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Pi
The number () is a mathematical constant. It is defined as the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, and it also has various equivalent definitions. It appears in many formulas in all areas of mathematics and physics. It is approximately equal to 3.14159. It has been represented by the Greek letter "" since the mid-18th century, and is spelled out as "pi". It is also referred to as Archimedes' constant.
Being an irrational number, cannot be expressed as a common fraction, although fractions such as 22/7 are commonly used to approximate it. Equivalently its decimal representation never ends and never settles into a permanently repeating pattern. Its decimal (or other base) digits appear to be randomly distributed, and are conjectured to satisfy a specific kind of statistical randomness. It is known that is a transcendental number: it is not the root of any polynomial with rational coefficients. The transcendence of implies that it is impossible to solve the ancient challenge of squaring the circle with a compass and straightedge.
Ancient civilizations, including the Egyptians and Babylonians, required fairly accurate approximations to for practical computations. Around 250 BC the Greek mathematician Archimedes created an algorithm to approximate with arbitrary accuracy. In the 5th century AD, Chinese mathematics approximated to seven digits, while Indian mathematics made a five-digit approximation, both using geometrical techniques. The first exact formula for , based on infinite series, was discovered a millennium later, when in the 14th century the Madhava–Leibniz series was discovered in Indian mathematics. The invention of calculus soon led to the calculation of hundreds digits of , enough for all practical scientific computations. Nevertheless, in the 20th and 21st centuries, mathematicians and computer scientists have pursued new approaches that, when combined with increasing computational power, extended the decimal representation of to many trillions of digits. The primary motivation for these computations is as a test case to develop efficient algorithms to calculate numeric series, as well as the quest to break records. The extensive calculations involved have also been used to test supercomputers and high-precision multiplication algorithms.
Because its most elementary definition relates to the circle, is found in many formulae in trigonometry and geometry, especially those concerning circles, ellipses, and spheres. In more modern mathematical analysis, the number is instead defined using the spectral properties of the real number system, as an eigenvalue or a period, without any reference to geometry. It appears therefore in areas of mathematics and the sciences having little to do with the geometry of circles, such as number theory and statistics, as well as in almost all areas of physics. The ubiquity of makes it one of the most widely known mathematical constants both inside and outside the scientific community. Several books devoted to have been published, and record-setting calculations of the digits of often result in news headlines. Adepts have succeeded in memorizing the value of to over 70,000 digits.
The symbol used by mathematicians to represent the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter is the lowercase Greek letter, sometimes spelled out as "pi," and derived from the first letter of the Greek word "perimetros," meaning circumference. In English, is pronounced as "pie" ( ). In mathematical use, the lowercase letter (or π in sans-serif font) is distinguished from its capitalized and enlarged counterpart , which denotes a product of a sequence, analogous to how denotes summation.
The choice of the symbol is discussed in the section "Adoption of the symbol ".
is commonly defined as the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter :
The ratio is constant, regardless of the circle's size. For example, if a circle has twice the diameter of another circle it will also have twice the circumference, preserving the ratio . This definition of implicitly makes use of flat (Euclidean) geometry; although the notion of a circle can be extended to any curved (non-Euclidean) geometry, these new circles will no longer satisfy the formula .
Here, the circumference of a circle is the arc length around the perimeter of the circle, a quantity which can be formally defined independently of geometry using limits, a concept in calculus. For example, one may directly compute the arc length of the top half of the unit circle, given in Cartesian coordinates by the equation , as the integral:
An integral such as this was adopted as the definition of by Karl Weierstrass, who defined it directly as an integral in 1841.
Definitions of such as these that rely on a notion of circumference, and hence implicitly on concepts of the integral calculus, are no longer common in the literature. explains that this is because in many modern treatments of calculus, differential calculus typically precedes integral calculus in the university curriculum, so it is desirable to have a definition of that does not rely on the latter. One such definition, due to Richard Baltzer, and popularized by Edmund Landau, is the following: is twice the smallest positive number at which the cosine function equals 0. The cosine can be defined independently of geometry as a power series, or as the solution of a differential equation.
In a similar spirit, can be defined instead using properties of the complex exponential, , of a complex variable . Like the cosine, the complex exponential can be defined in one of several ways. The set of complex numbers at which is equal to one is then an (imaginary) arithmetic progression of the form:
and there is a unique positive real number with this property.
A more abstract variation on the same idea, making use of sophisticated mathematical concepts of topology and algebra, is the following theorem: there is a unique (up to automorphism) continuous isomorphism from the group R/Z of real numbers under addition modulo integers (the circle group) onto the multiplicative group of complex numbers of absolute value one. The number is then defined as half the magnitude of the derivative of this homomorphism.
A circle encloses the largest area that can be attained within a given perimeter. Thus the number is also characterized as the best constant in the isoperimetric inequality (times one-fourth). There are many other, closely related, ways in which appears as an eigenvalue of some geometrical or physical process; see below.
is an irrational number, meaning that it cannot be written as the ratio of two integers. Fractions such as and are commonly used to approximate , but no common fraction (ratio of whole numbers) can be its exact value. Because is irrational, it has an infinite number of digits in its decimal representation, and it does not settle into an infinitely repeating pattern of digits. There are several proofs that is irrational; they generally require calculus and rely on the "reductio ad absurdum" technique. The degree to which can be approximated by rational numbers (called the irrationality measure) is not precisely known; estimates have established that the irrationality measure is larger than the measure of or but smaller than the measure of Liouville numbers.
The digits of have no apparent pattern and have passed tests for statistical randomness, including tests for normality; a number of infinite length is called normal when all possible sequences of digits (of any given length) appear equally often. The conjecture that is normal has not been proven or disproven.
Since the advent of computers, a large number of digits of have been available on which to perform statistical analysis. Yasumasa Kanada has performed detailed statistical analyses on the decimal digits of and found them consistent with normality; for example, the frequencies of the ten digits 0 to 9 were subjected to statistical significance tests, and no evidence of a pattern was found. Any random sequence of digits contains arbitrarily long subsequences that appear non-random, by the infinite monkey theorem. Thus, because the sequence of 's digits passes statistical tests for randomness, it contains some sequences of digits that may appear non-random, such as a sequence of six consecutive 9s that begins at the 762nd decimal place of the decimal representation of . This is also called the "Feynman point" in mathematical folklore, after Richard Feynman, although no connection to Feynman is known.
In addition to being irrational, more strongly is a transcendental number, which means that it is not the solution of any non-constant polynomial equation with rational coefficients, such as .
The transcendence of has two important consequences: First, cannot be expressed using any finite combination of rational numbers and square roots or "n"-th roots such as or . Second, since no transcendental number can be constructed with compass and straightedge, it is not possible to "square the circle". In other words, it is impossible to construct, using compass and straightedge alone, a square whose area is exactly equal to the area of a given circle. Squaring a circle was one of the important geometry problems of the classical antiquity. Amateur mathematicians in modern times have sometimes attempted to square the circle and sometimes claim success despite the fact that it is mathematically impossible.
Like all irrational numbers, cannot be represented as a common fraction (also known as a simple or vulgar fraction), by the very definition of "irrational number" (that is, "not a rational number"). But every irrational number, including , can be represented by an infinite series of nested fractions, called a continued fraction:
Truncating the continued fraction at any point yields a rational approximation for ; the first four of these are 3, 22/7, 333/106, and 355/113. These numbers are among the most well-known and widely used historical approximations of the constant. Each approximation generated in this way is a best rational approximation; that is, each is closer to than any other fraction with the same or a smaller denominator. Because is known to be transcendental, it is by definition not algebraic and so cannot be a quadratic irrational. Therefore, cannot have a periodic continued fraction. Although the simple continued fraction for (shown above) also does not exhibit any other obvious pattern, mathematicians have discovered several generalized continued fractions that do, such as:
Some approximations of "pi" include:
Digits in other number systems
Any complex number, say , can be expressed using a pair of real numbers. In the polar coordinate system, one number (radius or "r") is used to represent 's distance from the origin of the complex plane and the other (angle or ) to represent a counter-clockwise rotation from the positive real line as follows:
where is the imaginary unit satisfying = −1. The frequent appearance of in complex analysis can be related to the behaviour of the exponential function of a complex variable, described by Euler's formula:
where the constant is the base of the natural logarithm. This formula establishes a correspondence between imaginary powers of and points on the unit circle centered at the origin of the complex plane. Setting = in Euler's formula results in Euler's identity, celebrated by mathematicians because it contains the five most important mathematical constants:
There are different complex numbers satisfying , and these are called the "-th roots of unity". They are given by this formula:
The best-known approximations to dating before the Common Era were accurate to two decimal places; this was improved upon in Chinese mathematics in particular by the mid-first millennium, to an accuracy of seven decimal places.
After this, no further progress was made until the late medieval period.
Based on the measurements of the Great Pyramid of Giza , some Egyptologists have claimed that the ancient Egyptians used an approximation of as from as early as the Old Kingdom. This claim has met with scepticism.
The earliest written approximations of are found in Babylon and Egypt, both within one percent of the true value. In Babylon, a clay tablet dated 1900–1600 BC has a geometrical statement that, by implication, treats as = 3.125. In Egypt, the Rhind Papyrus, dated around 1650 BC but copied from a document dated to 1850 BC, has a formula for the area of a circle that treats as 3.16.
Astronomical calculations in the "Shatapatha Brahmana" (ca. 4th century BC) use a fractional approximation of ≈ 3.139 (an accuracy of 9×10−4). Other Indian sources by about 150 BC treat as ≈ 3.1622.
The first recorded algorithm for rigorously calculating the value of was a geometrical approach using polygons, devised around 250 BC by the Greek mathematician Archimedes. This polygonal algorithm dominated for over 1,000 years, and as a result is sometimes referred to as "Archimedes' constant". Archimedes computed upper and lower bounds of by drawing a regular hexagon inside and outside a circle, and successively doubling the number of sides until he reached a 96-sided regular polygon. By calculating the perimeters of these polygons, he proved that (that is ). Archimedes' upper bound of may have led to a widespread popular belief that is equal to . Around 150 AD, Greek-Roman scientist Ptolemy, in his "Almagest", gave a value for of 3.1416, which he may have obtained from Archimedes or from Apollonius of Perga. Mathematicians using polygonal algorithms reached 39 digits of in 1630, a record only broken in 1699 when infinite series were used to reach 71 digits.
In ancient China, values for included 3.1547 (around 1 AD), (100 AD, approximately 3.1623), and (3rd century, approximately 3.1556). Around 265 AD, the Wei Kingdom mathematician Liu Hui created a polygon-based iterative algorithm and used it with a 3,072-sided polygon to obtain a value of of 3.1416. Liu later invented a faster method of calculating and obtained a value of 3.14 with a 96-sided polygon, by taking advantage of the fact that the differences in area of successive polygons form a geometric series with a factor of 4. The Chinese mathematician Zu Chongzhi, around 480 AD, calculated that and suggested the approximations = 3.14159292035... and = 3.142857142857..., which he termed the "Milü" ("close ratio") and "Yuelü" ("approximate ratio"), respectively, using Liu Hui's algorithm applied to a 12,288-sided polygon. With a correct value for its seven first decimal digits, this value of remained the most accurate approximation of available for the next 800 years.
The Indian astronomer Aryabhata used a value of 3.1416 in his "Āryabhaṭīya" (499 AD). Fibonacci in c. 1220 computed 3.1418 using a polygonal method, independent of Archimedes. Italian author Dante apparently employed the value .
The Persian astronomer Jamshīd al-Kāshī produced 9 sexagesimal digits, roughly the equivalent of 16 decimal digits, in 1424 using a polygon with 3×228 sides, which stood as the world record for about 180 years. French mathematician François Viète in 1579 achieved 9 digits with a polygon of 3×217 sides. Flemish mathematician Adriaan van Roomen arrived at 15 decimal places in 1593. In 1596, Dutch mathematician Ludolph van Ceulen reached 20 digits, a record he later increased to 35 digits (as a result, was called the "Ludolphian number" in Germany until the early 20th century). Dutch scientist Willebrord Snellius reached 34 digits in 1621, and Austrian astronomer Christoph Grienberger arrived at 38 digits in 1630 using 1040 sides, which remains the most accurate approximation manually achieved using polygonal algorithms.
The calculation of was revolutionized by the development of infinite series techniques in the 16th and 17th centuries. An infinite series is the sum of the terms of an infinite sequence. Infinite series allowed mathematicians to compute with much greater precision than Archimedes and others who used geometrical techniques. Although infinite series were exploited for most notably by European mathematicians such as James Gregory and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the approach was first discovered in India sometime between 1400 and 1500 AD. The first written description of an infinite series that could be used to compute was laid out in Sanskrit verse by Indian astronomer Nilakantha Somayaji in his "Tantrasamgraha", around 1500 AD. The series are presented without proof, but proofs are presented in a later Indian work, "Yuktibhāṣā", from around 1530 AD. Nilakantha attributes the series to an earlier Indian mathematician, Madhava of Sangamagrama, who lived c. 1350 – c. 1425. Several infinite series are described, including series for sine, tangent, and cosine, which are now referred to as the Madhava series or Gregory–Leibniz series. Madhava used infinite series to estimate to 11 digits around 1400, but that value was improved on around 1430 by the Persian mathematician Jamshīd al-Kāshī, using a polygonal algorithm.
The first infinite sequence discovered in Europe was an infinite product (rather than an infinite sum, which are more typically used in calculations) found by French mathematician François Viète in 1593:
The second infinite sequence found in Europe, by John Wallis in 1655, was also an infinite product:
The discovery of calculus, by English scientist Isaac Newton and German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in the 1660s, led to the development of many infinite series for approximating . Newton himself used an arcsin series to compute a 15 digit approximation of in 1665 or 1666, later writing "I am ashamed to tell you to how many figures I carried these computations, having no other business at the time."
In Europe, Madhava's formula was rediscovered by Scottish mathematician James Gregory in 1671, and by Leibniz in 1674:
This formula, the Gregory–Leibniz series, equals when evaluated with = 1. In 1699, English mathematician Abraham Sharp used the Gregory–Leibniz series for formula_13 to compute to 71 digits, breaking the previous record of 39 digits, which was set with a polygonal algorithm. The Gregory–Leibniz for formula_14 series is simple, but converges very slowly (that is, approaches the answer gradually), so it is not used in modern calculations.
In 1706 John Machin used the Gregory–Leibniz series to produce an algorithm that converged much faster:
Machin reached 100 digits of with this formula. Other mathematicians created variants, now known as Machin-like formulae, that were used to set several successive records for calculating digits of . Machin-like formulae remained the best-known method for calculating well into the age of computers, and were used to set records for 250 years, culminating in a 620-digit approximation in 1946 by Daniel Ferguson – the best approximation achieved without the aid of a calculating device.
A record was set by the calculating prodigy Zacharias Dase, who in 1844 employed a Machin-like formula to calculate 200 decimals of in his head at the behest of German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss. British mathematician William Shanks famously took 15 years to calculate to 707 digits, but made a mistake in the 528th digit, rendering all subsequent digits incorrect.
Some infinite series for converge faster than others. Given the choice of two infinite series for , mathematicians will generally use the one that converges more rapidly because faster convergence reduces the amount of computation needed to calculate to any given accuracy. A simple infinite series for is the Gregory–Leibniz series:
As individual terms of this infinite series are added to the sum, the total gradually gets closer to , and – with a sufficient number of terms – can get as close to as desired. It converges quite slowly, though – after 500,000 terms, it produces only five correct decimal digits of .
An infinite series for (published by Nilakantha in the 15th century) that converges more rapidly than the Gregory–Leibniz series is:.
It produces about 14 digits of per term, and has been used for several record-setting calculations, including the first to surpass 1 billion (109) digits in 1989 by the Chudnovsky brothers, 2.7 trillion (2.7×1012) digits by Fabrice Bellard in 2009, 10 trillion (1013) digits in 2011 by Alexander Yee and Shigeru Kondo, and over 22 trillion digits in 2016 by Peter Trueb. For similar formulas, see also the Ramanujan–Sato series.
In 2006, mathematician Simon Plouffe used the PSLQ integer relation algorithm to generate several new formulas for , conforming to the following template:
where is (Gelfond's constant), is an odd number, and are certain rational numbers that Plouffe computed.
Monte Carlo methods, which evaluate the results of multiple random trials, can be used to create approximations of . Buffon's needle is one such technique: If a needle of length is dropped times on a surface on which parallel lines are drawn units apart, and if of those times it comes to rest crossing a line ( > 0), then one may approximate based on the counts:
Another Monte Carlo method for computing is to draw a circle inscribed in a square, and randomly place dots in the square. The ratio of dots inside the circle to the total number of dots will approximately equal .
Another way to calculate using probability is to start with a random walk, generated by a sequence of (fair) coin tosses: independent random variables such that with equal probabilities. The associated random walk is
so that, for each , is drawn from a shifted and scaled binomial distribution. As varies, defines a (discrete) stochastic process. Then can be calculated by
This Monte Carlo method is independent of any relation to circles, and is a consequence of the central limit theorem, discussed below.
These Monte Carlo methods for approximating are very slow compared to other methods, and do not provide any information on the exact number of digits that are obtained. Thus they are never used to approximate when speed or accuracy is desired.
Two algorithms were discovered in 1995 that opened up new avenues of research into . They are called spigot algorithms because, like water dripping from a spigot, they produce single digits of that are not reused after they are calculated. This is in contrast to infinite series or iterative algorithms, which retain and use all intermediate digits until the final result is produced.
Mathematicians Stan Wagon and Stanley Rabinowitz produced a simple spigot algorithm in 1995. Its speed is comparable to arctan algorithms, but not as fast as iterative algorithms.
Another spigot algorithm, the BBP digit extraction algorithm, was discovered in 1995 by Simon Plouffe:
This formula, unlike others before it, can produce any individual hexadecimal digit of without calculating all the preceding digits. Individual binary digits may be extracted from individual hexadecimal digits, and octal digits can be extracted from one or two hexadecimal digits. Variations of the algorithm have been discovered, but no digit extraction algorithm has yet been found that rapidly produces decimal digits. An important application of digit extraction algorithms is to validate new claims of record computations: After a new record is claimed, the decimal result is converted to hexadecimal, and then a digit extraction algorithm is used to calculate several random hexadecimal digits near the end; if they match, this provides a measure of confidence that the entire computation is correct.
Between 1998 and 2000, the distributed computing project PiHex used Bellard's formula (a modification of the BBP algorithm) to compute the quadrillionth (1015th) bit of , which turned out to be 0. In September 2010, a Yahoo! employee used the company's Hadoop application on one thousand computers over a 23-day period to compute 256 bits of at the two-quadrillionth (2×1015th) bit, which also happens to be zero.
Because is closely related to the circle, it is found in many formulae from the fields of geometry and trigonometry, particularly those concerning circles, spheres, or ellipses. Other branches of science, such as statistics, physics, Fourier analysis, and number theory, also include in some of their important formulae.
appears in formulae for areas and volumes of geometrical shapes based on circles, such as ellipses, spheres, cones, and tori. Below are some of the more common formulae that involve .
The formulae above are special cases of the volume of the "n"-dimensional ball and the surface area of its boundary, the ("n"−1)-dimensional sphere, given below.
Definite integrals that describe circumference, area, or volume of shapes generated by circles typically have values that involve . For example, an integral that specifies half the area of a circle of radius one is given by:
In that integral the function represents the top half of a circle (the square root is a consequence of the Pythagorean theorem), and the integral computes the area between that half of a circle and the axis.
The trigonometric functions rely on angles, and mathematicians generally use radians as units of measurement. plays an important role in angles measured in radians, which are defined so that a complete circle spans an angle of 2 radians. The angle measure of 180° is equal to radians, and 1° = /180 radians.
Common trigonometric functions have periods that are multiples of ; for example, sine and cosine have period 2, so for any angle and any integer ,
Many of the appearances of in the formulas of mathematics and the sciences have to do with its close relationship with geometry. However, also appears in many natural situations having apparently nothing to do with geometry.
In many applications, it plays a distinguished role as an eigenvalue. For example, an idealized vibrating string can be modelled as the graph of a function on the unit interval , with fixed ends . The modes of vibration of the string are solutions of the differential equation formula_24, or formula_25. Thus is an eigenvalue of the second derivative operator formula_26, and is constrained by Sturm–Liouville theory to take on only certain specific values. It must be positive, since the operator is negative definite, so it is convenient to write , where is called the wavenumber. Then satisfies the boundary conditions and the differential equation with .
The value is, in fact, the "least" such value of the wavenumber, and is associated with the fundamental mode of vibration of the string. One way to show this is by estimating the energy, which satisfies Wirtinger's inequality: for a function with and , both square integrable, we have:
with equality precisely when is a multiple of . Here appears as an optimal constant in Wirtinger's inequality, and it follows that it is the smallest wavenumber, using the variational characterization of the eigenvalue. As a consequence, is the smallest singular value of the derivative operator on the space of functions on vanishing at both endpoints (the Sobolev space formula_28).
The number serves appears in similar eigenvalue problems in higher-dimensional analysis. As mentioned above, it can be characterized via its role as the best constant in the isoperimetric inequality: the area enclosed by a plane Jordan curve of perimeter satisfies the inequality
and equality is clearly achieved for the circle, since in that case and .
Ultimately as a consequence of the isoperimetric inequality, appears in the optimal constant for the critical Sobolev inequality in "n" dimensions, which thus characterizes the role of in many physical phenomena as well, for example those of classical potential theory. In two dimensions, the critical Sobolev inequality is
for "f" a smooth function with compact support in , formula_31 is the gradient of "f", and formula_32 and formula_33 refer respectively to the and -norm. The Sobolev inequality is equivalent to the isoperimetric inequality (in any dimension), with the same best constants.
Wirtinger's inequality also generalizes to higher-dimensional Poincaré inequalities that provide best constants for the Dirichlet energy of an "n"-dimensional membrane. Specifically, is the greatest constant such that
for all convex subsets of of diameter 1, and square-integrable functions "u" on of mean zero. Just as Wirtinger's inequality is the variational form of the Dirichlet eigenvalue problem in one dimension, the Poincaré inequality is the variational form of the Neumann eigenvalue problem, in any dimension.
The constant also appears as a critical spectral parameter in the Fourier transform. This is the integral transform, that takes a complex-valued integrable function on the real line to the function defined as:
Although there are several different conventions for the Fourier transform and its inverse, any such convention must involve "somewhere". The above is the most canonical definition, however, giving the unique unitary operator on that is also an algebra homomorphism of to .
The Heisenberg uncertainty principle also contains the number . The uncertainty principle gives a sharp lower bound on the extent to which it is possible to localize a function both in space and in frequency: with our conventions for the Fourier transform,
The physical consequence, about the uncertainty in simultaneous position and momentum observations of a quantum mechanical system, is discussed below. The appearance of in the formulae of Fourier analysis is ultimately a consequence of the Stone–von Neumann theorem, asserting the uniqueness of the Schrödinger representation of the Heisenberg group.
The fields of probability and statistics frequently use the normal distribution as a simple model for complex phenomena; for example, scientists generally assume that the observational error in most experiments follows a normal distribution. The Gaussian function, which is the probability density function of the normal distribution with mean and standard deviation , naturally contains :
The factor of formula_38 makes the area under the graph of equal to one, as is required for a probability distribution. This follows from a change of variables in the Gaussian integral:
which says that the area under the basic bell curve in the figure is equal to the square root of .
The central limit theorem explains the central role of normal distributions, and thus of , in probability and statistics. This theorem is ultimately connected with the spectral characterization of as the eigenvalue associated with the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, and the fact that equality holds in the uncertainty principle only for the Gaussian function. Equivalently, is the unique constant making the Gaussian normal distribution equal to its own Fourier transform. Indeed, according to , the "whole business" of establishing the fundamental theorems of Fourier analysis reduces to the Gaussian integral.
Let be the set of all twice differentiable real functions formula_40 that satisfy the ordinary differential equation formula_41. Then is a two-dimensional real vector space, with two parameters corresponding to a pair of initial conditions for the differential equation. For any formula_42, let formula_43 be the evaluation functional, which associates to each formula_44 the value formula_45 of the function at the real point . Then, for each "t", the kernel of formula_46 is a one-dimensional linear subspace of . Hence formula_47 defines a function from formula_48 from the real line to the real projective line. This function is periodic, and the quantity can be characterized as the period of this map.
The constant appears in the Gauss–Bonnet formula which relates the differential geometry of surfaces to their topology. Specifically, if a compact surface has Gauss curvature "K", then
where is the Euler characteristic, which is an integer. An example is the surface area of a sphere "S" of curvature 1 (so that its radius of curvature, which coincides with its radius, is also 1.) The Euler characteristic of a sphere can be computed from its homology groups and is found to be equal to two. Thus we have
reproducing the formula for the surface area of a sphere of radius 1.
The constant appears in many other integral formulae in topology, in particular, those involving characteristic classes via the Chern–Weil homomorphism.
Vector calculus is a branch of calculus that is concerned with the properties of vector fields, and has many physical applications such as to electricity and magnetism. The Newtonian potential for a point source situated at the origin of a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system is
which represents the potential energy of a unit mass (or charge) placed a distance from the source, and is a dimensional constant. The field, denoted here by , which may be the (Newtonian) gravitational field or the (Coulomb) electric field, is the negative gradient of the potential:
Special cases include Coulomb's law and Newton's law of universal gravitation. Gauss' law states that the outward flux of the field through any smooth, simple, closed, orientable surface containing the origin is equal to :
It is standard to absorb this factor of into the constant , but this argument shows why it must appear "somewhere". Furthermore, is the surface area of the unit sphere, but we have not assumed that is the sphere. However, as a consequence of the divergence theorem, because the region away from the origin is vacuum (source-free) it is only the homology class of the surface in that matters in computing the integral, so it can be replaced by any convenient surface in the same homology class, in particular, a sphere, where spherical coordinates can be used to calculate the integral.
A consequence of the Gauss law is that the negative Laplacian of the potential is equal to times the Dirac delta function:
More general distributions of matter (or charge) are obtained from this by convolution, giving the Poisson equation
where is the distribution function.
The constant also plays an analogous role in four-dimensional potentials associated with Einstein's equations, a fundamental formula which forms the basis of the general theory of relativity and describes the fundamental interaction of gravitation as a result of spacetime being curved by matter and energy:
where is the Ricci curvature tensor, is the scalar curvature, is the metric tensor, is the cosmological constant, is Newton's gravitational constant, is the speed of light in vacuum, and is the stress–energy tensor. The left-hand side of Einstein's equation is a non-linear analogue of the Laplacian of the metric tensor, and reduces to that in the weak field limit, with the formula_56 term playing the role of a Lagrange multiplier, and the right-hand side is the analogue of the distribution function, times .
One of the key tools in complex analysis is contour integration of a function over a positively oriented (rectifiable) Jordan curve . A form of Cauchy's integral formula states that if a point is interior to , then
Although the curve is not a circle, and hence does not have any obvious connection to the constant , a standard proof of this result uses Morera's theorem, which implies that the integral is invariant under homotopy of the curve, so that it can be deformed to a circle and then integrated explicitly in polar coordinates. More generally, it is true that if a rectifiable closed curve does not contain , then the above integral is times the winding number of the curve.
The general form of Cauchy's integral formula establishes the relationship between the values of a complex analytic function on the Jordan curve and the value of at any interior point of :
provided is analytic in the region enclosed by and extends continuously to . Cauchy's integral formula is a special case of the residue theorem, that if is a meromorphic function the region enclosed by and is continuous in a neighbourhood of , then
where the sum is of the residues at the poles of .
The factorial function is the product of all of the positive integers through . The gamma function extends the concept of factorial (normally defined only for non-negative integers) to all complex numbers, except the negative real integers. When the gamma function is evaluated at half-integers, the result contains ; for example formula_60 and formula_61.
The gamma function is defined by its Weierstrass product development:
where is the Euler–Mascheroni constant. Evaluated at and squared, the equation reduces to the Wallis product formula. The gamma function is also connected to the Riemann zeta function and identities for the functional determinant, in which the constant plays an important role.
The gamma function is used to calculate the volume of the "n"-dimensional ball of radius "r" in Euclidean "n"-dimensional space, and the surface area of its boundary, the ("n"−1)-dimensional sphere:
Further, it follows from the functional equation that
The gamma function can be used to create a simple approximation to the factorial function for large : formula_66 which is known as Stirling's approximation. Equivalently,
As a geometrical application of Stirling's approximation, let denote the standard simplex in "n"-dimensional Euclidean space, and denote the simplex having all of its sides scaled up by a factor of . Then
Ehrhart's volume conjecture is that this is the (optimal) upper bound on the volume of a convex body containing only one lattice point.
The Riemann zeta function is used in many areas of mathematics. When evaluated at it can be written as
Finding a simple solution for this infinite series was a famous problem in mathematics called the Basel problem. Leonhard Euler solved it in 1735 when he showed it was equal to . Euler's result leads to the number theory result that the probability of two random numbers being relatively prime (that is, having no shared factors) is equal to . This probability is based on the observation that the probability that any number is divisible by a prime is (for example, every 7th integer is divisible by 7.) Hence the probability that two numbers are both divisible by this prime is , and the probability that at least one of them is not is . For distinct primes, these divisibility events are mutually independent; so the probability that two numbers are relatively prime is given by a product over all primes:
This probability can be used in conjunction with a random number generator to approximate using a Monte Carlo approach.
The solution to the Basel problem implies that the geometrically derived quantity is connected in a deep way to the distribution of prime numbers. This is a special case of Weil's conjecture on Tamagawa numbers, which asserts the equality of similar such infinite products of "arithmetic" quantities, localized at each prime "p", and a "geometrical" quantity: the reciprocal of the volume of a certain locally symmetric space. In the case of the Basel problem, it is the hyperbolic 3-manifold .
The zeta function also satisfies Riemann's functional equation, which involves as well as the gamma function:
Furthermore, the derivative of the zeta function satisfies
A consequence is that can be obtained from the functional determinant of the harmonic oscillator. This functional determinant can be computed via a product expansion, and is equivalent to the Wallis product formula. The calculation can be recast in quantum mechanics, specifically the variational approach to the spectrum of the hydrogen atom.
The constant also appears naturally in Fourier series of periodic functions. Periodic functions are functions on the group of fractional parts of real numbers. The Fourier decomposition shows that a complex-valued function on can be written as an infinite linear superposition of unitary characters of . That is, continuous group homomorphisms from to the circle group of unit modulus complex numbers. It is a theorem that every character of is one of the complex exponentials formula_73.
There is a unique character on , up to complex conjugation, that is a group isomorphism. Using the Haar measure on the circle group, the constant is half the magnitude of the Radon–Nikodym derivative of this character. The other characters have derivatives whose magnitudes are positive integral multiples of 2. As a result, the constant is the unique number such that the group T, equipped with its Haar measure, is Pontrjagin dual to the lattice of integral multiples of 2. This is a version of the one-dimensional Poisson summation formula.
The constant is connected in a deep way with the theory of modular forms and theta functions. For example, the Chudnovsky algorithm involves in an essential way the j-invariant of an elliptic curve.
Modular forms are holomorphic functions in the upper half plane characterized by their transformation properties under the modular group formula_74 (or its various subgroups), a lattice in the group formula_75. An example is the Jacobi theta function
which is a kind of modular form called a Jacobi form. This is sometimes written in terms of the nome formula_77.
The constant is the unique constant making the Jacobi theta function an automorphic form, which means that it transforms in a specific way. Certain identities hold for all automorphic forms. An example is
which implies that transforms as a representation under the discrete Heisenberg group. General modular forms and other theta functions also involve , once again because of the Stone–von Neumann theorem.
The Cauchy distribution
is a probability density function. The total probability is equal to one, owing to the integral:
The Shannon entropy of the Cauchy distribution is equal to , which also involves .
The Cauchy distribution plays an important role in potential theory because it is the simplest Furstenberg measure, the classical Poisson kernel associated with a Brownian motion in a half-plane. Conjugate harmonic functions and so also the Hilbert transform are associated with the asymptotics of the Poisson kernel. The Hilbert transform "H" is the integral transform given by the Cauchy principal value of the singular integral
The constant is the unique (positive) normalizing factor such that "H" defines a linear complex structure on the Hilbert space of square-integrable real-valued functions on the real line. The Hilbert transform, like the Fourier transform, can be characterized purely in terms of its transformation properties on the Hilbert space : up to a normalization factor, it is the unique bounded linear operator that commutes with positive dilations and anti-commutes with all reflections of the real line. The constant is the unique normalizing factor that makes this transformation unitary.
An occurrence of in the Mandelbrot set fractal was discovered by David Boll in 1991. He examined the behaviour of the Mandelbrot set near the "neck" at . If points with coordinates are considered, as tends to zero, the number of iterations until divergence for the point multiplied by converges to . The point at the cusp of the large "valley" on the right side of the Mandelbrot set behaves similarly: the number of iterations until divergence multiplied by the square root of tends to .
Although not a physical constant, appears routinely in equations describing fundamental principles of the universe, often because of 's relationship to the circle and to spherical coordinate systems. A simple formula from the field of classical mechanics gives the approximate period of a simple pendulum of length , swinging with a small amplitude ( is the earth's gravitational acceleration):
One of the key formulae of quantum mechanics is Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, which shows that the uncertainty in the measurement of a particle's position (Δ) and momentum (Δ) cannot both be arbitrarily small at the same time (where is Planck's constant):
The fact that is approximately equal to 3 plays a role in the relatively long lifetime of orthopositronium. The inverse lifetime to lowest order in the fine-structure constant is
where is the mass of the electron.
The field of fluid dynamics contains in Stokes' law, which approximates the frictional force exerted on small, spherical objects of radius , moving with velocity in a fluid with dynamic viscosity :
In electromagnetics, the vacuum permeability constant "μ"0 appears in Maxwell's equations, which describe the properties of electric and magnetic fields and electromagnetic radiation. Before 20 May 2019, it was defined as exactly
A relation for the speed of light in vacuum, can be derived from Maxwell's equations in the medium of classical vacuum using a relationship between "μ"0 and the electric constant (vacuum permittivity), in SI units:
Under ideal conditions (uniform gentle slope on a homogeneously erodible substrate), the sinuosity of a meandering river approaches . The sinuosity is the ratio between the actual length and the straight-line distance from source to mouth. Faster currents along the outside edges of a river's bends cause more erosion than along the inside edges, thus pushing the bends even farther out, and increasing the overall loopiness of the river. However, that loopiness eventually causes the river to double back on itself in places and "short-circuit", creating an ox-bow lake in the process. The balance between these two opposing factors leads to an average ratio of between the actual length and the direct distance between source and mouth.
Piphilology is the practice of memorizing large numbers of digits of , and world-records are kept by the "Guinness World Records". The record for memorizing digits of , certified by Guinness World Records, is 70,000 digits, recited in India by Rajveer Meena in 9 hours and 27 minutes on 21 March 2015. In 2006, Akira Haraguchi, a retired Japanese engineer, claimed to have recited 100,000 decimal places, but the claim was not verified by Guinness World Records.
One common technique is to memorize a story or poem in which the word lengths represent the digits of : The first word has three letters, the second word has one, the third has four, the fourth has one, the fifth has five, and so on. Such memorization aids are called mnemonics. An early example of a mnemonic for pi, originally devised by English scientist James Jeans, is "How I want a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics." When a poem is used, it is sometimes referred to as a "piem". Poems for memorizing have been composed in several languages in addition to English. Record-setting memorizers typically do not rely on poems, but instead use methods such as remembering number patterns and the method of loci.
A few authors have used the digits of to establish a new form of constrained writing, where the word lengths are required to represent the digits of . The "Cadaeic Cadenza" contains the first 3835 digits of in this manner, and the full-length book "Not a Wake" contains 10,000 words, each representing one digit of .
Perhaps because of the simplicity of its definition and its ubiquitous presence in formulae, has been represented in popular culture more than other mathematical constructs.
In the 2008 Open University and BBC documentary co-production, "The Story of Maths", aired in October 2008 on BBC Four, British mathematician Marcus du Sautoy shows a visualization of the – historically first exact – formula for calculating when visiting India and exploring its contributions to trigonometry.
In the Palais de la Découverte (a science museum in Paris) there is a circular room known as the "pi room". On its wall are inscribed 707 digits of . The digits are large wooden characters attached to the dome-like ceiling. The digits were based on an 1853 calculation by English mathematician William Shanks, which included an error beginning at the 528th digit. The error was detected in 1946 and corrected in 1949.
In Carl Sagan's novel "Contact" it is suggested that the creator of the universe buried a message deep within the digits of . The digits of have also been incorporated into the lyrics of the song "Pi" from the album "Aerial" by Kate Bush.
In the United States, Pi Day falls on 14 March (written 3/14 in the US style), and is popular among students. and its digital representation are often used by self-described "math geeks" for inside jokes among mathematically and technologically minded groups. Several college cheers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology include "3.14159". Pi Day in 2015 was particularly significant because the date and time 3/14/15 9:26:53 reflected many more digits of pi. In parts of the world where dates are commonly noted in day/month/year format, July 22 represents "Pi Approximation Day," as 22/7 = 3.142857.
During the 2011 auction for Nortel's portfolio of valuable technology patents, Google made a series of unusually specific bids based on mathematical and scientific constants, including .
In 1958 Albert Eagle proposed replacing by (tau), where , to simplify formulas. However, no other authors are known to use in this way. Some people use a different value, , arguing that , as the number of radians in one turn, or as the ratio of a circle's circumference to its radius rather than its diameter, is more natural than and simplifies many formulas. Celebrations of this number, because it approximately equals 6.28, by making 28 June "Tau Day" and eating "twice the pie", have been reported in the media. However, this use of has not made its way into mainstream mathematics.
In 1897, an amateur mathematician attempted to persuade the Indiana legislature to pass the Indiana Pi Bill, which described a method to square the circle and contained text that implied various incorrect values for , including 3.2. The bill is notorious as an attempt to establish a value of scientific constant by legislative fiat. The bill was passed by the Indiana House of Representatives, but rejected by the Senate, meaning it did not become a law.
In contemporary internet culture, individuals and organizations frequently pay homage to the number . For instance, the computer scientist Donald Knuth let the version numbers of his program TeX approach . The versions are 3, 3.1, 3.14, and so forth. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23601 |
Postmodernism
Postmodernism is a broad movement that developed in the mid- to late 20th century across philosophy, the arts, architecture, and criticism, marking a departure from modernism. The term has been more generally applied to describe a historical era said to follow after modernity and the tendencies of this era.
Postmodernism is generally defined by an attitude of skepticism, irony, or rejection toward what it describes as the grand narratives and ideologies associated with modernism, often criticizing Enlightenment rationality and focusing on the role of ideology in maintaining political or economic power. Postmodern thinkers frequently describe knowledge claims and value systems as contingent or socially-conditioned, describing them as products of political, historical, or cultural discourses and hierarchies. Common targets of postmodern criticism include universalist ideas of objective reality, morality, truth, human nature, reason, science, language, and social progress. Accordingly, postmodern thought is broadly characterized by tendencies to self-consciousness, self-referentiality, epistemological and moral relativism, pluralism, and irreverence.
Postmodern critical approaches gained purchase in the 1980s and 1990s, and have been adopted in a variety of academic and theoretical disciplines, including cultural studies, philosophy of science, economics, linguistics, architecture, feminist theory, and literary criticism, as well as art movements in fields such as literature, contemporary art, and music. Postmodernism is often associated with schools of thought such as deconstruction, post-structuralism, and institutional critique, as well as philosophers such as Jean-François Lyotard, Jacques Derrida, and Fredric Jameson.
Criticisms of postmodernism are intellectually diverse and include arguments that postmodernism promotes obscurantism, is meaningless, and that it adds nothing to analytical or empirical knowledge.
Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourse defined by an attitude of skepticism toward what it describes as the grand narratives and ideologies of modernism, as well as opposition to epistemic certainty and the stability of meaning. It questions or criticizes viewpoints associated with Enlightenment rationality dating back to the 17th century, and is characterized by irony, eclecticism, and its rejection of the "universal validity" of binary oppositions, stable identity, hierarchy, and categorization. Postmodernism is associated with relativism and a focus on ideology in the maintenance of economic and political power. Postmodernists are generally "skeptical of explanations which claim to be valid for all groups, cultures, traditions, or races," and describe truth as relative. It can be described as a reaction against attempts to explain reality in an objective manner by claiming that reality is a mental construct. Access to an unmediated reality or to objectively rational knowledge is rejected on the grounds that all interpretations are contingent on when they are made; as such, claims to objective fact are dismissed as "naive realism."
Postmodern thinkers frequently describe knowledge claims and value systems as contingent or socially-conditioned, describing them as products of political, historical, or cultural discourses and hierarchies. Accordingly, postmodern thought is broadly characterized by tendencies to self-referentiality, epistemological and moral relativism, pluralism, and irreverence. Postmodernism is often associated with schools of thought such as deconstruction and post-structuralism. Postmodernism relies on critical theory, which considers the effects of ideology, society, and history on culture. Postmodernism and critical theory commonly criticize universalist ideas of objective reality, morality, truth, human nature, reason, language, and social progress.
Initially, postmodernism was a mode of discourse on literature and literary criticism, commenting on the nature of literary text, meaning, author and reader, writing, and reading. Postmodernism developed in the mid- to late-twentieth century across philosophy, the arts, architecture, and criticism as a departure or rejection of modernism. Postmodernist approaches have been adopted in a variety of academic and theoretical disciplines, including political science, organization theory, cultural studies, philosophy of science, economics, linguistics, architecture, feminist theory, and literary criticism, as well as art movements in fields such as literature and music. As a critical practice, postmodernism employs concepts such as hyperreality, simulacrum, trace, and difference, and rejects abstract principles in favor of direct experience.
Criticisms of postmodernism are intellectually diverse, and include arguments that postmodernism promotes obscurantism, is meaningless, and adds nothing to analytical or empirical knowledge. Some philosophers, beginning with the pragmatist philosopher Jürgen Habermas, say that postmodernism contradicts itself through self-reference, as their critique would be impossible without the concepts and methods that modern reason provides. Various authors have criticized postmodernism, or trends under the general postmodern umbrella, as abandoning Enlightenment rationalism or scientific rigor.
The term "postmodern" was first used in 1870. John Watkins Chapman suggested "a Postmodern style of painting" as a way to depart from French Impressionism. J. M. Thompson, in his 1914 article in "The Hibbert Journal" (a quarterly philosophical review), used it to describe changes in attitudes and beliefs in the critique of religion, writing: "The raison d'être of Post-Modernism is to escape from the double-mindedness of Modernism by being thorough in its criticism by extending it to religion as well as theology, to Catholic feeling as well as to Catholic tradition."
In 1942 H. R. Hays described postmodernism as a new literary form.
In 1926, Bernard Iddings Bell, president of St. Stephen's College (now Bard College), published "Postmodernism and Other Essays", marking the first use of the term to describe the historical period following Modernity. The essay criticizes the lingering socio-cultural norms, attitudes, and practices of the Age of Enlightenment. It also forecasts the major cultural shifts toward Postmodernity and (being an Anglo-Catholic priest) suggests orthodox religion as a solution. However, the term postmodernity was first used as a general theory for a historical movement in 1939 by Arnold J. Toynbee: "Our own Post-Modern Age has been inaugurated by the general war of 1914–1918".
In 1949 the term was used to describe a dissatisfaction with modern architecture and led to the postmodern architecture movement in response to the modernist architectural movement known as the International Style. Postmodernism in architecture was initially marked by a re-emergence of surface ornament, reference to surrounding buildings in urban settings, historical reference in decorative forms (eclecticism), and non-orthogonal angles.
Author Peter Drucker suggested the transformation into a post-modern world happened between 1937 and 1957 and described it as a "nameless era" characterized as a shift to a conceptual world based on pattern, purpose, and process rather than a mechanical cause. This shift was outlined by four new realities: the emergence of an Educated Society, the importance of international development, the decline of the nation-state, and the collapse of the viability of non-Western cultures.
In 1971, in a lecture delivered at the Institute of Contemporary Art, London, Mel Bochner described "post-modernism" in art as having started with Jasper Johns, "who first rejected sense-data and the singular point-of-view as the basis for his art, and treated art as a critical investigation."
In 1996, Walter Truett Anderson described postmodernism as belonging to one of four typological world views which he identifies as:
(a) Postmodern-ironist, which sees truth as socially constructed.
(b) Scientific-rational, in which truth is defined through methodical, disciplined inquiry.
(c) Social-traditional, in which truth is found in the heritage of American and Western civilization.
(d) Neo-Romantic, in which truth is found through attaining harmony with nature or spiritual exploration of the inner self.
The basic features of what is now called postmodernism can be found as early as the 1940s, most notably in the work of artists such as Jorge Luis Borges. However, most scholars today agree postmodernism began to compete with modernism in the late 1950s and gained ascendancy over it in the 1960s. Since then, postmodernism has been a powerful, though not undisputed, force in art, literature, film, music, drama, architecture, history, and continental philosophy.
The primary features of postmodernism typically include the ironic play with styles, citations and narrative levels, a metaphysical skepticism or nihilism towards a "grand narrative" of Western culture, and a preference for the virtual at the expense of the Real (or more accurately, a fundamental questioning of what 'the real' constitutes).
Since the late 1990s, there has been a growing sentiment in popular culture and in academia that postmodernism "has gone out of fashion". Others argue that postmodernism is dead in the context of current cultural production.
Structuralism was a philosophical movement developed by French academics in the 1950s, partly in response to French Existentialism, and often interpreted in relation to Modernism and High modernism. Thinkers who have been called structuralists include the anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, the linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, the Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser, and the semiotician Algirdas Greimas. The early writings of the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan and the literary theorist Roland Barthes have also been called structuralist. Those who began as structuralists but became post-structuralists include Michel Foucault, Roland Barthes, Jean Baudrillard, and Gilles Deleuze. Other post-structuralists include Jacques Derrida, Pierre Bourdieu, Jean-François Lyotard, Julia Kristeva, Hélène Cixous, and Luce Irigaray. The American cultural theorists, critics and intellectuals whom they influenced include Judith Butler, John Fiske, Rosalind Krauss, Avital Ronell, and Hayden White.
Like structuralists, post-structuralists start from the assumption that people's identities, values and economic conditions determine each other rather than having "intrinsic" properties that can be understood in isolation. Thus the French structuralists considered themselves to be espousing Relativism and Constructionism. But they nevertheless tended to explore how the subjects of their study might be described, reductively, as a set of "essential" relationships, schematics, or mathematical symbols. (An example is Claude Lévi-Strauss's algebraic formulation of mythological transformation in "The Structural Study of Myth").
Postmodernist ideas in philosophy and in the analysis of culture and society have expanded the importance of critical theory. They have been the point of departure for works of literature, architecture and design, as well as being visible in marketing/business and the interpretation of history, law and culture, starting in the late 20th century. These developments—re-evaluation of the entire Western value system (love, marriage, popular culture, shift from industrial to service economy) that took place since the 1950s and 1960s, with a peak in the Social Revolution of 1968—are described with the term "postmodernity", as opposed to "Postmodernism", a term referring to an opinion or movement. Post-structuralism is characterized by new ways of thinking through structuralism, contrary to the original form.
One of the most well-known postmodernist concerns is "deconstruction," a theory for philosophy, literary criticism, and textual analysis developed by Jacques Derrida. Critics have insisted that Derrida's work is rooted in a statement found in "Of Grammatology": "Il n'y a pas de hors-texte" ("there is no Outside-text"). Such critics misinterpret the statement as denying any reality outside of books. The statement is actually part of a critique of "inside" and "outside" metaphors when referring to text, and is corollary to the observation that there is no "inside" of a text as well. This attention to a text's unacknowledged reliance on metaphors and figures embedded within its discourse is characteristic of Derrida's approach. Derrida's method sometimes involves demonstrating that a given philosophical discourse depends on binary oppositions or excluding terms that the discourse itself has declared to be irrelevant or inapplicable. Derrida's philosophy inspired a postmodern movement called deconstructivism among architects, characterized by design that rejects structural "centers" and encourages decentralized play among its elements. Derrida discontinued his involvement with the movement after the publication of his collaborative project with architect Peter Eisenman in "Chora L Works: Jacques Derrida and Peter Eisenman".
The connection between postmodernism, posthumanism, and cyborgism has led to a challenge to postmodernism, for which the terms "postpostmodernism" and "postpoststructuralism" were first coined in 2003:
More recently metamodernism, post-postmodernism and the "death of postmodernism" have been widely debated: in 2007 Andrew Hoberek noted in his introduction to a special issue of the journal "Twentieth Century Literature" titled "After Postmodernism" that "declarations of postmodernism's demise have become a critical commonplace". A small group of critics has put forth a range of theories that aim to describe culture or society in the alleged aftermath of postmodernism, most notably Raoul Eshelman (performatism), Gilles Lipovetsky (hypermodernity), Nicolas Bourriaud (altermodern), and Alan Kirby (digimodernism, formerly called pseudo-modernism). None of these new theories or labels have so far gained very widespread acceptance. Sociocultural anthropologist Nina Müller-Schwarze offers neostructuralism as a possible direction. The exhibition "Postmodernism – Style and Subversion 1970–1990" at the Victoria and Albert Museum (London, 24 September 2011 – 15 January 2012) was billed as the first show to document postmodernism as a historical movement.
In the 1970s a group of poststructuralists in France developed a radical critique of modern philosophy with roots discernible in Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and Heidegger, and became known as postmodern theorists, notably including Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Jean-François Lyotard, Jean Baudrillard, and others. New and challenging modes of thought and writing pushed the development of new areas and topics in philosophy. By the 1980s, this spread to America (Richard Rorty) and the world.
Jacques Derrida was a French philosopher best known for developing a form of semiotic analysis known as deconstruction, which he discussed in numerous texts, and developed in the context of phenomenology. He is one of the major figures associated with post-structuralism and postmodern philosophy.
Derrida re-examined the fundamentals of writing and its consequences on philosophy in general; sought to undermine the language of "presence" or metaphysics in an analytical technique which, beginning as a point of departure from Heidegger's notion of "Destruktion", came to be known as Deconstruction.
Michel Foucault was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, social theorist, and literary critic. First associated with structuralism, Foucault created an oeuvre that today is seen as belonging to post-structuralism and to postmodern philosophy. Considered a leading figure of , his work remains fruitful in the English-speaking academic world in a large number of sub-disciplines. The Times Higher Education Guide described him in 2009 as the most cited author in the humanities.
Michel Foucault introduced concepts such as 'discursive regime', or re-invoked those of older philosophers like 'episteme' and 'genealogy' in order to explain the relationship between meaning, power, and social behavior within social orders (see "The Order of Things", "The Archaeology of Knowledge", "Discipline and Punish", and "The History of Sexuality").
Jean-François Lyotard is credited with being the first to use the term in a philosophical context, in his 1979 work "". In it, he follows Wittgenstein's language games model and speech act theory, contrasting two different language games, that of the expert, and that of the philosopher. He talks about transformation of knowledge into information in the computer age, and likens the transmission or reception of coded messages (information) to a position within a language game.
Lyotard defined philosophical postmodernism in "The Postmodern Condition", writing: "Simplifying to the extreme, I define postmodern as incredulity towards meta narratives..." where what he means by metanarrative is something like a unified, complete, universal, and epistemically certain story about everything that is. Postmodernists reject metanarratives because they reject the concept of truth that metanarratives presuppose. Postmodernist philosophers in general argue that truth is always contingent on historical and social context rather than being absolute and universal and that truth is always partial and "at issue" rather than being complete and certain.
Richard Rorty argues in "Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature" that contemporary analytic philosophy mistakenly imitates scientific methods. In addition, he denounces the traditional epistemological perspectives of representationalism and correspondence theory that rely upon the independence of knowers and observers from phenomena and the passivity of natural phenomena in relation to consciousness.
Jean Baudrillard, in "Simulacra and Simulation", introduced the concept that reality or the principle of "The Real" is short-circuited by the interchangeability of signs in an era whose communicative and semantic acts are dominated by electronic media and digital technologies. Baudrillard proposes the notion that, in such a state, where subjects are detached from the outcomes of events (political, literary, artistic, personal, or otherwise), events no longer hold any particular sway on the subject nor have any identifiable context; they therefore have the effect of producing widespread indifference, detachment, and passivity in industrialized populations. He claimed that a constant stream of appearances and references without any direct consequences to viewers or readers could eventually render the division between appearance and object indiscernible, resulting, ironically, in the "disappearance" of mankind in what is, in effect, a virtual or holographic state, composed only of appearances. For Baudrillard, "simulation is no longer that of a territory, a referential being or a substance. It is the generation by models of a real without origin or a reality: a hyperreal."
Fredric Jameson set forth one of the first expansive theoretical treatments of postmodernism as a historical period, intellectual trend, and social phenomenon in a series of lectures at the Whitney Museum, later expanded as "Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism" (1991).
In "Analysis of the Journey", a journal birthed from postmodernism, Douglas Kellner insists that the "assumptions and procedures of modern theory" must be forgotten. Extensively, Kellner analyzes the terms of this theory in real-life experiences and examples. Kellner used science and technology studies as a major part of his analysis; he urged that the theory is incomplete without it. The scale was larger than just postmodernism alone; it must be interpreted through cultural studies where science and technology studies play a huge role. The reality of the September 11 attacks on the United States of America is the catalyst for his explanation. This catalyst is used as a great representation due to the mere fact of the planned ambush and destruction of "symbols of globalization", insinuating the World Trade Center.
The conclusion he depicts is simple: postmodernism, as most use it today, will decide what experiences and signs in one's reality will be one's reality as they know it.
The idea of Postmodernism in architecture began as a response to the perceived blandness and failed Utopianism of the Modern movement. Modern Architecture, as established and developed by Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier, was focused on:
They argued for an architecture that represented the spirit of the age as depicted in cutting-edge technology, be it airplanes, cars, ocean liners or even supposedly artless grain silos.
Modernist Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is associated with the phrase "less is more".
Critics of Modernism have:
The intellectual scholarship regarding postmodernism and architecture is closely linked with the writings of critic-turned-architect Charles Jencks, beginning with lectures in the early 1970s and his essay "The Rise of Post Modern Architecture" from 1975. His "magnum opus", however, is the book "The Language of Post-Modern Architecture", first published in 1977, and since running to seven editions. Jencks makes the point that Post-Modernism (like Modernism) varies for each field of art, and that for architecture it is not just a reaction to Modernism but what he terms "double coding": "Double Coding: the combination of Modern techniques with something else (usually traditional building) in order for architecture to communicate with the public and a concerned minority, usually other architects." In their book, "Revisiting Postmodernism", Terry Farrell and Adam Furman argue that postmodernism brought a more joyous and sensual experience to the culture, particularly in architecture.
Postmodern art is a body of art movements that sought to contradict some aspects of modernism or some aspects that emerged or developed in its aftermath. Cultural production manifesting as intermedia, installation art, conceptual art, deconstructionist display, and multimedia, particularly involving video, are described as postmodern.
Early mention of postmodernism as an element of graphic design appeared in the British magazine, "Design." A characteristic of postmodern graphic design is that "retro, techno, punk, grunge, beach, parody, and pastiche were all conspicuous trends. Each had its own sites and venues, detractors and advocates."
Jorge Luis Borges' (1939) short story "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote", is often considered as predicting postmodernism and is a paragon of the ultimate parody. Samuel Beckett is also considered an important precursor and influence. Novelists who are commonly connected with postmodern literature include Vladimir Nabokov, William Gaddis, Umberto Eco, Pier Vittorio Tondelli, John Hawkes, William S. Burroughs, Giannina Braschi, Kurt Vonnegut, John Barth, Jean Rhys, Donald Barthelme, E. L. Doctorow, Richard Kalich, Jerzy Kosiński, Don DeLillo, Thomas Pynchon (Pynchon's work has also been described as "high modern"), Ishmael Reed, Kathy Acker, Ana Lydia Vega, Jáchym Topol and Paul Auster.
In 1971, the Arab-American scholar Ihab Hassan published "The Dismemberment of Orpheus: Toward a Postmodern Literature," an early work of literary criticism from a postmodern perspective that traces the development of what he calls "literature of silence" through Marquis de Sade, Franz Kafka, Ernest Hemingway, Samuel Beckett, and many others, including developments such as the Theatre of the Absurd and the nouveau roman.
In "Postmodernist Fiction" (1987), Brian McHale details the shift from modernism to postmodernism, arguing that the former is characterized by an epistemological dominant and that postmodern works have developed out of modernism and are primarily concerned with questions of ontology. McHale's second book, "Constructing Postmodernism" (1992), provides readings of postmodern fiction and some contemporary writers who go under the label of cyberpunk. McHale's "What Was Postmodernism?" (2007) follows Raymond Federman's lead in now using the past tense when discussing postmodernism.
Jonathan Kramer has written that avant-garde musical compositions (which some would consider modernist rather than postmodernist) "defy more than seduce the listener, and they extend by potentially unsettling means the very idea of what music is." The postmodern impulse in classical music arose in the 1960s with the advent of musical minimalism. Composers such as Terry Riley, Henryk Górecki, Bradley Joseph, John Adams, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Michael Nyman, and Lou Harrison reacted to the perceived elitism and dissonant sound of atonal academic modernism by producing music with simple textures and relatively consonant harmonies, whilst others, most notably John Cage challenged the prevailing narratives of beauty and objectivity common to Modernism.
Author on postmodernism, Dominic Strinati, has noted, it is also important "to include in this category the so-called 'art rock' musical innovations and mixing of styles associated with groups like Talking Heads, and performers like Laurie Anderson, together with the self-conscious 'reinvention of disco' by the Pet Shop Boys".
Modernism sought to design and plan cities which followed the logic of the new model of industrial mass production; reverting to large-scale solutions, aesthetic standardisation and prefabricated design solutions. Modernism eroded urban living by its failure to recognise differences and aim towards homogeneous landscapes (Simonsen 1990, 57). Jane Jacobs' 1961 book "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" was a sustained critique of urban planning as it had developed within Modernism and marked a transition from modernity to postmodernity in thinking about urban planning (Irving 1993, 479).
The transition from Modernism to Postmodernism is often said to have happened at 3:32pm on 15 July in 1972, when Pruitt–Igoe; a housing development for low-income people in St. Louis designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki, which had been a prize-winning version of Le Corbusier's 'machine for modern living' was deemed uninhabitable and was torn down (Irving 1993, 480). Since then, Postmodernism has involved theories that embrace and aim to create diversity. It exalts uncertainty, flexibility and change (Hatuka & D'Hooghe 2007) and rejects utopianism while embracing a utopian way of thinking and acting. Postmodernity of 'resistance' seeks to deconstruct Modernism and is a critique of the origins without necessarily returning to them (Irving 1993, 60). As a result of Postmodernism, planners are much less inclined to lay a firm or steady claim to there being one single 'right way' of engaging in urban planning and are more open to different styles and ideas of 'how to plan' (Irving 474).
The study of postmodern urbanism itself, i.e. the postmodern way of creating and perpetuating the urban form, and the postmodern approach to understanding the city was pioneered in the 1980s by what could be called the "Los Angeles School of Geography" centered on the UCLA's Urban Planning Department in the 1980s, where contemporary Los Angeles was taken to be the postmodern city par excellence, contraposed to what had been the dominant ideas of the Chicago School formed in the 1920s at the University of Chicago, with its framework of "urban ecology" and its emphasis on functional areas of use within a city and the "concentric circles" to understand the sorting of different population groups. Edward Soja of the Los Angeles School combined Marxist and postmodern perspectives and focused on the economic and social changes (globalization, specialization, industrialization/deindustrialization, Neo-Liberalism, mass migration) that lead to the creation of large city-regions with their patchwork of population groups and economic uses
Criticisms of postmodernism are intellectually diverse, including the argument that postmodernism is meaningless and promotes obscurantism.
In part in reference to post-modernism, conservative English philosopher Roger Scruton wrote, "A writer who says that there are no truths, or that all truth is 'merely relative,' is asking you not to believe him. So don't." Similarly, Dick Hebdige criticized the vagueness of the term, enumerating a long list of otherwise unrelated concepts that people have designated as "postmodernism", from "the décor of a room" or "a 'scratch' video", to fear of nuclear armageddon and the "implosion of meaning", and stated that anything that could signify all of those things was "a buzzword".
The linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky has said that postmodernism is meaningless because it adds nothing to analytical or empirical knowledge. He asks why postmodernist intellectuals do not respond like people in other fields when asked, "what are the principles of their theories, on what evidence are they based, what do they explain that wasn't already obvious, etc.?...If [these requests] can't be met, then I'd suggest recourse to Hume's advice in similar circumstances: 'to the flames'."
Christian philosopher William Lane Craig has said "The idea that we live in a postmodern culture is a myth. In fact, a postmodern culture is an impossibility; it would be utterly unliveable. People are not relativistic when it comes to matters of science, engineering, and technology; rather, they are relativistic and pluralistic in matters of religion and ethics. But, of course, that's not postmodernism; that's modernism!"
American academic and aesthete Camille Paglia has said "The end result of four decades of postmodernism permeating the art world is that there is very little interesting or important work being done right now in the fine arts. Irony was a bold and creative posture when Duchamp did it, but it is now an utterly banal, exhausted, and tedious strategy. Young artists have been taught to be "cool" and "hip" and thus painfully self-conscious. They are not encouraged to be enthusiastic, emotional, and visionary. They have been cut off from artistic tradition by the crippled skepticism about history that they have been taught by ignorant and solipsistic postmodernists. In short, the art world will never revive until postmodernism fades away. Postmodernism is a plague upon the mind and the heart."
German philosopher Albrecht Wellmer has said that "postmodernism at its best might be seen as a self-critical - a sceptical, ironic, but nevertheless unrelenting - form of modernism; a modernism beyond utopianism, scientism and foundationalism; in short a postmetaphysical modernism."
A formal, academic critique of postmodernism can be found in "Beyond the Hoax" by physics professor Alan Sokal and in "Fashionable Nonsense" by Sokal and Belgian physicist Jean Bricmont, both books discussing the so-called Sokal affair. In 1996, Sokal wrote a deliberately nonsensical article in a style similar to postmodernist articles, which was accepted for publication by the postmodern cultural studies journal, "Social Text". On the same day of the release he published another article in a different journal explaining the "Social Text" article hoax. The philosopher Thomas Nagel has supported Sokal and Bricmont, describing their book "Fashionable Nonsense" as consisting largely of "extensive quotations of scientific gibberish from name-brand French intellectuals, together with eerily patient explanations of why it is gibberish," and agreeing that "there does seem to be something about the Parisian scene that is particularly hospitable to reckless verbosity."
A more recent example of the difficulty of distinguishing nonsensical artifacts from genuine postmodernist scholarship is the Grievance Studies affair.
The French psychotherapist and philosopher, Félix Guattari, often considered a "postmodernist", rejected its theoretical assumptions by arguing that the structuralist and postmodernist visions of the world were not flexible enough to seek explanations in psychological, social and environmental domains at the same time.
Zimbabwean-born British Marxist Alex Callinicos says that postmodernism "reflects the disappointed revolutionary generation of '68, and the incorporation of many of its members into the professional and managerial 'new middle class'. It is best read as a symptom of political frustration and social mobility rather than as a significant intellectual or cultural phenomenon in its own right."
Christopher Hitchens in his book, "Why Orwell Matters", writes, in advocating for simple, clear and direct expression of ideas, "The Postmodernists' tyranny wears people down by boredom and semi-literate prose."
Analytic philosopher Daniel Dennett said, "Postmodernism, the school of 'thought' that proclaimed 'There are no truths, only interpretations' has largely played itself out in absurdity, but it has left behind a generation of academics in the humanities disabled by their distrust of the very idea of truth and their disrespect for evidence, settling for 'conversations' in which nobody is wrong and nothing can be confirmed, only asserted with whatever style you can muster."
American historian Richard Wolin traces the origins of postmodernism to intellectual roots in fascism, writing "postmodernism has been nourished by the doctrines of Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Blanchot, and Paul de Man—all of whom either prefigured or succumbed to the proverbial intellectual fascination with fascism."
Daniel A. Farber and Suzanna Sherry criticised postmodernism for reducing the complexity of the modern world to an expression of power and for undermining truth and reason:
Richard Caputo, William Epstein, David Stoesz & Bruce Thyer consider postmodernism to be a "dead end in social work epistemology." They write:
H. Sidky pointed out what he sees as several "inherent flaws" of a postmodern antiscience perspective, including the confusion of the authority of science (evidence) with the scientist conveying the knowledge; its self-contradictory claim that all truths are relative; and its strategic ambiguity. He sees 21st-century anti-scientific and pseudo-scientific approaches to knowledge, particularly in the United States, as rooted in a postmodernist "decades-long academic assault on science:" | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23603 |
Photography
Photography is the art, application and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed in many fields of science, manufacturing (e.g., photolithography), and business, as well as its more direct uses for art, film and video production, recreational purposes, hobby, and mass communication.
Typically, a lens is used to focus the light reflected or emitted from objects into a real image on the light-sensitive surface inside a camera during a timed exposure. With an electronic image sensor, this produces an electrical charge at each pixel, which is electronically processed and stored in a digital image file for subsequent display or processing. The result with photographic emulsion is an invisible latent image, which is later chemically "developed" into a visible image, either negative or positive depending on the purpose of the photographic material and the method of processing. A negative image on film is traditionally used to photographically create a positive image on a paper base, known as a print, either by using an enlarger or by contact printing.
The word "photography" was created from the Greek roots φωτός ("phōtos"), genitive of φῶς ("phōs"), "light" and γραφή ("graphé") "representation by means of lines" or "drawing", together meaning "drawing with light".
Several people may have coined the same new term from these roots independently. Hercules Florence, a French painter and inventor living in Campinas, Brazil, used the French form of the word, "photographie", in private notes which a Brazilian historian believes were written in 1834. This claim is widely reported but is not yet largely recognized internationally. The first use of the word by the Franco-Brazilian inventor became widely known after the research of Boris Kossoy in 1980.
The German newspaper "Vossische Zeitung" of 25 February 1839 contained an article entitled "Photographie", discussing several priority claims – especially Henry Fox Talbot's – regarding Daguerre's claim of invention. The article is the earliest known occurrence of the word in public print. It was signed "J.M.", believed to have been Berlin astronomer Johann von Maedler. The astronomer Sir John Herschel is also credited with coining the word, independent of Talbot, in 1839.
The inventors Nicéphore Niépce, Henry Fox Talbot and Louis Daguerre seem not to have known or used the word "photography", but referred to their processes as "Heliography" (Niépce), "Photogenic Drawing"/"Talbotype"/"Calotype" (Talbot) and "Daguerreotype" (Daguerre).
Photography is the result of combining several technical discoveries, relating to seeing an image and capturing the image. The discovery of the camera obscura ("dark chamber" in Latin) that provides an image of a scene dates back to ancient China. Greek mathematicians Aristotle and Euclid independently described a camera obscura in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. In the 6th century CE, Byzantine mathematician Anthemius of Tralles used a type of camera obscura in his experiments.
The Arab physicist Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) (965–1040) also invented a camera obscura as well as the first true pinhole camera. The invention of the camera has been traced back to the work of Ibn al-Haytham. While the effects of a single light passing through a pinhole had been described earlier, Ibn al-Haytham gave the first correct analysis of the camera obscura, including the first geometrical and quantitative descriptions of the phenomenon, and was the first to use a screen in a dark room so that an image from one side of a hole in the surface could be projected onto a screen on the other side. He also first understood the relationship between the focal point and the pinhole, and performed early experiments with afterimages, laying the foundations for the invention of photography in the 19th century.
Leonardo da Vinci mentions natural camera obscura that are formed by dark caves on the edge of a sunlit valley. A hole in the cave wall will act as a pinhole camera and project a laterally reversed, upside down image on a piece of paper. Renaissance painters used the camera obscura which, in fact, gives the optical rendering in color that dominates Western Art. It is a box with a hole in it which allows light to go through and create an image onto the piece of paper.
The birth of photography was then concerned with inventing means to capture and keep the image produced by the camera obscura. Albertus Magnus (1193–1280) discovered silver nitrate, and Georg Fabricius (1516–1571) discovered silver chloride, and the techniques described in Ibn al-Haytham's Book of Optics are capable of producing primitive photographs using medieval materials.
Daniele Barbaro described a diaphragm in 1566. Wilhelm Homberg described how light darkened some chemicals (photochemical effect) in 1694. The fiction book "Giphantie", published in 1760, by French author Tiphaigne de la Roche, described what can be interpreted as photography.
Around the year 1800, British inventor Thomas Wedgwood made the first known attempt to capture the image in a camera obscura by means of a light-sensitive substance. He used paper or white leather treated with silver nitrate. Although he succeeded in capturing the shadows of objects placed on the surface in direct sunlight, and even made shadow copies of paintings on glass, it was reported in 1802 that "the images formed by means of a camera obscura have been found too faint to produce, in any moderate time, an effect upon the nitrate of silver." The shadow images eventually darkened all over.
The first permanent photoetching was an image produced in 1822 by the French inventor Nicéphore Niépce, but it was destroyed in a later attempt to make prints from it. Niépce was successful again in 1825. In 1826 or 1827, he made the "View from the Window at Le Gras", the earliest surviving photograph from nature (i.e., of the image of a real-world scene, as formed in a camera obscura by a lens).
Because Niépce's camera photographs required an extremely long exposure (at least eight hours and probably several days), he sought to greatly improve his bitumen process or replace it with one that was more practical. In partnership with Louis Daguerre, he worked out post-exposure processing methods that produced visually superior results and replaced the bitumen with a more light-sensitive resin, but hours of exposure in the camera were still required. With an eye to eventual commercial exploitation, the partners opted for total secrecy.
Niépce died in 1833 and Daguerre then redirected the experiments toward the light-sensitive silver halides, which Niépce had abandoned many years earlier because of his inability to make the images he captured with them light-fast and permanent. Daguerre's efforts culminated in what would later be named the daguerreotype process. The essential elements—a silver-plated surface sensitized by iodine vapor, developed by mercury vapor, and "fixed" with hot saturated salt water—were in place in 1837. The required exposure time was measured in minutes instead of hours. Daguerre took the earliest confirmed photograph of a person in 1838 while capturing a view of a Paris street: unlike the other pedestrian and horse-drawn traffic on the busy boulevard, which appears deserted, one man having his boots polished stood sufficiently still throughout the several-minutes-long exposure to be visible. The existence of Daguerre's process was publicly announced, without details, on 7 January 1839. The news created an international sensation. France soon agreed to pay Daguerre a pension in exchange for the right to present his invention to the world as the gift of France, which occurred when complete working instructions were unveiled on 19 August 1839. In that same year, American photographer Robert Cornelius is credited with taking the earliest surviving photographic self-portrait.
In Brazil, Hercules Florence had apparently started working out a silver-salt-based paper process in 1832, later naming it "Photographie".
Meanwhile, a British inventor, William Fox Talbot, had succeeded in making crude but reasonably light-fast silver images on paper as early as 1834 but had kept his work secret. After reading about Daguerre's invention in January 1839, Talbot published his hitherto secret method and set about improving on it. At first, like other pre-daguerreotype processes, Talbot's paper-based photography typically required hours-long exposures in the camera, but in 1840 he created the calotype process, which used the chemical development of a latent image to greatly reduce the exposure needed and compete with the daguerreotype. In both its original and calotype forms, Talbot's process, unlike Daguerre's, created a translucent negative which could be used to print multiple positive copies; this is the basis of most modern chemical photography up to the present day, as daguerreotypes could only be replicated by rephotographing them with a camera. Talbot's famous tiny paper negative of the Oriel window in Lacock Abbey, one of a number of camera photographs he made in the summer of 1835, may be the oldest camera negative in existence.
In France, Hippolyte Bayard invented his own process for producing direct positive paper prints and claimed to have invented photography earlier than Daguerre or Talbot.
British chemist John Herschel made many contributions to the new field. He invented the cyanotype process, later familiar as the "blueprint". He was the first to use the terms "photography", "negative" and "positive". He had discovered in 1819 that sodium thiosulphate was a solvent of silver halides, and in 1839 he informed Talbot (and, indirectly, Daguerre) that it could be used to "fix" silver-halide-based photographs and make them completely light-fast. He made the first glass negative in late 1839.
In the March 1851 issue of "The Chemist", Frederick Scott Archer published his wet plate collodion process. It became the most widely used photographic medium until the gelatin dry plate, introduced in the 1870s, eventually replaced it. There are three subsets to the collodion process; the Ambrotype (a positive image on glass), the Ferrotype or Tintype (a positive image on metal) and the glass negative, which was used to make positive prints on albumen or salted paper.
Many advances in photographic glass plates and printing were made during the rest of the 19th century. In 1891, Gabriel Lippmann introduced a process for making natural-color photographs based on the optical phenomenon of the interference of light waves. His scientifically elegant and important but ultimately impractical invention earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1908.
Glass plates were the medium for most original camera photography from the late 1850s until the general introduction of flexible plastic films during the 1890s. Although the convenience of the film greatly popularized amateur photography, early films were somewhat more expensive and of markedly lower optical quality than their glass plate equivalents, and until the late 1910s they were not available in the large formats preferred by most professional photographers, so the new medium did not immediately or completely replace the old. Because of the superior dimensional stability of glass, the use of plates for some scientific applications, such as astrophotography, continued into the 1990s, and in the niche field of laser holography, it has persisted into the 2010s.
Hurter and Driffield began pioneering work on the light sensitivity of photographic emulsions in 1876. Their work enabled the first quantitative measure of film speed to be devised.
The first flexible photographic roll film was marketed by George Eastman, founder of Kodak in 1885, but this original "film" was actually a coating on a paper base. As part of the processing, the image-bearing layer was stripped from the paper and transferred to a hardened gelatin support. The first transparent plastic roll film followed in 1889. It was made from highly flammable nitrocellulose known as nitrate film.
Although cellulose acetate or "safety film" had been introduced by Kodak in 1908, at first it found only a few special applications as an alternative to the hazardous nitrate film, which had the advantages of being considerably tougher, slightly more transparent, and cheaper. The changeover was not completed for X-ray films until 1933, and although safety film was always used for 16 mm and 8 mm home movies, nitrate film remained standard for theatrical 35 mm motion pictures until it was finally discontinued in 1951.
Films remained the dominant form of photography until the early 21st century when advances in digital photography drew consumers to digital formats. Although modern photography is dominated by digital users, film continues to be used by enthusiasts and professional photographers. The distinctive "look" of film based photographs compared to digital images is likely due to a combination of factors, including: (1) differences in spectral and tonal sensitivity (S-shaped density-to-exposure (H&D curve) with film vs. linear response curve for digital CCD sensors) (2) resolution and (3) continuity of tone.
Originally, all photography was monochrome, or "black-and-white". Even after color film was readily available, black-and-white photography continued to dominate for decades, due to its lower cost, chemical stability, and its "classic" photographic look. The tones and contrast between light and dark areas define black-and-white photography. It is important to note that monochromatic pictures are not necessarily composed of pure blacks, whites, and intermediate shades of gray but can involve shades of one particular hue depending on the process. The cyanotype process, for example, produces an image composed of blue tones. The albumen print process first used more than years ago, produces brownish tones.
Many photographers continue to produce some monochrome images, sometimes because of the established archival permanence of well-processed silver-halide-based materials. Some full-color digital images are processed using a variety of techniques to create black-and-white results, and some manufacturers produce digital cameras that exclusively shoot monochrome. Monochrome printing or electronic display can be used to salvage certain photographs taken in color which are unsatisfactory in their original form; sometimes when presented as black-and-white or single-color-toned images they are found to be more effective. Although color photography has long predominated, monochrome images are still produced, mostly for artistic reasons. Almost all digital cameras have an option to shoot in monochrome, and almost all image editing software can combine or selectively discard RGB color channels to produce a monochrome image from one shot in color.
Color photography was explored beginning in the 1840s. Early experiments in color required extremely long exposures (hours or days for camera images) and could not "fix" the photograph to prevent the color from quickly fading when exposed to white light.
The first permanent color photograph was taken in 1861 using the three-color-separation principle first published by Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell in 1855. The foundation of virtually all practical color processes, Maxwell's idea was to take three separate black-and-white photographs through red, green and blue filters. This provides the photographer with the three basic channels required to recreate a color image. Transparent prints of the images could be projected through similar color filters and superimposed on the projection screen, an additive method of color reproduction. A color print on paper could be produced by superimposing carbon prints of the three images made in their complementary colors, a subtractive method of color reproduction pioneered by Louis Ducos du Hauron in the late 1860s.
Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii made extensive use of this color separation technique, employing a special camera which successively exposed the three color-filtered images on different parts of an oblong plate. Because his exposures were not simultaneous, unsteady subjects exhibited color "fringes" or, if rapidly moving through the scene, appeared as brightly colored ghosts in the resulting projected or printed images.
Implementation of color photography was hindered by the limited sensitivity of early photographic materials, which were mostly sensitive to blue, only slightly sensitive to green, and virtually insensitive to red. The discovery of dye sensitization by photochemist Hermann Vogel in 1873 suddenly made it possible to add sensitivity to green, yellow and even red. Improved color sensitizers and ongoing improvements in the overall sensitivity of emulsions steadily reduced the once-prohibitive long exposure times required for color, bringing it ever closer to commercial viability.
Autochrome, the first commercially successful color process, was introduced by the Lumière brothers in 1907. Autochrome plates incorporated a mosaic color filter layer made of dyed grains of potato starch, which allowed the three color components to be recorded as adjacent microscopic image fragments. After an Autochrome plate was reversal processed to produce a positive transparency, the starch grains served to illuminate each fragment with the correct color and the tiny colored points blended together in the eye, synthesizing the color of the subject by the additive method. Autochrome plates were one of several varieties of additive color screen plates and films marketed between the 1890s and the 1950s.
Kodachrome, the first modern "integral tripack" (or "monopack") color film, was introduced by Kodak in 1935. It captured the three color components in a multi-layer emulsion. One layer was sensitized to record the red-dominated part of the spectrum, another layer recorded only the green part and a third recorded only the blue. Without special film processing, the result would simply be three superimposed black-and-white images, but complementary cyan, magenta, and yellow dye images were created in those layers by adding color couplers during a complex processing procedure.
Agfa's similarly structured Agfacolor Neu was introduced in 1936. Unlike Kodachrome, the color couplers in Agfacolor Neu were incorporated into the emulsion layers during manufacture, which greatly simplified the processing. Currently, available color films still employ a multi-layer emulsion and the same principles, most closely resembling Agfa's product.
Instant color film, used in a special camera which yielded a unique finished color print only a minute or two after the exposure, was introduced by Polaroid in 1963.
Color photography may form images as positive transparencies, which can be used in a slide projector, or as color negatives intended for use in creating positive color enlargements on specially coated paper. The latter is now the most common form of film (non-digital) color photography owing to the introduction of automated photo printing equipment. After a transition period centered around 1995–2005, color film was relegated to a niche market by inexpensive multi-megapixel digital cameras. Film continues to be the preference of some photographers because of its distinctive "look".
In 1981, Sony unveiled the first consumer camera to use a charge-coupled device for imaging, eliminating the need for film: the Sony Mavica. While the Mavica saved images to disk, the images were displayed on television, and the camera was not fully digital.
The first digital camera to both record and save images in a digital format was the Fujix DS-1P created by Fujfilm in 1988. https://www.fujifilm.com/innovation/achievements/ds-1p/
In 1991, Kodak unveiled the DCS 100, the first commercially available digital single lens reflex camera. Although its high cost precluded uses other than photojournalism and professional photography, commercial digital photography was born.
Digital imaging uses an electronic image sensor to record the image as a set of electronic data rather than as chemical changes on film. An important difference between digital and chemical photography is that chemical photography resists photo manipulation because it involves film and photographic paper, while digital imaging is a highly manipulative medium. This difference allows for a degree of image post-processing that is comparatively difficult in film-based photography and permits different communicative potentials and applications.
Digital photography dominates the 21st century. More than 99% of photographs taken around the world are through digital cameras, increasingly through smartphones.
Synthesis photography is part of computer-generated imagery (CGI) where the shooting process is modeled on real photography. The CGI, creating digital copies of real universe, requires a visual representation process of these universes. Synthesis photography is the application of analog and digital photography in digital space. With the characteristics of the real photography but not being constrained by the physical limits of real world, synthesis photography allows artists to move into areas beyond the grasp of real photography.
A large variety of photographic techniques and media are used in the process of capturing images for photography. These include the camera; stereoscopy; dualphotography; full-spectrum, ultraviolet and infrared media; light field photography; and other imaging techniques.
The camera is the image-forming device, and a photographic plate, photographic film or a silicon electronic image sensor is the capture medium. The respective recording medium can be the plate or film itself, or a digital magnetic or electronic memory.
Photographers control the camera and lens to "expose" the light recording material to the required amount of light to form a "latent image" (on plate or film) or RAW file (in digital cameras) which, after appropriate processing, is converted to a usable image. Digital cameras use an electronic image sensor based on light-sensitive electronics such as charge-coupled device (CCD) or complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The resulting digital image is stored electronically, but can be reproduced on a paper.
The camera (or 'camera obscura') is a dark room or chamber from which, as far as possible, all light is excluded except the light that forms the image. It was discovered and used in the 16th century by painters. The subject being photographed, however, must be illuminated. Cameras can range from small to very large, a whole room that is kept dark while the object to be photographed is in another room where it is properly illuminated. This was common for reproduction photography of flat copy when large film negatives were used (see Process camera).
As soon as photographic materials became "fast" (sensitive) enough for taking candid or surreptitious pictures, small "detective" cameras were made, some actually disguised as a book or handbag or pocket watch (the "Ticka" camera) or even worn hidden behind an Ascot necktie with a tie pin that was really the lens.
The movie camera is a type of photographic camera which takes a rapid sequence of photographs on recording medium. In contrast to a still camera, which captures a single snapshot at a time, the movie camera takes a series of images, each called a "frame". This is accomplished through an intermittent mechanism. The frames are later played back in a movie projector at a specific speed, called the "frame rate" (number of frames per second). While viewing, a person's eyes and brain merge the separate pictures to create the illusion of motion.
Photographs, both monochrome and color, can be captured and displayed through two side-by-side images that emulate human stereoscopic vision. Stereoscopic photography was the first that captured figures in motion. While known colloquially as "3-D" photography, the more accurate term is stereoscopy. Such cameras have long been realized by using film and more recently in digital electronic methods (including cell phone cameras).
Dualphotography consists of photographing a scene from both sides of a photographic device at once (e.g. camera for back-to-back dualphotography, or two networked cameras for portal-plane dualphotography). The dualphoto apparatus can be used to simultaneously capture both the subject and the photographer, or both sides of a geographical place at once, thus adding a supplementary narrative layer to that of a single image.
Ultraviolet and infrared films have been available for many decades and employed in a variety of photographic avenues since the 1960s. New technological trends in digital photography have opened a new direction in full spectrum photography, where careful filtering choices across the ultraviolet, visible and infrared lead to new artistic visions.
Modified digital cameras can detect some ultraviolet, all of the visible and much of the near infrared spectrum, as most digital imaging sensors are sensitive from about 350 nm to 1000 nm. An off-the-shelf digital camera contains an infrared hot mirror filter that blocks most of the infrared and a bit of the ultraviolet that would otherwise be detected by the sensor, narrowing the accepted range from about 400 nm to 700 nm.
Replacing a hot mirror or infrared blocking filter with an infrared pass or a wide spectrally transmitting filter allows the camera to detect the wider spectrum light at greater sensitivity. Without the hot-mirror, the red, green and blue (or cyan, yellow and magenta) colored micro-filters placed over the sensor elements pass varying amounts of ultraviolet (blue window) and infrared (primarily red and somewhat lesser the green and blue micro-filters).
Uses of full spectrum photography are for fine art photography, geology, forensics and law enforcement.
Digital methods of image capture and display processing have enabled the new technology of "light field photography" (also known as synthetic aperture photography). This process allows focusing at various depths of field to be selected "after" the photograph has been captured. As explained by Michael Faraday in 1846, the "light field" is understood as 5-dimensional, with each point in 3-D space having attributes of two more angles that define the direction of each ray passing through that point.
These additional vector attributes can be captured optically through the use of microlenses at each pixel point within the 2-dimensional image sensor. Every pixel of the final image is actually a selection from each sub-array located under each microlens, as identified by a post-image capture focus algorithm.
Besides the camera, other methods of forming images with light are available. For instance, a photocopy or xerography machine forms permanent images but uses the transfer of static electrical charges rather than photographic medium, hence the term electrophotography. Photograms are images produced by the shadows of objects cast on the photographic paper, without the use of a camera. Objects can also be placed directly on the glass of an image scanner to produce digital pictures.
An amateur photographer is one who practices photography as a hobby/passion and not necessarily for profit. The quality of some amateur work is comparable to that of many professionals and may be highly specialized or eclectic in choice of subjects. Amateur photography is often pre-eminent in photographic subjects which have little prospect of commercial use or reward. Amateur photography grew during the late 19th century due to the popularization of the hand-held camera. Nowadays it has spread widely through social media and is carried out throughout different platforms and equipment, switching to the use of cell phone. Good pictures can now be taken with a cell phone which is a key tool for making photography more accessible to everyone.
Commercial photography is probably best defined as any photography for which the photographer is paid for images rather than works of art. In this light, money could be paid for the subject of the photograph or the photograph itself. Wholesale, retail, and professional uses of photography would fall under this definition. The commercial photographic world could include:
During the 20th century, both fine art photography and documentary photography became accepted by the English-speaking art world and the gallery system. In the United States, a handful of photographers, including Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, John Szarkowski, F. Holland Day, and Edward Weston, spent their lives advocating for photography as a fine art.
At first, fine art photographers tried to imitate painting styles. This movement is called Pictorialism, often using soft focus for a dreamy, 'romantic' look. In reaction to that, Weston, Ansel Adams, and others formed the Group f/64 to advocate 'straight photography', the photograph as a (sharply focused) thing in itself and not an imitation of something else.
The aesthetics of photography is a matter that continues to be discussed regularly, especially in artistic circles. Many artists argued that photography was the mechanical reproduction of an image. If photography is authentically art, then photography in the context of art would need redefinition, such as determining what component of a photograph makes it beautiful to the viewer. The controversy began with the earliest images "written with light"; Nicéphore Niépce, Louis Daguerre, and others among the very earliest photographers were met with acclaim, but some questioned if their work met the definitions and purposes of art.
Clive Bell in his classic essay "Art" states that only "significant form" can distinguish art from what is not art.
On 7 February 2007, Sotheby's London sold the 2001 photograph "99 Cent II Diptychon" for an unprecedented $3,346,456 to an anonymous bidder, making it the most expensive at the time.
Conceptual photography turns a concept or idea into a photograph. Even though what is depicted in the photographs are real objects, the subject is strictly abstract.
Photojournalism is a particular form of photography (the collecting, editing, and presenting of news material for publication or broadcast) that employs images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, but in some cases the term also refers to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (e.g., documentary photography, social documentary photography, street photography or celebrity photography) by complying with a rigid ethical framework which demands that the work be both honest and impartial whilst telling the story in strictly journalistic terms. Photojournalists create pictures that contribute to the news media, and help communities connect with one other. Photojournalists must be well informed and knowledgeable about events happening right outside their door. They deliver news in a creative format that is not only informative, but also entertaining.
The camera has a long and distinguished history as a means of recording scientific phenomena from the first use by Daguerre and Fox-Talbot, such as astronomical events (eclipses for example), small creatures and plants when the camera was attached to the eyepiece of microscopes (in photomicroscopy) and for macro photography of larger specimens. The camera also proved useful in recording crime scenes and the scenes of accidents, such as the Wootton bridge collapse in 1861. The methods used in analysing photographs for use in legal cases are collectively known as forensic photography. Crime scene photos are taken from three vantage point. The vantage points are overview, mid-range, and close-up.
In 1845 Francis Ronalds, the Honorary Director of the Kew Observatory, invented the first successful camera to make continuous recordings of meteorological and geomagnetic parameters. Different machines produced 12- or 24- hour photographic traces of the minute-by-minute variations of atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, atmospheric electricity, and the three components of geomagnetic forces. The cameras were supplied to numerous observatories around the world and some remained in use until well into the 20th century. Charles Brooke a little later developed similar instruments for the Greenwich Observatory.
Science uses image technology that has derived from the design of the Pin Hole camera. X-Ray machines are similar in design to Pin Hole cameras with high-grade filters and laser radiation.
Photography has become universal in recording events and data in science and engineering, and at crime scenes or accident scenes. The method has been much extended by using other wavelengths, such as infrared photography and ultraviolet photography, as well as spectroscopy. Those methods were first used in the Victorian era and improved much further since that time.
The first photographed atom was discovered in 2012 by physicists at Griffith University, Australia. They used an electric field to trap an "Ion" of the element, Ytterbium. The image was recorded on a CCD, an electronic photographic film.
Wildlife photography involves capturing images of various forms of wildlife . Unlike other forms of photography such as product or food photography, successful wildlife photography requires a photographer to choose the right place and right time when specific wildlife are present and active. It often requires great patience and considerable skill and command of the right photographic equipment.
There are many ongoing questions about different aspects of photography. In her "On Photography" (1977), Susan Sontag dismisses the objectivity of photography. This is a highly debated subject within the photographic community. Sontag argues, "To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed. It means putting one's self into a certain relation to the world that feels like knowledge, and therefore like power." Photographers decide what to take a photo of, what elements to exclude and what angle to frame the photo, and these factors may reflect a particular socio-historical context. Along these lines, it can be argued that photography is a subjective form of representation.
Modern photography has raised a number of concerns on its effect on society. In Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window" (1954), the camera is presented as promoting voyeurism. 'Although the camera is an observation station, the act of photographing is more than passive observing'.
The camera doesn't rape or even possess, though it may presume, intrude, trespass, distort, exploit, and, at the farthest reach of metaphor, assassinate – all activities that, unlike the sexual push and shove, can be conducted from a distance, and with some detachment.
Digital imaging has raised ethical concerns because of the ease of manipulating digital photographs in post-processing. Many photojournalists have declared they will not crop their pictures or are forbidden from combining elements of multiple photos to make "photomontages", passing them as "real" photographs. Today's technology has made image editing relatively simple for even the novice photographer. However, recent changes of in-camera processing allow digital fingerprinting of photos to detect tampering for purposes of forensic photography.
Photography is one of the new media forms that changes perception and changes the structure of society. Further unease has been caused around cameras in regards to desensitization. Fears that disturbing or explicit images are widely accessible to children and society at large have been raised. Particularly, photos of war and pornography are causing a stir. Sontag is concerned that "to photograph is to turn people into objects that can be symbolically possessed." Desensitization discussion goes hand in hand with debates about censored images. Sontag writes of her concern that the ability to censor pictures means the photographer has the ability to construct reality.
One of the practices through which photography constitutes society is tourism. Tourism and photography combine to create a "tourist gaze"
in which local inhabitants are positioned and defined by the camera lens. However, it has also been argued that there exists a "reverse gaze" through which indigenous photographees can position the tourist photographer as a shallow consumer of images.
Additionally, photography has been the topic of many songs in popular culture.
Photography is both restricted as well as protected by the law in many jurisdictions. Protection of photographs is typically achieved through the granting of copyright or moral rights to the photographer. In the United States, photography is protected as a First Amendment right and anyone is free to photograph anything seen in public spaces as long as it is in plain view. In the UK a recent law (Counter-Terrorism Act 2008) increases the power of the police to prevent people, even press photographers, from taking pictures in public places. In South Africa, any person may photograph any other person, without their permission, in public spaces and the only specific restriction placed on what may not be photographed by government is related to anything classed as national security. Each country has different laws. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23604 |
Postmodern philosophy
Postmodern philosophy is a philosophical movement that arose in the second half of the 20th century as a critical response to assumptions allegedly present in modernist philosophical ideas regarding culture, identity, history, or language that were developed during the 18th-century Enlightenment. Postmodernist thinkers developed concepts like difference, repetition, trace, and hyperreality to subvert "grand narratives", univocity of being, and epistemic certainty. Postmodern philosophy questions the importance of power relationships, personalization, and discourse in the "construction" of truth and world views. Many postmodernists appear to deny that an objective reality exists, and appear to deny that there are objective moral values.
Jean-François Lyotard defined philosophical postmodernism in "The Postmodern Condition", writing "Simplifying to the extreme, I define postmodern as incredulity towards meta narratives..." where what he means by metanarrative is something like a unified, complete, universal, and epistemically certain story about everything that is. Postmodernists reject metanarratives because they reject the concept of truth that metanarratives presuppose. Postmodernist philosophers in general argue that truth is always contingent on historical and social context rather than being absolute and universal and that truth is always partial and "at issue" rather than being complete and certain.
Postmodern philosophy is often particularly skeptical about simple binary oppositions characteristic of structuralism, emphasizing the problem of the philosopher cleanly distinguishing knowledge from ignorance, social progress from reversion, dominance from submission, good from bad, and presence from absence. But, for the same reasons, postmodern philosophy should often be particularly skeptical about the complex spectral characteristics of things, emphasizing the problem of the philosopher again cleanly distinguishing concepts, for a concept must be understood in the context of its opposite, such as existence and nothingness, normality and abnormality, speech and writing, and the like.
Postmodern philosophy also has strong relations with the substantial literature of critical theory.
Many postmodern claims are a deliberate repudiation of certain 18th-century Enlightenment values. Such a postmodernist believes that there is no objective natural reality, and that logic and reason are mere conceptual constructs that are not universally valid. Two other characteristic postmodern practices are a denial that human nature exists, and a (sometimes moderate) skepticism toward claims that science and technology will change society for the better. Postmodernists also believe there are no objective moral values. A postmodernist then tolerates multiple conceptions of morality, even if he or she disagrees with them subjectively. Postmodern writings often focus on deconstructing the role that power and ideology play in shaping discourse and belief. Postmodern philosophy shares ontological similarities with classical skeptical and relativistic belief systems.
The "Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy" states that "The assumption that there is no common denominator in 'nature' or 'truth' ... that guarantees the possibility of neutral or objective thought" is a key assumption of postmodernism. The National Research Council has characterized the belief that "social science research can never generate objective or trustworthy knowledge" as an example of a postmodernist belief. Jean-François Lyotard's seminal 1979 "The Postmodern Condition" stated that its hypotheses "should not be accorded predictive value in relation to reality, but strategic value in relation to the questions raised". Lyotard's statement in 1984 that "I define postmodern as incredulity toward meta-narratives" extends to incredulity toward science. Jacques Derrida, who is generally identified as a postmodernist, stated that "every referent, all reality has the structure of a differential trace". Paul Feyerabend, one of the most famous twentieth-century philosophers of science, is often classified as a postmodernist; Feyerabend held that modern science is no more justified than witchcraft, and has denounced the "tyranny" of "abstract concepts such as 'truth', 'reality', or 'objectivity', which narrow people's vision and ways of being in the world". Feyerabend also defended astrology, adopted alternative medicine, and sympathized with creationism. Defenders of postmodernism state that many descriptions of postmodernism exaggerate its antipathy to science; for example, Feyerabend denied that he was "anti-science", accepted that some scientific "theories" are superior to other theories (even if science itself is not superior to other modes of inquiry), and attempted conventional medical treatments during his fight against cancer.
Philosopher John Deely has argued for the contentious claim that the label "postmodern" for thinkers such as Derrida "et al." is "premature". Insofar as the "so-called" postmoderns follow the thoroughly "modern" trend of idealism, it is more an "ultra"modernism than anything else. A postmodernism that lives up to its name, therefore, must no longer confine itself to the premodern preoccupation with "things" nor with the modern confinement to "ideas", but must come to terms with the way of signs embodied in the semiotic doctrines of such thinkers as the Portuguese philosopher John Poinsot and the American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce. Writes Deely,
The epoch of Greek and Latin philosophy was based on "being" in a quite precise sense: the existence exercised by things independently of human apprehension and attitude. The much briefer epoch of modern philosophy based itself rather on the instruments of human knowing, but in a way that unnecessarily compromised being. As the 20th century ends, there is reason to believe that a new philosophical epoch is dawning along with the new century, promising to be the richest epoch yet for human understanding. The postmodern era is positioned to synthesize at a higher level—the level of experience, where the being of things and the activity of the finite knower compenetrate one another and provide the materials whence can be derived knowledge of nature and knowledge of culture in their full symbiosis—the achievements of the ancients and the moderns in a way that gives full credit to the preoccupations of the two. The postmodern era has for its distinctive task in philosophy the exploration of a new path, no longer the ancient way of things nor the modern way of ideas, but the way of signs, whereby the peaks and valleys of ancient and modern thought alike can be surveyed and cultivated by a generation which has yet further peaks to climb and valleys to find.
Postmodern philosophy originated primarily in France during the mid-20th century. However, several philosophical antecedents inform many of postmodern philosophy's concerns.
It was greatly influenced by the writings of Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche in the 19th century and other early-to-mid 20th-century philosophers, including phenomenologists Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, structuralist Roland Barthes, Georges Bataille, and the later work of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Postmodern philosophy also drew from the world of the arts and architecture, particularly Marcel Duchamp, John Cage and artists who practiced collage, and the architecture of Las Vegas and the Pompidou Centre.
The most influential early postmodern philosophers were Jean Baudrillard, Jean-François Lyotard, and Jacques Derrida. Michel Foucault is also often cited as an early postmodernist although he personally rejected that label. Following Nietzsche, Foucault argued that knowledge is produced through the operations of "power", and changes fundamentally in different historical periods.
The writings of Lyotard were largely concerned with the role of narrative in human culture, and particularly how that role has changed as we have left modernity and entered a "postindustrial" or postmodern condition. He argued that modern philosophies legitimized their truth-claims not (as they themselves claimed) on logical or empirical grounds, but rather on the grounds of accepted stories (or "metanarratives") about knowledge and the world—comparing these with Wittgenstein's concept of language-games. He further argued that in our postmodern condition, these metanarratives no longer work to legitimize truth-claims. He suggested that in the wake of the collapse of modern metanarratives, people are developing a new "language-game"—one that does not make claims to absolute truth but rather celebrates a world of ever-changing relationships (among people and between people and the world).
Derrida, the father of deconstruction, practiced philosophy as a form of textual criticism. He criticized Western philosophy as privileging the concept of presence and "logos", as opposed to absence and markings or writings.
In the United States, the most famous pragmatist and self-proclaimed postmodernist was Richard Rorty. An analytic philosopher, Rorty believed that combining Willard Van Orman Quine's criticism of the analytic-synthetic distinction with Wilfrid Sellars's critique of the "Myth of the Given" allowed for an abandonment of the view of the thought or language as a mirror of a reality or external world. Further, drawing upon Donald Davidson's criticism of the dualism between conceptual scheme and empirical content, he challenges the sense of questioning whether our particular concepts are related to the world in an appropriate way, whether we can justify our ways of describing the world as compared with other ways. He argued that truth was not about getting it right or representing reality, but was part of a social practice and language was what served our purposes in a particular time; ancient languages are sometimes untranslatable into modern ones because they possess a different vocabulary and are unuseful today. Donald Davidson is not usually considered a postmodernist, although he and Rorty have both acknowledged that there are few differences between their philosophies.
Criticisms of postmodernism, while intellectually diverse, share the opinion that it lacks coherence and is hostile to notions such as truth, logic, and objectivity. Specifically, it is held that postmodernism can be meaningless, promotes obscurantism and uses relativism (in culture, morality, knowledge) to the extent that it cripples most judgement calls. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23612 |
Postmodern music
Postmodern music is music in the art music tradition produced in the postmodern era. It also describes any music that follows aesthetical and philosophical trends of postmodernism. As an aesthetic movement it was formed partly in reaction to modernism but is not primarily defined as oppositional to modernist music. Postmodernists question the tight definitions and categories of academic disciplines, which they regard simply as the remnants of modernity .
Postmodernism in music is not a distinct musical style, but rather refers to music of the postmodern era. Postmodernist music, on the other hand, shares characteristics with postmodernist art—that is, art that comes after and reacts against modernism (see Modernism in Music).
Fredric Jameson, a major figure in the thinking on postmodernism and culture, calls postmodernism "the cultural dominant of the logic of late capitalism" , meaning that, through globalization, postmodern culture is tied inextricably with capitalism (Mark Fisher, writing 20 years later, goes further, essentially calling it the sole cultural possibility ). Drawing from Jameson and other theorists, David Beard and Kenneth Gloag argue that, in music, postmodernism is not just an attitude but also an inevitability in the current cultural climate of fragmentation . As early as 1938, Theodor Adorno had already identified a trend toward the dissolution of "a culturally dominant set of values" , citing the commodification of all genres as beginning of the end of genre or value distinctions in music .
In some respects, Postmodern music could be categorized as simply the music of the postmodern era, or music that follows aesthetic and philosophical trends of postmodernism, but with Jameson in mind, it is clear these definitions are inadequate. As the name suggests, the postmodernist movement formed partly in reaction to the ideals of modernism, but in fact postmodern music is more to do with functionality and the effect of globalization than it is with a specific reaction, movement, or attitude . In the face of capitalism, Jameson says, "It is safest to grasp the concept of the postmodern as an attempt to think the present historically in an age that has forgotten how to think historically in the first place" .
Jonathan Kramer posits the idea (following Umberto Eco and Jean-François Lyotard) that postmodernism (including "musical" postmodernism) is less a surface style or historical period (i.e., condition) than an "attitude". Kramer enumerates 16 (arguably subjective) "characteristics of postmodern music, by which I mean music that is understood in a postmodern manner, or that calls forth postmodern listening strategies, or that provides postmodern listening experiences, or that exhibits postmodern compositional practices." According to , postmodern music:
Daniel Albright summarizes the main tendencies of musical postmodernism as :
One author has suggested that the emergence of postmodern music in popular music occurred in the late 1960s, influenced in part by psychedelic rock and one or more of the later Beatles albums . Beard and Gloag support this position, citing Jameson's theory that "the radical changes of musical styles and languages throughout the 1960s [are] now seen as a reflection of postmodernism" (; see also ). Others have placed the beginnings of postmodernism in the arts, with particular reference to music, at around 1930 (; ). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23613 |
Pump
A pump is a device that moves fluids (liquids or gases), or sometimes slurries, by mechanical action, typically converted from electrical energy into Hydraulic energy. Pumps can be classified into three major groups according to the method they use to move the fluid: "direct lift", "displacement", and "gravity" pumps.
Pumps operate by some mechanism (typically reciprocating or rotary), and consume energy to perform mechanical work moving the fluid. Pumps operate via many energy sources, including manual operation, electricity, engines, or wind power, and come in many sizes, from microscopic for use in medical applications, to large industrial pumps.
Mechanical pumps serve in a wide range of applications such as pumping water from wells, aquarium filtering, pond filtering and aeration, in the car industry for water-cooling and fuel injection, in the energy industry for pumping oil and natural gas or for operating cooling towers and other components of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. In the medical industry, pumps are used for biochemical processes in developing and manufacturing medicine, and as artificial replacements for body parts, in particular the artificial heart and penile prosthesis.
When a casing contains only one revolving impeller, it is called a single-stage pump. When a casing contains two or more revolving impellers, it is called a double- or multi-stage pump.
In biology, many different types of chemical and biomechanical pumps have evolved; biomimicry is sometimes used in developing new types of mechanical pumps.
Mechanical pumps may be submerged in the fluid they are pumping or be placed external to the fluid.
Pumps can be classified by their method of displacement into positive displacement pumps, impulse pumps, velocity pumps, gravity pumps, steam pumps and valveless pumps. There are three basic types of pumps: positive displacement, centrifugal and axial-flow pumps. In centrifugal pumps the direction of flow of the fluid changes by ninety degrees as it flows over impeller, while in axial flow pumps the direction of flow is unchanged.
A positive displacement pump makes a fluid move by trapping a fixed amount and forcing (displacing) that trapped volume into the discharge pipe.
Some positive displacement pumps use an expanding cavity on the suction side and a decreasing cavity on the discharge side. Liquid flows into the pump as the cavity on the suction side expands and the liquid flows out of the discharge as the cavity collapses. The volume is constant through each cycle of operation.
Positive displacement pumps, unlike centrifugal or roto-dynamic pumps, theoretically can produce the same flow at a given speed (RPM) no matter what the discharge pressure. Thus, positive displacement pumps are "constant flow machines". However, a slight increase in internal leakage as the pressure increases prevents a truly constant flow rate.
A positive displacement pump must not operate against a closed valve on the discharge side of the pump, because it has no shutoff head like centrifugal pumps. A positive displacement pump operating against a closed discharge valve continues to produce flow and the pressure in the discharge line increases until the line bursts, the pump is severely damaged, or both.
A relief or safety valve on the discharge side of the positive displacement pump is therefore necessary. The relief valve can be internal or external. The pump manufacturer normally has the option to supply internal relief or safety valves. The internal valve is usually used only as a safety precaution. An external relief valve in the discharge line, with a return line back to the suction line or supply tank provides increased safety.
A positive displacement pump can be further classified according to the mechanism used to move the fluid:
These pumps move fluid using a rotating mechanism that creates a vacuum that captures and draws in the liquid.
"Advantages:" Rotary pumps are very efficient because they can handle highly viscous fluids with higher flow rates as viscosity increases.
"Drawbacks:" The nature of the pump requires very close clearances between the rotating pump and the outer edge, making it rotate at a slow, steady speed. If rotary pumps are operated at high speeds, the fluids cause erosion, which eventually causes enlarged clearances that liquid can pass through, which reduces efficiency.
Rotary positive displacement pumps fall into 5 main types:
Reciprocating pumps move the fluid using one or more oscillating pistons, plungers, or membranes (diaphragms), while valves restrict fluid motion to the desired direction. In order for suction to take place, the pump must first pull the plunger in an outward motion to decrease pressure in the chamber. Once the plunger pushes back, it will increase the pressure chamber and the inward pressure of the plunger will then open the discharge valve and release the fluid into the delivery pipe at a high velocity.
Pumps in this category range from "simplex", with one cylinder, to in some cases "quad" (four) cylinders, or more. Many reciprocating-type pumps are "duplex" (two) or "triplex" (three) cylinder. They can be either "single-acting" with suction during one direction of piston motion and discharge on the other, or "double-acting" with suction and discharge in both directions. The pumps can be powered manually, by air or steam, or by a belt driven by an engine. This type of pump was used extensively in the 19th century—in the early days of steam propulsion—as boiler feed water pumps. Now reciprocating pumps typically pump highly viscous fluids like concrete and heavy oils, and serve in special applications that demand low flow rates against high resistance. Reciprocating hand pumps were widely used to pump water from wells. Common bicycle pumps and foot pumps for inflation use reciprocating action.
These positive displacement pumps have an expanding cavity on the suction side and a decreasing cavity on the discharge side. Liquid flows into the pumps as the cavity on the suction side expands and the liquid flows out of the discharge as the cavity collapses. The volume is constant given each cycle of operation and the pump's volumetric efficiency can be achieved through routine maintenance and inspection of its valves.
Typical reciprocating pumps are:
The positive displacement principle applies in these pumps:
This is the simplest of rotary positive displacement pumps. It consists of two meshed gears that rotate in a closely fitted casing. The tooth spaces trap fluid and force it around the outer periphery. The fluid does not travel back on the meshed part, because the teeth mesh closely in the center. Gear pumps see wide use in car engine oil pumps and in various hydraulic power packs.
A screw pump is a more complicated type of rotary pump that uses two or three screws with opposing thread — e.g., one screw turns clockwise and the other counterclockwise. The screws are mounted on parallel shafts that have gears that mesh so the shafts turn together and everything stays in place. The screws turn on the shafts and drive fluid through the pump. As with other forms of rotary pumps, the clearance between moving parts and the pump's casing is minimal.
Widely used for pumping difficult materials, such as sewage sludge contaminated with large particles, this pump consists of a helical rotor, about ten times as long as its width. This can be visualized as a central core of diameter "x" with, typically, a curved spiral wound around of thickness half "x", though in reality it is manufactured in a single casting. This shaft fits inside a heavy-duty rubber sleeve, of wall thickness also typically "x". As the shaft rotates, the rotor gradually forces fluid up the rubber sleeve. Such pumps can develop very high pressure at low volumes.
Named after the Roots brothers who invented it, this lobe pump displaces the liquid trapped between two long helical rotors, each fitted into the other when perpendicular at 90°, rotating inside a triangular shaped sealing line configuration, both at the point of suction and at the point of discharge. This design produces a continuous flow with equal volume and no vortex. It can work at low pulsation rates, and offers gentle performance that some applications require.
Applications include:
A "peristaltic pump" is a type of positive displacement pump. It contains fluid within a flexible tube fitted inside a circular pump casing (though linear peristaltic pumps have been made). A number of "rollers", "shoes", or "wipers" attached to a rotor compresses the flexible tube. As the rotor turns, the part of the tube under compression closes (or "occludes"), forcing the fluid through the tube. Additionally, when the tube opens to its natural state after the passing of the cam it draws ("restitution") fluid into the pump. This process is called peristalsis and is used in many biological systems such as the gastrointestinal tract.
"Plunger pumps" are reciprocating positive displacement pumps.
These consist of a cylinder with a reciprocating plunger. The suction and discharge valves are mounted in the head of the cylinder. In the suction stroke, the plunger retracts and the suction valves open causing suction of fluid into the cylinder. In the forward stroke, the plunger pushes the liquid out of the discharge valve.
Efficiency and common problems: With only one cylinder in plunger pumps, the fluid flow varies between maximum flow when the plunger moves through the middle positions, and zero flow when the plunger is at the end positions. A lot of energy is wasted when the fluid is accelerated in the piping system. Vibration and "water hammer" may be a serious problem. In general, the problems are compensated for by using two or more cylinders not working in phase with each other.
Triplex plunger pumps use three plungers, which reduces the pulsation of single reciprocating plunger pumps. Adding a pulsation dampener on the pump outlet can further smooth the "pump ripple", or ripple graph of a pump transducer. The dynamic relationship of the high-pressure fluid and plunger generally requires high-quality plunger seals. Plunger pumps with a larger number of plungers have the benefit of increased flow, or smoother flow without a pulsation damper. The increase in moving parts and crankshaft load is one drawback.
Car washes often use these triplex-style plunger pumps (perhaps without pulsation dampers). In 1968, William Bruggeman reduced the size of the triplex pump and increased the lifespan so that car washes could use equipment with smaller footprints. Durable high-pressure seals, low-pressure seals and oil seals, hardened crankshafts, hardened connecting rods, thick ceramic plungers and heavier duty ball and roller bearings improve reliability in triplex pumps. Triplex pumps now are in a myriad of markets across the world.
Triplex pumps with shorter lifetimes are commonplace to the home user. A person who uses a home pressure washer for 10 hours a year may be satisfied with a pump that lasts 100 hours between rebuilds. Industrial-grade or continuous duty triplex pumps on the other end of the quality spectrum may run for as much as 2,080 hours a year.
The oil and gas drilling industry uses massive semi trailer-transported triplex pumps called mud pumps to pump drilling mud, which cools the drill bit and carries the cuttings back to the surface.
Drillers use triplex or even quintuplex pumps to inject water and solvents deep into shale in the extraction process called "fracking".
One modern application of positive displacement pumps is compressed-air-powered double-diaphragm pumps. Run on compressed air, these pumps are intrinsically safe by design, although all manufacturers offer ATEX certified models to comply with industry regulation. These pumps are relatively inexpensive and can perform a wide variety of duties, from pumping water out of bunds to pumping hydrochloric acid from secure storage (dependent on how the pump is manufactured – elastomers / body construction). These double-diaphragm pumps can handle viscous fluids and abrasive materials with a gentle pumping process ideal for transporting shear-sensitive media.
Devised in China as chain pumps over 1000 years ago, these pumps can be made from very simple materials: A rope, a wheel and a PVC pipe are sufficient to make a simple rope pump. Rope pump efficiency has been studied by grassroots organizations and the techniques for making and running them have been continuously improved.
Impulse pumps use pressure created by gas (usually air). In some impulse pumps the gas trapped in the liquid (usually water), is released and accumulated somewhere in the pump, creating a pressure that can push part of the liquid upwards.
Conventional impulse pumps include:
Instead of a gas accumulation and releasing cycle, the pressure can be created by burning of hydrocarbons. Such combustion driven pumps directly transmit the impulse from a combustion event through the actuation membrane to the pump fluid. In order to allow this direct transmission, the pump needs to be almost entirely made of an elastomer (e.g. silicone rubber). Hence, the combustion causes the membrane to expand and thereby pumps the fluid out of the adjacent pumping chamber. The first combustion-driven soft pump was developed by ETH Zurich.
A hydraulic ram is a water pump powered by hydropower.
It takes in water at relatively low pressure and high flow-rate and outputs water at a higher hydraulic-head and lower flow-rate. The device uses the water hammer effect to develop pressure that lifts a portion of the input water that powers the pump to a point higher than where the water started.
The hydraulic ram is sometimes used in remote areas, where there is both a source of low-head hydropower, and a need for pumping water to a destination higher in elevation than the source. In this situation, the ram is often useful, since it requires no outside source of power other than the kinetic energy of flowing water.
Rotodynamic pumps (or dynamic pumps) are a type of velocity pump in which kinetic energy is added to the fluid by increasing the flow velocity. This increase in energy is converted to a gain in potential energy (pressure) when the velocity is reduced prior to or as the flow exits the pump into the discharge pipe. This conversion of kinetic energy to pressure is explained by the "First law of thermodynamics", or more specifically by "Bernoulli's principle".
Dynamic pumps can be further subdivided according to the means in which the velocity gain is achieved.
These types of pumps have a number of characteristics:
A practical difference between dynamic and positive displacement pumps is how they operate under closed valve conditions. Positive displacement pumps physically displace fluid, so closing a valve downstream of a positive displacement pump produces a continual pressure build up that can cause mechanical failure of pipeline or pump. Dynamic pumps differ in that they can be safely operated under closed valve conditions (for short periods of time).
Such a pump is also referred to as a centrifugal pump. The fluid enters along the axis or center, is accelerated by the impeller and exits at right angles to the shaft (radially); an example is the centrifugal fan, which is commonly used to implement a vacuum cleaner. Another type of radial-flow pump is a vortex pump. The liquid in them moves in tangential direction around the working wheel. The conversion from the mechanical energy of motor into the potential energy of flow comes by means of multiple whirls, which are excited by the impeller in the working channel of the pump. Generally, a radial-flow pump operates at higher pressures and lower flow rates than an axial- or a mixed-flow pump.
These are also referred to as All fluid pumps. The fluid is pushed outward or inward to move fluid axially. They operate at much lower pressures and higher flow rates than radial-flow (centrifugal) pumps. Axial-flow pumps cannot be run up to speed without special precaution. If at a low flow rate, the total head rise and high torque associated with this pipe would mean that the starting torque would have to become a function of acceleration for the whole mass of liquid in the pipe system. If there is a large amount of fluid in the system, accelerate the pump slowly.
Mixed-flow pumps function as a compromise between radial and axial-flow pumps. The fluid experiences both radial acceleration and lift and exits the impeller somewhere between 0 and 90 degrees from the axial direction. As a consequence mixed-flow pumps operate at higher pressures than axial-flow pumps while delivering higher discharges than radial-flow pumps. The exit angle of the flow dictates the pressure head-discharge characteristic in relation to radial and mixed-flow.
This uses a jet, often of steam, to create a low pressure. This low pressure sucks in fluid and propels it into a higher pressure region.
Gravity pumps include the "syphon" and "Heron's fountain". The "hydraulic ram" is also sometimes called a gravity pump; in a gravity pump the water is lifted by gravitational force and so called gravity pump
Steam pumps have been for a long time mainly of historical interest. They include any type of pump powered by a steam engine and also pistonless pumps such as Thomas Savery's or the Pulsometer steam pump.
Recently there has been a resurgence of interest in low power solar steam pumps for use in smallholder irrigation in developing countries. Previously small steam engines have not been viable because of escalating inefficiencies as vapour engines decrease in size. However the use of modern engineering materials coupled with alternative engine configurations has meant that these types of system are now a cost-effective opportunity.
Valveless pumping assists in fluid transport in various biomedical and engineering systems. In a valveless pumping system, no valves (or physical occlusions) are present to regulate the flow direction. The fluid pumping efficiency of a valveless system, however, is not necessarily lower than that having valves. In fact, many fluid-dynamical systems in nature and engineering more or less rely upon valveless pumping to transport the working fluids therein. For instance, blood circulation in the cardiovascular system is maintained to some extent even when the heart's valves fail. Meanwhile, the embryonic vertebrate heart begins pumping blood long before the development of discernible chambers and valves. In microfluidics, valveless impedance pumps have been fabricated, and are expected to be particularly suitable for handling sensitive biofluids. Ink jet printers operating on the Piezoelectric transducer principle also use valveless pumping. The pump chamber is emptied through the printing jet due to reduced flow impedance in that direction and refilled by capillary action..
Examining pump repair records and mean time between failures (MTBF) is of great importance to responsible and conscientious pump users. In view of that fact, the preface to the 2006 Pump User's Handbook alludes to "pump failure" statistics. For the sake of convenience, these failure statistics often are translated into MTBF (in this case, installed life before failure).
In early 2005, Gordon Buck, John Crane Inc.’s chief engineer for field operations in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, examined the repair records for a number of refinery and chemical plants to obtain meaningful reliability data for centrifugal pumps. A total of 15 operating plants having nearly 15,000 pumps were included in the survey. The smallest of these plants had about 100 pumps; several plants had over 2000. All facilities were located in the United States. In addition, considered as "new", others as "renewed" and still others as "established". Many of these plants—but not all—had an alliance arrangement with John Crane. In some cases, the alliance contract included having a John Crane Inc. technician or engineer on-site to coordinate various aspects of the program.
Not all plants are refineries, however, and different results occur elsewhere. In chemical plants, pumps have historically been "throw-away" items as chemical attack limits life. Things have improved in recent years, but the somewhat restricted space available in "old" DIN and ASME-standardized stuffing boxes places limits on the type of seal that fits. Unless the pump user upgrades the seal chamber, the pump only accommodates more compact and simple versions. Without this upgrading, lifetimes in chemical installations are generally around 50 to 60 percent of the refinery values.
Unscheduled maintenance is often one of the most significant costs of ownership, and failures of mechanical seals and bearings are among the major causes. Keep in mind the potential value of selecting pumps that cost more initially, but last much longer between repairs. The MTBF of a better pump may be one to four years longer than that of its non-upgraded counterpart. Consider that published average values of avoided pump failures range from US$2600 to US$12,000. This does not include lost opportunity costs. One pump fire occurs per 1000 failures. Having fewer pump failures means having fewer destructive pump fires.
As has been noted, a typical pump failure, based on actual year 2002 reports, costs US$5,000 on average. This includes costs for material, parts, labor and overhead. Extending a pump's MTBF from 12 to 18 months would save US$1,667 per year — which might be greater than the cost to upgrade the centrifugal pump's reliability.
Pumps are used throughout society for a variety of purposes. Early applications includes the use of the windmill or watermill to pump water. Today, the pump is used for irrigation, water supply, gasoline supply, air conditioning systems, refrigeration (usually called a compressor), chemical movement, sewage movement, flood control, marine services, etc.
Because of the wide variety of applications, pumps have a plethora of shapes and sizes: from very large to very small, from handling gas to handling liquid, from high pressure to low pressure, and from high volume to low volume.
Typically, a liquid pump can't simply draw air. The feed line of the pump and the internal body surrounding the pumping mechanism must first be filled with the liquid that requires pumping: An operator must introduce liquid into the system to initiate the pumping. This is called "priming" the pump. Loss of prime is usually due to ingestion of air into the pump. The clearances and displacement ratios in pumps for liquids, whether thin or more viscous, usually cannot displace air due to its compressibility. This is the case with most velocity (rotodynamic) pumps — for example, centrifugal pumps. For such pumps the position of the pump should always be lower than the suction point, if not the pump should be manually filled with liquid or a secondary pump should be used until all air is removed from the suction line and the pump casing.
Positive–displacement pumps, however, tend to have sufficiently tight sealing between the moving parts and the casing or housing of the pump that they can be described as "self-priming". Such pumps can also serve as "priming pumps", so called when they are used to fulfill that need for other pumps in lieu of action taken by a human operator.
One sort of pump once common worldwide was a hand-powered water pump, or 'pitcher pump'. It was commonly installed over community water wells in the days before piped water supplies.
In parts of the British Isles, it was often called "the parish pump". Though such community pumps are no longer common, people still used the expression "parish pump" to describe a place or forum where matters of local interest are discussed.
Because water from pitcher pumps is drawn directly from the soil, it is more prone to contamination. If such water is not filtered and purified, consumption of it might lead to gastrointestinal or other water-borne diseases. A notorious case is the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak. At the time it was not known how cholera was transmitted, but physician John Snow suspected contaminated water and had the handle of the public pump he suspected removed; the outbreak then subsided.
Modern hand-operated community pumps are considered the most sustainable low-cost option for safe water supply in resource-poor settings, often in rural areas in developing countries. A hand pump opens access to deeper groundwater that is often not polluted and also improves the safety of a well by protecting the water source from contaminated buckets. Pumps such as the Afridev pump are designed to be cheap to build and install, and easy to maintain with simple parts. However, scarcity of spare parts for these type of pumps in some regions of Africa has diminished their utility for these areas.
Multiphase pumping applications, also referred to as tri-phase, have grown due to increased oil drilling activity. In addition, the economics of multiphase production is attractive to upstream operations as it leads to simpler, smaller in-field installations, reduced equipment costs and improved production rates. In essence, the multiphase pump can accommodate all fluid stream properties with one piece of equipment, which has a smaller footprint. Often, two smaller multiphase pumps are installed in series rather than having just one massive pump.
For midstream and upstream operations, multiphase pumps can be located onshore or offshore and can be connected to single or multiple wellheads. Basically, multiphase pumps are used to transport the untreated flow stream produced from oil wells to downstream processes or gathering facilities. This means that the pump may handle a flow stream (well stream) from 100 percent gas to 100 percent liquid and every imaginable combination in between. The flow stream can also contain abrasives such as sand and dirt. Multiphase pumps are designed to operate under changing or fluctuating process conditions. Multiphase pumping also helps eliminate emissions of greenhouse gases as operators strive to minimize the flaring of gas and the venting of tanks where possible.
A rotodynamic pump with one single shaft that requires two mechanical seals, this pump uses an open-type axial impeller. It's often called a "Poseidon pump", and can be described as a cross between an axial compressor and a centrifugal pump.
The twin-screw pump is constructed of two inter-meshing screws that move the pumped fluid. Twin screw pumps are often used when pumping conditions contain high gas volume fractions and fluctuating inlet conditions. Four mechanical seals are required to seal the two shafts.
When the pumping application is not suited to a centrifugal pump, a progressive cavity pump is used instead. Progressive cavity pumps are single-screw types typically used in shallow wells or at the surface. This pump is mainly used on surface applications where the pumped fluid may contain a considerable amount of solids such as sand and dirt. The volumetric efficiency and mechanical efficiency of a progressive cavity pump increases as the viscosity of the liquid does.
These pumps are basically multistage centrifugal pumps and are widely used in oil well applications as a method for artificial lift. These pumps are usually specified when the pumped fluid is mainly liquid.
"Buffer tank"
A buffer tank is often installed upstream of the pump suction nozzle in case of a slug flow. The buffer tank breaks the energy of the liquid slug, smooths any fluctuations in the incoming flow and acts as a sand trap.
As the name indicates, multiphase pumps and their mechanical seals can encounter a large variation in service conditions such as changing process fluid composition, temperature variations, high and low operating pressures and exposure to abrasive/erosive media. The challenge is selecting the appropriate mechanical seal arrangement and support system to ensure maximized seal life and its overall effectiveness.
Pumps are commonly rated by horsepower, volumetric flow rate, outlet pressure in metres (or feet) of head, inlet suction in suction feet (or metres) of head.
The head can be simplified as the number of feet or metres the pump can raise or lower a column of water at atmospheric pressure.
From an initial design point of view, engineers often use a quantity termed the specific speed to identify the most suitable pump type for a particular combination of flow rate and head.
The power imparted into a fluid increases the energy of the fluid per unit volume. Thus the power relationship is between the conversion of the mechanical energy of the pump mechanism and the fluid elements within the pump. In general, this is governed by a series of simultaneous differential equations, known as the Navier–Stokes equations. However a more simple equation relating only the different energies in the fluid, known as Bernoulli's equation can be used. Hence the power, P, required by the pump:
where Δp is the change in total pressure between the inlet and outlet (in Pa), and Q, the volume flow-rate of the fluid is given in m3/s. The total pressure may have gravitational, static pressure and kinetic energy components; i.e. energy is distributed between change in the fluid's gravitational potential energy (going up or down hill), change in velocity, or change in static pressure. η is the pump efficiency, and may be given by the manufacturer's information, such as in the form of a pump curve, and is typically derived from either fluid dynamics simulation (i.e. solutions to the Navier–Stokes for the particular pump geometry), or by testing. The efficiency of the pump depends upon the pump's configuration and operating conditions (such as rotational speed, fluid density and viscosity etc.)
For a typical "pumping" configuration, the work is imparted on the fluid, and is thus positive. For the fluid imparting the work on the pump (i.e. a turbine), the work is negative. Power required to drive the pump is determined by dividing the output power by the pump efficiency. Furthermore, this definition encompasses pumps with no moving parts, such as a siphon.
Pump efficiency is defined as the ratio of the power imparted on the fluid by the pump in relation to the power supplied to drive the pump. Its value is not fixed for a given pump, efficiency is a function of the discharge and therefore also operating head. For centrifugal pumps, the efficiency tends to increase with flow rate up to a point midway through the operating range (peak efficiency or Best Efficiency Point (BEP) ) and then declines as flow rates rise further. Pump performance data such as this is usually supplied by the manufacturer before pump selection. Pump efficiencies tend to decline over time due to wear (e.g. increasing clearances as impellers reduce in size).
When a system includes a centrifugal pump, an important design issue is matching the "head loss-flow characteristic" with the pump so that it operates at or close to the point of its maximum efficiency.
Pump efficiency is an important aspect and pumps should be regularly tested. Thermodynamic pump testing is one method. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23617 |
Pressure
Pressure (symbol: "p" or "P") is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled "gage" pressure) is the pressure relative to the ambient pressure.
Various units are used to express pressure. Some of these derive from a unit of force divided by a unit of area; the SI unit of pressure, the pascal (Pa), for example, is one newton per square metre (N/m2); similarly, the pound-force per square inch (psi) is the traditional unit of pressure in the imperial and US customary systems. Pressure may also be expressed in terms of standard atmospheric pressure; the atmosphere (atm) is equal to this pressure, and the torr is defined as of this. Manometric units such as the centimetre of water, millimetre of mercury, and inch of mercury are used to express pressures in terms of the height of column of a particular fluid in a manometer.
Pressure is the amount of force applied at right angles to the surface of an object per unit area. The symbol for it is "p" or "P".
The IUPAC recommendation for pressure is a lower-case "p".
However, upper-case "P" is widely used. The usage of "P" vs "p" depends upon the field in which one is working, on the nearby presence of other symbols for quantities such as power and momentum, and on writing style.
Mathematically:
where:
Pressure is a scalar quantity. It relates the vector area element (a vector normal to the surface) with the normal force acting on it. The pressure is the scalar proportionality constant that relates the two normal vectors:
The minus sign comes from the fact that the force is considered towards the surface element, while the normal vector points outward. The equation has meaning in that, for any surface "S" in contact with the fluid, the total force exerted by the fluid on that surface is the surface integral over "S" of the right-hand side of the above equation.
It is incorrect (although rather usual) to say "the pressure is directed in such or such direction". The pressure, as a scalar, has no direction. The force given by the previous relationship to the quantity has a direction, but the pressure does not. If we change the orientation of the surface element, the direction of the normal force changes accordingly, but the pressure remains the same.
Pressure is distributed to solid boundaries or across arbitrary sections of fluid "normal to" these boundaries or sections at every point. It is a fundamental parameter in thermodynamics, and it is conjugate to volume.
The SI unit for pressure is the pascal (Pa), equal to one newton per square metre (N/m2, or kg·m−1·s−2). This name for the unit was added in 1971; before that, pressure in SI was expressed simply in newtons per square metre.
Other units of pressure, such as pounds per square inch (Ibf/in2) and bar, are also in common use. The CGS unit of pressure is the barye (Ba), equal to 1 dyn·cm−2, or 0.1 Pa. Pressure is sometimes expressed in grams-force or kilograms-force per square centimetre (g/cm2 or kg/cm2) and the like without properly identifying the force units. But using the names kilogram, gram, kilogram-force, or gram-force (or their symbols) as units of force is expressly forbidden in SI. The technical atmosphere (symbol: at) is 1 kgf/cm2 (98.0665 kPa, or 14.223 psi).
Since a system under pressure has the potential to perform work on its surroundings, pressure is a measure of potential energy stored per unit volume. It is therefore related to energy density and may be expressed in units such as joules per cubic metre (J/m3, which is equal to Pa).
Mathematically:
Some meteorologists prefer the hectopascal (hPa) for atmospheric air pressure, which is equivalent to the older unit millibar (mbar). Similar pressures are given in kilopascals (kPa) in most other fields, where the hecto- prefix is rarely used. The inch of mercury is still used in the United States. Oceanographers usually measure underwater pressure in decibars (dbar) because pressure in the ocean increases by approximately one decibar per metre depth.
The standard atmosphere (atm) is an established constant. It is approximately equal to typical air pressure at Earth mean sea level and is defined as .
Because pressure is commonly measured by its ability to displace a column of liquid in a manometer, pressures are often expressed as a depth of a particular fluid (e.g., centimetres of water, millimetres of mercury or inches of mercury). The most common choices are mercury (Hg) and water; water is nontoxic and readily available, while mercury's high density allows a shorter column (and so a smaller manometer) to be used to measure a given pressure. The pressure exerted by a column of liquid of height "h" and density "ρ" is given by the hydrostatic pressure equation , where "g" is the gravitational acceleration. Fluid density and local gravity can vary from one reading to another depending on local factors, so the height of a fluid column does not define pressure precisely. When millimetres of mercury or inches of mercury are quoted today, these units are not based on a physical column of mercury; rather, they have been given precise definitions that can be expressed in terms of SI units. One millimetre of mercury is approximately equal to one torr. The water-based units still depend on the density of water, a measured, rather than defined, quantity. These "manometric units" are still encountered in many fields. Blood pressure is measured in millimetres of mercury in most of the world, and lung pressures in centimetres of water are still common.
Underwater divers use the metre sea water (msw or MSW) and foot sea water (fsw or FSW) units of pressure, and these are the standard units for pressure gauges used to measure pressure exposure in diving chambers and personal decompression computers. A msw is defined as 0.1 bar (= 100000 Pa = 10000 Pa), is not the same as a linear metre of depth. 33.066 fsw = 1 atm (1 atm = 101325 Pa / 33.066 = 3064.326 Pa). Note that the pressure conversion from msw to fsw is different from the length conversion: 10 msw = 32.6336 fsw, while 10 m = 32.8083 ft.
Gauge pressure is often given in units with "g" appended, e.g. "kPag", "barg" or "psig", and units for measurements of absolute pressure are sometimes given a suffix of "a", to avoid confusion, for example "kPaa", "psia". However, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology recommends that, to avoid confusion, any modifiers be instead applied to the quantity being measured rather than the unit of measure. For example, rather than .
Differential pressure is expressed in units with "d" appended; this type of measurement is useful when considering sealing performance or whether a valve will open or close.
Presently or formerly popular pressure units include the following:
As an example of varying pressures, a finger can be pressed against a wall without making any lasting impression; however, the same finger pushing a thumbtack can easily damage the wall. Although the force applied to the surface is the same, the thumbtack applies more pressure because the point concentrates that force into a smaller area. Pressure is transmitted to solid boundaries or across arbitrary sections of fluid "normal to" these boundaries or sections at every point. Unlike stress, pressure is defined as a scalar quantity. The negative gradient of pressure is called the force density.
Another example is a knife. If we try to cut with the flat edge, force is distributed over a larger surface area resulting in less pressure, and it will not cut. Whereas using the sharp edge, which has less surface area, results in greater pressure, and so the knife cuts smoothly. This is one example of a practical application of pressure.
For gases, pressure is sometimes measured not as an "absolute pressure", but relative to atmospheric pressure; such measurements are called "gauge pressure". An example of this is the air pressure in an automobile tire, which might be said to be "", but is actually 220 kPa (32 psi) above atmospheric pressure. Since atmospheric pressure at sea level is about 100 kPa (14.7 psi), the absolute pressure in the tire is therefore about . In technical work, this is written "a gauge pressure of ". Where space is limited, such as on pressure gauges, name plates, graph labels, and table headings, the use of a modifier in parentheses, such as "kPa (gauge)" or "kPa (absolute)", is permitted. In non-SI technical work, a gauge pressure of is sometimes written as "32 psig", and an absolute pressure as "32 psia", though the other methods explained above that avoid attaching characters to the unit of pressure are preferred.
Gauge pressure is the relevant measure of pressure wherever one is interested in the stress on storage vessels and the plumbing components of fluidics systems. However, whenever equation-of-state properties, such as densities or changes in densities, must be calculated, pressures must be expressed in terms of their absolute values. For instance, if the atmospheric pressure is , a gas (such as helium) at (gauge) ( [absolute]) is 50% denser than the same gas at (gauge) ( [absolute]). Focusing on gauge values, one might erroneously conclude the first sample had twice the density of the second one.
In a static gas, the gas as a whole does not appear to move. The individual molecules of the gas, however, are in constant random motion. Because we are dealing with an extremely large number of molecules and because the motion of the individual molecules is random in every direction, we do not detect any motion. If we enclose the gas within a container, we detect a pressure in the gas from the molecules colliding with the walls of our container. We can put the walls of our container anywhere inside the gas, and the force per unit area (the pressure) is the same. We can shrink the size of our "container" down to a very small point (becoming less true as we approach the atomic scale), and the pressure will still have a single value at that point. Therefore, pressure is a scalar quantity, not a vector quantity. It has magnitude but no direction sense associated with it. Pressure force acts in all directions at a point inside a gas. At the surface of a gas, the pressure force acts perpendicular (at right angle) to the surface.
A closely related quantity is the stress tensor "σ", which relates the vector force formula_7 to the
vector area formula_8 via the linear relation formula_9.
This tensor may be expressed as the sum of the viscous stress tensor minus the hydrostatic pressure. The negative of the stress tensor is sometimes called the pressure tensor, but in the following, the term "pressure" will refer only to the scalar pressure.
According to the theory of general relativity, pressure increases the strength of a gravitational field (see stress–energy tensor) and so adds to the mass-energy cause of gravity. This effect is unnoticeable at everyday pressures but is significant in neutron stars, although it has not been experimentally tested.
Fluid pressure is most often the compressive stress at some point within a fluid. (The term "fluid" refers to both liquids and gases – for more information specifically about liquid pressure, see section below.)
Fluid pressure occurs in one of two situations:
Pressure in open conditions usually can be approximated as the pressure in "static" or non-moving conditions (even in the ocean where there are waves and currents), because the motions create only negligible changes in the pressure. Such conditions conform with principles of fluid statics. The pressure at any given point of a non-moving (static) fluid is called the hydrostatic pressure.
Closed bodies of fluid are either "static", when the fluid is not moving, or "dynamic", when the fluid can move as in either a pipe or by compressing an air gap in a closed container. The pressure in closed conditions conforms with the principles of fluid dynamics.
The concepts of fluid pressure are predominantly attributed to the discoveries of Blaise Pascal and Daniel Bernoulli. Bernoulli's equation can be used in almost any situation to determine the pressure at any point in a fluid. The equation makes some assumptions about the fluid, such as the fluid being ideal and incompressible. An ideal fluid is a fluid in which there is no friction, it is inviscid (zero viscosity). The equation for all points of a system filled with a constant-density fluid is
where:
Explosion or deflagration pressures are the result of the ignition of explosive gases, mists, dust/air suspensions, in unconfined and confined spaces.
While pressures are, in general, positive, there are several situations in which negative pressures may be encountered:
Stagnation pressure is the pressure a fluid exerts when it is forced to stop moving. Consequently, although a fluid moving at higher speed will have a lower static pressure, it may have a higher stagnation pressure when forced to a standstill. Static pressure and stagnation pressure are related by:
where
The pressure of a moving fluid can be measured using a Pitot tube, or one of its variations such as a Kiel probe or Cobra probe, connected to a manometer. Depending on where the inlet holes are located on the probe, it can measure static pressures or stagnation pressures.
There is a two-dimensional analog of pressure – the lateral force per unit length applied on a line perpendicular to the force.
Surface pressure is denoted by π:
and shares many similar properties with three-dimensional pressure. Properties of surface chemicals can be investigated by measuring pressure/area isotherms, as the two-dimensional analog of Boyle's law, , at constant temperature.
Surface tension is another example of surface pressure, but with a reversed sign, because "tension" is the opposite to "pressure".
In an ideal gas, molecules have no volume and do not interact. According to the ideal gas law, pressure varies linearly with temperature and quantity, and inversely with volume:
where:
Real gases exhibit a more complex dependence on the variables of state.
Vapour pressure is the pressure of a vapour in thermodynamic equilibrium with its condensed phases in a closed system. All liquids and solids have a tendency to evaporate into a gaseous form, and all gases have a tendency to condense back to their liquid or solid form.
The atmospheric pressure boiling point of a liquid (also known as the normal boiling point) is the temperature at which the vapor pressure equals the ambient atmospheric pressure. With any incremental increase in that temperature, the vapor pressure becomes sufficient to overcome atmospheric pressure and lift the liquid to form vapour bubbles inside the bulk of the substance. Bubble formation deeper in the liquid requires a higher pressure, and therefore higher temperature, because the fluid pressure increases above the atmospheric pressure as the depth increases.
The vapor pressure that a single component in a mixture contributes to the total pressure in the system is called partial vapor pressure.
When a person swims under the water, water pressure is felt acting on the person's eardrums. The deeper that person swims, the greater the pressure. The pressure felt is due to the weight of the water above the person. As someone swims deeper, there is more water above the person and therefore greater pressure. The pressure a liquid exerts depends on its depth.
Liquid pressure also depends on the density of the liquid. If someone was submerged in a liquid more dense than water, the pressure would be correspondingly greater. Thus, we can say that the depth, density and liquid pressure are directly proportionate. The pressure due to a liquid in liquid columns of constant density or at a depth within a substance is represented by the following formula:
where:
Another way of saying the same formula is the following:
The pressure a liquid exerts against the sides and bottom of a container depends on the density and the depth of the liquid. If atmospheric pressure is neglected, liquid pressure against the bottom is twice as great at twice the depth; at three times the depth, the liquid pressure is threefold; etc. Or, if the liquid is two or three times as dense, the liquid pressure is correspondingly two or three times as great for any given depth. Liquids are practically incompressible – that is, their volume can hardly be changed by pressure (water volume decreases by only 50 millionths of its original volume for each atmospheric increase in pressure). Thus, except for small changes produced by temperature, the density of a particular liquid is practically the same at all depths.
Atmospheric pressure pressing on the surface of a liquid must be taken into account when trying to discover the "total" pressure acting on a liquid. The total pressure of a liquid, then, is "ρgh" plus the pressure of the atmosphere. When this distinction is important, the term "total pressure" is used. Otherwise, discussions of liquid pressure refer to pressure without regard to the normally ever-present atmospheric pressure.
The pressure does not depend on the "amount" of liquid present. Volume is not the important factor – depth is. The average water pressure acting against a dam depends on the average depth of the water and not on the volume of water held back. For example, a wide but shallow lake with a depth of exerts only half the average pressure that a small deep pond does. (The "total force" applied to the longer dam will be greater, due to the greater total surface area for the pressure to act upon. But for a given -wide section of each dam, the deep water will apply one quarter the force of deep water). A person will feel the same pressure whether his/her head is dunked a metre beneath the surface of the water in a small pool or to the same depth in the middle of a large lake. If four vases contain different amounts of water but are all filled to equal depths, then a fish with its head dunked a few centimetres under the surface will be acted on by water pressure that is the same in any of the vases. If the fish swims a few centimetres deeper, the pressure on the fish will increase with depth and be the same no matter which vase the fish is in. If the fish swims to the bottom, the pressure will be greater, but it makes no difference what vase it is in. All vases are filled to equal depths, so the water pressure is the same at the bottom of each vase, regardless of its shape or volume. If water pressure at the bottom of a vase were greater than water pressure at the bottom of a neighboring vase, the greater pressure would force water sideways and then up the narrower vase to a higher level until the pressures at the bottom were equalized. Pressure is depth dependent, not volume dependent, so there is a reason that water seeks its own level.
Restating this as energy equation, the energy per unit volume in an ideal, incompressible liquid is constant throughout its vessel. At the surface, gravitational potential energy is large but liquid pressure energy is low. At the bottom of the vessel, all the gravitational potential energy is converted to pressure energy. The sum of pressure energy and gravitational potential energy per unit volume is constant throughout the volume of the fluid and the two energy components change linearly with the depth. Mathematically, it is described by Bernoulli's equation, where velocity head is zero and comparisons per unit volume in the vessel are
Terms have the same meaning as in section Fluid pressure.
An experimentally determined fact about liquid pressure is that it is exerted equally in all directions. If someone is submerged in water, no matter which way that person tilts his/her head, the person will feel the same amount of water pressure on his/her ears. Because a liquid can flow, this pressure isn't only downward. Pressure is seen acting sideways when water spurts sideways from a leak in the side of an upright can. Pressure also acts upward, as demonstrated when someone tries to push a beach ball beneath the surface of the water. The bottom of a boat is pushed upward by water pressure (buoyancy).
When a liquid presses against a surface, there is a net force that is perpendicular to the surface. Although pressure doesn't have a specific direction, force does. A submerged triangular block has water forced against each point from many directions, but components of the force that are not perpendicular to the surface cancel each other out, leaving only a net perpendicular point. This is why water spurting from a hole in a bucket initially exits the bucket in a direction at right angles to the surface of the bucket in which the hole is located. Then it curves downward due to gravity. If there are three holes in a bucket (top, bottom, and middle), then the force vectors perpendicular to the inner container surface will increase with increasing depth – that is, a greater pressure at the bottom makes it so that the bottom hole will shoot water out the farthest. The force exerted by a fluid on a smooth surface is always at right angles to the surface. The speed of liquid out of the hole is formula_23, where "h" is the depth below the free surface. This is the same speed the water (or anything else) would have if freely falling the same vertical distance "h".
is the kinematic pressure, where formula_2 is the pressure and formula_26 constant mass density. The SI unit of "P" is m2/s2. Kinematic pressure is used in the same manner as kinematic viscosity formula_27 in order to compute the Navier–Stokes equation without explicitly showing the density formula_26. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23619 |
Polygon
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain or "polygonal circuit". The solid plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two together, may be called a polygon.
The segments of a polygonal circuit are called its "edges" or "sides", and the points where two edges meet are the polygon's "vertices" (singular: vertex) or "corners". The interior of a solid polygon is sometimes called its "body". An "n"-gon is a polygon with "n" sides; for example, a triangle is a 3-gon.
A simple polygon is one which does not intersect itself. Mathematicians are often concerned only with the bounding polygonal chains of simple polygons and they often define a polygon accordingly. A polygonal boundary may be allowed to cross over itself, creating star polygons and other self-intersecting polygons.
A polygon is a 2-dimensional example of the more general polytope in any number of dimensions. There are many more generalizations of polygons defined for different purposes.
The word "polygon" derives from the Greek adjective πολύς ("polús") "much", "many" and γωνία ("gōnía") "corner" or "angle". It has been suggested that γόνυ ("gónu") "knee" may be the origin of "gon".
Polygons are primarily classified by the number of sides. See the table below.
Polygons may be characterized by their convexity or type of non-convexity:
Euclidean geometry is assumed throughout.
Any polygon has as many corners as it has sides. Each corner has several angles. The two most important ones are:
In this section, the vertices of the polygon under consideration are taken to be formula_6 in order. For convenience in some formulas, the notation will also be used.
If the polygon is non-self-intersecting (that is, simple), the signed area is
or, using determinants
where formula_9 is the squared distance between formula_10 and formula_11
The signed area depends on the ordering of the vertices and of the orientation of the plane. Commonly, the positive orientation is defined by the (counterclockwise) rotation that maps the positive -axis to the positive -axis. If the vertices are ordered counterclockwise (that is, according to positive orientation), the signed area is positive; otherwise, it is negative. In either case, the area formula is correct in absolute value. This is commonly called the shoelace formula or Surveyor's formula.
The area "A" of a simple polygon can also be computed if the lengths of the sides, "a"1, "a"2, ..., "an" and the exterior angles, "θ"1, "θ"2, ..., "θn" are known, from:
The formula was described by Lopshits in 1963.
If the polygon can be drawn on an equally spaced grid such that all its vertices are grid points, Pick's theorem gives a simple formula for the polygon's area based on the numbers of interior and boundary grid points: the former number plus one-half the latter number, minus 1.
In every polygon with perimeter "p" and area "A ", the isoperimetric inequality formula_13 holds.
For any two simple polygons of equal area, the Bolyai–Gerwien theorem asserts that the first can be cut into polygonal pieces which can be reassembled to form the second polygon.
The lengths of the sides of a polygon do not in general determine its area. However, if the polygon is cyclic then the sides "do" determine the area. Of all "n"-gons with given side lengths, the one with the largest area is cyclic. Of all "n"-gons with a given perimeter, the one with the largest area is regular (and therefore cyclic).
Many specialized formulas apply to the areas of regular polygons.
The area of a regular polygon is given in terms of the radius "r" of its inscribed circle and its perimeter "p" by
This radius is also termed its apothem and is often represented as "a".
The area of a regular "n"-gon with side "s" inscribed in a unit circle is
The area of a regular "n"-gon in terms of the radius "R" of its circumscribed circle and its perimeter "p" is given by
The area of a regular "n"-gon inscribed in a unit-radius circle, with side "s" and interior angle formula_17 can also be expressed trigonometrically as
The area of a self-intersecting polygon can be defined in two different ways, giving different answers:
Using the same convention for vertex coordinates as in the previous section, the coordinates of the centroid of a solid simple polygon are
In these formulas, the signed value of area formula_21 must be used.
For triangles (), the centroids of the vertices and of the solid shape are the same, but, in general, this is not true for . The centroid of the vertex set of a polygon with vertices has the coordinates
The idea of a polygon has been generalized in various ways. Some of the more important include:
The word "polygon" comes from Late Latin "polygōnum" (a noun), from Greek πολύγωνον ("polygōnon/polugōnon"), noun use of neuter of πολύγωνος ("polygōnos/polugōnos", the masculine adjective), meaning "many-angled". Individual polygons are named (and sometimes classified) according to the number of sides, combining a Greek-derived numerical prefix with the suffix "-gon", e.g. "pentagon", "dodecagon". The triangle, quadrilateral and nonagon are exceptions.
Beyond decagons (10-sided) and dodecagons (12-sided), mathematicians generally use numerical notation, for example 17-gon and 257-gon.
Exceptions exist for side counts that are more easily expressed in verbal form (e.g. 20 and 30), or are used by non-mathematicians. Some special polygons also have their own names; for example the regular star pentagon is also known as the pentagram.
To construct the name of a polygon with more than 20 and less than 100 edges, combine the prefixes as follows. The "kai" term applies to 13-gons and higher and was used by Kepler, and advocated by John H. Conway for clarity to concatenated prefix numbers in the naming of quasiregular polyhedra.
Polygons have been known since ancient times. The regular polygons were known to the ancient Greeks, with the pentagram, a non-convex regular polygon (star polygon), appearing as early as the 7th century B.C. on a krater by Aristophanes, found at Caere and now in the Capitoline Museum.
The first known systematic study of non-convex polygons in general was made by Thomas Bradwardine in the 14th century.
In 1952, Geoffrey Colin Shephard generalized the idea of polygons to the complex plane, where each real dimension is accompanied by an imaginary one, to create complex polygons.
Polygons appear in rock formations, most commonly as the flat facets of crystals, where the angles between the sides depend on the type of mineral from which the crystal is made.
Regular hexagons can occur when the cooling of lava forms areas of tightly packed columns of basalt, which may be seen at the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, or at the Devil's Postpile in California.
In biology, the surface of the wax honeycomb made by bees is an array of hexagons, and the sides and base of each cell are also polygons.
In computer graphics, a polygon is a primitive used in modelling and rendering. They are defined in a database, containing arrays of vertices (the coordinates of the geometrical vertices, as well as other attributes of the polygon, such as color, shading and texture), connectivity information, and materials.
Any surface is modelled as a tessellation called polygon mesh. If a square mesh has points (vertices) per side, there are "n" squared squares in the mesh, or 2"n" squared triangles since there are two triangles in a square. There are vertices per triangle. Where "n" is large, this approaches one half. Or, each vertex inside the square mesh connects four edges (lines).
The imaging system calls up the structure of polygons needed for the scene to be created from the database. This is transferred to active memory and finally, to the display system (screen, TV monitors etc.) so that the scene can be viewed. During this process, the imaging system renders polygons in correct perspective ready for transmission of the processed data to the display system. Although polygons are two-dimensional, through the system computer they are placed in a visual scene in the correct three-dimensional orientation.
In computer graphics and computational geometry, it is often necessary to determine whether a given point "P" = ("x"0,"y"0) lies inside a simple polygon given by a sequence of line segments. This is called the point in polygon test. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23621 |
Player character
A player character (also known as PC and playable character) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are directly controlled by a player of the game rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not controlled by a player are called non-player characters (NPCs). The actions of non-player characters are typically handled by the game itself in video games, or according to rules followed by a gamemaster refereeing tabletop role-playing games. The player character functions as a fictional, alternate body for the player controlling the character.
Video games typically have one player character for each person playing the game. Some games, such as multiplayer online battle arena, hero shooter and fighting games, offer a group of player characters for the player to choose from, allowing the player to control one of them at a time. Where more than one player character is available, the characters may have different abilities, strengths, and weaknesses to make the game play style different.
A player character may sometimes be based on a real person, especially in sports games that use the names and likenesses of real sports people. Historical people and leaders may sometimes appear as characters too, particularly in strategy or empire building games such as in Sid Meier's "Civilization" series. Such a player character is more properly an avatar as the player character's name and image typically have little bearing on the game itself. Avatars are also commonly seen in casino game simulations.
In many video games, and especially first-person shooters, the player character is a "blank slate" without any notable characteristics or even backstory. Pac-Man, Crono, Link and Chell are examples of such characters. These characters are generally silent protagonists.
Some games will go even further, never showing or naming the player-character at all. This is somewhat common in first-person videogames, such as in "Myst", but is more often done in strategy video games such as "Dune 2000," "," and "Command & Conquer" series. In such games, the only real indication that the player has a character (instead of an omnipresent status), is from the cutscenes during which the character is being given a mission briefing or debriefing; the player is usually addressed as "general", "commander", or another military rank.
In gaming culture, such a character was called Ageless, Faceless, Gender-Neutral, Culturally Ambiguous Adventure Person, abbreviated as AFGNCAAP; a term that originated in "" where it is used satirically to refer to the player.
Fighting games typically have a larger number of player characters to choose from, with some basic moves available to all or most characters and some unique moves only available to one or a few characters. Having many different characters to play as and against, all possessing different moves and abilities, is necessary to create a larger gameplay variety in such games.
In role playing games such as "Dungeons & Dragons" or "Final Fantasy," a player typically creates or takes on the identity of a character that may have nothing in common with the player. The character is often of a certain (usually fictional) race and class (such as zombie, berserker, rifleman, elf, or cleric), each with strengths and weaknesses. The attributes of the characters (such as magic and fighting ability) are given as numerical values which can be increased as the gamer progresses and gains rank and experience points through accomplishing goals or fighting enemies.
A secret or unlockable character is a playable character in a video game available only after either completing the game or meeting another requirement. In some video games, characters that are not secret but appear only as non-player characters like bosses or enemies become playable characters after completing certain requirements, or sometimes cheating. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23622 |
Parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or more curates, and who operates from a parish church. Historically, a parish often covered the same geographical area as a manor. Its association with the parish church remains paramount.
By extension the term "parish" refers not only to the territorial entity but to the people of its community or congregation as well as to church property within it. In England this church property was technically in ownership of the parish priest "ex-officio", vested in him on his institution to that parish.
First attested in English in the late, 13th century, the word "parish" comes from the Old French "paroisse", in turn from , the latinisation of the , "sojourning in a foreign land", itself from ("paroikos"), "dwelling beside, stranger, sojourner", which is a compound of ("pará"), "beside, by, near" and οἶκος ("oîkos"), "house".
As an ancient concept, the term "parish" occurs in the long-established Christian denominations: Catholic, Anglican Communion, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and Lutheran churches, and in some Methodist, Congregationalist and Presbyterian administrations.
The eighth Archbishop of Canterbury Theodore of Tarsus (c. 602–690) appended the parish structure to the Anglo-Saxon township unit, where it existed, and where minsters catered to the surrounding district.
Broadly speaking, the parish is the standard unit in episcopal polity of church administration, although parts of a parish may be subdivided as a "chapelry", with a chapel of ease or filial church serving as the local place of worship in cases of difficulty to access the main parish church.
In the wider picture of ecclesiastical polity, a "parish" comprises a division of a diocese or see. Parishes within a diocese may be grouped into a deanery or "vicariate forane" (or simply "vicariate"), overseen by a dean or "vicar forane", or in some cases by an archpriest. Some churches of the Anglican Communion have deaneries as units of an archdeaconry.
The Church of England geographical structure uses the local parish church as its basic unit. The parish system survived the Reformation with the Anglican Church's secession from Rome remaining largely untouched, thus it shares its roots with the Catholic Church's system described above. Parishes may extend into different counties or hundreds and historically many parishes comprised extra outlying portions in addition to its principal district, usually being described as 'detached' and intermixed with the lands of other parishes. Church of England parishes nowadays all lie within one of 44 dioceses divided between the provinces of Canterbury, 30 and York, 14.
Each parish normally has its own parish priest (either a vicar or rector, owing to the vagaries of the feudal tithe system: rectories usually having had greater income) and perhaps supported by one or more curates or deacons - although as a result of ecclesiastical pluralism some parish priests might have held more than one parish living, placing a curate in charge of those where they do not reside. Now, however, it is common for a number of neighbouring parishes to be placed under one benefice in the charge of a priest who conducts services by rotation, with additional services being provided by lay readers or other non-ordained members of the church community.
A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England, and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. It had a similar status to a township but was so named as it had a chapel which acted as a subsidiary place of worship to the main parish church.
In England civil parishes and their governing parish councils evolved in the 19th century as ecclesiastical parishes began to be relieved of what became considered to be civic responsibilities. Thus their boundaries began to diverge. The word "parish" acquired a secular usage. Since 1895, a parish council elected by public vote or a (civil) parish meeting administers a civil parish and is formally recognised as the level of local government below a district council.
The traditional structure of the Church of England with the parish as the basic unit has been exported to other countries and churches throughout the Anglican Communion and Commonwealth but does not necessarily continue to be administered in the same way.
The parish is also the basic level of church administration in the Church of Scotland. Spiritual oversight of each parish church in Scotland is responsibility of the congregation's Kirk Session. Patronage was regulated in 1711 (Patronage Act) and abolished in 1874, with the result that ministers must be elected by members of the congregation. Many parish churches in Scotland today are "linked" with neighbouring parish churches served by a single minister. Since the abolition of parishes as a unit of civil government in Scotland in 1929, Scottish parishes have purely ecclesiastical significance and the boundaries may be adjusted by the local Presbytery.
The church in Wales was disestablished in 1920 and is made up of six dioceses. Parishes were also civil administration areas until communities were established in 1974.
Although they are more often simply called congregations and have no geographic boundaries, in the United Methodist Church congregations are called parishes. A prominent example of this usage comes in "The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church", in which the committee of every local congregation that handles staff support is referred to as the committee on Pastor-Parish Relations. This committee gives recommendations to the bishop on behalf of the parish/congregation since it is the United Methodist Bishop of the episcopal area who appoints a pastor to each congregation. The same is true in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.
In New Zealand, a local grouping of Methodist churches that share one or more ministers (which in the United Kingdom would be called a circuit) is referred to as a parish.
In the Catholic Church, each parish normally has its own parish priest (in some countries called pastor), who has responsibility and canonical authority over the parish.
What in most English-speaking countries is termed the "parish priest" is referred to as the "pastor" in the United States, where the term "parish priest" is used of any priest assigned to a parish even in a subordinate capacity. These are called "assistant priests", "parochial vicars", "curates", or, in the United States, "associate pastors" and "assistant pastors".
Each diocese (administrative region) is divided into parishes, each with their own central church called the parish church, where religious services take place. Some larger parishes or parishes that have been combined under one parish priest may have two or more such churches, or the parish may be responsible for chapels (or chapels of ease) located at some distance from the mother church for the convenience of distant parishioners.
Normally, a parish comprises all Catholics living within its geographically defined area, but non-territorial parishes can also be established within a defined area on a personal basis for Catholics belonging to a particular rite, language, nationality, or community. An example is that of personal parishes established in accordance with the 7 July 2007 "motu proprio" "Summorum Pontificum" for those attached to the pre-Vatican II liturgy.
Most Catholic parishes are part of Latin Rite dioceses, which together cover the whole territory of a country. There can also be overlapping parishes of eparchies of Eastern Catholic Churches, personal ordinariates or military ordinariates. Parishes are generally territorial, but may be personal. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23623 |
Procopius
Procopius of Caesarea ( "Prokópios ho Kaisareús"; ; ) was a prominent late antique Byzantine Greek scholar from Palaestina Prima. Accompanying the Byzantine general Belisarius in Emperor Justinian's wars, Procopius became the principal Byzantine historian of the 6th century, writing the "History of the Wars", the "Buildings", and the "Secret History". He is commonly classified as the last major historian of the ancient Western world.
Apart from his own writings, the main source for Procopius's life was an entry in the "Suda", a Byzantine Greek encyclopaedia written sometime after 975, which discusses his early life. He was a native of Caesarea in the province of "Palaestina Prima". He would have received a conventional elite education in the Greek classics and rhetoric, perhaps at the famous school at Gaza. He may have attended law school, possibly at Berytus (present-day Beirut) or Constantinople (now Istanbul), and became a lawyer ("rhetor"). He evidently knew Latin, as was natural for a man with legal training. In 527, the first year of the reign of the emperor JustinianI, he became the legal adviser ("") for Belisarius, a general whom Justinian made his chief military commander in a great attempt to restore control over the lost western provinces of the empire.
Procopius was with Belisarius on the eastern front until the latter was defeated at the Battle of Callinicum in 531 and recalled to Constantinople. Procopius witnessed the Nika riots of January, 532, which Belisarius and his fellow general Mundus repressed with a massacre in the Hippodrome. In 533, he accompanied Belisarius on his victorious expedition against the Vandal kingdom in North Africa, took part in the capture of Carthage, and remained in Africa with Belisarius's successor Solomon the Eunuch when Belisarius returned east to the capital. Procopius recorded a few of the extreme weather events of 535–536, although these were presented as a backdrop to Byzantine military activities, such as a mutiny in and around Carthage. He rejoined Belisarius for his campaign against the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy and experienced the Gothic siege of Rome that lasted a year and nine days, ending in mid-March 538. He witnessed Belisarius's entry into the Gothic capital, Ravenna, in 540. Both the "Wars" and the "Secret History" suggest that his relationship with Belisarius cooled thereafter. When Belisarius was sent back to Italy in 544 to cope with a renewal of the war with the Goths, now led by the able king Totila, Procopius appears to have no longer been on Belisarius's staff.
