen throughout life. As a result, it can cause "winter/early spring epidemics in temperate regions, but synchronization of RSV activity can vary widely" depending on the region that individual lives in. Usually, "unless immunocompromised," adults have mild symptoms when becoming reinfected. The mild symptoms tend to be restricting upper airways. However, younger individuals are extremely vulnerable to developing "severe symptoms," which typically involve the lower airways. Since infants have smaller airways than children do, "they might be obstructed by inflammation, edema, and mucus." This can contribute to developing a "more severe lower respiratory tract illness." As mentioned, RSV reinfection is frequent among all ages and the type of host response to reinfection can determine "which children will develop persistent wheezing and possibly asthma." It is possible that the age you are infected with RSV can be a vital factor in "determining the phenotype of airway response to subsequent RSV infection."
=== Immune escape ===
Genetic variations in viral epitopes and adjacent regions affect protein folding, post-transcriptional modifications, and antigenic processing, influencing B and T cell immunity during viral infections. This alteration in conformation can lead to immune evasion, potentially impacting disease severity, outbreaks, and reinfections. Notably, the variability observed in the G gene, followed by the SH and F genes, suggests a correlation between structural differences in proteins and their immunogenicity. Specifically, the irregular curl and low bond energy of the G protein make it prone to conformational changes, affecting its immunogenicity and potentially modulating the immune response.
Different genotypes of RSV exhibit variations in the structural conformation of key proteins such as G, SH, and F, impacting immune responses. The emergence of novel genotypes like ON1 and BA9 is associated with distinct structural differences, particularly in the G protein, which may contribute to immune evasion. Evidence suggests that RSV glycoprotein G plays a crucial role in immune modulation during infection, affecting cytokine expression and the antiviral response. In addition, positive selection pressure drives the dominance of certain genotypes over others, potentially driven by mutations within specific regions of the G gene.
The F protein is a major target for neutralizing antibodies, but its variability enables viral evasion from neutralization, affecting the efficacy of antibodies like Palivizumab. Cross-reactions between RSV subtypes and genotypes are observed, but immune responses are subtype- or genotype-specific, indicating the impact of gene mutations, particularly in the G protein, on immune evasion. Additionally, differences in cytokine expression and immune cell responses highlight the complexity of immune interactions during RSV infection. Genomic variations in RSV, particularly in proteins like G and F, influence immune responses and contribute to immune evasion. This multifaceted immunomodulatory arsenal likely contributes to RSV's ability to cause mild respiratory symptoms in most cases, yet it poses a severe threat to vulnerable populations such as infants and the elderly, potentially leading to life-threatening lung disease characterized by immune dysregulation. RSV has evolved numerous strategies to evade the host's antiviral response, with over half of its proteins exerting immunomodulatory effects.
== Diagnosis ==
=== Laboratory diagnosis ===
A variety of laboratory tests are available for the diagnosis of RSV infection. While the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) does not routinely recommend the use of lab testing to diagnose RSV bronchiolitis (for which the treatment is largely supportive), confirmation of RSV infection may be warranted in high-risk groups if the result will guide clinical decisions. Common identification techniques include antigen testing, molecular testing, and viral culture.
==== Antigen testing ====
Antigen testing involves the detection of RSV antigen fragments (or pieces of molecular viral structures), usually from an nasopharyngeal swab or aspirate. This can be accomplished either by viewing fluorescently labeled antigens under a microscope (direct fluorescence assay, or DFA) or using a commercially available rapid antigen detection test (RADT). Overall, antigen testing is highly sensitive in young children (80–90%) but substantially less reliable in older children and adults, who have less viral shedding. Antigen tests are also subject to higher false positive rates outside of the peak RSV season, such as in the summer months. In these scenarios, the use of either viral culture or nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT) may aid in an accurate RSV diagnosis.
Rapid antigen detection tests (RADT) are commonly used as point-of-care testing due to their ease of use and quick turnaround time (as little as 10 minutes). These include both enzyme immunosorbent assays (EIA) and chromatographic immunoassays (CIA).
Direct fluorescence assay (DFA) allows for direct microscopic examination of virus-infected cells. The sensitivity of DFA testing depends on an adequate specimen.
==== Molecular testing ====
Molecular assays, such as nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs), enable sensitive detection of very small amounts of virus in nasopharyngeal swabs and aspirates. NAAT assays such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detect virus-specific genetic material, rather than viral antigens. They have a sensitivity and specificity approaching 100%. However, they tend to be more expensive and require more complex equipment than other testing methods, making them less practical in resource-limited areas. Molecular testing for RSV is not routinely recommended for all people with respiratory symptoms. However, it may be recommended for those at high risk of RSV complications, such as infants, older adults, and people with chronic medical conditions. RT-PCR has a sensitivity of 90-95% and a specificity of 98-99%, while LAMP has a sensitivity of 95-100% and a specificity of 99-100%.
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a type of NAAT that allows a very small sample of genetic material to be rapidly amplified into millions of copies for study. PCR is more sensitive than either antigen testing or viral culture. Therefore, it can be used to detect virus in those with lower viral shedding, such as older children and adults. It may also be used to detect the disease earlier in at-risk individuals (such as hospitalized or immunocompromised patients), when the viral burden may still be too low to be identified by traditional techniques. Because of its sensitivity, PCR can also often detect asymptomatic carriers and may remain positive even days after an infection has clinically resolved.
Multi-pathogen panels are also available, which can detect the presence of multiple viral infections (including RSV) in a single person.
==== Viral culture ====
In traditional viral culture, a sample of the virus is introduced to different cell lines and allowed to replicate so it can be studied. Benefits of this technique include the ability to perform genetic characterization, strain typing, and antiviral susceptibility testing. However, it is limited by its prolonged turnaround time of 3–7 days, making it less common in patient care and more common in research settings.
==== Serologic testing ====
Serology (the measurement of virus-specific antibodies in the serum) is not frequently used in RSV diagnosis. The time required for the body to mount a significant serologic response (and demonstrate a significant rise in antibodies that can be detected in serum) is usually not useful in guiding patient care. Up to 30% of patients with documented RSV infection will have negative serology results. As such, this method is generally reserved for research and surveillance studies.
=== Imaging findings ===
Chest X-ray findings in children with RSV bronchiolitis are generally nonspecific and include perihilar markings, patchy hyperinflation, and atelectasis. However, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) does not recommend routine imaging for children with presumed RSV bronchiolitis because it does not change clinical outcomes and is associated with increased antibiotic use. Chest X-ray is sometimes considered when the diagnosis of bronchiolitis is unclear or when there is an unexpected worsening. In adults with RSV infection, chest films are often normal or demonstrate nonspecific changes consistent with viral pneumonia, such as patchy bilateral infiltrates.
=== Differential diagnosis ===
The differential diagnosis for individuals presenting with signs and symptoms of upper and lower respiratory tract infection includes other viral infections (such as rhinovirus, metapneumovirus, and influenza) and primary bacterial pneumonia. In children, inhaled foreign bodies and congenital conditions such as cystic fibrosis or asthma are typically considered.
== Prevention ==
Other than vaccination, the main prevention measure is to avoid close contact with infected individuals. Airborne precautions such as respirators, ventilation, and HEPA/high MERV filters, are likely protective against RSV-laden aerosols.
=== Vaccines ===
In May 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first RSV vaccines, Arexvy (developed by GSK plc) and Abrysvo (Pfizer). Mresvia is an mRNA vaccine that was approved for medical use in the United States in May 2024.
The primary pharmaceutical developers, GSK and Pfizer, obtained Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for RSV vaccines targeting adults aged 60 and above. GSK's Arexvy boasts 94% efficacy against severe and 83% against symptomatic RSV in this age group, while Pfizer's Abrysvo is 86% effective against severe symptoms and 67% against symptomatic disease in adults aged 60 and older.
Addressing the more challenging aspect, the need for a newborn vaccine, researchers employed a pregnancy-administered approach to protect infants during the first six months, a critical period for RSV susceptibility. The FDA's advisory committee endorsed Pfizer's parental RSV vaccine, acknowledging its 82% effectiveness against severe RSV in newborns up to three months and 69% efficacy through six months. While unanimous in favor of efficacy, the committee voted 10 to 4 for safety, with concerns about a slightly higher premature birth rate in the vaccinated group. GSK halted its own trial due to a 38% higher likelihood of premature births in the vaccine group.
==== Background ====
The virus's disease burden and the lack of disease-specific therapies spurs interest and research in vaccine development, which faced obstacles that blocked its progress. Among these were infant-specific factors, such as the immature infant immune system and the presence of maternal antibodies, which make infantile immunization difficult.
RSV infection is widespread in early childhood, contributing significantly to the global disease burden. The association between severe childhood infections and subsequent respiratory issues is not fully understood—particularly the suggested link between bronchiolitis, recurrent infantile wheezing, and childhood asthma. Unlike other vaccine-preventable respiratory pathogens, RSV has proven challenging for vaccine development. Ongoing efforts focus on creating vaccines that confer durable protection, with field trials eagerly anticipated. Supportive care remains the mainstay for treating RSV disease, as effective antiviral drugs are awaited. The introduction of antivirals, coupled with vaccines and advanced diagnostic techniques, holds promise for reducing RSV's global impact in the coming years. These interventions may alter infection dynamics and weaken RSV's hold on communities worldwide.
Potential vaccines being researched fall into five broad categories: live-attenuated, protein subunit, vector-based, virus particle subunit, and messenger RNA. Each targets different immune responses and thus may be better suited to prevent disease in different at-risk groups. Live-attenuated vaccines have shown some success in RSV-naive infants. Other vaccine candidates hope to target vulnerable populations across the lifespan, including pregnant women and the elderly.
=== Immunoprophylaxis ===
Historically, RSV-specific intravenous immunoglobin (IVIG) was used to provide passive immunity to prevent RSV infection and hospitalization in the highest-risk infants. This involved monthly administration of RSV-neutralizing antibodies (or immunoglobins) from human donors recovering from the disease. While this transfer of antibodies was reasonably effective in providing short-term immunization to at-risk infants, it was limited by both its intravenous administration and cost.
RSV-IVIG has since been replaced with the use of a monoclonal antibody (MAb) that can be delivered through muscular injection. Palivizumab (Synagis) is a monoclonal antibody directed against the surface fusion (F) protein of the RSV virus. It was licensed in 1998 and is effective in providing temporary prophylaxis against both RSV A and B. It is given by monthly injections, which begin just before the RSV season and are usually continued for five months. Palivizumab has been shown to reduce both hospitalization rates and all-cause mortality in certain groups of high-risk children (such as those with chronic lung disease, congenital heart disease, and those born preterm). However, its cost limits its use in many parts of the world. More potent derivatives of this antibody have since been developed (including motavizumab) but were associated with considerable adverse events.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP 2014) recommends RSV prophylaxis with palivizumab during RSV season for:
Infants born at ≤28 weeks 6 days gestational age and <12 months at the start of RSV season
Infants <12 months old with chronic lung disease of prematurity
Infants ≤12 months old with hemodynamically significant congenital heart disease
Infants <24 months old with chronic lung disease of prematurity requiring medical therapy
Per AAP guidelines, palivizumab prophylaxis may also be considered in infants with:
Congenital airway abnormality
Neuromuscular disorder
Cystic fibrosis
Severe immunocompromise
Recent or upcoming heart transplantation
Nirsevimab (Beyfortus) is another antiviral monoclonal antibody, that has been approved for the prevention of RSV lower respiratory tract disease in newborns and infants during their first RSV season. Nirsevimab requires only one dose that lasts the entire RSV season, unlike palivizumab, which has to be injected about once a month for up to four times to remain effective. Nirsevimab was approved for medical use in the European Union and the United Kingdom in November 2022, and in Canada in April 2023.
== Treatment ==
=== Supportive care ===
Treatment for RSV infection is focused primarily on supportive care. This may include monitoring a patient's breathing or using suction to remove secretions from the upper airway. Supplemental oxygen may also be delivered through a nasal cannula or face mask in order to improve airflow. In severe cases of respiratory failure, intubation and mechanical ventilation may be required to support breathing. If signs of dehydration are present, fluids may also be given orally or through an IV.
Additional supportive treatments have been investigated in infants hospitalized with RSV bronchiolitis. These include:
Nebulized hypertonic saline has been shown to reduce length of hospitalization and reduce clinical severity in infants with viral bronchiolitis. A possible mechanism is reduced airway edema and mucus plugging to decrease airway obstruction.
Heliox, a mixture of oxygen with helium, may reduce respiratory distress within the first hour of treatment. It works by decreasing airway resistance and easing the work of breathing. However, it has not been shown to affect overall illness outcomes.
Chest physiotherapy including forced respiratory techniques for infants has not been found to reduce disease severity or yield any other improvement. Evidence supporting other physiotherapy approaches including instrumental physiotherapy and rhinopharyngeal retrograde technique (RRT) is very limited, The effects and any potential use needs further assessment in clinical trials. There is also no evidence to support hypertonic saline therapy combined with chest physiotherapy. There is very weak evidence to suggest that passive slow expiratory technique physiotherapy may contribute to a "mild to moderate" positive change in the severity of bronchiolitis for hospitalized infants, however, the benefit of this approach for infants treated in ambulatory settings is not known.
Inhaled recombinant human deoxyribonuclease (rhDNase), an enzyme that digests the DNA that contributes to mucus plugging and airway obstruction, has not been shown to improve clinical outcomes in this group.
=== Viral-specific therapies ===
Ribavirin is an antiviral medication licensed for the treatment of RSV in children. It is a guanosine analog that acts by inhibiting viral RNA synthesis and capping. It was approved in 1986 for treatment of RSV infection. However, the use of ribavirin remains controversial due to unclear evidence of efficacy and concerns about toxicity to exposed staff members, as well as cost. As such, treatment guidelines do not make recommendations for its use in children. In adults, ribavirin is used off-label and is generally reserved for the severely immunocompromised, such as those undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplants.
Presatovir, an experimental antiviral drug, has shown promising results in clinical trials but has not yet been approved for medical use. It acts as a fusion inhibitor by inhibiting the RSV F protein.
Immunoglobins, both RSV-specific and non-specific, have historically been used for RSV-related illnesses. However, there is insufficient evidence to support the use of immunoglobins in children with RSV infection.
=== Anti-inflammatories ===
Corticosteroids (systemic or inhaled) have not been found to decrease hospitalization length or disease severity in viral bronchiolitis. Their use may also prolong viral shedding, and thus is not commonly recommended. However, the use of oral corticosteroids remains common in adults with RSV-related exacerbation of underlying lung disease.
Leukotriene inhibitors such as montelukast have been used in the treatment of infants and children with bronchiolitis. However, the evidence supporting their use remains inconsistent with no definitive conclusions on their efficacy.
=== Bronchodilators ===
Bronchodilators, medications commonly used to treat asthma, are sometimes used to treat the wheezing associated with RSV infection. These medications (such as albuterol (sin. salbutamol)) are beta-agonists that relax the muscles of the airways to allow for improved airflow. However, bronchodilators have not been found to improve the clinical severity of infection or the rate of hospitalization among those with RSV infection. Given their limited benefit, plus their adverse event profile, they are not routinely recommended for use in RSV bronchiolitis.
=== Antibiotics ===
Antibiotic therapy is not appropriate for the treatment of RSV-related bronchiolitis or viral pneumonia. Antibiotics target bacterial pathogens, not viral pathogens such as RSV. However, antibiotics may be considered if there is clear evidence that a secondary bacterial infection has developed. Ear infections may also develop in a small number of infants with RSV bronchiolitis, in which case oral antibiotics may sometimes be used.
Beyond vaccines, AstraZeneca and Sanofi introduced nirsevimab, a prophylactic monoclonal antibody with 75% efficacy against RSV cases in infants under one year. Europe approved nirsevimab in November 2022, and the FDA followed suit in July 2023. Merck's clesrovimab, a similar monoclonal antibody, is in late-stage trials.
== Epidemiology ==
=== Infants and children ===
Worldwide, RSV is the leading cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in infants and children under the age of 5. The risk of serious infection is highest during the first 6 months of life. Of those infected with RSV, 2–3% will develop bronchiolitis, necessitating hospitalization. Each year, approximately 30 million acute respiratory illnesses and over 60,000 childhood deaths are caused by RSV worldwide. An estimated 87% of infants will have experienced an RSV infection by the age of 18 months, and nearly all children will have been infected by 3 years. In the United States, RSV is responsible for up to 20% of acute respiratory infection hospitalizations in children under the age of 5. However, the vast majority of RSV-related deaths occur in low-income countries that lack access to basic supportive care.
The prophylactic use of palivizumab or nirsevimab (both are monoclonal antibody treatments) can prevent RSV infection in high-risk infants. Passive immunization is available to prevent RSV infection and hospitalization in the highest-risk infants.
A 2024 JAMA Open article suggested a rise in sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUID) may be connected to an unusual surge of RSV in 2021. Researchers analyzed over 14,000 SUID cases using CDC records and found that the rate per 100,000 live births increased by 10% between 2019 and 2021. The study revealed that the risk of SUID was highest from June to December 2021, coinciding with an off-season spike in RSV hospitalizations after the virus deviated from its typical winter pattern in 2020.
=== Adults ===
It is rare for healthy young adults to develop severe illness requiring hospitalization from RSV. However, it is now recognized as a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in certain adult populations, including the elderly and those with underlying heart or lung diseases. Its clinical impact among elderly adults is estimated to be similar to that of influenza. Each year, approximately 5–10% of nursing home residents will experience RSV infection, with significant rates of pneumonia and death. RSV is also responsible for 2–5% of adult community-acquired pneumonias.
=== Immunocompromised ===
In both adults and children, immunosuppression increases susceptibility to RSV infection. Children living with HIV are more likely to develop acute illness and are 3.5 times more likely to require hospitalization than children without HIV. Bone marrow transplant patients before marrow engraftment are at particularly high risk, with RSV accounting for nearly half of the viral infections in this population. This group has also demonstrated mortality rates of up to 80% among those with RSV pneumonia. While infection may occur within the community, hospital-acquired infection is thought to account for 30–50% of cases among immunocompromised individuals.
=== Seasonality ===
RSV seasonality varies around the world. In temperate climates, infection rates tend to be highest during the cold winter months. This is often attributed to increased indoor crowding and increased viral stability in lower temperatures. In tropical and arctic climates, however, the annual variation is less well-defined and seems to be more prevalent during the rainy season. Annual epidemics are generally caused by the presence of several different viral strains. Subtype A and B viruses will often circulate simultaneously within a specific geographic region, although group A viruses are more prevalent.
== Research ==
A study investigated RSV-specific T cell responses in 55 infants hospitalized for RSV bronchiolitis and found that these responses were similar during both acute illness and recovery, and did not increase after subsequent RSV infections. This suggests that RSV-specific T-cell responses may not prevent reinfection and might not expand effectively in the body after reinfection. However, these cells might be located in specific areas of the lungs and respond more strongly to secondary infection, as seen in animal studies. For instance, a study using mice showed that the "extent of the BALF inflammatory response to reinfection response to reinfection in adulthood is determined by the age at first infection." The study also discovered that the patterns differ for "neonatal infection primes the host to develop a Th2-biased response." The exact mechanisms behind this phenomenon remain unclear. One possibility is that a lack of IFN-γ production in newborns during their first encounter with RSV, possibly due to an immature immune system, allows for the emergence of a Th2-biased response that persists and can be triggered again during subsequent RSV infections. However, it is improbable that variations solely in IFN-γ levels explain this susceptibility window. IL-13 appears to play a significant role as a regulator in this process. IL-13 is a protein located in the lung. It is a "mediator of allergic asthma" and it is in charge of "regulating eosinophilic inflammation, mucus secretion, and airway hyperresponsiveness."
SARS-CoV-2 infections, the virus responsible for COVID-19, may lead to a higher risk of infection with RSV. In November 2022, the RSV hospitalization rate for newborns was seven times the rate in 2018. This, combined with increasing influenza circulation, caused the US state of Oregon to declare a state of emergency. The Children's Hospital Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics asked US President Joe Biden to declare a state of emergency.