As "magister militum", Belisarius was an "illustrious man" (; , "illoústrios"); being his ', Procopius must therefore have had at least the rank of a "visible man" ("vir spectabilis"). He thus belonged to the mid-ranking group of the senatorial order ('). However, the "Suda", which is usually well informed in such matters, also describes Procopius himself as one of the '. Should this information be correct, Procopius would have had a seat in Constantinople's senate, which was restricted to the ' under Justinian. He also wrote that under Justinian's reign in 560, a major Christian church dedicated the Virgin Mary was built on the site of the Temple Mount.
It is not certain when Procopius died. Many historiansincluding Howard-Johnson, Cameron, and Greatrexdate his death to 554, but there was an urban prefect of Constantinople ("") called Procopius in 562. In that year, Belisarius was implicated in a conspiracy and was brought before this urban prefect.
In fact, some scholars have argued that Procopius died at least a few years after 565 as he unequivocally states in the beginning of his "Secret History" that he planned to publish it after the death of Justinian for fear he would be tortured and killed by the emperor (or even by general Belisarius) if the emperor (or the general) learned about what Procopius wrote (his scathing criticism of the emperor, of his wife, of Belisarius, of the general's wife, Antonia: calling the former "demons in human form" and the latter incompetent and treacherous) in this later history. However, most scholars believe that the "Secret History" was written in 550 and remained unpublished during Procopius' lifetime.
The writings of Procopius are the primary source of information for the rule of the emperor JustinianI. Procopius was the author of a history in eight books on the wars prosecuted by Justinian, a panegyric on the emperor's public works projects throughout the empire, and a book known as the "Secret History" that claims to report the scandals that Procopius could not include in his officially sanctioned history for fear of angering the emperor, his wife, Belisarius, and the general's wife and had to wait until all of them were dead to avoid retaliation.
Procopius's "Wars" or "History of the Wars" (, "Hypèr tōn Polémon Lógoi", "Words on the Wars"; , "On the Wars") is his most important work, although less well known than the "Secret History". The first seven books seem to have been largely completed by 545 and may have been published as a unit. They were, however, updated to mid-century before publication, with the latest mentioned event occurring in early 551. The eighth and final book brings the history to 553.
The first two booksoften known as "The Persian War" ()deal with the conflict between the Romans and Sassanid Persia in Mesopotamia, Syria, Armenia, Lazica, and Iberia (present-day Georgia). It details the campaigns of the Sassanid shah KavadhI, the 532 'Nika' revolt, the war by Kavadh's successor KhosrauI in 540, his destruction of Antioch and deportation of its inhabitants to Mesopotamia, and the great plague that devastated the empire from 542. The "Persian War" also covers the early career of Procopius's patron Belisarius in some detail.
The "Wars"’ next two booksknown as "The Vandal War" or "Vandalic War" ()cover Belisarius's successful campaign against the Vandal kingdom that had occupied Rome's provinces in northwest Africa for the last century.
The final four booksknown as "The Gothic War" ()cover the Italian campaigns by Belisarius and others against the Ostrogoths. Procopius includes accounts of the 1st and 2nd sieges of Naples and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd sieges of Rome. He also includes an account of the rise of the Franks (see "Arborychoi"). The last book describes the eunuch Narses's successful conclusion of the Italian campaign and includes some coverage of campaigns along the empire's eastern borders as well.
The "Wars" proved influential on later Byzantine historiography.
In the 570s Agathias wrote "Histories", a continuation of Procopius's work in a similar style.
Procopius's now famous "Anecdota" also known as "Secret History" (, "Apókryphe Historía"; ) was discovered centuries later at the Vatican Library in Rome and published in Lyon by Niccolò Alamanni in 1623. Its existence was already known from the "Suda", which referred to it as Procopius's "unpublished works" containing "comedy" and "invective" of Justinian, Theodora, Belisarius and Antonina. The "Secret History" covers roughly the same years as the first seven books of "The History of the Wars" and appears to have been written after they were published. Current consensus generally dates it to 550, or less commonly, 558.
In the eyes of many scholars, the "Secret History" reveals an author who had become deeply disillusioned with Emperor Justinian, his wife Theodora, the general Belisarius, and his wife Antonina. The work claims to expose the secret springs of their public actions, as well as the private lives of the emperor and his entourage. Justinian is portrayed as cruel, venal, prodigal, and incompetent. In one passage, it is even claimed that he was possessed by demonic spirits or was himself a demon:
Similarly, the Theodora of the "Secret History" is a garish portrait of vulgarity and insatiable lust juxtaposed with cold-blooded self-interest, shrewishness, and envious and fearful mean-spiritedness. Among the more titillating (and dubious) revelations in the "Secret History" is Procopius's account of Theodora's thespian accomplishments:
Furthermore, "Secret History" portrays Belisarius as a weak man completely emasculated by his wife, Antonina, who is portrayed in very similar terms to Theodora. They are both said to be former actresses and close friends. Procopius claimed Antonina worked as an agent for Theodora against Belisarius, and had an ongoing affair with Belisarius' godson, Theodosius.
On the other hand, it has been argued that Procopius prepared the "Secret History" as an exaggerated document out of fear that a conspiracy might overthrow Justinian's regime, whichas a kind of court historianmight be reckoned to include him. The unpublished manuscript would then have been a kind of insurance, which could be offered to the new ruler as a way to avoid execution or exile after the coup. If this hypothesis were correct, the "Secret History" would not be proof that Procopius hated Justinian or Theodora.
"The Buildings" (, "Perì Ktismáton"; , "On Buildings") is a panegyric on Justinian's public works projects throughout the empire. The first book may date to before the collapse of the first dome of Hagia Sophia in 557, but some scholars think that it is possible that the work postdates the building of the bridge over the Sangarius in the late 550s. Historians consider "Buildings" to be an incomplete work due to evidence of the surviving version being a draft with two possible redactions.
"Buildings" was likely written at Justinian's behest, and it is doubtful that its sentiments expressed are sincere. It tells us nothing further about Belisarius, and it takes a sharply different attitude towards Justinian. He is presented as an idealised Christian emperor who built churches for the glory of God and defenses for the safety of his subjects. He is depicted showing particular concern for the water supply, building new aqueducts and restoring those that had fallen into disuse. Theodora, who was dead when this panegyric was written, is mentioned only briefly, but Procopius's praise of her beauty is fulsome.
Due to the panegyrical nature of Procopius's "Buildings", historians have discovered several discrepancies between claims made by Procopius and accounts in other primary sources. A prime example is Procopius's starting the reign of Justinian in 518, which was actually the start of the reign of his uncle and predecessor By treating the uncle's reign as part of his nephew's, Procopius was able to credit Justinian with buildings erected or begun under Justin's administration. Such works include renovation of the walls of Edessa after its 525 flood and consecration of several churches in the region. Similarly, Procopius falsely credits Justinian for the extensive refortification of the cities of Tomis and Histria in Scythia Minor. This had actually been carried out under who reigned before Justin.
Procopius belongs to the school of late antique historians who continued the traditions of the Second Sophistic. They wrote in Attic Greek; their models were Herodotus, Polybius andparticularlyThucydides; and their subject matter was secular history. They avoided vocabulary unknown to Attic Greek and inserted an explanation when they had to use contemporary words. Thus Procopius includes glosses of monks ("the most temperate of Christians") and churches (as equivalent to a "temple" or "shrine"), since monasticism was unknown to the ancient Athenians and their "ekklesía" had been a popular assembly.
The secular historians eschewed the history of the Christian church; ecclesiastical history was left to a separate genre after Eusebius. However, Cameron has argued convincingly that Procopius's works reflect the tensions between the classical and Christian models of history in 6th-century Constantinople. This is supported by Whitby's analysis of Procopius's depiction of the capital and its cathedral in comparison to contemporary pagan panegyrics. Procopius can be seen as depicting Justinian as essentially God's vicegerent, making the case for buildings being a primarily religious panegyric. Procopius indicates that he planned to write an ecclesiastical history himself and, if he had, he would probably have followed the rules of that genre. As far as known, however, such an ecclesiastical history was never written.
A number of historical novels based on Procopius's works (along with other sources) have been written. "Count Belisarius" was written by poet and novelist Robert Graves in 1938. Procopius himself appears as a minor character in Felix Dahn's "A Struggle for Rome" and in L. Sprague de Camp's alternate history novel "Lest Darkness Fall". The novel's main character, archaeologist Martin Padway, derives most of his knowledge of historical events from the "Secret History".
The narrator in Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick cites Procopius's description of a captured sea monster as evidence of the narrative's feasibility. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23624 |
Property
Property in the abstract is what belongs to or with something, whether as an attribute or as a component of said thing. In the context of this article, it is one or more components (rather than attributes), whether physical or incorporeal, of a person's estate; or so belonging to, as in being owned by, a person or jointly a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation or even a society. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property has the right to consume, alter, share, redefine, rent, mortgage, pawn, sell, exchange, transfer, give away or destroy it, or to exclude others from doing these things, as well as to perhaps abandon it; whereas regardless of the nature of the property, the owner thereof has the right to properly use it (as a durable, mean or factor, or whatever), or at the very least exclusively keep it.
In economics and political economy, there are three broad forms of property: private property, public property, and collective property (also called cooperative property). Property that jointly belongs to more than one party may be possessed or controlled thereby in very similar or very distinct ways, whether simply or complexly, whether equally or unequally. However, there is an expectation that each party's will (rather discretion) with regard to the property be clearly defined and unconditional, so as to distinguish ownership and easement from rent. The parties might expect their wills to be unanimous, or alternately every given one of them, when no opportunity for or possibility of dispute with any other of them exists, may expect his, her, its or their own will to be sufficient and absolute. The Restatement (First) of Property defines property as anything, tangible or intangible whereby a legal relationship between persons and the state enforces a possessory interest or legal title in that thing. This mediating relationship between individual, property and state is called a property regime.
In sociology and anthropology, property is often defined as a relationship between two or more individuals and an object, in which at least one of these individuals holds a bundle of rights over the object. The distinction between "collective property" and "private property" is regarded as a confusion since different individuals often hold differing rights over a single object.
Important widely recognized types of property include real property (the combination of land and any improvements to or on the land), personal property (physical possessions belonging to a person), private property (property owned by legal persons, business entities or individual natural persons), public property (state owned or publicly owned and available possessions) and intellectual property (exclusive rights over artistic creations, inventions, etc.), although the last is not always as widely recognized or enforced. An article of property may have physical and incorporeal parts. A title, or a right of ownership, establishes the relation between the property and other persons, assuring the owner the right to dispose of the property as the owner sees fit.
Often property is defined by the code of the local sovereignty, and protected wholly or more usually partially by such entity, the owner being responsible for any remainder of protection. The standards of proof concerning proofs of ownerships are also addressed by the code of the local sovereignty, and such entity plays a role accordingly, typically somewhat managerial. Some philosophers assert that property rights arise from social convention, while others find justifications for them in morality or in natural law.
Various scholarly disciplines (such as law, economics, anthropology or sociology) may treat the concept more systematically, but definitions vary, most particularly when involving contracts. Positive law defines such rights, and the judiciary can adjudicate and enforce property rights.
According to Adam Smith, the expectation of profit from "improving one's stock of capital" rests on private property rights. Capitalism has as a central assumption that property rights encourage their holders to develop the property, generate wealth, and efficiently allocate resources based on the operation of markets. From this has evolved the modern conception of property as a right enforced by positive law, in the expectation that this will produce more wealth and better standards of living. However, Smith also expressed a very critical view on the effects of property laws on inequality:
In his text "The Common Law", Oliver Wendell Holmes describes property as having two fundamental aspects. The first, possession, can be defined as control over a resource based on the practical inability of another to contradict the ends of the possessor. The second, title, is the expectation that others will recognize rights to control resource, even when it is not in possession. He elaborates the differences between these two concepts, and proposes a history of how they came to be attached to persons, as opposed to families or to entities such as the church.
Both communism and some kinds of socialism have also upheld the notion that private ownership of capital is inherently illegitimate. This argument centers mainly on the idea that private ownership of capital always benefits one class over another, giving rise to domination through the use of this privately owned capital. Communists do not oppose personal property that is "hard-won, self-acquired, self-earned" (as "The Communist Manifesto" puts it) by members of the proletariat. Both socialism and communism distinguish carefully between private ownership of capital (land, factories, resources, etc.) and private property (homes, material objects and so forth).
Most legal systems distinguish between different types of property, especially between land (immovable property, estate in land, real estate, real property) and all other forms of property—goods and chattels, movable property or personal property, including the value of legal tender if not the legal tender itself, as the manufacturer rather than the possessor might be the owner. They often distinguish tangible and intangible property. One categorization scheme specifies three species of property: land, improvements (immovable man-made things), and personal property (movable man-made things).
In common law, real property (immovable property) is the combination of interests in land and improvements thereto, and personal property is interest in movable property. Real property rights are rights relating to the land. These rights include ownership and usage. Owners can grant rights to persons and entities in the form of leases, licenses and easements.
Throughout the last centuries of the second millennium, with the development of more complex theories of property, the concept of personal property had become divided into tangible property (such as cars and clothing) and intangible property (such as financial instruments, including stocks and bonds; intellectual property, including patents, copyrights and trademarks; digital files; communication channels; and certain forms of identifier, including Internet domain names, some forms of network address, some forms of handle and again trademarks).
Treatment of intangible property is such that an article of property is, by law or otherwise by traditional conceptualization, subject to expiration even when inheritable, which is a key distinction from tangible property. Upon expiration, the property, if of the intellectual category, becomes a part of public domain, to be used by but not owned by anybody, and possibly used by more than one party simultaneously due the inapplicability of scarcity to intellectual property. Whereas things such as communications channels and pairs of electromagnetic spectrum band and signal transmission power can only be used by a single party at a time, or a single party in a divisible context, if owned or used at all. Thus far or usually those are not considered property, or at least not private property, even though the party bearing right of exclusive use may transfer that right to another.
In many societies the human body is considered property of some kind or other. The question of the ownership and rights to one's body arise in general in the discussion of human rights, including the specific issues of slavery, conscription, rights of children under the age of majority, marriage, abortion, prostitution, drugs, euthanasia and organ donation.
Of the following, only sale and at-will sharing involve no encumbrance.
The two major justifications given for original property, or the homestead principle, are effort and scarcity. John Locke emphasized effort, "mixing your labor" with an object, or clearing and cultivating virgin land. Benjamin Tucker preferred to look at the telos of property, i.e. What is the purpose of property? His answer: to solve the scarcity problem. Only when items are relatively scarce with respect to people's desires do they become property. For example, hunter-gatherers did not consider land to be property, since there was no shortage of land. Agrarian societies later made arable land property, as it was scarce. For something to be economically scarce it must necessarily have the "exclusivity property"—that use by one person excludes others from using it. These two justifications lead to different conclusions on what can be property. Intellectual property—incorporeal things like ideas, plans, orderings and arrangements (musical compositions, novels, computer programs)—are generally considered valid property to those who support an effort justification, but invalid to those who support a scarcity justification, since the things don't have the exclusivity property (however, those who support a scarcity justification may still support other "intellectual property" laws such as Copyright, as long as these are a subject of contract instead of government arbitration). Thus even ardent propertarians may disagree about IP. By either standard, one's body is one's property.
From some anarchist points of view, the validity of property depends on whether the "property right" requires enforcement by the state. Different forms of "property" require different amounts of enforcement: intellectual property requires a great deal of state intervention to enforce, ownership of distant physical property requires quite a lot, ownership of carried objects requires very little, while ownership of one's own body requires absolutely no state intervention. Some anarchists don't believe in property at all.
Many things have existed that did not have an owner, sometimes called the commons. The term "commons," however, is also often used to mean something quite different: "general collective ownership"—i.e. common ownership. Also, the same term is sometimes used by statists to mean government-owned property that the general public is allowed to access (public property). Law in all societies has tended to develop towards reducing the number of things not having clear owners. Supporters of property rights argue that this enables better protection of scarce resources, due to the tragedy of the commons, while critics argue that it leads to the 'exploitation' of those resources for personal gain and that it hinders taking advantage of potential network effects. These arguments have differing validity for different types of "property"—things that are not scarce are, for instance, not subject to the tragedy of the commons. Some apparent critics advocate general collective ownership rather than ownerlessness.
Things that do not have owners include: ideas (except for intellectual property), seawater (which is, however, protected by anti-pollution laws), parts of the seafloor (see the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea for restrictions), gases in Earth's atmosphere, animals in the wild (although in most nations, animals are tied to the land. In the United States and Canada wildlife are generally defined in statute as property of the state. This public ownership of wildlife is referred to as the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation and is based on The Public Trust Doctrine.), celestial bodies and outer space, and land in Antarctica.
The nature of children under the age of majority is another contested issue here. In ancient societies children were generally considered the property of their parents. Children in most modern societies theoretically own their own bodies but are not considered competent to exercise their rights, and their parents or guardians are given most of the actual rights of control over them.
Questions regarding the nature of ownership of the body also come up in the issue of abortion, drugs and euthanasia.
In many ancient legal systems (e.g. early Roman law), religious sites (e.g. temples) were considered property of the God or gods they were devoted to. However, religious pluralism makes it more convenient to have religious sites owned by the religious body that runs them.
Intellectual property and air (airspace, no-fly zone, pollution laws, which can include tradable emissions rights) can be property in some senses of the word.
Ownership of land can be held separately from the ownership of rights over that land, including sporting rights, mineral rights, development rights, air rights, and such other rights as may be worth segregating from simple land ownership.
Ownership laws may vary widely among countries depending on the nature of the property of interest (e.g. firearms, real property, personal property, animals). Persons can own property directly. In most societies legal entities, such as corporations, trusts and nations (or governments) own property.
In many countries women have limited access to property following restrictive inheritance and family laws, under which only men have actual or formal rights to own property.
In the Inca empire, the dead emperors, who were considered gods, still controlled property after death.
In 17th-century England, the legal directive that nobody may enter a home, which in the 17th-century would typically have been male owned, unless by the owners invitation or consent, was established as common law in Sir Edward Coke’s "Institutes of the Lawes of England". "For a man's house is his castle, et domus sua cuique est tutissimum refugium [and each man's home is his safest refuge]." It is the origin of the famous dictum, “an Englishman’s home is his castle”. The ruling enshrined into law what several English writers had espoused in the 16th-century. Unlike the rest of Europe the British had a proclivity towards owning their own homes. British Prime Minister William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham defined the meaning of castle in 1763, "The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the crown. It may be frail – its roof may shake – the wind may blow through it – the storm may enter – the rain may enter – but the King of England cannot enter."
A principle exported to the United States, under U.S. law the principal limitations on whether and the extent to which the State may interfere with property rights are set by the Constitution. The "Takings" clause requires that the government (whether state or federal—for the 14th Amendment's due process clause imposes the 5th Amendment's takings clause on state governments) may take private property only for a public purpose, after exercising due process of law, and upon making "just compensation." If an interest is not deemed a "property" right or the conduct is merely an intentional tort, these limitations do not apply and the doctrine of sovereign immunity precludes relief. Moreover, if the interference does not almost completely make the property valueless, the interference will not be deemed a taking but instead a mere regulation of use. On the other hand, some governmental regulations of property use have been deemed so severe that they have been considered "regulatory takings." Moreover, conduct sometimes deemed only a nuisance or other tort has been held a taking of property where the conduct was sufficiently persistent and severe.
There exist many theories of property. One is the relatively rare first possession theory of property, where ownership of something is seen as justified simply by someone seizing something before someone else does. Perhaps one of the most popular is the natural rights definition of property rights as advanced by John Locke. Locke advanced the theory that God granted dominion over nature to man through Adam in the book of Genesis. Therefore, he theorized that when one mixes one's labor with nature, one gains a relationship with that part of nature with which the labor is mixed, subject to the limitation that there should be "enough, and as good, left in common for others." (see Lockean proviso)
From the RERUM NOVARUM, Pope Leo XIII wrote "It is surely undeniable that, when a man engages in remunerative labor, the impelling reason and motive of his work is to obtain property, and thereafter to hold it as his very own."
Anthropology studies the diverse systems of ownership, rights of use and transfer, and possession under the term "theories of property." Western legal theory is based, as mentioned, on the owner of property being a legal person. However, not all property systems are founded on this basis.
In every culture studied ownership and possession are the subject of custom and regulation, and "law" where the term can meaningfully be applied. Many tribal cultures balance individual ownership with the laws of collective groups: tribes, families, associations and nations. For example, the 1839 Cherokee Constitution frames the issue in these terms:
Communal property systems describe ownership as belonging to the entire social and political unit. Common ownership in a hypothetical communist society is distinguished from primitive forms of common property that have existed throughout history, such as Communalism and primitive communism, in that communist common ownership is the outcome of social and technological developments leading to the elimination of material scarcity in society.
Corporate systems describe ownership as being attached to an identifiable group with an identifiable responsible individual. The Roman property law was based on such a corporate system. In a well-known paper that contributed to the creation of the field of law and economics in the late 1960s, the American scholar Harold Demsetz described how the concept of property rights makes social interactions easier:
Different societies may have different theories of property for differing types of ownership. Pauline Peters argued that property systems are not isolable from the social fabric, and notions of property may not be stated as such, but instead may be framed in negative terms: for example the taboo system among Polynesian peoples.
In medieval and Renaissance Europe the term "property" essentially referred to land. After much rethinking, land has come to be regarded as only a special case of the property genus. This rethinking was inspired by at least three broad features of early modern Europe: the surge of commerce, the breakdown of efforts to prohibit interest (then called "usury"), and the development of centralized national monarchies.
Urukagina, the king of the Sumerian city-state Lagash, established the first laws that forbade compelling the sale of property.
The Bible in Leviticus 19:11 and ibid. 19:13 states that the Israelites are not to steal.
Aristotle, in "Politics," advocates "private property." He argues that self-interest leads to neglect of the commons. "[T]hat which is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it. Every one thinks chiefly of his own, hardly at all of the common interest; and only when he is himself concerned as an individual."
In addition he says that when property is common, there are natural problems that arise due to differences in labor: "If they do not share equally enjoyments and toils, those who labor much and get little will necessarily complain of those who labor little and receive or consume much. But indeed there is always a difficulty in men living together and having all human relations in common, but especially in their having common property." ("Politics, 1261b34")
Cicero held that there is no private property under natural law but only under human law. Seneca viewed property as only becoming necessary when men become avarice. St. Ambrose later adopted this view and St. Augustine even derided heretics for complaining the Emperor could not confiscate property they had labored for.
The canon law "Decretum Gratiani" maintained that mere human law creates property, repeating the phrases used by St. Augustine. St. Thomas Aquinas agreed with regard to the private consumption of property but modified patristic theory in finding that the private possession of property is necessary. Thomas Aquinas concludes that, given certain detailed provisions,
The principal writings of Thomas Hobbes appeared between 1640 and 1651—during and immediately following the war between forces loyal to King Charles I and those loyal to Parliament. In his own words, Hobbes' reflection began with the idea of "giving to every man his own," a phrase he drew from the writings of Cicero. But he wondered: How can anybody call anything his own? He concluded: My own can only truly be mine if there is one unambiguously strongest power in the realm, and that power treats it as mine, protecting its status as such.
A contemporary of Hobbes, James Harrington, reacted to the same tumult in a different way: he considered property natural but not inevitable. The author of "Oceana", he may have been the first political theorist to postulate that political power is a consequence, not the cause, of the distribution of property. He said that the worst possible situation is one in which the commoners have half a nation's property, with crown and nobility holding the other half—a circumstance fraught with instability and violence. A much better situation (a stable republic) will exist once the commoners own most property, he suggested.
In later years, the ranks of Harrington's admirers included American revolutionary and founder John Adams.
Another member of the Hobbes/Harrington generation, Sir Robert Filmer, reached conclusions much like Hobbes', but through Biblical exegesis. Filmer said that the institution of kingship is analogous to that of fatherhood, that subjects are but children, whether obedient or unruly, and that property rights are akin to the household goods that a father may dole out among his children—his to take back and dispose of according to his pleasure.
In the following generation, John Locke sought to answer Filmer, creating a rationale for a balanced constitution in which the monarch had a part to play, but not an overwhelming part. Since Filmer's views essentially require that the Stuart family be uniquely descended from the patriarchs of the Bible, and since even in the late 17th century that was a difficult view to uphold, Locke attacked Filmer's views in his First Treatise on Government, freeing him to set out his own views in the Second Treatise on Civil Government. Therein, Locke imagined a pre-social world, each of the unhappy residents of which are willing to create a social contract because otherwise "the enjoyment of the property he has in this state is very unsafe, very unsecure," and therefore the "great and chief end, therefore, of men's uniting into commonwealths, and putting themselves under government, is the preservation of their property." They would, he allowed, create a monarchy, but its task would be to execute the will of an elected legislature. "To this end" (to achieve the previously specified goal), he wrote, "it is that men give up all their natural power to the society they enter into, and the community put the legislative power into such hands as they think fit, with this trust, that they shall be governed by declared laws, or else their peace, quiet, and property will still be at the same uncertainty as it was in the state of nature."
Even when it keeps to proper legislative form, though, Locke held that there are limits to what a government established by such a contract might rightly do.
"It cannot be supposed that [the hypothetical contractors] they should intend, had they a power so to do, to give any one or more an absolute arbitrary power over their persons and estates, and put a force into the magistrate's hand to execute his unlimited will arbitrarily upon them; this were to put themselves into a worse condition than the state of nature, wherein they had a liberty to defend their right against the injuries of others, and were upon equal terms of force to maintain it, whether invaded by a single man or many in combination. Whereas by supposing they have given up themselves to the absolute arbitrary power and will of a legislator, they have disarmed themselves, and armed him to make a prey of them when he pleases..."
Note that both "persons "and" estates" are to be protected from the arbitrary power of any magistrate, inclusive of the "power and will of a legislator." In Lockean terms, depredations against an estate are just as plausible a justification for resistance and revolution as are those against persons. In neither case are subjects required to allow themselves to become prey.
To explain the ownership of property Locke advanced a labor theory of property.
In contrast to the figures discussed in this section thus far David Hume lived a relatively quiet life that had settled down to a relatively stable social and political structure. He lived the life of a solitary writer until 1763 when, at 52 years of age, he went off to Paris to work at the British embassy.
In contrast, one might think, to his polemical works on religion and his empiricism-driven skeptical epistemology, Hume's views on law and property were quite conservative.
He did not believe in hypothetical contracts, or in the love of mankind in general, and sought to ground politics upon actual human beings as one knows them. "In general," he wrote, "it may be affirmed that there is no such passion in human mind, as the love of mankind, merely as such, independent of personal qualities, or services, or of relation to ourselves." Existing customs should not lightly be disregarded, because they have come to be what they are as a result of human nature. With this endorsement of custom comes an endorsement of existing governments, because he conceived of the two as complementary: "A regard for liberty, though a laudable passion, ought commonly to be subordinate to a reverence for established government."
Therefore, Hume's view was that there are property rights because of and to the extent that the existing law, supported by social customs, secure them. He offered some practical home-spun advice on the general subject, though, as when he referred to avarice as "the spur of industry," and expressed concern about excessive levels of taxation, which "destroy industry, by engendering despair."
"The property which every man has in his own labour, as it is the original foundation of all other property, so it is the most sacred and inviolable. The patrimony of a poor man lies in the strength and dexterity of his hands; and to hinder him from employing this strength and dexterity in what manner he thinks proper without injury to his neighbour, is a plain violation of this most sacred property. It is a manifest encroachment upon the just liberty both of the workman, and of those who might be disposed to employ him. As it hinders the one from working at what he thinks proper, so it hinders the others from employing whom they think proper. To judge whether he is fit to be employed, may surely be trusted to the discretion of the employers whose interest it so much concerns. The affected anxiety of the law-giver lest they should employ an improper person, is evidently as impertinent as it is oppressive."
— (Source: Adam Smith, "The Wealth of Nations", 1776, Book I, Chapter X, Part II.)
By the mid 19th century, the industrial revolution had transformed England and the United States, and had begun in France. The established conception of what constitutes property expanded beyond land to encompass scarce goods in general. In France, the revolution of the 1790s had led to large-scale confiscation of land formerly owned by church and king. The restoration of the monarchy led to claims by those dispossessed to have their former lands returned.
Section VIII, "Primitive Accumulation" of Capital involves a critique of Liberal Theories of property rights. Marx notes that under Feudal Law, peasants were legally as entitled to their land as the aristocracy was to its manors. Marx cites several historical events in which large numbers of the peasantry were removed from their lands, which were then seized by the aristocracy. This seized land was then used for commercial ventures (sheep herding). Marx sees this "Primitive Accumulation" as integral to the creation of English Capitalism. This event created a large un-landed class which had to work for wages in order to survive. Marx asserts that Liberal theories of property are "idyllic" fairy tales that hide a violent historical process.
Charles Comte, in "Traité de la propriété" (1834), attempted to justify the legitimacy of private property in response to the Bourbon Restoration. According to David Hart, Comte had three main points: "firstly, that interference by the state over the centuries in property ownership has had dire consequences for justice as well as for economic productivity; secondly, that property is legitimate when it emerges in such a way as not to harm anyone; and thirdly, that historically some, but by no means all, property which has evolved has done so legitimately, with the implication that the present distribution of property is a complex mixture of legitimately and illegitimately held titles."
Comte, as Proudhon later did, rejected Roman legal tradition with its toleration of slavery. He posited a communal "national" property consisting of non-scarce goods, such as land in ancient hunter-gatherer societies. Since agriculture was so much more efficient than hunting and gathering, private property appropriated by someone for farming left remaining hunter-gatherers with more land per person, and hence did not harm them. Thus this type of land appropriation did not violate the Lockean proviso – there was "still enough, and as good left." Comte's analysis would be used by later theorists in response to the socialist critique on property.
In his 1840 treatise "What is Property?", Pierre Proudhon answers with "Property is theft!" In natural resources, he sees two types of property, "de jure" property (legal title) and "de facto" property (physical possession), and argues that the former is illegitimate. Proudhon's conclusion is that "property, to be just and possible, must necessarily have equality for its condition."
His analysis of the product of labor upon natural resources as property (usufruct) is more nuanced. He asserts that land itself cannot be property, yet it should be held by individual possessors as stewards of mankind with the product of labor being the property of the producer. Proudhon reasoned that any wealth gained without labor was stolen from those who labored to create that wealth. Even a voluntary contract to surrender the product of labor to an employer was theft, according to Proudhon, since the controller of natural resources had no moral right to charge others for the use of that which he did not labor to create and therefore did not own.
Proudhon's theory of property greatly influenced the budding socialist movement, inspiring anarchist theorists such as Mikhail Bakunin who modified Proudhon's ideas, as well as antagonizing theorists like Karl Marx.
Frédéric Bastiat's main treatise on property can be found in chapter 8 of his book "Economic Harmonies" (1850). In a radical departure from traditional property theory, he defines property not as a physical object, but rather as a relationship between people with respect to an object. Thus, saying one owns a glass of water is merely verbal shorthand for "I may justly gift or trade this water to another person". In essence, what one owns is not the object but the value of the object. By "value," Bastiat apparently means "market value"; he emphasizes that this is quite different from utility. ""In our relations with one another, we are not owners of the utility of things, but of their value, and value is the appraisal made of reciprocal services.""
Bastiat theorized that, as a result of technological progress and the division of labor, the stock of communal wealth increases over time; that the hours of work an unskilled laborer expends to buy e.g. 100 liters of wheat decreases over time, thus amounting to "gratis" satisfaction. Thus, private property continually destroys itself, becoming transformed into communal wealth. The increasing proportion of communal wealth to private property results in a tendency toward equality of mankind. ""Since the human race started from the point of greatest poverty, that is, from the point where there were the most obstacles to be overcome, it is clear that all that has been gained from one era to the next has been due to the spirit of property.""
This transformation of private property into the communal domain, Bastiat points out, does not imply that private property will ever totally disappear. This is because man, as he progresses, continually invents new and more sophisticated needs and desires.
Andrew J. Galambos (1924–1997) was an astrophysicist and philosopher who innovated a social structure that seeks to maximize human peace and freedom. Galambos’ concept of property was basic to his philosophy. He defined property as a man's life and all non-procreative derivatives of his life. (Because the English language is deficient in omitting the feminine form “man” when referring to humankind, it is implicit and obligatory that the feminine is included in the term “man”.)
Galambos taught that property is essential to a non-coercive social structure. That is why he defined freedom as follows: “Freedom is the societal condition that exists when every individual has full (100%) control over his own property.” Galambos defines property as having the following elements:
Property includes all non-procreative derivatives of an individual's life; this means children are not the property of their parents. and "primary property" (a person's own ideas).
Galambos emphasized repeatedly that true government exists to protect property and that the state attacks property.
For example, the state requires payment for its services in the form of taxes whether or not people desire such services. Since an individual's money is his property, the confiscation of money in the form of taxes is an attack on property. Military conscription is likewise an attack on a person's primordial property.
Contemporary political thinkers who believe that natural persons enjoy rights to own property and to enter into contracts espouse two views about John Locke. On the one hand, some admire Locke, such as William H. Hutt (1956), who praised Locke for laying down the "quintessence of individualism". On the other hand, those such as Richard Pipes regard Locke's arguments as weak, and think that undue reliance thereon has weakened the cause of individualism in recent times. Pipes has written that Locke's work "marked a regression because it rested on the concept of Natural Law" rather than upon Harrington's sociological framework.
Hernando de Soto has argued that an important characteristic of capitalist market economy is the functioning state protection of property rights in a formal property system which clearly records ownership and transactions. These property rights and the whole formal system of property make possible:
All of the above, according to de Soto, enhance economic growth.
Property-giving (legal)
Property-taking (legal)
Property-taking (illegal) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23626 |
Police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and the use of force legitimized by the state via the monopoly on violence. The term is most commonly associated with the police forces of a sovereign state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of responsibility. Police forces are often defined as being separate from the military and other organizations involved in the defense of the state against foreign aggressors; however, gendarmerie are military units charged with civil policing. Police forces are usually public sector services, funded through taxes.
Law enforcement is only part of policing activity. Policing has included an array of activities in different situations, but the predominant ones are concerned with the preservation of order. In some societies, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, these developed within the context of maintaining the class system and the protection of private property. Police forces have become ubiquitous in modern societies. Nevertheless, their role can be controversial, as some are involved to varying degrees in corruption, police brutality and the enforcement of authoritarian rule.
A police force may also be referred to as a police department, police service, constabulary, gendarmerie, crime prevention, protective services, law enforcement agency, civil guard or civic guard. Members may be referred to as police officers, troopers, sheriffs, constables, rangers, peace officers or civic/civil guards. Ireland differs from other English-speaking countries by using the Irish language terms Garda (singular) and Gardaí (plural), for both the national police force and its members. The word "police" is the most universal and similar terms can be seen in many non-English speaking countries.
Numerous slang terms exist for the police. Many slang terms for police officers are decades or centuries old with lost etymology. One of the oldest, "cop", has largely lost its slang connotations and become a common colloquial term used both by the public and police officers to refer to their profession.
First attested in English in the early 15th century, initially in a range of senses encompassing '(public) policy; state; public order', the word "police" comes from Middle French "police" ('public order, administration, government'), in turn from Latin "politia", which is the Latinisation of the Greek πολιτεία ("politeia"), "citizenship, administration, civil polity". This is derived from πόλις ("polis"), "city".
Law enforcement in ancient China was carried out by "prefects" for thousands of years since it developed in both the Chu and Jin kingdoms of the Spring and Autumn period. In Jin, dozens of prefects were spread across the state, each having limited authority and employment period. They were appointed by local magistrates, who reported to higher authorities such as governors, who in turn were appointed by the emperor, and they oversaw the civil administration of their "prefecture", or jurisdiction. Under each prefect were "subprefects" who helped collectively with law enforcement in the area. Some prefects were responsible for handling investigations, much like modern police detectives. Prefects could also be women. Local citizens could report minor judicial offenses against them such as robberies at a local prefectural office. The concept of the "prefecture system" spread to other cultures such as Korea and Japan.
In Babylonia, law enforcement tasks were initially entrusted to individuals with military backgrounds or imperial magnates during the Old Babylonian period, but eventually, law enforcement was delegated to officers known as "paqūdus", who were present in both cities and rural settlements. A "paqūdu" was responsible for investigating petty crimes and carrying out arrests.
In ancient Egypt evidence of law enforcement exists as far back as the Old Kingdom period. There are records of an office known as "Judge Commandant of the Police" dating to the fourth dynasty. During the fifth dynasty at the end of the Old Kingdom period, officers armed with wooden sticks were tasked with guarding public places such as markets, temples, and parks, and apprehending criminals. They are known to have made use of trained monkeys, baboons, and dogs in guard duties and catching criminals. After the Old Kingdom collapsed, ushering in the First Intermediate Period, it is thought that the same model applied. During this period, Bedouins were hired to guard the borders and protect trade caravans. During the Middle Kingdom period, a professional police force was created with a specific focus on enforcing the law, as opposed to the previous informal arrangement of using warriors as police. The police force was further reformed during the New Kingdom period. Police officers served as interrogators, prosecutors, and court bailiffs, and were responsible for administering punishments handed down by judges. In addition, there were special units of police officers trained as priests who were responsible for guarding temples and tombs and preventing inappropriate behavior at festivals or improper observation of religious rites during services. Other police units were tasked with guarding caravans, guarding border crossings, protecting royal necropolises, guarding slaves at work or during transport, patrolling the Nile River, and guarding administrative buildings. The police did not guard rural communities, which often took care of their own judicial problems by appealing to village elders, but many of them had a constable to enforce state laws.
In ancient Greece, publicly owned slaves were used by magistrates as police. In Athens, a group of 300 Scythian slaves (the , "rod-bearers") was used to guard public meetings to keep order and for crowd control, and also assisted with dealing with criminals, handling prisoners, and making arrests. Other duties associated with modern policing, such as investigating crimes, were left to the citizens themselves. In Sparta, a secret police force called the "krypteia" existed to watch the large population of helots, or slaves.
In the Roman Empire, the army, rather than a dedicated police organization, initially provided security. Local watchmen were hired by cities to provide some extra security. Magistrates such as "procurators fiscal" and "quaestors" investigated crimes. There was no concept of public prosecution, so victims of crime or their families had to organize and manage the prosecution themselves. Under the reign of Augustus, when the capital had grown to almost one million inhabitants, 14 wards were created; the wards were protected by seven squads of 1,000 men called ""vigiles"", who acted as firemen and nightwatchmen. Their duties included apprehending thieves and robbers, capturing runaway slaves, guarding the baths at night, and stopping disturbances of the peace. The vigiles primarily dealt with petty crime, while violent crime, sedition, and rioting was handled by the Urban Cohorts and even the Praetorian Guard if necessary, though the vigiles could act in a supporting role in these situations.
Law enforcement systems existed in the various kingdoms and empires of ancient India. The Apastamba Dharmasutra prescribes that kings should appoint officers and subordinates in the towns and villages to protect their subjects from crime. Various inscriptions and literature from ancient India suggest that a variety of roles existed for law enforcement officials such as those of a constable, thief catcher, watchman, and detective.
The Persian Empire had well-organized police forces. A police force existed in every place of importance. In the cities, each ward was under the command of a Superintendent of Police, known as a "Kuipan", who was expected to command implicit obedience in his subordinates. Police officers also acted as prosecutors and carried out punishments imposed by the courts. They were required to know the court procedure for prosecuting cases and advancing accusations.
In ancient Israel and Judah, officials with the responsibility of making declarations to the people, guarding the king's person, supervising public works, and executing the orders of the courts existed in the urban areas. They are repeatedly mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, and this system lasted into the period of Roman rule. The first century Jewish historian Josephus related that every judge had two such officers under his command. Levites were preferred for this role. Cities and towns also had night watchmen. Besides officers of the town, there were officers for every tribe. The temple in Jerusalem had special temple police to guard it. The Talmud also mentions various local police officials in the Jewish communities the Land of Israel and Babylon who supervised economic activity. Their Greek-sounding titles suggest that the roles were introduced under Hellenic influence. Most of these officials received their authority from local courts and their salaries were drawn from the town treasury. The Talmud also mentions city watchmen and mounted and armed watchmen in the suburbs.
In many regions of pre-colonial Africa, particularly West and Central Africa, guild-like secret societies emerged as law enforcement. In the absence of a court system or written legal code, they carried out police-like activities, employing varying degrees of coercion to enforce conformity and deter antisocial behavior. In ancient Ethiopia, armed retainers of the nobility enforced law in the countryside according to the will of their leaders. The Songhai Empire had officials known as "assara-munidios", or "enforcers", acting as police.
Pre-Colombian Mesoamarican civilizations also had organized law enforcement. The city-states of the Maya civilization had constables known as "tupils", as well as bailiffs. In the Aztec Empire, judges had officers serving under them who were empowered to perform arrests, even of dignitaries. In the Inca Empire, officials called "curaca" enforced the law among the households they were assigned to oversee, with inspectors known as "tokoyrikoq" (lit. "he who sees all") also stationed throughout the provinces to keep order.
In medieval Spain, "Santas Hermandades", or "holy brotherhoods", peacekeeping associations of armed individuals, were a characteristic of municipal life, especially in Castile. As medieval Spanish kings often could not offer adequate protection, protective municipal leagues began to emerge in the twelfth century against banditry and other rural criminals, and against the lawless nobility or to support one or another claimant to a crown.
These organizations were intended to be temporary, but became a long-standing fixture of Spain. The first recorded case of the formation of an "hermandad" occurred when the towns and the peasantry of the north united to police the pilgrim road to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, and protect the pilgrims against robber knights.
Throughout the Middle Ages such alliances were frequently formed by combinations of towns to protect the roads connecting them, and were occasionally extended to political purposes. Among the most powerful was the league of North Castilian and Basque ports, the Hermandad de las marismas: Toledo, Talavera, and Villarreal.
As one of their first acts after end of the War of the Castilian Succession in 1479, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile established the centrally-organized and efficient "Holy Brotherhood" as a national police force. They adapted an existing brotherhood to the purpose of a general police acting under officials appointed by themselves, and endowed with great powers of summary jurisdiction even in capital cases. The original brotherhoods continued to serve as modest local police-units until their final suppression in 1835.
The Vehmic courts of Germany provided some policing in the absence of strong state institutions. Such courts had a chairman who presided over a session and lay judges who passed judgement and carried out law enforcement tasks. Among the responsibilities that lay judges had were giving formal warnings to known troublemakers, issuing warrants, and carrying out executions.
In the medieval Islamic Caliphates, police were known as Shurta. Bodies termed "Shurta" existed perhaps as early as the Caliphate of Uthman. It is known in the Abbasid and Umayyad Caliphates. Their primary roles were to act as police and internal security forces but could also be used for other duties such as customs and tax enforcement, rubbish collection, and acting as bodyguards for governors. From the 10th century, the importance of the Shurta declined as the army assumed internal security tasks while cities became more autonomous and handled their own policing needs locally, such as by hiring watchmen. In addition, officials called muhtasibs were responsible for supervising bazaars and economic activity in general in the medieval Islamic world.
In France during the Middle Ages, there were two Great Officers of the Crown of France with police responsibilities: The Marshal of France and the Grand Constable of France. The military policing responsibilities of the Marshal of France were delegated to the Marshal's provost, whose force was known as the Marshalcy because its authority ultimately derived from the Marshal. The marshalcy dates back to the Hundred Years' War, and some historians trace it back to the early 12th century. Another organisation, the Constabulary (French: Connétablie), was under the command of the Constable of France. The constabulary was regularised as a military body in 1337. Under Francis I of France (who reigned 1515–1547), the Maréchaussée was merged with the Constabulary. The resulting force was also known as the Maréchaussée, or, formally, the Constabulary and Marshalcy of France.
The English system of maintaining public order since the Norman conquest was a private system of tithings known as the mutual pledge system. This system was introduced under Alfred the Great. Communities were divided into groups of ten families called tithings, each of which was overseen by a chief tithingman. Every household head was responsible for the good behavior of his own family and the good behavior of other members of his tithing. Every male aged 12 and over was required to participate in a tithing. Members of tithings were responsible for raising "hue and cry" upon witnessing or learning of a crime, and the men of his tithing were responsible for capturing the criminal. The person the tithing captured would then be brought before the chief tithingman, who would determine guilt or innocence and punishment. All members of the criminal's tithing would be responsible for paying the fine. A group of ten tithings was known as a "hundred" and every hundred was overseen by an official known as a reeve. Hundreds ensured that if a criminal escaped to a neighboring village, he could be captured and returned to his village. If a criminal was not apprehended, then the entire hundred could be fined. The hundreds were governed by administrative divisions known as shires, the rough equivalent of a modern county, which were overseen by an official known as a shire-reeve, from which the term Sheriff evolved. The shire-reeve had the power of "posse comitatus", meaning he could gather the men of his shire to pursue a criminal. Following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the tithing system was tightened with the frankpledge system. By the end of the 13th century, the office of constable developed. Constables had the same responsibilities as chief tithingmen and additionally as royal officers. The constable was elected by his parish every year. Eventually, constables became the first 'police' official to be tax-supported. In urban areas, watchmen were tasked with keeping order and enforcing nighttime curfew. Watchmen guarded the town gates at night, patrolled the streets, arrested those on the streets at night without good reason, and also acted as firefighters. Eventually the office of justice of the peace was established, with a justice of the peace overseeing constables. There was also a system of investigative "juries".
The Assize of Arms of 1252, which required the appointment of constables to summon men to arms, quell breaches of the peace, and to deliver offenders to the sheriff or reeve, is cited as one of the earliest antecedents of the English police. The Statute of Winchester of 1285 is also cited as the primary legislation regulating the policing of the country between the Norman Conquest and the Metropolitan Police Act 1829.
From about 1500, private watchmen were funded by private individuals and organisations to carry out police functions. They were later nicknamed 'Charlies', probably after the reigning monarch King Charles II. Thief-takers were also rewarded for catching thieves and returning the stolen property.
The earliest English use of the word "police" seems to have been the term "Polles" mentioned in the book "The Second Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England" published in 1642.
The first centrally organised and uniformed police force was created by the government of King Louis XIV in 1667 to police the city of Paris, then the largest city in Europe. The royal edict, registered by the "Parlement" of Paris on March 15, 1667 created the office of "lieutenant général de police" ("lieutenant general of police"), who was to be the head of the new Paris police force, and defined the task of the police as "ensuring the peace and quiet of the public and of private individuals, purging the city of what may cause disturbances, procuring abundance, and having each and everyone live according to their station and their duties".
This office was first held by Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie, who had 44 "commissaires de police" (police commissioners) under his authority. In 1709, these commissioners were assisted by "inspecteurs de police" (police inspectors). The city of Paris was divided into 16 districts policed by the "commissaires", each assigned to a particular district and assisted by a growing bureaucracy. The scheme of the Paris police force was extended to the rest of France by a royal edict of October 1699, resulting in the creation of lieutenants general of police in all large French cities and towns.
After the French Revolution, Napoléon I reorganized the police in Paris and other cities with more than 5,000 inhabitants on February 17, 1800 as the Prefecture of Police. On March 12, 1829, a government decree created the first uniformed police in France, known as "sergents de ville" ("city sergeants"), which the Paris Prefecture of Police's website claims were the first uniformed policemen in the world.
In 1737, George II began paying some London and Middlesex watchmen with tax monies, beginning the shift to government control. In 1749 Henry Fielding began organizing a force of quasi-professional constables known as the Bow Street Runners. The Macdaniel affair added further impetus for a publicly salaried police force that did not depend on rewards. Nonetheless, In 1828, there were privately financed police units in no fewer than 45 parishes within a 10-mile radius of London.
The word "police" was borrowed from French into the English language in the 18th century, but for a long time it applied only to French and continental European police forces. The word, and the concept of police itself, were "disliked as a symbol of foreign oppression" (according to "Britannica 1911"). Before the 19th century, the first use of the word "police" recorded in government documents in the United Kingdom was the appointment of Commissioners of Police for Scotland in 1714 and the creation of the Marine Police in 1798.
Following early police forces established in 1779 and 1788 in Glasgow, Scotland, the Glasgow authorities successfully petitioned the government to pass the Glasgow Police Act establishing the City of Glasgow Police in 1800. Other Scottish towns soon followed suit and set up their own police forces through acts of parliament. In Ireland, the Irish Constabulary Act of 1822 marked the beginning of the Royal Irish Constabulary. The Act established a force in each barony with chief constables and inspectors general under the control of the civil administration at Dublin Castle. By 1841 this force numbered over 8,600 men.
In 1797, Patrick Colquhoun was able to persuade the West Indies merchants who operated at the Pool of London on the River Thames, to establish a police force at the docks to prevent rampant theft that was causing annual estimated losses of £500,000 worth of cargo. The idea of a police, as it then existed in France, was considered as a potentially undesirable foreign import. In building the case for the police in the face of England's firm anti-police sentiment, Colquhoun framed the political rationale on economic indicators to show that a police dedicated to crime prevention was "perfectly congenial to the principle of the British constitution". Moreover, he went so far as to praise the French system, which had reached "the greatest degree of perfection" in his estimation.
With the initial investment of £4,200, the new trial force of the Thames River Police began with about 50 men charged with policing 33,000 workers in the river trades, of whom Colquhoun claimed 11,000 were known criminals and "on the game". The force was a success after its first year, and his men had "established their worth by saving £122,000 worth of cargo and by the rescuing of several lives". Word of this success spread quickly, and the government passed the Marine Police Bill on 28 July 1800, transforming it from a private to public police agency; now the oldest police force in the world. Colquhoun published a book on the experiment, "The Commerce and Policing of the River Thames". It found receptive audiences far outside London, and inspired similar forces in other cities, notably, New York City, Dublin, and Sydney.
Colquhoun's utilitarian approach to the problem – using a cost-benefit argument to obtain support from businesses standing to benefit – allowed him to achieve what Henry and John Fielding failed for their Bow Street detectives. Unlike the stipendiary system at Bow Street, the river police were full-time, salaried officers prohibited from taking private fees. His other contribution was the concept of preventive policing; his police were to act as a highly visible deterrent to crime by their permanent presence on the Thames. Colquhoun's innovations were a critical development leading up to Robert Peel's "new" police three decades later.
London was fast reaching a size unprecedented in world history, due to the onset of the Industrial Revolution. It became clear that the locally maintained system of volunteer constables and "watchmen" was ineffective, both in detecting and preventing crime. A parliamentary committee was appointed to investigate the system of policing in London. Upon Sir Robert Peel being appointed as Home Secretary in 1822, he established a second and more effective committee, and acted upon its findings.
Royal assent to the Metropolitan Police Act 1829 was given and the Metropolitan Police Service was established on September 29, 1829 in London as the first modern and professional police force in the world.
Peel, widely regarded as the father of modern policing, was heavily influenced by the social and legal philosophy of Jeremy Bentham, who called for a strong and centralised, but politically neutral, police force for the maintenance of social order, for the protection of people from crime and to act as a visible deterrent to urban crime and disorder. Peel decided to standardise the police force as an official paid profession, to organise it in a civilian fashion, and to make it answerable to the public.
Due to public fears concerning the deployment of the military in domestic matters, Peel organised the force along civilian lines, rather than paramilitary. To appear neutral, the uniform was deliberately manufactured in blue, rather than red which was then a military colour, along with the officers being armed only with a wooden truncheon and a rattle to signal the need for assistance. Along with this, police ranks did not include military titles, with the exception of Sergeant.
To distance the new police force from the initial public view of it as a new tool of government repression, Peel publicised the so-called Peelian principles, which set down basic guidelines for ethical policing:
The 1829 Metropolitan Police Act created a modern police force by limiting the purview of the force and its powers, and envisioning it as merely an organ of the judicial system. Their job was apolitical; to maintain the peace and apprehend criminals for the courts to process according to the law. This was very different from the "continental model" of the police force that had been developed in France, where the police force worked within the parameters of the absolutist state as an extension of the authority of the monarch and functioned as part of the governing state.
In 1863, the Metropolitan Police were issued with the distinctive custodian helmet, and in 1884 they switched to the use of whistles that could be heard from much further away. The Metropolitan Police became a model for the police forces in many countries, such as the United States, and most of the British Empire. Bobbies can still be found in many parts of the Commonwealth of Nations.
In Australia, the first police force having centralised command as well as jurisdiction over an entire colony was the South Australia Police, formed in 1838 under Henry Inman.
However, whilst the New South Wales Police Force was established in 1862, it was made up from a large number of policing and military units operating within the then Colony of New South Wales and traces its links back to the Royal Marines. The passing of the Police Regulation Act of 1862 essentially tightly regulated and centralised all of the police forces operating throughout the Colony of New South Wales.
The New South Wales Police Force remains the largest police force in Australia in terms of personnel and physical resources. It is also the only police force that requires its recruits to undertake university studies at the recruit level and has the recruit pay for their own education.
In 1566, the first police investigator of Rio de Janeiro was recruited. By the 17th century, most captaincies already had local units with law enforcement functions. On July 9, 1775 a Cavalry Regiment was created in the state of Minas Gerais for maintaining law and order. In 1808, the Portuguese royal family relocated to Brazil, because of the French invasion of Portugal. King João VI established the "Intendência Geral de Polícia" (General Police Intendancy) for investigations. He also created a Royal Police Guard for Rio de Janeiro in 1809. In 1831, after independence, each province started organizing its local "military police", with order maintenance tasks. The Federal Railroad Police was created in 1852, Federal Highway Police, was established in 1928, and Federal Police in 1967.
Established in 1729, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) was the first policing service founded in Canada. The establishment of modern policing services in the Canadas occurred during the 1830s, modelling their services after the London Metropolitan Police, and adopting the ideas of the Peelian principles. The Toronto Police Service was established in 1834, whereas the Service de police de la Ville de Québec was established in 1840.
A national police service, the Dominion Police, was founded in 1868. Initially the Dominion Police provided security for parliament, but its responsibilities quickly grew. In 1870, Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory were incorporated into the country. In an effort to police its newly acquired territory, the Canadian government established the North-West Mounted Police in 1873 (renamed Royal North-West Mounted Police in 1904). In 1920, the Dominion Police, and the Royal Northwest Mounted Police were amalgamated into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
The RCMP provides federal law enforcement; and law enforcement in eight provinces, and all three territories. The provinces of Ontario, and Quebec maintain their own provincial police forces, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), and the Sûreté du Québec (SQ). Policing in Newfoundland and Labrador is provided by the RCMP, and the RNC. The aforementioned services also provides municipal policing, although larger Canadian municipalities may establish form their own police service.
In Lebanon, modern police were established in 1861, with creation of the Gendarmerie.
In India, the police are under the control of respective States and union territories and is known to be under State Police Services (SPS). The candidates selected for the SPS are usually posted as Deputy Superintendent of Police or Assistant Commissioner of Police once their probationary period ends. On prescribed satisfactory service in the SPS, the officers are nominated to the Indian Police Service. The service color is usually dark blue and red, while the uniform color is "Khaki".
In British North America, policing was initially provided by local elected officials. For instance, the New York Sheriff's Office was founded in 1626, and the Albany County Sheriff's Department in the 1660s. In the colonial period, policing was provided by elected sheriffs and local militias.
In the 1700s, the Province of Carolina (later North- and South Carolina) established slave patrols in order to prevent slave rebellions and enslaved people from escaping. For example, by 1785 the Charleston Guard and Watch had "a distinct chain of command, uniforms, sole responsibility for policing, salary, authorized use of force, and a focus on preventing 'crime'."
In 1789 the United States Marshals Service was established, followed by other federal services such as the U.S. Parks Police (1791) and U.S. Mint Police (1792). The first city police services were established in Philadelphia in 1751, Richmond, Virginia in 1807, Boston in 1838, and New York in 1845. The U.S. Secret Service was founded in 1865 and was for some time the main investigative body for the federal government.
In the American Old West, law enforcement was carried out by local sheriffs, rangers, constables, and federal marshals. There were also town marshals responsible for serving civil and criminal warrants, maintaining the jails, and carrying out arrests for petty crime.
In recent years, in addition to federal, state, and local forces, some special districts have been formed to provide extra police protection in designated areas. These districts may be known as neighborhood improvement districts, crime prevention districts, or security districts.
Michel Foucault claims that the contemporary concept of police as a paid and funded functionary of the state was developed by German and French legal scholars and practitioners in Public administration and Statistics in the 17th and early 18th centuries, most notably with Nicolas Delamare's "Traité de la Police" ("Treatise on the Police"), first published in 1705. The German "Polizeiwissenschaft" (Science of Police) first theorized by Philipp von Hörnigk a 17th-century Austrian Political economist and civil servant and much more famously by Johann Heinrich Gottlob Justi who produced an important theoretical work known as Cameral science on the formulation of police. Foucault cites Magdalene Humpert author of "Bibliographie der Kameralwissenschaften" (1937) in which the author makes note of a substantial bibliography was produced of over 4000 pieces of the practice of Polizeiwissenschaft however, this maybe a mistranslation of Foucault's own work the actual source of Magdalene Humpert states over 14,000 items were produced from the 16th century dates ranging from 1520–1850.
As conceptualized by the "Polizeiwissenschaft", according to Foucault the police had an administrative, economic and social duty ("procuring abundance"). It was in charge of demographic concerns and needed to be incorporated within the western political philosophy system of raison d'état and therefore giving the superficial appearance of empowering the population (and unwittingly supervising the population), which, according to mercantilist theory, was to be the main strength of the state. Thus, its functions largely overreached simple law enforcement activities and included public health concerns, urban planning (which was important because of the miasma theory of disease; thus, cemeteries were moved out of town, etc.), and surveillance of prices.
The concept of preventive policing, or policing to deter crime from taking place, gained influence in the late 18th century. Police Magistrate John Fielding, head of the Bow Street Runners, argued that "...it is much better to prevent even one man from being a rogue than apprehending and bringing forty to justice."
The Utilitarian philosopher, Jeremy Bentham, promoted the views of Italian Marquis Cesare Beccaria, and disseminated a translated version of "Essay on Crime in Punishment". Bentham espoused the guiding principle of "the greatest good for the greatest number:
It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them. This is the chief aim of every good system of legislation, which is the art of leading men to the greatest possible happiness or to the least possible misery, according to calculation of all the goods and evils of life.
Patrick Colquhoun's influential work, "A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis" (1797) was heavily influenced by Benthamite thought. Colquhoun's Thames River Police was founded on these principles, and in contrast to the Bow Street Runners, acted as a deterrent by their continual presence on the riverfront, in addition to being able to intervene if they spotted a crime in progress.
Edwin Chadwick's 1829 article, "Preventive police" in the "London Review", argued that prevention ought to be the "primary" concern of a police body, which was not the case in practice. The reason, argued Chadwick, was that "A preventive police would act more immediately by placing difficulties in obtaining the objects of temptation." In contrast to a deterrent of punishment, a preventive police force would deter criminality by making crime cost-ineffective – "crime doesn't pay". In the second draft of his 1829 Police Act, the "object" of the new Metropolitan Police, was changed by Robert Peel to the "principal object," which was the "prevention of crime." Later historians would attribute the perception of England's "appearance of orderliness and love of public order" to the preventive principle entrenched in Peel's police system.
Development of modern police forces around the world was contemporary to the formation of the state, later defined by sociologist Max Weber as achieving a "monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force" and which was primarily exercised by the police and the military. Marxist theory situates the development of the modern state as part of the rise of capitalism, in which the police are one component of the bourgeoisie's repressive apparatus for subjugating the working class. By contrast, the Peelian principles argue that "the power of the police...is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behavior", a philosophy known as policing by consent.
Police forces include both preventive (uniformed) police and detectives. Terminology varies from country to country. Police functions include protecting life and property, enforcing criminal law, criminal investigations, regulating traffic, crowd control, public safety duties, civil defense, emergency management, searching for missing persons, lost property and other duties concerned with public order. Regardless of size, police forces are generally organized as a hierarchy with multiple ranks. The exact structures and the names of rank vary considerably by country.
"See also:" Uniform#Police
The police who wear uniforms make up the majority of a police service's personnel. Their main duty is to respond to calls to the emergency telephone number. When not responding to these call-outs, they will do work aimed at preventing crime, such as patrols. The uniformed police are known by varying names such as preventive police, the uniform branch/division, administrative police, order police, the patrol bureau/division or patrol. In Australia and the United Kingdom, patrol personnel are also known as "general duties" officers. Atypically, Brazil's preventive police are known as Military Police.
As implied by the name, uniformed police wear uniforms. They perform functions that require an immediate recognition of an officer's legal authority and a potential need for force. Most commonly this means intervening to stop a crime in progress and securing the scene of a crime that has already happened. Besides dealing with crime, these officers may also manage and monitor traffic, carry out community policing duties, maintain order at public events or carry out searches for missing people (in 2012, the latter accounted for 14% of police time in the United Kingdom). As most of these duties must be available as a 24/7 service, uniformed police are required to do shift work.
Police detectives are responsible for investigations and detective work. Detectives may be called Investigations Police, Judiciary/Judicial Police, and Criminal Police. In the UK, they are often referred to by the name of their department, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Detectives typically make up roughly 15–25% of a police service's personnel.
Detectives, in contrast to uniformed police, typically wear 'business attire' in bureaucratic and investigative functions where a uniformed presence would be either a distraction or intimidating, but a need to establish police authority still exists. "Plainclothes" officers dress in attire consistent with that worn by the general public for purposes of blending in.
In some cases, police are assigned to work "undercover", where they conceal their police identity to investigate crimes, such as organized crime or narcotics crime, that are unsolvable by other means. In some cases this type of policing shares aspects with espionage.
The relationship between detective and uniformed branches varies by country. In the United States, there is high variation within the country itself. Many US police departments require detectives to spend some time on temporary assignments in the patrol division. The argument is that rotating officers helps the detectives to better understand the uniformed officers' work, to promote cross-training in a wider variety of skills, and prevent "cliques" that can contribute to corruption or other unethical behavior. Conversely, some countries regard detective work as being an entirely separate profession, with detectives working in separate agencies and recruited without having to serve in uniform. A common compromise in English-speaking countries is that most detectives are recruited from the uniformed branch, but once qualified they tend to spend the rest of their careers in the detective branch.
Another point of variation is whether detectives have extra status. In some forces, such as the New York Police Department and Philadelphia Police Department, a regular detective holds a higher rank than a regular police officer. In others, such as British police forces and Canadian police forces, a regular detective has equal status with regular uniformed officers. Officers still have to take exams to move to the detective branch, but the move is regarded as being a specialization, rather than a promotion.
Police services often include part-time or volunteer officers, some of whom have other jobs outside policing. These may be paid positions or entirely volunteer. These are known by a variety of names, such as reserves, auxiliary police or special constables.
Other volunteer organizations work with the police and perform some of their duties. Groups in the U.S. including Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, Community Emergency Response Team and the Boy Scout's Police Explorers provide training, traffic and crowd control, disaster response and other policing duties. In the U.S., the Volunteers in Police Service program assists over 200,000 volunteers in almost 2,000 programs. Volunteers may also work on the support staff. Examples of these schemes are Volunteers in Police Service in the US, Police Support Volunteers in the UK and Volunteers in Policing in New South Wales.
Specialized preventive and detective groups, or Specialist Investigation Departments exist within many law enforcement organizations either for dealing with particular types of crime, such as traffic law enforcement, K9, crash investigation, homicide, or fraud; or for situations requiring specialized skills, such as underwater search, aviation, explosive device disposal ("bomb squad"), and computer crime.
Most larger jurisdictions also employ specially selected and trained quasi-military units armed with military-grade weapons for the purposes of dealing with particularly violent situations beyond the capability of a patrol officer response, including high-risk warrant service and barricaded suspects. In the United States these units go by a variety of names, but are commonly known as SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) teams.
In counterinsurgency-type campaigns, select and specially trained units of police armed and equipped as light infantry have been designated as police field forces who perform paramilitary-type patrols and ambushes whilst retaining their police powers in areas that were highly dangerous.
Because their situational mandate typically focuses on removing innocent bystanders from dangerous people and dangerous situations, not violent resolution, they are often equipped with non-lethal tactical tools like chemical agents, "flashbang" and concussion grenades, and rubber bullets. The Specialist Firearms Command (CO19) of the Metropolitan Police in London is a group of armed police used in dangerous situations including hostage taking, armed robbery/assault and terrorism.
Police may have administrative duties that are not directly related to enforcing the law, such as issuing firearms licenses. The extent that police have these functions varies among countries, with police in France, Germany, and other continental European countries handling such tasks to a greater extent than British counterparts.
Military police may refer to:
Some Islamic societies have religious police, who enforce the application of Islamic Sharia law. Their authority may include the power to arrest unrelated men and women caught socializing, anyone engaged in homosexual behavior or prostitution; to enforce Islamic dress codes, and store closures during Islamic prayer time.
They enforce Muslim dietary laws, prohibit the consumption or sale of alcoholic beverages and pork, and seize banned consumer products and media regarded as un-Islamic, such as CDs/DVDs of various Western musical groups, television shows and film. In Saudi Arabia, the Mutaween actively prevent the practice or proselytizing of non-Islamic religions within Saudi Arabia, where they are banned.
Most countries are members of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), established to detect and fight transnational crime and provide for international co-operation and co-ordination of other police activities, such as notifying relatives of the death of foreign nationals. Interpol does not conduct investigations or arrests by itself, but only serves as a central point for information on crime, suspects and criminals. Political crimes are excluded from its competencies.
The terms international policing, transnational policing, and/or global policing began to be used from the early 1990s onwards to describe forms of policing that transcended the boundaries of the sovereign nation-state (Nadelmann, 1993), (Sheptycki, 1995). These terms refer in variable ways to practices and forms for policing that, in some sense, transcend national borders. This includes a variety of practices, but international police cooperation, criminal intelligence exchange between police agencies working in different nation-states, and police development-aid to weak, failed or failing states are the three types that have received the most scholarly attention.
Historical studies reveal that policing agents have undertaken a variety of cross-border police missions for many years (Deflem, 2002). For example, in the 19th century a number of European policing agencies undertook cross-border surveillance because of concerns about anarchist agitators and other political radicals. A notable example of this was the occasional surveillance by Prussian police of Karl Marx during the years he remained resident in London. The interests of public police agencies in cross-border co-operation in the control of political radicalism and ordinary law crime were primarily initiated in Europe, which eventually led to the establishment of Interpol before the Second World War. There are also many interesting examples of cross-border policing under private auspices and by municipal police forces that date back to the 19th century (Nadelmann, 1993). It has been established that modern policing has transgressed national boundaries from time to time almost from its inception. It is also generally agreed that in the post–Cold War era this type of practice became more significant and frequent (Sheptycki, 2000).
Not a lot of empirical work on the practices of inter/transnational information and intelligence sharing has been undertaken. A notable exception is James Sheptycki's study of police cooperation in the English Channel region (2002), which provides a systematic content analysis of information exchange files and a description of how these transnational information and intelligence exchanges are transformed into police case-work. The study showed that transnational police information sharing was routinized in the cross-Channel region from 1968 on the basis of agreements directly between the police agencies and without any formal agreement between the countries concerned. By 1992, with the signing of the Schengen Treaty, which formalized aspects of police information exchange across the territory of the European Union, there were worries that much, if not all, of this intelligence sharing was opaque, raising questions about the efficacy of the accountability mechanisms governing police information sharing in Europe (Joubert and Bevers, 1996).
Studies of this kind outside of Europe are even rarer, so it is difficult to make generalizations, but one small-scale study that compared transnational police information and intelligence sharing practices at specific cross-border locations in North America and Europe confirmed that low visibility of police information and intelligence sharing was a common feature (Alain, 2001). Intelligence-led policing is now common practice in most advanced countries (Ratcliffe, 2007) and it is likely that police intelligence sharing and information exchange has a common morphology around the world (Ratcliffe, 2007). James Sheptycki has analyzed the effects of the new information technologies on the organization of policing-intelligence and suggests that a number of 'organizational pathologies' have arisen that make the functioning of security-intelligence processes in transnational policing deeply problematic. He argues that transnational police information circuits help to "compose the panic scenes of the security-control society". The paradoxical effect is that, the harder policing agencies work to produce security, the greater are feelings of insecurity.
Police development-aid to weak, failed or failing states is another form of transnational policing that has garnered attention. This form of transnational policing plays an increasingly important role in United Nations peacekeeping and this looks set to grow in the years ahead, especially as the international community seeks to develop the rule of law and reform security institutions in States recovering from conflict (Goldsmith and Sheptycki, 2007) With transnational police development-aid the imbalances of power between donors and recipients are stark and there are questions about the applicability and transportability of policing models between jurisdictions (Hills, 2009).
Perhaps the greatest question regarding the future development of transnational policing is: in whose interest is it? At a more practical level, the question translates into one about how to make transnational policing institutions democratically accountable (Sheptycki, 2004). For example, according to the Global Accountability Report for 2007 (Lloyd, et al. 2007) Interpol had the lowest scores in its category (IGOs), coming in tenth with a score of 22% on overall accountability capabilities (p. 19). As this report points out, and the existing academic literature on transnational policing seems to confirm, this is a secretive area and one not open to civil society involvement.
In many jurisdictions, police officers carry firearms, primarily handguns, in the normal course of their duties. In the United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland), Iceland, Ireland, Norway, New Zealand, and Malta, with the exception of specialist units, officers do not carry firearms as a matter of course. Norwegian police carry firearms in their vehicles, but not on their duty belts, and must obtain authorisation before the weapons can be removed from the vehicle.
Police often have specialist units for handling armed offenders, and similar dangerous situations, and can (depending on local laws), in some extreme circumstances, call on the military (since Military Aid to the Civil Power is a role of many armed forces). Perhaps the most high-profile example of this was, in 1980 the Metropolitan Police handing control of the Iranian Embassy Siege to the Special Air Service.
They can also be armed with non-lethal (more accurately known as "less than lethal" or "less-lethal" given that they can still be deadly) weaponry, particularly for riot control. Non-lethal weapons include batons, tear gas, riot control agents, rubber bullets, riot shields, water cannons and electroshock weapons. Police officers typically carry handcuffs to restrain suspects. The use of firearms or deadly force is typically a last resort only to be used when necessary to save human life, although some jurisdictions (such as Brazil) allow its use against fleeing felons and escaped convicts. American police are allowed to use deadly force simply if they "think their life is in danger." A "shoot-to-kill" policy was recently introduced in South Africa, which allows police to use deadly force against any person who poses a significant threat to them or civilians. With the country having one of the highest rates of violent crime, president Jacob Zuma states that South Africa needs to handle crime differently from other countries.
Modern police forces make extensive use of two-way radio communications equipment, carried both on the person and installed in vehicles, to co-ordinate their work, share information, and get help quickly. In recent years, vehicle-installed mobile data terminals have enhanced the ability of police communications, enabling easier dispatching of calls, criminal background checks on persons of interest to be completed in a matter of seconds, and updating officers' daily activity log and other, required reports on a real-time basis. Other common pieces of police equipment include flashlights/torches, whistles, police notebooks and "ticket books" or citations. Some police departments have developed advanced computerized data display and communication systems to bring real time data to officers, one example being the NYPD's Domain Awareness System.
Police vehicles are used for detaining, patrolling and transporting. The average police patrol vehicle is a specially modified, four door sedan (saloon in British English). Police vehicles are usually marked with appropriate logos and are equipped with sirens and flashing light bars to aid in making others aware of police presence.
Unmarked vehicles are used primarily for sting operations or apprehending criminals without alerting them to their presence. Some police forces use unmarked or minimally marked cars for traffic law enforcement, since drivers slow down at the sight of marked police vehicles and unmarked vehicles make it easier for officers to catch speeders and traffic violators. This practice is controversial, with for example, New York State banning this practice in 1996 on the grounds that it endangered motorists who might be pulled over by people impersonating police officers.
Motorcycles are also commonly used, particularly in locations that a car may not be able to reach, to control potential public order situations involving meetings of motorcyclists and often in escort duties where motorcycle police officers can quickly clear a path for escorted vehicles. Bicycle patrols are used in some areas because they allow for more open interaction with the public. Bicycles are also commonly used by riot police to create makeshift barricades against protesters. In addition, their quieter operation can facilitate approaching suspects unawares and can help in pursuing them attempting to escape on foot.
Police forces use an array of specialty vehicles such as helicopters, airplanes, watercraft, mobile command posts, vans, trucks, all-terrain vehicles, motorcycles, and armored vehicles.
Police cars may also contain fire extinguishers or defibrillators.
The advent of the police car, two-way radio, and telephone in the early 20th century transformed policing into a reactive strategy that focused on responding to calls for service. With this transformation, police command and control became more centralized.
In the United States, August Vollmer introduced other reforms, including education requirements for police officers. O.W. Wilson, a student of Vollmer, helped reduce corruption and introduce professionalism in Wichita, Kansas, and later in the Chicago Police Department. Strategies employed by O.W. Wilson included rotating officers from community to community to reduce their vulnerability to corruption, establishing of a non-partisan police board to help govern the police force, a strict merit system for promotions within the department, and an aggressive recruiting drive with higher police salaries to attract professionally qualified officers. During the professionalism era of policing, law enforcement agencies concentrated on dealing with felonies and other serious crime and conducting visible car patrols in between, rather than broader focus on crime prevention.
The Kansas City Preventive Patrol study in the early 1970s showed flaws in this strategy. It found that aimless car patrols did little to deter crime and often went unnoticed by the public. Patrol officers in cars had insufficient contact and interaction with the community, leading to a social rift between the two. In the 1980s and 1990s, many law enforcement agencies began to adopt community policing strategies, and others adopted problem-oriented policing.
Broken windows' policing was another, related approach introduced in the 1980s by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling, who suggested that police should pay greater attention to minor "quality of life" offenses and disorderly conduct. The concept behind this method is simple: broken windows, graffiti, and other physical destruction or degradation of property create an environment in which crime and disorder is more likely. The presence of broken windows and graffiti sends a message that authorities do not care and are not trying to correct problems in these areas. Therefore, correcting these small problems prevents more serious criminal activity. The theory was popularised in the early 1990s by police chief William J. Bratton and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Building upon these earlier models, intelligence-led policing has also become an important strategy. Intelligence-led policing and problem-oriented policing are complementary strategies, both of which involve systematic use of information. Although it still lacks a universally accepted definition, the crux of intelligence-led policing is an emphasis on the collection and analysis of information to guide police operations, rather than the reverse.
A related development is evidence-based policing. In a similar vein to evidence-based policy, evidence-based policing is the use of controlled experiments to find which methods of policing are more effective. Leading advocates of evidence-based policing include the criminologist Lawrence W. Sherman and philanthropist Jerry Lee. Findings from controlled experiments include the Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment, evidence that patrols deter crime if they are concentrated in crime hotspots and that restricting police powers to shoot suspects does not cause an increase in crime or violence against police officers. Use of experiments to assess the usefulness of strategies has been endorsed by many police services and institutions, including the US Police Foundation and the UK College of Policing.
In many nations, criminal procedure law has been developed to regulate officers' discretion, so that they do not arbitrarily or unjustly exercise their powers of arrest, search and seizure, and use of force. In the United States, "Miranda v. Arizona" led to the widespread use of Miranda warnings or constitutional warnings.
In "Miranda" the court created safeguards against self-incriminating statements made after an arrest. The court held that "The prosecution may not use statements, whether exculpatory or inculpatory, stemming from questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way, unless it demonstrates the use of procedural safeguards effective to secure the Fifth Amendment's privilege against self-incrimination"
Police in the United States are also prohibited from holding criminal suspects for more than a reasonable amount of time (usually 24–48 hours) before arraignment, using torture, abuse or physical threats to extract confessions, using excessive force to effect an arrest, and searching suspects' bodies or their homes without a warrant obtained upon a showing of probable cause. The four exceptions to the constitutional requirement of a search warrant are:
In "Terry v. Ohio" (1968) the court divided seizure into two parts, the investigatory stop and arrest. The court further held that during an investigatory stop a police officer's search " [is] confined to what [is] minimally necessary to determine whether [a suspect] is armed, and the intrusion, which [is] made for the sole purpose of protecting himself and others nearby, [is] confined to ascertaining the presence of weapons" (U.S. Supreme Court). Before Terry, every police encounter constituted an arrest, giving the police officer the full range of search authority. Search authority during a Terry stop (investigatory stop) is limited to weapons only.
Using deception for confessions is permitted, but not coercion. There are exceptions or exigent circumstances such as an articulated need to disarm a suspect or searching a suspect who has already been arrested (Search Incident to an Arrest). The Posse Comitatus Act severely restricts the use of the military for police activity, giving added importance to police SWAT units.
British police officers are governed by similar rules, such as those introduced to England and Wales under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), but generally have greater powers. They may, for example, legally search any suspect who has been arrested, or their vehicles, home or business premises, without a warrant, and may seize anything they find in a search as evidence.
All police officers in the United Kingdom, whatever their actual rank, are 'constables' in terms of their legal position. This means that a newly appointed constable has the same arrest powers as a Chief Constable or Commissioner. However, certain higher ranks have additional powers to authorize certain aspects of police operations, such as a power to authorize a search of a suspect's house (section 18 PACE in England and Wales) by an officer of the rank of Inspector, or the power to authorize a suspect's detention beyond 24 hours by a Superintendent.
Police services commonly include units for investigating crimes committed by the police themselves. These units are typically called Inspectorate-General, or in the US, "internal affairs". In some countries separate organizations outside the police exist for such purposes, such as the British Independent Office for Police Conduct. However, due to American laws around Qualified Immunity, it has become increasingly difficult to investigate and charge police misconduct & crimes.
Likewise, some state and local jurisdictions, for example, Springfield, Illinois have similar outside review organizations. The Police Service of Northern Ireland is investigated by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, an external agency set up as a result of the Patten report into policing the province. In the Republic of Ireland the Garda Síochána is investigated by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, an independent commission that replaced the Garda Complaints Board in May 2007.
The Special Investigations Unit of Ontario, Canada, is one of only a few civilian agencies around the world responsible for investigating circumstances involving police and civilians that have resulted in a death, serious injury, or allegations of sexual assault. The agency has made allegations of insufficient cooperation from various police services hindering their investigations.
In Hong Kong, any allegations of corruption within the police will be investigated by the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Independent Police Complaints Council, two agencies which are independent of the police force.
Due to a long-term decline in public confidence for law enforcement in the United States, body cameras worn by police officers are under consideration.
Police forces also find themselves under criticism for their use of force, particularly deadly force. Specifically, tension increases when a police officer of one ethnic group harms or kills a suspect of another one. In the United States, such events occasionally spark protests and accusations of racism against police and allegations that police departments practice racial profiling.
In the United States since the 1960s, concern over such issues has increasingly weighed upon law enforcement agencies, courts and legislatures at every level of government. Incidents such as the 1965 Watts Riots, the videotaped 1991 beating by Los Angeles Police officers of Rodney King, and the riot following their acquittal have been suggested by some people to be evidence that U.S. police are dangerously lacking in appropriate controls.
The fact that this trend has occurred contemporaneously with the rise of the civil rights movement, the "War on Drugs", and a precipitous rise in violent crime from the 1960s to the 1990s has made questions surrounding the role, administration and scope of police authority increasingly complicated.
Police departments and the local governments that oversee them in some jurisdictions have attempted to mitigate some of these issues through community outreach programs and community policing to make the police more accessible to the concerns of local communities, by working to increase hiring diversity, by updating training of police in their responsibilities to the community and under the law, and by increased oversight within the department or by civilian commissions.
In cases in which such measures have been lacking or absent, civil lawsuits have been brought by the United States Department of Justice against local law enforcement agencies, authorized under the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. This has compelled local departments to make organizational changes, enter into consent decree settlements to adopt such measures, and submit to oversight by the Justice Department.
In May 2020, a global movement to increase scrutiny on police violence and defund militarization efforts grew in popularity—starting in Minneapolis, Minnesota with the killing of George Floyd. Calls for full defunding of the police and abolition of the police gained larger support as more criticized systemic racism in policing.
Since 1855, the Supreme Court of the United States has consistently ruled that law enforcement officers have no duty to protect any individual, despite the motto "protect and serve". Their duty is to enforce the law in general. The first such case was in 1855. The most recent in 2005: "Castle Rock v. Gonzales".
In contrast, the police are entitled to protect private rights in some jurisdictions. To ensure that the police would not interfere in the regular competencies of the courts of law, some police acts require that the police may only interfere in such cases where protection from courts cannot be obtained in time, and where, without interference of the police, the realization of the private right would be impeded. This would, for example, allow police to establish a restaurant guest's identity and forward it to the innkeeper in a case where the guest cannot pay the bill at nighttime because his wallet had just been stolen from the restaurant table.
In addition, there are federal law enforcement agencies in the United States whose mission includes providing protection for executives such as the president and accompanying family members, visiting foreign dignitaries, and other high-ranking individuals. Such agencies include the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Park Police.
Police forces are usually organized and funded by some level of government. The level of government responsible for policing varies from place to place, and may be at the national, regional or local level. Some countries have police forces that serve the same territory, with their jurisdiction depending on the type of crime or other circumstances. Other countries, such as Austria, Chile, Israel, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa and Sweden, have a single national police force.
In some places with multiple national police forces, one common arrangement is to have a civilian police force and a paramilitary gendarmerie, such as the Police Nationale and National Gendarmerie in France. The French policing system spread to other countries through the Napoleonic Wars and the French colonial empire. Another example is the Policía Nacional and Guardia Civil in Spain. In both France and Spain, the civilian force polices urban areas and the paramilitary force polices rural areas. Italy has a similar arrangement with the Polizia di Stato and Carabinieri, though their jurisdictions overlap more. Some countries have separate agencies for uniformed police and detectives, such as the Military Police and Civil Police in Brazil and the Carabineros and Investigations Police in Chile.
Other countries have sub-national police forces, but for the most part their jurisdictions do not overlap. In many countries, especially federations, there may be two or more tiers of police force, each serving different levels of government and enforcing different subsets of the law. In Australia and Germany, the majority of policing is carried out by state (i.e. provincial) police forces, which are supplemented by a federal police force. Though not a federation, the United Kingdom has a similar arrangement, where policing is primarily the responsibility of a regional police force and specialist units exist at the national level. In Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are the federal police, while municipalities can decide whether to run a local police service or to contract local policing duties to a larger one. Most urban areas have a local police service, while most rural areas contract it to the RCMP, or to the provincial police in Ontario and Quebec.
The United States has a highly decentralized and fragmented system of law enforcement, with over 17,000 state and local law enforcement agencies. These agencies include local police, county law enforcement (often in the form of a sheriff's office, or county police), state police and federal law enforcement agencies. Federal agencies, such as the FBI, only have jurisdiction over federal crimes or those that involve more than one state. Other federal agencies have jurisdiction over a specific type of crime. Examples include the Federal Protective Service, which patrols and protects government buildings; the postal police, which protect postal buildings, vehicles and items; the Park Police, which protect national parks; and Amtrak Police, which patrol Amtrak stations and trains. There are also some government agencies that perform police functions in addition to other duties, such as the Coast Guard. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23627 |
PDP-10
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)'s PDP-10, later marketed as the DECsystem-10, is a mainframe computer family manufactured beginning in 1966 and discontinued in 1983. 1970s models and beyond were marketed under the DECsystem-10 name, especially as the TOPS-10 operating system became widely used.
The PDP-10's architecture is almost identical to that of DEC's earlier PDP-6, sharing the same 36-bit word length and slightly extending the instruction set (but with improved hardware implementation). Some aspects of the instruction set are unusual, most notably the "byte" instructions, which operated on bit fields of any size from 1 to 36 bits inclusive, according to the general definition of a byte as "a contiguous sequence of a fixed number of bits".
The PDP-10 is the machine that made time-sharing common, and this and other features made it a common fixture in many university computing facilities and research labs during the 1970s, the most notable being Harvard University's Aiken Computation Laboratory, MIT's AI Lab and Project MAC, Stanford's SAIL, Computer Center Corporation (CCC), ETH (ZIR), and Carnegie Mellon University. Its main operating systems, TOPS-10 and TENEX, were used to build out the early ARPANET. For these reasons, the PDP-10 looms large in early hacker folklore.
Projects to extend the PDP-10 line were eclipsed by the success of the unrelated VAX superminicomputer, and the cancellation of the PDP-10 line was announced in 1983.
The original PDP-10 processor is the KA10, introduced in 1968. It uses discrete transistors packaged in DEC's Flip-Chip technology, with backplanes wire wrapped via a semi-automated manufacturing process. Its cycle time is 1 μs and its add time 2.1 μs. In 1973, the KA10 was replaced by the KI10, which uses transistor–transistor logic (TTL) SSI. This was joined in 1975 by the higher-performance KL10 (later faster variants), which is built from emitter-coupled logic (ECL), microprogrammed, and has cache memory. The KL10's performance was about 1 megaflops using 36-bit floating point numbers on matrix row reduction. It was slightly faster than the newer VAX-11/750, although more limited in memory.
A smaller, less expensive model, the KS10, was introduced in 1978, using TTL and Am2901 bit-slice components and including the PDP-11 Unibus to connect peripherals. The KS was marketed as the DECsystem-2020, DEC's entry in the distributed processing arena, and it was introduced as "the world's lowest cost mainframe computer system."
The KA10 has a maximum main memory capacity (both virtual and physical) of 256 kilowords (equivalent to 1152 kilobytes). As supplied by DEC, it did not include paging hardware; memory management consisted of two sets of protection and relocation registers, called "base and bounds" registers. This allows each half of a user's address space to be limited to a set section of main memory, designated by the base physical address and size. This allows the model of separate read-only shareable code segment (normally the high segment) and read-write data/stack segment (normally the low segment) used by TOPS-10 and later adopted by Unix. Some KA10 machines, first at MIT, and later at Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN), were modified to add virtual memory and support for demand paging, and more physical memory.
The KA10 weighed about .
The 10/50 was the top-of-the-line Uni-processor KA machine at the time when the "PA1050" software package was introduced. Two other KA10 models were the uniprocessor 10/40, and the dual-processor 10/55.
The KI10 introduced support for paged memory management, and also support a larger physical address space of 4 megawords. KI10 models include 1060, 1070 and 1077, the latter incorporating two CPUs.
The original KL10 PDP-10 (also marketed as DECsystem-10) models (1080, 1088, etc.) use the original PDP-10 memory bus, with external memory modules. Module in this context meant a cabinet, dimensions roughly (WxHxD) 30 x 75 x 30 in. with a capacity of 32 to 256 kWords of magnetic core memory (the picture on the right hand side of the introduction shows six of these cabinets). The processors used in the DECSYSTEM-20 (2040, 2050, 2060, 2065), commonly but incorrectly called "KL20", use internal memory, mounted in the same cabinet as the CPU. The 10xx models also have different packaging; they come in the original tall PDP-10 cabinets, rather than the short ones used later on for the DECSYSTEM-20. The differences between the 10xx and 20xx models are more cosmetic than real; some 10xx systems have "20-style" internal memory and I/O, and some 20xx systems have "10-style" external memory and an I/O bus. In particular, all ARPAnet TOPS-20 systems had an I/O bus because the AN20 IMP interface was an I/O bus device. Both could run either TOPS-10 or TOPS-20 microcode and thus the corresponding operating system.
Later, the "Model B" version of the 2060 processors removed the 256 kiloword limit on the virtual address space, by allowing the use of up to 32 "sections" of up to 256 kilowords each, along with substantial changes to the instruction set. "Model A" and "Model B" KL10 processors can be thought of as being different CPUs. The first operating system that took advantage of the Model B's capabilities was TOPS-20 release 3, and user mode extended addressing was offered in TOPS-20 release 4. TOPS-20 versions after release 4.1 would only run on a Model B.
TOPS-10 versions 7.02 and 7.03 also use extended addressing when run on a 1090 (or 1091) Model B processor running TOPS-20 microcode.
The final upgrade to the KL10 was the MCA25 upgrade of a 2060 to 2065 (or a 1091 to 1095), which gave some performance increases for programs which run in multiple sections.
The I/O architecture of the 20xx series KL machines is based on a DEC bus design called the Massbus. While many attributed the success of the PDP-11 to DEC's decision to make the PDP-11 Unibus an open architecture, DEC reverted to prior philosophy with the KL, making Massbus both unique and proprietary. Consequently, there were no aftermarket peripheral manufacturers who made devices for the Massbus, and DEC chose to price their own Massbus devices, notably the RP06 disk drive, at a substantial premium above comparable IBM-compatible devices. CompuServe for one, designed its own alternative disk controller that could operate on the Massbus, but connect to IBM style 3330 disk subsystems.
The KL class machines cannot be started without the assistance of a PDP-11/40 front-end processor installed in every system. The PDP-11 is booted from a dual-ported RP06 disk drive (or alternatively from an 8" floppy disk drive or DECtape), and then commands can be given to the PDP-11 to start the main processor, which is typically booted from the same RP06 disk drive as the PDP-11. The PDP-11 performs watchdog functions once the main processor is running.
Communication with IBM mainframes, including Remote Job Entry (RJE), were accomplished via a DN61 or DN-64 front-end processor, using a PDP-11/40or PDP-11/34a.
The KS10 was a lower-cost PDP-10 built using AMD 2901 bit-slice chips, with an Intel 8080A microprocessor as a control processor. The KS10 design was crippled to be a Model A even though most of the necessary data paths needed to support the Model B architecture were present. This was no doubt intended to segment the market, but it greatly shortened the KS10's product life.
The KS system uses a similar boot procedure to the KL10. The 8080 control processor loads the microcode from an RM03, RM80, or RP06 disk or magnetic tape and then starts the main processor. The 8080 switches modes after the operating system boots and controls the console and remote diagnostic serial ports.
Two models of tape drives were supported by the TM10 Magnetic Tape Control subsystem:
A mix of up to eight of these could be supported, providing seven-track &/or nine-track devices.
The TU20 and TU30 each came in A (9 track) and B (7 track) versions, and all of the aforementioned tape drives could read/write from/to 200 BPI, 556 BPI and 800 BPI IBM-compatible tapes.
The TM10 Magtape controller was available in two submodels:
From the first PDP-6s to the KL-10 and KS-10, the user-mode instruction set architecture is largely the same. This section covers that architecture. The only major change to the architecture is the addition of multi-section extended addressing in the KL-10; extended addressing, which changes the process of generating the effective address of an instruction, is briefly discussed at the end.
The PDP-10 has 36-bit words and 18-bit word addresses. In supervisor mode, instruction addresses correspond directly to physical memory. In user mode, addresses are translated to physical memory. Earlier models give a user process a "high" and a "low" memory: addresses with a 0 top bit used one base register, and higher addresses used another. Each segment is contiguous. Later architectures have paged memory access, allowing non-contiguous address spaces. The CPU's general-purpose registers can also be addressed as memory locations 0-15.
There are 16 general-purpose, 36-bit registers. The right half of these registers (other than register 0) may be used for indexing. A few instructions operate on pairs of registers. The "PC Word" consists of a 13-bit condition register (plus 5 always zero bits) in the left half and an 18-bit Program Counter in the right half. The condition register, which records extra bits from the results of arithmetic operations ("e.g." overflow), can be accessed by only a few instructions.
In the original KA-10 systems, these registers were simply the first 16 words of main memory. The "fast registers" hardware option implemented them as registers in the CPU, still addressable as the first 16 words of memory. Some software took advantage of this by using the registers as an instruction cache by loading code into the registers and then jumping to the appropriate address; this was used, for example, in Maclisp to implement one version of the garbage collector. Later models all had registers in the CPU.
There are two operational modes, supervisor and user mode. Besides the difference in memory referencing described above, supervisor-mode programs can execute input/output operations.
Communication from user-mode to supervisor-mode is done through Unimplemented User Operations (UUOs): instructions which are not defined by the hardware, and are trapped by the supervisor. This mechanism is also used to emulate operations which may not have hardware implementations in cheaper models.
The major datatypes which are directly supported by the architecture are two's complement 36-bit integer arithmetic (including bitwise operations), 36-bit floating-point, and halfwords. Extended, 72-bit, floating point is supported through special instructions designed to be used in multi-instruction sequences. Byte pointers are supported by special instructions. A word structured as a "count" half and a "pointer" half facilitates the use of bounded regions of memory, notably stacks.
The instruction set is very symmetrical. Every instruction consists of a 9-bit opcode, a 4-bit register code, and a 23-bit effective address field, which consists in turn of a 1-bit indirect bit, a 4-bit register code, and an 18-bit offset. Instruction execution begins by calculating the effective address. It adds the contents of the given register (if not register zero) to the offset; then, if the indirect bit is 1, an "indirect word", containing an indirect bit, register code, and offset in the same positions as in instructions, is fetched at the calculated address and the effective address calculation is repeated using that word, adding the register (if not register zero) to the offset, until an indirect word with a zero indirect bit is reached. The resulting effective address can be used by the instruction either to fetch memory contents, or simply as a constant. Thus, for example, MOVEI A,3(C) adds 3 to the 18 lower bits of register C and puts the result in register A, without touching memory.
There are three main classes of instruction: arithmetic, logical, and move; conditional jump; conditional skip (which may have side effects). There are also several smaller classes.
The arithmetic, logical, and move operations include variants which operate immediate-to-register, memory-to-register, register-to-memory, register-and-memory-to-both or memory-to-memory. Since registers may be addressed as part of memory, register-to-register operations are also defined. (Not all variants are useful, though they are well-defined.) For example, the ADD operation has as variants ADDI (add an 18-bit "I"mmediate constant to a register), ADDM (add register contents to a "M"emory location), ADDB (add to "B"oth, that is, add register contents to memory and also put the result in the register). A more elaborate example is HLROM ("H"alf "L"eft to "R"ight, "O"nes to "M"emory), which takes the Left half of the register contents, places them in the Right half of the memory location, and replaces the left half of the memory location with Ones. Halfword instructions are also used for linked lists: HLRZ is the Lisp CAR operator; HRRZ is CDR.
The conditional jump operations examine register contents and jump to a given location depending on the result of the comparison. The mnemonics for these instructions all start with JUMP, JUMPA meaning "jump always" and JUMP meaning "jump never" – as a consequence of the symmetric design of the instruction set, it contains several no-ops such as JUMP. For example, JUMPN A,LOC jumps to the address LOC if the contents of register A is non-zero. There are also conditional jumps based on the processor's condition register using the JRST instruction. On the KA10 and KI10, JRST is faster than JUMPA, so the standard unconditional jump is JRST.
The conditional skip operations compare register and memory contents and skip the next instruction (which is often an unconditional jump) depending on the result of the comparison. A simple example is CAMN A,LOC which compares the contents of register A with the contents of location LOC and skips the next instruction if they are not equal. A more elaborate example is TLCE A,LOC (read "Test Left Complement, skip if Equal"), which using the contents of LOC as a mask, selects the corresponding bits in the left half of register A. If all those bits are "E"qual to zero, skip the next instruction; and in any case, replace those bits by their boolean complement.
Some smaller instruction classes include the shift/rotate instructions and the procedure call instructions. Particularly notable are the stack instructions PUSH and POP, and the corresponding stack call instructions PUSHJ and POPJ. The byte instructions use a special format of indirect word to extract and store arbitrary-sized bit fields, possibly advancing a pointer to the next unit.
In processors supporting extended addressing, the address space is divided into "sections". An 18-bit address is a "local address", containing an offset within a section, and a "global address" is 30 bits, divided into a 12-bit section number at the bottom of the upper 18 bits and an 18-bit offset within that section in the lower 18 bits. A register can contain either a "local index", with an 18-bit unsigned displacement or local address in the lower 18 bits, or a "global index", with a 30-bit unsigned displacement or global address in the lower 30 bits. An indirect word can either be a "local indirect word", with its uppermost bit set, the next 12 bits reserved, and the remaining bits being an indirect bit, a 4-bit register code, and an 18-bit displacement, or a "global indirect word", with its uppermost bit clear, the next bit being an indirect bit, the next 4 bits being a register code, and the remaining 30 bits being a displacement.
The process of calculating the effective address generates a 12-bit section number and an 18-bit offset within that segment.
The original PDP-10 operating system was simply called "Monitor", but was later renamed TOPS-10. Eventually the PDP-10 system itself was renamed the DECsystem-10. Early versions of Monitor and TOPS-10 formed the basis of Stanford's WAITS operating system and the CompuServe time-sharing system.
Over time, some PDP-10 operators began running operating systems assembled from major components developed outside DEC. For example, the main Scheduler might come from one university, the Disk Service from another, and so on. The commercial timesharing services such as CompuServe, On-Line Systems (OLS), and Rapidata maintained sophisticated inhouse systems programming groups so that they could modify the operating system as needed for their own businesses without being dependent on DEC or others. There are also strong user communities such as DECUS through which users can share software that they have developed.
BBN developed their own alternative operating system, TENEX, which fairly quickly became the de facto standard in the research community. DEC later ported TENEX to the KL10, enhanced it considerably, and named it TOPS-20, forming the DECSYSTEM-20 line.
MIT, which had developed CTSS, Compatible Time-Sharing System to run on their IBM 709 (and later a modified IBM 7094 system), also developed ITS, Incompatible Timesharing System to run on their PDP-6 (and later a modified PDP-10); the naming was related, since the IBM and the DEC/PDP hardware were different, i.e. "incompatible" (despite each having a 36-bit CPU).
The ITS name, selected by Tom Knight, "was a play on" the CTSS name.
Tymshare developed TYMCOM-X, derived from TOPS-10 but using a page-based file system like TOPS-20.
In 1971 to 1972, researchers at Xerox PARC were frustrated by top company management's refusal to let them buy a PDP-10. Xerox had just bought Scientific Data Systems (SDS) in 1969, and wanted PARC to use an SDS machine. Instead, a group led by Charles P. Thacker designed and constructed two PDP-10 clone systems named MAXC (pronounced as Max, in honour of Max Palevsky, who had sold SDS to Xerox) for their own use. MAXC was also a backronym for Multiple Access Xerox Computer. MAXC ran a modified version of TENEX.
Third-party attempts to sell PDP-10 clones were relatively unsuccessful; see Foonly, Systems Concepts, and XKL.
One of the largest collections of DECsystem-10 architecture systems ever assembled was at CompuServe, which, at its peak, operated over 200 loosely coupled systems in three data centers in Columbus, Ohio. CompuServe used these systems as 'hosts', providing access to commercial applications, and the CompuServe Information Service. While the first such systems were bought from DEC, when DEC abandoned the PDP-10 architecture in favor of the VAX, CompuServe and other PDP-10 customers began buying plug compatible computers from Systems Concepts. As of January 2007, CompuServe was operating a small number of PDP-10 architecture machines to perform some billing and routing functions.
The main power supplies used in the KL-series machines were so inefficient that CompuServe engineers designed a replacement supply that used about half the energy. CompuServe offered to license the design for its KL supply to DEC for free if DEC would promise that any new KL bought by CompuServe would have the more efficient supply installed. DEC declined the offer.
Another modification made to the PDP-10 by CompuServe engineers was replacing the hundreds of incandescent indicator lamps on the KI10 processor cabinet with LED lamp modules. The cost of conversion was easily offset by cost savings in electricity use, reduced heat, and labor needed to replace burned-out lamps. Digital followed this step all over the world. The picture on the right hand side shows the light panel of the MF10 memory which is contemporary with the KI10 CPU. This item is part of a computer museum, and was populated with LEDs in 2008 for demonstration purposes only. There were no similar banks of indicator lamps on KL and KS processors.
The PDP-10 was eventually eclipsed by the VAX superminicomputer machines (descendants of the PDP-11) when DEC recognized that the PDP-10 and VAX product lines were competing with each other and decided to concentrate its software development effort on the more profitable VAX. The PDP-10 product line cancellation was announced in 1983, including cancelling the ongoing Jupiter project to produce a new high-end PDP-10 processor (despite that project being in good shape at the time of the cancellation) and the Minnow project to produce a desktop PDP-10, which may then have been at the prototyping stage.
This event spelled the doom of ITS and the technical cultures that had spawned the original jargon file, but by the 1990s it had become something of a badge of honor among old-time hackers to have cut one's teeth on a PDP-10.
The PDP-10 assembly language instructions LDB and DPB (load/deposit byte) live on as functions in the programming language Common Lisp. See the "References" section on the LISP article. The 36-bit word size of the PDP-6 and PDP-10 was influenced by the programming convenience of having 2 LISP pointers, each 18 bits, in one word.
Will Crowther created "Adventure", the prototypical computer adventure game, for a PDP-10. Don Daglow created the first computer baseball game (1971) and "Dungeon" (1975), the first role-playing video game on a PDP-10. Walter Bright originally created "Empire" for the PDP-10. Roy Trubshaw and Richard Bartle created the first MUD on a PDP-10. "Zork" was written on the PDP-10. Infocom used PDP-10s for game development and testing.
Bill Gates and Paul Allen originally wrote Altair BASIC using an Intel 8080 simulator running on a PDP-10 at Harvard University. Allen had modified the PDP-10 assembler to become a cross assembler for the 8080 chip. They founded Microsoft shortly after.
The software for simulation of historical computers SIMH contains a module to emulate the KS10 CPU on a Windows or Unix-based machine. Copies of DEC's original distribution tapes are available as downloads from the Internet so that a running TOPS-10 or TOPS-20 system may be established. ITS is also available for SIMH.
Ken Harrenstien's KLH10 software for Unix-like systems emulates a KL10B processor with extended addressing and 4 MW of memory or a KS10 processor with 512 KW of memory. The KL10 emulation supports v.442 of the KL10 microcode, which enables it to run the final versions of both TOPS-10 and TOPS-20. The KS10 emulation supports both ITS v.262 microcode for the final version of KS10 ITS and DEC v.130 microcode for the final versions of KS TOPS-10 and TOPS-20. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23628 |
DECSYSTEM-20
The DECSYSTEM-20 was a 36-bit Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-10 mainframe computer running the TOPS-20 operating system (products introduced in 1977).
PDP-10 computers running the TOPS-10 operating system were labeled "DECsystem-10" as a way of differentiating them from the PDP-11. Later on, those systems running TOPS-20 (on the KL10 PDP-10 processors) were labeled "DECSYSTEM-20" (the block capitals being the result of a lawsuit brought against DEC by Singer, which once made a computer called "The System Ten"). The DECSYSTEM-20 was sometimes called PDP-20, although this designation was never used by DEC.
The following models were produced:
The only significant difference the user could see between a DECsystem-10 and a DECSYSTEM-20 was the operating system and the color of the paint. Most (but not all) machines sold to run TOPS-10 were painted "Blasi Blue", whereas most TOPS-20 machines were painted "Terracotta" (often mistakenly called "Chinese Red" or orange; the actual name of the color on the paint cans was Terra Cotta).
There were some significant internal differences between the earlier KL10 Model A processors, used in the earlier DECsystem-10s running on KL10 processors, and the later KL10 Model Bs, used for the DECSYSTEM-20s. Model As used the original PDP-10 memory bus, with external memory modules. The later Model B processors used in the DECSYSTEM-20 used internal memory, mounted in the same cabinet as the CPU. The Model As also had different packaging; they came in the original tall PDP-10 cabinets, rather than the short ones used later on for the DECSYSTEM-20.
The last released implementation of DEC's 36-bit architecture was the single cabinet DECSYSTEM-2020, using a KS10 processor.
The DECSYSTEM-20 was primarily designed and used as a small mainframe for timesharing. That is, multiple users would concurrently log on to individual user accounts and share use of the main processor to compile and run applications. Separate disk allocations were maintained for all users by the operating system, and various levels of protection could be maintained by for System, Owner, Group, and World users. A model 2060, for example, could typically host up to 40 to 60 simultaneous users before exhibiting noticeably reduced response time.
The Living Computer Museum of Seattle, Washington maintains a 2065 running TOPS-10, which is available to interested parties via SSH upon registration (at no cost) at their website. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23629 |
Programmed Data Processor
Programmed Data Processor (PDP), referred to by some customers, media and authors as "Programmable Data Processor, is a term used by the Digital Equipment Corporation from 1957 to 1990 for several lines of minicomputers. The name "PDP" intentionally avoids the use of the term "computer" because, at the time of the first PDPs, computers had a reputation of being large, complicated, and expensive machines, and the venture capitalists behind Digital (especially Georges Doriot) would not support Digital's attempting to build a "computer"; the word "minicomputer" had not yet been coined. So instead, Digital used their existing line of logic modules to build a "Programmed Data Processor" and aimed it at a market that could not afford the larger computers.
The various PDP machines can generally be grouped into families based on word length.
Members of the PDP series include:
Various sites list documents by Charles Lasner, the creator of the alt.sys.pdp8 discussion group, and related documents by various members of the alt.sys.pdp8 readership with even more authoritative information about the various models, especially detailed focus upon the various members of the PDP-8 "family" of computers both made and not made by DEC. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23630 |
Platonic idealism
Platonic idealism usually refers to Plato's theory of forms or doctrine of ideas. It holds that only ideas encapsulate the true and essential nature of things, in a way that the physical form cannot. We recognise a tree, for instance, even though its physical form may be most untree-like. The treelike nature of a tree is therefore independent of its physical form. Plato's idealism evolved from Pythagorean philosophy, which held that mathematical formulas and proofs accurately describe the essential nature of all things, and these truths are eternal. Plato believed that because knowledge is innate and not discovered through experience, we must somehow arrive at the truth through introspection and logical analysis, stripping away false ideas to reveal the truth.
Some commentators hold that Plato argued that truth is an abstraction. In other words, we are urged to believe that Plato's theory of ideals is an abstraction, divorced from the so-called external world, of modern European philosophy, despite the fact Plato taught that ideals are ultimately real, and different from non-ideal things—indeed, he argued for a distinction between the ideal and non-ideal realm.
These commentators speak thus: for example, a particular tree, with a branch or two missing, possibly alive, possibly dead, and with the initials of two lovers carved into its bark, is distinct from the abstract form of Tree-ness. A Tree is the ideal that each of us holds that allows us to identify the imperfect reflections of trees all around us.
Plato gives the divided line as an outline of this theory. At the top of the line, the Form of the Good
is found, directing everything underneath.
Some contemporary linguistic philosophers construe "Platonism" to mean the proposition that universals exist independently of particulars (a universal is anything that can be predicated of a particular).
Platonism is an ancient school of philosophy, founded by Plato; at the beginning, this school had a physical existence at a site just outside the walls of Athens called the Academy, as well as the intellectual unity of a shared approach to philosophizing.
Platonism is usually divided into three periods:
Plato's students used the hypomnemata as the foundation to his philosophical approach to knowledge. The hypomnemata constituted a material memory of things read, heard, or thought, thus offering these as an accumulated treasure for rereading and later meditation. For the Neoplatonist they also formed a raw material for the writing of more systematic treatises in which were given arguments and means by which to struggle against some defect (such as anger, envy, gossip, flattery) or to overcome some difficult circumstance (such as a mourning, an exile, downfall, disgrace).
Platonism is considered to be, in mathematics departments the world over, the predominant philosophy of mathematics, especially regarding the foundations of mathematics.
One statement of this philosophy is the thesis that mathematics is not created but discovered.
A lucid statement of this is found in an essay written by the British mathematician G. H. Hardy in defense of pure mathematics.
The absence in this thesis of clear distinction between mathematical and non-mathematical "creation" leaves open the inference that it applies to allegedly creative endeavors in art, music, and literature.
It is unknown if Plato's ideas of idealism have some earlier origin, but Plato held Pythagoras in high regard, and Pythagoras as well as his followers in the movement known as Pythagoreanism claimed the world was literally built up from numbers, an abstract, absolute form. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23632 |
Protein
Proteins are large biomolecules, or macromolecules, consisting of one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, responding to stimuli, providing structure to cells, and organisms, and transporting molecules from one location to another. Proteins differ from one another primarily in their sequence of amino acids, which is dictated by the nucleotide sequence of their genes, and which usually results in protein folding into a specific 3D structure that determines its activity.
A linear chain of amino acid residues is called a polypeptide. A protein contains at least one long polypeptide. Short polypeptides, containing less than 20–30 residues, are rarely considered to be proteins and are commonly called peptides, or sometimes oligopeptides. The individual amino acid residues are bonded together by peptide bonds and adjacent amino acid residues. The sequence of amino acid residues in a protein is defined by the sequence of a gene, which is encoded in the genetic code. In general, the genetic code specifies 20 standard amino acids; but in certain organisms the genetic code can include selenocysteine and—in certain archaea—pyrrolysine. Shortly after or even during synthesis, the residues in a protein are often chemically modified by post-translational modification, which alters the physical and chemical properties, folding, stability, activity, and ultimately, the function of the proteins. Some proteins have non-peptide groups attached, which can be called prosthetic groups or cofactors. Proteins can also work together to achieve a particular function, and they often associate to form stable protein complexes.
Once formed, proteins only exist for a certain period and are then degraded and recycled by the cell's machinery through the process of protein turnover. A protein's lifespan is measured in terms of its half-life and covers a wide range. They can exist for minutes or years with an average lifespan of 1–2 days in mammalian cells. Abnormal or misfolded proteins are degraded more rapidly either due to being targeted for destruction or due to being unstable.
Like other biological macromolecules such as polysaccharides and nucleic acids, proteins are essential parts of organisms and participate in virtually every process within cells. Many proteins are enzymes that catalyse biochemical reactions and are vital to metabolism. Proteins also have structural or mechanical functions, such as actin and myosin in muscle and the proteins in the cytoskeleton, which form a system of scaffolding that maintains cell shape. Other proteins are important in cell signaling, immune responses, cell adhesion, and the cell cycle. In animals, proteins are needed in the diet to provide the essential amino acids that cannot be synthesized. Digestion breaks the proteins down for use in the metabolism.
Proteins may be purified from other cellular components using a variety of techniques such as ultracentrifugation, precipitation, electrophoresis, and chromatography; the advent of genetic engineering has made possible a number of methods to facilitate purification. Methods commonly used to study protein structure and function include immunohistochemistry, site-directed mutagenesis, X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry.
Proteins were recognized as a distinct class of biological molecules in the eighteenth century by Antoine Fourcroy and others, distinguished by the molecules' ability to coagulate or flocculate under treatments with heat or acid. Noted examples at the time included albumin from egg whites, blood serum albumin, fibrin, and wheat gluten.
Proteins were first described by the Dutch chemist Gerardus Johannes Mulder and named by the Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius in 1838. Mulder carried out elemental analysis of common proteins and found that nearly all proteins had the same empirical formula, C400H620N100O120P1S1. He came to the erroneous conclusion that they might be composed of a single type of (very large) molecule. The term "protein" to describe these molecules was proposed by Mulder's associate Berzelius; protein is derived from the Greek word πρώτειος ("proteios"), meaning "primary", "in the lead", or "standing in front", + "-in". Mulder went on to identify the products of protein degradation such as the amino acid leucine for which he found a (nearly correct) molecular weight of 131 Da. Prior to "protein", other names were used, like "albumins" or "albuminous materials" ("Eiweisskörper", in German).
Early nutritional scientists such as the German Carl von Voit believed that protein was the most important nutrient for maintaining the structure of the body, because it was generally believed that "flesh makes flesh." Karl Heinrich Ritthausen extended known protein forms with the identification of glutamic acid. At the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station a detailed review of the vegetable proteins was compiled by Thomas Burr Osborne. Working with Lafayette Mendel and applying Liebig's law of the minimum in feeding laboratory rats, the nutritionally essential amino acids were established. The work was continued and communicated by William Cumming Rose. The understanding of proteins as polypeptides came through the work of Franz Hofmeister and Hermann Emil Fischer in 1902. The central role of proteins as enzymes in living organisms was not fully appreciated until 1926, when James B. Sumner showed that the enzyme urease was in fact a protein.
The difficulty in purifying proteins in large quantities made them very difficult for early protein biochemists to study. Hence, early studies focused on proteins that could be purified in large quantities, e.g., those of blood, egg white, various toxins, and digestive/metabolic enzymes obtained from slaughterhouses. In the 1950s, the Armour Hot Dog Co. purified 1 kg of pure bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A and made it freely available to scientists; this gesture helped ribonuclease A become a major target for biochemical study for the following decades.
Linus Pauling is credited with the successful prediction of regular protein secondary structures based on hydrogen bonding, an idea first put forth by William Astbury in 1933. Later work by Walter Kauzmann on denaturation, based partly on previous studies by Kaj Linderstrøm-Lang, contributed an understanding of protein folding and structure mediated by hydrophobic interactions.
The first protein to be sequenced was insulin, by Frederick Sanger, in 1949. Sanger correctly determined the amino acid sequence of insulin, thus conclusively demonstrating that proteins consisted of linear polymers of amino acids rather than branched chains, colloids, or cyclols. He won the Nobel Prize for this achievement in 1958.
The first protein structures to be solved were hemoglobin and myoglobin, by Max Perutz and Sir John Cowdery Kendrew, respectively, in 1958. , the Protein Data Bank has over 126,060 atomic-resolution structures of proteins. In more recent times, cryo-electron microscopy of large macromolecular assemblies and computational protein structure prediction of small protein domains are two methods approaching atomic resolution.
Most proteins consist of linear polymers built from series of up to 20 different L-α- amino acids. All proteinogenic amino acids possess common structural features, including an α-carbon to which an amino group, a carboxyl group, and a variable side chain are bonded. Only proline differs from this basic structure as it contains an unusual ring to the N-end amine group, which forces the CO–NH amide moiety into a fixed conformation. The side chains of the standard amino acids, detailed in the list of standard amino acids, have a great variety of chemical structures and properties; it is the combined effect of all of the amino acid side chains in a protein that ultimately determines its three-dimensional structure and its chemical reactivity.
The amino acids in a polypeptide chain are linked by peptide bonds. Once linked in the protein chain, an individual amino acid is called a "residue," and the linked series of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms are known as the "main chain" or "protein backbone."
The peptide bond has two resonance forms that contribute some double-bond character and inhibit rotation around its axis, so that the alpha carbons are roughly coplanar. The other two dihedral angles in the peptide bond determine the local shape assumed by the protein backbone. The end with a free amino group is known as the N-terminus or amino terminus, whereas the end of the protein with a free carboxyl group is known as the C-terminus or carboxy terminus (the sequence of the protein is written from N-terminus to C-terminus, from left to right).
The words "protein", "polypeptide," and "peptide" are a little ambiguous and can overlap in meaning. "Protein" is generally used to refer to the complete biological molecule in a stable conformation, whereas "peptide" is generally reserved for a short amino acid oligomers often lacking a stable 3D structure. But the boundary between the two is not well defined and usually lies near 20–30 residues. "Polypeptide" can refer to any single linear chain of amino acids, usually regardless of length, but often implies an absence of a defined conformation.
Proteins can interact with many types of molecules, including with other proteins, with lipids, with carboyhydrates, and with DNA.
It has been estimated that average-sized bacteria contain about 2 million proteins per cell (e.g. "E. coli" and "Staphylococcus aureus"). Smaller bacteria, such as "Mycoplasma" or "spirochetes" contain fewer molecules, on the order of 50,000 to 1 million. By contrast, eukaryotic cells are larger and thus contain much more protein. For instance, yeast cells have been estimated to contain about 50 million proteins and human cells on the order of 1 to 3 billion. The concentration of individual protein copies ranges from a few molecules per cell up to 20 million. Not all genes coding proteins are expressed in most cells and their number depends on, for example, cell type and external stimuli. For instance, of the 20,000 or so proteins encoded by the human genome, only 6,000 are detected in lymphoblastoid cells. Moreover, the number of proteins the genome encodes correlates well with the organism complexity. Eukaryotes have 15,000, bacteria have 3,200, archaea have 2,400, and viruses have 42 proteins on average coded in their respective genomes.
Proteins are assembled from amino acids using information encoded in genes. Each protein has its own unique amino acid sequence that is specified by the nucleotide sequence of the gene encoding this protein. The genetic code is a set of three-nucleotide sets called codons and each three-nucleotide combination designates an amino acid, for example AUG (adenine–uracil–guanine) is the code for methionine. Because DNA contains four nucleotides, the total number of possible codons is 64; hence, there is some redundancy in the genetic code, with some amino acids specified by more than one codon. Genes encoded in DNA are first transcribed into pre-messenger RNA (mRNA) by proteins such as RNA polymerase. Most organisms then process the pre-mRNA (also known as a "primary transcript") using various forms of Post-transcriptional modification to form the mature mRNA, which is then used as a template for protein synthesis by the ribosome. In prokaryotes the mRNA may either be used as soon as it is produced, or be bound by a ribosome after having moved away from the nucleoid. In contrast, eukaryotes make mRNA in the cell nucleus and then translocate it across the nuclear membrane into the cytoplasm, where protein synthesis then takes place. The rate of protein synthesis is higher in prokaryotes than eukaryotes and can reach up to 20 amino acids per second.
The process of synthesizing a protein from an mRNA template is known as translation. The mRNA is loaded onto the ribosome and is read three nucleotides at a time by matching each codon to its base pairing anticodon located on a transfer RNA molecule, which carries the amino acid corresponding to the codon it recognizes. The enzyme aminoacyl tRNA synthetase "charges" the tRNA molecules with the correct amino acids. The growing polypeptide is often termed the "nascent chain". Proteins are always biosynthesized from N-terminus to C-terminus.
The size of a synthesized protein can be measured by the number of amino acids it contains and by its total molecular mass, which is normally reported in units of "daltons" (synonymous with atomic mass units), or the derivative unit kilodalton (kDa). The average size of a protein increases from Archaea to Bacteria to Eukaryote (283, 311, 438 residues and 31, 34, 49 kDa respectively) due to a bigger number of protein domains constituting proteins in higher organisms. For instance, yeast proteins are on average 466 amino acids long and 53 kDa in mass. The largest known proteins are the titins, a component of the muscle sarcomere, with a molecular mass of almost 3,000 kDa and a total length of almost 27,000 amino acids.
Short proteins can also be synthesized chemically by a family of methods known as peptide synthesis, which rely on organic synthesis techniques such as chemical ligation to produce peptides in high yield. Chemical synthesis allows for the introduction of non-natural amino acids into polypeptide chains, such as attachment of fluorescent probes to amino acid side chains. These methods are useful in laboratory biochemistry and cell biology, though generally not for commercial applications. Chemical synthesis is inefficient for polypeptides longer than about 300 amino acids, and the synthesized proteins may not readily assume their native tertiary structure. Most chemical synthesis methods proceed from C-terminus to N-terminus, opposite the biological reaction.
Most proteins fold into unique 3D structures. The shape into which a protein naturally folds is known as its native conformation. Although many proteins can fold unassisted, simply through the chemical properties of their amino acids, others require the aid of molecular chaperones to fold into their native states. Biochemists often refer to four distinct aspects of a protein's structure:
Proteins are not entirely rigid molecules. In addition to these levels of structure, proteins may shift between several related structures while they perform their functions. In the context of these functional rearrangements, these tertiary or quaternary structures are usually referred to as "conformations", and transitions between them are called "conformational changes." Such changes are often induced by the binding of a substrate molecule to an enzyme's active site, or the physical region of the protein that participates in chemical catalysis. In solution proteins also undergo variation in structure through thermal vibration and the collision with other molecules.
Proteins can be informally divided into three main classes, which correlate with typical tertiary structures: globular proteins, fibrous proteins, and membrane proteins. Almost all globular proteins are soluble and many are enzymes. Fibrous proteins are often structural, such as collagen, the major component of connective tissue, or keratin, the protein component of hair and nails. Membrane proteins often serve as receptors or provide channels for polar or charged molecules to pass through the cell membrane.
A special case of intramolecular hydrogen bonds within proteins, poorly shielded from water attack and hence promoting their own dehydration, are called dehydrons.
Many proteins are composed of several protein domains, i.e. segments of a protein that fold into distinct structural units. Domains usually also have specific functions, such as enzymatic activities (e.g. kinase) or they serve as binding modules (e.g. the SH3 domain binds to proline-rich sequences in other proteins).
Short amino acid sequences within proteins often act as recognition sites for other proteins. For instance, SH3 domains typically bind to short PxxP motifs (i.e. 2 prolines [P], separated by two unspecified amino acids [x], although the surrounding amino acids may determine the exact binding specificity). Many such motifs has been collected in the Eukaryotic Linear Motif (ELM) database.
Proteins are the chief actors within the cell, said to be carrying out the duties specified by the information encoded in genes. With the exception of certain types of RNA, most other biological molecules are relatively inert elements upon which proteins act. Proteins make up half the dry weight of an "Escherichia coli" cell, whereas other macromolecules such as DNA and RNA make up only 3% and 20%, respectively. The set of proteins expressed in a particular cell or cell type is known as its proteome.
The chief characteristic of proteins that also allows their diverse set of functions is their ability to bind other molecules specifically and tightly. The region of the protein responsible for binding another molecule is known as the binding site and is often a depression or "pocket" on the molecular surface. This binding ability is mediated by the tertiary structure of the protein, which defines the binding site pocket, and by the chemical properties of the surrounding amino acids' side chains. Protein binding can be extraordinarily tight and specific; for example, the ribonuclease inhibitor protein binds to human angiogenin with a sub-femtomolar dissociation constant (<10−15 M) but does not bind at all to its amphibian homolog onconase (>1 M). Extremely minor chemical changes such as the addition of a single methyl group to a binding partner can sometimes suffice to nearly eliminate binding; for example, the aminoacyl tRNA synthetase specific to the amino acid valine discriminates against the very similar side chain of the amino acid isoleucine.
Proteins can bind to other proteins as well as to small-molecule substrates. When proteins bind specifically to other copies of the same molecule, they can oligomerize to form fibrils; this process occurs often in structural proteins that consist of globular monomers that self-associate to form rigid fibers. Protein–protein interactions also regulate enzymatic activity, control progression through the cell cycle, and allow the assembly of large protein complexes that carry out many closely related reactions with a common biological function. Proteins can also bind to, or even be integrated into, cell membranes. The ability of binding partners to induce conformational changes in proteins allows the construction of enormously complex signaling networks.
As interactions between proteins are reversible, and depend heavily on the availability of different groups of partner proteins to form aggregates that are capable to carry out discrete sets of function, study of the interactions between specific proteins is a key to understand important aspects of cellular function, and ultimately the properties that distinguish particular cell types.
The best-known role of proteins in the cell is as enzymes, which catalyse chemical reactions. Enzymes are usually highly specific and accelerate only one or a few chemical reactions. Enzymes carry out most of the reactions involved in metabolism, as well as manipulating DNA in processes such as DNA replication, DNA repair, and transcription. Some enzymes act on other proteins to add or remove chemical groups in a process known as posttranslational modification. About 4,000 reactions are known to be catalysed by enzymes. The rate acceleration conferred by enzymatic catalysis is often enormous—as much as 1017-fold increase in rate over the uncatalysed reaction in the case of orotate decarboxylase (78 million years without the enzyme, 18 milliseconds with the enzyme).
The molecules bound and acted upon by enzymes are called substrates. Although enzymes can consist of hundreds of amino acids, it is usually only a small fraction of the residues that come in contact with the substrate, and an even smaller fraction—three to four residues on average—that are directly involved in catalysis. The region of the enzyme that binds the substrate and contains the catalytic residues is known as the active site.
Dirigent proteins are members of a class of proteins that dictate the stereochemistry of a compound synthesized by other enzymes.
Many proteins are involved in the process of cell signaling and signal transduction. Some proteins, such as insulin, are extracellular proteins that transmit a signal from the cell in which they were synthesized to other cells in distant tissues. Others are membrane proteins that act as receptors whose main function is to bind a signaling molecule and induce a biochemical response in the cell. Many receptors have a binding site exposed on the cell surface and an effector domain within the cell, which may have enzymatic activity or may undergo a conformational change detected by other proteins within the cell.
Antibodies are protein components of an adaptive immune system whose main function is to bind antigens, or foreign substances in the body, and target them for destruction. Antibodies can be secreted into the extracellular environment or anchored in the membranes of specialized B cells known as plasma cells. Whereas enzymes are limited in their binding affinity for their substrates by the necessity of conducting their reaction, antibodies have no such constraints. An antibody's binding affinity to its target is extraordinarily high.
Many ligand transport proteins bind particular small biomolecules and transport them to other locations in the body of a multicellular organism. These proteins must have a high binding affinity when their ligand is present in high concentrations, but must also release the ligand when it is present at low concentrations in the target tissues. The canonical example of a ligand-binding protein is haemoglobin, which transports oxygen from the lungs to other organs and tissues in all vertebrates and has close homologs in every biological kingdom. Lectins are sugar-binding proteins which are highly specific for their sugar moieties. Lectins typically play a role in biological recognition phenomena involving cells and proteins. Receptors and hormones are highly specific binding proteins.
Transmembrane proteins can also serve as ligand transport proteins that alter the permeability of the cell membrane to small molecules and ions. The membrane alone has a hydrophobic core through which polar or charged molecules cannot diffuse. Membrane proteins contain internal channels that allow such molecules to enter and exit the cell. Many ion channel proteins are specialized to select for only a particular ion; for example, potassium and sodium channels often discriminate for only one of the two ions.
Structural proteins confer stiffness and rigidity to otherwise-fluid biological components. Most structural proteins are fibrous proteins; for example, collagen and elastin are critical components of connective tissue such as cartilage, and keratin is found in hard or filamentous structures such as hair, nails, feathers, hooves, and some animal shells. Some globular proteins can also play structural functions, for example, actin and tubulin are globular and soluble as monomers, but polymerize to form long, stiff fibers that make up the cytoskeleton, which allows the cell to maintain its shape and size.
Other proteins that serve structural functions are motor proteins such as myosin, kinesin, and dynein, which are capable of generating mechanical forces. These proteins are crucial for cellular motility of single celled organisms and the sperm of many multicellular organisms which reproduce sexually. They also generate the forces exerted by contracting muscles and play essential roles in intracellular transport.
The activities and structures of proteins may be examined "in vitro," "in vivo, and in silico". In vitro studies of purified proteins in controlled environments are useful for learning how a protein carries out its function: for example, enzyme kinetics studies explore the chemical mechanism of an enzyme's catalytic activity and its relative affinity for various possible substrate molecules. By contrast, in vivo experiments can provide information about the physiological role of a protein in the context of a cell or even a whole organism. In silico studies use computational methods to study proteins.
To perform "in vitro" analysis, a protein must be purified away from other cellular components. This process usually begins with cell lysis, in which a cell's membrane is disrupted and its internal contents released into a solution known as a crude lysate. The resulting mixture can be purified using ultracentrifugation, which fractionates the various cellular components into fractions containing soluble proteins; membrane lipids and proteins; cellular organelles, and nucleic acids. Precipitation by a method known as salting out can concentrate the proteins from this lysate. Various types of chromatography are then used to isolate the protein or proteins of interest based on properties such as molecular weight, net charge and binding affinity. The level of purification can be monitored using various types of gel electrophoresis if the desired protein's molecular weight and isoelectric point are known, by spectroscopy if the protein has distinguishable spectroscopic features, or by enzyme assays if the protein has enzymatic activity. Additionally, proteins can be isolated according to their charge using electrofocusing.
For natural proteins, a series of purification steps may be necessary to obtain protein sufficiently pure for laboratory applications. To simplify this process, genetic engineering is often used to add chemical features to proteins that make them easier to purify without affecting their structure or activity. Here, a "tag" consisting of a specific amino acid sequence, often a series of histidine residues (a "His-tag"), is attached to one terminus of the protein. As a result, when the lysate is passed over a chromatography column containing nickel, the histidine residues ligate the nickel and attach to the column while the untagged components of the lysate pass unimpeded. A number of different tags have been developed to help researchers purify specific proteins from complex mixtures.
The study of proteins "in vivo" is often concerned with the synthesis and localization of the protein within the cell. Although many intracellular proteins are synthesized in the cytoplasm and membrane-bound or secreted proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum, the specifics of how proteins are targeted to specific organelles or cellular structures is often unclear. A useful technique for assessing cellular localization uses genetic engineering to express in a cell a fusion protein or chimera consisting of the natural protein of interest linked to a "reporter" such as green fluorescent protein (GFP). The fused protein's position within the cell can be cleanly and efficiently visualized using microscopy, as shown in the figure opposite.
Other methods for elucidating the cellular location of proteins requires the use of known compartmental markers for regions such as the ER, the Golgi, lysosomes or vacuoles, mitochondria, chloroplasts, plasma membrane, etc. With the use of fluorescently tagged versions of these markers or of antibodies to known markers, it becomes much simpler to identify the localization of a protein of interest. For example, indirect immunofluorescence will allow for fluorescence colocalization and demonstration of location. Fluorescent dyes are used to label cellular compartments for a similar purpose.
Other possibilities exist, as well. For example, immunohistochemistry usually utilizes an antibody to one or more proteins of interest that are conjugated to enzymes yielding either luminescent or chromogenic signals that can be compared between samples, allowing for localization information. Another applicable technique is cofractionation in sucrose (or other material) gradients using isopycnic centrifugation. While this technique does not prove colocalization of a compartment of known density and the protein of interest, it does increase the likelihood, and is more amenable to large-scale studies.
Finally, the gold-standard method of cellular localization is immunoelectron microscopy. This technique also uses an antibody to the protein of interest, along with classical electron microscopy techniques. The sample is prepared for normal electron microscopic examination, and then treated with an antibody to the protein of interest that is conjugated to an extremely electro-dense material, usually gold. This allows for the localization of both ultrastructural details as well as the protein of interest.
Through another genetic engineering application known as site-directed mutagenesis, researchers can alter the protein sequence and hence its structure, cellular localization, and susceptibility to regulation. This technique even allows the incorporation of unnatural amino acids into proteins, using modified tRNAs, and may allow the rational design of new proteins with novel properties.
The total complement of proteins present at a time in a cell or cell type is known as its proteome, and the study of such large-scale data sets defines the field of proteomics, named by analogy to the related field of genomics. Key experimental techniques in proteomics include 2D electrophoresis, which allows the separation of many proteins, mass spectrometry, which allows rapid high-throughput identification of proteins and sequencing of peptides (most often after in-gel digestion), protein microarrays, which allow the detection of the relative levels of the various proteins present in a cell, and two-hybrid screening, which allows the systematic exploration of protein–protein interactions. The total complement of biologically possible such interactions is known as the interactome. A systematic attempt to determine the structures of proteins representing every possible fold is known as structural genomics.
A vast array of computational methods have been developed to analyze the structure, function and evolution of proteins.
The development of such tools has been driven by the large amount of genomic and proteomic data available for a variety of organisms, including the human genome. It is simply impossible to study all proteins experimentally, hence only a few are subjected to laboratory experiments while computational tools are used to extrapolate to similar proteins. Such homologous proteins can be efficiently identified in distantly related organisms by sequence alignment. Genome and gene sequences can be searched by a variety of tools for certain properties. Sequence profiling tools can find restriction enzyme sites, open reading frames in nucleotide sequences, and predict secondary structures. Phylogenetic trees can be constructed and evolutionary hypotheses developed using special software like ClustalW regarding the ancestry of modern organisms and the genes they express. The field of bioinformatics is now indispensable for the analysis of genes and proteins.
Discovering the tertiary structure of a protein, or the quaternary structure of its complexes, can provide important clues about how the protein performs its function and how it can be affected, i.e. in drug design. As proteins are too small to be seen under a light microscope, other methods have to be employed to determine their structure. Common experimental methods include X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy, both of which can produce structural information at atomic resolution. However, NMR experiments are able to provide information from which a subset of distances between pairs of atoms can be estimated, and the final possible conformations for a protein are determined by solving a distance geometry problem. Dual polarisation interferometry is a quantitative analytical method for measuring the overall protein conformation and conformational changes due to interactions or other stimulus. Circular dichroism is another laboratory technique for determining internal β-sheet / α-helical composition of proteins. Cryoelectron microscopy is used to produce lower-resolution structural information about very large protein complexes, including assembled viruses; a variant known as electron crystallography can also produce high-resolution information in some cases, especially for two-dimensional crystals of membrane proteins. Solved structures are usually deposited in the Protein Data Bank (PDB), a freely available resource from which structural data about thousands of proteins can be obtained in the form of Cartesian coordinates for each atom in the protein.
Many more gene sequences are known than protein structures. Further, the set of solved structures is biased toward proteins that can be easily subjected to the conditions required in X-ray crystallography, one of the major structure determination methods. In particular, globular proteins are comparatively easy to crystallize in preparation for X-ray crystallography. Membrane proteins and large protein complexes, by contrast, are difficult to crystallize and are underrepresented in the PDB. Structural genomics initiatives have attempted to remedy these deficiencies by systematically solving representative structures of major fold classes. Protein structure prediction methods attempt to provide a means of generating a plausible structure for proteins whose structures have not been experimentally determined.
Complementary to the field of structural genomics, "protein structure prediction" develops efficient mathematical models of proteins to computationally predict the molecular formations in theory, instead of detecting structures with laboratory observation. The most successful type of structure prediction, known as homology modeling, relies on the existence of a "template" structure with sequence similarity to the protein being modeled; structural genomics' goal is to provide sufficient representation in solved structures to model most of those that remain. Although producing accurate models remains a challenge when only distantly related template structures are available, it has been suggested that sequence alignment is the bottleneck in this process, as quite accurate models can be produced if a "perfect" sequence alignment is known. Many structure prediction methods have served to inform the emerging field of protein engineering, in which novel protein folds have already been designed. A more complex computational problem is the prediction of intermolecular interactions, such as in molecular docking and protein–protein interaction prediction.
Mathematical models to simulate dynamic processes of protein folding and binding involve molecular mechanics, in particular, molecular dynamics. Monte Carlo techniques facilitate the computations, which exploit advances in parallel and distributed computing (for example, the Folding@home project which performs molecular modeling on GPUs). "In silico" simulations discovered the folding of small α-helical protein domains such as the villin headpiece and the HIV accessory protein. Hybrid methods combining standard molecular dynamics with quantum mechanical mathematics explored the electronic states of rhodopsins.
Many proteins (in Eucaryota ~33%) contain large unstructured but biologically functional segments and can be classified as intrinsically disordered proteins. Predicting and analysing protein disorder is, therefore, an important part of protein structure characterisation.
Most microorganisms and plants can biosynthesize all 20 standard amino acids, while animals (including humans) must obtain some of the amino acids from the diet. The amino acids that an organism cannot synthesize on its own are referred to as essential amino acids. Key enzymes that synthesize certain amino acids are not present in animals—such as aspartokinase, which catalyses the first step in the synthesis of lysine, methionine, and threonine from aspartate. If amino acids are present in the environment, microorganisms can conserve energy by taking up the amino acids from their surroundings and downregulating their biosynthetic pathways.
In animals, amino acids are obtained through the consumption of foods containing protein. Ingested proteins are then broken down into amino acids through digestion, which typically involves denaturation of the protein through exposure to acid and hydrolysis by enzymes called proteases. Some ingested amino acids are used for protein biosynthesis, while others are converted to glucose through gluconeogenesis, or fed into the citric acid cycle. This use of protein as a fuel is particularly important under starvation conditions as it allows the body's own proteins to be used to support life, particularly those found in muscle.
In animals such as dogs and cats, protein maintains the health and quality of the skin by promoting hair follicle growth and keratinization, and thus reducing the likelihood of skin problems producing malodours. Poor-quality proteins also have a role regarding gastrointestinal health, increasing the potential for flatulence and odorous compounds in dogs because when proteins reach the colon in an undigested state, they are fermented producing hydrogen sulfide gas, indole, and skatole. Dogs and cats digest animal proteins better than those from plants, but products of low-quality animal origin are poorly digested, including skin, feathers, and connective tissue. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23634 |
Physical chemistry
Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic, and particulate phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mechanics, analytical dynamics and chemical equilibrium.
Physical chemistry, in contrast to chemical physics, is predominantly (but not always) a macroscopic or supra-molecular science, as the majority of the principles on which it was founded relate to the bulk rather than the molecular/atomic structure alone (for example, chemical equilibrium and colloids).
Some of the relationships that physical chemistry strives to resolve include the effects of:
The key concepts of physical chemistry are the ways in which pure physics is applied to chemical problems.
One of the key concepts in classical chemistry is that all chemical compounds can be described as groups of atoms bonded together and chemical reactions can be described as the making and breaking of those bonds. Predicting the properties of chemical compounds from a description of atoms and how they bond is one of the major goals of physical chemistry. To describe the atoms and bonds precisely, it is necessary to know both where the nuclei of the atoms are, and how electrons are distributed around them.
Quantum chemistry, a subfield of physical chemistry especially concerned with the application of quantum mechanics to chemical problems, provides tools to determine how strong and what shape bonds are, how nuclei move, and how light can be absorbed or emitted by a chemical compound. Spectroscopy is the related sub-discipline of physical chemistry which is specifically concerned with the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with matter.
Another set of important questions in chemistry concerns what kind of reactions can happen spontaneously and which properties are possible for a given chemical mixture. This is studied in chemical thermodynamics, which sets limits on quantities like how far a reaction can proceed, or how much energy can be converted into work in an internal combustion engine, and which provides links between properties like the thermal expansion coefficient and rate of change of entropy with pressure for a gas or a liquid. It can frequently be used to assess whether a reactor or engine design is feasible, or to check the validity of experimental data. To a limited extent, quasi-equilibrium and non-equilibrium thermodynamics can describe irreversible changes. However, classical thermodynamics is mostly concerned with systems in equilibrium and reversible changes and not what actually does happen, or how fast, away from equilibrium.
Which reactions do occur and how fast is the subject of chemical kinetics, another branch of physical chemistry. A key idea in chemical kinetics is that for reactants to react and form products, most chemical species must go through transition states which are higher in energy than either the reactants or the products and serve as a barrier to reaction. In general, the higher the barrier, the slower the reaction. A second is that most chemical reactions occur as a sequence of elementary reactions, each with its own transition state. Key questions in kinetics include how the rate of reaction depends on temperature and on the concentrations of reactants and catalysts in the reaction mixture, as well as how catalysts and reaction conditions can be engineered to optimize the reaction rate.
The fact that how fast reactions occur can often be specified with just a few concentrations and a temperature, instead of needing to know all the positions and speeds of every molecule in a mixture, is a special case of another key concept in physical chemistry, which is that to the extent an engineer needs to know, everything going on in a mixture of very large numbers (perhaps of the order of the Avogadro constant, 6 x 1023) of particles can often be described by just a few variables like pressure, temperature, and concentration. The precise reasons for this are described in statistical mechanics, a specialty within physical chemistry which is also shared with physics. Statistical mechanics also provides ways to predict the properties we see in everyday life from molecular properties without relying on empirical correlations based on chemical similarities.
The term "physical chemistry" was coined by Mikhail Lomonosov in 1752, when he presented a lecture course entitled "A Course in True Physical Chemistry" (Russian: «Курс истинной физической химии») before the students of Petersburg University. In the preamble to these lectures he gives the definition: "Physical chemistry is the science that must explain under provisions of physical experiments the reason for what is happening in complex bodies through chemical operations".
Modern physical chemistry originated in the 1860s to 1880s with work on chemical thermodynamics, electrolytes in solutions, chemical kinetics and other subjects. One milestone was the publication in 1876 by Josiah Willard Gibbs of his paper, "On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances". This paper introduced several of the cornerstones of physical chemistry, such as Gibbs energy, chemical potentials, and Gibbs' phase rule.
The first scientific journal specifically in the field of physical chemistry was the German journal, "Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie", founded in 1887 by Wilhelm Ostwald and Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff. Together with Svante August Arrhenius, these were the leading figures in physical chemistry in the late 19th century and early 20th century. All three were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry between 1901–1909.
Developments in the following decades include the application of statistical mechanics to chemical systems and work on colloids and surface chemistry, where Irving Langmuir made many contributions. Another important step was the development of quantum mechanics into quantum chemistry from the 1930s, where Linus Pauling was one of the leading names. Theoretical developments have gone hand in hand with developments in experimental methods, where the use of different forms of spectroscopy, such as infrared spectroscopy, microwave spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, is probably the most important 20th century development.
Further development in physical chemistry may be attributed to discoveries in nuclear chemistry, especially in isotope separation (before and during World War II), more recent discoveries in astrochemistry, as well as the development of calculation algorithms in the field of "additive physicochemical properties" (practically all physicochemical properties, such as boiling point, critical point, surface tension, vapor pressure, etc.—more than 20 in all—can be precisely calculated from chemical structure alone, even if the chemical molecule remains unsynthesized), and herein lies the practical importance of contemporary physical chemistry.
See Group contribution method, Lydersen method, Joback method, Benson group increment theory, quantitative structure–activity relationship
Some journals that deal with physical chemistry include "Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie" (1887); "Journal of Physical Chemistry A" (from 1896 as "Journal of Physical Chemistry", renamed in 1997); "Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics" (from 1999, formerly "Faraday Transactions" with a history dating back to 1905); "Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics" (1947); "Annual Review of Physical Chemistry" (1950); "Molecular Physics" (1957); "Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry" (1988); "Journal of Physical Chemistry B" (1997); "ChemPhysChem" (2000); "Journal of Physical Chemistry C" (2007); and "Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters" (from 2010, combined letters previously published in the separate journals)
Historical journals that covered both chemistry and physics include "Annales de chimie et de physique" (started in 1789, published under the name given here from 1815–1914). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23635 |
Perimeter
A perimeter is a path that encompasses/surrounds a two-dimensional shape. The term may be used either for the path, or its length—in one dimension. It can be thought of as the length of the outline of a shape. The perimeter of a circle or ellipse is called its circumference.
Calculating the perimeter has several practical applications. A calculated perimeter is the length of fence required to surround a yard or garden. The perimeter of a wheel/circle (its circumference) describes how far it will roll in one revolution. Similarly, the amount of string wound around a spool is related to the spool's perimeter; if the length of the string was exact, it would equal the perimeter.
The perimeter is the distance around a shape. Perimeters for more general shapes can be calculated, as any path, with formula_1, where formula_2 is the length of the path and formula_3 is an infinitesimal line element. Both of these must be replaced by algebraic forms in order to be practically calculated. If the perimeter is given as a closed piecewise smooth plane curve formula_4 with
then its length formula_2 can be computed as follows:
A generalized notion of perimeter, which includes hypersurfaces bounding volumes in formula_8-dimensional Euclidean spaces, is described by the theory of Caccioppoli sets.
Polygons are fundamental to determining perimeters, not only because they are the simplest shapes but also because the perimeters of many shapes are calculated by approximating them with sequences of polygons tending to these shapes. The first mathematician known to have used this kind of reasoning is Archimedes, who approximated the perimeter of a circle by surrounding it with regular polygons.
The perimeter of a polygon equals the sum of the lengths of its sides (edges). In particular, the perimeter of a rectangle of width formula_9 and length formula_10 equals formula_11
An equilateral polygon is a polygon which has all sides of the same length (for example, a rhombus is a 4-sided equilateral polygon). To calculate the perimeter of an equilateral polygon, one must multiply the common length of the sides by the number of sides.
A regular polygon may be characterized by the number of its sides and by its circumradius, that is to say, the constant distance between its centre and each of its vertices. The length of its sides can be calculated using trigonometry. If is a regular polygon's radius and is the number of its sides, then its perimeter is
A splitter of a triangle is a cevian (a segment from a vertex to the opposite side) that divides the perimeter into two equal lengths, this common length being called the semiperimeter of the triangle. The three splitters of a triangle all intersect each other at the Nagel point of the triangle.
A cleaver of a triangle is a segment from the midpoint of a side of a triangle to the opposite side such that the perimeter is divided into two equal lengths. The three cleavers of a triangle all intersect each other at the triangle's Spieker center.
The perimeter of a circle, often called the circumference, is proportional to its diameter and its radius. That is to say, there exists a constant number pi, (the Greek "p" for perimeter), such that if is the circle's perimeter and its diameter then,
In terms of the radius of the circle, this formula becomes,
To calculate a circle's perimeter, knowledge of its radius or diameter and the number suffices. The problem is that is not rational (it cannot be expressed as the quotient of two integers), nor is it algebraic (it is not a root of a polynomial equation with rational coefficients). So, obtaining an accurate approximation of is important in the calculation. The computation of the digits of is relevant to many fields, such as mathematical analysis, algorithmics and computer science.
The perimeter and the area are two main measures of geometric figures. Confusing them is a common error, as well as believing that the greater one of them is, the greater the other must be. Indeed, a commonplace observation is that an enlargement (or a reduction) of a shape make its area grow (or decrease) as well as its perimeter. For example, if a field is drawn on a 1/ scale map, the actual field perimeter can be calculated multiplying the drawing perimeter by . The real area is times the area of the shape on the map. Nevertheless, there is no relation between the area and the perimeter of an ordinary shape. For example, the perimeter of a rectangle of width 0.001 and length 1000 is slightly above 2000, while the perimeter of a rectangle of width 0.5 and length 2 is 5. Both areas equal to 1.
Proclus (5th century) reported that Greek peasants "fairly" parted fields relying on their perimeters. However, a field's production is proportional to its area, not to its perimeter, so many naive peasants may have gotten fields with long perimeters but small areas (thus, few crops).
If one removes a piece from a figure, its area decreases but its perimeter may not. In the case of very irregular shapes, confusion between the perimeter and the convex hull may arise. The convex hull of a figure may be visualized as the shape formed by a rubber band stretched around it. In the animated picture on the left, all the figures have the same convex hull; the big, first hexagon.
The isoperimetric problem is to determine a figure with the largest area, amongst those having a given perimeter. The solution is intuitive; it is the circle. In particular, this can be used to explain why drops of fat on a broth surface are circular.
This problem may seem simple, but its mathematical proof requires some sophisticated theorems. The isoperimetric problem is sometimes simplified by restricting the type of figures to be used. In particular, to find the quadrilateral, or the triangle, or another particular figure, with the largest area amongst those with the same shape having a given perimeter. The solution to the quadrilateral isoperimetric problem is the square, and the solution to the triangle problem is the equilateral triangle. In general, the polygon with sides having the largest area and a given perimeter is the regular polygon, which is closer to being a circle than is any irregular polygon with the same number of sides.
The word comes from the Greek περίμετρος "perimetros" from περί "peri" "around" and μέτρον "metron" "measure". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23636 |
Phase (matter)
In the physical sciences, a phase is a region of space (a thermodynamic system), throughout which all physical properties of a material are essentially uniform. Examples of physical properties include density, index of refraction, magnetization and chemical composition. A simple description is that a phase is a region of material that is chemically uniform, physically distinct, and (often) mechanically separable. In a system consisting of ice and water in a glass jar, the ice cubes are one phase, the water is a second phase, and the humid air is a third phase over the ice and water. The glass of the jar is another separate phase. (See )
The term "phase" is sometimes used as a synonym for state of matter, but there can be several immiscible phases of the same state of matter. Also, the term "phase" is sometimes used to refer to a set of equilibrium states demarcated in terms of state variables such as pressure and temperature by a phase boundary on a phase diagram. Because phase boundaries relate to changes in the organization of matter, such as a change from liquid to solid or a more subtle change from one crystal structure to another, this latter usage is similar to the use of "phase" as a synonym for state of matter. However, the state of matter and phase diagram usages are not commensurate with the formal definition given above and the intended meaning must be determined in part from the context in which the term is used.
Distinct phases may be described as different states of matter such as gas, liquid, solid, plasma or Bose–Einstein condensate. Useful mesophases between solid and liquid form other states of matter.
Distinct phases may also exist within a given state of matter. As shown in the diagram for iron alloys, several phases exist for both the solid and liquid states. Phases may also be differentiated based on solubility as in polar (hydrophilic) or non-polar (hydrophobic). A mixture of water (a polar liquid) and oil (a non-polar liquid) will spontaneously separate into two phases. Water has a very low solubility (is insoluble) in oil, and oil has a low solubility in water. Solubility is the maximum amount of a solute that can dissolve in a solvent before the solute ceases to dissolve and remains in a separate phase. A mixture can separate into more than two liquid phases and the concept of phase separation extends to solids, i.e., solids can form solid solutions or crystallize into distinct crystal phases. Metal pairs that are mutually soluble can form alloys, whereas metal pairs that are mutually insoluble cannot.
As many as eight immiscible liquid phases have been observed. Mutually immiscible liquid phases are formed from water (aqueous phase), hydrophobic organic solvents, perfluorocarbons (fluorous phase), silicones, several different metals, and also from molten phosphorus. Not all organic solvents are completely miscible, e.g. a mixture of ethylene glycol and toluene may separate into two distinct organic phases.
Phases do not need to macroscopically separate spontaneously. Emulsions and colloids are examples of immiscible phase pair combinations that do not physically separate.
Left to equilibration, many compositions will form a uniform single phase, but depending on the temperature and pressure even a single substance may separate into two or more distinct phases. Within each phase, the properties are uniform but between the two phases properties differ.
Water in a closed jar with an air space over it forms a two phase system. Most of the water is in the liquid phase, where it is held by the mutual attraction of water molecules. Even at equilibrium molecules are constantly in motion and, once in a while, a molecule in the liquid phase gains enough kinetic energy to break away from the liquid phase and enter the gas phase. Likewise, every once in a while a vapor molecule collides with the liquid surface and condenses into the liquid. At equilibrium, evaporation and condensation processes exactly balance and there is no net change in the volume of either phase.
At room temperature and pressure, the water jar reaches equilibrium when the air over the water has a humidity of about 3%. This percentage increases as the temperature goes up. At 100 °C and atmospheric pressure, equilibrium is not reached until the air is 100% water. If the liquid is heated a little over 100 °C, the transition from liquid to gas will occur not only at the surface, but throughout the liquid volume: the water boils.
For a given composition, only certain phases are possible at a given temperature and pressure. The number and type of phases that will form is hard to predict and is usually determined by experiment. The results of such experiments can be plotted in phase diagrams.
The phase diagram shown here is for a single component system. In this simple system, which phases that are possible depends only on pressure and temperature. The markings show points where two or more phases can co-exist in equilibrium. At temperatures and pressures away from the markings, there will be only one phase at equilibrium.
In the diagram, the blue line marking the boundary between liquid and gas does not continue indefinitely, but terminates at a point called the critical point. As the temperature and pressure approach the critical point, the properties of the liquid and gas become progressively more similar. At the critical point, the liquid and gas become indistinguishable. Above the critical point, there are no longer separate liquid and gas phases: there is only a generic fluid phase referred to as a supercritical fluid. In water, the critical point occurs at around 647 K (374 °C or 705 °F) and 22.064 MPa.
An unusual feature of the water phase diagram is that the solid–liquid phase line (illustrated by the dotted green line) has a negative slope. For most substances, the slope is positive as exemplified by the dark green line. This unusual feature of water is related to ice having a lower density than liquid water. Increasing the pressure drives the water into the higher density phase, which causes melting.
Another interesting though not unusual feature of the phase diagram is the point where the solid–liquid phase line meets the liquid–gas phase line. The intersection is referred to as the triple point. At the triple point, all three phases can coexist.
Experimentally, the phase lines are relatively easy to map due to the interdependence of temperature and pressure that develops when multiple phases forms. See Gibbs' phase rule. Consider a test apparatus consisting of a closed and well insulated cylinder equipped with a piston. By controlling the temperature and the pressure, the system can be brought to any point on the phase diagram. From a point in the solid stability region (left side of diagram), increasing the temperature of the system would bring it into the region where a liquid or a gas is the equilibrium phase (depending on the pressure). If the piston is slowly lowered, the system will trace a curve of increasing temperature and pressure within the gas region of the phase diagram. At the point where gas begins to condense to liquid, the direction of the temperature and pressure curve will abruptly change to trace along the phase line until all of the water has condensed.
Between two phases in equilibrium there is a narrow region where the properties are not that of either phase. Although this region may be very thin, it can have significant and easily observable effects, such as causing a liquid to exhibit surface tension. In mixtures, some components may preferentially move toward the interface. In terms of modeling, describing, or understanding the behavior of a particular system, it may be efficacious to treat the interfacial region as a separate phase.
A single material may have several distinct solid states capable of forming separate phases. Water is a well-known example of such a material. For example, water ice is ordinarily found in the hexagonal form ice Ih, but can also exist as the cubic ice Ic, the rhombohedral ice II, and many other forms. Polymorphism is the ability of a solid to exist in more than one crystal form. For pure chemical elements, polymorphism is known as allotropy. For example, diamond, graphite, and fullerenes are different allotropes of carbon.
When a substance undergoes a phase transition (changes from one state of matter to another) it usually either takes up or releases energy. For example, when water evaporates, the increase in kinetic energy as the evaporating molecules escape the attractive forces of the liquid is reflected in a decrease in temperature. The energy required to induce the phase transition is taken from the internal thermal energy of the water, which cools the liquid to a lower temperature; hence evaporation is useful for cooling. See Enthalpy of vaporization. The reverse process, condensation, releases heat. The heat energy, or enthalpy, associated with a solid to liquid transition is the enthalpy of fusion and that associated with a solid to gas transition is the enthalpy of sublimation.
While phases of matter are traditionally defined for systems in thermal equilibrium, work on quantum many-body localized (MBL) systems has provided a framework for defining phases out of equilibrium. MBL phases never reach thermal equilibrium, and can allow for new forms of order disallowed in equilibrium via a phenomenon known as localization protected quantum order. The transitions between different MBL phases and between MBL and thermalizing phases are novel dynamical phase transitions whose properties are active areas of research. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23637 |
Outline of physical science
Physical science is a branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to life science. It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a "physical science", together called the "physical sciences".
Physical science can be described as all of the following:
History of physical science – history of the branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to the life sciences. It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a "physical science", together called the "physical sciences". However, the term "physical" creates an unintended, somewhat arbitrary distinction, since many branches of physical science also study biological phenomena (organic chemistry, for example).
Physics – branch of science that studies matter and its motion through space and time, along with related concepts such as energy and force. Physics is one of the "fundamental sciences" because the other natural sciences (like biology, geology etc.) deal with systems that seem to obey the laws of physics. According to physics, the physical laws of matter, energy and the fundamental forces of nature govern the interactions between particles and physical entities (such as planets, molecules, atoms or the subatomic particles). Some of the basic pursuits of physics, which include some of the most prominent developments in modern science in the last millennium, include:
Astronomy – science of celestial bodies and their interactions in space. Its studies includes the following:
Chemistry – branch of science that studies the composition, structure, properties and change of matter. Chemistry is chiefly concerned with atoms and molecules and their interactions and transformations, for example, the properties of the chemical bonds formed between atoms to create chemical compounds. As such, chemistry studies the involvement of electrons and various forms of energy in photochemical reactions, oxidation-reduction reactions, changes in phases of matter, and separation of mixtures. Preparation and properties of complex substances, such as alloys, polymers, biological molecules, and pharmaceutical agents are considered in specialized fields of chemistry.
Earth science – the science of the planet Earth, the only identified life-bearing planet. Its studies include the following: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23638 |
Gasoline
Gasoline or petrol (see the etymology for naming differences) is a clear petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. On average, a barrel of crude oil can yield up to about of gasoline after processing in an oil refinery, depending on the crude oil assay and on what other refined products are also extracted.
The characteristic of a particular gasoline blend to resist igniting too early (which causes knocking and reduces efficiency in reciprocating engines) is measured by its octane rating, which is produced in several grades. Once widely used to increase octane rating, tetraethyl lead and other lead compounds are no longer used in most areas (they are still used in aviation and auto-racing). Other chemicals are frequently added to gasoline to improve chemical stability and performance characteristics, control corrosiveness and provide fuel system cleaning. Gasoline may contain oxygen-containing chemicals such as ethanol, MTBE or ETBE to improve combustion.
Gasoline can enter the environment uncombusted, both as liquid and as vapor, from leakage and handling during production, transport and delivery (e.g., from storage tanks, from spills, etc.). As an example of efforts to control such leakage, many underground storage tanks are required to have extensive measures in place to detect and prevent such leaks. Gasoline contains benzene and other known carcinogens.
"Gasoline" is an English word that denotes fuel for automobiles. The "Oxford English Dictionary" dates its first recorded use to 1863, when it was spelled "gasolene". The term "gasoline" was first used in North America in 1864. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23639 |
Pentose
In chemistry, a pentose is a monosaccharide (simple sugar) with five carbon atoms. The chemical formula of all pentoses is , and their molecular weight is 150.13 g/mol.
Pentoses are very important in biochemistry. Ribose is a constituent of RNA, and the related molecule, deoxyribose, is a constituent of DNA. Phosphorylated pentoses are important products of the pentose phosphate pathway, most importantly ribose 5-phosphate (R5P), which is used in the synthesis of nucleotides and nucleic acids, and erythrose 4-phosphate (E4P), which is used in the synthesis of aromatic amino acids.
Like some other monosaccharides, pentoses exist in two forms, open-chain (linear) or closed-chain (cyclic), that easily convert into each other in water solutions. The linear form of a pentose, which usually exists only in solutions, has an open-chain backbone of five carbons. Four of these carbons have one hydroxyl functional group (–OH) each, connected by a single bond, and one has an oxygen atom connected by a double bond (=O), forming a carbonyl group (C=O). The remaining bonds of the carbon atoms are satisfied by six hydrogen atoms. Thus the structure of the linear form is H–(CHOH)"x"–C(=O)–(CHOH)4-"x"–H, where "x" is 0, 1, or 2.
The term "pentose" sometimes is assumed to include deoxypentoses, such as deoxyribose: compounds with general formula that can be described as derived from pentoses by replacement of one or more hydroxyl groups with hydrogen atoms.
The aldopentoses are a subclass of the pentoses which, in the linear form, have the carbonyl at carbon 1, forming an aldehyde derivative with structure H–C(=O)–(CHOH)4–H. The most important example is ribose. The ketopentoses have instead the carbonyl at positions 2 or 3, forming a ketone derivative with structure H–CHOH–C(=O)–(CHOH)3–H (2-ketopentose) or H–(CHOH)2–C(=O)–(CHOH)2–H (3-ketopentose). The latter is not known to occur in nature and are difficult to synthesize.
In the open form, there are 8 aldopentoses and 4 2-ketopentoses, stereoisomers that differ in the spatial position of the hydroxyl groups. These forms occur in pairs of optical isomers, generally labelled "" or "" by conventional rules (independently of their optical activity).
The aldopentoses have three chiral centers; therefore, eight (23) different stereoisomers are possible.
Ribose is a constituent of RNA, and the related molecule, deoxyribose, is a constituent of DNA. Phosphorylated pentoses are important products of the pentose phosphate pathway, most importantly ribose 5-phosphate (R5P), which is used in the synthesis of nucleotides and nucleic acids, and erythrose 4-phosphate (E4P), which is used in the synthesis of aromatic amino acids.
The 2-ketopentoses have two chiral centers; therefore, four (22) different stereoisomers are possible. The 3-ketopentoses are rare.
The closed or cyclic form of a pentose is created when the carbonyl group interacts with an hydroxyl in another carbon, turning the carbonyl into a hydroxyl and creating an ether bridge –O– between the two carbons. This intramolecular reaction yields a cyclic molecule, with a ring consisting of one oxygen atom and usually four carbon atoms; the cyclic compounds are then called furanoses, for having the same rings as the cyclic ether tetrahydrofuran.
The closure turns the carboxyl carbon into a chiral center, which may have any of two configurations, depending on the position of the new hydroxyl. Therefore, each linear form can produce two distinct closed forms, identified by prefixes "α" and "β".
The one deoxypentose has two total steroisomers.
In the cell, pentoses have a higher metabolic stability than hexoses.
A polymer composed of pentose sugars is called a pentosan.
The most important tests for pentoses rely on converting the pentose to furfural, which then reacts with a chromophore. In Tollens’ test for pentoses (not to be confused with Tollens' silver-mirror test for reducing sugars) the furfural ring reacts with phloroglucinol to produce a colored compound; in the aniline acetate test with aniline acetate; and in Bial's test, with orcinol. In each of these tests, pentoses react much more strongly and quickly than hexoses. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23640 |
Propane
Propane () is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used as a fuel. Discovered in 1857 by the French chemist Marcellin Berthelot, it became commercially available in the US by 1911. Propane is one of a group of liquefied petroleum gases (LP gases). The others include butane, propylene, butadiene, butylene, isobutylene, and mixtures thereof.
Propane gas has become a popular choice for barbecues and portable stoves because its low boiling point makes it vaporize as soon as it is released from its pressurized container. Propane powers buses, forklifts, taxis, outboard boat motors, and ice resurfacing machines and is used for heat and cooking in recreational vehicles and campers. Propane is also used in some locomotive diesel engines to improve combustion.