The findings of a 2024 cross-sectional study of 6,248 hospitalized adults with RSV infection suggest that acute cardiac events are common among hospitalized older adults with RSV infection, and are associated with severe clinical outcomes. Nearly a quarter of hospitalized people over 50 with RSV experienced an acute cardiac event (most frequently acute heart failure), including 1 in 12 adults (8.5%) without documented underlying cardiovascular disease. Patients who had acute cardiac events had nearly twice the risk of a severe outcome than patients who did not.
== Notes ==
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Park GY, Tishkowski K (2024). "Paramyxovirus". StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing. PMID 33620863.
Walsh EE, Hall CB (2015). "Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV)". Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett's Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. pp. 1948–1960.e3. doi:10.1016/B978-1-4557-4801-3.00160-0. ISBN 978-1-4557-4801-3. PMC 7173590.
Carbonell-Estrany X, Simões EA, Bont LJ, Gentile A, Homaira N, Scotta MC, et al. (November 2022). "Identifying the research, advocacy, policy and implementation needs for the prevention and management of respiratory syncytial virus lower respiratory tract infection in low- and middle-income countries". Frontiers in Pediatrics. 10 1033125. doi:10.3389/fped.2022.1033125. PMC 9682277. PMID 36440349.
Kassem E, Na'amnih W, Bdair-Amsha A, Zahalkah H, Muhsen K (April 2019). "Comparisons between ethnic groups in hospitalizations for respiratory syncytial virus bronchiolitis in Israel". PLOS ONE. 14 (4) e0214197. Bibcode:2019PLoSO..1414197K. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0214197. PMC 6443173. PMID 30933992.
Dakhama A, Park JW, Taube C, Joetham A, Balhorn A, Miyahara N, et al. (August 2005). "The Enhancement or Prevention of Airway Hyperresponsiveness during Reinfection with Respiratory Syncytial Virus Is Critically Dependent on the Age at First Infection and IL-13 Production". The Journal of Immunology. 175 (3): 1876–1883. doi:10.4049/jimmunol.175.3.1876. PMID 16034131.
Carvajal JJ, Avellaneda AM, Salazar-Ardiles C, Maya JE, Kalergis AM, Lay MK (September 2019). "Host Components Contributing to Respiratory Syncytial Virus Pathogenesis". Frontiers in Immunology. 10 2152. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2019.02152. PMC 6753334. PMID 31572372.
Chakraborty C, Sharma AR, Bhattacharya M, Lee SS (February 2022). "A Detailed Overview of Immune Escape, Antibody Escape, Partial Vaccine Escape of SARS-CoV-2 and Their Emerging Variants With Escape Mutations". Frontiers in Immunology. 13 801522. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2022.801522. PMC 8863680. PMID 35222380.
Zhou X, Jiang M, Wang F, Qian Y, Song Q, Sun Y, et al. (January 2023). "Immune escaping of the novel genotypes of human respiratory syncytial virus based on gene sequence variation". Frontiers in Immunology. 13 1084139. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2022.1084139. PMC 9871593. PMID 36703972.
Wynn TA (April 2003). "IL-13 Effector Functions". Annual Review of Immunology. 21 (1): 425–456. doi:10.1146/annurev.immunol.21.120601.141142. PMID 12615888.
Mousa JJ, Williams JV, Crowe JE (2022). "Pneumoviruses: Respiratory Syncytial Virus and Human Metapneumovirus". Viral Infections of Humans. pp. 1–53. doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-9544-8_26-1. ISBN 978-1-4939-9544-8. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Raider | Rainbow Raider | Rainbow Raider (Roy G. Bivolo) is a supervillain appearing in comic books by DC Comics. His real name is a pun based on the acronym "ROYGBIV", a mnemonic for the colors of a rainbow. He is a minor, though recurring, enemy of the Flash and other heroes.
Two incarnations of the Rainbow Raider appear in The Flash, with Roy G. Bivolo appearing in the first and ninth seasons, portrayed by Paul Anthony, and a female incarnation named Carrie Bates appearing in the seventh season, portrayed by Jona Xiao.
== Publication history ==
Rainbow Raider first appeared in The Flash #286 (June 1980), and was created by Cary Bates and Don Heck.
Bates said in a 2008 interview that "Rainbow Raider's color-blindness (as well as the color-emotion powers and origin) was an attempt on his part to emulate those classic Rogues' Gallery villain origins Bates enjoyed so much from the sixties".
Bates elaborated on the characters creation stating "Having grown up on a Flash Rogue’s gallery full of villains who were adept at weaponizing things like mirrors, cold, heat, magic, boomerangs, etc., Julie and I thought the color spectrum gimmick had the potential to be a worthwhile addition."
== Fictional character biography ==
As a child, Roy G. Bivolo always dreamed of a career as an artist, a lofty goal considering he was completely colorblind. He would often paint what he thought were beautiful pieces of art, and indeed showed great technical skill only to be told that it was made up of clashing colors. His father, an optometrist, attempts to cure Roy's condition and creates sophisticated goggles that can produce rainbow light beams.
Roy, now the Rainbow Raider, embarks on a crime spree focused mostly on art galleries, saying that if he could not appreciate the great works of art in them (due to his disability), then no one else will. After being imprisoned in Belle Reve Penitentiary, the Rainbow Raider joins the Color Queens gang alongside Crazy Quilt, Doctor Light, Doctor Spectro, and Multi-Man.
Roy is later killed by Blacksmith. He is temporarily resurrected as a Black Lantern in Blackest Night and permanently resurrected in The New 52 continuity reboot, where he is known as Chroma.
=== Rainbow Raiders ===
Since Rainbow Raider's death, a team of color-themed supervillains have dubbed themselves the Rainbow Raiders in his honor.
== Powers and abilities ==
Rainbow Raider's powers are derived from the special goggles he wears, which allow him to project solid beams of rainbow-colored light he can either use offensively or as a slide for travel. In addition, he can coat people in certain colors of light to induce emotions (coating someone in blue light, for instance, would make them sad).
== Reception ==
Heavy.com lists Rainbow Raider as one of the worst supervillains of all time. Francesco Marciuliano from Smosh.com ranked Rainbow Raider as having one of the worst supervillain gadgets of all time.
== Other characters named Rainbow Raider ==
Jonathan Kent posed as a supervillain called Rainbow Raider as part of a plot to get Superboy to capture gangster Vic Munster and his gang by using a hypnotic device on his helmet. Munster later used the Rainbow Raider identity before being defeated by Superboy.
Dr. Quin (a villain from the first Dial H for Hero series) appears in House of Mystery #167 (June 1967) as a different Rainbow Raider whose powers are derived from a rare crystal.
== In other media ==
=== Television ===
Two incarnations of Rainbow Raider appear in The Flash:
Roy G. Bivolo appears in the first and ninth seasons, portrayed by Paul Anthony. This version is a metahuman capable of inciting anger via eye contact and a member of the Red Death's Rogues.
A female incarnation named Carrie Bates / Rainbow Raider 2.0 appears in the seventh season episode "Good-Bye Vibrations", portrayed by Jona Xiao. She is a former collections officer who was fired for cancelling debts instead of collecting them and became a metahuman capable of inducing euphoria.
Roy G. Bivolo appears in the Teen Titans Go! episode "Real Art", voiced by Scott O'Brien.
Rainbow Raider makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the Harley Quinn episode "B.I.T.C.H.".
=== Film ===
Rainbow Raider appears in Teen Titans Go! To the Movies.
=== Video games ===
Rainbow Raider appears as a character summon in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.
Rainbow Raider appears as a downloadable playable character in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham as part of the "Rainbow" DLC pack.
=== Miscellaneous ===
Rainbow Raider appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold #14.
Rainbow Raider appears in The Flash tie-in novel The Haunting of Barry Allen.
== References ==
== External links ==
Rainbow Raider at DC Comics Wiki
Rainbow Raider at Comic Vine
Seanbaby's Stupid Villain Showcase: Rainbow Raider |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Nagel#:~:text=In%201977%2C%20Nagel%20made%20his,work%20with%20Playboy%20in%201975. | Patrick Nagel | Patrick Nagel (November 25, 1945 – February 4, 1984) was an American artist and illustrator. He created popular illustrations on board, paper, and canvas, most of which emphasize the female form in a distinctive style, descended from Art Deco and pop art.
He produced many illustrations for Playboy magazine. His cover for the rock group Duran Duran's Rio album has been acclaimed as one of the greatest album covers of all time.
== Early life and education ==
Nagel was born in Dayton, Ohio, on November 25, 1945, but was raised and spent most of his life in the Los Angeles area. After serving in the United States Army with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam, Nagel attended the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles in 1969, and in that same year he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from California State University, Fullerton.
== Career ==
=== Illustration and design ===
In 1971, Nagel worked as a graphic designer for ABC Television, producing graphics for promotions and news broadcasts. The following year, he began work as a freelance artist for major corporations and magazines, including Architectural Digest, Harper's Magazine, IBM, ITT Corporation, MGM, Oui, Rolling Stone, United Artists, and Universal Studios.
Nagel produced album covers for recording artists such as Tommy James, Charlene, Thelma Houston and Cissy Houston.
Nagel's 1982 painting for the album cover of rock group Duran Duran's hit album Rio, designed by Malcolm Garrett, became one of his best known images. The model in Nagel's painting has been identified as Marcie Hunt, who featured in a 1981 issue of Vogue Paris. A lithograph of the album cover is part of the collection of MoMA.
He worked for many commercial clients, including Intel, Lucky Strike cigarettes, Ballantine's Whiskey, and Budweiser.
Nagel contributed to Playboy magazine between August 1975 and July 1984, with one of his paintings being published in every issue, most notably in the Playboy Advisor, Playboy Forum and Playboy After Hours columns. This helped to improve his exposure to a wider audience and encouraged the popularity of "the Nagel Woman" image. He created roughly 285 pieces of art work for Playboy during his career. In the early part of his time with Playboy he was given very specific illustration instructions, but that ended sometime between 1977 and 1978; thereafter, Nagel chose his theme and approach and submitted his work for approval before publication. In 1993, roughly nine years after Nagel's death, his widow Jennifer Dumas went into litigation with Playboy over the rights to the artwork published in the magazine. See Playboy Enterprises, Inc. v. Dumas.
=== The Nagel woman ===
In 1977, Nagel made his first poster image for Mirage Editions, with whom he printed many images, his most famous being those of "Nagel women". The "Nagel woman" was developed over time and increased in popularity after Nagel began publishing his work with Playboy in 1975. The women were drawn as "Nagel's ideal woman". His female figures tended to have black hair, and bright white skin. Nagel worked with many models, including Playboy Playmates Cathy St. George, Tracy Vaccaro and Shannon Tweed, and also painted several celebrity portraits, including those of Joan Collins and Joanna Cassidy.
Nagel's portraits were created by tracing a photograph of the subject with Nagel usually making edits to hair and clothing to better match his tastes and style. The source material for much of his work was found objects that included fashion magazine spreads and advertisements. In many cases the original model had no idea it was their image that was used. Model Marcie Hunt, whose image Nagel picked from a Vogue Paris feature, did not know she was used for the cover of Rio until forty-two years later.
There has been much discussion about the inspiration for Nagel's style; since little is known about Nagel's art background, there is no definite answer to this.
Like some of the old print masters (Toulouse-Lautrec and Bonnard, for example), Nagel was influenced by the Japanese woodblock print, with figures silhouetted against a neutral background, with strong areas of black and white, and with bold line and unusual angles of view. He handled colors with rare originality and freedom; he forced perspective from flat, two-dimensional images; and he kept simplifying, working to convey more with fewer elements. His simple and precise imagery is also reminiscent of the art-deco style of the 1920s and 1930s- its sharp linear treatment, geometric simplicity, and stylization of form yield images that are formal yet decorative.
Art historians have speculated that he may have been influenced by Japanese-style art, but there is no specific evidence for that. His mapmaking experiences in Vietnam possibly did more to steer him into high contrast imagery than anything else.
== Death and legacy ==
=== Death ===
Nagel died February 4, 1984, after participating in a 15-minute celebrity "aerobathon" to raise funds for the American Heart Association in Santa Monica. An autopsy determined his cause of death was a heart attack, and a further autopsy revealed that Nagel had a congenital heart defect that went undetected his entire life. He was survived by his wife, Jennifer Dumas, and his daughter from a previous marriage, Carole Nagel LaVigne. Against his parents' wishes and through no direction attributable to him, Patrick Nagel was cremated and his ashes scattered over the Pacific Ocean.
=== Legacy ===
Nagel's works "capture the emotional state of an era: 1980s American desire, collective materialistic aspiration, a Less than Zero state of mind", said Alex Israel, whom Duran Duran hired to create the album art for their 2015 release Paper Gods, which visually references Nagel's famous Rio cover.
The short-lived cartoon Moonbeam City starring Rob Lowe and Elizabeth Banks based all of its characters on the male and female models of Nagel’s work. Its architectural aesthetic also borrowed from Nagel’s minimalist sensibilities and applied them to the chrome and tile designs of the Memphis Group, which created the predominant deco-influenced style of the 1980s.
=== Art market ===
Nagel prints flooded the market in the 1980s. Nagel's manager, Karl Bornstein, president of Mirage Editions Inc., continued publication of Nagel's works after his death, including open edition prints and mass-market posters. In addition, in 1991, the FBI discovered and dismantled a counterfeiting ring which flooded the market with forged serigraphs. While this contributed to Nagel's cultural ubiquity—Nagel artwork was in a reported two million homes worldwide—it also served to exploit the brand and ultimately, dramatically lowered its value.
By 2019, the market showed signs of a comeback, with one of his original works from 1982 selling for $112,500 at auction, nearly doubling its estimated value, while limited-run silkscreen posters can go for several thousand dollars. Nagel has also had a resurgence in the form of collaborations with mass-market brands. In 2020, fast fashion retailer Forever 21 launched an apparel collection featuring Nagel portraits.
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Bradbury, Ray (1985). The Art of Playboy. New York: A. van der Marck Editions. pp. 21, 29. ISBN 9780912383194.
Frankel, Rob (2016). The Artist Who Loved Women: The Incredible Life and Work of Patrick Nagel. Los Angeles, CA: Frankel & Anderson. ISBN 9780692685921.
Millie, Elena G. (October 1985). Nagel: The Art of Patrick Nagel. St. James Press. ISBN 0-912383-11-9.
Nagel, Patrick; Millie, Elena G. (1987). Nagel: The Art of Patrick Nagel (Art book). New York: Alfred van der Marck Editions. ISBN 9780912383361.
== External links ==
Official website, with biography and selected works |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Dukes_of_Hazzard_episodes#Season_5_(1982%E2%80%9383) | List of The Dukes of Hazzard episodes | This is a list of episodes for the 1979–1985 CBS action-adventure/comedy series The Dukes of Hazzard. The show ran for seven seasons and a total of 147 episodes. Many of the episodes followed a similar structure: "out-of-town crooks pull a robbery, Duke boys blamed, spend the rest of the hour clearing their names, the General Lee flies and the squad cars crash". Also, almost every episode would begin with the Duke boys driving along in the General Lee, whether running an errand or just out on a leisurely drive, and inadvertently stumbling upon one of the sheriff's speed traps.
== Series overview ==
== Episodes ==
=== Season 1 (1979) ===
=== Season 2 (1979–80) ===
Starting with this season, a new closing sequence was introduced. This time, it shows the General Lee and Enos' police car going around in circles. This remained in use until the end of the series in 1985. Also at the beginning of this season, the show is now produced by Lou Step Productions.
=== Season 3 (1980–81) ===
This season consisted of 21 episodes.
Season 3 brought a big change to the show. Sonny Shroyer, who played the part of Deputy Enos Strate, was leaving the show to star in a short-lived Dukes of Hazzard spin-off series, called Enos. Rosco's pet dog Flash was introduced in this season. Flash would stay until the end of the series in 1985.
In the first episode, Enos was written out of the show as moving to California to take a job with the Los Angeles Police Department. This is the last season to use the Season 2 closing theme.
During the opening credits, Enos is out, and Cletus Hogg (Rick Hurst) is in.
=== Season 4 (1981–82) ===
In this season, starting with "Goodbye, General Lee" Warner Bros. starts producing the "General Lee" chargers where we start seeing the light tan interiors, wide push bar and more consistent appearances.
=== Season 5 (1982–83) ===
Byron Cherry and Christopher Mayer were promoted to opening titles starting with this season.
Beginning with season 5, over a royalties dispute, John Schneider (Bo Duke) and Tom Wopat (Luke Duke) were fired from the series. They were replaced by their cousins Coy Duke and Vance Duke. The show's ratings nosedived and, after 18 episodes, Wopat and Schneider were hired back. As a result, they both ended up starring again in the remaining 4 episodes of the season.
Vance and Coy last appear in episode 19, and are not even mentioned after their departure from the series.
According to the series bible, Luke and Bo's 18-episode absence was due to their competing (and, ultimately, winning big) in the NASCAR circuit. Their return episode has the distinction of featuring all four Duke boys, as a way to make a natural transition and maintain the continuity of the series.
This season consisted of 22 episodes.
Sonny Shroyer returns as Enos for the rest of the series after the cancellation of the spin-off Enos.
=== Season 6 (1983–84) ===
=== Season 7 (1984–85) ===
== References ==
== External links ==
Dukes of Hazzard at IMDb |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_K._Lathrop | Gertrude K. Lathrop | Gertrude Katherine Lathrop (December 24, 1896–March 16, 1986) was an American sculptor known for her medallion work and sculptures of small animals.
== Biography ==
=== Early life and education ===
Lathrop was born in Albany, New York to artist Ida Pulis Lathrop and Cyrus Clark Lathrop. Her sister Dorothy P. Lathrop was an artist too.
She studied at Art Students League in 1918 with Gutzon Borglum and at the School of American Sculpture, also with Borglum.
=== Career ===
Her first exhibition was in the National Academy of Design in 1921. In 1924, she went to Gloucester, Massachusetts to study with Charles Grafly.
She was awarded a Honorable Mention from the Art Institute of Chicago, in 1924, as well as the Helen Foster Barnett prize and the National Academy of Design, both in 1928.
She designed the Albany Charter half dollar in 1936, and was engaged by Westchester County Coin Club of New Rochelle, New York to design the New Rochelle 250th Anniversary half dollar in 1938.
She was awarded the Allied Artists of America's Medal of Honor in 1964. Three years later, in 1967, she was awarded the Pen and Brush Club's silver medal. In 1970, she won the John Sanford Saltus Gold Medal from the British Numismatic Society.
She was an accomplished medalist and modeled for portraits, but her main passion was sculpting animals. She said of it, "I chose to model animals because of their infinite variety of form and texture and their great beauty, for even the lowliest of them have beauty, yes even the ward bug, with his magnificent tusks."
In 1954, she moved with her sister, who was a noted illustrator of children's books, to Falls Village, Connecticut, where she would live for the rest of her life.
== Collections ==
Her work is included in the collections of the Seattle Art Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, the Albany Institute of History & Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
She died in Falls Village, Connecticut in 1986.
== References == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Faid | Robert W. Faid | A parody of the Nobel Prizes, the Ig Nobel Prizes are awarded each year in mid-September, around the time the recipients of the genuine Nobel Prizes are announced, for ten achievements that "first make people laugh, and then make them think". Commenting on the 2006 awards, Marc Abrahams, editor of Annals of Improbable Research and co-sponsor of the awards, said that "[t]he prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative, and spur people's interest in science, medicine, and technology". All prizes are awarded for real achievements, except for three in 1991 and one in 1994, due to an erroneous press release.
== 1991 ==
The awards were presented on October 3. Each winner received a medal shaped like a frying pan that makes noise when shaken and Cambridge parking passes that are valid from 3 a.m. – 4 a.m. the day after Christmas.
Biology: Robert Klark Graham for his development of the Repository for Germinal Choice, a sperm bank that accepts donations only from Nobel laureates and Olympians.
Chemistry: Jacques Benveniste, prolific proselytizer and dedicated correspondent of Nature, for his persistent "discovery" that water, H2O, is an intelligent liquid, and for demonstrating to his satisfaction that water is able to remember events long after all traces of those events have vanished (see water memory, his proposed explanation for homeopathy).
Economics: Michael Milken, father of the junk bond.
Education: US vice president at the time Dan Quayle, "consumer of time and occupier of space" for demonstrating, better than anyone else, the need for science education.
Literature: Erich von Däniken, visionary raconteur and author of Chariots of the Gods?, for explaining how human civilization was influenced by ancient astronauts from outer space.
Medicine: Alan Kligerman, "deviser of digestive deliverance, vanquisher of vapor", and inventor of Beano, for his pioneering work with anti-gas liquids that prevent bloat, gassiness, discomfort, and embarrassment.
Peace: Edward Teller, father of the hydrogen bomb and first champion of the Star Wars weapons system, "for his lifelong efforts to change the meaning of peace as we know it".
Chance: John Cage, popularized chance music and became well renowned for his work on it.
=== Apocryphal achievements ===
The first nomination also featured three fictional recipients for fictional achievements.
Interdisciplinary Research: Josiah S. Carberry of Brown University for his work in psychoceramics, the study of "cracked pots".
Pedestrian Technology: Paul DeFanti, "wizard of structures and crusader for public safety, for his invention of the Buckybonnet, a geodesic fashion structure that pedestrians wear to protect their heads and preserve their composure".
Physics: Thomas Kyle, for his discovery of "the heaviest element in the universe, Administratium".
== 1992 ==
Archaeology: Éclaireurs de France (a French Scouting organization), removers of graffiti, for damaging the prehistoric paintings of two bisons in the Cave of Mayrière supérieure near the French village of Bruniquel.
Art: Presented jointly to Jim Knowlton for his anatomy poster "Penises of the Animal Kingdom," and to the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts for encouraging Mr. Knowlton to extend his work in the form of a pop-up book.
Biology: Dr Cecil Jacobson, relentlessly generous sperm donor and prolific patriarch of sperm banking, for devising a simple, single-handed method of "quality control".
Chemistry: Ivette Bassa, constructor of colourful colloids, for her role in the crowning achievement of 20th century chemistry, the synthesis of bright blue Jell-O.
Economics: The investors of Lloyd's of London, heirs to 300 years of dull prudent management, for their bold attempt to ensure disaster by refusing to pay for their company's losses.
Literature: Yuri Struchkov, unstoppable author from the Institute of Organoelement Compounds in Moscow, for the 948 scientific papers he published between the years 1981 and 1990, averaging more than one every 3.9 days.
Medicine: F. Kanda, E. Yagi, M. Fukuda, K. Nakajima, T. Ohta, and O. Nakata of the Shiseido Research Center in Yokohama, for their pioneering research study "Elucidation of Chemical Compounds Responsible for Foot Malodour," especially for their conclusion that people who think they have foot odor do, and those who don't, don't.
Nutrition: The utilizers of SPAM, "courageous consumers of canned comestibles", for 54 years of undiscriminating digestion.
Peace: Daryl Gates, former police chief of the City of Los Angeles, for his uniquely compelling methods of "bringing people together".
Physics: David Chorley and Doug Bower, "lions of low-energy physics", for their circular contributions to field theory based on the geometrical destruction of English crops.
== 1993 ==
Biology: Presented jointly to Paul Williams Jr. of the Oregon State Health Division and Kenneth W. Newel of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, "bold biological detectives", for their pioneering study, "Salmonella Excretion in Joy-Riding Pigs".
Chemistry: Presented jointly to James and Gaines Campbell of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, "dedicated deliverers of fragrance", for inventing scent strips, the odious method by which perfume is applied to magazine pages.
Consumer Engineering: Presented to Ron Popeil, incessant inventor and perpetual pitchman of late night television, for redefining the industrial revolution with such devices as the Veg-O-Matic, the Pocket Fisherman, Mr. Microphone, and the Inside-the-Shell Egg Scrambler.
Economics: Presented to Ravi Batra of Southern Methodist University, shrewd economist and best-selling author of The Great Depression of 1990 (ISBN 978-0-440-20168-7) and Surviving the Great Depression of 1990, (ISBN 978-0-671-66324-7) for selling enough copies of his books to single-handedly prevent worldwide economic collapse.
Literature: Presented to T. Morrison, E. Topol, R. Califf, F. Van de Werf, P. W. Armstrong, and their 972 co-authors, for publishing a medical research paper which has one hundred times as many authors as pages. The authors are from the following countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Mathematics: Presented to Robert W. Faid of Greenville, South Carolina, "farsighted and faithful seer of statistics", for calculating the exact odds (710,609,175,188,282,000 to 1) that Mikhail Gorbachev is the Antichrist.
Medicine: Presented to James F. Nolan, Thomas J. Stillwell, and John P. Sands, Jr., "medical men of mercy", for their painstaking research report, "Acute Management of the Zipper-Entrapped Penis".
Peace: The Pepsi-Cola Company of the Philippines, for sponsoring a contest to create a millionaire, and then announcing the wrong winning number, thereby inciting and uniting 800,000 riotously expectant winners, and bringing many warring factions together for the first time in their nation's history.
Physics: Presented to Corentin Louis Kervran of France, "ardent admirer of alchemy", for his conclusion that the calcium in chickens' eggshells is created by a process of cold fusion.
Psychology: Presented jointly to John E. Mack of Harvard Medical School and David M. Jacobs of Temple University, for their conclusion that people who believe they were kidnapped by aliens from outer space probably were—and especially for their conclusion, "the focus of the abduction is the production of children".
Visionary Technology: Presented jointly to Jay Schiffman of Farmington Hills, Michigan, crack inventor of AutoVision, an image projection device that makes it possible to drive a car and watch television at the same time, and to the Michigan State Legislature, for making it legal to do so.
== 1994 ==
Biology: Presented to W. Brian Sweeney, Brian Krafte-Jacobs, Jeffrey W. Britton, and Wayne Hansen, for their breakthrough study, "The Constipated Serviceman: Prevalence Among Deployed US Troops," and especially for their numerical analysis of bowel movement frequency.
Chemistry: Presented to Texas State Senator Bob Glasgow, writer of logical legislation, for sponsoring the 1989 drug control law which makes it illegal to purchase beakers, flasks, test tubes, or other laboratory glassware without a permit.
Economics: Presented to Juan Pablo Dávila of Chile, "tireless trader of financial futures" and former employee of the state-owned company Codelco, for accidentally instructing his computer to "buy" when he meant "sell". He subsequently attempted to recoup his losses by making increasingly unprofitable trades that ultimately lost 0.5 percent of Chile's gross national product. Davila's relentless achievement inspired his countrymen to coin a new verb, "davilar", meaning "to botch things up royally".
Entomology: Presented to Robert A. Lopez of Westport, NY, "valiant veterinarian and friend of all creatures great and small", for his series of experiments in obtaining ear mites from cats, inserting them into his own ear, and carefully observing and analyzing the results.
Literature: Presented to L. Ron Hubbard, ardent author of science fiction and founding father of Scientology, for his crackling Good Book, Dianetics, which is highly profitable to humankind, or to a portion thereof.
Mathematics: Presented to The Southern Baptist Church of Alabama, mathematical measurers of morality, for their county-by-county estimate of how many Alabama citizens will go to Hell if they don't repent.
Medicine: Two prizes. First, to Patient X, formerly of the US Marine Corps, valiant victim of a venomous bite from his pet rattlesnake, for his determined use of electroshock therapy. At his own insistence, automobile spark plug wires were attached to his lip, and the car engine revved to 3,000 rpm for five minutes. Second, to Dr. Richard C. Dart of the Rocky Mountain Poison Center and Dr. Richard A. Gustafson of the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, who referenced Patient X in their well-grounded medical report, "Failure of Electric Shock Treatment for Rattlesnake Envenomation."
Peace: Presented to John Hagelin of Maharishi University and The Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy, for his experimental conclusion that 4,000 trained meditators caused a 24 percent decrease in violent crime in Washington, D.C.
Psychology: Presented to Lee Kuan Yew, former Prime Minister of Singapore, for his thirty-year study of the effects of punishing three million citizens of Singapore whenever they spat, chewed gum, or fed pigeons.
=== No longer officially listed ===
Physics: Presented to the Japanese Meteorological Agency, for its seven-year study of whether earthquakes are caused by catfish wiggling their tails. This winner is not officially listed, as it was based on what turned out to be erroneous press accounts.
== 1995 ==
The ceremony took place on 6 October 1995.
Chemistry: Presented to Bijan Pakzad of Beverly Hills, for creating DNA Cologne and DNA Perfume, neither of which contain deoxyribonucleic acid, and both of which come in a triple helix bottle.
Dentistry: Presented to Robert H. Beaumont, of Shoreview, Minnesota, for his incisive study "Patient Preference for Waxed or Unwaxed Dental Floss".
Economics: Presented jointly to Nick Leeson and his superiors at Barings Bank and to Robert Citron of Orange County, California for using the calculus of derivatives to demonstrate that every financial institution has its limits.
Literature: Presented to David B. Busch and James R. Starling, of Madison, Wisconsin, for their research report, "Rectal Foreign Bodies: Case Reports and a Comprehensive Review of the World's Literature." The citations include reports of, among other items: seven light bulbs; a knife sharpener; two flashlights; a wire spring; a snuff box; an oil can with potato stopper; eleven different forms of fruits, vegetables and other foodstuffs; a jeweler's saw; a frozen pig's tail; a tin cup; a beer glass; and one patient's remarkable ensemble collection consisting of spectacles, a suitcase key, a tobacco pouch and a magazine.
Medicine: Presented to Marcia E. Buebel, David S. Shannahoff-Khalsa, and Michael R. Boyle, for their study entitled "The Effects of Unilateral Forced Nostril Breathing on Cognition."
Nutrition: Presented to John Martinez of J. Martinez & Company in Atlanta, for luak coffee, the world's most expensive coffee, which is made from coffee beans ingested and excreted by the luak, a raccoon-like animal native to Indonesia.
Peace: Presented to the Legislative Yuan of Taiwan, for demonstrating that "politicians gain more by punching, kicking and gouging each other than by waging war against other nations".
Physics: Presented to Dominique M.R. Georget, R. Parker, and Andrew C. Smith of Norwich, England, for their rigorous analysis of soggy breakfast cereal. It was published in the report entitled "A Study of the Effects of Water Content on the Compaction Behaviour of Breakfast Cereal Flakes."
Psychology: Presented to Shigeru Watanabe, Junko Sakamoto, and Masumi Wakita, of Keio University, for their success in training pigeons to discriminate between the paintings of Picasso and those of Monet.
Public Health: Presented to Martha Kold Bakkevig of Sintef Unimed in Trondheim, Norway, and Ruth Nielsen of the Technical University of Denmark, for their exhaustive study, "Impact of Wet Underwear on Thermoregulatory Responses and Thermal Comfort in the Cold."
== 1996 ==
The ceremony took place on 3 October 1996.
Art: Presented to Don Featherstone of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, for his ornamentally evolutionary invention, the plastic pink flamingo. Featherstone was the first Ig Nobel Prize winner to appear in person at the awards ceremony to accept the award.
Biodiversity: Presented to Chonosuke Okamura of the Okamura Fossil Laboratory in Nagoya, Japan, for discovering the fossils of dinosaurs, horses, dragons, and more than one thousand other extinct "mini-species", each of which is less than 0.25 mm in length.
Biology: Presented jointly to Anders Bærheim and Hogne Sandvik of the University of Bergen, Norway, for their report, "Effect of Ale, Garlic, and Soured Cream on the Appetite of Leeches."
Chemistry: Presented to George Goble of Purdue University, for his blistering world record time for igniting a barbecue grill: three seconds, using charcoal and liquid oxygen.
Economics: Presented to Dr. Robert J. Genco of the University at Buffalo for his discovery that "financial strain is a risk indicator for destructive periodontal disease".
Literature: Presented to the editors of the journal Social Text for publishing a paper composed under deceptive pretenses that couched an absurd but theoretically specialized argument about the nature of gravity in a mire of academic buzzwords associated with humanities departments. (See Sokal Affair for details).
Medicine: Presented to James Johnston of R.J. Reynolds, Joseph Taddeo of U.S. Tobacco, Andrew Tisch of Lorillard, William Campbell of Philip Morris, Edward A. Horrigan of Liggett Group, Donald S. Johnston of American Tobacco Company, and Thomas E. Sandefur, Jr., chairman of Brown and Williamson Tobacco Company, for their unshakable discovery, as testified to the U.S. Congress, that nicotine is not addictive.
Peace: Presented to Jacques Chirac, President of France, for commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Hiroshima with atomic bomb tests in the Pacific.
Physics: Presented to Robert Matthews of Aston University, England, for his demonstration that the buttered toast phenomenon is ultimately based in the fundamental physical constants.
Public Health: Presented to Ellen Kleist of Nuuk, Greenland and Harald Moi of Oslo, Norway, for their cautionary medical report "Transmission of Gonorrhea Through an Inflatable Doll."
== 1997 ==
The ceremony took place on 9 October 1997.
Astronomy: Presented to Richard C. Hoagland of New Jersey, for identifying artificial features on the Moon and on Mars, including a human face on Mars and ten-mile high buildings on the far side of the Moon.
Biology: Presented to T. Yagyu and his colleagues from the University Hospital of Zürich, Switzerland, the Kansai Medical University in Osaka, Japan, and the Neuroscience Technology Research in Prague, Czech Republic, for measuring people's brainwave patterns while they chewed different flavors of gum.
Communications: Presented to Sanford Wallace, president of Cyber Promotions of Philadelphia. Nothing has stopped this self-appointed courier from delivering electronic junk mail to all the world.
Economics: Presented to Akihiro Yokoi of Wiz Company in Chiba, Japan, and Aki Maita of Bandai Company in Tokyo, for diverting millions of man-hours of work into the husbandry of virtual pets.
Entomology: Presented to Mark Hostetler of the University of Florida, for his book, That Gunk on Your Car, (ISBN 978-0-89815-961-5) which identifies the insect splats that appear on automobile windows.
Literature: Presented to Doron Witztum, Eliyahu Rips, and Yoav Rosenberg of Israel, and to Michael Drosnin of the United States, for their claimed statistical discovery of a hidden code in the Bible.
Medicine: Presented to Carl J. Charnetski and Francis X. Brennan, Jr. of Wilkes University, and James F. Harrison of Muzak Ltd. in Seattle, Washington, for their discovery that listening to Muzak stimulates the immune system and thus may help prevent the common cold.
Meteorology: Presented to Bernard Vonnegut of the State University of New York at Albany, for his report, "Chicken Plucking as Measure of Tornado Wind Speed."
Peace: Presented to Harold Hillman of the University of Surrey, England, for his report "The Possible Pain Experienced During Execution by Different Methods."
Physics: Presented to John Bockris of Texas A&M University, for his achievements in cold fusion, in the transmutation of base elements into gold, and in the electrochemical incineration of domestic rubbish.
== 1998 ==
The ceremony took place on 8 October 1998.
Chemistry: Presented to Jacques Benveniste of France, for his homeopathic "discovery" that not only does water have memory, but that the information can be transmitted over telephone lines and the Internet.
Biology: Presented to Peter Fong of Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, for contributing to the happiness of clams by giving them Prozac.
Economics: Presented to Richard Seed of Chicago for his efforts to stoke up the world economy by cloning himself and other human beings.
Literature: Presented to Dr. Mara Sidoli of Washington, D.C., for her illuminating report, "Farting as a Defence Against Unspeakable Dread".
Medicine: Presented to Patient Y and to his doctors, Caroline Mills, Meirion Llewelyn, David Kelly, and Peter Holt, of Royal Gwent Hospital, in Newport for the cautionary medical report, "A Man Who Pricked His Finger and Smelled Putrid for 5 Years."
Peace: Presented to Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, for their aggressively peaceful detonations of atomic bombs.
Physics: Presented to Deepak Chopra of The Chopra Center for Well Being, La Jolla, California, for his unique interpretation of quantum physics as it applies to life, liberty, and the pursuit of economic happiness.
Safety Engineering: Presented to Troy Hurtubise, of North Bay, Ontario, for developing and personally testing a suit of armor that is impervious to grizzly bears.
Science Education: Presented to Dolores Krieger, professor emerita, New York University, for demonstrating the merits of therapeutic touch, a method by which nurses manipulate the energy fields of ailing patients by carefully avoiding physical contact with those patients.
Statistics: Presented to Jerald Bain of Mt. Sinai Hospital in Toronto and Kerry Siminoski of the University of Alberta, for their carefully measured report, "The Relationship Among Height, Penile Length, and Foot Size".
== 1999 ==
The ceremony took place on 30 September 1999.
Biology: Presented to Dr. Paul Bosland, director of The Chile Pepper Institute, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico, for breeding a spiceless jalapeño chili pepper.
Chemistry: Presented to Takeshi Makino, president of The Safety Detective Agency in Osaka, Japan, for his involvement with S-Check, an infidelity detection spray that wives can apply to their husbands' underwear.
Environmental Protection: Presented to Hyuk-ho Kwon of Kolon Company of Seoul, South Korea, for inventing the self-perfuming business suit.
Literature: Presented to the British Standards Institution for its six-page specification (BS 6008) of the proper way to make a cup of tea.
Managed Health Care: Presented to George and Charlotte Blonsky of New York City and San Jose, California, for inventing an Apparatus for facilitating the birth of a child by centrifugal force (U.S. patent 3,216,423) to aid women in giving birth: the woman is strapped onto a circular table, and the table is then rotated at high speed.
Medicine: Presented to Arvid Vatle of Stord, Norway, for carefully collecting, classifying, and contemplating which kinds of containers his patients chose when submitting urine samples.
Peace: Presented to Charl Fourie and Michelle Wong of Johannesburg, South Africa, for inventing the Blaster, a foot-pedal activated flamethrower that motorists can use against carjackers.
Physics: Presented to Dr. Len Fisher of Bristol, England and Sydney, Australia for calculating the optimal way to dunk a biscuit (cookie). Also, to Professor Jean-Marc Vanden-Broeck of the University of East Anglia, England, and Belgium, and Joseph Keller of the U.S. for calculating how to make a teapot spout that does not drip.
Science Education: Presented to the Kansas State Board of Education and the Colorado State Board of Education, for mandating that children should not believe in Darwin's theory of evolution any more than they believe in Newton's theory of gravitation, Faraday's and Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism, or Pasteur's theory that germs cause disease.
Sociology: Presented to Steve Penfold, of York University in Toronto, for doing his PhD thesis on the history of Canadian doughnut shops.
== 2000 ==
The ceremony took place on 5 October 2000.
Biology: Presented to Richard Wassersug of Dalhousie University, for his firsthand report, "On the Comparative Palatability of Some Dry-Season Tadpoles from Costa Rica".
Chemistry: Presented to Donatella Marazziti, Alessandra Rossi, and Giovanni B. Cassano of the University of Pisa, Italy, and Hagop S. Akiskal of the University of California, San Diego, for their discovery that, biochemically, romantic love may be indistinguishable from having severe obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Computer Science: Presented to Chris Niswander of Tucson, Arizona, for inventing PawSense, software that detects when a cat is walking across your computer keyboard.
Economics: Presented to The Reverend Sun Myung Moon, for bringing efficiency and steady growth to the mass marriage industry, with, according to his reports, a 36-couple wedding in 1960, a 430-couple wedding in 1968, an 1800-couple wedding in 1975, a 6000-couple wedding in 1982, a 30,000-couple wedding in 1992, a 360,000-couple wedding in 1995, and a 36,000,000-couple wedding in 1997.