Propane was discovered by the French chemist Marcellin Berthelot in 1857. It was found dissolved in Pennsylvanian light crude oil by Edmund Ronalds in 1864. Walter O. Snelling of the U.S. Bureau of Mines highlighted it as a volatile component in gasoline in 1910, which was the beginning of the propane industry in the United States. The volatility of these lighter hydrocarbons caused them to be known as "wild" because of the high vapor pressures of unrefined gasoline. On March 31, 1912, "The New York Times" reported on Snelling's work with liquefied gas, saying "a steel bottle will carry enough gas to light an ordinary home for three weeks".
It was during this time that Snelling, in cooperation with Frank P. Peterson, Chester Kerr, and Arthur Kerr, created ways to liquefy the LP gases during the refining of gasoline. Together, they established American Gasol Co., the first commercial marketer of propane. Snelling had produced relatively pure propane by 1911, and on March 25, 1913, his method of processing and producing LP gases was issued patent #1,056,845. A separate method of producing LP gas through compression was created by Frank Peterson and its patent granted on July 2, 1912.
The 1920s saw increased production of LP gas, with the first year of recorded production totaling in 1922. In 1927, annual marketed LP gas production reached , and by 1935, the annual sales of LP gas had reached . Major industry developments in the 1930s included the introduction of railroad tank car transport, gas odorization, and the construction of local bottle-filling plants. The year 1945 marked the first year that annual LP gas sales reached a billion gallons. By 1947, 62% of all U.S. homes had been equipped with either natural gas or propane for cooking.
In 1950, 1,000 propane-fueled buses were ordered by the Chicago Transit Authority, and by 1958, sales in the U.S. had reached annually. In 2004, it was reported to be a growing $8-billion to $10-billion industry with over of propane being used annually in the U.S.
The "prop-" root found in "propane" and names of other compounds with three-carbon chains was derived from "propionic acid", which in turn was named after the Greek words protos (meaning first) and pion (fat).
Propane is produced as a by-product of two other processes, natural gas processing and petroleum refining. The processing of natural gas involves removal of butane, propane, and large amounts of ethane from the raw gas, in order to prevent condensation of these volatiles in natural gas pipelines. Additionally, oil refineries produce some propane as a by-product of cracking petroleum into gasoline or heating oil.
The supply of propane cannot easily be adjusted to meet increased demand, because of the by-product nature of propane production. About 90% of U.S. propane is domestically produced. The United States imports about 10% of the propane consumed each year, with about 70% of that coming from Canada via pipeline and rail. The remaining 30% of imported propane comes to the United States from other sources via ocean transport.
After it is separated from the crude oil, North American propane is stored in huge salt caverns. Examples of these are Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta; Mont Belvieu, Texas; and Conway, Kansas. These salt caverns can store of propane.
Propane is a colorless, odorless gas. At normal pressure it liquifies below its boiling point at −42 °C and solidifies below its melting point at −187.7 °C. Propane crystallizes in the space group P21/n . The low spacefilling of 58.5 % (at 90 K), due to the bad stacking properties of the molecule, is the reason for the particularly low melting point.
Propane undergoes combustion reactions in a similar fashion to other alkanes. In the presence of excess oxygen, propane burns to form water and carbon dioxide.C3H8 + 5O2 -> 3CO2 + 4H2O + heat When insufficient oxygen is present for complete combustion, carbon monoxide and/or soot (carbon) to be formed as well:
2C3H8 + 9O2 -> 4CO2 + 2CO + 8H2O + heat C3H8 + 2O2 -> 3C + 4H2O + heat Complete combustion of propane produces about 50 MJ/kg of heat.
Propane combustion is much cleaner than that of coal or unleaded gasoline. Propane per BTU production of CO2 is almost as low as that of natural gas. Propane burns hotter than home heating oil or diesel fuel because of the very high hydrogen content. The presence of C–C bonds, plus the multiple bonds of propylene and butylene, create organic exhausts besides carbon dioxide and water vapor during typical combustion. These bonds also cause propane to burn with a visible flame.
The enthalpy of combustion of propane gas where all products return to standard state, for example where water returns to its liquid state at standard temperature (known as higher heating value), is (2219.2 ± 0.5) kJ/mol, or (50.33 ± 0.01) MJ/kg.
The enthalpy of combustion of propane gas where products do not return to standard state, for example where the hot gases including water vapor exit a chimney, (known as lower heating value) is −2043.455 kJ/mol. The lower heat value is the amount of heat available from burning the substance where the combustion products are vented to the atmosphere; for example, the heat from a fireplace when the flue is open.
The density of propane gas at 25 °C (77 °F) is 1.808 kg/m3. The density of liquid propane at 25 °C (77 °F) is 0.493 g/cm3, which is equivalent to 4.11 pounds per U.S. liquid gallon or 493 g/L. Propane expands at 1.5% per 10 °F. Thus, liquid propane has a density of approximately 4.2 pounds per gallon (504 g/L) at 60 °F (15.6 °C).
Propane is a popular choice for barbecues and portable stoves because the low boiling point of makes it vaporize as soon as it is released from its pressurized container. Therefore, no carburetor or other vaporizing device is required; a simple metering nozzle suffices. Propane powers buses, forklifts, taxis, outboard boat motors, and ice resurfacing machines and is used for heat and cooking in recreational vehicles and campers. Propane is also used in some locomotive diesel engines as a fuel added into the turbocharger yielding much better combustion. It has also been used in outboard motors, string trimmers and lawn mowers.
Since it can be transported easily, it is a popular fuel for home heat and backup electrical generation in sparsely populated areas that do not have natural gas pipelines. Many heavy-duty highway trucks use propane as a boost, where it is added through the turbocharger, to mix with diesel fuel droplets. Propane droplets' very high hydrogen content helps the diesel fuel to burn hotter and therefore more completely. This provides more torque, more horsepower, and a cleaner exhaust for the trucks. It is normal for a 7-liter medium-duty diesel truck engine to increase fuel economy by 20 to 33 percent when a propane boost system is used. It is cheaper because propane is much cheaper than diesel fuel. The longer distance a cross country trucker can travel on a full load of combined diesel and propane fuel means they can maintain federal hours of work rules with two fewer fuel stops in a cross country trip. Truckers, tractor pulling competitions, and farmers have been using a propane boost system for over forty years in North America.
International ships can reuse propane from ocean-going ships that transport LPG because as the sun evaporates the propane during the voyage, the international ship catches the evaporating propane gas and feeds it into the air intake system of the ship's diesel engines. This reduces bunker fuel consumption and the pollution created by the ships. There is an international agreement to use either propane or CNG as a mandatory additive to the bunker fuel for all ocean traveling ships beginning in 2020.
Propane is generally stored and transported in steel cylinders as a liquid with a vapor space above the liquid. The vapor pressure in the cylinder is a function of temperature. When gaseous propane is drawn at a high rate, the latent heat of vaporization required to create the gas will cause the bottle to cool. (This is why water often condenses on the sides of the bottle and then freezes). Since lightweight, high-octane propane vaporize before the heavier, low-octane propane, the ignition properties change as the cylinder empties. For these reasons, the liquid is often withdrawn using a dip tube.
The North American standard grade of automotive use propane is rated HD 5. HD 5 grade has a maximum of 5 percent butane, but propane sold in Europe, has a max allowable amount of butane of 30 percent, meaning it's not the same fuel as HD 5. The LPG used as auto fuel and cooking gas in Asia and Australia, also has a very high content of butane. Propane is also shipped by truck, ship, barge, and railway to many U.S. areas.
Propylene (also called propene) can be a contaminant of commercial propane. Propane containing too much propene is not suited for most vehicle fuels. HD-5 is a specification that establishes a maximum concentration of 5% propene in propane. Propane and other LP gas specifications are established in ASTM D-1835. All propane fuels include an odorant, almost always ethanethiol, so that people can easily smell the gas in case of a leak. Propane as HD-5 was originally intended for use as vehicle fuel. HD-5 is currently being used in all propane applications.
Typically in the United States and Canada, LPG is primarily propane (at least 90%), while the rest is mostly ethane, propylene, butane, and odorants including ethyl mercaptan. This is the HD-5 standard, (Heavy Duty-5% maximum allowable propylene content, and no more than 5% butanes and ethane) defined by the American Society for Testing and Materials by its Standard 1835 for internal combustion engines. Not all products labeled "LPG" conform to this standard, however. In Mexico, for example, gas labeled "LPG" may consist of 60% propane and 40% butane. "The exact proportion of this combination varies by country, depending on international prices, on the availability of components and, especially, on the climatic conditions that favor LPG with higher butane content in warmer regions and propane in cold areas".
In rural areas of North America, as well as northern Australia, propane is used to heat livestock facilities, in grain dryers, and other heat-producing appliances. When used for heating or grain drying it is usually stored in a large, permanently-placed cylinder which is recharged by a propane-delivery truck. , 6.2 million American households use propane as their primary heating fuel.
In North America, local delivery trucks with an average cylinder size of , fill up large cylinders that are permanently installed on the property, or other service trucks exchange empty cylinders of propane with filled cylinders. Large tractor-trailer trucks, with an average cylinder size of , transport propane from the pipeline or refinery to the local bulk plant. The bobtail and transport are not unique to the North American market, though the practice is not as common elsewhere, and the vehicles are generally called "tankers". In many countries, propane is delivered to consumers via small or medium-sized individual cylinders, while empty cylinders are removed for refilling at a central location.
Propane is also instrumental in providing off-the-grid refrigeration, as the energy source for a gas absorption refrigerator and is commonly used for camping and recreational vehicles.
In addition, blends of pure, dry "isopropane" (R-290a) (isobutane/propane mixtures) and isobutane (R-600a) can be used as the circulating refrigerant in suitably constructed compressor-based refrigeration. Compared to fluorocarbons, propane has a negligible ozone depletion potential and very low global warming potential (having a value of only 3.3 times the GWP of carbon dioxide) and can serve as a functional replacement for R-12, R-22, R-134a, and other chlorofluorocarbon or hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants in conventional stationary refrigeration and air conditioning systems. Because its global warming effect is far less than current refrigerants, propane was chosen as one of five replacement refrigerants approved by the EPA in 2015, for use in systems specially designed to handle its flammability.
Such substitution is widely prohibited or discouraged in motor vehicle air conditioning systems, on the grounds that using flammable hydrocarbons in systems originally designed to carry non-flammable refrigerant presents a significant risk of fire or explosion.
Vendors and advocates of hydrocarbon refrigerants argue against such bans on the grounds that there have been very few such incidents relative to the number of vehicle air conditioning systems filled with hydrocarbons.
Propane is also being used increasingly for vehicle fuels. In the U.S., over 190,000 on-road vehicles use propane, and over 450,000 forklifts use it for power. It is the third most popular vehicle fuel in the world, behind gasoline and Diesel fuel. In other parts of the world, propane used in vehicles is known as autogas. In 2007, approximately 13 million vehicles worldwide use autogas.
The advantage of propane in cars is its liquid state at a moderate pressure. This allows fast refill times, affordable fuel cylinder construction, and price ranges typically just over half that of gasoline. Meanwhile, it is noticeably cleaner (both in handling, and in combustion), results in less engine wear (due to carbon deposits) without diluting engine oil (often extending oil-change intervals), and until recently was a relative bargain in North America. The octane rating of propane is relatively high at 110. In the United States the propane fueling infrastructure is the most developed of all alternative vehicle fuels. Many converted vehicles have provisions for topping off from "barbecue bottles". Purpose-built vehicles are often in commercially owned fleets, and have private fueling facilities. A further saving for propane fuel vehicle operators, especially in fleets, is that pilferage is much more difficult than with gasoline or diesel fuels.
Propane is also used as fuel for small engines, especially those used indoors or in areas with insufficient fresh air and ventilation to carry away the more toxic exhaust of an engine running on gasoline or Diesel fuel. More recently, there have been lawn care products like string trimmers, lawn mowers and leaf blowers intended for outdoor use, but fueled by propane in order to reduce air pollution.
Liquified propane is used in the extraction of animal fats and vegetable oils.
Propane is a simple asphyxiant. Unlike natural gas, propane is denser than air. It may accumulate in low spaces and near the floor. When abused as an inhalant, it may cause hypoxia (lack of oxygen), pneumonia, cardiac failure or cardiac arrest. Propane has low toxicity since it is not readily absorbed and is not biologically active. Commonly stored under pressure at room temperature, propane and its mixtures will flash evaporate at atmospheric pressure and cool well below the freezing point of water. The cold gas, which appears white due to moisture condensing from the air, may cause frostbite.
Propane is denser than air. If a leak in a propane fuel system occurs, the gas will have a tendency to sink into any enclosed area and thus poses a risk of explosion and fire. The typical scenario is a leaking cylinder stored in a basement; the propane leak drifts across the floor to the pilot light on the furnace or water heater, and results in an explosion or fire. This property makes propane generally unsuitable as a fuel for boats.
One hazard associated with propane storage and transport is known as a BLEVE or boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion. The Kingman Explosion involved a railroad tank car in Kingman, Arizona in 1973 during a propane transfer. The fire and subsequent explosions resulted in twelve fatalities and numerous injuries.
Propane is bought and stored in a liquid form (LPG), and thus fuel energy can be stored in a relatively small space. Compressed natural gas (CNG), largely methane, is another gas used as fuel, but it cannot be liquefied by compression at normal temperatures, as these are well above its critical temperature. As a gas, very high pressure is required to store useful quantities. This poses the hazard that, in an accident, just as with any compressed gas cylinder (such as a CO2 cylinder used for a soda concession) a CNG cylinder may burst with great force, or leak rapidly enough to become a self-propelled missile. Therefore, CNG is much less efficient to store, due to the large cylinder volume required. An alternative means of storing natural gas is as a cryogenic liquid in an insulated container as liquefied natural gas (LNG). This form of storage is at low pressure and is around 3.5 times as efficient as storing it as CNG. Unlike propane, if a spill occurs, CNG will evaporate and dissipate harmlessly because it is lighter than air. Propane is much more commonly used to fuel vehicles than is natural gas, because the equipment required costs less. Propane requires just of pressure to keep it liquid at .
, the retail cost of propane was approximately $2.37 per gallon, or roughly $25.95 per 1 million BTUs. This means that filling a 500-gallon propane tank, which is what households that use propane as their main source of energy usually require, costs $948 (80% of 500 gallons or 400 gallons), a 7.5% increase on the 2012–2013 winter season average US price. However, propane costs per gallon change significantly from one state to another: the Energy Information Administration (EIA) quotes a $2.995 per gallon average on the East Coast for October 2013, while the figure for the Midwest was $1.860 for the same period. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23643 |
Precambrian
The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pЄ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the Phanerozoic eon, which is named after Cambria, the Latinised name for Wales, where rocks from this age were first studied. The Precambrian accounts for 88% of the Earth's geologic time.
The Precambrian (colored green in the timeline figure) is an informal unit of geologic time, subdivided into three eons (Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic) of the geologic time scale. It spans from the formation of Earth about 4.6 billion years ago (Ga) to the beginning of the Cambrian Period, about million years ago (Ma), when hard-shelled creatures first appeared in abundance.
Relatively little is known about the Precambrian, despite it making up roughly seven-eighths of the Earth's history, and what is known has largely been discovered from the 1960s onwards. The Precambrian fossil record is poorer than that of the succeeding Phanerozoic, and fossils from the Precambrian (e.g. stromatolites) are of limited biostratigraphic use. This is because many Precambrian rocks have been heavily metamorphosed, obscuring their origins, while others have been destroyed by erosion, or remain deeply buried beneath Phanerozoic strata.
It is thought that the Earth coalesced from material in orbit around the Sun at roughly 4,543 Ma, and may have been struck by a very large (Mars-sized) planetesimal shortly after it formed, splitting off material that formed the Moon (see Giant impact hypothesis). A stable crust was apparently in place by 4,433 Ma, since zircon crystals from Western Australia have been dated at 4,404 ± 8 Ma.
The term "Precambrian" is recognized by the International Commission on Stratigraphy as the only "supereon" in geologic time; it is so-called because it includes the Hadean (~4.6–4 billion), Archean (4–2.5 billion), and Proterozoic (2.5 billion—541 million) eons. (There is only one other eon: the Phanerozoic, 541 million-present.) "Precambrian" is still used by geologists and paleontologists for general discussions not requiring the more specific eon names. , the United States Geological Survey considers the term informal, lacking a stratigraphic rank.
A specific date for the origin of life has not been determined. Carbon found in 3.8 billion-year-old rocks (Archean eon) from islands off western Greenland may be of organic origin. Well-preserved microscopic fossils of bacteria older than 3.46 billion years have been found in Western Australia. Probable fossils 100 million years older have been found in the same area. However, there is evidence that life could have evolved over 4.280 billion years ago. There is a fairly solid record of bacterial life throughout the remainder (Proterozoic eon) of the Precambrian.
Excluding a few contested reports of much older forms from North America and India, the first complex multicellular life forms seem to have appeared at roughly 1500 Ma, in the Mesoproterozoic era of the Proterozoic eon. Fossil evidence from the later Ediacaran period of such complex life comes from the Lantian formation, at least 580 million years ago. A very diverse collection of soft-bodied forms is found in a variety of locations worldwide and date to between 635 and 542 Ma. These are referred to as Ediacaran or Vendian biota. Hard-shelled creatures appeared toward the end of that time span, marking the beginning of the Phanerozoic eon. By the middle of the following Cambrian period, a very diverse fauna is recorded in the Burgess Shale, including some which may represent stem groups of modern taxa. The increase in diversity of lifeforms during the early Cambrian is called the Cambrian explosion of life.
While land seems to have been devoid of plants and animals, cyanobacteria and other microbes formed prokaryotic mats that covered terrestrial areas.
Tracks from an animal with leg like appendages have been found in what was mud 551 million years ago.
Evidence of the details of plate motions and other tectonic activity in the Precambrian has been poorly preserved. It is generally believed that small proto-continents existed prior to 4280 Ma, and that most of the Earth's landmasses collected into a single supercontinent around 1130 Ma. The supercontinent, known as Rodinia, broke up around 750 Ma. A number of glacial periods have been identified going as far back as the Huronian epoch, roughly 2400–2100 Ma. One of the best studied is the Sturtian-Varangian glaciation, around 850–635 Ma, which may have brought glacial conditions all the way to the equator, resulting in a "Snowball Earth".
The atmosphere of the early Earth is not well understood. Most geologists believe it was composed primarily of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and other relatively inert gases, and was lacking in free oxygen. There is, however, evidence that an oxygen-rich atmosphere existed since the early Archean.
At present, it is still believed that molecular oxygen was not a significant fraction of Earth's atmosphere until after photosynthetic life forms evolved and began to produce it in large quantities as a byproduct of their metabolism. This radical shift from a chemically inert to an oxidizing atmosphere caused an ecological crisis, sometimes called the oxygen catastrophe. At first, oxygen would have quickly combined with other elements in Earth's crust, primarily iron, removing it from the atmosphere. After the supply of oxidizable surfaces ran out, oxygen would have begun to accumulate in the atmosphere, and the modern high-oxygen atmosphere would have developed. Evidence for this lies in older rocks that contain massive banded iron formations that were laid down as iron oxides.
A terminology has evolved covering the early years of the Earth's existence, as radiometric dating has allowed real dates to be assigned to specific formations and features. The Precambrian is divided into three eons: the Hadean (– Ma), Archean (- Ma) and Proterozoic (- Ma). See Timetable of the Precambrian.
It has been proposed that the Precambrian should be divided into eons and eras that reflect stages of planetary evolution, rather than the current scheme based upon numerical ages. Such a system could rely on events in the stratigraphic record and be demarcated by GSSPs. The Precambrian could be divided into five "natural" eons, characterized as follows:
The movement of Earth's plates has caused the formation and break-up of continents over time, including occasional formation of a supercontinent containing most or all of the landmass. The earliest known supercontinent was Vaalbara. It formed from proto-continents and was a supercontinent 3.636 billion years ago. Vaalbara broke up c. 2.845–2.803 Ga ago. The supercontinent Kenorland was formed c. 2.72 Ga ago and then broke sometime after 2.45–2.1 Ga into the proto-continent cratons called Laurentia, Baltica, Yilgarn craton, and Kalahari. The supercontinent Columbia or Nuna formed 2.06–1.82 billion years ago and broke up about 1.5–1.35 billion years ago. The supercontinent Rodinia is thought to have formed about 1.13–1.071 billion years ago, to have embodied most or all of Earth's continents and to have broken up into eight continents around 750–600 million years ago. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23645 |
Polymerase chain reaction
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a method widely used to rapidly make millions to billions of copies of a specific DNA sample, allowing scientists to take a very small sample of DNA and amplify it to a large enough amount to study in detail. PCR was invented in 1984 by the American biochemist Kary Mullis at Cetus Corporation. It is fundamental to much of genetic testing including analysis of ancient samples of DNA and identification of infectious agents. Using PCR, copies of very small amounts of DNA sequences are exponentially amplified in a series of cycles of temperature changes. PCR is now a common and often indispensable technique used in medical laboratory and clinical laboratory research for a broad variety of applications including biomedical research and criminal forensics.
The majority of PCR methods rely on thermal cycling. Thermal cycling exposes reactants to repeated cycles of heating and cooling to permit different temperature-dependent reactions – specifically, DNA melting and enzyme-driven DNA replication. PCR employs two main reagents – primers (which are short single strand DNA fragments known as oligonucleotides that are a complementary sequence to the target DNA region) and a DNA polymerase. In the first step of PCR, the two strands of the DNA double helix are physically separated at a high temperature in a process called Nucleic acid denaturation. In the second step, the temperature is lowered and the primers bind to the complementary sequences of DNA. The two DNA strands then become templates for DNA polymerase to enzymatically assemble a new DNA strand from free nucleotides, the building blocks of DNA. As PCR progresses, the DNA generated is itself used as a template for replication, setting in motion a chain reaction in which the original DNA template is exponentially amplified.
Almost all PCR applications employ a heat-stable DNA polymerase, such as Taq polymerase, an enzyme originally isolated from the thermophilic bacterium "Thermus aquaticus". If the polymerase used was heat-susceptible, it would denature under the high temperatures of the denaturation step. Before the use of Taq polymerase, DNA polymerase had to be manually added every cycle, which was a tedious and costly process.
Applications of the technique include DNA cloning for sequencing, gene cloning and manipulation, gene mutagenesis; construction of DNA-based phylogenies, or functional analysis of genes; diagnosis and monitoring of hereditary diseases; amplification of ancient DNA; analysis of genetic fingerprints for DNA profiling (for example, in forensic science and parentage testing); and detection of pathogens in nucleic acid tests for the diagnosis of infectious diseases.
PCR amplifies a specific region of a DNA strand (the DNA target). Most PCR methods amplify DNA fragments of between 0.1 and 10 kilo base pairs (kbp) in length, although some techniques allow for amplification of fragments up to 40 kbp. The amount of amplified product is determined by the available substrates in the reaction, which become limiting as the reaction progresses.
A basic PCR set-up requires several components and reagents, including:
The reaction is commonly carried out in a volume of 10–200 μL in small reaction tubes (0.2–0.5 mL volumes) in a thermal cycler. The thermal cycler heats and cools the reaction tubes to achieve the temperatures required at each step of the reaction (see below). Many modern thermal cyclers make use of the Peltier effect, which permits both heating and cooling of the block holding the PCR tubes simply by reversing the electric current. Thin-walled reaction tubes permit favorable thermal conductivity to allow for rapid thermal equilibration. Most thermal cyclers have heated lids to prevent condensation at the top of the reaction tube. Older thermal cyclers lacking a heated lid require a layer of oil on top of the reaction mixture or a ball of wax inside the tube.
Typically, PCR consists of a series of 20–40 repeated temperature changes, called thermal cycles, with each cycle commonly consisting of two or three discrete temperature steps (see figure below). The cycling is often preceded by a single temperature step at a very high temperature (>), and followed by one hold at the end for final product extension or brief storage. The temperatures used and the length of time they are applied in each cycle depend on a variety of parameters, including the enzyme used for DNA synthesis, the concentration of bivalent ions and dNTPs in the reaction, and the melting temperature ("Tm") of the primers. The individual steps common to most PCR methods are as follows:
To check whether the PCR successfully generated the anticipated DNA target region (also sometimes referred to as the amplimer or amplicon), agarose gel electrophoresis may be employed for size separation of the PCR products. The size(s) of PCR products is determined by comparison with a DNA ladder, a molecular weight marker which contains DNA fragments of known size run on the gel alongside the PCR products.
As with other chemical reactions, the reaction rate and efficiency of PCR are affected by limiting factors. Thus, the entire PCR process can further be divided into three stages based on reaction progress:
In practice, PCR can fail for various reasons, in part due to its sensitivity to contamination causing amplification of spurious DNA products. Because of this, a number of techniques and procedures have been developed for optimizing PCR conditions. Contamination with extraneous DNA is addressed with lab protocols and procedures that separate pre-PCR mixtures from potential DNA contaminants. This usually involves spatial separation of PCR-setup areas from areas for analysis or purification of PCR products, use of disposable plasticware, and thoroughly cleaning the work surface between reaction setups. Primer-design techniques are important in improving PCR product yield and in avoiding the formation of spurious products, and the usage of alternate buffer components or polymerase enzymes can help with amplification of long or otherwise problematic regions of DNA. Addition of reagents, such as formamide, in buffer systems may increase the specificity and yield of PCR. Computer simulations of theoretical PCR results (Electronic PCR) may be performed to assist in primer design.
PCR allows isolation of DNA fragments from genomic DNA by selective amplification of a specific region of DNA. This use of PCR augments many ways, such as generating hybridization probes for Southern or northern hybridization and DNA cloning, which require larger amounts of DNA, representing a specific DNA region. PCR supplies these techniques with high amounts of pure DNA, enabling analysis of DNA samples even from very small amounts of starting material.
Other applications of PCR include DNA sequencing to determine unknown PCR-amplified sequences in which one of the amplification primers may be used in Sanger sequencing, isolation of a DNA sequence to expedite recombinant DNA technologies involving the insertion of a DNA sequence into a plasmid, phage, or cosmid (depending on size) or the genetic material of another organism. Bacterial colonies "(such as E. coli)" can be rapidly screened by PCR for correct DNA vector constructs. PCR may also be used for genetic fingerprinting; a forensic technique used to identify a person or organism by comparing experimental DNAs through different PCR-based methods.
Some PCR 'fingerprints' methods have high discriminative power and can be used to identify genetic relationships between individuals, such as parent-child or between siblings, and are used in paternity testing (Fig. 4). This technique may also be used to determine evolutionary relationships among organisms when certain molecular clocks are used (i.e., the 16S rRNA and recA genes of microorganisms).
Because PCR amplifies the regions of DNA that it targets, PCR can be used to analyze extremely small amounts of sample. This is often critical for forensic analysis, when only a trace amount of DNA is available as evidence. PCR may also be used in the analysis of ancient DNA that is tens of thousands of years old. These PCR-based techniques have been successfully used on animals, such as a forty-thousand-year-old mammoth, and also on human DNA, in applications ranging from the analysis of Egyptian mummies to the identification of a Russian tsar and the body of English king Richard III.
Quantitative PCR or Real Time PCR (qPCR, not to be confused with RT-PCR) methods allow the estimation of the amount of a given sequence present in a sample—a technique often applied to quantitatively determine levels of gene expression. Quantitative PCR is an established tool for DNA quantification that measures the accumulation of DNA product after each round of PCR amplification.
qPCR allows the quantification and detection of a specific DNA sequence in real time since it measures concentration while the synthesis process is taking place. There are two methods for simultaneous detection and quantification. The first method consists of using fluorescent dyes that are retained nonspecifically in between the double strands. The second method involves probes that code for specific sequences and are fluorescently labeled. Detection of DNA using these methods can only be seen after the hybridization of probes with its complementary DNA takes place. An interesting technique combination is real-time PCR and reverse transcription. This sophisticated technique, called RT-qPCR, allows for the quantification of a small quantity of RNA. Through this combined technique, mRNA is converted to cDNA, which is further quantified using qPCR. This technique lowers the possibility of error at the end point of PCR, increasing chances for detection of genes associated with genetic diseases such as cancer. Laboratories use RT-qPCR for the purpose of sensitively measuring gene regulation.
Prospective parents can be tested for being genetic carriers, or their children might be tested for actually being affected by a disease. DNA samples for prenatal testing can be obtained by amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling, or even by the analysis of rare fetal cells circulating in the mother's bloodstream. PCR analysis is also essential to preimplantation genetic diagnosis, where individual cells of a developing embryo are tested for mutations.
PCR allows for rapid and highly specific diagnosis of infectious diseases, including those caused by bacteria or viruses. PCR also permits identification of non-cultivatable or slow-growing microorganisms such as mycobacteria, anaerobic bacteria, or viruses from tissue culture assays and animal models. The basis for PCR diagnostic applications in microbiology is the detection of infectious agents and the discrimination of non-pathogenic from pathogenic strains by virtue of specific genes.
Characterization and detection of infectious disease organisms have been revolutionized by PCR in the following ways:
The development of PCR-based genetic (or DNA) fingerprinting protocols has seen widespread application in forensics:
PCR has been applied to many areas of research in molecular genetics:
PCR has a number of advantages. It is fairly simple to understand and to use, and produces results rapidly. The technique is highly sensitive with the potential to produce millions to billions of copies of a specific product for sequencing, cloning, and analysis. qRT-PCR shares the same advantages as the PCR, with an added advantage of quantification of the synthesized product. Therefore, it has its uses to analyze alterations of gene expression levels in tumors, microbes, or other disease states.
PCR is a very powerful and practical research tool. The sequencing of unknown etiologies of many diseases are being figured out by the PCR. The technique can help identify the sequence of previously unknown viruses related to those already known and thus give us a better understanding of the disease itself. If the procedure can be further simplified and sensitive non radiometric detection systems can be developed, the PCR will assume a prominent place in the clinical laboratory for years to come.
One major limitation of PCR is that prior information about the target sequence is necessary in order to generate the primers that will allow its selective amplification. This means that, typically, PCR users must know the precise sequence(s) upstream of the target region on each of the two single-stranded templates in order to ensure that the DNA polymerase properly binds to the primer-template hybrids and subsequently generates the entire target region during DNA synthesis.
Like all enzymes, DNA polymerases are also prone to error, which in turn causes mutations in the PCR fragments that are generated.
Another limitation of PCR is that even the smallest amount of contaminating DNA can be amplified, resulting in misleading or ambiguous results. To minimize the chance of contamination, investigators should reserve separate rooms for reagent preparation, the PCR, and analysis of product. Reagents should be dispensed into single-use aliquots. Pipettors with disposable plungers and extra-long pipette tips should be routinely used.
The heat-resistant enzymes that are a key component in polymerase chain reaction were discovered in the 1960s as a product of a microbial life form that lived in the superheated waters of Yellowstone’s Mushroom Spring.
A 1971 paper in the "Journal of Molecular Biology" by Kjell Kleppe and co-workers in the laboratory of H. Gobind Khorana first described a method of using an enzymatic assay to replicate a short DNA template with primers "in vitro". However, this early manifestation of the basic PCR principle did not receive much attention at the time and the invention of the polymerase chain reaction in 1983 is generally credited to Kary Mullis.
When Mullis developed the PCR in 1983, he was working in Emeryville, California for Cetus Corporation, one of the first biotechnology companies, where he was responsible for synthesizing short chains of DNA. Mullis has written that he conceived the idea for PCR while cruising along the Pacific Coast Highway one night in his car. He was playing in his mind with a new way of analyzing changes (mutations) in DNA when he realized that he had instead invented a method of amplifying any DNA region through repeated cycles of duplication driven by DNA polymerase. In "Scientific American", Mullis summarized the procedure: "Beginning with a single molecule of the genetic material DNA, the PCR can generate 100 billion similar molecules in an afternoon. The reaction is easy to execute. It requires no more than a test tube, a few simple reagents, and a source of heat." DNA fingerprinting was first used for paternity testing in 1988.
Mullis was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1993 for his invention, seven years after he and his colleagues at Cetus first put his proposal to practice. Mullis's 1985 paper with R. K. Saiki and H. A. Erlich, “Enzymatic Amplification of β-globin Genomic Sequences and Restriction Site Analysis for Diagnosis of Sickle Cell Anemia”—the polymerase chain reaction invention (PCR) – was honored by a Citation for Chemical Breakthrough Award from the Division of History of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society in 2017.
At the core of the PCR method is the use of a suitable DNA polymerase able to withstand the high temperatures of > required for separation of the two DNA strands in the DNA double helix after each replication cycle. The DNA polymerases initially employed for in vitro experiments presaging PCR were unable to withstand these high temperatures. So the early procedures for DNA replication were very inefficient and time-consuming, and required large amounts of DNA polymerase and continuous handling throughout the process.
The discovery in 1976 of Taq polymerase—a DNA polymerase purified from the thermophilic bacterium, "Thermus aquaticus", which naturally lives in hot () environments such as hot springs—paved the way for dramatic improvements of the PCR method. The DNA polymerase isolated from "T. aquaticus" is stable at high temperatures remaining active even after DNA denaturation, thus obviating the need to add new DNA polymerase after each cycle. This allowed an automated thermocycler-based process for DNA amplification.
The PCR technique was patented by Kary Mullis and assigned to Cetus Corporation, where Mullis worked when he invented the technique in 1983. The "Taq" polymerase enzyme was also covered by patents. There have been several high-profile lawsuits related to the technique, including an unsuccessful lawsuit brought by DuPont. The Swiss pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche purchased the rights to the patents in 1992 and currently holds those that are still protected.
A related patent battle over the Taq polymerase enzyme is still ongoing in several jurisdictions around the world between Roche and Promega. The legal arguments have extended beyond the lives of the original PCR and Taq polymerase patents, which expired on March 28, 2005. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23647 |
Polymerase
A polymerase is an enzyme (EC 2.7.7.6/7/19/48/49) that synthesizes long chains of polymers or nucleic acids. DNA polymerase and RNA polymerase are used to assemble DNA and RNA molecules, respectively, by copying a DNA template strand using base-pairing interactions or RNA by half ladder replication.
A DNA polymerase from the thermophilic bacterium, "Thermus aquaticus" ("Taq") (PDB 1BGX, EC 2.7.7.7) is used in the polymerase chain reaction, an important technique of molecular biology.
In general, viral single-subunit RNA polymerases/replicases/reverse transcriptase shares a common origin with DNA polymerase. They have a conserved "palm" domain. Multi-subunit RNA polymerase forms an unrelated group. Primases have a more complex story: bacterial primases with the Toprim domain are related to topoisomerase and mitochrondrial helicase, while archaea and eukaryotic primases form an unrelated family, possibly related to the polymerase palm. Both families nevertheless associate to the same bunch of helicases. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23648 |
Pacific Scandal
The Pacific Scandal was a political scandal in Canada involving bribes being accepted by 150 members of the Conservative government in the attempts of private interests to influence the bidding for a national rail contract. As part of British Columbia's 1871 agreement to join the Canadian Confederation, the government had agreed to build a transcontinental railway linking the Pacific Province to the eastern provinces.
The scandal led to the resignation of Canada's first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, and a transfer of power from his Conservative government to a Liberal government led by Alexander Mackenzie. One of the new government's first measures was to introduce secret ballots in an effort to improve the integrity of future elections. After the scandal broke, the railway plan collapsed and the proposed line was not built. An entirely different operation later built the Canadian Pacific Railway to the Pacific.
For a young and loosely defined nation, the building of a national railway was an active attempt at state-making, as well as an aggressive capitalist venture. Canada, a nascent country with a population of 3.5 million in 1871, lacked the means to exercise meaningful "de facto" control within the "de jure" political boundaries of the recently acquired Rupert's Land; building a transcontinental railway was national policy of high order to change this situation. Moreover, after the American Civil War the American frontier rapidly expanded west with land-hungry settlers, exacerbating talk of annexation. Indeed, sentiments of Manifest Destiny were abuzz in this time: in 1867, year of Confederation, U.S. Secretary of State W. H. Seward surmised that the whole North American continent "shall be, sooner or later, within the magic circle of the American Union". Therefore, preventing American investment into the project was considered as being in Canada's national interest. Thus the federal government favoured an "all Canadian route" through the rugged Canadian Shield of northern Ontario, refusing to consider a less costly route passing south through Wisconsin and Minnesota.
However, a route across the Canadian Shield was highly unpopular with potential investors, not only in the United States but also in Canada and especially Great Britain, the only other viable source of financing. For would-be investors, the objections were not primarily based on politics or nationalism but economics. At the time, national governments lacked the finances needed to undertake such large projects. For the First Transcontinental Railroad, the United States government had made extensive grants of public land to the railway's builders, inducing private financiers to fund the railway on the understanding that they would acquire rich farmland along the route, which could then be sold for a large profit. However, the eastern terminus of the proposed Canadian Pacific route, unlike that of the First Transcontinental, was not in rich Nebraskan farmland, but deep within the Canadian Shield. Copying the American financing model whilst insisting on an all-Canadian route would require the railway's backers to build hundreds of miles of track across rugged shield terrain (with little economic value) at considerable expense before they could expect to access lucrative farmland in Manitoba and the newly created Northwest Territories. Many financiers, who had expected to make a relatively quick profit, were not willing to make this sort of long-term commitment.
Nevertheless, the Montreal capitalist Hugh Allan, with his syndicate Canada Pacific Railway Company, sought the potentially lucrative charter for the project. The problem lay in that Allan and Macdonald highly, and secretly, were in cahoots with American financiers such as George W. McMullen and Jay Cooke, men who were deeply interested in the rival American undertaking, the Northern Pacific Railroad.
Two groups competed for the contract to build the railway, Hugh Allan's Canada Pacific Railway Company and David Lewis Macpherson's Inter-Oceanic Railway Company. On April 2, 1873, Lucius Seth Huntington, a Liberal Member of Parliament, created an uproar in the House of Commons. He announced he had uncovered evidence that Allan and his associates had been granted the Canadian Pacific Railway contract in return for political donations of $360,000.
In 1873, it became known that Allan had contributed a large sum of money to the Conservative government's re-election campaign of 1872; some sources quote a sum over $360,000. Allan had promised to keep American capital out of the railway deal, but had lied to Macdonald over this vital point, and Macdonald later discovered the lie. The Liberal party, at this time the opposition party in Parliament, accused the Conservatives of having made a tacit agreement to give the contract to Hugh Allan in exchange for money.
In making such allegations, the Liberals and their allies in the press (in particular, George Brown's newspaper the Globe) presumed that most of the money had been used to bribe voters in the 1872 election. The secret ballot, then considered a novelty, had not yet been introduced in Canada. Although it was illegal to offer, solicit or accept bribes in exchange for votes, effective enforcement of this prohibition proved impossible.
Despite Macdonald's claims that he was innocent, evidence came to light showing receipts of money from Allan to Macdonald and some of his political colleagues. Perhaps even more damaging to Macdonald was when the Liberals discovered a telegram, through a former employee of Allan, which was thought to have been stolen from the safe of Allan's lawyer, John Abbott.
The scandal proved fatal to Macdonald's government. Macdonald's control of Parliament was already tenuous following the 1872 election. In a time when party discipline was not as strong as it is today, once Macdonald's culpability in the scandal became known he could no longer expect to retain the confidence of the House of Commons.
Macdonald resigned as prime minister on 5 November 1873. He also offered his resignation as the head of the Conservative party, but it was not accepted and he was convinced to stay. Perhaps as a direct result of this scandal, the Conservative party fell in the eyes of the public and was relegated to being the Official Opposition in the federal election of 1874. This election, in which secret ballots were used for the first time, gave Alexander Mackenzie a firm mandate to succeed Macdonald as the new prime minister of Canada.
Despite the short-term defeat, the scandal was not a mortal wound to Macdonald, the Conservative Party, or the Canadian Pacific Railway. An economic depression gripped Canada shortly after Macdonald left office, and although the causes of the depression were largely external to Canada many Canadians nevertheless blamed Mackenzie for the ensuing hard times. Macdonald would return as prime minister in the 1878 election thanks to his National Policy. He would hold the office of prime minister to his death in 1891, and the Canadian Pacific would be completed by 1885 with Macdonald still in office. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23649 |
Primer (molecular biology)
A primer is a short single-stranded nucleic acid utilized by all living organisms in the initiation of DNA synthesis. The enzymes responsible for DNA replication, DNA polymerases, are only capable of adding nucleotides to the 3’-end of an existing nucleic acid, requiring a primer be bound to the template before DNA polymerase can begin a complementary strand. Living organisms use solely RNA primers, while laboratory techniques in biochemistry and molecular biology that require in vitro DNA synthesis (such as DNA sequencing and polymerase chain reaction) usually use DNA primers, since they are more temperature stable.
RNA primers are used by living organisms in the initiation of synthesizing a strand of DNA. A class of enzymes called primases add a complementary RNA primer to the reading template "de novo" on both the leading and lagging strands. Starting from the free 3’-OH of the primer, known as the primer terminus, a DNA polymerase can extend a newly synthesized strand. The leading strand in DNA replication is synthesized in one continuous piece moving with the replication fork, requiring only an initial RNA primer to begin synthesis. In the lagging strand, the template DNA runs in the 5′→3′ direction. Since DNA polymerase cannot add bases in the 3′→5′ direction complementary to the template strand, DNA is synthesized ‘backward’ in short fragments moving away from the replication fork, known as Okazaki fragments. Unlike in the leading strand, this method results in the repeated starting and stopping of DNA synthesis, requiring multiple RNA primers. Along the DNA template, primase intersperses RNA primers that DNA polymerase uses to synthesize DNA from in the 5′→3′ direction.
Another example of primers being used to enable DNA synthesis is reverse transcription. Reverse transcriptase is an enzyme that uses a template strand of RNA to synthesize a complementary strand of DNA. The DNA polymerase component of reverse transcriptase requires an existing 3' end to begin synthesis.
After the insertion of Okazaki fragments, the RNA primers are removed (the mechanism of removal differs between prokaryotes and eukaryotes) and replaced with new deoxyribonucleotides that fill the gaps where the RNA was present. DNA ligase then joins the fragmented strands together, completing the synthesis of the lagging strand.
In prokaryotes, DNA polymerase I synthesizes the Okazaki fragment until it reaches the previous RNA primer. Then the enzyme simultaneously acts as a 5′→3′ exonuclease, removing primer ribonucleotides in front and adding deoxyribonucleotides behind until the region has been replaced by DNA, leaving a small gap in the DNA backbone between Okazaki fragments which is sealed by DNA ligase.
In eukaryotic primer removal, DNA polymerase δ extends the Okazaki fragment in 5′→3′ direction, and upon encountering the RNA primer from the previous Okazaki fragment, it displaces the 5′ end of the primer into a single-stranded RNA flap, which is removed by nuclease cleavage. Cleavage of the RNA flaps involves either flap structure-specific endonuclease 1 (FEN1) cleavage of short flaps, or coating of long flaps by the single-stranded DNA binding protein replication protein A (RPA) and sequential cleavage by Dna2 nuclease and FEN1.
Synthetic primers are chemically synthesized oligonucleotides, usually of DNA, which can be customized to anneal to a specific site on the template DNA. In solution, the primer spontaneously hybridizes with the template through Watson-Crick base pairing before being extended by DNA polymerase. The ability to create and customize synthetic primers has proven an invaluable tool necessary to a variety of molecular biological approaches involving the analysis of DNA. Both the Sanger chain termination method and the “Next-Gen” method of DNA sequencing require primers to initiate the reaction.
The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) uses a pair of custom primers to direct DNA elongation toward each-other at opposite ends of the sequence being amplified. These primers are typically between 18 and 24 bases in length, and must code for only the specific upstream and downstream sites of the sequence being amplified. A primer that can bind to multiple regions along the DNA will amplify them all, eliminating the purpose of PCR.
A few criteria must be brought into consideration when designing a pair of PCR primers. Pairs of primers should have similar melting temperatures since annealing during PCR occurs for both strands simultaneously, and this shared melting temperature must not be either too much higher or lower than the reaction's annealing temperature. A primer with a "T"m (melting temperature) too much higher than the reaction's annealing temperature may mishybridize and extend at an incorrect location along the DNA sequence. A "T"m significantly lower than the annealing temperature may fail to anneal and extend at all.
Additionally, primer sequences need to be chosen to uniquely select for a region of DNA, avoiding the possibility of hybridization to a similar sequence nearby. A commonly used method for selecting a primer site is BLAST search, whereby all the possible regions to which a primer may bind can be seen. Both the nucleotide sequence as well as the primer itself can be BLAST searched. The free NCBI tool Primer-BLAST integrates primer design and BLAST search into one application, as do commercial software products such as ePrime and Beacon Designer. Computer simulations of theoretical PCR results (Electronic PCR) may be performed to assist in primer design by giving melting and annealing temperatures, etc.
Many online tools are freely available for primer design, some of which focus on specific applications of PCR. The popular tools Primer3Plus and PrimerQuest can be used to find primers matching a wide variety of specifications. Highly degenerate primers for targeting a wide variety of DNA templates can be interactively designed using GeneFISHER. Primers with high specificity for a subset of DNA templates in the presence of many similar variants can be designed using DECIPHER. Primer design aims to generate a balance between specificity and efficiency of amplification.
Selecting a specific region of DNA for primer binding requires some additional considerations. Regions high in mononucleotide and dinucleotide repeats should be avoided, as loop formation can occur and contribute to mishybridization. Primers should not easily anneal with other primers in the mixture; this phenomenon can lead to the production of 'primer dimer' products contaminating the end solution. Primers should also not anneal strongly to themselves, as internal hairpins and loops could hinder the annealing with the template DNA.
When designing primers, additional nucleotide bases can be added to the back ends of each primer, resulting in a customized cap sequence on each end of the amplified region. One application for this practice is for use in TA cloning, a special subcloning technique similar to PCR, where efficiency can be increased by adding AG tails to the 5′ and the 3′ ends.
Some situations may call for the use of "degenerate primers." These are mixtures of primers that are similar, but not identical. These may be convenient when amplifying the same gene from different organisms, as the sequences are probably similar but not identical. This technique is useful because the genetic code itself is degenerate, meaning several different codons can code for the same amino acid. This allows different organisms to have a significantly different genetic sequence that code for a highly similar protein. For this reason, degenerate primers are also used when primer design is based on protein sequence, as the specific sequence of codons are not known. Therefore, primer sequence corresponding to the amino acid isoleucine might be "ATH", where A stands for adenine, T for thymine, and H for adenine, thymine, or cytosine, according to the genetic code for each codon, using the IUPAC symbols for degenerate bases. Degenerate primers may not perfectly hybridize with a target sequence, which can greatly reduce the specificity of the PCR amplification.
"Degenerate primers" are widely used and extremely useful in the field of microbial ecology. They allow for the amplification of genes from thus far uncultivated microorganisms or allow the recovery of genes from organisms where genomic information is not available. Usually, degenerate primers are designed by aligning gene sequencing found in GenBank. Differences among sequences are accounted for by using IUPAC degeneracies for individual bases. PCR primers are then synthesized as a mixture of primers corresponding to all permutations of the codon sequence. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23650 |
Purine
Purine is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound that consists of a two rings in their structure. It is water-soluble. Purine also gives its name to the wider class of molecules, purines, which include substituted purines and their tautomers. They are the most widely occurring nitrogen-containing heterocycles in nature.
Purines are found in high concentration in meat and meat products, especially internal organs such as liver and kidney. In general, plant-based diets are low in purines. Examples of high-purine sources include: sweetbreads, anchovies, sardines, liver, beef kidneys, brains, meat extracts (e.g., Oxo, Bovril), herring, mackerel, scallops, game meats, beer (from the yeast) and gravy.
A moderate amount of purine is also contained in red meat, beef, pork, poultry, fish and seafood, asparagus, cauliflower, spinach, mushrooms, green peas, lentils, dried peas, beans, oatmeal, wheat bran, wheat germ, and haws.
Purines and pyrimidines make up the two groups of nitrogenous bases, including the two groups of nucleotide bases. Two of the four deoxyribonucleotides (deoxyadenosine and deoxyguanosine) and two of the four ribonucleotides (adenosine, or AMP, and guanosine, or GMP), the respective building blocks of DNA and RNA, are purines. In order to form DNA and RNA, both purines and pyrimidines are needed by the cell in approximately equal quantities. Both purine and pyrimidine are self-inhibiting and activating. When purines are formed, they inhibit the enzymes required for more purine formation. This self-inhibition occurs as they also activate the enzymes needed for pyrimidine formation. Pyrimidine simultaneously self-inhibits and activates purine in similar manner. Because of this, there is nearly an equal amount of both substances in the cell at all times.
Purine is both a very weak acid (pKa 2.39) and an even weaker base (pKa 8.93). If dissolved in pure water, the pH will be halfway between these two pKa values.
There are many naturally occurring purines. They include the nucleobases adenine (2) and guanine (3). In DNA, these bases form hydrogen bonds with their complementary pyrimidines, thymine and cytosine, respectively. This is called complementary base pairing. In RNA, the complement of adenine is uracil instead of thymine.
Other notable purines are hypoxanthine (4), xanthine (5), theobromine (6), caffeine (7), uric acid (8) and isoguanine (9).
Aside from the crucial roles of purines (adenine and guanine) in DNA and RNA, purines are also significant components in a number of other important biomolecules, such as ATP, GTP, cyclic AMP, NADH, and coenzyme A. Purine (1) itself, has not been found in nature, but it can be produced by organic synthesis.
They may also function directly as neurotransmitters, acting upon purinergic receptors. Adenosine activates adenosine receptors.
The word "purine" ("pure urine") was coined by the German chemist Emil Fischer in 1884. He synthesized it for the first time in 1898. The starting material for the reaction sequence was uric acid (8), which had been isolated from kidney stones by Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1776. Uric acid (8) was reacted with PCl5 to give 2,6,8-trichloropurine (10), which was converted with HI and PH4I to give 2,6-diiodopurine (11). The product was reduced to purine (1) using zinc dust.
Many organisms have metabolic pathways to synthesize and break down purines.
Purines are biologically synthesized as nucleosides (bases attached to ribose).
Accumulation of modified purine nucleotides is defective to various cellular processes, especially those involving DNA and RNA. To be viable, organisms possess a number of (deoxy)purine phosphohydrolases, which hydrolyze these purine derivatives removing them from the active NTP and dNTP pools. Deamination of purine bases can result in accumulation of such nucleotides as ITP, dITP, XTP and dXTP.
Defects in enzymes that control purine production and breakdown can severely alter a cell’s DNA sequences, which may explain why people who carry certain genetic variants of purine metabolic enzymes have a higher risk for some types of cancer.
Higher levels of meat and seafood consumption are associated with an increased risk of gout, whereas a higher level of consumption of dairy products is associated with a decreased risk. Moderate intake of purine-rich vegetables or protein is not associated with an increased risk of gout. Similar results have been found with the risk of hyperuricemia.
In addition to "in vivo" synthesis of purines in purine metabolism, purine can also be created artificially.
Purine (1) is obtained in good yield when formamide is heated in an open vessel at 170 °C for 28 hours.
This remarkable reaction and others like it have been discussed in the context of the origin of life.
Oro, Orgel and co-workers have shown that four molecules of HCN tetramerize to form diaminomaleodinitrile (12), which can be converted into almost all naturally occurring purines. For example, five molecules of HCN condense in an exothermic reaction to make adenine, especially in the presence of ammonia.
The Traube purine synthesis (1900) is a classic reaction (named after Wilhelm Traube) between an amine-substituted pyrimidine and formic acid. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23652 |
Pyrimidine
Pyrimidine is an aromatic heterocyclic organic compound similar to pyridine. One of the three diazines (six-membered heterocyclics with two nitrogen atoms in the ring), it has the nitrogen atoms at positions 1 and 3 in the ring. The other diazines are pyrazine (nitrogen atoms at the 1 and 4 positions) and pyridazine (nitrogen atoms at the 1 and 2 positions). In nucleic acids, three types of nucleobases are pyrimidine derivatives: cytosine (C), thymine (T), and uracil (U).
The pyrimidine ring system has wide occurrence in nature
as substituted and ring fused compounds and derivatives, including the nucleotides cytosine, thymine and uracil, thiamine (vitamin B1) and alloxan. It is also found in many synthetic compounds such as barbiturates and the HIV drug, zidovudine. Although pyrimidine derivatives such as uric acid and alloxan were known in the early 19th century, a laboratory synthesis of a pyrimidine was not carried out until 1879, when Grimaux reported the preparation of barbituric acid from urea and malonic acid in the presence of phosphorus oxychloride.
The systematic study of pyrimidines began in 1884 with Pinner,
who synthesized derivatives by condensing ethyl acetoacetate with amidines. Pinner first proposed the name “pyrimidin” in 1885. The parent compound was first prepared by Gabriel and Colman in 1900,
by conversion of barbituric acid to 2,4,6-trichloropyrimidine followed by reduction using zinc dust in hot water.
The nomenclature of pyrimidines is straightforward. However, like other heterocyclics, tautomeric hydroxyl groups yield complications since they exist primarily in the cyclic amide form. For example, 2-hydroxypyrimidine is more properly named 2-pyrimidone. A partial list of trivial names of various pyrimidines exists.
Physical properties are shown in the data box. A more extensive discussion, including spectra, can be found in Brown "et al."
Per the classification by Albert six-membered heterocycles can be described as π-deficient. Substitution by electronegative groups or additional nitrogen atoms in the ring significantly increase the π-deficiency. These effects also decrease the basicity.
Like pyridines, in pyrimidines the π-electron density is decreased to an even greater extent. Therefore, electrophilic aromatic substitution is more difficult while nucleophilic aromatic substitution is facilitated. An example of the last reaction type is the displacement of the amino group in 2-aminopyrimidine by chlorine and its reverse.
Electron lone pair availability (basicity) is decreased compared to pyridine. Compared to pyridine, "N"-alkylation and "N"-oxidation are more difficult. The p"K"a value for protonated pyrimidine is 1.23 compared to 5.30 for pyridine. Protonation and other electrophilic additions will occur at only one nitrogen due to further deactivation by the second nitrogen. The 2-, 4-, and 6- positions on the pyrimidine ring are electron deficient analogous to those in pyridine and nitro- and dinitrobenzene. The 5-position is less electron deficient and substituents there are quite stable. However, electrophilic substitution is relatively facile at the 5-position, including nitration and halogenation.
Reduction in resonance stabilization of pyrimidines may lead to addition and ring cleavage reactions rather than substitutions. One such manifestation is observed in the Dimroth rearrangement.
Pyrimidine is also found in meteorites, but scientists still do not know its origin. Pyrimidine also photolytically decomposes into uracil under ultraviolet light.
As is often the case with parent heterocyclic ring systems, the synthesis of pyrimidine is not that common and is usually performed by removing functional groups from derivatives. Primary syntheses in quantity involving formamide have been reported.
As a class, pyrimidines are typically synthesized by the principal synthesis involving cyclization of β-dicarbonyl compounds with N–C–N compounds. Reaction of the former with amidines to give 2-substituted pyrimidines, with urea to give 2-pyrimidinones, and guanidines to give 2-aminopyrimidines are typical.
Pyrimidines can be prepared via the Biginelli reaction. Many other methods rely on condensation of carbonyls with diamines for instance the synthesis of 2-thio-6-methyluracil from thiourea and ethyl acetoacetate or the synthesis of 4-methylpyrimidine with 4,4-dimethoxy-2-butanone and formamide.
A novel method is by reaction of "N"-vinyl and "N"-aryl amides with carbonitriles under electrophilic activation of the amide with 2-chloro-pyridine and trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride:
Because of the decreased basicity compared to pyridine, electrophilic substitution of pyrimidine is less facile. Protonation or alkylation typically takes place at only one of the ring nitrogen atoms. Mono-"N"-oxidation occurs by reaction with peracids.
Electrophilic "C"-substitution of pyrimidine occurs at the 5-position, the least electron-deficient. Nitration, nitrosation, azo coupling, halogenation, sulfonation, formylation, hydroxymethylation, and aminomethylation have been observed with substituted pyrimidines.
Nucleophilic "C"-substitution should be facilitated at the 2-, 4-, and 6-positions but there are only a few examples. Amination and hydroxylation has been observed for substituted pyrimidines. Reactions with Grignard or alkyllithium reagents yield 4-alkyl- or 4-aryl pyrimidine after aromatization.
Free radical attack has been observed for pyrimidine and photochemical reactions have been observed for substituted pyrimidines. Pyrimidine can be hydrogenated to give tetrahydropyrimidine.
Three nucleobases found in nucleic acids, cytosine (C), thymine (T), and uracil (U), are pyrimidine derivatives:
In DNA and RNA, these bases form hydrogen bonds with their complementary purines. Thus, in DNA, the purines adenine (A) and guanine (G) pair up with the pyrimidines thymine (T) and cytosine (C), respectively.
In RNA, the complement of adenine (A) is uracil (U) instead of thymine (T), so the pairs that form are adenine:uracil and guanine:cytosine.
Very rarely, thymine can appear in RNA, or uracil in DNA, but when the other three major pyrimidine bases are represented, some minor pyrimidine bases can also occur in nucleic acids. These minor pyrimidines are usually methylated versions of major ones and are postulated to have regulatory functions.
These hydrogen bonding modes are for classical Watson–Crick base pairing. Other hydrogen bonding modes ("wobble pairings") are available in both DNA and RNA, although the additional 2′-hydroxyl group of RNA expands the configurations, through which RNA can form hydrogen bonds.
In March 2015, NASA Ames scientists reported that, for the first time, complex DNA and RNA organic compounds of life, including uracil, cytosine and thymine, have been formed in the laboratory under outer space conditions, using starting chemicals, such as pyrimidine, found in meteorites. Pyrimidine, like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), the most carbon-rich chemical found in the universe, may have been formed in red giants or in interstellar dust and gas clouds. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23653 |
Play-by-mail game
Play-by-mail games (also known as PBM games and turn-based games) are games played through postal mail, email or other digital media. Correspondence chess and Go are among the first PBM games. "Diplomacy" has been played by mail since 1963, introducing a multi-player aspect to PBM games. Flying Buffalo Inc pioneered the first commercially available PBM game in 1970. A small number of PBM companies followed in the 1970s, with an explosion of hundreds of startup PBM companies in the 1980s at the peak of PBM gaming popularity, many of them small hobby companies—more than 90 percent of which eventually folded. A number of independent PBM magazines also started in the 1980s, including "Flagship magazine", "Gaming Universal", and "Paper Mayhem". These magazines eventually went out of print, replaced in the 21st century by the online PBM journal "Suspense and Decision".
Play-by-mail games have a number of advantages and disadvantages related to other gaming genres. PBM games allow plenty of time—sometimes days or weeks—to consider moves or turns and players never run out of opponents to face. And if desired, various PBM games can be played for years. Additionally, the complexity of PBM games can be far beyond that allowed by a board game in an afternoon, and pits players against live opponents in these conditions, a challenge some players enjoy. Some games allow the number of opponents or teams in the dozens, even as high as fifty. PBM games also allow gamers to interact with others globally. And games with low turn costs compare well with expensive board or video games. Some drawbacks include the price for some PBM games with high setup and/or turn costs, and the lack of ability for face-to-face roleplaying. Additionally, for some players, certain games can be overly complex, and delays in turn processing can be a negative.
Play-by-mail games are multifaceted. In their earliest form they involved two players alternatively sending moves directly to each other by postal mail, such as in correspondence chess. Multi-player games, such as "Diplomacy" or more complex games available today, involve a game master who receives, processes, and adjudicates turn results for players. These games also introduce the element of diplomacy in which participants can discuss gameplay with each other, strategize, and form alliances. In the 1970s and 1980s, turn results were sometimes adjudicated completely by humans. Over time, partial or complete turn adjudication by computer became the norm. Games also involve open and closed end variants. Open ended games do not end and players can develop their positions to the fullest extent possible, whereas in closed end games, players typically pursue a set of victory conditions until game conclusion. Finally, PBM games enable players to explore a diverse array of roles, from characters in fantasy or medieval settings, space operas, inner city gangs, or even more unusual ones such as assuming the role of microorganisms or monsters.
The earliest play-by-mail games developed as a way for geographically separated gamers to compete with each other using postal mail. Chess and Go are among the oldest examples of this type. In these two player games, players send moves directly to each other. Multi-player games emerged later. "Diplomacy" is an example of this type in which a central game master manages the game, receiving moves and publishing adjudications. "Diplomacy" was first played by mail in 1963. In the early 1970s, in the United States, Rick Loomis, of Flying Buffalo Inc, began a number of multi-player play-by-mail games; this included games such as "Nuclear Destruction", which launched in 1970.
This began the professional PBM industry in the United States. Professional game moderation started in 1971 at Flying Buffalo which added games such as "Battleplan", "Heroic Fantasy", "Starweb", and others, which by the late 1980s were all computer moderated. For approximately five years, Flying Buffalo was the single dominant company in the US PBM industry until Schubel & Son entered the field in "roughly" 1976 with the human-moderated "Tribes of Crane" game. Schubel & Son introduced fee structure innovations which allowed players to pay additional fees for additional options or special actions outside of the rules. This provided players with larger bankrolls the advantage or the ability to abuse game systems.
The next "big entrance" was Superior Simulations with its game "Empyrean Challenge" in 1978. Reviewer Jim Townsend asserted that it was "the most complex game system on Earth" with some large position turn results 1,000 pages in length. By 1980, the PBM field was growing but still nascent: there were still only two sizable commercial PBM companies, and only a few small ones. The most popular games of 1980 were "Starweb" and "Tribes of Crane".
Some players, unhappy with their experiences with Schubel & Son and Superior Simulations, launched their own company—Adventures by Mail—with game, ""Beyond the Stellar Empire"", which became "immensely popular". In this same way, many people have launched PBM companies, trying their hand at finding the right mix of action and strategy for the gaming audience of the period. According to Jim Townsend: In the late 70's and all of the 80's, many small PBM firms have opened their doors and better than 90% of them have failed. Although PBM is an easy industry to get into, staying in business is another thing entirely. Literally hundreds of PBM companies have come and gone, most of them taking the money of would-be-customers with them.
Townsend emphasized the risks for the PBM industry in that "The new PBM company has such a small chance of surviving that no insurance company would write a policy to cover them. Skydivers are a better risk." By the late 1980s, of the more than one hundred play-by-mail companies operating, the majority were hobbies–not run as businesses to make money. Jim Townsend estimated that, in 1988, there were about a dozen profitable PBM companies in the United States—with an additional few in the United Kingdom and the same in Australia.
The proliferation of PBM companies in the 1980s supported the publication of a number of newsletters from individual play-by-mail companies as well as independent publications which focused solely on the play-by-mail gaming industry such as the relatively short-lived "The Nuts & Bolts of PBM" and "Gaming Universal". The PBM genre's "two preeminent magazines" of the period were "Flagship" and "Paper Mayhem". Also in the mid-1980s, "general gaming magazines" began carrying articles on PBM and run PBM advertisements, and the Origins Awards began a "Best PBM Game" category.
The 1990s brought the onset of the digital age of computers, with many gamers shifting to digital platforms versus play-by-mail games. In 1994, David Webber, the editor-in-chief of "Paper Mayhem", stated that the PBM community had been trying to "get more people into PBM gaming" for years with apparently only marginal growth. At the same time, he noted that his analysis indicated that "more and more PBMers are playing fewer games", giving the example of an average drop from 5–6 games per player to 2–3 games, suggesting it could be due to financial reasons.
However, the shift to the digital age introduced new opportunities as well. PBM companies have introduced play-by-email (PBeM) options or games that are run in a turn-based fashion by email only. Modern PBM game turnaround times have wide enough ranges that commenters are beginning to use the term "turn-based games".
In the early 1990s, the PBM industry still maintained some of the momentum from the 1980s. In 1993, "Flagship" magazine listed 185 active play-by-mail games. However, over time, the play-by-mail industry has gradually declined.
In 1998, "Paper Mayhem" magazine ceased publication suddenly after the unexpected death of its longtime editor in chief, David Webber. The last of the play-by-mail magazines started in the 1980s, "Flagship", went out of print in 2010. The number of remaining play-by-mail publications is relatively small—mostly newsletters associated with play-by-mail companies, although "Suspense and Decision" remains as an independent online journal for play-by-mail gamers in the 21st century.
Judith Proctor noted that play-by-mail games have a number of advantages. These include (1) plenty of time—potentially days—to plan a move, (2) never lacking players to face who have "new tactics and ideas", (3) the ability to play an "incredibly complex" game against live opponents, (4) meeting diverse gamers from far-away locations, and (5) relatively low costs. Related to costs, Rick McDowell, designer of "Alamaze", compared PBM costs favorably in 2019 with the high cost of board games at Barnes & Noble, with many going "for around $70", and a top rated game, "Nemesis", costing $189. Andrew Greenberg also pointed to the number of players possible in a multi-player game ("as many as fifty teams"), comparing it to his past failure at once trying to host an eleven-player Dungeons and Dragons Game.
Greenberg identified a number of drawbacks for play-by-mail games. He stated that the "most obvious" was the cost, because most games require a setup cost and a fee per turn, and some games can become expensive. Another drawback is the lack of face-to-face roleplaying inherent in play-by-mail games. Finally, game complexity in some cases and occasional delays in turn processing can also be negatives in the genre.
In 1993, "Paper Mayhem"—a magazine for play-by-mail gamers—described play-by-mail games thusly: PBM Games vary in the size of the games, turn around time, length of time a game lasts, and prices. An average PBM game has 10–20 players in it, but there are also games that have hundreds of players. Turn around time is the length of time it takes to get your turn back from a company. The average turnaround time is 2 weeks. Some games never end. They can go on virtually forever or until you decide to drop. Many games have victory conditions that can be achieved within a year or two. Prices vary for the different PBM games, but the average price per turn [in 1993] is about $5.00.
After the initial setup of a PBM game, players begin submitting turn orders. In general, players fill out a turn sheet for a game and mail it back to the gaming company. The company processes the turns and sends back turns sheets to the players so they can make subsequent moves.
R. Danard further separates a typical PBM turn into four parts. First, the company informs players on the results of the last turn. Next players conduct diplomatic activities, if desired. Then, they send their next turn sheets to the gamemaster (GM). Finally, the turn sheets are processed and the cycle is repeated. This continues until the game or a player is done.
According to "Paper Mayhem" assistant editor Jim Townsend, The most important aspect of PBM games is the diplomacy. If you don't communicate with the other players you will be labeled a "loner," "mute," or just plain "dead meat." You must talk with the others to survive.
Play-by-mail games provide a wide array of possible roles to play, from pirates to space characters to "previously unknown creatures". In the game "Monster Island", players assume the role of a monster which explores a massive island. And the title of the PBM game "You're An Amoeba, GO!" indicates an unusual role as players struggle "in a 3D pool of primordial ooze [directing] the evolution of a legion of micro-organisms". Loth advises that closer identification with a role increases enjoyment, but a higher importance of this aspect requires more time searching for the right PBM game.
According to John Kevin Loth III, "In theory, an open ended game lasts forever" and there is no "ultimate goal" or way to win the game. In open ended games, the designer has provided a system that enables players to develop with no upper limit. A drawback of this type is that mature games have "factions of significant power and knowledge" that can pose an unmanageable problem for the beginner—although some may see this situation as a challenge of sorts. Examples of open ended games are "Heroic Fantasy", "Monster Island", and "SuperNova: Rise of the Empire".
Loth states that most players in closed end games start equally and the games are "faster paced, usually more intense...presenting frequent player confrontation; [and] the game terminates when a player or alliance of players has achieved specific conditions or eliminated all opposition". Examples of closed end games are "Hyborian War", "It's a Crime", and "Starweb".
In the 1980s, play-by-mail gaming companies began leveraging computers to moderate games. To some degree this was an economic decision, as computers allowed the processing of more turns than humans, but with less of a human touch in the prose of a turn result. According to John Kevin Loth III, 100 percent computer moderated games would also kill a player's "character or empire" emotionlessly, regardless of effort invested. Alternatively, Loth noted that those preferring exquisite pages of prose would gravitate toward 100 percent human moderation. Loth provided "Beyond the Quadra Zone" and "Earthwood" as popular computer moderated examples in 1986 and "Silverdawn" and "Sword Lords" as 100 percent human moderated examples of the period.
According to John Kevin Loth, "Novices should appreciate that some games are best played by veterans." He noted in 1986 that Midguard was a "very complex game" with a 100-page instruction manual and "255 possible line entries". Reviewer Jim Townsend asserted that "Empyrean Challenge" was "the most complex game system on Earth". Other games, like Galactic Prisoners began simply and gradually increased in complexity.
Loth noted that, in 1986, $3–5 per turn was the most prevalent cost. At the time, some games were free, while some cost as much as $100 per turn.
Play-by-mail magazine "Paper Mayhem" stated that the average turn processing time in 1987 was two weeks, and Loth noted that this was also the most popular. In 1986, play-by-email was a nascent service only being offered by the largest PBM companies.
Rick Loomis of Flying Buffalo Games stated in 1985 that the "Nuts & Bolts of PBM" (first called "Nuts & Bolts of Starweb") was the first PBM magazine not published by a PBM company. The name changed to "Nuts & Bolts of Gaming" and it eventually went out of print.
John Kevin Loth stated that, in 1986, the "three major information sources in PBM" were "Paper Mayhem", "Flagship Magazine", and the Play By Mail Association. These sources were solely focused on play-by-mail gaming. Additional PBM information sources included company-specific publications, although Rick Loomis stated that these were "of interest only to their own customers". Finally, play-by-mail gamers could also draw from "alliances, associations, and senior players" for information.
In the mid-1980s, "general gaming magazines" also began venturing into PBM. For example, "White Wolf Magazine" began a regular PBM column beginning in issue #11 as well as publishing an annual PBM issue beginning with issue #16. "The Space Gamer" also carried PBM articles and reviews. Additional minor information sources included magazines such as ""Different Worlds", "Dragon", "Game New", "Imagine", and "White Dwarf"".
"Flagship Magazine" ran into the 21st Century, but ceased publication in 2010. In November 2013, an online journal for play-by-mail games, "Suspense and Decision", began publication.
Besides articles and reviews on PBM games, authors have also published PBM fiction. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23654 |
Philip K. Dick Award
The Philip K. Dick Award is an American science fiction award given annually at Norwescon and sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and (since 2005) the Philip K. Dick Trust. Named after science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, it has been awarded since 1983, the year after his death. It is awarded to the best original paperback published each year in the US.
The award was founded by Thomas Disch with assistance from David G. Hartwell, Paul S. Williams, and Charles N. Brown. As of 2016, it is administered by Pat LoBrutto, John Silbersack, and Gordon Van Gelder. Past administrators include Algis Budrys, David G. Hartwell, and David Alexander Smith.
Winners are listed in bold.
Authors of special citation entries are listed in "italics". The year in the table below indicates the year the book was published; winners are announced the following year. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23658 |
Plug-in (computing)
In computing, a plug-in (or plugin, add-in, addin, add-on, or addon) is a software component that adds a specific feature to an existing computer program. When a program supports plug-ins, it enables customization.
A theme or skin is a preset package containing additional or changed graphical appearance details, achieved by the use of a graphical user interface (GUI) that can be applied to specific software and websites to suit the purpose, topic, or tastes of different users to customize the look and feel of a piece of computer software or an operating system front-end GUI (and window managers).
Applications support plug-ins for many reasons. Some of the main reasons include:
Types of applications and why they use plug-ins:
The host application provides services which the plug-in can use, including a way for plug-ins to register themselves with the host application and a protocol for the exchange of data with plug-ins. Plug-ins depend on the services provided by the host application and do not usually work by themselves. Conversely, the host application operates independently of the plug-ins, making it possible for end-users to add and update plug-ins dynamically without needing to make changes to the host application.
Programmers typically implement plug-in functionality using shared libraries, which get dynamically loaded at run time, installed in a place prescribed by the host application. HyperCard supported a similar facility, but more commonly included the plug-in code in the HyperCard documents (called "stacks") themselves. Thus the HyperCard stack became a self-contained application in its own right, distributable as a single entity that end-users could run without the need for additional installation-steps. Programs may also implement plugins by loading a directory of simple script files written in a scripting language like Python or Lua.
In Mozilla Foundation definitions, the words "add-on", "extension" and "plug-in" are not synonyms. "Add-on" can refer to anything that extends the functions of a Mozilla application. Extensions comprise a subtype, albeit the most common and the most powerful one. Mozilla applications come with integrated add-on managers that, similar to package managers, install, update and manage extensions. The term, "Plug-in", however, strictly refers to NPAPI-based web content renderers. Mozilla deprecated plug-ins for its products. But UXP-based applications, like web browsers Pale Moon and Basilisk, keep supporting (NPAPI) plugins.
Plug-ins appeared as early as the mid 1970s, when the EDT text editor running on the Unisys VS/9 operating system using the UNIVAC Series 90 mainframe computers provided the ability to run a program from the editor and to allow such a program to access the editor buffer, thus allowing an external program to access an edit session in memory. The plug-in program could make calls to the editor to have it perform text-editing services upon the buffer that the editor shared with the plug-in. The Waterloo Fortran compiler used this feature to allow interactive compilation of Fortran programs edited by EDT.
Very early PC software applications to incorporate plug-in functionality included HyperCard and QuarkXPress on the Macintosh, both released in 1987. In 1988, Silicon Beach Software included plug-in functionality in Digital Darkroom and SuperPaint, and Ed Bomke coined the term "plug-in". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23659 |
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin ( (); 1 May 1881 – 10 April 1955) was a French idealist philosopher and Jesuit Catholic priest who trained as a paleontologist and geologist and took part in the discovery of the Peking Man. He conceived the vitalist idea of the Omega Point (a maximum level of complexity and consciousness towards which he believed the universe was evolving), and he developed Vladimir Vernadsky's concept of noosphere. Teilhard's ideas had a profound influence on the New Age movement.
In 1962, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith condemned several of Teilhard's works based on their alleged ambiguities and doctrinal errors. Some eminent Catholic figures, including Cardinal Ratzinger and Pope Francis, have made positive comments on some of his ideas since. The response to his writings by scientists has been mostly critical.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was born in the Château of Sarcenat, Orcines, some 4 km north-west of Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne, French Third Republic, on 1 May 1881, as the fourth of eleven children of librarian Emmanuel Teilhard de Chardin (1844–1932) and Berthe-Adèle, née de Dompierre d'Hornoys of Picardy, a great-grandniece of Voltaire. He inherited the double surname from his father, who was descended on the Teilhard side from an ancient family of magistrates from Auvergne originating in Murat, Cantal, ennobled under Louis XVIII of France.
His father, an amateur naturalist, collected stones, insects and plants and promoted the observation of nature in the household. Pierre Teilhard's spirituality was awakened by his mother. When he was 12, he went to the Jesuit college of Mongré in Villefranche-sur-Saône, where he completed Baccalauréat of philosophy and mathematics. Then, in 1899, he entered the Jesuit novitiate at Aix-en-Provence, where he began a philosophical, theological and spiritual career.
When the Associations Act of July 1901 required congregational associations to submit their properties to state control, some of the Jesuits exiled themselves to the United Kingdom. Young Jesuit students continued their studies on the isle of Jersey. In the meantime, Teilhard earned a licentiate in literature in Caen in 1902.
From 1905 to 1908, he taught physics and chemistry in Collège de la Sainte Famille in Cairo, Khedivate of Egypt. He wrote "[I]t is the dazzling of the East foreseen and drunk greedily ... in its lights, its vegetation, its fauna and its deserts."
Teilhard studied theology in Hastings, Sussex, from 1908 to 1912. There he synthesized his scientific, philosophical and theological knowledge in the light of evolution. At that time he read "Creative Evolution" by Henri Bergson, about which he wrote that "the only effect that brilliant book had upon me was to provide fuel at just the right moment, and very briefly, for a fire that was already consuming my heart and mind." In short, Bergson's ideas helped him to unify his views on matter, life, and energy into a coherent and organic whole.
From 1912 to 1914, Teilhard worked in the paleontology laboratory of the National Museum of Natural History, France, studying the mammals of the middle Tertiary period. Later he studied elsewhere in Europe. In June 1912 he formed part of the original digging team, with Arthur Smith Woodward and Charles Dawson, at the Piltdown site, after the discovery of the first fragments of the fraudulent "Piltdown Man". Some have suggested he participated in the hoax. Marcellin Boule, a specialist in Neanderthal studies, who as early as 1915 had recognized the non-hominid origins of the Piltdown finds, gradually guided Teilhard towards human paleontology. At the museum's Institute of Human Paleontology, he became a friend of Henri Breuil and in 1913 took part with him in excavations at the prehistoric painted Cave of El Castillo in northwest Spain.
Mobilized in December 1914, Teilhard served in World War I as a stretcher-bearer in the 8th Moroccan Rifles. For his valor, he received several citations, including the Médaille militaire and the Legion of Honor.
During the war, he developed his reflections in his diaries and in letters to his cousin, Marguerite Teillard-Chambon, who later published a collection of them. He later wrote: "...the war was a meeting ... with the Absolute." In 1916, he wrote his first essay: "La Vie Cosmique" ("Cosmic life"), where his scientific and philosophical thought was revealed just as his mystical life. While on leave from the military he pronounced his solemn vows as a Jesuit in Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon on 26 May 1918. In August 1919, in Jersey, he wrote "Puissance spirituelle de la Matière" ("The Spiritual Power of Matter").
At the University of Paris, Teilhard pursued three unit degrees of natural science: geology, botany, and zoology. His thesis treated the mammals of the French lower Eocene and their stratigraphy. After 1920, he lectured in geology at the Catholic Institute of Paris and after earning a science doctorate in 1922 became an assistant professor there.
In 1923 he traveled to China with Father Émile Licent, who was in charge of a significant laboratory collaboration between the National Museum of Natural History and Marcellin Boule's laboratory in Tianjin. Licent carried out considerable basic work in connection with missionaries who accumulated observations of a scientific nature in their spare time.
Teilhard wrote several essays, including "La Messe sur le Monde" (the "Mass on the World"), in the Ordos Desert. In the following year, he continued lecturing at the Catholic Institute and participated in a cycle of conferences for the students of the Engineers' Schools. Two theological essays on original sin were sent to a theologian at his request on a purely personal basis:
The Church required him to give up his lecturing at the Catholic Institute in order to continue his geological research in China.
Teilhard traveled again to China in April 1926. He would remain there for about twenty years, with many voyages throughout the world. He settled until 1932 in Tianjin with Émile Licent, then in Beijing. Teilhard made five geological research expeditions in China between 1926 and 1935. They enabled him to establish a general geological map of China.
That same year, Teilhard's superiors in the Jesuit Order forbade him to teach any longer.
In 1926–27, after a missed campaign in Gansu, Teilhard traveled in the Sanggan River Valley near Kalgan (Zhangjiakou) and made a tour in Eastern Mongolia. He wrote "Le Milieu Divin" ("The Divine Milieu"). Teilhard prepared the first pages of his main work "Le Phénomène Humain" ("The Phenomenon of Man"). The Holy See refused the Imprimatur for "Le Milieu Divin" in 1927.
He joined the ongoing excavations of the Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian as an advisor in 1926 and continued in the role for the Cenozoic Research Laboratory of the China Geological Survey following its founding in 1928. Teilhard resided in Manchuria with Emile Licent, staying in western Shanxi and northern Shaanxi with the Chinese paleontologist Yang Zhongjian and with Davidson Black, Chairman of the China Geological Survey.
After a tour in Manchuria in the area of Greater Khingan with Chinese geologists, Teilhard joined the team of American Expedition Center-Asia in the Gobi Desert, organized in June and July by the American Museum of Natural History with Roy Chapman Andrews. Henri Breuil and Teilhard discovered that the Peking Man, the nearest relative of "Anthropopithecus" from Java, was a "faber" (worker of stones and controller of fire). Teilhard wrote "L'Esprit de la Terre" ("The Spirit of the Earth").
Teilhard took part as a scientist in the Croisière Jaune (Yellow Cruise) financed by André Citroën in Central Asia. Northwest of Beijing in Kalgan, he joined the Chinese group who joined the second part of the team, the Pamir group, in Aksu City. He remained with his colleagues for several months in Ürümqi, capital of Xinjiang. The following year, the Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) began.
In 1933, Rome ordered him to give up his post in Paris. Teilhard subsequently undertook several explorations in the south of China. He traveled in the valleys of the Yangtze and Sichuan in 1934, then, the following year, in Guangxi and Guangdong. The relationship with Marcellin Boule was disrupted; the museum cut its financing on the grounds that Teilhard worked more for the Chinese Geological Service than for the museum.
During all these years, Teilhard contributed considerably to the constitution of an international network of research in human paleontology related to the whole of eastern and southeastern Asia. He would be particularly associated in this task with two friends, the English/Canadian Davidson Black and the Scot George Brown Barbour. Often he would visit France or the United States, only to leave these countries for further expeditions.
From 1927 to 1928, Teilhard based himself in Paris. He journeyed to Leuven, Belgium, and to Cantal and Ariège, France. Between several articles in reviews, he met new people such as Paul Valéry and Bruno de Solages, who were to help him in issues with the Catholic Church.
Answering an invitation from Henry de Monfreid, Teilhard undertook a journey of two months in Obock, in Harar in the Ethiopian Empire, and in Somalia with his colleague Pierre Lamarre, a geologist, before embarking in Djibouti to return to Tianjin. While in China, Teilhard developed a deep and personal friendship with Lucile Swan.
During 1930–1931, Teilhard stayed in France and in the United States. During a conference in Paris, Teilhard stated: "For the observers of the Future, the greatest event will be the sudden appearance of a collective humane conscience and a human work to make." From 1932–1933, he began to meet people to clarify issues with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith regarding "Le Milieu divin" and "L'Esprit de la Terre". He met Helmut de Terra, a German geologist in the International Geology Congress in Washington, D.C.
Teilhard participated in the 1935 Yale–Cambridge expedition in northern and central India with the geologist Helmut de Terra and Patterson, who verified their assumptions on Indian Paleolithic civilisations in Kashmir and the Salt Range Valley. He then made a short stay in Java, on the invitation of Dutch paleontologist Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald to the site of Java Man. A second cranium, more complete, was discovered. Professor von Koenigswald had also found a tooth in a Chinese apothecary shop in 1934 that he believed belonged to a three-meter-tall ape, "Gigantopithecus," which lived between one hundred thousand and around a million years ago. Fossilized teeth and bone ("dragon bones") are often ground into powder and used in some branches of traditional Chinese medicine.
In 1937, Teilhard wrote "Le Phénomène spirituel" ("The Phenomenon of the Spirit") on board the boat Empress of Japan, where he met the Sylvia Brett, Rani of Sarawak The ship conveyed him to the United States. He received the Mendel Medal granted by Villanova University during the Congress of Philadelphia, in recognition of his works on human paleontology. He made a speech about evolution, the origins and the destiny of man. "The New York Times" dated 19 March 1937 presented Teilhard as the Jesuit who held that man descended from monkeys. Some days later, he was to be granted the "Doctor Honoris Causa" distinction from Boston College. Upon arrival in that city, he was told that the award had been cancelled.
Rome banned his work "L’Énergie Humaine" in 1939. By this point Teilhard was based again in France, where he was immobilized by malaria. During his return voyage to Beijing he wrote "L'Energie spirituelle de la Souffrance" ("Spiritual Energy of Suffering") (Complete Works, tome VII).
In 1941, Teilhard submitted to Rome his most important work, "Le Phénomène Humain". By 1947, Rome forbade him to write or teach on philosophical subjects. The next year, Teilhard was called to Rome by the Superior General of the Jesuits who hoped to acquire permission from the Holy See for the publication of "Le Phénomène Humain". However, the prohibition to publish it that was previously issued in 1944 was again renewed. Teilhard was also forbidden to take a teaching post in the Collège de France. Another setback came in 1949, when permission to publish "Le Groupe Zoologique" was refused.
Teilhard was nominated to the French Academy of Sciences in 1950. He was forbidden by his Superiors to attend the International Congress of
Paleontology in 1955. The Supreme Authority of the Holy Office, in a decree dated 15 November 1957, forbade the works of de Chardin to be retained in libraries, including those of religious institutes. His books were not to be sold in Catholic bookshops and were not to be translated into other languages.
Further resistance to Teilhard's work arose elsewhere. In April 1958, all Jesuit publications in Spain ("Razón y Fe", "Sal Terrae","Estudios de Deusto", etc.) carried a notice from the Spanish Provincial of the Jesuits that Teilhard's works had been published in Spanish without previous ecclesiastical examination and in defiance of the decrees of the Holy See. A decree of the Holy Office dated 30 June 1962, under the authority of Pope John XXIII, warned:
The Diocese of Rome on 30 September 1963 required Catholic booksellers in Rome to withdraw his works as well as those that supported his views.
Teilhard died in New York City, where he was in residence at the Jesuit Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, Park Avenue. On 15 March 1955, at the house of his diplomat cousin Jean de Lagarde, Teilhard told friends he hoped he would die on Easter Sunday. On the evening of Easter Sunday, 10 April 1955, during an animated discussion at the apartment of Rhoda de Terra, his personal assistant since 1949, Teilhard suffered a heart attack and died. He was buried in the cemetery for the New York Province of the Jesuits at the Jesuit novitiate, St. Andrew-on-Hudson, in Hyde Park, New York. With the moving of the novitiate, the property was sold to the Culinary Institute of America in 1970.
Teilhard de Chardin wrote two comprehensive works, "The Phenomenon of Man" and "The Divine Milieu".
His posthumously published book, "The Phenomenon of Man", set forth a sweeping account of the unfolding of the cosmos and the evolution of matter to humanity, to ultimately a reunion with Christ. In the book, Teilhard abandoned literal interpretations of creation in the Book of Genesis in favor of allegorical and theological interpretations. The unfolding of the material cosmos is described from primordial particles to the development of life, human beings and the noosphere, and finally to his vision of the Omega Point in the future, which is "pulling" all creation towards it. He was a leading proponent of orthogenesis, the idea that evolution occurs in a directional, goal-driven way. Teilhard argued in Darwinian terms with respect to biology, and supported the synthetic model of evolution, but argued in Lamarckian terms for the development of culture, primarily through the vehicle of education. Teilhard made a total commitment to the evolutionary process in the 1920s as the core of his spirituality, at a time when other religious thinkers felt evolutionary thinking challenged the structure of conventional Christian faith. He committed himself to what the evidence showed.
Teilhard made sense of the universe by assuming it had a vitalist evolutionary process. He interprets complexity as the axis of evolution of matter into a geosphere, a biosphere, into consciousness (in man), and then to supreme consciousness (the Omega Point).
Teilhard's unique relationship to both paleontology and Catholicism allowed him to develop a highly progressive, cosmic theology which takes into account his evolutionary studies. Teilhard recognized the importance of bringing the Church into the modern world, and approached evolution as a way of providing ontological meaning for Christianity, particularly creation theology. For Teilhard, evolution was "the natural landscape where the history of salvation is situated."
Teilhard's cosmic theology is largely predicated on his interpretation of Pauline scripture, particularly Colossians 1:15-17 (especially verse 1:17b) and 1 Corinthians 15:28. He drew on the Christocentrism of these two Pauline passages to construct a cosmic theology which recognizes the absolute primacy of Christ. He understood creation to be "a teleological process towards union with the Godhead, effected through the incarnation and redemption of Christ, 'in whom all things hold together' (Col. 1:17)." He further posited that creation would not be complete until each "participated being is totally united with God through Christ in the Pleroma, when God will be 'all in all' (1Cor. 15:28)."
Teilhard's life work was predicated on his conviction that human spiritual development is moved by the same universal laws as material development. He wrote, "...everything is the sum of the past" and "...nothing is comprehensible except through its history. 'Nature' is the equivalent of 'becoming', self-creation: this is the view to which experience irresistibly leads us. ... There is nothing, not even the human soul, the highest spiritual manifestation we know of, that does not come within this universal law." "The Phenomenon of Man" represents Teilhard's attempt at reconciling his religious faith with his academic interests as a paleontologist. One particularly poignant observation in Teilhard's book entails the notion that evolution is becoming an increasingly optional process. Teilhard points to the societal problems of isolation and marginalization as huge inhibitors of evolution, especially since evolution requires a unification of consciousness. He states that "no evolutionary future awaits anyone except in association with everyone else." Teilhard argued that the human condition necessarily leads to the psychic unity of humankind, though he stressed that this unity can only be voluntary; this voluntary psychic unity he termed "unanimization." Teilhard also states that "evolution is an ascent toward consciousness", giving encephalization as an example of early stages, and therefore, signifies a continuous upsurge toward the Omega Point which, for all intents and purposes, is God.
Teilhard also used his perceived correlation between spiritual and material to describe Christ, arguing that Christ not only has a mystical dimension but also takes on a physical dimension as he becomes the organizing principle of the universe—that is, the one who "holds together" the universe (Col. 1:17b). For Teilhard, Christ forms not only the eschatological end toward which his mystical/ecclesial body is oriented, but he also "operates physically in order to regulate all things" becoming "the one from whom all creation receives its stability." In other words, as the one who holds all things together, "Christ exercises a supremacy over the universe which is physical, not simply juridical. He is the unifying center of the universe and its goal. The function of holding all things together indicates that Christ is not only man and God; he also possesses a third aspect—indeed, a third nature—which is cosmic." In this way, the Pauline description of the Body of Christ is not simply a mystical or ecclesial concept for Teilhard; it is cosmic. This cosmic Body of Christ "extend[s] throughout the universe and compris[es] all things that attain their fulfillment in Christ [so that] ... the Body of Christ is the one single thing that is being made in creation." Teilhard describes this cosmic amassing of Christ as "Christogenesis." According to Teilhard, the universe is engaged in Christogenesis as it evolves toward its full realization at Omega, a point which coincides with the fully realized Christ. It is at this point that God will be "all in all" (1Cor. 15:28c).
Tielhard has been criticized as incorporating common notions of Social Darwinism and scientific racism into his work, along with support for eugenics, though he has also been defended by theologian John Haught.
In 1925, Teilhard was ordered by the Superior General of the Society of Jesus Wlodimir Ledóchowski to leave his teaching position in France and to sign a statement withdrawing his controversial statements regarding the doctrine of original sin. Rather than leave the Society of Jesus, Teilhard signed the statement and left for China.
This was the first of a series of condemnations by certain ecclesiastical officials that would continue until after Teilhard's death. The climax of these condemnations was a 1962 "monitum" (warning) of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith cautioning on Teilhard's works. It said:
The Holy Office did not place any of Teilhard's writings on the "Index Librorum Prohibitorum" (Index of Forbidden Books), which existed during Teilhard's lifetime and at the time of the 1962 decree.
Shortly thereafter, prominent clerics mounted a strong theological defense of Teilhard's works. Henri de Lubac (later a Cardinal) wrote three comprehensive books on the theology of Teilhard de Chardin in the 1960s. While de Lubac mentioned that Teilhard was less than precise in some of his concepts, he affirmed the orthodoxy of Teilhard de Chardin and responded to Teilhard's critics: "We need not concern ourselves with a number of detractors of Teilhard, in whom emotion has blunted intelligence". Later that decade Joseph Ratzinger, a German theologian who became Pope Benedict XVI, spoke glowingly of Teilhard's Christology in Ratzinger's "Introduction to Christianity":
Over the next several decades prominent theologians and prelates, including leading cardinals all wrote approvingly of Teilhard's ideas. In 1981, Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, wrote on the front page of the Vatican newspaper, "l'Osservatore Romano":
On 20 July 1981, the Holy See stated that, after consultation of Cardinal Casaroli and Cardinal Franjo Šeper, the letter did not change the position of the warning issued by the Holy Office on 30 June 1962, which pointed out that Teilhard's work contained ambiguities and grave doctrinal errors.
Cardinal Ratzinger in his book "The Spirit of the Liturgy" incorporates Teilhard's vision as a touchstone of the Catholic Mass:
Cardinal Avery Dulles said in 2004:
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn wrote in 2007:
In July 2009, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said, "By now, no one would dream of saying that [Teilhard] is a heterodox author who shouldn't be studied."
Pope Francis refers to Teilhard's eschatological contribution in his encyclical Laudato si'.
The philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand criticized severely the work of Teilhard. According to this philosopher, in a conversation after a lecture by Teilhard: "He (Teilhard) ignored completely the decisive difference between nature and supernature. After a lively discussion in which I ventured a criticism of his ideas, I had an opportunity to speak to Teilhard privately. When our talk touched on St. Augustine, he exclaimed violently: 'Don’t mention that unfortunate man; he spoiled everything by introducing the supernatural.'" Von Hildebrand writes that Teilhardism is incompatible with Christianity, substitutes efficiency for sanctity, dehumanizes man, and describes love as merely cosmic energy.
According to Daniel Dennett (1995), "it has become clear to the point of unanimity among scientists that Teilhard offered nothing serious in the way of an alternative to orthodoxy; the ideas that were peculiarly his were confused, and the rest was just bombastic redescription of orthodoxy."
Steven Rose wrote that "Teilhard is revered as a mystic of genius by some, but amongst most biologists is seen as little more than a charlatan."
In 1961, British immunologist and Nobel laureate Peter Medawar wrote a scornful review of "The Phenomenon Of Man" for the journal "Mind": "the greater part of it [...] is nonsense, tricked out with a variety of tedious metaphysical conceits, and its author can be excused of dishonesty only on the grounds that before deceiving others he has taken great pains to deceive himself". Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins called Medawar's review "devastating" and "The Phenomenon of Man" "the quintessence of bad poetic science".
Sir Julian Huxley, the evolutionary biologist, in the preface to the 1955 edition of "The Phenomenon of Man", praised the thought of Teilhard de Chardin for looking at the way in which human development needs to be examined within a larger integrated universal sense of evolution, though admitting he could not follow Teilhard all the way. Theodosius Dobzhansky, writing in 1973, drew upon Teilhard's insistence that evolutionary theory provides the core of how man understands his relationship to nature, calling him "one of the great thinkers of our age".
George Gaylord Simpson felt that if Teilhard were right, the lifework "of Huxley, Dobzhansky, and hundreds of others was not only wrong, but meaningless", and was mystified by their public support for him. He considered Teilhard a friend and his work in paleontology extensive and important, but expressed strongly adverse views of his contributions as scientific theorist and philosopher.
In 2019, evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson praised Teilhard's book "The Phenomenon of Man" as "scientifically prophetic in many ways", and considers his own work as an updated version of it, commenting that "[m]odern evolutionary theory shows that what Teilhard meant by the Omega Point is achievable in the foreseeable future."
Brian Swimme wrote "Teilhard was one of the first scientists to realize that the human and the universe are inseparable. The only universe we know about is a universe that brought forth the human."
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is honored with a feast day on the calender of saints of the Episcopal Church on 10 April. George Gaylord Simpson named the most primitive and ancient genus of true primate, the Eocene genus "Teilhardina".
Teilhard and his work continue to influence the arts and culture. Characters based on Teilhard appear in several novels, including Jean Telemond in Morris West's "The Shoes of the Fisherman" (mentioned by name and quoted by Oskar Werner playing Fr. Telemond in the movie version of the novel). In Dan Simmons' 1989–97 "Hyperion Cantos", Teilhard de Chardin has been canonized a saint in the far future. His work inspires the anthropologist priest character, Paul Duré. When Duré becomes Pope, he takes "Teilhard I" as his regnal name. Teilhard appears as a minor character in the play "Fake" by Eric Simonson, staged by Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 2009, involving a fictional solution to the infamous Piltdown Man hoax.
References range from occasional quotations—an auto mechanic quotes Teilhard in Philip K. Dick's "A Scanner Darkly"—to serving as the philosophical underpinning of the plot, as Teilhard's work does in Julian May's 1987–94 Galactic Milieu Series. Teilhard also plays a major role in Annie Dillard's 1999 "For the Time Being". Teilhard is mentioned by name and the Omega Point briefly explained in Arthur C. Clarke's and Stephen Baxter's "The Light of Other Days".
The title of the short-story collection "Everything That Rises Must Converge" by Flannery O'Connor is a reference to Teilhard's work. The American novelist Don DeLillo's 2010 novel "Point Omega" borrows its title and some of its ideas from Teilhard de Chardin. Robert Wright, in his book "", compares his own naturalistic thesis that biological and cultural evolution are directional and, possibly, purposeful, with Teilhard's ideas.
Teilhard's work also inspired philosophical ruminations by Italian laureate architect Paolo Soleri, artworks such as French painter Alfred Manessier's "L'Offrande de la terre ou Hommage à Teilhard de Chardin" and American sculptor Frederick Hart's acrylic sculpture "The Divine Milieu: Homage to Teilhard de Chardin". A sculpture of the Omega Point by Henry Setter, with a quote from Teilhard de Chardin, can be found at the entrance to the Roesch Library at the University of Dayton. The Spanish painter Salvador Dali was fascinated by Teilhard de Chardin and the Omega Point theory. His 1959 painting The Ecumenical Council (painting) is said to represent the "interconnectedness" of the Omega Point.
Edmund Rubbra's 1968 Symphony No. 8 is titled "Hommage à Teilhard de Chardin".
"The Embracing Universe" an oratorio for choir and 7 instruments composed by Justin Grounds to a libretto by Fred LaHaye saw its first performance in 2019. It is based on the life and thought of Teilhard de Chardin.
Several college campuses honor Teilhard. A building at the University of Manchester is named after him, as are residence dormitories at Gonzaga University and Seattle University.
"The De Chardin Project", a play celebrating Teilhard's life, ran from 20 November to 14 December 2014 in Toronto, Canada. "The Evolution of Teilhard de Chardin", a documentary film on Teilhard's life, was scheduled for release in 2015.
Founded in 1978, George Addair based much of Omega Vector on Teilhard's work.
The American physicist Frank J. Tipler has further developed Teilhard's Omega Point concept in two controversial books, "The Physics of Immortality" and the more theologically based Physics of Christianity. While keeping the central premise of Teilhard's Omega Point (i.e. a universe evolving towards a maximum state of complexity and consciousness) Tipler has supplanted some of the more mystical/ theological elements of the OPT with his own scientific and mathematical observations (as well as some elements borrowed from Freeman Dyson's eternal intelligence theory).
In 1972, the Uruguayan priest Juan Luis Segundo, in his five-volume series "A Theology for Artisans of a New Humanity," wrote that Teilhard "noticed the profound analogies existing between the conceptual elements used by the natural sciences — all of them being based on the hypothesis of a general evolution of the universe."
Teilhard has had a profound influence on the New Age movements and has been described as "perhaps the man most responsible for the spiritualization of evolution in a global and cosmic context".
Teilhard’s quote on likening the discovery of the power of love to the second time man will have discovered the power of fire was quoted in the sermon of the Most Reverend Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, during the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on 20 May 2018.
The dates in parentheses are the dates of first publication in French and English. Most of these works were written years earlier, but Teilhard's ecclesiastical order forbade him to publish them because of their controversial nature. The essay collections are organized by subject rather than date, thus each one typically spans many years. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23660 |
Phutball
Phutball (short for Philosopher's Football) is a two-player abstract strategy board game described in Elwyn Berlekamp, John Horton Conway, and Richard K. Guy's "Winning Ways for your Mathematical Plays".
Phutball is played on the intersections of a 19×15 grid using one white stone and as many black stones as needed.
In this article the two players are named Ohs (O) and Eks (X).
The board is labeled A through P (omitting I) from left to right and 1 to 19 from bottom to top from Ohs' perspective.
Rows 0 and 20 represent "off the board" beyond rows 1 and 19 respectively.
As specialized phutball boards are hard to come by, the game is usually played on a 19×19 Go board, with a white stone representing the football and black stones representing the men.
The objective is to score goals by using the men (the black stones) to move the football (the white stone) onto or over the opponent's goal line (rows 1 or 19). Ohs tries to move the football to rows 19 or 20 and Eks to rows 1 or 0.
At the start of the game the football is placed on the central point, unless one player gives the other a handicap, in which case the ball starts nearer one player's goal.
Players alternate making moves.
A move is either to add a man to any vacant point on the board or to move the ball.
There is no difference between men played by Ohs and those played by Eks.
The football is moved by a series of jumps over adjacent men.
Each jump is to the first vacant point in a straight line horizontally, vertically, or diagonally over one or more men.
The jumped men are then removed from the board (before any subsequent jump occurs).
This process repeats for as long as there remain men available to be jumped and the player desires. Jumping is optional: there is no requirement to jump.
In contrast to checkers, multiple men in a row are jumped and removed as a group.
The diagram on the right illustrates a jump.
If the football ends the move on or over the opponent's goal line then a goal has been scored.
If the football passes through a goal line, but ends up elsewhere due to further jumps, the game continues.
The game is sufficiently complex that checking whether there is a win in one (on an m×n board) is NP-complete. It is not known whether any player has a winning strategy or both players have a drawing strategy.
Given an arbitrary board position, with initially a white stone placed in the center, determining whether the current player has a winning strategy is PSPACE-hard. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23661 |
Papyrus
Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, "Cyperus papyrus", a wetland sedge. "Papyrus" (plural: "papyri") can also refer to a document written on sheets of such material, joined together side by side and rolled up into a scroll, an early form of a book.
Papyrus is first known to have been used in Egypt (at least as far back as the First Dynasty), as the papyrus plant was once abundant across the Nile Delta. It was also used throughout the Mediterranean region and in the Kingdom of Kush. Apart from a writing material, ancient Egyptians employed papyrus in the construction of other artifacts, such as reed boats, mats, rope, sandals, and baskets.
Papyrus was first manufactured in Egypt as far back as the fourth millennium BCE. The earliest archaeological evidence of papyrus was excavated in 2012 and 2013 at Wadi al-Jarf, an ancient Egyptian harbor located on the Red Sea coast. These documents, the Diary of Merer, date from c. 2560–2550 BCE (end of the reign of Khufu). The papyrus rolls describe the last years of building the Great Pyramid of Giza. In the first centuries BCE and CE, papyrus scrolls gained a rival as a writing surface in the form of parchment, which was prepared from animal skins. Sheets of parchment were folded to form quires from which book-form codices were fashioned. Early Christian writers soon adopted the codex form, and in the Græco-Roman world, it became common to cut sheets from papyrus rolls to form codices.
Codices were an improvement on the papyrus scroll, as the papyrus was not pliable enough to fold without cracking and a long roll, or scroll, was required to create large-volume texts. Papyrus had the advantage of being relatively cheap and easy to produce, but it was fragile and susceptible to both moisture and excessive dryness. Unless the papyrus was of perfect quality, the writing surface was irregular, and the range of media that could be used was also limited.
Papyrus was replaced in Europe by the cheaper, locally produced products parchment and vellum, of significantly higher durability in moist climates, though Henri Pirenne's connection of its disappearance with the Muslim conquest of Egypt is contested. Its last appearance in the Merovingian chancery is with a document of 692, though it was known in Gaul until the middle of the following century. The latest certain dates for the use of papyrus are 1057 for a papal decree (typically conservative, all papal bulls were on papyrus until 1022), under Pope Victor II, and 1087 for an Arabic document. Its use in Egypt continued until it was replaced by less expensive paper introduced by the Islamic world who originally learned of it from the Chinese. By the 12th century, parchment and paper were in use in the Byzantine Empire, but papyrus was still an option.
Papyrus was made in several qualities and prices. Pliny the Elder and Isidore of Seville described six variations of papyrus which were sold in the Roman market of the day. These were graded by quality based on how fine, firm, white, and smooth the writing surface was. Grades ranged from the superfine Augustan, which was produced in sheets of 13 digits (10 inches) wide, to the least expensive and most coarse, measuring six digits (four inches) wide. Materials deemed unusable for writing or less than six digits were considered commercial quality and were pasted edge to edge to be used only for wrapping.
Until the middle of the 19th century, only some isolated documents written on papyrus were known, and museums simply displayed them as curiosities. They did not contain literary works. The first modern discovery of papyri rolls was made at Herculaneum in 1752. Until then, the only papyri known had been a few surviving from medieval times. Scholarly investigations began with the Dutch historian Caspar Jacob Christiaan Reuvens (1793–1835). He wrote about the content of the Leyden papyrus, published in 1830. The first publication has been credited to the British scholar Charles Wycliffe Goodwin (1817–1878), who published for the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, one of the Papyri Graecae Magicae V, translated into English with commentary in 1853.
The English word "papyrus" derives, via Latin, from Greek πάπυρος ("papyros"), a loanword of unknown (perhaps Pre-Greek) origin. Greek has a second word for it, βύβλος ("byblos"), said to derive from the name of the Phoenician city of Byblos. The Greek writer Theophrastus, who flourished during the 4th century BCE, uses "papyros" when referring to the plant used as a foodstuff and "byblos" for the same plant when used for nonfood products, such as cordage, basketry, or writing surfaces. The more specific term βίβλος "biblos", which finds its way into English in such words as 'bibliography', 'bibliophile', and 'bible', refers to the inner bark of the papyrus plant. "Papyrus" is also the etymon of 'paper', a similar substance.
In the Egyptian language, papyrus was called "wadj" ("w3ḏ"), "tjufy" ("ṯwfy"), or "djet" ("ḏt").
The word for the material papyrus is also used to designate documents written on sheets of it, often rolled up into scrolls. The plural for such documents is papyri. Historical papyri are given identifying names — generally the name of the discoverer, first owner or institution where they are kept—and numbered, such as "Papyrus Harris I". Often an abbreviated form is used, such as "pHarris I". These documents provide important information on ancient writings; they give us the only extant copy of Menander, the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Egyptian treatises on medicine (the Ebers Papyrus) and on surgery (the Edwin Smith papyrus), Egyptian mathematical treatises (the Rhind papyrus), and Egyptian folk tales (the Westcar papyrus). When, in the 18th century, a library of ancient papyri was found in Herculaneum, ripples of expectation spread among the learned men of the time. However, since these papyri were badly charred, their unscrolling and deciphering is still going on today.
Papyrus is made from the stem of the papyrus plant, "Cyperus papyrus". The outer rind is first removed, and the sticky fibrous inner pith is cut lengthwise into thin strips of about long. The strips are then placed side by side on a hard surface with their edges slightly overlapping, and then another layer of strips is laid on top at a right angle. The strips may have been soaked in water long enough for decomposition to begin, perhaps increasing adhesion, but this is not certain. The two layers possibly were glued together. While still moist, the two layers are hammered together, mashing the layers into a single sheet. The sheet is then dried under pressure. After drying, the sheet is polished with some rounded object, possibly a stone or seashell or round hardwood.
Sheets, or kollema, could be cut to fit the obligatory size or glued together to create a longer roll. The point where the kollema are joined with glue is called the kollesis. A wooden stick would be attached to the last sheet in a roll, making it easier to handle. To form the long strip scrolls required, a number of such sheets were united, placed so all the horizontal fibres parallel with the roll's length were on one side and all the vertical fibres on the other. Normally, texts were first written on the "recto", the lines following the fibres, parallel to the long edges of the scroll. Secondarily, papyrus was often reused, writing across the fibres on the "verso". Pliny the Elder describes the methods of preparing papyrus in his "Naturalis Historia".
In a dry climate, like that of Egypt, papyrus is stable, formed as it is of highly rot-resistant cellulose; but storage in humid conditions can result in molds attacking and destroying the material. Library papyrus rolls were stored in wooden boxes and chests made in the form of statues. Papyrus scrolls were organized according to subject or author, and identified with clay labels that specified their contents without having to unroll the scroll. In European conditions, papyrus seems to have lasted only a matter of decades; a 200-year-old papyrus was considered extraordinary. Imported papyrus once commonplace in Greece and Italy has since deteriorated beyond repair, but papyri are still being found in Egypt; extraordinary examples include the Elephantine papyri and the famous finds at Oxyrhynchus and Nag Hammadi. The Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum, containing the library of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, Julius Caesar's father-in-law, was preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, but has only been partially excavated.
Sporadic attempts to revive the manufacture of papyrus have been made since the mid-18th century. Scottish explorer James Bruce experimented in the late 18th century with papyrus plants from the Sudan, for papyrus had become extinct in Egypt. Also in the 18th century, Sicilian Saverio Landolina manufactured papyrus at Syracuse, where papyrus plants had continued to grow in the wild. During the 1920s, when Egyptologist Battiscombe Gunn lived in Maadi, outside Cairo, he experimented with the manufacture of papyrus, growing the plant in his garden. He beat the sliced papyrus stalks between two layers of linen, and produced successful examples of papyrus, one of which was exhibited in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The modern technique of papyrus production used in Egypt for the tourist trade was developed in 1962 by the Egyptian engineer Hassan Ragab using plants that had been reintroduced into Egypt in 1872 from France. Both Sicily and Egypt have centres of limited papyrus production.
Papyrus is still used by communities living in the vicinity of swamps, to the extent that rural householders derive up to 75% of their income from swamp goods. Particularly in East and Central Africa, people harvest papyrus, which is used to manufacture items that are sold or used locally. Examples include baskets, hats, fish traps, trays or winnowing mats, and floor mats. Papyrus is also used to make roofs, ceilings, rope and fences. Although alternatives, such as eucalyptus, are increasingly available, papyrus is still used as fuel.
Other ancient writing materials: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23664 |
Pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel, pel, or picture element is a physical point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable element in an all points addressable display device; so it is the smallest controllable element of a picture represented on the screen.
Each pixel is a sample of an original image; more samples typically provide more accurate representations of the original. The intensity of each pixel is variable. In color imaging systems, a color is typically represented by three or four component intensities such as red, green, and blue, or cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.
In some contexts (such as descriptions of camera sensors), "pixel" refers to a single scalar element of a multi-component representation (called a "photosite" in the camera sensor context, although "sensel" is sometimes used), while in yet other contexts it may refer to the set of component intensities for a spatial position.
The word "pixel" is a portmanteau of "pix" (from "pictures", shortened to "pics") and "el" (for ""element""); similar formations with '"el"' include the words "voxel" and "texel". The word "pix" appeared in "Variety" magazine headlines in 1932, as an abbreviation for the word "pictures", in reference to movies. By 1938, "pix" was being used in reference to still pictures by photojournalists.
The word "pixel" was first published in 1965 by Frederic C. Billingsley of JPL, to describe the picture elements of scanned images from space probes to the Moon and Mars. Billingsley had learned the word from Keith E. McFarland, at the Link Division of General Precision in Palo Alto, who in turn said he did not know where it originated. McFarland said simply it was "in use at the time" (circa 1963).
The concept of a "picture element" dates to the earliest days of television, for example as ""Bildpunkt"" (the German word for "pixel", literally 'picture point') in the 1888 German patent of Paul Nipkow. According to various etymologies, the earliest publication of the term "picture element" itself was in "Wireless World" magazine in 1927, though it had been used earlier in various U.S. patents filed as early as 1911.
Some authors explain "pixel" as "picture cell," as early as 1972. In graphics and in image and video processing, "pel" is often used instead of "pixel". For example, IBM used it in their Technical Reference for the original PC.
Pixels, abbreviated as "px", are also a unit of measurement commonly used in graphic and web design, equivalent to roughly . This measurement is used to make sure a given element will display as the same size no matter what screen resolution views it.
Pixilation, spelled with a second "i", is an unrelated filmmaking technique that dates to the beginnings of cinema, in which live actors are posed frame by frame and photographed to create stop-motion animation. An archaic British word meaning "possession by spirits (pixies)", the term has been used to describe the animation process since the early 1950s; various animators, including Norman McLaren and Grant Munro, are credited with popularizing it.
thought of as the smallest single component of a digital image. However, the definition is highly context-sensitive. For example, there can be "printed pixels" in a page, or pixels carried by electronic signals, or represented by digital values, or pixels on a display device, or pixels in a digital camera (photosensor elements). This list is not exhaustive and, depending on context, synonyms include pel, sample, byte, bit, dot, and spot. "Pixels" can be used as a unit of measure such as: 2400 pixels per inch, 640 pixels per line, or spaced 10 pixels apart.
The measures dots per inch (dpi) and pixels per inch (ppi) are sometimes used interchangeably, but have distinct meanings, especially for printer devices, where dpi is a measure of the printer's density of dot (e.g. ink droplet) placement. For example, a high-quality photographic image may be printed with 600 ppi on a 1200 dpi inkjet printer. Even higher dpi numbers, such as the 4800 dpi quoted by printer manufacturers since 2002, do not mean much in terms of achievable resolution.
The more pixels used to represent an image, the closer the result can resemble the original. The number of pixels in an image is sometimes called the resolution, though resolution has a more specific definition. Pixel counts can be expressed as a single number, as in a "three-megapixel" digital camera, which has a nominal three million pixels, or as a pair of numbers, as in a "640 by 480 display", which has 640 pixels from side to side and 480 from top to bottom (as in a VGA display) and therefore has a total number of 640 × 480 = 307,200 pixels, or 0.3 megapixels.
The pixels, or color samples, that form a digitized image (such as a JPEG file used on a web page) may or may not be in one-to-one correspondence with screen pixels, depending on how a computer displays an image. In computing, an image composed of pixels is known as a "bitmapped image" or a "raster image". The word "raster" originates from television scanning patterns, and has been widely used to describe similar halftone printing and storage techniques.
For convenience, pixels are normally arranged in a regular two-dimensional grid. By using this arrangement, many common operations can be implemented by uniformly applying the same operation to each pixel independently. Other arrangements of pixels are possible, with some sampling patterns even changing the shape (or kernel) of each pixel across the image. For this reason, care must be taken when acquiring an image on one device and displaying it on another, or when converting image data from one pixel format to another.
For example:
Computers can use pixels to display an image, often an abstract image that represents a GUI. The resolution of this image is called the display resolution and is determined by the video card of the computer. LCD monitors also use pixels to display an image, and have a native resolution. Each pixel is made up of triads, with the number of these triads determining the native resolution. On some CRT monitors, the beam sweep rate may be fixed, resulting in a fixed native resolution. Most CRT monitors do not have a fixed beam sweep rate, meaning they do not have a native resolution at all - instead they have a set of resolutions that are equally well supported.
To produce the sharpest images possible on an LCD, the user must ensure the display resolution of the computer matches the native resolution of the monitor.
The pixel scale used in astronomy is the angular distance between two objects on the sky that fall one pixel apart on the detector (CCD or infrared chip). The scale "s" measured in radians is the ratio of the pixel spacing "p" and focal length "f" of the preceding optics, "s"="p/f". (The focal length is the product of the focal ratio by the diameter of the associated lens or mirror.)
Because "p" is usually expressed in units of arcseconds per pixel, because 1 radian equals "180/π*3600≈206,265" arcseconds, and because diameters are often given in millimeters and pixel sizes in micrometers which yields another factor of 1,000, the formula is often quoted as "s=206p/f".
The number of distinct colors that can be represented by a pixel depends on the number of bits per pixel (bpp). A 1 bpp image uses 1-bit for each pixel, so each pixel can be either on or off. Each additional bit doubles the number of colors available, so a 2 bpp image can have 4 colors, and a 3 bpp image can have 8 colors:
For color depths of 15 or more bits per pixel, the depth is normally the sum of the bits allocated to each of the red, green, and blue components. Highcolor, usually meaning 16 bpp, normally has five bits for red and blue each, and six bits for green, as the human eye is more sensitive to errors in green than in the other two primary colors. For applications involving transparency, the 16 bits may be divided into five bits each of red, green, and blue, with one bit left for transparency. A 24-bit depth allows 8 bits per component. On some systems, 32-bit depth is available: this means that each 24-bit pixel has an extra 8 bits to describe its opacity (for purposes of combining with another image).
Many display and image-acquisition systems are not capable of displaying or sensing the different color channels at the same site. Therefore, the pixel grid is divided into single-color regions that contribute to the displayed or sensed color when viewed at a distance. In some displays, such as LCD, LED, and plasma displays, these single-color regions are separately addressable elements, which have come to be known as subpixels. For example, LCDs typically divide each pixel vertically into three subpixels. When the square pixel is divided into three subpixels, each subpixel is necessarily rectangular. In display industry terminology, subpixels are often referred to as "pixels", as they are the basic addressable elements in a viewpoint of hardware, and hence "pixel circuits" rather than "subpixel circuits" is used.
Most digital camera image sensors use single-color sensor regions, for example using the Bayer filter pattern, and in the camera industry these are known as "pixels" just like in the display industry, not "subpixels".
For systems with subpixels, two different approaches can be taken:
This latter approach, referred to as subpixel rendering, uses knowledge of pixel geometry to manipulate the three colored subpixels separately, producing an increase in the apparent resolution of color displays. While CRT displays use red-green-blue-masked phosphor areas, dictated by a mesh grid called the shadow mask, it would require a difficult calibration step to be aligned with the displayed pixel raster, and so CRTs do not currently use subpixel rendering.
The concept of subpixels is related to samples.
A megapixel (MP) is a million pixels; the term is used not only for the number of pixels in an image but also to express the number of image sensor elements of digital cameras or the number of display elements of digital displays. For example, a camera that makes a 2048 × 1536 pixel image (3,145,728 finished image pixels) typically uses a few extra rows and columns of sensor elements and is commonly said to have "3.2 megapixels" or "3.4 megapixels", depending on whether the number reported is the "effective" or the "total" pixel count.
Digital cameras use photosensitive electronics, either charge-coupled device (CCD) or complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors, consisting of a large number of single sensor elements, each of which records a measured intensity level. In most digital cameras, the sensor array is covered with a patterned color filter mosaic having red, green, and blue regions in the Bayer filter arrangement so that each sensor element can record the intensity of a single primary color of light. The camera interpolates the color information of neighboring sensor elements, through a process called demosaicing, to create the final image. These sensor elements are often called "pixels", even though they only record 1 channel (only red or green or blue) of the final color image. Thus, two of the three color channels for each sensor must be interpolated and a so-called "N-megapixel" camera that produces an N-megapixel image provides only one-third of the information that an image of the same size could get from a scanner. Thus, certain color contrasts may look fuzzier than others, depending on the allocation of the primary colors (green has twice as many elements as red or blue in the Bayer arrangement).
DxO Labs invented the Perceptual MegaPixel (P-MPix) to measure the sharpness that a camera produces when paired to a particular lens – as opposed to the MP a manufacturer states for a camera product, which is based only on the camera's sensor. The new P-MPix claims to be a more accurate and relevant value for photographers to consider when weighing up camera sharpness. As of mid-2013, the Sigma 35 mm f/1.4 DG HSM lens mounted on a Nikon D800 has the highest measured P-MPix. However, with a value of 23 MP, it still wipes off more than one-third of the D800's 36.3 MP sensor. In August 2019, Xiaomi released Redmi Note 8 Pro as the world's first smartphone with 64 MP camera. On December 12, 2019 Samsung released Samsung A71 with also a 64 MP camera. In late 2019, Xiaomi announced the first camera phone with 108MP 1/1.33-inch across sensor. The sensor is larger than most of bridge camera with 1/2.3-inch across sensor.
One new method to add megapixels has been introduced in a Micro Four Thirds System camera, which only uses a 16 MP sensor but can produce a 64 MP RAW (40 MP JPEG) image by making two exposures, shifting the sensor by a half pixel between them. Using a tripod to take level multi-shots within an instance, the multiple 16 MP images are then generated into a unified 64 MP image. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23665 |
Prime number
A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways of writing it as a product, or , involve 5 itself.
However, 4 is composite because it is a product () in which both numbers are smaller than 4. Primes are central in number theory because of the fundamental theorem of arithmetic: every natural number greater than 1 is either a prime itself or can be factorized as a product of primes that is unique up to their order.
The property of being prime is called primality. A simple but slow method of checking the primality of a given number formula_1, called trial division, tests whether formula_1 is a multiple of any integer between 2 and formula_3. Faster algorithms include the Miller–Rabin primality test, which is fast but has a small chance of error, and the AKS primality test, which always produces the correct answer in polynomial time but is too slow to be practical. Particularly fast methods are available for numbers of special forms, such as Mersenne numbers. the largest known prime number has 24,862,048 decimal digits.
There are infinitely many primes, as demonstrated by Euclid around 300 BC. No known simple formula separates prime numbers from composite numbers. However, the distribution of primes within the natural numbers in the large can be statistically modelled. The first result in that direction is the prime number theorem, proven at the end of the 19th century, which says that the probability of a randomly chosen number being prime is inversely proportional to its number of digits, that is, to its logarithm.
Several historical questions regarding prime numbers are still unsolved. These include Goldbach's conjecture, that every even integer greater than 2 can be expressed as the sum of two primes, and the twin prime conjecture, that there are infinitely many pairs of primes having just one even number between them. Such questions spurred the development of various branches of number theory, focusing on analytic or algebraic aspects of numbers. Primes are used in several routines in information technology, such as public-key cryptography, which relies on the difficulty of factoring large numbers into their prime factors. In abstract algebra, objects that behave in a generalized way like prime numbers include prime elements and prime ideals.
A natural number (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc.) is called a "prime number" (or a "prime") if it is greater than 1 and cannot be written as the product of two smaller natural numbers. The numbers greater than 1 that are not prime are called composite numbers. In other words, formula_1 is prime if formula_1 items cannot be divided up into smaller equal-size groups of more than one item, or if it is not possible to arrange formula_1 dots into a rectangular grid that is more than one dot wide and more than one dot high.
For example, among the numbers 1 through 6, the numbers 2, 3, and 5 are the prime numbers, as there are no other numbers that divide them evenly (without a remainder).
1 is not prime, as it is specifically excluded in the definition. and are both composite.
The divisors of a natural number formula_1 are the natural numbers that divide formula_1 evenly.
Every natural number has both 1 and itself as a divisor. If it has any other divisor, it cannot be prime. This idea leads to a different but equivalent definition of the primes: they are the numbers with exactly two positive divisors, 1 and the number itself.
Yet another way to express the same thing is that a number formula_1 is prime if it is greater than one and if none of the numbers formula_10 divides formula_1 evenly.
The first 25 prime numbers (all the prime numbers less than 100) are:
No even number formula_1 greater than 2 is prime because any such number can be expressed as the product formula_13. Therefore, every prime number other than 2 is an odd number, and is called an "odd prime". Similarly, when written in the usual decimal system, all prime numbers larger than 5 end in 1, 3, 7, or 9. The numbers that end with other digits are all composite:
decimal numbers that end in 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8 are even, and decimal numbers that end in 0 or 5 are divisible by 5.
The set of all primes is sometimes denoted by formula_14 (a boldface capital "P") or by formula_15 (a blackboard bold capital P).
The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, from around 1550 BC, has Egyptian fraction expansions of different forms for prime and composite numbers. However, the earliest surviving records of the explicit study of prime numbers come from ancient Greek mathematics. Euclid's "Elements" (c. 300 BC) proves the infinitude of primes and the fundamental theorem of arithmetic, and shows how to construct a perfect number from a Mersenne prime. Another Greek invention, the Sieve of Eratosthenes, is still used to construct lists of primes.
Around 1000 AD, the Islamic mathematician Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) found Wilson's theorem, characterizing the prime numbers as the numbers formula_1 that evenly divide formula_17. He also conjectured that all even perfect numbers come from Euclid's construction using Mersenne primes, but was unable to prove it. Another Islamic mathematician, Ibn al-Banna' al-Marrakushi, observed that the sieve of Eratosthenes can be sped up by testing only the divisors up to the square root of the largest number to be tested. Fibonacci brought the innovations from Islamic mathematics back to Europe. His book "Liber Abaci" (1202) was the first to describe trial division for testing primality, again using divisors only up to the square root.
In 1640 Pierre de Fermat stated (without proof) Fermat's little theorem (later proved by Leibniz and Euler). Fermat also investigated the primality of the Fermat numbers
formula_18, and Marin Mersenne studied the Mersenne primes, prime numbers of the form formula_19 with formula_20 itself a prime. Christian Goldbach formulated Goldbach's conjecture, that every even number is the sum of two primes, in a 1742 letter to Euler. Euler proved Alhazen's conjecture (now the Euclid–Euler theorem) that all even perfect numbers can be constructed from Mersenne primes. He introduced methods from mathematical analysis to this area in his proofs of the infinitude of the primes and the divergence of the sum of the reciprocals of the primes formula_21.
At the start of the 19th century, Legendre and Gauss conjectured that as formula_22 tends to infinity, the number of primes up to formula_22 is asymptotic to formula_24, where formula_25 is the natural logarithm of formula_22. Ideas of Bernhard Riemann in his 1859 paper on the zeta-function sketched an outline for proving this. Although the closely related Riemann hypothesis remains unproven, Riemann's outline was completed in 1896 by Hadamard and de la Vallée Poussin, and the result is now known as the prime number theorem. Another important 19th century result was Dirichlet's theorem on arithmetic progressions, that certain arithmetic progressions contain infinitely many primes.
Many mathematicians have worked on primality tests for numbers larger than those where trial division is practicably applicable. Methods that are restricted to specific number forms include Pépin's test for Fermat numbers (1877), Proth's theorem (c. 1878), the Lucas–Lehmer primality test (originated 1856), and the generalized Lucas primality test.
Since 1951 all the largest known primes have been found using these tests on computers. The search for ever larger primes has generated interest outside mathematical circles, through the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search and other distributed computing projects. The idea that prime numbers had few applications outside of pure mathematics was shattered in the 1970s when public-key cryptography and the RSA cryptosystem were invented, using prime numbers as their basis.
The increased practical importance of computerized primality testing and factorization led to the development of improved methods capable of handling large numbers of unrestricted form. The mathematical theory of prime numbers also moved forward with the Green–Tao theorem (2004) that there are arbitrarily long arithmetic progressions of prime numbers, and Yitang Zhang's 2013 proof that there exist infinitely many prime gaps of bounded size.
Most early Greeks did not even consider 1 to be a number, so they could not consider its primality. A few mathematicians from this time also considered the prime numbers to be a subdivision of the odd numbers, so they also did not consider 2 to be prime. However, Euclid and a majority of the other Greek mathematicians considered 2 as prime. The medieval Islamic mathematicians largely followed the Greeks in viewing 1 as not being a number.
By the Middle Ages and Renaissance mathematicians began treating 1 as a number, and some of them included it as the first prime number. In the mid-18th century Christian Goldbach listed 1 as prime in his correspondence with Leonhard Euler; however, Euler himself did not consider 1 to be prime. In the 19th century many mathematicians still considered 1 to be prime, and lists of primes that included 1 continued to be published as recently as 1956.
If the definition of a prime number were changed to call 1 a prime, many statements involving prime numbers would need to be reworded in a more awkward way. For example, the fundamental theorem of arithmetic would need to be rephrased in terms of factorizations into primes greater than 1, because every number would have multiple factorizations with different numbers of copies of 1. Similarly, the sieve of Eratosthenes would not work correctly if it handled 1 as a prime, because it would eliminate all multiples of 1 (that is, all other numbers) and output only the single number 1. Some other more technical properties of prime numbers also do not hold for the number 1: for instance, the formulas for Euler's totient function or for the sum of divisors function are different for prime numbers than they are for 1. By the early 20th century, mathematicians began to agree that 1 should not be listed as prime, but rather in its own special category as a "unit".
Writing a number as a product of prime numbers is called a "prime factorization" of the number. For example:
The terms in the product are called "prime factors". The same prime factor may occur more than once; this example has two copies of the prime factor formula_28 When a prime occurs multiple times, exponentiation can be used to group together multiple copies of the same prime number: for example, in the second way of writing the product above, formula_29 denotes the square or second power of formula_28
The central importance of prime numbers to number theory and mathematics in general stems from the "fundamental theorem of arithmetic". This theorem states that every integer larger than 1 can be written as a product of one or more primes. More strongly,
this product is unique in the sense that any two prime factorizations of the same number will have the same numbers of copies of the same primes,
although their ordering may differ. So, although there are many different ways of finding a factorization using an integer factorization algorithm, they all must produce the same result. Primes can thus be considered the "basic building blocks" of the natural numbers.
Some proofs of the uniqueness of prime factorizations are based on Euclid's lemma: If formula_20 is a prime number and formula_20 divides a product formula_33 of integers formula_34 and formula_35 then formula_20 divides formula_34 or formula_20 divides formula_39 (or both). Conversely, if a number formula_20 has the property that when it divides a product it always divides at least one factor of the product, then formula_20 must be prime.
There are infinitely many prime numbers. Another way of saying this is that the sequence
of prime numbers never ends. This statement is referred to as "Euclid's theorem" in honor of the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid, since the first known proof for this statement is attributed to him. Many more proofs of the infinitude of primes are known, including an analytical proof by Euler, Goldbach's proof based on Fermat numbers, Furstenberg's proof using general topology, and Kummer's elegant proof.
Euclid's proof shows that every finite list of primes is incomplete. The key idea is to multiply together the primes in any given list and add formula_42 If the list consists of the primes formula_43 this gives the number
By the fundamental theorem, formula_45 has a prime factorization
with one or more prime factors. formula_45 is evenly divisible by each of these factors, but formula_45 has a remainder of one when divided by any of the prime numbers in the given list, so none of the prime factors of formula_45 can be in the given list. Because there is no finite list of all the primes, there must be infinitely many primes.
The numbers formed by adding one to the products of the smallest primes are called Euclid numbers. The first five of them are prime, but the sixth,
is a composite number.
There is no known efficient formula for primes. For example, there is no non-constant polynomial, even in several variables, that takes "only" prime values. However, there are numerous expressions that do encode all primes, or only primes. One possible formula is based on Wilson's theorem and generates the number 2 many times and all other primes exactly once. There is also a set of Diophantine equations in nine variables and one parameter with the following property: the parameter is prime if and only if the resulting system of equations has a solution over the natural numbers. This can be used to obtain a single formula with the property that all its "positive" values are prime.
Other examples of prime-generating formulas come from Mills' theorem and a theorem of Wright. These assert that there are real constants formula_51 and formula_52 such that
are prime for any natural number formula_1 in the first formula, and any number of exponents in the second formula. Here formula_55 represents the floor function, the largest integer less than or equal to the number in question. However, these are not useful for generating primes, as the primes must be generated first in order to compute the values of formula_56 or formula_57
Many conjectures revolving about primes have been posed. Often having an elementary formulation, many of these conjectures have withstood proof for decades: all four of Landau's problems from 1912 are still unsolved. One of them is Goldbach's conjecture, which asserts that every even integer formula_1 greater than 2 can be written as a sum of two primes. , this conjecture has been verified for all numbers up to formula_59 Weaker statements than this have been proven, for example, Vinogradov's theorem says that every sufficiently large odd integer can be written as a sum of three primes. Chen's theorem says that every sufficiently large even number can be expressed as the sum of a prime and a semiprime (the product of two primes). Also, any even integer greater than 10 can be written as the sum of six primes. The branch of number theory studying such questions is called additive number theory.
Another type of problem concerns prime gaps, the differences between consecutive primes.
The existence of arbitrarily large prime gaps can be seen by noting that the sequence formula_60 consists of formula_61 composite numbers, for any natural number formula_62 However, large prime gaps occur much earlier than this argument shows. For example, the first prime gap of length 8 is between the primes 89 and 97, much smaller than formula_63 It is conjectured that there are infinitely many twin primes, pairs of primes with difference 2; this is the twin prime conjecture. Polignac's conjecture states more generally that for every positive integer formula_64 there are infinitely many pairs of consecutive primes that differ by formula_65
Andrica's conjecture, Brocard's conjecture, Legendre's conjecture, and Oppermann's conjecture all suggest that the largest gaps between primes from formula_66 to formula_1 should be at most approximately formula_68 a result that is known to follow from the Riemann hypothesis, while the much stronger Cramér conjecture sets the largest gap size at formula_69 Prime gaps can be generalized to prime formula_70-tuples, patterns in the differences between more than two prime numbers. Their infinitude and density are the subject of the first Hardy–Littlewood conjecture, which can be motivated by the heuristic that the prime numbers behave similarly to a random sequence of numbers with density given by the prime number theorem.
Analytic number theory studies number theory through the lens of continuous functions, limits, infinite series, and the related mathematics of the infinite and infinitesimal.
This area of study began with Leonhard Euler and his first major result, the solution to the Basel problem.
The problem asked for the value of the infinite sum formula_72
which today can be recognized as the value formula_73 of the Riemann zeta function. This function is closely connected to the prime numbers and to one of the most significant unsolved problems in mathematics, the Riemann hypothesis. Euler showed that formula_74.
The reciprocal of this number, formula_75, is the limiting probability that two random numbers selected uniformly from a large range are relatively prime (have no factors in common).
The distribution of primes in the large, such as the question how many primes are smaller than a given, large threshold, is described by the prime number theorem, but no efficient formula for the formula_1-th prime is known.
Dirichlet's theorem on arithmetic progressions, in its basic form, asserts that linear polynomials
with relatively prime integers formula_34 and formula_39 take infinitely many prime values. Stronger forms of the theorem state that the sum of the reciprocals of these prime values diverges, and that different linear polynomials with the same formula_39 have approximately the same proportions of primes.
Although conjectures have been formulated about the proportions of primes in higher-degree polynomials, they remain unproven, and it is unknown whether there exists a quadratic polynomial that (for integer arguments) is prime infinitely often.
Euler's proof that there are infinitely many primes considers the sums of reciprocals of primes,
Euler showed that, for any arbitrary real number formula_22, there exists a prime formula_20 for which this sum is bigger than formula_22. This shows that there are infinitely many primes, because if there were finitely many primes the sum would reach its maximum value at the biggest prime rather than growing past every formula_22.
The growth rate of this sum is described more precisely by Mertens' second theorem. For comparison, the sum
does not grow to infinity as formula_1 goes to infinity (see the Basel problem). In this sense, prime numbers occur more often than squares of natural numbers,
although both sets are infinite. Brun's theorem states that the sum of the reciprocals of twin primes,
is finite. Because of Brun's theorem, it is not possible to use Euler's method to solve the twin prime conjecture, that there exist infinitely many twin primes.
The prime counting function formula_89 is defined as the number of primes not greater than formula_1. For example, formula_91, since there are five primes less than or equal to 11. Methods such as the Meissel–Lehmer algorithm can compute exact values of formula_89 faster than it would be possible to list each prime up to formula_1. The prime number theorem states that formula_89 is asymptotic to formula_95, which is denoted as
and means that the ratio of formula_89 to the right-hand fraction approaches 1 as formula_1 grows to infinity. This implies that the likelihood that a randomly chosen number less than formula_1 is prime is (approximately) inversely proportional to the number of digits in formula_1.
It also implies that the formula_1th prime number is proportional to formula_102
and therefore that the average size of a prime gap is proportional to formula_103.
A more accurate estimate for formula_89 is given by the offset logarithmic integral
An arithmetic progression is a finite or infinite sequence of numbers such that consecutive numbers in the sequence all have the same difference. This difference is called the modulus of the progression. For example,
is an infinite arithmetic progression with modulus 9. In an arithmetic progression, all the numbers have the same remainder when divided by the modulus; in this example, the remainder is 3. Because both the modulus 9 and the remainder 3 are multiples of 3, so is every element in the sequence. Therefore, this progression contains only one prime number, 3 itself. In general, the infinite progression
can have more than one prime only when its remainder formula_34 and modulus formula_108 are relatively prime. If they are relatively prime, Dirichlet's theorem on arithmetic progressions asserts that the progression contains infinitely many primes.
The Green–Tao theorem shows that there are arbitrarily long finite arithmetic progressions consisting only of primes.
Euler noted that the function
yields prime numbers for formula_110, although composite numbers appear among its later values. The search for an explanation for this phenomenon led to the deep algebraic number theory of Heegner numbers and the class number problem. The Hardy-Littlewood conjecture F predicts the density of primes among the values of quadratic polynomials with integer coefficients
in terms of the logarithmic integral and the polynomial coefficients. No quadratic polynomial has been proven to take infinitely many prime values.
The Ulam spiral arranges the natural numbers in a two-dimensional grid, spiraling in concentric squares surrounding the origin with the prime numbers highlighted. Visually, the primes appear to cluster on certain diagonals and not others, suggesting that some quadratic polynomials take prime values more often than others.
One of the most famous unsolved questions in mathematics, dating from 1859, and one of the Millennium Prize Problems, is the Riemann hypothesis, which asks where the zeros of the Riemann zeta function formula_113 are located.
This function is an analytic function on the complex numbers. For complex numbers formula_114 with real part greater than one it equals both an infinite sum over all integers, and an infinite product over the prime numbers,
This equality between a sum and a product, discovered by Euler, is called an Euler product. The Euler product can be derived from the fundamental theorem of arithmetic, and shows the close connection between the zeta function and the prime numbers.
It leads to another proof that there are infinitely many primes: if there were only finitely many,
then the sum-product equality would also be valid at formula_116, but the sum would diverge (it is the harmonic series formula_117) while the product would be finite, a contradiction.
The Riemann hypothesis states that the zeros of the zeta-function are all either negative even numbers, or complex numbers with real part equal to 1/2. The original proof of the prime number theorem was based on a weak form of this hypothesis, that there are no zeros with real part equal to 1, although other more elementary proofs have been found.
The prime-counting function can be expressed by Riemann's explicit formula as a sum in which each term comes from one of the zeros of the zeta function; the main term of this sum is the logarithmic integral, and the remaining terms cause the sum to fluctuate above and below the main term.
In this sense, the zeros control how regularly the prime numbers are distributed. If the Riemann hypothesis is true, these fluctuations will be small, and the
asymptotic distribution of primes given by the prime number theorem will also hold over much shorter intervals (of length about the square root of formula_22 for intervals near a number formula_22).
Modular arithmetic modifies usual arithmetic by only using the numbers formula_120, for a natural number formula_1 called the modulus.
Any other natural number can be mapped into this system by replacing it by its remainder after division by formula_1.
Modular sums, differences and products are calculated by performing the same replacement by the remainder
on the result of the usual sum, difference, or product of integers. Equality of integers corresponds to "congruence" in modular arithmetic:
formula_22 and formula_124 are congruent (written formula_125 mod formula_1) when they have the same remainder after division by formula_1. However, in this system of numbers, division by all nonzero numbers is possible if and only if the modulus is prime. For instance, with the prime number formula_128 as modulus, division by formula_129 is possible: formula_130, because clearing denominators by multiplying both sides by formula_129 gives the valid formula formula_132. However, with the composite modulus formula_133, division by formula_129 is impossible. There is no valid solution to formula_135: clearing denominators by multiplying by formula_129 causes the left-hand side to become formula_137 while the right-hand side becomes either formula_138 or formula_129.
In the terminology of abstract algebra, the ability to perform division means that modular arithmetic modulo a prime number forms a field or, more specifically, a finite field, while other moduli only give a ring but not a field.
Several theorems about primes can be formulated using modular arithmetic. For instance, Fermat's little theorem states that if
formula_140 (mod formula_20), then formula_142 (mod formula_20).
Summing this over all choices of formula_34 gives the equation
valid whenever formula_20 is prime.
Giuga's conjecture says that this equation is also a sufficient condition for formula_20 to be prime.
Wilson's theorem says that an integer formula_148 is prime if and only if the factorial formula_149 is congruent to formula_150 mod formula_20. For a composite this cannot hold, since one of its factors divides both and formula_152, and so formula_153 is impossible.
The formula_20-adic order formula_155 of an integer formula_1 is the number of copies of formula_20 in the prime factorization of formula_1. The same concept can be extended from integers to rational numbers by defining the formula_20-adic order of a fraction formula_160 to be formula_161. The formula_20-adic absolute value formula_163 of any rational number formula_108 is then defined as
formula_165. Multiplying an integer by its formula_20-adic absolute value cancels out the factors of formula_20 in its factorization, leaving only the other primes. Just as the distance between two real numbers can be measured by the absolute value of their distance, the distance between two rational numbers can be measured by their formula_20-adic distance, the formula_20-adic absolute value of their difference. For this definition of distance, two numbers are close together (they have a small distance) when their difference is divisible by a high power of formula_20. In the same way that the real numbers can be formed from the rational numbers and their distances, by adding extra limiting values to form a complete field, the rational numbers with the formula_20-adic distance can be extended to a different complete field, the formula_20-adic numbers.
This picture of an order, absolute value, and complete field derived from them can be generalized to algebraic number fields and their valuations (certain mappings from the multiplicative group of the field to a totally ordered additive group, also called orders), absolute values (certain multiplicative mappings from the field to the real numbers, also called norms), and places (extensions to complete fields in which the given field is a dense set, also called completions). The extension from the rational numbers to the real numbers, for instance, is a place in which the distance between numbers is the usual absolute value of their difference. The corresponding mapping to an additive group would be the logarithm of the absolute value, although this does not meet all the requirements of a valuation. According to Ostrowski's theorem, up to a natural notion of equivalence, the real numbers and formula_20-adic numbers, with their orders and absolute values, are the only valuations, absolute values, and places on the rational numbers. The local-global principle allows certain problems over the rational numbers to be solved by piecing together solutions from each of their places, again underlining the importance of primes to number theory.
A commutative ring is an algebraic structure where addition, subtraction and multiplication are defined. The integers are a ring, and the prime numbers in the integers have been generalized to rings in two different ways, "prime elements" and "irreducible elements". An element formula_20 of a ring formula_175 is called prime if it is nonzero, has no multiplicative inverse (that is, it is not a unit), and satisfies the following requirement: whenever formula_20 divides the product formula_177 of two elements of formula_175, it also divides at least one of formula_22 or formula_124. An element is irreducible if it is neither a unit nor the product of two other non-unit elements. In the ring of integers, the prime and irreducible elements form the same set,
In an arbitrary ring, all prime elements are irreducible. The converse does not hold in general, but does hold for unique factorization domains.
The fundamental theorem of arithmetic continues to hold (by definition) in unique factorization domains. An example of such a domain is the Gaussian integers formula_182, the ring of complex numbers of the form formula_183 where formula_184 denotes the imaginary unit and formula_34 and formula_39 are arbitrary integers. Its prime elements are known as Gaussian primes. Not every number that is prime among the integers remains prime in the Gaussian integers; for instance, the number 2 can be written as a product of the two Gaussian primes formula_187 and formula_188. Rational primes (the prime elements in the integers) congruent to 3 mod 4 are Gaussian primes, but rational primes congruent to 1 mod 4 are not. This is a consequence of Fermat's theorem on sums of two squares,
which states that an odd prime formula_20 is expressible as the sum of two squares, formula_190, and therefore factorizable as formula_191, exactly when formula_20 is 1 mod 4.
Not every ring is a unique factorization domain. For instance, in the ring of numbers formula_193 (for integers formula_34 and formula_39) the number formula_196 has two factorizations formula_197, where neither of the four factors can be reduced any further, so it does not have a unique factorization. In order to extend unique factorization to a larger class of rings, the notion of a number can be replaced with that of an ideal, a subset of the elements of a ring that contains all sums of pairs of its elements, and all products of its elements with ring elements.
"Prime ideals", which generalize prime elements in the sense that the principal ideal generated by a prime element is a prime ideal, are an important tool and object of study in commutative algebra, algebraic number theory and algebraic geometry. The prime ideals of the ring of integers are the ideals (0), (2), (3), (5), (7), (11), ... The fundamental theorem of arithmetic generalizes to the Lasker–Noether theorem, which expresses every ideal in a Noetherian commutative ring as an intersection of primary ideals, which are the appropriate generalizations of prime powers.
The spectrum of a ring is a geometric space whose points are the prime ideals of the ring. Arithmetic geometry also benefits from this notion, and many concepts exist in both geometry and number theory. For example, factorization or ramification of prime ideals when lifted to an extension field, a basic problem of algebraic number theory, bears some resemblance with ramification in geometry. These concepts can even assist with in number-theoretic questions solely concerned with integers. For example, prime ideals in the ring of integers of quadratic number fields can be used in proving quadratic reciprocity, a statement that concerns the existence of square roots modulo integer prime numbers.
Early attempts to prove Fermat's Last Theorem led to Kummer's introduction of regular primes, integer prime numbers connected with the failure of unique factorization in the cyclotomic integers.
The question of how many integer prime numbers factor into a product of multiple prime ideals in an algebraic number field is addressed by Chebotarev's density theorem, which (when applied to the cyclotomic integers) has Dirichlet's theorem on primes in arithmetic progressions as a special case.
In the theory of finite groups the Sylow theorems imply that, if a power of a prime number formula_198 divides the order of a group, then it has a subgroup of order formula_198. By Lagrange's theorem, any group of prime order is a cyclic group,
and by Burnside's theorem any group whose order is divisible by only two primes is solvable.
For a long time, number theory in general, and the study of prime numbers in particular, was seen as the canonical example of pure mathematics, with no applications outside of mathematics other than the use of prime numbered gear teeth to distribute wear evenly. In particular, number theorists such as British mathematician G. H. Hardy prided themselves on doing work that had absolutely no military significance.
This vision of the purity of number theory was shattered in the 1970s, when it was publicly announced that prime numbers could be used as the basis for the creation of public key cryptography algorithms.
These applications have led to significant study of algorithms for computing with prime numbers, and in particular of primality testing, methods for determining whether a given number is prime.
The most basic primality testing routine, trial division, is too slow to be useful for large numbers. One group of modern primality tests is applicable to arbitrary numbers, while more efficient tests are available for numbers of special types. Most primality tests only tell whether their argument is prime or not. Routines that also provide a prime factor of composite arguments (or all of its prime factors) are called factorization algorithms.
Prime numbers are also used in computing for checksums, hash tables, and pseudorandom number generators.
The most basic method of checking the primality of a given integer formula_1 is called "trial division". This method divides formula_1 by each integer from 2 up to the square root of formula_1. Any such integer dividing formula_1 evenly establishes formula_1 as composite; otherwise it is prime.
Integers larger than the square root do not need to be checked because, whenever formula_205, one of the two factors formula_34 and formula_39 is less than or equal to the square root of formula_1. Another optimization is to check only primes as factors in this range.
For instance, to check whether 37 is prime, this method divides it by the primes in the range from 2 to , which are 2, 3, and 5. Each division produces a nonzero remainder, so 37 is indeed prime.
Although this method is simple to describe, it is impractical for testing the primality of large integers, because the number of tests that it performs grows exponentially as a function of the number of digits of these integers. However, trial division is still used, with a smaller limit than the square root on the divisor size, to quickly discover composite numbers with small factors, before using more complicated methods on the numbers that pass this filter.
Before computers, mathematical tables listing all of the primes or prime factorizations up to a given limit were commonly printed. The oldest method for generating a list of primes is called the sieve of Eratosthenes. The animation shows an optimized variant of this method.
Another more asymptotically efficient sieving method for the same problem is the sieve of Atkin. In advanced mathematics, sieve theory applies similar methods to other problems.
Some of the fastest modern tests for whether an arbitrary given number formula_1 is prime are probabilistic (or Monte Carlo) algorithms, meaning that they have a small random chance of producing an incorrect answer.
For instance the Solovay–Strassen primality test on a given number formula_20 chooses a number formula_34 randomly from formula_137 through formula_213 and uses modular exponentiation to check
whether formula_214 is divisible by formula_20. If so, it answers yes and otherwise it answers no. If formula_20 really is prime, it will always answer yes, but if formula_20 is composite then it answers yes with probability at most 1/2 and no with probability at least 1/2.
If this test is repeated formula_1 times on the same number,
the probability that a composite number could pass the test every time is at most formula_219. Because this decreases exponentially with the number of tests, it provides high confidence (although not certainty) that a number that passes the repeated test is prime. On the other hand, if the test ever fails, then the number is certainly composite.
A composite number that passes such a test is called a pseudoprime.
In contrast, some other algorithms guarantee that their answer will always be correct: primes will always be determined to be prime and composites will always be determined to be composite.
For instance, this is true of trial division.
The algorithms with guaranteed-correct output include both deterministic (non-random) algorithms, such as the AKS primality test,
and randomized Las Vegas algorithms where the random choices made by the algorithm do not affect its final answer, such as some variations of elliptic curve primality proving.
When the elliptic curve method concludes that a number is prime, it provides primality certificate that can be verified quickly.
The elliptic curve primality test is the fastest in practice of the guaranteed-correct primality tests, but its runtime analysis is based on heuristic arguments rather than rigorous proofs. The AKS primality test has mathematically proven time complexity, but is slower than elliptic curve primality proving in practice. These methods can be used to generate large random prime numbers, by generating and testing random numbers until finding one that is prime;
when doing this, a faster probabilistic test can quickly eliminate most composite numbers before a guaranteed-correct algorithm is used to verify that the remaining numbers are prime.
The following table lists some of these tests. Their running time is given in terms of formula_1, the number to be tested and, for probabilistic algorithms, the number formula_70 of tests performed. Moreover, formula_222 is an arbitrarily small positive number, and log is the logarithm to an unspecified base. The big O notation means that each time bound should be multiplied by a constant factor to convert it from dimensionless units to units of time; this factor depends on implementation details such as the type of computer used to run the algorithm, but not on the input parameters formula_1 and formula_70.
In addition to the aforementioned tests that apply to any natural number, some numbers of a special form can be tested for primality more quickly.
For example, the Lucas–Lehmer primality test can determine whether a Mersenne number (one less than a power of two) is prime, deterministically,
in the same time as a single iteration of the Miller–Rabin test. This is why since 1992 () the largest "known" prime has always been a Mersenne prime.
It is conjectured that there are infinitely many Mersenne primes.
The following table gives the largest known primes of various types. Some of these primes have been found using distributed computing. In 2009, the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search project was awarded a US$100,000 prize for first discovering a prime with at least 10 million digits. The Electronic Frontier Foundation also offers $150,000 and $250,000 for primes with at least 100 million digits and 1 billion digits, respectively.
Given a composite integer formula_1, the task of providing one (or all) prime factors is referred to as "factorization" of formula_1. It is significantly more difficult than primality testing, and although many factorization algorithms are known, they are slower than the fastest primality testing methods. Trial division and Pollard's rho algorithm can be used to find very small factors of formula_1, and elliptic curve factorization can be effective when formula_1 has factors of moderate size. Methods suitable for arbitrary large numbers that do not depend on the size of its factors include the quadratic sieve and general number field sieve. As with primality testing, there are also factorization algorithms that require their input to have a special form, including the special number field sieve. the largest number known to have been factored by a general-purpose algorithm is RSA-240, which has 240 decimal digits (795 bits) and is the product of two large primes.
Shor's algorithm can factor any integer in a polynomial number of steps on a quantum computer. However, current technology can only run this algorithm for very small numbers. the largest number that has been factored by a quantum computer running Shor's algorithm is 21.
Several public-key cryptography algorithms, such as RSA and the Diffie–Hellman key exchange, are based on large prime numbers (2048-bit primes are common). RSA relies on the assumption that it is much easier (that is, more efficient) to perform the multiplication of two (large) numbers formula_22 and formula_124 than to calculate formula_22 and formula_124 (assumed coprime) if only the product formula_177 is known. The Diffie–Hellman key exchange relies on the fact that there are efficient algorithms for modular exponentiation (computing formula_235), while the reverse operation (the discrete logarithm) is thought to be a hard problem.
Prime numbers are frequently used for hash tables. For instance the original method of Carter and Wegman for universal hashing was based on computing hash functions by choosing random linear functions modulo large prime numbers. Carter and Wegman generalized this method to formula_70-independent hashing by using higher-degree polynomials, again modulo large primes. As well as in the hash function, prime numbers are used for the hash table size in quadratic probing based hash tables to ensure that the probe sequence covers the whole table.
Some checksum methods are based on the mathematics of prime numbers. For instance the checksums used in International Standard Book Numbers are defined by taking the rest of the number modulo 11, a prime number. Because 11 is prime this method can detect both single-digit errors and transpositions of adjacent digits. Another checksum method, Adler-32, uses arithmetic modulo 65521, the largest prime number less than formula_238.
Prime numbers are also used in pseudorandom number generators including linear congruential generators and the Mersenne Twister.
Prime numbers are of central importance to number theory but also have many applications to other areas within mathematics, including abstract algebra and elementary geometry. For example, it is possible to place prime numbers of points in a two-dimensional grid so that no three are in a line, or so that every triangle formed by three of the points has large area. Another example is Eisenstein's criterion, a test for whether a polynomial is irreducible based on divisibility of its coefficients by a prime number and its square.
The concept of prime number is so important that it has been generalized in different ways in various branches of mathematics. Generally, "prime" indicates minimality or indecomposability, in an appropriate sense. For example, the prime field of a given field is its smallest subfield that contains both 0 and 1. It is either the field of rational numbers or a finite field with a prime number of elements, whence the name. Often a second, additional meaning is intended by using the word prime, namely that any object can be, essentially uniquely, decomposed into its prime components. For example, in knot theory, a prime knot is a knot that is indecomposable in the sense that it cannot be written as the connected sum of two nontrivial knots. Any knot can be uniquely expressed as a connected sum of prime knots. The prime decomposition of 3-manifolds is another example of this type.
Beyond mathematics and computing, prime numbers have potential connections to quantum mechanics, and have been used metaphorically in the arts and literature. They have also been used in evolutionary biology to explain the life cycles of cicadas.
Fermat primes are primes of the form
with formula_70 a nonnegative integer. They are named after Pierre de Fermat, who conjectured that all such numbers are prime. The first five of these numbers – 3, 5, 17, 257, and 65,537 – are prime, but formula_242 is composite and so are all other Fermat numbers that have been verified as of 2017. A regular formula_1-gon is constructible using straightedge and compass if and only if the odd prime factors of formula_1 (if any) are distinct Fermat primes. Likewise, a regular formula_1-gon may be constructed using straightedge, compass, and an angle trisector if and only if the prime factors of formula_1 are any number of copies of 2 or 3 together with a (possibly empty) set of distinct Pierpont primes, primes of the form formula_247.
It is possible to partition any convex polygon into formula_1 smaller convex polygons of equal area and equal perimeter, when formula_1 is a power of a prime number, but this is not known for other values of formula_1.
Beginning with the work of Hugh Montgomery and Freeman Dyson in the 1970s, mathematicians and physicists have speculated that the zeros of the Riemann zeta function are connected to the energy levels of quantum systems. Prime numbers are also significant in quantum information science, thanks to mathematical structures such as mutually unbiased bases and symmetric informationally complete positive-operator-valued measures.
The evolutionary strategy used by cicadas of the genus "Magicicada" makes use of prime numbers. These insects spend most of their lives as grubs underground. They only pupate and then emerge from their burrows after 7, 13 or 17 years, at which point they fly about, breed, and then die after a few weeks at most. Biologists theorize that these prime-numbered breeding cycle lengths have evolved in order to prevent predators from synchronizing with these cycles.
In contrast, the multi-year periods between flowering in bamboo plants are hypothesized to be smooth numbers, having only small prime numbers in their factorizations.
Prime numbers have influenced many artists and writers.
The French composer Olivier Messiaen used prime numbers to create ametrical music through "natural phenomena". In works such as "La Nativité du Seigneur" (1935) and "Quatre études de rythme" (1949–50), he simultaneously employs motifs with lengths given by different prime numbers to create unpredictable rhythms: the primes 41, 43, 47 and 53 appear in the third étude, "Neumes rythmiques". According to Messiaen this way of composing was "inspired by the movements of nature, movements of free and unequal durations".
In his science fiction novel "Contact", scientist Carl Sagan suggested that prime factorization could be used as a means of establishing two-dimensional image planes in communications with aliens, an idea that he had first developed informally with American astronomer Frank Drake in 1975. In the novel "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon, the narrator arranges the sections of the story by consecutive prime numbers as a way to convey the mental state of its main character, a mathematically gifted teen with Asperger syndrome. Prime numbers are used as a metaphor for loneliness and isolation in the Paolo Giordano novel "The Solitude of Prime Numbers", in which they are portrayed as "outsiders" among integers. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23666 |
Piers Anthony
Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob (born 6 August 1934 in Oxford, England) is an English-American author in the science fiction and fantasy genres, publishing under the name Piers Anthony. He is most famous for his set in the fictional realm of Xanth.
Many of his books have appeared on "The New York Times" Best Seller list. He has stated that one of his greatest achievements has been to publish a book beginning with every letter of the alphabet, from "Anthonology" to "Zombie Lover".
Anthony's parents, Alfred and Norma Jacob, were Quaker pacifists studying at Oxford University who interrupted their studies in 1936 to undertake relief work on behalf of the Quakers during the Spanish Civil War, establishing a food kitchen for children in Barcelona. Piers and his sister were left in England in the care of their maternal grandparents and a nanny. Alfred Jacob, although a British citizen, had been born in America near Philadelphia, and in 1940, after being forced out of Spain and with the situation in Britain deteriorating, the family sailed to the United States. In 1941 the family settled in a rustic "back to the land" utopian community near Winhall, Vermont, where a young Piers made the acquaintance of radical author Scott Nearing, a neighbor. Both parents resumed their academic studies, and Alfred eventually became a professor of Romance languages, teaching at a number of colleges in the Philadelphia area.
Piers was moved around to a number of schools, eventually enrolling in Goddard College in Vermont where he graduated in 1956. On "This American Life" on 27 July 2012, Anthony revealed that his parents had divorced, he was bullied, and he had poor grades in school. Anthony referred to his high school as a "very fancy private school", and refuses to donate money to the school because as a student, he recalls being part of "the lower crust", and that no one paid attention to or cared about him. He said, "I didn't like being a member of the underclass, of the peons like that". He became a naturalized U.S. citizen while serving in the United States Army in 1958. After completing a two-year stint in military service, he briefly taught school at Admiral Farragut Academy in St. Petersburg, Florida before becoming a full-time writer.
Anthony met his future wife, Carol Marble, while both were attending college. They were married in 1956, the same year he graduated from Goddard College. After a series of odd jobs, Anthony decided to join the U.S. Army in 1957 for a steady source of income and medical coverage for his pregnant wife. He would stay in the Army until 1959 and became a US citizen during this time. While in the army, he became an editor and cartoonist for the battalion newspaper. After leaving the army, he spent a brief stint as a public school teacher before trying his hand at becoming a full-time writer.
Anthony and his wife made a deal: if he could sell a piece of writing within one year, she would continue to work to support him. But if he could not sell anything in that year, then he would forever give up his dream of being a writer. At the end of the year, he managed to get a short story published. He credits his wife as the person who made his writing career possible, and he advises aspiring writers that they need to have a source of income other than their writing in order to get through the early years of a writing career.
On multiple occasions Anthony has moved from one publisher to another (taking a profitable hit series with him) when he says he felt the editors were unduly tampering with his work. He has sued publishers for accounting malfeasance and won judgments in his favor. Anthony maintains an Internet Publishers Survey in the interest of helping aspiring writers. For this service, he won the 2003 "Friend of EPIC" award for service to the electronic publishing community. His website won the "Special Recognition for Service to Writers" award from Preditors and Editors, an author's guide to publishers and writing services.
His popular novel series Xanth has been optioned for movies. It inspired the DOS video game "Companions of Xanth", by Legend Entertainment. The same series also spawned the board game "Xanth" by Mayfair Games.
Anthony's novels usually end with a chapter-long Author's Note, in which he talks about himself, his life, and his experiences as they related to the process of writing the novel. He often discusses correspondence with readers and any real-world issues that influenced the novel.
Since about 2000, Anthony has written his novels in a Linux environment.
Anthony's "Xanth" series was ranked No. 99 in a 2011 NPR readers' poll of best science fiction and fantasy books.
Act One of episode 470 of the radio program "This American Life" is an account of boyhood obsessions with Piers Anthony. The act is written and narrated by writer Logan Hill who, as a 12-year-old, was consumed with reading Anthony's novels. For a decade he felt he must have been Anthony's number one fan, until, when he was 22, he met "Andy" at a wedding and discovered their mutual interest in the writer. Andy is interviewed for the story and explains that, as a teenager, he had used escapist novels in order to cope with his alienating school and home life in Buffalo, New York. In 1987, at age 15, he decided to run away to Florida in order to try to live with Piers Anthony. The story includes Anthony's reflections on these events.