Literature: Presented to Jasmuheen (formerly known as Ellen Greve) of Australia, first lady of Breatharianism, for her book Living on Light, (ISBN 978-3-929512-35-9) which explains that although some people do eat food, they don't ever really need to.
Medicine: Presented to Willibrord Weijmar Schultz, Pek van Andel, and Eduard Mooyaart of Groningen, the Netherlands, and Ida Sabelis of Amsterdam, for their illuminating report "Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Male and Female Genitals During Coitus and Female Sexual Arousal."
Peace: Presented to the Royal Navy, for ordering its sailors to stop using live cannon shells, and to instead just shout "Bang!"
Physics: Presented to Andre Geim of the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and Michael Berry of Bristol University, England, for using magnets to levitate a frog. Geim later shared the 2010 Nobel Prize in physics for his research on graphene, the first time anyone has been awarded both the Ig Nobel and (real) Nobel Prizes. By 2022, their magnetic levitation of a frog was reportedly part of the inspiration for China's lunar gravity research facility.
Psychology: Presented to David Dunning of Cornell University and Justin Kruger of the University of Illinois, for their modest report, "Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments".
Public Health: Presented to Jonathan Wyatt, Gordon McNaughton, and William Tullett of Glasgow, for their alarming report, "The Collapse of Toilets in Glasgow".
== 2001 ==
The ceremony took place on 4 October 2001.
Astrophysics: Presented to Jack and Rexella Van Impe of Jack Van Impe Ministries, Rochester Hills, Michigan, for their discovery that black holes fulfill all the technical requirements for the location of Hell.
Biology: Presented to Buck Weimer of Pueblo, Colorado for inventing Under-Ease, airtight underwear with a replaceable charcoal filter that removes bad-smelling gases before they escape.
Economics: Presented to Joel Slemrod, of the University of Michigan Business School, and Wojciech Kopczuk, of the University of British Columbia, for their conclusion that people find a way to postpone their deaths if that would qualify them for a lower rate on the inheritance tax.
Literature: Presented to John Richards of Boston, England, founder of the Apostrophe Protection Society, for his efforts to protect, promote, and defend the differences between the plural and the possessive.
Medicine: Presented to Peter Barss of McGill University, Canada, for his impactful medical report "Injuries Due to Falling Coconuts".
Peace: Presented to Viliumas Malinauskas of Grūtas, Lithuania, for creating the amusement park known as "Stalin World".
Physics: Presented to David Schmidt of the University of Massachusetts, for his partial explanation of the shower-curtain effect: a shower curtain tends to billow inwards while a shower is being taken.
Psychology: Presented to Lawrence W. Sherman of Miami University, Ohio, for his influential research report "An Ecological Study of Glee in Small Groups of Preschool Children".
Public Health: Presented to Chittaranjan Andrade and B. S. Srihari of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India, for their probing medical discovery that nose picking is a common activity among adolescents.
Technology: Presented jointly to John Keogh of Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia, for patenting the wheel in the year 2001, and to the Australian Patent Office (IP Australia) for granting him Innovation Patent #2001100012
== 2002 ==
The ceremony took place on 3 October 2002.
Biology: Presented to Norma E. Bubier, Charles G.M. Paxton, Phil Bowers, and D. Charles Deeming of the United Kingdom, for their report "Courtship Behaviour of Ostriches Towards Humans Under Farming Conditions in Britain".
Chemistry: Presented to Theodore Gray of Wolfram Research, in Champaign, Illinois, for gathering many elements of the periodic table and assembling them into a literal four-legged table.
Economics: Presented to the executives, corporate directors, and auditors of Enron, Lernout & Hauspie (Belgium), Adelphia, Bank of Commerce and Credit International (Pakistan), Cendant, CMS Energy, Duke Energy, Dynegy, Gazprom (Russia), Global Crossing, HIH Insurance (Australia), Informix, Kmart, Maxwell Communications (UK), McKessonHBOC, Merrill Lynch, Merck, Peregrine Systems, Qwest Communications, Reliant Resources, Rent-Way, Rite Aid, Sunbeam, Tyco, Waste Management, WorldCom, Xerox, and Arthur Andersen, for adapting the mathematical concept of imaginary numbers for use in the business world. (All companies except for Arthur Andersen were forced to restate their financial reports due to false or incorrect accounting. Andersen was the accounting firm most identified with the scandals, having been indicted on criminal charges stemming from its actions as auditor of Enron. All companies are U.S.-based unless otherwise noted.)
Hygiene: Presented to Eduardo Segura, from Tarragona, Catalonia (Spain), for inventing a washing machine for cats and dogs, bearing the commercial name of Lavakan de Aste.
Interdisciplinary Research: Presented to Karl Kruszelnicki of The University of Sydney, Australia, for performing a comprehensive survey of human belly button fluff: who gets it, when, what color, and how much.
Literature: Presented jointly to Vicki L. Silvers of the University of Nevada, Reno and David S. Kreiner of Central Missouri State University, for their colorful report "The Effects of Pre-Existing Inappropriate Highlighting on Reading Comprehension".
Mathematics: Presented to K. P. Sreekumar and G. Nirmalan of Kerala Agricultural University, India, for their analytical report "Estimation of the Total Surface Area in Indian Elephants".
Medicine: Presented to Chris McManus of University College London, for his excruciatingly balanced report, "Scrotal Asymmetry in Man and in Ancient Sculpture".
Peace: Presented to Keita Sato, President of Takara Co., Dr. Matsumi Suzuki, President of Japan Acoustic Lab, and Dr. Norio Kogure, executive director of the Kogure Veterinary Hospital, for promoting peace and harmony between humans and dogs by inventing Bow-Lingual, a computer-based automatic dog-to-human language translation device.
Physics: Presented to Arnd Leike of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, for demonstrating that beer froth obeys the mathematical law of exponential decay.
== 2003 ==
The ceremony took place on 2 October 2003.
Biology: Presented to Kees Moeliker, of Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, for documenting the first scientifically recorded case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck.
Chemistry: Presented to Yukio Hirose of Kanazawa University, for his chemical investigation of a bronze statue in the city of Kanazawa that fails to attract pigeons due to its arsenic content.
Economics: Presented to Karl Schwärzler and the nation of Liechtenstein, for making it possible to rent the entire country for corporate conventions, weddings, bar mitzvahs, and other gatherings.
Engineering: Presented to John Paul Stapp, Edward A. Murphy, Jr., and George Nichols, for jointly giving birth in 1949 to Murphy's Law, the basic engineering principle that "If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, someone will do it" (or, in other words: "If anything can go wrong, it will").
Interdisciplinary Research: Presented to Stefano Ghirlanda, Liselotte Jansson, and Magnus Enquis of Stockholm University, for their inevitable report "Chickens Prefer Beautiful Humans."
Literature: Presented to John Trinkaus of the Zicklin School of Business, New York City, for meticulously collecting data and publishing more than 80 detailed academic reports about things that annoyed him, such as:
What percentage of young people wear baseball caps with the peak facing to the rear rather than to the front;
What percentage of pedestrians wear sport shoes that are white rather than some other color;
What percentage of swimmers swim laps in the shallow end of a pool rather than the deep end;
What percentage of automobile drivers almost, but not completely, come to a stop at one particular stop-sign;
What percentage of commuters carry attaché cases;
What percentage of shoppers exceed the number of items permitted in a supermarket's express checkout lane;
What percentage of students dislike the taste of Brussels sprouts.
Medicine: Presented to Eleanor Maguire, David Gadian, Ingrid Johnsrude, Catriona Good, John Ashburner, Richard Frackowiak, and Christopher Frith of University College London, for presenting evidence that the hippocampi of London taxi drivers are more highly developed than those of their fellow citizens.
Peace: Presented to Lal Bihari, of Uttar Pradesh, India, for a triple accomplishment: First, for leading an active life even though he has been declared legally dead; second, for waging a lively posthumous campaign against bureaucratic inertia and greedy relatives; and third, for creating the Association of Dead People. Lal Bihari overcame the handicap of being dead, and managed to obtain a passport from the Indian government so that he could travel to Harvard to accept his Prize. However, the U.S. government refused to allow him into the country. His friend Madhu Kapoor therefore came to the Ig Nobel Ceremony and accepted the Prize on behalf of Lal Bihari. Several weeks later, the Prize was presented to Lal Bihari himself in a special ceremony in India.
Physics: Presented to Jack Harvey, John Culvenor, Warren Payne, Steve Cowley, Michael Lawrance, David Stuart, and Robyn Williams of Australia, for their irresistible report "An analysis of the forces required to drag sheep over various surfaces".
Psychology: Presented to Gian Vittorio Caprara and Claudio Barbaranelli of the University of Rome La Sapienza, and to Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University, for their discerning report "Politicians' Uniquely Simple Personalities".
== 2004 ==
The ceremony took place on 30 September 2004.
Biology: Presented to Ben Wilson of the University of British Columbia, Lawrence Dill of Simon Fraser University, Canada, Robert Batty of the Scottish Association for Marine Science, Magnus Wahlberg of the University of Aarhus, Denmark, and Håkan Westerberg of Sweden's National Board of Fisheries, for showing that herrings apparently communicate by farting.
It has been suggested that the study of this phenomenon has had major political consequences. Following the sensational stranding of a Soviet submarine deep inside Swedish waters on 27 October 1981, the Swedish navy initiated a large-scale campaign to guard Swedish territorial waters from the perceived threat of infiltration by foreign submarines, despite the Soviets consistently asserting that the stranding had occurred due to navigational errors. The "submarine hunts", which lasted throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, have been a heavily debated issue in Sweden, as to whether or not there ever was any factual substance to the claims of Soviet infiltration. One widely reported piece of "evidence" were several sound recordings of what the Swedish navy suspected to be foreign submarines. Oceanographers and marine biologists were invited to study the recordings and would eventually find that the sounds heard were most probably produced not by submarines, but in fact were the noises made when herring passed gas. In a reportage by the Swedish science magazine "Vetenskapens värld" ("World of science") televised on 16 April 2012, it's suggested that these findings were important in putting an end to the costly "submarine hunts" which had continued for more than a decade, with Ig Nobel laureate Håkan Westerberg guessing that this would have saved Swedish tax payers hundreds of millions in SEK.
Chemistry: Presented to The Coca-Cola Company of Great Britain, for using advanced technology to convert liquid from the River Thames (via a drinking water tap in Sidcup) into Dasani, a brand of bottled water, which for precautionary reasons has been made unavailable to consumers.
Economics: Presented to the Vatican, for outsourcing prayers to India.
Engineering: Presented jointly to Donald J. Smith and his father, Frank J. Smith, of Orlando, Florida, for patenting the comb over (U.S. patent 4,022,227).
Literature: Presented to The American Nudist Research Library of Kissimmee, Florida, for preserving nudist history so that everyone can see it.
Medicine: Presented jointly to Steven Stack of Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, and James Gundlach of Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, for their published report "The Effect of Country Music on Suicide".
Peace: Presented to Daisuke Inoue of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, for inventing karaoke, thereby providing an entirely new way for people to learn to tolerate each other.
Physics: Presented jointly to Ramesh Balasubramaniam of the University of Ottawa, and Michael Turvey of the University of Connecticut and Haskins Laboratory, for exploring and explaining the dynamics of hula-hooping.
Psychology: Presented jointly to Daniel Simons of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and Christopher Chabris of Harvard University, for demonstrating that when people pay close attention to something, they can overlook even a woman in a gorilla suit. (See inattentional blindness).
Public Health: Presented to Jillian Clarke of the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, and then Howard University, for investigating the scientific validity of the five-second rule about whether it's safe to eat food that's been dropped on the floor.
== 2005 ==
The ceremony took place on 6 October 2005.
Agricultural History: James Watson of Massey University, New Zealand, for his scholarly study, "The Significance of Mr. Richard Buckley's exploding trousers".
Biology: Presented jointly to Benjamin Smith of the University of Adelaide, Australia and the University of Toronto, Canada and the Firmenich perfume company, Geneva, Switzerland, and ChemComm Enterprises, Archamps, France; Craig Williams of James Cook University and the University of South Australia; Michael Tyler of the University of Adelaide; Brian Williams of the University of Adelaide; and Yoji Hayasaka of the Australian Wine Research Institute; for painstakingly smelling and cataloging the peculiar odors produced by 131 different species of frogs when the frogs were feeling stressed.
Chemistry: Presented jointly to Edward Cussler of the University of Minnesota and Brian Gettelfinger of the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, for conducting a careful experiment to settle the longstanding scientific question: can people swim faster in syrup or in water?
Economics: Gauri Nanda of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for inventing Clocky, an alarm clock that runs away and hides, repeatedly, thus ensuring that people get out of bed, and thus theoretically adding many productive hours to the workday.
Fluid Dynamics: Presented jointly to Victor Benno Meyer-Rochow of International University Bremen, Germany and the University of Oulu, Finland; and József Gál of Loránd Eötvös University, Hungary, for using basic principles of physics to calculate the pressure that builds up inside a penguin, as detailed in their report "Pressures Produced When Penguins Poo—Calculations on Avian Defecation".
Literature: Presented to the Internet entrepreneurs of Nigeria, for creating and then using e-mail to distribute a bold series of short stories, thus introducing millions of readers to a cast of rich characters—General Sani Abacha, Mrs. Mariam Sanni Abacha, Barrister Jon A Mbeki Esq., and others—each of whom requires just a small amount of expense money so as to obtain access to the great wealth to which they are entitled and which they would like to share with the kind person who assists them. (See advance fee fraud.)
Medicine: Gregg A. Miller of Oak Grove, Missouri, for inventing Neuticles—artificial replacement testicles for dogs, which are available in three sizes, and three degrees of firmness.
Nutrition: Dr. Yoshiro Nakamatsu of Tokyo, Japan, for photographing and retrospectively analyzing every meal he has consumed during a period of 34 years (and counting).
Peace: Presented jointly to Claire Rind and Peter Simmons of University of Newcastle, in the UK, for electrically monitoring the activity of a brain cell in a locust while that locust was watching selected highlights from the movie Star Wars.
Physics: Presented jointly to John Mainstone and Thomas Parnell of the University of Queensland, Australia, for patiently conducting the so-called pitch drop experiment that began in the year 1927—in which a glob of congealed black tar pitch has been slowly dripping through a funnel, at a rate of approximately one drop every nine years.
== 2006 ==
The ceremony took place on 5 October 2006.
Acoustics: D. Lynn Halpern of Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, and Brandeis University, and Northwestern University, Randolph Blake of Vanderbilt University and Northwestern University and James Hillenbrand of Western Michigan University and Northwestern University for conducting experiments to learn why people dislike the sound of fingernails scraping chalkboard (Misophonia).
Biology: Bart Knols of Wageningen Agricultural University, in Wageningen, the Netherlands, and of the National Institute for Medical Research / Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania, and of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in Vienna, Austria; and Ruurd de Jong of Wageningen Agricultural University, and of Santa Maria degli Angeli, Italy for showing that the female malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae is attracted equally to the smell of limburger cheese and to the smell of human feet.
Chemistry: Antonio Mulet, José Javier Benedito and José Bon of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain, and Carmen Rosselló of the University of Illes Balears, in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, for their study "Ultrasonic Velocity in Cheddar Cheese as Affected by Temperature".
Literature: Daniel M. Oppenheimer of Princeton University for his report "Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly".
Mathematics: Nic Svenson and Piers Barnes of the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, for calculating the number of photographs that must be taken to (almost) ensure that nobody in a group photo will have their eyes closed.
Medicine: Francis M. Fesmire of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, for his medical case report "Termination of Intractable Hiccups with Digital Rectal Massage";
Nutrition: Wasmia Al-Houty of Kuwait University and Faten Al-Mussalam of the Kuwait Environment Public Authority, for showing that dung beetles are finicky eaters.
Ornithology: Ivan R. Schwab, of the University of California, Davis, and Philip R.A. May of the University of California, Los Angeles, for exploring and explaining why woodpeckers don't get headaches.
Peace: Howard Stapleton of Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, for inventing an electromechanical teenager repellant, a device that makes annoying high-pitched noise designed to be audible to teenagers but not to adults; and for later using that same technology to make telephone ringtones that are audible to teenagers but probably not to their teachers.
Physics: Basile Audoly and Sebastien Neukirch of the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, for their analysis that explains why uncooked spaghetti breaks into several pieces when it is bent.
== 2007 ==
The ceremony took place on 4 October 2007.
Aviation: Patricia V. Agostino, Santiago A. Plano and Diego A. Golombek, of the National University of Quilmes, for discovering that hamsters recover from jetlag more quickly when given Viagra.
Biology: Johanna E.M.H. van Bronswijk of Eindhoven University of Technology for taking a census of all the mites and other life forms that live in people's beds.
Chemistry: Mayu Yamamoto of the International Medical Center of Japan for extracting vanilla flavour from cow dung.
Economics: Kuo Cheng Hsieh, for patenting a device to catch bank robbers by ensnaring them in a net.
Linguistics: Barcelona Science Park researchers Juan Manuel Toro, Josep B. Trobalon and Nuria Sebastian-Galles, for determining that rats sometimes can't distinguish between recordings of Japanese and Dutch played backward.
Literature: Freelance indexer Glenda Browne for her study into indexing entries that start with the definitive article "the".
Medicine: Brian Witcombe of Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and Dan Meyer of Sword Swallowers' Association International in Antioch, Tennessee, for investigating the side-effects of swallowing swords.
Nutrition: Brian Wansink of Cornell University for investigating people's appetite for mindless eating by secretly feeding them a self-refilling bowl of soup.
Peace: The United States Air Force Wright Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, for suggesting the research and development of a "gay bomb," which would cause enemy troops to become sexually attracted to each other.
Physics: Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan and Enrique Cerda Villablanca at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for their theoretical study of how sheets become wrinkled.
== 2008 ==
The ceremony took place on 2 October 2008.
Archaeology: Astolfo Gomes de Mello Araujo and Jose Carlos Marcelino, of São Paulo, for showing that armadillos can mix up the contents of an archaeological site.
Biology: Marie-Christine Cadiergues, Christel Joubert, and Michel Franc, of the National Veterinary School of Alfort, for discovering that fleas that live on dogs jump higher than fleas that live on cats.
Chemistry: Sheree Umpierre, Joseph Hill, and Deborah Anderson, of Harvard Medical School, for discovering that Coca-Cola is an effective spermicide, and C.Y. Hong, C.C. Shieh, P. Wu, and B.N. Chiang of Taipei Veterans General Hospital for proving it is not.
Cognitive Science: Toshiyuki Nakagaki, Hiroyasu Yamada, Ryo Kobayashi, Atsushi Tero, Akio Ishiguro, and Ágota Tóth, for discovering that slime molds can solve puzzles.
Economics: University of New Mexico researchers Geoffrey Miller, Joshua Tybur, and Brent Jordan, for discovering that exotic dancers earn more when at peak fertility.
Literature: David Sims of Cass Business School, for his study "You Bastard: A Narrative Exploration of the Experience of Indignation within Organizations".
Medicine: Rebecca Waber of MIT, Baba Shiv of Stanford University, Ziv Carmon of INSEAD, and Dan Ariely of MIT for demonstrating that expensive placebos are more effective than inexpensive placebos.
Nutrition: Massimiliano Zampini and Charles Spence, of the University of Oxford, for demonstrating that potato chips taste better when their audible crispness sounds more appealing.
Peace: The Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology and the citizens of Switzerland, for adopting the legal principle that plants have dignity.
Physics: University of California at San Diego researchers Dorian M. Raymer and Douglas Smith, for proving that heaps of string or hair will inevitably tangle.
== 2009 ==
The ceremony took place on 1 October 2009.
Biology: Fumiaki Taguchi, Song Guofu, and Zhang Guanglei of Kitasato University Graduate School of Medical Sciences in Sagamihara, Japan, for demonstrating that kitchen refuse can be reduced more than 90% in mass by using bacteria extracted from the feces of giant pandas.
Chemistry: Javier Morales, Miguel Apatiga, and Victor M. Castano of Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, for creating diamond film from tequila.
Economics: The directors, executives, and auditors of four Icelandic banks—Kaupthing Bank, Landsbanki, Glitnir Bank, and the Central Bank of Iceland—for demonstrating that tiny banks can be rapidly transformed into huge banks, and vice versa (and for demonstrating that similar things can be done to an entire national economy).
Literature: The Garda Síochána, for writing and presenting more than 50 traffic tickets to a Polish individual, by the name of "Prawo Jazdy". Mr. "Jazdy" was widely thought to be the most frequent driving offender in Ireland, until an investigation uncovered the fact that Prawo Jazdy is the Polish term for "Driving License".
Mathematics: Gideon Gono, governor of Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank, for giving people a simple, everyday way to cope with a wide range of numbers by having his bank print notes with denominations ranging from one cent to one hundred trillion dollars.
Medicine: Donald L. Unger of Thousand Oaks, California, US, for investigating a possible cause of arthritis of the fingers, by diligently cracking the knuckles of his left hand but not his right hand every day for 50 years.
Peace: Stephan Bolliger, Steffen Ross, Lars Oesterhelweg, Michael Thali, and Beat Kneubuehl of the University of Bern, Switzerland, for determining whether it is better to be hit on the head with a full bottle of beer or with an empty bottle.
Physics: Katherine K. Whitcome of the University of Cincinnati, Daniel E. Lieberman of Harvard University, and Liza J. Shapiro of the University of Texas at Austin, all in the US, for analytically determining why pregnant women do not tip over.
Public Health: Elena N. Bodnar, Raphael C. Lee, and Sandra Marijan of Chicago, US, for inventing a bra that can be quickly converted into a pair of face masks—one for the wearer and one to be given to a needy bystander.
Veterinary medicine: Catherine Douglas and Peter Rowlinson of Newcastle University, UK, for showing that cows with names give more milk than cows that are nameless.
== 2010 ==
The ceremony took place on 30 September 2010.
Biology: Libiao Zhang, Min Tan, Guangjian Zhu, Jianping Ye, Tiyu Hong, Shanyi Zhou, and Shuyi Zhang of China, and Gareth Jones of the University of Bristol, UK, for scientifically documenting fellatio in fruit bats.
Chemistry: Eric Adams, Scott Socolofsky, Stephen Masutani and BP, for disproving the old belief that oil and water don't mix.
Economics: The executives and directors of Goldman Sachs, AIG, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, and Magnetar Capital for creating and promoting new ways to invest money—ways that maximize financial gain and minimize financial risk for the world economy, or for a portion thereof.
Engineering: Karina Acevedo-Whitehouse and Agnes Rocha-Gosselin of the Zoological Society of London, UK, and Diane Gendron of Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Baja California Sur, Mexico, for perfecting a method to collect whale snot, using a remote-control helicopter.
Management: Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda, and Cesare Garofalo of the University of Catania, Italy, for demonstrating mathematically that organizations would become more efficient if they promoted people at random.
Medicine: Simon Rietveld of the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Ilja van Beest of Tilburg University, The Netherlands, for discovering that symptoms of asthma can be treated with a roller coaster ride.
Peace: Richard Stephens, John Atkins, and Andrew Kingston of Keele University, UK, for confirming the widely held belief that swearing relieves pain.
Physics: Lianne Parkin, Sheila Williams, and Patricia Priest of the University of Otago, New Zealand, for demonstrating that, on icy footpaths in wintertime, people slip and fall less often if they wear socks on the outside of their shoes.
Public Health: Manuel Barbeito, Charles Mathews, and Larry Taylor of the Industrial Health and Safety Office, Fort Detrick for determining by experiment that microbes cling to bearded scientists.
Transportation Planning: Atsushi Tero, Toshiyuki Nakagaki, Seiji Takagi, Tetsu Saigusa, Kentaro Ito, Kenji Yumiki, Ryo Kobayashi of Japan, and Dan Bebber, Mark Fricker of the UK, for using slime mold to determine the optimal routes for railroad tracks.
== 2011 ==
The ceremony took place on 29 September 2011.
Biology: Darryl Gwynne and David Rentz of the University of Western Australia for discovering that certain kinds of beetle mate with certain kinds of Australian beer bottles.
Chemistry: Makoto Imai, Naoki Urushihata, Hideki Tanemura, Yukinobu Tajima, Hideaki Goto, Koichiro Mizoguchi and Junichi Murakami for determining the ideal density of airborne wasabi (pungent horseradish) to awaken sleeping people in case of a fire or other emergency, and for applying this knowledge to invent the wasabi alarm.
Literature: John Perry of Stanford University for his Theory of Structured Procrastination, which states: "To be a high achiever, always work on something important, using it as a way to avoid doing something that's even more important."
Mathematics: Dorothy Martin of the U.S. (who predicted the world would end in 1954), Pat Robertson of the U.S. (who predicted the world would end in 1982), Elizabeth Clare Prophet of the U.S. (who predicted the world would end in 1990), Lee Jang Rim of Korea (who predicted the world would end in 1992), Credonia Mwerinde of Uganda (who predicted the world would end in 1999), and Harold Camping of the U.S. (who originally predicted the world would end on 6 September 1994, and later predicted that the world would end on 21 May 2011, which preceded his final prediction on 21 October 2011), for teaching the world to be careful when making mathematical assumptions and calculations.
Medicine: Mirjam Tuk, Debra Trampe and Luk Warlop, and jointly to Matthew Lewis, Peter Snyder, Robert Feldman, Robert Pietrzak, David Darby and Paul Maruff for demonstrating that people make better decisions about some kinds of things: but worse decisions about other kinds of things: when they have a strong urge to urinate.
Peace: Arturas Zuokas, the mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania, for demonstrating that the problem of illegally parked luxury cars can be solved by running them over with a tank. (Note, the vehicle used was not a tank, but a BTR-60 Armoured personnel carrier.)
Psychology: Karl Halvor Teigen of the University of Oslo, Norway, for trying to understand why, in everyday life, people sigh.
Physics: Henri Poincaré University researchers Philippe Perrin, Cyril Perrot, Dominique Deviterne, Bruno Ragaru and Herman Kingma for trying to determine why discus throwers become dizzy, and why hammer throwers don't, in their paper "Dizziness in discus throwers is related to motion sickness generated while spinning".
Physiology: University of Vienna team Anna Wilkinson, Natalie Sebanz, Isabella Mandl and Ludwig Huber for their study "No evidence of contagious yawning in the red-footed tortoise Geochelone carbonaria".
Public safety: John Senders of the University of Toronto, Canada, for conducting a series of safety experiments in which a person drives an automobile on a major highway while a visor repeatedly flaps down over their face, blinding them.
== 2012 ==
The ceremony took place on 20 September 2012.
Acoustics: Japanese researchers Kazutaka Kurihara and Koji Tsukada for creating the SpeechJammer, a machine that disrupts a person's speech by making them hear their own spoken words at a very slight delay.
Anatomy: Frans de Waal and Jennifer Pokorny, of Emory University, for discovering that chimpanzees can identify other chimpanzees individually by seeing photographs of their anogenital regions (their behinds).
Chemistry: Swedish environmental engineer Johan Pettersson, for solving the puzzle of why, in certain new houses in the town of Anderslöv, Sweden, people's hair turned green. Water pipes connected to these houses lacked coatings, so hot water left in the pipes overnight peeled copper from them, leading to very high copper levels in the water.
Fluid Dynamics: UC Santa Barbara researchers Rouslan Krechetnikov and Hans Mayer for studying the dynamics of liquid sloshing, to learn what happens when a person walks while carrying a cup of coffee.
Literature: The US Government General Accountability Office, for issuing a report about reports about reports that recommends the preparation of a report about the report about reports about reports.
Medicine: Emmanuel Ben-Soussan and Michel Antonietti, of Athens and Paris, for advising doctors who perform colonoscopies how to minimize the chance that their patients will explode.
Neuroscience: Craig Bennett (UC Santa Barbara), Abigail Baird (Vassar), Michael Miller (UC Santa Barbara), and George Wolford (Dartmouth), for demonstrating that brain researchers, by using complicated instruments and simple statistics, can see meaningful brain activity anywhere, even in a dead salmon.
Peace: The SKN Company, for converting old Russian ammunition into new diamonds.
Physics: English researchers Joseph Keller, Raymond E. Goldstein, Patrick Warren, and Robin Ball, for calculating the balance of forces that shape and move the hair in a human ponytail.
Psychology: Erasmus University Rotterdam team Anita Eerland, Rolf Zwaan, and Tulio Guadalupe for their study "Leaning to the Left Makes the Eiffel Tower Seem Smaller".
== 2013 ==
The ceremony took place on 12 September 2013.
Archaeology: Brian Crandall and Peter Stahl of Binghamton University for parboiling a dead shrew, and then swallowing the shrew without chewing, and then carefully examining everything excreted during subsequent days—all so they could see which bones would dissolve inside the human digestive system, and which bones would not.
Biology/Astronomy: Marie Dacke, Emily Baird, Marcus Byrne, Clarke Scholtz, and Eric Warrant, from institutions in Sweden and South Africa, for discovering that when dung beetles get lost, they can navigate their way home by looking at the Milky Way.
Chemistry: Japanese researchers Shinsuke Imai, Nobuaki Tsuge, Muneaki Tomotake, Yoshiaki Nagatome, Toshiyuki Nagata, and Hidehiko Kumagai, for discovering that the biochemical process by which onions make people cry is even more complicated than scientists previously realized.
Medicine: Japanese researchers Masateru Uchiyama, Xiangyuan Jin, Qi Zhang, Toshihito Hirai, Atsushi Amano, Hisashi Bashuda, and Masanori Niimi, for assessing the effect of listening to opera on mice which have had heart transplant operations.
Peace: Alexander Lukashenko, president of Belarus, for making it illegal to applaud in public, and to the Belarus State Police, for arresting a one-armed man for applauding.
Probability: Bert Tolkamp, Marie Haskell, Fritha Langford, David Roberts, and Colin Morgan, for making two related discoveries: First, that the longer a cow has been lying down, the more likely that cow will soon stand up; and second, that once a cow stands up, you cannot easily predict how soon that cow will lie down again.
Physics: Alberto Minetti, Yuri Ivanenko, Germana Cappellini, Nadia Dominici, and Francesco Lacquaniti, from Italy and Spain, for discovering that some people would be physically capable of running across the surface of a pond—if those people and that pond were on the moon.
Psychology: Researchers based in Grenoble, Columbus, and Paris, Laurent Bègue, Brad Bushman, Oulmann Zerhouni, Baptiste Subra, and Medhi Ourabah, for confirming, by experiment, that people who think they are drunk also think they are attractive.
Public Health: Mahidol University researchers Kasian Bhanganada, Tu Chayavatana, Chumporn Pongnumkul, Anunt Tonmukayakul, Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn, Krit Komaratal, and Henry Wilde, for the medical techniques described in their report "Surgical Management of an Epidemic of Penile Amputations in Siam"—techniques which they recommend, except in cases where the amputated penis had been partially eaten by a duck.
Safety Engineering: The late Gustano Pizzo, for inventing an electro-mechanical system to trap airplane hijackers—the system drops a hijacker through trap doors, seals them into a package, then drops the encapsulated hijacker through the airplane's specially-installed bomb bay doors, whence they parachute to earth, where police, having been alerted by radio, await the hijacker's arrival. (U.S. patent 3,811,643)
== 2014 ==
The ceremony took place on 18 September 2014.
Arctic on Science: University of Oslo researchers Eigil Reimers and Sindre Eftestøl, for testing how reindeer react to seeing humans who are disguised as polar bears.
Art: Marina de Tommaso, Michele Sardaro, and Paolo Livrea, of the University of Bari, for measuring the relative pain people suffer while looking at an ugly painting, rather than a pretty painting, while being shot [in the hand] by a powerful laser beam.
Biology: Vlastimil Hart, Petra Nováková, Erich Pascal Malkemper, Sabine Begall, Vladimír Hanzal, Miloš Ježek, Tomáš Kušta, Veronika Němcová, Jana Adámková, Kateřina Benediktová, Jaroslav Červený and Hynek Burda, mostly of the Czech University of Life Sciences, for carefully documenting that when dogs defecate and urinate, they prefer to align their body axis with Earth's north–south geomagnetic field lines.
Economics: ISTAT: the Italian government's National Institute of Statistics, for including revenue from illegal drug sales, prostitution, smuggling, etc., in GDP reporting, in order to meet an EU regulatory mandate.
Medicine: Ian Humphreys, Sonal Saraiya, Walter Belenky and James Dworkin, from institutions in Michigan, for treating "uncontrollable" nosebleeds, using the method of nasal-packing-with-strips-of-cured-pork.
Neuroscience: Chinese and Canadian researchers Jiangang Liu, Jun Li, Lu Feng, Ling Li, Shubham Bose, Jie Tian, and Kang Lee, for trying to understand what happens in the brains of people who see the face of Jesus in a piece of toast.
Nutrition: From the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology in Spain, Raquel Rubio, Anna Jofré, Belén Martín, Teresa Aymerich, and Margarita Garriga, for their study titled "Characterization of Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated from Infant Faeces as Potential Probiotic Starter Cultures for Fermented Sausages."
Physics: Kitasato University team Kiyoshi Mabuchi, Kensei Tanaka, Daichi Uchijima and Rina Sakai, for measuring the amount of friction between a shoe and a banana skin, and between a banana skin and the floor, when a person steps on a banana skin that's on the floor.
Psychology: Peter K. Jonason of University of Western Sydney and Amy Jones and Minna Lyons of Liverpool Hope University for amassing evidence that people who habitually stay up late are, on average, more self-admiring, more manipulative, and more psychopathic than people who habitually arise early in the morning.
Public Health: Jaroslav Flegr, Jan Havlíček and Jitka Hanušova-Lindova, and to University of Michigan and Virginia Tech researchers David Hanauer, Naren Ramakrishnan, Lisa Seyfried, for investigating whether it is mentally hazardous for a human being to own a cat.
== 2015 ==
The ceremony took place on 17 September 2015.
Biology: Bruno Grossi, Omar Larach, Mauricio Canals, Rodrigo A. Vásquez, José Iriarte-Díaz, of Chicago and Santiago, for observing that when you attach a weighted stick to the rear end of a chicken, the chicken then walks in a manner similar to that in which dinosaurs are thought to have walked.
Chemistry: Researchers from UC Irvine and Australia, Callum Ormonde and Colin Raston, and Tom Yuan, Stephan Kudlacek, Sameeran Kunche, Joshua N. Smith, William A. Brown, Kaitlin Pugliese, Tivoli Olsen, Mariam Iftikhar, Gregory Weiss, for inventing a chemical recipe to partially un-boil an egg.
Diagnostic Medicine: Diallah Karim, Anthony Harnden, Nigel D'Souza, Andrew Huang, Abdel Kader Allouni, Helen Ashdown, Richard J. Stevens, and Simon Kreckler, of the University of Oxford and Stoke Mandeville Hospital, for determining that acute appendicitis can be accurately diagnosed by the amount of pain evident when the patient is driven over speed bumps.
Economics: The Bangkok Metropolitan Police, for offering to pay police officers extra cash if they refuse to take bribes.
Literature: Dutch researchers Mark Dingemanse, Francisco Torreira, and Nick J. Enfield, for discovering that the word "huh?" (or its equivalent) seems to exist in every human language — and for not being quite sure why.
Management: Gennaro Bernile of Singapore Management University, Vineet Bhagwat of the University of Oregon, and P. Raghavendra Rau of the University of Cambridge, for discovering that many business leaders developed in childhood a fondness for risk-taking, when they experienced natural disasters (such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and wildfires) that — for them—had no dire personal consequences.
Mathematics: University of Vienna researchers Elisabeth Oberzaucher and Karl Grammer, for trying to use mathematical techniques to determine whether and how Moulay Ismail, the Alawi sultan of Morocco, managed, during the years from 1697 through 1727, to father 888 children.
Medicine: Awarded jointly to two groups: Hajime Kimata of Satou Hospital in Japan; and to Jaroslava Durdiaková, Peter Celec, Natália Kamodyová, Tatiana Sedláčková, Gabriela Repiská, Barbara Sviežená, and Gabriel Minárik, of Comenius University, for experiments to study the biomedical benefits or biomedical consequences of intense kissing (and other intimate, interpersonal activities).
Physics: Patricia Yang, David Hu, Jonathan Pham, and Jerome Choo, of Georgia Tech, for testing the biological principle that nearly all mammals empty their bladders in about 21 seconds (plus or minus 13 seconds).
Physiology and Entomology: Awarded jointly to two individuals: Justin Schmidt of the Southwestern Biological Institute in Tucson, for painstakingly creating the Schmidt sting pain index, which rates the relative pain people feel when stung by various insects; and to Michael L. Smith of Cornell University for carefully arranging for honey bees to sting him repeatedly on 25 different locations on his body, to learn which locations are the least painful (the skull, middle toe tip, and upper arm) and which are the most painful (the nostril, upper lip, and penis shaft).
== 2016 ==
The ceremony took place on 22 September 2016.
Reproduction: The late Ahmed Shafik of Cairo University for testing the effects of wearing polyester, cotton, or wool trousers on the sex life of rats, and for then conducting similar tests on the human male.
Economics: Massey University researcher Mark Avis and colleagues, for assessing the perceived personalities of rocks from a sales and marketing perspective.
Physics: Gabor Horvath of Eötvös University and colleagues, for discovering why white-haired horses are the most horsefly-proof horses, and for discovering why dragonflies are fatally attracted to black tombstones.
Chemistry: Volkswagen, for solving the problem of excessive automobile pollution emissions by automatically, electromechanically producing fewer emissions whenever the cars are being tested.
Medicine: Christoph Helmchen and University of Luebeck colleagues, for discovering that if you have an itch on the left side of your body, you can relieve it by looking into a mirror and scratching the right side of your body (and vice versa).
Psychology: Ghent University researcher Evelyne Debey and colleagues, for asking a thousand liars how often they lie, and for deciding whether to believe those answers.
Peace: University of Waterloo psychology researcher Gordon Pennycook and colleagues, for their scholarly study called "On the Reception and Detection of Pseudo-Profound Bullshit".
Biology: Awarded jointly to Charles Foster, for living in the wild as, at different times, a badger, an otter, a deer, a fox, and a bird; and to Thomas Thwaites, for creating prosthetic extensions of his limbs that allowed him to move in the manner of, and spend time roaming hills in the company of, goats.
Literature: Swedish writer and entomologist Fredrik Sjöberg, for his three-volume autobiographical work about the pleasures of collecting flies that are dead, and flies that are not yet dead.
Perception: Atsuki Higashiyama of Ritsumeikan University and Kohei Adachi of Osaka University for investigating whether things look different when you bend over and view them between your legs.
== 2017 ==
The ceremony took place on 14 September 2017.
Physics: Marc-Antoine Fardin of University of León for using fluid dynamics to probe the question "Can a Cat Be Both a Solid and a Liquid?"
Peace: Milo Puhan, Alex Suarez, Christian Lo Cascio, Alfred Zahn, Markus Heitz, and Otto Braendli of the University of Zurich for demonstrating that regular playing of a didgeridoo is an effective treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea and snoring.
Economics: Matthew Rockloff and Nancy Greer of Central Queensland University for their experiments to see how contact with a live crocodile affects a person's willingness to gamble.
Anatomy: British physician James Heathcote for his medical research study "Why Do Old Men Have Big Ears?"
Biology: Kazunori Yoshizawa, Rodrigo Ferreira, Yoshitaka Kamimura, and Charles Lienhard, for their discovery of a female penis, and a male vagina, in a cave insect.
Fluid Dynamics: Jiwon Han, high school student Gangwon Province, South Korea, for studying the dynamics of liquid-sloshing to learn what happens when a person walks backwards while carrying a cup of coffee.
Nutrition: Fernanda Ito, Enrico Bernard, and Rodrigo Torres, for the first scientific report of human blood in the diet of the hairy-legged vampire bat.