Naomi King, the daughter of writer Stephen King, enjoyed reading books by Piers Anthony, which included things like pixies, imps and fairies. After she told her father, "Dad, I just don't like those to be scared. Would you write something with dragons in it?", he wrote "The Eyes of the Dragon" which was originally published in 1984 and later in 1987 by Viking Press.
Early in Anthony's literary career, there was a dispute surrounding the original publication (1976) of "But What of Earth?". Editor Roger Elwood commissioned the novel for his nascent science-fiction line Laser Books. According to Anthony, he completed "But What of Earth?", and Elwood accepted and purchased it. Elwood then told Anthony that he wished to make several minor changes, and in order not to waste Anthony's time, he had hired copy editor (and author) Robert Coulson to retype the manuscript with the changes. Anthony described Coulson as a friend and was initially open to his contribution.
However, Elwood told Coulson he was to be a full collaborator, free to make revisions to Anthony's text in line with suggestions made by other copy editors. Elwood promised Coulson a 50-50 split with Anthony on all future royalties. According to Anthony, the published novel was very different from his version, with changes to characters and dialog, and with scenes added and removed. Anthony felt the changes worsened the novel. Laser's ultimate publication of "But What of Earth?" listed Anthony and Coulson together as collaborators. Publication rights were reverted to Anthony under threat of legal action. In 1989, Anthony (re)published his original "But What of Earth?" in an annotated edition through Tor Books. This edition contains an introduction and conclusion setting out the story of the novel's permutations and roughly 60 pages of notes by Anthony giving examples of changes to plot and characters, and describing some of the comments made by copy editors on his manuscript.
Anthony currently lives on a tree farm which he owns in Florida. He and his wife (who died in 2019) had two daughters, Penelope "Penny" Carolyn (who died in 2009 due to complications from skin cancer) and Cheryl, with one grandchild, Logan. Regarding his religious beliefs, Anthony wrote in the October 2004 entry of his personal website, "I'm agnostic, which means I regard the case as unproven, but I'm much closer to the atheist position than to the theist one." In 2017 he stated, "I am more certain about God and the Afterlife: they don't exist."
His wife, Carol Ann Marble Jacob, died at home 3 October 2019 due to what is suspected to be heart related complications due to a 15 year long battle with Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP). On April 22, 2020, he married a woman named MaryLee on his tree farm.
For autobiographies refer to autobiographical subsection. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23669 |
Perfect number
In number theory, a perfect number is a positive integer that is equal to the sum of its positive divisors, excluding the number itself. For instance, 6 has divisors 1, 2 and 3 (excluding itself), and 1 + 2 + 3 = 6, so 6 is a perfect number.
The sum of divisors of a number, excluding the number itself, is called its aliquot sum, so a perfect number is one that is equal to its aliquot sum. Equivalently, a perfect number is a number that is half the sum of all of its positive divisors including itself; in symbols, "σ"1("n") = 2"n" where "σ"1 is the sum-of-divisors function. For instance, 28 is perfect as 1 + 2 + 4 + 7 + 14 + 28 = 56 = 2 × 28.
This definition is ancient, appearing as early as Euclid's Elements (VII.22) where it is called ("perfect", "ideal", or "complete number"). Euclid also proved a formation rule (IX.36) whereby formula_1 is an even perfect number whenever formula_2 is a prime of the form formula_3 for prime formula_4—what is now called a Mersenne prime. Two millennia later, Euler proved that all even perfect numbers are of this form. This is known as the Euclid–Euler theorem.
It is not known whether there are any odd perfect numbers, nor whether infinitely many perfect numbers exist. The first few perfect numbers are 6, 28, 496 and 8128 .
In about 300 BC Euclid showed that if 2"p" − 1 is prime then 2"p"−1(2"p" − 1) is perfect.
The first four perfect numbers were the only ones known to early Greek mathematics, and the mathematician Nicomachus noted 8128 as early as around AD 100. Nicomachus states without proof that every perfect number is (putting it in our terms) of the form formula_5 where formula_6 is prime. He seems to be unaware that itself has to be prime. He also said (wrongly) that the perfect numbers end in 6 or 8 alternately. Philo of Alexandria in his first-century book "On the creation" mentions perfect numbers, claiming that the world was created in 6 days and the moon orbits in 28 days because 6 and 28 are perfect. Philo is followed by Origen, and by Didymus the Blind, who adds the observation that there are only four perfect numbers that are less than 10,000. (Commentary on Genesis 1. 14-19). St Augustine defines perfect numbers in City of God (Part XI, Chapter 30) in the early 5th century AD, repeating the claim that God created the world in 6 days because 6 is the smallest perfect number. The Egyptian mathematician Ismail ibn Fallūs (1194–1252) mentioned the next three perfect numbers (33,550,336; 8,589,869,056; and 137,438,691,328) and listed a few more which are now known to be incorrect. The first known European mention of the fifth perfect number is a manuscript written between 1456 and 1461 by an unknown mathematician. In 1588, the Italian mathematician Pietro Cataldi identified the sixth (8,589,869,056) and the seventh (137,438,691,328) perfect numbers, and also proved that every perfect number obtained from Euclid's rule ends with a 6 or an 8.
Euclid proved that 2"p"−1(2"p" − 1) is an even perfect number whenever 2"p" − 1 is prime (Elements, Prop. IX.36).
For example, the first four perfect numbers are generated by the formula 2"p"−1(2"p" − 1), with "p" a prime number, as follows:
Prime numbers of the form 2"p" − 1 are known as Mersenne primes, after the seventeenth-century monk Marin Mersenne, who studied number theory and perfect numbers. For 2"p" − 1 to be prime, it is necessary that "p" itself be prime. However, not all numbers of the form 2"p" − 1 with a prime "p" are prime; for example, 211 − 1 = 2047 = 23 × 89 is not a prime number. In fact, Mersenne primes are very rare—of the 2,610,944 prime numbers "p" up to 43,112,609,
2"p" − 1 is prime for only 47 of them.
Although Nicomachus had stated (without proof) that all perfect numbers were of the form formula_5 where formula_6 is prime (though he stated this somewhat differently), Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) circa AD 1000 conjectured only that every even perfect number is of that form. It was not until the 18th century that Leonhard Euler proved that the formula 2"p"−1(2"p" − 1) will yield all the even perfect numbers. Thus, there is a one-to-one correspondence between even perfect numbers and Mersenne primes; each Mersenne prime generates one even perfect number, and vice versa. This result is often referred to as the Euclid–Euler theorem.
An exhaustive search by the GIMPS distributed computing project has shown that the first 47 even perfect numbers are 2"p"−1(2"p" − 1) for
Four higher perfect numbers have also been discovered, namely those for which "p" = 57885161, 74207281, 77232917, and 82589933, though there may be others within this range. , 51 Mersenne primes are known, and therefore 51 even perfect numbers (the largest of which is 282589932 × (282589933 − 1) with 49,724,095 digits). It is not known whether there are infinitely many perfect numbers, nor whether there are infinitely many Mersenne primes.
As well as having the form 2"p"−1(2"p" − 1), each even perfect number is the triangular number (and hence equal to the sum of the integers from 1 to ) and the hexagonal number. Furthermore, each even perfect number except for 6 is the centered nonagonal number and is equal to the sum of the first odd cubes:
Even perfect numbers (except 6) are of the form
with each resulting triangular number T7 = 28, T31 = 496, T127 = 8128 (after subtracting 1 from the perfect number and dividing the result by 9) ending in 3 or 5, the sequence starting with T2 = 3, T10 = 55, T42 = 903, T2730 = 3727815, ... This can be reformulated as follows: adding the digits of any even perfect number (except 6), then adding the digits of the resulting number, and repeating this process until a single digit (called the digital root) is obtained, always produces the number 1. For example, the digital root of 8128 is 1, because 8 + 1 + 2 + 8 = 19, 1 + 9 = 10, and 1 + 0 = 1. This works with all perfect numbers 2"p"−1(2"p" − 1) with odd prime "p" and, in fact, with all numbers of the form 2"m"−1(2"m" − 1) for odd integer (not necessarily prime) "m".
Owing to their form, 2"p"−1(2"p" − 1), every even perfect number is represented in binary form as "p" ones followed by "p" − 1 zeros; for example,
and
Thus every even perfect number is a pernicious number.
Every even perfect number is also a practical number (c.f. Related concepts).
It is unknown whether there is any odd perfect number, though various results have been obtained. In 1496, Jacques Lefèvre stated that Euclid's rule gives all perfect numbers, thus implying that no odd perfect number exists. Euler stated: "Whether (...) there are any odd perfect numbers is a most difficult question". More recently, Carl Pomerance has presented a heuristic argument suggesting that indeed no odd perfect number should exist. All perfect numbers are also Ore's harmonic numbers, and it has been conjectured as well that there are no odd Ore's harmonic numbers other than 1.
Any odd perfect number "N" must satisfy the following conditions:
Furthermore, several minor results are known concerning to the exponents
"e"1, ..., "e""k" in
In 1888, Sylvester stated:
All even perfect numbers have a very precise form; odd perfect numbers either do not exist or are rare. There are a number of results on perfect numbers that are actually quite easy to prove but nevertheless superficially impressive; some of them also come under Richard Guy's strong law of small numbers:
The sum of proper divisors gives various other kinds of numbers. Numbers where the sum is less than the number itself are called deficient, and where it is greater than the number, abundant. These terms, together with "perfect" itself, come from Greek numerology. A pair of numbers which are the sum of each other's proper divisors are called amicable, and larger cycles of numbers are called sociable. A positive integer such that every smaller positive integer is a sum of distinct divisors of it is a practical number.
By definition, a perfect number is a fixed point of the restricted divisor function , and the aliquot sequence associated with a perfect number is a constant sequence. All perfect numbers are also formula_27-perfect numbers, or Granville numbers.
A semiperfect number is a natural number that is equal to the sum of all or some of its proper divisors. A semiperfect number that is equal to the sum of all its proper divisors is a perfect number. Most abundant numbers are also semiperfect; abundant numbers which are not semiperfect are called weird numbers. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23670 |
Parthenon
The Parthenon (; ; , , ) is a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their patron. Construction began in 447 BC when the Athenian Empire was at the peak of its power. It was completed in 438 BC, although decoration of the building continued until 432 BC. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered the zenith of the Doric order. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of Greek art. The Parthenon is regarded as an enduring symbol of Ancient Greece, Athenian democracy and Western civilization, and one of the world's greatest cultural monuments. To the Athenians who built it, the Parthenon and other Periclean monuments of the Acropolis were seen fundamentally as a celebration of Hellenic victory over the Persian invaders and as a thanksgiving to the gods for that victory.
The Parthenon itself replaced an older temple of Athena, which historians call the Pre-Parthenon or Older Parthenon, that was destroyed in the Persian invasion of 480 BC. Like most Greek temples, the Parthenon served a practical purpose as the city treasury. For a time, it served as the treasury of the Delian League, which later became the Athenian Empire. In the final decade of the 6th century AD, the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
After the Ottoman conquest, it was turned into a mosque in the early 1460s. On 26 September 1687, an Ottoman ammunition dump inside the building was ignited by Venetian bombardment during a siege of the Acropolis. The resulting explosion severely damaged the Parthenon and its sculptures. From 1800 to 1803, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin removed some of the surviving sculptures, now known as the Elgin Marbles, with the alleged permission of the Turks of the Ottoman Empire.
Since 1975 numerous large-scale restoration projects have been undertaken; the latest is expected to finish in 2020.
The origin of the Parthenon's name is from the Greek word (), which referred to the "unmarried women's apartments" in a house and in the Parthenon's case seems to have been used at first only for a particular room of the temple; it is debated which room this is and how the room acquired its name. The Liddell–Scott–Jones "Greek–English Lexicon" states that this room was the western cella of the Parthenon, as does J.B. Bury. Jamauri D. Green holds that the parthenon was the room in which the peplos presented to Athena at the Panathenaic Festival was woven by the "arrephoroi", a group of four young girls chosen to serve Athena each year. Christopher Pelling asserts that Athena Parthenos may have constituted a discrete cult of Athena, intimately connected with, but not identical to, that of Athena Polias. According to this theory, the name of the Parthenon means the "temple of the virgin goddess" and refers to the cult of Athena Parthenos that was associated with the temple. The epithet () meant "maiden, girl" as well as "virgin, unmarried woman." The term was especially used for Artemis, the goddess of wild animals, vegetation, and the hunt and for Athena, the goddess of strategy, tactics, handicraft, and practical reason. It has also been suggested that the name of the temple alludes to the maidens (), whose supreme sacrifice guaranteed the safety of the city. has also been applied to the Virgin Mary ("Parthénos Maria") and the Parthenon was converted to a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the final decade of the 6th century.
The first instance in which "Parthenon" definitely refers to the entire building is found in the writings of the 4th century BC orator Demosthenes. In 5th-century building accounts, the structure is simply called (; lit. "the temple"). The architects Iktinos and Callicrates are said to have called the building (; lit. "the hundred footer") in their lost treatise on Athenian architecture. Harpocration writes that the Parthenon used to be called by some, not due to its size but because of its beauty and fine proportions and, in the 4th century and later, the building was referred to as the ' or the as well as the "Parthenon"; the 1st-century-AD writer Plutarch referred to the building as the '.
Because the Parthenon was dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena it has sometimes been referred to as the Temple of Minerva, the Roman name for Athena, particularly during the 19th century.
Although the Parthenon is architecturally a temple and is usually called so, it is not really one in the conventional sense of the word. A small shrine has been excavated within the building, on the site of an older sanctuary probably dedicated to Athena as a way to get closer to the goddess, but the Parthenon never hosted the cult of Athena Polias, patron of Athens: the cult image, which was bathed in the sea and to which was presented the "peplos", was an olive-wood "xoanon", located at an older altar on the northern side of the Acropolis.
The colossal statue of Athena by Phidias was not related to any cult and is not known to have inspired any religious fervor. It did not seem to have any priestess, altar or cult name.
According to Thucydides, Pericles once referred to the statue as a gold reserve, stressing that it, "contained forty talents of pure gold and it was all removable". The Athenian statesman thus implies that the metal, obtained from contemporary coinage, could be used again without any impiety. The Parthenon should then be viewed as a grand setting for Phidias' votive statue rather than a cult site. It is said in many writings of the Greeks that there were many treasures stored inside the temple, such as Persian swords and small statue figures made of precious metals.
Archaeologist Joan Breton Connelly has recently argued for the coherency of the Parthenon's sculptural program in presenting a succession of genealogical narratives that track Athenian identity back through the ages: from the birth of Athena, through cosmic and epic battles, to the final great event of the Athenian Bronze Age, the war of Erechtheus and Eumolpos. She argues a pedagogical function for the Parthenon's sculptured decoration, one that establishes and perpetuates Athenian foundation myth, memory, values and identity. While some classicists, including Mary Beard, Peter Green, and Garry Wills have doubted or rejected Connelly's thesis, an increasing number of historians, archaeologists, and classical scholars support her work. They include: J.J. Pollitt, Brunilde Ridgway, Nigel Spivey, Caroline Alexander, and A. E. Stallings.
The first endeavor to build a sanctuary for on the site of the present Parthenon was begun shortly after the Battle of Marathon (c. 490–488 BC) upon a solid limestone foundation that extended and leveled the southern part of the Acropolis summit. This building replaced a ("hundred-footer") and would have stood beside the archaic temple dedicated to "Athena Polias" ("of the city"). The Older or Pre-Parthenon, as it is frequently referred to, was still under construction when the Persians sacked the city in 480 BC and razed the Acropolis.
The existence of both the proto-Parthenon and its destruction were known from Herodotus, and the drums of its columns were plainly visible built into the curtain wall north of the Erechtheion. Further physical evidence of this structure was revealed with the excavations of Panagiotis Kavvadias of 1885–90. The findings of this dig allowed Wilhelm Dörpfeld, then director of the German Archaeological Institute, to assert that there existed a distinct substructure to the original Parthenon, called Parthenon I by Dörpfeld, not immediately below the present edifice as had been previously assumed. Dörpfeld's observation was that the three steps of the first Parthenon consisted of two steps of Poros limestone, the same as the foundations, and a top step of Karrha limestone that was covered by the lowest step of the Periclean Parthenon. This platform was smaller and slightly to the north of the final Parthenon, indicating that it was built for a wholly different building, now completely covered over. This picture was somewhat complicated by the publication of the final report on the 1885–90 excavations, indicating that the substructure was contemporary with the Kimonian walls, and implying a later date for the first temple.
If the original Parthenon was indeed destroyed in 480, it invites the question of why the site was left a ruin for thirty-three years. One argument involves the oath sworn by the Greek allies before the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC declaring that the sanctuaries destroyed by the Persians would not be rebuilt, an oath from which the Athenians were only absolved with the Peace of Callias in 450. The mundane fact of the cost of reconstructing Athens after the Persian sack is at least as likely a cause. However, the excavations of Bert Hodge Hill led him to propose the existence of a second Parthenon, begun in the period of Kimon after 468 BC. Hill claimed that the Karrha limestone step Dörpfeld thought was the highest of Parthenon I was in fact the lowest of the three steps of Parthenon II, whose stylobate dimensions Hill calculated at .
One difficulty in dating the proto-Parthenon is that at the time of the 1885 excavation the archaeological method of seriation was not fully developed; the careless digging and refilling of the site led to a loss of much valuable information. An attempt to discuss and make sense of the potsherds found on the Acropolis came with the two-volume study by Graef and Langlotz published in 1925–33. This inspired American archaeologist William Bell Dinsmoor to attempt to supply limiting dates for the temple platform and the five walls hidden under the re-terracing of the Acropolis. Dinsmoor concluded that the latest possible date for Parthenon I was no earlier than 495 BC, contradicting the early date given by Dörpfeld. Further, Dinsmoor denied that there were two proto-Parthenons, and held that the only pre-Periclean temple was what Dörpfeld referred to as Parthenon II. Dinsmoor and Dörpfeld exchanged views in the "American Journal of Archaeology" in 1935.
In the mid-5th century BC, when the Athenian Acropolis became the seat of the Delian League and Athens was the greatest cultural center of its time, Pericles initiated an ambitious building project that lasted the entire second half of the century. The most important buildings visible on the Acropolis today – the Parthenon, the Propylaia, the Erechtheion and the temple of Athena Nike – were erected during this period. The Parthenon was built under the general supervision of the artist Phidias, who also had charge of the sculptural decoration. The architects Ictinos and Callicrates began their work in 447 BC, and the building was substantially completed by 432. However, work on the decorations continued until at least 431.
The Parthenon was built primarily by men who knew how to work marble. These quarrymen had exceptional skills and were able to cut the blocks of marble to very specific measurements. The quarrymen also knew how to avoid the faults, which were numerous in the Pentelic marble. If the marble blocks were not up to standard, the architects would reject them. The marble was worked with iron tools -- picks, points, punches, chisels and drills. The quarrymen would hold their tools against the marble block and firmly tap the surface of the rock.
A big project like the Parthenon attracted stonemasons from far and wide who traveled to Athens to assist in the project. Slaves and foreigners worked together with the Athenian citizens in the building of the Parthenon, doing the same jobs for the same pay. Temple building was a very specialized craft, and there were not many men in Greece qualified to build temples like the Parthenon, so these men would travel around and work where they were needed.
Other craftsmen also were necessary in the building of the Parthenon, specifically carpenters and metalworkers. Unskilled laborers also had key roles in the building of the Parthenon. These laborers loaded and unloaded the marble blocks and moved the blocks from place to place. In order to complete a project like the Parthenon, a number of different laborers were needed, and each played a critical role in constructing the final building.
The Parthenon is a peripteral octastyle Doric temple with Ionic architectural features. It stands on a platform or stylobate of three steps. In common with other Greek temples, it is of post and lintel construction and is surrounded by columns ('peripteral') carrying an entablature. There are eight columns at either end ('octastyle') and 17 on the sides. There is a double row of columns at either end. The colonnade surrounds an inner masonry structure, the "cella," which is divided into two compartments. At either end of the building the gable is finished with a triangular pediment originally occupied by sculpted figures. The columns are of the Doric order, with simple capitals, fluted shafts, and no bases. Above the architrave of the entablature is a frieze of carved pictorial panels (metopes), separated by formal architectural triglyphs, typical of the Doric order. Around the cella and across the lintels of the inner columns runs a continuous sculptured frieze in low relief. This element of the architecture is Ionic in style rather than Doric.
Measured at the stylobate, the dimensions of the base of the Parthenon are . The cella was 29.8 meters long by 19.2 meters wide (97.8 × 63.0 ft). On the exterior, the Doric columns measure in diameter and are high. The corner columns are slightly larger in diameter. The Parthenon had 46 outer columns and 23 inner columns in total, each column having 20 flutes. (A flute is the concave shaft carved into the column form.) The roof was covered with large overlapping marble tiles known as imbrices and tegulae.
The Parthenon is regarded as the finest example of Greek architecture. The temple, wrote John Julius Cooper, "Enjoys the reputation of being the most perfect Doric temple ever built. Even in antiquity, its architectural refinements were legendary, especially the subtle correspondence between the curvature of the stylobate, the taper of the naos walls and the "entasis" of the columns." "Entasis" refers to the slight swelling, of , in the center of the columns to counteract the appearance of columns having a waist, as the swelling makes them look straight from a distance. The stylobate is the platform on which the columns stand. As in many other classical Greek temples, it has a slight parabolic upward curvature intended to shed rainwater and reinforce the building against earthquakes. The columns might therefore be supposed to lean outward, but they actually lean slightly inward so that if they carried on, they would meet almost exactly above the center of the Parthenon. Since they are all the same height, the curvature of the outer stylobate edge is transmitted to the architrave and roof above: "All follow the rule of being built to delicate curves", Gorham Stevens observed when pointing out that, in addition, the west front was built at a slightly higher level than that of the east front.
It is not universally agreed what the intended effect of these "optical refinements" was. They may serve as a sort of "reverse optical illusion." As the Greeks may have been aware, two parallel lines appear to bow, or curve outward, when intersected by converging lines. In this case, the ceiling and floor of the temple may seem to bow in the presence of the surrounding angles of the building. Striving for perfection, the designers may have added these curves, compensating for the illusion by creating their own curves, thus negating this effect and allowing the temple to be seen as they intended. It is also suggested that it was to enliven what might have appeared an inert mass in the case of a building without curves. But the comparison ought to be, according to Smithsonian historian Evan Hadingham, with the Parthenon's more obviously curved predecessors than with a notional rectilinear temple.
Some studies of the Acropolis, including of the Parthenon and its façade, have conjectured that many of its proportions approximate the golden ratio. However, such theories have been discredited by more recent studies, which have shown that the proportions of the Parthenon do not match the golden proportion.
The cella of the Parthenon housed the chryselephantine statue of Athena Parthenos sculpted by Phidias and dedicated in 439 or 438 BC. The appearance of this is known from other images. The decorative stonework was originally highly colored. The temple was dedicated to Athena at that time, though construction continued until almost the beginning of the Peloponnesian War in 432. By the year 438, the sculptural decoration of the Doric metopes on the frieze above the exterior colonnade, and of the Ionic frieze around the upper portion of the walls of the cella, had been completed. In the "opisthodomos" (the back room of the cella) were stored the monetary contributions of the Delian League, of which Athens was the leading member.
Only a very small number of the sculptures remain "in situ"; most of the surviving sculptures are today (controversially) in the British Museum in London (as with the Parthenon Marbles) and the Acropolis Museum in Athens, with a few pieces in the Louvre, National Museum of Denmark, and museums in Rome, Vienna, and Palermo.
The frieze of the Parthenon's entablature contained 92 metopes, 14 each on the east and west sides, 32 each on the north and south sides. They were carved in high relief, a practice employed until then only in treasuries (buildings used to keep votive gifts to the gods). According to the building records, the metope sculptures date to the years 446–440 BC. The metopes of the east side of the Parthenon, above the main entrance, depict the Gigantomachy (the mythical battle between the Olympian gods and the Giants). The metopes of the west end show the Amazonomachy (the mythical battle of the Athenians against the Amazons). The metopes of the south side show the Thessalian Centauromachy (battle of the Lapiths aided by Theseus against the half-man, half-horse Centaurs). Metopes 13–21 are missing, but drawings from 1674 attributed to Jaques Carrey indicate a series of humans; these have been variously interpreted as scenes from the Lapith wedding, scenes from the early history of Athens and various myths. On the north side of the Parthenon, the metopes are poorly preserved, but the subject seems to be the sack of Troy.
The mythological figures of the metopes of the East, North, and West sides of the Parthenon were deliberately mutilated by Christian iconoclasts in late antiquity.
The metopes present examples of the Severe Style in the anatomy of the figures' heads, in the limitation of the corporal movements to the contours and not to the muscles, and in the presence of pronounced veins in the figures of the Centauromachy. Several of the metopes still remain on the building, but, with the exception of those on the northern side, they are severely damaged. Some of them are located at the Acropolis Museum, others are in the British Museum, and one is at the Louvre museum.
In March 2011, archaeologists announced that they had discovered five metopes of the Parthenon in the south wall of the Acropolis, which had been extended when the Acropolis was used as a fortress. According to "Eleftherotypia" daily, the archaeologists claimed the metopes had been placed there in the 18th century when the Acropolis wall was being repaired. The experts discovered the metopes while processing 2,250 photos with modern photographic methods, as the white Pentelic marble they are made of differed from the other stone of the wall. It was previously presumed that the missing metopes were destroyed during the Morosini explosion of the Parthenon in 1687.
The most characteristic feature in the architecture and decoration of the temple is the Ionic frieze running around the exterior of the cella walls. The bas-relief frieze was carved in situ and is dated to 442 BC-438 BC.
One interpretation is that it depicts an idealized version of the Panathenaic procession from the Dipylon Gate in the Kerameikos to the Acropolis. In this procession held every year, with a special procession taking place every four years, Athenians and foreigners participated in honoring the goddess Athena by offering her sacrifices and a new peplos (a dress woven by selected noble Athenian girls called ). The procession is more crowded (appearing to slow in pace) as it nears the gods on the eastern side of the temple.
Joan Breton Connelly offers a mythological interpretation for the frieze, one that is in harmony with the rest of the temple's sculptural program which shows Athenian genealogy through a series of succession myths set in the remote past. She identifies the central panel above the door of the Parthenon as the pre-battle sacrifice of the daughter of king Erechtheus, a sacrifice that ensured Athenian victory over Eumolpos and his Thracian army. The great procession marching toward the east end of the Parthenon shows the post-battle thanksgiving sacrifice of cattle and sheep, honey and water, followed by the triumphant army of Erechtheus returning from their victory. This represents the very first Panathenaia set in mythical times, the model on which historic Panathenaic processions was based.
The traveller Pausanias, when he visited the Acropolis at the end of the 2nd century AD, only mentioned briefly the sculptures of the pediments (gable ends) of the temple, reserving the majority of his description for the gold and ivory statue of the goddess inside.
The figures on the corners of the pediment depict the passage of time over the course of a full day. Tethrippa of Helios and Selene are located on the left and right corners of the pediment respectively. The horses of Helios's chariot are shown with livid expressions as they ascend into the sky at the start of the day; whereas the Selene's horses struggle to stay on the pediment scene as the day comes to an end.
The supporters of Athena are extensively illustrated at the back of the left chariot, while the defenders of Poseidon are shown trailing behind the right chariot. It is believed that the corners of the pediment are filled by Athenian water deities, such as the Kephisos river, the Ilissos river, and nymph Kallirhoe. This belief merges from the fluid character of the sculptures' body position which represents the effort of the artist to give the impression of a flowing river. Next to the left river god, there are the sculptures of the mythical king of Athens (Cecrops or Kekrops) with his daughters (Aglaurus, Pandrosos, Herse). The statue of Poseidon was the largest sculpture in the pediment until it broke into pieces during Francesco Morosini's effort to remove it in 1688. The posterior piece of the torso was found by Lusieri in the groundwork of a Turkish house in 1801 and is currently held in British Museum. The anterior portion was revealed by Ross in 1835 and is now held in the Acropolis Museum of Athens.
Every statue on the west pediment has a fully completed back, which would have been impossible to see when the sculpture was on the temple; this indicates that the sculptors put great effort into accurately portraying the human body.
The only piece of sculpture from the Parthenon known to be from the hand of Phidias was the statue of Athena housed in the "naos". This massive chryselephantine sculpture is now lost and known only from copies, vase painting, gems, literary descriptions and coins.
A major fire broke out in the Parthenon shortly after the middle of the third century AD which destroyed the Parthenon's roof and much of the sanctuary's interior. Heruli pirates are also credited with sacking Athens in 276, and destroying most of the public buildings there, including the Parthenon. Repairs were made in the fourth century AD, possibly during the reign of Julian the Apostate. A new wooden roof overlaid with clay tiles was installed to cover the sanctuary. It sloped at a greater incline than the original roof and left the building's wings exposed.
The Parthenon survived as a temple dedicated to Athena for nearly 1,000 years until Theodosius II, during the Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire, decreed in 435 AD that all pagan temples in the Eastern Roman Empire be closed. However, it is debated exactly when during the 5th-century that the closure of the Parthenon as a temple was actually put in practice. It is suggested to have occurred in c. 481–484, in the instructions against the remaining temples by order of Emperor Zeno, because the temple had been the focus of Pagan Hellenic opposition against Zeno in Athens in support of Illus, who had promised to restore Hellenic rites to the temples that were still standing.
At some point in the Fifth Century, Athena's great cult image was looted by one of the emperors and taken to Constantinople, where it was later destroyed, possibly during the siege and sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204 AD.
The Parthenon was converted into a Christian church in the final decade of the sixth century AD to become the Church of the Parthenos Maria (Virgin Mary), or the Church of the Theotokos (Mother of God). The orientation of the building was changed to face towards the east; the main entrance was placed at the building's western end, and the Christian altar and iconostasis were situated towards the building's eastern side adjacent to an apse built where the temple's pronaos was formerly located. A large central portal with surrounding side-doors was made in the wall dividing the cella, which became the church's nave, from the rear chamber, the church's narthex. The spaces between the columns of the and the peristyle were walled up, though a number of doorways still permitted access. Icons were painted on the walls and many Christian inscriptions were carved into the Parthenon's columns. These renovations inevitably led to the removal and dispersal of some of the sculptures.
The Parthenon became the fourth most important Christian pilgrimage destination in the Eastern Roman Empire after Constantinople, Ephesos, and Thessaloniki. In 1018, the emperor Basil II went on a pilgrimage to Athens directly after his final victory over the Bulgarians for the sole purpose of worshipping at the Parthenon. In medieval Greek accounts it is called the Temple of Theotokos Atheniotissa and often indirectly referred to as famous without explaining exactly which temple they were referring to, thus establishing that it was indeed well known.At the time of the Latin occupation, it became for about 250 years a Roman Catholic church of Our Lady. During this period a tower, used either as a watchtower or bell tower and containing a spiral staircase, was constructed at the southwest corner of the cella, and vaulted tombs were built beneath the Parthenon's floor.
In 1456, Ottoman Turkish forces invaded Athens and laid siege to a Florentine army defending the Acropolis until June 1458, when it surrendered to the Turks. The Turks may have briefly restored the Parthenon to the Greek Orthodox Christians for continued use as a church. Some time before the close of the fifteenth century, the Parthenon became a mosque.
The precise circumstances under which the Turks appropriated it for use as a mosque are unclear; one account states that Mehmed II ordered its conversion as punishment for an Athenian plot against Ottoman rule. The apse became a mihrab, the tower previously constructed during the Roman Catholic occupation of the Parthenon was extended upwards to become a minaret, a minbar was installed, the Christian altar and iconostasis were removed, and the walls were whitewashed to cover icons of Christian saints and other Christian imagery.
Despite the alterations accompanying the Parthenon's conversion into a church and subsequently a mosque, its structure had remained basically intact. In 1667 the Turkish traveller Evliya Çelebi expressed marvel at the Parthenon's sculptures and figuratively described the building as "like some impregnable fortress not made by human agency". He composed a poetic supplication stating that, as "a work less of human hands than of Heaven itself, should remain standing for all time". The French artist Jacques Carrey in 1674 visited the Acropolis and sketched the Parthenon's sculptural decorations. Early in 1687, an engineer named Plantier sketched the Parthenon for the Frenchman Graviers d’Ortières. These depictions, particularly those made by Carrey, provide important, and sometimes the only, evidence of the condition of the Parthenon and its various sculptures prior to the devastation it suffered in late 1687 and the subsequent looting of its art objects.
In 1687, the Parthenon was extensively damaged in the greatest catastrophe to befall it in its long history. As part of the Morean War (1684–1699), the Venetians sent an expedition led by Francesco Morosini to attack Athens and capture the Acropolis. The Ottoman Turks fortified the Acropolis and used the Parthenon as a gunpowder magazine – despite having been forewarned of the dangers of this use by the 1656 explosion that severely damaged the Propylaea – and as a shelter for members of the local Turkish community.
On 26 September a Venetian mortar round, fired from the Hill of Philopappos, blew up the magazine, and the building was partly destroyed. The explosion blew out the building's central portion and caused the cella's walls to crumble into rubble. Greek architect and archaeologist Kornilia Chatziaslani writes that "...three of the sanctuary’s four walls nearly collapsed and three-fifths of the sculptures from the frieze fell. Nothing of the roof apparently remained in place. Six columns from the south side fell, eight from the north, as well as whatever remained from eastern porch, except for one column. The columns brought down with them the enormous marble architraves, triglyphs and metopes." About three hundred people were killed in the explosion, which showered marble fragments over nearby Turkish defenders and caused large fires that burned until the following day and consumed many homes.
Accounts written at the time conflict over whether this destruction was deliberate or accidental; one such account, written by the German officer Sobievolski, states that a Turkish deserter revealed to Morosini the use to which the Turks had put the Parthenon; expecting that the Venetians would not target a building of such historic importance. Morosini was said to have responded by directing his artillery to aim at the Parthenon. Subsequently, Morosini sought to loot sculptures from the ruin and caused further damage in the process. Sculptures of Poseidon and Athena's horses fell to the ground and smashed as his soldiers tried to detach them from the building's west pediment.
The following year, the Venetians abandoned Athens to avoid a confrontation with a large force the Turks had assembled at Chalcis; at that time, the Venetians had considered blowing up what remained of the Parthenon along with the rest of the Acropolis to deny its further use as a fortification to the Turks, but that idea was not pursued.
Once the Turks had recaptured the Acropolis, they used some of the rubble produced by this explosion to erect a smaller mosque within the shell of the ruined Parthenon. For the next century and a half, parts of the remaining structure were looted for building material and especially valuable objects.
The 18th century was a period of Ottoman stagnation—so that many more Europeans found access to Athens, and the picturesque ruins of the Parthenon were much drawn and painted, spurring a rise in philhellenism and helping to arouse sympathy in Britain and France for Greek independence. Amongst those early travellers and archaeologists were James Stuart and Nicholas Revett, who were commissioned by the Society of Dilettanti to survey the ruins of classical Athens. What they produced was the first measured drawings of the Parthenon, published in 1787 in the second volume of "Antiquities of Athens Measured and Delineated". In 1801, the British Ambassador at Constantinople, the Earl of Elgin, obtained a questionable "firman" (edict) from the Sultan, whose existence or legitimacy has not been proved to this day, to make casts and drawings of the antiquities on the Acropolis, to demolish recent buildings if this was necessary to view the antiquities, and to remove sculptures from them.
When independent Greece gained control of Athens in 1832, the visible section of the minaret was demolished; only its base and spiral staircase up to the level of the architrave remain intact. Soon all the medieval and Ottoman buildings on the Acropolis were destroyed. However, the image of the small mosque within the Parthenon's cella has been preserved in Joly de Lotbinière's photograph, published in Lerebours's "Excursions Daguerriennes" in 1842: the first photograph of the Acropolis. The area became a historical precinct controlled by the Greek government. In the later 19th century, the Parthenon was widely considered by Americans and Europeans to be the pinnacle of human architectural achievement, and became a popular destination and subject of artists, including Frederic Edwin Church and Sanford Robinson Gifford. Today it attracts millions of tourists every year, who travel up the path at the western end of the Acropolis, through the restored Propylaea, and up the Panathenaic Way to the Parthenon, which is surrounded by a low fence to prevent damage.
The dispute centers around the Parthenon Marbles removed by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, from 1801 to 1803, which are in the British Museum. A few sculptures from the Parthenon are also in the Louvre in Paris, in Copenhagen, and elsewhere, but more than half are in the Acropolis Museum in Athens. A few can still be seen on the building itself. The Greek government has campaigned since 1983 for the British Museum to return the sculptures to Greece. The British Museum has steadfastly refused to return the sculptures, and successive British governments have been unwilling to force the Museum to do so (which would require legislation). Nevertheless, talks between senior representatives from Greek and British cultural ministries and their legal advisors took place in London on 4 May 2007. These were the first serious negotiations for several years, and there were hopes that the two sides might move a step closer to a resolution.
In 1975, the Greek government began a concerted effort to restore the Parthenon and other Acropolis structures. After some delay, a Committee for the Conservation of the Acropolis Monuments was established in 1983. The project later attracted funding and technical assistance from the European Union. An archaeological committee thoroughly documented every artifact remaining on the site, and architects assisted with computer models to determine their original locations. Particularly important and fragile sculptures were transferred to the Acropolis Museum. A crane was installed for moving marble blocks; the crane was designed to fold away beneath the roofline when not in use. In some cases, prior re-constructions were found to be incorrect. These were dismantled, and a careful process of restoration began. Originally, various blocks were held together by elongated iron H pins that were completely coated in lead, which protected the iron from corrosion. Stabilizing pins added in the 19th century were not so coated, and corroded. Since the corrosion product (rust) is expansive, the expansion caused further damage by cracking the marble. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23672 |
Pachomius the Great
Pachomius (; ; ; c. 292 – 9 May 348 A.D.), also known as Pachome and Pakhomios, is generally recognized as the founder of Christian cenobitic monasticism. Coptic churches celebrate his feast day on 9 May, and Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches mark his feast on 15 May or 28 May. In the Lutheran Church, he is remembered as a renewer of the church, along with his contemporary (and fellow desert saint), Anthony of Egypt on January 17.
Pachomius was born in 292 in Thebes (Luxor, Egypt) to pagan parents. According to his hagiography, at age 21, Pachomius was swept up against his will in a Roman army recruitment drive, a common occurrence during this period of turmoil and civil war. With several other youths, he was put onto a ship that floated down the Nile and arrived at Thebes in the evening. Here he first encountered local Christians, who customarily brought food and comfort daily to the conscripted troops. This made a lasting impression, and Pachomius vowed to investigate Christianity further when he got out. He was able to leave the army without ever having to fight, was converted and baptized (314).
Pachomius then came into contact with several well known ascetics and decided to pursue that path under the guidance of the hermit named Palaemon (317). One of his devotions, popular at the time, was praying with his arms stretched out in the form of a cross. After studying seven years with Palaemon, Pachomius set out to lead the life of a hermit near St. Anthony of Egypt, whose practices he imitated until Pachomius heard a voice in Tabennisi that told him to build a dwelling for the hermits to come to. An earlier ascetic named Macarius had created a number of proto-monasteries called lavra, or cells, where holy men who were physically or mentally unable to achieve the rigors of Anthony's solitary life would live in a community setting.
Pachomius established his first monastery between 318 and 323 at Tabennisi, Egypt. His elder brother John joined him, and soon more than 100 monks lived nearby. Pachomius set about organizing these cells into a formal organization. Until then, Christian asceticism had been solitary or "eremitic" with male or female monastics living in individual huts or caves and meeting only for occasional worship services. Pachomius created the community or "cenobitic" organization, in which male or female monastics lived together and held their property in common under the leadership of an abbot or abbess. Pachomius realized that some men, acquainted only with the eremitical life, might speedily become disgusted if the distracting cares of the cenobitical life were thrust too abruptly upon them. He therefore allowed them to devote their whole time to spiritual exercises, undertaking all the community's administrative tasks himself. The community hailed Pachomius as "Abba" ("father" in Hebrew), from which "Abbot" derives.
The monastery at Tabennisi, though enlarged several times, soon became too small and a second was founded at Pabau (Faou). After 336, Pachomius spent most of his time at Pabau. Though Pachomius sometimes acted as lector for nearby shepherds, neither he nor any of his monks became priests. St. Athanasius visited and wished to ordain him in 333, but Pachomius fled from him. Athanasius' visit was probably a result of Pachomius' zealous defence of orthodoxy against Arianism. Basil of Caesarea visited, then took many of Pachomius' ideas, which he adapted and implemented in Caesarea. This ascetic rule, or Ascetica, is still used today by the Eastern Orthodox Church, comparable to that of the Rule of St. Benedict in the West.
Pachomius was the first to set down a written rule. The first rule was composed of prayers generally known and in general use, such as the Lord's Prayer. The monks were to pray them every day. As the community developed, the rule were elaborated with precepts taken from the Bible. He drew up a rule which made things easier for the less proficient, but did not check the most extreme asceticism in the more proficient. The Rule sought to balance prayer with work, the communal life with solitude. The day was organised around the liturgy, with time for manual work and devotional reading.
Fasts and work were apportioned according to the individual's strength. Each monk received the same food and clothing. Common meals were provided, but those who wished to absent themselves from them were encouraged to do so, and bread, salt, and water were placed in their cells. In the Pachomian monasteries it was left very much to the individual taste of each monk to fix the order of life for himself. Thus the hours for meals and the extent of his fasting were settled by him alone, he might eat with the others in common or have bread and salt provided in his own cell every day or every second day.
His rule was translated into Latin by Jerome. Honoratus of Lérins followed the Rule of St. Pachomius. Basil the Great and Benedict of Nursia adapted and incorporated parts of it in their rules.
Pachomius continued as abbot to the cenobites for some forty years. During an epidemic (probably plague), Pachomius called the monks, strengthened their faith, and appointed his successor. Pachomius then died on 14 Pashons, 64 A.M. (9 May 348 A.D.).
By the time Pachomius died, eight monasteries and several hundred monks followed his guidance. Within a generation, cenobic practices spread from Egypt to Palestine and the Judean Desert, Syria, North Africa and eventually Western Europe. The number of monks, rather than the number of monasteries, may have reached 7000.
His reputation as a holy man has endured. As mentioned above, several liturgical calendars commemorate Pachomius. Among many miracles attributed to Pachomius, that though he had never learned the Greek or Latin tongues, he sometimes miraculously spoke them. Pachomius is also credited with being the first Christian to use and recommend use of a prayer rope.
Examples of purely Coptic literature are the works of Anthony the Great and Pachomius, who spoke only Coptic, and the sermons and preachings of Shenoute the Great, who chose to write only in Coptic.
The Pachomian system tended to treat religious literature as mere written instructions.
The name of the saint is of Coptic origin: ⲡⲁϧⲱⲙ "pakhōm" from ⲁϧⲱⲙ "akhōm" "eagle or falcon" (ⲡ "p"- at the beginning is the Coptic definite article). Into Greek it was adopted as Παχούμιος and Παχώμιος. By Greek folk etymology it was sometimes interpreted as "broad-shouldered" from παχύς "thick, large" and ὦμος "shoulder". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23673 |
Philosophical Investigations
Philosophical Investigations () is a work by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. The book was published posthumously in 1953. Wittgenstein discusses numerous problems and puzzles in the fields of semantics, logic, philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of psychology, philosophy of action, and philosophy of mind, putting forth the view that conceptual confusions surrounding language use are at the root of most philosophical problems. Wittgenstein alleges that the problems are traceable to a set of related assumptions about the nature of language, which themselves presuppose a particular conception of the essence of language. This conception is considered and ultimately rejected for being too general; that is, as an essentialist account of the nature of language it is simply too narrow to be able to account for the variety of things we do with language. This view can be seen to contradict or discard much of what he argued in his earlier work "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" (1921).
"Philosophical Investigations" is highly influential. Within the analytic tradition, the book is considered by many as being one of the most important philosophical works of the 20th century. The book paved the way for the ordinary language philosophy that dominated Oxford philosophy in the middle of the twentieth century and also influenced pragmatism. The work continues to influence contemporary philosophers working in the philosophy of language and mind.
"Philosophical Investigations" is divided into two parts, consisting of what Wittgenstein calls, in the preface, "Bemerkungen", translated by Anscombe as "remarks". In the first part, the remarks are rarely more than a paragraph long and are numbered sequentially by paragraph. In the preface, Wittgenstein describes his failure to synthesize his points into a unified work. Due to this failure, he says that the book's structure "compels us to travel over a wide field of thought criss-cross in every direction." Wittgenstein then goes on to describe his remarks in the first part as "a number of sketches of landscapes which were made in the course of these long and involved journeyings."
The first part of "Philosophical Investigations" consists of paragraphs § 1 through § 693. Wittgenstein begins by criticizing Augustine’s description of learning a language and explaining language by ostensive definition in "The Confessions". This discussion occupies paragraphs § 1 through § 38. He then discusses rules and rule-following from paragraphs § 138 to § 242. Wittgenstein’s primary discussion of private language starts at § 244 and continues through paragraph § 271. The discussion of seeing and seeing aspects begins at paragraph § 398 and goes until paragraph § 401 of the first part.
The second part of the book consists of fourteen sections; the remarks are longer and numbered using Roman numerals. In the index, remarks from the first part are referenced by their number rather than page; however, references from the second part are cited by page number. The comparatively unusual nature of the second part is due to the fact that it comprises notes that Wittgenstein may have intended to re-incorporate into the first part. After his death, the text was published as a "Part II" in the first, second and third editions. However, in light of continuing uncertainty about Wittgenstein's intentions regarding this material, the fourth edition (2009) re-titles "Part I" as "Philosophical Investigations" proper, and "Part II" as "Philosophy of Psychology – A Fragment."
In standard references, a small letter following a page, section, or proposition number indicates a paragraph.
"Philosophical Investigations" is unique in Wittgenstein's presentation of argument. A typical philosophical text presents a philosophical problem, summarizes and critiques various alternative approaches to solving it, presents its approach, and then argues in favour of that approach. In contrast, Wittgenstein's book treats philosophy as an activity and presents the text as a dialogue similar to Socrates's method of questioning his interlocutors in Plato's dialogues. But unlike Plato's dialogue, where Socrates and his interlocutor are named, Wittgenstein never makes clear whose views are being argued for or who is being addressed. The following is an excerpt from an early entry in the book that exemplifies this method:
...think of the following use of language: I send someone shopping. I give him a slip marked 'five red apples'. He takes the slip to the shopkeeper, who opens the drawer marked 'apples', then he looks up the word 'red' in a table and finds a colour sample opposite it; then he says the series of cardinal numbers—I assume that he knows them by heart—up to the word 'five' and for each number he takes an apple of the same colour as the sample out of the drawer.—It is in this and similar ways that one operates with words—"But how does he know where and how he is to look up the word 'red' and what he is to do with the word 'five'?" Well, I assume that he "acts" as I have described. Explanations come to an end somewhere.—But what is the meaning of the word 'five'? No such thing was in question here, only how the word 'five' is used.
This example is typical of the book's style. David Stern describes Wittgenstein's presentation of topics as a three-stage process. In the first stage, Wittgenstein introduces the topic that he opposes, usually through dialogue. The second stage presents the topic as appropriate in narrow set of circumstances. As an example of this second stage, Stern cites § 2 of the book which reads: the "philosophical concept of meaning has its place in a primitive idea of the way language functions. But one can also say that it is the idea of a language more primitive than ours. Let us imagine a language for which the description given by Augustine is right." Then Wittgenstein provides an example of a builder A and his assistant B where the view that Wittgenstein attributes to Augustine on language makes sense. Finally, in the third stage, Wittgenstein points out that the position he opposes will not apply in a wider set of circumstances. An example of this third stage can be seen in § 3 of the book.
Through this progress, Wittgenstein attempts to get the reader to grapple with certain difficult philosophical topics, but he does not directly argue in favor of theories. Instead, Wittgenstein says his aim is not "to spare other people the trouble of thinking. But, if possible, to stimulate someone to thoughts of his own."
The "Investigations" deals largely with the difficulties of language and meaning. Wittgenstein viewed the tools of language as being fundamentally simple and he believed that philosophers had obscured this simplicity by misusing language and by asking meaningless questions. He attempted in the "Investigations" to make things clear: ""Der Fliege den Ausweg aus dem Fliegenglas zeigen""—to show the fly the way out of the fly bottle.
Wittgenstein claims that the meaning of a word is based on how the word is understood within the language-game. A common summary of his argument is that meaning is use. According to the use theory of meaning, the words are not defined by reference to the objects they designate, nor by the mental representations one might associate with them, but by how they are used. For example, this means there is no need to postulate that there is something called "good" that exists independently of any good deed. Wittgenstein's use theory of meaning contrasts with Platonic realism and with Gottlob Frege's notions of sense and reference. This argument has been labeled by some authors as "anthropological holism".
Section 43 in Wittgenstein's "Philosophical Investigations" reads: "For a large class of cases—though not for all—in which we employ the word "meaning" it can be defined thus: the meaning of a word is its use in the language."
Wittgenstein begins "Philosophical Investigations" with a quote from Augustine's "Confessions", which represents the view that language serves to point out objects in the world.The individual words in language name objects—sentences are combinations of such names. In this picture of language we find the roots of the following idea: Every word has a meaning. This meaning is correlated with the word. It is the object for which the word stands.
Wittgenstein rejects a variety of ways of thinking about what the meaning of a word is, or how meanings can be identified. He shows how, in each case, the "meaning" of the word presupposes our ability to use it. He first asks the reader to perform a thought experiment: to come up with a definition of the word "game". While this may at first seem a simple task, he then goes on to lead us through the problems with each of the possible definitions of the word "game". Any definition that focuses on amusement leaves us unsatisfied since the feelings experienced by a world class chess player are very different from those of a circle of children playing Duck Duck Goose. Any definition that focuses on competition will fail to explain the game of catch, or the game of solitaire. And a definition of the word "game" that focuses on rules will fall on similar difficulties.
The essential point of this exercise is often missed. Wittgenstein's point is not that it is impossible to define "game", but that "even if we don't have a definition, we can still use the word successfully". Everybody understands what we mean when we talk about playing a game, and we can even clearly identify and correct inaccurate uses of the word, all without reference to any definition that consists of necessary and sufficient conditions for the application of the concept of a game. The German word for "game", "Spiele/Spiel", has a different sense than in English; the meaning of "Spiele" also extends to the concept of "play" and "playing." This German sense of the word may help readers better understand Wittgenstein's context in the remarks regarding games.
Wittgenstein argues that definitions emerge from what he termed "forms of life", roughly the culture and society in which they are used. Wittgenstein stresses the social aspects of cognition; to see how language works for most cases, we have to see how it functions in a specific social situation. It is this emphasis on becoming attentive to the social backdrop against which language is rendered intelligible that explains Wittgenstein's elliptical comment that "If a lion could talk, we could not understand him." However, in proposing the thought experiment involving the fictional character, Robinson Crusoe, a captain shipwrecked on a desolate island with no other inhabitant, Wittgenstein shows that language is not in all cases a social phenomenon (although, they are for most cases); instead the criterion for a language is grounded in a set of interrelated normative activities: teaching, explanations, techniques and criteria of correctness. In short, it is essential that a language is shareable, but this does not imply that for a language to function that it is in fact already shared.
Wittgenstein rejects the idea that ostensive definitions can provide us with the meaning of a word. For Wittgenstein, the thing that the word stands for does "not" give the meaning of the word. Wittgenstein argues for this making a series of moves to show that to understand an ostensive definition presupposes an understanding of the way the word being defined is used. So, for instance, there is no difference between pointing to a piece of paper, to its colour, or to its shape; but understanding the difference is crucial to using the paper in an ostensive definition of a shape or of a colour.
Why is it that we are sure a particular activity—e.g. Olympic target shooting—is a game while a similar activity—e.g. military sharp shooting—is not? Wittgenstein's explanation is tied up with an important analogy. How do we recognize that two people we know are related to one another? We may see similar height, weight, eye color, hair, nose, mouth, patterns of speech, social or political views, mannerisms, body structure, last names, etc. If we see enough matches we say we've noticed a family resemblance. It is perhaps important to note that this is not always a conscious process—generally we don't catalog various similarities until we reach a certain threshold, we just intuitively "see" the resemblances. Wittgenstein suggests that the same is true of language. We are all familiar (i.e. socially) with enough things which "are games" and enough things which "are not games" that we can categorize new activities as either games or not.
This brings us back to Wittgenstein's reliance on indirect communication, and his reliance on thought-experiments. Some philosophical confusions come about because we aren't able to "see" family resemblances. We've made a mistake in understanding the vague and intuitive rules that language uses, and have thereby tied ourselves up in philosophical knots. He suggests that an attempt to untangle these knots requires more than simple deductive arguments pointing out the problems with some particular position. Instead, Wittgenstein's larger goal is to try to divert us from our philosophical problems long enough to become aware of our intuitive ability to "see" the family resemblances.
Wittgenstein develops this discussion of games into the key notion of a "language-game". For Wittgenstein, his use of the term language-game "is meant to bring into prominence the fact that the speaking of language is part of an activity, or of a life-form." A central feature of language-games is that language is used in context and that language cannot be understood outside of its context. Wittgenstein lists the following as examples of language-games: “Giving orders, and obeying them”; “[d]escribing the appearance of an object, or giving its measurements”; “[c]onstructing an object from a description (a drawing)”; “[r]eporting an event”; “[s]peculating about an event." The famous example is the meaning of the word "game". We speak of various kinds of games: board games, betting games, sports, "war games". These are all different uses of the word "games". Wittgenstein also gives the example of "Water!", which can be used as an exclamation, an order, a request, or as an answer to a question. The meaning of the word depends on the language-game within which it is being used. Another way Wittgenstein puts the point is that the word "water" has no meaning apart from its use within a language-game. One might use the word as an order to have someone else bring you a glass of water. But it can also be used to warn someone that the water has been poisoned. One might even use the word as code by members of a secret society.
Wittgenstein does not limit the application of his concept of language games to word-meaning. He also applies it to sentence-meaning. For example, the sentence "Moses did not exist" (§79) can mean various things. Wittgenstein argues that independently of use the sentence does not yet 'say' anything. It is 'meaningless' in the sense of not being significant for a particular purpose. It only acquires significance if we fix it within some context of use. Thus, it fails to say anything because the sentence as such does not yet determine some particular use. The sentence is only meaningful when it is used to say something. For instance, it can be used so as to say that no person or historical figure fits the set of descriptions attributed to the person that goes by the name of "Moses". But it can also mean that the leader of the Israelites was not called Moses. Or that there cannot have been anyone who accomplished all that the Bible relates of Moses, etc. What the sentence means thus depends on its context of use.
Wittgenstein's discussion of rules and rule-following ranges from § 138 through § 242. Wittgenstein begins his discussion of rules with the example of one person giving orders to another "to write down a series of signs according to a certain formation rule." The series of signs consists of the natural numbers. Wittgenstein draws a distinction between following orders by copying the numbers following instruction and understanding the construction of the series of numbers. One general characteristic of games that Wittgenstein considers in detail is the way in which they consist in following rules. Rules constitute a family, rather than a class that can be explicitly defined. As a consequence, it is not possible to provide a definitive account of what it is to follow a rule. Indeed, he argues that "any" course of action can be made out to accord with some particular rule, and that therefore a rule cannot be used to explain an action. Rather, that one is following a rule or not is to be decided by looking to see if the actions conform to the expectations in the particular "form of life" in which one is involved. Following a rule is a social activity.
Saul Kripke provides an influential discussion of Wittgenstein's remarks on rules. For Kripke, Wittgenstein's discussion of rules "may be regarded as a new form of philosophical scepticism." He starts his discussion of Wittgenstein by quoting what he describes as Wittgenstein's sceptical paradox: "This was our paradox: no course of action could be determined by a rule, because every course of action can be made out to accord with the rule. The answer was: if everything can be made out to accord with the rule, then it can also be made out to conflict with it. And so there would be neither accord nor conflict here." Kripke argues that the implications of Wittgenstein's discussion of rules is that no person can mean something by the language that he or she uses or correctly follow (or fail to follow) a rule.
Wittgenstein also ponders the possibility of a language that talks about those things that are known only to the user, whose content is inherently private. The usual example is that of a language in which one names one's sensations and other subjective experiences, such that the meaning of the term is decided by the individual alone. For example, the individual names a particular sensation, on some occasion, 'S', and intends to use that word to refer to that sensation. Such a language Wittgenstein calls a "private language".
Wittgenstein presents several perspectives on the topic. One point he makes is that it is incoherent to talk of "knowing" that one is in some particular mental state. Whereas others can learn of my pain, for example, I simply "have" my own pain; it follows that one does not "know" of one's own pain, one simply "has" a pain. For Wittgenstein, this is a grammatical point, part of the way in which the language-game involving the word "pain" is played.
Although Wittgenstein certainly argues that the notion of private language is incoherent, because of the way in which the text is presented the exact nature of the argument is disputed. First, he argues that a private language is not really a language at all. This point is intimately connected with a variety of other themes in his later works, especially his investigations of "meaning". For Wittgenstein, there is no single, coherent "sample" or "object" that we can call "meaning". Rather, the supposition that there are such things is the source of many philosophical confusions. Meaning is a complicated phenomenon that is woven into the fabric of our lives. A good first approximation of Wittgenstein's point is that meaning is a "social" event; meaning happens "between" language users. As a consequence, it makes no sense to talk about a private language, with words that "mean" something in the absence of other users of the language.
Wittgenstein also argues that one couldn't possibly "use" the words of a private language. He invites the reader to consider a case in which someone decides that each time she has a particular sensation she will place a sign S in a diary. Wittgenstein points out that in such a case one could have no criteria for the correctness of one's use of S. Again, several examples are considered. One is that perhaps using S involves mentally consulting a table of sensations, to check that one has associated S correctly; but in this case, how could the mental table be checked for its correctness? It is "[a]s if someone were to buy several copies of the morning paper to assure himself that what it said was true", as Wittgenstein puts it. One common interpretation of the argument is that while one may have direct or privileged access to one's "current" mental states, there is no such infallible access to identifying previous mental states that one had in the past. That is, the only way to check to see if one has applied the symbol S correctly to a certain mental state is to introspect and determine whether the current sensation is identical to the sensation previously associated with S. And while identifying one's current mental state of remembering may be infallible, whether one remembered correctly is not infallible. Thus, for a language to be used at all it must have some public criterion of identity.
Often, what is widely regarded as a deep philosophical problem will vanish, argues Wittgenstein, and eventually be seen as a confusion about the significance of the words that philosophers use to frame such problems and questions. It is only in this way that it is interesting to talk about something like a "private language" — i.e., it is helpful to see how the "problem" results from a misunderstanding.
To sum up: Wittgenstein asserts that, if something is a language, it "cannot" be (logically) private; and if something "is" private, it is not (and cannot be) a language.
Another point that Wittgenstein makes against the possibility of a private language involves the beetle-in-a-box thought experiment. He asks the reader to imagine that each person has a box, inside which is something that everyone intends to refer to with the word "beetle". Further, suppose that no one can look inside another's box, and each claims to know what a "beetle" is only by examining their own box. Wittgenstein suggests that, in such a situation, the word "beetle" could not be the name of a thing, because supposing that each person has something completely different in their boxes (or nothing at all) does not change the meaning of the word; the beetle as a private object "drops out of consideration as irrelevant". Thus, Wittgenstein argues, if we can talk about something, then it is not "private", in the sense considered. And, contrapositively, if we consider something to be indeed private, it follows that we "cannot talk about it".
The discussion of private languages was revitalized in 1982 with the publication of Kripke's book "Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language". In this work, Kripke uses Wittgenstein's text to develop a particular type of skepticism about rules that stresses the "communal" nature of language-use as grounding meaning. Critics of Kripke's version of Wittgenstein have facetiously referred to it as "Kripkenstein," scholars such as Gordon Baker, Peter Hacker, Colin McGinn, and John McDowell seeing it as a radical misinterpretation of Wittgenstein's text. Other philosophers – such as Martin Kusch – have defended Kripke's views.
Wittgenstein's investigations of language lead to several issues concerning the mind. His key target of criticism is any form of extreme mentalism that posits mental states that are entirely unconnected to the subject's environment. For Wittgenstein, thought is inevitably tied to language, which is inherently social; therefore, there is no 'inner' space in which thoughts can occur. Part of Wittgenstein's credo is captured in the following proclamation: "An 'inner process' stands in need of outward criteria." This follows primarily from his conclusions about private languages: similarly, a private mental state (a sensation of pain, for example) cannot be adequately discussed without public criteria for identifying it.
According to Wittgenstein, those who insist that consciousness (or any other apparently subjective mental state) is conceptually unconnected to the external world are mistaken. Wittgenstein explicitly criticizes so-called conceivability arguments: "Could one imagine a stone's having consciousness? And if anyone can do so—why should that not merely prove that such image-mongery is of no interest to us?" He considers and rejects the following reply as well:
"But if I suppose that someone is in pain, then I am simply supposing that he has just the same as I have so often had." — That gets us no further. It is as if I were to say: "You surely know what 'It is 5 o'clock here' means; so you also know what 'It's 5 o'clock on the sun' means. It means simply that it is just the same there as it is here when it is 5 o'clock." — The explanation by means of "identity" does not work here.
Thus, according to Wittgenstein, mental states are intimately connected to a subject's environment, especially their linguistic environment, and conceivability or imaginability. Arguments that claim otherwise are misguided.
From his remarks on the importance of public, observable behavior (as opposed to private experiences), it may seem that Wittgenstein is simply a behaviorist—one who thinks that mental states are nothing over and above certain behavior. However, Wittgenstein resists such a characterization; he writes (considering what an objector might say):
"Are you not really a behaviourist in disguise? Aren't you at bottom really saying that everything except human behaviour is a fiction?" — If I do speak of a fiction, then it is of a "grammatical" fiction.
Clearly, Wittgenstein did not want to be a behaviorist, nor did he want to be a cognitivist or a phenomenologist. He is, of course, primarily concerned with facts of linguistic usage. However, some argue that Wittgenstein is basically a behaviorist because he considers facts about language use as all there is. Such a claim is controversial, since it is explicitly opposed in the "Investigations".
In addition to ambiguous sentences, Wittgenstein discussed figures that can be seen and understood in two different ways. Often one can see something in a straightforward way — seeing "that" it is a rabbit, perhaps. But, at other times, one notices a particular aspect — seeing it "as" something.
An example Wittgenstein uses is the "duckrabbit", an ambiguous image that can be "seen as" either a duck or a rabbit. When one looks at the duck-rabbit and sees a rabbit, one is not "interpreting" the picture as a rabbit, but rather "reporting" what one sees. One just sees the picture as a rabbit. But what occurs when one sees it first as a duck, then as a rabbit? As the gnomic remarks in the "Investigations" indicate, Wittgenstein isn't sure. However, he is sure that it could not be the case that the external world stays the same while an 'internal' cognitive change takes place.
According to the standard reading, in the "Philosophical Investigations" Wittgenstein repudiates many of his own earlier views, expressed in the "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus". The "Tractatus", as Bertrand Russell saw it (though Wittgenstein took strong exception to Russell's reading), had been an attempt to set out a logically perfect language, building on Russell's own work. In the years between the two works Wittgenstein came to reject the idea that underpinned logical atomism, that there were ultimate "simples" from which a language should, or even could, be constructed.
In remark #23 of "Philosophical Investigations" he points out that the practice of human language is more complex than the simplified views of language that have been held by those who seek to explain or simulate human language by means of a formal system. It would be a disastrous mistake, according to Wittgenstein, to see language as being in any way analogous to formal logic.
Besides stressing the "Investigations"' opposition to the "Tractatus", there are critical approaches which have argued that there is much more continuity and similarity between the two works than supposed. One of these is the New Wittgenstein approach.
Norman Malcolm credits Piero Sraffa with providing Wittgenstein with the conceptual break that founded the "Philosophical Investigations", by means of a rude gesture on Sraffa's part:
"Wittgenstein was insisting that a proposition and that which it describes must have the same 'logical form', the same 'logical multiplicity', Sraffa made a gesture, familiar to Neapolitans as meaning something like disgust or contempt, of brushing the underneath of his chin with an outward sweep of the finger-tips of one hand. And he asked: 'What is the logical form of that?'"
The preface itself, dated January 1945, credits Sraffa for the "most consequential ideas" of the book.
Bertrand Russell made the following comment on the "Philosophical Investigations" in his book "My Philosophical Development":I have not found in Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations anything that seemed to me interesting and I do not understand why a whole school finds important wisdom in its pages. Psychologically this is surprising. The earlier Wittgenstein, whom I knew intimately, was a man addicted to passionately intense thinking, profoundly aware of difficult problems of which I, like him, felt the importance, and possessed (or at least so I thought) of true philosophical genius. The later Wittgenstein, on the contrary, seems to have grown tired of serious thinking and to have invented a doctrine which would make such an activity unnecessary. I do not for one moment believe that the doctrine which has these lazy consequences is true. I realize, however, that I have an overpoweringly strong bias against it, for, if it is true, philosophy is, at best, a slight help to lexicographers, and at worst, an idle tea-table amusement.Ernest Gellner wrote the book "Words and Things", in which he was fiercely critical of the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, J. L. Austin, Gilbert Ryle, Antony Flew, P. F. Strawson and many others. Ryle refused to have the book reviewed in the philosophical journal "Mind" (which he edited), and Bertrand Russell (who had written an approving foreword) protested in a letter to "The Times". A response from Ryle and a lengthy correspondence ensued.
"Philosophical Investigations" was not ready for publication when Wittgenstein died in 1951. G. E. M. Anscombe translated Wittgenstein's manuscript into English, and it was first published in 1953. There are multiple editions of "Philosophical Investigations" with the popular third edition and 50th anniversary edition having been edited by Anscombe: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23674 |
Poul Anderson
Poul William Anderson (November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American science fiction author who began his career in the 1940s and continued to write into the 21st century. Anderson authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and short stories. His awards include seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.
Poul Anderson was born on November 25, 1926, in Bristol, Pennsylvania, of Scandinavian parents. Shortly after his birth, his father, Anton Anderson, an engineer, moved the family to Texas, where they lived for over ten years. Following Anton Anderson's death, his widow took her children to Denmark. The family returned to the United States after the outbreak of World War II, settling eventually on a Minnesota farm. The frame story of his later novel "Three Hearts and Three Lions", before the fantasy part begins, is partly set in the Denmark which the young Anderson personally experienced.
While he was an undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota, Anderson's first stories were published by John W. Campbell in "Astounding Science Fiction": "Tomorrow's Children" by Anderson and F. N. Waldrop in March 1947 and a sequel, "Chain of Logic" by Anderson alone, in July. He earned his B.A. in physics with honors but made no serious attempt to work as a physicist; instead he became a free-lance writer after his graduation in 1948, and placed his third story in the December "Astounding". While finding no purely academic application, Anderson's knowledge of physics is evident in the great care given to details of the scientific background – one of the defining characteristics of his writing style.
Anderson married Karen Kruse in 1953 and moved with her to the San Francisco Bay area. Their daughter Astrid (now married to science fiction author Greg Bear) was born in 1954. They made their home in Orinda, California. Over the years Poul gave many readings at The Other Change of Hobbit bookstore in Berkeley, and his wife later donated his typewriter and desk to the store.
In 1965 Algis Budrys said that Anderson "has for some time been science fiction's best storyteller". He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) in 1966 and of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America (SAGA), also in the mid-1960s. The latter was a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors led by Lin Carter, originally eight in number, with entry by credentials as a fantasy writer alone. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972.
Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls" to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy. The Science Fiction Writers of America made Anderson its 16th SFWA Grand Master in 1998 and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inducted him in 2000, its fifth class of two deceased and two living writers. He died of prostate cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. A few of his novels were first published posthumously.
Anderson is probably best known for adventure stories in which larger-than-life characters succeed gleefully or fail heroically. His characters were nonetheless thoughtful, often introspective, and well developed. His plot lines frequently involved the application of social and political issues in a speculative manner appropriate to the science fiction genre. He also wrote some quieter works, generally of shorter length, which appeared more often during the latter part of his career.
Much of his science fiction is thoroughly grounded in science (with the addition of unscientific but standard speculations such as faster-than-light travel). A specialty was imagining scientifically plausible non-Earthlike planets. Perhaps the best known was the planet of "The Man Who Counts" in which Anderson adjusted its size and composition so that humans could live in the open air but flying intelligent aliens could evolve, and he explored the consequences of those adjustments.
In many stories, Anderson commented on society and politics. Whatever other vicissitudes his views went through, he firmly retained his belief in the direct and inextricable connection between human liberty and expansion into space, for which reason he strongly cried out against any idea of space exploration being "a waste of money" or "unnecessary luxury".
The connection between space flight and freedom is clearly (as is stated explicitly in some of the stories) an extension of the 19th-century American concept of the Frontier, where malcontents can advance further and claim some new land, and pioneers either bring life to barren asteroids (as in "Tales of the Flying Mountains") or settle on Earth-like planets teeming with life, but not intelligent forms (such as New Europe in "Star Fox").
As he repeatedly expressed in his nonfiction essays, Anderson firmly held that going into space was not an unnecessary luxury but an existential need, and that abandoning space would doom humanity to "a society of brigands ruling over peasants."
That is graphically expressed in the chilling short story "Welcome". In it, humanity has abandoned space and is left with an overcrowded Earth where a small elite not only treats all the rest as chattel slaves, but also regularly practices cannibalism, their chefs preparing "roast suckling coolie" for their banquets.
Conversely, in the bleak Orwellian world of "The High Ones" where the Soviets have won the Third World War and gained control of the whole of Earth, the dissidents still have some hope, precisely because space flight has not been abandoned. By the end of the story, rebels have established themselves at another stellar system—where their descendants, the reader is told, would eventually build a liberating fleet and set out back to Earth.
While horrified by the prospect of the Soviets winning complete rule over the Earth, Anderson was not enthusiastic about having Americans in that role either. Several stories and books describing the aftermath of a total US victory in another world war, such as "Sam Hall" and its loose sequel "Three Worlds to Conquer" as well as "Shield", are scarcely less bleak than the above-mentioned depictions of a Soviet victory. Like Heinlein in "Solution Unsatisfactory", Anderson assumed that the imposition of US military rule over the rest of the world would necessarily entail the destruction of the USA's democracy and the imposition of a harsh tyrannical rule over its own citizens.
Both Anderson's depiction of a Soviet-dominated world and that of a US-dominated one mention a rebellion breaking out in Brazil in the early 21st century, which is in both cases brutally put down by the dominant world power—the Brazilian rebels being characterized as "counter-revolutionaries" in the one case and as "communists" in the other.
In the early years of the Cold War—when he had been, as described by his later, more conservative self, a "flaming liberal"—Anderson pinned his hopes on the United Nations developing into a true world government. This is especially manifest in "Un-man", a future thriller where the 'Good Guys' are agents of the UN Secretary General working to establish a world government while the 'Bad Guys' are nationalists (especially American nationalists) who seek to preserve their respective nations' sovereignty at all costs. (The title has a double meaning: the hero is literally an UN man and has superhuman abilities which make his enemies fear him as an "un-man").
Anderson and his wife were among those who in 1968 signed a pro-Vietnam War advertisement in "Galaxy Science Fiction". By then, Anderson had repudiated world government; a half-humorous remnant is the beginning of "Tau Zero": a future in which the nations of the world entrusted Sweden with overseeing disarmament and found themselves living under the rule of the Swedish Empire. In "The Star Fox", he unfavorably depicts a future peace group called "World Militants for Peace". A more explicit expression of the same appears in the later "The Shield of Time" where a time-traveling young American woman from the 1990s pays a brief visit to a university campus of the 1960s and is not enthusiastic about what she sees there.
Anderson often returned to right-libertarianism and to the business leader as hero, most notably his character Nicholas van Rijn. Van Rijn is different from the archetype of a modern type of business executive, being more reflective of a Dutch Golden Age merchant of the 17th century. If he spends any time in boardrooms or plotting corporate takeovers, the reader remains ignorant of it since nearly all his appearances are in the wilds of a space frontier.
Beginning in the 1970s, Anderson's historically grounded works were influenced by the theories of the historian John K. Hord, who argued that all empires follow the same broad cyclical pattern, into which the Terran Empire of the Dominic Flandry spy stories fit neatly.
The writer Sandra Miesel (1978) has argued that Anderson's overarching theme is the struggle against entropy and the heat death of the universe, a condition of perfect uniformity in which nothing can happen.
In his numerous books and stories depicting conflict in science fiction or fantasy settings, Anderson takes trouble to make both sides' points of view comprehensible. Even if the author's point of view is obvious, the antagonists are usually depicted not as villains but as honorable on their own terms. The reader is given access to antagonists' thoughts and feelings, and they often have a tragic dignity in defeat. Typical examples are "The Winter of the World" and "The People of the Wind".
A common theme in Anderson's works, with obvious origins in the Northern European legends, is that doing the "right" (wisest) thing often involves performing actions that at face value seem dishonorable, illegal, destructive, or downright evil. "The Man who Counts", Nicholas van Rijn is "The Man" because he is prepared to be tyrannical and callously manipulative so that he and his companions can survive. In "High Treason", the protagonist disobeys orders and betrays his subordinates to prevent a war crime that would bring severe retribution upon humanity. In "A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows", Dominic Flandry first (effectively) lobotomizes his own son and then bombards the home planet of the Chereionite race to do his duty and prop up the Terran Empire. Such actions affect their characters in different ways, and dealing with the repercussions of having done the "right" (but unpleasant) thing is often the major focus of his short stories. The general lesson seems to be that guilt is the penalty for action.
In "The Star Fox", a relationship of grudging respect is built up between the hero, space privateer Gunnar Heim, and his enemy Cynbe, an exceptionally gifted Alerione trained from a young age to understand his species' human enemies to the point of being alienated from his own kind. In the final scene, Cynbe challenges Heim to a space battle which only one of them would survive. Heim accepts, whereupon Cynbe says, "I thank you, my brother."
Anderson set much of his work in the past, often with the addition of magic or in alternate or future worlds that resemble past eras. A specialty was his ancestral Scandinavia, as in his novel versions of the legends of Hrólf Kraki ("Hrolf Kraki's Saga") and Haddingus ("The War of the Gods"). Frequently he presented such worlds as superior to the dull, over-civilized present. Notable depictions of this superiority are the prehistoric world of "The Long Remembering", the quasi-medieval society of "No Truce with Kings", and the untamed Jupiter of "Call Me Joe" and "Three Worlds to Conquer". He handled the lure and power of atavism satirically in "Pact", critically in "The Queen of Air and Darkness" and "The Night Face", and tragically in "Goat Song".
His 1965 novel "The Corridors of Time" alternates between the European Stone Age and a repressive future. In this vision of tomorrow, almost everyone is either an agricultural serf or an industrial slave, but the rulers genuinely believe they are creating a better world. Set largely in Denmark, it treats the Neolithic society with knowledge and respect does but not hide its faults. The protagonist, having access to literally all periods of the past and future, finally decides to settle down in that era and finds a happy and satisfying life.
In many stories, a representative of a technologically advanced society underestimates "primitives" and pays a high price for it. In "The High Crusade", aliens who land in medieval England in the expectation of an easy conquest find that they are not immune to swords and arrows. In "The Only Game in Town", a Mongol warrior, while not knowing that the two "magicians" he meets are time travelers from the future, correctly guesses their intentions—and captures them with the help of the "magic" flashlight they had given him in an attempt to impress him. In another time-travel tale, "The Shield of Time", a "time policeman" from the 20th century, equipped with information and technologies from much further in the future, is outwitted by a medieval knight and barely escapes with his life. Yet another story, "The Man Who Came Early", features a 20th-century US Army soldier stationed in Iceland who is transported to the 10th century. Although he is full of ideas, his lack of practical knowledge of how to implement them and his total unfamiliarity with the technology and customs of the period leads to his downfall.
Anderson wrote the short essay "Uncleftish Beholding", an introduction to atomic theory, using only Germanic-rooted words. Fitting his love for olden years, that kind of learned writing has been named Ander-Saxon after him.
The story told in "The Shield of Time" is also an example of a tragic conflict, another common theme in Anderson's writing. The knight tries to do his best in terms of his own society and time, but his actions might bring about a horrible 20th century (even more horrible than that actually occurred). Therefore, the Time Patrol protagonists, who like the young knight and wish him well (the female protagonist comes close to falling in love with him), have no choice but to fight and ultimately kill him.
In "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth", a time-travelling anthropologist is assigned to study the culture of an ancient Gothic tribe by regular visits every few decades. Gradually, he is drawn into close involvement and feels protective towards the Goths (many of them are his own descendants because of a brief and poignant liaison with a Gothic, girl who dies in childbirth). The Goths identify him as the god Odin/Wodan. He finds that he must cruelly betray his beloved Goths since a ballad says that Odin did so; failure to fulfill his prescribed role might change history and bring the whole of the actual 20th century crashing down. In the final scene, he cries out in anguish: "Not even the gods can defy the Norns!", giving a new twist to that central aspect of the Norse religion.
In "The Pirate", the hero is duty-bound to deny a band of people from societies blighted by poverty the chance for a new start on a new planet since their settling the planet would eradicate the remnants of the artistic and articulate beings who lived there earlier. A similar theme but with much higher stakes appears in "Sister Planet": although terraforming Venus would provide new hope to starving people on the overcrowded Earth, it would exterminate Venus's just-discovered intelligent race, and the hero can avert that genocide only by murdering his best friends.
In "Delenda Est" the stakes are the highest imaginable. Time-travelling outlaws have created a new 20th century that is "not better or worse, just completely different". The hero can fight the outlaws and restore his (and our) familiar history but only at the price of totally destroying the vast world that has taken its place. "Risking your neck in order to negate a world full of people like yourself" is how the hero describes what he eventually undertakes.
Philip K. Dick's story "Waterspider" features Poul Anderson as one of the main characters.
In the opening of S.M. Stirling's novel "In the Courts of the Crimson Kings", a group of science fiction authors, including Poul Anderson, watch first contact with the book's Martians while attending an SF convention. Anderson supplies the beer. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23677 |
Panspermia
Panspermia () is the hypothesis that life exists throughout the Universe, distributed by space dust, meteoroids, asteroids, comets, planetoids, and also by spacecraft carrying unintended contamination by microorganisms. Distribution may have occurred spanning galaxies, and so may not be restricted to the limited scale of solar systems.
Panspermia hypotheses propose (for example) that microscopic life-forms that can survive the effects of space (such as extremophiles) can become trapped in debris ejected into space after collisions between planets and small Solar System bodies that harbor life. Some organisms may travel dormant for an extended amount of time before colliding randomly with other planets or intermingling with protoplanetary disks. Under certain ideal impact circumstances (into a body of water, for example), and ideal conditions on a new planet's surfaces, it is possible that the surviving organisms could become active and begin to colonize their new environment. At least one report finds that endospores from a type of Bacillus bacteria found in Morocco can survive being heated to , making the argument for panspermia even stronger. Panspermia studies concentrate not on how life began, but on methods that may distribute it in the Universe.
Pseudo-panspermia (sometimes called ""soft panspermia"" or ""molecular panspermia"") argues that the pre-biotic organic building-blocks of life originated in space, became incorporated in the solar nebula from which planets condensed, and were further—and continuously—distributed to planetary surfaces where life then emerged (abiogenesis). From the early 1970s, it started to become evident that interstellar dust included a large component of organic molecules. Interstellar molecules are formed by chemical reactions within very sparse interstellar or circumstellar clouds of dust and gas. The dust plays a critical role in shielding the molecules from the ionizing effect of ultraviolet radiation emitted by stars.
The chemistry leading to life may have begun shortly after the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago, during a habitable epoch when the Universe was only 10 to 17 million years old. Though the presence of life is confirmed only on the Earth, some scientists think that extraterrestrial life is not only plausible, but probable or inevitable. Probes and instruments have started examining other planets and moons in the Solar System and in other planetary systems for evidence of having once supported simple life, and projects such as SETI attempt to detect radio transmissions from possible extraterrestrial civilizations.
The first known mention of the term was in the writings of the 5th-century BC Greek philosopher Anaxagoras. Panspermia began to assume a more scientific form through the proposals of Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1834), Hermann E. Richter (1865), Kelvin (1871), Hermann von Helmholtz (1879) and finally reaching the level of a detailed scientific hypothesis through the efforts of the Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius (1903).
Fred Hoyle (1915–2001) and Chandra Wickramasinghe (born 1939) were influential proponents of panspermia. In 1974 they proposed the hypothesis that some dust in interstellar space was largely organic (containing carbon), which Wickramasinghe later proved to be correct. Hoyle and Wickramasinghe further contended that life forms continue to enter the Earth's atmosphere, and may be responsible for epidemic outbreaks, new diseases, and the genetic novelty necessary for macroevolution.
In an Origins Symposium presentation on April 7, 2009, physicist Stephen Hawking stated his opinion about what humans may find when venturing into space, such as the possibility of alien life through the theory of panspermia: "Life could spread from planet to planet or from stellar system to stellar system, carried on meteors."
Three series of astrobiology experiments have been conducted outside the International Space Station between 2008 and 2015 (EXPOSE) where a wide variety of biomolecules, microorganisms, and their spores were exposed to the solar flux and vacuum of space for about 1.5 years. Some organisms survived in an inactive state for considerable lengths of time, and those samples sheltered by simulated meteorite material provide experimental evidence for the likelihood of the hypothetical scenario of lithopanspermia.
Several simulations in laboratories and in low Earth orbit suggest that ejection, entry and impact is survivable for some simple organisms. In 2015, remains of biotic material were found in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia, when the young Earth was about 400 million years old. According to one researcher, "If life arose relatively quickly on Earth … then it could be common in the universe."
In April 2018, a Russian team published a paper which disclosed that they found DNA on the exterior of the ISS from land and marine bacteria similar to those previously observed in superficial micro layers at the Barents and Kara seas' coastal zones. They conclude "The presence of the wild land and marine bacteria DNA on the ISS suggests their possible transfer from the stratosphere into the ionosphere with the ascending branch of the global atmospheric electrical circuit. Alternatively, the wild land and marine bacteria as well as the ISS bacteria may all have an ultimate space origin."
In October 2018, Harvard astronomers presented an analytical model that suggests matter—and potentially dormant spores—can be exchanged across the vast distances between galaxies, a process termed 'galactic panspermia', and not be restricted to the limited scale of solar systems. The detection of an extra-solar object named ʻOumuamua crossing the inner Solar System in a
hyperbolic orbit confirms the existence of a continuing material link with exoplanetary systems.
In November 2019, scientists reported detecting, for the first time, sugar molecules, including ribose, in meteorites, suggesting that chemical processes on asteroids can produce some fundamentally essential bio-ingredients important to life, and supporting the notion of an RNA world prior to a DNA-based origin of life on Earth, and possibly, as well, the notion of panspermia.
Panspermia can be said to be either interstellar (between star systems) or interplanetary (between planets in the same star system); its transport mechanisms may include comets, radiation pressure and lithopanspermia (microorganisms embedded in rocks). Interplanetary transfer of nonliving material is well documented, as evidenced by meteorites of Martian origin found on Earth. Space probes may also be a viable transport mechanism for interplanetary cross-pollination in the Solar System or even beyond. However, space agencies have implemented planetary protection procedures to reduce the risk of planetary contamination, although, as recently discovered, some microorganisms, such as Tersicoccus phoenicis, may be resistant to procedures used in spacecraft assembly clean room facilities.
In 2012, mathematician Edward Belbruno and astronomers Amaya Moro-Martín and Renu Malhotra proposed that gravitational low-energy transfer of rocks among the young planets of stars in their birth cluster is commonplace, and not rare in the general galactic stellar population. Deliberate directed panspermia from space to seed Earth or sent from Earth to seed other planetary systems have also been proposed. One twist to the hypothesis by engineer Thomas Dehel (2006), proposes that plasmoid magnetic fields ejected from the magnetosphere may move the few spores lifted from the Earth's atmosphere with sufficient speed to cross interstellar space to other systems before the spores can be destroyed. In 2020, Paleobiologist Grzegorz Sadlok proposed the hypothesis that life can transit interstellar distances on nomadic exoplanets and/or its exomoons.
In 1903, Svante Arrhenius published in his article "The Distribution of Life in Space", the hypothesis now called radiopanspermia, that microscopic forms of life can be propagated in space, driven by the radiation pressure from stars. Arrhenius argued that particles at a critical size below 1.5 μm would be propagated at high speed by radiation pressure of the Sun. However, because its effectiveness decreases with increasing size of the particle, this mechanism holds for very tiny particles only, such as single bacterial spores.
The main criticism of radiopanspermia hypothesis came from Iosif Shklovsky and Carl Sagan, who pointed out the proofs of the lethal action of space radiations (UV and X-rays) in the cosmos. Regardless of the evidence, Wallis and Wickramasinghe argued in 2004 that the transport of individual bacteria or clumps of bacteria, is overwhelmingly more important than lithopanspermia in terms of numbers of microbes transferred, even accounting for the death rate of unprotected bacteria in transit.
Then, data gathered by the orbital experiments ERA, BIOPAN, EXOSTACK and EXPOSE, determined that isolated spores, including those of "B. subtilis", were killed if exposed to the full space environment for merely a few seconds, but if shielded against solar UV, the spores were capable of surviving in space for up to six years while embedded in clay or meteorite powder (artificial meteorites).
Minimal protection is required to shelter a spore against UV radiation: Exposure of unprotected DNA to solar UV and cosmic ionizing radiation break it up into its constituent bases. Also, exposing DNA to the ultrahigh vacuum of space alone is sufficient to cause DNA damage, so the transport of unprotected DNA or RNA during interplanetary flights powered solely by light pressure is extremely unlikely.
The feasibility of other means of transport for the more massive shielded spores into the outer Solar System—for example, through gravitational capture by comets—is at this time unknown.
Based on experimental data on radiation effects and DNA stability, it has been concluded that for such long travel times, boulder-sized rocks which are greater than or equal to 1 meter in diameter are required to effectively shield resistant microorganisms, such as bacterial spores against galactic cosmic radiation. These results clearly negate the radiopanspermia hypothesis, which requires single spores accelerated by the radiation pressure of the Sun, requiring many years to travel between the planets, and support the likelihood of interplanetary transfer of microorganisms within asteroids or comets, the so-called lithopanspermia hypothesis.
Lithopanspermia, the transfer of organisms in rocks from one planet to another either through interplanetary or interstellar space, remains speculative. Although there is no evidence that lithopanspermia has occurred in the Solar System, the various stages have become amenable to experimental testing.
Thomas Gold, a professor of astronomy, suggested in 1960 the hypothesis of "Cosmic Garbage", that life on Earth might have originated accidentally from a pile of waste products dumped on Earth long ago by extraterrestrial beings.
Directed panspermia concerns the deliberate transport of microorganisms in space, sent to Earth to start life here, or sent from Earth to seed new planetary systems with life by introduced species of microorganisms on lifeless planets. The Nobel prize winner Francis Crick, along with Leslie Orgel proposed that life may have been purposely spread by an advanced extraterrestrial civilization, but considering an early "RNA world" Crick noted later that life may have originated on Earth. It has been suggested that 'directed' panspermia was proposed in order to counteract various objections, including the argument that microbes would be inactivated by the space environment and cosmic radiation before they could make a chance encounter with Earth.
Conversely, active directed panspermia has been proposed to secure and expand life in space. This may be motivated by biotic ethics that values, and seeks to propagate, the basic patterns of our organic gene/protein life-form. The panbiotic program would seed new planetary systems nearby, and clusters of new stars in interstellar clouds. These young targets, where local life would not have formed yet, avoid any interference with local life.
For example, microbial payloads launched by solar sails at speeds up to 0.0001 "c" (30,000 m/s) would reach targets at 10 to 100 light-years in 0.1 million to 1 million years. Fleets of microbial capsules can be aimed at clusters of new stars in star-forming clouds, where they may land on planets or be captured by asteroids and comets and later delivered to planets. Payloads may contain extremophiles for diverse environments and cyanobacteria similar to early microorganisms. Hardy multicellular organisms (rotifer cysts) may be included to induce higher evolution.
The probability of hitting the target zone can be calculated from formula_1 where "A"(target) is the cross-section of the target area, "dy" is the positional uncertainty at arrival; "a" – constant (depending on units), "r"(target) is the radius of the target area; "v" the velocity of the probe; (tp) the targeting precision (arcsec/yr); and "d" the distance to the target, guided by high-resolution astrometry of 1×10−5 arcsec/yr (all units in SIU). These calculations show that relatively near target stars(Alpha PsA, Beta Pictoris) can be seeded by milligrams of launched microbes; while seeding the Rho Ophiochus star-forming cloud requires hundreds of kilograms of dispersed capsules.
Directed panspermia to secure and expand life in space is becoming possible because of developments in solar sails, precise astrometry, extrasolar planets, extremophiles and microbial genetic engineering. After determining the composition of chosen meteorites, astroecologists performed laboratory experiments that suggest that many colonizing microorganisms and some plants could obtain many of their chemical nutrients from asteroid and cometary materials. However, the scientists noted that phosphate (PO4) and nitrate (NO3–N) critically limit nutrition to many terrestrial lifeforms. With such materials, and energy from long-lived stars, microscopic life planted by directed panspermia could find an immense future in the galaxy.
A number of publications since 1979 have proposed the idea that directed panspermia could be demonstrated to be the origin of all life on Earth if a distinctive 'signature' message were found, deliberately implanted into either the genome or the genetic code of the first microorganisms by our hypothetical progenitor.
In 2013 a team of physicists claimed that they had found mathematical and semiotic patterns in the genetic code which they think is evidence for such a signature. This claim has been challenged by biologist PZ Myers who said, writing in Pharyngula: In a later peer-reviewed article, the authors address the operation of natural law in an extensive statistical test, and draw the same conclusion as in the previous article. In special sections they also discuss methodological concerns raised by PZ Myers and some others.
Pseudo-panspermia (sometimes called soft panspermia, molecular panspermia or quasi-panspermia) proposes that the organic molecules used for life originated in space and were incorporated in the solar nebula, from which the planets condensed and were further—and continuously—distributed to planetary surfaces where life then emerged (abiogenesis). From the early 1970s it was becoming evident that interstellar dust consisted of a large component of organic molecules. The first suggestion came from Chandra Wickramasinghe, who proposed a polymeric composition based on the molecule formaldehyde (CH2O).
Interstellar molecules are formed by chemical reactions within very sparse interstellar or circumstellar clouds of dust and gas. Usually this occurs when a molecule becomes ionized, often as the result of an interaction with cosmic rays. This positively charged molecule then draws in a nearby reactant by electrostatic attraction of the neutral molecule's electrons. Molecules can also be generated by reactions between neutral atoms and molecules, although this process is generally slower. The dust plays a critical role of shielding the molecules from the ionizing effect of ultraviolet radiation emitted by stars.
Mathematician and MIT graduate Jason Guillory who also won the fields award at the age of 12 and
In August 2009, NASA scientists identified one of the fundamental chemical building-blocks of life (the amino acid glycine) in a comet for the first time.
In August 2011, a report, based on NASA studies with meteorites found on Earth, was published suggesting building blocks of DNA (adenine, guanine and related organic molecules) may have been formed extraterrestrially in outer space. In October 2011, scientists reported that cosmic dust contains complex organic matter ("amorphous organic solids with a mixed aromatic-aliphatic structure") that could be created naturally, and rapidly, by stars. One of the scientists suggested that these complex organic compounds may have been related to the development of life on Earth and said that, "If this is the case, life on Earth may have had an easier time getting started as these organics can serve as basic ingredients for life."
In August 2012, and in a world first, astronomers at Copenhagen University reported the detection of a specific sugar molecule, glycolaldehyde, in a distant star system. The molecule was found around the protostellar binary "IRAS 16293-2422", which is located 400 light years from Earth. Glycolaldehyde is needed to form ribonucleic acid, or RNA, which is similar in function to DNA. This finding suggests that complex organic molecules may form in stellar systems prior to the formation of planets, eventually arriving on young planets early in their formation.
In September 2012, NASA scientists reported that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), subjected to interstellar medium (ISM) conditions, are transformed, through hydrogenation, oxygenation and hydroxylation, to more complex organics—"a step along the path toward amino acids and nucleotides, the raw materials of proteins and DNA, respectively". Further, as a result of these transformations, the PAHs lose their spectroscopic signature which could be one of the reasons "for the lack of PAH detection in interstellar ice grains, particularly the outer regions of cold, dense clouds or the upper molecular layers of protoplanetary disks."
In 2013, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA Project) confirmed that researchers have discovered an important pair of prebiotic molecules in the icy particles in interstellar space (ISM). The chemicals, found in a giant cloud of gas about 25,000 light-years from Earth in ISM, may be a precursor to a key component of DNA and the other may have a role in the formation of an important amino acid. Researchers found a molecule called cyanomethanimine, which produces adenine, one of the four nucleobases that form the "rungs" in the ladder-like structure of DNA.
The other molecule, called ethanamine, is thought to play a role in forming alanine, one of the twenty amino acids in the genetic code. Previously, scientists thought such processes took place in the very tenuous gas between the stars. The new discoveries, however, suggest that the chemical formation sequences for these molecules occurred not in gas, but on the surfaces of ice grains in interstellar space. NASA ALMA scientist Anthony Remijan stated that finding these molecules in an interstellar gas cloud means that important building blocks for DNA and amino acids can 'seed' newly formed planets with the chemical precursors for life.
In March 2013, a simulation experiment indicate that dipeptides (pairs of amino acids) that can be building blocks of proteins, can be created in interstellar dust.
In February 2014, NASA announced a greatly upgraded database for tracking polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the universe. According to scientists, more than 20% of the carbon in the universe may be associated with PAHs, possible starting materials for the formation of life. PAHs seem to have been formed shortly after the Big Bang, are widespread throughout the universe, and are associated with new stars and exoplanets.
In March 2015, NASA scientists reported that, for the first time, complex DNA and RNA organic compounds of life, including uracil, cytosine and thymine, have been formed in the laboratory under outer space conditions, using starting chemicals, such as pyrimidine, found in meteorites. Pyrimidine, like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), the most carbon-rich chemical found in the Universe, may have been formed in red giants or in interstellar dust and gas clouds, according to the scientists.
In May 2016, the Rosetta Mission team reported the presence of glycine, methylamine and ethylamine in the coma of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. This, plus the detection of phosphorus, is consistent with the hypothesis that comets played a crucial role in the emergence of life on Earth.
In 2019, the detection of extraterrestrial sugars in meteorites implied the possibility that extraterrestrial sugars may have contributed to forming functional biopolymers like RNA.
In 2020, detailed study of an Allende meteorite named "Acfer 086", have identified an iron and lithium-containing protein, named hemolithin by the researchers, of extraterrestrial origin, first such discovery in a meteorite.
The chemistry of life may have begun shortly after the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago, during a habitable epoch when the Universe was only 10–17 million years old. According to the panspermia hypothesis, microscopic life—distributed by meteoroids, asteroids and other small Solar System bodies—may exist throughout the universe. Nonetheless, Earth is the only place in the universe known by humans to harbor life. The sheer number of planets in the Milky Way galaxy, however, may make it probable that life has arisen somewhere else in the galaxy and the universe. It is generally agreed that the conditions required for the evolution of intelligent life as we know it are probably exceedingly rare in the universe, while simultaneously noting that simple single-celled microorganisms may be more likely.
The extrasolar planet results from the Kepler mission estimate 100–400 billion exoplanets, with over 3,500 as candidates or confirmed exoplanets. On 4 November 2013, astronomers reported, based on Kepler space mission data, that there could be as many as 40 billion Earth-sized planets orbiting in the habitable zones of sun-like stars and red dwarf stars within the Milky Way Galaxy. 11 billion of these estimated planets may be orbiting sun-like stars. The nearest such planet may be 12 light-years away, according to the scientists.
It is estimated that space travel over cosmic distances would take an incredibly long time to an outside observer, and with vast amounts of energy required. However, some scientists hypothesize that faster-than-light interstellar space travel might be feasible. This has been explored by NASA scientists since at least 1995.
Hoyle and Wickramasinghe have speculated that several outbreaks of illnesses on Earth are of extraterrestrial origins, including the 1918 flu pandemic, and certain outbreaks of polio and mad cow disease. For the 1918 flu pandemic they hypothesized that cometary dust brought the virus to Earth simultaneously at multiple locations—a view almost universally dismissed by experts on this pandemic. Hoyle also speculated that HIV came from outer space.
After Hoyle's death, "The Lancet" published a letter to the editor from Wickramasinghe and two of his colleagues, in which they hypothesized that the virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) could be extraterrestrial in origin and not originated from chickens. "The Lancet" subsequently published three responses to this letter, showing that the hypothesis was not evidence-based, and casting doubts on the quality of the experiments referenced by Wickramasinghe in his letter. A 2008 encyclopedia notes that "Like other claims linking terrestrial disease to extraterrestrial pathogens, this proposal was rejected by the greater research community."
In April 2016, Jiangwen Qu of the Department of Infectious Disease Control in China presented a statistical study suggesting that "extremes of sunspot activity to within plus or minus 1 year may precipitate influenza pandemics." He discussed possible mechanisms of epidemic initiation and early spread, including speculation on primary causation by externally derived viral variants from space via cometary dust.
A separate fragment of the Orgueil meteorite (kept in a sealed glass jar since its discovery) was found in 1965 to have a seed capsule embedded in it, whilst the original glassy layer on the outside remained undisturbed. Despite great initial excitement, the seed was found to be that of a European Juncaceae or Rush plant that had been glued into the fragment and camouflaged using coal dust. The outer "fusion layer" was in fact glue. Whilst the perpetrator of this hoax is unknown, it is thought that they sought to influence the 19th century debate on spontaneous generation—rather than panspermia—by demonstrating the transformation of inorganic to biological matter.
Until the 1970s, life was thought to depend on its access to sunlight. Even life in the ocean depths, where sunlight cannot reach, was believed to obtain its nourishment either from consuming organic detritus rained down from the surface waters or from eating animals that did. However, in 1977, during an exploratory dive to the Galapagos Rift in the deep-sea exploration submersible "Alvin", scientists discovered colonies of assorted creatures clustered around undersea volcanic features known as black smokers.
It was soon determined that the basis for this food chain is a form of bacterium that derives its energy from oxidation of reactive chemicals, such as hydrogen or hydrogen sulfide, that bubble up from the Earth's interior. This chemosynthesis revolutionized the study of biology by revealing that terrestrial life need not be Sun-dependent; it only requires water and an energy gradient in order to exist.
It is now known that extremophiles, microorganisms with extraordinary capability to thrive in the harshest environments on Earth, can specialize to thrive in the deep-sea, ice, boiling water, acid, the water core of nuclear reactors, salt crystals, toxic waste and in a range of other extreme habitats that were previously thought to be inhospitable for life. Living bacteria found in ice core samples retrieved from deep at Lake Vostok in Antarctica, have provided data for extrapolations to the likelihood of microorganisms surviving frozen in extraterrestrial habitats or during interplanetary transport. Also, bacteria have been discovered living within warm rock deep in the Earth's crust. Metallosphaera sedula can grow on meteorites in a lab.
In order to test some of these organisms' potential resilience in outer space, plant seeds and spores of bacteria, fungi and ferns have been exposed to the harsh space environment. Spores are produced as part of the normal life cycle of many plants, algae, fungi and some protozoans, and some bacteria produce endospores or cysts during times of stress. These structures may be highly resilient to ultraviolet and gamma radiation, desiccation, lysozyme, temperature, starvation and chemical disinfectants, while metabolically inactive. Spores germinate when favourable conditions are restored after exposure to conditions fatal to the parent organism.
Although computer models suggest that a captured meteoroid would typically take some tens of millions of years before collision with a planet, there are documented viable Earthly bacterial spores that are 40 million years old that are very resistant to radiation, and others able to resume life after being dormant for 25 million years, suggesting that lithopanspermia life-transfers are possible via meteorites exceeding 1 m in size.
The discovery of deep-sea ecosystems, along with advancements in the fields of astrobiology, observational astronomy and discovery of large varieties of extremophiles, opened up a new avenue in astrobiology by massively expanding the number of possible extraterrestrial habitats and possible transport of hardy microbial life through vast distances.
The question of whether certain microorganisms can survive in the harsh environment of outer space has intrigued biologists since the beginning of spaceflight, and opportunities were provided to expose samples to space. The first American tests were made in 1966, during the Gemini IX and XII missions, when samples of bacteriophage T1 and spores of "Penicillium roqueforti" were exposed to outer space for 16.8 h and 6.5 h, respectively. Other basic life sciences research in low Earth orbit started in 1966 with the Soviet biosatellite program Bion and the U.S. Biosatellite program. Thus, the plausibility of panspermia can be evaluated by examining life forms on Earth for their capacity to survive in space. The following experiments carried on low Earth orbit specifically tested some aspects of panspermia or lithopanspermia:
The Exobiology Radiation Assembly (ERA) was a 1992 experiment on board the European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) on the biological effects of space radiation. EURECA was an unmanned 4.5 tonne satellite with a payload of 15 experiments. It was an astrobiology mission developed by the European Space Agency (ESA). Spores of different strains of "Bacillus subtilis" and the "Escherichia coli" plasmid pUC19 were exposed to selected conditions of space (space vacuum and/or defined wavebands and intensities of solar ultraviolet radiation). After the approximately 11-month mission, their responses were studied in terms of survival, mutagenesis in the "his" ("B. subtilis") or "lac" locus (pUC19), induction of DNA strand breaks, efficiency of DNA repair systems, and the role of external protective agents. The data were compared with those of a simultaneously running ground control experiment:
BIOPAN is a multi-user experimental facility installed on the external surface of the Russian Foton descent capsule. Experiments developed for BIOPAN are designed to investigate the effect of the space environment on biological material after exposure between 13 and 17 days. The experiments in BIOPAN are exposed to solar and cosmic radiation, the space vacuum and weightlessness, or a selection thereof. Of the 6 missions flown so far on BIOPAN between 1992 and 2007, dozens of experiments were conducted, and some analyzed the likelihood of panspermia. Some bacteria, lichens ("Xanthoria elegans", "Rhizocarpon geographicum" and their mycobiont cultures, the black Antarctic microfungi "Cryomyces minteri" and "Cryomyces antarcticus"), spores, and even one animal (tardigrades) were found to have survived the harsh outer space environment and cosmic radiation.
The German EXOSTACK experiment was deployed on 7 April 1984 on board the Long Duration Exposure Facility satellite. 30% of "Bacillus subtilis" spores survived the nearly 6 years exposure when embedded in salt crystals, whereas 80% survived in the presence of glucose, which stabilize the structure of the cellular macromolecules, especially during vacuum-induced dehydration.
If shielded against solar UV, spores of "B. subtilis" were capable of surviving in space for up to 6 years, especially if embedded in clay or meteorite powder (artificial meteorites). The data support the likelihood of interplanetary transfer of microorganisms within meteorites, the so-called lithopanspermia hypothesis.
EXPOSE is a multi-user facility mounted outside the International Space Station dedicated to astrobiology experiments. There have been three EXPOSE experiments flown between 2008 and 2015: EXPOSE-E, EXPOSE-R and EXPOSE-R2.
Results from the orbital missions, especially the experiments "SEEDS" and "LiFE", concluded that after an 18-month exposure, some seeds and lichens ("Stichococcus sp." and "Acarospora sp"., a lichenized fungal genus) may be capable to survive interplanetary travel if sheltered inside comets or rocks from cosmic radiation and UV radiation. The "LIFE", "SPORES", and "SEEDS" parts of the experiments provided information about the likelihood of lithopanspermia. These studies will provide experimental data to the lithopanspermia hypothesis, and they will provide basic data to planetary protection issues.
The Tanpopo mission is an orbital astrobiology experiment by Japan that is currently investigating the possible interplanetary transfer of life, organic compounds, and possible terrestrial particles in low Earth orbit. The Tanpopo experiment took place at the Exposed Facility located on the exterior of Kibo module of the International Space Station. The mission collected cosmic dusts and other particles for three years by using an ultra-low density silica gel called aerogel. The purpose is to assess the panspermia hypothesis and the possibility of natural interplanetary transport of life and its precursors. Some of these aerogels were replaced every one or two years through 2018. Sample collection began in May 2015, and the first samples were returned to Earth in mid-2016. Analyses are ongoing.
Panspermia is often criticized because it does not answer the question of the origin of life but merely places it on another celestial body. It was also criticized because it was thought it could not be tested experimentally.
Wallis and Wickramasinghe argued in 2004 that the transport of individual bacteria or clumps of bacteria, is overwhelmingly more important than lithopanspermia in terms of numbers of microbes transferred, even accounting for the death rate of unprotected bacteria in transit. Then it was found that isolated spores of "B. subtilis" were killed by several orders of magnitude if exposed to the full space environment for a mere few seconds. Though these results may seem to negate the original panspermia hypothesis, the type of microorganism making the long journey is inherently unknown and also its features unknown. It could then be impossible to dismiss the hypothesis based on the hardiness of a few earth-evolved microorganisms. Also, if shielded against solar UV, spores of "Bacillus subtilis" were capable of surviving in space for up to 6 years, especially if embedded in clay or meteorite powder (artificial meteorites). The data support the likelihood of interplanetary transfer of microorganisms within meteorites, the so-called lithopanspermia hypothesis. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23678 |
There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom
"There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom: An Invitation to Enter a New Field of Physics" was a lecture given by physicist Richard Feynman at the annual American Physical Society meeting at Caltech on December 29, 1959. Feynman considered the possibility of direct manipulation of individual atoms as a more powerful form of synthetic chemistry than those used at the time. Although versions of the talk were reprinted in a few popular magazines, it went largely unnoticed and did not inspire the conceptual beginnings of the field. Beginning in the 1980s, nanotechnology advocates cited it to establish the scientific credibility of their work.
Feynman considered some ramifications of a general ability to manipulate matter on an atomic scale. He was particularly interested in the possibilities of denser computer circuitry, and microscopes that could see things much smaller than is possible with scanning electron microscopes. These ideas were later realized by the use of the scanning tunneling microscope, the atomic force microscope and other examples of scanning probe microscopy and storage systems such as Millipede, created by researchers at IBM.
Feynman also suggested that it should be possible, in principle, to make nanoscale machines that "arrange the atoms the way we want", and do chemical synthesis by mechanical manipulation.
He also presented the possibility of "swallowing the doctor", an idea that he credited in the essay to his friend and graduate student Albert Hibbs. This concept involved building a tiny, swallowable surgical robot.
As a thought experiment he proposed developing a set of one-quarter-scale manipulator hands slaved to the operator's hands to build one-quarter scale machine tools analogous to those found in any machine shop. This set of small tools would then be used by the small hands to build and operate ten sets of one-sixteenth-scale hands and tools, and so forth, culminating in perhaps a billion tiny factories to achieve massively parallel operations. He uses the analogy of a pantograph as a way of scaling down items. This idea was anticipated in part, down to the microscale, by science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein in his 1942 story "Waldo".
As the sizes got smaller, one would have to redesign tools, because the relative strength of various forces would change. Gravity would become less important, and Van der Waals forces such as surface tension would become more important. Feynman mentioned these scaling issues during his talk. Nobody has yet attempted to implement this thought experiment; some types of biological enzymes and enzyme complexes (especially ribosomes) function chemically in a way close to Feynman's vision. Feynman also mentioned in his lecture that it might be better eventually to use glass or plastic because their greater uniformity would avoid problems in the very small scale (metals and crystals are separated into domains where the lattice structure prevails). This could be a good reason to make machines and electronics out of glass and plastic. At the present time, there are electronic components made of both materials. In glass, there are optical fiber cables that amplify the light pulses at regular intervals, using glass doped with the rare-earth element erbium. The doped glass is spliced into the fiber and pumped by a laser operating at a different frequency. In plastic, field effect transistors are being made with polythiophene, a polymer invented by Alan J. Heeger et al. that becomes an electrical conductor when oxidized. By 2016, a factor of just 20 in electron mobility separated plastic from silicon.
At the meeting Feynman concluded his talk with two challenges, and offered a prize of $1000 for the first to solve each one. The first challenge involved the construction of a tiny motor, which, to Feynman's surprise, was achieved by November 1960 by Caltech graduate William McLellan, a meticulous craftsman, using conventional tools. The motor met the conditions, but did not advance the art. The second challenge involved the possibility of scaling down letters small enough so as to be able to fit the entire "Encyclopædia Britannica" on the head of a pin, by writing the information from a book page on a surface 1/25,000 smaller in linear scale. In 1985, Tom Newman, a Stanford graduate student, successfully reduced the first paragraph of "A Tale of Two Cities" by 1/25,000, and collected the second Feynman prize. Newman's thesis adviser, R. Fabian Pease, had read the paper in 1966; but it was another grad student in the lab, Ken Polasko, who had recently read it who suggested attempting the challenge. Newman was looking for an arbitrary random pattern for demonstrating their technology. Newman said, "Text was ideal because it has so many different shapes."
"The New Scientist" reported "the scientific audience was captivated." Feynman had "spun the idea off the top of his mind" without even "notes from beforehand". There were no copies of the speech available. A "foresighted admirer" brought a tape recorder and an edited transcript, without Feynman's jokes, was made for publication by Caltech. In February 1960, Caltech's "Engineering and Science" published the speech. In addition to excerpts in "The New Scientist", versions were printed in "The Saturday Review" and "Popular Science". Newspapers announced the winning of the first challenge. The lecture was included as the final chapter in the 1961 book, "Miniaturization".
K. Eric Drexler later took the Feynman concept of a billion tiny factories and added the idea that they could make more copies of themselves, via computer control instead of control by a human operator, in his 1986 book "Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology".
After Feynman's death, scholars studying the historical development of nanotechnology have concluded that his role in catalyzing nanotechnology research was not highly rated by many of the people active in the nascent field in the 1980s and 1990s. Chris Toumey, a cultural anthropologist at the University of South Carolina, has reconstructed the history of the publication and republication of Feynman's talk, along with the record of citations to "Plenty of Room" in the scientific literature.
In Toumey's 2008 article, "Reading Feynman into Nanotechnology", he found 11 versions of the publication of "Plenty of Room", plus two instances of a closely related talk by Feynman, "Infinitesimal Machinery", which Feynman called "Plenty of Room, Revisited" (published under the name "Infinitesimal Machinery"). Also in Toumey's references are videotapes of that second talk. The journal "Nature Nanotechnology" dedicated an issue in 2009 to the subject.
Toumey found that the published versions of Feynman's talk had a negligible influence in the twenty years after it was first published, as measured by citations in the scientific literature, and not much more influence in the decade after the Scanning Tunneling Microscope was invented in 1981. Interest in "Plenty of Room" in the scientific literature greatly increased in the early 1990s. This is probably because the term "nanotechnology" gained serious attention just before that time, following its use by Drexler in his 1986 book, "Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology", which cited Feynman, and in a cover article headlined "Nanotechnology", published later that year in a mass-circulation science-oriented magazine, "OMNI". The journal "Nanotechnology" was launched in 1989; the famous Eigler-Schweizer experiment, precisely manipulating 35 xenon atoms, was published in "Nature" in April 1990; and "Science" had a special issue on nanotechnology in November 1991. These and other developments hint that the retroactive rediscovery of "Plenty of Room" gave nanotechnology a packaged history that provided an early date of December 1959, plus a connection to Richard Feynman.
Toumey's analysis also includes comments from scientists in nanotechnology who say that "Plenty of Room" did not influence their early work, and most of them had not read it until a later date.
Feynman's stature as a Nobel laureate and as an important figure in 20th century science helped advocates of nanotechnology and provided a valuable intellectual link to the past. More concretely, his stature and concept of atomically precise fabrication played a role in securing funding for nanotechnology research, illustrated by President Clinton's January 2000 speech calling for a Federal program:
The version of the Nanotechnology Research and Development Act that was passed by the House in May 2003 called for a study of the technical feasibility of molecular manufacturing, but this study was removed to safeguard funding of less controversial research before it was passed by the Senate and signed into law by President George W. Bush on December 3, 2003. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23680 |
Philately
Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection, appreciation and research activities on stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting or the study of postage; it is possible to be a philatelist without owning any stamps. For instance, the stamps being studied may be very rare or reside only in museums.
The word "philately" is the English transliteration of the French "philatélie", coined by Georges Herpin in 1864. Herpin stated that stamps had been collected and studied for the previous six or seven years and a better name was required for the new hobby than "timbromanie" (roughly "stamp quest"), which was disliked. The alternative terms "timbromania", "timbrophily" and "timbrology" gradually fell out of use as "philately" gained acceptance during the 1860s. He took the Greek root word φιλ(ο)- "phil(o)-", meaning "an attraction or affinity for something", and ἀτέλεια "ateleia", meaning "exempt from duties and taxes" to form "philatelie".
As a collection field, philately appeared after the introduction of the postage stamps in 1840, but did not gain large attraction until the mid-1850s. Some authors believe that the first philatelist appeared on the day of the release of the world's first postage stamp, dated to May 6, 1840, when the Liverson, Denby and Lavie London law office sent a letter to Scotland franked with ten uncut Penny Blacks, stamped with the postmark “LS.6MY6. 1840." In 1992 at an auction in Zurich, this envelope was sold for 690 thousand francs.
Already in 1846, cases of collecting stamps in large numbers were known in England. However, without reason for collection, stamps at this time were used for pasting wallpaper. The first philatelist is considered to be a postmaster going by Mansen, who lived in Paris, and in 1855 had sold his collection, which contained almost all the postage stamps issued by that time. The stamp merchant and second-hand book dealer Edard de Laplante bought it, recognizing the definitive collector's worth of the postage stamp. Due to the boom in popularity and news of this transaction, stamp merchants like Laplante began to emerge.
Towards the end of the 19th century stamp collecting reached hundreds of thousands of people of all classes. Even some states had collections of postage stamps, for example, England, Germany, France, Bavaria, and Bulgaria). In countries who held national collections, museums were built to dedicate that nation's history with philately, and the first such appeared in Germany, France, and Bulgaria. Allegedly, the first of these museums housed the collection of the British Museum, curated by MP Tapling and bequeathed to the Museum in 1891. The Museum für Kommunikation Berlin also had an extensive collection of stamps. The largest collection of the time belonged to Baron Philipp von Ferrary in Paris.
As the number of postage stamp issues increased every year, collection became progressively difficult. Therefore, from the early 1880s, "collector experts" appeared, specializing their collection to only one part of the world, a group of nations, or even only one.
Philately as one of the most popular types of collecting continued to develop in the 20th century. Along with the "Scott", "Stanley Gibbons", and "Yvert et Tellier" catalogs, the "Zumstein" (first published in Switzerland, 1909), and the "Michel" (first published in Germany, 1910) catalogs began publication.
In 1934, the idea to celebrate an annual Postage Stamp Day was suggested by Hans von Rudolphi, a German philatelist. The idea was adopted rapidly in Germany, and gained later adoption in other countries. Stamp Day is a memorial day established by the postal administration of a country and annually celebrated, which is designed to attract public attention to, popularize the use of, and expand the reach of postal correspondence, and contribute to the development of philately. In 1968, Cuba dedicated a postage stamp for Stamp Day with an image of G. Sciltian's "El filatelista".
In 1926, the Fédération Internationale de Philatélie (FIP) was founded, where international philatelic exhibitions have been regularly organized since 1929.The first World Philatelic Exhibition in Prague was held between August and September 1962; in 1976, the FIP brought together national societies from 57 countries, which held over 100 exhibitions, and in 1987, over 60 countries entered the FIP.
Since the middle of the 20th century, philately has become the most widespread field of amateur collecting, which was facilitated by:
Philately magazines, at this time, were published as far east as Poland, and as far west as North America. In Canada, "Canadian Stamp News" was established in 1976 as an off-shoot to "Canadian Coin News", which was launched about a decade earlier.
Philately was largely advanced by the USSR and nations within its sphere of influence, and the United States, France, the UK, and Austria. The British Library Philatelic Collections and the postal museums in Stockholm, Paris, and Bern had unique national philately collections at that time, and among the famous private collections are those of the Royal Philatelic Collection, F. Ferrari (Austria), M. Burrus (Switzerland), A. Lichtenstein, A. Hind, J. Boker (USA), and H. Kanai (Japan).
In the mid-1970s, national philately organizations and associations existed in most countries, and 150-200 million people were involved in philately during meetings established.
From August 28 to September 1, 2004, the World Stamp Championship was held for the first time in the history of world philately in Singapore.
Traditional philately is the study of the technical aspects of stamp production and stamp identification, including:
Philately uses several tools, including stamp tongs (a specialized form of tweezers) to safely handle the stamps, a strong magnifying glass and a perforation gauge (odontometer) to measure the perforation gauge of the stamp.
The identification of watermarks is equally important and may be done with the naked eye by turning the stamp over or holding it up to the light. If this fails then "watermark fluid" may be used, which "wets" the stamp to reveal the mark.
Other common tools include stamp catalogs, stamp stock books and stamp hinges.
Philatelic organizations sprang up soon after people started collecting and studying stamps. They include local, national and international clubs and societies where collectors come together to share the various aspects of their hobby.
The world's oldest philatelic society is the Royal Philatelic Society London, which was founded on April 10, 1869, as the Philatelic Society. In North America, the major national societies include the American Philatelic Society; the Royal Philatelic Society of Canada; and the Mexico-Elmhurst Philatelic Society, International. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23681 |
Puget Sound
Puget Sound () is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and two minor connections to the open Pacific Ocean via the Strait of Juan de Fuca—Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and Deception Pass and Swinomish Channel being the minor.
Water flow through Deception Pass is approximately equal to 2% of the total tidal exchange between Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Puget Sound extends approximately from Deception Pass in the north to Olympia, Washington in the south. Its average depth is and its maximum depth, off Jefferson Point between Indianola and Kingston, is . The depth of the main basin, between the southern tip of Whidbey Island and Tacoma, Washington, is approximately .
In 2009, the term Salish Sea was established by the United States Board on Geographic Names as the collective waters of Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the Strait of Georgia. Sometimes the terms "Puget Sound" and "Puget Sound and adjacent waters" are used for not only Puget Sound proper but also for waters to the north, such as Bellingham Bay and the San Juan Islands region.
The term "Puget Sound" is used not just for the body of water but also the Puget Sound region centered on the sound. Major cities on the sound include Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, and Everett, Washington. Puget Sound is also the third-largest estuary in the United States, after the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and Virginia, and San Francisco Bay in Northern California.
In 1792 George Vancouver gave the name "Puget's Sound" to the waters south of the Tacoma Narrows, in honor of Peter Puget, a Huguenot lieutenant accompanying him on the Vancouver Expedition. This name later came to be used for the waters north of Tacoma Narrows as well.
A different term for Puget Sound, used by a number of Native Americans and environmental groups, is "Whulge" (or "Whulj"), an anglicization of the Lushootseed name "", which means "sea, salt water, ocean, or sound".
The USGS defines Puget Sound as all the waters south of three entrances from the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The main entrance at Admiralty Inlet is defined as a line between Point Wilson on the Olympic Peninsula, and Point Partridge on Whidbey Island. The second entrance is at Deception Pass along a line from West Point on Whidbey Island, to Deception Island, then to Rosario Head on Fidalgo Island. The third entrance is at the south end of the Swinomish Channel, which connects Skagit Bay and Padilla Bay. Under this definition, Puget Sound includes the waters of Hood Canal, Admiralty Inlet, Possession Sound, Saratoga Passage, and others. It does not include Bellingham Bay, Padilla Bay, the waters of the San Juan Islands or anything farther north.
Another definition, given by NOAA, subdivides Puget Sound into five basins or regions. Four of these (including South Puget Sound) correspond to areas within the USGS definition, but the fifth one, called "Northern Puget Sound" includes a large additional region. It is defined as bounded to the north by the international boundary with Canada, and to the west by a line running north from the mouth of the Sekiu River on the Olympic Peninsula. Under this definition significant parts of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Strait of Georgia are included in Puget Sound, with the international boundary marking an abrupt and hydrologically arbitrary limit.
According to Arthur Kruckeberg, the term "Puget Sound" is sometimes used for waters north of Admiralty Inlet and Deception Pass, especially for areas along the north coast of Washington and the San Juan Islands, essentially equivalent to NOAA's "Northern Puget Sound" subdivision described above. Kruckeberg uses the term "Puget Sound and adjacent waters".
Continental ice sheets have repeatedly advanced and retreated from the Puget Sound region. The most recent glacial period, called the Fraser Glaciation, had three phases, or stades. During the third, or Vashon Glaciation, a lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, called the Puget Lobe, spread south about 15,000 years ago, covering the Puget Sound region with an ice sheet about thick near Seattle, and nearly at the present Canada-U.S. border. Since each new advance and retreat of ice erodes away much of the evidence of previous ice ages, the most recent Vashon phase has left the clearest imprint on the land. At its maximum extent the Vashon ice sheet extended south of Olympia to near Tenino, and covered the lowlands between the Olympic and Cascade mountain ranges. About 14,000 years ago the ice began to retreat. By 11,000 years ago it survived only north of the Canada–US border.
The melting retreat of the Vashon Glaciation eroded the land, creating a drumlin field of hundreds of aligned drumlin hills. Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish (which are ribbon lakes), Hood Canal, and the main Puget Sound basin were altered by glacial forces. These glacial forces are not specifically "carving", as in cutting into the landscape via the mechanics of ice/glaciers, but rather eroding the landscape from melt water of the Vashon Glacier creating the drumlin field. As the ice retreated, vast amounts of glacial till were deposited throughout the Puget Sound region. The soils of the region, less than ten thousand years old, are still characterized as immature.
As the Vashon glacier receded a series of proglacial lakes formed, filling the main trough of Puget Sound and inundating the southern lowlands. Glacial Lake Russell was the first such large recessional lake. From the vicinity of Seattle in the north the lake extended south to the Black Hills, where it drained south into the Chehalis River. Sediments from Lake Russell form the blue-gray clay identified as the Lawton Clay. The second major recessional lake was Glacial Lake Bretz. It also drained to the Chehalis River until the Chimacum Valley, in the northeast Olympic Peninsula, melted, allowing the lake's water to rapidly drain north into the marine waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which was rising as the ice sheet retreated.
As icebergs calved off the toe of the glacier, their embedded gravels and boulders were deposited in the chaotic mix of unsorted till geologists call "glaciomarine drift." Many beaches about the Sound display glacial erratics, rendered more prominent than those in coastal woodland solely by their exposed position; submerged glacial erratics sometimes cause hazards to navigation. The sheer weight of glacial-age ice depressed the landforms, which experienced post-glacial rebound after the ice sheets had retreated. Because the rate of rebound was not synchronous with the post-ice age rise in sea levels, the bed of what is Puget Sound, filled alternately with fresh and with sea water. The upper level of the lake-sediment Lawton Clay now lies about above sea level.
The Puget Sound system consists of four deep basins connected by shallower sills. The four basins are Hood Canal, west of the Kitsap Peninsula, Whidbey Basin, east of Whidbey Island, South Sound, south of the Tacoma Narrows, and the Main Basin, which is further subdivided into Admiralty Inlet and the Central Basin. Puget Sound's sills, a kind of submarine terminal moraine, separate the basins from one another, and Puget Sound from the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Three sills are particularly significant—the one at Admiralty Inlet which checks the flow of water between the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound, the one at the entrance to Hood Canal (about below the surface), and the one at the Tacoma Narrows (about ). Other sills that present less of a barrier include the ones at Blake Island, Agate Pass, Rich Passage, and Hammersley Inlet.
The depth of the basins is a result of the Sound being part of the Cascadia subduction zone, where the terranes accreted at the edge of the Juan de Fuca Plate are being subducted under the North American Plate. There has not been a major subduction zone earthquake here since the magnitude nine Cascadia earthquake; according to Japanese records, it occurred 26 January 1700. Lesser Puget Sound earthquakes with shallow epicenters, caused by the fracturing of stressed oceanic rocks as they are subducted, still cause great damage. The Seattle Fault cuts across Puget Sound, crossing the southern tip of Bainbridge Island and under Elliott Bay. To the south, the existence of a second fault, the Tacoma Fault, has buckled the intervening strata in the Seattle Uplift.
Typical Puget Sound profiles of dense glacial till overlying permeable glacial outwash of gravels above an impermeable bed of silty clay may become unstable after periods of unusually wet weather and slump in landslides.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) defines Puget Sound as a bay with numerous channels and branches; more specifically, it is a fjord system of flooded glacial valleys. Puget Sound is part of a larger physiographic structure termed the Puget Trough, which is a physiographic section of the larger Pacific Border province, which in turn is part of the larger Pacific Mountain System.
Puget Sound is a large salt water estuary, or system of many estuaries, fed by highly seasonal freshwater from the Olympic and Cascade Mountain watersheds. The mean annual river discharge into Puget Sound is , with a monthly average maximum of about and minimum of about . Puget Sound's shoreline is long, encompassing a water area of and a total volume of at mean high water. The average volume of water flowing in and out of Puget Sound during each tide is . The maximum tidal currents, in the range of 9 to 10 knots, occurs at Deception Pass.
The size of Puget Sound's watershed is . "Northern Puget Sound" is frequently considered part of the Puget Sound watershed, which enlarges its size to . The USGS uses the name "Puget Sound" for its hydrologic unit subregion 1711, which includes areas draining to Puget Sound proper as well as the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the Strait of Georgia, and the Fraser River. Significant rivers that drain to "Northern Puget Sound" include the Nooksack, Dungeness, and Elwha Rivers. The Nooksack empties into Bellingham Bay, the Dungeness and Elwha into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The Chilliwack River flows north to the Fraser River in Canada.
Tides in Puget Sound are of the mixed type with two high and two low tides each tidal day. These are called Higher High Water (HHW), Lower Low Water (LLW), Lower High Water (LHW), and Higher Low Water (HLW). The configuration of basins, sills, and interconnections cause the tidal range to increase within Puget Sound. The difference in height between the Higher High Water and the Lower Low Water averages about at Port Townsend on Admiralty Inlet, but increases to about at Olympia, the southern end of Puget Sound.
Puget Sound is generally accepted as the start of the Inside Passage.
Important marine flora of Puget Sound include eelgrass ("Zostera marina") and kelp, especially bull kelp ("Nereocystis luetkeana").
Among the marine mammals species found in Puget Sound are harbor seals ("Phoca vitulina"). Orca ("Orcinus orca") are famous throughout the Sound, and are a large tourist attraction. Although orca are sometimes seen in Puget Sound proper they are far more prevalent around the San Juan Islands north of Puget Sound.
Many fish species occur in Puget Sound. The various salmonid species, including salmon, trout, and char are particularly well-known and studied. Salmonid species of Puget Sound include chinook salmon ("Oncorhynchus tshawytscha"), chum salmon ("O. keta"), coho salmon ("O. kisutch"), pink salmon ("O. gorbuscha"), sockeye salmon ("O. nerka"), sea-run coastal cutthroat trout ("O. clarki clarki"), steelhead ("O. mykiss irideus"), sea-run bull trout ("Salvelinus confluentus"), and Dolly Varden trout ("Salvelinus malma malma").
Common forage fishes found in Puget Sound include Pacific herring ("Clupea pallasii"), surf smelt ("Hypomesus pretiosus"), and Pacific sand lance ("Ammodytes hexapterus"). Important benthopelagic fish of Puget Sound include North Pacific hake ("Merluccius productus"), Pacific cod ("Gadus macrocelhalus"), walleye pollock ("Theragra chalcogramma"), and the spiny dogfish ("Squalus acanthias"). There are about 28 species of Sebastidae (rockfish), of many types, found in Puget Sound. Among those of special interest are copper rockfish ("Sebastes caurinus"), quillback rockfish ("S. maliger"), black rockfish ("S. melanops"), yelloweye rockfish ("S. ruberrimus"), bocaccio rockfish ("S. paucispinis"), canary rockfish ("S. pinniger"), and Puget Sound rockfish ("S. emphaeus").
Many other fish species occur in Puget Sound, such as sturgeons, lampreys, various sharks, rays, and skates.
Puget Sound is home to numerous species of marine invertebrates, including sponges, sea anemones, chitons, clams, sea snails, limpets crabs, barnacles starfish, sea urchins, and sand dollars. Dungeness crabs ("Metacarcinus magister") occur throughout Washington waters, including Puget Sound. Many bivalves occur in Puget Sound, such as Pacific oysters ("Crassostrea gigas") and geoduck clams ("Panopea generosa"). The Olympia oyster ("Ostreola conchaphila"), once common in Puget Sound, was depleted by human activities during the 20th century. There are ongoing efforts to restore Olympia oysters in Puget Sound.
There are many seabird species of Puget Sound. Among these are grebes such as the western grebe ("Aechmophorus occidentalis"); loons such as the common loon ("Gavia immer"); auks such as the pigeon guillemot ("Cepphus columba"), rhinoceros auklet ("Cerorhinca monocerata"), common murre ("Uria aalge"), and marbled murrelet ("Brachyramphus marmoratus"); the brant goose ("Branta bernicla"); seaducks such as the long-tailed duck ("Clangula hyemalis"), harlequin duck ("Histrionicus histrionicus"), and surf scoter ("Melanitta perspicillata"); and cormorants such as the double-crested cormorant ("Phalacrocorax auritus"). Puget Sound is home to a non-migratory and marine-oriented subspecies of great blue herons ("Ardea herodias fannini"). Bald eagles ("Haliaeetus leucocephalus") occur in relative high densities in the Puget Sound region.
It is estimated that more than 100 million geoducks (pronounced "gooey ducks") are packed into Puget Sound's sediments. Also known as "king clam", geoducks are considered to be a delicacy in Asian countries.
George Vancouver explored Puget Sound in 1792, and claimed it for Great Britain on 4 June the same year, and naming it for one of his officers, Lieutenant Peter Puget.
After 1818 Britain and the United States, which both claimed the Oregon Country, agreed to "joint occupancy", deferring resolution of the Oregon boundary dispute until the 1846 Oregon Treaty. Puget Sound was part of the disputed region until 1846, after which it became US territory.
American maritime fur traders visited Puget Sound in the early 19th century.
The first European settlement in the Puget Sound area was Fort Nisqually, a fur trade post of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) built in 1833. Fort Nisqually was part of the HBC's Columbia District, headquartered at Fort Vancouver. The Puget Sound Agricultural Company, a subsidiary of the HBC, established farms and ranches near Fort Nisqually. British ships such as the "Beaver", exported foodstuffs and provisions from Fort Nisqually.
The first American settlement on Puget Sound was Tumwater. It was founded in 1845 by Americans who had come via the Oregon Trail. The decision to settle north of the Columbia River was made in part because one of the settlers, George Washington Bush, was considered black and the Provisional Government of Oregon banned the residency of mulattoes but did not actively enforce the restriction north of the river.
In 1853 Washington Territory was formed from part of Oregon Territory. In 1888 the Northern Pacific railroad line reached Puget Sound, linking the region to eastern states.
A unique state-run ferry system, the Washington State Ferries, connects the larger islands to the Washington mainland, as well as both sides of the sound, with vessels capable of carrying passengers and automobile traffic. The system carries 24 million passengers annually and is the largest ferry operator in the United States.
In the past 30 years there has been a large recession in the populations of the species which inhabit Puget Sound. The decrease has been seen in the following populations: forage fish, salmonids, bottom fish, marine birds, harbor porpoise and orcas. This decline is attributed to the various environmental issues in Puget Sound. Because of this population decline, there have been changes to the fishery practices, and an increase in petitioning to add species to the Endangered Species Act. There has also been an increase in recovery and management plans for many different area species.
The causes of these environmental issues are toxic contamination, eutrophication (low oxygen due to excess nutrients), and near shore habitat changes.
On May 22, 1978 a valve was mistakenly opened aboard the submarine USS "Puffer" releasing up to 500 US gallons (1,900 l; 420 imp gal) of radioactive water into Puget Sound, during an overhaul in drydock at Bremerton Naval Shipyard. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23682 |
Rhenium
Rhenium is a chemical element with the symbol Re and atomic number 75. It is a silvery-gray, heavy, third-row transition metal in group 7 of the periodic table. With an estimated average concentration of 1 part per billion (ppb), rhenium is one of the rarest elements in the Earth's crust. Rhenium has the third-highest melting point and second-highest boiling point of any stable element at 5903 K. Rhenium resembles manganese and technetium chemically and is mainly obtained as a by-product of the extraction and refinement of molybdenum and copper ores. Rhenium shows in its compounds a wide variety of oxidation states ranging from −1 to +7.
Discovered in 1908, rhenium was the second-last stable element to be discovered (the last being hafnium). It was named after the river Rhine in Europe.
Nickel-based superalloys of rhenium are used in the combustion chambers, turbine blades, and exhaust nozzles of jet engines. These alloys contain up to 6% rhenium, making jet engine construction the largest single use for the element. The second-most important use is as a catalyst: rhenium is an excellent catalyst for hydrogenation and isomerization, and is used for example in catalytic reforming of naphtha for use in gasoline (rheniforming process). Because of the low availability relative to demand, rhenium is expensive, with price reaching an all-time high in 2008/2009 of US$10,600 per kilogram (US$4,800 per pound). Due to increases in rhenium recycling and a drop in demand for rhenium in catalysts, the price of rhenium has dropped to US$2,844 per kilogram (US$1,290 per pound) as of July 2018.
Rhenium ( meaning: "Rhine") was the second last-discovered of the elements that have a stable isotope (other new elements discovered in nature since then, such as francium, are radioactive). The existence of a yet-undiscovered element at this position in the periodic table had been first predicted by Dmitri Mendeleev. Other calculated information was obtained by Henry Moseley in 1914. In 1908, Japanese chemist Masataka Ogawa announced that he had discovered the 43rd element and named it "nipponium" (Np) after Japan ("Nippon" in Japanese). However, recent analysis indicated the presence of rhenium (element 75), not element 43, although this reinterpretation has been questioned by Eric Scerri. The symbol Np was later used for the element neptunium, and the name "nihonium", also named after Japan, along with symbol Nh, was later used for element 113. Element 113 was also discovered by a team of Japanese scientists and was named in respectful homage to Ogawa's work.
Rhenium is generally considered to have been discovered by Walter Noddack, Ida Noddack, and Otto Berg in Germany. In 1925 they reported that they had detected the element in platinum ore and in the mineral columbite. They also found rhenium in gadolinite and molybdenite. In 1928 they were able to extract 1 g of the element by processing 660 kg of molybdenite. It was estimated in 1968 that 75% of the rhenium metal in the United States was used for research and the development of refractory metal alloys. It took several years from that point before the superalloys became widely used.
Rhenium is a silvery-white metal with one of the highest melting points of all elements, exceeded by only tungsten and carbon. It also has one of the highest boiling points of all elements, and the highest among stable elements. It is also one of the densest, exceeded only by platinum, iridium and osmium. Rhenium has a hexagonal close-packed crystal structure, with lattice parameters "a" = 276.1 pm and "c" = 445.6 pm.
Its usual commercial form is a powder, but this element can be consolidated by pressing and sintering in a vacuum or hydrogen atmosphere. This procedure yields a compact solid having a density above 90% of the density of the metal. When annealed this metal is very ductile and can be bent, coiled, or rolled. Rhenium-molybdenum alloys are superconductive at 10 K; tungsten-rhenium alloys are also superconductive around 4–8 K, depending on the alloy. Rhenium metal superconducts at .
In bulk form and at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, the element resists alkalis, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, dilute (but not concentrated) nitric acid, and aqua regia.
Rhenium has one stable isotope, rhenium-185, which nevertheless occurs in minority abundance, a situation found only in two other elements (indium and tellurium). Naturally occurring rhenium is only 37.4% 185Re, and 62.6% 187Re, which is unstable but has a very long half-life (≈1010 years). This lifetime can be greatly affected by the charge state of rhenium atom. The beta decay of 187Re is used for rhenium–osmium dating of ores. The available energy for this beta decay (2.6 keV) is one of the lowest known among all radionuclides. The isotope rhenium-186m is notable as being one of the longest lived metastable isotopes with a half-life of around 200,000 years. There are 33 other unstable isotopes recognized, ranging from 160Re to 194Re, the longest-lived of which is 183Re with a half-life of 70 days.
Rhenium compounds are known for all the oxidation states between −3 and +7 except −2. The oxidation states +7, +6, +4, and +2 are the most common. Rhenium is most available commercially as salts of perrhenate, including sodium and ammonium perrhenates. These are white, water-soluble compounds.
The most common rhenium chlorides are ReCl6, ReCl5, ReCl4, and ReCl3. The structures of these compounds often feature extensive Re-Re bonding, which is characteristic of this metal in oxidation states lower than VII. Salts of [Re2Cl8]2− feature a quadruple metal-metal bond. Although the highest rhenium chloride features Re(VI), fluorine gives the d0 Re(VII) derivative rhenium heptafluoride. Bromides and iodides of rhenium are also well known.
Like tungsten and molybdenum, with which it shares chemical similarities, rhenium forms a variety of oxyhalides. The oxychlorides are most common, and include ReOCl4, ReOCl3.
The most common oxide is the volatile yellow Re2O7. The red rhenium trioxide ReO3 adopts a perovskite-like structure. Other oxides include Re2O5, ReO2, and Re2O3. The sulfides are ReS2 and Re2S7. Perrhenate salts can be converted to tetrathioperrhenate by the action of ammonium hydrosulfide.
Rhenium diboride (ReB2) is a hard compound having the hardness similar to that of tungsten carbide, silicon carbide, titanium diboride or zirconium diboride.
Dirhenium decacarbonyl is the most common entry to organorhenium chemistry. Its reduction with sodium amalgam gives Na[Re(CO)5] with rhenium in the formal oxidation state −1. Dirhenium decacarbonyl can be oxidised with bromine to bromopentacarbonylrhenium(I):
Reduction of this pentacarbonyl with zinc and acetic acid gives pentacarbonylhydridorhenium:
Methylrhenium trioxide ("MTO"), CH3ReO3 is a volatile, colourless solid has been used as a catalyst in some laboratory experiments. It can be prepared by many routes, a typical method is the reaction of Re2O7 and tetramethyltin:
Analogous alkyl and aryl derivatives are known. MTO catalyses for the oxidations with hydrogen peroxide. Terminal alkynes yield the corresponding acid or ester, internal alkynes yield diketones, and alkenes give epoxides. MTO also catalyses the conversion of aldehydes and diazoalkanes into an alkene.
A distinctive derivative of rhenium is nonahydridorhenate, originally thought to be the "rhenide" anion, Re−, but actually containing the anion in which the oxidation state of rhenium is +7.
Rhenium is one of the rarest elements in Earth's crust with an average concentration of 1 ppb; other sources quote the number of 0.5 ppb making it the 77th most abundant element in Earth's crust. Rhenium is probably not found free in nature (its possible natural occurrence is uncertain), but occurs in amounts up to 0.2% in the mineral molybdenite (which is primarily molybdenum disulfide), the major commercial source, although single molybdenite samples with up to 1.88% have been found. Chile has the world's largest rhenium reserves, part of the copper ore deposits, and was the leading producer as of 2005. It was only recently that the first rhenium mineral was found and described (in 1994), a rhenium sulfide mineral (ReS2) condensing from a fumarole on Kudriavy volcano, Iturup island, in the Kuril Islands. Kudriavy discharges up to 20–60 kg rhenium per year mostly in the form of rhenium disulfide. Named rheniite, this rare mineral commands high prices among collectors.
Commercial rhenium is extracted from molybdenum roaster-flue gas obtained from copper-sulfide ores. Some molybdenum ores contain 0.001% to 0.2% rhenium. Rhenium(VII) oxide and perrhenic acid readily dissolve in water; they are leached from flue dusts and gasses and extracted by precipitating with potassium or ammonium chloride as the perrhenate salts, and purified by recrystallization. Total world production is between 40 and 50 tons/year; the main producers are in Chile, the United States, Peru, and Poland. Recycling of used Pt-Re catalyst and special alloys allow the recovery of another 10 tons per year. Prices for the metal rose rapidly in early 2008, from $1000–$2000 per kg in 2003–2006 to over $10,000 in February 2008. The metal form is prepared by reducing ammonium perrhenate with hydrogen at high temperatures:
Rhenium is added to high-temperature superalloys that are used to make jet engine parts, using 70% of the worldwide rhenium production. Another major application is in platinum–rhenium catalysts, which are primarily used in making lead-free, high-octane gasoline.
The nickel-based superalloys have improved creep strength with the addition of rhenium. The alloys normally contain 3% or 6% of rhenium. Second-generation alloys contain 3%; these alloys were used in the engines for the F-15 and F-16, whereas the newer single-crystal third-generation alloys contain 6% of rhenium; they are used in the F-22 and F-35 engines. Rhenium is also used in the superalloys, such as CMSX-4 (2nd gen) and CMSX-10 (3rd gen) that are used in industrial gas turbine engines like the GE 7FA. Rhenium can cause superalloys to become microstructurally unstable, forming undesirable TCP (topologically close packed) phases. In 4th- and 5th-generation superalloys, ruthenium is used to avoid this effect. Among others the new superalloys are EPM-102 (with 3% Ru) and TMS-162 (with 6% Ru), as well as TMS-138 and TMS-174.
For 2006, the consumption is given as 28% for General Electric, 28% Rolls-Royce plc and 12% Pratt & Whitney, all for superalloys, whereas the use for catalysts only accounts for 14% and the remaining applications use 18%. In 2006, 77% of the rhenium consumption in the United States was in alloys. The rising demand for military jet engines and the constant supply made it necessary to develop superalloys with a lower rhenium content. For example, the newer CFM International CFM56 high-pressure turbine (HPT) blades will use Rene N515 with a rhenium content of 1.5% instead of Rene N5 with 3%.
Rhenium improves the properties of tungsten. Tungsten-rhenium alloys are more ductile at low temperature, allowing them to be more easily machined. The high-temperature stability is also improved. The effect increases with the rhenium concentration, and therefore tungsten alloys are produced with up to 27% of Re, which is the solubility limit. Tungsten-rhenium wire was originally created in efforts to develop a wire that was more ductile after recrystallization. This allows the wire to meet specific performance objectives, including superior vibration resistance, improved ductility, and higher resistivity. One application for the tungsten-rhenium alloys is X-ray sources. The high melting point of both elements, together with their high atomic mass, makes them stable against the prolonged electron impact. Rhenium tungsten alloys are also applied as thermocouples to measure temperatures up to 2200 °C.
The high temperature stability, low vapor pressure, good wear resistance and ability to withstand arc corrosion of rhenium are useful in self-cleaning electrical contacts. In particular, the discharge that occurs during electrical switching oxidizes the contacts. However, rhenium oxide Re2O7 has poor stability (sublimes at ~360 °C) and therefore is removed during the discharge.
Rhenium has a high melting point and a low vapor pressure similar to tantalum and tungsten. Therefore, rhenium filaments exhibit a higher stability if the filament is operated not in vacuum, but in oxygen-containing atmosphere. Those filaments are widely used in mass spectrometers, ion gauges and photoflash lamps in photography.
Rhenium in the form of rhenium-platinum alloy is used as catalyst for catalytic reforming, which is a chemical process to convert petroleum refinery naphthas with low octane ratings into high-octane liquid products. Worldwide, 30% of catalysts used for this process contain rhenium. The olefin metathesis is the other reaction for which rhenium is used as catalyst. Normally Re2O7 on alumina is used for this process. Rhenium catalysts are very resistant to chemical poisoning from nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus, and so are used in certain kinds of hydrogenation reactions.
The isotopes 188Re and 186Re are radioactive and are used for treatment of liver cancer. They both have similar penetration depth in tissue (5 mm for 186Re and 11 mm for 188Re), but 186Re has advantage of longer lifetime (90 hours vs. 17 hours).
188Re is also being used experimentally in a novel treatment of pancreatic cancer where it is delivered by means of the bacterium "Listeria monocytogenes".
Related by periodic trends, rhenium has a similar chemistry to that of technetium; work done to label rhenium onto target compounds can often be translated to technetium. This is useful for radiopharmacy, where it is difficult to work with technetium – especially the 99m isotope used in medicine – due to its expense and short half-life.
Very little is known about the toxicity of rhenium and its compounds because they are used in very small amounts. Soluble salts, such as the rhenium halides or perrhenates, could be hazardous due to elements other than rhenium or due to rhenium itself. Only a few compounds of rhenium have been tested for their acute toxicity; two examples are potassium perrhenate and rhenium trichloride, which were injected as a solution into rats. The perrhenate had an LD50 value of 2800 mg/kg after seven days (this is very low toxicity, similar to that of table salt) and the rhenium trichloride showed LD50 of 280 mg/kg. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25603 |
Radon
Radon is a chemical element with the symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive, colorless, odorless, tasteless noble gas. It occurs naturally in minute quantities as an intermediate step in the normal radioactive decay chains through which thorium and uranium slowly decay into lead and various other short-lived radioactive elements; radon itself is the immediate decay product of radium. Its most stable isotope, 222Rn, has a half-life of only 3.8 days, making radon one of the rarest elements since it decays away so quickly. However, since thorium and uranium are two of the most common radioactive elements on Earth, and they have three isotopes with very long half-lives, on the order of several billions of years, radon will be present on Earth long into the future in spite of its short half-life as it is continually being generated. The decay of radon produces many other short-lived nuclides known as radon daughters, ending at stable isotopes of lead.
Unlike all the other intermediate elements in the aforementioned decay chains, radon is, under normal conditions, gaseous and easily inhaled. Radon gas is considered a health hazard. It is often the single largest contributor to an individual's background radiation dose, but due to local differences in geology, the level of the radon-gas hazard differs from location to location. Despite its short lifetime, radon gas from natural sources, such as uranium-containing minerals, can accumulate in buildings, especially, due to its high density, in low areas such as basements and crawl spaces. Radon can also occur in ground water – for example, in some spring waters and hot springs.
Epidemiological studies have shown a clear link between breathing high concentrations of radon and incidence of lung cancer. Radon is a contaminant that affects indoor air quality worldwide. 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. Unlike the gaseous radon itself, radon daughters are solids and stick to surfaces, such as airborne dust particles, which can cause lung cancer if inhaled.
Radon is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas and therefore is not detectable by human senses alone. At standard temperature and pressure, radon 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. Radon is one of the densest gases at room temperature and is the densest of the noble gases. Although colorless at standard temperature and pressure, when cooled below its freezing point of , radon emits a brilliant radioluminescence that turns from yellow to orange-red as the temperature lowers. Upon condensation, radon glows because of the intense radiation it produces. Radon is sparingly soluble in water, but more soluble than lighter noble gases. Radon is appreciably more soluble in organic liquids than in water.
Radon is a member of the zero-valence elements that are called noble gases, and is chemically not very reactive. However, the 3.8-day half-life of radon-222 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 () or sulfur dioxide (), and significantly higher than the stability of the hydrate of hydrogen sulfide ().
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 (). It decomposes back to its elements at a temperature of above , 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 . 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 ångström (Å), and that the compound is thermodynamically more stable and less volatile than its lighter counterpart xenon difluoride (). The octahedral molecule was predicted to have an even lower enthalpy of formation than the difluoride. The [RnF]+ ion is believed to form by the following reaction:
For this reason, antimony pentafluoride together with chlorine trifluoride and 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 , , and are known. Radon is also oxidised by dioxygen difluoride to at .
Radon oxides are among the few other reported ; only the trioxide () has been confirmed. The higher fluorides and have been claimed, and are calculated to be stable, but it is doubtful whether they have yet been synthesized. They may have been observed in experiments where unknown radon-containing products distilled together with xenon hexafluoride: these may have been , , 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 . While it has been suggested that these claims were really due to radon precipitating out as the solid complex [RnF][NiF6]2−, the fact that radon coprecipitates from aqueous solution with has been taken as confirmation that 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.
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 () 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 is expected to be more stable than due to spin–orbit splitting of the 6p shell of radon (RnIV would have a closed-shell 6s6p configuration). Therefore, while should have a similar stability to xenon tetrafluoride (), would likely be much less stable than xenon hexafluoride (): radon hexafluoride would also probably be a regular octahedral molecule, unlike the distorted octahedral structure of , because of the inert pair effect. 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 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). It is predicted that the most stable Rn(VIII) compound would be barium perradonate (Ba2RnO6), analogous to barium perxenate. The instability of Rn(VIII) is due to the relativistic stabilization of the 6s shell, also known as the inert pair effect.
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 and , 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.
Radon has no stable isotopes. Thirty-nine radioactive isotopes have been characterized, with atomic masses ranging from 193 to 231. The most stable isotope is 222Rn, which is a decay product of 226Ra, a decay product of 238U. A trace amount of the (highly unstable) isotope 218Rn is also among the daughters of 222Rn.
Three other radon isotopes have a half-life of over an hour: 211Rn, 210Rn and 224Rn. The 220Rn isotope is a natural decay product of the most stable thorium isotope (232Th), and is commonly referred to as thoron. 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. No radon isotopes occur significantly in the neptunium (237Np) decay series, though a trace amount of the (extremely unstable) isotope 217Rn is produced.
222Rn belongs to the radium and uranium-238 decay chain, and has a half-life of 3.8235 days. Its four first 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:
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 rate of decay of each decay product will equal 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 (decades) to come in equilibrium with radon, 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.
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.
Radon was the fifth radioactive element to be discovered, in 1899 by Ernest Rutherford and Robert B. Owens at McGill University in Montreal, 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 , to flow out, and , 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 the early part of the 20th century in the US, gold contaminated with the radon daughter 210Pb entered the jewelry industry. This was from gold seeds that had held 222Rn that had been melted down after the radon had decayed.
In 1909, Ramsay and Robert Whytlaw-Gray isolated radon and determined its melting temperature and approximate density. In 1910, they determined that it was the heaviest known gas. They wrote that "" ("the expression 'radium emanation' is very awkward") and suggested the new name niton (Nt) (from , 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 among the names radon (Rn), thoron (Tn), and actinon (An). Later, when isotopes were numbered instead of named, the element took the name of the most stable isotope, "radon", while Tn was renamed 220Rn and An was renamed 219Rn, which caused some confusion in the literature regarding the element's discovery as while Dorn had discovered radon the isotope, he had not been 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.
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.
All discussions of radon concentrations in the environment refer to 222Rn. 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. A cumulative exposure of 1 WLM is roughly equivalent to living one year in an atmosphere with a radon concentration of 230 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 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.
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 approximately 1 gram of radium, which releases radon in small amounts to the atmosphere. On a global scale, it is estimated that 2.4 billion curies (90 EBq) of radon are released from soil annually.
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 decay chain of the radium and uranium series (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 can be 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 2,000 kBq/m3 in Merano and 4,000 kBq/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 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 radioactive 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.
High concentrations of radon in homes were discovered by chance in 1985 after the stringent radiation testing conducted at a new nuclear power plant revealed that Stanley Watras, a construction engineer at the plant, was contaminated by radioactive substances even though the reactor had never been fueled. 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 location may differ by a factor of two over a period of one hour. Also, the concentration in one room of a building may be significantly different from the concentration in an adjoining room. The soil characteristics of the dwellings are the most important source of radon for the ground floor and higher concentration of indoor radon observed on lower floors. Most of the high radon concentrations have been reported from places near fault zones; hence the existence of a relation between the exhalation rate from faults and indoor radon concentrations is obvious.
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 lognormal 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. Typical geometric standard deviations found in studies range between 2 and 3, meaning (given the 68–95–99.7 rule) that the radon concentration is expected to be more than a hundred times the mean concentration for 2 to 3% of the cases.
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.
In a few locations, uranium tailings have been used for landfills and were subsequently built on, resulting in possible increased exposure to radon.
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.
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 , , He, Rn, , and hydrocarbons. The mixture is purified by passing it over copper at to remove the and the , and then KOH and 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, at a price, in 2008, of almost per milliliter of radium solution (which only contains about 15 picograms of actual radon at any given moment).
Radon is produced 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.
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 on. 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. Inhalation therapy is carried out in Gasteiner-Heilstollen, Austria, in Świeradów-Zdrój, Czerniawa-Zdrój, Kowary, Lądek Zdrój, Poland, in Harghita Băi, Romania, and in Boulder, Montana. In the US and Europe, there are several "radon spas", where people sit for minutes or hours in a high-radon atmosphere in the belief that low doses of radiation will invigorate or energize them.
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).
Radon and its first decay products being very short-lived, the seed is left in place. After 12 half-lives (43 days), radon radioactivity is at 1/2,000 of its original level. At this stage, the predominant residual activity originates from the radon decay product 210Pb, whose half-life (22.3 years) is 2,000 times that of radon (and whose activity is thus 1/2,000 of radon's), and its descendants 210Bi and 210Po.
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. This fact has been put to use by some atmospheric scientists. 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 stream is a good indicator that there are local inputs of groundwater.
Radon soil-concentration has been used in an experimental way 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. 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 precursor by NASA.
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 the 1940s and '50s, radon was used for industrial radiography. Other X-ray sources, which became available after World War II, quickly replaced radon for this application, as they were lower in cost and had less hazard of alpha radiation.
Radon-222 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 pain, sinus, asthma and arthritis relief, but these were proven to be false and the government banned such advertisements in 1975.
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.
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, and a study of uranium miners found a correlation between radon exposure and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Miners (as well as milling and ore transportation workers) who worked in the uranium industry in the US between the 1940s and 1971 may be eligible for compensation under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). Surviving relatives may also apply in cases where the formerly employed person is deceased.
It should be highlighted though that not only uranium mines are affected by elevated levels of radon. Coal mines in particular are affected as well since coal may contain more uranium and thorium than commercially operational uranium mines.
Radon exposure (mostly radon daughters) has been linked to lung cancer in numerous case-control studies performed in the US, Europe and China. There are approximately 21,000 deaths per year in the US due to radon-induced lung cancers. One of the most comprehensive radon studies performed in the United States by Dr. 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 discussion about the opposite results is still continuing, especially a 2008 retrospective case-control study of lung cancer risk which showed substantial cancer rate reduction for radon concentrations between 50 and 123 Bq/m3.
Most models of residential radon exposure are based on studies of miners, and direct estimates of the risks posed to homeowners would be more desirable. Because of the difficulties of measuring the risk of radon relative to smoking, models of their effect have often made use of them.
Radon has been considered the second leading cause of lung cancer and leading environmental cause of cancer mortality by the EPA. Others have reached similar conclusions for the United Kingdom and France. Radon exposure in homes and offices may arise from certain subsurface rock formations, and also from 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.
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. The same levels (as UK) apply to Norway from 2010; in all new housings preventative measures should be taken against radon accumulation.
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 United States, 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 a combination effect of radon and passive smoking.
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, have 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 and a control group of 1649 non-smokers, 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.
The effects of radon if ingested are unknown, although studies have found that its biological half-life ranges from 30–70 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.
As well as being ingested through drinking water, 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 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.
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. Purchasers of real estate are advised 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:
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 "An 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." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25604 |
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
KTH Royal Institute of Technology (")," abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education within engineering and technology, and is Sweden's largest technical university. Currently, KTH consists of five schools with five campuses in and around Stockholm.
KTH was established in 1827 as "Teknologiska Institutet (Institute of Technology)," and had its roots in the "Mekaniska skolan (School of Mechanics)" that was established in 1798 in Stockholm. But the origin of KTH dates back to the predecessor to "Mekaniska skolan," the "Laboratorium Mechanicum," which was established in 1697 by Swedish scientist and innovator Christopher Polhem. Laboratorium Mechanicum combined education technology, a laboratory and an exhibition space for innovations. In 1877 KTH received its current name, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan (KTH Royal Institute of Technology). The King of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf is the High Protector of KTH.
KTH is the highest ranked technical university in Sweden. It is ranked top 100 in the world among all universities in the 2020 QS World University Rankings . In the 2020 QS World University Rankings by General Subject KTH ranked 30 within engineering and technology. In the equivalent Specific Subject ranking KTH placed top 30 in Architecture and Built Environment, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. In the Times Higher Education World University Impact Rankings 2019 KTH ranked as number 7 among universities globally.
KTH's earliest Swedish predecessor was the Laboratorium Mechanicum, a collection of mechanical models for teaching created in 1697 by Christopher Polhem. Polhem is considered to be the father of mechanics in Sweden. He founded the laboratorium as a school and research facility in the engineering field of mechanics after his extensive trips, studies and research abroad. The mechanical models that formed the basis of the education were used intermittently for teaching practical mechanics by different masters until the School of Mechanics ("Mekaniska skolan") was founded in 1798. In 1827 the School of Mechanics was transformed into the Technological Institute ("Teknologiska institutet"), following the establishment of polytechnical schools in many European countries the early years of the 19th century, often based on the model of École Polytechnique in Paris.
The institute had one professor in chemistry and one in physics, and one class in mechanical engineering and one in chemical engineering. During the first years, however, teaching was at a very elementary level, and more aimed at craftsmanship rather than engineering as such. The institute was also plagued by conflicts between the faculty and the founder and head of the institute, Gustaf Magnus Schwartz, who was responsible for the artisanal focus of the institute. A government committee was appointed in 1844 to solve the issues, which led to removing Schwartz in 1845. Instead, Joachim Åkerman, the head of the School of Mining in Falun and a former professor of chemistry at KTH, took over. He led a full reorganisation of the institute in 1846–1848, after which he returned to his post in Falun. An entrance test and a minimum age of 16 for students was introduced, which led to creating proper engineering training at the institute. In 1851, the engineering program was extended from two years to three.
In the late 1850s, the institute entered a time of expansion. In 1863, it received its own purpose-built buildings on Drottninggatan. In 1867, its regulations were again overhauled, to state explicitly that the institute should provide scientific training to its students. In 1869, the School of Mining in Falun was moved to Stockholm and merged with the institute. In 1871, the institute took over the civil engineering course formerly arranged by the Higher Artillery College in Marieberg.
In 1877, the name was changed into the current one, which changed KTH's status from Institute ("institut") to College ("högskola"), and some courses were extended from three years to four. Architecture was also added to the curriculum.
In 1915, the degree titles conferred by KTH received legal protection. In the late 19th century, it had become common to use the title "civilingenjör" (literally "civil engineer") for most KTH-trained engineers, and not just those who studied building and construction-related subjects. The only exception was the mining engineers, which called themselves "bergsingenjör" ("mountain engineer"). For a while, the title "civilingenjör" was equal to "KTH graduate" but in 1937, Chalmers in Gothenburg became the second Swedish engineering college which were allowed to confirm these titles.
In 1917, the first buildings of KTH's new campus on Valhallavägen were completed, and still constitute its main campus.
Although the engineering education of the late 19th and early 20th century were scientifically founded, up until the early 20th century, research as such was not seen as a central activity of an Institute of Technology. Those engineering graduates which went on to academic research had to earn their doctorates, typically in physics or chemistry, at a regular university. In 1927, KTH was finally granted the right to confer its own doctorates, under the designation "Teknologie doktor" (Doctor of Technology), and the first five doctors were created in 1929.
In 1984 the "civilingenjör" programs at all Swedish universities were extended from four years to 4.5. From 1989, the shorter programs in technology arranged by the municipal polytechnical schools in Sweden was gradually extended and moved into the university system, from 1989 as two-year programs and from 1995 alternatively as three-year programs. For KTH, this meant that additional campuses around the Stockholm area were added.
In the present-day, KTH provides one-third of Sweden's research and engineering education. In 2019, there were a total of 13,500 undergraduate students, 1,700 doctoral students, and 3,600 staff members at the university.
After the American deployment of nuclear weapons at the end of World War II, the Swedish military leadership recognized the need for nuclear weapons to be thoroughly investigated and researched to provide Sweden with the knowledge to defend itself from a nuclear attack. With the mission to "make something with neutrons", the Swedish team, with scientists like Rolf Maximilian Sievert, set out to research the subject and eventually build a nuclear reactor for testing.
After a few years of basic research, they started building a 300 kW (later expanded to 1 MW) reactor, named "Reaktor 1" ("R1"), in a reactor hall 25 meters under the surface right underneath KTH. Today this might seem ill-considered, since approximately 40,000 people lived within a 1 km radius. It was risky, but was deemed tolerable since the reactor was an important research tool for scientists at the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences ("Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademien").