Medicine: University of Lyon researchers Jean-Pierre Royet, David Meunier, Nicolas Torquet, Anne-Marie Mouly and Tao Jiang, for using advanced brain-scanning technology to measure the extent to which some people are disgusted by cheese.
Cognition: Matteo Martini, Ilaria Bufalari, Maria Antonietta Stazi, and Salvatore Maria Aglioti, for demonstrating that many identical twins cannot tell each other apart visually.
Obstetrics: At Institut Marquès and the University of Barcelona, researchers Marisa López-Teijón, Álex García-Faura, Alberto Prats-Galino, and Luis Pallarés Aniorte, for showing that a developing human fetus responds more strongly to music that is played electromechanically inside the mother's vagina than to music that is played electromechanically on the mother's belly.
== 2018 ==
The ceremony took place on 13 September 2018.
Medicine: Marc Mitchell and David Wartinger, for using roller coaster rides to try to hasten the passage of kidney stones.
Anthropology: Tomas Persson, Gabriela-Alina Sauciuc, and Elainie Madsen, of Lund University for collecting evidence, in a zoo, that chimpanzees imitate humans about as often, and about as well, as humans imitate chimpanzees.
Biology: Paul Becher, Sebastien Lebreton, Erika Wallin, Erik Hedenström, Felipe Borrero-Echeverry, Marie Bengtsson, Volker Jörger, and Peter Witzgall, of Sweden, Germany, and Colombia, for demonstrating that wine experts can reliably identify, by smell, the presence of a single fruit fly in a glass of wine.
Chemistry: Paula Romão, Adília Alarcão and the late César Viana, of Portugal, for measuring the degree to which human saliva is a good cleaning agent for dirty surfaces.
Medical Education: Japanese physician Akira Horiuchi for the medical report "Colonoscopy in the Sitting Position: Lessons Learned From Self-Colonoscopy."
Literature: Thea Blackler, Rafael Gomez, Vesna Popovic and M. Helen Thompson of Queensland University of Technology, for documenting that most people who use complicated products do not read the instruction manual.
Nutrition: James Cole of the University of Brighton for calculating that the caloric intake from a human-cannibalism diet is significantly lower than the caloric intake from most other traditional meat diets.
Peace: University of Valencia researchers Francisco Alonso, Cristina Esteban, Andrea Serge, Maria-Luisa Ballestar, Jaime Sanmartín, Constanza Calatayud, and Beatriz Alamar, for measuring the frequency, motivation, and effects of shouting and cursing while driving an automobile.
Reproductive Medicine: John Barry, Bruce Blank, and Michel Boileau of the University of Oregon for using postage stamps to test whether the male sexual organ is functioning properly—as described in their study "Nocturnal Penile Tumescence Monitoring With Stamps."
Economics: Lindie Hanyu Liang, Douglas Brown, Huiwen Lian, Samuel Hanig, D. Lance Ferris, and Lisa Keeping, from Waterloo, Lexington, and East Lansing, investigating whether it is effective for employees to use voodoo dolls to retaliate against abusive bosses.
== 2019 ==
The ceremony took place on 12 September 2019.
Medicine: Mario Negri Institute researcher Silvano Gallus and colleagues, for collecting evidence that pizza might protect against illness and death, if the pizza is made and eaten in Italy.
Medical Education: Karen Pryor and Theresa McKeon, of TAGteach in Norton, Massachusetts, for using a simple animal-training technique—called "clicker training"—to train surgeons to perform orthopedic surgery.
Biology: Singapore and Gdańsk researchers Ling-Jun Kong, Herbert Crepaz, Agnieszka Górecka, Aleksandra Urbanek, Rainer Dumke, and Tomasz Paterek, for discovering that dead magnetized cockroaches demagnetize slower than living magnetized cockroaches.
Anatomy: Roger Mieusset and Bourras Bengoudifa in Toulouse, France for measuring scrotal temperature asymmetry in naked and clothed postmen in France.
Chemistry: Shigeru Watanabe, Mineko Ohnishi, Kaori Imai, Eiji Kawano, and Seiji Igarashi, for estimating the total saliva volume produced per day by a typical five-year-old child.
Engineering: Iman Farahbakhsh of Azad University for inventing a diaper-changing machine for use on human infants.
Economics: Habip Gedik, Timothy A. Voss, and Andreas Voss, for testing which country's paper money is best at transmitting dangerous bacteria.
Peace: Ghada A. bin Saif, Alexandru Papoiu, Liliana Banari, Francis McGlone, Shawn G. Kwatra, Yiong-Huak Chan, and Gil Yosipovitch, for trying to measure the pleasurability of scratching an itch.
Psychology: Fritz Strack, University of Würzburg psychologist, for discovering that holding a pen in one's mouth makes one smile, which makes one happier—and for then discovering that it does not.
Physics: Georgia Tech researchers Patricia Yang, Alexander Lee, Miles Chan, Alynn Martin, Ashley Edwards, Scott Carver (University of Tasmania), and David Hu, for studying how, and why, wombats make cube-shaped feces.
== 2020 ==
The ceremony took place on 17 September 2020 and was webcast.
Acoustics: University of Vienna biologist Stephan Reber, and researchers Takeshi Nishimura, Judith Janisch, Mark Robertson, and Tecumseh Fitch, for inducing a female Chinese alligator to bellow in an airtight chamber filled with helium-enriched air.
Economics: Christopher Watkins, Juan David Leongómez, Jeanne Bovet, Agnieszka Żelaźniewicz, Max Korbmacher, Marco Antônio Corrêa Varella, Ana Maria Fernandez, Danielle Wagstaff, and Samuela Bolgan, for trying to quantify the relationship between different countries' national income inequality and the average amount of mouth-to-mouth kissing.
Entomology: Richard Vetter of UC Riverside for finding evidence that many entomologists are afraid of spiders (which are not insects, which entomologists study).
Management: Xi Guang'an, Mo Tianxiang, Yang Kangsheng, Yang Guangsheng, and Ling Xiansi, five professional hitmen in Guangxi, China, who managed a contract for a hit job (a murder performed for money) in the following way: After accepting payment to perform the murder, Xi Guang'an then instead subcontracted the task to Mo Tianxiang, who then instead subcontracted the task to Yang Kangsheng, who then instead subcontracted the task to Yang Guangsheng, who then instead subcontracted the task to Ling Xiansi, with each subsequently enlisted hitman receiving a smaller percentage of the fee, and nobody actually performing a murder.
Materials Science: Kent State University researchers Metin Eren, Michelle Bebber, James Norris, Alyssa Perrone, Ashley Rutkoski, Michael Wilson, and Mary Ann Raghanti, for showing that knives manufactured from frozen human feces are not effective tools for skinning or butchery.
Medicine: University of Amsterdam researchers Nienke Vulink, Damiaan Denys, and Arnoud van Loon, for diagnosing misophonia, the distress at hearing other people make chewing sounds.
Medical Education: Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom, Narendra Modi of India, Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico, Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, Donald Trump of the United States, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey, Vladimir Putin of Russia, and Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow of Turkmenistan, for using the COVID-19 viral pandemic to teach the world that politicians can have a more immediate effect on life and death than scientists and doctors can. The announcement noted that this is the second time Lukashenko won the prize (the first time was in 2013).
Peace: The governments of India and Pakistan, for having their diplomats surreptitiously ring each other's doorbells in the middle of the night, and then run away before anyone had a chance to answer the door.
Physics: Ivan Maksymov and Andriy Pototsky, of Swinburne University of Technology, for determining, experimentally, what happens to the shape of a living earthworm when one vibrates the earthworm at high frequency.
Psychology: Miranda Giacomin and Nicholas Rule of University of Toronto, for devising a method to identify narcissists by examining their eyebrows.
== 2021 ==
The 31st First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony took place on Thursday, 9 September 2021 and was webcast.
Biology: Swedish researchers Susanne Schötz, Robert Eklund and Joost van de Weijer for analyzing variations in purring, chirping, chattering, trilling, tweedling, murmuring, meowing, moaning, squeaking, hissing, yowling, howling, growling, and other modes of cat–human communication.
Ecology: University of Valencia researchers Leila Satari, Alba Guillén, Àngela Vidal-Verdú, and Manuel Porcar, for using genetic analysis to identify the different species of bacteria that reside in wads of discarded chewing gum stuck on pavements in various countries.
Chemistry: Jörg Wicker, Nicolas Krauter, Bettina Derstroff, Christof Stönner, Efstratios Bourtsoukidis, Achim Edtbauer, Jochen Wulf, Thomas Klüpfel, Stefan Kramer, and Jonathan Williams, for chemically analyzing the air inside movie theaters, to test whether the odours produced by an audience reliably indicate the levels of violence, sex, antisocial behavior, drug use, and profanity in the movie the audience is watching.
Economics: Pavlo Blavatskyy, of Montpellier Business School, for discovering that the obesity of a country's politicians may be a good indicator of that country's corruption perception.
Medicine: Olcay Cem Bulut, Dare Oladokun, Burkard Lippert, and Ralph Hohenberger, for demonstrating that sexual orgasms can be as effective as decongestant medicines at improving nasal breathing.
Peace: Ethan Beseris, Steven Naleway, and David Carrier, of the University of Utah, for testing the hypothesis that humans evolved beards to protect themselves from punches to the face.
Physics: Alessandro Corbetta, Jasper Meeusen, Chung-min Lee, Roberto Benzi, and Federico Toschi, for conducting experiments to learn why pedestrians do not constantly collide with other pedestrians.
Kinetics: Hisashi Murakami, Claudio Feliciani, Yuta Nishiyama, and Katsuhiro Nishinari, of the University of Tokyo and Nagaoka University, for conducting experiments to learn how mutual anticipation can contribute to self-organization in crowds.
Entomology: Naval Air Station Jacksonville researchers John Mulrennan Jr, Roger Grothaus, Charles Hammond, and Jay Lamdin, for their research study "A New Method of Cockroach Control on Submarines".
Transportation: Robin Radcliffe, Mark Jago, Peter Morkel, Estelle Morkel, Pierre du Preez, Piet Beytell, Birgit Kotting, Bakker Manuel, Jan Hendrik du Preez, Michele Miller, Julia Felippe, Stephen Parry, and Robin Gleed, for determining by experiment whether it is safer to transport an airborne rhinoceros upside-down.
== 2022 ==
The 32nd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony took place on Thursday, 15 September 2022, and was presented in a webcast format.
Applied Cardiology: Leiden University researchers Eliska Prochazkova, Elio Sjak-Shie, Friederike Behrens, Daniel Lindh (University of Birmingham), and Mariska Kret, for seeking and finding evidence that when new romantic partners meet for the first time, and feel attracted to each other, their heart rates synchronize.
Literature: Eric Martínez, Francis Mollica, and Edward Gibson, of MIT and University of Edinburgh, for analyzing what makes legal documents unnecessarily difficult to understand.
Biology: University of São Paulo researchers Solimary García-Hernández and Glauco Machado, for studying whether and how constipation affects the mating prospects of scorpions.
Medicine: Medical University of Warsaw researchers Marcin Jasiński, Martyna Maciejewska, Anna Brodziak, Michał Górka, Kamila Skwierawska, Wiesław Jędrzejczak, Agnieszka Tomaszewska, Grzegorz Basak, and Emilian Snarski, for showing that when patients undergo some forms of toxic chemotherapy, they suffer fewer harmful side effects when ice cream replaces one traditional component of the procedure.
Engineering: Japanese researchers Gen Matsuzaki, Kazuo Ohuchi, Masaru Uehara, Yoshiyuki Ueno, and Goro Imura, for trying to discover the most efficient way for people to use their fingers when turning a knob.
Art History: Peter de Smet of The Hague and Nicholas Hellmuth of Culver City, California, for their study "A Multidisciplinary Approach to Ritual Enema Scenes on Ancient Maya Pottery."
Physics: Frank Fish, Zhi-Ming Yuan, Minglu Chen, Laibing Jia, Chunyan Ji, and Atilla Incecik, of Zhenjiang and Glasgow, for trying to understand how ducklings manage to swim in formation.
Peace: Junhui Wu, Szabolcs Számadó, Pat Barclay, Bianca Beersma, Terence Dores Cruz, Sergio Lo Iacono, Annika Nieper, Kim Peters, Wojtek Przepiorka, Leo Tiokhin and Paul Van Lange, for developing an algorithm to help gossipers decide when to tell the truth and when to lie.
Economics: University of Catania researchers Alessandro Pluchino, Alessio Emanuele Biondo, and Andrea Rapisarda, for explaining, mathematically, why success most often goes not to the most talented people, but instead to the luckiest.
Safety Engineering: Magnus Gens of KTH Royal Institute of Technology for developing a moose crash test dummy.
== 2023 ==
The 33rd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony took place on Thursday, 14 September 2023, and was presented in webcast.
Chemistry and Geology: Jan Zalasiewicz of the University of Leicester for explaining why many scientists like to lick rocks.
Literature: Chris Moulin, Nicole Bell, Merita Turunen, Arina Baharin, and Akira O'Connor, for studying the sensations people feel "when they repeat a single word many, many, many, many, many, many, many times".
Nutrition: Homei Miyashita of Meiji University and Hiromi Nakamura of the University of Tokyo, for experiments to determine how electrified chopsticks and drinking straws can change the taste of food.
Medicine: UC Irvine researchers Christine Pham, Bobak Hedayati, Kiana Hashemi, Ella Csuka, Tiana Mamaghani, Margit Juhasz, Jamie Wikenheiser, and Natasha Mesinkovska, for using cadavers to explore whether there is an equal number of hairs in each of a person's two nostrils.
Mechanical Engineering: Te Faye Yap, Zhen Liu, Anoop Rajappan, Trevor Shimokusu, and Daniel Preston, of Rice University, for re-animating dead spiders to use as mechanical gripping tools.
Public Health: Stanford University's Seung-min Park, for inventing the Stanford Toilet, a device that uses a variety of technologies such as dipstick test strip for urine, a computer vision system for defecation analysis, an anal-print sensor paired with an identification camera, and a telecommunications link that can analyze the substances that humans excrete.
Physics: Bieito Fernández Castro, Marian Peña, Enrique Nogueira, Miguel Gilcoto, Esperanza Broullón, Antonio Comesaña, Damien Bouffard, Alberto C. Naveira Garabato, and Beatriz Mouriño-Carballido, for measuring the extent to which ocean-water mixing is affected by the sexual activity of anchovy fishes.
Education: Katy Tam, Cyanea Poon, Victoria Hui, Wijnand van Tilburg, Christy Wong, Vivian Kwong, Gigi Yuen, and Christian Chan, for carefully studying the boredom of teachers and students.
Communication: María José Torres-Prioris, Diana López-Barroso, Estela Càmara, Sol Fittipaldi, Lucas Sedeño, Agustín Ibáñez, Marcelo Berthier, and Adolfo García, of Spain and Argentina, for studying the mental activities of people who are experts at speaking backward.
Psychology: Stanley Milgram of Yale, Lawrence Bickman, and Leonard Berkowitz of University of Wisconsin for experiments on a city street to see how many passersby stop to look upward when they see strangers looking upward.
== 2024 ==
The 34th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony took place on Thursday, 12 September 2024, and was held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Anatomy: Marjolaine Willems, Quentin Hennocq, Sara Tunon de Lara, Nicolas Kogane, Vincent Fleury, Romy Rayssiguier, Juan José Cortés Santander, Roberto Requena, Julien Stirnemann, and Roman Hossein Khonsari, for finding that scalp hair whorls are more likely to spiral in a counter-clockwise direction in the Southern Hemisphere compared to the Northern Hemisphere.
Biology: Fordyce Ely and William Petersen, both posthumously awarded for repeatedly exploding paper bags next to a cat that was standing on the back of a cow and finding that it caused the cow to produce less milk.
Botany: Independent Magna, Utah-based researcher Jacob White and Felipe Yamashita, of the University of Bonn, for finding that certain plants imitate the leaf shape of nearby plastic plants and concluding that "plant vision" is plausible.
Chemistry: Amsterdam team of Tess Heeremans, Antoine Deblais, Daniel Bonn and Sander Woutersen, for their use of chromatography to separate drunk worms from sober worms.
Demography: Saul Justin Newman, of the University of Oxford, for finding that supercentenarians and extreme age records tend to come from areas with no birth certificates, rampant clerical errors, pension fraud, and short life spans.
Medicine: Lieven Schenk, Tahmine Fadai and Christian Büchel, for finding that fake medicine that induces painful side-effects can be more effective than fake medicine that does not cause painful side-effects.
Peace: B. F. Skinner, posthumously awarded for his study on housing live pigeons inside missiles to guide them to their targets.
Physics: James Liao of the University of Florida for his long-running study on how dead trout can swim.
Physiology: Takanori Takebe, for finding that several mammals can breathe through their anus.
Probability: A team of 50 researchers, mostly Dutch, for performing 350,757 experiments to show that when a coin is flipped, it is slightly more likely to land on the same side as it started.
== 2025 ==
The 35th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony took place on Thursday, 18 September 2025, and was held at Boston University.
Aviation: Francisco Sánchez, Mariana Melcón, Carmi Korine, and Berry Pinshow, for "studying whether ingesting alcohol can impair bats' ability to fly and also their ability to echolocate".
Biology: Tomoki Kojima, Kazato Oishi, Yasushi Matsubara, Yuki Uchiyama, Yoshihiko Fukushima, Naoto Aoki, Say Sato, Tatsuaki Masuda, Junichi Ueda, Hiroyuki Hirooka, and Katsutoshi Kino, for "their experiments to learn whether cows painted with zebra-like striping can avoid being bitten by flies".
Chemistry: Rotem Naftalovich, Daniel Naftalovich, and Frank Greenway, for "experiments to test whether eating Teflon [a form of plastic more formally called "polytetrafluoroethylene"] is a good way to increase food volume and hence satiety without increasing calorie content".
Engineering design: Vikash Kumar and Sarthak Mittal, for "analyzing, from an engineering design perspective, how foul-smelling shoes affect the good experience of using a shoe-rack".
Literature: William B. Bean, for "persistently recording and analyzing the rate of growth of one of his fingernails over a period of 35 years".
Nutrition: Daniele Dendi, Gabriel H. Segniagbeto, Roger Meek, and Luca Luiselli, for "studying the extent to which a certain kind of lizard chooses to eat certain kinds of pizza".
Peace: Fritz Renner, Inge Kersbergen, Matt Field, and Jessica Werthmann, for "showing that drinking alcohol sometimes improves a person's ability to speak in a foreign language".
Pediatrics: Julie Mennella and Gary Beauchamp, for "studying what a nursing baby experiences when the baby's mother eats garlic".
Physics: Giacomo Bartolucci, Daniel Maria Busiello, Matteo Ciarchi, Alberto Corticelli, Ivan Di Terlizzi, Fabrizio Olmeda, Davide Revignas, and Vincenzo Maria Schimmenti, for "discoveries about the physics of pasta sauce, especially the phase transition that can lead to clumping, which can be a cause of unpleasantness".
Psychology: Marcin Zajenkowski and Gilles Gignac, for "investigating what happens when you tell narcissists — or anyone else — that they are intelligent".
== People who received multiple Ig Nobel Prizes ==
Jacques Benveniste, 1991 and 1998 Chemistry
Joseph Keller, 1999 and 2012 Physics
Toshiyuki Nakagaki and Atsushi Tero, 2008 Cognitive Science and 2010 Transportation Planning
Alessandro Pluchino and Andrea Rapisarda, 2010 Management and 2022 Economics
Alexander Lukashenko, 2013 Peace and 2020 Medical Education
David Hu and Patricia Yang, 2015 and 2019 Physics
== Ig Nobel Prize winners who also received the Nobel Prize ==
Andre Geim, 2000 Ig Nobel Prize in Physics and 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics.
== References ==
== External links ==
Ig Nobel Prize Winner List (public domain)
Gold, Jon (13 September 2013). "2013 Ig Nobel Prize winners: from opera-loving mice to stargazing dung beetles". Network World. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Togo#:~:text=Various%20people%20groups%20settled%20the,name%20%22The%20Slave%20Coast%22. | Togo | Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It is one of the least developed countries and extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its capital, Lomé, is located. It is a small, tropical country, spanning 57,000 square kilometres (22,000 square miles) with a population of approximately 8 million, and it has a width of less than 115 km (71 mi) between Ghana and its eastern neighbor Benin.
Various peoples settled the boundaries of present-day Togo between the 11th and 16th centuries. Between the 16th and 18th centuries, the coastal region served primarily as a European slave trading outpost, earning Togo and the surrounding region the name "The Slave Coast". In 1884, during the scramble for Africa, Germany established a protectorate in the region called Togoland. After World War I, Togo was transferred to France with its contemporary borders. Togo gained independence from France in 1960. In 1967, Gnassingbé Eyadéma led a successful military coup d'état and became president of an anti-communist, single-party state. In 1993, Eyadéma faced multiparty elections marred by irregularities, and won the presidency three times. At the time of his death, Eyadéma was the "longest-serving leader in modern African history", having been president for 38 years. In 2005, his son Faure Gnassingbé was elected president.
Togo is a tropical, sub-Saharan nation whose economy depends mostly on agriculture. The official language is French, but other languages are spoken, particularly those of the Gbe family. 47.8% of the population adhere to Christianity, making it the largest religion in the country. Togo is a member of the United Nations, African Union, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone, Francophonie, Commonwealth of Nations, and Economic Community of West African States.
== History ==
Archaeological finds indicate that societies were able to produce pottery and process iron. The name Togo is translated from the Ewe language as "behind the river". During the period from the 11th century to the 16th century, the Ewé entered the area from the west, and the Mina and Gun from the east. Most of them settled on the coast. The Atlantic slave trade began in the 16th century, and for the next two hundred years the coastal region was a trading centre for Europeans in search of slaves, earning Togo and the surrounding region the name "The Slave Coast".
In 1884, a paper was forcibly signed at Togoville with King Mlapa III, whereby Germany claimed a protectorate over a stretch of territory along the coast and gradually extended its control inland. Its borders were defined after the capture of the hinterland by German forces and signing agreements with France and Britain. In 1905, this became the German colony of Togoland. The local population was forced to work, cultivate cotton, coffee, and cocoa and pay taxes. A railway and the port of Lomé were built for export of agricultural products. The Germans introduced techniques of cultivation of cocoa, coffee and cotton and developed the infrastructure.
During World War I, Togoland was invaded by Britain and France, proclaiming the Anglo-French condominium, during the West African Campaign. Following the Allied invasion of the colony in August 1914, German forces were defeated, forcing the colony's surrender on 26 August 1914. On 7 December 1916, the condominium collapsed and Togoland was subsequently partitioned into British and French zones, creating the colonies of British Togoland and French Togoland. On 20 July 1922, Great Britain received the League of Nations mandate to govern the western part of Togo and France to govern the eastern part. In 1945, the country received the right to send three representatives to the French parliament.
After World War II, these mandates became UN Trust Territories. The residents of British Togoland voted to join the Gold Coast as part of the independent nation of Ghana in 1957. French Togoland became an autonomous republic within the French Union in 1959, while France retained the right to control defence, foreign relations, and finances.
=== Independence ===
The Togolese Republic was proclaimed on 27 April 1960. In the Togolese general election, 1961, Sylvanus Olympio became the first president, gaining 100 per cent of the vote in elections boycotted by the opposition. On 9 April 1961, the Constitution of the Togolese Republic was adopted, according to which the supreme legislative body was the National Assembly of Togo. In December 1961, leaders of opposition parties were arrested because they were accused of the preparation of an anti-government conspiracy. A decree was issued on the dissolution of the opposition parties. Olympio tried to reduce dependence on France by establishing cooperation with the United States, United Kingdom, and West Germany. He rejected the efforts of French soldiers who were demobilized after the Algerian War and tried to get a position in the Togolese army. These factors eventually led to a military coup on 13 January 1963 during which he was assassinated by a group of soldiers under the direction of Sergeant Gnassingbé Eyadéma. A state of emergency was declared in Togo. The military handed over power to an interim government led by Nicolas Grunitzky. In May 1963, Grunitzky was elected President of the Republic. The new leadership pursued a policy of developing relations with France. His main aim was to dampen the divisions between north and south, promulgate a new constitution, and introduce a multiparty system.
On 13 January 1967, Eyadéma overthrew Grunitzky in a bloodless coup and assumed the presidency. He created the Rally of the Togolese People Party, banned activities of other political parties and introduced a one-party system in November 1969. He was reelected in 1979 and 1986. In 1983, the privatization program launched and in 1991 other political parties were allowed. In 1993, the European Union froze the partnership, describing Eyadéma's re-election in 1993, 1998 and 2003, as a seizure of power. In April 2004, in Brussels, talks were held between the EU and Togo on the resumption of cooperation.
Eyadéma Gnassingbé died on Saturday, 5 February 2005. The military's installation of his son, Faure Gnassingbé, as president provoked international condemnation, except from France. Some "democratically elected" African leaders such as Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria supported the move, creating a rift within the African Union. Gnassingbé left power and held elections, which he won two months later. The opposition declared that the election results were fraudulent. The events of 2005 led to questions regarding the government's commitment to democracy that had been made in an attempt to normalize relations with the EU which cut off aid in 1993 due to questions about Togo's human rights situation. Up to 400 people were killed in the violence surrounding the presidential elections, according to the UN. Around 40,000 Togolese fled to neighbouring countries. Gnassingbé was reelected in 2010 and 2015.
Togo became the first African nation to win an Olympic medal in canoeing at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing when Benjamin Boukpeti won bronze in the K-1 slalom.
In 2017, anti-government protests erupted. UN condemned the resulting crackdown by security forces, and The Gambia's foreign minister, Ousainou Darboe, had to issue a correction after saying that Gnassingbé should resign.
In the February 2020 presidential elections, Gnassingbé won his fourth presidential term in office as the president of Togo. According to the official result, he won with a margin of around 72% of the vote share. This enabled him to defeat his closest challenger, former prime minister Agbeyome Kodjo, who had 18%. On 4 May 2020, Bitala Madjoulba, the commander of a Togolese military battalion, was found dead in his office one day after Gnassingbé was sworn in for his fourth term. An investigation was opened for this case, resulting in Major General Kadangha Abalo Felix being prosecuted and tried for involvement in Madjoulba's assassination and 'conspiracy against the internal security of the state'.
=== Joining the Commonwealth ===
Togo joined the Commonwealth in June 2022. Prior to its admission at the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Foreign Minister Robert Dussey said that he expected Commonwealth membership to provide new export markets, funding for development projects and opportunities for Togolese citizens to learn English and access new educational and cultural resources.
== Government ==
The president is indirectly elected for a double term of four years, and is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and has the right to initiate legislation and dissolve parliament. Executive power is exercised by the council of ministers and its president which is the head of government and is also a position that was formerly known as the prime minister. The president appoints the president of the Council of Ministers.
President Gnassingbé Eyadéma, who until 1993, ruled Togo under a one-party system, died of a heart attack on 5 February 2005. Under the Togolese Constitution, the President of the Parliament, Fambaré Ouattara Natchaba, should have become president of the country, pending a presidential election to be called within 60 days. Natchaba was out of the country, returning on an Air France plane from Paris. The Togolese army, known as Forces Armées Togolaises (FAT), or Togolese Armed Forces, closed the nation's borders, forcing the plane to land in Benin. With an engineered power vacuum, the Parliament voted to remove the constitutional clause that would have required an election within 60 days and declared that Eyadema's son, Faure Gnassingbé, would inherit the presidency and hold office for the rest of his father's term. Faure was sworn in on 7 February 2005, with international criticism of the succession. The African Union described the takeover as a military coup d'état. International pressure also came from the United Nations. Within Togo, opposition to the takeover culminated in riots in which between 400 and 500 people died. There were uprisings in cities and towns mainly in the southern part of the country. In the town of Aného reports of a general civilian uprising followed by a massacre by government troops. In response, Gnassingbé agreed to hold elections and on 25 February, Gnassingbé resigned as president, and afterward accepted the nomination to run for the office in April.
On 24 April 2005, Gnassingbé was elected president of Togo, receiving over 60% of the vote according to official results. His main rival in the race had been Emmanuel Bob-Akitani from the Union des Forces du Changement (UFC). Electoral fraud was suspected due to a lack of independent domestic or foreign oversight. Parliament designated Deputy President Bonfoh Abbass as interim president until the inauguration. On 3 May 2005, Gnassingbé was sworn in as the new president and the European Union suspended aid to Togo in support of the opposition claims, unlike the African Union and the United States which declared the vote "reasonably fair". The Nigerian president and Chair of AU, Olusẹgun Ọbasanjọ, sought to negotiate between the incumbent government and the opposition to establish a coalition government, and rejected an AU Commission appointment of former Zambian president, Kenneth Kaunda, as special AU envoy to Togo. In June, Gnassingbé named opposition leader Edem Kodjo as the prime minister.
In October 2007, after postponements, elections were held under proportional representation. This allowed the less populated north to seat as many MPs as the more populated south. The president-backed party Rally of the Togolese People (RPT) won a majority with UFC coming second and the other parties claiming inconsequential representation. Vote rigging accusations were levelled at RPT supported by the civil and military security apparatus. With the presence of an EU observer mission, cancelled ballots and illegal voting took place, the majority of which in RPT strongholds. On 3 December 2007 Komlan Mally of RPT was appointed to prime minister succeeding Agboyibor. On 5 September 2008, Mally resigned as prime minister of Togo.
Gnassingbé won re-election in the March 2010 presidential election, taking 61% of the vote against Jean-Pierre Fabre from UFC, who had been backed by an opposition coalition called FRAC (Republican Front for Change). Electoral observers noted "procedural errors" and technical problems, and the opposition did not recognize the results, claiming irregularities had affected the outcome. Periodic protests against Faure Gnassingbé followed the election. In May 2010, opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio announced that he would enter into a power-sharing deal with the government, a coalition arrangement which provides UFC with eight ministerial posts. In June 2012, electoral reforms prompted protesters to take to the street in Lomé for days; protesters sought a return to the 1992 constitution that would re-establish presidential term limits. July 2012 saw the resignation of the prime minister, Gilbert Houngbo. Days later, the commerce minister, Kwesi Ahoomey-Zunu, was named to lead the new government. In the same month, the home of opposition leader Jean-Pierre Fabre was raided by security forces, and thousands of protesters again rallied publicly against the government crackdown.
In April 2015, Gnassingbé was re-elected for a third term. In February 2020, Gnassingbé was again re-elected for his fourth presidential term. The opposition had accusations of fraud and irregularities. The Gnassingbé family has ruled Togo since 1967, making it Africa's longest lasting dynasty.
=== 2024 constitutional reform ===
In March 2024, Gnassingbé presented a new constitution. One of the constitutional changes in the new constitution has Togo go from being under a presidential system to being under a parliamentary system, as well as weakening the power of the president, it becoming a mostly ceremonial role; strengthening the power of parliament; and strengthening the power of the prime minister and renaming the office "President of the Council of Ministers" (French: Président du Conseil des Ministres). The term of the new office will be six years, renewable indefinitely, whereas the term of the president is lowered to four from the previous five, renewable once. In April 2024, the Togolese parliament voted in favour of the new constitution and the new constitution was officially adopted on 6 May 2024.
The reform officially came into effect on 3 May 2025, where the first indirect election of the country was held. Jean-Lucien Savi de Tové was uninamously elected as the new president, while Gnassingbé became the president of the Council of Ministers. Aged nearly 86, Savi de Tové is the oldest ever president in history.
=== Administrative divisions ===
Togo is divided into 5 regions which are subdivided in turn into 39 prefectures. From north to south the regions are Savanes, Kara, Centrale, Plateaux and Maritime.
=== Foreign relations ===
While Togo's foreign policy is nonaligned, it has historical and cultural ties with western Europe, especially France and Germany. Togo recognizes the People's Republic of China, North Korea, and Cuba. It re-established relations with Israel in 1987. Togo pursues an active foreign policy and participates in international organizations. It is particularly active in West African regional affairs and in the African Union.
In 2017, Togo signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Togo joined the Commonwealth of Nations, along with Gabon, at the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda. In joining the Commonwealth, Foreign Minister Robert Dussey told Reuters, the country sought to expand its "diplomatic, political and economic network" and to "forge closer ties with the anglophone world."
=== Military ===
FAT (Forces armées togolaises, "Togolese armed forces"), consists of the army, navy, air force, and gendarmerie. Total military expenditures during the fiscal year of 2005 totalled 1.6% of the country's GDP. Military bases exist in Lomé, Temedja, Kara, Niamtougou, and Dapaong. The current Chief of the General Staff is Brigadier General Titikpina Atcha Mohamed, who took office on 19 May 2009. The air force is equipped with Alpha jets.
=== Human rights ===
Togo was labelled "Not Free" by Freedom House from 1972 to 1998 and from 2002 to 2006, and has been categorized as "Partly Free" from 1999 to 2001 and from 2007. According to a U.S. State Department report based on conditions in 2010, human rights problems include "security force use of excessive force, including torture, which resulted in deaths and injuries; official impunity; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrests and detention; lengthy pretrial detention; executive influence over the judiciary; infringement of citizens' privacy rights; restrictions on freedoms of press, assembly, and movement; official corruption; discrimination and violence against women; child abuse, including female genital mutilation (FGM), and sexual exploitation of children; regional and ethnic discrimination; trafficking in persons, especially women and children; societal discrimination against persons with disabilities; official and societal discrimination against homosexual persons; societal discrimination against persons with HIV; and forced labour, including by children." Same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Togo, with a penalty of one to three years imprisonment.
== Geography ==
Togo has an area equal to 56,785 km2 (21,925 sq mi). It borders the Bight of Benin in the south; Ghana lies to the west; Benin to the east; and to the north, it is bound by Burkina Faso. North of the equator, it lies mostly between latitudes 6° and 11°N, and longitudes 0° and 2°E.
The coast of Togo in the Gulf of Guinea is 56 km (35 mi) long and consists of lagoons with sandy beaches. In the north, the land is characterized by a rolling savanna in contrast to the centre of the country, which is characterized by hills. The south of Togo is characterized by a savanna and woodland plateau which reaches a coastal plain with lagoons and marshes. The highest mountain of the country is the Mont Agou at 986 metres (3,235 ft) above sea level. The longest river is the Mono River with a length of 400 km (250 mi). It runs from north to south.
The climate is "generally tropical" with average temperatures ranging from 23 °C (73 °F) on the coast to about 30 °C (86 °F) in the northernmost regions, with a drier climate and characteristics of a tropical savanna.
Togo contains three terrestrial ecoregions: Eastern Guinean forests, Guinean forest-savanna mosaic, and West Sudanian savanna. The coast of Togo is characterized by marshes and mangroves. The country had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 5.88/10, ranking it 92nd globally out of 172 countries.
At least five parks and reserves have been established: Abdoulaye Faunal Reserve, Fazao Malfakassa National Park, Fosse aux Lions National Park, Koutammakou, and Kéran National Park.
=== Wildlife ===
== Economy ==
The country possesses phosphate deposits and an export sector based on agricultural products such as coffee, cocoa bean, and peanuts (groundnuts), which together generate roughly 30% of export earnings. Cotton is a cash crop. The fertile land occupies 11.3% of the country, most of which is developed. Some crops are cassava, jasmine rice, maize and millet. Some other sectors are brewery and the textile industry. Low market prices for Togo's major export commodities coupled with the volatile political situation of the 1990s and 2000s had a negative effect on the economy.
It is listed in the least developed country group. It serves as a regional commercial and trade centre. The government's decade-long efforts supported by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to carry out economic reforms, to encourage investments, and to create the balance between income and consumption has stalled. Political unrest, including private and public sector strikes throughout 1992 and 1993, jeopardized the reform program, shrank the tax base, and disrupted economic activities in the country. Togo was ranked 117th in the Global Innovation Index in 2025.
It imports machinery, equipment, petroleum products, and food. Its main import partners are France (21.1%), the Netherlands (12.1%), Côte d'Ivoire (5.9%), Germany (4.6%), Italy (4.4%), South Africa (4.3%) and China (4.1%). The main exports are cocoa, coffee, re-export of goods, phosphates and cotton. "Major export partners" are Burkina Faso (16.6%), China (15.4%), the Netherlands (13%), Benin (9.6%) and Mali (7.4%).
In terms of structural reforms, it has made progress in the liberalization of the economy, namely in the fields of trade and port activities. The privatization program of the cotton sector, telecommunications and water supply has stalled.
On 12 January 1994, the devaluation of the currency by 50% provided an impetus to renewed structural adjustment; these efforts were facilitated by the end of strife in 1994 and a return to overt political calm. Progress depends on increased openness in government financial operations (to accommodate increased social service outlays) and possible downsizing of the armed forces, on which the regime has depended to stay in place. Lack of aid and depressed cocoa prices generated a 1% fall in GDP in 1998, with growth resuming in 1999. Togo is a member of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA).
Agriculture is the "backbone" of the economy. A shortage of funds for the purchase of irrigation equipment and fertilizers has reduced agricultural output. Agriculture generated 28.2% of GDP in 2012 and employed 49% of the working population in 2010. The country is essentially self-sufficient in food production. Livestock production is dominated by cattle breeding.
Mining generated about 33.9% of GDP in 2012 and employed 12% of the population in 2010. Togo's gold production in 2015 is 16 metric tons. Togo has the fourth-largest phosphate deposits in the world. Their production is 2.1 million tons per year. There are reserves of limestone, marble and salt. Industry provides 20.4% of Togo's national income, as it consists of light industries and builders. Some reserves of limestone allow Togo to produce cement.
== Transport ==
=== Road ===
Togo's road network plays a pivotal role in the nation's transportation infrastructure, facilitating both domestic mobility and international trade. The country boasts a total road length of approximately 11,734 kilometers, equating to about 1.26 meters of road per inhabitant. Of this network, 1,794 kilometers are paved, accounting for roughly 15% of the total roadways.
The primary arterial routes include a paved highway extending northward from the capital city, Lomé, to the Burkina Faso border, and another running east–west along the coast, linking Lomé to neighboring Benin and Ghana. These corridors are integral to regional connectivity and are part of the Trans-West African Coastal Highway system, which aims to enhance trade and movement across West African nations.
==== Challenges and developments ====
Despite the extensive network, Togo's road infrastructure faces several challenges. Many roads, especially unpaved ones, are in poor condition, characterized by deep potholes and inadequate maintenance. This deterioration contributes to hazardous driving conditions, compounded by the presence of pedestrians, livestock, and a high density of motorcycles. Overland travel off the main roads often necessitates the use of four-wheel-drive vehicles due to the challenging terrain.
In response to these issues, Togo has embarked on initiatives to modernize its road transport sector. With support from the World Bank and guidance from the International Road Transport Union, the Togolese government has introduced new transport legislation aimed at formalizing and professionalizing the industry. This legal framework seeks to improve the efficiency and safety of road transport, addressing longstanding infrastructural and operational challenges.
==== Urban transportation ====
Within urban centers like Lomé, various modes of transportation are prevalent. Taxis, identifiable by their yellow license plates, offer a common means of travel. Additionally, motorcycle taxis, known as "moto-taxis," provide a popular alternative, especially for navigating congested city streets. While moto-taxis are more economical and adept at maneuvering through traffic, they may not be suitable for passengers with significant luggage.
=== Railways ===
Togo has a railway network of 568 km (353 mi) as of 2008, with no further updates in the network as of 2023. It follows a track gauge of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) (narrow gauge) Trains are operated by Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Togolais (SNCT), which was established as a result of the restructuring and renaming of Réseau des Chemins de Fer du Togo from 1997 to 1998. Between Hahotoé and the port of Kpémé, the Compagnie Togolaise des Mines du Bénin (CTMB) operated phosphate trains.