At 18:59 on 13 July 1954, the reactor reached critical mass and sustained Sweden's first nuclear reaction. R1 was to be the main site for almost all Swedish nuclear research until 1970 when the reactor was finally decommissioned, mostly due to the increased awareness of the risks associated with operating a reactor in a densely populated area of Stockholm.
Since 2018 KTH is organized into five schools. Each of the schools are heading a number of departments, centres of excellence and undergraduate study programmes.
KTH Campus is the main campus of KTH located in the area of Östermalm. The mail buildings by architect Erik Lallerstedt, were completed in 1917. The bells of the clock-tower were completed ten years later in 1927 at the 10 year anniversary of the transformation of the School of Mechanics to the Technological Institute. The buildings and surroundings were decorated by prominent early 20th-century Swedish artists such as Carl Milles, Axel Törneman, Georg Pauli, Tore Strindberg and Ivar Johnsson. The older buildings on the campus were renovated heavily in 1994. While the original campus was large at the time of construction, KTH very soon outgrew it, and the campus has since been expanded with new buildings. KTH Campus is still the base for most of the university's operations.
In the 1980s the predecessor to the current School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (at KTH) located some of their operations to a campus in Kista, Stockholm. Kista is situated north of central Stockholm and is Sweden's largest corporate center and one of the most important ICT clusters in the world. The area is home to over a thousand companies in the ICT sector, for example Ericsson, Volvo, IBM, Tele2, TietoEnator, Microsoft, Intel and Oracle.
Since 2002 the current School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health (at KTH) has had a part of its activities in Flemingsberg, Stockholm. Flemingsberg is an area of high academic density and one of northern Europe's most important areas for biotechnology, both in terms of research and industrial activities. Södertörn University and the Karolinska Institute also conducts education and research in Flemingsberg, often in collaboration with KTH.
KTH Södertälje is the southernmost and smallest KTH campus, located in the city of Södertälje. Education at KTH Södertälje is constantly developed via a close co-operation with the town's business community and in particular major Södertälje companies such as Scania and AstraZeneca. KTH offers both bachelor's and master's level courses on the campus, mainly focused on mechanical engineering, logistics, production and product development.
Many prominent former students have attended KTH, including;
KTH Great Prize is a prize annually awarded by KTH. The distributed amount was SEK 1,200,000 in 2019.
The prize is awarded to:
The recipient of the award must also be a Swedish citizen. Usually, the prize is awarded to a single prize winner, but it has happened that two or three prize winners have shared the prize. The list of recipients is at .
KTH has been awarded the title "European University" by the European Commission. Together with 6 other European technical universities, KTH has formed the alliance UNITE! (University Network for Innovation, Technology and Engineering). The aim of the network is to create a trans-European campus, to introduce trans-European curricula, to promote scientific cooperation between the members and to strengthen knowledge transfer between the countries. The alliance includes the Technische Universität Darmstadt, Aalto University, KTH, the Polytechnic University of Turin, the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and the University of Lisbon. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25609 |
Rescuing Prometheus
Rescuing Prometheus: Four Monumental Projects That Changed the Modern World is a book by Thomas P. Hughes. The book uses four extremely large engineering projects of the late 20th century as examples to explore how the limits of modern system engineering are stressed by real life projects. It also traces the development of the management of large technical system development.
The book documents four massively-cooperative projects: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25610 |
Random access
Random access (more precisely and more generally called direct access) is the ability to access an arbitrary element of a sequence in equal time or any datum from a population of addressable elements roughly as easily and efficiently as any other, no matter how many elements may be in the set. In computer science it is typically contrasted to sequential access which requires data to be retrieved in the order it was stored.
For example, data might be stored notionally in a single sequence like a row, in two dimensions like rows and columns on a surface, or in multiple dimensions. However, given all the coordinates, a program can access each record about as quickly and easily as any other. In this sense, the choice of datum is arbitrary in the sense that no matter which item is sought, all that is needed to find it is its address, i.e. the coordinates at which it is located, such as its row and column (or its track and record number on a magnetic drum). At first, the term "random access" was used because the process had to be capable of finding records no matter in which sequence they were required. However, soon the term "direct access" gained favour because one could directly retrieve a record, no matter what its position might be. The operative attribute, however, is that the device can access any required record immediately on demand. The opposite is sequential access, where a remote element takes longer time to access.
A typical illustration of this distinction is to compare an ancient scroll (sequential; all material prior to the data needed must be unrolled) and the book (direct: can be immediately flipped open to any arbitrary page). A more modern example is a cassette tape (sequential — one must fast forward through earlier songs to get to later ones) and a CD (direct access — one can skip to the track wanted, knowing that it would be the one retrieved).
In data structures, direct access implies the ability to access any entry in a list in constant time (independent of its position in the list and of the list's size). Very few data structures can make this guarantee other than arrays (and related structures like dynamic arrays). Direct access is required, or at least valuable, in many algorithms such as binary search, integer sorting, or certain versions of sieve of Eratosthenes.
Other data structures, such as linked lists, sacrifice direct access to permit efficient inserts, deletes, or re-ordering of data. Self-balancing binary search trees may provide an acceptable compromise, where access time is not equal for all members of a collection, but the maximum time to retrieve a given member grows only logarithmically with its size. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25612 |
Racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to physical appearance and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against other people because they are of a different race or ethnicity. Modern variants of racism are often based in social perceptions of biological differences between peoples. These views can take the form of social actions, practices or beliefs, or political systems in which different races are ranked as inherently superior or inferior to each other, based on presumed shared inheritable traits, abilities, or qualities.
In terms of political systems (e.g., apartheid) that support the expression of prejudice or aversion in discriminatory practices or laws, racist ideology may include associated social aspects such as nativism, xenophobia, otherness, segregation, hierarchical ranking, and supremacism.
While the concepts of race and ethnicity are considered to be separate in contemporary social science, the two terms have a long history of equivalence in popular usage and older social science literature. "Ethnicity" is often used in a sense close to one traditionally attributed to "race": the division of human groups based on qualities assumed to be essential or innate to the group (e.g. shared ancestry or shared behavior). Therefore, "racism" and "racial discrimination" are often used to describe discrimination on an ethnic or cultural basis, independent of whether these differences are described as racial. According to a United Nations convention on racial discrimination, there is no distinction between the terms "racial" and "ethnic" discrimination. The UN Convention further concludes that superiority based on racial differentiation is scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous. The Convention also declared that there is no justification for racial discrimination, anywhere, in theory or in practice.
Racism is a relatively modern concept, arising in the European age of imperialism, the subsequent growth of capitalism, and especially the Atlantic slave trade, of which it was a major driving force. It was also a major force behind racial segregation especially in the United States in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and South Africa under apartheid; 19th and 20th century racism in Western culture is particularly well documented and constitutes a reference point in studies and discourses about racism. Racism has played a role in genocides such as the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, and genocide of Serbs, and colonial projects including the European colonization of the Americas, Africa, and Asia as well as the Soviet deportations of indigenous minorities. Indigenous peoples have been—and are—often subject to racist attitudes.
In the 19th century, many scientists subscribed to the belief that the human population can be divided into races. The term "racism" is a noun describing the state of being racist, i.e., subscribing to the belief that the human population can or should be classified into races with differential abilities and dispositions, which in turn may motivate a political ideology in which rights and privileges are differentially distributed based on racial categories. The origin of the root word "race" is not clear. Linguists generally agree that it came to the English language from Middle French, but there is no such agreement on how it generally came into Latin-based languages. A recent proposal is that it derives from the Arabic "ra's", which means "head, beginning, origin" or the Hebrew "rosh", which has a similar meaning. Early race theorists generally held the view that some races were inferior to others and they consequently believed that the differential treatment of races was fully justified. These early theories guided pseudo-scientific research assumptions; the collective endeavors to adequately define and form hypotheses about racial differences are generally termed scientific racism, though this term is a misnomer, due to the lack of any actual science backing the claims.
Today, most biologists, anthropologists, and sociologists reject a taxonomy of races in favor of more specific and/or empirically verifiable criteria, such as geography, ethnicity, or a history of endogamy. To date, there is little evidence in human genome research which indicates that race can be defined in such a way as to be useful in determining a genetic classification of humans.
An entry in the "Oxford English Dictionary" (2008) defines racialism as "[a]n earlier term than racism, but now largely superseded by it", and cites the term "racialism" in a 1902 quote. The revised Oxford English Dictionary cites the shortened term "racism" in a quote from the following year, 1903. It was first defined by the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edition, 1989) as "[t]he theory that distinctive human characteristics and abilities are determined by race"; the same dictionary termed "racism" a synonym of "racialism": "belief in the superiority of a particular race". By the end of World War II, "racism" had acquired the same supremacist connotations formerly associated with "racialism": "racism" now implied racial discrimination, racial supremacism, and a harmful intent. (The term "race hatred" had also been used by sociologist Frederick Hertz in the late 1920s.)
As its history indicates, the popular use of the word "racism" is relatively recent. The word came into widespread usage in the Western world in the 1930s, when it was used to describe the social and political ideology of Nazism, which treated "race" as a naturally given political unit. It is commonly agreed that racism existed before the coinage of the word, but there is not a wide agreement on a single definition of what racism is and what it is not. Today, some scholars of racism prefer to use the concept in the plural "racisms", in order to emphasize its many different forms that do not easily fall under a single definition. They also argue that different forms of racism have characterized different historical periods and geographical areas. Garner (2009: p. 11) summarizes different existing definitions of racism and identifies three common elements contained in those definitions of racism. First, a historical, hierarchical power relationship between groups; second, a set of ideas (an ideology) about racial differences; and, third, discriminatory actions (practices).
Though many countries around the globe have passed laws related to race and discrimination, the first significant international human rights instrument developed by the United Nations (UN) was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. The UDHR recognizes that if people are to be treated with dignity, they require economic rights, social rights including education, and the rights to cultural and political participation and civil liberty. It further states that everyone is entitled to these rights "without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status".
The UN does not define "racism"; however, it does define "racial discrimination". According to the 1965 UN International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,
The term "racial discrimination" shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin that has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.
In their 1978 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice (Article 1), the UN states, "All human beings belong to a single species and are descended from a common stock. They are born equal in dignity and rights and all form an integral part of humanity."
The UN definition of racial discrimination does not make any distinction between discrimination based on ethnicity and race, in part because the distinction between the two has been a matter of debate among academics, including anthropologists. Similarly, in British law, the phrase "racial group" means "any group of people who are defined by reference to their race, colour, nationality (including citizenship) or ethnic or national origin".
In Norway, the word "race" has been removed from national laws concerning discrimination because the use of the phrase is considered problematic and unethical. The Norwegian Anti-Discrimination Act bans discrimination based on ethnicity, national origin, descent, and skin color.
Sociologists, in general, recognize "race" as a social construct. This means that, although the concepts of race and racism are based on observable biological characteristics, any conclusions drawn about race on the basis of those observations are heavily influenced by cultural ideologies. Racism, as an ideology, exists in a society at both the individual and institutional level.
While much of the research and work on racism during the last half-century or so has concentrated on "white racism" in the Western world, historical accounts of race-based social practices can be found across the globe. Thus, racism can be broadly defined to encompass individual and group prejudices and acts of discrimination that result in material and cultural advantages conferred on a majority or a dominant social group. So-called "white racism" focuses on societies in which white populations are the majority or the dominant social group. In studies of these majority white societies, the aggregate of material and cultural advantages is usually termed "white privilege".
Race and race relations are prominent areas of study in sociology and economics. Much of the sociological literature focuses on white racism. Some of the earliest sociological works on racism were penned by sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois, the first African American to earn a doctoral degree from Harvard University. Du Bois wrote, "[t]he problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line." Wellman (1993) defines racism as "culturally sanctioned beliefs, which, regardless of intentions involved, defend the advantages whites have because of the subordinated position of racial minorities". In both sociology and economics, the outcomes of racist actions are often measured by the inequality in income, wealth, net worth, and access to other cultural resources (such as education), between racial groups.
In sociology and social psychology, racial identity and the acquisition of that identity, is often used as a variable in racism studies. Racial ideologies and racial identity affect individuals' perception of race and discrimination. Cazenave and Maddern (1999) define racism as "a highly organized system of 'race'-based group privilege that operates at every level of society and is held together by a sophisticated ideology of color/'race' supremacy. Racial centrality (the extent to which a culture recognizes individuals' racial identity) appears to affect the degree of discrimination African American young adults perceive whereas racial ideology may buffer the detrimental emotional effects of that discrimination." Sellers and Shelton (2003) found that a relationship between racial discrimination and emotional distress was moderated by racial ideology and social beliefs.
Some sociologists also argue that, particularly in the West, where racism is often negatively sanctioned in society, racism has changed from being a blatant to a more covert expression of racial prejudice. The "newer" (more hidden and less easily detectable) forms of racism – which can be considered embedded in social processes and structures – are more difficult to explore as well as challenge. It has been suggested that, while in many countries overt or explicit racism has become increasingly taboo, even among those who display egalitarian explicit attitudes, an implicit or aversive racism is still maintained subconsciously.
This process has been studied extensively in social psychology as implicit associations and implicit attitudes, a component of implicit cognition. Implicit attitudes are evaluations that occur without conscious awareness towards an attitude object or the self. These evaluations are generally either favorable or unfavorable. They come about from various influences in the individual experience. Implicit attitudes are not consciously identified (or they are inaccurately identified) traces of past experience that mediate favorable or unfavorable feelings, thoughts, or actions towards social objects. These feelings, thoughts, or actions have an influence on behavior of which the individual may not be aware.
Therefore, subconscious racism can influence our visual processing and how our minds work when we are subliminally exposed to faces of different colors. In thinking about crime, for example, social psychologist Jennifer L. Eberhardt (2004) of Stanford University holds that, "blackness is so associated with crime you're ready to pick out these crime objects." Such exposures influence our minds and they can cause subconscious racism in our behavior towards other people or even towards objects. Thus, racist thoughts and actions can arise from stereotypes and fears of which we are not aware.
Language, linguistics, and discourse are active areas of study in the humanities, along with literature and the arts. Discourse analysis seeks to reveal the meaning of race and the actions of racists through careful study of the ways in which these factors of human society are described and discussed in various written and oral works. For example, Van Dijk (1992) examines the different ways in which descriptions of racism and racist actions are depicted by the perpetrators of such actions as well as by their victims. He notes that when descriptions of actions have negative implications for the majority, and especially for white elites, they are often seen as controversial and such controversial interpretations are typically marked with quotation marks or they are greeted with expressions of distance or doubt. The previously cited book, "The Souls of Black Folk" by W.E.B. Du Bois, represents early African-American literature that describes the author's experiences with racism when he was traveling in the South as an African American.
Much American fictional literature has focused on issues of racism and the black "racial experience" in the US, including works written by whites, such as "Uncle Tom's Cabin", "To Kill a Mockingbird", and "Imitation of Life", or even the non-fiction work "Black Like Me". These books, and others like them, feed into what has been called the "white savior narrative in film", in which the heroes and heroines are white even though the story is about things that happen to black characters. Textual analysis of such writings can contrast sharply with black authors' descriptions of African Americans and their experiences in US society. African American writers have sometimes been portrayed in African-American studies as retreating from racial issues when they write about "whiteness", while others identify this as an African American literary tradition called "the literature of white estrangement", part of a multi-pronged effort to challenge and dismantle white supremacy in the US.
According to dictionaries, the word is commonly used to describe prejudice and discrimination based on race.
Racism can also be said to describe a condition in society in which a dominant racial group benefits from the oppression of others, whether that group wants such benefits or not. Foucauldian scholar Ladelle McWhorter, in her 2009 book, "Racism and Sexual Oppression in Anglo-America: A Genealogy", posits modern racism similarly, focusing on the notion of a dominant group, usually whites, vying for racial purity and progress, rather than an overt or obvious ideology focused on the oppression of nonwhites.
In popular usage, as in some academic usage, little distinction is made between "racism" and "ethnocentrism". Often, the two are listed together as "racial and ethnic" in describing some action or outcome that is associated with prejudice within a majority or dominant group in society. Furthermore, the meaning of the term racism is often conflated with the terms prejudice, bigotry, and discrimination. Racism is a complex concept that can involve each of those; but it cannot be equated with, nor is it synonymous, with these other terms.
The term is often used in relation to what is seen as prejudice within a minority or subjugated group, as in the concept of reverse racism. "Reverse racism" is a concept often used to describe acts of discrimination or hostility against members of a dominant racial or ethnic group while favoring members of minority groups. This concept has been used especially in the United States in debates over color-conscious policies (such as affirmative action) intended to remedy racial inequalities. Those who campaign for the interests of ethnic minorities commonly reject the concept of reverse racism. Scholars also commonly define racism not only in terms of individual prejudice, but also in terms of a power structure that protects the interests of the dominant culture and actively discriminates against ethnic minorities. From this perspective, while members of ethnic minorities may be prejudiced against members of the dominant culture, they lack the political and economic power to actively oppress them, and they are therefore not practicing "racism".
The ideology underlying racism can manifest in many aspects of social life. Such aspects are described in this section, although the list is not exhaustive.
Aversive racism is a form of implicit racism, in which a person's unconscious negative evaluations of racial or ethnic minorities are realized by a persistent avoidance of interaction with other racial and ethnic groups. As opposed to traditional, overt racism, which is characterized by overt hatred for and explicit discrimination against racial/ethnic minorities, aversive racism is characterized by more complex, ambivalent expressions and attitudes. Aversive racism is similar in implications to the concept of symbolic or modern racism (described below), which is also a form of implicit, unconscious, or covert attitude which results in unconscious forms of discrimination.
The term was coined by Joel Kovel to describe the subtle racial behaviors of any ethnic or racial group who rationalize their aversion to a particular group by appeal to rules or stereotypes. People who behave in an aversively racial way may profess egalitarian beliefs, and will often deny their racially motivated behavior; nevertheless they change their behavior when dealing with a member of another race or ethnic group than the one they belong to. The motivation for the change is thought to be implicit or subconscious. Experiments have provided empirical support for the existence of aversive racism. Aversive racism has been shown to have potentially serious implications for decision making in employment, in legal decisions and in helping behavior.
In relation to racism, color blindness is the disregard of racial characteristics in social interaction, for example in the rejection of affirmative action, as a way to address the results of past patterns of discrimination. Critics of this attitude argue that by refusing to attend to racial disparities, racial color blindness in fact unconsciously perpetuates the patterns that produce racial inequality.
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva argues that color blind racism arises from an "abstract liberalism, biologization of culture, naturalization of racial matters, and minimization of racism". Color blind practices are "subtle, institutional, and apparently nonracial" because race is explicitly ignored in decision-making. If race is disregarded in predominantly white populations, for example, whiteness becomes the normative standard, whereas people of color are othered, and the racism these individuals experience may be minimized or erased. At an individual level, people with "color blind prejudice" reject racist ideology, but also reject systemic policies intended to fix institutional racism.
Cultural racism manifests as societal beliefs and customs that promote the assumption that the products of a given culture, including the language and traditions of that culture, are superior to those of other cultures. It shares a great deal with xenophobia, which is often characterised by fear of, or aggression toward, members of an outgroup by members of an ingroup.
In that sense it is also similar to communalism as used in South Asia.
Cultural racism exists when there is a widespread acceptance of stereotypes concerning different ethnic or population groups. Whereas racism can be characterised by the belief that one race is inherently superior to another, cultural racism can be characterised by the belief that one culture is inherently superior to another.
Historical economic or social disparity is alleged to be a form of discrimination caused by past racism and historical reasons, affecting the present generation through deficits in the formal education and kinds of preparation in previous generations, and through primarily unconscious racist attitudes and actions on members of the general population.
In 2011, Bank of America agreed to pay $335 million to settle a federal government claim that its mortgage division, Countrywide Financial, discriminated against black and Hispanic homebuyers.
During the Spanish colonial period, Spaniards developed a complex caste system based on race, which was used for social control, and which also determined a person's importance in society. While many Latin American countries have long since rendered the system officially illegal through legislation, usually at the time of their independence, prejudice based on degrees of perceived racial distance from European ancestry combined with one's socioeconomic status remain, an echo of the colonial caste system.
Institutional racism (also known as structural racism, state racism or systemic racism) is racial discrimination by governments, corporations, religions, or educational institutions or other large organizations with the power to influence the lives of many individuals. Stokely Carmichael is credited for coining the phrase "institutional racism" in the late 1960s. He defined the term as "the collective failure of an organization to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin".
Maulana Karenga argued that racism constituted the destruction of culture, language, religion, and human possibility and that the effects of racism were "the morally monstrous destruction of human possibility involved redefining African humanity to the world, poisoning past, present and future relations with others who only know us through this stereotyping and thus damaging the truly human relations among peoples".
Othering is the term used by some to describe a system of discrimination whereby the characteristics of a group are used to distinguish them as separate from the norm.
Othering plays a fundamental role in the history and continuation of racism. To objectify a culture as something different, exotic or underdeveloped is to generalize that it is not like 'normal' society. Europe's colonial attitude towards the Orientals exemplifies this as it was thought that the East was the opposite of the West; feminine where the West was masculine, weak where the West was strong and traditional where the West was progressive. By making these generalizations and othering the East, Europe was simultaneously defining herself as the norm, further entrenching the gap.
Much of the process of othering relies on imagined difference, or the expectation of difference. Spatial difference can be enough to conclude that "we" are "here" and the "others" are over "there". Imagined differences serve to categorize people into groups and assign them characteristics that suit the imaginer's expectations.
Racial discrimination refers to discrimination against someone on the basis of their race.
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into socially-constructed racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a bathroom, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home. Segregation is generally outlawed, but may exist through social norms, even when there is no strong individual preference for it, as suggested by Thomas Schelling's models of segregation and subsequent work.
Centuries of European colonialism in the Americas, Africa and Asia were often justified by white supremacist attitudes. During the early 20th century, the phrase "The White Man's Burden" was widely used to justify an imperialist policy as a noble enterprise. A justification for the policy of conquest and subjugation of Native Americans emanated from the stereotyped perceptions of the indigenous people as "merciless Indian savages" (as described in the United States Declaration of Independence). Sam Wolfson in "The Guardian" writes, "The declaration’s passage has often been cited as an encapsulation of the dehumanizing attitude toward indigenous Americans that the US was founded on." In an 1890 article about colonial expansion onto Native American land, author L. Frank Baum wrote: "The Whites, by law of conquest, by justice of civilization, are masters of the American continent, and the best safety of the frontier settlements will be secured by the total annihilation of the few remaining Indians." Attitudes of black supremacy, Arab supremacy, and East Asian supremacy also exist.
Some scholars argue that in the US, earlier violent and aggressive forms of racism have evolved into a more subtle form of prejudice in the late 20th century. This new form of racism is sometimes referred to as "modern racism" and it is characterized by outwardly acting unprejudiced while inwardly maintaining prejudiced attitudes, displaying subtle prejudiced behaviors such as actions informed by attributing qualities to others based on racial stereotypes, and evaluating the same behavior differently based on the race of the person being evaluated. This view is based on studies of prejudice and discriminatory behavior, where some people will act ambivalently towards black people, with positive reactions in certain, more public contexts, but more negative views and expressions in more private contexts. This ambivalence may also be visible for example in hiring decisions where job candidates that are otherwise positively evaluated may be unconsciously disfavored by employers in the final decision because of their race. Some scholars consider modern racism to be characterized by an explicit rejection of stereotypes, combined with resistance to changing structures of discrimination for reasons that are ostensibly non-racial, an ideology that considers opportunity at a purely individual basis denying the relevance of race in determining individual opportunities and the exhibition of indirect forms of micro-aggression toward and/or avoidance of people of other races.
Recent research has shown that individuals who consciously claim to reject racism may still exhibit race-based subconscious biases in their decision-making processes. While such "subconscious racial biases" do not fully fit the definition of racism, their impact can be similar, though typically less pronounced, not being explicit, conscious or deliberate.
In 1919, a proposal to include a racial equality provision in the Covenant of the League of Nations was supported by a majority, but not adopted in the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. In 1943, Japan and its allies declared work for the abolition of racial discrimination to be their aim at the Greater East Asia Conference. Article 1 of the 1945 UN Charter includes "promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race" as UN purpose.
In 1950, UNESCO suggested in "The Race Question" – a statement signed by 21 scholars such as Ashley Montagu, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Gunnar Myrdal, Julian Huxley, etc. – to "drop the term "race" altogether and instead speak of ethnic groups". The statement condemned scientific racism theories that had played a role in the Holocaust. It aimed both at debunking scientific racist theories, by popularizing modern knowledge concerning "the race question", and morally condemned racism as contrary to the philosophy of the Enlightenment and its assumption of equal rights for all. Along with Myrdal's "" (1944), "The Race Question" influenced the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court desegregation decision in "Brown v. Board of Education". Also, in 1950, the European Convention on Human Rights was adopted, which was widely used on racial discrimination issues.
The United Nations use the definition of racial discrimination laid out in the "International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination", adopted in 1966:
... any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin that has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life. (Part 1 of Article 1 of the U.N. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination)
In 2001, the European Union explicitly banned racism, along with many other forms of social discrimination, in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the legal effect of which, if any, would necessarily be limited to Institutions of the European Union: "Article 21 of the charter prohibits discrimination on any ground such as race, color, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, disability, age or sexual orientation and also discrimination on the grounds of nationality."
Racism existed during the 19th century as "scientific racism", which attempted to provide a racial classification of humanity. In 1775 Johann Blumenbach divided the world's population into five groups according to skin color (Caucasians, Mongols, etc.), positing the view that the non-Caucasians had arisen through a process of degeneration. Another early view in scientific racism was the polygenist view, which held that the different races had been separately created. Polygenist Christoph Meiners for example, split mankind into two divisions which he labeled the "beautiful White race" and the "ugly Black race". In Meiners' book, "The Outline of History of Mankind", he claimed that a main characteristic of race is either beauty or ugliness. He viewed only the white race as beautiful. He considered ugly races to be inferior, immoral and animal-like.
Anders Retzius demonstrated that neither Europeans nor others are one "pure race", but of mixed origins. While discredited, derivations of Blumenbach's taxonomy are still widely used for the classification of the population in the United States. Hans Peder Steensby, while strongly emphasizing that all humans today are of mixed origins, in 1907 claimed that the origins of human differences must be traced extraordinarily far back in time, and conjectured that the "purest race" today would be the Australian Aboriginals.
Scientific racism fell strongly out of favor in the early 20th century, but the origins of fundamental human and societal differences are still researched within academia, in fields such as human genetics including paleogenetics, social anthropology, comparative politics, history of religions, history of ideas, prehistory, history, ethics, and psychiatry. There is widespread rejection of any methodology based on anything similar to Blumenbach's races. It is more unclear to which extent and when ethnic and national stereotypes are accepted.
Although after World War II and the Holocaust, racist ideologies were discredited on ethical, political and scientific grounds, racism and racial discrimination have remained widespread around the world.
Du Bois observed that it is not so much "race" that we think about, but culture: "... a common history, common laws and religion, similar habits of thought and a conscious striving together for certain ideals of life". Late 19th century nationalists were the first to embrace contemporary discourses on "race", ethnicity, and "survival of the fittest" to shape new nationalist doctrines. Ultimately, race came to represent not only the most important traits of the human body, but was also regarded as decisively shaping the character and personality of the nation. According to this view, culture is the physical manifestation created by ethnic groupings, as such fully determined by racial characteristics. Culture and race became considered intertwined and dependent upon each other, sometimes even to the extent of including nationality or language to the set of definition. Pureness of race tended to be related to rather superficial characteristics that were easily addressed and advertised, such as blondness. Racial qualities tended to be related to nationality and language rather than the actual geographic distribution of racial characteristics. In the case of Nordicism, the denomination "Germanic" was equivalent to superiority of race.
Bolstered by some nationalist and ethnocentric values and achievements of choice, this concept of racial superiority evolved to distinguish from other cultures that were considered inferior or impure. This emphasis on culture corresponds to the modern mainstream definition of racism: "[r]acism does not originate from the existence of 'races'. It "creates" them through a process of social division into categories: anybody can be racialised, independently of their somatic, cultural, religious differences."
This definition explicitly ignores the biological concept of race, which is still subject to scientific debate. In the words of David C. Rowe, "[a] racial concept, although sometimes in the guise of another name, will remain in use in biology and in other fields because scientists, as well as lay persons, are fascinated by human diversity, some of which is captured by race."
Racial prejudice became subject to international legislation. For instance, the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on November 20, 1963, addresses racial prejudice explicitly next to discrimination for reasons of race, colour or ethnic origin (Article I).
Debates over the origins of racism often suffer from a lack of clarity over the term. Many use the term "racism" to refer to more general phenomena, such as xenophobia and ethnocentrism, although scholars attempt to clearly distinguish those phenomena from racism as an ideology or from scientific racism, which has little to do with ordinary xenophobia. Others conflate recent forms of racism with earlier forms of ethnic and national conflict. In most cases, ethno-national conflict seems to owe itself to conflict over land and strategic resources. In some cases, ethnicity and nationalism were harnessed in order to rally combatants in wars between great religious empires (for example, the Muslim Turks and the Catholic Austro-Hungarians).
Notions of race and racism have often played central roles in ethnic conflicts. Throughout history, when an adversary is identified as "other" based on notions of race or ethnicity (in particular when "other" is interpreted to mean "inferior"), the means employed by the self-presumed "superior" party to appropriate territory, human chattel, or material wealth often have been more ruthless, more brutal, and less constrained by moral or ethical considerations. According to historian Daniel Richter, Pontiac's Rebellion saw the emergence on both sides of the conflict of "the novel idea that all Native people were 'Indians,' that all Euro-Americans were 'Whites,' and that all on one side must unite to destroy the other". Basil Davidson states in his documentary, "Africa: Different but Equal", that racism, in fact, only just recently surfaced as late as the 19th century, due to the need for a justification for slavery in the Americas.
Historically, racism was a major driving force behind the Transatlantic slave trade. It was also a major force behind racial segregation, especially in the United States in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and South Africa under apartheid; 19th and 20th century racism in the Western world is particularly well documented and constitutes a reference point in studies and discourses about racism. Racism has played a role in genocides such as the Armenian genocide, and the Holocaust, and colonial projects like the European colonization of the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Indigenous peoples have been – and are – often subject to racist attitudes. Practices and ideologies of racism are condemned by the United Nations in the Declaration of Human Rights.
After the Napoleonic Wars, Europe was confronted with the new "nationalities question", leading to reconfigurations of the European map, on which the frontiers between the states had been delineated during the 1648 Peace of Westphalia. Nationalism had made its first appearance with the invention of the "levée en masse" by the French Revolutionaries, thus inventing mass conscription in order to be able to defend the newly founded Republic against the "Ancien Régime" order represented by the European monarchies. This led to the French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802) and then to the conquests of Napoleon, and to the subsequent European-wide debates on the concepts and realities of nations, and in particular of nation-states. The Westphalia Treaty had divided Europe into various empires and kingdoms (such as the Ottoman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, the Swedish Empire, the Kingdom of France, etc.), and for centuries wars were waged between princes ("Kabinettskriege" in German).
Modern nation-states appeared in the wake of the French Revolution, with the formation of patriotic sentiments for the first time in Spain during the Peninsula War (1808–1813, known in Spain as the Independence War). Despite the restoration of the previous order with the 1815 Congress of Vienna, the "nationalities question" became the main problem of Europe during the Industrial Era, leading in particular to the 1848 Revolutions, the Italian unification completed during the 1871 Franco-Prussian War, which itself culminated in the proclamation of the German Empire in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, thus achieving the German unification.
Meanwhile, the Ottoman Empire, the "sick man of Europe", was confronted with endless nationalist movements, which, along with the dissolving of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, would lead to the creation, after World War I, of the various nation-states of the Balkans, with "national minorities" in their borders.
Ethnic nationalism, which advocated the belief in a hereditary membership of the nation, made its appearance in the historical context surrounding the creation of the modern nation-states.
One of its main influences was the Romantic nationalist movement at the turn of the 19th century, represented by figures such as Johann Herder (1744–1803), Johan Fichte (1762–1814) in the "Addresses to the German Nation" (1808), Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831), or also, in France, Jules Michelet (1798–1874). It was opposed to liberal nationalism, represented by authors such as Ernest Renan (1823–1892), who conceived of the nation as a community, which, instead of being based on the "Volk" ethnic group and on a specific, common language, was founded on the subjective will to live together ("the nation is a daily plebiscite", 1882) or also John Stuart Mill (1806–1873).
Ethnic nationalism blended with scientific racist discourses, as well as with "continental imperialist" (Hannah Arendt, 1951) discourses, for example in the pan-Germanism discourses, which postulated the racial superiority of the German "Volk" (people/folk). The Pan-German League ("Alldeutscher Verband"), created in 1891, promoted German imperialism and "racial hygiene", and was opposed to intermarriage with Jews. Another popular current, the "Völkisch movement", was also an important proponent of the German ethnic nationalist discourse, and it combined Pan-Germanism with modern racial antisemitism. Members of the Völkisch movement, in particular the Thule Society, would participate in the founding of the German Workers' Party (DAP) in Munich in 1918, the predecessor of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP; commonly known in English as the Nazi party). Pan-Germanism played a decisive role in the interwar period of the 1920s–1930s.
These currents began to associate the idea of the nation with the biological concept of a "master race" (often the "Aryan race" or the "Nordic race") issued from the scientific racist discourse. They conflated nationalities with ethnic groups, called "races", in a radical distinction from previous racial discourses that posited the existence of a "race struggle" inside the nation and the state itself. Furthermore, they believed that political boundaries should mirror these alleged racial and ethnic groups, thus justifying ethnic cleansing, in order to achieve "racial purity" and also to achieve ethnic homogeneity in the nation-state.
Such racist discourses, combined with nationalism, were not, however, limited to pan-Germanism. In France, the transition from Republican liberal nationalism, to ethnic nationalism, which made nationalism a characteristic of far-right movements in France, took place during the Dreyfus Affair at the end of the 19th century. During several years, a nationwide crisis affected French society, concerning the alleged treason of Alfred Dreyfus, a French Jewish military officer. The country polarized itself into two opposite camps, one represented by Émile Zola, who wrote "J'Accuse…!" in defense of Alfred Dreyfus, and the other represented by the nationalist poet, Maurice Barrès (1862–1923), one of the founders of the ethnic nationalist discourse in France. At the same time, Charles Maurras (1868–1952), founder of the monarchist "Action française" movement, theorized the "anti-France", composed of the "four confederate states of Protestants, Jews, Freemasons and foreigners" (his actual word for the latter being the pejorative "métèques"). Indeed, to him the first three were all "internal foreigners", who threatened the ethnic unity of the French people.
Bernard Lewis has cited the Greek philosopher Aristotle who, in his discussion of slavery, stated that while Greeks are free by nature, "barbarians" (non-Greeks) are slaves by nature, in that it is in their nature to be more willing to submit to a despotic government. Though Aristotle does not specify any particular races, he argues that people from nations outside Greece are more prone to the burden of slavery than those from Greece. While Aristotle makes remarks about the most natural slaves being those with strong bodies and slave souls (unfit for rule, unintelligent) which would seem to imply a physical basis for discrimination, he also explicitly states that the right kind of souls and bodies don't always go together, implying that the greatest determinate for inferiority and natural slaves versus natural masters is the soul, not the body. This proto-racism is seen as an important precursor to modern racism by classicist Benjamin Isaac.
Such proto-racism and ethnocentrism must be looked at within context, because a modern understanding of racism based on hereditary inferiority (with modern racism based on eugenics and scientific racism) was not yet developed and it is unclear whether Aristotle believed the natural inferiority of Barbarians was caused by environment and climate (like many of his contemporaries) or by birth.
Historian Dante A. Puzzo, in his discussion of Aristotle, racism, and the ancient world writes that:
Racism rests on two basic assumptions: that a correlation exists between physical characteristics and moral qualities; that mankind is divisible into superior and inferior stocks. Racism, thus defined, is a modern conception, for prior to the XVIth century there was virtually nothing in the life and thought of the West that can be described as racist. To prevent misunderstanding a clear distinction must be made between racism and ethnocentrism ... The Ancient Hebrews, in referring to all who were not Hebrews as Gentiles, were indulging in ethnocentrism, not in racism. ... So it was with the Hellenes who denominated all non-Hellenes—whether the wild Scythians or the Egyptians whom they acknowledged as their mentors in the arts of civilization—Barbarians, the term denoting that which was strange or foreign.
Bernard Lewis has also cited historians and geographers of the Middle East and North Africa region, including Al-Muqaddasi, Al-Jahiz, Al-Masudi, Abu Rayhan Biruni, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, and Ibn Qutaybah. Though the Qur'an expresses no racial prejudice, Lewis argues that ethnocentric prejudice later developed among Arabs, for a variety of reasons: their extensive conquests and slave trade; the influence of Aristotelian ideas regarding slavery, which some Muslim philosophers directed towards Zanj (Bantu) and Turkic peoples; and the influence of Judeo-Christian ideas regarding divisions among humankind. The Afro-Arab author Al-Jahiz, himself having a Zanj grandfather, wrote a book entitled "Superiority of the Blacks to the Whites", and explained why the Zanj were black in terms of environmental determinism in the "On the Zanj" chapter of "The Essays". By the 14th century, a significant number of slaves came from sub-Saharan Africa; Lewis argues that this led to the likes of Egyptian historian Al-Abshibi (1388–1446) writing that "[i]t is said that when the [black] slave is sated, he fornicates, when he is hungry, he steals." According to Lewis, the 14th-century Tunisian scholar Ibn Khaldun also wrote:
...beyond [known peoples of black West Africa] to the south there is no civilization in the proper sense. There are only humans who are closer to dumb animals than to rational beings. They live in thickets and caves, and eat herbs and unprepared grain. They frequently eat each other. They cannot be considered human beings. Therefore, the Negro nations are, as a rule, submissive to slavery, because (Negroes) have little that is (essentially) human and possess attributes that are quite similar to those of dumb animals, as we have stated.
However, according to Wesleyan University professor Abdelmajid Hannoum, such attitudes were not prevalent until the 18th and 19th centuries. He argues that some accounts of Arabic texts, such as those of Ibn Khaldun, were mistranslations by French Orientalists projecting racist and colonialist views of the 19th century into their translations of medieval Arabic writings. James E. Lindsay also argues that the concept of an Arab identity itself did not exist until modern times.
With the Umayyad Caliphate's conquest of Hispania, Muslim Arabs and Berbers overthrew the previous Visigothic rulers and created Al-Andalus, which contributed to the Golden age of Jewish culture, and lasted for six centuries. It was followed by the centuries-long "Reconquista", terminated under the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand V and Isabella I. The legacy Catholic Spaniards then formulated the "Cleanliness of blood" doctrine. It was during this time in history that the Western concept of aristocratic "blue blood" emerged in a racialized, religious and feudal context, so as to stem the upward social mobility of the converted New Christians. Robert Lacey explains:
It was the Spaniards who gave the world the notion that an aristocrat's blood is not red but blue. The Spanish nobility started taking shape around the ninth century in classic military fashion, occupying land as warriors on horseback. They were to continue the process for more than five hundred years, clawing back sections of the peninsula from its Moorish occupiers, and a nobleman demonstrated his pedigree by holding up his sword arm to display the filigree of blue-blooded veins beneath his pale skin—proof that his birth had not been contaminated by the dark-skinned enemy. Sangre azul, blue blood, was thus a euphemism for being a white man—Spain's own particular reminder that the refined footsteps of the aristocracy through history carry the rather less refined spoor of racism.
Following the expulsion of the Arabic Moors and most of the Sephardic Jews from the Iberian peninsula, the remaining Jews and Muslims were forced to convert to Roman Catholicism, becoming "New Christians", who were sometimes discriminated against by the "Old Christians" in some cities (including Toledo), despite condemnations by the Church and the State, which both welcomed the new flock. The Inquisition was carried out by members of the Dominican Order in order to weed out the converts who still practiced Judaism and Islam in secret. The system and ideology of the "limpieza de sangre" ostracized false Christian converts from society in order to protect it against treason. The remnants of such legislation persevered into the 19th century in military contexts.
In Portugal, the legal distinction between New and Old Christian was only ended through a legal decree issued by the Marquis of Pombal in 1772, almost three centuries after the implementation of the racist discrimination. The "limpieza de sangre" legislation was common also during the colonization of the Americas, where it led to the racial and feudal separation of peoples and social strata in the colonies. It was however often ignored in practice, as the new colonies needed skilled people.
At the end of the Renaissance, the Valladolid debate (1550–1551), concerning the treatment of the natives of the "New World" pitted the Dominican friar and Bishop of Chiapas, Bartolomé de Las Casas, to another Dominican and Humanist philosopher, Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda. The latter argued that the Indians practiced human sacrifice of innocents, cannibalism, and other such "crimes against nature"; they were unacceptable and should be suppressed by any means possible including war, thus reducing them to slavery or serfdom was in accordance with Catholic theology and natural law. To the contrary, Bartolomé de Las Casas argued that the Amerindians were free men in the natural order and deserved the same treatment as others, according to Catholic theology. It was one of the many controversies concerning racism, slavery, religion, and European morality that would arise in the following centuries and which resulted in the legislation protecting the natives. The marriage between Luisa de Abrego, a free black domestic servant from Seville and Miguel Rodríguez, a white segovian conquistador in 1565 in St. Augustine (Spanish Florida), is the first known and recorded Christian marriage anywhere in the continental United States.
Although antisemitism has a long history, related to Christianity and native Egyptian or Greek religions (anti-Judaism), racism itself is sometimes described as a "modern" phenomenon. In the view of the French philosopher and historian Michel Foucault, the first formulation of racism emerged in the Early Modern period as the "discourse of race struggle", and a historical and political discourse, which Foucault opposed to the philosophical and juridical discourse of sovereignty. On the other hand, e.g. Chinese self-identification as a "yellow race" predated such European racial concepts.
This European analysis, which first appeared in Great Britain, was then carried on in France by such people as Boulainvilliers, Nicolas Fréret, and then, during the 1789 French Revolution, Sieyès, and afterwards, Augustin Thierry and Cournot. Boulainvilliers, who created the matrix of such racist discourse in medieval France, conceived of the "race" as being something closer to the sense of a "nation", that is, in his time, the "race" meant the "people".
He conceived of France as being divided between various nations – the unified nation-state is an anachronism here – which themselves formed different "races". Boulainvilliers opposed the absolute monarchy, which tried to bypass the aristocracy by establishing a direct relationship to the Third Estate. Thus, he developed the theory that the French aristocrats were the descendants of foreign invaders, whom he called the "Franks", while according to him, the Third Estate constituted the autochthonous, vanquished Gallo-Romans, who were dominated by the Frankish aristocracy as a consequence of the right of conquest. Early modern racism was opposed to nationalism and the nation-state: the Comte de Montlosier, in exile during the French Revolution, who borrowed Boulainvilliers' discourse on the "Nordic race" as being the French aristocracy that invaded the plebeian "Gauls", thus showed his contempt for the Third Estate, calling it "this new people born of slaves ... mixture of all races and of all times".
While 19th-century racism became closely intertwined with nationalism, leading to the ethnic nationalist discourse that identified the "race" with the "folk", leading to such movements as pan-Germanism, pan-Turkism, pan-Arabism, and pan-Slavism, medieval racism precisely divided the nation into various non-biological "races", which were thought to be the consequence of historical conquests and social conflicts. Michel Foucault traced the genealogy of modern racism to this medieval "historical and political discourse of race struggle". According to him, it divided itself in the 19th century according to two rival lines: on one hand, it was incorporated by racists, biologists and eugenicists, who gave it the modern sense of "race", and they also transformed this popular discourse into a "state racism" (e.g., Nazism). On the other hand, Marxism also seized this discourse founded on the assumption of a political struggle that provided the real engine of history and continued to act underneath the apparent peace. Thus, Marxists transformed the essentialist notion of "race" into the historical notion of "class struggle", defined by socially structured positions: capitalist or proletarian. In "The Will to Knowledge" (1976), Foucault analyzed another opponent of the "race struggle" discourse: Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis, which opposed the concept of "blood heredity", prevalent in the 19th century racist discourse.
Authors such as Hannah Arendt, in her 1951 book "The Origins of Totalitarianism", have said that the racist ideology ("popular racism") which developed at the end of the 19th century helped legitimize the imperialist conquests of foreign territories and the atrocities that sometimes accompanied them (such as the Herero and Namaqua Genocide of 1904–1907 or the Armenian Genocide of 1915–1917). Rudyard Kipling's poem, "The White Man's Burden" (1899), is one of the more famous illustrations of the belief in the inherent superiority of the European culture over the rest of the world, though it is also thought to be a satirical appraisal of such imperialism. Racist ideology thus helped legitimize the conquest and incorporation of foreign territories into an empire, which were regarded as a humanitarian obligation partially as a result of these racist beliefs.
However, during the 19th century, Western European colonial powers were involved in the suppression of the Arab slave trade in Africa, as well as in the suppression of the slave trade in West Africa. Some Europeans during the time period objected to injustices that occurred in some colonies and lobbied on behalf of aboriginal peoples. Thus, when the Hottentot Venus was displayed in England in the beginning of the 19th century, the African Association publicly opposed itself to the exhibition. The same year that Kipling published his poem, Joseph Conrad published "Heart of Darkness" (1899), a clear criticism of the Congo Free State, which was owned by Leopold II of Belgium.
Examples of racial theories used include the creation of the Hamitic ethno-linguistic group during the European exploration of Africa. It was then restricted by Karl Friedrich Lepsius (1810–1877) to non-Semitic Afro-Asiatic languages.
The term "Hamite" was applied to different populations within North Africa, mainly comprising Ethiopians, Eritreans, Somalis, Berbers, and the ancient Egyptians. Hamites were regarded as Caucasoid peoples who probably originated in either Arabia or Asia on the basis of their cultural, physical and linguistic similarities with the peoples of those areas. Europeans considered Hamites to be more civilized than Sub-Saharan Africans, and more akin to themselves and Semitic peoples. In the first two-thirds of the 20th century, the Hamitic race was, in fact, considered one of the branches of the Caucasian race, along with the Indo-Europeans, Semites, and the Mediterraneans.
However, the Hamitic peoples themselves were often deemed to have failed as rulers, which was usually ascribed to interbreeding with Negroes. In the mid-20th century, the German scholar Carl Meinhof (1857–1944) claimed that the Bantu race was formed by a merger of Hamitic and Negro races. The Hottentots (Nama or Khoi) were formed by the merger of Hamitic and Bushmen (San) races—both being termed nowadays as Khoisan peoples.
In the United States in the early 19th century, the American Colonization Society was established as the primary vehicle for proposals to return black Americans to greater freedom and equality in Africa. The colonization effort resulted from a mixture of motives with its founder Henry Clay stating that "unconquerable prejudice resulting from their color, they never could amalgamate with the free whites of this country. It was desirable, therefore, as it respected them, and the residue of the population of the country, to drain them off". Racism spread throughout the New World in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Whitecapping, which started in Indiana in the late 19th century, soon spread throughout all of North America, causing many African laborers to flee from the land they worked on. In the US, during the 1860s, racist posters were used during election campaigns. In one of these racist posters (see above), a black man is depicted lounging idly in the foreground as one white man ploughs his field and another chops wood. Accompanying labels are: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread", and "The white man must work to keep his children and pay his taxes." The black man wonders, "Whar is de use for me to work as long as dey make dese appropriations." Above in a cloud is an image of the "Freedman's Bureau! Negro Estimate of Freedom!" The bureau is pictured as a large domed building resembling the U.S. Capitol and is inscribed "Freedom and No Work". Its columns and walls are labeled, "Candy", "Rum, Gin, Whiskey", "Sugar Plums", "Indolence", "White Women", "Apathy", "White Sugar", "Idleness", and so on.
On June 5, 1873, Sir Francis Galton, distinguished English explorer and cousin of Charles Darwin, wrote in a letter to "The Times":
The Nazi party, which seized power in the 1933 German elections and maintained a dictatorship over much of Europe until the End of World War II on the European continent, deemed the Germans to be part of an Aryan "master race" ("Herrenvolk"), who therefore had the right to expand their territory and enslave or kill members of other races deemed inferior.
The racial ideology conceived by the Nazis graded humans on a scale of pure Aryan to non-Aryan, with the latter viewed as subhuman. At the top of the scale of pure Aryans were Germans and other Germanic peoples including the Dutch, Scandinavians, and the English as well as other peoples such as some northern Italians and the French, who were said to have a suitable admixture of Germanic blood. Nazi policies labeled Romani people, people of color, and Slavs (mainly Poles, Serbs, Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians and Czechs) as inferior non-Aryan subhumans. Jews were at the bottom of the hierarchy, considered inhuman and thus unworthy of life. In accordance with Nazi racial ideology, approximately six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. 2.5 million ethnic Poles, 0.5 million ethnic Serbs and 0.22–0.5 million Romani were killed by the regime and its collaborators.
The Nazis considered most Slavs to be non-Aryan "Untermenschen". The Nazi Party's chief racial theorist, Alfred Rosenberg, adopted the term from Klansman Lothrop Stoddard's 1922 book "The Revolt Against Civilization: The Menace of the Under-man". Slavic nations such as the Slovaks, Bulgarians, and Croats, who collaborated with Nazi Germany were perceived as ethnically superior to other Slavs, mostly due to pseudoscientific theories about these nations having a considerable admixture of Germanic blood. In the secret plan Generalplan Ost ("Master Plan East") the Nazis resolved to expel, enslave, or exterminate most Slavic people to provide "living space" for Germans, however Nazi policy towards Slavs changed during World War II due to manpower shortages which necessitated limited Slavic participation in the Waffen-SS. Significant war crimes were committed against Slavs, particularly Poles, and Soviet POWs had a far higher mortality rate than their American and British counterparts due to deliberate neglect and mistreatment. Between June 1941 and January 1942, the Nazis killed an estimated 2.8 million Red Army POWs, whom they viewed as "subhuman".
During the intensification of ties with Nazi Germany in the 1930s, Ante Pavelić and the Ustaše and their idea of the Croatian nation became increasingly race-oriented. The Ustaše view of national and racial identity, as well as the theory of Serbs as an inferior race, was under the influence of Croatian nationalists and intellectuals from the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Serbs were primary target of racial laws and murders in the puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), Jews and Roma were also targeted. The Ustaše introduced the laws to strip Serbs of their citizenship, livelihoods, and possessions. During the genocide in the NDH, Serbs suffered among the highest casualty rates in Europe during the World War II, while the NDH was one of the most lethal regimes in the 20th century.
German praise for America's institutional racism was continuous throughout the early 1930s, and Nazi lawyers were advocates of the use of American models. Race based U.S. citizenship laws and anti-miscegenation laws (no race mixing) directly inspired the Nazi's two principal Nuremberg racial laws – the Citizenship Law and the Blood Law. Hitler's 1925 memoir "Mein Kampf" was full of admiration for America's treatment of "coloreds". Nazi expansion eastward was accompanied with invocation of America's colonial expansion westward, with the accompanying actions toward the Native Americans. In 1928, Hitler praised Americans for having "gunned down the millions of Redskins to a few hundred thousand, and now keeps the modest remnant under observation in a cage." On Nazi Germany's expansion eastward, in 1941 Hitler stated, "Our Mississippi [the line beyond which Thomas Jefferson wanted all Indians expelled] must be the Volga."
White supremacy was dominant in the U.S. up to the civil rights movement. On the U.S. immigration laws prior to 1965, sociologist Stephen Klineberg cited the law as clearly declaring "that Northern Europeans are a superior subspecies of the white race." While anti-Asian racism was embedded in U.S. politics and culture in the early 20th century, Indians were also racialized for their anticolonialism, with U.S. officials, casting them as a "Hindu" menace, pushing for Western imperial expansion abroad. The Naturalization Act of 1790 limited U.S. citizenship to whites only, and in the 1923 case, "United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind", the Supreme Court ruled that high caste Hindus were not "white persons" and were therefore racially ineligible for naturalized citizenship. It was after the Luce–Celler Act of 1946 that a quota of 100 Indians per year could immigrate to the U.S. and become citizens. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 dramatically opened entry to the U.S. to immigrants other than traditional Northern European and Germanic groups, and as a result would significantly alter the demographic mix in the U.S.
Serious race riots in Durban between Indians and Zulus erupted in 1949. Ne Win's rise to power in Burma in 1962 and his relentless persecution of "resident aliens" led to an exodus of some 300,000 Burmese Indians. They migrated to escape racial discrimination and wholesale nationalisation of private enterprises a few years later, in 1964. The Zanzibar Revolution of January 12, 1964, put an end to the local Arab dynasty. Thousands of Arabs and Indians in Zanzibar were massacred in riots, and thousands more were detained or fled the island. In August 1972, Ugandan President Idi Amin started the expropriation of properties owned by Asians and Europeans. In the same year, Amin ethnically cleansed Uganda's Asians, giving them 90 days to leave the country.
Shortly after World War II, the South African National Party took control of the government in South Africa. Between 1948 and 1994, the apartheid regime took place. This regime based its ideology on the racial separation of whites and non-whites, including the unequal rights of non-whites. Several protests and violence occurred during the struggle against apartheid, the most famous of these include the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, the Soweto uprising in 1976, the Church Street bombing of 1983, and the Cape Town peace march of 1989.
During the Congo Civil War (1998–2003), Pygmy people were hunted down like game animals and eaten. Both sides in the war regarded them as "subhuman" and some say their flesh can confer magical powers. UN human rights activists reported in 2003 that rebels had carried out acts of cannibalism. Sinafasi Makelo, a representative of the Mbuti pygmies, has asked the UN Security Council to recognise cannibalism as both a crime against humanity and an act of genocide. A report released by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination condemns Botswana's treatment of the 'Bushmen' as racist. In 2008, the tribunal of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) accused Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe of having a racist attitude towards white people.
The mass demonstrations and riots against African students in Nanjing, China, lasted from December 1988 to January 1989. Bar owners in central Beijing had been forced by the police "not to serve black people or Mongolians" during the 2008 Summer Olympics, as the police associated these ethnic groups with illegal prostitution and drug trafficking. In November 2009, British newspaper "The Guardian" reported that Lou Jing, of mixed Chinese and African parentage, had emerged as the most famous talent show contestant in China and has become the subject of intense debate because of her skin color. Her attention in the media opened serious debates about racism in China and racial prejudice.
Some 70,000 black African Mauritanians were expelled from Mauritania in the late 1980s. In the Sudan, black African captives in the civil war were often enslaved, and female prisoners were often sexually abused. The Darfur conflict has been described by some as a racial matter. In October 2006, Niger announced that it would deport the approximately 150,000 Arabs living in the Diffa region of eastern Niger to Chad. While the government collected Arabs in preparation for the deportation, two girls died, reportedly after fleeing Government forces, and three women suffered miscarriages.
The Jakarta riots of May 1998 targeted many Chinese Indonesians. The anti-Chinese legislation was in the Indonesian constitution until 1998. Resentment against Chinese workers has led to violent confrontations in Africa and Oceania. Anti-Chinese rioting, involving tens of thousands of people, broke out in Papua New Guinea in May 2009. Indo-Fijians suffered violent attacks after the Fiji coup in 2000. Non-indigenous citizens of Fiji are subject to discrimination. Racial divisions also exist in Guyana, Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago, Madagascar, and South Africa.
Peter Bouckaert, the Human Rights Watch's emergencies director, said in an interview that "racist hatred" is the chief motivation behind the violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
With the aim of preserving the demographic makeup of the Zionist state, elements within Israeli society have been accused of discriminatory behavior against the Arab population and of a darker complexion. These communities disproportionately occupy laborer positions with the workforce. Accusations of racism have also included birth control policies, education, and housing discrimination.
One form of racism in the United States was enforced racial segregation, which existed until the 1960s, when it was outlawed in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It has been argued that this separation of races continues to exist "de facto" today in different forms, such as lack of access to loans and resources or discrimination by police and other government officials.
The 2016 Pew Research poll found that Italians, in particular, hold strong anti-Roma views, with 82% of Italians expressing negative opinions about Roma. In Greece, there are 67%, in Hungary, 64%, in France, 61%, in Spain, 49%, in Poland, 47%, in the UK, 45%, in Sweden, 42%, in Germany, 40%, and in the Netherlands, 37%, that have an unfavourable view of Roma. A survey conducted by Harvard University found the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine have the strongest racial bias towards black people in Europe, while Serbia and Slovenia have a weakest racial bias, followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Ireland.
The modern biological definition of race developed in the 19th century with scientific racist theories. The term "scientific racism" refers to the use of science to justify and support racist beliefs, which goes back to the early 18th century, though it gained most of its influence in the mid-19th century, during the New Imperialism period. Also known as academic racism, such theories first needed to overcome the Church's resistance to positivist accounts of history and its support of monogenism, the concept that all human beings were originated from the same ancestors, in accordance with creationist accounts of history.
These racist theories put forth on scientific hypothesis were combined with unilineal theories of social progress, which postulated the superiority of the European civilization over the rest of the world. Furthermore, they frequently made use of the idea of "survival of the fittest", a term coined by Herbert Spencer in 1864, associated with ideas of competition, which were named social Darwinism in the 1940s. Charles Darwin himself opposed the idea of rigid racial differences in "The Descent of Man" (1871), in which he argued that humans were all of one species, sharing common descent. He recognised racial differences as varieties of humanity, and emphasised the close similarities between people of all races in mental faculties, tastes, dispositions and habits, while still contrasting the culture of the "lowest savages" with European civilization.
At the end of the 19th century, proponents of scientific racism intertwined themselves with eugenics discourses of "degeneration of the race" and "blood heredity". Henceforth, scientific racist discourses could be defined as the combination of polygenism, unilinealism, social Darwinism, and eugenism. They found their scientific legitimacy on physical anthropology, anthropometry, craniometry, phrenology, physiognomy, and others now discredited disciplines in order to formulate racist prejudices.
Before being disqualified in the 20th century by the American school of cultural anthropology (Franz Boas, etc.), the British school of social anthropology (Bronisław Malinowski, Alfred Radcliffe-Brown, etc.), the French school of ethnology (Claude Lévi-Strauss, etc.), as well as the discovery of the neo-Darwinian synthesis, such sciences, in particular anthropometry, were used to deduce behaviours and psychological characteristics from outward, physical appearances.
The neo-Darwinian synthesis, first developed in the 1930s, eventually led to a gene-centered view of evolution in the 1960s. According to the Human Genome Project, the most complete mapping of human DNA to date indicates that there is no clear genetic basis to racial groups. While some genes are more common in certain populations, there are no genes that exist in all members of one population and no members of any other.
The first theory of eugenics was developed in 1869 by Francis Galton (1822–1911), who used the then-popular concept of "degeneration". He applied statistics to study human differences and the alleged "inheritance of intelligence", foreshadowing future uses of "intelligence testing" by the anthropometry school. Such theories were vividly described by the writer Émile Zola (1840–1902), who started publishing in 1871, a twenty-novel cycle, "Les Rougon-Macquart", where he linked heredity to behavior. Thus, Zola described the high-born Rougons as those involved in politics ("Son Excellence Eugène Rougon") and medicine ("Le Docteur Pascal") and the low-born Macquarts as those fatally falling into alcoholism ("L'Assommoir"), prostitution ("Nana"), and homicide ("La Bête humaine").
During the rise of Nazism in Germany, some scientists in Western nations worked to debunk the regime's racial theories. A few argued against racist ideologies and discrimination, even if they believed in the alleged existence of biological races. However, in the fields of anthropology and biology, these were minority positions until the mid-20th century. According to the 1950 UNESCO statement, "The Race Question", an international project to debunk racist theories had been attempted in the mid-1930s. However, this project had been abandoned. Thus, in 1950, UNESCO declared that it had resumed:
...up again, after a lapse of fifteen years, a project that the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation has wished to carry through but that it had to abandon in deference to the appeasement policy of the pre-war period. The race question had become one of the pivots of Nazi ideology and policy. Masaryk and Beneš took the initiative of calling for a conference to re-establish in the minds and consciences of men everywhere the truth about race ... Nazi propaganda was able to continue its baleful work unopposed by the authority of an international organisation.
The Third Reich's racial policies, its eugenics programs and the extermination of Jews in the Holocaust, as well as the Romani people in the Porrajmos (the Romani Holocaust) and others minorities led to a change in opinions about scientific research into race after the war. Changes within scientific disciplines, such as the rise of the Boasian school of anthropology in the United States contributed to this shift. These theories were strongly denounced in the 1950 UNESCO statement, signed by internationally renowned scholars, and titled "The Race Question".
Works such as Arthur de Gobineau's "An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races" (1853–1855) may be considered as one of the first theorizations of this new racism, founded on an essentialist notion of race, which opposed the former racial discourse, of Boulainvilliers for example, which saw in races a fundamentally historical reality, which changed over time. Gobineau, thus, attempted to frame racism within the terms of biological differences among humans, giving it the legitimacy of biology.
Gobineau's theories would be expanded in France by Georges Vacher de Lapouge (1854–1936)'s typology of races, who published in 1899 "The Aryan and his Social Role", in which he claimed that the white "Aryan race" "dolichocephalic", was opposed to the "brachycephalic" race, of whom the "Jew" was the archetype. Vacher de Lapouge thus created a hierarchical classification of races, in which he identified the ""Homo europaeus" (Teutonic, Protestant, etc.), the ""Homo alpinus"" (Auvergnat, Turkish, etc.), and finally the ""Homo mediterraneus"" (Neapolitan, Andalus, etc.) He assimilated races and social classes, considering that the French upper class was a representation of the "Homo europaeus", while the lower class represented the "Homo alpinus". Applying Galton's eugenics to his theory of races, Vacher de Lapouge's "selectionism" aimed first at achieving the annihilation of trade unionists, considered to be a "degenerate"; second, creating types of man each destined to one end, in order to prevent any contestation of labour conditions. His "anthroposociology" thus aimed at blocking social conflict by establishing a fixed, hierarchical social order.
The same year, William Z. Ripley used identical racial classification in "The Races of Europe" (1899), which would have a great influence in the United States. Other scientific authors include H.S. Chamberlain at the end of the 19th century (a British citizen who naturalized himself as German because of his admiration for the "Aryan race") and Madison Grant, a eugenicist and author of "The Passing of the Great Race" (1916). Madison Grant provided statistics for the Immigration Act of 1924, which severely restricted immigration of Jews, Slavs, and Southern Europeans, who were subsequently hindered in seeking to escape Nazi Germany.
Human zoos (called "People Shows"), were an important means of bolstering "popular racism" by connecting it to scientific racism: they were both objects of public curiosity and of anthropology and anthropometry. Joice Heth, an African American slave, was displayed by P.T. Barnum in 1836, a few years after the exhibition of Saartjie Baartman, the "Hottentot Venus", in England. Such exhibitions became common in the New Imperialism period, and remained so until World War II. Carl Hagenbeck, inventor of the modern zoos, exhibited animals beside humans who were considered "savages".
Congolese pygmy Ota Benga was displayed in 1906 by eugenicist Madison Grant, head of the Bronx Zoo, as an attempt to illustrate the "missing link" between humans and orangutans: thus, racism was tied to Darwinism, creating a social Darwinist ideology that tried to ground itself in Darwin's scientific discoveries. The 1931 Paris Colonial Exhibition displayed Kanaks from New Caledonia. A "Congolese village" was on display as late as 1958 at the Brussels' World Fair.
Evolutionary psychologists John Tooby and Leda Cosmides were puzzled by the fact that in the US, race is one of the three characteristics most often used in brief descriptions of individuals (the others are age and sex). They reasoned that natural selection would not have favoured the evolution of an instinct for using race as a classification, because for most of human history, humans almost never encountered members of other races. Tooby and Cosmides hypothesized that modern people use race as a proxy (rough-and-ready indicator) for coalition membership, since a better-than-random guess about "which side" another person is on will be helpful if one does not actually know in advance.
Their colleague Robert Kurzban designed an experiment whose results appeared to support this hypothesis. Using the Memory confusion protocol, they presented subjects with pictures of individuals and sentences, allegedly spoken by these individuals, which presented two sides of a debate. The errors that the subjects made in recalling who said what indicated that they sometimes mis-attributed a statement to a speaker of the same race as the "correct" speaker, although they also sometimes mis-attributed a statement to a speaker "on the same side" as the "correct" speaker. In a second run of the experiment, the team also distinguished the "sides" in the debate by clothing of similar colors; and in this case the effect of racial similarity in causing mistakes almost vanished, being replaced by the color of their clothing. In other words, the first group of subjects, with no clues from clothing, used race as a visual guide to guessing who was on which side of the debate; the second group of subjects used the clothing color as their main visual clue, and the effect of race became very small.
Some research suggests that ethnocentric thinking may have actually contributed to the development of cooperation. Political scientists Ross Hammond and Robert Axelrod created a computer simulation wherein virtual individuals were randomly assigned one of a variety of skin colors, and then one of a variety of trading strategies: be color-blind, favor those of your own color, or favor those of other colors. They found that the ethnocentric individuals clustered together, then grew, until all the non-ethnocentric individuals were wiped out.
In "The Selfish Gene", evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins writes that "Blood-feuds and inter-clan warfare are easily interpretable in terms of Hamilton's genetic theory." Dawkins writes that racial prejudice, while not evolutionarily adaptive, "could be interpreted as an irrational generalization of a kin-selected tendency to identify with individuals physically resembling oneself, and to be nasty to individuals different in appearance." Simulation-based experiments in evolutionary game theory have attempted to provide an explanation for the selection of ethnocentric-strategy phenotypes.
Despite support for evolutionary theories relating to an innate origin of racism, various studies have suggested racism is associated with lower intelligence and less diverse peer groups during childhood. A neuroimaging study on amygdala activity during racial matching activities found increased activity to be associated with adolescent age as well as less racially diverse peer groups, which the author conclude suggest a learned aspect of racism. A meta analysis of neuroimaging studies found amygdala activity correlated to increased scores on implicit measures of racial bias. It was also argued amygdala activity in response to racial stimuli represents increased threat perception rather than the traditional theory of the amygdala activity represented ingroup-outgroup processing. Racism has also been associated with lower childhood IQ in an analysis of 15,000 people in the UK.
State racism – that is, the institutions and practices of a nation-state that are grounded in racist ideology – has played a major role in all instances of settler colonialism, from the United States to Australia. It also played a prominent role in the Nazi German regime, in fascist regimes throughout Europe, and during the early years of Japan's Shōwa period. These governments advocated and implemented ideologies and policies that were racist, xenophobic, and, in the case of Nazism, genocidal.
The Nuremberg Race Laws of 1935 prohibited sexual relations between any Aryan and Jew, considering it "Rassenschande", "racial pollution". The Nuremberg Laws stripped all Jews, even quarter- and half-Jews (second and first degree "Mischlings"), of their German citizenship. This meant that they had no basic citizens' rights, e.g., the right to vote. In 1936, Jews were banned from all professional jobs, effectively preventing them from having any influence in education, politics, higher education, and industry. On 15 November 1938, Jewish children were banned from going to normal schools. By April 1939, nearly all Jewish companies had either collapsed under financial pressure and declining profits, or had been persuaded to sell out to the Nazi government. This further reduced their rights as human beings; they were in many ways officially separated from the German populace. Similar laws existed in Bulgaria – The Law for protection of the nation, Hungary, Romania, and Austria.
Legislative state racism is known to have been enforced by the National Party of South Africa during its Apartheid regime between 1948 and 1994. Here, a series of Apartheid legislation was passed through the legal systems to make it legal for white South Africans to have rights which were superior to those of non-white South Africans. Non-white South Africans were not allowed involvement in any governing matters, including voting; access to quality healthcare; the provision of basic services, including clean water; electricity; as well as access to adequate schooling. Non-white South Africans were also prevented from accessing certain public areas, from using certain public transportation, and were required to live only in certain designated areas. Non-white South Africans were taxed differently than white South Africans and they were also required to carry on them at all times additional documentation, which later became known as "dom passes", to certify their non-white South African citizenship. All of these legislative racial laws were abolished through a series of equal human rights laws which were passed at the end of the Apartheid era in the early 1990s.
Anti-racism includes beliefs, actions, movements, and policies which are adopted or developed in order to oppose racism. In general, it promotes an egalitarian society in which people are not discriminated against on the basis of race. Movements such as the civil rights movement and the Anti-Apartheid Movement were examples of anti-racist movements. Nonviolent resistance is sometimes embraced as an element of anti-racist movements, although this was not always the case. Hate crime laws, affirmative action, and bans on racist speech are also examples of government policy which is intended to suppress racism. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25613 |
R
R or r is the 18th letter of the modern English alphabet and the ISO basic Latin alphabet. Its name in English is "ar" (pronounced ), plural "ars", or in Ireland "or" .
The original Semitic letter may have been inspired by an Egyptian hieroglyph for "tp", "head". It was used for by Semites because in their language, the word for "head" was "rêš" (also the name of the letter). It developed into Greek 'Ρ' ("rhô") and Latin R.
The descending diagonal stroke develops as a graphic variant in some Western Greek alphabets (writing "rho" as ), but it was not adopted in most Old Italic alphabets; most Old Italic alphabets show variants of their "rho" between a "P" and a "D" shape, but without the Western Greek descending stroke.
Indeed, the oldest known forms of the Latin alphabet itself of the 7th to 6th centuries BC, in the Duenos and the Forum inscription, still write "r" using the "P" shape of the letter.
The Lapis Satricanus inscription shows the form of the Latin alphabet around 500 BC. Here, the rounded, closing Π shape of the "p" and the Ρ shape of the "r" have become difficult to distinguish.
The descending stroke of the Latin letter R has fully developed by the 3rd century BC, as seen in the Tomb of the Scipios sarcophagus inscriptions of that era. From around 50 AD, the letter "P" would be written with its loop fully closed, assuming the shape formerly taken by "R".
The minuscule (lowercase) form ("r") developed through several variations on the capital form.
Along with Latin minuscule writing in general, it developed ultimately from Roman cursive via the uncial script of Late Antiquity into the Carolingian minuscule of the 9th century.
In handwriting, it was common not to close the bottom of the loop but continue into the leg, saving an extra pen stroke. The loop-leg stroke shortened into the simple arc used in the Carolingian minuscule and until today.
A calligraphic minuscule "r", known as r rotunda (ꝛ), was used in the sequence "or", bending the shape of the "r" to accommodate the bulge of the "o" (as in "oꝛ" as opposed to "or"). Later, the same variant was also used where "r" followed other lower case letters with a rounded loop towards the right (such as "b, h, p") and to write the geminate "rr" (as "ꝛꝛ"). Use of "r rotunda" was mostly tied to blackletter typefaces, and the glyph fell out of use along with blackletter fonts in English language contexts mostly by the 18th century.
Insular script used a minuscule which retained two downward strokes, but which did not close the loop ("Insular "r"", ꞃ); this variant survives in the Gaelic type popular in Ireland until the mid-20th century (but now mostly limited to decorative purposes).
The name of the letter in Latin was (), following the pattern of other letters representing continuants, such as F, L, M, N and S. This name is preserved in French and many other languages. In Middle English, the name of the letter changed from to , following a pattern exhibited in many other words such as "farm" (compare French "ferme") and "star" (compare German "Stern").
In Hiberno-English the letter is called or , somewhat similar to "oar", "ore", "orr".
The letter R is sometimes referred to as the (literally 'canine letter', often rendered in English as the dog's letter). This Latin term referred to the Latin R was trilled to sound like a growling dog, a spoken style referred to as ('dog voice'). A good example of a trilled R is in the Spanish word for dog, "perro".
In William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", such a reference is made by Juliet's nurse in Act 2, scene 4, when she calls the letter R "the dog's name". The reference is also found in Ben Jonson's "English Grammar".
The letter is the eighth most common letter in English and the fourth-most common consonant (after , , and ).
The letter is used to form the ending "-re", which is used in certain words such as "centre" in some varieties of English spelling, such as British English. Canadian English also uses the "-re" ending, unlike American English, where the ending is usually replaced by "-er" ("center"). This does not affect pronunciation.
represents a rhotic consonant in many languages, as shown in the table below.
Other languages may use the letter in their alphabets (or Latin transliterations schemes) to represent rhotic consonants different from the alveolar trill. In Haitian Creole, it represents a sound so weak that it is often written interchangeably with , e.g. 'Kweyol' for 'Kreyol'.
Brazilian Portuguese has a great number of allophones of such as , , , , , and , the latter three ones can be used only in certain contexts ( and as ; in the syllable coda, as an allophone of according to the European Portuguese norm and according to the Brazilian Portuguese norm). Usually at least two of them are present in a single dialect, such as Rio de Janeiro's , , and, for a few speakers, .
The International Phonetic Alphabet uses several variations of the letter to represent the different rhotic consonants; represents the alveolar trill. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25618 |
Richard Bachman
Richard Bachman is a pen name used by horror fiction author Stephen King.
At the beginning of Stephen King's career, the general view among publishers was that an author was limited to one book per year, since publishing more would be unacceptable to the public. King therefore wanted to write under another name, in order to increase his publication without over-saturating the market for the King "brand". He convinced his publisher, Signet Books, to print these novels under a pseudonym.
In his introduction to "The Bachman Books," King states that adopting the nom de plume Bachman was also an attempt to make sense out of his career and try to answer the question of whether his success was due to talent or luck. He says he deliberately released the Bachman novels with as little marketing presence as possible and did his best to "load the dice against" Bachman. King concludes that he has yet to find an answer to the "talent versus luck" question, as he felt he was outed as Bachman too early to know. The Bachman book "Thinner" (1984) sold 28,000 copies during its initial run—and then ten times as many when it was revealed that Bachman was, in fact, King.
The pseudonym King originally selected (Gus Pillsbury) is King's maternal grandfather's name, but at the last moment (due to the pseudonym being outed) King changed it to Richard Bachman. Richard is a tribute to crime author Donald E. Westlake's long-running pseudonym Richard Stark. (The surname Stark "was" later used in King's novel "The Dark Half," in which an author's malevolent pseudonym, "George Stark", comes to life.) Bachman was inspired by Bachman–Turner Overdrive, a rock and roll band King was listening to at the time his publisher asked him to choose a pseudonym on the spot.
King provided biographical details for Bachman, initially in the "about the author" blurbs in the early novels. Known "facts" about Bachman were that he was born in New York, served a four-year stint in the Coast Guard, which he then followed with ten years in the Merchant Marine. Bachman finally settled down in rural central New Hampshire, where he ran a medium-sized dairy farm, writing at night. His fifth novel was dedicated to his wife, Claudia Inez Bachman, who also received credit for the bogus author photo on the book jacket. Other "facts" about the author were revealed in publicity dispatches from Bachman's publishers: the Bachmans had one child, a boy, who died in an unfortunate, Stephen King-esque accident at the age of six, when he fell through a well and drowned. In 1982, a brain tumour was discovered near the base of Bachman's brain; tricky surgery removed it. After Bachman's true identity was revealed, later publicity dispatches (and "about the author" blurbs) revealed that Bachman died suddenly in late 1985 of "cancer of the pseudonym, a rare form of schizonomia".
King dedicated Bachman's early books—"Rage" (1977), "The Long Walk" (1979), "Roadwork" (1981), and "The Running Man" (1982)—to people close to him. The link between King and his shadow writer was exposed after a Washington, D.C. bookstore clerk, Steve Brown, noted similarities between the writing styles of King and Bachman. Brown located publisher's records at the Library of Congress which included a document naming King as the author of one of Bachman's novels. Brown wrote to King's publishers with a copy of the documents he had uncovered, and asked them what to do. Two weeks later, King telephoned Brown personally and suggested he write an article about how he discovered the truth, allowing himself to be interviewed. At the time of the announcement in 1985, King was working on "Misery," which he had planned to release as a Bachman book.
In 1987, the Bachman novel "The Running Man" inspired the Paul Michael Glaser film of the same name. King insisted that his name not be on the credits, and the screen credit for the film went to Richard Bachman.
King used the "relationship" between himself and Bachman as a concept in his 1989 book "The Dark Half." In the novel a writer's darker pseudonym takes on a life of its own. King dedicated "The Dark Half" to "the late Richard Bachman." Originally there were plans to make the book a collaboration between the two, although this was later scrapped.
In 1996, Bachman's "The Regulators" came out, with the publishers claiming the book's manuscript was found among Bachman's leftover papers by his widow. It was released as a companion novel with King's "Desperation"; the two novels took place in different universes but featured many of the same characters. The two book covers were designed to be placed together to form a single picture. In the foreword by King included with "Desperation" he said that there may be another Bachman novel left to be "found."
The next Bachman book to be "discovered" was "Blaze." "Blaze" was, in fact, an unpublished novel of King's written before "Carrie" or the creation of Richard Bachman. For its publication King rewrote, edited, and updated the entire novel. It was published in 2007 under the Bachman pseudonym, with a foreword by King under his own name.
King has taken full ownership of the Bachman name on numerous occasions, as with the republication of the first four Bachman titles as "The Bachman Books: Four Early Novels by Stephen King" in 1985. The introduction, titled "Why I Was Bachman", details the whole Bachman/King story. (In 1996, the collection was reissued with a new King essay, "The Importance of Being Bachman".)
Richard Bachman was also referred to in Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series of books. In the fifth book, "," the sinister children's book "Charlie the Choo Choo" is revealed to be written by "Claudia y Inez Bachman." The spelling discrepancy of the added 'y' was later explained as a deus ex machina on the part of "The White" (a force of good throughout King's "Tower" series) to bring the total number of letters in her name to nineteen, a number prominent in King's series. In the next novel of the series, "," Stephen King briefly discusses his Richard Bachman pseudonym.
After the Heath High School shooting, King announced that he would allow "Rage" to go out of print, fearing that it might inspire similar tragedies. "Rage" for a time continued to be available in the United Kingdom in "The Bachman Books" collection, although the collection now no longer contains "Rage". In a footnote to the preface of "Blaze," dated 30 January 2007, King wrote of "Rage": "Now out of print, and a good thing." King's other Bachman novels are available in the US in separate volumes.
In 2010, King appeared on the FX television show "Sons of Anarchy" in a cameo role. His character, named Bachman, performed contract work quietly disposing of deceased bodies.
In issue 29 of the comic adaptation of "The Stand", Richard (Rich) Bachman appears as one of the top lieutenants of Randall Flagg, replacing the character of Whitney Horgan from the original novel. He is drawn to resemble King.
In the 2013 "Grimm" episode "Nameless", Richard Bachman being a pseudonym of Stephen King was a plot point. King's novel, "Rage", had its title page used as a prop for the killer to write a note to the police. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25622 |
Roberto Baggio
Roberto Baggio (; born 18 February 1967) is an Italian former professional footballer who mainly played as a second striker, or as an attacking midfielder, although he was capable of playing in several offensive positions. He is the former president of the technical sector of the Italian Football Federation. A technically gifted, creative playmaker, and a set piece specialist, renowned for his curling free-kicks, dribbling skills, and goalscoring, Baggio is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. In 1999, he came fourth in the FIFA Player of the Century internet poll, and was chosen on the FIFA World Cup Dream Team in 2002. In 1993, he was named FIFA World Player of the Year and won the Ballon d'Or. In 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100, a list of the world's greatest living players.
Baggio played for Italy in 56 matches, scoring 27 goals, and is the joint fourth-highest goalscorer for his national team, alongside Alessandro Del Piero. He starred in the Italian team that finished third in the 1990 FIFA World Cup, scoring twice. At the 1994 World Cup, he led Italy to the final, scoring five goals, received the World Cup Silver Ball and was named in the World Cup All-Star Team. Although he was the star performer for Italy at the tournament, he missed the decisive penalty in the shootout of the final against Brazil. At the 1998 World Cup, he scored twice before Italy were eliminated by eventual champions France in the quarter-finals. Baggio is the only Italian to score in three World Cups, and with nine goals holds the record for most goals scored in World Cup tournaments for Italy, along with Paolo Rossi and Christian Vieri.
In 2002, Baggio became the first Italian player in over 50 years to score more than 300 career goals; he is currently the fifth-highest scoring Italian in all competitions with 318 goals. In 2004, during the final season of his career, Baggio became the first player in over 30 years to score 200 goals in Serie A, and is currently the seventh-highest goalscorer of all time in Serie A, with 205 goals. In 1990, he moved from Fiorentina to Juventus for a world record transfer fee. Baggio won two Serie A titles, a Coppa Italia and a UEFA Cup, playing for seven different Italian clubs during his career: Vicenza, Fiorentina, Juventus, A.C. Milan, Bologna, Inter Milan and Brescia.
Baggio is known as "" ("The Divine Ponytail"), for the hairstyle he wore for most of his career, for his talent, and for his Buddhist beliefs. In 2002, Baggio was nominated Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. In 2003, he was the inaugural winner of the "Golden Foot" award. In recognition of his human rights activism, he received the Man of Peace award from the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in 2010. He was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame in 2011.
Roberto Baggio was born in Caldogno, Veneto, the son of Matilde and Fiorindo Baggio, the sixth of eight siblings. His younger brother, Eddy Baggio, was also a footballer who played 86 matches in Serie B.
Baggio began his youth career after being noticed by his hometown youth team, Caldogno, at age nine. By the time he turned 11, he had scored 45 goals and provided 20 assists in 26 matches, also scoring six goals in one match. His talent was recognised by scout Antonio Mora, and he was acquired by the Vicenza youth team at age 13 for £300 (500,000 Lit). After scoring 110 goals in 120 matches, Baggio began his professional career with the Vicenza senior side in 1983, at age 15.
At the age of 16, Baggio made his Serie C1 debut with Vicenza on 5 June 1983, in a 1–0 home loss against Piacenza, in the final league match of the season, coming on as a second-half substitute. He scored his first goal in Serie C during the following season, on 3 June 1984, from a penalty in a 3–0 win against Brescia, the club with which he retired in 2004. Baggio scored the first professional goal of his career in the Coppa Italia Serie C in a 4–1 away win over Legnano on 30 November 1983. He also made his Coppa Italia debut with the club on 31 August 1983, against Palermo, and he scored his first Coppa Italia goal in a 4–2 away loss to Empoli, on 26 August 1984. During the 1984–85 Serie C1 season, under manager Bruno Giorgi, he scored 12 goals in 29 appearances, helping the club to gain promotion to Serie B. Baggio began to draw the attention of larger Italian clubs, in particular Serie A side Fiorentina, and his playing style was compared to that of his idol, Zico. Baggio was also awarded the Guerin d'Oro in 1985 as the Best Player in Serie C.
During the end of his final season at Vicenza, Baggio shattered both the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and the meniscus of his right knee while playing against Rimini on 5 May 1985, while attempting a slide tackle. The injury occurred two days before his official transfer deal to Fiorentina had been finalised, and it seriously threatened his career, at age 18. Although several team doctors feared he would not play again, Fiorentina retained their faith in him, agreeing to commit to the transfer as well as fund the required surgery, one of many reasons for Baggio's attachment to the club.
Fiorentina purchased Baggio in 1985 for £1.5 million. During his time at the club, despite initial injuries, he became extremely popular, and is regarded as one of the club's best ever players. In his first season with the club, Baggio did not appear in Serie A as he was sidelined by injury; Fiorentina finished in fifth place in the league and reached the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia, with Baggio making his club debut in the latter competition. He finally made his Serie A debut the following season on 21 September 1986, in a 2–0 home win against Sampdoria, and he also made his European debut that season on 17 September 1986, in an UEFA Cup match against Boavista. Baggio suffered another knee injury on 28 September, and he was operated again, requiring 220 stitches to have it rebuilt, losing 12 kg as a result and missing most of the season. Baggio returned, and scored his first league goal from a free-kick on 10 May 1987 in a 1–1 draw against Diego Maradona's Napoli, the eventual Serie A champions; Baggio's equaliser saved Fiorentina from relegation.
Baggio led Fiorentina to a Coppa Italia quarter-final during the 1988–89 season under manager Sven-Göran Eriksson, scoring nine goals, as Fiorentina were eliminated by eventual champions Sampdoria. This season would be Baggio's breakthrough, as he scored 15 goals in Serie A, finishing third in the "capocannoniere" (top goalscorer) title. He also helped Fiorentina finish in seventh place in Serie A and win an UEFA Cup spot, assisting the only goal by Roberto Pruzzo in the tiebreak qualifier against Roma. He formed a notable attacking partnership with Stefano Borgonovo, and the pair scored 29 of Fiorentina's 44 Serie A goals, earning the nickname "B2". Baggio's performances elevated him to hero status among the fans, and he drew praise from several pundits. His characteristics led former Fiorentina playmaker Miguel Montuori to say Baggio was, "[M]ore productive than Maradona; he is without doubt the best number 10 in the league," also stating that Baggio had "ice in his veins" due to his composure in front of goal.
Although Fiorentina were struggling against relegation during the 1989–90 season, Baggio led the club to the 1990 UEFA Cup Final, only to be defeated by his future club, Juventus. Baggio scored 1 goal in 12 appearances in the competition, in a round of 16 1–0 home win against Dynamo Kyiv, from a penalty, on 22 November 1989; this was his first goal in European competitions. He also scored the decisive penalty in the first round shootout against Atlético Madrid. With 17 goals, Baggio was the second-highest goalscorer in the 1989–90 Serie A season after Marco van Basten, and was awarded the Bravo Award as the best under-23 player in European competitions. He also placed eighth in the 1990 Ballon d'Or. With Fiorentina, Baggio scored 55 goals in 136 appearances, 39 of which were in Serie A, from 94 appearances.
In 1990, Baggio was sold to one of Fiorentina's rivals, Juventus, for £8 million, the world record transfer for a footballer at the time. He inherited the number 10 shirt, formerly worn by Michel Platini. Following the transfer, there were riots on the streets of Florence, where 50 people were injured. Baggio replied to his fans, saying: "I was compelled to accept the transfer".
When Juventus played Fiorentina on 7 April 1991, Baggio refused to take a penalty, stating Fiorentina goalkeeper Gianmatteo Mareggini knew him too well. However, Luigi De Agostini, Baggio's replacement, missed the penalty and Juventus eventually lost the match. When Baggio was substituted, he picked up a Fiorentina scarf thrown onto the field, a gesture which, although appreciated by his former club's fans, caused outrage among the Juventus supporters, who were initially reluctant to accept Baggio. He claimed, "Deep in my heart I am always purple," the colour of Fiorentina.
In this first season at Juventus, Baggio scored 14 goals and provided 12 assists in Serie A, often playing behind the forwards under Luigi Maifredi, although Juventus finished in seventh place in Serie A, outside the European qualification spots. However, Juventus did reach the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup that year, a tournament in which Baggio was top scorer with nine goals, bringing his seasonal total to 27 goals. Juventus would ultimately be eliminated by Johan Cruyff's Barcelona "Dream Team". Juventus were also eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia to eventual winners Roma, with Baggio scoring three goals. Juventus also lost the Supercoppa Italiana against Napoli at the beginning of the season; Baggio scored Juventus's only goal from a free-kick. Baggio made his 100th Serie A appearance in a 0–0 draw against Lazio on 21 October 1990.
In his second season, under new manager Giovanni Trapattoni, Baggio finished runner-up to Marco van Basten for the Serie A top scorer title, scoring 18 goals and providing 8 assists, as Juventus finished runners-up to Fabio Capello's A.C. Milan in Serie A, and to Parma in the Coppa Italia final, in which Baggio scored in his club's 1–0 victory in the first leg from a penalty. It was during his second season with the club that Baggio came to be accepted by the Juventus fans, as he was seen as a leader around whom the club's play revolved. However, Trapattoni often deployed Baggio in a more advanced role, which led to minor disagreements between the player, his coach and Juventus management.
Baggio was appointed team captain for the 1992–93 season. He had a dominant season, winning the only European club trophy of his career after helping Juventus to the UEFA Cup final, in which he scored twice and assisted another goal over both legs, defeating Borussia Dortmund 6–1 on aggregate. "En route" to the final, Baggio scored two goals in the 2–1 home victory against Paris Saint-Germain, in the first leg of the semi-final, and he went on to score the only goal in the return leg. Juventus also reached the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia, losing on away goals to local rivals and winners Torino. Juventus finished fourth in Serie A that season, although they managed a 3–1 away win against the Serie A champions Milan, with Baggio scoring a memorable individual goal while also setting-up Andreas Möller's first goal of the match. One of the highlights of the season involved Baggio scoring four goals in open play against Udinese in a 5–0 Juventus home win. Baggio was once again runner-up for the Serie A "capocannoniere" title with 21 goals and 6 assists. He scored a personal best of 30 goals in all club competitions that season, in addition to five goals with the Italy national team. During the 1993 calendar year, Baggio managed a personal record 39 goals across all competitions, scoring 23 goals in Serie A, 3 in the Coppa Italia, 8 goals in European competitions and 5 goals for Italy, helping his national side qualify for the World Cup. Baggio's performances throughout the year earned him both the European Footballer of the Year, with 142 points from a possible 150, and the FIFA World Player of the Year awards. He was also awarded the Onze d'Or, and the World Soccer Player of the Year Award.
In the 1993–94 season, Baggio often played as a second striker alongside Gianluca Vialli or Fabrizio Ravanelli, and occasionally the young Alessandro Del Piero; Juventus once again finished runners up to Milan in Serie A, and Baggio finished third in the "capocannoniere" title with 17 goals and 8 assists, while the club suffered a quarter-final elimination in the UEFA Cup against Cagliari. On 31 October 1993, Baggio scored a hat-trick in a 4–0 win over Genoa, which included his 100th Serie A goal; he also set up a goal for Möller during the match. Baggio made his 200th Serie A appearance on 5 December 1993 in a 1–0 win over Napoli. After sustaining an injury earlier that season, Baggio was operated on his meniscus in March 1994. Baggio placed second in the 1994 Ballon d'Or, third in the 1994 FIFA World Player of the Year, and was awarded the 1994 Onze de Bronze.
In the 1994–95 season, Trapattoni's replacement, Marcello Lippi, wanted to create a more cohesive team, less dependent on Baggio, who was deployed as an outside forward in a 4–3–3 formation. Baggio was injured for most of the season, being ruled out for over three months after sustaining a knee injury against Padova on 27 November 1994. After scoring from a free-kick, he was substituted by Alessandro Del Piero, who temporarily took his place in the team. Baggio returned to the starting line-up in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final against Lazio in Rome on 8 March 1995, setting up Fabrizio Ravanelli's winner. On his first Serie A match back from injury, on 12 March 1995, Baggio scored Juventus' second goal in a 2–0 win over Foggia, and set up Ravanelli's goal. Due to his injury, Baggio only managed 17 Serie A appearances, but still contributed to his first "Scudetto" with Juventus by contributing eight goals and eight assists. He provided assists for three of the goals in the title-deciding match against Parma, which Juventus won 4–0 in Turin on 21 May 1995. He helped Juventus win the Coppa Italia that year, notching two goals and two assists, scoring the winning goal in the second leg of the semi-final. He helped lead Juventus to another UEFA Cup final by scoring four goals, including two goals and an assist over both legs of the semi-finals against Borussia Dortmund. Despite Baggio's strong performance, Juventus were defeated in the UEFA Cup final by Parma.
Baggio scored 115 goals in 200 appearances during his five seasons at Juventus; 78 were scored in Serie A in 141 appearances. In 1995, Baggio was nominated for the Ballon d'Or and placed fifth in the 1995 FIFA World Player of the Year Award. He was also awarded the 1995 Onze d'Argent Award, behind George Weah. Baggio is currently Juventus' ninth-highest goalscorer in all competitions, and is the joint tenth-highest goalscorer for Juventus in Serie A, alongside Pietro Anastasi. He is the sixth-highest Juventus goalscorer in the Coppa Italia with 14 goals, and is also the joint fourth all-time Juventus goalscorer in European competitions, as well as the joint fifth all-time Juventus goalscorer in international competitions, with 22 goals, alongside Anastasi once again. In 2010, he was named one of the club's 50 greatest legends.
In 1995, Marcello Lippi, Roberto Bettega and Umberto Agnelli announced that Baggio no longer featured in their plans at Juventus and decided to focus on the emerging star Alessandro Del Piero, who would inherit Baggio's number 10 shirt. Baggio faced difficulties with Agnelli, Luciano Moggi and Juventus management during his final season, as they stated they would only renew his contract if he reduced his salary by 50%. After strong pressure from A.C. Milan chairman Silvio Berlusconi and manager Fabio Capello, Baggio was sold to the Milanese club for £6.8 million, amidst several protests from Juventus fans. At the time, Baggio had been linked with Inter Milan, Real Madrid and English Premier League clubs Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers.
Although Baggio initially struggled with injuries at the beginning of his first season with A.C. Milan, he came back into the starting line-up and was appointed the main penalty taker. He helped Milan win the Serie A title, notably scoring a goal against his former team Fiorentina from a penalty in the title-deciding match. Baggio finished the season with 10 goals in all competitions, in 34 appearances; seven of his goals were scored in Serie A, in 28 appearances, and he also provided 12 assists in Serie A, making him the top assist provider of the season. He became one of the six players to win the "Scudetto" in consecutive years with different teams, and was voted the club's best player of the season by the fans, despite playing a more creative role. Towards the end of the season, Baggio had disagreements with Capello due to limited playing time, as Capello believed he was no longer fit enough to play for 90 minutes; although Baggio frequently started matches, he was often substituted during the second half; during the course of the season, he only played nine matches in their entirety, instead being substituted on 17 occasions, and comintrag off the bench twice.
During the opening of the following season, under new Milan manager Óscar Tabárez, Baggio was initially left out of the first team, with the former commenting "There is no place for poets in modern football." However, Baggio was later able to convince the Uruguayan manager of his abilities and earn himself a spot in the starting line-up; he became the focal point of the team's offensive play, and was initially started in his preferred role behind George Weah, and, on occasion, as a left winger or as a central midfielder playmaker. However, after a series of disappointing results, Baggio was relegated to the bench, and Milan's former coach, Arrigo Sacchi, was called in as a replacement, the former Italy manager with whom Baggio had argued following the 1994 World Cup. Although their relationship initially improved, Sacchi gave Baggio limited playing time, and he soon fell out of form, along with the rest of the squad, which caused their relationship to deteriorate again. A.C. Milan failed to retain their league title, finishing the season in a disappointing 11th place, and they were knocked out once again in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia. Baggio made his UEFA Champions League debut in the 1996–97 season, scoring his first goal in the competition, although Milan were eliminated in the group stage. Milan also lost the 1996 Supercoppa Italiana to Fiorentina, as Baggio was left on the bench. During his time at A.C. Milan, Baggio scored 19 goals in 67 appearances in all competitions; 12 of his goals were scored in Serie A, in 51 appearances, 3 were scored in the Coppa Italia in 6 appearances, and 4 were scored in European competitions, in 10 appearances.
In 1997, Capello returned to A.C. Milan, subsequently stating Baggio was not a part of his plans with the club. Baggio chose to move to Parma, but the manager at the time, Carlo Ancelotti, impeded the transfer, as he also did not feel Baggio would fit into his tactical plans. Ancelotti would later state he regretted this decision, stating that in his naïveté, he believed that the 4–4–2 formation was the ideal formation for success, and he felt that at the time, creative players such as Gianfranco Zola and Baggio were not compatible with this system.
Baggio subsequently transferred to Bologna, aiming to save the squad from relegation, and earn a place at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Baggio refound his form with the club and had a dominant season, scoring a personal best of 22 goals in Serie A, as well as providing 9 assists, leading Bologna to an eighth-place finish, allowing them to qualify for the UEFA Intertoto Cup. Baggio was the highest scoring Italian in Serie A that season, and the third-highest goalscorer in Serie A. His performances earned him a place in Italy's 1998 World Cup squad. Baggio also led Bologna to the round of 16 in the Coppa Italia, where he scored one goal in three appearances. Although he rose to hero status amongst the fans, he had difficulties with his manager Renzo Ulivieri, in particular when he was left out of the starting 11 against Juventus. Ulivieri later denied ever having any difficulties with Baggio. At the beginning of the season, Baggio cut off his iconic ponytail, signifying his rebirth. Baggio was named as Bologna's captain for part of the season, before handing the armband to Giancarlo Marocchi. Baggio made his 300th Serie A appearance while at Bologna, in a 0–0 draw against Empoli on 11 January 1998. Baggio received nominations for both the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year due to his performances for Bologna and Italy that season. He was also nominated for the 1998 Serie A Italian Footballer of the Year and Serie A Footballer of the Year awards, losing out to Alessandro Del Piero and Ronaldo, respectively.
After the 1998 World Cup, Baggio signed with his favourite childhood club Inter Milan in order to compete in the UEFA Champions League. However, this proved to be an unfortunate move, as after injuries, disappointing results and several managerial changes throughout the season (including Luigi Simoni, Mircea Lucescu and Roy Hodgson), Baggio struggled to gain playing time, and was used out of position as a winger, often as a substitute. Baggio scored 5 goals and provided 10 assists in 23 appearances during the 1998–99 season, as Inter finished in eighth place, missing out on a European spot. He helped Inter to a Coppa Italia semi-final, losing out to eventual winners Parma. Baggio scored a goal against his former club Bologna in a European play-off match, but Inter lost both matches, failing to qualify for the UEFA Cup. Baggio also scored four goals in the Champions League, helping lead Inter through the qualifying rounds to the quarter-finals, where they were eliminated by eventual winners Manchester United, also scoring a memorable brace against defending champions Real Madrid in the group stage.
In the 1999–2000 season, Baggio's former manager at Juventus, Marcello Lippi, was appointed as Inter's new coach. Lippi did not favour Baggio and left him out of the squad for most of the season, stating Baggio was out of shape. In his autobiography, Baggio stated Lippi had dumped him after Baggio refused to point out which of Inter's players had expressed negative opinions about the coach, also highlighting an incident during a training session where he called out Christian Vieri and Christian Panucci for applauding Baggio for a notable assist.
Baggio was used scarcely and often as a substitute, scoring only 4 goals in 18 appearances during the regular Serie A season. He made five appearances in the Coppa Italia, with his only goal coming against local rivals A.C. Milan in the second leg of the quarter-finals, as he helped Inter reach the final, only to be defeated by Lazio. Despite his limited playing time, Baggio still managed several important goals to help Inter to a fourth-place finish, alongside Parma, such as his match winning goal against Hellas Verona, which he scored after coming off the bench, after being excluded from the team since 18 December 1999. Baggio had also previously helped to set up Inter's equaliser during the match. This was the first time Baggio had scored for Inter since his goal on 27 May of the previous season, and in the post-match the interview, he denied accusations made by Lippi in regard to his personal form.
Baggio's last important contribution to Inter was scoring two memorable goals against Parma in the play-off match for the last remaining Champions League place, which Inter won 3–1; Lippi had been forced to field Baggio due to several injuries. Baggio was given a perfect 10 rating from the Italian sports newspaper "La Gazzetta dello Sport", which described his performance as "absolutely perfect all game". This match is considered an example of professionalism shown by Baggio, as Inter president Massimo Moratti had stated Lippi would only stay on if the team qualified for the Champions League.
After two years with Inter, Baggio decided not to renew his expiring contract due to his conflicts with Marcello Lippi, making him a free agent at age 33. He was linked with several Serie A clubs, such as Napoli and Reggina, and also various Premier League and La Liga clubs, including Barcelona. Baggio ultimately transferred to Serie A newcomers Brescia, under head coach Carlo Mazzone, aiming to save them from relegation; he remained in Italy in order to have a greater opportunity of being called up for the 2002 World Cup. He was made captain and was given the number 10 shirt, playing as an attacking midfielder.
Despite injury problems during the first half of the season, Baggio re-found his form and managed ten goals and ten assists in the 2000–01 season. Brescia finished in a joint seventh place, their best Serie A finish since the league's re-establishment in 1946, and qualified for the UEFA Intertoto Cup, also reaching the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia, losing to eventual winners Fiorentina. Baggio helped Brescia to the final of the 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup, where they were defeated by Paris Saint-Germain on away goals. Baggio scored one goal in the tournament, in the final from a penalty. His performances earned him a nomination for the 2001 Ballon d'Or, and he finished 25th overall in the rankings. Baggio was one of the best offensive playmakers in the league, winning the Guerin d'oro Award in 2001, awarded by the Italian sports magazine "il Guerin Sportivo", to the player with the highest average rating throughout the season with at least 19 appearances.
At the start of 2001–02 season, Baggio scored eight goals in the first nine matches, leading him to the top of the Serie A goalscoring table. In his eighth league appearance of the season, against Piacenza, Baggio scored a goal but later suffered an injury. A week later, against Venezia, he scored from a penalty, but he endured a more serious injury following a hard challenge which caused him to tear the ACL of his left knee, keeping him out of action for four months. He suffered a second serious injury that season, tearing the meniscus in his left knee, after returning to the team, and coming off the bench, in the Coppa Italia semi-final against Parma on 31 January 2002. He was operated on 4 February 2002 and he returned for three matches before the end of the season, making a recovery in 76 days. On 21 April 2002, in the first game after his comeback, Baggio came on as a substitute to score two goals against Fiorentina, helping Brescia win the match. He scored again against Bologna, saving Brescia from relegation on the final matchday, and bringing his seasonal tally to 11 goals in 12 Serie A matches. Despite Baggio's performances and public demand, Italy national team head coach Giovanni Trapattoni did not deem him fully fit, prompting the coach to leave Baggio out of the final squad for the 2002 World Cup. Trapattoni also expressed concern about bringing Baggio to the World Cup due to the presence of Francesco Totti and Alessandro Del Piero in his role, believing that this could create a rivalry between the players. After missing out on the tournament, Baggio reversed his initial decision to retire after the World Cup, expressing his intention to surpass the 200 Serie A goal mark.
Baggio maintained a high level of performance under new coach Gianni De Biasi. Baggio managed 12 goals and 9 assists during the 2002–03 season, helping Brescia to an eighth-place finish and another UEFA Intertoto Cup spot. He scored his 300th career goal from a penalty on 15 December 2002, in Brescia's 3–1 home victory over Perugia, also setting-up one of Igli Tare's goals. Baggio was the first player in over 50 years to reach this milestone, and with 318 goals, he is the fourth-highest scoring Italian player in all competitions, behind only Silvio Piola, Alessandro Del Piero and Giuseppe Meazza.
In the 2003–04 season, the final season of his career, Baggio recorded 12 goals and 11 assists. He scored his 200th goal in Serie A in a 2–2 draw against Parma on 14 March 2004, saving Brescia from relegation, as they finished the season in 11th place. Baggio was the first player in almost 30 years to surpass the 200-goal milestone, and is currently only one of seven players to have accomplished the feat. Baggio scored his final and 205th Serie A career goal on the second last matchday, in a 2–1 home win over Coppa Italia winners Lazio on 9 May 2004; he also set up Brescia's first goal in that match. Baggio played his last career match on 16 May 2004 on the final matchday of the season at the San Siro against A.C. Milan, which ended in a 4–2 loss to the Serie A champions; during the game, he set-up Matuzalém's second goal. In the 88th minute, De Biasi substituted Baggio, prompting the 80,000 present at the San Siro to give him a standing ovation; A.C. Milan's captain, defender Paolo Maldini, who was Baggio's former teammate both with the Italy national team and Milan, also embraced him before he left the pitch.
With Brescia, Baggio scored 46 goals in 101 appearances in all competitions, scoring 45 goals in 95 Serie A appearances, and one goal in two European matches. Baggio also made four Coppa Italia appearances with Brescia. Baggio retired as Brescia's all-time leading goalscorer in Serie A. He ended his career with 205 goals in Serie A, making him the seventh-highest scorer of all time, behind Silvio Piola, Francesco Totti (who overtook him in 2011), Gunnar Nordahl, Giuseppe Meazza, José Altafini and Antonio Di Natale (who overtook him in 2015). Baggio's number 10 shirt was retired by Brescia in his honour, and he is considered the club's greatest ever player. Before Baggio had joined Brescia, they had never been able to avoid relegation after being newly promoted to Serie A, in over 40 years. During the four years under Baggio, Brescia recorded their best ever Serie A run and were never relegated.
Baggio totalled 27 goals in 56 caps for his national team at senior level, making him Italy's fourth-highest all-time goalscorer, tied with Del Piero, who managed the tally in 91 appearances. At youth level, he was capped for the Italy U16 on four occasions in 1984, scoring three goals. Under Cesare Maldini, he was called up for one Italy under-21 match against Switzerland on 16 October 1987, although he was an unused substitute, and strangely failed to make an appearance for the "azzurrini".
His first senior International call-up was given to him by manager Azeglio Vicini, and he made his first appearance for Italy on 16 November 1988 at age 21 in a 1–0 friendly victory over the Netherlands, assisting Gianluca Vialli's match-winning goal. He scored his first goal for Italy on 22 April 1989, from a free-kick in a 1–1 draw against Uruguay in an international friendly in Verona. Later that year, in his following international appearance in Italy's friendly against Bulgaria, held in Cesena on 20 September, he scored his first brace for Italy in a 4–0 victory, also later assisting Andrea Carnevale's goal with a cross from a free kick, and contributing to Nikolay Iliev's own goal by setting-up Vialli, whose shot was subsequently deflected by the Bulgarian defender.
Baggio was called up for his first World Cup tournament in 1990, on home soil. Baggio was often used as a substitute, appearing in five matches, but only starting in four of them, as Italy manager Azeglio Vicini preferred the more experienced Gianluca Vialli. Baggio was still able to display his ability throughout the tournament, and Vicini's decision not to use him more frequently was later criticised, as Baggio's creative combinations with Salvatore Schillaci were praised. Baggio scored twice during the tournament, including the "goal of the tournament" in a 2–0 win in his first competitive international fixture, in Italy's final group match against Czechoslovakia. The goal, which drew comparisons with Giuseppe Meazza, involved an exchange with Giuseppe Giannini on the left wing, followed by a dribbling run from midfield, in which Baggio beat several players, wrong-footing the last defender with a feint, before putting the ball past the goalkeeper. This goal was later recognised as the seventh-best goal in World Cup history in a FIFA poll.
In the round of 16 match against Uruguay, which Italy won 2–0, Baggio started the play which led to Italy's first goal, scored by Schillaci. Baggio also scored a goal from a direct free-kick, but it was disallowed as the referee had awarded an indirect free-kick. Baggio also had a goal incorrectly ruled offside in the quarter-final against the Republic of Ireland, which Italy won 1–0; Baggio was once again involved in the build-up which led to Schillaci's match winning goal. Italy were eliminated on penalties against defending champions Argentina in the semi-finals after a 1–1 draw, although Baggio was able to score his penalty in the shootout. Baggio had come off the bench in the second half for Giannini, and came close to winning the match with a free-kick, but it was saved by Sergio Goycochea.
In the bronze medal match against England, Baggio returned to the starting line-up, playing behind Schillaci. He scored Italy's first goal of the match after stealing the ball from Peter Shilton. David Platt momentarily equalised, but with five minutes left on the clock, Baggio set up Schillaci, who was fouled inside the area by Paul Parker. Although Baggio was the regularly designated penalty taker for his national team, he stepped aside to allow Schillaci to score and capture the Golden Shoe, a gesture which was praised by the Italian media. Baggio assisted a goal by Nicola Berti in the dying minutes of the match, but it was incorrectly ruled offside. Italy won the match 2–1, capturing the third place medal.
Following the World Cup, Baggio was not called up often by Vicini for the Euro 1992 Qualification matches, only making three appearances and scoring two goals as Italy failed to qualify for the tournament, finishing second in their qualifying group behind the Soviet Union.
Under Italy's new manager, Arrigo Sacchi, Baggio was his team's top scorer during their qualifying campaign for the 1994 World Cup, scoring five goals of the team's 14 goals in the eight games in which he featured, while also providing seven assists. He helped Italy top their group and qualify for the 1994 World Cup, notably contributing to Dino Baggio's winner in the decisive final group match against Portugal. One of his best performances during the qualifying campaign occurred on 14 October 1992 against Switzerland; Italy were trailing 2–0 at home and Baggio led his team to a 2–2 draw comeback, scoring a goal. Under Sacchi, Baggio made his first and only starting appearance as Italy's captain in the 1994 World Cup qualifying match in Glasgow against Scotland on 18 November 1992. However, he was substituted off in the final minutes of the 0–0 draw after injuring his rib.
Despite a series of injuries prior to the tournament, Baggio was expected to be one of the stars of the 1994 World Cup, entering the competition as the reigning Ballon d'Or winner and FIFA World Player of the Year, and at the peak of his career; after a lacklustre start, he led his team to the final with three match winning performances in the knockout rounds, wearing the number 10 shirt, and scoring five goals in the process. In a disappointing first match against Republic of Ireland at Giants Stadium, New Jersey, Italy were defeated 1–0. In the second match against Norway, he appeared more inspired. However, Italy goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca was sent off for handling the ball outside the area. Luca Marchegiani was brought in to replace him, and Arrigo Sacchi decided to take off Baggio in what produced an outcry amidst the fans. Baggio later stated that Sacchi was "crazy". Italy won the match 1–0. Italy continued to disappoint, as their final group match ended in a 1–1 draw against Mexico, and he again failed to influence the result. The Italians finished third in their group, drawing much criticism from the press, and only advancing from the first round as the fourth-best third-placed team; Juventus president Gianni Agnelli famously called Baggio ""un coniglio bagnato"" ("a wet rabbit"), referring to his despondent demeanour, hoping the jab would spur him on to score.
After under-performing during the group stage, Baggio refound his form in the knockout stages, where he scored five memorable goals. He scored two in the round of 16, helping a ten-man Italy defeat Nigeria 2–1 at Foxboro Stadium in Boston, after trailing for most of the match. He scored his first goal of the match with two minutes left on the clock, after receiving ball at the edge of the area from Roberto Mussi. He then went on to score the winning goal from a penalty in extra time after setting up Antonio Benarrivo with a lobbed pass, who was then fouled in the penalty area.
Baggio scored another match-winning goal in the quarter-finals to defeat Spain 2–1 with three minutes remaining. After receiving the ball from Giuseppe Signori, he dribbled past the Spanish goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta, scoring off-balance from a tight angle. He was also involved in the build-up which led to Italy's first goal by Dino Baggio.
Baggio gave a man of the match performance in the semi-finals; he scored two more goals to beat Bulgaria 2–1 at Giants Stadium, leading Italy to the World Cup final for the first time in 12 years. He scored his first goal after beating two players and curling the ball from outside the area into the bottom-right corner. His second was scored with a half volley from a tight angle, assisted by Demetrio Albertini with a lobbed ball.
Baggio was not fully fit for the final against Brazil at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, after pulling his hamstring during the semi-final and playing with the aid of a painkiller injection. Despite being far less dominant than in previous matches, he still tested Brazilian goalkeeper Cláudio Taffarel and was able to set up a few chances for his teammates. The match ended 0–0 after extra time; he took Italy's last penalty in the resulting shootout, but he put the decisive spot-kick over the cross-bar, which meant the Brazilians won the title, resulting in one of the most upsetting moments in World Cup history, and a miss with which Baggio's career would frequently become associated.
Baggio has described the infamous miss as the worst moment of his career, stating that it affected him for years. In his autobiography, when recounting the miss, he later reflected, "Penalties are only missed by those who have the courage to take them." Before him, two other Italians, Franco Baresi and Daniele Massaro, had already missed penalties. Having led Italy to the final with his memorable performances, Baggio received the Silver Ball as the second-best player of the tournament, behind Romário, and also finished tied for second in goals scored throughout the tournament, although he missed out on the Bronze Boot, which went to Kennet Andersson and Romário. He was also named in the World Cup All-Star Team. Baggio finished runner-up for the Ballon d'Or, with 136 points from a possible 245, and third place for the FIFA World Player of the Year in 1994.
Despite Baggio's association with missing the decisive penalty in the 1994 World Cup final shoot-out, former "Telelatino" broadcaster Alf De Blasis stated in 2010 that he believed that Baggio's performance throughout the entire tournament cemented his legacy as a footballer; he also stated that one of his favourite World Cup memories was Baggio's performance against Nigeria in the round of 16 of the tournament, commenting: "Roberto Baggio put the Azzurri on his shoulders and carried them to victory, scoring the tying goal on a wonderful solo effort late in the match and then the winning goal on a penalty in extra time. Baggio, of course, would go on to lead Italy to the final, where he is remembered for an unfortunate miss from the penalty spot. Truly a bittersweet World Cup for one of the game's greatest stars, but a World Cup that I think defined his legacy in the game." Reflecting on Baggio's performance at the 1994 World Cup in 2001, Stefano Bozzi of "BBC Sport" stated that: "At the USA 94 World Cup, [Baggio] single-handedly hauled Italy to the final," while in 2006, the "BBC" described him as "Italy's best player throughout the [1994] tournament." In 2017, Emmet Gates instead described Baggio's run-up to the 1994 World Cup final with Italy as "the greatest show of individual excellence since another equally majestic number ten [Maradona] dominated the 1986 tournament." When summarising Baggio's 1994 World Cup, Ed Dove of "ESPN FC" stated in 2018 that; "'The Divine Ponytail' had arguably been the outstanding player of the tournament, bailing Italy out on numerous occasions, but his inspirational touch deserted him when it mattered most." His colleague, Nick Miller, instead stated "Roberto Baggio was the best player at the 1994 World Cup, dragging Italy to the final virtually on his own."
After the 1994 World Cup, Italy head coach Arrigo Sacchi and Baggio infamously fell out. Their relationship deteriorated in September 1994 following a 1–1 draw against Slovenia in a Euro 1996 qualifying match, where Baggio was benched. After a 2–1 defeat to Croatia in a Euro 1996 qualifying match in November, their relationship hit the breaking point, and Baggio, supported by his teammates, asked for the manager's dismissal. Due to his disagreements with Sacchi, Baggio was called up to the national team less frequently, only making one more substitute appearance in a 1–0 home win against Slovenia in a Euro 1996 qualifier in September 1995. He eventually lost his spot in the squad, missing out on Italy's Euro 1996 squad, despite winning the "Scudetto" that year with A.C. Milan. Sacchi justified his decision by stating Baggio was not fully fit, and that Enrico Chiesa helped the team more when possession was lost. Italy were eliminated in the group stage of the competition. Baggio was also excluded from Cesare Maldini's Italian Olympic squad in 1996.
After a lengthy absence from the national team, Baggio was called up by Cesare Maldini for a World Cup qualifying match against Poland on 30 April 1997, in Naples; Baggio came off the bench and scored a goal in a 3–0 win. He was subsequently selected as one of Italy's 22 players for the 1998 World Cup following his performances with Bologna.
In Italy's opening match of the 1998 World Cup in France, against Chile, Baggio started alongside Christian Vieri, playing all 90 minutes, as Alessandro Del Piero was still recovering from an injury. Vieri opened the scoring from a Baggio assist, but Chile managed to equalise and take the lead through Marcelo Salas. Baggio created several chances, but Italy were unable to equalise. Towards the end of the match, Baggio played a low cross into the box which unintentionally touched Chilean defender Ronald Fuentes's hand at the edge of the penalty area, resulting in a fortunate penalty for Italy. Despite missing the decisive penalty in the 1994 World Cup final shootout, Baggio stepped up to take the penalty, and he scored Italy's equalising goal, becoming the first Italian player to score in three World Cups. This was the first penalty he had taken for Italy since the 1994 World Cup final miss; Baggio described the goal as "liberating".
In Italy's 3–0 second group match win over Cameroon, Baggio assisted Luigi Di Biagio's opening goal with a cross following a corner. However, he was replaced by Del Piero during the second half after sustaining a minor injury. Baggio scored his second goal of the tournament in Italy's final group match against Austria, which ended in a 2–1 win to Italy. Baggio came on during the second half, replacing Del Piero, after the crowd had begun to chant his name. He scored the winning goal of the match, after combining with Francesco Moriero and Filippo Inzaghi, as Italy topped their group. With this goal, he tied Paolo Rossi's record for most goals by an Italian player in the World Cup finals, with nine. This was also his 27th and final goal for Italy.
He was left on the bench for the round of 16 win over Norway as Italy advanced to the quarter-finals.
In the quarter-final match against eventual champions France, Baggio came on as a substitute for Del Piero in the second half, and managed to create some scoring opportunities. The score remained 0–0, and the match went to extra time, although Baggio came the closest to scoring the golden goal, with a volley from a lobbed pass by Albertini, but his shot was put just wide of Fabien Barthez's far post. The match eventually went to a penalty shootout. Although Baggio converted his penalty Italy's first –, the shootout was won by the host nation; as such, Italy were eliminated from a World Cup on penalties for the third consecutive time. Italy's coach, was criticised for starting the recovering Del Piero ahead of Baggio, and for not allowing the two players to play alongside each other. Despite rumours that the substitutions had created a rivalry between the players, Baggio and Del Piero remain friends. Baggio stated in 2008 that he has great respect for Del Piero, and that there had never been disagreements between them. Del Piero in turn expressed his admiration for Baggio in 2011.
Baggio was initially a regular squad member under Dino Zoff, appearing as a substitute in two Euro 2000 qualifying matches, in a 2–0 win against Wales in 1998, setting up a goal for Vieri; and in a 1–1 draw against Belarus in 1999. Baggio made a starting appearance in a 0–0 friendly draw against Norway in 1999, creating several chances, helping to set-up a goal which was ruled offside, and hitting the post from a free-kick. However, he was later dropped from the squad after Inter's poor 1998–99 season, and he was not called up for the Euro 2000 finals due to his limited playing time during the 1999–2000 season, and accusations made against his fitness. Zoff centred his squad around younger offensive players, such as Francesco Totti, Alessandro Del Piero, Stefano Fiore, Marco Delvecchio, Filippo Inzaghi and Vincenzo Montella. Baggio was voted Italy's "Player of the Century" in 2000.
Baggio was controversially excluded from Italy's 2002 World Cup squad by coach Giovanni Trapattoni, who believed him to not have fully recovered from the serious injury he had sustained during the season. Although he was initially keen to include Baggio in the final 23-man list, he ultimately excluded him from the squad; Baggio had made a direct appeal to him prior to the tournament by writing him a letter. Fans and pundits criticised the omission, as Italy were eliminated by co-hosts South Korea in the round of 16.
Many fans hoped to see him play for Italy at Euro 2004, or with the 2004 Olympic squad that eventually managed a Bronze medal, but this was not to be the case. However, he was given an international send-off by Trapattoni at age 37 in a friendly match against Spain on 28 April 2004, in which he wore the number 10 shirt for the final time, as well as the captain's armband for part of the match. Although Baggio entertained the crowd with his creativity and skill, he was unable to score, despite winning a free-kick from which Vieri's equalising goal arose. The match finished 1–1 and Baggio was given a standing ovation after being substituted off for Fabrizio Miccoli. This was Baggio's 56th and final match for Italy, and it was the first time an Italian footballer's career had been celebrated this way since Silvio Piola retired.
Baggio is the only Italian player ever to score in three World Cups with nine career World Cup goals, putting him equal with Christian Vieri and Paolo Rossi as Italy's top World Cup goalscorers. Despite his performances for Italy in the 1990, 1994 and 1998 World Cups, he never played for Italy in a UEFA European Championship, and is currently the Italian player with the most caps to never have played in a European Championship.
Described as a "fantasista," "trequartista," "mezzapunta," or "rifinitore" throughout his career in the Italian media, due to his role on the pitch and creative playing style, Baggio was a world class playmaker with an eye for goal, who was renowned for his vision, creativity, ability to read the game, crossing accuracy, and passing ability, which made him an excellent assist provider; however, he usually played as a second striker throughout his career, as he was known for scoring goals as well as creating them. This led Michel Platini to describe him as a "9 and a half," namely a player whose role lay half–way between that of a forward and a midfielder, as he was not a true number 9 (the shirt number usually associated with a striker), due to his creative ability, but he scored more than a number 10 (the shirt number commonly associated with an advanced playmaker), a description which often saw him identified with the role of an inside forward. He also stated that Baggio's playing style coincided with the re-emergence of the attacking midfielder in Italy during the early 2000s; indeed, he served as an inspiration to many future players.
Baggio was a tactically versatile player, with a good understanding of the game, and was comfortable attacking on either flank or through the centre of the pitch; this allowed him to operate anywhere along the front-line. His preferred position was in a free playmaking role behind the forwards, as a creative attacking midfielder, although he was rarely deployed in this position throughout his career due to the prevalence of the 4–4–2 formation, in which he usually functioned either as a main striker or – more frequently – in a supporting role as a deep–lying forward. It was only in later years that he was able to play in this free role more frequently. He was also occasionally deployed out of position as a left winger in an attacking trident, as a wide midfielder, or even in central midfield as a "mezzala" or deep-lying playmaker on rarer instances. During the lead-up to the 1994 World Cup, he was also initially employed by Italy's manager Arrigo Sacchi as a centre-forward, in a role known in Italian football jargon as the "centravanti di manovra" (which literally translates to "manoeuvring centre-forward"), which was a precursor to the modern false-nine role; in this position, Baggio was expected to link-up with other players and create chances for them, in addition to creating space with his movement by dropping deep into midfield, and allowing the team's wingers to cut inside and make attacking runs into the centre.
A prolific goalscorer, Baggio was an accurate finisher from both inside and outside the area, and was known for his accurate bending shots and composure in front of goal, rather than his power. Due to his excellent technique, he was a precise volleyer, and was also a set piece specialist, who was highly regarded for his ball delivery from dead ball situations, as well as his precision from direct free-kicks and his ability to curl the ball, which earned him a reputation as one of the best free kick takers of his generation. His free-kick technique influenced several other players who came to be renowned for their prowess from dead–ball situations, such as Alessandro Del Piero and Andrea Pirlo. During his time with Juventus, his free kick technique was described as a cross between that of Maradona's, Zico's, and Platini's, as at the time, his ball-striking technique was thought to resemble Platini's, although, like Zico and Maradona, he preferred to take free kicks from close range, usually from a distance of around 20 to 16 metres from the goal, or even just outside the area, and to have the ball touched by a teammate first before striking it. Despite his decisive miss in the 1994 World Cup final shootout, Baggio was also a penalty kick specialist.
Although naturally right-footed, Baggio was comfortable using either foot, and often began dribbling with his left foot. Not particularly imposing physically, or in the air, due to his diminutive stature and slender physique, he was known however for his pace and acceleration over short distances, which, along with his movement, anticipation, technical ability, quick feet, low centre of gravity and resulting agility, allowed him to lose his markers when making offensive runs into the area, both on and off the ball. Regarded as one of the greatest dribblers ever, and as one of the most technically accomplished players of all-time, Baggio possessed an excellent first touch, and was renowned for his skilful dribbling, ball control and balance, as well as his spatial awareness, speed of thought and execution, reactions, close control at pace, and ability to beat opponents with flair, body feints or sudden changes of pace or direction, both in one-on-one situations, or during individual dribbling runs. Zico once described Baggio as "technically flawless," while in 2004, Sacchi stated: "Baggio is creativity, flair, unpredictability, intuition, harmony." In 2016, Rob Smyth of "The Guardian" praised Baggio for his "instinctive intelligence," when commenting on his playing style, also describing him as a "conductor" on the pitch, "who knew when and how to change the tempo of an attack."
Considered by pundits to be a highly promising prospect in his youth, Baggio later established himself as one of the best players of his generation, and as one of Italy's greatest players ever; indeed, Baggio is regarded by many in the sport – including his former Milan manager Fabio Capello – as the best Italian footballer of all-time, and by some in the sport, as one of the greatest players in the history of the game. Italian journalist Gianni Brera, who had observed both Giuseppe Meazza and Gianni Rivera, stated that Baggio was the best Italian player he had ever seen. During his time at Juventus, the club's former chairman, Gianni Agnelli, referred to Baggio as an "artist," comparing his elegance to the painter "Raffaello", while he described the emerging talent Alessandro Del Piero as "Pinturicchio". In a 2011 interview with "La Gazzetta dello Sport", Del Piero stated that Baggio, along with Zinedine Zidane, was the best player with whom he had ever played, a view shared by Baggio's former Brescia teammate Pep Guardiola in 2010, and his former Inter teammate Javier Zanetti in 2020, while Matthew Le Tissier named Baggio as his best ever opponent in 2012. In 2017, Baggio's former teammate Ravanelli instead labelled Baggio as the greatest player of all time. In 1993, Giampiero Boniperti stated that he believed that Baggio was "already one of the greatest number tens ever." In 2018, Cathal Kelly of "The Globe and Mail" described Baggio playing in the 1994 World Cup as "the best player in the world" at the time, while "The Guardian" described him as "The definitive player of the decade," also adding that "the 1990s belonged to Il Divin Codino," and labelled him as "probably the finest player in the world between 1992 and 1995." In 2015, Les Carpenter of "The Guardian" described Baggio as "perhaps the greatest player of his time," while his colleague Emmet Gates dubbed him "the best player of his generation." In 2010, Marco Gori of "TuttoMercatoWeb" labelled Baggio as "one of the best footballers in history." Baggio received praise from numerous sporting figures and pundits ahead of his 50th birthday in 2017: Stefano Edel of "La Gazzetta di Mantova" described Baggio as "the Italian Maradona," echoing Sacchi's words prior to the 1994 World Cup, when he compared Baggio's importance to Italy with that of Maradona to Argentina. Zico described him as "one of the best players in the history of Italian football," while Tommaso Pellizzari of "Il Corriere della Sera" called him "the greatest pure talent of Italian football." James McHie of "Calciomercato.com" instead named him as Italy's greatest player, calling him "the greatest player [...] to pull on the Azzurri shirt," a view shared by Stefano Discreti of "Mediaset", who called Baggio "the best Italian footballer of all time" in 2019. Giuseppe Bergomi described Baggio as "extraordinary," in 2017, and as a "pure talent," who was "devastating when he played because he was capable of deciding games on his own." In 2004, Gianni Rivera described him as "one of the greatest Italian footballers ever," while in 2019, Marco Gentile of "Il Giornale" described Baggio as "one of the best Italian [...] players in the history of football," and also as "one of the best players in the history of world football." In 2020, Luca Stamerra of "Eurosport" described him as one of the "best number 10s in the history of this sport." In 2019, Dino Zoff listed Baggio as one of the best players he ever coached, while author Paolo Condò ranked Baggio among the greatest players of all time, a view shared by Roberto Mancini, and John Keilman of the "Chicago Tribune", who both described Baggio as one of the "all-time greats" in 2018 and 2019 respectively. Former RAI commentator Bruno Pizzul, who served as a pundit for the Italy national team's World Cup matches between 1986 and 2002, named Baggio as his favourite player, and as one of the best footballers he ever saw, among both Italian and non–Italian players. In 2020, Matteo Marani of "La Stampa" dubbed Baggio as "one of the purest expressions of talent that world football has produced," also adding "Roberto was the game of football in its pureness. The beauty of one of his technical gestures, the polished movements, the speed of thought. Throughout his career he painted football, filling the eyes of those who were passionate about this sport and not only of the fans of the clubs whose shirts he wore. Vicenza, Fiorentina, Juventus, Milan, Bologna, Inter, Brescia and the Italian national team enjoyed his talent, his strength and his goals. Roberto baggio is undoubtedly one of the names that made football great."
Known for his dislike of the defensive, physical and tactical nature of Italian football in the 1990s, Baggio drew criticism from certain pundits and some of his managers for his limited defensive work-rate when possession was lost, as well as the fact that the athletic part of his game was not his main focus during training sessions in his youth, while in his later career, his physical ailments often forced him to train independently with a personal fitness coach and physiotherapist, rather than with his team; as such, Baggio's Milan manager Capello believed that he was not capable of playing for 90 minutes, due to the precarious physical condition of his knees. However, one of his Inter managers – Simoni – lauded Baggio for his work-rate in training in 2009, stating that he would do up to six or seven hours of gym work a day under his tenure, a view which was also shared by Baggio's former Bologna teammate Daniele Carnasciali in 2013. His managers at Brescia, Carlo Mazzone and Gianni De Biasi, as well as his former teammates Luca Toni and Emanuele Filippini, also praised Baggio for his discipline, professionalism, and dedication in training during his time with the club, with De Biasi calling him "an example." Known to be an introvert in the media, due to his quiet private life and reluctance to give interviews, some in the sport – including Gianni Rivera – argued that Baggio lacked leadership qualities on the pitch, despite having served as captain for both Juventus and Brescia. His personality is thought to have limited him from being more successful, in particular with larger clubs, with some pundits instead arguing that he excelled more with smaller teams; others instead believed that he had a difficult character, due to his disagreements with several of his managers throughout his career, although he was generally regarded as a "correct" and co-operative player by officials, and as a classy and well–behaved footballer in the media. His former Brescia manager, Carlo Mazzone, said of him: "Baggio was one of the greatest Italian football players of all time. But I can tell you this, he was an even greater man. He was quiet, polite, respectful, humble. He never let his great talent weigh on anyone else. He was a friend who helped me win games on a Sunday." Fabio Capello described Baggio as a player who was "decisive," in 1995. His former teammate Andrea Pirlo instead commented: "[Baggio] was a silent leader, and above all, he was a leader on the pitch. When he played for the team, he made you win the games," also later describing him as a player who "carried his teammates."
However, despite his talent, success, popularity with the fans, and reputation as one of the greatest players of all time, critical reception of Baggio was occasionally divided throughout his career; this was in part due to his recurring injury struggles, as well as the fact that tactically certain managers struggled to find a suitable playing position for him. His role as a playmaker between the midfield and forward lines, as well as his skilful and creative playing style, were often regarded as being obsolete in modern football, in which managers often favoured the use of the 4–4–2 formation and a more athletic approach to the game; moreover, while Baggio was not an outright forward, he was also thought to lack the stamina to play in midfield, which made him less suited to this particular system, and occasionally led him to be excluded by his managers, although he was ultimately able to adapt to playing as a forward effectively. As such, his unique playing position, style, and appraoch to the game, combined with his talent, limited work-rate, and injury struggles, led him to have both many admirers and several detractors. Maradona – for example – once described Baggio as "a genius," but also as "a great player who was never able to fulfil his entire potential," something with which Michel Platini concurred, while Pelé instead called him a "legend." A 1994 article on Baggio by "The Independent", stated that: "Among professionals, [Baggio] is regarded as the best," quoting Ryan Giggs, who said "You look to Roberto Baggio, and you realise what a good player looks like." However, the newspaper also went on to say that "Baggio's is a brittle influence. There are no half measures in his play. He is either brilliant, or he disappears, looking confused and unhappy. Since Juventus's whole pattern of play depends on him, his disappearances can be tricky. The press has interpreted his inconsistency as a lack of commitment." Similarly, in 2015, "The Daily Telegraph" accused him of going "missing in big games." Daniel Story of "Planet Football" instead stated in 2020 that he believed that Baggio was one of the most underrated players of the past 30 years. In 2016, Luke Chandley of "The Huffington Post" described Baggio as "Italian football's great oxymoron," noting: "For all the skill he possessed going forward, he was the opposite of the reputation given to Italian football spanning across his whole career. Italian football was defensive know-how and structured play." His former manager Arrigo Sacchi believed that Baggio was often misused by his coaches, and that he would have been an even greater player had he been born abroad, a view which was also held by journalist Mattia Losi, who felt that Baggio would have been more appreciated had he been born in Brazil or Argentina, rather than in a country with a football legacy like Italy's, which often failed to recognise young local talent, and Emmet Gates, who said in 2013 that "Baggio unfortunately was born in the wrong country, or rather, he was born in Italy at the wrong time." Regarding this contrast and Baggio's overall career, Tim Collings of "The Guardian" described him as "Italy's greatest player of fantasia" in 2004, but also wrote: "Baggio's record, as a player for club and country, fails to match his reputation. He is less known for his acts of great success than for his injuries, his misfortunes and his courage; he is an artist in sport whose work is appreciated but no longer used in modern currency. Baggio's career is filled by cameos of sublime skill, particular games when his imagination and ability enabled his team to transcend all normal expectations. Yet the lasting memory will be of his missed penalty in the shootout at the end of the 1994 World Cup final in Pasadena."
In 2017, Antonio Martelli of "La Presse" described Baggio as "one of the greatst Italian players of all time maybe the best of the last thirty years," and as "an "authentic champion who could have been even greater without a series of extremely severe knee injuries that undermined his career since its dawning," a view shared by Raffaele Di Fusco, who said "who knows what he could have become without all of those injuries," and also Renzo Ulivieri, who stated: "if he had had fewer injuries, he would have won more." In 2018, Greg Murray of "Football Italia" described Baggio as "one of the greatest football players of all time," but also lamented that "we never saw him at full fitness and are fortunate we got to enjoy him at all." He summarised Baggio's career with the following: "It is perhaps one of football’s great injustices that Il Divin Codino is best known globally for his penalty miss in the Final of the 1994 World Cup against Brazil. For fans of Serie A, Baggio is recognised as the best of his generation, despite a career that was blighted by injury and clashes with his Coaches." He also added: "Retiring in 2004, it has been suggested that Baggio was a victim of the era in which he lived. As player with transcendent creativity, but physically fragile, he struggled to fit into his Coaches’ plans during a time when tactics and hard work were everything. Had he been born in the current era, where players are far more protected, he would perhaps have achieved even more. It’s heart-breaking to think what we missed out on, but we’re also grateful to have experienced the Divine Ponytail at all." Indeed, Baggio's career was affected by many serious injuries, which led to a gradual loss of pace and mobility as his career progressed, as well as increasing weight-gain in the final years of his career, which eventually forced him to undergo a training regime in order to build muscle mass in his legs and prolong his career during his time at Brescia; his continual physical struggles ultimately led him to retire in 2004, which he later described as a "liberation." Since suffering his first series of career–threatening injuries with Vicenza and Fiorentina in 1985 and 1986 respectively, he was prone to persistent knee problems in particular, which often limited his playing time, and which, as a result, led certain pundits, such as Benedetto Ferrara of "La Repubblica" in 2010, to label Baggio as a "superfine talent," but who was also "inconsistent," while the former's colleague – Maurizio Crosetti – had previously described Baggio as "fragile," in 1995. Regarding the injuries that threatened his career as a youngster, and which haggled him until he retired, Baggio wrote in his 2001 autobiography: "...all of my professional career, I played it with a leg and a half. Thousands of hours of work to keep alive a leg which, if it were up to her, would diminish each day. I played it without being fully all right, ever, because if I were to play matches only when I felt one–hundred percent I would play three matches a year." However, despite the numerous physical impairments he faced throughout his career, Baggio also stood out for his longevity, and was able to maintain a consistently high level of performance even in the final years of his career with Brescia, into his late 30s. In 2004, Sacchi praised Baggio for his strength of character, which he believed even surpassed his talent, as it allowed him to overcome his injuries and physical struggles, and ultimately "win [his] personal battles against bad luck," while in 2017, Capello noted that Baggio had the extraordinary willpower to carry on playing despite his physical struggles. Baggio attributes his inner strength to Buddhism.
Considered to be one of the greatest footballers of all-time, in 1999, Baggio came fourth in the FIFA Player of the Century internet poll, and was ranked 16th in "World Soccer's" list of the 100 greatest footballers of the 20th century, the highest ranked Italian player; in IFFHS's election for the best player of the 20th Century in the same year, he was elected the ninth-best Italian player and the 53rd-best European player of the Century. He was voted Italy's "Player of the Century" in 2000. In 2002, Baggio was elected to the FIFA World Cup Dream Team, and in 2003, he was the inaugural winner of the Golden Foot award, awarded for ability and personality. In 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players, and was voted 24th in the online UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll, celebrating the best European footballers of the past 50 years. In 2010, Baggio was named one of the 50 greatest Juventus legends. In 2011, Baggio was inducted into the Serie A Hall of Fame. In a 2014 FIFA poll, Baggio was voted the ninth-greatest number 10 of all-time, and later that year, was ranked 24th in "The Guardian"'s list of the 100 greatest World Cup players of all-time, ahead of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. In 2015, journalists of "La Gazzetta dello Sport" elected the greatest Italian player of all time, with Baggio finishing in second place behind only Gianni Rivera; in a fan poll that was subsequently organised by the newspaper, however, Baggio was instead voted as the greatest Italian footballer of all time. That same year, however, "The Daily Telegraph" also included Baggio at number 12 in their list of "The top 20 overrated football players of all time." In 2017, "FourFourTwo" placed Baggio at number 52 in their list of the "100 Greatest Footballers Ever", while in 2019, they also named Baggio as the sixth best player never to win the UEFA Champions League. In July 2019, the same magazine ranked Baggio at number ten in their list of the "101 greatest football players of the last 25 years." In 2020, Jack Gallagher of "90min.com" placed Baggio at number nine in his list of "The 50 Greatest Footballers of All Time," while "Sky Sports" ranked him as the fifth–best player ever never to have won the Champions League or European Cup.
Baggio played in 16 World Cup matches for Italy; the Republic of Ireland is the only nation against which he played more than once. He is the joint-highest Italian goalscorer of all-time in the World Cup, with nine goals, alongside Paolo Rossi and Christian Vieri. Baggio is the only Italian to have scored in three World Cups (two goals in 1990, five in 1994 and two in 1998). Three of his World Cup goals were scored in the group stage and six were scored during knockout matches. Baggio is the joint fourth-highest scorer for Italy with 27 goals in 56 appearances, with a 0.48 goal per match average. With Baggio, Italy was always eliminated from the World Cup in penalty shootouts: in 1990, in the semi-finals against Argentina; in 1994, in the final against Brazil; and in 1998, in the quarter-finals against France. In his 16 World Cup matches, Italy lost only one, the opening game of USA 94 against Ireland.
Despite his decisive penalty miss in the 1994 World Cup final shoot-out, Baggio is statistically one of the greatest penalty kick specialists in Italian football history. Baggio scored 85% of his career penalties with only 19 misses, scoring 108 out of 127 penalties in official matches, the most in Italian football history. He scored 10 with Vicenza, 25 with Fiorentina, 38 with Juventus, 5 with A.C. Milan, 11 with Bologna, 1 with Inter Milan, 11 with Brescia and 7 with Italy (from 7 attempts, the most goals scored from the spot by a member of the national team). 68 of his penalties were scored in Serie A, from 83 attempts, with an 82% conversion rate, one of the best records in Serie A history. In Serie A, Baggio scored 17 penalties for Fiorentina (from 19 attempts), 25 for Juventus (from 28 attempts), 3 for A.C. Milan (from 5 attempts), 11 for Bologna (from 11 attempts), 1 for Inter Milan (from 2 attempts), and 11 for Brescia (from 18 attempts). Baggio has scored penalties for six different Serie A clubs. Four of his fifteen misses in Serie A were then scored on rebounds. Behind Totti, Baggio has scored the most penalties in Serie A history. Of his other penalties, 8 were scored in Serie C (from 8 attempts), 8 in European competitions (from 9 attempts), and 17 in the Coppa Italia (from 20 attempts). In shoot-outs, Baggio converted three of four career penalties: one in the UEFA Cup with Fiorentina, and the other two with Italy at the World Cup; in World Cup shootouts, Baggio scored twice (1990 and 1998), with his only miss in 1994.
Although he never won the Serie A top goalscorer title, Baggio is currently the seventh all-time highest scorer in Serie A, with 205 goals in 452 appearances. Of these goals, 96 were decisive (either equalisers or match winners). Alongside Totti, Baggio has also scored the fourth-highest number of free-kicks in Serie A with 21 goals; ahead of him are only Alessando Del Piero, Andrea Pirlo and Siniša Mihajlović. Of his open play goals in Serie A, 84 were with his right foot, 26 with his left and 6 were headers. He also assisted 123 goals in Serie A. He is the fourth-highest scoring Italian in all competitions, behind Del Piero, Giueseppe Meazza and Silvio Piola, with 318 professional career goals in 699 appearances. Alongside Totti and Alberto Gilardino, he has scored against the most different clubs in Serie A: 38. With eight hat-tricks in Serie A, he has also scored the joint-tenth most hat-tricks in the history of the Italian league, alongside Amedeo Amadei, Giampiero Boniperti, Hernán Crespo, and Marco van Basten.
In August 2010, Baggio was appointed president of the technical sector of the Italian Football Federation, replacing his former Italy national team manager Azeglio Vicini. On 23 January 2013, Baggio stepped down from the position, stating the federation had ignored his ideas about improving the system and focusing on youth talent, which prompted him to resign.
Baggio obtained his Italy Category 2 Coaching License (UEFA A License) in mid-2011, which made him eligible to coach Lega Pro teams, or work as vice-coach in Serie A and Serie B. On 5 July 2012, Baggio obtained his Category 1 UEFA Pro Coaching Licence at Coverciano, which officially allows him to coach a professional Serie A club.
After his career threatening injury in 1985, Baggio, formerly a Roman Catholic, converted to Buddhism, practicing Nichiren Buddhism, and is a member of the Soka Gakkai International Buddhist organisation. The captain's armband that he wore throughout his career bore the colours of this religious school – blue, yellow, and red – and the Japanese motto: "We win. We must win" in ideograms of the language. Despite his conversion, he married his long-time girlfriend Andreina Fabbi in 1989 in a traditional Roman Catholic ceremony. They have a daughter, Valentina, and two sons, Mattia and Leonardo.
Between 1991 and 2012, Baggio was the owner of a sporting goods store in Thiene, Vicenza, called "Baggio Sport", which he was eventually forced to close due to losses as a result of the economic crisis.
In 2001, Baggio wrote an autobiography entitled "" ("A Goal in the Sky", but also "A Door in the Sky"), including details about his career, childhood, religion, personal life and rifts with managers. It won the award for best football book at the 2002 Serie A Awards.
Baggio has close ties with Argentina; he speaks Spanish and owns a ranch property in Rivera, where he enjoys hunting wild game. In March 2008, he gave a lengthy interview with "La Gazzetta Dello Sport", in which he revealed that he came to support Argentine club Boca Juniors due to their passionate fanbase.
On 16 October 2002, Baggio was named a Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Through the organisation, Baggio helped to fund hospitals, raise money for the victims of the Haiti earthquake, contribute to tackling bird flu, and was involved in the Burmese pro-democracy movement, which supported the opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her release from prison. Baggio was awarded the 2010 Man of Peace title in Hiroshima, presented by the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in recognition of his charitable work and contribution to social justice and peace.
On 8 October 2008, Baggio appeared in a charity match between A.C. Milan and Fiorentina, which had been organised in honour of his former Fiorentina teammate Stefano Borgonovo to raise money for his foundation, his treatment and for ALS research. In 2014, Baggio was one of the many celebrities to take part in the "ALS Ice Bucket Challenge" to raise awareness about the disease and funds for ALS research.
On 1 September 2014, Baggio took part in the "Match for Peace", which was played at the Stadio Olimpico, Rome, with the proceeds being donated to charity. Baggio set up Juan Iturbe's goal and scored from a Diego Maradona assist. On 25 October 2014 in Milan, Baggio inaugurated the opening of the largest Buddhist temple in Europe.
In 1994, Italian satirist Corrado Guzzanti parodied Baggio's advertisement for Italian Petrol Company IP prior to the 1994 World Cup. Italian poet Giovanni Raboni composed the sonnet "Lode a Baggio" in a tribute to him. He has been referenced in several songs, such as "Baggio, Baggio" by Lucio Dalla, and "Marmellata n. 25" by Cesare Cremonini.
Baggio has featured in two Italian commercials which reference his infamous penalty miss in the 1994 World Cup final. The first was made for WIND in 2000, and shows Baggio scoring the final penalty to win the tournament. The second, made for Johnnie Walker in 2001, showed how he managed to conquer his grief from the miss by believing in himself and scoring the equalising penalty against Chile in the 1998 World Cup. He has featured in several Diadora commercials, as he endorsed their products. In July 2017, Diadora teamed up with Baggio once again to launch the new Signature Match Winner RB Capsule Collection.
Baggio is popular in Japan, and has held close ties with the country since his conversion to Buddhism. He has endorsed several Japanese football video games, such as "", "World Football Climax" and "Let's Make a Soccer Team!". An animated version of himself appeared in the Japanese football cartoon Captain Tsubasa (known in Italy as "Che Campioni: Holly & Benji").
In the Channel 4 sitcom "Father Ted", Baggio (and Alessandro Costacurta) is mentioned during the 1995 episode "Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest" by Father Dougal McGuire (portrayed by Ardal O'Hanlon), who, when prompted to say the last rites in Latin, ends up saying the footballers' names. (This stems from Graham Linehan and O'Hanlon being fans of "Football Italia"). In the music video for the 2010 World Cup song "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" by Shakira, footage of Baggio's goal against Spain, and his penalty miss from the 1994 World Cup, are shown.
Throughout his career, Baggio has been nicknamed the "Divin' Codino" ("Divine Ponytail," in Italian, a reference to the iconic hairstyle he wore for a large part of his career, as well as his playing ability and Buddhist beliefs) and "Robi" (or "Roby") by his fans. An alter-ego of his is referenced in the Italian children's comics of "Mickey Mouse" and "Duck Tales" (Topolino), in the volume "Topolino e il Giallo alla World Cup" in which he is known as "Roberto Paggio". In 2011, Italian sports newspaper "La Gazzetta dello Sport" issued a collection of DVDs entitled "Io Che Sarò Roberto Baggio" recounting his career. Baggio's impact on football has been celebrated with the release of an online game called "Baggio's Magical Kicks", in which players try to replicate his accuracy on free-kicks and penalties. In 2015, the arcade game company Konami announced Baggio would feature in their football video game "Pro Evolution Soccer 2016" as one of the new myClub Legends. On 3 August 2018, EA Sports announced on their official Twitter account that Baggio would feature in EA Sports' football video game "FIFA 19" as one of the new Ultimate Team Icons.
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Juventus
Milan
Italy
Source: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25624 |
Richard Matheson
Richard Burton Matheson (February 20, 1926 – June 23, 2013) was an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres.
He is best known as the author of "I Am Legend", a 1954 science fiction horror novel that has been adapted for the screen three times, the first of which, "The Last Man on Earth", was co-scripted by him. Matheson also wrote 16 television episodes of "The Twilight Zone", including "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" and "Steel", as well as several adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe stories for Roger Corman and American International Pictures - "House of Usher", "The Pit and the Pendulum", "Tales of Terror" and "The Raven". He adapted his 1971 short story "Duel" as a screenplay directed by Steven Spielberg for the television film "Duel" that year. Seven of his novels and short stories have been adapted as motion pictures: "The Shrinking Man" (filmed as "The Incredible Shrinking Man"), "Hell House" (filmed as "The Legend of Hell House"), "What Dreams May Come", "Bid Time Return" (filmed as "Somewhere in Time"), "A Stir of Echoes", "Steel" (filmed as "Real Steel"), and "Button, Button" (filmed as "The Box"). The movie "Cold Sweat" was based on his novel "Riding the Nightmare", and "Les seins de glace" ("Icy Breasts") was based on his novel "Someone is Bleeding".
Matheson was born in Allendale, New Jersey, to Norwegian immigrants Bertolf and Fanny Matheson. They divorced when he was eight, and he was raised in Brooklyn, New York by his mother. His early writing influences were the film "Dracula", novels by Kenneth Roberts, and a poem which he read in the newspaper "Brooklyn Eagle", where he published his first short story at age eight. He entered Brooklyn Technical High School in 1939, graduated in 1943, and served with the Army in Europe during World War II; this formed the basis for his 1960 novel "The Beardless Warriors". He attended the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri, earning his BA in 1949, then moved to California.
His first-written novel, "Hunger and Thirst", was ignored by publishers for several decades before eventually being published in 2010, but his short story "Born of Man and Woman" was published in "The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction", Summer 1950, the new quarterly's third issue and attracted attention. It is the tale of a monstrous child chained by its parents in the cellar, cast as the creature's diary in poignantly non-idiomatic English. Later that year he placed stories in the first and third numbers of "Galaxy Science Fiction", a new monthly. His first anthology of work was published in 1954. Between 1950 and 1971, he produced dozens of stories, frequently blending elements of the science fiction, horror, and fantasy genres.
He was a member of the Southern California Sorcerers in the 1950s and 1960s, which included Charles Beaumont, Ray Bradbury, George Clayton Johnson, William F. Nolan, Jerry Sohl, and others.
Several of his stories, including "Third from the Sun" (1950), "Deadline" (1959), and "Button, Button" (1970) are simple sketches with twist endings; others, like "Trespass" (1953), "Being" (1954), and "Mute" (1962) explore their characters' dilemmas over 20 or 30 pages. Some tales, such as "The Doll that Does Everything" (1954) and "The Funeral" (1955) incorporate satirical humour at the expense of genre clichés, and are written in an overblown prose very different from Matheson's usual pared-down style. Others, like "The Test" (1954) and "Steel" (1956), portray the moral and physical struggles of ordinary people, rather than the then nearly ubiquitous scientists and superheroes, in situations which are at once futuristic and everyday. Still others, such as "Mad House" (1953), "The Curious Child" (1954), and perhaps most of all, "Duel" (1971), are tales of paranoia, in which the everyday environment of the present day becomes inexplicably alien or threatening. "Duel" was adapted into the 1971 TV movie of the same name.
Matheson's first novel to be published, "Someone Is Bleeding", appeared from Lion Books in 1953. In 1960, Matheson published "The Beardless Warriors", a non-fantastic, autobiographical novel about teenage American soldiers in World War II. It was filmed in 1967 as "The Young Warriors" though most of Matheson's plot was jettisoned. During the 1950s he published a handful of Western stories (later collected in "By the Gun"); and during the 1990s he published Western novels such as "Journal of the Gun Years", "The Gunfight", "The Memoirs of Wild Bill Hickok", and "Shadow on the Sun".
His other early novels include "The Shrinking Man" (1956, filmed in 1957 as "The Incredible Shrinking Man", again from Matheson's own screenplay) and a science fiction vampire novel, "I Am Legend" (1954) (filmed as "The Last Man on Earth" in 1964, "The Omega Man" in 1971, and "I Am Legend" in 2007).
Matheson wrote screenplays for several television programs including the Westerns "Cheyenne", "Have Gun – Will Travel", and "Lawman". He is most closely associated with the American TV series "The Twilight Zone", for which he wrote more than a dozen episodes, including "Steel" (1963), "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" (1963), "Little Girl Lost" (1962), and "Death Ship" (1963). For all of his "Twilight Zone" scripts, Matheson wrote the introductory and closing statements spoken by creator Rod Serling. He adapted five works of Edgar Allan Poe for Roger Corman's Poe series, including "House of Usher" (1960), "The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)", and "The Raven" (1963).
He wrote the "" episode "" (1966).
For Hammer Film Productions he wrote the screenplay for "Fanatic" (1965; US title: "Die! Die! My Darling!") based on the novel "Nightmare" by Anne Blaisdell, starring Tallulah Bankhead and Stefanie Powers; he also adapted for Hammer Dennis Wheatley's "The Devil Rides Out" (1968).
In 1973, Matheson earned an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his teleplay for "The Night Stalker", one of two TV movies written by Matheson and directed by Dan Curtis (the other was "The Night Strangler", which preceded the TV series ""). Matheson worked extensively with Curtis; the 1977 television movie "Dead of Night" features three stories written for the screen by Matheson — "Second Chance" (based on the story by Jack Finney); "No Such Thing as a Vampire" (based on Matheson's story of the same name); and "Bobby", an original script written for this omnibus movie by Matheson. "Bobby" was later refilmed with different actors as the second segment of "Trilogy of Terror II".
Three of his short stories were filmed together as "Trilogy of Terror" (1975), including "Prey" (initially published in the April 1969 issue of "Playboy" magazine) with its famous Zuni warrior fetish doll. The Zuni fetish doll reappeared in the final segment of the belated sequel to the first movie, "Trilogy of Terror II".
Other Matheson novels turned into notable films in the seventies include "Bid Time Return" (as "Somewhere in Time"), and "Hell House" (as "The Legend of Hell House"), both adapted and scripted by Matheson himself.
In the 1980s, Matheson published the novel "Earthbound", wrote several screenplays for the TV series "Amazing Stories", and continued to publish short fiction.
Matheson published four western novels in this decade, plus the suspense novel "Seven Steps to Midnight" (1993) and the blackly comic locked-room mystery novel, "Now You See It ...", aptly dedicated to Robert Bloch (1995).
He also wrote several movies—the offbeat comedy and box-office flop "Loose Cannons", the biopic "The Dreamer of Oz" (about L. Frank Baum), a segment of "Rod Serling's Lost Classics", and segments of "Trilogy of Terror II". Short stories continued to flow from his pen, and he saw the adaptations by other hands of two more of his novels for the big screen—"What Dreams May Come" and "A Stir of Echoes" (as "Stir of Echoes"). In 1999, Matheson published a non-fiction work "The Path", inspired by his interest in psychic phenomena.
Many previously unpublished novels by Matheson appeared late in his career, as did various collections of his work and previously unpublished screenplays. He also wrote new works, such as the suspense novel "Hunted Past Reason" (2002). and the children's illustrated fantasy "Abu and the Seven Marvels".
Matheson cited specific inspirations for many of his works. "Duel" was derived from an incident in which he and a friend, Jerry Sohl, were dangerously tailgated by a large truck on the same day as the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
According to film critic Roger Ebert, Matheson's scientific approach to the supernatural in "I Am Legend" and other novels from the 1950s and early 1960s "anticipated pseudorealistic fantasy novels like "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Exorcist"."
In 1952, Matheson married Ruth Ann Woodson, whom he met in California. They had four children. Bettina Mayberry, Richard Christian Matheson, Chris Matheson and Ali Matheson.
Richard Christian, Chris and Ali became writers of fiction and screenplays.
Matheson died on June 23, 2013 at his home in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 87.
Matheson received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 1984 and the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Horror Writers Association in 1991. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame inducted him in 2010.
At the annual World Fantasy Conventions he won two judged, annual literary awards for particular works: World Fantasy Awards for "Bid Time Return" as the best novel of 1975 and "Richard Matheson: Collected Stories" as the best collection of 1989.
Matheson died just days before he was due to receive the Visionary award at the 39th Saturn Awards ceremony. As a tribute, the ceremony was dedicated to him and the award was presented posthumously. Academy President Robert Holguin said "Richard's accomplishments will live on forever in the imaginations of everyone who read or saw his inspired and inimitable work."
The tribute anthology "He is Legend" was published by Gauntlet Press in 2009.
Stephen King has listed Matheson as a creative influence and his novels "Cell" and "Elevation" are dedicated to Matheson, along with filmmaker George A. Romero. Romero frequently acknowledged Matheson as an inspiration and listed the shambling vampire creatures that appear in "The Last Man on Earth", the first film version of "I Am Legend", as the inspiration for the zombie "ghouls" he envisioned in "Night of the Living Dead"
Anne Rice stated that when she was a child, Matheson's short story "A Dress of White Silk" was an early influence on her interest in vampires and fantasy fiction.
After his death, several figures offered tributes to his life and work. Director Steven Spielberg said:
Another frequent collaborator, Roger Corman said:
On Twitter, director Edgar Wright wrote "If it's true that the great Richard Matheson has passed away, 140 characters can't begin to cover what he has given the sci fi & horror genre." Director Richard Kelly added "I loved Richard Matheson's writing and it was a huge honor getting to adapt his story 'Button, Button' into a film. RIP." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25625 |
Demographics of Réunion
This article concerns the demography of Réunion. People of Réunion are "Réunionese". The official language is French, and Réunionese Creole is widely spoken. The population of Réunion is as of .
As of , estimates put the population of Réunion at , with a growth rate of 1.63%. The birth rate was estimated at 21.84 births per 1,000 population, and the death rate at 5.55 deaths per 1,000 population in the same year. The net migration rate was zero in 2000. The following table describes age structure and sex ratios in Réunion.
Structure of the population (01.01.2010) (Provisional estimates) :
At birth, life expectancy is 76.5 years for male children, and 82.9 for female (figures for 2011).
The predominant religion is Roman Catholicism with Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism also represented, among others.
French is the only official language of Reunion. Although not official, Réunion Creole is also commonly spoken by the majority of the population. One can hear it in any administration or office, but education is only in French.
Tamil is taught as optional language in some schools. Due to the diverse population, other languages such as Mandarin, Hakka and Cantonese are also spoken by members of the Chinese community, but fewer people speak these languages as younger generations start to converse in French. The number of speakers of Indian languages (mostly Urdu and Gujarati) is also dropping sharply. Arabic is taught in mosques and spoken by a small community of Arabs.
Ethnic groups present include people of European, African, Malagasy, Indians and Chinese origin as well as many of mixed race. Local names for these are used: Yabs, Cafres, Malbars and Zarabes (both ethnic groups of Indian origin) and Chinois.
The proportion of people of each ethnicity is not known exactly, since the 1958 constitution bans questions about ethnicity in compulsory censuses in France. Extensive and long-going intermarriage also blurs the issue. Whites are estimated to make up approximately one-quarter of the population, Indians also roughly a quarter, and people of Chinese ancestry to form roughly 3%. The percentages of racially mixed people and those of Afro-Malagasy origins vary wildly between estimates, though they are very few in number.
People of Tamil origin make up the majority of the Indo-Réunionnais people; Gujarati, Bihari and other origins form the remainder of the population. The island's community of Muslims from modern region of Pakistan and North India and elsewhere is also commonly referred to as Zarabes.
Creoles (a name given to those born on the island, of various ethnic origins), make up the majority of the population. Groups that are not creole include people from Metropolitan France (known as Zoreilles) and those from Mayotte and the Comoros.
In 2005, a genetic study on the racially mixed people of Réunion found the following.
For maternal (mitochondrial) DNA, the haplogroups are Indian (44%), East Asian (27%), European/Middle Eastern (19%) or African (10%). The Indian lineages are M2, M6 and U2i, the East Asian ones are E1, D5a, M7c, and F (E1 and M7c also found only in South East Asia and in Madagascar), the European/Middle Eastern ones are U2e, T1, J, H, and I, and the African ones are L1b1, L2a1, L3b, and L3e1.
For paternal (Y-chromosome) DNA, the haplogroups are European/Middle Eastern (85%) or East Asian (15%). The European lineages are R1b and I, the Middle Eastern one E1b1b1c (formerly E3b3) (also found in Northeast Africa), and the East Asian ones are R1a (found in many parts of the world including Europe and Central and Southern Asia but the particular sequence has been found in Asia) and O3. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25629 |
Telecommunications in Réunion
Réunion has a number of systems for communication, including telephony, Internet and radio. The island is connected to the SAFE undersea cable system.
As of 2001, there were 300,000 main-line telephones and, in 2005, there were 610,000 mobile phones. The telephone system has its centre in Saint-Denis, and the domestic telephone system uses a modern open wire and microwave relay network. The international system employs a radiotelephone system, with connections to Comoros, France and Madagascar. A new microwave relay station to Mauritius is also in use, along with one Intelsat satellite-earth station.
As of 1998, there are two AM broadcast stations and 55 FM stations, serving (as of 1997) 173,000 radios. In 1997, there were 22 television broadcast stations (and 18 low power repeaters), serving 127,000 televisions.
The Internet service providers of Réunion are: Orange, Guetali, Runnet, Moebius, and Outremer Telecom. The island is linked to the SAFE cable system for its Internet connection. The top-level domain for Réunion is "RE". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25632 |
Transport in Réunion
Réunion possesses a network of highways, which cover a total distance of 2,784km. Of that length, 2,187 km of the road system is paved. There are no roads going into the cirque of Mafate, thus transportation there has to take place by foot or helicopter.
A system of motorways that run between the main cities has been developed.
There are two major ports in Réunion: Le Port and Pointe des Galets. There are six marinas. Réunion possesses a merchant marine of one ship with a weight exceeding 1,000 gt, which is a chemical tanker.
There are two airports on the island, of which both have paved runways. The main airport is the international Roland Garros Airport located close to Saint Denis and the second one is the Aéroport de Pierrefond, located near Saint-Pierre in the south of the island.