The following are the railway networks present in the country:
Lomé–Aného railway
Lomé–Blitta railway
Lomé–Kpalimé railway
Hahotoé–Kpémé railway (operated by CTMB)
=== Air ===
Togo has a total of eight airports, as of 2012, out of which two are international airports and six are domestic airports. The only major airport of the country is Lomé–Tokoin International Airport serving the capital, Lomé, and another Niamtougou International Airport in Niamtougou, serving the country's northern part.
=== Water ===
Togo, in terms of water transport, is only 50 km (31 mi) navigable, mostly seasonally on the Mono River, depending on rainfall, as of 2011. Togo has only one large container port for carrying trade operations in and out of the country, the Port of Lomé, in the capital.
== Demographics ==
The November 2010 census gave Togo a population of 6,191,155, more than double the total counted in the last census; in 2022 the Togo population was 8,680,832. That census, taken in 1981, showed the nation had a population of 2,719,567. The capital, Lomé, grew from 375,499 in 1981 to 837,437 in 2010. When the urban population of surrounding Golfe prefecture is added, the Lomé Agglomeration contained 1,477,660 residents in 2010.
Other cities in Togo according to the new census were Sokodé (95,070), Kara (94,878), Kpalimé (75,084), Atakpamé (69,261), Dapaong (58,071) and Tsévié (54,474). With an estimated population of 8,644,829 (as of 2021), Togo is the 107th largest country by population. Most of the population (65%) live in rural villages dedicated to agriculture or pastures. The population of Togo shows a stronger growth: from 1961 (the year after independence) to 2003 it quintupled.
=== Ethnic groups ===
In Togo, there are about 40 different ethnic groups, the most numerous of which are the Ewe in the south who make up 32% of the population. Along the southern coastline, they account for 21% of the population. Also found are Kotokoli or Tem and Tchamba in the centre and the Kabye people in the north (22%). The Ouatchis are 14% of the population. Sometimes the Ewes and Ouatchis are considered the same, while the French who studied both groups considered them different people.
Other ethnic groups include the Mina, Mossi, the Moba and Bassar, the Tchokossi of Mango (about 8%). Non-Africans include French people and Portuguese people.
==== The Adele people ====
The Adele, who call themselves Bédéré, speak Gédéré, a language of the Gur family. Their villages number about twenty, divided between eastern Ghana and the western edge of Togo’s Blitta prefecture.
According to their oral tradition, in the original village of Dibemkpa, the deity Ouroubwaré lowered four men and three women from the sky, who brought essential skills such as pottery, spinning, basketry, forging, and weaving. Over time, new migrations spread the community to Dikpéléou, site of the Nayo shrine, and then into multiple villages founded by different lineages.
Adélé settlements are known for their distinctive round, windowless houses with thatched roofs supported by external wooden posts. The village of Dibemkpa still holds numerous archaeological remains and is considered key for understanding the group’s historical or mythical origins.
==== The Akebou people ====
The Akebou live in one of the plateaus of the Atakora mountains in central Togo, accessible by road from Atakpamé to Badou. Early settlement in the upper Gbankparé valley developed around independent villages, each maintaining shrines dedicated to local protective deities and affirming its autochthonous roots.
Over time, several groups joined this area. The first Ewe migrants, led by a figure named Aké or Eké, arrived in the late 18th century, settling near Lonfo and spreading into villages such as Vé and Kougnohou. A second wave of Ewe migrants in the late 19th century founded Djakpodji, which gave rise to other settlements. Additional groups included the Anyanga, who settled after conflicts in the plains, and the Ntribou, who fled Ashanti raids to find refuge in Akebou lands.
To organize these diverse communities, a central chieftaincy was established at Lonfo, creating a unique political center in what had been an acephalous society. Lonfo’s dry hilltop site and stone-walled palace, unlike the forested villages around it, symbolized a place reserved for leadership rather than everyday settlement. Oral accounts recall three successive chiefs, culminating in the reign of Akountsou, whose rule ended the system amid local resistance.
Archaeological remains of Lonfo’s stone structures still stand today, and libations are made in memory of the chiefs. The plii (chief) held significant ritual authority, separate from religious sanctuaries maintained by older villages. Despite the centralized role, each group retained its distinct identity and village territory within Akébou society.
Conflicts with neighboring Ashanti and occasional disputes with Akposso communities marked parts of Akébou history. The introduction of firearms, possibly linked to coastal trade, may have reinforced the power of Lonfo’s leadership during regional conflicts.
==== The Ntrubo people ====
The Ntrubo are represented in Togo by two small villages—Diguinge and Abosomkope—located in the southern part of the Adele plateau. Most Ntrubo communities, however, live in Ghana, just west of this area.
In Togo, the Ntrubo coexist closely with the Adele, speaking both Delo, their own language, and the Adele language. Delo belongs to the Tem language group, which includes Tem (Kotokoli), Kabiye, Bago, and Lamba. This connection is linguistically puzzling because the Ntrubo are geographically isolated from other Tem speakers, suggesting that the region once formed a more continuous mountain settlement zone before later ethnic reshaping.
Local genealogies trace the Diguinge community to an ancestor named Boisa, whose descendants spread across multiple villages. Abosomkope, by contrast, traces its origins to Gounou, a neighbor of Boisa, with settlement movements linked to the early rubber trade promoted by the Germans.
Historical evidence suggests that the Ntrubo once formed part of an extensive mountain settlement area stretching from the Lamba in the north to the Adele in the south. Over time, migrations and the arrival of other groups—such as the Adele and Anyanga—have made the Ntribou a linguistic and cultural frontier at the southern edge of the Tem-speaking region.
==== The Akposso people ====
The Akposso trace their origins to two main traditions: a belief in local autochthony, especially strong in the Logbo area, and a more widespread migration narrative from Notsé, likely symbolic but possibly linked to the arrival of Ewe groups.
According to oral accounts, the ancestor Ida founded Agbogboli, a fortified hilltop site between the Logbo and Haito mountains. From there, the Akposso moved westward to Akposso-Koubi in present-day Ghana, where they reportedly resisted expansionist neighbors like the Akwamu in the 17th century. Subsequent migrations spread eastward into today’s Akposso Plateau through multiple waves and lineages.
The Akposso society consists of several major groups, including the Litime, Ouwui, Ikponou, Logbo, and Ouma, each with its own villages. Linguistically, the Akposso speak Akposso, classified by early scholars in the Avatime-Bouem group. Contacts with neighboring peoples have shaped distinct dialects: Ikposso, Logbo, and Ikpana, with additional Ewe and Ashanti influences.
Politically, traditional Akposso communities were decentralized, governed by village elders whose authority was primarily ritual. There was no overarching chiefdom until the colonial era introduced the role of awli (supreme chief). Despite this, they maintained a strong cultural cohesion through shared religious practices, notably the cult of the deity Kolissa, guardian of agricultural rites like the fonio harvest festival known today as Ovazau.
==== The Bogo (Ahlon) people ====
The Bogo (also called Ahlon) are a small group of about 6,000 people living in the valleys of Danyi, Togo, and parts of Ghana. They descend from a mix of an ancient clan, the Issassoumè, and later migrant groups possibly from Ilé-Ifè or Notsé.
Their society is structured around three main clans (Boloè, Bougli, Bonoè) plus the Issassoumè, who are recognized as the original landowners. Political power is shared: the Boloè hold the chieftaincy, the Bonoè manage regalia, and the Bougli provide warriors. The Issassoumè alone grant the sacred clay used in chief installation rituals.
Religious life centers on the Danyi River and the Odo sanctuary at Inénébia. Despite Ewe influence, the Bogo remain culturally distinct and keep their Igo language alive.
=== Religion ===
According to a 2012 US government religious freedoms report, in 2004 the University of Lomé estimated that 33% of the population were traditional animists, 28% were Roman Catholic, 20% Sunni Muslim, 9% Protestant and another 5% belonged to other Christian denominations. The remaining 5% were reported to include persons not affiliated with any religious group. The report noted that "many" Christians and Muslims continue to perform indigenous religious practices.
In 2023, The World Factbook stated that 42.3% of the population was Christian and 14% Muslim, with 36.9% being followers of indigenous beliefs, less than one percent being Hindus, Jews, and followers of other religions, and 6.2% being unaffiliated.
Christianity began to spread from the middle of the 15th century, after the arrival of Portuguese Catholic missionaries. Germans introduced Protestantism in the second half of the 19th century when a hundred missionaries of the Bremen Missionary Society were sent to the coastal areas of Togo and Ghana. Togo's Protestants were known as "Brema", a corruption of the word "Bremen". After World War I, German missionaries had to leave, which gave birth to the early autonomy of the Ewe Evangelical Church.
In 2022, Freedom House rated Togo's religious freedom as 3 out of 4, noting that religious freedom is constitutionally protected and generally respected in practice. Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism are recognised by the state; other groups must register as religious associations to receive similar benefits. The registration process has been subject to long delays with almost 900 applications pending at the beginning of 2021.
=== Languages ===
According to Ethnologue, 39 distinct languages are spoken in the country, some of them by communities that number fewer than 100,000 members. Of the 39 languages, the sole official language is French. Two spoken indigenous languages were designated politically as national languages in 1975: Ewé (Ewe: Èʋegbe; French: Evé) and Kabiyé.
Though not native to most groups, French is used in formal education, legislature, all forms of media, administration and commerce. Ewe is a language of wider communication in the south. Tem functions to a limited extent as a trade language in some northern towns. Officially, Ewe and Kabiye are "national languages", which in the Togolese context means languages that are promoted in formal education and used in the media. Others are Gen, Aja, Moba, Ntcham, and Ife. In joining the Commonwealth, the Togolese government has anticipated opportunities for Togolese citizens to learn English.
=== Health ===
The Human Rights Measurement Initiative finds that Togo is fulfilling 73.1% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to health based on its level of income. When looking at the right to health with respect to children, Togo achieves 93.8% of what is expected based on its current income. In regards to the right to health amongst the adult population, the country achieves 88.2% of what is expected based on the nation's level of income. It falls into the "very bad" category when evaluating the right to reproductive health because the nation is fulfilling 37.3% of what the nation is expected to achieve based on the resources (income) it has available.
Health expenditure in Togo was 5.2% of GDP in 2014, which ranks the country in 45th place in the world. The infant mortality rate is approximately 43.7 deaths per 1,000 children in 2016. Male life expectancy at birth was at 62.3 in 2016, whereas it was at 67.7 years for females. There were 5 physicians per 100,000 people in 2008 According to a 2013 UNICEF report, 4% of women in Togo have undergone female genital mutilation.
As of 2015, the maternal mortality rate per 100,000 births for Togo is 368, compared with 350 in 2010 and 539.7 in 1990. The under 5 mortality rate per 1,000 births is 100, and the neonatal mortality as a percentage of under 5's mortality is 32. In Togo the number of midwives per 1,000 live births is 2 and the lifetime risk of death for pregnant women is 1 in 67.
In 2016, Togo had 4100 (2400–6100) new HIV infections and 5100 (3100–7700) AIDS-related deaths. There were 100,000 (73,000-130,000) people living with HIV in 2016, among whom 51% (37-67%) were accessing antiretroviral therapy. Among pregnant women living with HIV, 86% (59% - >95%) were accessing treatment or prophylaxis to prevent transmission of HIV to their children. An estimated <1000 (<500-1400) children were newly infected with HIV due to mother-to-child transmission. Among people living with HIV, approximately 42% (30-55%) had suppressed viral loads.
AFD is working to enhance living conditions in Lomé, the coastal city with a population of 1.4 million, by modernizing solid waste management services. The project involves enhancing garbage collection through the construction of a new landfill that meets international standards.
In 2024, a Universal Health Insurance program was launched, covering 800,000 people within six months and implemented through the National Social Security Fund and the National Health Insurance Institute.
=== Education ===
Education in Togo is compulsory for six years. In 1996, the gross primary enrollment rate was 119.6%, and the net primary enrollment rate was 81.3%. In 2011, the net enrollment rate was 94%. The education system has "suffered from teacher shortages, lower educational quality in rural areas, and high repetition and dropout rates".
== Culture ==
Togo's cultural life reflects traditions of its major groups: Ewe/Mina in the south and Kabye/Tem in the north, notably the regional use of Ewe and Kabiye as widely spoken languages, Ewe-Mina religious practices centered on the creator god Mawu and associated vodun, and among the Kabye the Evala wrestling initiation rite, while the Guin community (linked historically to the Mina on the southeast coast) marks the new year with the Epé-Ekpé "taking of the stone" ceremony at Glidji.
Among Ewe communities, twin statuettes known as venavi (and hohovi among the Fon) venerate and memorialize twins; the Yoruba counterpart is the ère ìbejì (ibeji). In the Kloto/Kpalimé carving tradition, artisans are noted for "marriage chains" linking two figures with rings carved from a single block of wood.Picture
Weaving traditions are also prominent in Togo (e.g., the Bafilo weaving centre), with ceremonial garments produced by local artisans. Beyond weaving, wax-print cloth (pagne) is central to dress and social life in Togo: Togolese women traders shaped the design and circulation of these textiles, which function as valued attire for ceremonies and markers of taste and status in colonial and postcolonial contexts.
Basketball is Togo's "second most practiced sport". Togo featured a national team in beach volleyball that competed at the 2018–2020 CAVB Beach Volleyball Continental Cup in the men's section.
Mass media in Togo includes radio, television, and online and print formats. The Agence Togolaise de Presse news agency began in 1975. The Union des Journalistes Independants du Togo press association is headquartered in Lomé. Togolese Television is the state-owned service.
== See also ==
List of Togolese people
Outline of Togo
Horses in Togo
== Notes ==
== References ==
== Further reading ==
== External links ==
Official website, Republic of Togo (in French)
National Assembly of Togo official site
Togo profile from ECOWAS
Country Profile from the BBC News
Wikimedia Atlas of Togo
Geographic data related to Togo at OpenStreetMap
News headline links from Al Jazeera.
Togo, Democracy Now!
Country Profile from New Internationalist
Togo from Encyclopædia Britannica |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ramsay | William Ramsay | Sir William Ramsay (; 2 October 1852 – 23 July 1916) was a Scottish chemist who discovered the noble gases and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1904 "in recognition of his services in the discovery of the inert gaseous elements in air" along with his collaborator, John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics that same year for their discovery of argon. After the two men identified argon, Ramsay investigated other atmospheric gases. His work in isolating argon, helium, neon, krypton, and xenon led to the development of a new section of the periodic table.
== Early life ==
Ramsay was born at 2 Clifton Street in Glasgow on 2 October 1852, the son of civil engineer and surveyor, William C. Ramsay, and his wife, Catherine Robertson. The family lived at 2 Clifton Street in the city centre, a three-storey and basement Georgian townhouse. The family moved to 1 Oakvale Place in the Hillhead district in his youth. He was a nephew of the geologist Sir Andrew Ramsay.
He was educated at Glasgow Academy and then apprenticed to Robert Napier, a shipbuilder in Govan. However, he instead decided to study Chemistry at the University of Glasgow, matriculating in 1866 and graduating in 1869. He then undertook practical training with the chemist Thomas Anderson and then went to study in Germany at the University of Tübingen with Wilhelm Rudolph Fittig where his doctoral thesis was entitled Investigations in the Toluic and Nitrotoluic Acids.
Ramsay went back to Glasgow as Anderson's assistant at Anderson College. He was appointed as Professor of Chemistry at the University College of Bristol in 1879 and married Margaret Buchanan in 1881. In the same year he became the Principal of University College, Bristol, and somehow managed to combine that with active research both in organic chemistry and on gases.
== Career ==
William Ramsay formed pyridine in 1876 from acetylene and hydrogen cyanide in an iron-tube furnace in what was the first synthesis of a heteroaromatic compound. In 1887, he succeeded Alexander Williamson as the chair of Chemistry at University College London (UCL). It was here at UCL that his most celebrated discoveries were made. As early as 1885–1890, he published several notable papers on the oxides of nitrogen, developing the skills that he needed for his subsequent work. On the evening of 19 April 1894, Ramsay attended a lecture given by Lord Rayleigh. Rayleigh had noticed a discrepancy between the density of nitrogen made by chemical synthesis and nitrogen isolated from the air by removal of the other known components. After a short conversation, he and Ramsay decided to investigate this. In August Ramsay told Rayleigh he had isolated a new, heavy component of air, which did not appear to have any chemical reactivity. He named this inert gas "argon", from the Greek word meaning "lazy". In the following years, working with Morris Travers, he discovered neon, krypton, and xenon. He also isolated helium, which had only been observed in the spectrum of the sun, and had not previously been found on earth. In 1910 he isolated and characterised radon.
During 1893–1902, Ramsay collaborated with Emily Aston, a British chemist, in experiments on mineral analysis and atomic weight determination. Their work included publications on the molecular surface energies of mixtures of non-associating liquids.
Ramsay was elected an International Member of the American Philosophical Society in 1899.
He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 1902 Coronation Honours list published on 26 June 1902, and invested as such by King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace on 24 October 1902.
In 1904, Ramsay received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
That same year, he was elected an International Member of the United States National Academy of Sciences. Ramsay's standing among scientists led him to become an adviser to the Indian Institute of Science. He suggested Bangalore as the location for the institute.
Ramsay endorsed the Industrial and Engineering Trust Ltd., a company that claimed it could extract gold from seawater, in 1905. It bought property on the English coast to begin its secret process. The company never produced any gold.
Ramsay was the president of the British Association in 1911–1912.
== Personal life ==
In 1881, Ramsay was married to Margaret Johnstone Marshall (née Buchanan), daughter of George Stevenson Buchanan. They had a daughter, Catherine Elizabeth (Elska) and a son, William George, who died at 40.
Ramsay lived in Hazlemere, Buckinghamshire, until his death. He died in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, on 23 July 1916 from nasal cancer at the age of 63 and was buried in Hazlemere parish church.
== Legacy ==
A blue plaque at number 12 Arundel Gardens, Notting Hill, commemorates his life and work.
The Sir William Ramsay School in Hazlemere and Ramsay grease are named after him.
There is a memorial to him by Charles Hartwell in the north aisle of the choir at Westminster Abbey.
In 1923, University College London named its new Chemical Engineering department and seat after Ramsay, which had been funded by the Ramsay Memorial Fund. One of Ramsay's former graduates, H. E. Watson was the third Ramsay professor of chemical engineering.
On 2 October 2019, Google celebrated his 167th birthday with a Google Doodle.
== See also ==
Clan Ramsay
== References ==
Secondary sources
Morris Travers (1956). The Life of Sir William Ramsay. London: Arnold. ISBN 978-0-7131-2164-3. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
John Meurig Thomas (2004). "Argon and the Non-Inert Pair: Rayleigh and Ramsay". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 43 (47): 6418–6424. Bibcode:2004ACIE...43.6418T. doi:10.1002/anie.200461824. PMID 15578783.
Lord Rayleigh; William Ramsay (1894–1895). "Argon, a New Constituent of the Atmosphere". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. 57 (1): 265–287. doi:10.1098/rspl.1894.0149. JSTOR 115394.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Theodore W. Richards (1917). "Sir William Ramsay, K. C. B.". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 56 (1): iii–viii3. JSTOR 983962.
== External links ==
William Ramsay on Nobelprize.org including the Nobel Lecture 12 December 1904 The Rare Gases of the Atmosphere from Nobelprize.org website
The Gases of the Atmosphere at Project Gutenberg
The Gases of the Atmosphere at the Internet Archive
Sir William Ramsay School Archived 4 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine
Ramsay biography at the Wayback Machine (archived 11 January 2006)
Eponymous school Archived 4 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine
Web genealogy article on Ramsay
Chemical genealogy
victorianweb biography
chemeducator biography
7/23/1904;This Photograph of Sir William Ramsay Was Taken in His Laboratory Specially for the Scientific American
Works by or about William Ramsay at the Internet Archive
Works by William Ramsay at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks) |
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