There are no railways in Réunion, with the exception of a short tourist line, which was originally part of a larger rail network. In 2019 a light rail system was proposed to link Le Barachois with the airport. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25633 |
History of Romania
34,950-year-old remains of modern humans with a possible Neanderthalian trait were discovered in present-day Romania when the "Peștera cu Oase" ("Cave with Bones") was uncovered in 2002. In 2011, older modern human remains were identified in the UK (Kents Cavern 41,500 to 44,200 years old) and Italy (Grotta del Cavallo 43,000 to 45,000 years old) but the Romanian fossils are still among the oldest remains of "Homo sapiens" in Europe, so they may be representative of the first such people to have entered Europe. The remains present a mixture of archaic, early modern human and Neanderthal morphological features.
The Neolithic-Age Cucuteni area in northeastern Romania was the western region of the earliest European civilization, which is known as the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture. The earliest-known salt works is at Poiana Slatinei near the village of Lunca; it was first used in the early Neolithic around 6050 BC by the Starčevo culture and later by the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture in the pre-Cucuteni period. Evidence from this and other sites indicates the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture extracted salt from salt-laden spring water through the process of briquetage.
The earliest written evidence of people living in the territory of present-day Romania comes from Herodotus in Book IV of his "Histories", which was written in 440 BC; He writes that the tribal confederation of the Getae were defeated by the Persian Emperor Darius the Great during his campaign against the Scythians. The Dacians, who are widely accepted as part of the Getae described earlier by the Greeks, were a branch of Thracians who inhabited Dacia, which corresponds with modern Romania, Moldova, northern Bulgaria and surrounding nations.
The Dacian Kingdom reached its maximum expansion during the reign of King Burebista between 82 BC and 44 BC. Under his leadership, Dacia became a powerful state that threatened the regional interests of the Romans. Julius Caesar intended to start a campaign against the Dacians due to the support that Burebista gave to Pompey but he was assassinated in 44 BC. A few months later, Burebista was assassinated by his own noblemen. Another theory suggests he was killed by Caesar's friends. Burebista's powerful state was divided into four and was not reunified until 95 AD under the reign of the Dacian king Decebalus.
The Roman Empire conquered Moesia by 29 BC, reaching the Danube River. In 87 AD, Emperor Domitian sent six legions into Dacia, which were defeated at Tapae. The Dacians were eventually defeated by Emperor Trajan in two campaigns that lasted from 101 AD to 106 AD, and the core of their kingdom was turned into the province of Roman Dacia.
The Romans exploited the rich ore deposits of Dacia. Gold and silver were especially plentiful, and were found in great quantities in the Western Carpathians. After Trajan's conquest, he took to Rome over 165 tons of gold and 330 tons of silver. The Romans colonized the province extensively, beginning a period of intense romanization, during which the language Vulgar Latin morphed into the Proto-Romanian language.
Dacia's geographical position made it difficult to defend against the barbarians and during 240–256 AD, Dacia was lost under attacks of the Carpi and the Goths. The Roman Empire withdrew from "Dacia Romana" around 271 AD, making it the first province to be abandoned.
Between 271 and 275, the Roman army and administration left Dacia, which was invaded later by the Goths. The Goths mixed with the local people until the 4th century, when the Huns, a nomadic people, arrived. The Gepids, the Avars, the Bulgars and their Slavic subjects ruled Transylvania until the 8th century. The territories of Wallachia and Moldavia were under the control of the First Bulgarian Empire from its establishment in 681 until around the time of the Hungarian conquest of Transylvania at the end of the 10th century.
After the disintegration of Great Bulgaria following Khan Kubrat's death in 668, a large group of Bulgars followed Asparukh, the third son of the great Khan, who headed westwards. In the 670's they settled in the area known as the Ongal to the north of the Danube delta. From there, Asparukh's cavalry in alliance with local Slavs annually attacked the Byzantine territories in the south. In 680, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IV led a large army to fight the Bulgars but was defeated in the battle of Ongal and the Byzantines were forced to acknowledge the formation of a new country, the First Bulgarian Empire. The northern border of the country followed the southern slopes of the Carpathian mountains from the Iron Gates and reached the Dneper river or possibly just the Dniester river to the east.
The Bulgarians' main rivals in the area were the Avars to the west and the Khazars to the east. The Khazars were a serious threat; they marched westwards after they crushed the resistance of Kubrat's eldest son Bayan and waged a war against Asparukh, who perished in battle in 700. To protect their northern borders, the Bulgarians built several enormous ditches that ran the whole length of the border from the Timok river to the Black Sea.
In 803, Krum of Bulgaria became Khan. The new, energetic ruler focused on the north-west where Bulgaria's old enemies the Avars experienced difficulties and setbacks against the Franks under Charlemagne. Between 804 and 806, the Bulgarian armies annihilated the Avars and destroyed their state. Krum took the eastern parts of the former Avar Khaganate and took over rule of the local Slavic tribes. Bulgaria's territory twice extended twice from the middle Danube to the north of Budapest to the Dnester, though its possession of Transylvania is debatable. In 813 Khan Krum seized Odrin and plundered the whole of Eastern Thrace. He took 50,000 captives who were settled in "Bulgaria across the Danube".
The Pechenegs, the Cumans and Uzes are also mentioned by historic chronicles on the territory of Romania until the founding of the Romanian principalities of Wallachia in the south by Basarab I around 1310 in the High Middle Ages, and Moldavia in the east, by Dragoş around 1352.
The Pechenegs, a semi-nomadic Turkic people of the Central Asian steppes, occupied the steppes north of the Black Sea from the 8th to the 12th centuries, and by the 10th century they were in control of all of the territory between the Don and the lower Danube rivers. During the 11th and 12th centuries, the nomadic confederacy of the Cumans and Eastern Kipchaks dominated the territories between present-day Kazakhstan, southern Russia, Ukraine, southern Moldavia and western Wallachia.
It is a subject of dispute whether elements of the mixed Daco–Roman population survived in Transylvania through the Dark Ages to become the ancestors of modern Romanians or whether the first Vlachs and Romanians appeared in the area in the 13th century after a northward migration from the Balkan Peninsula. There is also debate over the ethnicity of Transylvania's population before the Hungarian conquest.
There is evidence the Second Bulgarian Empire, at least nominally, ruled the Wallachian lands up to the Rucăr–Bran corridor until the late 14th century. In a charter by Radu I, the Wallachian voivode requests tsar Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria to order his customs officers at Rucăr and the Dâmboviţa River bridge to collect taxes following the law. The presence of Bulgarian customs officers at the Carpathians indicates Bulgarian suzerainty over those lands, though Radu's imperative tone implies a strong and increasing Wallachian autonomy. Under Radu I and his successor Dan I, the realms in Transylvania and Severin continued to be disputed with Hungary. Basarab was succeeded by Nicholas Alexander and Vladislav I. Vladislav attacked Transylvania after Louis I occupied lands south of the Danube, conceded to recognize him as overlord in 1368 but rebelled again in the same year. Vladislav's rule also witnessed the first confrontation between Wallachia and the Ottoman Empire, a battle in which Vladislav was allied with Ivan Shishman. After the Magyar conquest of the 10th and 11th centuries, Transylvania became an autonomous and multi-ethnic voivodeship that was led by a voivode who was appointed by the King of Hungary until the 16th century.
Several Kings of Hungary invited settlers from Central and Western Europe, such as the Saxons, to occupy Transylvania. The Székelys were brought to southeastern Transylvania as border guards. Romanians are mentioned by the Hungarian documents of a township called "Olahteluk" in 1283 in Bihar County. The "land of Romanians" ("Terram Blacorum") appeared in Făgăraş and this area was mentioned under the name "Olachi" in 1285. After the collapse of the Hungarian Kingdom following the disastrous Battle of Mohács in 1526, the region became the independent Principality of Transylvania until 1711.
Many other small states with varying degrees of independence developed on the territory of today's Romania. In the 14th century, the larger principalities Moldavia and Wallachia emerged to fight the Ottoman Turks, who conquered Constantinople in 1453.
Independent Wallachia had been near the border of the Ottoman Empire since the 14th century until it had gradually succumbed to the Ottomans' influence during the next centuries with brief periods of independence. Vlad III the Impaler, also known as Vlad Dracula , was a Prince of Wallachia in 1448, 1456–62, and 1476. Vald III is remembered for his raids against the Ottoman Empire and his initial success of keeping his small country free for a short time. In the Western world, Vlad is best known for being the inspiration for the main character in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel "Dracula". The Romanian historiography evaluates him as a ferocious but just ruler. the defender of the Wallachian independence and of the European Christianity against Ottoman expansionism.
The Principality of Moldavia reached its most glorious period under the rule of Stephen the Great between 1457 and 1504. Stephen () ruled for 47 years, an unusually long period for that time. He was a successful military leader and statesman, losing only two out of fifty battles; he built a shrine to commemorate each victory, founding 48 churches and monasteries, many of which have a unique architectural style and are listed in UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites. Stefan's most prestigious victory was over the Ottoman Empire in 1475 at the Battle of Vaslui, for which he raised the Voroneţ Monastery. For this victory, Pope Sixtus IV nominated him as "verus christianae fidei athleta" (a true Champion of the Christian Faith). After Stephen's death, Moldavia also came under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire during the 16th century.
Although the core religious vocabulary of the Romanian language originated from Latin, many terms was adopted from the Slavic Orthodoxy, showing a significant influence dating from the Bulgarian Empire (681-1396).
By 1541, the entire Balkan peninsula and northern Hungary became Ottoman provinces. Moldavia, Wallachia, and Transylvania came under Ottoman suzerainty but remained fully autonomous and until the 18th century, had some external independence. During this period, the Romanian lands experienced a slow disappearance of the feudalism and the distinguishing of some rulers like Vasile Lupu and Dimitrie Cantemir in Moldavia, Matei Basarab and Constantin Brâncoveanu in Wallachia, and Gabriel Bethlen in Transylvania. At that time, the Russian Empire appeared to become the political and military power the threatened the Romanian principalities.
John II, the non-Habsburg King of Hungary, moved his royal court to Alba Iulia in Transylvania and after his abdication from the Hungarian throne, he became the first Prince of Transylvania. His 1568 Edict of Turda was the first decree of religious freedom in the modern European history. In the aftermath, Transylvania was ruled by mostly Calvinist Hungarian princes until the end of the 17th century, and Protestantism flourished in the region.
Michael the Brave (Romanian: Mihai Viteazul) was the Prince of Wallachia from 1593 to 1601, of Transylvania from 1599 to 1600, and of Moldavia in 1600. For a short time during his reign, Transylvania was ruled together with Moldavia and Wallachia in a personal union. After his death the union dissolved and as vassal tributary states, Moldavia and Wallachia still had internal autonomy and some external independence, which was finally lost in the 18th century.
The Principality of Transylvania reached its golden age under the absolutist rule of Gábor Bethlen from 1613 to 1629. In 1699, Transylvania became a part of the Habsburg Monarchy following the Austrian victory over the Turks. The Habsburgs rapidly expanded their empire; in 1718 Oltenia, a major part of Wallachia, was annexed to the Habsburg monarchy and was only returned in 1739. In 1775, the Habsburgs later occupied the north-western part of Moldavia, which was later called Bukovina and was incorporated to the Austrian Empire in 1804. The eastern half of the principality, which was called Bessarabia, was occupied in 1812 by Russia.
During the Austro-Hungarian rule of Transylvania, Romanians formed the majority of the population. Nationality issues occurred between Hungarians and Romanians due to the Magyarization policy.
After their defeat to the Russians, the Ottoman Empire restored the Danube ports of Turnu, Giurgiu and Braila to Wallachia, and agreed to give up their commercial monopoly and recognize freedom of navigation on the Danube as specified in the Treaty of Adrianople, which was signed in 1829. The political autonomy of the Romanian principalities grew as their rulers were elected for life by a Community Assembly consisting of boyars, a method used to reduce political instability and Ottoman interventions. Following the war, Romanian lands came under Russian occupation under the governance of General Pavel Kiselyov intil 1844. During his rule, the local boyars enacted the first Romanian constitution.
In 1848, there was a revolution in Moldavia, Wallachia and Transylvania perpetrated by Tudor Vladimirescu and his Pandurs in the Wallachian uprising of 1821. The goals of the revolutionaries were full independence for Moldavia and Wallachia, and national emancipation in Transylvania; these were not fulfilled but were the basis of the subsequent revolutions. The uprising helped the population of all three principalities recognize their unity of language and interests; all three Romanian principalities were very close in language and geography.
After the unsuccessful 1848 revolution, the Great Powers rejected the Romanians' desire to officially unite in a single state, forcing the Romanians to proceed alone their struggle against the Turks. Heavily taxed and badly administered under the Ottoman Empire, in 1859, people's representatives in both Moldavia and Wallachia elected the same "Domnitor" (ruling Prince of the Romanians); Alexander John Cuza.
Romania was created as a personal union that did not include Transylvania, where the upper class and the aristocracy remained mainly Hungarian, although Romanian nationalism clashed with Hungarian nationalism at the end of the 19th century. Austria-Hungary, especially under the Dual Monarchy of 1867, kept the territory firmly in control even in parts of Transylvania where Romanians constituted a vast majority.
In Romania between the 1750s and the 1830s, the exclusion of dowered women from the family inheritance led to increased cohesion within the nuclear family. The wife's male relatives controlled the dowry but she retained sole ownership of the dowry and wedding gifts. Her relatives could prosecute the husband for squandering a dowry; wives gained some ability to leave an abusive marriage. The long-term result was a greater legal empowerment of women while providing economic security to divorced women, widows, and children.
In an 1866 "coup d'état", Cuza was exiled and replaced with Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. He was appointed Domnitor, Ruling Prince of the United Principality of Romania, as Prince Carol of Romania. Romania declared its independence from the Ottoman Empire after the 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish War, in which the Ottomans fought against the Russian empire.
In the 1878 Treaty of Berlin, Romania was officially recognized as an independent state by the Great Powers. In return, Romania ceded the district Bessarabia to Russia in exchange for access to the Black Sea ports and acquired Dobruja. In 1881, the Romania's principality status was raised to that of a kingdom and on 26 March that year, Prince Carol became King Carol I of Romania.
The period between 1878 and 1914 period was one of stability and progress]] for Romania. During the Second Balkan War, Romania joined Greece, Serbia and Montenegro against Bulgaria. In the Treaty of Bucharest (1913) Romania gained Southern Dobrudja counties Quadrilater, Durostor and Caliacra.
The governments of Britain and the United States repeatedly protested the brutal treatment of Romanians Jews, who were regarded as aliens who had no civil or political rights. The Romanian government tolerated their frequent humiliation and exclusion from many professions and government services. Romania engaged in arbitrary expulsions of Jews as vagabonds and tolerated violent pogroms against Jews, many of whom fled to the United States.
The new state, which was located between the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian empires, looked to the West—particularly to France—for its cultural, educational, military and administrative models.
In August 1914, when World War I broke out, Romania declared its neutrality. Two years later, under the pressure of the Allies—especially France, which was desperate to open a new front. Between 14 and 27 August 1916, Romania joined the Allies, for which it was promised support for the accomplishment of national unity, including recognition of Romanian rights over Transylvania, which was part of Austria-Hungary. Romania declared war on Austria-Hungary.
The Romanian military campaign ended in disaster for Romania as the Central Powers conquered two-thirds of the country and captured or killed the majority of its army within four months. Moldavia remained in Romanian hands after the invading forces were stopped in 1917. In May 1918, Romania could not continue the war and negotiated a peace treaty with Germany. In November 1918, Romania rejoined the war after the Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires had disintegrated.
In 1918, at the end of World War I, the union of Romania with Bukovina was ratified in 1919 in the Treaty of Saint Germain, and some of the Allies recognized the union with Bessarabia in 1920 through the never ratified Treaty of Paris. On 1 December, the Deputies of the Romanians from Transylvania voted to unite Transylvania, Banat, Crișana and Maramureș with Romania by the "Proclamation of Union" of Alba Iulia. Romanians today celebrate this as the Great Union Day, that is a national holiday.
The Romanian expression "România Mare" (Great or Greater Romania) refers to the Romanian state in the interwar period and to the territory Romania covered at the time. At that time, Romania achieved its greatest territorial extent, almost ), including all of the historic Romanian lands.
Most of the claimed territories were granted to the Old Kingdom of Romania, which was ratified in 1920 by the Treaty of Trianon that defined the new border between Hungary and Romania. The union of Bucovina and Bessarabia with Romania was ratified in 1920 by the Treaty of Versailles. Romania also acquired Southern Dobruja territory called "The Quadrilateral" from Bulgaria as a result of its participation in the Second Balkan War in 1913.
As a result of the peace treaties, most regions with clear Romanian majorities were merged into a single state. It also led to the inclusion of sizable minorities, including Magyars (ethnic Hungarians), Germans, Jews, Ukrainians and Bulgarians—about 28% of the country's population. National minorities were recognized by the 1923 Constitution of Romania and supported by laws; they were represented in Parliament and several of them created political parties, although a unique standing of minorities with autonomy on a wide basis, provided for at the assembly of Transylvanian Romanians on 1 December 1918, was not fulfilled.
Two periods can be identified in Romania between the two World Wars. From 1918 to 1938, Romania was a monarchy whose liberal Constitution was seldom respected in practice, but one facing the rise of the nationalist, anti-semitic parties, particularly Iron Guard, which won about 15% of the votes in the general elections of 1937. From 1938 to 1944, Romania was a dictatorship. The first dictator was King Carol II, who abolished the parliamentary regime and ruled with his "camarilla".
In 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, which stipulated, among other things, the Soviet "interest" in Bessarabia. Following the severe territorial losses of 1940 ("see next section"), Carol was forced to abdicate, replaced as king by his son Mihai, but the power was taken by the military dictator Ion Antonescu (initially in conjunction with the Iron Guard). In August 1944, Antonescu was arrested by Mihai.
During the Second World War, Romania tried to remain neutral but on 28 June 1940, it received a Soviet ultimatum with an implied threat of invasion in the event of non-compliance. Under pressure from Moscow and Berlin, the Romanian administration and the army were forced to retreat from Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to avoid war. This and other factors prompted the Romanian government to join the Axis powers. Southern Dobruja was awarded to Bulgaria while Hungary received Northern Transylvania as result of an Axis arbitration.
In 1940, Romania lost territory in both its east and west: In June 1940, after receiving an ultimatum from the Soviet Union, Romania ceded Bessarabia and northern Bukovina Two-thirds of Bessarabia was combined with a small part of the USSR to form the Moldavian SSR. Northern Bukovina and Budjak were apportioned to the Ukrainian SSR. In August 1940, Northern Transylvania was awarded to Hungary by Germany and Italy through the Second Vienna Award. Southern Dobruja was ceded to Bulgaria shortly after Carol's abdication.
Because Carol II lost so much territory through failed diplomacy, the army supported seizure of power by General Ion Antonescu. For four months—the period of the National Legionary State—he shared power with the Iron Guard but the latter overplayed its hand in January 1941 and was suppressed. Romania entered World War II under the command of the German Wehrmacht in June 1941, declaring war on the Soviet Union to recover Bessarabia and northern Bukovina. Romania continued to participate in the invasion after recovering the territories and was also awarded the territory between Dniester and the Southern Bug by Germany to administer under the name of "Transnistria", where Romanians built a concentration camp for the extermination of Jews.
During the war, Romania was the most important source of oil for Nazi Germany, prompting multiple Allied bombing raids. By means of the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, Romania recovered Bessarabia and northern Bukovina from Soviet Union under the leadership of general Ion Antonescu.
The Antonescu government played a major role in the Holocaust, following to a lesser extent the Nazi policy of oppression and massacre of the Jews and Romas, primarily in the Eastern territories Transnistria and Moldavia, which Romania recovered from the Soviet Union. According to an international commission report released by the Romanian government in 2004, Antonescu's dictatorial government was responsible for the murder in various forms including deportations to concentration camps and executions by the Romanian Army and Gendarmerie, and the German "Einsatzgruppen" of between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews on Romanian territories and in the war zones Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transnistria.
On 20 August 1944, the Soviet Red Army crossed the border into Romania. On 23 August 1944, Antonescu was toppled and arrested by King Michael I of Romania, who joined the Allies and declared war on Germany. On 31 August 1944, the Red Army entered Bucharest. Despite Romania's change of sides, its role in the defeat of Nazi Germany was not recognized by the Paris Peace Conference of 1947.
With the Red Army forces still stationed in the country and exerting "de facto" control, Communists and their allied parties claimed 80% of the vote through a combination of vote manipulation, elimination and forced mergers of competing parties, thus establishing themselves as the dominant force. Romania suffered heavy casualties fighting the Nazis in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. By the end of the war, the Romanian army had suffered almost 300,000 casualties.
A the end of World War II, the Paris Peace Treaty rendered the Vienna Awards void: Northern Transylvania was returned to Romania but Bessarabia, northern Bukovina and southern Dobruja were not recovered. The Moldavian-SSR became independent of the Soviet Union after the latter's 1991 demise and turned into the Republic of Moldova.
Soviet occupation following World War II strengthened the position of Communists, who became dominant in the left-wing coalition government that was appointed in March 1945. King Michael I was forced to abdicate and went into exile. Romania was proclaimed a people's republic and remained under military and economic control of the Siviet Union until the late 1950s. During this period, Romania's resources were drained by the "SovRom" agreements; mixed Soviet-Romanian companies were established to mask the Soviet Union's looting of Romania.
Romania's leader from 1948 to his death in 1965 was Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, the First Secretary of the Romanian Workers' Party. Between 1947 and 1962, people were detained in prisons and camps, deported and put under house arrest and administrative detention. According to writer Cicerone Ioniţoiu, there were hundreds of thousands of cases of abuse, death and torture against a large range of people from political opponents to ordinary citizens. Between 60,000 and 80,000 political prisoners were detained. Ioniţoiu estimated two million people were victims of Communist repression in Romania. According to Benjamin Valentino, probably tens or hundreds of thousands of deaths occurred as part of political repression and agricultural collectivization in Communist Romania, though he said documentation is insufficient for an accurate estimate to be made.
Gheorghiu-Dej attained greater independence for Romania from the Soviet Union by persuading Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev to withdraw troops from Romania in April 1958. After the negotiated withdrawal of Soviet troops, Romania under the new leadership of Nicolae Ceauşescu started to pursue independent policies, including the condemnation of the Soviet-led 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia—Romania being the only Warsaw Pact country not to take part in the invasion—the continuation of diplomatic relations with Israel after the Six-Day War of 1967 (again, the only Warsaw Pact country to do so), and the establishment of economic (1963) and diplomatic (1967) relations with West Germany. Romania's close ties with Arab countries and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) allowed to play a key role in the Israel-Egypt and Israel-PLO peace processes by intermediating the visit of Egyptian president Sadat to Israel.
Between 1977 and 1981, Romania's foreign debt sharply increased from US$3 to US$10 billion and the influence of international financial organizations such as the IMF and the World Bank grew, in conflict with Ceauşescu's autarchic policies. Ceauşescu's independent foreign policy meant leaders of Western nations leaders were slow to criticize Romania's government which, by the late 1970s, had become arbitrary, capricious and harsh. The Romanian economy grew quickly through foreign credit but this was replaced with austerity and political repression, which became more draconian through the 1980s.
Ceauşescu eventually initiated a project of full reimbursement of the foreign debt; to achieve this, he imposed austerity policies that impoverished Romanians and exhausted nation's economy. The project was completed in 1989, shortly before his overthrow. He greatly extended the authority of the "Securitate" (secret police) and imposed a cult of personality, leading to a dramatic decrease in Ceauşescu's popularity and culminating in his overthrow and execution in the bloody Romanian Revolution in December 1989.
The Romanian Revolution resulted in more than 1,000 deaths in Timișoara and Bucharest, and brought about the fall of Ceauşescu and the end of the Communist regime in Romania. After a week of unrest in Timişoara, a mass rally summoned in Bucharest in support of Ceauşescu on 21 December 1989 turned hostile. The Ceauşescu couple fled Bucharest by helicopter but ended up in the custody of the army.
After being tried and convicted by a kangaroo court for genocide and other crimes, they were executed on 25 December 1989.
Ion Iliescu, a former Communist Party official marginalized by Ceauşescu, attained national recognition as the leader of an impromptu governing coalition, the National Salvation Front (FSN) that proclaimed the establishment of democracy and civil liberties on 22 December 1989. The Communist Party was initially outlawed by Ion Iliescu, but he soon revoked that decision; as a consequence, Communism is not outlawed in Romania today. However, Ceauşescu's most controversial measures, such as bans on abortion and contraception, were among the first laws to be changed after the Revolution.
After the fall of Ceauşescu, the National Salvation Front (FSN) led by Ion Iliescu introduced partial multi-party democratic and free market measures. A university professor with family roots in the Communist Party, Petre Roman, was named prime minister of the new government, which mostly consisted of former communist officials. The government initiated modest free market reforms. Several major political parties of the pre-war era, the National Christian Democrat Peasant's Party (PNŢCD), the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Romanian Social Democrat Party (PSDR), were reconstituted.
In April 1990, after several major political rallies that January), a sit-in protest questioning the legitimacy of the government began in University Square, Bucharest, organized by the main opposition parties. The protest became ongoing mass demonstration known as the Golaniad. The protesters accused the FSN of being made up of former Communists and members of the Securitate. Presidential and parliamentary elections were held on 20 May 1990. Taking advantage of FSN's tight control of the national radio and television, Iliescu won 85% of the vote. The FSN secured two-thirds of the seats in Parliament. Though most protesters left University Square after the government gained a large parliamentary majority, a minority deemed the results undemocratic and demanded the exclusion from political life of the former high-ranking Communist Party members. The peaceful demonstrations degenerated into violence; some of the protesters attacked the police headquarters, national television station, and the Foreign Ministry. After the police failed to bring the demonstrators to order, Ion Iliescu called on the "men of good will" to defend the state institutions in Bucharest.
Various worker groups from Romania's industrial platforms responded, some of them engaged in altercations with the protesters. The coal miners of the Jiu Valley, thousands of whom arrived in Bucharest on 14 June, were the most visible and politically influential. According to the miners, most of the violence was perpetrated by government agents who were agitating the crowds. Some of the counter-protesters attacked the headquarters and private residences of opposition leaders. Later parliamentary inquiries showed members of the government intelligence services were involved in the instigation and manipulation of both the protesters and the miners, and in June 1994, a Bucharest court found two former "Securitate" officers guilty of ransacking and stealing $100,000 from the house of a leading opposition politician. Petre Roman's government fell in late September 1991, when the miners returned to Bucharest to demand higher salaries. A technocrat, Theodor Stolojan, was appointed to head an interim government until new elections could be held.
In December 1991, a new constitution was drafted and subsequently adopted, after a popular referendum, which, however, attracted criticism from international observers. The constitution was most recently revised by a national referendum on 18–19 October 2003, and took effect on 29 October 2003.
In March 1992, the FSN split into two groups: the Democratic National Front (FDSN), led by Ion Iliescu and the Democratic Party (PD), led by Petre Roman. Iliescu won the presidential elections in September 1992 and his FDSN won the general elections held at the same time. With parliamentary support from the nationalist Romanian National Unity Party (PUNR), Greater Romania Party (PRM), and the ex-communist Socialist Workers' Party (PSM), a new government was formed in November 1992 under Prime Minister Nicolae Văcăroiu. The FDSN changed its name to Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR) in July 1993.
The subsequent disintegration of the FSN produced the Romanian Democrat Social Party (PDSR) (later Social Democratic Party, PSD), the Democratic Party (PD) and the ApR (Alliance for Romania). The PDSR party governed Romania from 1990 until 1996 through several coalitions and governments with Ion Iliescu as head of state.
Emil Constantinescu of the Democratic Convention (CDR) won the second round of the 1996 presidential elections and replaced Iliescu as chief of state. The PDSR won the largest number of seats in Parliament, but was unable to form a viable coalition. Constituent parties of the CDR joined the Democratic Party (PD), the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) to form a centrist coalition government, holding 60% of the seats in Parliament.
This coalition implemented several critical reforms. The new coalition government, under prime minister Victor Ciorbea remained in office until March 1998, when Radu Vasile (PNŢCD) took over as prime minister. The former governor of the National Bank, Mugur Isărescu, eventually replaced Radu Vasile as head of the government.
The 2000 election brought Iliescu's PDSR, known as Social Democratic Party (PSD) after the merger with the PSDR, back to power. Iliescu won a third term as the country's president. Adrian Năstase became the prime minister of the newly formed government.
In 2004 Traian Băsescu was elected president with an electoral coalition called Justice and Truth Alliance (DA). The government was formed by a larger coalition which also included the Conservative Party and the ethnic Hungarian party.
Post–Cold War Romania developed closer ties with Western Europe, eventually joining NATO in 2004.
Presidential and parliamentary elections took place again on 28 November 2004. No political party secured a viable parliamentary majority and opposition parties alleged the PSD had committed large-scale electoral fraud. There was no winner in the first round of the presidential elections. The joint PNL-PD candidate Traian Băsescu won the second round on 12 December 2004 with 51% of the vote and became the third post-revolutionary president of Romania.
The PNL leader, Călin Popescu Tăriceanu was assigned the task of building a coalition government without the PSD. In December 2004, the new coalition government (PD, PNL, PUR Romanian Humanist Party—which eventually changed its name to Romanian Conservative Party and UDMR—was sworn in under Prime Minister Tăriceanu.
In June 1993, the country applied for membership in the European Union (EU). It became an Associated State of the EU in 1995, an Acceding Country in 2004, and a full member on 1 January 2007.
Following the free travel agreement and politic of the post–Cold War period, as well as hardship of the life in the post 1990s economic depression, Romania has an increasingly large diaspora. The main emigration targets are Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Canada and the USA.
In April 2008, Bucharest hosted the NATO summit.
In January 2012, Romania experienced its first national protests since 1989, motivated by the global economical crisis and as an answer to the crisis situations and unrest in Europe of 2000s.
General: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25636 |
Geography of Romania
With an area of , Romania is the twelfth-largest country in Europe. Located in Southeastern Europe, bordering on the Black Sea, the country is halfway between the equator and the North Pole and equidistant from the westernmost part of Europe—the Atlantic Coast—and the most easterly—the Ural Mountains. Romania has 3,195 kilometers of border. Republic of Moldova and Ukraine lie to the east, Bulgaria lies to the south, and Serbia and Hungary to the west. In the southeast, 245 kilometers of sea coastline provide an important outlet to the Black Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
Traditionally Romania is divided into several historic regions that no longer perform any administrative function:
Dobruja is the easternmost region, extending from the northward course of the Danube to the shores of the Black Sea.
Moldavia stretches from the Eastern Carpathians to the Prut River on the Moldovan and Ukrainian border.
Wallachia reaches south from the Transylvanian Alps to the Bulgarian border and is divided by the Olt River into Oltenia on the west and Muntenia on the east. The Danube forms a natural border between Muntenia and Dobruja.
The west-central region, known as Transylvania, is delimited by the arc of the Carpathians, which separates it from the Maramureș region in the northwest; by the Crișana area, which borders Hungary in the west; and by the Banat region of the southwest, which adjoins both Hungary and Serbia. It is these areas west of the Carpathians that contain the highest concentrations of the nation's largest ethnic minorities—Hungarians, Germans, and Serbs.
Romania's exterior boundaries are a result of relatively recent events. At the outbreak of World War I, the country's territory included only the provinces of Walachia, Moldavia, and Dobruja. This area, known as the Regat or the Old Kingdom, came into being with the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in the mid-nineteenth century. At the end of World War I, Romania acquired Transylvania and the Banat. Some of this territory was lost during World War II, but negotiations returned it to Romania. Although this acquisition united some 85 percent of the Romanian-speaking population of Eastern Europe into one nation, it left a considerable number of ethnic Hungarians under Romanian rule. Disputes between Hungary and Romania regarding this territory would surface regularly, as both considered the region part of their national heritage. Questions were also periodically raised as to the historical validity of the Soviet-Romanian border. Bukovina and Bessarabia, former Romanian provinces where significant percentages of the population are Romanian-speaking, were part of the Soviet Union from the end of World War II to its dissolution, and subsequently part of the (formerly Soviet) states of Ukraine and Moldova. Despite ongoing and potential disputes, however, since 1989 Romania has no territorial claims to make.
Romania's current administrative divisions include 41 counties and one city - Bucharest - with special status, see Administrative divisions of Romania.
Romania's natural landscape is almost evenly divided among mountains (31 percent), plains (33 percent), and hills (36 percent). These varied relief forms spread rather symmetrically from the Carpathian Mountains, which reach elevations of more than 2,500 meters, to the Danube Delta, which is just a few meters above sea level.
The arc of the Carpathians extends over 1,000 kilometers through the center of the country, covering an area of 71,000 square kilometers. These mountains are of low to medium altitude and are no wider than 100 kilometers. They are deeply fragmented by longitudinal and transverse valleys and crossed by several major rivers. These features and the fact that there are many summit passes—some at altitudes up to 2,256 meters—have made the Carpathians less of a barrier to movement than other European ranges. Another distinguishing feature is the many eroded platforms that provide tableland at relatively high altitudes. There are permanent settlements here at above 1,200 meters.
Romania's Carpathians are differentiated into three ranges: the Eastern Carpathians, the Southern Carpathians or Transylvanian Alps, and the Western Romanian Carpathians. Each of these ranges has important distinguishing features. The Eastern Carpathians are composed of three parallel ridges that run from northwest to southeast. The westernmost ridge is an extinct volcanic range with many preserved cones and craters. The range has many large depressions, in the largest of which the city of Brașov is situated. Important mining and industrial centers as well as agricultural areas are found within these depressions. The Eastern Carpathians are covered with forests—some 32 percent of the country's woodlands are there. They also contain important ore deposits, including gold and silver, and their mineral water springs feed numerous health resorts.
The Southern Carpathians offer the highest peaks at Moldoveanu Peak (2,544 m) and Negoiu (2,535 m) and more than 150 glacial lakes. They have large grassland areas and some woodlands but few large depressions and subsoil resources. At higher elevations, the wind and rain have turned the rocks into spectacular figures such as the Sphinx and "Babele".
The region was crisscrossed by an ancient network of trans-Carpathian roads, and vestiges of the old Roman Way are still visible. Numerous passes and the valleys of the Olt, Jiu, and Danube rivers provide routes for roads and railways through the mountains.
The Western Romanian Carpathians are the lowest of the three ranges and are fragmented by many deep structural depressions. They have historically functioned as "gates," which allow easy passage but can be readily defended. The most famous of these is the Iron Gate on the Danube. The Western Romanian Carpathians are the most densely settled, and it is in the northernmost area of this range, the Apuseni Mountains, that permanent settlements can be found at the highest altitudes.
Enclosed within the great arc of the Carpathians lie the undulating plains and low hills of the Transylvanian Plateau—the largest tableland in the country and the center of Romania. This important agricultural region also contains large deposits of methane gas and salt. To the south and east of the Carpathians, the Sub-Carpathians form a fringe of rolling terrain ranging from 396 to 1,006 meters in elevation. This terrain is matched in the west by the slightly lower Western Hills. The symmetry of Romania's relief continues with the Getic Tableland to the south of the Sub-Carpathians, the Moldavian Tableland in the east between the Sub-Carpathians and the Prut River, and the Dobrujan Tableland in the southeast between the Danube and the Black Sea. The Sub-Carpathians and the tableland areas provide good conditions for human settlement and are important areas for fruit growing, viticulture, and other agricultural activity. They also contain large deposits of brown coal and natural gas.
Beyond the Carpathian foothills and tablelands, the plains spread south and west. In the southern parts of the country, the lower Danube Plain is divided by the Olt River; east of the river lies the Wallachian Plain, and to the west is the Oltenian or Western Plain. The land here is rich with chernozemic soils and forms Romania's most important farming region. Irrigation is widely used, and marshlands in the Danube's floodplain have been diked and drained to provide additional tillable land.
Romania's lowest land is found on the northern edge of the Dobruja region in the Danube Delta. The delta is a triangular swampy area of marshes, floating reed islands, and sandbanks, where the Danube ends its trek of almost 3,000 kilometers and divides into three frayed branches before emptying into the Black Sea. The Danube Delta provides a large part of the country's fish production, and its reeds are used to manufacture cellulose. The region also serves as a nature preserve for rare species of plant and animal life including migratory birds.
After entering the country in the southwest at Bazias, the Danube travels some 1,075 kilometers (almost 40% of its entire length) through or along Romanian territory, forming the southern frontier with Serbia and Bulgaria. Virtually all of the country's rivers are tributaries of the Danube, either directly or indirectly, and by the time the Danube's course ends in the Black Sea, they account for nearly 40 percent of the total discharge. The most important of these rivers are the Mureș River, the Olt River, the Prut, the Siret River, the Ialomița River, the Someș River, and the Argeș River. The Olt River is the longest river that is fully within Romania's national borders.
Romania's rivers primarily flow east, west, and south from the central crown of the Carpathians. They are fed by rainfall and melting snow, which causes considerable fluctuation in discharge and occasionally catastrophic flooding. In the east, river waters are collected by the Siret and the Prut. In the south, the rivers flow directly into the Danube, and in the west, waters are collected by the Tisza on Hungarian territory.
The Danube is by far Romania's most important river, not only for transportation, but also for the production of hydroelectric power. One of Europe's largest hydroelectric stations is located at the Iron Gates, where the Danube surges through the Carpathian gorges. The Danube is an important water route for domestic shipping, as well as international trade. It is navigable for river vessels along its entire Romanian course and for seagoing ships as far as the port of Brăila. An obvious problem with the use of the Danube for inland transportation is its remoteness from most of the major industrial centers. Moreover, marshy banks and perennial flooding impede navigation in some areas.
There are over 3,500 lakes in Romania. Lake Razelm is the largest.
Because of its position on the southeastern portion of the European continent, Romania has a climate that is transitional between temperate and continental. Climatic conditions are somewhat modified by the country's varied relief. The Carpathians serve as a barrier to Atlantic air masses, restricting their oceanic influences to the west and center of the country, where they make for milder winters and heavier rainfall. The mountains also block the continental influences of the vast plain to the north in Ukraine, which bring frosty winters and less rain to the south and southeast. In the extreme southeast, Mediterranean influences offer a milder, maritime climate. The average annual temperature is in the south and in the north. In Bucharest, the temperature ranges from in January to in July, with average temperatures of in January and in July. Rainfall, although adequate throughout the country, decreases from west to east and from mountains to plains. Some mountainous areas receive more than of precipitation each year. Annual precipitation averages about in central Transylvania, at Iași in Moldavia, and only at Constanța on the Black Sea.
Temperate; cold, cloudy winters with frequent snow and fog; sunny summers with frequent showers and thunderstorms. Winters generally are from November to March. The springs are short, occasionally turning right into summer. Summer lasts from May to August. They have a prolonged Autumn, from September to November. The average January temperature is and the average July temperature is .
Facts: Record High Temperature: - August 10, 1951 South-Eastern Romania; Record Low Temperature: - January 24, 1942 (Central Romania)
Southeastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea and Danube, with the Carpathian mountains in its center. Controls most easily traversable land route between the Balkans, Moldova and Ukraine
Geographic coordinates:
Extreme points of Romania:
total: 238,391 km²
"land:" 231,231 km²
"water:" 7,160 km²
Area - comparative: slightly larger than the US state of Minnesota.
Central Transylvanian Basin is separated from the Plain of Moldavia on the east by the Carpathian Mountains and separated from the Wallachian Plain on the south by the Transylvanian Alps.
"Elevation extremes:"
"Natural resources"
"Land use:"
"Irrigated land:"
"Natural hazards:"
earthquakes most severe in south and southwest; geologic structure and climate promote landslides
Environment - current issues: soil erosion and degradation; water pollution; air pollution in south from industrial effluents; contamination of Danube delta wetlands
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25637 |
Demographics of Romania
This article is about the demographic features of the population of Romania, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
About 88.9% of the people of Romania are ethnic Romanians, whose language, Romanian, is a Balkan Romance language, descended from Latin with some German, French, English, Greek, Slavic, and Hungarian borrowings. Romanians are by far the most numerous group of speakers of a Balkan Romance language today. It has been said that they constitute "an island of Latinity" in Eastern Europe, surrounded on all sides either by Slavic peoples or by the Hungarians. The Hungarian minority in Romania constitutes the country's largest minority, 6.1 per cent of the population.
Romania's population declined steadily in recent years, from 21.83 million in 2002 to 19.95 million in 2014. More specifically, in the last decade, the population of Romania decreased by 7.5%, the most important moment for the country's demography being 2008, when the number of inhabitants dropped by 6,000 people. Among the causes of population decline are high mortality, low fertility rate after 1989, and emigration.
For the entire period 1990–2006 estimated population loss tops 1.5 million. But it is likely to be higher, given the explosion of migration for work after 2001 and the tendency of some migrants to settle permanently in the countries where they live.
Sources give varied estimates for Romania's historical population. The National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics (NIRDI) gives the following numbers:
Slightly more than 10% of the population of Romania is formed of minorities of Romania. The principal minorities are Hungarians and Roma, although other smaller ethnic groups exist too. Before World War II, minorities represented more than 28% of the total population. During the war that percentage was halved, largely by the loss of the border areas of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina (to the former Soviet Union, now Moldova and Ukraine) and southern Dobrudja (to Bulgaria). Two-thirds of the ethnic German population either left or were deported after World War II, a period that was followed by decades of relatively regular (by communist standards) migration. During the interwar period in Romania, the total number of ethnic Germans amounted to as much as 786,000 (according to some sources and estimates dating to 1939), a figure which had subsequently fallen to circa 36,000 as of 2011 in contemporary Romania. One of the reasons for which the number of Germans in Romania fell is because after the Romanian Revolution there has been a mass migration of Transylvania Saxons to Germany, in what was referred by British daily newspaper "Guardian" to as 'the most astonishing, and little reported, ethnic migration in modern Europe'.
Of a total official population of over three quarter million Jews before World War II, more than half were killed during the Holocaust. Mass emigration, mostly to Israel and United States, has reduced the surviving Jewish community to less than 6,000 in 2002 (it is estimated that the real numbers could be 3-4 times higher).
Hungarians (Magyars; "see Hungarians in Romania"), especially in Harghita, Covasna, and Mureș counties, and the Roma are the principal minorities, with a declining German population (Banat Swabians in Timiș; Transylvanian Saxons in Sibiu, Brașov and elsewhere), and smaller numbers of Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs, Chinese, Croats, and Banat Bulgarians (in Banat), Ukrainians (especially in Maramureș and Bukovina), Greeks of Romania (especially in Brăila and Constanța), Turks and Tatars (mainly in Constanța), Armenians, Russians (Lipovans, Old Believers in Tulcea), Jews and others. Since the Romanian Revolution of 1989, Bucharest has again become an increasingly cosmopolitan city, including identifiable presences from outside the EU (Chinese, Turks, Moldavian, Syrians, Iraqis, Africans) as well as from the EU (French, Italians, Germans, British, Greek).
In Bucharest, there are also guest workers from countries such as Vietnam and Nepal.
Minority populations are greatest in Transylvania and the Banat, areas in the north and west of the country, which were part of the Kingdom of Hungary (after 1867 the Austria-Hungary) until the end of World War I. Even before the union with Romania, ethnic Romanians comprised the overall majority in Transylvania. However, ethnic Hungarians and Germans were the dominant urban population until relatively recently, while Hungarians still constitute the majority in Harghita and Covasna counties. After Hungarians and Roma, Ukrainians of Romania are the third-largest minority. According to the 2011 Romanian census they number 51,703 people, making up 0.3% of the total population. Ukrainians mainly live in northern Romania, in areas close to the Ukrainian border. Over 60% of all Romanian Ukrainians live in Maramureș County, where they make up 6.77% of the population. Sizable populations of Ukrainians are also found in Suceava County, Timiș County, Caraş-Severin County, Satu Mare County, Tulcea County, and Arad County.
Romani people in Romania constitute one of Romania's largest minorities. According to the 2011 census, they number 621,573 people or 3.08% of the total population, being the second-largest ethnic minority in Romania after Hungarians. There are different estimates about the size of the total population of people with Romani ancestry in Romania because a lot of people of Romani descent do not declare themselves Roma. The number of Roma people is usually underestimated in official statistics and may represent 5–11% of Romania's population.
The total fertility rate is the number of children born per woman. It is based on fairly good data for the entire period. Sources: Our World In Data and Gapminder Foundation.
Note: The 2011 Romanian Census gave a figure of 20,121,641.
* * * During the months of March and April the registration of births was affected by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Average life expectancy at age 0 of the total population.
Romania has 41 counties and one city with a special status, namely Bucharest. Ilfov county has the highest crude birth rate (12.0‰), while Vâlcea County has the lowest crude birth rate (6.6‰). Birth rates are generally higher in rural areas compared to urban areas.
1. Bucharest
2. Iași
3. Cluj-Napoca
4. Timișoara
5. Constanța
6. Craiova
7. Brașov
8. Galați
Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2019.
The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.
The following demographic statistics are from National Institute of Statistic on 1 July 2016.
As a consequence of the pro-natalist policies of the Nicolae Ceaușescu regime (see Decree 770), Romania has a higher proportion of people born in the late 1960s and 1970s its population than any other Western country except Slovenia. The generations born in 1967 and 1968 were the largest, although fertility remained relatively high until 1990. 8.55% of the Romanian population was born in the period from 1976 to 1980, compared with 6.82% of Americans and 6.33% of Britons.
Romania is one of the least urbanised countries in Europe. Just a slight majority, 56.4 percent, lives in urban areas (12,546,212 people in total). The remainder, 43.6 percent, lives in rural areas (9,695,506 people in total).
9.2 deaths/1,000 live births (May 2010); down from 17.3 deaths/1,000 live births in 2002.
definition: age 15 and over can read and write (2015 est.)
The noun form is Romanian(s), and the adjectival form is Romanian.
Foreign-born population (according to Eurostat):
Religious affiliation tends to follow ethnic lines, with most ethnic Romanians identifying with the Romanian Orthodox Church. The Greek Catholic or Uniate church, reunified with the Orthodox Church by fiat in 1948, was restored after the 1989 revolution. The 2002 census indicates that 0.9% of the population is Greek Catholic, as opposed to about 10% prior to 1948. Roman Catholics, largely ethnic Hungarians and Germans, constitute 4.7% of the population; Calvinists, Baptists (see Baptist Union of Romania and Convention of the Hungarian Baptist Churches of Romania), Pentecostals, and Lutherans make up another 5%. There are smaller numbers of Unitarians, Muslims, and other religions. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25638 |
Politics of Romania
Romania's political framework is a semi-presidential representative democratic republic where the Prime Minister is the head of government while the President represents the country internationally, signs some decrees, approves laws promulgated by parliament and nominations as head of state. Romania has a multi-party system, with legislative power vested in the government and the two chambers of Parliament: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. From 1948 until 1989, the communist rule political structure took place in the framework of a one-party socialist republic governed by the Romanian Communist Party as its only legal party.
Romania's 1991 constitution (amended in 2003) proclaims it a democratic and social republic, deriving its sovereignty from the people. According to the constitution, "Human dignity, civic rights and freedoms, the unhindered development of human personality, justice, and political pluralism are supreme and guaranteed values."
The constitution provides for a President, a Parliament, a Constitutional Court and a separate court system which includes the High Court of Cassation and Justice. The right to vote is granted to all citizens over 18 years of age.
The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Romania as a "flawed democracy" in 2016.
The president is elected by popular vote for a maximum of two five-year terms (four-year terms until 2004). S/he is head of state (charged with safeguarding the constitution, foreign affairs, and the proper functioning of public authority), supreme commander of the armed forces and chairperson of the Supreme Council of National Defense. According to the constitution, s/he acts as a mediator among the state's power centers and between the state and society. The president nominates the prime minister after consultation with the party holding an absolute majority in Parliament or, if there is no such majority, with all the parties in Parliament.
Ambiguity in the Constitution of Romania (Article 85 (1), Article 103 (1)) may lead to situations where a coalition of parties obtaining an absolute majority in Parliament, or a party holding a relative majority in Parliament, would be unable to nominate a prime minister because the president would refuse the nomination (with no party holding an absolute majority in Parliament). According to Article 103(1), "unless no such majority exists", interpreted by the president as "unless no such party exists" (although an absolute majority may be formed by one party, a coalition of parties or an alliance).
In the 2008 parliamentary elections, the Alliance PSD+PC won 33.09 percent of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 34.16 percent of the seats in the Senate. The PNL won 18.57 percent of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 18.74 percent of the seats in the Senate, giving both parties a majority in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. However, the president nominated a member of the PDL (which won less than 32.36 percent of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 33.54 percent of the seats in the Senate. The nominated prime minister chooses the other members of the government, and the government and its program must be confirmed by a vote of confidence from Parliament.
The national legislature is a bicameral parliament (Romanian: "Parlament"), consisting of the Chamber of Deputies ("Camera Deputaților") and the Senate ("Senat"). Members are elected to four-year terms by universal suffrage in a party-list proportional representation electoral system. Beginning in 2008, members are elected by mixed member proportional representation.
The number of senators and deputies has varied in each legislature, reflecting changes in population. In 2008, there were 137 senatorial seats and 334 seats in the Chamber of Deputies; of the 334 deputy seats, 18 were held by the ethnic minorities representatives which would not meet the five-percent electoral threshold required for other parties and organizations.
Romania has a multiparty system, which makes a majority government virtually impossible; small parliamentary parties have merged with larger ones. Currently, there are six main parliamentary parties (excluding the 17 ethnic-minority parties which have one representative each):
The main non-parliamentary parties (around the five-percent threshold) with local representatives are:
Unlike other former Soviet-bloc countries, no party claiming to be the successor of the Communist Party of Romania is a significant player on the political scene.
The last presidential election was held on 10 and 24 November, 2019.
The last European Parliamentary election was held on 26 May, 2019.
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" colspan="4" | Party
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" rowspan="2" | No. ofCandidates
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" rowspan="2" | Votes
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" rowspan="2" | Elected
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" rowspan="2" | Changein seats
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" rowspan="2" | % of seats
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" rowspan="2" | % of votes
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" colspan="2" | National Party
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" | EU Party
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" | EP Group
| style="text-align:left;" | —
ECR
! style="text-align:right;" | 483
! style="text-align:right;" | 9,352,472
! style="text-align:right;" | 33
! style="text-align:right;" | 1
! style="text-align:right;" | 100%
! style="text-align:right;" | 100%
"Notes"
After the 2014 election, PNL merged with PD-L/PDL and joined the EPP, and EPP Group.
Prior to the 2019 election, Save Romania Union had no MEPs, and no European affiliation.
According to the website of the ALDE Group, USR Plus will be part of its new group called "ALDE plus Renaissance plus USR Plus.
Monica Macovei, the founder of the M10 party, was ousted.
Daciana Sârbu sits with the S&D.
Laurențiu Rebega sits with the ECR.
After the lists have been approved by the Central Electoral Bureau, three candidates of the 2020 USR-PLUS Alliance have renounced their candidacy. The Central Electoral Bureau ruled the elimination of said positions on the list.
The latest legislative election was held on 11 December 2016. In the two tables below are represented the results for both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies:
The latest general local election was held on 5 June, 2016.
The Romanian legal system, based on the Napoleonic Code, is inquisitorial. The judiciary is independent, and judges appointed by the president are not removable. The president and other judges of the Supreme Court are appointed for six-year terms, and may serve consecutive terms. Proceedings are public, except in special circumstances provided for by law.
Judicial power is vested in a hierarchical system of courts, culminating with the supreme court: Înalta Curte de Justiție și Casație (High Court of Cassation and Justice), whose judges are appointed by the president on the recommendation of the Superior Council of Magistrates.
The Ministry of Justice represents the general interests of society and defends the rule of law and citizens' rights and freedoms. The ministry exercises its power through independent, impartial public prosecutors.
The " (Constitutional Court) judges issues of constitutionality invoked in any court and judges the compliance of laws (or other state regulations) with the Romanian Constitution. The court, outside the judicial branch, follows the tradition of the French Constitutional Council with nine judges serving nine-year, non-renewable terms. Since the 2003 revision of the constitution, its decisions cannot be overturned by parliamentary majority.
For territorial and administrative purposes, Romania is divided into 41 counties ("județe", singular "județ") and the city of Bucharest. Each county is governed by an elected council. Local councils and elected mayors are the public authorities in villages and towns. The county council coordinates the activities of village and town councils.
The central government appoints a prefect for each county and Bucharest, who represents the government at the local level and directs the ministries and other central agencies at the county level. A prefect may block the action of a local authority if he deems it unlawful or unconstitutional, with the matter then adjudicated by an administrative court.
Under legislation enacted in January 1999, local councils control the spending of their allocations from the central government budget and have the authority to raise additional revenue locally. Although centrally-appointed prefects formerly had significant authority over the budget, this is now limited to a review of expenditures to determine their constitutionality.
Romania has made progress in institutionalizing democratic principles, civil liberties, and respect for human rights since the Romanian Revolution in December 1989. Some present-day Romanian politicians are former members of the Romanian Communist Party. Since membership in the party was a requirement for advancement before 1989, many people joined to get ahead rather than because of ideological conviction; however, the Communist past of some Romanian politicians remains controversial.
Over 200 new political parties sprang up after 1989, most gravitating to leaders rather than programs. All major parties espoused democracy and market reforms in varying degrees. The largest party by far, the governing National Salvation Front (FSN), proposed slow, cautious economic reforms and a social safety net. The main opposition parties, the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party (PNŢCD), favored rapid, sweeping reform, immediate privatization, and a reduction in the role of former Communist Party members. The Communist Party ceased to exist.
In the 1990 presidential and legislative elections, the FSN and its presidential candidate, Ion Iliescu, won with a large majority of the votes (67.02 and 85.07 percent, respectively). The strongest opposition parties in the Senate were the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), with 7.20 percent, and the National Liberal Party (PNL) with 7.06 percent.
After FSN Prime Minister Petre Roman's dismissal a few months before the 1992 general elections (following a late 1991 Mineriad), the FSN split in two. President Iliescu's supporters formed a new party, the Democratic National Salvation Front (FDSN), and Roman's supporters retained the FSN name.
The 1992 local, legislative, and presidential elections indicated a political rift between the urban centres and the countryside. Rural voters, grateful for the restoration of most agricultural land to farmers but fearful of change, strongly favored President Iliescu and the FDSN; the urban electorate favored the CDR (a coalition of several parties – the strongest of which were the PNŢCD and the PNL – and civic organizations) and quicker reform. Iliescu easily won re-election from a field of five other candidates, and the FDSN won a plurality in both chambers of parliament.
With the CDR, the second-largest parliamentary group, reluctant to participate in a national-unity coalition, the FDSN (now the PDSR) formed a government under Prime Minister and economist Nicolae Văcăroiu with parliamentary support from the nationalist Romanian National Unity Party (PUNR) and Greater Romania Party (PRM), and the Socialist Workers' Party (PSM). In January 1994, the governing coalition's stability became problematic when the PUNR threatened to withdraw its support unless it received cabinet portfolios. After intense negotiations, two PUNR members received cabinet portfolios in the Văcăroiu government in August. The following month, the incumbent justice minister also joined the PUNR. The PRM and the PSM left the coalition in October and December 1995, respectively.
The 1996 local elections indicated a major shift in the political orientation of the Romanian electorate, with opposition parties sweeping Bucharest and most of the larger cities in Transylvania, Banat, Bukovina, and Dobruja. The trend continued in that year's legislative and presidential elections, when the opposition dominated the cities and made strong inroads into rural areas previously dominated by President Iliescu and the PDSR (which lost many voters in their traditional stronghold constituencies outside Transylvania).
The opposition campaign emphasized the need to squelch corruption and introduce economic reform. This message resonated with voters, resulting in a historic victory for the CDR coalition and the election of Emil Constantinescu as president. To secure its electoral majority, the CDR invited Petre Roman's Democratic Party (the former FSN) and the UDMR (representing the Hungarian minority) to join the government. Although over the next four years Romania had three prime ministers (and despite internal frictions), the governing parties preserved their coalition and initiated a series of needed reforms.
The coalition lost the first round of presidential elections in November 2000 as a result of popular dissatisfaction with infighting among the parties during the preceding four years and the economic hardship brought about by structural reforms. In the second round Iliescu, running again as the Social Democratic Party (PSD) candidate, won by a wide margin over extreme nationalist Greater Romania Party (PRM) candidate Corneliu Vadim Tudor. Iliescu appointed Adrian Năstase prime minister. In Parliament the PSD government (like its predecessor) relied on the support of the UDMR, which did not join the Cabinet but negotiated annual packages of legislation and other measures favoring Romania's ethnic Hungarians.
Năstase, in his four years as prime minister, continued the previous government's pro-Western foreign policy. The period was characterized by a political stability unprecedented in post-communist Romania and consistent economic growth. Romania joined NATO in spring 2004 and signed an accession treaty to join the EU. However, the PSD government was plagued by allegations of corruption which would be significant factors in its defeat in local and national elections in 2004.
In September, 2003 the Democratic Party (PD) and National Liberal Party (PNL) formed an electoral alliance, the Justice and Truth (DA) Alliance, as a mainstream opposition bloc to the ruling PSD. The DA Alliance agreed, among other measures, to vote as a bloc in parliament and local councils and run common candidates in national and local elections. In October 2003, the country held a referendum on several constitutional amendments deemed necessary for EU accession. The amendments included provisions to allow foreigners to own land in Romania and to change the president's term from four to five years.
In 2004 Traian Băsescu, the then leader of the Democratic Party (PD), won the presidential election by a narrow margin. Băsescu subsequently appointed former liberal leader Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu as Prime Minister. Popescu-Tăriceanu headed a government composed of the PNL, PD, UDMR, and PC (formerly known as the Humanist Party). In order to secure a parliamentary majority, the coalition government relied on the support of 18 parliamentary seats reserved for ethnic-minority representatives.
The government's narrow majority in Parliament led to calls for early elections. In July 2005, Prime Minister Popescu-Tăriceanu voiced plans to resign, prompting new elections; he then backtracked, noting his and the cabinet's need to focus on relief efforts for summer floods. During its first year the government was also tested by a successfully-resolved hostage crisis involving three Romanian journalists kidnapped in Iraq and avian influenza in several parts of the country, transmitted by wild birds migrating from Asia.
The government's overriding objective was the accession of Romania to the European Union, and on 1 January 2007 Romania became the 26th member of the EU. The government also maintained good relations with the United States, signing an agreement in December 2005 which would allow American troops to train and serve at several Romanian military facilities. Băsescu and Popescu-Tăriceanu pledged to combat high-level corruption and implement broader reform to modernize sectors such as the judicial system and health care.
On 19 April 2007, Parliament suspended President Băsescu on charges of unconstitutional conduct. The suspension, passed by a 322–108 vote, opened the way for a national referendum on impeachment which failed.
The November 2008 parliamentary elections were close, with the Social Democrats (PSD) winning 33.9 percent of the vote, President Traian Băsescu's centre-right Liberal Democrats (PDL) taking 32.34 percent, and the ruling National Liberals (PNL) receiving 18.6 percent. The Liberal Democrats and Social Democrats formed a coalition after the election. Former prime minister Theodor Stolojan withdrew his candidacy for the premiership and President Băsescu nominated Emil Boc, president of the Liberal Democrats, as prime minister.
With the onset of the Great Recession, the Romanian political scene saw tensions between the president and prime minister and between the general population and both. Tensions escalated with a 2012 political crisis and another attempt to impeach President Băsescu. In the referendum, more than 7.4 million people (nearly 90 percent) supported Băsescu's removal from office. However, the Constitutional Court invalidated the referendum because the majority of the population did not vote (the voter turnout was 46%); Băsescu had called the referendum a "coup d'état", and asked the public to boycott it. All these events have been heavily criticized by international political figures, most notably by German chancellor Angela Merkel.
The legislative elections of 9 December 2012 were seen by the public as an opportunity for change and to oust Băsescu. The Social Liberal Union received a large majority in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate (60.07 and 58.61 percent of the vote, respectively) and a record 395 seats. The new prime minister, Victor Ponta, quickly formed a government but the failure to adopt reforms quickly triggered a wave of protests against a government seen as not fulfilling the promises of the 2012 electoral campaign. Two other projects of national interest (shale drilling and the Roșia Montană mining project) unleashed more protests. The demonstrations, initially ecological in focus, became anti-government protests.
In early 2014, the PNL broke away from the USL and entered opposition. Along with the PDL, the PNL formed the Christian Liberal Alliance in order to support the candidature of Klaus Johannis as president of Romania and later agreed on a future merger that would retain the name of the National Liberal Party. Johannis won a surprise victory in front of then incumbent PM Victor Ponta in the second round of the 2014 presidential elections, by a margin of 54.43%. Voters abroad were very angry because of the fact that they were not all given the right to cast their ballots, which represented one of the key reasons for Ponta's defeat. In late 2015, another series of nationwide protests ultimately prompted Prime Minister Victor Ponta's resignation. Shortly afterwards, President Johannis appointed then independent politician Dacian Cioloș as Prime Minister, who was briefly in charge of a technocratic government between late 2015 and early 2017.
The legislative elections of 11 December 2016 saw a predictable comeback of the PSD as the major party in the Romanian Parliament, as most opinion polls gave them an electoral score of at least 40%. Alongside ALDE (a mainly splinter group from the PNL), the PSD initially formed a governing coalition under Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu.
In early 2017, a series of massive nationwide protests (the greatest in Romania's history) requested Grindeanu's resignation and early elections because of the government's secret procedure of giving an ordinance modifying the Penal Code and Penal Procedure Code on the night of 31 January. The PM along with the entire government refused to step down but, nonetheless, decided to withdraw the decrees that started the protests on 5 February at the protests' peak.
Approximately four months later, tensions arose between PM Sorin Grindeanu and PSD leader Liviu Dragnea, which ultimately resulted in the loss of political support for the government on behalf of the PSD-ALDE coalition. The PM refused to resign but was eventually dismissed by a motion of no confidence passed by the Parliament with 241 votes (233 minimum needed).
Quickly afterwards, Mihai Tudose was proposed by the socialists for the position of Prime Minister and was subsequently accepted by president Johannis. However, just after 6 months of governance, he resigned from this dignity. Consequently, the ruling coalition nominated a new Prime Minister candidate in the person of Viorica Dăncilă, a former socialist MEP in the 2014–19 who was also accepted by the state president. Subsequently, on 4 November 2019, after a motion of no confidence, the PSD minority government was replaced by a minority cabinet led by the National Liberal Party under Ludovic Orban.
All throughout this period of time which was marked by governmental mayhem produced by the PSD-ALDE ruling coalition regarding their change of PMs as well as their intentions of changing both the Penal Code and the Penal Procedure Code, the Romanian society took to the streets of Bucharest and many other major cities of the country in huge numbers for more than 500 consecutive days in order to oppose the modification of these law packages, prompt early elections, as well as a referendum on the topic of justice.
Romania participates in the following international organisations:
ACCT, BIS, BSEC, CE, CEI, CPLP (associate member), EAPC, EBRD, ECE, EEA, EU, FAO, Francophonie. G-9, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer), Latin Union, MONUC, NAM (guest), NATO, NSG, OAS (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, SECI, SEECP, SPSEE, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UPU, WCL, WCO, WEU (associate partner), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO, Zangger Committee | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25639 |
Economy of Romania
The economy of Romania is a fast developing, high-income mixed economy with a very high Human Development Index and a skilled labour force, ranked 15th in the European Union by total nominal GDP and 10th largest when adjusted by purchasing power parity.
Romania's economy ranks 40th in the world, with a $549 billion annual output (PPP). In recent years, Romania enjoyed some of the highest growth rates in the EU: 4.8% in 2016, 7.1% in 2017, 4.4% in 2018, and 4.1% in 2019. In 2018 its GDP per capita in purchasing power standards reached 66% of the European Union average, up from 44% in 2007, the highest growth rate in the EU27.
Romania is a leading destination in Central and Eastern Europe for foreign direct investment: the cumulative inward FDI in the country since 1989 totals more than $170 billion. Romania is the largest electronics producer in Central and Eastern Europe. In the past 20 years Romania has also grown into a major center for mobile technology, information security, and related hardware research. The country is a regional leader in fields such as IT and motor vehicle production. Bucharest, the capital city, is one of the leading financial and industrial centres in Eastern Europe.
The top 10 exports of Romania are vehicles, machinery, chemical goods, electronic products, electrical equipment, pharmaceuticals, transport equipment, basic metals, food products, and rubber and plastics. Imports of goods and services increased 9.3%, while exports grew 7.6% in 2016, as compared to 2015.
Exports of goods and services are expected to grow by 5.6% in 2017, while imports are seen increasing by 8.5%, according to the latest CNP (National Prognosis Commission) projections.
Industry in Romania generated 33.6% of the local gross domestic product (GDP) in the first half of 2018.
The economy of Romania entered modernity with the Treaty of Adrianople in 1829, ending centuries of Turkish control. Economic growth was stimulated by several milestones: the discovery and industrial exploitation of oil in 1857, the political union between Wallachia and Moldavia in 1859, land reforms, adoption of a local currency, the leu (1867), the state independence (1877), as well as the building of an extensive rail-road system under king Carol I.
After the dissolution of neighbouring Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires following World War I, several Romanian-speaking provinces (Transylvania, Bessarabia, Banat, Bukovina) united with the Kingdom of Romania, forming the Romanian state in its modern form. The application of radical agricultural reforms and the passing of a new constitution created a democratic framework and allowed for quick economic growth (industrial production doubled between 1923–1938, despite the effects of the Great Depression).
Until World War II, Romania was Europe's second-largest oil and food producer.
After 1945, Soviet-occupied Romania became a member of the Eastern Bloc and switched to a Soviet-style command economy. During this period the country experienced rapid industrialization in an attempt to create a "multilaterally developed socialist society". Economic growth was further fuelled by foreign credits in the 1970s, eventually leading to a growing foreign debt, which peaked at $11–12 billion.
Romania's debt was largely paid off during the 1980s by implementing severe austerity measures which deprived Romanians of basic consumer goods. In 1989, before the Romanian Revolution, Romania had a GDP of about 800 billion lei, or $53.6 billion. Around 58% of the country's gross national income came from industry, and another 15% came from agriculture. The minimum wage was 2,000 lei, or $135.
The end of the communist period marked the beginning of a sharp economic downturn. Romania's weight in the global economy dropped to 0,3% in 1993 down from 0,8% in 1983.
Privatization of industry started with the 1992 transfer of 30% of the shares of some 6,000 state-owned enterprises to five private ownership funds, in which each adult citizen received certificates of ownership. The remaining 70% ownership of the enterprises was transferred to a state ownership fund, with a mandate to sell off its shares at the rate of at least 10% per year. The privatization law also called for direct sale of some 30 specially selected enterprises and the sale of "assets" (i.e., commercially viable component units) of larger enterprises.
As of 2008, inflation stood at 7.8%, up from 4.8% in 2007 estimated by the BNR at coming within 6% for the year 2006 (the year-on-year CPI, published in March 2007, is 3.66%). Also, since 2001, the economy has grown steadily at around 6–8%. Therefore, the PPP per capita GDP of Romania in 2008 was estimated to be between $12,200 and $14,064.
Romania was the largest U.S. trading partner in Central-Eastern Europe until Nicolae Ceaușescu's 1988 renunciation of Most Favored Nation (non-discriminatory) trading status, which resulted in higher U.S. tariffs on Romanian products. Congress approved restoration of the MFN status effective 8 November 1993, as part of a new bilateral trade agreement. Tariffs on most Romanian products dropped to zero in February 1994 with the inclusion of Romania in the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). Major Romanian exports to the U.S. include shoes and clothing, steel, and chemicals.
Romania signed an Association Agreement with the EU in 1992 and a free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in 1993, codifying Romania's access to European markets and creating the basic framework for further economic integration. Romania formally joined the EU in 2007.
During the later part of the Ceauşescu period, Romania had earned significant contracts from several developing countries, notably Iraq, for oil-related projects. In August 2005 Romania agreed to forgive 43% of the US$1.7 billion debt owed by an Iraq still largely occupied by the military forces of the U.S.-led "Coalition of the Willing", making Romania the first country outside of the Paris Club of wealthy creditor nations to forgive Iraqi debts.
Growth in 2000–07 was supported by exports to the EU, primarily to Italy and Germany, and a strong recovery of foreign and domestic investment. Domestic demand is playing an ever more important role in underpinning growth as interest rates drop and the availability of credit cards and mortgages increases. Current account deficits of around 2% of GDP are beginning to decline as demand for Romanian products in the European Union increases. Accession to the EU gives further impetus and direction to structural reform.
In early 2004 the government passed increases in the value-added tax (VAT) and tightened eligibility for social benefits with the intention to bring the public finance gap down to 4% of GDP by 2006, but more difficult pension and healthcare reforms will have to wait until after the next elections. Privatization of the state-owned bank Banca Comercială Română took place in 2005. Intensified restructuring among large enterprises, improvements in the financial sector, and effective use of available EU funds is expected to accelerate economic growth. However, the Romanian economy was affected by the financial crisis of 2007–08 and contracted in 2009.
After communism, Romania needed capital infusion, entrepreneurial and managerial skills, the fastest way to obtain that was through foreign direct investment (FDI). As of 2018, total FDI in Romania was 81 billion EUR, 63% of total (51 billion) are greenfield investments. Top ten FDI stock by country of origin in 2018 were: Nederlands (23.9%), Germany (12.7%), Austria (12.2%), Italy (9.5%), Cyprus (6.2%), France (6%), Switzerland (4.5%), Luxembourg (4.2%), Belgium (2.2%) and United Kingdom (2.1%).
The level of investment remains above EU average. Investment accounts for almost 25% of GDP in Romania as opposed to 19% of GDP in the EU, in 2016.
On 1 January 2007 Romania and Bulgaria entered the EU, giving the Union access to the Black Sea. This led to some immediate international trade liberalization. Romania is part of the European single market which represents more than 508 million consumers. Several domestic commercial policies are determined by agreements among European Union members and by EU legislation. This is to be contrasted with enormous current account deficits. Low interest rates guarantee availability of funds for investment and consumption. For example, a boom in the real estate market started around 2000 and has not subsided yet. At the same time annual inflation in the economy is variable and during the mid-2000s (2003–2008) has seen a low of 2.3% and high of 7.8%.
Romania adopted 1 January 2005 a flat tax of 16% to improve tax collection rates. Romania subsequently enjoyed the lowest fiscal burden in the European Union, until Bulgaria also switched to a flat tax of 10% in 2007. Since 2018 the flat rate was lowered to 10%.
Romania posted 6% economic growth in 2016, the highest among European Union member states. According to Bloomberg, the country's economic growth advanced at the fastest pace since 2008. It is now considered the next tech-startup hub country in EU. Nowadays, that Romania's digital infrastructure ranks higher than other eastern and central European countries makes it an attractive place to start a tech business.
IMF for 2019 published the following data:
In the Romanian press the economy has been referred to as the "Tiger of the East" during the 2000s. Romania is a country of considerable economic potential: over 10 million hectares of agricultural land, diverse energy sources (coal, oil, natural gas, hydro, nuclear, and wind), a substantial, if aging, manufacturing base and opportunities for expanded development in tourism on the Black Sea and in the mountains.
Net investments in Romania's economy totaled RON 33.6 billion (EUR 7.2 billion) in the first half of 2018, up by 5.8% compared to the same period of 2017, according to the National Statistics Institute (INS).
In the same year (2018) foreign direct investment (FDI) was 81 billion, 63% (51 billion) being "green field"
The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1980–2017. Inflation under 2% is in green.
The planned national budget for 2017 is 422 billion lei ($103 billion), with an estimated budget deficit to GDP of 1.1%.
Romania has growing middle and upper classes with relatively high per-capita income. World Bank estimated that in 2002 99% of the urban and 94% of the rural population had access to electricity. In 2004, 91% of the urban and only 16% of the rural population had access to improved water supply and 94% of the urban population had access to improved sanitation. In 2017 there were about 22.5 million mobile phone users in Romania and about 18 million with internet access.
In March 2017, the gross average monthly wage was RON 3,256 (€716), and the net average monthly wage was RON 2,342 (€515).
Countries tend to benefit from sharing borders with developed markets as this facilitates trade and development. Below is a table of Romania's neighboring countries, their GDP per capita, and trade values between the pairs. In 2017, 11.58% of Romanian exports went to its neighbors; while 12.95% of imports came from these five countries. For comparison, Germany alone accounted for 23% of Romania's exports and 20.1% of its imports.
The minimum gross wage in the Romanian economy amounts to RON 2,230 (≈EUR 467) from 1 January 2020. For employees working on positions that require upper education, the minimum gross salary reaches RON 2,350 (≈EUR 492). The same minimum wage applies to employees with a seniority of over 15 years.
In 2018, the median wealth per adult in Romania was estimated by Credit Suisse at USD 6,658. Average wealth per adult was US$20,321.
62% of the 15.6 million Romanian adults had a wealth of less than US$10,000.
Romania is a popular tourist destination, with more than 15.7 million domestic and foreign tourists in 2018.
Romania has cities of great cultural interest (Bucharest, Constanța, Brașov, Timișoara, Cluj-Napoca or Alba Iulia), beaches and seaside resorts, ski resorts, and well-preserved rural regions appreciated for their beauty and tranquillity. Romania is the destination of many religious pilgrimages, hosting several thousands visitors each year.
The leu (pronounced ), plural: lei (); (ISO 4217 code RON; numeric code 946), "leo" (lion) in English is the currency of Romania. It is subdivided into 100 "bani" (singular: "ban"). On 1 July 2005, Romania underwent a currency reform, switching from the previous leu (ROL) to a new leu (RON). 1 RON is equal to 10,000 ROL. Romania joined the European Union on 1 January 2007 and initially hoped to adopt the euro in 2014, but with the deepening of the Euro crisis and with its own problems, such as a low workforce productivity, postponed its adoption plans indefinitely.
Romania, as a member state of the European Union, is required to adopt the common European currency, the Euro. For this reason Romania must fulfil the five Maastricht criteria, of which it met none as of June 2020.
Romania is an oil and gas producer. The pipeline network in Romania included 2,427 km for crude oil, 3,850 km for petroleum products, and 3,508 km for natural gas in 2006. Several major new pipelines are planned, especially the Nabucco Pipeline for Caspian oilfields, the longest one in the world. Romania could cash in four billion dollars from the Constanta-Trieste pipeline.
Romania has considerable natural resources for a country of its size, including coal, iron ore, copper, chromium, uranium, antimony, mercury, gold, barite, borate, celestine (strontium), emery, feldspar, limestone, magnesite, marble, perlite, pumice, pyrites (sulfur), clay, arable land and hydropower.
Romania's mineral production is adequate to supply its manufacturing output. Energy needs are also met by importing bituminous and anthracite coal and crude petroleum. In 2007 approximately 34 million tons of coal, approximately 4,000 tons of tungsten, 565,000 tons of iron ore, and 47,000 tons of zinc ore were mined. Lesser amounts of copper, lead, molybdenum, gold, silver, kaolin, and fluorite also were mined.
The energy sector is dominated by state-owned companies such as Termoelectrica, Hidroelectrica and Nuclearelectrica. Fossil fuels are the country's primary source of energy, followed by hydroelectric power.
Due to dependency on oil and gas imports from Russia, the country has placed an increasingly heavy emphasis on nuclear energy since the 1980s. The Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant is the only one of its kind in Romania, although there are plans to build a second one in Transylvania, possibly after 2020.
For domestic heating and cooking 48% of rural and small-town households use directly burned solid fuel (almost exclusively domestically produced wood) as the main energy source.
Wind power had an installed capacity of 76 MW in 2008, and the country has the largest wind power potential in Southeast Europe, with Dobruja listed as the second-best place in Europe to construct wind farms. As a result, there are currently investor connection requests for over 12,000 MW. There are also plans to build a number of solar power stations, such as the Covaci Solar Park, which will be one of the largest in the world.
The volume of traffic in Romania, especially goods transportation, has increased in recent years due to its strategic location in South-East Europe. In the past few decades, much of the freight traffic shifted from rail to road. A further strong increase of traffic is expected in the future.
As of December 2019, 850 km of motorways are in use with a small portion of Lugoj-Deva (between Margina and Holdea)to be finished while Sibiu-Pitesti is still tendering. The railway network, which was significantly expanded during the Communist years, is the fourth largest in Europe.
Bucharest is the only city in Romania which has an underground railway system, comprising both the Bucharest Metro and the light rail system managed by Regia Autonomă de Transport Bucureşti. Although construction was planned to begin in 1941, due to geo-political factors, the Bucharest Metro was only opened in 1979. Now it is one of the most accessed systems of the Bucharest public transport network with an average ridership of 800,000 passengers during the workweek. In total, the network is 71 km long and has 53 stations.
Romania has become a natural gas exporter. Romanian Scientist, Lazar Edeleanu, had managed, for the first time in the world, to refine oil based products with sulphur dioxide, in other words separation from the oil of some hydrocarbon groups, without their chemical alteration.
Agriculture employs about 26% of the population (one of the highest rates in Europe) and contributes about 4.3% of GDP. The Bărăgan is characterized by large wheat farms. Dairy products, pork, poultry, and apple production are concentrated in the western region.
Beef production is located in central Romania, while the production of fruits, vegetables, and wine ranges from central to southern Romania. Romania is a large producer of many agricultural products and is currently expanding its forestry and fishery industries. The implementation of the reforms and the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) have resulted in reforms in the agricultural sector of the economy.
Fishing is an economic mainstay in parts of eastern Romania and along the Black Sea coast, with important fish markets in places such as Constanta, Galati and Tulcea. Fish such as european anchovy, sprat, pontic shad, mullet, goby, whiting, garfish, Black-Sea Turbot or horse mackerel are landed at ports such as Constanta.
There has been a large scale decrease in employment in the fishing industry within Romania due to the EU's Common Fisheries Policy, which places restrictions on the total tonnage of catch that can be landed, caused by overfishing in the Black Sea. Along with the decline of sea-fishing, commercial fish farms – especially in salmon, have increased in prominence in the rivers and lochs of the east of Romania. Inland waters are rich in fresh water fish such as salmon, trout, and in particular, carp which traditionally has been the most popular fish, including its eggs ("icre"), fresh or canned.
Romania has been successful in developing its industrial sector in recent years. Industry and construction accounted for 32% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2003, a comparatively large share even without taking into account related services. The sector employed 26.4% of the workforce. Romania excels in the production of automobiles, machine tools, and chemicals. In 2013, some 410,997 automobiles were produced in Romania, up from 78,165 in 2000. As of 2018, the turnover generated by Romania's automobile industry was estimated at 28 billion Euros, with 230,000 Romanians employed in the sector.
In 2004 Romania enjoyed one of the largest world market share in machine tools (5.3%). Romanian-based companies such as Dacia, Petrom, Rompetrol, Bitdefender, Romstal and Mobexpert have expanded operations throughout the region. However, small- to medium-sized manufacturing firms form the bulk of Romania's industrial sector.
Romania's industrial output is expected to advance 9% in 2007, while agriculture output is projected to grow 12%. Final consumption is also expected to increase by 11% overall – individual consumption by 14.4% and collective consumption by 10.4%. Domestic demand is expected to go up 12.7%.
Industrial output growth was 6.9% year-on-year in December 2009, making it the highest in the EU-27 zone which averaged −1.9%.
Romania has the third-highest percentage of women working in information and communications technologies (ICT) in Europe. 29% of their workforce is made up of women.
In 2003 service sector constituted 55% of gross domestic product (GDP), and the sector employed 51.3% of the workforce. The subcomponents of services are financial, renting, and business activities (20.5%); trade, hotels and restaurants, and transport (18%); and other service activities (21.7%). The service sector in Romania has expanded in recent years, employing some 47% of Romanians and accounting for slightly more than half of GDP.
The largest employer is the retail sector, employing almost 12% of Romanians. The retail industry is mainly concentrated in a relatively small number of chain stores clustered together in shopping malls. In recent years the rise of big-box stores, such as Cora (hypermarket) (of the France) and Carrefour (a subsidiary of the French), have led to fewer workers in this sector and a migration of retail jobs to the suburbs.
Romania is aggressively promoting and developing its biotechnology industry. Hundred of millions of dollars were invested into the sector to build up infrastructure, fund research and development and to recruit top international scientists to Romania. Romania features one of the world's newest competitive bio-industries, in key areas as pharmacogenomics, protein engineering, glyco-engineering, tissue engineering, bio-informatics, genome medicine and preventive medicine. Romania is devoting substantial resources to developing universities and R&D facilities, increasing bioventure startups, growing bio-clusters (communities of biotechnology companies and institutions) and developing human resources, all with the goal of making it one of the world's most advanced biotechnology regions.
The strength of the Romanian economy varies from region to region. PPP, and GDP per capita is the highest in Bucharest. The following table shows the highest GDP per capita of the other 4 counties, with data supplied by CNP.
The highest GDP per capita is found in Bucharest and surrounding Ilfov County. Values well above the national average are found in Timiș, Argeș, Braşov, Cluj, Constanţa, Sibiu and Prahova. Values well below the national average are found in: Vaslui, Botoşani, Călăraşi, Neamţ, Vrancea, Suceava, Giurgiu, Mehedinţi, Olt and Teleorman.
In 2017, Romania's largest trading partner was Germany, followed by Italy. Romania's main imports and exports are electrical machinery, motor vehicles & parts and industrial machinery. While Romania imports substantial quantities of grain, it is largely self-sufficient in other agricultural products and food stuffs, due to the fact that food must be regulated for sale in the Romania retail market, and hence imports almost no food products from other countries.
Romania imported in 2006 food products of 2.4 billion euros, up almost 20% versus 2005, when the imports were worth slightly more than 2 billion euros. The EU is Romania's main partner in the trade with agri-food products. The exports to this destination represent 64%, and the imports from the EU countries represent 54%. Other important partners are the CEFTA countries, Turkey, Republic of Moldova and the USA. Despite a decline of the arms industry in the post-communist era, Romania is a significant exporter of military equipment, accounting for 3–4% of the world total in 2007. EU members are represented by a single official at the World Trade Organization.
During the first trimester of 2010, Romanian exports increased by 21%, one of the largest rates in the European Union. The trade deficit stood at roughly 2 billion EUR, the eighth largest in the EU.
Households with access to fixed and mobile telephone access
Broadband penetration rate
Individuals using computer and internet
General: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25640 |
Mass media in Romania
The mass media in Romania refers to mass media outlets based in Romania. Television, magazines, and newspapers are all operated by both state-owned and for-profit corporations which depend on advertising, subscription, and other sales-related revenues. The Constitution of Romania guarantees freedom of speech.
As a country in transition, the Romanian media system is under transformation.
Reporters Without Borders ranks Romania 42nd in its Worldwide Press Freedom Index, from 2013. Freedom House ranked it as "partly free" in 2014.
Romania's newspaper market thrived after the 1989 revolution, but many newspapers subsequently closed because of rising costs. Most households in Bucharest have cable TV. There are hundreds of cable distributors offering access to Romanian, European and other stations.
According to europaworld.com, in 2004 there were:
The 2003 Constitution of Romania upholds freedom of expression and prohibits censorship. The Constitution also states that "Freedom of the press also involves the free setting up of publications," and that "No publication shall be suppressed, establishes free access to information and the autonomy of the public radio and TV.
No specific Press Law is in force in Romania. Hate speech is forbidden when it insults state symbols or religion, and when it promotes fascist or racist ideologies. Small fines are imposed: in 2014, the president Traian Basescu was fined for an anti-Roma comment, and a Facebook user was also fined after he had posted a Nazi slogan that was then quoted by a local newspaper.
In 2007 the media rights body Reporters Without Borders praised reforms to the criminal code; journalists can no longer be jailed on defamation charges. Defamation was decriminalised in 2010 by a Supreme Court ruling, but this was later overturned by a 2013 Constitutional Court decision. Civil defamation lawsuits often target journalists.
Freedom of access to information is guaranteed by the Constitution and by a specific law (Law on Free Access to Information of Public Interest, adopted in 2001). Public bodies are required to release information to the public, and journalists are afforded special privileges to obtain them faster. Yet, access to public information is less and less used by journalists, who do not have resources to invest in investigative reporting while faced with severe economic conditions in the media sector in the country. Cases of officials obstructing access to information have been reported.
On 25 June 2008 the Senate adopted a draft amendment that would have obliged television and radio broadcasters to have a 50% of "good" or "positive" news. The Constitutional Court, however, ruled the bill unconstitutional before promulgation, so it never became law.
Journalists have opposed initiatives for a Law on the Press, fearing that it would impose restrictions rather than granting freedoms. A 2009 study by CIJ, ActiveWatch and IMAS (The Institute for Marketing and Polls) reports that most journalists say that professional norms are not respected, mostly due to political and business pressures.
The Romanian Press Club has an Ethics Code and a Council of Honour to inquire journalists and media outlets found in breach of professional norms – although its decisions have often been criticised as arbitrary. The Convention of Media Organisations (COM) also adopted a deontological code; COM-member organisations have developed self-regulation guidelines for an increased accountability in the Romanian media. A "Unique Code" was issued in October 2009 by COM, MediaSind trade union and the Association of Journalists in Romania, to be adopted for the whole profession.
Among the broadcast media, regulation is managed by the National Broadcasting Council ("Consiliul National al Audiovizualului"), issuing warnings and fines for non lack of fairness and accuracy, as well as forcing media to display public acknowledgements for promoting indecent language and behaviour.
Journalists in Romania have to deal with job insecurity due to low and delayed salaries, as well as commercial and political pressures from media owners and advertisers. Collective labour contracts for the mass media sector expired in early 2014. Reporters in Romania also often face verbal abuse, intimidation, and occasionally even physical aggressions.
Romania has one of the most dynamic media markets in southeastern Europe. TV is the medium of choice for most Romanians. State-owned TVR and the private stations Pro TV and Antena 1 command the lion's share of viewing, however there is a large number of smaller, private stations, some of them part of local networks. The state broadcaster, TVR, operates a second national network, TVR 2, and a pan-European satellite channel. Pay TV channels have a smaller but significant audience.
The public television company Televiziunea Română and the public radio Societatea Română de Radiodifuziune cover all the country and have also international programs. The state also owns a public news agency ROMPRES. The private media is grouped in media companies such as Intact Media Group, Media Pro, Realitatea-Caţavencu, Ringier, SBS Broadcasting Group, Centrul Național Media and other smaller independent companies. Cable television is widely available in almost all localities, and some have even adopted digital television. It offers besides the national channels a great number of international and specialized channels. FM stations cover most cities and most of them belong to national radio networks. Overall readership of most newspapers is slowly declining due to increasing competition from television and the Internet. Tabloids and sport newspapers are among the most read national newspapers. In every large city there is at least one local newspaper, which usually covers the rest of the county. An Audit Bureau of Circulations was established in 1998 and today represents a large number of publications.
The parliamentary majority controls appointments in the leadership of the public broadcaster Televiziunea Română, thus ensuring a constant pro-governmental bias. In the private sector, owners' interests in other economic sectors usually define the editorial line of the media.
The print sector has suffered heavily from the economic crisis, and the TV sector is also facing contraction. Few media are profitable, and they increasingly depend on advertising. The distribution of public advertising funds is politicised, and that of advertising funds from the European Union (the biggest advertisement buyer) has not been transparent in the wake of the 2014 Romanian presidential election. Ownership structure of Romanian media is often obfuscated through intermediaries. Foreign media have a presence in the country but have recently scaled it down
The Romanian print press market is rich and diversified.
The National Institute of Statistics (NIS) counted up to 300 newspaper publishers in 2007, of which 159 dailies, and over 350 magazine publishers. 300 of them are audited by the Romanian Audit Bureau of Circulation (BRAT), hence gaining in credibility and advertising revenues.
The quality segment includes title such as Adevarul, Gandul (MediaPro), Evenimentul zilei (Ringier), Romania libera (WAZ/Dan Adamescu), Jurnalul National (Intact). Their circulation numbers remain low in relation to popular tabloids such as "Click" (Adevarul Holding), that in 2009 distributed 236,000 copies (more than all the quality press combined), "Can Can" or "Libertatea" (Ringier). Sport newspapers include Gazeta Sporturilor, owned by Intact, and ProSport, belonging to MediaPro. Business dailies include Ziarul Financiar, published by MediaPro, "Business Standard" (Realitatea-Catavencu) and Financiarul (Intact).
Local newspapers are usually not backed by big investors, and thus remain vulnerable to political and commercial pressures. The main ones include Gazeta de Sud in Craiova, Tribuna in Sibiu, Ziarul in Iasi, Viata libera in Galati and Transilvania Expres in Brasov. Readership has been in decline, among lacking professionalisation and poor distribution.
Magazines are a thriving segment. Some are spin-offs of popular newspapers, such as Libertatea or Click. Women's weeklies, TV guides and business weeklies (Business Magazin, Money Express, Saptamana financiara, Capital) also make good revenues. Glossy magazines and international franchises complete the scene. Academia Catavencu is a cult satirical weekly.
The first private radio stations appeared in 1990; there are now more than 100 of them. State-run Radio Romania operates four national networks and regional and local stations. BBC World Service is available on 88 FM in the capital, and is relayed in Timișoara (93.9), Sibiu (88.4) and Constanta (96.9).
Private FM stations dominate the market in Romania, with more than 700 licenses from the National Broadcasting Council by 2009. Two networks achieved national coverage: Europa FM (owned by the French group Lagardere) and Info Pro (CME).
The most popular private networks are Radio Zu (Intact), Radio 21 (Lagardere), ProFM (CME), Kiss FM (ProSiebenSat1), relying mostly on advertisement revenues, and broadcasting musical hits, entertainment, and short news bulletins.
The public company Radio România manages five national stations: Radio România Actualităţi (news), Radio România Cultural (culture and arts), Radio România Muzical (music), Radio Antena Satelor (farming and rural communities), and Radio 3Net – "Florian Pittiş" (a youth station broadcasting online). It also holds an international station (Radio Romania International) and a regional network of 12 stations (Radio România Regional), including Radio Iași and Radio Cluj. Radio România also includes the news agency "Rador", a publishing house, a radio theatre production department, several orchestras and choirs.
Television is the most popular entertainment media in Romania, and it gathers two thirds of all advertising funds (337 million euro in 2008). The National Study of TV Audience has registered almost 50 TV stations distributed nationwide, including general audience and specialised channels.
Romanian television is dominated by a small number of corporations, owning multiple TV channels as well as radio stations, newspapers and media agencies. Their television business is structured around a flagship channel and a number of smaller specialized, niche channels. The biggest corporations of this kind are:
There are many localized or franchised international channels (such as HBO, MTV, Cinemax, AXN, Cartoon Network). Furthermore, there are a few independent and local broadcasters.
The TV public service broadcaster is Televiziunea Română, with five channels (TVR 1, TVR 2, TVR 3 with a regional focus, TVR Cultural and TVR Info). TVRi is the international channel. TVR also hosts regional stations based in Timișoara, Cluj, Targu Mures, Craiova and Iasi. TVR usually is slammed for being politicised (its president and board are nominated by the parliamentary majority) and for being based on a hybrid financing system, drawing from the state budget, a special TV tax, and advertising too. Civil society pressures to achieve depoliticisation of TVR have not yet been fruitful
Two private stations, Pro TV (owned by the Bermuda-based Central European Media Enterprises) and Antena 1 (owned by Dan Voiculescu's daughter), are market leaders, sharing about 32% of the market, with public television in the third place. A feature of Romanian Television after 2000 was the boom of specialized channels.
Television broadcasts and cable television, frequency allocations, content monitoring and license allocation are done by the National Audiovisual Council (Consiliul Național al Audiovizualului, CNA).
Romania has very high penetration rates for cable television in Europe, with over 79% of all households watching television through a CATV network in 2007. The market is extremely dynamic, and dominated by two giant companies – Romanian based RCS&RDS and United States based UPC-Astral. Broadcast television is very limited because of the high penetration of cable. In the early 1990s, only two state owned TV channels were available, one only in about 20% of the country. Private TV channels were slow to appear, because of lack of experience and high start-up costs. In this environment, cable TV companies appeared and thrived, providing 15-20 foreign channels for a very low price. Many small, startup firms gradually grew, and coverage increased (coverage wars were frequent in the early period). However, this period soon ended, with consolidation around 1995–1996 with gentlemen agreements between larger companies over areas of control and pricing, with claims of monopoly abounding. This process of consolidation was completed around 2005–2006, when only two big suppliers of cable remained: UPC-Astral and RDS. Cable TV is now available in most of the country, including most rural areas. Satellite digital TV appeared in 2004.
Cinema is one of the least popular forms of entertainment in Romania, and over 100 cinema theatres have closed down since 1989. Romania has the lowest number of cinema goers in Europe. 75 active cinemas were counted in 2008 (down from 155 in 2004), more than half being outdated theatres owned by the public company Romaniafilm. New multiplex cinemas have been opening in shopping malls, including Hollywood Multiplex, Movieplex Cinema, and Cinema City Romania. Over 85% of tickets are for US blockbusters, with only 3.6% in 2008 for domestic Romanian film productions.
Romania has rapidly improving domestic and international services, especially in wireless telephony.
The domestic network offers good, modern services in urban areas; 98% of telephone network is automatic while 71% is digitized; trunk network is mostly fiber-optic cable and radio relay; about 80% of exchange capacity is digital. Roughly 3,300 villages have outdated or no service.
International service data:
The combined (fixed+mobile) telephone penetration rate is 108.3%.
There are 4,106,000 main lines in use (June 2007).
Romtelecom (owned by the Greek company OTE and the Romanian state) is the dominant fixed line provider (around 80% of the market share) and the only POTS provider. Other providers are RCS&RDS and UPC Romania.
The penetration rate of mobile telephony exceeded 100 percent in 2007 and reached 126 percent in 2008.
There were 22.600.000 SIM cards active by December 2013. There are three GSM cellular networks (Orange, Vodafone and Cosmote) covering more than 85% of the territory (about 98% of the population), one UMTS only (Digi.Mobil) as well as one CDMA2000 only network (Romtelecom). Five networks, meaning Vodafone, Orange, Digi.Mobil, Cosmote and Zapp also provide UMTS (3G) services. Vodafone, Orange, Digi.Mobil provides voice and data services over their UMTS (3G) networks, as long as Zapp provives only data services Cosmote provides voice and data services via Zapp UMTS network. Mobile telephony had a 108% penetration rate in March 2008.
In November 2008, the number of registered .ro domains was over 340,000, of which 315,000 were active. This represents an increase of 50% in a single year.
Over 50% of the Romanian population used internet in 2014.
Newspapers' websites are the main sources of information online. Online-only news outlets (such as HotNews.ro) are more and more common, but they usually do not have the resources to produce original and quality journalistic contents.
The largest federation of Romanian trade unions in the media sector is MediaSind, claiming around 9,000 members, of which 7,500 journalists. Most of Romania's 30,000 journalist remain unaffiliated.
MediaSind has negotiated with the employers' organisations the collective contract, binding for the entire profession, although this is often not respected in practice. It also supported journalists in legal cases against arbitrary dismissals and mistreatment.
Several journalists' associations exist, including The Association of Journalists in Romania, formed by 70 prominent Bucarest-based journalists.
The Romanian Press Club gathers the owners and managers of media outlets, pushing the interests of the media organisations. Local publishers are grouped into the Ownership Association of Local Publishers (APEL).
NGOs dealing with the media sector take part in the umbrella organisation called the Convention of Media Organisations (Conventia Organizatiilor de Media – COM). Its most active members are the Center for Independent Journalism, and ActiveWatch—The Media Monitoring Agency, both dealing with training and advocacy to improve the quality of journalism in Romania.
Print and online media have no particular regulatory authority. The Culture and Mass Media Committees of the two chambers of Parliament are competent on the issue but do not exercise monitoring and control.
Television broadcasts and cable television, frequency allocations, content monitoring and license allocation are done by the National Audiovisual Council (Consiliul Național al Audiovizualului, CNA). The CNA is the main regulatory authority for the broadcast media in Romania, being the guardian of public interest. It is tasked with the implementation of the Audiovisual Law and of all by-laws, including the Code of Regulations for the Broadcasting Content, and it issues recommendations and instructions. The CNA is composed of 11 members, appointed for six years: three by each Chamber of Parliament, two by the President of Romania, and three by the government; all have to be confirmed by the Parliament. The appointments to its board are politicised, and the body thus often acts in a biased and ineffective way.
The National Authority for Communications (ANCOM) is the regulatory body for the TLC market, setting and enforcing market rules.
The National Cinematography Centre ("Centrul National al Cinematografiei" – CNC), part of the Ministry of Culture, supervises the cinema industry and organises competitions to finance film projects.
Even though the Romanian legislation in the field of media ownership transparency is fully aligned with the European standards, in practice sufficient information to assess who effectively owns and ultimately controls the media is not always available.
There are many media outlets in the Romanian market, but few media conglomerates control most of the audience, leaving pluralism only on the surface. Media ownership is highly concentrated and state advertising also poses a risk.
The Audiovisual Law (RP 2002) applies to television and radio: (1) Article 44 establishes that concentration of media ownership and increase in audience shares must not generate dominant positions in the formation of public opinion. A media company is considered in a dominant position if its share from the national sector-based market is over 30%. Public service broadcaster is exempted. (2) The law "limits the number of media companies in which an owner can hold a majority of shares to one, with the additional possibility to hold an amount not larger than 20% from another company in the field of audiovisual communication." (3) A "transfer of an audiovisual license is only possible with the approval of the NCA and results in a complete shift of responsibilities to the new license owner (Art. 56). This is particularly relevant for cases of mergers or acquisitions, in which the NCA can intervene by not approving the transfer of license."
The National Audiovisual Council appears however "more concerned with the regulation of content than with that of the market" The Audiovisual Law does not target vertical concentration/cross-media ownership.
The Competition Law (RP 1996, amended in 2001) applies to all economic sectors. Its focuses mainly on preventing market dominance. Concentration is not illegal in itself, but only when it creates or consolidates a dominant position. Still, it is allowed in some cases, such as when it improves efficiency. The law also targets vertical concentration/cross-ownership. The Competition Council ("Consiliul Concurenței") is in charge. The law also applies to print media. However, the CC policies are only based on economic principles, without attention for media pluralism.
There are many media outlets in Romania, but a few of them got most of the audience, making pluralism just an illusion.
In 2015 the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF) assessed a medium risk for "Concentration of media ownership" and a high risk for the "Concentration of cross-media ownership".
In recent years there was a decrease in transnational investments and the so-called "mogulisation", a consolidation of local capital, often connected with unclear interests, both economical and political. Owners use media outlets in the interest of other business or political purposes. Over 55% of generalists and news channels are directly or indirectly politically affiliated. In 2015 the CMPF assessed a high risk of "Politicisation of control over media outlets" and a medium risk of "Political bias in the media".
Also, several cases of blackmail involving media can be cited. Some owners had connections with Securitate, the secret police of the Socialist Republic of Romania.
For many years after the 1990 public funds were granted "in the form of rescheduling and cancelling tax liabilities for several groups of companies" in a way that "created advantages for the existing players in the market and raised obstacles for potential newcomers and for those who did not benefited from masked subsidies".
Massive public support to media outlets cabinet was given particularly during Adrian Năstase's government (but the example was followed also on lower levels), either directly or through state companies, often with the mean of advertising. And while now public subsidies are close to zero, indirect ones, such as state advertising, are high. According to the CMPF state advertising represents a medium risk.
This table gives an overview of the main media conglomerates in Romania. More details about some groups are below:
Bermudan Central European Media Enterprises (CME), founded by Ronald Lauder, entered the Romanian market in 1995, with Adrian Sârbu's Media Pro as a local partner, something that was required for operating an audiovisual license. Sârbu was also appointed as chief executive and chairman of CME. However, in February 2014 he was charged with tax evasion, money laundering and embezzlement, sold his shares in CME and withdrew from all positions. He was detained for 30 days in February 2015. Meanwhile, Lauder withdrew from CME board. In 2014 CME was bought by Time Warner and Pro FM was sold to RCS & RDS.
According to 2007 informations in terms of ownership the group controls 26% of the television market, 9% of the urban radio market and 5% of the print market. Its main outlet is ProTV which was launched in 1994, but it owns a total of five television stations, two national radio, the main news agency Mediafax, national and local newspaper, publishing company Publimedia. It is also the Romanian publisher of some international media outlets, namely "Maxim Romania", "Playboy Romania" and MTV România.
The European Community defined ProTV as being dependant on the goodwill of Romanian government, because it is claimed it has granted huge loans to the media, thus allowing its rapid growth. In fact it has given the government more airtime than to the opposition in the 2004 general election.
Intact Group is owned by the family of Dan Voiculescu, former collaborator of Securitate, founder and former president of the Conservative Party (formerly Humanist Party), senator from 2004 to 2012. Before 2004 general election Voiculescu's party was allied to the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and Antena 1 was favourable to the party during the campaign. He was sentenced to 10 years of prison on money laundering charges. He is cited as an example of "Berlusconization" in Romania.
According to 2007 informations 15% of the print market, 2% of the urban radio market and 15% of the TV market. Antena 1 was founded in 1993 and is the main competitor of ProTV. The group owns a total of five television channel, others being Antena 2, Antena 3, Antena International, and Euforia TV, radio station Radio Romantic, news agency Amos News, many printed periodicals, a publishing and a production house.
Businessman Sorin Ovidiu Vântu was revealed in 2006 as being the key owner of Realitatea Media, which was formally controlled by Cypriot Bluelink Comunicazioni. The company also launched a news agency, NewsIn, but was not able to challenge MediaFax. Vântu has been an informer for Securitate. Sebastian Ghiță has been involved with Realitatea, but he left after a clash with Vântu and went on founding România TV.
According to 2007 informations 4% it has of the television market.
Doğan Holding is a Turkish conglomerate founded by Aydın Doğan. It owns Kanal D Romania.
In the 1990s Swiss media group Ringier was an exception to the lack of foreign investments.
Ringier controls 56% of the print market, publishing newspapers like "Libertatea" and magazines like "Capital. From 2003 to 2010 it was also the publisher of "Evenimentul Zilei".
Cristian Burci founded Prima TV in 1997. Later he associated himself with international conglomerate SBS Broadcasting Group. In 2012 Burci bought Adevărul Holding from Dinu Patriciu (Patriciu had bought "Adevărul" newspaper in 2006).
According to 2007 informations it has 4% of the television market. It used to control also Kiss TV, which is now owned by Antenna Group.
French group Lagardère entered the Romanian market in 2000 with the launch of Europa FM. "Lagardère also owned a stake in Radio XXI together with Fundaţia Secolul XXI", which has amongst its member politicians of the Social Democratic Party.
Centrul Național Media is owned by Ioan and Viorel Micula, CEOs of European Drinks & Foods. According to 2007 informations it has 4% of the television market.
The board of TVR is appointed by parliament. In 2015 the CMPF assessed a high risk for the "Independence of [Public Service Media] governance and funding". Romanian Television gave the government more airtime than to the opposition in the 2004 general election.
The national news agency Agerpres is publicly funded (€3.1 million in 2014). It was reorganized by Law 19/2003. According to 2007 informations it has 22% of television market share.
Article 30 of the Constitution of Romania, adopted in 1991 and amended in 2003, is dedicated to freedom of expression:
A 2008 report on "Labor Relations and Media" in South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM) member countries noted that while in Romania there were no cases of direct censorship in mass media, there were indeed cases of "indirect censorship" or self-censorship.
Journalists risk their jobs in they do not respect the editorial policy decided by media owner, who might be a businessman protecting its business. Journalists who stay in line are rewarded.
Law 124/2015, passed on June 12, 2015, held that:
According to the Civil Liberties Union for Europe this amount as establishing internet censorship. The most serious fact are that the decision can be taken by an administrative authority, without court intervention, and that the measures targets not only unauthorized gambling websites themselves, but also those advertising them. European Digital Rights (EDRi) advocacy group questions whether Facebook, YouTube or Google could become a target, too.
Since the restriction is operated by Internet service providers (ISP) through block and redirect to the ONJN website, which is the able to collect data about users who attempted to navigate to an unauthorized gambling website.
While DNS blocking can be bypassed, according to ICANN it can damage internet security. Moreover, while at the moment the infrastructure is used only for unauthorized gambling website, it could be potentially used for other purposes. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25641 |
Transport in Romania
As a densely populated country in a central location in Central-Southeastern Europe and with a developed economy, Romania has a dense and modern transportation infrastructure.
Transportation infrastructure in Romania is the property of the state, and is administered by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Constructions and Tourism, except when operated as a concession, in which case the concessions are made by the Ministry of Administration and Interior.
The country's most important waterway is the river Danube. The largest port is that of Constanța, which is the second largest port at the Black Sea.
With over 13 million passengers Bucharest Airport is a major international airport and European transportation hub. Air travel is used for greater distances within Romania but faces competition from the state-owned CFR's rail network. Public transport is available in most areas.
Romania has a system of large, navigable rivers, such as the Danube, Olt and Mureș that cross the country.
The first important human improvements were the Roman roads linking major settlements and providing quick passage for marching armies.
A fast-growing number of Romania's major cities have modern tram or light rail networks, including Bucharest, Timișoara, Cluj-Napoca and Oradea. Recently the tram has seen a very big revival with many experiments such as ground level power supply in Oradea.
According to CIA Factbook, Romania total road network is estimated to be 198,817 km long, out of which 60,043 km are paved and 138,774 km (2004) are unpaved. The World Bank estimates that the road network that is outside of cities and communes (i.e. excluding streets and village roads) is about 78,000 km long.
Motorways are identified by A followed by a number. As of December 2019, Romania has 850,24km of motorway completed with another 230 km under planning or construction. In recent years, a master plan for the national motorway network has been developed and approved by the European Commission in July 2015.
Currently A1_motorway_(Romania), part of the Pan European IV Corridor the northern branch, with a length of 576.72 km has opened 442 km and under construction are the segments Lugoj—Deva lot 2(13 km), whereas Sibiu—Pitești 116.64 km is tendered.
A2_motorway_(Romania) is the only motorway in Romania opened on all its segments, it has a length of 205 km.
A3_motorway_(Romania), which is the largest motorway project in Europe with a length of 588 km from Bucharest to Oradea (near the Hungarian border), has 123 km opened and also has under construction the 64 km segment between Oradea (Bors) and Suplacu de Barcău which has been re-auctioned after the contract with Bechtel was annulled, and now the works are in progress. Also Câmpia Turzii—Târgu Mureș 51.8 km the works are in progress, all three segments are due in 2016; the segment Nădășelu—Mihăiești 16.8 km is tendering and Bucharest bypass—Bucharest 6.5 km will be re-auctioned after the contract with Pizzarotti was cancelled; the remaining segments totaling 332.6 km are still in the planned phase, even though the segment Comarnic—Brașov 54 km might be tendered in the near future. The entire project is expected to be finished in 2018.
A4_motorway_(Romania) also called Constanța bypass because it goes around the west side of the city. It has 22 km opened, from Ovidiu to Agigea, and also has 45 km planned, from Agigea to Vama Veche (at the border with Bulgaria).
A6_motorway_(Romania) is also part of the Pan European IV Corridor like A1, but near Lugoj it starts the southern branch, that connects the cities of Sofia, Istanbul and Athens. It has a length of 270 km, of which 11.4 km between A1 and Lugoj bypass are opened.
A10_motorway_(Romania) is the first motorway which will link two other motorways in Romania: A1 (near Sebeș) and A3 (near Turda). It has 70 km, and all segments are under construction and are due completion in 2016.
A11_motorway_(Romania) is a 135 km motorway, the second to connect A1 with A3 this time between Arad and Oradea, of which a 2.4 km stretch near Arad called "Arad bypass" has been opened.
According to the Romanian "Direcţia Regim Permise de Conducere şi Înmatriculare a Vehiculelor", in 2017 in Romania there were 7,635,000 vehicles from which 1,320,230 in Bucharest.
Bucharest is the only city in Romania which has an underground railway system, comprising both the Bucharest Metro and the light rail system of the Regia Autonomă de Transport București. Although construction was planned to begin in 1941, decades of delays meant the Bucharest Metro was only opened in 1979. It now forms the backbone of the Bucharest public transport network with an average of 800,000 passengers during the workweek. In total, the network is 71 km long and has 53 stations.
Proposals to build metros have been put forward for Cluj-Napocaand Timișoara
The air traffic in Romania reached 20.28 million passengers in 2017.
The national carrier of Romania is TAROM, a full service airline which flies to 9 domestic destinations and 30 international destinations in 23 countries.
There are 20 airports in Romania (estimated as of 2006).
Romanian companies operate over 700 ships of which 400 are registered in Romania. Romania's 110 shipping firms employ 12,500 personnel at sea and 15,500 on shore. Each year, 105 million tonnes of goods and 1 million passengers are transported by sea. Marine transport is responsible for 52% of Romania's imports and exports.
"See also:" "Romanian river ports"
As of 2006, there are 1,731 km of navigable waterways of which:
In 2004, according to europaworld.com, 19 million passenger-km and 4 billion ton-km were carried through these waterways.
The merchant marine has seen a dramatic drop in capacity during the first decade of the 21st century:
These include: 13 cargo ships, 1 passenger ship, 2 passenger/cargo ships, 2 petroleum tankers, 1 roll-on/roll-off.
50 other ships are registered in other countries: Cambodia 1, Georgia 15, North Korea 6, Malta 10, Marshall Islands 1, Panama 8, Sierra Leone 2, Saint Kitts and Nevis 1, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1, Syria 4, Tuvalu 1, unknown 4. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25642 |
Rwanda
Rwanda (; ), formerly Ruanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda (; Swahili: "Jamhuri ya Rwanda"; ["République Rwandaise" until 2003]), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley where the African Great Lakes region and East Africa converge. One of the smallest countries on the African mainland, its capital city is Kigali. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is highly elevated with its geography dominated by mountains in the west and savanna to the east, with numerous lakes throughout the country. The climate is temperate to subtropical, with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons each year. Rwanda has a population of over 12.6 million living on 26,338 km2 (10,169 mi2) of land, and is the most densely populated mainland African country.
The population is young and predominantly rural, with a density among the highest in Africa. Rwandans are drawn from just one cultural and linguistic group, the Banyarwanda, although within this group there are three subgroups: the Hutu, Tutsi and Twa. The Twa are a forest-dwelling pygmy people and are often considered descendants of Rwanda's earliest inhabitants. Scholars disagree on the origins of and differences between the Hutu and Tutsi; some believe differences are derived from former social castes within a single people, while others believe the Hutu and Tutsi arrived in the country separately, and from different locations. Christianity is the largest religion in the country; the principal language is Kinyarwanda, spoken by most Rwandans, with English and French serving as additional official languages. The sovereign state of Rwanda has a presidential system of government. The president is Paul Kagame of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), who has served continuously since 2000. Today, Rwanda has low levels of corruption compared with neighbouring countries, although human rights organisations report suppression of opposition groups, intimidation and restrictions on freedom of speech. The country has been governed by a strict administrative hierarchy since precolonial times; there are five provinces delineated by borders drawn in 2006. Rwanda is one of only three countries in the world with a female majority in the national parliament, the two other countries being Bolivia and Cuba.
Hunter-gatherers settled the territory in the Stone and Iron Ages, followed later by Bantu peoples. The population coalesced first into clans and then into kingdoms. The Kingdom of Rwanda dominated from the mid-eighteenth century, with the Tutsi kings conquering others militarily, centralising power and later enacting anti-Hutu policies. Germany colonised Rwanda in 1884 as part of German East Africa, followed by Belgium, which invaded in 1916 during World War I. Both European nations ruled through the kings and perpetuated a pro-Tutsi policy. The Hutu population revolted in 1959. They massacred numerous Tutsi and ultimately established an independent, Hutu-dominated republic in 1962. A 1973 military coup saw a change of leadership, but the pro-Hutu policy remained. The Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front launched a civil war in 1990. The presidents of Rwanda and Burundi, both Hutus, were killed when their aircraft was shot down on 6 April 1994. Social tensions erupted in the 1994 genocide that followed, in which Hutu extremists killed an estimated 500,000–1,000,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu. The RPF ended the genocide with a military victory.
Rwanda's developing economy suffered heavily in the wake of the 1994 genocide, but has since strengthened. The economy is based mostly on subsistence agriculture. Coffee and tea are the major cash crops for export. Tourism is a fast-growing sector and is now the country's leading foreign exchange earner. Rwanda is one of only two countries in which mountain gorillas can be visited safely, and visitors pay high prices for gorilla tracking permits. Music and dance are an integral part of Rwandan culture, particularly drums and the highly choreographed "intore" dance. Traditional arts and crafts are produced throughout the country, including "imigongo", a unique cow dung art.
Rwanda has been governed as a unitary presidential system with a bicameral parliament ruled by the Rwandan Patriotic Front since 1994. The country is member of the African Union, the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, COMESA, OIF and the East African Community.
Modern human settlement of what is now Rwanda dates from, at the latest, the last glacial period, either in the Neolithic period around 8000 BC, or in the long humid period which followed, up to around 3000 BC. Archaeological excavations have revealed evidence of sparse settlement by hunter-gatherers in the late Stone Age, followed by a larger population of early Iron Age settlers, who produced dimpled pottery and iron tools. These early inhabitants were the ancestors of the Twa, aboriginal pygmy hunter-gatherers who remain in Rwanda today. Between 700 BC and 1500 AD, a number of Bantu groups migrated into Rwanda, clearing forest land for agriculture. The forest-dwelling Twa lost much of their habitat and moved to the mountain slopes. Historians have several theories regarding the nature of the Bantu migrations; one theory is that the first settlers were Hutu, while the Tutsi migrated later to form a distinct racial group, possibly of Nilo-hamitic origin. An alternative theory is that the migration was slow and steady, with incoming groups integrating into rather than conquering the existing society. Under this theory, the Hutu and Tutsi distinction arose later and was a class distinction rather than a racial one.
The earliest form of social organisation in the area was the clan ("ubwoko"). The clans were not limited to genealogical lineages or geographical area, and most included Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa. From the 15th century, the clans began to coalesce into kingdoms; by 1700 around eight kingdoms existed in present-day Rwanda. One of these, the Kingdom of Rwanda, ruled by the Tutsi Nyiginya clan, became increasingly dominant from the mid-eighteenth century. The kingdom reached its greatest extent during the nineteenth century under the reign of King Kigeli Rwabugiri. Rwabugiri conquered several smaller states, expanded the kingdom west and north, and initiated administrative reforms; these included "ubuhake", in which Tutsi patrons ceded cattle, and therefore privileged status, to Hutu or Tutsi clients in exchange for economic and personal service, and "uburetwa", a corvée system in which Hutu were forced to work for Tutsi chiefs. Rwabugiri's changes caused a rift to grow between the Hutu and Tutsi populations. The Twa were better off than in pre-Kingdom days, with some becoming dancers in the royal court, but their numbers continued to decline.
The Berlin Conference of 1884 assigned the territory to Germany as part of German East Africa, marking the beginning of the colonial era. The explorer Gustav Adolf von Götzen was the first European to significantly explore the country in 1894; he crossed from the south-east to Lake Kivu and met the king. The Germans did not significantly alter the social structure of the country, but exerted influence by supporting the king and the existing hierarchy and delegating power to local chiefs. Belgian forces took control of Rwanda and Burundi in 1916, during World War I, beginning a period of more direct colonial rule. Belgium ruled both Rwanda and Burundi as a League of Nations mandate called Ruanda-Urundi. The Belgians also simplified and centralised the power structure, and introduced large-scale projects in education, health, public works, and agricultural supervision, including new crops and improved agricultural techniques to try to reduce the incidence of famine. Both the Germans and the Belgians promoted Tutsi supremacy, considering the Hutu and Tutsi different races. In 1935, Belgium introduced identity cards labelling each individual as either Tutsi, Hutu, Twa or Naturalised. While it had previously been possible for particularly wealthy Hutu to become honorary Tutsi, the identity cards prevented any further movement between the classes.
Belgium continued to rule Ruanda-Urundi (of which Rwanda formed the northern part) as a UN Trust Territory after the Second World War, with a mandate to oversee eventual independence. Tensions escalated between the Tutsi, who favoured early independence, and the Hutu emancipation movement, culminating in the 1959 Rwandan Revolution: Hutu activists began killing Tutsi and destroying their houses, forcing more than 100,000 people to seek refuge in neighbouring countries. In 1961, the suddenly pro-Hutu Belgians held a referendum in which the country voted to abolish the monarchy. Rwanda was separated from Burundi and gained independence on 1 July 1962, which is commemorated as Independence Day, a national holiday. Cycles of violence followed, with exiled Tutsi attacking from neighbouring countries and the Hutu retaliating with large-scale slaughter and repression of the Tutsi. In 1973, Juvénal Habyarimana took power in a military coup. Pro-Hutu discrimination continued, but there was greater economic prosperity and a reduced amount of violence against Tutsi. The Twa remained marginalised, and by 1990 were almost entirely forced out of the forests by the government; many became beggars. Rwanda's population had increased from 1.6 million people in 1934 to 7.1 million in 1989, leading to competition for land.
In 1990, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel group composed of nearly 500,000 Tutsi refugees, invaded northern Rwanda from their base in Uganda, initiating the Rwandan Civil War. The group condemned the Hutu-dominated government for failing to democratize and confront the problems facing these refugees. Neither side was able to gain a decisive advantage in the war, but by 1992 it had weakened Habyarimana's authority; mass demonstrations forced him into a coalition with the domestic opposition and eventually to sign the 1993 Arusha Accords with the RPF. The cease-fire ended on 6 April 1994 when Habyarimana's plane was shot down near Kigali Airport, killing him. The shooting down of the plane served as the catalyst for the Rwandan genocide, which began within a few hours. Over the course of approximately 100 days, between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Tutsi and politically moderate Hutu were killed in well-planned attacks on the orders of the interim government. Many Twa were also killed, despite not being directly targeted.
The Tutsi RPF restarted their offensive, and took control of the country methodically, gaining control of the whole country by mid-July. The international response to the genocide was limited, with major powers reluctant to strengthen the already overstretched UN peacekeeping force. When the RPF took over, approximately two million Hutu fled to neighbouring countries, in particular Zaïre, fearing reprisals; additionally, the RPF-led army was a key belligerent in the First and Second Congo Wars. Within Rwanda, a period of reconciliation and justice began, with the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the reintroduction of "Gacaca", a traditional village court system. Since 2000 Rwanda's economy, tourist numbers, and Human Development Index have grown rapidly; between 2006 and 2011 the poverty rate reduced from 57% to 45%, while life expectancy rose from 46.6 years in 2000 to 59.7 years in 2015.
The President of Rwanda is the head of state, and has broad powers including creating policy in conjunction with the Cabinet, exercising the prerogative of mercy, commanding the armed forces, negotiating and ratifying treaties, signing presidential orders, and declaring war or a state of emergency. The President is elected by popular vote every seven years, and appoints the Prime Minister and all other members of Cabinet. The incumbent president is Paul Kagame, who took office upon the resignation of his predecessor, Pasteur Bizimungu, in 2000. Kagame subsequently won elections in 2003 and 2010, although human rights organisations have criticised these elections as being "marked by increasing political repression and a crackdown on free speech". Article 101 of the constitution had previously limited presidents to two terms in office, but this was changed in a 2015 referendum, which had been brought following receipt of a petition signed by 3.8 million Rwandans. Through this change in the constitution, Kagame could stay on as president until 2034. Kagame was elected for a third term in 2017 with 98.79% of the vote.
The constitution was adopted following a national referendum in 2003, replacing the transitional constitution which had been in place since 1994. The constitution mandates a multi-party system of government, with politics based on democracy and elections. However, the constitution places conditions on how political parties may operate. Article 54 states that "political organizations are prohibited from basing themselves on race, ethnic group, tribe, clan, region, sex, religion or any other division which may give rise to discrimination". The government has also enacted laws criminalising genocide ideology, which can include intimidation, defamatory speeches, genocide denial and mocking of victims. According to Human Rights Watch, these laws effectively make Rwanda a one-party state, as "under the guise of preventing another genocide, the government displays a marked intolerance of the most basic forms of dissent". Amnesty International is also critical; in its 2014/15 report, Amnesty said that laws against inciting insurrection or trouble among the population had been used to imprison people "for the legitimate exercise of their rights to freedom of association or of expression".
The Parliament consists of two chambers. It makes legislation and is empowered by the constitution to oversee the activities of the President and the Cabinet. The lower chamber is the Chamber of Deputies, which has 80 members serving five-year terms. Twenty-four of these seats are reserved for women, elected through a joint assembly of local government officials; another three seats are reserved for youth and disabled members; the remaining 53 are elected by universal suffrage under a proportional representation system. Following the 2013 election, there are 51 female deputies, up from 45 in 2008; , Rwanda is one of only two countries with a female majority in the national parliament. The upper chamber is the 26-seat Senate, whose members are selected by a variety of bodies. A mandatory minimum of 30% of the senators are women. Senators serve eight-year terms. (See also Gender equality in Rwanda.)
Rwanda's legal system is largely based on German and Belgian civil law systems and customary law. The judiciary is independent of the executive branch, although the President and the Senate are involved in the appointment of Supreme Court judges. Human Rights Watch have praised the Rwandan government for progress made in the delivery of justice including the abolition of the death penalty, but also allege interference in the judicial system by members of the government, such as the politically motivated appointment of judges, misuse of prosecutorial power, and pressure on judges to make particular decisions. The constitution provides for two types of courts: ordinary and specialised. Ordinary courts are the Supreme Court, the High Court, and regional courts, while specialised courts are military courts and a system of commercial courts created in 2011 to expedite commercial litigations. Between 2004 and 2012, a system of "Gacaca" courts was in operation. "Gacaca", a Rwandan traditional court operated by villages and communities, was revived to expedite the trials of genocide suspects. The court succeeded in clearing the backlog of genocide cases, but was criticised by human rights groups as not meeting legal fair standard.
Rwanda has low corruption levels relative to most other African countries; in 2014, Transparency International ranked Rwanda as the fifth cleanest out of 47 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and 55th cleanest out of 175 in the world. The constitution provides for an Ombudsman, whose duties include prevention and fighting of corruption. Public officials (including the President) are required by the constitution to declare their wealth to the Ombudsman and to the public; those who do not comply are suspended from office.
The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) has been the dominant political party in the country since 1994. The RPF has maintained control of the presidency and the Parliament in national elections, with the party's vote share consistently exceeding 70%. The RPF is seen as a Tutsi-dominated party but receives support from across the country, and is credited with ensuring continued peace, stability, and economic growth. Human rights organisation Freedom House claims that the government suppresses the freedoms of opposition groups; in its 2015 report, Freedom House alleged that the RPF had "prevented new political parties from registering and arrested the leaders of several existing parties, effectively preventing them from fielding candidates" in elections. Amnesty International also claims that the RPF rules Rwanda "without
any meaningful opposition".
Rwanda is a member of the United Nations, African Union, Francophonie, East African Community, and the Commonwealth of Nations. For many years during the Habyarimana regime, the country maintained close ties with France, as well as Belgium, the former colonial power. Under the RPF government, however, Rwanda has sought closer ties with neighbouring countries in the East African Community and with the English-speaking world. Diplomatic relations with France were suspended in 2006 following the indictment of Rwandan officials by a French judge, and despite their restoration in 2010, relations between the countries remain strained. Relations with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) were tense following Rwanda's involvement in the First and Second Congo Wars; the Congolese army alleged Rwandan attacks on their troops, while Rwanda blamed the Congolese government for failing to suppress Hutu rebels in North and South Kivu provinces. Relations soured further in 2012, as Kinshasa accused Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebellion, an insurgency in the eastern Congo. , peace has been restored and relations are improving. Rwanda's relationship with Uganda was also tense for much of the 2000s following a 1999 clash between the two countries' armies as they backed opposing rebel groups in the Second Congo War, but improved significantly in the early 2010s. In 2019, relations between the two countries deteriorated, with Rwanda closing its borders with Uganda.
The Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) is the national army of Rwanda. Largely composed of former Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) soldiers, it includes the Rwanda Land Force, Rwanda Air Force and specialised units. After the successful conquest of the country in 1994 in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, the Rwandan Patriotic Front decided to split the RPF into a political division (which retained the RPF name) and the RDF, a military division which was to serve as the official army of the Rwandan state. Defence spending continues to represent an important share of the national budget, largely due to continuing security problems along the frontiers with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi and lingering concerns about Uganda's intentions towards its former ally. In 2010, the United Nations released a report accusing the Rwandan army of committing wide scale human rights violations and crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the First and Second Congo Wars, charges denied by the Rwandan government.
Rwanda has been governed by a strict hierarchy since precolonial times. Before colonisation, the King ("Mwami") exercised control through a system of provinces, districts, hills, and neighbourhoods. The current constitution divides Rwanda into provinces (), districts (), cities, municipalities, towns, sectors (), cells (), and villages (); the larger divisions, and their borders, are established by Parliament.
The five provinces act as intermediaries between the national government and their constituent districts to ensure that national policies are implemented at the district level. The "Rwanda Decentralisation Strategic Framework" developed by the Ministry of Local Government assigns to provinces the responsibility for "coordinating governance issues in the Province, as well as monitoring and evaluation". Each province is headed by a governor, appointed by the President and approved by the Senate. The districts are responsible for coordinating public service delivery and economic development. They are divided into sectors, which are responsible for the delivery of public services as mandated by the districts. Districts and sectors have directly elected councils, and are run by an executive committee selected by that council. The cells and villages are the smallest political units, providing a link between the people and the sectors. All adult resident citizens are members of their local cell council, from which an executive committee is elected. The city of Kigali is a provincial-level authority, which coordinates urban planning within the city.
The present borders were drawn in 2006 with the aim of decentralising power and removing associations with the old system and the genocide. The previous structure of twelve provinces associated with the largest cities was replaced with five provinces based primarily on geography. These are Northern Province, Southern Province, Eastern Province, Western Province, and the Municipality of Kigali in the centre.
At , Rwanda is the world's 149th-largest country, and the fourth smallest on the African mainland after Gambia, Eswatini, and Djibouti. It is comparable in size to Burundi, Haiti and Albania. The entire country is at a high altitude: the lowest point is the Rusizi River at above sea level. Rwanda is located in Central/Eastern Africa, and is bordered by the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, Uganda to the north, Tanzania to the east, and Burundi to the south. It lies a few degrees south of the equator and is landlocked. The capital, Kigali, is located near the centre of Rwanda.
The watershed between the major Congo and Nile drainage basins runs from north to south through Rwanda, with around 80% of the country's area draining into the Nile and 20% into the Congo via the Rusizi River and Lake Tanganyika. The country's longest river is the Nyabarongo, which rises in the south-west, flows north, east, and southeast before merging with the Ruvubu to form the Kagera; the Kagera then flows due north along the eastern border with Tanzania. The Nyabarongo-Kagera eventually drains into Lake Victoria, and its source in Nyungwe Forest is a contender for the as-yet undetermined overall source of the Nile. Rwanda has many lakes, the largest being Lake Kivu. This lake occupies the floor of the Albertine Rift along most of the length of Rwanda's western border, and with a maximum depth of , it is one of the twenty deepest lakes in the world. Other sizeable lakes include Burera, Ruhondo, Muhazi, Rweru, and Ihema, the last being the largest of a string of lakes in the eastern plains of Akagera National Park.
Mountains dominate central and western Rwanda and the country is sometimes called "Pays des mille collines" in French ("Land of a thousand hills"). They are part of the Albertine Rift Mountains that flank the Albertine branch of the East African Rift, which runs from north to south along Rwanda's western border. The highest peaks are found in the Virunga volcano chain in the northwest; this includes Mount Karisimbi, Rwanda's highest point, at . This western section of the country lies within the Albertine Rift montane forests ecoregion. It has an elevation of . The centre of the country is predominantly rolling hills, while the eastern border region consists of savanna, plains and swamps.
Rwanda has a temperate tropical highland climate, with lower temperatures than are typical for equatorial countries because of its high elevation. Kigali, in the centre of the country, has a typical daily temperature range between , with little variation through the year. There are some temperature variations across the country; the mountainous west and north are generally cooler than the lower-lying east. There are two rainy seasons in the year; the first runs from February to June and the second from September to December. These are separated by two dry seasons: the major one from June to September, during which there is often no rain at all, and a shorter and less severe one from December to February. Rainfall varies geographically, with the west and northwest of the country receiving more precipitation annually than the east and southeast. Global warming has caused a change in the pattern of the rainy seasons. According to a report by the Strategic Foresight Group, change in climate has reduced the number of rainy days experienced during a year, but has also caused an increase in frequency of torrential rains. Both changes have caused difficulty for farmers, decreasing their productivity. Strategic Foresight also characterise Rwanda as a fast warming country, with an increase in average temperature of between 0.7 °C to 0.9 °C over fifty years.
In prehistoric times montane forest occupied one-third of the territory of present-day Rwanda. Naturally occurring vegetation is now mostly restricted to the three National Parks, with terraced agriculture dominating the rest of the country. Nyungwe, the largest remaining tract of forest, contains 200 species of tree as well as orchids and begonias. Vegetation in the Volcanoes National Park is mostly bamboo and moorland, with small areas of forest. By contrast, Akagera has a savanna ecosystem in which acacia dominates the flora. There are several rare or endangered plant species in Akagera, including "Markhamia lutea" and "Eulophia guineensis".
The greatest diversity of large mammals is found in the three National Parks, which are designated conservation areas. Akagera contains typical savanna animals such as giraffes and elephants, while Volcanoes is home to an estimated one-third of the worldwide mountain gorilla population. Nyungwe Forest boasts thirteen primate species including common chimpanzees and Ruwenzori colobus arboreal monkeys; the Ruwenzori colobus move in groups of up to 400 individuals, the largest troop size of any primate in Africa. Rwanda's population of lions was destroyed in the aftermath of the genocide of 1994, as national parks were turned into camps for displaced people and remaining animals were poisoned by cattle herders. In June 2015, two South African parks donated seven lions to Akagera National Park, reestablishing a lion population in Rwanda. The lions were held initially in a fenced off area of the park, and then collared and released into the wild a month later.
There are 670 bird species in Rwanda, with variation between the east and the west. Nyungwe Forest, in the west, has 280 recorded species, of which 26 are endemic to the Albertine Rift; endemic species include the Rwenzori turaco and handsome spurfowl. Eastern Rwanda, by contrast, features savanna birds such as the black-headed gonolek and those associated with swamps and lakes, including storks and cranes.
Recent entomological work in the country has revealed a rich diversity of praying mantises, including a new species "Dystacta tigrifrutex", dubbed the "bush tiger mantis".
Rwanda's economy suffered heavily during the 1994 genocide, with widespread loss of life, failure to maintain infrastructure, looting, and neglect of important cash crops. This caused a large drop in GDP and destroyed the country's ability to attract private and external investment. The economy has since strengthened, with per-capita GDP (PPP) estimated at $2,444 in 2019, compared with $416 in 1994. Major export markets include China, Germany, and the United States. The economy is managed by the central National Bank of Rwanda and the currency is the Rwandan franc; in December 2019, the exchange rate was 910 francs to one United States dollar. Rwanda joined the East African Community in 2007, and has ratified a plan for monetary union amongst the five member nations, which could eventually lead to a common East African shilling.
Rwanda is a country of few natural resources, and the economy is based mostly on subsistence agriculture by local farmers using simple tools. An estimated 90% of the working population farms, and agriculture constituted an estimated 32.5% of GDP in 2014. Farming techniques are basic, with small plots of land and steep slopes. Since the mid-1980s, farm sizes and food production have been decreasing, due in part to the resettlement of displaced people. Despite Rwanda's fertile ecosystem, food production often does not keep pace with population growth, and food imports are required,But in recent years, with the growth of agriculture, the situation has improved.
Subsistence crops grown in the country include matoke (green bananas), which occupy more than a third of the country's farmland, potatoes, beans, sweet potatoes, cassava, wheat and maize. Coffee and tea are the major cash crops for export, with the high altitudes, steep slopes and volcanic soils providing favourable conditions. Reports have established that more than 400,000 Rwandans make their living from coffee plantation. Reliance on agricultural exports makes Rwanda vulnerable to shifts in their prices. Animals raised in Rwanda include cows, goats, sheep, pigs, chicken, and rabbits, with geographical variation in the numbers of each. Production systems are mostly traditional, although there are a few intensive dairy farms around Kigali. Shortages of land and water, insufficient and poor-quality feed, and regular disease epidemics with insufficient veterinary services are major constraints that restrict output. Fishing takes place on the country's lakes, but stocks are very depleted, and live fish are being imported in an attempt to revive the industry.
The industrial sector is small, contributing 14.8% of GDP in 2014. Products manufactured include cement, agricultural products, small-scale beverages, soap, furniture, shoes, plastic goods, textiles and cigarettes. Rwanda's mining industry is an important contributor, generating US$93 million in 2008. Minerals mined include cassiterite, wolframite, gold, and coltan, which is used in the manufacture of electronic and communication devices such as mobile phones.
Rwanda's service sector suffered during the late-2000s recession as bank lending, foreign aid projects and investment were reduced. The sector rebounded in 2010, becoming the country's largest sector by economic output and contributing 43.6% of the country's GDP. Key tertiary contributors include banking and finance, wholesale and retail trade, hotels and restaurants, transport, storage, communication, insurance, real estate, business services and public administration including education and health. Tourism is one of the fastest-growing economic resources and became the country's leading foreign exchange earner in 2007. In spite of the genocide's legacy, the country is increasingly perceived internationally as a safe destination. The number of tourist arrivals in 2013 was 864,000 people, up from 504,000 in 2010. Revenue from tourism was US$303 million in 2014, up from just US$62 million in 2000. The largest contributor to this revenue was mountain gorilla tracking, in the Volcanoes National Park; Rwanda is one of only two countries in which mountain gorillas can be visited safely; the gorillas attract thousands of visitors per year, who are prepared to pay high prices for permits. Other attractions include Nyungwe Forest, home to chimpanzees, Ruwenzori colobus and other primates, the resorts of Lake Kivu, and Akagera, a small savanna reserve in the east of the country.
The largest radio and television stations are state-run, and the majority of newspapers are owned by the government. Most Rwandans have access to radio; during the 1994 genocide, the radio station Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines broadcast across the country, and helped to fuel the killings through anti-Tutsi propaganda. , the state-run Radio Rwanda is the largest station and the main source of news throughout the country. Television access is limited, with most homes not having their own set. The government rolled out digital television in 2014, and a year later there were seven national stations operating, up from just one in the pre-2014 analogue era. The press is tightly restricted, and newspapers routinely self-censor to avoid government reprisals. Nonetheless, publications in Kinyarwanda, English, and French critical of the government are widely available in Kigali. Restrictions were increased in the run-up to the Rwandan presidential election of 2010, with two independent newspapers, "Umuseso" and "Umuvugizi", being suspended for six months by the High Media Council.
The country's oldest telecommunications group, Rwandatel, went into liquidation in 2011, having been 80% owned by Libyan company LAP Green. The company was acquired in 2013 by Liquid Telecom, a company providing telecommunications and fibre optic networks across eastern and southern Africa. , Liquid Telecom provides landline service to 30,968 subscribers, with mobile operator MTN Rwanda serving an additional 15,497 fixed line subscribers. Landlines are mostly used by government institutions, banks, NGOs and embassies, with private subscription levels low. , mobile phone penetration in the country is 72.6%, up from 41.6% in 2011. MTN Rwanda is the leading provider, with 3,957,986 subscribers, followed by Tigo with 2,887,328, and Bharti Airtel with 1,336,679. Rwandatel has also previously operated a mobile phone network, but the industry regulator revoked its licence in April 2011, following the company's failure to meet agreed investment commitments. Internet penetration is low but rising rapidly; in 2015 there were 12.8 internet users per 100 people, up from 2.1 in 2007. In 2011, a fibre-optic telecommunications network was completed, intended to provide broadband services and facilitate electronic commerce. This network is connected to SEACOM, a submarine fibre-optic cable connecting communication carriers in southern and eastern Africa. Within Rwanda the cables run along major roads, linking towns around the country. Mobile provider MTN also runs a wireless internet service accessible in most areas of Kigali via pre-paid subscription.
In October 2019, Mara Corporation launched the first African made smartphone in Rwanda.
The Rwandan government prioritised funding of water supply development during the 2000s, significantly increasing its share of the national budget. This funding, along with donor support, caused a rapid increase in access to safe water; in 2015, 74% of the population had access to safe water, up from about 55% in 2005; the government has committed to increasing this to 100% by 2017. The country's water infrastructure consists of urban and rural systems that deliver water to the public, mainly through standpipes in rural areas and private connections in urban areas. In areas not served by these systems, hand pumps and managed springs are used. Despite rainfall exceeding annually in most of the country, little use is made of rainwater harvesting, and residents are forced to use water very sparingly, relative to usage in other African countries. Access to sanitation remains low; the United Nations estimates that in 2006, 34% of urban and 20% of rural dwellers had access to improved sanitation. Government policy measures to improve sanitation are limited, focusing only on urban areas. The majority of the population, both urban and rural, use public shared pit latrines.
Rwanda's electricity supply was, until the early 2000s, generated almost entirely from hydroelectric sources; power stations on Lakes Burera and Ruhondo provided 90% of the country's electricity. A combination of below average rainfall and human activity, including the draining of the Rugezi wetlands for cultivation and grazing, caused the two lakes' water levels to fall from 1990 onwards; by 2004 levels were reduced by 50%, leading to a sharp drop in output from the power stations. This, coupled with increased demand as the economy grew, precipitated a shortfall in 2004 and widespread loadshedding. As an emergency measure, the government installed diesel generators north of Kigali; by 2006 these were providing 56% of the country's electricity, but were very costly. The government enacted a number of measures to alleviate this problem, including rehabilitating the Rugezi wetlands, which supply water to Burera and Ruhondo and investing in a scheme to extract methane gas from Lake Kivu, expected in its first phase to increase the country's power generation by 40%. Only 18% of the population had access to electricity in 2012, though this had risen from 10.8% in 2009. The government's Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy for 2013–18 aims to increase access to electricity to 70% of households by 2017.
The government has increased investment in the transport infrastructure of Rwanda since the 1994 genocide, with aid from the United States, European Union, Japan, and others. The transport system consists primarily of the road network, with paved roads between Kigali and most other major cities and towns in the country. Rwanda is linked by road to other countries in the East African Community, namely Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Kenya, as well as to the eastern Congolese cities of Goma and Bukavu; the country's most important trade route is the road to the port of Mombasa via Kampala and Nairobi, which is known as the Northern Corridor. The principal form of public transport in the country is the minibus, accounting for more than half of all passenger carrying capacity. Some minibuses, particularly in Kigali, operate an unscheduled service, under a shared taxi system, while others run to a schedule, offering express routes between the major cities. There are a smaller number of large buses, which operate a scheduled service around the country. The principal private hire vehicle is the motorcycle taxi; in 2013 there were 9,609 registered motorcycle taxis in Rwanda, compared with just 579 taxicabs. Coach services are available to various destinations in neighbouring countries. The country has an international airport at Kigali that serves several international destinations, the busiest routes being those to Nairobi and Entebbe; there is one domestic route, between Kigali and Kamembe Airport near Cyangugu. In 2017, construction began on the Bugesera International Airport, to the south of Kigali, which will become the country's largest when it opens, complementing the existing Kigali airport. The national carrier is RwandAir, and the country is served by seven foreign airlines. the country has no railways, but there is a project underway, in conjunction with Burundi and Tanzania, to extend the Tanzanian Central Line into Rwanda; the three countries have invited expressions of interest from private firms to form a public private partnership for the scheme. There is no public water transport between the port cities on Lake Kivu, although a limited private service exists and the government has initiated a programme to develop a full service. The Ministry of Infrastructure is also investigating the feasibility of linking Rwanda to Lake Victoria via shipping on the Akagera River.
, the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda estimates Rwanda's population to be 11,262,564. The 2012 census recorded a population of 10,515,973. The population is young: in the 2012 census, 43.3% of the population were aged 15 and under, and 53.4% were between 16 and 64. According to the CIA "World Factbook", the annual birth rate is estimated at 40.2 births per 1,000 inhabitants in 2015, and the death rate at 14.9. The life expectancy is 59.67 years (61.27 years for females and 58.11 years for males), which is the 26th lowest out of 224 countries and territories. The overall sex ratio of the country is 95.9 males per 100 females.
At , Rwanda's population density is amongst the highest in Africa. Historians such as Gérard Prunier believe that the 1994 genocide can be partly attributed to the population density. The population is predominantly rural, with a few large towns; dwellings are evenly spread throughout the country. The only sparsely populated area of the country is the savanna land in the former province of Umutara and Akagera National Park in the east. Kigali is the largest city, with a population of around one million. Its rapidly increasing population challenges its infrastructural development. According to the 2012 census, the second largest city is Gisenyi, which lies adjacent to Lake Kivu and the Congolese city of Goma, and has a population of 126,000. Other major towns include Ruhengeri, Butare, and Muhanga, all with populations below 100,000. The urban population rose from 6% of the population in 1990, to 16.6% in 2006; by 2011, however, the proportion had dropped slightly, to 14.8%.
Rwanda has been a unified state since pre-colonial times, and the population is drawn from just one cultural and linguistic group, the Banyarwanda; this contrasts with most modern African states, whose borders were drawn by colonial powers and did not correspond to ethnic boundaries or pre-colonial kingdoms. Within the Banyarwanda people, there are three separate groups, the Hutu, Tutsi and Twa. The CIA "World Factbook" gives estimates that the Hutu made up 84% of the population in 2009, the Tutsi 15% and Twa 1%. The Twa are a pygmy people who descend from Rwanda's earliest inhabitants, but scholars do not agree on the origins of and differences between the Hutu and Tutsi. Anthropologist Jean Hiernaux contends that the Tutsi are a separate race, with a tendency towards "long and narrow heads, faces and noses"; others, such as Villia Jefremovas, believe there is no discernible physical difference and the categories were not historically rigid. In precolonial Rwanda the Tutsi were the ruling class, from whom the kings and the majority of chiefs were derived, while the Hutu were agriculturalists. The current government discourages the Hutu/Tutsi/Twa distinction, and has removed such classification from identity cards. The 2002 census was the first since 1933 which did not categorise Rwandan population into the three groups.
The largest faith in Rwanda is Roman Catholicism, but there have been significant changes in the nation's religious demographics since the genocide, with many conversions to evangelical Christianity, and, to a lesser degree, Islam. According to the 2012 census, Roman Catholics represented 43.7% of the population, Protestants (excluding Seventh-day Adventists) 37.7%, Seventh-day Adventists 11.8%, and Muslims 2.0%; 0.2% claimed no religious beliefs and 1.3% did not state a religion. Traditional religion, despite officially being followed by only 0.1% of the population, retains an influence. Many Rwandans view the Christian God as synonymous with the traditional Rwandan God "Imana".
The country's principal language is Kinyarwanda, which is spoken by nearly all Rwandans. The major European languages during the colonial era were German, though it was never taught or widely used, and then French, which was introduced by Belgium from 1916 and remained an official and widely spoken language after independence in 1962. Dutch was spoken too. The return of English-speaking Rwandan refugees in the 1990s added a new dimension to the country's linguistic diversity. Kinyarwanda, English, French, and Swahili are all official languages. Kinyarwanda is the national language while English is the primary medium of instruction in secondary and tertiary education. Swahili, the lingua franca of the East African Community, is also spoken by some as a second language, particularly returned refugees from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and those who live along the border with the DRC. In 2015, Swahili was introduced as a mandatory subject in secondary schools. Inhabitants of Rwanda's Nkombo Island speak Mashi, a language closely related to Kinyarwanda.
Homosexuality is generally considered a taboo topic, and there is no significant public discussion of this issue in any region of the country.
Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Rwanda, and some cabinet-level government officials have expressed support for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people. However, Rwanda does not recognise same-sex marriages, civil unions or similar unions.
Music and dance are an integral part of Rwandan ceremonies, festivals, social gatherings and storytelling. The most famous traditional dance is a highly choreographed routine consisting of three components: the "umushagiriro", or cow dance, performed by women; the "intore", or dance of heroes, performed by men; and the drumming, also traditionally performed by men, on drums known as "ingoma". The best known dance group is the National Ballet. It was established by President Habyarimana in 1974, and performs nationally and internationally. Traditionally, music is transmitted orally, with styles varying between the social groups. Drums are of great importance; the royal drummers enjoyed high status within the court of the King ("Mwami"). Drummers play together in groups of varying sizes, usually between seven and nine in number. The country has a growing popular music industry, influenced by African Great Lakes, Congolese, and American music. The most popular genre is hip hop, with a blend of dancehall, rap, ragga, R&B and dance-pop.
Traditional arts and crafts are produced throughout the country, although most originated as functional items rather than purely for decoration. Woven baskets and bowls are especially common. "Imigongo", a unique cow dung art, is produced in the southeast of Rwanda, with a history dating back to when the region was part of the independent Gisaka kingdom. The dung is mixed with natural soils of various colours and painted into patterned ridges to form geometric shapes. Other crafts include pottery and wood carving. Traditional housing styles make use of locally available materials; circular or rectangular mud homes with grass-thatched roofs (known as "nyakatsi") are the most common. The government has initiated a programme to replace these with more modern materials such as corrugated iron.
Rwanda does not have a long history of written literature, but there is a strong oral tradition ranging from poetry to folk stories. Many of the country's moral values and details of history have been passed down through the generations. The most famous Rwandan literary figure was Alexis Kagame (1912–1981), who carried out and published research into oral traditions as well as writing his own poetry. The Rwandan Genocide resulted in the emergence of a literature of witness accounts, essays and fiction by a new generation of writers such as Benjamin Sehene. A number of films have been produced about the Rwandan Genocide, including the Golden Globe-nominated "Hotel Rwanda", "100 Days", "Shake Hands with the Devil", "Sometimes in April", and "Shooting Dogs", the last four having been filmed in Rwanda and having featured survivors as cast members.
Fourteen regular national holidays are observed throughout the year, with others occasionally inserted by the government. The week following Genocide Memorial Day on 7 April is designated an official week of mourning. The victory for the RPF over the Hutu extremists is celebrated as Liberation Day on 4 July. The last Saturday of each month is "umuganda", a national morning of mandatory community service lasting from 8am to 11am, during which all able bodied people between 18 and 65 are expected to carry out community tasks such as cleaning streets or building homes for vulnerable people. Most normal services close down during "umuganda", and public transportation is limited.
The cuisine of Rwanda is based on local staple foods produced by subsistence agriculture such as bananas, plantains (known as "ibitoke"), pulses, sweet potatoes, beans, and cassava (manioc). Many Rwandans do not eat meat more than a few times a month. For those who live near lakes and have access to fish, tilapia is popular. The potato, thought to have been introduced to Rwanda by German and Belgian colonialists, is very popular. Ugali, locally known as "Ubugari" (or "umutsima") is common, a paste made from cassava or maize and water to form a porridge-like consistency that is eaten throughout the African Great Lakes. "Isombe" is made from mashed cassava leaves and served with dried fish. Lunch is usually a buffet known as "mélange", consisting of the above staples and sometimes meat. Brochettes are the most popular food when eating out in the evening, usually made from goat but sometimes tripe, beef, or fish. In rural areas, many bars have a brochette seller responsible for tending and slaughtering the goats, skewering and barbecuing the meat, and serving it with grilled bananas. Milk, particularly in a fermented yoghurt form called "ikivuguto", is a common drink throughout the country. Other drinks include a traditional beer called Ikigage made from sorghum and "urwagwa", made from bananas, which features in traditional rituals and ceremonies. The major drinks manufacturer in Rwanda is Bralirwa, which was established in the 1950s, a Heineken partner, and is now listed on the Rwandan Stock Exchange. Bralirwa manufactures soft drink products from The Coca-Cola Company, under license, including Coca-Cola, Fanta, and Sprite, and a range of beers including Primus, Mützig, Amstel, and Turbo King. In 2009 a new brewery, Brasseries des Mille Collines (BMC) opened, manufacturing Skol beer and a local version known as Skol Gatanu; BMC is now owned by Belgian company Unibra. East African Breweries also operate in the country, importing Guinness, Tusker, and Bell, as well as whisky and spirits.
The Rwandan government, through its Sports Development Policy, promotes sport as a strong avenue for "development and peace building", and the government has made commitments to advancing the use of sport for a variety of development objectives, including education. The most popular sports in Rwanda are association football, volleyball, basketball, athletics and Paralympic sports. Cricket has been growing in popularity, as a result of refugees returned from Kenya, where they had learned to play the game. Cycling, traditionally seen largely as a mode of transport in Rwanda, is also growing in popularity as a sport; and Team Rwanda have been the subject of a book, "Land of Second Chances: The Impossible Rise of Rwanda's Cycling Team" and a film, "Rising from Ashes".
Rwandans have been competing at the Olympic Games since 1984, and the Paralympic Games since 2004. The country sent seven competitors to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, representing it in athletics, swimming, mountain biking and judo, and 15 competitors to the London Summer Paralympics to compete in athletics, powerlifting and sitting volleyball. The country has also participated in the Commonwealth Games since joining the Commonwealth in 2009. The country's national basketball team has been growing in prominence since the mid-2000s, with the men's team qualifying for the final stages of the African Basketball Championship four times in a row since 2007. The country bid unsuccessfully to host the 2013 tournament. Rwanda's national football team has appeared in the African Cup of Nations once, in the 2004 edition of the tournament, but narrowly failed to advance beyond the group stages. The team have failed to qualify for the competition since, and have never qualified for the World Cup. Rwanda's highest domestic football competition is the Rwanda National Football League; , the dominant team is APR FC of Kigali, having won 13 of the last 17 championships. Rwandan clubs participate in the Kagame Interclub Cup for Central and East African teams, sponsored since 2002 by President Kagame.
Prior to 2012, the Rwandan government provided free education in state-run schools for nine years: six years in primary and three years following a common secondary programme. In 2012, this started to be expanded to 12 years. A 2015 study suggests that while enrollment rates in primary schools are "near ubiquity", rates of completion are low and repetition rates high. While schooling is fee-free, there is an expectation that parents should contribute to the cost of their children's education by providing them with materials, supporting teacher development and making a contribution to school construction. According to the government, these costs should not be a basis for the exclusion of children from education, however. There are many private schools across the country, some church-run, which follow the same syllabus but charge fees. From 1994 until 2009, secondary education was offered in either French or English; because of the country's increasing ties with the East African Community and the Commonwealth, only the English syllabi are now offered. The country has a number of institutions of tertiary education. In 2013, the public University of Rwanda (UR) was created out of a merger of the former National University of Rwanda and the country's other public higher education institutions. In 2013, the gross enrollment ratio for tertiary education in Rwanda was 7.9%, from 3.6% in 2006. The country's literacy rate, defined as those aged 15 or over who can read and write, was 71% in 2009, up from 38% in 1978 and 58% in 1991.
The quality of healthcare in Rwanda has historically been very low, both before and immediately after the 1994 genocide. In 1998, more than one in five children died before their fifth birthday, often from malaria.
President Kagame has made healthcare one of the priorities for the Vision 2020 development programme, boosting spending on health care to 6.5% of the country's gross domestic product in 2013, compared with 1.9% in 1996. The government has devolved the financing and management of healthcare to local communities, through a system of health insurance providers called "mutuelles de santé". The "mutuelles" were piloted in 1999, and were made available nationwide by the mid-2000s, with the assistance of international development partners. Premiums under the scheme were initially US$2 per annum; since 2011 the rate has varied on a sliding scale, with the poorest paying nothing, and maximum premiums rising to US$8 per adult. , more than 90% of the population was covered by the scheme. The government has also set up training institutes including the Kigali Health Institute (KHI), which was established in 1997 and is now part of the University of Rwanda. In 2005, President Kagame also launched a program known as "The Presidents' Malaria Initiative". This initiative aimed to help get the most necessary materials for prevention of malaria to the most rural areas of Rwanda, such as mosquito nets and medication.
In recent years Rwanda has seen improvement on a number of key health indicators. Between 2005 and 2013, life expectancy increased from 55.2 to 64.0, under-5 mortality decreased from 106.4 to 52.0 per 1,000 live births, and incidence of tuberculosis has dropped from 101 to 69 per 100,000 people. The country's progress in healthcare has been cited by the international media and charities. "The Atlantic" devoted an article to "Rwanda's Historic Health Recovery". Partners In Health described the health gains "among the most dramatic the world has seen in the last 50 years".
Despite these improvements, however, the country's health profile remains dominated by communicable diseases, and the United States Agency for International Development has described "significant health challenges", including the rate of maternal mortality, which it describes as "unacceptably high", as well as the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic. According to the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, travelers to Rwanda are highly recommended to take preventive malaria medication as well as make sure they are up to date with vaccines such as yellow fever.
Rwanda also has a shortage of medical professionals, with only 0.84 physicians, nurses, and midwives per 1,000 residents. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is monitoring the country's health progress towards Millennium Development Goals 4–6, which relate to healthcare. A mid-2015 UNDP report noted that the country was not on target to meet goal 4 on infant mortality, despite it having "fallen dramatically"; the country is "making good progress" towards goal 5, which is to reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio, while goal 6 is not yet met as HIV prevalence has not started falling. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25645 |
Demographics of Rwanda
This article is about the demographic features of the population of Rwanda, including population density, ethnicity, education higher level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
Rwanda's population density, even after the 1994 genocide, is among the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa at . This country has few villages, and nearly every family lives in a self-contained compound on a hillside. The urban concentrations are grouped around administrative centers.
Over half of the adult population is literate, but no more than 5% have received secondary education.
The Rwandan population largely consists of three ethnic groups. The Hutus, who comprise the majority of the population (85%), are farmers of Bantu origin. The Tutsis (14% before the Genocide, probably less than 10% now) are a pastoral people who arrived in the area in the 15th century. Until 1959, they formed the dominant caste under a feudal system based on cattleholding.
The Twa (pygmies) (1%) are thought to be the remnants of the earliest settlers of the region.
In 1950, Rwanda had a very narrow population pyramid, with less than 250,000 males and females between 0–10 years old. The graph only gets narrower as it goes up with virtually no-one living past 50 years of age. In 2017, we see the population of Rwanda increase dramatically from 1950 with about 750,000 people between 0–20 years old, the graph remains very narrow in the older ages section but has improved from 1950. By 2050, it is predicted that more people will be living longer and the structure will broaden overall. By 2100, it is predicted that there will be more people aged between 30–60 than between 0–20 as previous years have shown.
According to the total population was in , compared to only 2,072,000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 42.6%, 54.7% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 2.7% was 65 years or older
.
Structure of the population (1 July 2012 estimates, data refer to national projections):
Structure of the population (DHS 2013; males 9,546, females 10,726, total 20,272):
Registration of vital events is in Rwanda not complete. The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates.
Births and deaths
Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):
Fertility data as of 2014–15 (DHS Program):
Source: UN
Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2019.
The following demographic are from the CIA World Factbook unless otherwise indicated.
"at birth:" 1.03 male(s)/female
"under 15 years:" 1.01 male(s)/female
"15–64 years:" 0.99 male(s)/female
"65 years and over:" 0.70 male(s)/female
"total population:" 1.00 male(s)/female (2017 est.)
"noun:" Rwandan(s)/Rwandese
"adjective:" Rwandan/Rwandese
91% Hutu, 8% Tutsi, 1% Twa.
Protestant 49.5% (includes Adventist 11.8% and other Protestant 37.7%), Roman Catholic 43.7%, Muslim 2%, other 0.9% (includes Jehovah's Witness), none 2.5%, unspecified 1.3% (2012 est.)
definition: age 15 and over can read and write (2015 est.) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25648 |
Politics of Rwanda
The Politics of Rwanda reflect Belgian and German civil law systems and customary law takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential republic, whereby the President of Rwanda is the head of state with significant executive power, with the Prime Minister of Rwanda being the constitutional head of government.
Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. On 5 May 1995, the Transitional National Assembly adopted a new constitution which included elements of the constitution of 18 June 1991 as well as provisions of the 1993 Arusha peace accord and the November 1994 multiparty protocol of understanding.
The Chamber of Deputies is composed of eighty Deputies (80). Among them, there are Fifty-three (53) Deputies are elected by direct universal suffrage in secret, elected from a fixed list of names of candidates proposed by political organizations or independent candidates; twenty- four (24) women elected by specific electoral colleges in accordance with the national administrative entities; two (2) Deputies elected by the National Youth Council; one (1) Deputy elected by the National Council of Persons with Disabilities.
Senate is composed of twenty six members (26). Among them, there are twelve Senators (12) elected by the specific councils in accordance with the administrative entities; eight Senators (8) appointed by the President of the Republic; four Senators (4) designated by the National Forum of Political organizations; one Senator (1) elected among lecturers and researchers of Public Universities and higher learning institutions; and one Senator (1) elected among lecturers and researchers of Private Universities and higher learning institutions.
After its military victory in July 1994, the Rwandese Patriotic Front organized a coalition government similar to that established by President Juvénal Habyarimana in 1992. Called The Broad Based Government of National Unity, its fundamental law is based on a combination of the constitution, the Arusha accords, and political declarations by the parties. The MRND party was outlawed.
Political organizing was banned until 2003. The first post-war presidential and legislative elections were held in August and September 2003, respectively.
The biggest problems facing the government were the reintegration of more than 2 million refugees returning from as long ago as 1959; the end of the insurgency and counter-insurgency among ex-military and Interahamwe militia and the Rwandan Patriotic Army, which is concentrated in the north and south west; and the shift away from crisis to medium- and long-term development planning. The prison population will continue to be an urgent problem for the foreseeable future, having swelled to more than 100,000 in the 3 years after the war. Trying this many suspects of genocide will tax Rwanda's resources sorely.
The current government prohibits any form of discrimination by gender, ethnicity, race or religion. The government has also passed laws prohibiting emphasis on Hutu or Tutsi identity in most types of political activity.
The political focus over the years in Rwanda has made a shift towards economic improvement. They are centralizing their foreign exchange around coffee and tea production, helping to reduce poverty and inequality. The World Bank praises their efforts.
Rwanda is still considered a low income country with $7.890 billion GDP, based on U.S. dollars, with a total population of 11.34 million people in 2014.
The political headcount ration on national poverty lines decreased by more than ten percent from 2005 to 2010 and their life expectancy of about 64 years, is higher than that of similar Sub-Sahara African countries as well as other low income countries.
Rwanda's CO2 emissions in 2011 totaled 0.1 metric tons per capita, which was much lower than similar Sub-Sahara African countries as well as other low income countries. Their school enrollment rate is much higher than similar Sub-Sahara African countries as well as other low income countries.
Kagame has reached out to the large companies, such as Costco and Starbucks, who are now the two largest buyers of Rwandan coffee beans.
The President of Rwanda is elected for a seven-year term by the people. The Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers are appointed by the president. The president has numerous powers that include creating policy in conjunction with the Cabinet, signing presidential orders, put into effect the prerogative of mercy, negotiating and passing treaties, commanding the armed forces, and declaring war or a state of crisis.
The current President of Rwanda is Paul Kagame, born in 1957. He is the 6th President of Rwanda and was elected in 2003. In 2007, the former President, Pasteur Bizimungu, was released from prison on a presidential pardon. Kagame was reelected in 2010, receiving 93.1 percent of the votes cast. Since taking office, Kagame has raised business, reduced crime and corruption, and has attracted the likes of many foreign investors.
Kagame has not groomed anyone to be his successor, so there is nothing that points to who his successor could or should be.
President Paul Kagame and his Rwandan Patriotic Front are the dominant political forces in Rwanda. There is only one registered opposition party and many political opponents have fled into exile.
President Kagame received military training in Uganda, Tanzania and the United States. He was a founding member of current Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's rebel army in 1979 and headed its intelligence wing, helping Mr Museveni take power in 1986.
The Parliament ("Inteko Ishinga Amategeko "or" Parlement") has two chambers. The Chamber of Deputies "(Umutwe w'Abadepite/Chambre des Députés)" has 80 members, 53 of them elected for a five-year term by proportional representation with a 5% threshold, 24 (female members) elected by provincial councils, 2 by the National Youth Council and 1 by the Federation of the Associations of the Disabled. It is the only legislative chamber in the world where women (45) outnumber men (35).
The Senate "(Umutwe wa Sena "or" Sénat)" has 26 members elected or appointed for an eight-year term: 12 elected by provincial and sectoral councils, 8 appointed by the president to ensure the representation of historically marginalized communities, 4 by the Forum of political formations and 2 elected by the staff of the universities. Additional former presidents can request to be member of the senate. Rwanda is a one party dominant state with the Rwanda Patriotic Front in power. Opposition parties are allowed, and are represented in Parliament, but are widely considered to have no real chance of gaining power.
The Supreme Court of Rwanda is the highest judicial power in Rwanda. It and the High Council of the Judiciary oversee the courts of lower ordinary jurisdictions and courts of the special jurisdictions in Rwanda. The Supreme Court consists of the Court President, Vice President, and 12 judges.
Established in 2001, the Gacaca Court was established by the National Unity Government to try cases of genocide against the Tutsis.
Judges are nominated by the president of the republic, after consulting with the Cabinet and the Superior Council of the Judiciary. They are then approved by the Senate. The court president and vice president appointed for 8-year nonrenewable terms.
With regard to the legal profession, although the Rwanda Bar Association has been in existence since at least 1997, there is no clear indication as to how certain demographic groups, such as women, have fared in the legal field.
Rwanda is composed of 5 provinces, 30 districts, 416 sectors, 2,148 cells and 14,837 villages.
Rwanda is member of
ACCT,
ACP,
AfDB,
C,
CCC,
CEEAC,
CEPGL,
ECA,
FAO,
G-77,
IBRD,
ICAO,
ICFTU,
ICRM,
IDA,
IFAD,
IFC,
IFRCS,
ILO,
IMF,
Intelsat,
Interpol,
IOC,
IOM (observer),
ITU,
NAM,
OPCW,
UN,
UNCTAD,
UNESCO,
UNIDO,
UPU,
WCL,
WHO,
WIPO,
WMO,
WToO,
WTrO
Rwanda joined the Commonwealth of Nations in 2009, making the country one of only two in the Commonwealth without a British colonial past; the other being the former Portuguese colony Mozambique. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25649 |
Economy of Rwanda
The economy of Rwanda has undergone rapid industrialisation due to a successful governmental policy. Since the early-2000s, Rwanda has witnessed an economic boom improving the living standards of many Rwandans. The Government's progressive visions have been the catalyst for the fast transforming economy. The President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, has noted his ambition to make Rwanda the "Singapore of Africa".
In the 1960s and 1970s, Rwanda's prudent financial policies, coupled with generous external aid and relatively favorable terms of trade, resulted in sustained growth in per capita income and low inflation rates. However, when world coffee prices fell sharply in the 1980s, growth became erratic.
Compared to an annual GDP growth rate of 6.5% from 1973 to 1980, growth slowed to an average of 2.9% a year from 1980 through 1985 and was stagnant from 1986 to 1990. The crisis peaked in 1990 when the first measures of an IMF structural adjustment program were carried out. While the program was not fully implemented before the war, key measures such as two large devaluations and the removal of official prices were enacted. The consequences on salaries and purchasing power were rapid and dramatic. This crisis particularly affected the educated elite, most of whom were employed in civil service or state-owned enterprises.
During the 5 years of civil war that culminated in the 1994 genocide, GDP declined in 3 out of 5 years, posting a rapid decline at more than 40% in 1994, the year of the genocide. The 9% increase in real GDP for 1995, the first postwar year, signalled the resurgence of economic activity.
The 1994 genocide destroyed Rwanda's fragile economic base, severely impoverished the population, particularly women, and eroded the country's ability to attract private and external investment. However, Rwanda has made significant progress in stabilizing and rehabilitating its economy. In June 1998, Rwanda signed an Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility with the International Monetary Fund. Rwanda has also embarked upon an ambitious privatization program with the World Bank.
In the immediate postwar period—mid-1994 through 1995—emergency humanitarian assistance of more than $307.4 million was largely directed to relief efforts in Rwanda and in the refugee camps in neighboring countries where Rwandans fled during the war. In 1996, humanitarian relief aid began to shift to reconstruction and development assistance.
The United States, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, France, the People's Republic of China, the World Bank, the UN Development Programme and the European Development Fund will continue to account for the substantial aid. Rehabilitation of government infrastructure, in particular the justice system, was an international priority, as well as the continued repair and expansion of infrastructure, health facilities, and schools.
After the Rwandan Genocide, the Tutsi-led government began a major program to improve the country's economy and reduce its dependence on subsistence farming. The failing economy had been a major factor behind the genocide, as was overpopulation and the resulting competition for scarce farmland and other resources. The government focused primarily on building up its manufacturing and service industries and eliminating barriers to trade and development.
The Government of Rwanda posted a 13% GDP growth rate in 1996 through improved collection of tax revenues, accelerated privatization of state enterprises to stop the drain on government resources, and continued improvement in export crop and food production. Tea plantations and factories continue to be rehabilitated, and coffee, always a smallholder's crop, is being more seriously rehabilitated and tended as the farmers' sense of security returns. However, the road to recovery will be slow.
Coffee production of 14,578,560 tons in 2000 compares to a pre-civil war variation between 35,000 and 40,000 tons . By 2002 tea became Rwanda's largest export, with export earnings from tea reaching US$18 million equating to 15,000 tons of dried tea. Rwanda's natural resources are limited. A small mineral industry provides about 5% of foreign exchange earnings. Concentrates exist of the heavy minerals cassiterite (a primary source of tin), and coltan (used to manufacture electronic capacitors, used in consumer electronics products such as cell phones, DVD players, video game systems and computers).
By mid-1997, up to 75% of the factories functioning before the war had returned to production, at an average of 75% of their capacity. Investments in the industrial sector continue to mostly be limited to the repair of existing industrial plants. Retail trade, devastated by the war, has revived quickly, with many new small businesses established by Rwandan returnees from Uganda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Industry received little external assistance from the end of the war through 1995. Beginning in 1996–97, the government has become increasingly active in helping the industrial sector to restore production through technical and financial assistance, including loan guarantees, economic liberalization, and the privatization of state-owned enterprises. In early 1998, the government set up a one-stop investment promotion center and implemented a new investment code that created an enabling environment for foreign and local investors. An autonomous revenue authority also has begun operation, improving collections and accountability.
Cassiterite production peaked at 1,000 tonnes in 1990, but was under 700 tonnes in 2000. Recorded coltan production has soared from 147 tonnes in 1999 to 1,300 tonnes in 2001, and coltan was the country's biggest single export earner in 2001. At least part of the increase in production is because of new mines opening up in Rwanda. However it is true, as has frequently been observed, that the increase is also because of the fraudulent re-export of Congolese coltan. In addition to the well-publicised involvement in this trade of the Rwandan Defence Force (RDF), another important factor in the coltan re-export is that international dealers are under pressure not to buy from the DRC, thus increasing the incentive for DRC coltan to be re-exported as Rwanda's. Rwanda is also alleged to be trading in fraudulently exported gold and diamonds from the DRC.
The country entered a high period of economic growth in 2006, and the following year managed to register 8% economic growth, a record it has sustained since, turning it into one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa. This sustained economic growth has succeeded in reducing poverty and also reducing fertility rates, with growth between 2006 and 2011 reducing the percentage of the country's population living in poverty from 57% to 45%.The country's infrastructure has also grown rapidly, with connections to electricity going from 91,000 in 2006 to 215,000 in 2011.
Existing foreign investment is concentrated in commercial establishments, mining, tea, coffee, and tourism. Minimum wage and social security regulations are in force, and the four prewar independent trade unions are back in operation. The largest union, CESTRAR, was created as an organ of the government but became fully independent with the political reforms introduced by the 1991 constitution. As security in Rwanda improves, the country's nascent tourism sector shows great potential to expand as a source of foreign exchange.
In 2016, Rwanda was ranked 42nd and second best country in Africa to do business in the Mara Foundation-The Ashish J Thakkar Global Entrepreneurship Index report.
However, a recent research in the UK-based political science journal, Review of African Political Economy, indicates that economic growth may be slower than what official figures suggest. Researchers stated that average consumption per household closely followed growth in GDP per capita from 2000 to 2005, but diverged afterwards when average consumption per household stagnated despite huge improvements in GDP per capita from 2005 to 2013.
Some international researchers have also questioned the Rwandan government's methodology and suggested the figures showing huge growths in GDP might be inflated.
In 2012 agriculture accounted for 33% of the economy of Rwanda.
Rwanda has long relied on coffee as a cash crop. The crash of coffee prices in 1989 caused a great decrease in purchasing power, and increased domestic tensions.
Rwanda's economy suffered heavily during the 1994 Genocide, with widespread loss of life, failure to maintain the infrastructure, looting, and neglect of important cash crops. This caused a large drop in GDP and destroyed the country's ability to attract private and external investment. The economy has since strengthened, with per-capita GDP (PPP) estimated at $2,225 in 2018, compared with $416 in 1994.
Major export markets include China, Germany, and the United States. The economy is managed by the central National Bank of Rwanda and the currency is the Rwandan franc; in June 2010, the exchange rate was 588 francs to the United States dollar. Rwanda joined the East African Community in 2007 and there were plans for a common East African shilling, which it had been hoped woulkd be in place by 2015, but have not yet reached fruition (2020).
Rwanda is a country of few natural resources, and the economy is based mostly on subsistence agriculture by local farmers using simple tools. An estimated 90% of the working population farms, and agriculture comprised an estimated 42.0% of GDP in 2010. Since the mid-1980s, farm sizes and food production have been decreasing, due in part to the resettlement of displaced people. Despite Rwanda's fertile ecosystem, food production often does not keep pace with population growth, and food imports are required.
Crops grown in the country include coffee, tea, pyrethrum, bananas, beans, sorghum and potatoes. Coffee and tea are the major cash crops for export, with the high altitudes, steep slopes and volcanic soils providing favourable conditions. Reliance on agricultural exports makes Rwanda vulnerable to shifts in their prices.
Agricultural animals raised in Rwanda include cows, goats, sheep, pigs, chicken, and rabbits, with geographical variation in the numbers of each. Production systems are mostly traditional, although there are a few intensive dairy farms around Kigali. Shortages of land and water, insufficient and poor-quality feed, and regular disease epidemics with insufficient veterinary services are major constraints that restrict output. A "One Cow per Poor Family Programme" (Girinka), implemented in 2006, distributed 341,065 cows in 2018.
Fishing takes place on the country's lakes, but stocks are very depleted, and live fish are being imported in an attempt to revive the industry.
Rwanda's mining industry is an important contributor, generating US$93 million in 2008. Minerals mined include cassiterite, wolframite, sapphires, gold, and coltan, which is used in the manufacture of electronic and communication devices such as mobile phones.
Production of methane from Lake Kivu began in 1983, but to date has been used only by the Bralirwa Brewery.
Rwanda has made tremendous strides in improving electrification in the 21st century. A great number of new areas has become electrified through an expansion of infrastructure.
Depletion of the forests will eventually pressure Rwandans to turn to fuel sources other than charcoal for cooking and heating. Given the abundance of mountain streams and lakes, the potential for hydroelectric power is substantial. Rwanda is exploiting these natural resources through joint hydroelectric projects with Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The industrial sector is growing, contributing 16% of GDP in 2012.
Rwanda's manufacturing sector is dominated by the production of import substitutes for internal consumption. The larger enterprises produce beer, soft drinks, cigarettes, hoes, wheelbarrows, soap, mattresses, plastic pipe, roofing materials, and bottled water. Other products manufactured include agricultural products, small-scale beverages, soap, furniture, shoes, cement, plastic goods, textiles and cigarettes.
Rwanda's service sector suffered during the late-2000s recession as banks reduced lending and foreign aid projects and investment were reduced. The sector rebounded in 2010, becoming the country's largest sector by economic output and contributing 43.6% of the country's GDP. Key tertiary contributors include banking and finance, wholesale and retail trade, hotels and restaurants, transport, storage, communication, insurance, real estate, business services and public administration including education and health.
Tourism is one of the fastest-growing economic resources and became the country's leading foreign exchange earner in 2011. In spite of the genocide's legacy, the country is increasingly perceived internationally as a safe destination; The Directorate of Immigration and Emigration recorded 405,801 people visiting the country between January and June 2011; 16% of these arrived from outside Africa. Revenue from tourism was US$115,600,000 between January and June 2011; holidaymakers contributed 43% of this revenue, despite being only 9% of the numbers.
Rwanda is one of only two countries in which mountain gorillas can be visited safely; gorilla tracking, in the Volcanoes National Park, attracts thousands of visitors per year, who are prepared to pay high prices for permits. Other attractions include: Nyungwe Forest, home to chimpanzees, Ruwenzori colobus and other primates, the resorts of Lake Kivu, and Akagera, a small savanna reserve in the east of the country.
Rwanda's tourism is centred on the attractions of Volcanoes National Park (PNV) with its six volcanoes and the protected population of mountain gorillas made famous by Dian Fossey. Additionally, tourism is drawn to central Africa's largest protected wetland Akagera National Park, with its populations of hippopotami, cape buffalo, zebras, elephants, elands, and other big game animals. Birdwatching-related tourism has a potential to develop as well, especially in Nyungwe National Park, among the largest uncut forest reserves in Africa. Nyungwe National Park is home to over 300 species of birds. And a vast variety of wild life as well.
Several memorial sites associated with the Rwandan genocide have begun to generate significant dark tourism. For example, the Gisozi Genocide Memorial Site in the Gasabo District of Kigali—the burial place of approximately 300,000 victims of the genocide—has a related genocide exhibition area and library and has plans to develop a teaching centre on the history of the genocide. Another major genocide-related memorial centre attracting tourists is the Murambi Genocide Memorial Site housed in the former Murambi Technical School where 45,000 people were murdered and 850 skeletons and mummified remains of the victims are on display.
Two other major memorial sites associated with the genocide are in Kicukiro District: Rebero Genocide Memorial Site where 14,400 victims are buried and the Nyanza-Kicukiro Genocide Memorial Site where 5,000 victims were killed after Belgian soldiers who serving in the United Nations peacekeeping forces abandoned them. In Kibungo Province, the site of the Nyarubuye Massacre is home to the Nyarubuye Genocide Memorial Site where an estimated 20,000 victims were killed after seeking refuge in the Roman Catholic church and homes of the nuns and priest there.
The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1980–2017.
General: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25650 |
Telecommunications in Rwanda
Telecommunications in Rwanda include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.
Two government-appointed regulatory bodies, the Rwanda Information Technology Authority under the Rwanda Development Board, and the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA), supervise the regulatory frameworks and implementation of the county's policies and strategies in the telecommunications sector. RURA is a national body with autonomy in its administrative and financial management. However, its seven board members, supervisory board, and the managing director are nominated by and work under full control of the government.
The telecommunications sector was liberalized in 2001, and the number of companies providing telephone and Internet services increased from one, the state-run Rwandatel, to 10 in 2012. These providers are all privately owned, with the exception of Rwandatel. Rwandatel had the largest market share of fixed broadband subscriptions as of September 2012.
State TV and radio reach the largest audiences, radio is the main source of news, and the international radio stations BBC World Service, Voice of America (VOA), and Deutsche Welle (DW) are available. Most radio stations are accessible online, either through their own websites and blogs, or through social media.
Radio, and in particular the "hate" station Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), played a role in the 1994 genocide.
The three main mobile phone operators are MTN, Tigo and Airtel with market shares of 64%, 34%, and 2% respectively.
Rwanda ranked in first place in Africa for broadband download speeds and 62nd globally with a speed of 7.88 Mbit/s in February 2013.
The Internet has been available from mobile cellular phones since 2007, but the high cost of phones and limited bandwidth restrained its popularity for several years. With completion of the government-sponsored fiber-optic cable expansion project in 2011, telecommunication services throughout the country have improved and the amount of mobile cellular Internet access and use has increased.
In 2009, RURA set up the Rwanda Internet Exchange (RINEX) to connect ISPs and enable the routing of local Internet traffic through a central exchange point without having to pass through international networks. ISPs can also opt to connect via RINEX to the international Internet. As of the end of 2013, only five ISPs exchange Internet traffic via RINEX, and the price for national access remained the same as for international access.
Internet access is limited mostly to Kigali, the capital city, and remains beyond the economic capacity of most citizens, particularly those in rural areas who are limited by low disposable incomes and a low level of digital literacy. More than 90% of the population lives in rural areas, with most engaged in subsistence agriculture. Between 70% and 90% of the population speaks only Kinyarwanda, making Internet content in English unavailable to the majority of Rwandans. In 2015, the Internet penetration rate was about 25% of the population.
Rwanda was rated "partly free" in "Freedom on the Net 2013" by Freedom House with a score of 48, somewhat past the midway point between the end of the range for "free" (30) and the start of the range for "not free" (60).
The law does not provide for government restrictions on access to the Internet, but there are reports that the government blocks access to Web sites within the country that are critical of the government.
In 2012 and 2013, some independent online news outlets and opposition blogs were intermittently inaccessible. It is uncertain whether the disruptions are due to government blocking, as was the case in past years, or to technical issues. Some opposition sites continue to be blocked on some ISPs in early 2013, including Umusingi and Inyenyeri News, which were first blocked in 2011. Social-networking sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and international blog hosting services are freely available.
The websites of international human rights organizations such as Freedom House, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, as well as the online versions of media outlets such as the BBC, Le Monde, Radio France Internationale, "The New York Times", and many others are freely accessible. Websites of national news outlets are also easily accessible. These include the web versions of state-run media and pro-government outlets as well as independent outlets such as The Rwanda Focus, Rushyashya, The Chronicles, Umusanzu, and Rwanda Dispatch.
The constitution provides for freedom of speech and press "in conditions prescribed by the law." The government at times restricts these rights. The government intimidates and arrests journalists who express views that are deemed critical on sensitive topics. Laws prohibit promoting divisionism, genocide ideology, and genocide denial, "spreading rumors aimed at inciting the population to rise against the regime", expressing contempt for the Head of State, other high-level public officials, administrative authorities or other public servants, and slander of foreign and international officials and dignitaries. These acts or expression of these viewpoints sometimes results in arrest, harassment, or intimidation. Numerous journalists practice self-censorship.
In June 2011 a court convicted journalist Jean Bosco Gasasira in absentia of displaying contempt for the head of state and incitement to civil disobedience for his writings in the online publication Umuvugizi and sentenced him to two and a half years in prison.
The constitution and law prohibit arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence; however, there are numerous reports the government monitors homes, telephone calls, e-mail, Internet chat rooms, other private communications, movements, and personal and institutional data. In some cases monitoring has led to detention and interrogation by State security forces (SSF). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25651 |
Transport in Rwanda
The transport system in Rwanda centres primarily around the road network. Paved roads lie between the capital, Kigali, and most other major cities and towns in the country. Rwanda is also linked by road with other countries in the African Great Lakes, via which the majority of the country's imports and exports are made.
The country has an international airport at Kigali, serving one domestic and several international destinations, and also has limited transport between the port cities on Lake Kivu. There are currently no railways in Rwanda.
A large amount of investment in the transport infrastructure has been made by the government since the 1994 genocide, with aid from the European Union, China, Japan and others.
Rwanda has a total of of roads, of which are paved. The remainder are dirt roads with quality varying from smooth hard surfaces with drainage to rutted, extremely uneven tracks passable only with a four-wheel drive vehicle.
Most of the main towns in the country are now connected by paved road. The condition of these roads was until recently very poor, with numerous pot-holes and vehicles often driving on the dirt verges since these were deemed smoother than the road itself. A recent government programme of upgrading and resurfacing means that most major routes are now in good condition.
The major urban arteries of Kigali, as well as the high streets in Ruhengeri, Kibuye and Gisenyi are dual carriageways, but all national long distance roads are single carriageway. There are no motorways in Rwanda.
The principal routes are (refer to map for number references):
There is also one road which is currently a quite poor quality dirt road, but may soon be upgraded to paved status:
There are several daily coach services from Rwanda to destinations in the African Great Lakes:
In addition the national express share taxi services (see below) to Gisenyi and Cyangugu often cross the DRC border to carry passengers to Goma and Bukavu respectively.
The main form of public transport within Rwanda is the Express Bus, which has superseded the Share taxi on the main routes.
Run between two termini (known as taxi parks), but stop frequently en route to pick up and set down passengers. They are known locally simply as "taxi" or, colloquially, "twegerane", which means 'let's sit together' in the Kinyarwanda language (a conventional private taxi is referred to as a "special hire" or "taxi voiture").
They almost always wait until full before departing, and can also wait for long periods in locations along the route if not enough people are on board.
The vehicles are usually Toyota minibuses owned by a private individual who employs a driver (Fr: "chauffeur") and a conductor (Fr: "convoyeur") to operate and maintain the vehicle on a day-to-day basis. Most have four rows of seats, each of which seats four adults (babies and children not being counted as they are expected to sit on the lap of an adult). Additionally there are two front passenger seats, so the vehicle can carry a total of up to eighteen passengers, in addition to the driver and the conductor.
The conductor is responsible for opening and closing the main sliding door and collecting money from passengers, and will stand in the space by the door if all seats are occupied. No tickets are issued on this form of taxi.
Moto Taxis
A large portion of the vehicles on roads in Rwanda, especially Kigali, are moto taxis. A motorbike or scooter is driven and a single passenger can hop on and off the back and pay the required fare.
These run to a set timetable (usually each 30 minutes) between major towns, only stopping at official stops near the destination(s). Even if alighting earlier, the price to the next major stop has to be paid. Almost all routes pass through Nyabugogo in Kigali.
The buses are run by private companies and issue tickets in advance with a price set by the government. As tickets are paid and printed at the offices (major stops) or by an employee along the road (smaller stops), there is no need for a conductor to collect the money in the bus. Tickets can be issued in advance, so they might be sold out quickly at busy times (specially Fridays, Sundays and at the beginning/end of school holidays).
In contrast to the Share Taxi, this form of transport respects the schedule rather than waiting to be full. Also, they are almost never overfilled and rather depart earlier.
The size ranges from Toyota Coaster to big coaches. Most coaches are run by Ritco, on which the government holds a share. It is also the only company to have stops all across the country, while its private competitors are limited to specific regions. When it was founded it replaced Onatracom, another public company.
As of 2018, Share Taxis are still the main form of transport in remote areas, while Express Busses are used wherever available. This is due to the almost equal price and increased comfort and speed of the Express.
Public transport in Kigali takes the form of the stopping share taxis mentioned above, but running much more frequently due to greater demand. While the national ones are typically unmarked, Kigali taxis have a yellow stripe running round the vehicle, on which is imprinted the start and end points of its route. Most services start or finish either in the city centre or at Nyabugogo, the city's main national bus station.
A recent survey carried out by the Transport Companies Association in Kigali
gives us the following statistics:
There are 19 bus companies operating a total of 1633 buses of various makes,
models and sizes in various parts of Rwanda. In Kigali City itself there are 622
buses operating. Of these 622, 90.6% of them are small Toyota Hiace vehicles, mostly more than
10 years old, and many much older. Of the larger type vehicles carrying up to 30 passengers or so there are 58 units of which 34.4% are new vehicles owned and operated by Kigali Bus Services Ltd.
The country's main air gateway is Kigali International Airport, which is located at Kanombe, a suburb approximately from Kigali city centre. The airport has international flights to Lagos, Brazzaville, Dubai, Nairobi, Entebbe, Addis Ababa, Bujumbura, Johannesburg, Amsterdam, Brussels and Doha and is the main airport for the national carrier RwandAir.
There are plans being discussed to build a new airport at Nyamata in Bugesera district, approximately from Kigali which would be much bigger and could act as a hub for the entire region.
The only other airport in the country with passenger service is Kamembe Airport, which is in the city of Cyangugu. RwandAir operates a service between Kigali and Kamembe, which serves southwestern Rwanda and the Congolese city of Bukavu.
This is by far the largest of Rwanda's lakes, forming the border with the DRC. There are occasional boat services between the major ports of Cyangugu, Kibuye and Gisenyi but these do not run to a regular timetable and often have to be chartered. There are also boats used to ferry people to some of the islands in the lake, but these also do not run regularly. Local fishermen operate along the entirety of the lakeshore, usually in dug-out canoes or other hand-crafted boats. The Rwandan navy operates a few boats on the lake to protect the country against infiltrators from the Congolese side.
Transport on Rwanda's other major lakes is mostly limited to ferries, usually local boats similar to those used to fishing, which transport people from one side to the other. Some lakes have resort bars and hotels, such as Jambo Beach on Lake Muhazi, which can offer a pleasure cruise to their customers in their own speed boat. Local fishermen operate on most lakes.
There are currently no railways in Rwanda. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25652 |
Foreign relations of Rwanda
Rwanda has been the center of much international attention since the war and genocide of 1994. The country is an active member of the United Nations, having presided over the Security Council during part of 1995 and again in 2013–2014. The UN assistance mission in Rwanda, a UN Chapter 6 peace-keeping operation, involved personnel from more than a dozen countries. Most of the UN development and humanitarian agencies have had a large presence in Rwanda.
During the height of the crisis, a three-month period in 1994, however, the UN removed most of its peacekeepers, and virtually all other formal foreign support fled as well. The only other nation to directly involve itself at that point was France. While the Rwandan Civil War was a complex sequence of violent episodes which included killers and victims on all sides, most historians agree with RPF's assertions that the 1994 genocide was a deliberate, methodical Hutu campaign to completely exterminate the Tutsis, and that plans for the genocide were well known in advance by European, American, and UN officials.
While formal foreign assistance evaporated at the height of the emergency, more than 200 non-governmental organizations were carrying out humanitarian operations. Several west European and African nations, Canada, People's Republic of China, Egypt, Libya, Russia, the Holy See, and the European Union maintain diplomatic missions in Kigali.
Rwanda is a member of the United Nations, African Union, Commonwealth of Nations since November 2009; and the East African Community, which may become the East African Federation. The country is also a member of the Port Management Association of Eastern and Southern Africa (PMAESA). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25654 |
Rockall
Rockall () is an uninhabitable granite islet in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the United Kingdom, situated in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is claimed by the United Kingdom as its territory. This claim is not recognised by its neighbours.
Its approximate distances from the closest islands in each direction are: west of Soay, Scotland; northwest of Tory Island, Ireland; and south of Iceland.
The nearest permanently inhabited place is North Uist, an island in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, to the east.
The United Kingdom claimed Rockall in 1955 and incorporated it as a part of Scotland in 1972. The UK does not make a claim to extended EEZ based on Rockall, as it has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which says that "rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf". However, such features are entitled to a territorial sea extending . With effect from 31 March 2014, the UK and Ireland published EEZ limits which resolved any disputes over the extent of their respective EEZs.
In response to a Freedom of Information request in 2012, the British government stated: "The islet of Rockall is part of the UK: specifically it forms part of Scotland under the Island of Rockall Act 1972. No other state has disputed our claim to the islet." In Scotland, Rockall is part of South Harris Parish in the Western Isles.
Ireland does not recognise Britain's claim, although it has never sought to claim sovereignty for itself. Responding to a written parliamentary question in 2016, the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs said: "The UK claims sovereignty over Rockall and has sought to formally annex it under its 1972 Island of Rockall Act. While Ireland has not recognised British sovereignty over Rockall, it has never sought to claim sovereignty for itself. The consistent position of successive Irish Governments has been that Rockall and similar rocks and skerries have no significance for establishing legal claims to mineral rights in the adjacent seabed or to fishing rights in the surrounding seas."
The origin and meaning of the islet's name "Rockall" is uncertain. The Scottish Gaelic name for the islet, , may derive from an Old Norse name that may contain the element , meaning "mountain". It has also been suggested that the name is from the Norse , meaning "foaming sea", and , meaning "bald head"—a word which appears in other placenames in Scandinavian-speaking areas. Another idea is that it derives from the Gaelic , meaning "skerry of roaring" or "sea rock of roaring" (although can also be translated as "tearing" or "ripping").
The Dutch mapmakers P. Plancius and , show an island called "Rookol" northwest of Ireland on their "Map of New France and the Northern Atlantic Ocean" (Amsterdam, c. 1594). The first literary reference to the island, where it is called "Rokol", is found in Martin Martin's "A Description of the Western Isles of Scotland" published in 1703. This book gives an account of a voyage to the archipelago of St. Kilda, and Martin states: "... and from it lies Rokol, a small rock sixty leagues to the westward of St. Kilda; the inhabitants of this place call it "Rokabarra"."
The name "Rocabarraigh," is also used in Scottish Gaelic folklore for a mythical rock which is supposed to appear three times, its last appearance being at the end of the world: "." (When Rocabarra returns, the world will likely come to be destroyed.)
Since the late 16th century, the rock has been noted in written records. In the 20th century, its location became relevant due to potential oil and fishing rights.
Lord Kennet said of Rockall in 1971, "There can be no place more desolate, despairing and awful." It gives its name to one of the sea areas named in the shipping forecast provided by the British Meteorological Office.
Rockall has been a point of interest for adventurers and amateur radio operators, who have variously landed on or briefly occupied the islet. Fewer than 20 individuals have ever been confirmed to have landed on Rockall, and the longest continuous stay by an individual was 45 days in 2014. In a House of Commons debate in 1971, William Ross, MP for Kilmarnock, said: "More people have landed on the moon than have landed on Rockall."
Rockall is one of the few pinnacles of the surrounding Helen's Reef; it is located west of the island of Soay, St Kilda, Scotland, and northwest of Tory Island, County Donegal, Ireland. Its location was precisely determined by Nick Hancock during his 2014 expedition. The surrounding elevated seabed is called the Rockall Bank, lying directly south from an area known as the Rockall Plateau. It is separated from the Outer Hebrides by the Rockall Trough, itself located within the Rockall Basin (also known as the "Hatton Rockall Basin").
In 1956 the British scientist James Fisher referred to the island as "the most isolated small rock in the oceans of the world". The neighbouring Hasselwood Rock and several other pinnacles of the surrounding Helen's Reef are smaller, at half the size of Rockall or less, and equally remote, but those formations are legally not islands or points on land, as they are often submerged completely, only revealed momentarily above certain types of ocean surface waves.
Rockall is about wide and long at its base and rises sheer to a height of . It is often washed over by large storm waves, particularly in winter. There is a small ledge of , known as Hall's Ledge, from the summit on the rock's western face. It is the only named geographical location on the rock.
The nearest point on land from Rockall is , east at the uninhabited Scottish island of Soay in the St Kilda archipelago. The nearest inhabited area lies east at Hirta, the largest island in the St. Kilda group, which is populated intermittently at a single military base. The nearest permanently inhabited settlement is west of the headland of Aird an Rùnair, near the crofting township of Hogha Gearraidh on the island of North Uist at . North Uist is part of "Na h-Eileanan Siar" council area of Scotland.
The exact position of Rockall and the size and shape of the Rockall Bank was first charted in 1831 by Captain A. T. E. Vidal, a Royal Navy surveyor. The first scientific expedition to Rockall was led by Miller Christie in 1896 when the Royal Irish Academy sponsored a study of the flora and fauna. They chartered the "Granuaile".
A detailed underwater mapping of the area around Rockall undertaken in 2011–2012 by Marine Scotland showed that Rockall itself is a minor pinnacle, whilst Helen's Reef extends in a sweeping arc of fissures and ridges to the north-west of the islet. Between the islet and Helen's Reef is a deeper trench much used by squid fishermen.
Rockall is located in the pathway of the warming and moderating Gulf Stream. Although the rock does not sustain any weather station, the isolated nature of the setting dictates an extremely maritime climate without heat or cold extremes.
Rockall is made of a type of peralkaline granite that is relatively rich in sodium and potassium. Within this granite are darker bands richer in iron because they contain two iron-sodium silicate minerals called aegirine and riebeckite. The darker bands are a type of granite that geologists have named "rockallite", although use of this term is now discouraged.
In 1975, a mineral new to science was discovered in a rock sample from Rockall. The mineral is called bazirite, named after the chemical elements barium and zirconium. Bazirite has the chemical composition BaZrSi3O9.
Rockall forms part of the deeply eroded Rockall Igneous Centre that was formed as part of the North Atlantic Igneous Province, approximately 55 million years ago, when the ancient continent of Laurasia was split apart by plate tectonics. Greenland and Europe separated and the northeast Atlantic Ocean was formed between them, eventually leaving Rockall as an isolated islet.
The RV "Celtic Explorer" surveyed the Rockall Bank in 2003. The Irish Light Vessel "Granuaile" (the same name as the steamer on the RIA 1896 botany survey) was chartered by the Geological Survey of Ireland, on behalf of the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, to conduct a seismic survey of the Rockall Bank and the Hatton Bank in July 2004, as part of the Irish National Seabed Survey.
The island's only permanent macro-organism inhabitants are common periwinkles and other marine molluscs. Small numbers of seabirds, mainly fulmars, northern gannets, black-legged kittiwakes, and common guillemots, use the rock for resting in summer, and gannets and guillemots occasionally breed successfully if the summer is calm with no storm waves washing over the rock. In total there have been just over twenty species of seabird and six other animal species observed (including the aforementioned molluscs) on or near the islet.
Cold-water coral biogenic reefs have been identified on the wider Rockall Bank, which are contributing features for the East Rockall Bank and North-West Rockall Bank SACs.
In December 2013 surveys by Marine Scotland discovered four new species of animals in the sea around Rockall. These are believed to live in an area where hydrocarbons are released from the sea bed, known as a cold seep. The discovery has raised the issue of restricting some forms of fishery to protect the sea bed. The species are:
The earliest recorded date of landing on the island is often given as 8 July 1810, when a Royal Navy officer named Basil Hall led a small landing party from the frigate to the summit. However, research by James Fisher (see below), in the log of "Endymion" and elsewhere, indicates that the actual date for this first landing was on Sunday 8 September 1811.
The landing party left "Endymion" for the rock by boat. Whilst there, "Endymion", which was taking depth measurements around Rockall, lost visual contact with the rock as a haze descended. The ship drifted away, leaving the landing party stranded. The expedition made a brief attempt to return to the ship, but could not find the frigate in the haze, and soon gave up and returned to Rockall. After the haze became a fog, the lookout sent to the top of Rockall spotted the ship again, but it turned away from Rockall before the expedition in their boats reached it. Finally, just before sunset, the frigate was again spotted from the top of Rockall, and the expedition was able to get back on board. The crew of "Endymion" reported that they had been searching for five or six hours, firing their cannon every ten minutes. Hall related this experience and other adventures in a book entitled "Fragment of Voyages and Travels Including Anecdotes of a Naval Life".
The next landing was by a Mr Johns of HMS "Porcupine" whilst the ship was on a mission, (between June and August 1862), to make a survey of the sea bed prior to the laying of a transatlantic telegraph cable. Johns managed to gain foothold on the island, but failed to reach the summit.
On 18 September 1955, Rockall was annexed by the British Crown when Lieutenant-Commander Desmond Scott RN, Sergeant Brian Peel RM, Corporal AA Fraser RM, and James Fisher (a civilian naturalist and former Royal Marine), were winched onto the island by a Royal Navy helicopter from (coincidentally named after the man who first charted the island). The annexation of Rockall was announced by the Admiralty on 21 September 1955.
The expedition team cemented in a brass plaque on Hall's Ledge and hoisted the Union Flag to stake the UK's claim. The inscription on the plaque read:
The initial incentive for the annexation was the test-firing of the UK's first guided nuclear weapon, the American-made Corporal missile. The missile was to be launched from South Uist and sent over the North Atlantic. The Ministry of Defence was concerned that the unclaimed island would provide an opportunity for the Soviet Union to spy on the test. Consequently, in April 1955 an order was issued to the Admiralty to seize the island and declare UK sovereignty, lest it become an outpost for foreign observers.
On 7 November 1955, J. Abrach Mackay, a member of the Clan Mackay, made a protest about the annexation; the 84-year-old local councillor declared: "My old father, God rest his soul, claimed that island for the Clan of Mackay in 1846 and I now demand that the Admiralty hand it back. It's no' theirs'." The British Government ignored the protests, which were soon forgotten.
In 1971, Captain T R Kirkpatrick RE led the landing party on a government expedition named "Operation Top Hat" that was mounted from "RFA Engadine" to establish that the rock was part of the United Kingdom and to prepare the islet for the installation of a light beacon. The landing party included Royal Engineers, Royal Marines and civilian members from the Institute of Geological Sciences in London. The party was landed by winch line from the Wessex 5 helicopters of the Royal Naval Air Services Commando Headquarters Squadron, commanded by Lt Cmdr Neil Foster RN. As well as collecting samples of the aegerine granite, rockallite, for later analysis in London, the top of the rock was blown off using a newly developed blasting technique, Precision Pre-Splitting. This created a level area that was drilled to take the anchorages for the light beacon that was installed the following year. Two phosphor bronze plates were chased into the wall above Hall's Ledge, each secured by four 80-tonne rock-anchor bolts; there was no evidence of the brass plate installed in 1955.
Establishing that the rock is part of the United Kingdom and its development as a light beacon facilitated the incorporation of the island into the District of Harris in the County of Inverness in the Island of Rockall Act 1972 and reinforced the UK Government's position with regard to seabed rights in the area.
In 1978, eight members of the Dangerous Sports Club, including David Kirke, one of its founders, held a cocktail party on the island, allegedly leaving with the plaque.
Former SAS member and survival expert Tom McClean lived on the island from 26 May 1985 to 4 July 1985 to affirm the UK's claim to the islet.
In 1997, the environmentalist organisation Greenpeace occupied the islet for a short time, calling it Waveland, to protest against oil exploration. Greenpeace declared the island to be a "new Global State" (as a spoof micronation) and offered citizenship to anyone willing to take their pledge of allegiance. The British Government's response was to state that "Rockall is British territory. It is part of Scotland and anyone is free to go there and can stay as long as they please" and otherwise ignore them. During his one night on Rockall, Greenpeace protester and "Guardian" journalist John Vidal unscrewed the 1955 plaque and re-fixed it back-to-front.
In 2010, it was revealed that the plaque had gone missing. An Englishman, Andy Strangeway, announced his intention to land on the island and affix a replacement plaque in June 2010. The Western Isles Council have approved planning permission for the plaque. The 2010 expedition was cancelled, but Strangeway still intends to replace the plaque.
In October 2011 a group of Amateur radio (HAM radio) operators from Belgium travelled by ship to Rockall. Several HAMs climbed up the rocks and set up a radio station for some hours. They stayed overnight on top of the island. Radio contacts to all over the world were made using HF frequencies under the call sign "MM0RAI/P".
In 2013 an occupation of the island by explorer Nick Hancock to raise money for the charity Help for Heroes was planned. The challenge was to land on Rockall and survive solo for 60 days. On 31 May 2013, Hancock, and a TV crew from BBC's "The One Show", sailed to the islet aboard "Orca III", and he made his first unsuccessful attempt to land on the islet. The weather conditions at the time "were not favourable" according to a Maritime and Coastguard Agency official. Subsequently, Hancock postponed his challenge until 2014. On 5 June 2014 Hancock landed on Rockall to begin his 60-day survival. Despite being forced to cut his 60-day goal short after losing supplies in a storm, Hancock did remain on the island for 45 days, beating McClean's occupancy record by five days.
The "Round Rockall" sailing race, sponsored by Galway Bay Sailing Club, runs from Galway, Ireland, around Rockall and back. It was held in 2012 to coincide with the finish of the 2011–12 Volvo Ocean Race around the world.
The 2015–2016 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race race 12 from New York to Derry was extended around Rockall despite previous promises to crew from Sir Robin Knox-Johnston that this would not happen again after the race to Danang.
In 2017, the Safehaven Marine team led by Frank Kowalski set a world record for the Long Way Round Circumnavigation of Ireland via Rockall island. The Baracuda-style naval patrol, search and rescue vessel, "Thunder Child", completed the route in 34 hours, 1 minute, and 47 seconds. Set on an anti-clockwise direction, the new record – the first of its kind – is now subject to ratification by Irish Sailing and the Union Internationale Motonautique, the world governing board for all powerboat activity.
Potential Irish claims to Rockall are based on its proximity to the Irish mainland; however, the country has never formally claimed sovereignty over the rock. Although Rockall is closer to the UK coast than to the Irish coast, Ireland does not recognise the UK's territorial claim to Rockall, "which would be the basis for a claim to a 12-mile territorial sea".
Ireland regards Rockall as irrelevant when determining the boundaries of the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) as the rock is uninhabitable and in signing the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1997, the UK has agreed that "Rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf".
In 1988, Ireland and the United Kingdom signed an EEZ boundary agreement, ignoring the rock per UNCLOS. With effect from 31 March 2014, the UK and Ireland published EEZ limits which include Rockall within the UK's EEZ.
In October 2012, the "Irish Independent" published a picture of the Irish Navy ship "LÉ Róisín" sailing past Rockall conducting routine maritime security patrols, and claimed that it was exercising Ireland's sovereign rights over the rock.
The UK claims Rockall along with a territorial sea around the islet inside the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The UK also claims "a circle of UK sovereign airspace over the islet of Rockall".
The UK claimed Rockall on 18 September 1955 when "Two Royal Marines and a civilian naturalist, led by Royal Navy officer Lieutenant Commander Desmond Scott, raised a Union flag on the islet and cemented a plaque into the rock". Prior to this Rockall was legally "terra nullius". In 1972, the British Island of Rockall Act formally annexed Rockall to the United Kingdom.
The UK considers the rock administratively part of the Isle of Harris and, under the Scottish Adjacent Waters Boundaries Order 1999 a large sea area around it was declared to be under the jurisdiction of Scots law. A navigational beacon was installed on the island in 1982 and the UK declared that no ship would be allowed within a radius of the rock. However, in 1997, the UK ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), limiting territorial sea claims to a 12 nautical mile radius, and therefore allowing free passage in waters beyond this.
In 1988, the United Kingdom and Ireland signed an EEZ boundary agreement for which "the location of Rockall was irrelevant to the determination of the boundary". In 1997, the UK ratified UNCLOS, which states that "Rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf".
As the rock lies within the United Kingdom's EEZ, the UK has sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources of the area, including jurisdiction over the protection and preservation of the marine environment.
In May 2017, declassified documents revealed that the 1955 decision to claim the rock as UK territory was motivated by worries that it could otherwise be used by "hostile agents" to spy on the future South Uist missile testing range.
There have been various disasters on the neighbouring Hasselwood Rock and Helen's Reef (the latter was named in 1830).
Notes
Bibliography | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25655 |
Roman numerals
Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers in this system are represented by combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet. Modern usage employs seven symbols, each with a fixed integer value:
The use of Roman numerals continued long after the decline of the Roman Empire. From the 14th century on, Roman numerals began to be replaced in most contexts by the more convenient Arabic numerals; however, this process was gradual, and the use of Roman numerals persists in some minor applications to this day.
One place they are often seen is on clock faces. For instance, on the clock of Big Ben (designed in 1852), the hours from 1 to 12 are written as:
The notations and can be read as "one less than five" (4) and "one less than ten" (9), although there is a tradition favouring representation of "4" as "" on Roman numeral clocks.
Other common uses include year numbers on monuments and buildings and copyright dates on the title screens of movies and television programs. , signifying "a thousand, and a hundred less than another thousand", means 1900, so 1912 is written . For the years of this century, indicates 2000. This year is (2020).
There has never been an officially "binding", or universally accepted standard for Roman numerals. Usage in ancient Rome varied greatly and became thoroughly chaotic in medieval times. Even the post-renaissance restoration of a largely "classical" notation has failed to produce total consistency: variant forms are even defended by some modern writers as offering improved "flexibility".
On the other hand, especially where a Roman numeral is considered a legally binding expression of a number, as in U.S. Copyright law (where an "incorrect" or ambiguous numeral may invalidate a copyright claim, or affect the termination date of the copyright period) it is desirable to strictly follow the usual modern standardized orthography.
This section defines a standard form of Roman numerals that is in current, more or less universal use, is unambiguous, and permits only one representation for each value. It does not attempt to either endorse or refute every combination of Roman numeral symbols that has been, could be, or is used.
Roman numerals are essentially a decimal or "base 10" number system, with a "digit" for each power of ten – thousands, hundreds, tens and units. Each digit is represented by a fixed symbol or combination of symbols. In the absence of "place keeping" zeros, different symbols are used for each power of ten but each follows the same pattern, as summarised in this table
The numerals for 4 () and 9 () are written using "subtractive notation", where the first symbol () is "subtracted" from the larger one (, or ), thus avoiding the clumsier (, and ). Subtractive notation is also used for 40 () and 90 (), as well as 400 () and 900 (). These are the only subtractive forms in standard use.
A number containing several decimal digits is built by appending them from highest to lowest, as in the following examples:
Any missing place (represented by a zero in the Arabic equivalent) is omitted, as in Latin (and English) speech:
Roman numerals for large numbers are nowadays seen mainly in the form of year numbers, as in these examples:
The largest number that can be represented in this notation is 3,999 ('). Since the largest Roman numeral likely to be required today is ' (the current year) any pressing need for larger Roman numerals is hypothetical. Ancient and medieval users of the system used various means to write larger numbers, two of which are described below, under "Large numbers".
Forms exist that vary in one way or another from the general "standard" described above.
While subtractive notation for 4, 40 and 400 (, and ) has been the "usual" form since Roman times, additive notation (, , and ) continued to be used, including in compound numbers like , , and . The additive forms for 9, 90, and 900 (, , and ) have also been used, although less frequently.
The two conventions could be mixed in the same document or inscription, even in the same numeral. On the numbered gates to the Colosseum, for instance, is systematically used instead of , but subtractive notation is used for other digits; so that gate 44 is labelled . Isaac Asimov speculates that the use of , as the initial letters of (a classical Latin spelling of the name of the Roman god Jupiter), may have been felt to have been impious in this context.
Modern clock faces that use Roman numerals still usually employ for four o'clock but for nine o'clock, a practice that goes back to very early clocks such as the Wells Cathedral clock of the late 14th century. However, this is far from universal: for example, the clock on the Palace of Westminster tower, "Big Ben", uses a subtractive for 4 o'clock.
Several monumental inscriptions created in the early 20th century use variant forms for "1900" (usually written ). These vary from – a classical use of additive notation for (1910), as seen on Admiralty Arch, London, to the more unusual, if not unique for (1903), on the north entrance to the Saint Louis Art Museum.
Especially on tombstones and other funerary inscriptions 5 and 50 have been occasionally written and instead of and , and there are instances such as and rather than or .
The irregular use of subtractive notation, such as for 17, for 18, for 97, for 98, and for 99 have been occasionally used. A possible explanation is that the word for 18 in Latin is "duodeviginti", literally "two from twenty". Similarly, the words for 98 and 99 were "duodecentum" (two from hundred) and "undecentum" (one from hundred), respectively. However, the explanation does not seem to apply to and , since the Latin words for 17 and 97 were "septendecim" (seven ten) and "nonaginta septem" (ninety seven), respectively.
Another example of irregular subtractive notation is the use of for 18. It was used by officers of the XVIII Roman Legion to write their number. The notation appears prominently on the cenotaph of their senior centurion Marcus Caelius ( – AD 9). There does not seem to be a linguistic explanation for this use, although it is one stroke shorter than .
On the publicly displayed official Roman calendars known as Fasti, the numbers 18 and 28 could be represented by XIIX and XXIIX respectively; the XIIX for 18 days to the next Kalends, and XXIIX for the number of days in February. The latter can be seen on the sole extant pre-Julian calendar, the Fasti Antiates Maiores.
While irregular subtractive and additive notation has been used at least occasionally throughout history, some Roman numerals have been observed in documents and inscriptions that do not fit either system. Some of these variants do not seem to have been used outside specific contexts, and may have been regarded as errors even by contemporaries.
As Roman numerals are composed of ordinary alphabetic characters, there may sometimes be confusion with other uses of the same letters. For example, "XXX" and "XL" have other connotations in addition to their values as Roman numerals, while "IXL" more often than not is a gramogram of "I excel", and is in any case not an unambiguous Roman numeral.
The number zero did not originally have its own Roman numeral, but the word "nulla" (the Latin word meaning "none") was used by medieval scholars to represent 0. Dionysius Exiguus was known to use "nulla" alongside Roman numerals in 525. About 725, Bede or one of his colleagues used the letter , the initial of "nulla" or of "nihil" (the Latin word for "nothing") for 0, in a table of epacts, all written in Roman numerals.
Though the Romans used a decimal system for whole numbers, reflecting how they counted in Latin, they used a duodecimal system for fractions, because the divisibility of twelve makes it easier to handle the common fractions of and than does a system based on ten On coins, many of which had values that were duodecimal fractions of the unit , they used a tally-like notational system based on twelfths and halves. A dot (·) indicated an "twelfth", the source of the English words "inch" and "ounce"; dots were repeated for fractions up to five twelfths. Six twelfths (one half) was abbreviated as the letter "S" for "half". "Uncia" dots were added to "S" for fractions from seven to eleven twelfths, just as tallies were added to for whole numbers from six to nine.
Each fraction from to had a name in Roman times; these corresponded to the names of the related coins:
The arrangement of the dots was variable and not necessarily linear. Five dots arranged like (⁙) (as on the face of a die) are known as a quincunx, from the name of the Roman fraction/coin. The Latin words ' and ' are the source of the English words "sextant" and "quadrant".
Other Roman fractional notations included the following:
During the centuries that Roman numerals remained the standard way of writing numbers throughout Europe, there were various extensions to the system designed to indicate larger numbers, none of which were ever standardised.
One of these was the "apostrophus", in which 500 (usually written as "") was written as , while 1,000, was written as instead of "". This is a system of encasing numbers to denote thousands (imagine the s and s as parentheses), which has its origins in Etruscan numeral usage. The and used to represent 500 and 1,000 most likely preceded, and subsequently influenced, the adoption of "" and "" in conventional Roman numerals.
In this system, an extra denoted 500, and multiple extra s are used to denote 5,000, 50,000, etc. For example:
Sometimes was reduced to for 1,000. John Wallis is often credited for introducing the symbol for infinity (modern ∞), and one conjecture is that he based it on this usage, since 1,000 was hyperbolically used to represent very large numbers. Similarly, for 5,000 was reduced to ; for 10,000 to ; for 50,000 to ; and for 100,000 to .
Another system was the "vinculum", in which conventional Roman numerals were multiplied by 1,000 by adding a "bar" or "overline". Although mathematical historian David Eugene Smith disputes that this was part of ancient Roman usage, the notation was certainly in use in the Middle Ages. Although modern usage is largely hypothetical it is certainly easier for a modern user to decode than the Apostrophus,
Another inconsistent medieval usage was the addition of "vertical" lines (or brackets) before and after the numeral to multiply it by 10 (or 100): thus ' for 10,000 as an alternative form for '. In combination with the overline the bracketed forms might be used to raise the multiplier to (say) ten (or one hundred) thousand, thus:
This use of lines is distinct from the custom, once very common, of adding both underline and overline (or very large serifs) to a Roman numeral, simply to make it clear that it "is" a number, e.g. (1967).
The system is closely associated with the ancient city-state of Rome and the Empire that it created. However, due to the scarcity of surviving examples, the origins of the system are obscure and there are several competing theories, all largely conjectural.
Rome was founded sometime between 850 and 750 BC. At the time, the region was inhabited by diverse populations of which the Etruscans were the most advanced. The ancient Romans themselves admitted that the basis of much of their civilization was Etruscan. Rome itself was located next to the southern edge of the Etruscan domain, which covered a large part of north-central Italy.
The Roman numerals, in particular, are directly derived from the Etruscan number symbols: "𐌠", "𐌡", "𐌢", "𐌣", and "𐌟" for 1, 5, 10, 50, and 100 (They had more symbols for larger numbers, but it is unknown which symbol represents which number). As in the basic Roman system, the Etruscans wrote the symbols that added to the desired number, from higher to lower value. Thus the number 87, for example, would be written 50 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 5 + 1 + 1 = 𐌣𐌢𐌢𐌢𐌡𐌠𐌠 (this would appear as 𐌠𐌠𐌡𐌢𐌢𐌢𐌣 since Etruscan was written from right to left.)
The symbols "𐌠" and "𐌡" resembled letters of the Etruscan alphabet, but "𐌢", "𐌣", and "𐌟" did not. The Etruscans used the subtractive notation, too, but not like the Romans. They wrote 17, 18, and 19 as "𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌢𐌢", "𐌠𐌠𐌢𐌢", and 𐌠𐌢𐌢, mirroring the way they spoke those numbers ("three from twenty", etc.); and similarly for 27, 28, 29, 37, 38, etc. However they did not write "𐌠𐌡" for 4 (or "𐌢𐌣" for 40), and wrote "𐌡𐌠𐌠", "𐌡𐌠𐌠𐌠" and "𐌡𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌠" for 7, 8, and 9, respectively.
The early Roman numerals for 1, 10, and 100 were the Etruscan ones: "", "", and "". The symbols for 5 and 50 changed from and "𐌣" to and ↆ at some point. The latter had flattened to (an inverted T) by the time of Augustus, and soon afterwards became identified with the graphically similar letter .
The symbol for 100 was written variously as or , was then abbreviated to or , with (which matched a Latin letter) finally winning out. It may have helped that is the initial of "centum", Latin for "hundred".
The numbers 500 and 1000 were denoted by or overlaid with a box or circle. Thus 500 was like a superimposed on a . It became or by the time of Augustus, under the graphic influence of the letter . It was later identified as the letter ; an alternative symbol for "thousand" was a , and half of a thousand or "five hundred" is the right half of the symbol, , and this may have been converted into .
The notation for 1000 was a circled or boxed : Ⓧ, , , and by Augustinian times was partially identified with the Greek letter "phi". Over time, the symbol changed to and . The latter symbol further evolved into , then , and eventually changed to under the influence of the Latin word "mille" "thousand".
According to Paul Kayser, the basic numerical symbols were , , and (or ) and the intermediate ones were derived by taking half of those (half an is , half a is and half a is ).
Lower case, minuscule, letters were developed in the Middle Ages, well after the demise of the Western Roman Empire, and since that time lower-case versions of Roman numbers have also been commonly used: , , , , and so on.
Since the Middle Ages, a "" has sometimes been substituted for the final "" of a "lower-case" Roman numeral, such as "" for 3 or "" for 7. This "" can be considered a swash variant of "". The use of a final "" is still used in medical prescriptions to prevent tampering with or misinterpretation of a number after it is written.
Numerals in documents and inscriptions from the Middle Ages sometimes include additional symbols, which today are called "medieval Roman numerals". Some simply substitute another letter for the standard one (such as "" for "", or "" for ""), while others serve as abbreviations for compound numerals ("" for "", or "" for ""). Although they are still listed today in some dictionaries, they are long out of use.
Chronograms, messages with dates encoded into them, were popular during the Renaissance era. The chronogram would be a phrase containing the letters , , , , , , and . By putting these letters together, the reader would obtain a number, usually indicating a particular year.
By the 11th century, Arabic numerals had been introduced into Europe from al-Andalus, by way of Arab traders and arithmetic treatises. Roman numerals, however, proved very persistent, remaining in common use in the West well into the 14th and 15th centuries, even in accounting and other business records (where the actual calculations would have been made using an abacus). Replacement by their more convenient "Arabic" equivalents was quite gradual, and Roman numerals are still used today in certain contexts. A few examples of their current use are:
In astronomy, the natural satellites or "moons" of the planets are traditionally designated by capital Roman numerals appended to the planet's name. For example, Titan's designation is Saturn .
In chemistry, Roman numerals are often used to denote the groups of the periodic table.
They are also used in the IUPAC nomenclature of inorganic chemistry, for the oxidation number of cations which can take on several different positive charges. They are also used for naming phases of polymorphic crystals, such as ice.
In education, school grades (in the sense of year-groups rather than test scores) are sometimes referred to by a Roman numeral; for example, "grade " is sometimes seen for "grade 9".
In entomology, the broods of the thirteen and seventeen year periodical cicadas are identified by Roman numerals.
In advanced mathematics (including trigonometry, statistics, and calculus), when a graph includes negative numbers, its quadrants are named using , , , and . These quadrant names signify positive numbers on both axes, negative numbers on the X axis, negative numbers on both axes, and negative numbers on the Y axis, respectively. The use of Roman numerals to designate quadrants avoids confusion, since Arabic numerals are used for the actual data represented in the graph.
In military unit designation, Roman numerals are often used to distinguish between units at different levels. This reduces possible confusion, especially when viewing operational or strategic level maps. In particular, army corps are often numbered using Roman numerals (for example the American Airborne Corps or the WW2-era German Panzerkorps) with Arabic numerals being used for divisions and armies.
In music, Roman numerals are used in several contexts:
In pharmacy, Roman numerals are used in some contexts, including to denote "one half" and to denote "zero".
In photography, Roman numerals (with zero) are used to denote varying levels of brightness when using the Zone System.
In seismology, Roman numerals are used to designate degrees of the Mercalli intensity scale of earthquakes.
In sport the team containing the "top" players and representing a nation or province, a club or a school at the highest level in (say) rugby union is often called the "1st ", while a lower-ranking cricket or American football team might be the "3rd ".
In tarot, Roman numerals (with zero) are used to denote the cards of the Major Arcana.
In theology and biblical scholarship, the Septuagint is often referred to as , as this translation of the Old Testament into Greek is named for the legendary number of its translators ("septuaginta" being Latin for "seventy").
Some uses that are rare or never seen in English speaking countries may be relatively common in parts of continental Europe. For instance:
Capital or small capital Roman numerals are widely used in Romance languages to denote , e.g. the French ' and the Spanish ' mean "18th century". Slavic languages in and adjacent to Russia similarly favour Roman numerals (). On the other hand, in Slavic languages in Central Europe, like most Germanic languages, one writes "18." (with a period) before the local word for "century".
Mixed Roman and Arabic numerals are sometimes used in numeric representations of dates (especially in formal letters and official documents, but also on tombstones). The is written in Roman numerals, while the day is in Arabic numerals: "14..1789" and ".14.1789" both refer unambiguously to 14 June 1789.
Roman numerals are sometimes used to represent the in hours-of-operation signs displayed in windows or on doors of businesses, and also sometimes in railway and bus timetables. Monday, taken as the first day of the week, is represented by . Sunday is represented by . The hours of operation signs are tables composed of two columns where the left column is the day of the week in Roman numerals and the right column is a range of hours of operation from starting time to closing time. In the example case (left), the business opens from 10 am to 7 pm on weekdays, 10 AM to 5 pm on Saturdays and is closed on Sundays. Note that the listing uses 24-hour time.
Roman numerals may also be used for floor numbering. For instance, apartments in central Amsterdam are indicated as 138-, with both an Arabic numeral (number of the block or house) and a Roman numeral (floor number). The apartment on the ground floor is indicated as .
In Italy, where roads outside built-up areas have kilometre signs, major roads and motorways also mark 100-metre subdivisionals, using Roman numerals from to for the smaller intervals. The sign " | 17" thus marks 17.9 km.
A notable exception to the use of Roman numerals in Europe is in Greece, where Greek numerals (based on the Greek alphabet) are generally used in contexts where Roman numerals would be used elsewhere.
The "Number Forms" block of the Unicode computer character set standard has a number of Roman numeral symbols in the range of code points from U+2160 to U+2188. This range includes both upper- and lowercase numerals, as well as pre-combined characters for numbers up to 12 (Ⅻ or ). One justification for the existence of pre-combined numbers is to facilitate the setting of multiple-letter numbers (such as VIII) on a single horizontal line in Asian vertical text. The Unicode standard, however, includes special Roman numeral code points for compatibility only, stating that "[f]or most purposes, it is preferable to compose the Roman numerals from sequences of the appropriate Latin letters".
The block also includes some "apostrophus" symbols for large numbers, an old variant of "L" (50) similar to the Etruscan character, the Claudian letter "reversed C", etc. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25657 |
Rammstein
Rammstein () is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band formed in Berlin in 1994. The band's lineup—consisting of lead vocalist Till Lindemann, lead guitarist Richard Kruspe, rhythm guitarist Paul Landers, bassist Oliver Riedel, drummer Christoph Schneider, and keyboardist Christian "Flake" Lorenz—has remained unchanged throughout their history. Their approach to songwriting has also remained unchanged, with Lindemann writing and singing the lyrics over instrumental pieces that the rest of the band have completed beforehand. Prior to their formation, some members were associated with the punk rock acts Feeling B and First Arsch.
After winning a local contest, Rammstein were able to record demos and send them to different record labels, eventually signing with Motor Music. Working with producer Jacob Hellner, they released their debut album "Herzeleid" in 1995. Though the album sold poorly at first, the band gained popularity through their live performances and the album eventually reached No. 6 in Germany. Their second album, "Sehnsucht", was released in 1997 and debuted at No. 1 in Germany, resulting in a worldwide tour lasting nearly four years and spawning the successful singles "Engel" and "Du hast" and the live album "Live aus Berlin" (1999). Following the tour, Rammstein signed with major label Universal Music and released "Mutter" in 2001. Six singles were released from the album, all charting in countries throughout Europe. The lead single, "Sonne", reached No. 2 in Germany. Rammstein released "Reise, Reise" in 2004 and had two more singles reach No. 2 in Germany: "Mein Teil" and "Amerika"; the former song reached No. 1 in Spain, becoming their first No. 1 single.
Their fifth album, "Rosenrot", was released in 2005, and the lead single, "Benzin", reached No. 6 in Germany. Their second live album, "Völkerball", was released in 2006. The band released their sixth album, "Liebe ist für alle da", in 2009, with its lead single, "Pussy", becoming their first No. 1 hit in Germany despite having a controversial music video that featured hardcore pornography. The band then entered a recording hiatus and toured for several years, releasing the "Made in Germany" greatest hits album as well as the "Rammstein in Amerika" and "" live albums. After a decade without new music, Rammstein returned in 2019 with the song "Deutschland", which became their second No. 1 hit in Germany. Their untitled seventh studio album was released in May 2019 and reached No. 1 in 14 countries.
Rammstein were one of the first bands to emerge within the Neue Deutsche Härte genre, with their debut album leading the music press to coin the term, and their style of music has generally had a positive reception from music critics. Commercially, the band have been very successful, earning many No. 1 albums as well as gold and platinum certifications in countries around the world. Their grand live performances, which often feature pyrotechnics, have played a part in their popularity growth. Despite success, the band have been subject to some controversies, with their overall image having been subject to criticism; for instance, the song "Ich tu dir weh" forced its parent album "Liebe ist für alle da" to be re-released in Germany with the song removed due to its sexually explicit lyrics.
In 1989, East German guitarist Richard Kruspe escaped to West Berlin and started the band Orgasm Death Gimmick. At that time, he was heavily influenced by American music, especially that of rock group Kiss. After the Berlin Wall came down, he moved back home to Schwerin, where Till Lindemann worked as a basket-weaver and played drums in the band First Arsch (loosely translated as "First Arse" or "First Ass"). At this time, Kruspe lived with Oliver Riedel of the Inchtabokatables and Christoph Schneider of Die Firma.
In 1992, Kruspe made his first trip to the United States with Till Lindemann and Oliver "Ollie" Riedel. He realized that he did not want to make American music and concentrated on creating a unique German sound. Kruspe, Riedel and Schneider started working together on a new project in 1993. Finding it difficult to write both music and lyrics, Kruspe persuaded Lindemann, whom he had overheard singing while he was working, to join the fledgling group.
The band called themselves "Rammstein-Flugschau" (Rammstein Airshow) after the 1988 Ramstein air show disaster. Guitarist Paul Landers said the spelling of Ramstein with the extra "m" was a mistake. After the band became popular, the band members denied the connection to the air show disaster and said that their name was inspired by the giant doorstop-type devices found on old gates, called Rammsteine. The extra "m" in the band's name makes it translate literally as "ramming stone".
A contest was held in Berlin for amateur bands in 1994, the winner of which would receive access to a professional recording studio for a whole week. Kruspe, Riedel, Schneider, and Lindemann entered and won the contest with a 4-track demo tape with demo versions of songs from Herzeleid, written in English. This sparked Landers' attention, who wanted in on the project upon hearing their demo. To complete their sound, Rammstein attempted to recruit Christian "Flake" Lorenz, who had played with Landers in Feeling B. Though initially hesitant, Lorenz eventually agreed to join the band. Later, Rammstein were signed by Motor Music.
Rammstein began to record their first studio album, "Herzeleid", in March 1995 with producer Jacob Hellner. They released their first single "Du riechst so gut" that August and released the album in September. Later that year, they toured with Clawfinger in Warsaw and Prague. Rammstein headlined a 17-show tour of Germany in December, which did much to boost the band's popularity and establish them as a credible live act. They went on several tours throughout early 1996, releasing their second single titled "Seemann" on 8 January.
On 27 March 1996, Rammstein performed on MTV's "Hanging Out" in London, their first performance in the UK. Their first major boost in popularity outside Germany came when Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor chose two Rammstein songs, "Heirate mich" and "Rammstein", during his work as music director for the David Lynch 1997 film "Lost Highway". The soundtrack for the film was released in the U.S. in late 1996 and later throughout Europe in April 1997. Rammstein went on to tour through Germany, Austria, and Switzerland from September to October 1996, performing an anniversary concert on 27 September called "100 years of Rammstein". Guests to the concert included Moby, Bobo, and the Berlin Session Orchestra, while Berlin director Gert Hof was responsible for the light show.
Rammstein started recording "Sehnsucht" in November 1996 at the Temple Studios in Malta. The album was again produced by Jacob Hellner. "Engel", the first single from the album, was released on 1 April 1997 and reached gold status in Germany on 23 May. This prompted the release of a fan edition of the single, named "Engel – Fan Edition". This contained two previously unreleased songs, "Feuerräder" and "Wilder Wein". Release of the second single from the album "Sehnsucht" was "Du hast", which hit the German single charts August 1997 at No. 5.
Rammstein then continued touring in the summer while "Sehnsucht" was released on 22 August 1997. The album reached No. 1 in Germany after two weeks in the charts. Simultaneously, "Herzeleid" and both "Sehnsucht" singles ("Du hast" and "Engel") were in the Top 20 of the German charts. Rammstein continued to headline sold-out shows throughout Europe in September and October. On 5 December 1997, they embarked on their first tour of the United States as the opening act for KMFDM. In July 1998, the band released a cover of the song Stripped, originally released by Depeche Mode in early 1986; it was included on the tribute album "For the Masses", the Rammstein version obtained moderate success in Germany and Austria.
On 22–23 August 1998, Rammstein played to over 17,000 fans at the Wuhlheide in Berlin; the biggest show the band had played there up to that date. Supporting acts were Danzig, Nina Hagen, Joachim Witt and Alaska. The show was professionally filmed, intended to be released on their upcoming live DVD, "Live aus Berlin".
Rammstein embarked on a live tour with Korn, Ice Cube, Orgy and Limp Bizkit called the Family Values Tour in September through to late October 1998. Continuing their success in the US, "Sehnsucht" received Gold record status there on 2 November.
The band was nominated at the MTV European Music Awards for "Best Rock Act" and performed "Du hast" live on 12 November that year.
Rammstein had further success in 1999, starting off the year in February with a nomination for "Best Metal Performance" at the 41st-annual Grammy Awards. A year after it was filmed, the "Live aus Berlin" concert was released on CD on 30 August 1999, with a limited edition double CD also available. Two weeks after it was released, "Live aus Berlin" went to No. 2 in the German Album Charts. On 13 September and 26 November 1999, the video and DVD versions of the concert were released respectively. Further popularity ensued with the inclusion of "Du hast" in "".
Rammstein's album "Mutter" was recorded in the south of France in May and June 2000, and mixed in Stockholm in October of that year. During December 2000, Rammstein released an MP3 version of "Links 2-3-4" as a teaser for their new album.
2001 was a busy year for Rammstein, as the band needed to finish off the Sehnsucht Tour ending in January and February with the band playing the Big Day Out festival in Australia and New Zealand and playing some concerts in Japan. January also heralded the shooting of the video for their upcoming single, "Sonne", recorded in Potsdam at Babelsberger Filmstudios from 13 to 15 January 2001. The video was released on 29 January 2001. The single for "Sonne" was released on 12 February 2001 in Europe, featuring an instrumental version of the song, two remixes by Clawfinger and the song "Adios" from the upcoming album.
"Mutter" was released on 2 April 2001, sparking another Rammstein tour through Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. On 14 May, the second single from the album, "Links 2 3 4", was released, along with a video of the single on 18 May. After a tour throughout Europe in June, the band then toured the U.S., Canada and Mexico from June to August 2001. "Ich will", the third single from the album, was released on 10 September 2001 and a Tour edition of the "Mutter" album (the cover of which is red) was released, featuring alternative artwork and live versions of "Ich will", "Links 2 3 4", "Sonne" and "Spieluhr".
From 8 to 12 January 2002, Rammstein traveled to Prague to participate in a minor scene for the film "XXX". The band is seen in the opening scene, performing their song "Feuer frei!" in a concert. "Feuer frei!" was released across Europe as the first single from the "XXX" soundtrack on 14 October 2002. Rammstein released two remixes of the song. Furthermore, the single's track listing included "Du hast" and "Bück dich" cover versions by Battery. The video for the single was edited by Rob Cohen and contains part Rammstein performance at the beginning of the film and part snippets from the film itself.
Rammstein recorded "Reise, Reise" (meaning "journey, journey", or as a command "travel, travel", but also an archaic Reveille) at the El Cortijo studio in southern Spain in November and December 2003; it was mixed at Toytown studio in Stockholm, Sweden in April and May 2004. The first single from the album was "Mein Teil", released on 26 July. The video was shot in the Arena, in the Treptow district of Berlin. Outdoor shooting took place at the Deutsche Oper (Opera House) U-Bahn station on Bismarckstrasse. The director was Zoran Bihac, who also filmed the "Links 2 3 4" video. The video for the second single, "Amerika", was filmed on 6 and 7 August 2004 in the ruins of the former cement works in Rüdersdorf, near Berlin, under the direction of Jörn Heitmann (who also directed the "Ich Will" music video, among others). The space suits for the moon scenes were borrowed from Hollywood and 240 tons of ash were needed to create the moon landscape. The video premiered on 20 August, while the single was released on 13 September.
"Reise, Reise" was released on 27 September 2004 and went straight into top 10 charts throughout Europe. According to the Billboard charts, Rammstein were at that stage the most successful German-language band of all time. Rammstein toured Germany through November and some of December 2004, releasing the single "Ohne dich" on 22 November. In February 2005, Rammstein toured Europe again. By 28 February, Rammstein had played 21 concerts in front of more than 200,000 spectators in ten countries. It was on this tour that the band was faced with several lawsuits resulting from severe fire breathing accidents involving audience members. "Keine Lust" the fourth single from "Reise, Reise", was released on 28 February 2005. From 27 May to 30 July 2005, Rammstein played music festivals across Europe. Footage from these concerts can be seen on Rammstein's live DVD "Völkerball", released in November 2006.
In August 2005, Rammstein revealed that the follow-up album to "Reise, Reise" would be called "Rosenrot". Their first single from the album, "Benzin", was released on 5 October, with its video premiere on 16 September. "Rosenrot" was released worldwide on 28 October. Directly following the release, the album continued the success of its predecessor, "Reise, Reise", placing on top 10 charts in 20 countries. 16 December 2005 marked the release of the title track on "Rosenrot". The video for "Mann gegen Mann" was released on 6 February 2006, with the single being released on 3 March. On 19 February 2006, Rammstein had an asteroid named after them, 110393 Rammstein.
On 17 November, the first Rammstein Live DVD since "Live aus Berlin" from 1998 was released. "Völkerball" shows concert performances by the band in England, France, Japan and Russia. The Special Edition is extended by a second DVD, which contains the documentaries "Anaconda in the net" by Mathilde Bonnefoy and the "Making of the album Reise, Reise" by the band's guitarist Paul Landers. The limited edition was released as a large black-and-white photo-book with photos by Frederic Batier, who had accompanied the band through their recent tours. The photo-book edition contains two DVDs and two live albums.
The band took a hiatus in 2006 and began work again in 2007. The recording process reportedly took two years. In July 2009, the title track "Liebe ist für alle da" leaked onto the internet, along with promotional materials. This led Universal Music to take action against certain fan sites.
It was confirmed in August 2009 that the new album would have 11 tracks, and mixing of the album – which was taking place in Stockholm – had been completed. On 1 September 2009, it was confirmed on the band's website that "Pussy" would be the first single from the album. On the same day, The Gauntlet posted a promotional video for it. The video also confirmed the album title, "Liebe ist für alle da". Later, the title was confirmed again in an interview with Paul Landers for RockOne magazine. 46,7
The music video for "Pussy" was released on 16 September 2009, at 20:30 GMT, released especially for the adult website Visit-x. The video contains graphic scenes of male and female nudity as well as women engaging in sexual acts with the band members, although the actual sex scenes were performed by body doubles. The women featured in the video are German pornographic stars. Metal Hammer released an edited version of the video onto their website.
"Ich tu dir weh" was confirmed as the second single from the album by Landers and Lorenz in an interview for Radio Eins. Although censorship of the song in Germany prohibits any advertisement, broadcast or public display, the video to "Ich tu dir weh" was released on 21 December 2009 on the adult website Visit-x, just like the video to "Pussy", after advertisement on the band's official German website; it depicts the band on stage in a similar configuration as on their 2009/10 tour. Any references to the video on the official website have since been deleted. In Europe, the single was released on 15 January 2010, and in the U.S. on 19 January 2010. Like the video "Pussy," this video was also directed by Jonas Åkerlund. On 23 April 2010, Rammstein released their video "Haifisch". Unlike the video for "Ich tu dir weh", it contains more of a narrative rather than a performance. The single was released during May and June 2010.
On 8 November 2009, Rammstein began the first leg of the Liebe ist für alle da Tour in Lisbon, Portugal. As part of their European summer tour, Rammstein performed at the 2010 Rock AM Ring Festival on 4–6 June 2010. They also headlined several shows across Europe on the Sonisphere Festival, including their first ever outdoor UK performance at Knebworth Park, performing the day before Iron Maiden. On Sunday 18 July 2010, Rammstein played in front of more than 130,000 people in Quebec City on the Plains of Abraham as the closing show for the Festival d'été de Québec. It was their first North American appearance in nine years. The band announced that their last tour dates of 2010 were to be in the Americas. After several South American dates, the band returned to the United States for a single show at the famous Madison Square Garden in New York City – their first US show in over ten years. The tickets sold out in a very short time (under 20 minutes).
They also performed at Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada on 9 December. This concert sold out within the first hour of tickets going on sale, indicating a high demand to see Rammstein in North America. The band then played at Big Day Out 2011 from 21 January to 6 February in New Zealand and Australia. The band also visited South Africa for the first time in early 2011 and played two sold-out concerts in Cape Town and Johannesburg respectively, indicating another territory eager for the opportunity to enjoy the band live. On 16 February 2011, Rammstein announced that, after the massive success of their sold out Madison Square Garden show on 11 December 2010, they would be touring North America after ten years.
Rammstein played in New Jersey (East Rutherford) Izod Center, Montreal Bell Centre, Toronto Air Canada Centre, Chicago Allstate Arena, Edmonton Rexall Place, Seattle Tacoma Dome, San Francisco (Oakland) Oracle Arena, Los Angeles The Forum, and Las Vegas Thomas and Mack Center, Mexico City's Palacio de los Deportes, Guadalajara's Arena VFG, and Monterey's Auditorio Banamex to a total of six US dates, three Canadian dates, and four Mexican dates. Tickets went on sale 25 and 26 February to great response, with many shows completely selling out, making this tour a complete success. On 20 April 2011, the band also won the Revolver Golden God Award for Best Live Band, their first US award.
Rammstein released a greatest hits album titled "Made in Germany 1995–2011" on 2 December 2011. It contains one previously unreleased track, "Mein Land" which was released as a single on 11 November 2011 with another track, "Vergiss uns nicht", that was released at a later date. The compilation is available in three different editions: The standard edition; this includes a CD with normal songs from their back catalog. Special edition; has the same CD from the standard edition and an extra CD with Rammstein songs that have been remixed by different artists such as Scooter. Finally, the super deluxe edition; has the two previously mentioned CDs and three DVDs with interviews and the making of videos from different music videos.
The video for the song "Mein Land" was filmed on 23 May 2011 at Sycamore Beach in Malibu, California. It premiered on the band's official website on 11 November 2011. A full European tour in support of "Made in Germany" began in November 2011 and spanned all the way to May 2012. It included a North American tour that began on 20 April 2012 in Sunrise, Florida and ended on 25 May 2012 in Houston, Texas that visited 21 cities throughout the US and Canada. The Swedish industrial band Deathstars supported the band during the first two legs of the European tour. DJ Joe Letz from Combichrist and Emigrate was the opening act for the North American Tour.
Rammstein, minus Till Lindemann, performed "The Beautiful People" with Marilyn Manson at the Echo Awards on 22 March 2012.
On 21 September 2012, it was announced that Rammstein would be headlining Download Festival 2013, along with Iron Maiden and Slipknot. Twelve additional festival performances for summer 2013 were announced the same day, including Wacken Open Air festival and Rock Werchter. Rammstein announced new tour dates starting for spring 2013 in Europe, including a 2-day return to Kindl-Bühne Wuhlheide, the location of their first (official) live DVD, "Live Aus Berlin".
On 22 November 2012, Rammstein announced via Facebook that they will be releasing a video collection featuring all music videos entitled "Videos 1995–2012", plus two unreleased music videos for "Mein Herz Brennt", originally featured on the album "Mutter". The first video premiered on the band's Vimeo, while the second premiered on a promotional website. Both videos were directed by Zoran Bihac. The first was released on 7 December 2012, and featured the newly recorded piano version of "Mein Herz Brennt". A single of the song was released on the same day, which included an edited version of the original and a new song titled 'Gib Mir Deine Augen' as a b-side. The explicit version's video leaked onto the internet on 11 December 2012 but was officially released on 14 December, in conjunction with the video collection DVD.
In July 2013, guitarist Paul Landers revealed in an interview the possibility of a Rammstein documentary and a live DVD. He indicated that the band may "start thinking" about a new album in 2014.
In September 2014, band co-founder Richard Kruspe (then working with his side band, Emigrate) said the band was preparing some more live DVDs and that they were taking some time off from the studio. The band would meet again in 2015 to decide if the time was right to return to the studio. In May 2015, Lindemann confirmed in an interview with MusikUniverse that Rammstein would start pre-production on a possible new album in September of that year, and that production would most likely go on until 2017.
According to Peter Tägtgren – who works with frontman Till Lindemann on their side-project Lindemann – Till would be regrouping with his Rammstein bandmates later in 2015 to start pre-production on a new full-length album, which normally takes two years to be released.
In early August 2015, Rammstein released a trailer for an upcoming project, titled "In Amerika". On 15 August, the band announced "Rammstein in Amerika", a video release that includes a 2010 concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City and a documentary made from archived footage recorded during the band's career. Rammstein played several festivals in Europe and North America during 2016, and in November announced plans to perform at a similar string of European festivals in 2017. On 18 January 2017 Rammstein announced a new live video release titled "Paris", a recording of a March 2012 concert that took place at Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris. It premiered on 23 March in selected cinemas, and was released worldwide on DVD/Blu-Ray and CD on 19 May 2017.
In an interview in March 2017, Richard Kruspe said that Rammstein had about 35 new songs that were close to completion, though the release date of the band's seventh studio album was still an open question. In May, Rammstein started touring once again. Also in May, it was revealed that Sky van Hoff would be working with the band on their next album. In a July interview with "Resurrection Fest", Kruspe said that the upcoming album could perhaps be the band's last.
On 18 June 2018, it was announced via StubHub's ticketing website that Rammstein would play songs at their Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, show from their forthcoming album, then set for release late in 2018. On 17 September 2018, the band announced through Facebook that they were "almost done" recording the album, as they were recording orchestra and choirs in Minsk. On 2 January 2019, guitarist Richard Kruspe announced that recording of the album wrapped in November 2018 and that the record would be released in April 2019, along with five music videos.
Rammstein released the first single from their seventh album, "Deutschland", on 28 March 2019 and announced the release date of their untitled seventh studio album, 17 May 2019. Rammstein also revealed the album cover which consisted of a single, unlit match which fans say represents their love of fire and simplicity. On 26 April 2019, Rammstein released the second single from the new album, "Radio". Shortly after its release, the album reached No. 1 in fourteen different countries. On 28 May 2019, Rammstein released their third single and music video from the album, this time for "Ausländer".
Rammstein's sound has primarily been described as Neue Deutsche Härte, industrial metal, hard rock, and gothic metal, while also being described as nu metal, alternative metal, symphonic metal, progressive metal, and "techno-metal". Rammstein's style has received positive feedback from critics. New Zealand's "Southland Times" (17 December 1999) suggested that Till Lindemann's "booming, sub-sonic voice" would send "the peasants fleeing into their barns and bolting their doors", while "The New York Times" (9 January 2005) commented that on the stage, "Mr. Lindemann gave off an air of such brute masculinity and barely contained violence that it seemed that he could have reached into the crowd, snatched up a fan, and bitten off his head". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic commented that "their blend of industrial noise, grinding metal guitars, and operatic vocals is staggeringly powerful". "We just push boundaries", said Till Lindemann in an interview with rock magazine "Kerrang!", "We cannot help it if people don't like those boundaries being pushed".
Nearly all of Rammstein's songs are in German. Songs they have recorded entirely or partly in English include: a cover of Depeche Mode's 1986 song "Stripped" and English renditions of "Engel", "Du hast", and "Amerika". The original version of "Amerika" as well as "Stirb nicht vor mir (Don't Die Before I Do)" and "Pussy" also contain some lyrics in English. The song "Moskau" ("Moscow") contains a chorus in Russian, and Till Lindemann has an unofficial song called "Schtiel" (cover of song "Штиль"("Shtil") by Russian popular heavy metal band "Aria") entirely in Russian. "Te quiero puta!" is entirely in Spanish, "Frühling in Paris" has a chorus in French, "Zeig dich" contains lyrics in Latin performed by a choir and "Ausländer" has lyrics in English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Russian. Oliver Riedel commented that "[the] German language suits heavy metal music. French might be the language of love, but German is the language of anger". In an interview with Ultimate Guitar, when asked whether Rammstein would ever create an original song entirely in English, Till Lindemann stated that 'Rammstein will never write a song in English, it's like asking Buddha to kill a pig'.
The band's lyrics, as sung by Till Lindemann, are an essential element of their music, and shape the perception by fans and a wider public. Among other things that are seen as controversial, Rammstein also refers to classical German literature, e.g. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's famous poems "Der Erlkönig" (1778) and "Das Heidenröslein" (1771) for the songs "Dalai Lama" and "Rosenrot", respectively. Several of their songs are related to controversial and taboo subjects such as sadomasochism, homosexuality, intersexuality, incest, pedophilia, necrophilia, cannibalism, pyromania, religion and sexual violence. Also several of their songs are allegedly inspired by real-life events. These songs include "Rammstein" (Ramstein airshow disaster), "Mein Teil" (The Meiwes Case), "Wiener Blut" (Fritzl case) and "Donaukinder" (2000 Baia Mare cyanide spill). Their fourth album, "Reise, Reise", is loosely inspired by the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123. The band have also occasionally delved into politics with their lyrics. "Amerika" is a critic of the cultural and political imperialism of the United States all over the world. The lyrics of the song "Deutschland" contain the lines "Deutschland! / Meine Liebe / kann ich dir nicht geben" (Germany! / My love / [is what] I cannot give you), which conveys the band's inability to have unquestioned patriotic feelings.
Rammstein are particularly known for their over-the-top live performances, making such extensive use of pyrotechnics that fans eventually coined the motto, "Other bands play, Rammstein burns!" (a play on Manowar's song "Kings of Metal", which states that "other bands play, Manowar kill"). Following an accident in Berlin on 27 September 1996, in which some burning decorative parts of the stage collapsed, the band started using professionals to handle the pyrotechnics. Lindemann subsequently qualified as a licensed pyrotechnician, and often spends entire songs engulfed in flames. He has suffered multiple burns on his ears, head, and arms.
The band's stage costumes are also known for being outlandish. During the Reise, Reise Tour, they wore lederhosen, corsets, and military-inspired uniforms with German steel helmets; during the Mutter Tour, the group kept to the themes of the album artwork and descended onto the stage from a giant uterus while wearing diapers. During the "Völkerball" concert, among others, Lindemann changed costumes between songs and dressed accordingly for each. For example, for the song "Mein Teil", he was dressed as a blood-soaked chef; in "Reise, Reise", he dressed as a sailor. The rest of the band each wore their own preferred costume, but none quite as bizarre as Till's. The band's flair for costumes is evident in their music videos as well as their live shows. In the "Keine Lust" video, all members except Lorenz are dressed in fat suits. In the "Amerika" video, all members of the band wear astronaut costumes.
Since the Mutter Tour in 2001, Rammstein have worked with stage designer Roy Bennett, who helped the band in developing the look of the stages. With the Ahoi Tour in 2004/2005, the band began using a two-level stage, with half the band playing the lower level and the other half on the upper level. At this tour, the upper level rose over 2 meters above the stage floor and had an oval entrance just beneath the drums. At both sides of the upper level, a special lift made it possible for the band members to access both stage levels.
On the Liebe ist für alle da Tour in 2009, the new stage still had a two-level design. This time, however, the upper level only had about half the height as on the previous tour. Stage entrance was possible by a hydraulic ramp in the middle of the stage floor. At each end of the upper level, stairs were placed in order to gain access to both levels. This tour included not only the extensive use of pyrotechnics, but also a massive lighting show, such as the band's logo lit up as big lamps on four enormous collapsible towers, forming the industrial backdrop of the set and being capable of different lighting effects.
During the arena shows of the Made in Germany 1995-2011 Tour, the stage was slightly altered with new set pieces such as a large industrial fan as well as new backdrops. The most noticeable addition was a long catwalk, connecting the main stage to a smaller stage in the middle of the audience. During the 2013 festival leg of the tour, the bridge and smaller stage were omitted. According to Kruspe, the onstage antics are meant to get people's attention and have fun at the same time; Rammstein's motto, according to Schneider, is "do your own thing and overdo it".
Kruspe said of the stage show in July 1999, "You have to understand that 99 per cent of the people don't understand the lyrics, so you have to come up with something to keep the drama in the show. We have to do something. We like to have a show; we like to play with fire. We do have a sense of humour. We do laugh about it; we have fun [...] but we're not Spinal Tap. We take the music and the lyrics seriously. It's a combination of humour, theatre, and our East German culture, you know?"
Their antics have also garnered controversy. During the American Family Values Tour 1998, alongside acts such as rapper Ice Cube, Korn, and Limp Bizkit, the band was arrested for public indecency. In one of their more infamous moments, Lindemann engaged in simulated sodomy with Lorenz during their performance of "Bück dich" in Worcester, Massachusetts. They were subsequently arrested, fined $25, and spent one night in jail.
"The New York Times" described Rammstein's music as a "powerful strain of brutally intense rock... bringing gale-force music and spectacular theatrics together". The members have not been shy about courting controversy and have periodically attracted condemnation from morality campaigners. Till and Flake's stage act earned them a night in jail in June 1999 after a liquid-ejecting dildo was used in a concert in Worcester, Massachusetts. Back home in Germany, the band faced repeated accusations of fascist sympathies because of the dark and sometimes militaristic imagery of their videos and concerts, including the use of excerpts from the film "Olympia" by Leni Riefenstahl in the video for their cover of Depeche Mode's song "Stripped". MTV Germany studied the lyrics, talked to the band and came away satisfied that Rammstein are apolitical; Peter Ruppert, then head of Music Programming at MTV Germany, stated that the band "aren't in any way connected with any right-wing activities".
Their cover of their debut album "Herzeleid", released in Germany in 1995, showed the band members bare-chested in a style that resembled Strength Through Joy in the eyes of some critics, who accused the band of trying to sell themselves as "poster boys for the Master Race". Rammstein have vehemently denied this and said they want nothing to do with politics or supremacy of any kind. Lorenz, annoyed by the claim, has remarked it is just a photo, and should be understood as such. "Herzeleid" has since been given a different cover in North America, depicting the band members' faces.
Rammstein were cited in relation to the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, when a photo of Eric Harris wearing a Rammstein T-shirt was revealed in his 11th grade picture and written the Rammstein logo on a yearbook he signed. There was no evidence to correlate the band and the massacre. In response to the shooting, the band issued a statement:
Coincidentally, on 10 September 2001, the single and video clip of Ich will ("I Want") was released which portrays the band as bank robbers who want to get a message across and receiving a Goldene Kamera (Golden Camera) award, a German version of the Emmy award, for their "actions". In the United States, the video clip was broadcast only late at night after the attacks of 11 September 2001, although many media officials and politicians requested the video to be pulled from broadcast completely.
Following the conclusion of the Beslan school hostage crisis in Russia in September 2004, the Russian authorities claimed that the terrorists had "listened to German hard rock group Rammstein on personal stereos during the siege to keep themselves edgy and fired up". The claim has not been independently confirmed.
Band members said this about the issue:
Pekka-Eric Auvinen, the perpetrator of the Jokela school shooting in November 2007, also included Rammstein in one of his favorite bands. However, he noted that the music among other things was not to blame for his decisions.
Elliot Rodger, the perpetrator of the Isla Vista killings in May 2014, was also a fan of Rammstein according to his YouTube records. On a lyric video of Mein Herz brennt, Rodger wrote: "[G]reat song to listen to while daydreaming about being a powerful ruler". Even though Rodger wrote in his manifesto that he wished to become a dictator and punish all the people who rejected him, there was no direct link found between the band's music and the killing spree. Santa Barbara police later confirmed that Rodger's main motivations were sexual and social rejection.
The Trollhättan school attack perpetrator, Anton Lundin Pettersson, used a manipulated version of the band's logo that added Nazi Germany's eagle on his Facebook page.
In October 2004, the video for "Mein Teil" ("My part") caused considerable controversy in Germany when it was released. It takes a darkly comic view of the Armin Meiwes cannibalism case, showing a cross-dressed Schneider holding the other five band members on a leash and rolling around in mud. The controversy did nothing to stop the single rising to No. 2 in the German charts. Meiwes (who was convicted of manslaughter in 2004, then retried in 2006 and found guilty of murder) brought a lawsuit in January 2006 against the band for infringement of rights to the story.
The band's own views of its image are sanguine; Landers has said: "We like being on the fringes of bad taste". Christian "Flake" Lorenz comments: "The controversy is fun, like stealing forbidden fruit. But it serves a purpose. We like audiences to grapple with our music, and people have become more receptive".
The video for "Pussy" was released September 2009. It features hardcore pornographic scenes of nudity along with women engaging in sexual activity with body doubles of the band members. It is the third Rammstein video to include nudity.
On 5 November 2009, their sixth studio album, "Liebe ist für alle da", was placed on the "Index" of the Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien or BPjM (Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young People), making it illegal in Germany to make the album accessible to minors or display it where it can be seen by people underage, effectively banning it from stores. According to the official statement of the BPjM, the depiction of lead guitarist Richard Kruspe holding a woman wearing only a mask over his knee and lifting his hand to strike her behind has given cause for offense, as well as the lyrics to "Ich tu dir weh" (meaning "I hurt you") which supposedly assist to spread dangerous BDSM techniques. Furthermore, the advisory board took into consideration the alleged promotion of unprotected sexual intercourse in the lyrics to "Pussy".
The band, as well as several members of the German press, reacted with astonishment to the decision. Keyboardist Christian Lorenz expressed surprise at the advisory board's "parochial sense of art" and regretted their apparent inability to detect irony. On 16 November 2009, a stripped-down version of "Liebe ist für alle da" was released. As of 31 May 2010, the administrative court in Cologne had decided to waive the suspensive effect of the inclusion into the "Index" (case 22 L 1899/09). The German department deleted the record from the "Index" on 1 June (Decision No. A 117/10). On 9 June, the band announced on their official website that the original version of the album was already available at their shop and that a release of the single "Ich tu dir weh" in Germany was planned in a short period of time. In October 2011, the album was judged not harmful to minors and deleted from the "Index".
In 2016, Rammstein decided to file a lawsuit against Germany claiming € 66,000 in compensation for damages that had allegedly resulted from the indexing, chiefly the destruction or storing of 85,000 copies of the album that the band says would have otherwise sold.
In 2010, Rammstein settled out of court against Apocalyptica's former record label Sony Music Entertainment GmbH as the successor of the by now defunct affiliated label Gun Records for using Rammstein's label in marketing Apocalyptica's 2007 album "Worlds Collide", which featured a track with singer Lindemann.
Apocalyptica were seen on stage with Rammstein during the song "Mein Herz brennt" in February 2012 at Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, Finland.
The band wrote the song "Links 2-3-4" ("Links" being German for "left") as a riposte to early claims that the band were neo-Nazis, and to affirm that they reside on the left side of the political spectrum. In a 2011 interview with "Rolling Stone", when asked about Nazi accusations, Lindemann stated "We come from the East and we have grown up as socialists. We used to be either punks or Goths – we hate Nazis! And then, such a far-fetched accusation. We are doing exactly the same thing today, but no one in America or in Mexico would even get the idea to come up with something like that. This only happens in Germany. Our reply to this animosity was, "Links 2-3-4", and with that, we had made it clear where we stand politically." Regarding the song, Kruspe said: My heart beats on the left, two, three, four'. It's simple. If you want to put us in a political category, we're on the left side, and that's the reason we made the song". The song's title refers to the refrain of the German Communist Party song "Einheitsfrontlied", written by Bertholt Brecht: "Drum links, zwei, drei! Drum links, zwei, drei! / Wo dein Platz, Genosse ist! / Reih dich ein, in die Arbeitereinheitsfront / Weil du auch ein Arbeiter bist". (Then left, two, three! Then left, two, three! / Here's the place, Comrade, for you! / So fall in with the Workers’ United Front / For you are a worker too.) Another key lyric expressing the band's allegiance to the left paraphrases the titles of newspaper columns published side by side for several years in the German newspaper "Bild": "Mein Herz schlägt links" ("My heart beats on the left") by The Left Party co-chair and former Social Democratic Party of Germany chair Oskar Lafontaine, and "Mein Herz schlägt auf dem rechten Fleck" ("My heart beats in the right place") by Peter Gauweiler of the conservative Christian Social Union. Lorenz stated that the song was created to show the band could write a harsh, evil, military-sounding song without being Nazis.
The band also wrote the song "Amerika" as a critique of the worldwide cultural and political imperialism of the United States. In their book "Envisioning Social Justice in Contemporary German Culture", Jill E. Twark and Axel Hildebrandt found that the song's text and most of its video's images point toward a critique of America's cultural imperialism, political propaganda, and self-assumed role as global police force. The song responds critically to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. They also found that another song of theirs that is critical of the United States is "Mein Land", believing that it critiques American racism and nationalism.
During the Eastern European leg of their Europe Stadium Tour, the band showed support for the LGBTQ community on several occasions. At a concert in Chorzów on 24 July 2019, drummer Christoph Schneider surfed the crowd in a rubber boat, holding a rainbow flag. At their concert in Moscow five days later, guitarists Kruspe and Landers kissed onstage, while they embraced each other during a concert in Saint Petersburg on 2 August. The band's support for gay rights was met with criticism in Russia. Vitaly Milonov, a member of the State Duma called the band "idiots" and said: "If they think it possible to behave in such a way, they should also consider it possible to keep this garbage away from us."
Since their formation in 1994, Rammstein have had no changes in their line-up. Richard Kruspe had said in a "Revolver Magazine" interview that it is because of the band respecting each other's wishes to take a break, either for personal reasons or to focus on a side project. Members of the band have had side projects that they take part in during Rammstein's inactivity. Kruspe currently fronts the group Emigrate while Till Lindemann began his project Lindemann in 2015.
Studio albums
Übersicht über alle Echo – Preisträger seit 1992 (German. Retrieved 24 December 2010) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25661 |
Robert Falcon Scott
Robert Falcon Scott (6 June 1868 – c. 29 March 1912) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the "Discovery" expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated "Terra Nova" expedition of 1910–1913. On the first expedition, he set a new southern record by marching to latitude 82°S and discovered the Antarctic Plateau, on which the South Pole is located. On the second venture, Scott led a party of five which reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912, less than five weeks after Amundsen's South Pole expedition.
A planned meeting with supporting dog teams from the base camp failed, despite Scott's written instructions, and at a distance of 162 miles (261 km) from their base camp at Hut Point and approximately 12.5 miles (20 km) from the next depot, Scott and his companions died. When Scott and his party's bodies were discovered, they had in their possession the first Antarctic fossils ever discovered. The fossils were determined to be from the "Glossopteris" tree and proved that Antarctica was once forested and joined to other continents.
Before his appointment to lead the "Discovery" expedition, Scott had followed the career of a naval officer in the Royal Navy. In 1899, he had a chance encounter with Sir Clements Markham, the president of the Royal Geographical Society, and thus learned of a planned Antarctic expedition, which he soon volunteered to lead. Having taken this step, his name became inseparably associated with the Antarctic, the field of work to which he remained committed during the final 12 years of his life.
Following the news of his death, Scott became a celebrated hero, a status reflected by memorials erected across the UK. However, in the last decades of the 20th century, questions were raised about his competence and character. Commentators in the 21st century have regarded Scott more positively after assessing the temperature drop below in March 1912, and after re-discovering Scott's written orders of October 1911, in which he had instructed the dog teams to meet and assist him on the return trip.
Scott was born on 6 June 1868, the third of six children and elder son of John Edward, a brewer and magistrate, and Hannah (née Cuming) Scott of Stoke Damerel, near Devonport. There were also naval and military traditions in the family, Scott's grandfather and four uncles all having served in the army or navy. John Scott's prosperity came from the ownership of a small Plymouth brewery which he had inherited from his father and subsequently sold. Scott's early childhood years were spent in comfort, but some years later, when he was establishing his naval career, the family suffered serious financial misfortune.
In accordance with the family's tradition, Scott and his younger brother Archie were predestined for careers in the armed services. Scott spent four years at a local day school before being sent to Stubbington House School in Hampshire, a cramming establishment that prepared candidates for the entrance examinations to the naval training ship at Dartmouth. Having passed these exams Scott began his naval career in 1881, as a 13-year-old cadet.
In July 1883, Scott passed out of "Britannia" as a midshipman, seventh overall in a class of 26. By October, he was en route to South Africa to join , the flagship of the Cape squadron, the first of several ships on which he served during his midshipman years. While stationed in St Kitts, West Indies, on , he had his first encounter with Clements Markham, then Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society, who would loom large in Scott's later career. On this occasion, 1 March 1887, Markham observed Midshipman Scott's cutter winning that morning's race across the bay. Markham's habit was to "collect" likely young naval officers with a view to their undertaking polar exploration work in the future. He was impressed by Scott's intelligence, enthusiasm and charm, and the 18-year-old midshipman was duly noted.
In March 1888 Scott passed his examinations for sub-lieutenant, with four first class certificates out of five. His career progressed smoothly, with service on various ships and promotion to lieutenant in 1889. In 1891, after a long spell in foreign waters, he applied for the two-year torpedo training course on , an important career step. He graduated with first class certificates in both the theory and practical examinations. A small blot occurred in the summer of 1893 when, while commanding a torpedo boat, Scott ran it aground, a mishap which earned him a mild rebuke.
During the research for his dual biography of Scott and Roald Amundsen, polar historian Roland Huntford investigated a possible scandal in Scott's early naval career, related to the period 1889–1890 when Scott was a lieutenant on . According to Huntford, Scott "disappears from naval records" for eight months, from mid-August 1889 until 26 March 1890. Huntford hints at involvement with a married American woman, a cover-up, and protection by senior officers. Biographer David Crane reduces the missing period to eleven weeks, but is unable to clarify further. He rejects the notion of protection by senior officers on the grounds that Scott was not important or well-connected enough to warrant this. Documents that may have offered explanations are missing from Admiralty records.
In 1894, while serving as torpedo officer on the depot ship , Scott learned of the financial calamity that had overtaken his family. John Scott, having sold the brewery and invested the proceeds unwisely, had lost all his capital and was now virtually bankrupt. At the age of 63, and in poor health, he was forced to take a job as a brewery manager and move his family to Shepton Mallet, Somerset. Three years later, while Robert was serving with the Channel squadron flagship , John Scott died of heart disease, creating a fresh family crisis. Hannah Scott and her two unmarried daughters now relied entirely on the service pay of Scott and the salary of younger brother Archie, who had left the army for a higher-paid post in the colonial service. Archie's own death in the autumn of 1898, after contracting typhoid fever, meant that the whole financial responsibility for the family rested on Scott.
Promotion, and the extra income this would bring, now became a matter of considerable concern to Scott. In the Royal Navy however, opportunities for career advancement were both limited and keenly sought after by ambitious officers. Early in June 1899, while home on leave, he had a chance encounter in a London street with Clements Markham, who was now knighted and President of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), and learned for the first time of an impending Antarctic expedition with , under the auspices of the RGS. It was the opportunity for early command and a chance to distinguish himself, rather than any predilection for polar exploration which motivated Scott, according to Crane. What passed between them on this occasion is not recorded, but a few days later, on 11 June, Scott appeared at the Markham residence and volunteered to lead the expedition.
The British National Antarctic Expedition, later known as the "Discovery" Expedition, was a joint enterprise of the RGS and the Royal Society. A long-cherished dream of Markham's, it required all of his skills and cunning to bring the expedition to fruition, under naval command and largely staffed by naval personnel. Scott may not have been Markham's first choice as leader but, having decided on him, the older man remained a constant supporter. There were committee battles over the scope of Scott's responsibilities, with the Royal Society pressing to put a scientist in charge of the expedition's programme while Scott merely commanded the ship. Eventually, however, Markham's view prevailed; Scott was given overall command, and was promoted to the rank of commander before sailed for the Antarctic on 6 August 1901. King Edward VII, who showed a keen interest in the expedition, visited the "Discovery" the day before the ship left British shores in August 1901, and during the visit appointed Scott a Member of the Royal Victorian Order, his personal gift.
Experience of Antarctic or Arctic waters was almost entirely lacking within the 50-strong party and there was very little special training in equipment or techniques before the ship set sail. Dogs were taken, as were skis, but the dogs succumbed to disease in the first season. Nevertheless, the dogs' performance impressed Scott, and, despite moral qualms, he implemented the principle of slaughtering dogs for dog-food to increase their range. During an early attempt at ice travel, a blizzard trapped expedition members in their tent and their decision to leave it resulted in the death of George Vince, who slipped over a precipice on 11 March 1902.
The expedition had both scientific and exploration objectives; the latter included a long journey south, in the direction of the South Pole. This march, undertaken by Scott, Ernest Shackleton and Edward Wilson, took them to a latitude of 82°17′S, about 530 miles (853 km) from the pole. A harrowing return journey brought about Shackleton's physical collapse and his early departure from the expedition. The second year showed improvements in technique and achievement, culminating in Scott's western journey which led to the discovery of the Polar Plateau. This has been described by one writer as "one of the great polar journeys". The scientific results of the expedition included important biological, zoological and geological findings. Some of the meteorological and magnetic readings, however, were later criticised as amateurish and inaccurate.
At the end of the expedition it took the combined efforts of two relief ships and the use of explosives to free "Discovery" from the ice. Scott's insistence during the expedition on Royal Navy formalities had made for uneasy relations with the merchant navy contingent, many of whom departed for home with the first relief ship in March 1903. Second-in-command Albert Armitage, a merchant officer, was offered the chance to go home on compassionate grounds, but interpreted the offer as a personal slight, and refused. Armitage also promoted the idea that the decision to send Shackleton home on the relief ship arose from Scott's animosity rather than Shackleton's physical breakdown. Although there was later tension between Scott and Shackleton, when their polar ambitions directly clashed, mutual civilities were preserved in public; Scott joined in the official receptions that greeted Shackleton on his return in 1909 after the Nimrod Expedition, and the two exchanged polite letters about their respective ambitions in 1909–1910.
"Discovery" returned to Britain in September 1904. The expedition had caught the public imagination, and Scott became a popular hero. He was awarded a cluster of honours and medals, including many from overseas, and was promoted to the rank of captain. He was invited to Balmoral Castle, where King Edward VII promoted him a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.
Scott's next few years were crowded. For more than a year he was occupied with public receptions, lectures and the writing of the expedition record, "The Voyage of the Discovery". In January 1906, he resumed his full-time naval career, first as an Assistant Director of Naval Intelligence at the Admiralty and, in August, as flag-captain to Rear-Admiral Sir George Egerton on . He was now moving in ever more exalted social circles – a telegram to Markham in February 1907 refers to meetings with Queen Amélie of Orléans and Luis Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal, and a later letter home reports lunching with the Commander-in-Chief of the Fleet and Prince Heinrich of Prussia. The telegram related to a collision involving Scott's ship, . Scott was cleared of blame. , a battleship commanded by Scott, collided with the battleship on 11 February 1907, suffering minor bow damage.
By early 1906, Scott queried the RGS about the possible funding of a future Antarctic expedition. It was therefore unwelcome news to him that Ernest Shackleton had announced his own plans to travel to "Discovery"s old McMurdo Sound base and launch a bid for the South Pole from there. Scott claimed, in the first of a series of letters to Shackleton, that the area around McMurdo was his own "field of work" to which he had prior rights until he chose to give them up, and that Shackleton should therefore work from an entirely different area. In this, he was strongly supported by "Discovery"s former zoologist, Edward Wilson, who asserted that Scott's rights extended to the entire Ross Sea sector. This Shackleton refused to concede.
According to a letter written to Standfords bookshop owner Edward Standford, Scott seemed to take offense with a map that was published that had shown how far south Scott and Shackleton traveled during the Discovery Expedition. Scott implied in this letter, dated in 1907 and discovered in the shop archives in 2018, that having the two men's names together on this map indicated that there was "dual leadership" between Scott and Shackleton which was "not in accordance with fact." After the owner replied back with an apology to the issue, Scott expressed his regret at the nature of the previous letter and stated, "I tried to be impartial in giving credit to my companions who one and all laboured honestly and well as I have endeavoured to record...I understand now of course that you had no personal knowledge of the wording and I must express regret that I failed to realise your identity when I first wrote."
Finally, to end the impasse, Shackleton agreed, in a letter to Scott dated 17 May 1907, to work to the east of the 170°W meridian and therefore to avoid all the familiar "Discovery" ground. In the end it was a promise that he was unable to keep after his search for alternative landing grounds proved fruitless. With his only other option being to return home, he set up his headquarters at Cape Royds, close to the old "Discovery" base. For this he was roundly condemned by the British polar establishment at the time.
Among modern polar writers, Ranulph Fiennes regards Shackleton's actions as a technical breach of honour, but adds: "My personal belief is that Shackleton was basically honest but circumstances forced his McMurdo landing, much to his distress." The polar historian Beau Riffenburgh states that the promise to Scott "should never ethically have been demanded," and compares Scott's intransigence on this matter unfavourably with the generous attitudes of the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen, who gave freely of his advice and expertise to all, whether they were potential rivals or not.
Scott, who because of his "Discovery" fame had entered Edwardian society, first met Kathleen Bruce early in 1907 at a private luncheon party. She was a sculptor, socialite and cosmopolitan who had studied under Auguste Rodin and whose circle included Isadora Duncan, Pablo Picasso and Aleister Crowley. Her initial meeting with Scott was brief, but when they met again later that year, the mutual attraction was obvious. A stormy courtship followed; Scott was not her only suitor—his main rival was would-be novelist Gilbert Cannan—and his absences at sea did not assist his cause. However, Scott's persistence was rewarded and, on 2 September 1908, at the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace, the wedding took place. Their only child, Peter Markham Scott, born 14 September 1909, was to found the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
Shackleton returned from the Antarctic having narrowly failed to reach the Pole, and this gave Scott the impetus to proceed with plans for his second Antarctic expedition. On 24 March 1909, he took the Admiralty-based appointment of naval assistant to the Second Sea Lord which placed him conveniently in London. In December, he was released on half-pay, to take up the full-time command of the British Antarctic Expedition 1910, to be known as the "Terra Nova" expedition from its ship, .
It was the expressed hope of the RGS that this expedition would be "scientific primarily, with exploration and the Pole as secondary objects" but, unlike the "Discovery" expedition, neither they nor the Royal Society were in charge this time. In his expedition prospectus, Scott stated that its main objective was "to reach the South Pole, and to secure for the British Empire the honour of this achievement". Scott had, as Markham observed, been "bitten by the Pole mania".
In a memorandum of 1908, Scott presented his view that man-hauling to the South Pole was impossible and that motor traction was needed. Snow vehicles did not yet exist however, and so his engineer Reginald Skelton developed the idea of a caterpillar track for snow surfaces. In the middle of 1909 Scott realised that motors were unlikely to get him all the way to the Pole, and decided additionally to take horses (based on Shackleton's near success in attaining the Pole, using ponies), and dogs and skis after consultation with Nansen during trials of the motors in Norway in March 1910. Man-hauling would still be needed on the Polar Plateau, on the assumption that motors and animals could not ascend the crevassed Beardmore Glacier.
Dog expert Cecil Meares was going to Siberia to select the dogs, and Scott ordered that, while he was there, he should deal with the purchase of Manchurian ponies. Meares was not an experienced horse-dealer, and the ponies he chose proved mostly of poor quality, and ill-suited to prolonged Antarctic work. Meanwhile, Scott also recruited Bernard Day, from Shackleton's expedition, as his motor expert.
On 15 June 1910, Scott's ship, "Terra Nova", an old converted whaler, set sail from Cardiff, South Wales. Scott meanwhile was fundraising in Britain and joined the ship later in South Africa. Arriving in Melbourne, Australia in October 1910, Scott received a telegram from Amundsen stating: "Beg leave to inform you "Fram" proceeding Antarctic Amundsen," possibly indicating that Scott faced a race to the pole.
The expedition suffered a series of early misfortunes which hampered the first season's work and impaired preparations for the main polar march. On its journey from New Zealand to the Antarctic, "Terra Nova" nearly sank in a storm and was then trapped in pack ice for 20 days, far longer than other ships had experienced, which meant a late-season arrival and less time for preparatory work before the Antarctic winter. At Cape Evans, Antarctica, one of the motor sledges was lost during its unloading from the ship, breaking through the sea ice and sinking.
Deteriorating weather conditions and weak, unacclimatised ponies affected the initial depot-laying journey, so that the expedition's main supply point, One Ton Depot, was laid north of its planned location at 80°S. Lawrence Oates, in charge of the ponies, advised Scott to kill ponies for food and advance the depot to 80°S, which Scott refused to do. Oates is reported as saying to Scott, "Sir, I'm afraid you'll come to regret not taking my advice." Four ponies died during this journey either from the cold or because they slowed the team down and were shot.
On its return to base, the expedition learned of the presence of Amundsen, camped with his crew and a large contingent of dogs in the Bay of Whales, 200 miles (322 km) to their east. Scott conceded that his ponies would not be able to start early enough in the season to compete with Amundsen's cold-tolerant dog teams for the pole, and also acknowledged that the Norwegian's base was closer to the pole by 69 miles (111 km).
Wilson was more hopeful, whereas Gran shared Scott's concern. Shortly afterwards, the death toll among the ponies increased to six, three drowning when sea-ice unexpectedly disintegrated, casting in doubt the possibility of reaching the pole at all. However, during the 1911 winter Scott's confidence increased; on 2 August, after the return of a three-man party from their winter journey to Cape Crozier, Scott wrote, "I feel sure we are as near perfection as experience can direct".
Scott outlined his plans for the southern journey to the entire shore party, leaving open who would form the final polar team, according to their performance during the polar travel. Eleven days before Scott's teams set off towards the pole, Scott gave the dog driver Meares the following written orders at Cape Evans dated 20 October 1911 to secure Scott's speedy return from the pole using dogs:
The march south began on 1 November 1911, a caravan of mixed transport groups (motors, dogs, horses), with loaded sledges, travelling at different rates, all designed to support a final group of four men who would make a dash for the Pole. The southbound party steadily reduced in size as successive support teams turned back. Scott reminded the returning Surgeon-Lieutenant Atkinson of the order "to take the two dog-teams south in the event of Meares having to return home, as seemed likely". By 4 January 1912, the last two four-man groups had reached 87°34′S. Scott announced his decision: five men—himself, Wilson, Bowers, Oates and E. Evans) would go forward, the other three (Teddy Evans, William Lashly and Tom Crean) would return. The chosen group marched on, reaching the Pole on 17 January, only to find that Amundsen had preceded them by five weeks. Scott's anguish is indicated in his diary: "The worst has happened [...] All the day dreams must go [...] Great God! This is an awful place".
The deflated party began the 862 mile (1387 km) return journey on 19 January. "I'm afraid the return journey is going to be dreadfully tiring and monotonous", wrote Scott on that day. The party made good progress despite poor weather, and had completed the Polar Plateau stage of their journey, approximately 300 miles (483 km), by 7 February. In the following days, as the party made the 100 mile (161 km) descent of the Beardmore Glacier, the physical condition of Edgar Evans, which Scott had noted with concern as early as 23 January, declined sharply. A fall on 4 February had left Evans "dull and incapable," and on 17 February, after another fall, he died near the glacier foot. With 400 miles (644 km) still to travel across the Ross Ice Shelf, Scott's party's prospects steadily worsened as, with deteriorating weather, a puzzling lack of fuel in the depots, hunger and exhaustion, they struggled northward.
Meanwhile, back at Cape Evans, the "Terra Nova" arrived at the beginning of February, and Atkinson decided to unload the supplies from the ship with his own men rather than set out south with the dogs to meet Scott as ordered. When Atkinson finally did leave south for the planned rendezvous with Scott, he encountered the scurvy-ridden Edward ("Teddy") Evans who needed urgent medical attention. Atkinson therefore tried to send the experienced navigator Wright south to meet Scott, but chief meteorologist Simpson declared he needed Wright for scientific work. Atkinson then decided to send the short-sighted Cherry-Garrard on 25 February, who was not able to navigate, only as far as One Ton depot (which is within sight of Mount Erebus), effectively cancelling Scott's orders for meeting him at latitude 82 or 82.30 on 1 March.
On the return journey from the Pole, Scott reached the 82°S meeting point for the dog teams, 300 miles (483 km) from Hut Point, three days ahead of schedule, noting in his diary for 27 February 1912, "We are naturally always discussing possibility of meeting dogs, where and when, etc. It is a critical position. We may find ourselves in safety at the next depot, but there is a horrid element of doubt." On 2 March, Oates began to suffer from the effects of frostbite and the party's progress slowed as he was increasingly unable to assist in the workload, eventually only able to drag himself alongside the men pulling the sledge. By 10 March the temperature had dropped unexpectedly to below .
In a farewell letter to Sir Edgar Speyer, dated 16 March, Scott wondered whether he had overshot the meeting point and fought the growing suspicion that he had in fact been abandoned by the dog teams: "We very nearly came through, and it's a pity to have missed it, but lately I have felt that we have overshot our mark. No-one is to blame and I hope no attempt will be made to suggest that we had lacked support." On the same day, Oates, whose toes had become frostbitten, voluntarily left the tent and walked to his death. Scott wrote that Oates' last words were "I am just going outside and may be some time".
After walking farther despite Scott's toes now becoming frostbitten, the three remaining men made their final camp on 19 March, approximately 12.5 miles (20 km) short of One Ton Depot. The next day a fierce blizzard prevented their making any progress. During the next nine days, as their supplies ran out, and with storms still raging outside the tent, Scott and his companions wrote their farewell letters. Scott gave up his diary after 23 March, save for a final entry on 29 March, with its concluding words: "Last entry. For God's sake look after our people". He left letters to Wilson's mother, Bowers' mother, a string of notables including his former commander, Sir George Egerton, his own mother and his wife.
He also wrote his "Message to the Public", primarily a vindication of the expedition's organisation and conduct in which the party's failure is attributed to weather and other misfortunes, but ending on an inspirational note, with these words:
Scott is presumed to have died on 29 March 1912, or possibly one day later. The positions of the bodies in the tent when it was discovered eight months later suggested that Scott was the last of the three to die.
The bodies of Scott and his companions were discovered by a search party on 12 November 1912 and their records retrieved. Tryggve Gran, who was part of the search party, described the scene as, "snowcovered til up above the door, with Scott in the middle, half out of his ... the frost had made the skin yellow & transparent & I’ve never seen anything worse in my life." Their final camp became their tomb; the tent roof was lowered over the bodies and a high cairn of snow was erected over it, topped by a roughly fashioned cross, erected using Gran's skis. Next to their bodies lay of "Glossopteris" tree fossils which they had dragged on hand sledges. These were the first ever discovered Antarctic fossils and proved that Antarctica had once been warm and connected to other continents.
In January 1913, before "Terra Nova" left for home, a large wooden cross was made by the ship's carpenters, inscribed with the names of the lost party and Tennyson's line from his poem "Ulysses": "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield", and was erected as a permanent memorial on Observation Hill, overlooking Hut Point.
The world was informed of the tragedy when "Terra Nova" reached Oamaru, New Zealand, on 10 February 1913. Within days, Scott became a national icon. A nationalistic spirit was aroused; the "London Evening News" called for the story to be read to schoolchildren throughout the land, to coincide with the memorial service at St Paul's Cathedral on 14 February. Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts Association, asked: "Are Britons going downhill? No! ... There is plenty of pluck and spirit left in the British after all. Captain Scott and Captain Oates have shown us that".
The expedition's survivors were suitably honoured on their return, with polar medals and promotions for the naval personnel. In place of the knighthood that might have been her husband's had he survived, Kathleen Scott was granted the rank and precedence of a widow of a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. In 1922, she married Edward Hilton Young, later Lord Kennet, and remained a doughty defender of Scott's reputation until her death, aged 69, in 1947.
An article in "The Times", reporting on the glowing tributes paid to Scott in the New York press, claimed that both Amundsen and Shackleton were "[amazed] to hear that such a disaster could overtake a well-organized expedition". On learning the details of Scott's death, Amundsen is reported to have said, "I would gladly forgo any honour or money if thereby I could have saved Scott his terrible death". Scott was the better wordsmith of the two, and the story that spread throughout the world was largely that told by him, with Amundsen's victory reduced in the eyes of many to an unsporting stratagem.
The response to Scott's final plea on behalf of the dependents of the dead was enormous by the standards of the day. The Mansion House Scott Memorial Fund closed at . This was not equally distributed; Scott's widow, son, mother and sisters received a total of . Wilson's widow received and Bowers's mother received . Edgar Evans's widow, children, and mother received between them.
In the dozen years following the tragedy, more than 30 monuments and memorials were set up in Britain alone. These ranged from simple relics—e.g. Scott's sledging flag in Exeter Cathedral—to the foundation of the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge. Many more were established in other parts of the world, including a statue sculpted by Scott's widow for his New Zealand base in Christchurch.
Scott's reputation survived the period after World War II, beyond the 50th anniversary of his death. In 1948, the film "Scott of the Antarctic" was released in cinemas and was the third most popular film in Britain the following year. It portrays the team spirit of the expedition and the harsh Antarctic environment, but also includes critical scenes such as Scott regarding his broken down motors and ruefully remembering Nansen's advice to take only dogs. Evans and Cherry-Garrard were the only surviving expedition members to refuse participation in the film, but both re-published their respective books in its wake.
In 1966, Reginald Pound, the first biographer given access to Scott's original sledging journal, revealed personal failings which cast a new light on Scott, although Pound continued to endorse his heroism, writing of "a splendid sanity that would not be subdued". Another book critical of Scott, David Thomson's "Scott's Men", was released in 1977. In Thomson's view, Scott was not a great man, "at least, not until near the end"; his planning is described as "haphazard" and "flawed", his leadership characterised by lack of foresight. Thus by the late 1970s, in Jones's words, "Scott's complex personality had been revealed and his methods questioned".
In 1979 came the first extreme attack on Scott, from Roland Huntford's dual biography "Scott and Amundsen" in which Scott is depicted as a "heroic bungler". Huntford's thesis had an immediate impact, becoming the contemporary orthodoxy. After Huntford's book, several other mostly negative books about Captain Scott were published; Francis Spufford, in a 1996 history not wholly antagonistic to Scott, refers to "devastating evidence of bungling", concluding that "Scott doomed his companions, then covered his tracks with rhetoric". Travel writer Paul Theroux summarised Scott as "confused and demoralised ... an enigma to his men, unprepared and a bungler". This decline in Scott's reputation was accompanied by a corresponding rise in that of his erstwhile rival Shackleton, at first in the United States but eventually in Britain as well. A 2002 nationwide poll in the United Kingdom to discover the "100 Greatest Britons" showed Shackleton in eleventh place, Scott well down the list at 54th.
The 21st century has seen a shift of opinion in Scott's favour, in what cultural historian Stephanie Barczewski calls "a revision of the revisionist view". Meteorologist Susan Solomon's 2001 account "The Coldest March" ties the fate of Scott's party to the extraordinarily adverse Barrier weather conditions of February and March 1912 rather than to personal or organisational failings and, while not entirely questioning any criticism of Scott, Solomon principally characterises the criticism as the "Myth of Scott as a bungler".
In 2005 David Crane published a new Scott biography in which he comes to the conclusion that Scott is possibly the only figure in polar history except Lawrence Oates "so wholly obscured by legend". According to Barczewski, he goes some way towards an assessment of Scott "free from the baggage of earlier interpretations". What has happened to Scott's reputation, Crane argues, derives from the way the world has changed since the "hopeless heroism and obscene waste" of the First World War. At the time of Scott's death, people clutched at the proof he gave that the qualities that once made Britain great were not extinct, but with the knowledge of what lay only two years ahead, the ideals of duty, self-sacrifice, discipline, patriotism and hierarchy associated with his tragedy take on a different and more sinister colouring.
Crane's main achievement, according to Barczewski, is the restoration of Scott's humanity, "far more effectively than either Fiennes's stridency or Solomon's scientific data." "Daily Telegraph" columnist Jasper Rees, likening the changes in explorers' reputations to climatic variations, suggests that "in the current Antarctic weather report, Scott is enjoying his first spell in the sun for twenty-five years". The "New York Times Book Review" was more critical, pointing out Crane's support for Scott's account regarding the circumstances of the freeing of the "Discovery" from the pack ice, and concluded that "For all the many attractions of his book, David Crane offers no answers that convincingly exonerate Scott from a significant share of responsibility for his own demise."
In 2012, Karen May published her discovery that Scott had issued written orders, before his march to the Pole, for Meares to meet the returning party with dog-teams, in contrast to Huntford's assertion in 1979 that Scott issued those vital instructions only as a casual oral order to Evans during the march to the Pole. According to May, "Huntford's scenario was pure invention based on an error; it has led a number of polar historians down a regrettable false trail". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25662 |
Raymond Chandler
Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Great Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in 1933 in "Black Mask," a popular pulp magazine. His first novel, "The Big Sleep", was published in 1939. In addition to his short stories, Chandler published seven novels during his lifetime (an eighth, in progress at the time of his death, was completed by Robert B. Parker). All but "Playback" have been made into motion pictures, some more than once. In the year before his death, he was elected president of the Mystery Writers of America.
Chandler had an immense stylistic influence on American popular literature. He is considered to be a founder of the hard-boiled school of detective fiction, along with Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain and other "Black Mask" writers. The protagonist of his novels, Philip Marlowe, like Hammett's Sam Spade, is considered by some to be synonymous with "private detective". Both were played in films by Humphrey Bogart, whom many consider to be the quintessential Marlowe.
At least three of Chandler's novels have been regarded as masterpieces: "Farewell, My Lovely" (1940), "The Little Sister" (1949), and "The Long Goodbye" (1953). "The Long Goodbye" was praised in an anthology of American crime stories as "arguably the first book since Hammett's "The Glass Key", published more than twenty years earlier, to qualify as a serious and significant mainstream novel that just happened to possess elements of mystery". Chandler's reputation has grown in recent years.
Chandler was born in 1888 in Chicago, the son of Florence Dart (Thornton) and Maurice Benjamin Chandler. He spent his early years in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, living with his mother and father near his cousins and his aunt (his mother's sister) and uncle. Chandler's father, an alcoholic civil engineer who worked for the railway, abandoned the family. To obtain the best possible education for Ray, his mother, originally from Ireland, moved them to the area of Upper Norwood in what is now the London Borough of Croydon in 1900. Another uncle, a successful lawyer in Waterford, Ireland, reluctantly supported them
while they lived with Chandler's maternal grandmother. Raymond was a first cousin to the actor Max Adrian, a founder member of the Royal Shakespeare Company; Max's mother Mabel was a sister of Florence Thornton. Chandler was classically educated at Dulwich College, London (a public school whose alumni include the authors P. G. Wodehouse and C. S. Forester). He spent some of his childhood summers in Waterford with his mother's family. He did not go to university, instead spending time in Paris and Munich improving his foreign language skills. In 1907, he was naturalized as a British subject in order to take the civil service examination, which he passed. He then took an Admiralty job, lasting just over a year. His first poem was published during that time.
Chandler disliked the servility of the civil service and resigned, to the consternation of his family, and became a reporter for the "Daily Express" and the Bristol "Western Gazette" newspapers. He was unsuccessful as a journalist, but he published reviews and continued writing romantic poetry. An encounter with the slightly older Richard Barham Middleton is said to have influenced him into postponing his career as writer. "I met... also a young, bearded, and sad-eyed man called Richard Middleton. ... Shortly afterwards he committed suicide in Antwerp, a suicide of despair, I should say. The incident made a great impression on me, because Middleton struck me as having far more talent than I was ever likely to possess; and if he couldn't make a go of it, it wasn't very likely that I could." Accounting for that time he said, "Of course in those days as now there were...clever young men who made a decent living as freelances for the numerous literary weeklies", but "I was distinctly not a clever young man. Nor was I at all a happy young man."
In 1912, he borrowed money from his Waterford uncle, who expected it to be repaid with interest, and returned to America, visiting his aunt and uncle before settling in San Francisco for a time, where he took a correspondence course in bookkeeping, finishing ahead of schedule. His mother joined him there in late 1912. Encouraged by Chandler's attorney/oilman friend Warren Lloyd, they moved to Los Angeles in 1913, where he strung tennis rackets, picked fruit and endured a time of scrimping and saving. He found steady employment with the Los Angeles Creamery. In 1917, he traveled to Vancouver where in August he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He saw combat in the trenches in France with the Gordon Highlanders, was twice hospitalized with Spanish flu during the pandemic and was undergoing flight training in the fledgling Royal Air Force (RAF) when the war ended.
After the armistice, he returned to Los Angeles by way of Canada, and soon began a love affair with Pearl Eugenie ("Cissy") Pascal, a married woman 18 years his senior and the stepmother of Gordon Pascal, with whom Chandler had enlisted. Cissy amicably divorced her husband, Julian, in 1920, but Chandler's mother disapproved of the relationship and refused to sanction the marriage. For the next four years Chandler supported both his mother and Cissy. After the death of Florence Chandler on September 26, 1923, he was free to marry Cissy. They were married on February 6, 1924. Having begun in 1922 as a bookkeeper and auditor, Chandler was by 1931 a highly paid vice president of the Dabney Oil Syndicate, but his alcoholism, absenteeism, promiscuity with female employees, and threatened suicides contributed to his dismissal a year later.
In straitened financial circumstances during the Great Depression, Chandler turned to his latent writing talent to earn a living, teaching himself to write pulp fiction by analyzing and imitating a novelette by Erle Stanley Gardner. Chandler's first professional work, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in "Black Mask" magazine in 1933. According to genre historian Herbert Ruhm, "Chandler, who worked slowly and painstakingly, revising again and again, had taken five months to write the story. Erle Stanley Gardner could turn out a pulp story in three or four days—and turned out an estimated one thousand."
His first novel, "The Big Sleep", was published in 1939, featuring the detective Philip Marlowe, speaking in the first person. In 1950, Chandler described in a letter to his English publisher, Hamish Hamilton, why he began reading pulp magazines and later wrote for them:
Wandering up and down the Pacific Coast in an automobile I began to read pulp magazines, because they were cheap enough to throw away and because I never had at any time any taste for the kind of thing which is known as women's magazines. This was in the great days of the "Black Mask" (if I may call them great days) and it struck me that some of the writing was pretty forceful and honest, even though it had its crude aspect. I decided that this might be a good way to try to learn to write fiction and get paid a small amount of money at the same time. I spent five months over an 18,000 word novelette and sold it for $180. After that I never looked back, although I had a good many uneasy periods looking forward.
His second Marlowe novel, "Farewell, My Lovely" (1940), became the basis for three movie versions adapted by other screenwriters, including the 1944 film "Murder My Sweet", which marked the screen debut of the Marlowe character, played by Dick Powell (whose depiction of Marlowe Chandler reportedly applauded). Literary success and film adaptations led to a demand for Chandler himself as a screenwriter. He and Billy Wilder co-wrote "Double Indemnity" (1944), based on James M. Cain's novel of the same title. The noir screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award. Said Wilder, "I would just guide the structure and I would also do a lot of the dialogue, and he (Chandler) would then comprehend and start constructing too." Wilder acknowledged that the dialogue which makes the film so memorable was largely Chandler's.
Chandler's only produced original screenplay was "The Blue Dahlia" (1946). He had not written a denouement for the script and, according to producer John Houseman, Chandler agreed to complete the script only if drunk and attended by round-the-clock secretaries and drivers, which Houseman agreed to. The script gained Chandler's second Academy Award nomination for screenplay.
Chandler collaborated on the screenplay of Alfred Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train" (1951), an ironic murder story based on Patricia Highsmith's novel, which he thought implausible. Chandler clashed with Hitchcock to such an extent that they stopped talking, especially after Hitchcock heard Chandler had referred to him as "that fat bastard". Hitchcock reportedly made a show of throwing Chandler's two draft screenplays into the studio trash can while holding his nose, but Chandler retained the lead screenwriting credit along with Czenzi Ormonde.
In 1946 the Chandlers moved to La Jolla, California, an affluent coastal neighborhood of San Diego, where Chandler wrote two more Philip Marlowe novels, "The Long Goodbye" and his last completed work, "Playback". The latter was derived from an unproduced courtroom drama screenplay he had written for Universal Studios.
Four chapters of a novel, unfinished at his death, were transformed into a final Philip Marlowe novel, "Poodle Springs", by the mystery writer and Chandler admirer Robert B. Parker, in 1989. Parker shares the authorship with Chandler. Parker subsequently wrote a sequel to "The Big Sleep" entitled "Perchance to Dream", which was salted with quotes from the original novel. Chandler's final Marlowe short story, circa 1957, was entitled "The Pencil". It later provided the basis of an episode of the HBO miniseries (1983–86), "Philip Marlowe, Private Eye", starring Powers Boothe as Marlowe.
In 2014, "The Princess and the Pedlar" (1917), a previously unknown comic operetta, with libretto by Chandler and music by Julian Pascal, was discovered among the uncatalogued holdings of the Library of Congress. The work was never published or produced. It has been dismissed by the Raymond Chandler estate as "no more than… a curiosity." A small team under the direction of the actor and director Paul Sand is seeking permission to produce the operetta in Los Angeles.
Cissy Chandler died in 1954, after a long illness. Heartbroken and drunk, Chandler neglected to inter her cremated remains, and they sat for 57 years in a storage locker in the basement of Cypress View Mausoleum.
After Cissy's death, Chandler's loneliness worsened his propensity for clinical depression; he returned to drinking alcohol, never quitting it for long, and the quality and quantity of his writing suffered. In 1955, he attempted suicide. In "The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved", Judith Freeman says it was "a cry for help," given that he called the police beforehand, saying he planned to kill himself. Chandler's personal and professional life were both helped and complicated by the women to whom he was attracted—notably Helga Greene, his literary agent; Jean Fracasse, his secretary; Sonia Orwell (George Orwell's widow); and Natasha Spender (Stephen Spender's wife). Chandler regained his U.S. citizenship in 1956, while retaining his British rights too.
After a respite in England, he returned to La Jolla. He died at Scripps Memorial Hospital of pneumonial peripheral vascular shock and prerenal uremia (according to the death certificate) in 1959. Helga Greene inherited Chandler's $60,000 estate, after prevailing in a 1960 lawsuit filed by Fracasse contesting Chandler's holographic codicil to his will.
Chandler is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery, in San Diego, California. As Frank MacShane noted in his biography, "The Life of Raymond Chandler", Chandler wished to be cremated and placed next to Cissy in Cypress View Mausoleum. Instead, he was buried in Mount Hope, because he had left no funeral or burial instructions.
In 2010, Chandler historian Loren Latker, with the assistance of attorney Aissa Wayne (daughter of John Wayne), brought a petition to disinter Cissy's remains and reinter them with Chandler in Mount Hope. After a hearing in September 2010 in San Diego Superior Court, Judge Richard S. Whitney entered an order granting Latker's request.
On February 14, 2011, Cissy's ashes were conveyed from Cypress View to Mount Hope and interred under a new grave marker above Chandler's, as they had wished. About 100 people attended the ceremony, which included readings by the Rev. Randal Gardner, Powers Boothe, Judith Freeman and Aissa Wayne. The shared gravestone reads, "Dead men are heavier than broken hearts", a quotation from "The Big Sleep". Chandler's original gravestone, placed by Jean Fracasse and her children, is still at the head of his grave; the new one is at the foot.
In his introduction to "Trouble Is My Business" (1950), a collection of four of his short stories, Chandler provided insight on the formula for the detective story and how the pulp magazines differed from previous detective stories:
Chandler also described the struggle that writers of pulp fiction had in following the formula demanded by the editors of the pulp magazines:
Critics and writers, including W. H. Auden, Evelyn Waugh and Ian Fleming, greatly admired Chandler's prose. In a radio discussion with Chandler, Fleming said that Chandler offered "some of the finest dialogue written in any prose today". Contemporary mystery writer Paul Levine has described Chandler's style as the "literary equivalent of a quick punch to the gut." Chandler's swift-moving, hardboiled style was inspired mostly by Dashiell Hammett, but his sharp and lyrical similes are original: "The muzzle of the Luger looked like the mouth of the Second Street tunnel"; "He had a heart as big as one of Mae West's hips"; "Dead men are heavier than broken hearts"; "I went back to the seasteps and moved down them as cautiously as a cat on a wet floor." Chandler's writing redefined the private eye fiction genre, led to the coining of the adjective "Chandleresque," and inevitably became the subject of parody and pastiche. Yet the detective Philip Marlowe is not a stereotypical tough guy, but a complex, sometimes sentimental man with few friends, who attended university, who speaks some Spanish and sometimes admires Mexicans, and who is a student of chess and classical music. He is a man who refuses a prospective client's fee for a job he considers unethical.
The high regard in which Chandler is generally held today is in contrast to the critical sniping that stung the author during his lifetime. In a March 1942 letter to Blanche Knopf, published in "Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler", he wrote, "The thing that rather gets me down is that when I write something that is tough and fast and full of mayhem and murder, I get panned for being tough and fast and full of mayhem and murder, and then when I try to tone down a bit and develop the mental and emotional side of a situation, I get panned for leaving out what I was panned for putting in the first time."
Although his work enjoys general acclaim today, Chandler has been criticized for certain aspects of his writing. The "Washington Post" reviewer Patrick Anderson described his plots as "rambling at best and incoherent at worst" (notoriously, even Chandler did not know who murdered the chauffeur in "The Big Sleep") and criticized Chandler's treatment of black, female, and homosexual characters, calling him a "rather nasty man at times". Anderson nevertheless praised Chandler as "probably the most lyrical of the major crime writers".
Chandler's short stories and novels are evocatively written, conveying the time, place and ambiance of Los Angeles and environs in the 1930s and 1940s. The places are real, if pseudonymous: Bay City is Santa Monica, Gray Lake is Silver Lake, and Idle Valley a synthesis of wealthy San Fernando Valley communities.
"Playback" is the only one of his novels not to have been cinematically adapted. Arguably the most notable adaptation is "The Big Sleep" (1946), by Howard Hawks, with Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe. William Faulkner was a co-writer of the screenplay. Chandler's few screenwriting efforts and the cinematic adaptation of his novels proved stylistically and thematically influential on the American "film noir" genre. Notable for its revised take on both the Marlowe character, transplanting the novel to the 1970s, is Robert Altman's 1973 neo-noir adaptation of "The Long Goodbye".
Chandler was also a perceptive critic of detective fiction; his essay "The Simple Art of Murder" is the canonical essay in the field.
British songwriter Robyn Hitchcock homaged Chandler in the song "Raymond Chandler Evening" on the 1986 album "Element of Light".
In the 11th issue of the influential Cyberpunk fanzine "Cheap Truth", Vincent Omniaveritas conducted a fictitious interview with Chandler. The interview opines that Chandler's views towards the potential for respectability in pulp and genre fiction could also be applied to Science Fiction, specifically the Cyberpunk movement. It also derides Chandler's now-famous 1953 caricature of pulp Science Fiction.
In the 2012 documentary, "The Doors: Mr. Mojo Risin'- The Story Of L.A. Woman," keyboardist, Ray Manzarek describes Jim Morrison's lyrics to "L.A. Woman," “Another lost angel in the city of night.” “The lyrics were so good. So Raymond Chandler, so Nathanael West, so 1930's, 40's, dark seemy side of Los Angeles. A place where Jim would easily go”.
In season 4, episode 18 of the sitcom "Friends", during a debate over whether or not to name one of Phoebe's triplets "Chandler" or "Joey," Joey challenges Chandler to "name one famous person named Chandler." Chandler replies with "Raymond Chandler," to which Joey responds, "Someone you didn't make up!"
The popular Japanese super hero show, Kamen Rider, referenced Raymond Chandler's "The Long Goodbye" in the 2009 series, Kamen Rider W. Kamen Rider W is a story of two detectives, Shotaro Hidari and Phillip, who become one when they transform into W, and battle criminals who are powered by drug like USBs called Gaia Memories. Phillip is named after Philip Marlowe, his name was chosen by Narumi Soukichi, Shotaro Hidari's mentor and fan of Chandler's "The Long Goodbye". Many episodes of the show reference the Hard Boiled style featured in Chandler's works. The Japanese version of the book can be seen prominently in "Kamen Rider X Kamen Rider W & Decade Movie Taisen 2010", as well as throughout the TV series on Shotaro's shelf, next to his desk where he writes his memoirs of cases in a wannabe hard boiled, half boiled style. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25663 |
Rosaceae
Rosaceae, the rose family, is a medium-sized family of flowering plants, including 4,828 known species in 91 genera.
The name is derived from the type genus "Rosa". Among the most species-rich genera are "Alchemilla" (270), "Sorbus" (260), "Crataegus" (260), "Cotoneaster" (260), "Rubus" (250), and "Prunus" (plums, cherries, peaches, apricots, and almonds) with about 200 species. However, all of these numbers should be seen as estimates – much taxonomic work remains.
The family Rosaceae includes herbs, shrubs, and trees. Most species are deciduous, but some are evergreen. They have a worldwide range, but are most diverse in the Northern Hemisphere.
Several economically important products come from the Rosaceae, including many edible fruits (such as apples, pears, quinces, apricots, plums, cherries, peaches, raspberries, loquats, and strawberries), almonds, and ornamental trees and shrubs (such as roses, meadowsweets, photinias, firethorns, rowans, and hawthorns).
The Rosaceae have a cosmopolitan distribution (found nearly everywhere except for Antarctica), but are primarily concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere in regions that are not desert or tropical rainforest.
The family was traditionally divided into six subfamilies: Rosoideae, Spiraeoideae, Maloideae (Pomoideae), Amygdaloideae (Prunoideae), Neuradoideae, and Chrysobalanoideae, and most of these were treated as families by various authors. More recently (1971), Chrysobalanoideae was placed in Malpighiales in molecular analyses and Neuradoideae has been assigned to Malvales. Schulze-Menz, in Engler's Syllabus edited by Melchior (1964) recognized Rosoideae, Dryadoideae, Lyonothamnoideae, Spireoideae, Amygdaloideae, and Maloideae. They were primarily diagnosed by the structure of the fruits. More recent work has identified that not all of these groups were monophyletic. Hutchinson (1964) and Kalkman (2004) recognized only tribes (17 and 21, respectively). Takhtajan (1997) delimited 21 tribes in 10 subfamilies: Filipenduloideae, Rosoideae, Ruboideae, Potentilloideae, Coleogynoideae, Kerroideae, Amygdaloideae (Prunoideae), Spireoideae, Maloideae (Pyroideae), Dichotomanthoideae. A more modern model comprises three subfamilies, one of which (Rosoideae) has largely remained the same.
While the boundaries of the Rosaceae are not disputed, there is not general agreement as to how many genera it contains. Areas of divergent opinion include the treatment of "Potentilla s.l." and "Sorbus s.l.". Compounding the problem is that apomixis is common in several genera. This results in an uncertainty in the number of species contained in each of these genera, due to the difficulty of dividing apomictic complexes into species. For example, "Cotoneaster" contains between 70 and 300 species, "Rosa" around 100 (including the taxonomically complex dog roses), "Sorbus" 100 to 200 species, "Crataegus" between 200 and 1,000, "Alchemilla" around 300 species, "Potentilla" roughly 500, and "Rubus" hundreds, or possibly even thousands of species.
The phylogenetic relationships between the three subfamilies within Rosaceae are unresolved. There are three competing hypotheses:
Amygdaloideae has been identified as the earliest branching subfamily by Chin "et al". (2014), Li "et al". (2015), Li "et al". (2016), and Sun "et al". (2016). Most recently Zhang "et al". (2017) recovered these relationships using whole plastid genomes:
The sister relationship between Dryadoideae and Rosoideae is supported by the following shared morphological characters not found in Amygdaloideae: presence of stipules, separation of the hypanthium from the ovary, and the fruits are usually achenes.
Dryadoideae has been identified as the earliest branching subfamily by Evans "et al". (2002) and Potter (2003). Most recently Xiang "et al". (2017) recovered these relationships using nuclear transcriptomes:
Rosoideae has been identified as the earliest branching subfamily by Morgan "et al". (1994), Evans (1999), Potter "et al". (2002), Potter "et al". (2007), Töpel "et al". (2012), and Chen "et al". (2016). The following is taken from Potter "et al". (2007):
The sister relationship between Amygdaloideae and Dryadoideae is supported by the following shared biochemical characters not found in Rosoideae: production of cyanogenic glycosides and production of sorbitol.
Rosaceae can be trees, shrubs, or herbaceous plants. The herbs are mostly perennials, but some annuals also exist.
The leaves are generally arranged spirally, but have an opposite arrangement in some species. They can be simple or pinnately compound (either odd- or even-pinnate). Compound leaves appear in around 30 genera. The leaf margin is most often serrate. Paired stipules are generally present, and are a primitive feature within the family, independently lost in many groups of Amygdaloideae (previously called Spiraeoideae). The stipules are sometimes adnate (attached surface to surface) to the petiole. Glands or extrafloral nectaries may be present on leaf margins or petioles. Spines may be present on the midrib of leaflets and the rachis of compound leaves.
Flowers of plants in the rose family are generally described as "showy". They are actinomorphic (i.e. radially symmetrical) and almost always hermaphroditic. Rosaceae generally have five sepals, five petals, and many spirally arranged stamens. The bases of the sepals, petals, and stamens are fused together to form a characteristic cup-like structure called a hypanthium. They can be arranged in racemes, spikes, or heads; solitary flowers are rare.
The fruits occur in many varieties and were once considered the main characters for the definition of subfamilies amongst Rosaceae, giving rise to a fundamentally artificial subdivision. They can be follicles, capsules, nuts, achenes, drupes ("Prunus"), and accessory fruits, like the pome of an apple, or the hip of a rose. Many fruits of the family are edible, but their seeds often contain amygdalin, which can release cyanide during digestion if the seed is damaged.
Identified clades include:
The rose family is arguably one of the six most economically important crop plant families,
and includes apples, pears, quinces, medlars, loquats, almonds, peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, sloes, and roses among the crop plants belonging to the family.
Many genera are also highly valued ornamental plants. These include trees and shrubs ("Cotoneaster", "Chaenomeles", "Crataegus", "Dasiphora", "Exochorda", "Kerria", "Photinia", "Physocarpus", "Prunus", "Pyracantha", "Rhodotypos", "Rosa", "Sorbus", "Spiraea"), herbaceous perennials ("Alchemilla", "Aruncus", "Filipendula", "Geum", "Potentilla", "Sanguisorba"), alpine plants ("Dryas", "Geum", "Potentilla") and climbers ("Rosa").
However, several genera are also introduced noxious weeds in some parts of the world, costing money to be controlled. These invasive plants can have negative impacts on the diversity of local ecosystems once established. Such naturalised pests include "Acaena", "Cotoneaster", "Crataegus", "Pyracantha", and "Rosa".
The family Rosaceae covers a wide range of trees, bushes and plants. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25665 |
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American political activist, author, lecturer, attorney, and presidential candidate, noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism and government reform causes.
The son of Lebanese immigrants to the United States, Nader was educated at Princeton and Harvard and first came to prominence in 1965 with the publication of the bestselling book "Unsafe at Any Speed", a highly influential critique of the safety record of American automobile manufacturers. Following the publication of "Unsafe at Any Speed", Nader led a group of volunteer law students—dubbed "Nader's Raiders"—in an investigation of the Federal Trade Commission, leading directly to that agency's overhaul and reform. In the 1970s, Nader leveraged his growing popularity to establish a number of advocacy and watchdog groups including the Public Interest Research Group, the Center for Auto Safety, and Public Citizen. Two of Nader's most notable targets were the Chevy Corvair and the Ford Pinto.
Nader's activism has been directly credited with the passage of several landmark pieces of American consumer protection legislation including the Clean Water Act, the Freedom of Information Act, the Consumer Product Safety Act, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Whistleblower Protection Act, and the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. He has been repeatedly named to lists of the "100 Most Influential Americans", including those published by "Life", "Time", and "The Atlantic".
Nader made four bids to become President of the United States, running with the Green Party in 1996 and 2000 and as an independent in 2004 and 2008. In each campaign, Nader said he sought to highlight under-reported issues and a perceived need for electoral reform. He received nearly 3 million votes during his 2000 candidacy, but also stirred controversy over allegations that his campaign helped Republican candidate George W. Bush win a close election against Democrat candidate Al Gore.
A two-time Nieman Fellow, Nader is the author or co-author of more than two dozen books, and was the subject of a documentary film on his life and work, "An Unreasonable Man", which debuted at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.
Ralph Nader was born on February 27, 1934, in Winsted, Connecticut, to Nathra and Rose (née Bouziane) Nader, both of whom were immigrants from Lebanon. After settling in Connecticut, Nathra Nader worked in a textile mill before opening a bakery and restaurant. Ralph Nader occasionally helped at his father's restaurant, as well as worked as a newspaper delivery boy for the local paper, the Winsted "Register Citizen".
Nader graduated from The Gilbert School in 1951, going on to attend Princeton University. Though he was offered a scholarship to Princeton, his father forced him to decline it on the grounds that the family was able to pay Nader's tuition and the funds should go to a student who could not afford it. Nader graduated "magna cum laude" and Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Arts from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 1955 after completing a senior thesis titled "Lebanese Agriculture."
After graduating from Princeton, Nader began studying at Harvard Law School, though he quickly became bored by his courses. While at Harvard, Nader would frequently skip classes to hitchhike across the U.S. where he would engage in field research on Native American issues and migrant worker rights. He earned a LL.B. from Harvard in 1958.
Nader identified with Libertarian philosophy in his youth, but gradually shifted away in his early 20s. Although Nader acknowledged that he "didn't like public housing because it disadvantaged landlords unfairly", his viewpoint changed when he "saw the slums and what landlords did".
After graduating from Harvard, Nader served in the U.S. Army as a cook and was posted to Fort Dix.
In 1959, Nader was admitted to the bar and began practice as a lawyer in Hartford, Connecticut, while also lecturing at the University of Hartford and traveling to the Soviet Union, Chile, and Cuba, where he filed dispatches for the "Christian Science Monitor" and "The Nation". In 1964, he moved to Washington, D.C., taking a position as a consultant to Assistant Secretary of Labor Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Nader was first propelled into the national spotlight with the 1965 publication of his journalistic exposé "Unsafe at Any Speed". Though he had previously expressed an interest in issues of automobile safety while a law student, "Unsafe at Any Speed" presented a critical dissection of the automotive industry by claiming that many American automobiles were generally unsafe to operate. Nader researched case files from more than 100 lawsuits then pending against General Motors' Chevrolet Corvair to support his assertions.
The book became an immediate bestseller, but also prompted a vicious backlash from General Motors (GM) who attempted to discredit Nader by tapping his phone in an attempt to uncover salacious information and, when that failed, hiring prostitutes in an attempt to catch him in a compromising situation. Nader, by then working as an unpaid consultant to United States Senator Abe Ribicoff, reported to the senator that he suspected he was being followed. Ribicoff convened an inquiry that called GM CEO James Roche who admitted, when placed under oath, that the company had hired a private detective agency to investigate Nader. Nader sued GM for invasion of privacy, settling the case for $425,000 and using the proceeds to found the activist organization known as the Center for the Study of Responsive Law.
A year following the publication of "Unsafe at Any Speed", Congress unanimously enacted the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John William McCormack said the passage of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act was due to the "crusading spirit of one individual who believed he could do something: Ralph Nader".
In 1968, Nader recruited seven volunteer law students, dubbed "Nader's Raiders" by the Washington press corps, to evaluate the efficacy and operation of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The group's ensuing report, which criticized the body as "ineffective" and "passive" led to an American Bar Association investigation of the FTC. Based on the results of that second study, Richard Nixon revitalized the agency and sent it on a path of vigorous consumer protection and antitrust enforcement for the rest of the 1970s.
Following the publication of the report, Nader founded the watchdog group Public Citizen in 1971 to engage in public interest lobbying and activism on issues of consumer rights. He also served on its board of directors until 1980.
By the early 1970s Nader had established himself as a household name. In a critical memo written by Lewis Powell to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Powell warned business representatives that Nader "has become a legend in his own time and an idol of millions of Americans".
Ralph Nader's name appeared in the press as a potential candidate for president for the first time in 1971, when he was offered the opportunity to run as the presidential candidate for the New Party, a progressive split-off from the Democratic Party. Chief among his advocates was author Gore Vidal, who touted a 1972 Nader presidential campaign in a front-page article in "Esquire" magazine in 1971. Nader declined the advances.
In 1973, Ralph Nader was plaintiff in the case against acting attorney general Robert Bork, who under orders of President Richard Nixon had fired special prosecutor Archibald Cox in the so-called Saturday Night Massacre, an action that was ultimately ruled illegal by federal judge Gerhard Gesell.
In 1974, he received the S. Roger Horchow Award for Greatest Public Service by a Private Citizen.
In the 1970s, Nader turned his attention to environmental activism, becoming a key leader in the antinuclear power movement, described by one observer as the "titular head of opposition to nuclear energy". The Critical Mass Energy Project was formed by Nader in 1974 as a national anti-nuclear umbrella group, growing to become the largest national anti-nuclear group in the United States, with several hundred local affiliates and an estimated 200,000 supporters. The organization's main efforts were directed at lobbying activities and providing local groups with scientific and other resources to campaign against nuclear power.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, through his ongoing work with Public Citizen, Nader continued to be involved in issues of consumer rights and public accountability. His work testifying before Congress, drafting model legislation, and organizing citizen letter-writing and protest efforts, earned him direct credit for the enactment of the Freedom of Information Act, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Clean Water Act, Consumer Product Safety Act, and Whistleblower Protection Act.
In the late 1990s, Nader would accuse Microsoft of being a monopoly. He would organize a conference featuring Microsoft's critics from the tech world.
In 1999, Nader was unsuccessfully approached by Nike to appear in an advertisement. The firm offered Nader $25,000 to say "another shameless attempt by Nike to sell shoes" while holding Air 120 sneakers. After Nader turned down the offer, the corporation hired filmmaker Spike Lee.
Ralph Nader's name appeared in the press as a potential candidate for president for the first time in 1971, when he was offered the opportunity to run as the presidential candidate for the New Party, a progressive split-off from the Democratic Party in 1972. Chief among his advocates was author Gore Vidal, who touted a 1972 Nader presidential campaign in a front-page article in "Esquire" magazine in 1971. Psychologist Alan Rockway organized a "draft Ralph Nader for President" campaign in Florida on the New Party's behalf. Nader declined their offer to run that year; the New Party ultimately joined with the People's Party in running Benjamin Spock in the 1972 presidential election. Spock had hoped Nader in particular would run, getting "some of the loudest applause of the evening" when mentioning him at the University of Alabama. Spock went on to try to recruit Nader for the party among over 100 others, and indicated he would be "delighted" to be replaced by any of them even after he accepted the nomination himself. Nader received one vote for the vice-presidential nomination at the 1972 Democratic National Convention.
Nader stood in as a write-in for "none of the above" in both the 1992 New Hampshire Democratic and Republican Primaries and received 3,054 of the 170,333 Democratic votes and 3,258 of the 177,970 Republican votes cast. He was also a candidate in the 1992 Massachusetts Democratic Primary, where he appeared at the top of the ballot (in some areas, he appeared on the ballot as an independent).
Nader was drafted as a candidate for President of the United States on the Green Party ticket during the 1996 presidential election. He was not formally nominated by the Green Party USA, which was, at the time, the largest national Green group; instead he was nominated independently by various state Green parties (in some states, he appeared on the ballot as an independent). However, many activists in the Green Party USA worked actively to campaign for Nader that year. Nader qualified for ballot status in 22 states, garnering 685,297 votes or 0.71% of the popular vote (fourth place overall), although the effort did make significant organizational gains for the party. He refused to raise or spend more than $5,000 on his campaign, presumably to avoid meeting the threshold for Federal Elections Commission reporting requirements; the unofficial Draft Nader committee could (and did) spend more than that, but the committee was legally prevented from coordinating in any way with Nader himself.
Nader received some criticism from gay rights supporters for calling gay rights "gonadal politics" and stating that he was not interested in dealing with such matters. In July 2004, however, he publicly stated that he supported same-sex marriage.
His 1996 running mates included: Anne Goeke (nine states), Deborah Howes (Oregon), Muriel Tillinghast (New York), Krista Paradise (Colorado), Madelyn Hoffman (New Jersey), Bill Boteler (Washington, D.C.), and Winona LaDuke (California and Texas).
In the 2006 documentary "An Unreasonable Man", Nader describes how he was unable to get the views of his public interest groups heard in Washington, even by the Clinton Administration. Nader cites this as one of the primary reasons that he decided to actively run in the 2000 election as candidate of the Green Party, which had been formed in the wake of his 1996 campaign.
In June 2000, The Association of State Green Parties (ASGP) organized the national nominating convention that took place in Denver, Colorado, at which Green Party delegates nominated Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke to be their party's candidates for president and vice president.
On July 9, the Vermont Progressive Party nominated Nader, giving him ballot access in the state. On August 12, the United Citizens Party of South Carolina chose Ralph Nader as its presidential nominee, giving him a ballot line in the state.
In October 2000, at the largest Super Rally of his campaign, held in New York City's Madison Square Garden, 15,000 people paid $20 each to hear Nader speak. Nader's campaign rejected both parties as institutions dominated by corporate interests, stating that Al Gore and George W. Bush were "Tweedledee and Tweedledum". A long list of notable celebrities spoke and performed at the event including Susan Sarandon, Ani DiFranco, Ben Harper, Tim Robbins, Michael Moore, Eddie Vedder and Patti Smith. The campaign also had some prominent union help: The California Nurses Association and the United Electrical Workers endorsed his candidacy and campaigned for him.
Nader and LaDuke received 2,883,105 votes, for 2.74 percent of the popular vote (third place overall), missing the 5 percent needed to qualify the Green Party for federally distributed public funding in the next election, yet qualifying the party for ballot status in many states.
Nader often openly expressed his hope for Bush's victory over Gore, saying it "would mobilize us", and that environmental and consumer regulatory agencies would fare better under Bush than Gore. When asked which of the two he'd vote for if forced, Nader answered "Bush ... If you want the parties to diverge from one another, have Bush win." As to whether he would feel regret if he caused Gore's defeat, Nader replied "I would not—not at all. I'd rather have a provocateur than an anesthetizer in the White House." On another occasion, Nader answered this question with: "No, not at all ... There may be a cold shower for four years that would help the Democratic Party ... It doesn't matter who is in the White House."
In the 2000 presidential election in Florida, George W. Bush defeated Al Gore by 537 votes. Nader received votes, which led to claims that he was responsible for Gore's defeat. Nader disputes that he helped Bush to win. A 2003 study found that Nader's candidacy was a critical factor in Bush's victory. A 2004 study found that Nader voters had the profile of likely voters with a preference for Democratic candidates. They were therefore likely to vote and to do so for Gore over Bush in the absence of Nader's candidacy.
A study by Harvard Professor B.C. Burden in 2005 showed Nader did "play a pivotal role in determining who would become president following the 2000 election", but that:
However, Jonathan Chait of "The American Prospect" and "The New Republic" notes that Nader did indeed focus on swing states disproportionately during the waning days of the campaign, and by doing so jeopardized his own chances of achieving the 5% of the vote he was aiming for.
Then there was the debate within the Nader campaign over where to travel in the waning days of the campaign. Some Nader advisers urged him to spend his time in uncontested states such as New York and California. These states – where liberals and leftists could entertain the thought of voting Nader without fear of aiding Bush – offered the richest harvest of potential votes. But, Martin writes, Nader – who emerges from this account as the house radical of his own campaign – insisted on spending the final days of the campaign on a whirlwind tour of battleground states such as Pennsylvania and Florida. In other words, he chose to go where the votes were scarcest, jeopardizing his own chances of winning 5 percent of the vote, which he needed to gain federal funds in 2004.
When Nader, in a letter to environmentalists, attacked Gore for "his role as broker of environmental voters for corporate cash," and "the prototype for the bankable, Green corporate politician," and what he called a string of broken promises to the environmental movement, Sierra Club president Carl Pope sent an open letter to Nader, dated 27 October 2000, defending Al Gore's environmental record and calling Nader's strategy "irresponsible." He wrote:
You have also broken your word to your followers who signed the petitions that got you on the ballot in many states. You pledged you would not campaign as a spoiler and would avoid the swing states. Your recent campaign rhetoric and campaign schedule make it clear that you have broken this pledge ... Please accept that I, and the overwhelming majority of the environmental movement in this country, genuinely believe that your strategy is flawed, dangerous and reckless.
Nader announced on December 24, 2003, that he would not seek the Green Party's nomination for president in 2004, but did not rule out running as an independent candidate.
Ralph Nader and Democratic candidate John Kerry held a widely publicized meeting early in the 2004 presidential campaign. Nader said that John Kerry wanted to work to win Nader's support and the support of Nader's voters, prompting Nader to provide Kerry more than 20 pages of issues that he felt were important. According to Nader, he asked John Kerry to choose any three of the issues and highlight them in his campaign; should Kerry meet these conditions Nader would not contest the election. On February 22, 2004, having not heard back from Kerry, Nader announced that he would run for president as an independent.
Due to concerns about a possible spoiler effect, many Democrats urged Nader to abandon his 2004 candidacy. Terry McAuliffe stated that Nader had a "distinguished career, fighting for working families", and that McAuliffe "would hate to see part of his legacy being that he got us eight years of George Bush". Theresa Amato, Nader's national campaign manager in 2000 and 2004, later alleged that McAuliffe offered to pay-off Nader if he would not campaign in certain states, an allegation confirmed by Nader and undisputed by McAuliffe.
Nader received 463,655 votes, for 0.38 percent of the popular vote, placing him in third place overall.
In February 2007, Nader criticized Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton as "a panderer and a flatterer," later describing her as someone who had "no political fortitude." During a February 2008 appearance on "Meet the Press", Nader announced his intention to run for president as an independent, later naming Matt Gonzalez as his running-mate. Nader was endorsed by Howard Zinn, Jesse Ventura, Justin Jeffre, Tom Morello, Val Kilmer, Rocky Anderson, James Abourezk, Patti Smith, and Jello Biafra. The Nader campaign raised $8.4 million in campaign funds, primarily from small, individual donations. Nader/Gonzalez earned 738,475 votes and a third-place finish in the 2008 United States presidential election.
Nader founded the Congressional Accountability Project to "oppose corruption in the U. S. Congress."
Nader condemned the 2011 military intervention in Libya. He branded President Barack Obama as a "war criminal" and called for his impeachment.
In 2002, Nader founded the D.C. Library Renaissance Project, which has sought to halt the development of the West End Library in Washington, D.C., alleging that it "violated affordable housing guidelines, undervalued the land, and didn't conform to the city's Comprehensive Plan." The legal obstacles presented by the Library Renaissance Project have cost the D.C. government over one million dollars in legal fees. Nader has opposed the privatized development of D.C. libraries despite community support, citing a lack of oversight and competitive bidding process.
In 2009 Nader published his first work of fiction, "Only the Super Rich Can Save Us". Many of the characters were fictionalized versions of real-life persons including Ted Turner and Warren Buffett. The book's principal villain, a "conservative evil genius" named Brovar Dortwist, represents Grover Norquist. According to Norquist, Nader had called him prior to the book's publication and said he "wouldn't be too unhappy, because the character was principled".
The novel met with mixed reviews with "The Wall Street Journal" noting that the book "reads less like a novel ... than a dream journal" with a plot that victoriously concludes with "American society thoroughly Naderized", though "The Globe and Mail" called it "a powerful idea by the perfect person at a fortuitous time".
He also branched out into fiction with the fable collection "Animal Envy" in 2016.
During the 2012 United States presidential election, Nader moderated a debate for third party candidates at Washington D.C.'s Busboys and Poets. The debate was attended by Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, Libertarian Gary Johnson, Rocky Anderson of the Justice Party and Constitution Party candidate Virgil Goode. He later moderated a similar debate in a studio appearance broadcast by Russia Today.
Since March 2014, Nader has co-hosted the weekly Ralph Nader Radio Hour, produced at KPFK-FM in Los Angeles and distributed via the Pacifica Radio Network. The program features "interviews with some of the nation's most influential movers and shakers" and discussion of current events. Nader's co-hosts are Steve Skrovan and David Feldman.
In 2015, after a decade planning, Nader founded the American Museum of Tort Law in Winsted, Connecticut. The opening ceremonies were emceed by Phil Donahue. Nader personally donated $150,000 to the establishment of the museum, which was sited on two parcels of land rezoned by the town of Winsted to host it. At the time of its opening, some expressed skepticism that a museum dedicated to tort would have much interest to the general public, though Nader responded that he was "astounded how a country can go over 200 years and not have a law museum".
Nader unsuccessfully sought a seat on the Harvard University Board of Overseers in 2016 as part of an insurgent candidate slate operating under the name "Free Harvard, Fair Harvard" which called for increased transparency by the university as to how it made athletic and legacy admissions decisions. In February of that year he expressed support for Donald Trump making a third-party run for president, saying that such a move might help break-up the two party system.
Nader was raised in the Eastern Orthodox Church. His siblings are Laura (a professor of social and cultural anthropology at U.C. Berkeley), Claire, and late brother Shafeek.
Nader defines his ideology not as left-wing or right-wing but as a "moral empiricist".
He has lived in Washington, DC since the 1960s, but is domiciled in Connecticut, where he is registered to vote.
In addition to English, Nader also speaks Arabic, Russian, Portuguese, Chinese and Spanish.
After his older brother Shafeek died of prostate cancer in 1986, Nader developed Bell's palsy, which paralyzed the left side of his mouth for several months. He commented on his partial facial paralysis to audiences during this time with the quip that "at least my opponents can't say I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth."
Nader has been described as an "ascetic ... bordering on self-righteous". Despite access to respectable financial assets, he famously lives in a modest apartment and spends $25,000 on personal bills, conducting most of his writing on a typewriter. According to popular accounts of his personal life, he does not own a television, relies primarily on public transportation, and over a 25-year period, until 1983, exclusively wore one of a dozen pairs of shoes he had purchased at a clearance sale in 1959. His suits, which he reports he purchases at sales and outlet stores, have been the repeated subject of public scrutiny, being variously described as "wrinkled", "rumpled", and "styleless". A newspaper story once described Nader as a "conscientious objector to fashion".
Nader has never married. Karen Croft, a writer who worked for Nader in the late 1970s at the Center for Study of Responsive Law, once asked him if he had ever considered marriage, to which he reportedly responded that he had made a choice to dedicate his life to career rather than family.
According to the mandatory fiscal disclosure report that he filed with the Federal Election Commission in 2000, Nader owned more than $3 million worth of stocks and mutual fund shares; his single largest holding was more than $1 million worth of stock in Cisco Systems, Inc. He also held between $100,000 and $250,000 worth of shares in the Magellan Fund.
Nader said he owned no car and owned no real estate directly in 2000, and said that he lived on $25,000 a year, giving most of his stock earnings to many of the over four dozen non-profit organizations he had founded.
Nader owns shares in Amazon and believes the corporation should be paying shareholders a dividend. He also believes that there should be an "antitrust investigation" looking into the company's business practices.
Nader is also an Apple shareholder. In 2018, he wrote an open letter to Tim Cook criticizing Apple's $100 billion share buyback.
In the 2005 Jim Carrey film "Fun with Dick and Jane", Nader makes a cameo appearance as himself.
The Steve Skrovan documentary film "An Unreasonable Man" is about the life of Ralph Nader and uses both archival footage and original interviews. It debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006.
Nader was featured on the cover of the January 22, 1968 issue of "Newsweek"; the December 12, 1969 issue of "Time"; the June 1971 issue of "Esquire"; and the August 2016 issue of "Pacific Standard".
Nader has been a guest on multiple episodes of "Saturday Night Live", "Real Time with Bill Maher", "The Daily Show", "The O'Reilly Factor", "Meet the Press", "Democracy Now!", and "The Late Show with David Letterman". In 2003 he appeared on "Da Ali G Show" and, in 2008, was interviewed by Triumph the Insult Comic Dog on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien".
In 1988, Nader appeared on "Sesame Street" as "a person in your neighborhood", the episode also featuring Barbara Walters and Martina Navratilova. Nader's appearance on the show was memorable because it was the only time that the grammar of the last line of the song "a person who you meet each day" was questioned and changed. Nader refused to sing a line which he deemed grammatically improper, so a compromise was reached by which Nader sang the last line solo, with the modified words: "a person "whom" you meet each day." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25671 |
Richard Bach
Richard David Bach (born June 23, 1936) is an American writer widely known as the author of some of the 1970s' biggest sellers, including "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" (1970) and "Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah" (1977). Bach has written numerous works of fiction, and also non-fiction flight-related titles.
Most of Bach's books have been semi-autobiographical, using actual or fictionalized events from his life to illustrate his philosophy. Bach's books espouse his philosophy that our apparent physical limits and mortality are merely appearance. Bach is noted for his love of aviation and for his books related to flying in a metaphorical context. Bach has pursued flying as a hobby since the age of 17. In late August 2012, Bach was badly injured when on approach to landing at Friday Harbor, Washington, his aircraft clipped some power lines and crashed upside down in a field.
Bach was born in Oak Park, Illinois, to Roland R. and Ruth Shaw Bach. His father was an American Red Cross chapter manager. Bach attended Long Beach State College in 1955.
Bach's first airplane flight occurred at age 14, when his mother was campaigning for a seat on the council of Long Beach, California. Her campaign manager, Paul Marcus, mentioned that he flew airplanes and invited Richard on a flight in his Globe Swift.
Bach served in the United States Navy Reserve, then in the New Jersey Air National Guard's 108th Fighter Wing, 141st Fighter Squadron (USAF), as a Republic F-84F Thunderstreak fighter pilot. He then worked at a variety of jobs, including as a technical writer for Douglas Aircraft and as a contributing editor for "Flying" magazine. He served in the USAF reserve and was deployed in France in 1960. He later became a barnstormer.
During the summer of 1970, Bach and his friend Chris Cagle traveled to Ireland, where they participated in flying sequences for Roger Corman's film, "Von Richthofen and Brown". They flew a variety of World War I aircraft of the Blue Max collection owned by ex-RCAF pilot Lynn Garrison. Bach and Garrison first met when Bach wrote articles for "Avian", Garrison's aviation publication.
Most of Bach's books involve flight in some way, from the early stories which are purely about flying aircraft, to "Stranger to the Ground", his first book, to his later works, in which he used flight as a philosophical metaphor.
Richard Bach's first book, the autobiographical "Stranger to the Ground" (1963) described the deployment to France of his Air National Guard unit, and was received favorably, for example, by Edmund Fuller in the "Wall Street Journal".
In 1970, "Jonathan Livingston Seagull", a story about a seagull who flew for the love of flying rather than merely to catch food, was released by Macmillan Publishers after the manuscript was turned down by several others. It had first been published in "Soaring", the magazine of the Soaring Society of America. The book, which included photos of seagulls in flight by photographer Russell Munson, became a number-one bestseller. Containing fewer than 10,000 words, the book sold more than one million copies in 1972 alone. The surprise success of the book was widely reported in the media in the early 1970s.
In 1973, "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" was adapted into a film of the same name, produced by Paramount Pictures Corporation, with a soundtrack by Neil Diamond. In 1975, Bach was the driving force behind "Nothing by Chance", a documentary film based on his book of the same name. The film centers on modern barnstorming around the United States in the 1970s. Bach recruited a group of his friends who were pilots to recreate the era of the barnstormer.
A second novel, "Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah", published in 1977, tells of an encounter with a modern-day messiah who has decided to quit.
On August 31, 2012, Bach was injured in an aircraft landing accident on San Juan Island in Washington. He was landing a 2008 Easton Gilbert G Searey (N346PE) that he had nicknamed "Puff" at a private airport when the landing gear clipped some power lines. He crashed upside down in a field about two miles from Friday Harbor, taking down two poles and sparking a small grass fire.
The day after the accident, Bach was reported to be in serious but stable condition with a head injury and broken shoulder. Bach was hospitalized for four months. He reported that his near-death experience inspired him to finish the fourth part of "Jonathan Livingston Seagull", which had been originally published in three parts.
In December 2012, "Publishers Weekly" reported that "Travels with Puff" had been sent to his publisher the day before his accident. "Travels with Puff" was released on March 19, 2013.
In 2014, Bach published his sequel to "Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah", which he called "". The book incorporates the story of Bach's real-life aircraft crash, with the author imagining he is being visited by the "messiah", Don Shimoda, who helps him through his difficult medical recovery.
Bach had six children with his first wife, Bette Jeanne Franks. Also a pilot, she is the author of "Patterns: Tales of Flying and of Life", a book about her life as a pilot and single mother. She typed and edited most of Richard's aviation writing. They divorced in 1970, and Bach spent years without seeing his children.
Richard and Bette's son Jonathan, named after the titular character in Bach's bestseller, "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," is a software engineer and journalist. He wrote the 1993 book "Above the Clouds," about growing up without knowing his father and then later meeting him as a college student. Richard gave his approval, although he noted that it included some personal history he would "rather not see in print."
Their other children are Robert, a commercial airline pilot; Kristel; James Marcus Bach, a computer expert and writer; Erika; and their youngest daughter, Bethany, who was killed in an accident at the age of 15 in 1985.
In 1977, Bach married actress Leslie Parrish, whom he met during the making of the film "Jonathan Livingston Seagull". She featured significantly in two of his subsequent books: "The Bridge Across Forever" and "One", which primarily focused on their relationship and Bach's concept of soulmates. They divorced in 1997.
Bach married his third wife, Sabryna Nelson-Alexopoulos, in April 1999. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25674 |
Radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the range, angle, or velocity of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. A radar system consists of a transmitter producing electromagnetic waves in the radio or microwaves domain, a transmitting antenna, a receiving antenna (often the same antenna is used for transmitting and receiving) and a receiver and processor to determine properties of the object(s). Radio waves (pulsed or continuous) from the transmitter reflect off the object and return to the receiver, giving information about the object's location and speed.
Radar was developed secretly for military use by several nations in the period before and during World War II. A key development was the cavity magnetron in the United Kingdom, which allowed the creation of relatively small systems with sub-meter resolution. The term "RADAR" was coined in 1940 by the United States Navy as an acronym for "radio detection and ranging". The term "radar" has since entered English and other languages as a common noun, losing all capitalization. During RAF RADAR courses in 1954/5 at Yatesbury Training Camp "radio azimuth direction and ranging" was suggested. The modern uses of radar are highly diverse, including air and terrestrial traffic control, radar astronomy, air-defense systems, antimissile systems, marine radars to locate landmarks and other ships, aircraft anticollision systems, ocean surveillance systems, outer space surveillance and rendezvous systems, meteorological precipitation monitoring, altimetry and flight control systems, guided missile target locating systems, self-driving cars, and ground-penetrating radar for geological observations. High tech radar systems are associated with digital signal processing, machine learning and are capable of extracting useful information from very high noise levels.
Other systems similar to radar make use of other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. One example is LIDAR, which uses predominantly infrared light from lasers rather than radio waves. With the emergence of driverless vehicles, radar is expected to assist the automated platform to monitor its environment, thus preventing unwanted incidents.
As early as 1886, German physicist Heinrich Hertz showed that radio waves could be reflected from solid objects. In 1895, Alexander Popov, a physics instructor at the Imperial Russian Navy school in Kronstadt, developed an apparatus using a coherer tube for detecting distant lightning strikes. The next year, he added a spark-gap transmitter. In 1897, while testing this equipment for communicating between two ships in the Baltic Sea, he took note of an interference beat caused by the passage of a third vessel. In his report, Popov wrote that this phenomenon might be used for detecting objects, but he did nothing more with this observation.
The German inventor Christian Hülsmeyer was the first to use radio waves to detect "the presence of distant metallic objects". In 1904, he demonstrated the feasibility of detecting a ship in dense fog, but not its distance from the transmitter. He obtained a patent for his detection device in April 1904 and later a patent for a related amendment for estimating the distance to the ship. He also obtained a British patent on September 23, 1904 for a full radar system, that he called a "telemobiloscope". It operated on a 50 cm wavelength and the pulsed radar signal was created via a spark-gap. His system already used the classic antenna setup of horn antenna with parabolic reflector and was presented to German military officials in practical tests in Cologne and Rotterdam harbour but was rejected.
In 1915, Robert Watson-Watt used radio technology to provide advance warning to airmen and during the 1920s went on to lead the U.K. research establishment to make many advances using radio techniques, including the probing of the ionosphere and the detection of lightning at long distances. Through his lightning experiments, Watson-Watt became an expert on the use of radio direction finding before turning his inquiry to shortwave transmission. Requiring a suitable receiver for such studies, he told the "new boy" Arnold Frederic Wilkins to conduct an extensive review of available shortwave units. Wilkins would select a General Post Office model after noting its manual's description of a "fading" effect (the common term for interference at the time) when aircraft flew overhead.
Across the Atlantic in 1922, after placing a transmitter and receiver on opposite sides of the Potomac River, U.S. Navy researchers A. Hoyt Taylor and Leo C. Young discovered that ships passing through the beam path caused the received signal to fade in and out. Taylor submitted a report, suggesting that this phenomenon might be used to detect the presence of ships in low visibility, but the Navy did not immediately continue the work. Eight years later, Lawrence A. Hyland at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) observed similar fading effects from passing aircraft; this revelation led to a patent application as well as a proposal for further intensive research on radio-echo signals from moving targets to take place at NRL, where Taylor and Young were based at the time.
Before the Second World War, researchers in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, the Soviet Union, and the United States, independently and in great secrecy, developed technologies that led to the modern version of radar. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa followed prewar Great Britain's radar development, and Hungary generated its radar technology during the war.
In France in 1934, following systematic studies on the split-anode magnetron, the research branch of the Compagnie Générale de Télégraphie Sans Fil (CSF) headed by Maurice Ponte with Henri Gutton, Sylvain Berline and M. Hugon, began developing an obstacle-locating radio apparatus, aspects of which were installed on the ocean liner "Normandie" in 1935.
During the same period, Soviet military engineer P.K. Oshchepkov, in collaboration with Leningrad Electrophysical Institute, produced an experimental apparatus, RAPID, capable of detecting an aircraft within 3 km of a receiver. The Soviets produced their first mass production radars RUS-1 and RUS-2 Redut in 1939 but further development was slowed following the arrest of Oshchepkov and his subsequent gulag sentence. In total, only 607 Redut stations were produced during the war. The first Russian airborne radar, Gneiss-2, entered into service in June 1943 on Pe-2 dive bombers. More than 230 Gneiss-2 stations were produced by the end of 1944. The French and Soviet systems, however, featured continuous-wave operation that did not provide the full performance ultimately synonymous with modern radar systems.
Full radar evolved as a pulsed system, and the first such elementary apparatus was demonstrated in December 1934 by the American Robert M. Page, working at the Naval Research Laboratory. The following year, the United States Army successfully tested a primitive surface-to-surface radar to aim coastal battery searchlights at night. This design was followed by a pulsed system demonstrated in May 1935 by Rudolf Kühnhold and the firm in Germany and then another in June 1935 by an Air Ministry team led by Robert Watson-Watt in Great Britain.
In 1935, Watson-Watt was asked to judge recent reports of a German radio-based death ray and turned the request over to Wilkins. Wilkins returned a set of calculations demonstrating the system was basically impossible. When Watson-Watt then asked what such a system might do, Wilkins recalled the earlier report about aircraft causing radio interference. This revelation led to the Daventry Experiment of 26 February 1935, using a powerful BBC shortwave transmitter as the source and their GPO receiver setup in a field while a bomber flew around the site. When the plane was clearly detected, Hugh Dowding, the Air Member for Supply and Research was very impressed with their system's potential and funds were immediately provided for further operational development. Watson-Watt's team patented the device in GB593017.
Development of radar greatly expanded on 1 September 1936 when Watson-Watt became Superintendent of a new establishment under the British Air Ministry, Bawdsey Research Station located in Bawdsey Manor, near Felixstowe, Suffolk. Work there resulted in the design and installation of aircraft detection and tracking stations called "Chain Home" along the East and South coasts of England in time for the outbreak of World War II in 1939. This system provided the vital advance information that helped the Royal Air Force win the Battle of Britain; without it, significant numbers of fighter aircraft, which Great Britain did not have available, would always need to be in the air to respond quickly. If enemy aircraft detection relied solely on the observations of ground-based individuals, Great Britain may have lost the Battle of Britain. Also vital was the "Dowding system" of reporting and coordination to provide the best use of radar information during the tests of early radar deployment during 1936 and 1937.
Given all required funding and development support, the team produced working radar systems in 1935 and began deployment. By 1936, the first five Chain Home (CH) systems were operational and by 1940 stretched across the entire UK including Northern Ireland. Even by standards of the era, CH was crude; instead of broadcasting and receiving from an aimed antenna, CH broadcast a signal floodlighting the entire area in front of it, and then used one of Watson-Watt's own radio direction finders to determine the direction of the returned echoes. This fact meant CH transmitters had to be much more powerful and have better antennas than competing systems but allowed its rapid introduction using existing technologies.
A key development was the cavity magnetron in the UK, which allowed the creation of relatively small systems with sub-meter resolution. Britain shared the technology with the U.S. during the 1940 Tizard Mission.
In April 1940, "Popular Science" showed an example of a radar unit using the Watson-Watt patent in an article on air defence. Also, in late 1941 "Popular Mechanics" had an article in which a U.S. scientist speculated about the British early warning system on the English east coast and came close to what it was and how it worked. Watson-Watt was sent to the U.S. in 1941 to advise on air defense after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. Alfred Lee Loomis organized the secret MIT Radiation Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts which developed microwave radar technology in the years 1941–45. Later, in 1943, Page greatly improved radar with the monopulse technique that was used for many years in most radar applications.
The war precipitated research to find better resolution, more portability, and more features for radar, including complementary navigation systems like Oboe used by the RAF's Pathfinder.
The information provided by radar includes the bearing and range (and therefore position) of the object from the radar scanner. It is thus used in many different fields where the need for such positioning is crucial. The first use of radar was for military purposes: to locate air, ground and sea targets. This evolved in the civilian field into applications for aircraft, ships, and automobiles.
In aviation, aircraft can be equipped with radar devices that warn of aircraft or other obstacles in or approaching their path, display weather information, and give accurate altitude readings. The first commercial device fitted to aircraft was a 1938 Bell Lab unit on some United Air Lines aircraft. Aircraft can land in fog at airports equipped with radar-assisted ground-controlled approach systems in which the plane's position is observed on radar screens by operators who thereby give radio landing instructions to the pilot, maintaining the aircraft on a defined approach path to the runway. Military fighter aircraft are usually fitted with air-to-air targeting radars, to detect and target enemy aircraft. In addition, larger specialized military aircraft carry powerful airborne radars to observe air traffic over a wide region and direct fighter aircraft towards targets.
Marine radars are used to measure the bearing and distance of ships to prevent collision with other ships, to navigate, and to fix their position at sea when within range of shore or other fixed references such as islands, buoys, and lightships. In port or in harbour, vessel traffic service radar systems are used to monitor and regulate ship movements in busy waters.
Meteorologists use radar to monitor precipitation and wind. It has become the primary tool for short-term weather forecasting and watching for severe weather such as thunderstorms, tornadoes, winter storms, precipitation types, etc. Geologists use specialized ground-penetrating radars to map the composition of Earth's crust. Police forces use radar guns to monitor vehicle speeds on the roads. Smaller radar systems are used to detect human movement. Examples are breathing pattern detection for sleep monitoring and hand and finger gesture detection for computer interaction. Automatic door opening, light activation and intruder sensing are also common.
Radar technology has recently been used for vital sign monitoring and human activity monitoring. The heartbeat and respiration rate are estimated by measuring the human body movements caused by ejection of blood into the great vessels and inhalation and exhalation of air into and out of the lungs using radar. Human activities are detected by classifying the radar return patterns using machine learning algorithms.
A radar system has a transmitter that emits radio waves known as "radar signals" in predetermined directions. When these signals contact an object they are usually reflected or scattered in many directions, although some of them will be absorbed and penetrate into the target. Radar signals are reflected especially well by materials of considerable electrical conductivity—such as most metals, seawater, and wet ground. This makes the use of radar altimeters possible in certain cases. The radar signals that are reflected back towards the radar receiver are the desirable ones that make radar detection work. If the object is "moving" either toward or away from the transmitter, there will be a slight change in the frequency of the radio waves due to the Doppler effect.
Radar receivers are usually, but not always, in the same location as the transmitter. The reflected radar signals captured by the receiving antenna are usually very weak. They can be strengthened by electronic amplifiers. More sophisticated methods of signal processing are also used in order to recover useful radar signals.
The weak absorption of radio waves by the medium through which they pass is what enables radar sets to detect objects at relatively long ranges—ranges at which other electromagnetic wavelengths, such as visible light, infrared light, and ultraviolet light, are too strongly attenuated. Weather phenomena, such as fog, clouds, rain, falling snow, and sleet, that block visible light are usually transparent to radio waves. Certain radio frequencies that are absorbed or scattered by water vapour, raindrops, or atmospheric gases (especially oxygen) are avoided when designing radars, except when their detection is intended.
Radar relies on its own transmissions rather than light from the Sun or the Moon, or from electromagnetic waves emitted by the target objects themselves, such as infrared radiation (heat). This process of directing artificial radio waves towards objects is called "illumination", although radio waves are invisible to the human eye as well as optical cameras.
If electromagnetic waves travelling through one material meet another material, having a different dielectric constant or diamagnetic constant from the first,
the waves will reflect or scatter from the boundary between the materials. This means that a solid object in air or in a vacuum, or a significant change in atomic density between the object and what is surrounding it, will usually scatter radar (radio) waves from its surface. This is particularly true for electrically conductive materials such as metal and carbon fibre, making radar well-suited to the detection of aircraft and ships. Radar absorbing material, containing resistive and sometimes magnetic substances, is used on military vehicles to reduce radar reflection. This is the radio equivalent of painting something a dark colour so that it cannot be seen by the eye at night.
Radar waves scatter in a variety of ways depending on the size (wavelength) of the radio wave and the shape of the target. If the wavelength is much shorter than the target's size, the wave will bounce off in a way similar to the way light is reflected by a mirror. If the wavelength is much longer than the size of the target, the target may not be visible because of poor reflection. Low-frequency radar technology is dependent on resonances for detection, but not identification, of targets. This is described by Rayleigh scattering, an effect that creates Earth's blue sky and red sunsets. When the two length scales are comparable, there may be resonances. Early radars used very long wavelengths that were larger than the targets and thus received a vague signal, whereas many modern systems use shorter wavelengths (a few centimetres or less) that can image objects as small as a loaf of bread.
Short radio waves reflect from curves and corners in a way similar to glint from a rounded piece of glass. The most reflective targets for short wavelengths have 90° angles between the reflective surfaces. A corner reflector consists of three flat surfaces meeting like the inside corner of a box. The structure will reflect waves entering its opening directly back to the source. They are commonly used as radar reflectors to make otherwise difficult-to-detect objects easier to detect. Corner reflectors on boats, for example, make them more detectable to avoid collision or during a rescue. For similar reasons, objects intended to avoid detection will not have inside corners or surfaces and edges perpendicular to likely detection directions, which leads to "odd" looking stealth aircraft. These precautions do not completely eliminate reflection because of diffraction, especially at longer wavelengths. Half wavelength long wires or strips of conducting material, such as chaff, are very reflective but do not direct the scattered energy back toward the source. The extent to which an object reflects or scatters radio waves is called its radar cross section.
The power "Pr" returning to the receiving antenna is given by the equation:
where
In the common case where the transmitter and the receiver are at the same location, "R"t = "R"r and the term "R"t² "R"r² can be replaced by "R"4, where "R" is the range.
This yields:
As an example, a Doppler weather radar with a pulse rate of 2 kHz and transmit frequency of 1 GHz can reliably measure weather speed up to at most , thus cannot reliably determine radial velocity of aircraft moving .
In all electromagnetic radiation, the electric field is perpendicular to the direction of propagation, and the electric field direction is the polarization of the wave. For a transmitted radar signal, the polarization can be controlled to yield different effects. Radars use horizontal, vertical, linear, and circular polarization to detect different types of reflections. For example, circular polarization is used to minimize the interference caused by rain. Linear polarization returns usually indicate metal surfaces. Random polarization returns usually indicate a fractal surface, such as rocks or soil, and are used by navigation radars.
A radar beam follows a linear path in vacuum but follows a somewhat curved path in atmosphere due to variation in the refractive index of air, which is called the radar horizon. Even when the beam is emitted parallel to the ground, the beam rises above the ground as the curvature of the Earth sinks below the horizon. Furthermore, the signal is attenuated by the medium the beam crosses, and the beam disperses.
The maximum range of conventional radar can be limited by a number of factors:
Signal noise is an internal source of random variations in the signal, which is generated by all electronic components.
Reflected signals decline rapidly as distance increases, so noise introduces a radar range limitation. The noise floor and signal to noise ratio are two different measures of performance that affect range performance. Reflectors that are too far away produce too little signal to exceed the noise floor and cannot be detected. Detection requires a signal that exceeds the noise floor by at least the signal to noise ratio.
Noise typically appears as random variations superimposed on the desired echo signal received in the radar receiver. The lower the power of the desired signal, the more difficult it is to discern it from the noise. Noise figure is a measure of the noise produced by a receiver compared to an ideal receiver, and this needs to be minimized.
Shot noise is produced by electrons in transit across a discontinuity, which occurs in all detectors. Shot noise is the dominant source in most receivers. There will also be flicker noise caused by electron transit through amplification devices, which is reduced using heterodyne amplification. Another reason for heterodyne processing is that for fixed fractional bandwidth, the instantaneous bandwidth increases linearly in frequency. This allows improved range resolution. The one notable exception to heterodyne (downconversion) radar systems is ultra-wideband radar. Here a single cycle, or transient wave, is used similar to UWB communications, see List of UWB channels.
Noise is also generated by external sources, most importantly the natural thermal radiation of the background surrounding the target of interest. In modern radar systems, the internal noise is typically about equal to or lower than the external noise. An exception is if the radar is aimed upwards at clear sky, where the scene is so "cold" that it generates very little thermal noise. The thermal noise is given by "kB T B", where "T" is temperature, "B" is bandwidth (post matched filter) and "kB" is Boltzmann's constant. There is an appealing intuitive interpretation of this relationship in a radar. Matched filtering allows the entire energy received from a target to be compressed into a single bin (be it a range, Doppler, elevation, or azimuth bin). On the surface it would appear that then within a fixed interval of time one could obtain perfect, error free, detection. To do this one simply compresses all energy into an infinitesimal time slice. What limits this approach in the real world is that, while time is arbitrarily divisible, current is not. The quantum of electrical energy is an electron, and so the best one can do is match filter all energy into a single electron. Since the electron is moving at a certain temperature (Plank spectrum) this noise source cannot be further eroded. We see then that radar, like all macro-scale entities, is profoundly impacted by quantum theory.
Noise is random and target signals are not. Signal processing can take advantage of this phenomenon to reduce the noise floor using two strategies. The kind of signal integration used with moving target indication can improve noise up to formula_5 for each stage. The signal can also be split among multiple filters for pulse-Doppler signal processing, which reduces the noise floor by the number of filters. These improvements depend upon coherence.
Radar systems must overcome unwanted signals in order to focus on the targets of interest. These unwanted signals may originate from internal and external sources, both passive and active. The ability of the radar system to overcome these unwanted signals defines its signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). SNR is defined as the ratio of the signal power to the noise power within the desired signal; it compares the level of a desired target signal to the level of background noise (atmospheric noise and noise generated within the receiver). The higher a system's SNR the better it is at discriminating actual targets from noise signals.
Clutter refers to radio frequency (RF) echoes returned from targets which are uninteresting to the radar operators. Such targets include natural objects such as ground, sea, and when not being tasked for meteorological purposes, precipitation (such as rain, snow or hail), sand storms, animals (especially birds), atmospheric turbulence, and other atmospheric effects, such as ionosphere reflections, meteor trails, and Hail spike. Clutter may also be returned from man-made objects such as buildings and, intentionally, by radar countermeasures such as chaff.
Some clutter may also be caused by a long radar waveguide between the radar transceiver and the antenna. In a typical plan position indicator (PPI) radar with a rotating antenna, this will usually be seen as a "sun" or "sunburst" in the centre of the display as the receiver responds to echoes from dust particles and misguided RF in the waveguide. Adjusting the timing between when the transmitter sends a pulse and when the receiver stage is enabled will generally reduce the sunburst without affecting the accuracy of the range, since most sunburst is caused by a diffused transmit pulse reflected before it leaves the antenna. Clutter is considered a passive interference source, since it only appears in response to radar signals sent by the radar.
Clutter is detected and neutralized in several ways. Clutter tends to appear static between radar scans; on subsequent scan echoes, desirable targets will appear to move, and all stationary echoes can be eliminated. Sea clutter can be reduced by using horizontal polarization, while rain is reduced with circular polarization (meteorological radars wish for the opposite effect, and therefore use linear polarization to detect precipitation). Other methods attempt to increase the signal-to-clutter ratio.
Clutter moves with the wind or is stationary. Two common strategies to improve measure or performance in a clutter environment are:
The most effective clutter reduction technique is pulse-Doppler radar. Doppler separates clutter from aircraft and spacecraft using a frequency spectrum, so individual signals can be separated from multiple reflectors located in the same volume using velocity differences. This requires a coherent transmitter. Another technique uses a moving target indicator that subtracts the receive signal from two successive pulses using phase to reduce signals from slow moving objects. This can be adapted for systems that lack a coherent transmitter, such as time-domain pulse-amplitude radar.
Constant false alarm rate, a form of automatic gain control (AGC), is a method that relies on clutter returns far outnumbering echoes from targets of interest. The receiver's gain is automatically adjusted to maintain a constant level of overall visible clutter. While this does not help detect targets masked by stronger surrounding clutter, it does help to distinguish strong target sources. In the past, radar AGC was electronically controlled and affected the gain of the entire radar receiver. As radars evolved, AGC became computer-software controlled and affected the gain with greater granularity in specific detection cells.
Clutter may also originate from multipath echoes from valid targets caused by ground reflection, atmospheric ducting or ionospheric reflection/refraction (e.g., anomalous propagation). This clutter type is especially bothersome since it appears to move and behave like other normal (point) targets of interest. In a typical scenario, an aircraft echo is reflected from the ground below, appearing to the receiver as an identical target below the correct one. The radar may try to unify the targets, reporting the target at an incorrect height, or eliminating it on the basis of jitter or a physical impossibility. Terrain bounce jamming exploits this response by amplifying the radar signal and directing it downward. These problems can be overcome by incorporating a ground map of the radar's surroundings and eliminating all echoes which appear to originate below ground or above a certain height. Monopulse can be improved by altering the elevation algorithm used at low elevation. In newer air traffic control radar equipment, algorithms are used to identify the false targets by comparing the current pulse returns to those adjacent, as well as calculating return improbabilities.
Radar jamming refers to radio frequency signals originating from sources outside the radar, transmitting in the radar's frequency and thereby masking targets of interest. Jamming may be intentional, as with an electronic warfare tactic, or unintentional, as with friendly forces operating equipment that transmits using the same frequency range. Jamming is considered an active interference source, since it is initiated by elements outside the radar and in general unrelated to the radar signals.
Jamming is problematic to radar since the jamming signal only needs to travel one way (from the jammer to the radar receiver) whereas the radar echoes travel two ways (radar-target-radar) and are therefore significantly reduced in power by the time they return to the radar receiver in accordance with inverse-square law.. Jammers therefore can be much less powerful than their jammed radars and still effectively mask targets along the line of sight from the jammer to the radar ("mainlobe jamming"). Jammers have an added effect of affecting radars along other lines of sight through the radar receiver's sidelobes ("sidelobe jamming").
Mainlobe jamming can generally only be reduced by narrowing the mainlobe solid angle and cannot fully be eliminated when directly facing a jammer which uses the same frequency and polarization as the radar. Sidelobe jamming can be overcome by reducing receiving sidelobes in the radar antenna design and by using an omnidirectional antenna to detect and disregard non-mainlobe signals. Other anti-jamming techniques are frequency hopping and polarization.
One way to obtain a distance measurement is based on the time-of-flight: transmit a short pulse of radio signal (electromagnetic radiation) and measure the time it takes for the reflection to return. The distance is one-half the round trip time multiplied by the speed of the signal. The factor of one-half comes from the fact that the signal has to travel to the object and back again. Since radio waves travel at the speed of light, accurate distance measurement requires high-speed electronics.
In most cases, the receiver does not detect the return while the signal is being transmitted. Through the use of a duplexer, the radar switches between transmitting and receiving at a predetermined rate.
A similar effect imposes a maximum range as well. In order to maximize range, longer times between pulses should be used, referred to as a pulse repetition time, or its reciprocal, pulse repetition frequency.
These two effects tend to be at odds with each other, and it is not easy to combine both good short range and good long range in a single radar. This is because the short pulses needed for a good minimum range broadcast have less total energy, making the returns much smaller and the target harder to detect. This could be offset by using more pulses, but this would shorten the maximum range. So each radar uses a particular type of signal. Long-range radars tend to use long pulses with long delays between them, and short range radars use smaller pulses with less time between them. As electronics have improved many radars now can change their pulse repetition frequency, thereby changing their range. The newest radars fire two pulses during one cell, one for short range (about ) and a separate signal for longer ranges (about ).
The distance resolution and the characteristics of the received signal as compared to noise depends on the shape of the pulse. The pulse is often modulated to achieve better performance using a technique known as pulse compression.
Distance may also be measured as a function of time. The radar mile is the time it takes for a radar pulse to travel one nautical mile, reflect off a target, and return to the radar antenna. Since a nautical mile is defined as 1,852 m, then dividing this distance by the speed of light (299,792,458 m/s), and then multiplying the result by 2 yields a result of 12.36 μs in duration.
Another form of distance measuring radar is based on frequency modulation. Frequency comparison between two signals is considerably more accurate, even with older electronics, than timing the signal. By measuring the frequency of the returned signal and comparing that with the original, the difference can be easily measured.
This technique can be used in continuous wave radar and is often found in aircraft radar altimeters. In these systems a "carrier" radar signal is frequency modulated in a predictable way, typically varying up and down with a sine wave or sawtooth pattern at audio frequencies. The signal is then sent out from one antenna and received on another, typically located on the bottom of the aircraft, and the signal can be continuously compared using a simple "beat frequency" modulator that produces an audio frequency tone from the returned signal and a portion of the transmitted signal.
Since the signal frequency is changing, by the time the signal returns to the aircraft the transmit frequency has changed. The frequency shift is used to measure distance.
The modulation index riding on the receive signal is proportional to the time delay between the radar and the reflector. The frequency shift becomes greater with greater time delay. The frequency shift is directly proportional to the distance travelled. That distance can be displayed on an instrument, and it may also be available via the transponder. This signal processing is similar to that used in speed detecting Doppler radar. Example systems using this approach are AZUSA, MISTRAM, and UDOP.
A further advantage is that the radar can operate effectively at relatively low frequencies. This was important in the early development of this type when high frequency signal generation was difficult or expensive.
Terrestrial radar uses low-power FM signals that cover a larger frequency range. The multiple reflections are analyzed mathematically for pattern changes with multiple passes creating a computerized synthetic image. Doppler effects are used which allows slow moving objects to be detected as well as largely eliminating "noise" from the surfaces of bodies of water.
Speed is the change in distance to an object with respect to time. Thus the existing system for measuring distance, combined with a memory capacity to see where the target last was, is enough to measure speed. At one time the memory consisted of a user making grease pencil marks on the radar screen and then calculating the speed using a slide rule. Modern radar systems perform the equivalent operation faster and more accurately using computers.
If the transmitter's output is coherent (phase synchronized), there is another effect that can be used to make almost instant speed measurements (no memory is required), known as the Doppler effect. Most modern radar systems use this principle into Doppler radar and pulse-Doppler radar systems (weather radar, military radar). The Doppler effect is only able to determine the relative speed of the target along the line of sight from the radar to the target. Any component of target velocity perpendicular to the line of sight cannot be determined by using the Doppler effect alone, but it can be determined by tracking the target's azimuth over time.
It is possible to make a Doppler radar without any pulsing, known as a continuous-wave radar (CW radar), by sending out a very pure signal of a known frequency. CW radar is ideal for determining the radial component of a target's velocity. CW radar is typically used by traffic enforcement to measure vehicle speed quickly and accurately where range is not important.
When using a pulsed radar, the variation between the phase of successive returns gives the distance the target has moved between pulses, and thus its speed can be calculated.
Other mathematical developments in radar signal processing include time-frequency analysis (Weyl Heisenberg or wavelet), as well as the chirplet transform which makes use of the change of frequency of returns from moving targets ("chirp").
Pulse-Doppler signal processing includes frequency filtering in the detection process. The space between each transmit pulse is divided into range cells or range gates. Each cell is filtered independently much like the process used by a spectrum analyzer to produce the display showing different frequencies. Each different distance produces a different spectrum. These spectra are used to perform the detection process. This is required to achieve acceptable performance in hostile environments involving weather, terrain, and electronic countermeasures.
The primary purpose is to measure both the amplitude and frequency of the aggregate reflected signal from multiple distances. This is used with weather radar to measure radial wind velocity and precipitation rate in each different volume of air. This is linked with computing systems to produce a real-time electronic weather map. Aircraft safety depends upon continuous access to accurate weather radar information that is used to prevent injuries and accidents. Weather radar uses a low PRF. Coherency requirements are not as strict as those for military systems because individual signals ordinarily do not need to be separated. Less sophisticated filtering is required, and range ambiguity processing is not normally needed with weather radar in comparison with military radar intended to track air vehicles.
The alternate purpose is "look-down/shoot-down" capability required to improve military air combat survivability. Pulse-Doppler is also used for ground based surveillance radar required to defend personnel and vehicles. Pulse-Doppler signal processing increases the maximum detection distance using less radiation in close proximity to aircraft pilots, shipboard personnel, infantry, and artillery. Reflections from terrain, water, and weather produce signals much larger than aircraft and missiles, which allows fast moving vehicles to hide using nap-of-the-earth flying techniques and stealth technology to avoid detection until an attack vehicle is too close to destroy. Pulse-Doppler signal processing incorporates more sophisticated electronic filtering that safely eliminates this kind of weakness. This requires the use of medium pulse-repetition frequency with phase coherent hardware that has a large dynamic range. Military applications require medium PRF which prevents range from being determined directly, and range ambiguity resolution processing is required to identify the true range of all reflected signals. Radial movement is usually linked with Doppler frequency to produce a lock signal that cannot be produced by radar jamming signals. Pulse-Doppler signal processing also produces audible signals that can be used for threat identification.
Signal processing is employed in radar systems to reduce the radar interference effects. Signal processing techniques include moving target indication, Pulse-Doppler signal processing, moving target detection processors, correlation with secondary surveillance radar targets, space-time adaptive processing, and track-before-detect. Constant false alarm rate and digital terrain model processing are also used in clutter environments.
A Track algorithm is a radar performance enhancement strategy. Tracking algorithms provide the ability to predict future position of multiple moving objects based on the history of the individual positions being reported by sensor systems.
Historical information is accumulated and used to predict future position for use with air traffic control, threat estimation, combat system doctrine, gun aiming, and missile guidance. Position data is accumulated by radar sensors over the span of a few minutes.
There are four common track algorithms.
Radar video returns from aircraft can be subjected to a plot extraction process whereby spurious and interfering signals are discarded. A sequence of target returns can be monitored through a device known as a plot extractor.
The non-relevant real time returns can be removed from the displayed information and a single plot displayed. In some radar systems, or alternatively in the command and control system to which the radar is connected, a radar tracker is used to associate the sequence of plots belonging to individual targets and estimate the targets' headings and speeds.
A radar's components are:
Radio signals broadcast from a single antenna will spread out in all directions, and likewise a single antenna will receive signals equally from all directions. This leaves the radar with the problem of deciding where the target object is located.
Early systems tended to use omnidirectional broadcast antennas, with directional receiver antennas which were pointed in various directions. For instance, the first system to be deployed, Chain Home, used two straight antennas at right angles for reception, each on a different display. The maximum return would be detected with an antenna at right angles to the target, and a minimum with the antenna pointed directly at it (end on). The operator could determine the direction to a target by rotating the antenna so one display showed a maximum while the other showed a minimum.
One serious limitation with this type of solution is that the broadcast is sent out in all directions, so the amount of energy in the direction being examined is a small part of that transmitted. To get a reasonable amount of power on the "target", the transmitting aerial should also be directional.
More modern systems use a steerable parabolic "dish" to create a tight broadcast beam, typically using the same dish as the receiver. Such systems often combine two radar frequencies in the same antenna in order to allow automatic steering, or "radar lock".
Parabolic reflectors can be either symmetric parabolas or spoiled parabolas:
Symmetric parabolic antennas produce a narrow "pencil" beam in both the X and Y dimensions and consequently have a higher gain. The NEXRAD Pulse-Doppler weather radar uses a symmetric antenna to perform detailed volumetric scans of the atmosphere. Spoiled parabolic antennas produce a narrow beam in one dimension and a relatively wide beam in the other. This feature is useful if target detection over a wide range of angles is more important than target location in three dimensions. Most 2D surveillance radars use a spoiled parabolic antenna with a narrow azimuthal beamwidth and wide vertical beamwidth. This beam configuration allows the radar operator to detect an aircraft at a specific azimuth but at an indeterminate height. Conversely, so-called "nodder" height finding radars use a dish with a narrow vertical beamwidth and wide azimuthal beamwidth to detect an aircraft at a specific height but with low azimuthal precision.
Applied similarly to the parabolic reflector, the slotted waveguide is moved mechanically to scan and is particularly suitable for non-tracking surface scan systems, where the vertical pattern may remain constant. Owing to its lower cost and less wind exposure, shipboard, airport surface, and harbour surveillance radars now use this approach in preference to a parabolic antenna.
Another method of steering is used in a phased array radar.
Phased array antennas are composed of evenly spaced similar antenna elements, such as aerials or rows of slotted waveguide. Each antenna element or group of antenna elements incorporates a discrete phase shift that produces a phase gradient across the array. For example, array elements producing a 5 degree phase shift for each wavelength across the array face will produce a beam pointed 5 degrees away from the centreline perpendicular to the array face. Signals travelling along that beam will be reinforced. Signals offset from that beam will be cancelled. The amount of reinforcement is antenna gain. The amount of cancellation is side-lobe suppression.
Phased array radars have been in use since the earliest years of radar in World War II (Mammut radar), but electronic device limitations led to poor performance. Phased array radars were originally used for missile defence (see for example Safeguard Program). They are the heart of the ship-borne Aegis Combat System and the Patriot Missile System. The massive redundancy associated with having a large number of array elements increases reliability at the expense of gradual performance degradation that occurs as individual phase elements fail. To a lesser extent, Phased array radars have been used in weather surveillance. As of 2017, NOAA plans to implement a national network of Multi-Function Phased array radars throughout the United States within 10 years, for meteorological studies and flight monitoring.
Phased array antennas can be built to conform to specific shapes, like missiles, infantry support vehicles, ships, and aircraft.
As the price of electronics has fallen, phased array radars have become more common. Almost all modern military radar systems are based on phased arrays, where the small additional cost is offset by the improved reliability of a system with no moving parts. Traditional moving-antenna designs are still widely used in roles where cost is a significant factor such as air traffic surveillance and similar systems.
Phased array radars are valued for use in aircraft since they can track multiple targets. The first aircraft to use a phased array radar was the B-1B Lancer. The first fighter aircraft to use phased array radar was the Mikoyan MiG-31. The MiG-31M's SBI-16 Zaslon Passive electronically scanned array radar was considered to be the world's most powerful fighter radar, until the AN/APG-77 Active electronically scanned array was introduced on the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor.
Phased-array interferometry or aperture synthesis techniques, using an array of separate dishes that are phased into a single effective aperture, are not typical for radar applications, although they are widely used in radio astronomy. Because of the thinned array curse, such multiple aperture arrays, when used in transmitters, result in narrow beams at the expense of reducing the total power transmitted to the target. In principle, such techniques could increase spatial resolution, but the lower power means that this is generally not effective.
Aperture synthesis by post-processing motion data from a single moving source, on the other hand, is widely used in space and airborne radar systems.
The traditional band names originated as code-names during World War II and are still in military and aviation use throughout the world. They have been adopted in the United States by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and internationally by the International Telecommunication Union. Most countries have additional regulations to control which parts of each band are available for civilian or military use.
Other users of the radio spectrum, such as the broadcasting and electronic countermeasures industries, have replaced the traditional military designations with their own systems.
Modulators act to provide the waveform of the RF-pulse. There are two different radar modulator designs:
Coherent microwave amplifiers operating above 1,000 watts microwave output, like travelling wave tubes and klystrons, require liquid coolant. The electron beam must contain 5 to 10 times more power than the microwave output, which can produce enough heat to generate plasma. This plasma flows from the collector toward the cathode. The same magnetic focusing that guides the electron beam forces the plasma into the path of the electron beam but flowing in the opposite direction. This introduces FM modulation which degrades Doppler performance. To prevent this, liquid coolant with minimum pressure and flow rate is required, and deionized water is normally used in most high power surface radar systems that utilize Doppler processing.
Coolanol (silicate ester) was used in several military radars in the 1970s. However, it is hygroscopic, leading to hydrolysis and formation of highly flammable alcohol. The loss of a U.S. Navy aircraft in 1978 was attributed to a silicate ester fire. Coolanol is also expensive and toxic. The U.S. Navy has instituted a program named Pollution Prevention (P2) to eliminate or reduce the volume and toxicity of waste, air emissions, and effluent discharges. Because of this, Coolanol is used less often today.
"Radar" (also: "RADAR") is defined by "article 1.100" of the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) ITU Radio Regulations (RR) as: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25676 |
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's aerial warfare force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918. Following the Allied victory over the Central Powers in 1918, the RAF emerged as the largest air force in the world at the time. Since its formation, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history. In particular, it played a large part in the Second World War where it fought its most famous campaign, the Battle of Britain.
The RAF's mission is to support the objectives of the British Ministry of Defence (MoD), which are to "provide the capabilities needed to ensure the security and defence of the United Kingdom and overseas territories, including against terrorism; to support the Government's foreign policy objectives particularly in promoting international peace and security". The RAF describes its mission statement as "... [to provide] an "agile", "adaptable" and "capable" Air Force that, person for person, is second to none, and that makes a decisive air power contribution in support of the UK Defence Mission". The mission statement is supported by the RAF's definition of air power, which guides its strategy. Air power is defined as "the ability to project power from the air and space to influence the behaviour of people or the course of events".
Today the Royal Air Force maintains an operational fleet of various types of aircraft, described by the RAF as being "leading-edge" in terms of technology. This largely consists of fixed-wing aircraft, including: fighter and strike aircraft, airborne early warning and control aircraft, ISTAR and SIGINT aircraft, aerial refueling aircraft and strategic and tactical transport aircraft. The majority of the RAF's rotary-wing aircraft form part of the tri-service Joint Helicopter Command in support of ground forces. Most of the RAF's aircraft and personnel are based in the UK, with many others serving on operations (principally over Iraq and Syria) or at long-established overseas bases (Ascension Island, Cyprus, Gibraltar, and the Falkland Islands). Although the RAF is the principal British air power arm, the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm and the British Army's Army Air Corps also deliver air power which is integrated into the maritime, littoral and land environments.
While the British were not the first to make use of heavier-than-air military aircraft, the RAF is the world's oldest independent air force: that is, the first air force to become independent of army or navy control. Following publication of the "Smuts report" prepared by Jan Smuts the RAF was founded on 1 April 1918, with headquarters located in the former Hotel Cecil, during the First World War, by the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). At that time it was the largest air force in the world. After the war, the service was drastically cut and its inter-war years were relatively quiet, with the RAF taking responsibility for the control of Iraq and executing a number of minor actions in other parts of the British Empire. The RAF's naval aviation branch, the Fleet Air Arm, was founded in 1924 but handed over to Admiralty control on 24 May 1939.
The RAF developed the doctrine of strategic bombing which led to the construction of long-range bombers and became its main bombing strategy in the Second World War.
The RAF underwent rapid expansion prior to and during the Second World War. Under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan of December 1939, the air forces of British Commonwealth countries trained and formed "Article XV squadrons" for service with RAF formations. Many individual personnel from these countries, and exiles from occupied Europe, also served with RAF squadrons. By the end of the war the Royal Canadian Air Force had contributed more than 30 squadrons to serve in RAF formations, similarly, approximately a quarter of Bomber Command's personnel were Canadian. Additionally, the Royal Australian Air Force represented around nine percent of all RAF personnel who served in the European and Mediterranean theatres.
In the Battle of Britain in 1940, the RAF defended the skies over Britain against the numerically superior German Luftwaffe. In what is perhaps the most prolonged and complicated air campaign in history, the Battle of Britain contributed significantly to the delay and subsequent indefinite postponement of Hitler's plans for an invasion of the United Kingdom (Operation Sea Lion). In the House of Commons on 20 August, prompted by the ongoing efforts of the RAF, Prime Minister Winston Churchill eloquently made a speech to the nation, where he said "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few".
The largest RAF effort during the war was the strategic bombing campaign against Germany by Bomber Command. While RAF bombing of Germany began almost immediately upon the outbreak of war, under the leadership of Air Chief Marshal Harris, these attacks became increasingly devastating from 1942 onward as new technology and greater numbers of superior aircraft became available. The RAF adopted night-time area bombing on German cities such as Hamburg and Dresden, and developed precision bombing techniques for specific operations, such as the "Dambusters" raid by No. 617 Squadron, or the Amiens prison raid known as Operation Jericho.
Following victory in the Second World War, the RAF underwent significant re-organisation, as technological advances in air warfare saw the arrival of jet fighters and bombers. During the early stages of the Cold War, one of the first major operations undertaken by the Royal Air Force was in 1948 and the Berlin Airlift, codenamed Operation Plainfire. Between 26 June and the lifting of the Russian blockade of the city on 2 May, the RAF provided 17% of the total supplies delivered during the event, using Avro Yorks, Douglas Dakotas flying to Gatow Airport and Short Sunderlands flying to Lake Havel.
Before Britain developed its own nuclear weapons the RAF was provided with American nuclear weapons under Project E. However following the development of its own arsenal, the British Government elected on 16 February 1960 to share the country's nuclear deterrent between the RAF and submarines of the Royal Navy, first deciding on 13 April to concentrate solely on the air force's V bomber fleet. These were initially armed with nuclear gravity bombs, later being equipped with the Blue Steel missile. Following the development of the Royal Navy's Polaris submarines, the strategic nuclear deterrent passed to the navy's submarines on 30 June 1969. With the introduction of Polaris, the RAF's strategic nuclear role was reduced to a tactical one, using WE.177 gravity bombs. This tactical role was continued by the V bombers into the 1980s and until 1998 by Tornado GR1s.
For much of the Cold War the primary role of the RAF was the defence of Western Europe against potential attack by the Soviet Union, with many squadrons based in West Germany. The main RAF bases in RAF(G) were RAF Bruggen, RAF Gutersloh, RAF Laarbruch and RAF Wildenrath – the only air defence base in RAF(G). With the decline of the British Empire, global operations were scaled back, and RAF Far East Air Force was disbanded on 31 October 1971. Despite this, the RAF fought in many battles in the Cold War period. In June 1948 the RAF commenced Operation Firedog against Malayan terrorists during the Malayan Emergency. Operations continued for the next 12 years until 1960 with aircraft flying out of RAF Tengah and RAF Butterworth. The RAF played a minor role in the Korean War, with flying boats taking part. From 1953 to 1956 the RAF Avro Lincoln squadrons carried out anti-Mau Mau operations in Kenya using its base at RAF Eastleigh. The Suez Crisis in 1956 saw a large RAF role, with aircraft operating from RAF Akrotiri and RAF Nicosia on Cyprus and RAF Luqa and RAF Hal Far on Malta as part of Operation Musketeer. In 1957, the RAF participated heavily during Jebel Akhdar War in Oman with both Venom and Shackleton jet aircraft. The RAF made 1,635 raids, dropping 1,094 tons and firing 900 rockets at the interior of Oman between July and December 1958 targeting insurgents, mountain top villages and water channels in a war that remained under low profile. The Konfrontasi against Indonesia in the early 1960s did see use of RAF aircraft, but due to a combination of deft diplomacy and selective ignoring of certain events by both sides, it never developed into a full-scale war.
One of the largest actions undertaken by the RAF during the cold war was the air campaign during the 1982 Falklands War, in which the RAF operated alongside the Fleet Air Arm. During the war, RAF aircraft were deployed in the mid-Atlantic at RAF Ascension Island and a detachment from No. 1 Squadron was deployed with the Royal Navy, operating from the aircraft carrier HMS "Hermes". RAF pilots also flew missions using the Royal Navy's Sea Harriers in the air-to-air combat role, in particular Flt Lt Dave Morgan the highest scoring pilot of the war. Following a British victory, the RAF remained in the South Atlantic to provide air defence to the Falkland Islands, based at RAF Mount Pleasant (built 1984).
With the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the RAF's focus has returned to expeditionary air power. Since 1990 the RAF has been involved in several large-scale operations, including: the 1991 Gulf War, the 1999 Kosovo War, the 2001 War in Afghanistan, the 2003 invasion and war in Iraq and the 2011 intervention in Libya.
The RAF's 90th anniversary was commemorated on 1 April 2008 by a flypast of 9 Red Arrows and four Typhoons along the Thames, in a straight line from just south of London City Airport Tower Bridge, the London Eye, the RAF Memorial and (at 13.00) the Ministry of Defence building.
Four major defence reviews have been conducted since the end of the Cold War: the 1990 Options for Change, the 1998 Strategic Defence Review, the 2003 Delivering Security in a Changing World and the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR). All four defence reviews have resulted in steady reductions in manpower and numbers of aircraft, especially combat aircraft such as fast-jets. As part of the latest 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, the BAE Systems Nimrod MRA4 maritime patrol aircraft was cancelled due to over spending and missing deadlines. Other reductions saw total RAF manpower reduced by 5,000 personnel to a trained strength of 33,000 and the early retirement of the Joint Force Harrier aircraft, the Harrier GR7/GR9.
In recent years fighter aircraft on Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) have been increasingly required to scramble in response to efforts made by the Russian Air Force to approach British airspace. On 24 January 2014 in the Houses of Parliament, Conservative MP and Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Andrew Robathan, announced that the RAF's QRA force had been scrambled almost thirty times in the last three years: eleven times during 2010, ten times during 2011 and eight times during 2012.
RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire and RAF Lossiemouth in Moray both provide Quick Reaction Alert, or QRA, and scramble their fighter jets within minutes to meet or intercept aircraft which give cause for concern. Lossiemouth generally covers the northern sector, while Coningsby provides QRA in the south. Typhoon pilot Flight Lieutenant Noel Rees describes how QRA duty works. "At the start of the scaled QRA response, civilian air traffic controllers might see on their screens an aircraft behaving erratically, not responding to their radio calls, or note that it's transmitting a distress signal through its transponder. Rather than scramble Typhoons at the first hint of something abnormal, a controller has the option to put them on a higher level of alert, 'a call to cockpit'. In this scenario the pilot races to the hardened aircraft shelter and does everything short of starting his engines".
On 4 October 2015, a final stand-down saw the end of more than 70 years of RAF Search and Rescue provision in the UK. The RAF and Royal Navy's Westland Sea King fleets, after over 30 years of service, were retired. A civilian contractor, Bristow Helicopters, took over responsibility for UK Search and Rescue, under a Private Finance Initiative with newly purchased Sikorsky S-92 and AgustaWestland AW189 aircraft. The new contract means that all UK SAR coverage is now provided by Bristow aircraft.
In 2018 the RAF's vision of a future constellation of imagery satellites was initiated through the launch of the Carbonite-2 technology demonstrator. The 100 kg Carbonite-2 uses commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components to deliver high-quality imagery and 3D video footage from space.
The professional head and highest-ranking officer of the Royal Air Force is the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS). He reports to the Chief of the Defence Staff, who is the professional head of the British Armed Forces. The incumbent Chief of the Air Staff is Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston, who was appointed in July 2019.
The management of the RAF is the responsibility the Air Force Board, a sub-committee of the Defence Council which is part of the Ministry of Defence and body legally responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories. The Chief of the Air Staff chairs the Air Force Board Standing Committee (AFBSC) which decides on the policy and actions required for the RAF to meet the requirements of the Defence Council and Her Majesty's Government.
The Chief of the Air Staff is supported by several other senior commanders, the main positions are shown in the following table.
Administrative and operational command of the RAF is delegated by the Air Force Board to Headquarters Air Command, based at RAF High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. Air Command was formed on 1 April 2007 by combining RAF Strike Command and RAF Personnel and Training Command, resulting in a single command covering the whole RAF, led by the Chief of the Air Staff. Through its subordinate groups, Air Command oversees the whole spectrum of RAF aircraft and operations.
Groups are the subdivisions of operational commands and are responsible for certain types of capabilities or for operations in limited geographical areas. There are six groups subordinate to Air Command, of which five are functional and one is geographically focused:
No. 1 Group (Air Combat)
No. 1 Group is responsible for combat aircraft (comprising the Lightning Force & Typhoon Force) and the RAF's intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) capabilities. It oversees stations at RAF Coningsby and RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, RAF Lossiemouth in Moray and RAF Marham in Norfolk. The group's Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4 aircraft protect UK and NATO airspace by providing a continuous Quick Reaction Alert capability.
No. 2 Group (Air Combat Support)
No. 2 Group controls the Air Mobility Force which provides strategic and tactical airlift, air-to-air refuelling and Command Support Air Transport. The group is also responsible for the RAF's Force Protection assets comprising the RAF Regiment and RAF Police. It oversees stations at RAF Benson and RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, RAF Henlow in Bedfordshire, RAF Honington in Suffolk, RAF Odiham in Hampshire and RAF Northolt in West London.
No. 11 Group (Multi-domain operations)
No. 11 Group is responsible for integrating operations across the air, cyber and space domains whilst responding to new and evolving threats. It includes the RAF's Battlespace Management Force which controls the UK Air Surveillance and Control System (ASACS). The group oversees stations at RAF Boulmer in Northumberland, RAF Fylingdales in North Yorkshire, RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire and RAF Spadeadam in Cumbria.
No. 22 Group (Training)
No. 22 Group is responsible for the supply of qualified and skilled personnel to the RAF and provides flying and non-flying training to all three British armed services. It is the end-user of the UK Military Flying Training System which is provided by civilian contractor Ascent Flight Training. The group oversees stations at RAF College Cranwell in Lincolnshire, RAF Cosford and RAF Shawbury in Shropshire, RAF Halton in Buckinghamshire, MOD St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan, RAF St Mawgan in Cornwall and RAF Valley on Angelsey.
No. 38 Group (Air Combat Service Support)
No. 38 Group is responsible for RAF capabilities relating to engineering and logistics (known as the A4 Force, in accordance with the continental staff system), communications, medical operations and RAF Music services. It is responsible for UK-based US Visiting Forces and for RAF personnel detached within foreign armed forces around the globe. The group oversees stations at RAF High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire and RAF Wittering in Cambridgeshire.
No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group
No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group (No. 83 EAG) is the RAF's operational headquarters in the Middle East, based at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. It is responsible for UK air operations in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean (Operation Kipion), the military intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Operation Shader) and wider UK defence objectives in the Middle East. Operations are delivered through four Expeditionary Air Wings (No. 901 EAW, No. 902 EAW, No. 903 EAW and No. 904 EAW).
An RAF station is ordinarily subordinate to a group and is commanded by a group captain. Each station typically hosts several flying and non-flying squadrons or units which are supported by administrative and support wings.
Front-line flying operations are focussed at eight stations:
Flying training takes places at RAF Barkston Heath, RAF College Cranwell, RAF Shawbury and RAF Valley, each forming part of the UK Military Flying Training System which is dedicated to training aircrew for all three UK armed services. Specialist ground crew training is focused at RAF Cosford, RAF St Mawgan and MOD St. Athan.
Operations are supported by numerous other flying and non-flying stations, with activity focussed at RAF Honington which coordinates Force Protection and RAF Leeming & RAF Wittering which have a support enabler role.
A Control and Reporting Centre (CRC) at RAF Boulmer is tasked with compiling a Recognised Air Picture of UK air space and providing tactical control of the Quick Reaction Alert Force. In order to achieve this Boulmer is supported by a network of eight Remote Radar Heads (RRHs) spread the length of the UK.
The UK operates permanent military airfields (known as Permanent Joint Operating Bases) in four British Overseas Territories. These bases contribute to the physical defence and maintenance of sovereignty of the British Overseas Territories and enable the UK to conduct expeditionary military operations. Although command and oversight of the bases is provided by Strategic Command, the airfield elements are known as RAF stations.
Two RAF squadrons are located within the United States to support close cooperation with the US Air Force in the operation of the MQ-9A Reaper (Creech Air Force Base, Nevada) and development of the F-35A Lighting II (Edwards Air Force Base, California).
A flying squadron is an aircraft unit which carries out the primary tasks of the RAF. RAF squadrons are somewhat analogous to the regiments of the British Army in that they have histories and traditions going back to their formation, regardless of where they are based, which aircraft they are operating, etc. They can be awarded standards and battle honours for meritorious service. Whilst every squadron is different, most flying squadrons are commanded by a wing commander and, for a fast-jet squadron, have an establishment of around 12 aircraft.
Support capabilities are provided by several specialist wings and other units.
Command & control and support for overseas operations is typically provided through Expeditionary Air Wings (EAWs). Each wing is brought together as and when required and comprises the deployable elements of its home station as well as other support elements from throughout the RAF.
Several Expeditionary Air Wings are based overseas:
The RAF Schools consist of the squadrons and support apparatus that train new aircrew to join front-line squadrons. The schools separate individual streams, but group together units with similar responsibility or that operate the same aircraft type. Some schools operate with only one Squadron, and have an overall training throughput which is relatively small; some, like 3 FTS, have responsibility for all Elementary Flying Training (EFT) in the RAF, and all RAF aircrew will pass through its squadrons when they start their flying careers. 2 FTS and 6 FTS do not have a front-line training responsibility – their job is to group the University Air Squadrons and the Volunteer Gliding Squadrons together. 2 FTS's commanding officer holds the only full-time flying appointment for a Group Captain in the RAF, and is a reservist.
The British military operate a number of joint training organisations with Air Command leading the provision of technical training through the Defence College of Technical Training – Several different specialist areas: aeronautical engineering, electro and mechanical engineering, and communication and information systems.
A flight is a sub-division of a squadron. Flying squadrons are often divided into two flights, e.g., "A" and "B", each under the command of a squadron leader. Administrative squadrons on a station are also divided into flights and these flights are commanded by a junior officer, often a flight lieutenant. Because of their small size, there are several flying units formed as flights rather than squadrons. For example, No. 1435 Flight is based at RAF Mount Pleasant in the Falkland Islands, maintaining air defence cover with four Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft.
At its height in 1944 during the Second World War, more than 1,100,000 personnel were serving in the RAF. The longest-lived founding member of the RAF was Henry Allingham, who died on 18 July 2009 aged 113.
As of 1 January 2015, the Royal Air Force numbered some 34,200 Regular and 1,940 Royal Auxiliary Air Force personnel, giving a combined component strength of 36,140 personnel. In addition to the active elements of the Royal Air Force, (Regular and Royal Auxiliary Air Force), all ex-Regular personnel remain liable to be recalled for duty in a time of need, this is known as the Regular Reserve. In 2007 there were 33,980 Regular Reserves of the Royal Air Force, of which 7,950 served under a fixed-term reserve contract. Publications since April 2013 no-longer report the entire strength of the Regular Reserve, instead they only give a figure for Regular Reserves who serve under a fixed-term reserve contract. They had a strength of 7,120 personnel in 2014.
Figures provided by the International Institute for Strategic Studies from 2012 showed that Royal Air Force pilots achieve a relatively high number of flying hours per year when compared with other major NATO allies such as France and Germany. RAF pilots achieve 210 to 290 flying hours per year. French and German Air Force pilots achieved only 180 and 150 flying hours across their fleets respectively.
Officers hold a commission from the Sovereign, which provides the legal authority for them to issue orders to subordinates. The commission of a regular officer is granted after successfully completing the 24-week-long Initial Officer Training course at the RAF College, Cranwell, Lincolnshire.
To emphasize the merger of both military and naval aviation when the RAF was formed, many of the titles of officers were deliberately chosen to be of a naval character, such as flight lieutenant, wing commander, group captain, and air commodore.
Other ranks attend the Recruit Training Squadron at RAF Halton for basic training. The titles and insignia of other ranks in the RAF were based on that of the Army, with some alterations in terminology. Over the years, this structure has seen significant changes: for example, there was once a separate system for those in technical trades, and the ranks of chief technician and junior technician continue to be held only by personnel in technical trades. RAF other ranks fall into four categories: Warrant Officers, Senior Non-Commissioned Officers, Junior Non-Commissioned Officers and Airmen. All Warrant Officers in the RAF are equal in terms of rank, but the most senior Non-Commissioned appointment is known as the Chief of the Air Staff's Warrant Officer.
The Royal Air Force operates several units and centres for the provision of non-generic training and education. These include the Royal Air Force Leadership Centre and the Royal Air Force Centre for Air Power Studies, both based at RAF Cranwell, and the Air Warfare Centre, based at RAF Waddington and RAF Cranwell. NCO training and developmental courses occur at RAF Halton and officer courses occur at the Joint Services Command and Staff College at Shrivenham.
The Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4 is the RAF's primary multi role air defence and ground attack fighter aircraft, following the retirement of the Panavia Tornado F3 in late March 2011. With the completion of 'Project Centurion' upgrades, the Typhoon FGR4 took over ground attack duties from the Panavia Tornado GR4, which was retired on 1 April 2019. The Typhoon is tasked to defend UK airspace, while also frequently deploying in support of NATO air defence missions in the Baltic (Operation Azotize), Black Sea and Iceland.
The RAF has seven front-line Typhoon units, plus an Operational Conversion Unit and Operational Evaluation Unit; No. 3 (Fighter) Squadron, No. XI (F) Squadron, No. 12 Squadron (joint RAF/Qatar Air Force squadron), No. 29 Squadron (OCU) and No. 41 Test and Evaluation Squadron (OEU) based at RAF Coningsby, with No. 1 (F) Squadron, No. II (Army Cooperation) Squadron, No. 6 Squadron and No. IX (Bomber) Squadron based at RAF Lossiemouth. Four Typhoons ("Faith", "Hope", "Charity" and "Desperation") are also based at RAF Mount Pleasant on the Falkland Islands as part of No. 1435 Flight where they provide air defence. As of 2020, the option of an eighth front-line squadron is being studied.
In October 2007, it was announced that MoD Boscombe Down, RNAS Culdrose and RAF Marham would also be used as Quick Reaction Alert bases from early 2008, offering around-the-clock fighter coverage for the South and South West of UK airspace when a direct threat has been identified. The Typhoon made its combat debut in support of Operation Ellamy in 2011 and has been supporting Operation Shader since December 2015.
The Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II (known only as Lightning in British service) is a single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft. It is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions while also providing electronic warfare and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. It will be jointly operated by the RAF and the Royal Navy and with its ability to perform short take-offs and vertical-landings (STOVL), can operate from the Royal Navy's "Queen Elizabeth"-class aircraft carriers.
A total of 138 Lightnings are expected to be ordered. The first RAF squadron to operate the F-35 was No. 17 Test and Evaluation Squadron at Edwards AFB, California, accepting its first F-35B in 2014. No. 617 (The Dambusters) Squadron officially reformed on 18 April 2018 as the first operational RAF Lightning Squadron. The first four aircraft arrived at RAF Marham from the United States in June 2018, with a further five arriving in August 2018. The Lightning was declared combat ready in January 2019. The second UK based F-35 squadron to be formed was No. 207 Squadron on 1 August 2019 as the Operational Conversion Unit for both RAF and Royal Navy pilots.
The Boeing E-3D Sentry AEW1, based at RAF Waddington and operated by No. 8 Squadron, provides airborne early warning to detect incoming enemy aircraft and to co-ordinate the aerial battlefield. Six E-3 aircraft were originally procured in February 1987, with an additional Sentry ordered later that year. Deliveries to the RAF were completed in 1992, when "ZH107" was handed over in May. The 2015 SDSR planned for six Sentry AEW1s to remain in service until 2035. However, the UK Government's announcement of the procurement of five Boeing E-7 Wedgetails in March 2019 led to the withdrawal of two Sentry AEW1s in preparation for the future transition to the new type, bringing the fleet down to four aircraft. In February 2020, it was announced that another E-3D had been retired in January, with the OSD (out of service date) for the Sentry being brought forward to December 2022 – before the E-7 Wedgetail will enter service.
The Raytheon Sentinel R1 (formally known as ASTOR – Airborne STand-Off Radar) provides a ground radar-surveillance platform based on the Bombardier Global Express long range business jet, and is flown by No. V (AC) Squadron from RAF Waddington. Originally ordered in 1999, the Sentinel entered into RAF service in 2008. The fifth and final Sentinel R1 "ZJ694" was delivered in February 2009 to RAF Waddington. In the 2010 SDSR, it was announced that the Sentinel would be withdrawn once operations in Afghanistan had been concluded. In July 2014, these plans were reversed to keep the Sentinel in service until 2018. In July 2017, "ZJ693" was withdrawn from service while the rest of the Sentinel fleet was given an OSD of 2021.
Six Hawker Beechcraft Shadow R1s (with two more to be converted) are operated by No. 14 Squadron from RAF Waddington, these aircraft are King Air 350CERs that have been specially converted for the ISTAR role. Four Shadow R1s were originally ordered in 2007 due to an Urgent Operational Requirement, and began the conversion process to the ISTAR role in 2009. "ZZ416" was the first Shadow R1 to be delivered in May 2009 to No. V (AC) Squadron. A further Shadow was procured and delivered in December 2011. The Shadow fleet was transferred over to the newly reformed No. 14 Squadron in October 2011. Following the 2015 SDSR, three more Shadows were ordered and the fleet was given an OSD of 2030.
Ten General Atomics MQ-9A Reaper Unmanned aerial vehicles have been purchased to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are operated by No. 39 Squadron based at Creech Air Force Base and No. XIII Squadron at RAF Waddington.
Three Boeing RC-135W Rivet Joints replaced the Nimrod R1 fleet in the signals intelligence role under the AIRSEEKER Programme and are flown by No. 51 Squadron. The Nimrod fleet was retired in 2011, the RAF co-manned aircraft of the US Air Force until the three RC-135s entered service between 2014 and 2017. The aircraft were Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker tankers converted to RC-135W standard in the most complex combined Foreign Military Sales case and co-operative support arrangement that the UK had undertaken with the United States Air Force since the Second World War. Airseeker received its first operational deployment in August 2014, when it was deployed to the Middle East to fly missions over Iraq and Syria as part of Operation Shader.
Based at RAF Waddington, No. 54 Squadron and No. 56 Squadron act as the OCU and OEU for the ISTAR fleet respectively.
An important part of the work of the RAF is to support the British Army by moving troops and equipment to and around the battlefield. RAF helicopters are also used in a variety of other roles, including in support of RAF ground units and heavy-lift support for the Royal Marines. The support helicopters are organised into the tri-service Joint Helicopter Command (JHC), along with helicopters from the British Army and Royal Navy. No. 22 Squadron, based at RAF Benson, re-formed in May 2020 as the OEU for the JHC.
The large twin-rotor Boeing Chinook is the RAF's heavy-lift support helicopter. Originally ordered in 1978, with subsequent orders in 1995, 2011, and 2018 (yet to be finalised), the Chinook is operated by Nos. 7, 18(B) and 27 Squadrons at RAF Odiham and No. 28 Squadron (Support Helicopter OCU) at RAF Benson. Since being first delivered in 1981, the Chinook has been involved in numerous operations: the Falklands War (1982); Operation Granby (1991); Operation Engadine (1999); Operation Barras (2000); Operation Herrick (2002–2014); Operation Telic (2003–2011); Operation Ruman (2017); and Operation Newcombe (2018–present). The 60-strong fleet of Chinooks currently has an OSD in the 2040s.
The Westland Puma HC2 is the RAF's Medium-lift support helicopter. It is operated by No. 33 Squadron and No. 230 Squadron (the RAF's Tiger Squadron), as well as by No. 28 Squadron (Support Helicopter OCU), all of which are based at RAF Benson. The first two Puma HC1s ("XW198" and "XW199"), of an eventual 48, were delivered in January 1971, which were supplemented by a captured Argentine Army SA 330J in 2001 and six ex-South African Air Force SA 330Ls in 2002. 24 of the Puma HC1s underwent upgrades to HC Mk.2 standard between 2012 and 2014. The Puma HC2 OSD is currently set to be March 2025.
Three Bell Griffin HAR.2s of No. 84 Squadron are based at RAF Akrotiri in the Cyprus Sovereign Base Areas. They are the RAF's only dedicated helicopter Search and Rescue force since the disbandment of the RAF Search and Rescue Force in February 2016. However, all UK military helicopter aircrew routinely train and practice the skills necessary for Search and Rescue, and the support helicopters based in the UK are available to the Government under Military Aid to the Civil Authorities in case they are needed.
The AgustaWestland AW109 Grand New aircraft of No. 32 (The Royal) Squadron also provide VIP transport and military helicopter capabilities.
Nine Boeing Poseidon MRA1s were ordered by the Government in November 2015 in its Strategic Defence and Security Review for surveillance, anti-submarine and anti-surface ship warfare, filling a capability gap in maritime patrol that had been left since the cancellation of the BAE Systems Nimrod MRA4 programme in the 2010 SDSR. On 13 July 2017, it was announced that No. 120 Squadron and No. 201 Squadron, both former Nimrod MR2 squadrons, would be the two units to operate the P-8A Poseidon, based at RAF Lossiemouth. No. 120 Squadron stood up on 1 April 2018, with No. 201 Squadron set to form sometime in 2021. The first production Poseidon MRA1 "ZP801" made its initial flight on 13 July 2019. "ZP801" arrived at Kinloss Barracks, the former home of the Nimrod, on 4 February 2020, filling a decade long gap in maritime capability.
The RAF operate the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III in the heavy strategic airlift role, originally leasing four from Boeing. These four were subsequently purchased outright, followed by a fifth delivered on 7 April 2008 and a sixth delivered on 11 June 2008. The new aircraft entered frontline use within days. The MoD said there was "a stated departmental requirement for eight" C-17s and a seventh was subsequently ordered, to be delivered in December 2010. In February 2012 the purchase of an eighth C-17 was confirmed; the aircraft arrived at RAF Brize Norton in May 2012.
Air transport tasks are also carried out by the Airbus A330 MRTT, known as the Voyager in RAF service. The first Voyager arrived in the UK for testing at MoD Boscombe Down in April 2011, and entered service in April 2012. The Voyager received approval from the MoD on 16 May 2013 to begin air-to-air refuelling flights and made its first operational tanker flight on 20 May 2013 as part of a training sortie with Tornado GR4s. By 21 May 2013, the Voyager fleet had carried over 50,000 passengers and carried over 3,000 tons of cargo. A total of 14 Voyagers form the fleet, with nine allocated to sole RAF use (three KC2s and six KC3s). As the Voyagers lack a refueling boom, the RAF has requested a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the USAF allowing the UK access to tankers equipped with refueling booms for its Boeing RC-135W Airseeker SIGINT aircraft.
Shorter range, tactical-airlift transport is provided by the Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules, known as the Hercules C4 (C-130J-30) and Hercules C5 (C-130J) in RAF service, based at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. The draw-down of the Hercules C5 fleet has begun with the final aircraft planned to retire in 2019. The fourteen C4 extended variants are scheduled to retire on 31 March 2035. However, due to the crash of Hercules C4 "ZH873" in August 2017, one Hercules C5 will be retained to keep the fleet at 14 aircraft. The Airbus Atlas C1 (A400M) replaced the RAF's fleet of Hercules C1/C3 (C-130K) transport aircraft which were withdrawn from service on 31 December 2012. The A400M is also expected to replace the C4/C5 variants. Originally, 25 A400Ms were ordered; the total purchase has now dropped to 22.
No. 32 (The Royal) Squadron replaced the Queen's Flight in 1995 and operate the Agusta A109 and BAe 146 CC2 in the general air transport and VIP transport roles. The squadron is based at RAF Northolt in west London. Aircraft operate with a priority for military needs over VIP transport. Two additional BAe 146s were purchased in March 2012 from TNT Airways and were refitted by Hawker Beechcraft on behalf of BAE Systems for tactical freight and personnel transport use. The aircraft, designated as the BAe 146 C Mk 3, arrived in Afghanistan in April 2013.
Elementary Flying Training (EFT), as well as Multi-Engine Lead-In training, is conducted on the Grob Prefect T1. Basic fast jet training is provided on the Beechcraft Texan T1, replacing the Short Tucano T1 in November 2019, and initial helicopter training on the Squirrel HT1. Multi-Engine aircrew, weapon systems officer (WSO) and weapon systems operator (WSOp) students are trained on the Embraer Phenom T1. On completion of these stages of training, aircrew are awarded their 'wings' badge to wear on their uniforms, and multi-engine aircrew then go to their Operational Conversion Unit. Fast jet aircrew proceed to Advanced training on BAe Hawk T2, while helicopter aircrew complete a course on the Bell Griffin HT1, before going on to an Operational Conversion Unit (OCU). Each OCU trains aircrew on a specific aircraft type in preparation for service with a front-line squadron. The OCUs mainly use operational aircraft, though some training variants exists, such as the Typhoon T3, as well as sophisticated simulators and ground training.
The Tutor equips the fourteen University Air Squadrons, which provide University students an opportunity to undertake an RAF training syllabus based loosely on EFT, which includes first solo, as well as air navigation, aerobatics and formation flying. These units are co-located with Air Experience Flights, which share the same aircraft and facilities and provide air experience flying to the Air Training Corps and CCF. The Volunteer Gliding Squadrons also provide air experience flying to cadets using the Grob Viking T1 conventional glider. Due to an airworthiness issue in April 2014, the Viking fleet and the Grob Vigilant T1 aircraft were grounded for a two-year period, although Viking operations have subsequently resumed. The Vigilant was unexpectedly withdrawn from service in May 2018, a year earlier than planned. A contract tender was initiated in February 2018 to replace this capability from 2022 onwards.
Two of the ten T-6 Texan II trainers due as part of the UK Military Flight Training System were delivered in February 2018, forming the nucleus of the unit to be operated at RAF Valley. The aircraft are jointly operated by the Royal Air Force and Ascent Flight Training to provide lead-in training for RAF and Royal Navy fighter pilots prior to advanced training on the Hawk.
The BAe Hawk T1, as well as being flown by the Red Arrows, is also flown by No. 100 Squadron to support other fast jet and ground unit training, as an aggressor aircraft. The Squadron fulfills the role of enemy aircraft in air combat training or to provide additional air assets in joint exercises.
The F-35B Lightning II is intended to enter service around 2020 under the Joint Combat Aircraft programme. On 19 July 2012 the Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond, in a speech in the US, indicated that the UK would initially receive 48 F-35B to equip the Navy's carrier fleet and would announce at a later date what the final numbers would be. Jon Thompson, MOD Permanent Secretary, told the House of Commons Defence Select Committee, in late 2012: "Our commitment over the first 10 years is for 48 F-35B". An order for the first 14 aircraft on top of the four already procured for operational test and evaluation is expected later in 2013. The first four of 14 production aircraft were ordered in November 2014. Six further aircraft were ordered on 3 November 2015, with expected delivery in 2016. In November 2015, the government commitment to order 48 F-35B aircraft by 2023, 24 of which will be available for carrier duties. The 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review stated the intent for the UK to purchase 138 F-35 aircraft over the life of the programme. The first F-35 aircraft arrived at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire on 29 June 2016 after a Transatlantic crossing involving air to air refuelling.
On 5 October 2015, it was announced that the Scavenger programme had been replaced by "Protector", a new requirement for at least 20 systems. On 7 October 2015, it was revealed that Protector will be a Certifiable derivative of the MQ-9B SkyGuardian with enhanced range and endurance. In 2016 it was indicated that at least 16 UAVs would be purchased with a maximum of up to 26. In July 2018, a General Atomics US Civil registered MQ-9B SkyGuardian was flown from North Dakota to RAF Fairford for the Royal International Air Tattoo where it was given RAF markings. It was formally announced by the Chief of Air Staff that No. 31 Squadron would become the first squadron to operate the Protector RG1.
In July 2014, the House of Common Defence Select Committee released a report on the RAF future force structure that envisaged a mixture of unmanned and manned platforms, including further F-35, Protector RG1, a service life extension for the Typhoon (which would otherwise end its service in 2030) or a possible new manned aircraft.
In July 2018, at the Farnborough Airshow, the Defence Secretary announced a £2bn investment for BAe Systems, MBDA and Leonardo to develop a new British 6th Generation Fighter to replace Typhoon in 2035 under Project TEMPEST.
On 22 March 2019, the Defence Secretary announced the United Kingdom had signed a $1.98 billion deal to procure five Boeing E-7 Wedgetails to replace the ageing E-3D Sentry AEW1 fleet in the Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) role. As of May 2020, the first E-7 is expected to enter RAF service in 2023 with the final aircraft arriving in late 2025 or early 2026.
The UK's military flying training has been civilianised through a public-private partnership, which puts training output in the hands of a civilian contractor, known as Ascent Flight Training, a consortium of Lockheed Martin and Babcock International. The main elements of the system are fixed- and rotary-wing training from ab-initio all the way to Operational Conversion Units, which prepare aircrew for a specific frontline platform.
The new process uses three new fixed wing aircraft, the Grob Prefect T1 elementary trainer, the Beechcraft Texan T1 basic fast jet trainer, and the Embraer Phenom T1 multi-engine trainer. The aircraft have been procured to reduce the training gap between the older generation Tutor T1, Tucano T1 and King Air T1 aircraft, and the RAF's modern frontline aircraft, including advanced systems and glass cockpits. MFTS also relies far more on synthetic training to prepare aircrew for the front line, where advanced synthetic training is commonplace. Basic Fast Jet training is undertaken on the Texan, and advanced training is done on the BAE Systems Hawk T2, the contract for which had been separated from the rest of the UK MFTS contract, under the auspices of the Advanced Fast Jet Trainer programme.
In May 2016, it was announced that the RAF would see delivery of 29 Airbus H135 (Juno HT.1) and 3 Airbus H145 (Jupiter HT.1) helicopters for use as training aircraft. It was announced by Air Marshal Sean Reynolds, the Senior Responsible Owner for UKMFTS, that "Aircrew across the three Services will continue to conduct their basic and advanced rotary training at RAF Shawbury and Army Air Corps Middle Wallop. Aircrew selected for training in mountain and maritime helicopter operations will receive instruction at RAF Valley". A further four Jupiter HT.1s were ordered on 21 January 2020.
Following the tradition of the other British fighting services, the RAF has adopted symbols to represent it, use as rallying devices for members and promote esprit de corps. British aircraft in the early stages of the First World War carried the Union Flag as an identifying feature; however, this was easily confused with Germany's Iron Cross motif. In October 1914, therefore, the French system of three concentric rings was adopted, with the colours reversed to a red disc surrounded by a white ring and an outer blue ring. The relative sizes of the rings have changed over the years and during World War II an outer yellow ring was added to the fuselage roundel. Aircraft serving in the Far East during World War II had the to prevent with Japanese aircraft. Since the 1970s, camouflaged aircraft carry low-visibility roundels, either red and blue on dark camouflage, or washed-out pink and light blue on light colours. Most uncamouflaged training and transport aircraft retain the traditional red-white-blue roundel.
The Latin motto of the RAF, "Per ardua ad astra", is usually translated as "Through Adversity to the Stars", but the RAF's official translation is "Through Struggle to the Stars". The choice of motto is attributed to a junior officer named J S Yule, in response to a request from a commander of the RFC, Colonel Sykes, for suggestions.
The Badge of the Royal Air Force was first used in August 1918. In heraldic terms it is: "In front of a circle inscribed with the motto Per Ardua Ad Astra and ensigned by the Imperial Crown an eagle volant and affronte Head lowered and to the sinister". Although there have been debates among airmen over the years whether the bird was originally meant to be an albatross or an eagle, the consensus is that it was always an eagle.
The Red Arrows, officially known as the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, is the aerobatics display team of the Royal Air Force based at RAF Scampton, with under-review plans to move to RAF Waddington. The team was formed in late 1964 as an all-RAF team, replacing a number of unofficial teams that had been sponsored by RAF commands. The Red Arrows badge shows the aircraft in their trademark "Diamond Nine" formation, with the motto "Éclat", a French word meaning "brilliance" or "excellence".
Initially, they were equipped with seven Folland Gnat trainers inherited from the RAF Yellowjacks display team. This aircraft was chosen because it was less expensive to operate than front-line fighters. In their first season, they flew at 65 shows across Europe. In 1966, the team was increased to nine members, enabling them to develop their "Diamond Nine" formation. In late 1979, they switched to the BAE Hawk trainer. The Red Arrows have performed over 4,700 displays in 56 countries worldwide.
Headquarters Royal Air Force Music Services, located at RAF Northolt, supports professional musicians who attend events around the globe in support of the RAF. The Central Band of the Royal Air Force was established in 1920. Other bands include the Band of the Royal Air Force College, the Band of the Royal Air Force Regiment and the Band of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force.
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Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (in Russian: "Рабо́че-Крестья́нская Кра́сная Армия"), frequently shortened to Red Army, was the army and the air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after 1922, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The army was established immediately after the 1917 October Revolution. The Bolsheviks raised an army to oppose the military confederations (especially the various groups collectively known as the White Army) of their adversaries during the Russian Civil War. Beginning in February 1946, the Red Army, along with the Soviet Navy, embodied the main component of the Soviet Armed Forces; taking the official name of "Soviet Army", until its dissolution in December 1991.
The Red Army provided the largest land force in the Allied victory in the European theatre of World War II, and its invasion of Manchuria assisted the unconditional surrender of Imperial Japan. During operations on the Eastern Front, it accounted for 75–80% of casualties the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS suffered during the war and ultimately captured the Nazi German capital, Berlin.
In September 1917, Vladimir Lenin wrote: "There is only one way to prevent the restoration of the police, and that is to create a people's militia and to fuse it with the army (the standing army to be replaced by the arming of the entire people)." At the time, the Imperial Russian Army had started to collapse. Approximately 23% (about 19 million) of the male population of the Russian Empire were mobilized; however, most of them were not equipped with any weapons and had support roles such as maintaining the lines of communication and the base areas. The Tsarist general Nikolay Dukhonin estimated that there had been 2 million deserters, 1.8 million dead, 5 million wounded and 2 million prisoners. He estimated the remaining troops as numbering 10 million.
While the Imperial Russian Army was being taken apart, "it became apparent that the rag-tag Red Guard units and elements of the imperial army who had gone over the side of the Bolsheviks were quite inadequate to the task of defending the new government against external foes." Therefore, the Council of People's Commissars decided to form the Red Army on 28 January 1918. They envisioned a body "formed from the class-conscious and best elements of the working classes." All citizens of the Russian republic aged 18 or older were eligible. Its role being the defense "of the Soviet authority, the creation of a basis for the transformation of the standing army into a force deriving its strength from a nation in arms, and, furthermore, the creation of a basis for the support of the coming Socialist Revolution in Europe." Enlistment was conditional upon "guarantees being given by a military or civil committee functioning within the territory of the Soviet Power, or by party or trade union committees or, in extreme cases, by two persons belonging to one of the above organizations." In the event of an entire unit wanting to join the Red Army, a "collective guarantee and the affirmative vote of all its members would be necessary." Because the Red Army was composed mainly of peasants, the families of those who served were guaranteed rations and assistance with farm work. Some peasants who remained at home yearned to join the Army; men, along with some women, flooded the recruitment centres. If they were turned away they would collect scrap metal and prepare care-packages. In some cases the money they earned would go towards tanks for the Army.
The Council of People's Commissars appointed itself the supreme head of the Red Army, delegating command and administration of the army to the Commissariat for Military Affairs and the Special All-Russian College within this commissariat. Nikolai Krylenko was the supreme commander-in-chief, with Aleksandr Myasnikyan as deputy. Nikolai Podvoisky became the commissar for war, Pavel Dybenko, commissar for the fleet. Proshyan, Samoisky, Steinberg were also specified as people's commissars as well as Vladimir Bonch-Bruyevich from the Bureau of Commissars. At a joint meeting of Bolsheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, held on 22 February 1918, Krylenko remarked: "We have no army. The demoralized soldiers are fleeing, panic-stricken, as soon as they see a German helmet appear on the horizon, abandoning their artillery, convoys and all war material to the triumphantly advancing enemy. The Red Guard units are brushed aside like flies. We have no power to stay the enemy; only an immediate signing of the peace treaty will save us from destruction."
The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) occurred in three periods:
At the start of the civil war, the Red Army consisted of 299 infantry regiments. The civil war intensified after Lenin dissolved the Russian Constituent Assembly (5–6 January 1918) and the Soviet government signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (3 March 1918), removing Russia from the Great War. Free from international war, the Red Army confronted an internecine war against a variety of opposing anti-Communist forces, including the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine, the "Black Army" led by Nestor Makhno, the anti-White and anti-Red Green armies, efforts to restore the defeated Provisional Government, monarchists, but mainly the White Movement of several different anti-socialist military confederations. "Red Army Day", 23 February 1918, has a two-fold historical significance: it was the first day of drafting recruits (in Petrograd and Moscow), and the first day of combat against the occupying Imperial German Army.
In June 1918, Trotsky abolished workers' control over the Red Army, replacing the election of officers with traditional army hierarchies and criminalizing dissent with the death penalty. Simultaneously, Trotsky carried out a mass recruitment of officers from the old Imperial Russian Army, who were employed as military specialists ("voenspetsy", ). Lev Glezarov's special commission recruited and screened them. The Bolsheviks occasionally enforced the loyalty of such recruits by holding their families as hostages. As a result of this initiative, in 1918 75% of the officers were former tsarists. By mid-August 1920 the Red Army's former Tsarist personnel included 48,000 officers, 10,300 administrators, and 214,000 NCOs.. When the civil war ended in 1922, ex-Tsarists constituted 83% of the Red Army's divisional and corps commanders.
On 6 September 1918 the Bolshevik militias consolidated under the supreme command of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic (). The first chairman was Leon Trotsky, and the first commander-in-chief was Jukums Vācietis from the Latvian Riflemen; in July 1919 he was replaced by Sergey Kamenev. Soon afterwards Trotsky established the GRU (military intelligence) to provide political and military intelligence to Red Army commanders. Trotsky founded the Red Army with an initial Red Guard organization and a core soldiery of Red Guard militiamen and Chekist secret police. Conscription began in June 1918, and opposition to it was violently suppressed. To control the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural Red Army soldiery, the Cheka operated special punitive brigades which suppressed anti-communists, deserters, and "enemies of the state".
The Red Army used special regiments for ethnic minorities, such as the Dungan Cavalry Regiment commanded by the Dungan Magaza Masanchi.
The Red Army also co-operated with armed Bolshevik Party-oriented volunteer units, the Части особого назначения – ЧОН (special task units – "chasti osobogo naznacheniya" – or ChON) from 1919 to 1925.
The slogan "exhortation, organization, and reprisals" expressed the discipline and motivation which helped ensure the Red Army's tactical and strategic success. On campaign, the attached Cheka Special Punitive Brigades conducted summary field courts-martial and executions of deserters and slackers. Under Commissar Yan Karlovich Berzin the Special Punitive Brigades took hostages from the villages of deserters to compel their surrender; one in ten of those returning was executed. The same tactic also suppressed peasant rebellions in areas controlled by the Red Army, the biggest of these being the Tambov Rebellion. The Soviets enforced the loyalty of the various political, ethnic, and national groups in the Red Army through political commissars attached at the brigade and regimental levels. The commissars also had the task of spying on commanders for political incorrectness. Political commissars whose Chekist detachments retreated or broke in the face of the enemy earned the death penalty. In August 1918, Trotsky authorized General Mikhail Tukhachevsky to place blocking units behind politically unreliable Red Army units, to shoot anyone who retreated without permission. In 1942, during the Great Patriotic War (1941–1945) Joseph Stalin reintroduced the blocking policy and penal battalions with Order 227
The Red Army controlled by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic invaded and annexed non-Russian lands helping to create the Soviet Union.
The Soviet westward offensive of 1918–19 occurred at the same time as the general Soviet move into the areas abandoned by the Ober Ost garrisons. This merged into the 1919–1921 Polish–Soviet War, in which the Red Army reached central Poland in 1920, but then suffered a defeat there, which put an end to the war. During the Polish Campaign the Red Army numbered some 6.5 million men, many of whom the Army had difficulty supporting, around 581,000 in the two operational fronts, western and southwestern. Around 2.5 million men and women were immobilized in the interior as part of reserve armies.
The XI Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (RCP (b)) adopted a resolution on the strengthening of the Red Army. It decided to establish strictly organized military, educational and economic conditions in the army. However, it was recognized that an army of 1,600,000 would be burdensome. By the end of 1922, after the Congress, the Party Central Committee decided to reduce the Red Army to 800,000. This reduction necessitated the reorganization of the Red Army's structure. The supreme military unit became corps of two or three divisions. Divisions consisted of three regiments. Brigades as independent units were abolished. The formation of departments' rifle corps began.
After four years of warfare, the Red Army's defeat of Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel in the south in 1920
allowed the foundation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in December 1922. Historian John Erickson sees 1 February 1924, when Mikhail Frunze became head of the Red Army staff, as marking the ascent of the general staff, which came to dominate Soviet military planning and operations. By 1 October 1924 the Red Army's strength had diminished to 530,000. The list of Soviet Union divisions 1917–1945 details the formations of the Red Army in that time.
In the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s, Soviet military theoreticians – led by Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky – developed the deep-operations doctrine, a direct consequence of their experiences in the Polish-Soviet War and in the Russian Civil War. To achieve victory, deep operations envisage simultaneous corps- and army-size unit maneuvers of simultaneous parallel attacks throughout the depth of the enemy's ground forces, inducing catastrophic defensive failure. The deep-battle doctrine relies upon aviation and armor advances with the expectation that maneuver warfare offers quick, efficient, and decisive victory. Marshal Tukhachevsky said that aerial warfare must be "employed against targets beyond the range of infantry, artillery, and other arms. For maximum tactical effect aircraft should be employed en masse, concentrated in time and space, against targets of the highest tactical importance."
Red Army deep operations found their first formal expression in the 1929 Field Regulations, and became codified in the 1936 Provisional Field Regulations (PU-36). The Great Purge of 1937–1939 and the Purge of 1940–1942 removed many leading officers from the Red Army, including Tukhachevsky himself and many of his followers, and the doctrine was abandoned. Thus at the Battle of Lake Khasan in 1938 and in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol in 1939 (major border clashes with the Imperial Japanese Army), the doctrine was not used. Only in the Second World War did deep operations come into play.
The Red army was involved in armed conflicts in the Republic of China during the Sino-Soviet conflict (1929), the Soviet Invasion of Xinjiang (1934), when it was assisted by White Russian forces, and the Xinjiang rebellion (1937). The Red Army achieved its objectives; it maintained effective control over the Manchurian Chinese Eastern Railway, and successfully installed a pro-Soviet regime in Xinjiang.
The Winter War (, , ) was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939—three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland, and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty. The League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union on 14 December 1939.
The Soviet forces led by Semyon Timoshenko had three times as many soldiers as the Finns, thirty times as many aircraft, and a hundred times as many tanks. The Red Army, however, had been hindered by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's Great Purge of 1937, reducing the army's morale and efficiency shortly before the outbreak of the fighting. With over 30,000 of its army officers executed or imprisoned, most of whom were from the highest ranks, the Red Army in 1939 had many inexperienced senior officers. Because of these factors, and high commitment and morale in the Finnish forces, Finland was able to resist the Soviet invasion for much longer than the Soviets expected. Finnish forces inflicted stunning losses on the Red Army for the first three months of the war while suffering very few losses themselves.
Hostilities ceased in March 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty. Finland ceded 11% of its pre-war territory and 30% of its economic assets to the Soviet Union. Soviet losses on the front were heavy, and the country's international reputation suffered. The Soviet forces did not accomplish their objective of the total conquest of Finland but conquered significant territory along Lake Ladoga, Petsamo and Salla. The Finns retained their sovereignty and improved their international reputation, which bolstered their morale in the Continuation War.
In accordance with the Soviet-Nazi Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 23 August 1939, the Red Army invaded Poland on 17 September 1939, after the Nazi invasion on 1 September 1939. On 30 November the Red Army also attacked Finland, in the Winter War of 1939–1940. By autumn 1940, after conquering its portion of Poland, the Third Reich shared an extensive border with USSR, with whom it remained neutrally bound by their non-aggression pact and trade agreements. Another consequence of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, carried out by the Southern Front in June–July 1940 and Soviet occupation of the Baltic states (1940). These conquests also added to the border the Soviet Union shared with Nazi-controlled areas. For Adolf Hitler, the circumstance was no dilemma, because the "Drang nach Osten" ("Drive towards the East") policy secretly remained in force, culminating on 18 December 1940 with "Directive No. 21, Operation Barbarossa", approved on 3 February 1941, and scheduled for mid-May 1941.
When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, in Operation Barbarossa, the Red Army's ground forces had 303 divisions and 22 separate brigades (5.5 million soldiers) including 166 divisions and brigades (2.6 million) garrisoned in the western military districts. The Axis forces deployed on the Eastern Front consisted of 181 divisions and 18 brigades (3 million soldiers). Three Fronts, the Northwestern, Western, and Southwestern conducted the defense of the western borders of the USSR. In the first weeks of the Great Patriotic War the Wehrmacht defeated many Red Army units. The Red Army lost millions of men as prisoners and lost much of its pre-war matériel. Stalin increased mobilization, and by 1 August 1941, despite 46 divisions lost in combat, the Red Army's strength was 401 divisions.
The Soviet forces were apparently unprepared despite numerous warnings from a variety of sources. They suffered much damage in the field because of mediocre officers, partial mobilization, and an incomplete reorganization. The hasty pre-war forces expansion and the over-promotion of inexperienced officers (owing to the purging of experienced officers) favored the Wehrmacht in combat. The Axis's numeric superiority rendered the combatants' divisional strength approximately equal. A generation of Soviet commanders (notably Georgy Zhukov) learned from the defeats, and Soviet victories in the Battle of Moscow, at Stalingrad, Kursk and later in Operation Bagration proved decisive.
In 1941, the Soviet government raised the bloodied Red Army's "esprit de corps" with propaganda stressing the defense of Motherland and nation, employing historic exemplars of Russian courage and bravery against foreign aggressors. The anti-Nazi "Great Patriotic War" was conflated with the Patriotic War of 1812 against Napoleon, and historical Russian military heroes, such as Alexander Nevski and Mikhail Kutuzov, appeared. Repression of the Russian Orthodox Church temporarily ceased, and priests revived the tradition of blessing arms before battle.
To encourage the initiative of Red Army commanders, the CPSU temporarily abolished political commissars, reintroduced formal military ranks and decorations, and introduced the Guards unit concept. Exceptionally heroic or high-performing units earned the Guards title (for example 1st Guards Special Rifle Corps, 6th Guards Tank Army), an elite designation denoting superior training, materiel, and pay. Punishment also was used; slackers, malingerers, those avoiding combat with self-inflicted wounds cowards, thieves, and deserters were disciplined with beatings, demotions, undesirable/dangerous duties, and summary execution by NKVD punitive detachments.
At the same time, the "osobist" (NKVD military counter-intelligence officers) became a key Red Army figure with the power to condemn to death and to spare the life of any soldier and (almost any) officer of the unit to which he was attached. In 1942, Stalin established the penal battalions composed of "gulag" inmates, Soviet PoWs, disgraced soldiers, and deserters, for hazardous front-line duty as "tramplers" clearing Nazi minefields, et cetera. Given the dangers, the maximum sentence was three months. Likewise, the Soviet treatment of Red Army personnel captured by the Wehrmacht was especially harsh. Per a 1941 Stalin directive, Red Army officers and soldiers were to "fight to the last" rather than surrender; Stalin stated: "There are no Soviet prisoners of war, only traitors. During and after World War II freed POWs went to special "filtration camps". Of these, by 1944, more than 90% were cleared, and about 8% were arrested or condemned to serve in penal battalions. In 1944, they were sent directly to reserve military formations to be cleared by the NKVD. Further, in 1945, about 100 filtration camps were set for repatriated POWs, and other displaced persons, which processed more than 4,000,000 people. By 1946, 80% civilians and 20% of POWs were freed, 5% of civilians, and 43% of POWs were re-drafted, 10% of civilians and 22% of POWs were sent to labor battalions, and 2% of civilians and 15% of the POWs (226,127 out of 1,539,475 total) were transferred to the Gulag.
During the Great Patriotic War, the Red Army conscripted 29,574,900 men in addition to the 4,826,907 in service at the beginning of the war. Of this total of 34,401,807 it lost 6,329,600 killed in action (KIA), 555,400 deaths by disease and 4,559,000 missing in action (MIA) (most captured). Of these 11,444,000, however, 939,700 rejoined the ranks in the subsequently liberated Soviet territory, and a further 1,836,000 returned from German captivity. Thus the grand total of losses amounted to 8,668,400. This is the official total dead, but other estimates give the number of total dead up to almost 11 million men, including 7.7 million killed or missing in action and 2.6 million POW dead (out of 5.2 million total POWs), plus 400,000 paramilitary and Soviet partisan losses. The majority of the losses, excluding POWs, were ethnic Russians (5,756,000), followed by ethnic Ukrainians (1,377,400). However, as many as 8 million of the 34 million mobilized were non-Slavic minority soldiers, and around 45 divisions formed from national minorities served from 1941 to 1943.
The German losses on the Eastern Front consisted of an estimated 3,604,800 KIA/MIA within the 1937 borders plus 900,000 ethnic Germans and Austrians outside the 1937 border (included in these numbers are men listed as missing in action or unaccounted for after the war) and 3,576,300 men reported captured (total 8,081,100); the losses of the German satellites on the Eastern Front approximated 668,163 KIA/MIA and 799,982 captured (total 1,468,145). Of these 9,549,245, the Soviets released 3,572,600 from captivity after the war, thus the grand total of the Axis losses came to an estimated 5,976,645. Regarding prisoners of war, both sides captured large numbers and had many die in captivity – one recent British figure says 3.6 of 6 million Soviet POWs died in German camps, while 300,000 of 3 million German POWs died in Soviet hands.
In 1941 the rapid progress of the initial German air and land attacks into the Soviet Union made Red Army logistical support difficult because many depots (and most of the USSR's industrial manufacturing base) lay in the country's invaded western areas, obliging their re-establishment east of the Ural Mountains. Until then the Red Army was often required to improvise or go without weapons, vehicles, and other equipment. The 1941 decision to physically move their manufacturing capacity east of the Ural mountains kept the main Soviet support system out of German reach. In the later stages of the war, the Red Army fielded some excellent weaponry, especially artillery and tanks. The Red Army's heavy KV-1 and medium T-34 tanks outclassed most Wehrmacht armor, but in 1941 most Soviet tank units used older and inferior models.
Military administration after the October Revolution was taken over by the People's Commissariat of war and marine affairs headed by a collective committee of Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko, Pavel Dybenko, and Nikolai Krylenko. At the same time, Nikolay Dukhonin was acting as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief after Alexander Kerensky fled from Russia. On 12 November 1917 the Soviet government appointed Krylenko as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, and because of an "accident" during the forceful displacement of the commander-in-chief, Dukhonin was killed on 20 November 1917. Nikolai Podvoisky was appointed as the Narkom of War Affairs, leaving Dybenko in charge of the Narkom of Marine Affairs and Ovseyenko – the expeditionary forces to the Southern Russia on 28 November 1917. The Bolsheviks also sent out their own representatives to replace front commanders of the Russian Imperial Army.
After the signing of Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on 3 March 1918, a major reshuffling took place in the Soviet military administration. On 13 March 1918 the Soviet government accepted the official resignation of Krylenko and the post of Supreme Commander-in-Chief was liquidated. On 14 March 1918 Leon Trotsky replaced Podvoisky as the Narkom of War Affairs. On 16 March 1918 Pavel Dybenko was relieved from the office of Narkom of Marine Affairs. On 8 May 1918 the All-Russian Chief Headquarters was created, headed by Nikolai Stogov and later Alexander Svechin.
On 2 September 1918 the Revolutionary Military Council (RMC) was established as the main military administration under Leon Trotsky, the Narkom of War Affairs. On 6 September 1918 alongside the chief headquarters the Field Headquarters of RMC was created, initially headed by Nikolai Rattel. On the same day the office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces was created, and initially assigned to Jukums Vācietis (and from July 1919 to Sergey Kamenev). The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces existed until April 1924, the end of Russian Civil War.
In November 1923, after the establishment of the Soviet Union, the Russian Narkom of War Affairs was transformed into the Soviet Narkom of War and Marine Affairs.
At the beginning of its existence, the Red Army functioned as a voluntary formation, without ranks or insignia. Democratic elections selected the officers. However, a decree of 29 May 1918 imposed obligatory military service for men of ages 18 to 40. To service the massive draft, the Bolsheviks formed regional military commissariats ("voyennyy komissariat", abbr. "voyenkomat"), which as of 2006 still exist in Russia in this function and under this name. Military commissariats, however, should not be confused with the institution of military political commissars.
In the mid-1920s the territorial principle of manning the Red Army was introduced. In each region able-bodied men were called up for a limited period of active duty in territorial units, which constituted about half the army's strength, each year, for five years. The first call-up period was for three months, with one month a year thereafter. A regular cadre provided a stable nucleus. By 1925 this system provided 46 of the 77 infantry divisions and one of the eleven cavalry divisions. The remainder consisted of regular officers and enlisted personnel serving two-year terms. The territorial system was finally abolished, with all remaining formations converted to the other cadre divisions, in 1937–1938.
The Soviet military received ample funding and was innovative in its technology. An American journalist wrote in 1941:
Under Stalin's campaign for mechanization, the army formed its first mechanized unit in 1930. The 1st Mechanized Brigade consisted of a tank regiment, a motorized infantry regiment, as well as reconnaissance and artillery battalions. From this humble beginning, the Soviets would go on to create the first operational-level armored formations in history, the 11th and 45th Mechanized Corps, in 1932. These were tank-heavy formations with combat support forces included so they could survive while operating in enemy rear areas without support from a parent front.
Impressed by the German campaign of 1940 against France, the Soviet People's Commissariat of Defence (Defence Ministry, Russian abbreviation NKO) ordered the creation of nine mechanized corps on 6 July 1940. Between February and March 1941 the NKO ordered another twenty to be created. All of these formations were larger than those theorized by Tukhachevsky. Even though the Red Army's 29 mechanized corps had an authorized strength of no less than 29,899 tanks by 1941, they proved to be a paper tiger. There were actually only 17,000 tanks available at the time, meaning several of the new mechanized corps were badly under strength. The pressure placed on factories and military planners to show production numbers also led to a situation where the majority of armored vehicles were obsolescent models, critically lacking in spare parts and support equipment, and nearly three-quarters were overdue for major maintenance. By 22 June 1941 there were only 1,475 of the modern T-34s and KV series tanks available to the Red Army, and these were too dispersed along the front to provide enough mass for even local success. To illustrate this, the 3rd Mechanized Corps in Lithuania was formed up of a total of 460 tanks; 109 of these were newer KV-1s and T-34s. This corps would prove to be one of the lucky few with a substantial number of newer tanks. However, the 4th Army was composed of 520 tanks, all of which were the obsolete T-26, as opposed to the authorized strength of 1,031 newer medium tanks. This problem was universal throughout the Red Army, and would play a crucial role in the initial defeats of the Red Army in 1941 at the hands of the German armed forces.
War experience prompted changes to the way frontline forces were organised. After six months of combat against the Germans, the Stavka abolished the rifle corps which was intermediate between the army and division level because, while useful in theory, in the state of the Red Army in 1941, they proved ineffective in practice. Following the decisive victory in the Battle of Moscow in January 1942, the high command began to reintroduce rifle corps into its more experienced formations. The total number of rifle corps started at 62 on 22 June 1941, dropped to six by 1 January 1942, but then increased to 34 by February 1943, and 161 by New Year's Day 1944. Actual strengths of front-line rifle divisions, authorised to contain 11,000 men in July 1941, were mostly no more than 50% of establishment strengths during 1941, and divisions were often worn down, because of continuous operations, to hundreds of men or even less.
On the outbreak of war, the Red Army deployed mechanised corps and tank divisions whose development has been described above. The initial German attack destroyed many and, in the course of 1941, virtually all of them,(barring two in the Transbaikal Military District). The remnants were disbanded. It was much easier to coordinate smaller forces, and separate tank brigades and battalions were substituted. It was late 1942 and early 1943 before larger tank formations of corps size were fielded to employ armour in mass again. By mid-1943, these corps were being grouped together into tank armies whose strength by the end of the war could be up to 700 tanks and 50,000 men.
The Bolshevik authorities assigned to every unit of the Red Army a political commissar, or "politruk", who had the authority to override unit commanders' decisions if they ran counter to the principles of the Communist Party. Although this sometimes resulted in inefficient command according to most historians, the Party leadership considered political control over the military absolutely necessary, as the army relied more and more on officers from the pre-revolutionary Imperial period and understandably feared a military coup. This system was abolished in 1925, as there were by that time enough trained Communist officers to render the counter-signing unnecessary.
The early Red Army abandoned the institution of a professional officer corps as a "heritage of tsarism" in the course of the Revolution. In particular, the Bolsheviks condemned the use of the word "officer" and used the word "commander" instead. The Red Army abandoned epaulettes and ranks, using purely functional titles such as "Division Commander", "Corps Commander" and similar titles. Insignia for these functional titles existed, consisting of triangles, squares and rhombuses (so-called "diamonds").
In 1924 (2 October) "personal" or "service" categories were introduced, from K1 (section leader, assistant squad leader, senior rifleman, etc.) to K14 (field commander, army commander, military district commander, army commissar and equivalent). Service category insignia again consisted of triangles, squares and rhombuses, but also rectangles (1 – 3, for categories from K7 to K9).
On 22 September 1935 the Red Army abandoned service categories and introduced personal ranks. These ranks, however, used a unique mix of functional titles and traditional ranks. For example, the ranks included "Lieutenant" and "Comdiv" (Комдив, Division Commander). Further complications ensued from the functional and categorical ranks for political officers (e.g., "brigade commissar", "army commissar 2nd rank"), for technical corps (e.g., "engineer 3rd rank," "division engineer"), and for administrative, medical and other non-combatant branches.
The Marshal of the Soviet Union (Маршал Советского Союза) rank was introduced on 22 September 1935. On 7 May 1940 further modifications to rationalise the system of ranks were made on the proposal by Marshal Voroshilov: the ranks of "General" and "Admiral" replaced the senior functional ranks of Combrig, Comdiv, Comcor, Comandarm in the Red Army and Flagman 1st rank etc. in the Red Navy; the other senior functional ranks ("division commissar," "division engineer," etc.) remained unaffected. The arm or service distinctions remained (e.g. general of cavalry, marshal of armoured troops). For the most part the new system restored that used by the Imperial Russian Army at the conclusion of its participation in World War I.
In early 1943 a unification of the system saw the abolition of all the remaining functional ranks. The word "officer" became officially endorsed, together with the use of epaulettes, which superseded the previous rank insignia. The ranks and insignia of 1943 did not change much until the last days of the USSR; the contemporary Russian Army uses largely the same system.
During the Civil War the commander cadres were trained at the Nicholas General Staff Academy of the Russian Empire, which became the Frunze Military Academy in the 1920s. Senior and supreme commanders were trained at the Higher Military Academic Courses, renamed the Advanced Courses for Supreme Command in 1925. The 1931 establishment of an Operations Faculty at the Frunze Military Academy supplemented these courses. The General staff Academy was reinstated on 2 April 1936, and became the principal military school for the senior and supreme commanders of the Red Army.
The late 1930s saw purges of the Red Army leadership which occurred concurrently with Stalin's Great Purge of Soviet society. In 1936 and 1937, at the orders of Stalin, thousands of Red Army senior officers were dismissed from their commands. The purges had the objective of cleansing the Red Army of the "politically unreliable elements," mainly among higher-ranking officers. This inevitably provided a convenient pretext for the settling of personal vendettas or to eliminate competition by officers seeking the same command. Many army, corps, and divisional commanders were sacked: most were imprisoned or sent to labor camps; others were executed. Among the victims was the Red Army's primary military theorist, Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky, who was perceived by Stalin as a potential political rival. Officers who remained soon found all of their decisions being closely examined by political officers, even in mundane matters such as record-keeping and field training exercises. An atmosphere of fear and unwillingness to take the initiative soon pervaded the Red Army; suicide rates among junior officers rose to record levels. The purges significantly impaired the combat capabilities of the Red Army. Hoyt concludes "the Soviet defense system was damaged to the point of incompetence" and stresses "the fear in which high officers lived." Clark says, "Stalin not only cut the heart out of the army, he also gave it brain damage." Lewin identifies three serious results: the loss of experienced and well-trained senior officers; the distrust it caused among potential allies especially France; and the encouragement it gave Germany.
Recently declassified data indicate that in 1937, at the height of the Purges, the Red Army had 114,300 officers, of whom 11,034 were dismissed. In 1938, the Red Army had 179,000 officers, 56% more than in 1937, of whom a further 6,742 were dismissed. In the highest echelons of the Red Army the Purges removed 3 of 5 marshals, 13 of 15 army generals, 8 of 9 admirals, 50 of 57 army corps generals, 154 out of 186 division generals, all 16 army commissars, and 25 of 28 army corps commissars.
The result was that the Red Army officer corps in 1941 had many inexperienced senior officers. While 60% of regimental commanders had two years or more of command experience in June 1941, and almost 80% of rifle division commanders, only 20% of corps commanders, and 5% or fewer army and military district commanders, had the same level of experience.
The significant growth of the Red Army during the high point of the purges may have worsened matters. In 1937, the Red Army numbered around 1.3 million, increasing to almost three times that number by June 1941. The rapid growth of the army necessitated in turn the rapid promotion of officers regardless of experience or training. Junior officers were appointed to fill the ranks of the senior leadership, many of whom lacked broad experience. This action in turn resulted in many openings at the lower level of the officer corps, which were filled by new graduates from the service academies. In 1937, the entire junior class of one academy was graduated a year early to fill vacancies in the Red Army. Hamstrung by inexperience and fear of reprisals, many of these new officers failed to impress the large numbers of incoming draftees to the ranks; complaints of insubordination rose to the top of offenses punished in 1941, and may have exacerbated instances of Red Army soldiers deserting their units during the initial phases of the German offensive of that year.
By 1940, Stalin began to relent, restoring approximately one-third of previously dismissed officers to duty. However, the effect of the purges would soon manifest itself in the Winter War of 1940, where Red Army forces generally performed poorly against the much smaller Finnish Army, and later during the German invasion of 1941, in which the Germans were able to rout the Soviet defenders partially due to inexperience amongst the Soviet officers.
In Lithuania, Red Army personnel robbed local shops. Following the fall of East Prussia, Soviet soldiers carried out large-scale rapes in Germany, especially noted in Berlin until the beginning of May 1945. They were often committed by rear echelon units.
The Soviet Union expanded its indigenous arms industry as part of Stalin's industrialisation program in the 1920s and 1930s. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25682 |
Random variable
In probability and statistics, a random variable, random quantity, aleatory variable, or stochastic variable is described informally as a variable whose values depend on outcomes of a random phenomenon. The formal mathematical treatment of random variables is a topic in probability theory. In that context, a random variable is understood as a measurable function defined on a probability space that maps from the sample space to the real numbers.
A random variable's possible values might represent the possible outcomes of a yet-to-be-performed experiment, or the possible outcomes of a past experiment whose already-existing value is uncertain (for example, because of imprecise measurements or quantum uncertainty). They may also conceptually represent either the results of an "objectively" random process (such as rolling a die) or the "subjective" randomness that results from incomplete knowledge of a quantity. The meaning of the probabilities assigned to the potential values of a random variable is not part of probability theory itself but is instead related to philosophical arguments over the interpretation of probability. The mathematics works the same regardless of the particular interpretation in use.
As a function, a random variable is required to be measurable, which allows for probabilities to be assigned to sets of its potential values. It is common that the outcomes depend on some physical variables that are not predictable. For example, when tossing a fair coin, the final outcome of heads or tails depends on the uncertain physical conditions. Which outcome will be observed is not certain. The coin could get caught in a crack in the floor, but such a possibility is excluded from consideration.
The domain of a random variable is a sample space, which is interpreted as the set of possible outcomes of a random phenomenon. For example, in the case of a coin toss, only two possible outcomes are considered, namely heads or tails.
A random variable has a probability distribution, which specifies the probability of Borel subsets of its range. Random variables can be discrete, that is, taking any of a specified finite or countable list of values (having a countable range), endowed with a probability mass function characteristic of the random variable's probability distribution; or continuous, taking any numerical value in an interval or collection of intervals (having an uncountable range), via a probability density function that is characteristic of the random variable's probability distribution; or a mixture of both types.
Two random variables with the same probability distribution can still differ in terms of their associations with, or independence from, other random variables. The realizations of a random variable, that is, the results of randomly choosing values according to the variable's probability distribution function, are called random variates.
A random variable is a measurable function formula_1 from a set of possible outcomes formula_2 to a measurable space formula_3. The technical axiomatic definition requires formula_4 to be a sample space of a probability triple formula_5 (see the measure-theoretic definition).
The probability that formula_6 takes on a value in a measurable set formula_7 is written as
In many cases, formula_6 is real-valued, i.e. formula_10. In some contexts, the term random element (see extensions) is used to denote a random variable not of this form.
When the image (or range) of formula_6 is countable, the random variable is called a discrete random variable and its distribution is a discrete probability distribution, i.e. can be described by a probability mass function that assigns a probability to each value in the image of formula_6. If the image is uncountably infinite then formula_6 is called a continuous random variable. In the special case that it is absolutely continuous, its distribution can be described by a probability density function, which assigns probabilities to intervals; in particular, each individual point must necessarily have probability zero for an absolutely continuous random variable. Not all continuous random variables are absolutely continuous, for example a mixture distribution. Such random variables cannot be described by a probability density or a probability mass function.
Any random variable can be described by its cumulative distribution function, which describes the probability that the random variable will be less than or equal to a certain value.
The term "random variable" in statistics is traditionally limited to the real-valued case (formula_14). In this case, the structure of the real numbers makes it possible to define quantities such as the expected value and variance of a random variable, its cumulative distribution function, and the moments of its distribution.
However, the definition above is valid for any measurable space formula_15 of values. Thus one can consider random elements of other sets formula_15, such as random boolean values, categorical values, complex numbers, vectors, matrices, sequences, trees, sets, shapes, manifolds, and functions. One may then specifically refer to a "random variable of type formula_15", or an "formula_15-valued random variable".
This more general concept of a random element is particularly useful in disciplines such as graph theory, machine learning, natural language processing, and other fields in discrete mathematics and computer science, where one is often interested in modeling the random variation of non-numerical data structures. In some cases, it is nonetheless convenient to represent each element of formula_15 using one or more real numbers. In this case, a random element may optionally be represented as a vector of real-valued random variables (all defined on the same underlying probability space formula_4, which allows the different random variables to covary). For example:
If a random variable formula_33 defined on the probability space formula_5 is given, we can ask questions like "How likely is it that the value of formula_6 is equal to 2?". This is the same as the probability of the event formula_36 which is often written as formula_37 or formula_38 for short.
Recording all these probabilities of output ranges of a real-valued random variable formula_6 yields the probability distribution of formula_6. The probability distribution "forgets" about the particular probability space used to define formula_6 and only records the probabilities of various values of formula_6. Such a probability distribution can always be captured by its cumulative distribution function
and sometimes also using a probability density function, formula_44. In measure-theoretic terms, we use the random variable formula_6 to "push-forward" the measure formula_46 on formula_4 to a measure formula_44 on formula_49.
The underlying probability space formula_4 is a technical device used to guarantee the existence of random variables, sometimes to construct them, and to define notions such as correlation and dependence or independence based on a joint distribution of two or more random variables on the same probability space. In practice, one often disposes of the space formula_4 altogether and just puts a measure on formula_49 that assigns measure 1 to the whole real line, i.e., one works with probability distributions instead of random variables. See the article on quantile functions for fuller development.
In an experiment a person may be chosen at random, and one random variable may be the person's height. Mathematically, the random variable is interpreted as a function which maps the person to the person's height. Associated with the random variable is a probability distribution that allows the computation of the probability that the height is in any subset of possible values, such as the probability that the height is between 180 and 190 cm, or the probability that the height is either less than 150 or more than 200 cm.
Another random variable may be the person's number of children; this is a discrete random variable with non-negative integer values. It allows the computation of probabilities for individual integer values – the probability mass function (PMF) – or for sets of values, including infinite sets. For example, the event of interest may be "an even number of children". For both finite and infinite event sets, their probabilities can be found by adding up the PMFs of the elements; that is, the probability of an even number of children is the infinite sum formula_53.
In examples such as these, the sample space is often suppressed, since it is mathematically hard to describe, and the possible values of the random variables are then treated as a sample space. But when two random variables are measured on the same sample space of outcomes, such as the height and number of children being computed on the same random persons, it is easier to track their relationship if it is acknowledged that both height and number of children come from the same random person, for example so that questions of whether such random variables are correlated or not can be posed.
If formula_54 are countable sets of real numbers, formula_55 and formula_56, then formula_57 is a discrete distribution function. Here formula_58 for formula_59, formula_60 for formula_61. Taking for instance an enumeration of all rational numbers as formula_62, one gets a discrete distribution function that is not a step function or piecewise constant.
The possible outcomes for one coin toss can be described by the sample space formula_63. We can introduce a real-valued random variable formula_64 that models a $1 payoff for a successful bet on heads as follows:
If the coin is a fair coin, "Y" has a probability mass function formula_66 given by:
A random variable can also be used to describe the process of rolling dice and the possible outcomes. The most obvious representation for the two-dice case is to take the set of pairs of numbers "n"1 and "n"2 from {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} (representing the numbers on the two dice) as the sample space. The total number rolled (the sum of the numbers in each pair) is then a random variable "X" given by the function that maps the pair to the sum:
and (if the dice are fair) has a probability mass function "ƒ""X" given by:
Formally, a continuous random variable is a random variable whose cumulative distribution function is continuous everywhere. There are no "gaps", which would correspond to numbers which have a finite probability of occurring. Instead, continuous random variables almost never take an exact prescribed value "c" (formally, formula_70) but there is a positive probability that its value will lie in particular intervals which can be arbitrarily small. Continuous random variables usually admit probability density functions (PDF), which characterize their CDF and probability measures;
such distributions are also called absolutely continuous; but some continuous distributions are singular, or mixes of an absolutely continuous part and a singular part.
An example of a continuous random variable would be one based on a spinner that can choose a horizontal direction. Then the values taken by the random variable are directions. We could represent these directions by North, West, East, South, Southeast, etc. However, it is commonly more convenient to map the sample space to a random variable which takes values which are real numbers. This can be done, for example, by mapping a direction to a bearing in degrees clockwise from North. The random variable then takes values which are real numbers from the interval [0, 360), with all parts of the range being "equally likely". In this case, X = the angle spun. Any real number has probability zero of being selected, but a positive probability can be assigned to any "range" of values. For example, the probability of choosing a number in [0, 180] is . Instead of speaking of a probability mass function, we say that the probability "density" of X is 1/360. The probability of a subset of [0, 360) can be calculated by multiplying the measure of the set by 1/360. In general, the probability of a set for a given continuous random variable can be calculated by integrating the density over the given set.
More formally, given any interval formula_71, a random variable formula_72 is called a "continuous uniform random variable" (CURV) if the probability that it takes a value in a subinterval depends only on the length of the subinterval. This implies that the probability of formula_73 falling in any subinterval formula_74 is proportional to the length of the subinterval, that is, if , one has
formula_75
where the last equality results from the unitarity axiom of probability. The probability density function of a CURV formula_76 is given by the indicator function of its interval of support normalized by the interval's length: formula_77Of particular interest is the uniform distribution on the unit interval formula_78. Samples of any desired probability distribution formula_79 can be generated by calculating the quantile function of formula_79 on a randomly-generated number distributed uniformly on the unit interval. This exploits properties of cumulative distribution functions, which are a unifying framework for all random variables.
A mixed random variable is a random variable whose cumulative distribution function is neither piecewise-constant (a discrete random variable) nor everywhere-continuous. It can be realized as the sum of a discrete random variable and a continuous random variable; in which case the will be the weighted average of the CDFs of the component variables.
An example of a random variable of mixed type would be based on an experiment where a coin is flipped and the spinner is spun only if the result of the coin toss is heads. If the result is tails, X = −1; otherwise X = the value of the spinner as in the preceding example. There is a probability of that this random variable will have the value −1. Other ranges of values would have half the probabilities of the last example.
Most generally, every probability distribution on the real line is a mixture of discrete part, singular part, and an absolutely continuous part; see . The discrete part is concentrated on a countable set, but this set may be dense (like the set of all rational numbers).
The most formal, axiomatic definition of a random variable involves measure theory. Continuous random variables are defined in terms of sets of numbers, along with functions that map such sets to probabilities. Because of various difficulties (e.g. the Banach–Tarski paradox) that arise if such sets are insufficiently constrained, it is necessary to introduce what is termed a sigma-algebra to constrain the possible sets over which probabilities can be defined. Normally, a particular such sigma-algebra is used, the Borel σ-algebra, which allows for probabilities to be defined over any sets that can be derived either directly from continuous intervals of numbers or by a finite or countably infinite number of unions and/or intersections of such intervals.
The measure-theoretic definition is as follows.
Let formula_81 be a probability space and formula_82 a measurable space. Then an formula_82-valued random variable is a measurable function formula_84, which means that, for every subset formula_85, its preimage formula_86 where formula_87. This definition enables us to measure any subset formula_88 in the target space by looking at its preimage, which by assumption is measurable.
In more intuitive terms, a member of formula_4 is a possible outcome, a member of formula_90 is a measurable subset of possible outcomes, the function formula_46 gives the probability of each such measurable subset, formula_15 represents the set of values that the random variable can take (such as the set of real numbers), and a member of formula_93 is a "well-behaved" (measurable) subset of formula_15 (those for which the probability may be determined). The random variable is then a function from any outcome to a quantity, such that the outcomes leading to any useful subset of quantities for the random variable have a well-defined probability.
When formula_15 is a topological space, then the most common choice for the σ-algebra formula_93 is the Borel σ-algebra formula_97, which is the σ-algebra generated by the collection of all open sets in formula_15. In such case the formula_82-valued random variable is called an formula_15-valued random variable. Moreover, when the space formula_15 is the real line formula_49, then such a real-valued random variable is called simply a random variable.
In this case the observation space is the set of real numbers. Recall, formula_81 is the probability space. For a real observation space, the function formula_104 is a real-valued random variable if
This definition is a special case of the above because the set formula_106 generates the Borel σ-algebra on the set of real numbers, and it suffices to check measurability on any generating set. Here we can prove measurability on this generating set by using the fact that formula_107.
The probability distribution of a random variable is often characterised by a small number of parameters, which also have a practical interpretation. For example, it is often enough to know what its "average value" is. This is captured by the mathematical concept of expected value of a random variable, denoted formula_108, and also called the first moment. In general, formula_109 is not equal to formula_110. Once the "average value" is known, one could then ask how far from this average value the values of formula_6 typically are, a question that is answered by the variance and standard deviation of a random variable. formula_108 can be viewed intuitively as an average obtained from an infinite population, the members of which are particular evaluations of formula_6.
Mathematically, this is known as the (generalised) problem of moments: for a given class of random variables formula_6, find a collection formula_115 of functions such that the expectation values formula_116 fully characterise the distribution of the random variable formula_6.
Moments can only be defined for real-valued functions of random variables (or complex-valued, etc.). If the random variable is itself real-valued, then moments of the variable itself can be taken, which are equivalent to moments of the identity function formula_118 of the random variable. However, even for non-real-valued random variables, moments can be taken of real-valued functions of those variables. For example, for a categorical random variable "X" that can take on the nominal values "red", "blue" or "green", the real-valued function formula_119 can be constructed; this uses the Iverson bracket, and has the value 1 if formula_6 has the value "green", 0 otherwise. Then, the expected value and other moments of this function can be determined.
A new random variable "Y" can be defined by applying a real Borel measurable function formula_121 to the outcomes of a real-valued random variable formula_6. That is, formula_123. The cumulative distribution function of formula_64 is then
If function formula_126 is invertible (i.e., formula_127 exists, where formula_128 is formula_126's inverse function) and is either increasing or decreasing, then the previous relation can be extended to obtain
With the same hypotheses of invertibility of formula_126, assuming also differentiability, the relation between the probability density functions can be found by differentiating both sides of the above expression with respect to formula_132, in order to obtain
If there is no invertibility of formula_126 but each formula_132 admits at most a countable number of roots (i.e., a finite, or countably infinite, number of formula_136 such that formula_137) then the previous relation between the probability density functions can be generalized with
where formula_139, according to the inverse function theorem. The formulas for densities do not demand formula_126 to be increasing.
In the measure-theoretic, axiomatic approach to probability, if a random variable formula_6 on formula_4 and a Borel measurable function formula_121, then formula_144 is also a random variable on formula_4, since the composition of measurable functions is also measurable. (However, this is not necessarily true if formula_126 is Lebesgue measurable.) The same procedure that allowed one to go from a probability space formula_147 to formula_148 can be used to obtain the distribution of formula_64.
Let formula_6 be a real-valued, continuous random variable and let formula_151.
If formula_153, then formula_154, so
If formula_156, then
so
Suppose formula_6 is a random variable with a cumulative distribution
where formula_161 is a fixed parameter. Consider the random variable formula_162 Then,
The last expression can be calculated in terms of the cumulative distribution of formula_164 so
which is the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of an exponential distribution.
Suppose formula_6 is a random variable with a standard normal distribution, whose density is
Consider the random variable formula_168 We can find the density using the above formula for a change of variables:
In this case the change is not monotonic, because every value of formula_64 has two corresponding values of formula_6 (one positive and negative). However, because of symmetry, both halves will transform identically, i.e.,
The inverse transformation is
and its derivative is
Then,
This is a chi-squared distribution with one degree of freedom.
Suppose formula_6 is a random variable with a normal distribution, whose density is
Consider the random variable formula_168 We can find the density using the above formula for a change of variables:
In this case the change is not monotonic, because every value of formula_64 has two corresponding values of formula_6 (one positive and negative). Differently from the previous example, in this case however, there is no symmetry and we have to compute the two distinct terms:
The inverse transformation is
and its derivative is
Then,
This is a noncentral chi-squared distribution with one degree of freedom.
There are several different senses in which random variables can be considered to be equivalent. Two random variables can be equal, equal almost surely, or equal in distribution.
In increasing order of strength, the precise definition of these notions of equivalence is given below.
If the sample space is a subset of the real line, random variables "X" and "Y" are "equal in distribution" (denoted formula_186) if they have the same distribution functions:
To be equal in distribution, random variables need not be defined on the same probability space. Two random variables having equal moment generating functions have the same distribution. This provides, for example, a useful method of checking equality of certain functions of independent, identically distributed (IID) random variables. However, the moment generating function exists only for distributions that have a defined Laplace transform.
Two random variables "X" and "Y" are "equal almost surely" (denoted formula_188) if, and only if, the probability that they are different is zero:
For all practical purposes in probability theory, this notion of equivalence is as strong as actual equality. It is associated to the following distance:
where "ess sup" represents the essential supremum in the sense of measure theory.
Finally, the two random variables "X" and "Y" are "equal" if they are equal as functions on their measurable space:
This notion is typically the least useful in probability theory because in practice and in theory, the underlying measure space of the experiment is rarely explicitly characterized or even characterizable.
A significant theme in mathematical statistics consists of obtaining convergence results for certain sequences of random variables; for instance the law of large numbers and the central limit theorem.
There are various senses in which a sequence formula_192 of random variables can converge to a random variable formula_6. These are explained in the article on convergence of random variables. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25685 |
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is the title that Edward FitzGerald gave to his 1859 translation from Persian to English of a selection of quatrains ("") attributed to Omar Khayyam (1048–1131), dubbed "the Astronomer-Poet of Persia".
Although commercially unsuccessful at first, FitzGerald's work was popularised from 1861 onward by Whitley Stokes, and the work came to be greatly admired by the Pre-Raphaelites in England. FitzGerald had a third edition printed in 1872, which increased interest in the work in the United States. By the 1880s, the book was extremely popular throughout the English-speaking world, to the extent that numerous "Omar Khayyam clubs" were formed and there was a "fin de siècle cult of the Rubaiyat".
FitzGerald's work has been published in several hundred editions, and has inspired similar translation efforts in English and in many other languages.
The authenticity of the poetry attributed to Omar Khayyam is highly uncertain. Khayyam was famous during his lifetime not as a poet but as an astronomer and mathematician. The earliest reference to his having written poetry is found in his biography by al-Isfahani, written 43 years after his death. This view is reinforced by other medieval historians such as Shahrazuri (1201) and Al-Qifti (1255). Parts of the "Rubaiyat" appear as incidental quotations from Omar in early works of biography and in anthologies. These include works of Razi (ca. 1160–1210), Daya (1230), Juvayni (ca. 1226–1283), and Jajarmi (1340). Also, five quatrains assigned to Khayyam in somewhat later sources appear in Zahiri Samarqandi's "Sindbad-Nameh" (before 1160) without attribution.
The number of quatrains attributed to him in more recent collections varies from about 1,200 (according to Saeed Nafisi) to more than 2,000. Skeptical scholars point out that the entire tradition may be pseudepigraphic.
The extant manuscripts containing collections attributed to Omar are dated much too late to enable a reconstruction of a body of authentic verses.
In the 1930s, Iranian scholars, notably Mohammad-Ali Foroughi, attempted to reconstruct a core of authentic verses from scattered quotes by authors of the 13th and 14th centuries, ignoring the younger manuscript tradition. After World War II, reconstruction efforts were significantly delayed by two clever forgeries. De Blois (2004) is pessimistic, suggesting that contemporary scholarship has not advanced beyond the situation of the 1930s, when Hans Heinrich Schaeder commented that the name of Omar Khayyam "is to be struck out from the history of Persian literature".
A feature of the more recent collections is the lack of linguistic homogeneity and continuity of ideas. Sadegh Hedayat commented that "if a man had lived for a hundred years and had changed his religion, philosophy, and beliefs twice a day, he could scarcely have given expression to such a range of ideas". Hedayat's final verdict was that 14 quatrains could be attributed to Khayyam with certainty. Various tests have been employed to reduce the quatrains attributable to Omar to about 100. Arthur Christensen states that "of more than 1,200 ruba'is known to be ascribed to Omar, only 121 could be regarded as reasonably authentic". Foroughi accepts 178 quatrains as authentic, while Ali Dashti accepts 36 of them.
FitzGerald's source were transcripts sent to him in 1856–1857 by his friend and teacher Edward B. Cowell of two manuscripts, a Bodleian manuscript with 158 quatrains,
and a "Calcutta manuscript".
FitzGerald completed his first draft in 1857 and sent it to "Fraser's Magazine" in January 1858.
He made a revised draft in January 1859, of which he privately printed 250 copies. This first edition became extremely sought after by the 1890s, when "more than two million copies ha[d] been sold in two hundred editions".
The extreme popularity of FitzGerald's work led to a prolonged debate on the correct interpretation of the philosophy behind the poems. FitzGerald emphasized the religious skepticism he found in Omar Khayyam. In his preface to the "Rubáiyát", he describes Omar's philosophy as Epicurean and claims that Omar was "hated and dreaded by the Sufis, whose practice he ridiculed and whose faith amounts to little more than his own, when stripped of the Mysticism and formal recognition of Islamism under which Omar would not hide". Richard Nelson Frye also emphasizes that Khayyam was despised by a number of prominent contemporary Sufis. These include figures such as Shams Tabrizi, Najm al-Din Daya, Al-Ghazali, and Attar, who "viewed Khayyam not as a fellow-mystic, but a free-thinking scientist". The skeptic interpretation is supported by the medieval historian Al-Qifti (ca. 1172–1248), who in his "The History of Learned Men" reports that Omar's poems were only outwardly in the Sufi style, but were written with an anti-religious agenda. He also mentions that Khayyam was indicted for impiety and went on a pilgrimage to avoid punishment.
Critics of FitzGerald, on the other hand, have accused the translator of misrepresenting the mysticism of Sufi poetry by an overly literal interpretation. Thus, the view of Omar Khayyam as a Sufi was defended by Bjerregaard (1915).Dougan (1991) likewise says that attributing hedonism to Omar is due to the failings of FitzGerald's translation, arguing that the poetry is to be understood as "deeply esoteric".
Idries Shah (1999) similarly says that FitzGerald misunderstood Omar's poetry.
The Sufi interpretation is the view of a minority of scholars. Henry Beveridge states that "the Sufis have unaccountably pressed this writer [Khayyam] into their service; they explain away some of his blasphemies by forced interpretations, and others they represent as innocent freedoms and reproaches". Aminrazavi (2007) states that "Sufi interpretation of Khayyam is possible only by reading into his Rubaiyat extensively and by stretching the content to fit the classical Sufi doctrine".
FitzGerald's "skepticist" reading of the poetry is still defended by modern scholars. Sadegh Hedayat ("The Blind Owl" 1936) was the most notable modern proponent of Khayyam's philosophy as agnostic skepticism. In his introductory essay to his second edition of the "Quatrains of the Philosopher Omar Khayyam" (1922), Hedayat states that "while Khayyam believes in the transmutation and transformation of the human body, he does not believe in a separate soul; if we are lucky, our bodily particles would be used in the making of a jug of wine". He concludes that "religion has proved incapable of surmounting his inherent fears; thus Khayyam finds himself alone and insecure in a universe about which his knowledge is nil". In his later work ("Khayyam's Quatrains", 1935), Hedayat further maintains that Khayyam's usage of Sufic terminology such as "wine" is literal, and that "Khayyam took refuge in wine to ward off bitterness and to blunt the cutting edge of his thoughts."
FitzGerald's text was published in five editions, with substantial revisions:
Of the five editions published, four were published under the authorial control of FitzGerald. The fifth edition, which contained only minor changes from the fourth, was edited posthumously after his death on the basis of manuscript revisions FitzGerald had left.
Numerous later editions were published after 1889, notably an edition with illustrations by Willy Pogany, first published in 1909 (George G. Harrap, London). It was issued in numerous revised editions. This edition combined FitzGerald's texts of the 1st and 4th editions and was subtitled "The First and Fourth Renderings in English Verse".
A bibliography of editions compiled in 1929 listed more than 300 separate editions. Many more have been published since.
Notable editions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries include:
Houghton, Mifflin & Co. (1887, 1888, 1894);
Doxey, At the Sign of the Lark (1898, 1900), illustrations by Florence Lundborg;
The Macmillan Company (1899);
Methuen (1900) with a commentary by H.M. Batson, and a biographical introduction by E.D. Ross;
Little, Brown, and Company (1900), with the versions of E.H. Whinfield and Justin Huntly McCart;
Bell (1901); Routledge (1904);
Foulis (1905, 1909);
Essex House Press (1905);
Dodge Publishing Company (1905);
Duckworth & Co. (1908);
Hodder and Stoughton (1909), illustrations by Edmund Dulac;
Tauchnitz (1910);
"East Anglian Daily Times" (1909), Centenary celebrations souvenir;
Warner (1913);
The Roycrofters (1913);
Hodder & Stoughton (1913), illustrations by René Bull;
Dodge Publishing Company (1914), illustrations by Adelaide Hanscom.
Sully and Kleinteich (1920).
Critical editions have been published by Decker (1997) and by Arberry (2016).
FitzGerald's translation is rhyming and metrical, and rather free. Many of the verses are paraphrased, and some of them cannot be confidently traced to his source material at all. Michael Kearney claimed that FitzGerald described his work as "transmogrification". To a large extent, the "Rubaiyat" can be considered original poetry by FitzGerald loosely based on Omar's quatrains rather than a "translation" in the narrow sense.
FitzGerald was open about the liberties he had taken with his source material:
My translation will interest you from its form, and also in many respects in its detail: very un-literal as it is. Many quatrains are mashed together: and something lost, I doubt, of Omar's simplicity, which is so much a virtue in him. (letter to E. B. Cowell, 9/3/58)
I suppose very few People have ever taken such Pains in Translation as I have: though certainly not to be literal. But at all Cost, a Thing must live: with a transfusion of one's own worse Life if one can’t retain the Original's better. Better a live Sparrow than a stuffed Eagle. (letter to E. B. Cowell, 4/27/59)
For comparison, here are two versions of the same quatrain by FitzGerald, from the 1859 and 1889 editions:
This quatrain has a close correspondence in two of the quatrains in the Bodleian Library ms., numbers 149 and 155. In the literal prose translation of
Edward Heron-Allen (1898):
Multilingual edition, published in 1955 by Tahrir Iran Co./Kashani Bros.
Two English editions by Edward Henry Whinfield (1836–1922) consisted of 253 quatrains in 1882 and 500 in 1883. This translation was fully revised and some cases fully translated anew by Ali Salami and published by Mehrandish Books.
Whinfield's translation is, if possible, even more free than FitzGerald's; Quatrain 84 (equivalent of FitzGerald's quatrain XI in his 1st edition, as above) reads:
In the sweet spring a grassy bank I sought
And thither wine and a fair Houri brought;
And, though the people called me graceless dog,
Gave not to Paradise another thought!
John Leslie Garner published an English translation of 152 quatrains in 1888. His was also a free, rhyming translation.
Quatrain I. 20 (equivalent of FitzGerald's quatrain XI in his 1st edition, as above):
Yes, Loved One, when the Laughing Spring is blowing,
With Thee beside me and the Cup o’erflowing,
I pass the day upon this Waving Meadow,
And dream the while, no thought on Heaven bestowing.
Justin Huntly McCarthy (1859–1936) (Member of Parliament for Newry) published prose translations of 466 quatrains in 1889.
Quatrain 177 (equivalent of FitzGerald's quatrain XI in his 1st edition, as above):
In Spring time I love to sit in the meadow with a paramour
perfect as a Houri and goodly jar of wine, and though
I may be blamed for this, yet hold me lower
than a dog if ever I dream of Paradise.
Richard Le Gallienne (1866–1947) produced a verse translation, subtitled "a paraphrase from several literal translations", in 1897.
In his introductory note to the reader, Le Gallienne cites McCarthy's "charming prose" as the chief influence on his version. Some example quatrains follow:
Look not above, there is no answer there;
Pray not, for no one listens to your prayer;
Near is as near to God as any Far,
And Here is just the same deceit as There.
"(#78, on p. 44)"
And do you think that unto such as you;
A maggot-minded, starved, fanatic crew:
God gave the secret, and denied it me?—
Well, well, what matters it! Believe that, too.
"(#85, p. 47)"
"Did God set grapes a-growing, do you think,
And at the same time make it sin to drink?
Give thanks to Him who foreordained it thus—
Surely He loves to hear the glasses clink!"
"(#91, p. 48)"
Edward Heron-Allen (1861–1943) published a prose translation in 1898. He also wrote an introduction to an edition of Frederick Rolfe (Baron Corvo) 's translation into English of Nicolas's French translation. Below is Quatrain 17 translated by E. H into English:
This worn caravanserai which is called the world
Is the resting-place of the piebald horse of night and day;
It is a pavilion which has been abandoned by a hundred Jamshyds;
It is a palace that is the resting-place of a hundred Bahrams.
This quatrain of Khayyam connotes the transitory essence of life and worthless materialistic lifestyle. It tends to illuminate the minds that have developed a false consciousness that interpellation can justify the world’s economic system. Also, he disapproves reflectionism, which suggests that feelings like happiness, love, and freedom cannot create the superstructure of the real world. Indeed, these feelings are corrupt by capitalism, consisting of the bourgeoisie, who control the means of production, and the proletariat, whose labor produces their wealth. Then, the damage caused by such a system would be commodification. Moreover, this quatrain carries the connotation that in a world where everything is temporary and every condition is transitory, practicing conspicuous consumption will go to waste when death comes. Hence, one should not make a fuss about life failures nor should take life achievements for granted.
The English novelist and orientalist Jessie Cadell (1844–1884) consulted various manuscripts of the Rubaiyat with the intention of producing an authoritative edition. Her translation of 150 quatrains was published posthumously in 1899.
A. J. Arberry in 1959 attempted a scholarly edition of Khayyam, based on thirteenth-century manuscripts. However, his manuscripts were subsequently exposed as twentieth-century forgeries. While Arberry's work had been misguided, it was published in good faith.
The 1967 translation of the Rubáiyat by Robert Graves and Omar Ali-Shah, however, created a scandal. The authors claimed it was based on a twelfth-century manuscript located in Afghanistan, where it was allegedly utilized as a Sufi teaching document. But the manuscript was never produced, and British experts in Persian literature were easily able to prove that the translation was in fact based on Edward Heron Allen's analysis of possible sources for FitzGerald's work.
Quatrains 11 and 12 (equivalent of FitzGerald's quatrain XI in his 1st edition, as above):
Should our day's portion be one mancel loaf,
A haunch of mutton and a gourd of wine
Set for us two alone on the wide plain,
No Sultan's bounty could evoke such joy.
A gourd of red wine and a sheaf of poems —
A bare subsistence, half a loaf, not more —
Supplied us two alone in the free desert:
What Sultan could we envy on his throne?
John Charles Edward Bowen (1909–1989) was a British poet and translator of Persian poetry. He is best known for his translation of the Rubaiyat, titled "A New Selection from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam." Bowen is also credited as being one of the first scholars to question Robert Graves' and Omar Ali-Shah's translation of the Rubaiyat.
A modern version of 235 quatrains, claiming to be "as literal an English version of the Persian originals as readability and intelligibility permit", was published in 1979 by Peter Avery and John Heath-Stubbs.
Their edition provides two versions of the thematic quatrain, the first (98) considered by the Persian writer Sadeq Hedayat to be a spurious attribution.
98.
I need a jug of wine and a book of poetry,
Half a loaf for a bite to eat,
Then you and I, seated in a deserted spot,
Will have more wealth than a Sultan's realm.
234.
If chance supplied a loaf of white bread,
Two casks of wine and a leg of mutton,
In the corner of a garden with a tulip-cheeked girl,
There'd be enjoyment no Sultan could outdo.
In 1988, the Rubaiyat was translated by a Persian for the first time. Karim Emami's translation of the Rubaiyat was published under the title "The Wine of Nishapour" in Paris. "The Wine of Nishapour" is the collection of Khayyam's poetry by Shahrokh Golestan, including Golestan's pictures in front of each poem.
Example quatrain 160 (equivalent of FitzGerald's quatrain XI in his first edition, as above):
In spring if a houri-like sweetheart
Gives me a cup of wine on the edge of a green cornfield,
Though to the vulgar this would be blasphemy,
If I mentioned any other Paradise, I'd be worse than a dog.
In 1991 Ahmad Saidi (1904–1994) produced an English translation of 165 quatrains grouped into 10 themes. Born and raised in Iran, Saidi went to the United States in 1931 and attended college there. He served as the head of the Persian Publication Desk at the U.S. Office of War Information during World War II, inaugurated the Voice of America to Iran, and prepared an English-Persian military dictionary for the Department of Defense. His quatrains include the original Persian verses for reference alongside his English translations. His focus was to faithfully convey, with less poetic license, Khayyam's original religious, mystical, and historic Persian themes, through the verses as well as his extensive annotations. Two example quatrains follow:
Quatrain 16 (equivalent of FitzGerald's quatrain XII in his 5th edition, as above):
Ah, would there were a loaf of bread as fare,
A joint of lamb, a jug of vintage rare,
And you and I in wilderness encamped—
No Sultan's pleasure could with ours compare.
Quatrain 75:
The sphere upon which mortals come and go,
Has no end nor beginning that we know;
And none there is to tell us in plain truth:
Whence do we come and whither do we go.
Adolf Friedrich von Schack (1815–1894) published a German translation in 1878.
Quatrain 151 (equivalent of FitzGerald's quatrain XI in his 1st edition, as above):
Gönnt mir, mit dem Liebchen im Gartenrund
Zu weilen bei süßem Rebengetränke,
Und nennt mich schlimmer als einen Hund,
Wenn ferner an's Paradies ich denke!
Friedrich Martinus von Bodenstedt (1819–1892) published a German translation in 1881. The translation eventually consisted of 395 quatrains.
Quatrain IX, 59 (equivalent of FitzGerald's quatrain XI in his 1st edition, as above):
Im Frühling mag ich gern im Grüne weilen
Und Einsamkeit mit einer Freundin teilen
Und einem Kruge Wein. Mag man mich schelten:
Ich lasse keinen andern Himmel gelten.
The first French translation, of 464 quatrains in prose, was made by J. B. Nicolas, chief interpreter at the French embassy in Persia in 1867.
Prose stanza (equivalent of Fitzgerald's quatrain XI in his 1st edition, as above):
"Au printemps j’aime à m’asseoir au bord d’une prairie, avec une idole semblable à une houri et une cruche de vin, s’il y en a, et bien que tout cela soit généralement blâmé, je veux être pire qu’un chien si jamais je songe au paradis."
The best-known version in French is the free verse edition by Franz Toussaint (1879–1955) published in 1924. This translation consisting of 170 quatrains was done from the original Persian text, while most of the other French translations were themselves translations of FitzGerald's work. The "Éditions d'art Henri Piazza" published the book almost unchanged between 1924 and 1979. Toussaint's translation has served as the basis of subsequent translations into other languages, but Toussaint did not live to witness the influence his translation has had.
Quatrain XXV (equivalent of FitzGerald's quatrain XI in his 1st edition, as above):
"Au printemps, je vais quelquefois m’asseoir à la lisière d’un champ fleuri. Lorsqu’une belle jeune fille m’apporte une coupe de vin, je ne pense guère à mon salut. Si j’avais cette préoccupation, je vaudrais moins qu’un chien."
Many Russian-language translations have been undertaken, reflecting the popularity of the "Rubaiyat" in Russia since the late 19th century and the increasingly popular tradition of using it for the purposes of bibliomancy. The earliest verse translation (by Vasily Velichko) was published in 1891. The version by Osip Rumer published in 1914 is a translation of FitzGerald's version. Rumer later published a version of 304 rubaiyat translated directly from Persian. A lot of poetic translations (some based on verbatim translations into prose by others) were also written by German Plisetsky, Konstantin Bal'mont, Cecilia Banu, I. I. Tkhorzhevsky (), L. Pen'kovsky, and others.
FitzGerald rendered Omar's name as "Omar the Tentmaker", and this name resonated in English-speaking popular culture for a while. Thus, Nathan Haskell Dole published a novel called "Omar, the Tentmaker: A Romance of Old Persia" in 1898. "Omar the Tentmaker of Naishapur" is a historical novel by John Smith Clarke, published in 1910.
"Omar the Tentmaker" is a 1914 play in an oriental setting by Richard Walton Tully, adapted as a silent film in 1922.
US General Omar Bradley was given the nickname "Omar the Tent-Maker" in World War II, and the name has been recorded as a slang expression for "penis".
FitzGerald's translations also reintroduced Khayyam to Iranians, "who had long ignored the Neishapouri poet".
Equally noteworthy are these works likewise influenced:
2009 marked the 150th anniversary of Fitzgerald's translation, and the 200th anniversary of Fitzgerald's birth. Events marking these anniversaries included: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25686 |
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American rock and pop band originally active between 1966 and 1971, with reunion albums and tours in the decades that followed. Their original line-up consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork with English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was conceived in 1965 by television producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider specifically for the situation comedy series "The Monkees", which aired from 1966 to 1968. The band's music was initially supervised by record producer Don Kirshner, backed by the songwriting duo of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart.
The four actor/musicians were initially allowed only limited roles in the recording studio for the first few months of their five-year career as "the Monkees". This was due in part to the amount of time required to film the television series. Nonetheless, Nesmith composed and produced some songs from the beginning, and Tork contributed limited guitar work on the sessions produced by Nesmith. All four contributed lead vocals to various tracks. They eventually fought for the right to collectively supervise all musical output under the band's name, acting as actors, musicians, singers, songwriters, and producers.
Following the television show's cancellation in 1968, the Monkees continued to record music until 1971, after which the group broke up. A revival of interest in the television show came in 1986, which led to a series of reunion tours and new records. The group has reunited and toured several times since then with different line-ups (but always containing Micky Dolenz and at least one of the other original members) and with varying degrees of success. Jones died in February 2012 and Tork died in February 2019. Dolenz and Nesmith remain active members of the group.
Dolenz described "The Monkees" as initially being "a TV show about an imaginary band... that wanted to be the Beatles that was never successful". Ironically, the success of the show led to the actor-musicians becoming one of the most successful bands of the 1960s. The Monkees have sold more than 75 million records worldwide making them one of the biggest selling groups of all time with international hits, including "Last Train to Clarksville", "Pleasant Valley Sunday", "Daydream Believer", and "I'm a Believer". Newspapers and magazines reported that the Monkees outsold the Beatles and the Rolling Stones combined in 1967, but Nesmith admitted in his autobiography "Infinite Tuesday" that it was a lie that he told a reporter.
Aspiring filmmaker Bob Rafelson developed the initial idea for "The Monkees" in 1962, but was unsuccessful in selling the series. He had tried selling it to Revue, the television division of Universal Pictures. In May 1964, while working at Screen Gems, Rafelson teamed up with Bert Schneider, whose father, Abraham Schneider, headed the Colpix Records and Screen Gems Television units of Columbia Pictures. Rafelson and Schneider ultimately formed Raybert Productions.
The Beatles' film "A Hard Day's Night" inspired Rafelson and Schneider to revive Rafelson's idea for "The Monkees". As "The Raybert Producers", they sold the show to Screen Gems Television on April 16, 1965. Rafelson and Schneider's original idea was to cast an existing New York folk rock group, the Lovin' Spoonful, who were not widely known at the time. However, John Sebastian had already signed the band to a record contract, which would have denied Screen Gems the right to market music from the show.
On July 14, 1965, "The Hollywood Reporter" stated that future band member Davy Jones was expected to return to the United States in September 1965 after a trip to England "to prepare for [a] TV pilot for Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson". Jones had previously starred as the Artful Dodger in the Broadway theatre show "Oliver!", which debuted on December 17, 1962, and his performance was later seen on "The Ed Sullivan Show" the same night as the Beatles' first appearance on that show, February 9, 1964. He was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical in 1963. In September 1964 he was signed to a long-term contract to appear in TV programs for Screen Gems, make feature films for Columbia Pictures and to record music for the Colpix label. Rafelson and Schneider already had him in mind for their project after their plans for the Lovin' Spoonful fell through.
On September 8–10, 1965, "Daily Variety" and "The Hollywood Reporter" ran an ad to cast the remainder of the band/cast members for the TV show:
Out of 437 applicants, the other three chosen for the cast of the TV show were Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz. Nesmith had been working as a musician since early 1963 and had been recording and releasing music under various names, including Michael Blessing and "Mike & John & Bill" and had studied drama in college. Of the final four, Nesmith was the only one who actually saw the ad in "Daily Variety" and "The Hollywood Reporter". Tork, the last to be chosen, had been working the Greenwich Village scene as a musician, and had shared the stage with Pete Seeger; he learned of "The Monkees" from Stephen Stills, whom Rafelson and Schneider had rejected as a songwriter. Dolenz was an actor (his father was veteran character actor George Dolenz) who had starred in the TV series "Circus Boy" as a child, using the stage name Mickey Braddock. He had also played guitar and sung in a band called the Missing Links, which released one single, "Don't Do It". By that time he was using his real name; he found out about "The Monkees" through his agent.
During the casting process Don Kirshner, Screen Gems' head of music, was contacted to secure music for the pilot that would become "The Monkees". Not getting much interest from his usual stable of Brill Building writers, Kirshner assigned Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart to the project. The duo contributed four demo recordings for the pilot. One of these recordings was "(Theme From) The Monkees" which helped get the series the green light.
When "The Monkees" was picked up as a series, development of the musical side of the project accelerated. Columbia-Screen Gems and RCA Victor entered into a joint venture called Colgems Records primarily to distribute Monkees records. Raybert set up a rehearsal space and rented instruments for the group to practice playing in April 1966, but it quickly became apparent they would not be in shape in time for the series debut. The producers called upon Kirshner to recruit a producer for the Monkees sessions.
Kirshner called on Snuff Garrett, composer of several hits by Gary Lewis & the Playboys, to produce the initial musical cuts for the show. Garrett, upon meeting the four Monkees in June 1966, decided that Jones would sing lead, a choice that was unpopular with the group. This cool reception led Kirshner to drop Garrett and buy out his contract. Kirshner next allowed Nesmith to produce sessions, provided he did not play on any tracks he produced. Nesmith did, however, start using the other Monkees on his sessions, particularly Tork as a guitarist. Kirshner came back to the enthusiastic Boyce and Hart to be the regular producers, but he brought in one of his top East Coast associates, Jack Keller, to lend some production experience to the sessions. Boyce and Hart observed quickly that when brought into the studio together, the four actors fooled around and tried to crack each other up. Because of this, they often brought in each singer individually.
According to Nesmith, it was Dolenz's voice that made the Monkees' sound distinctive, and even during tension-filled times Nesmith and Tork sometimes turned over lead vocal duties to Dolenz on their own compositions, such as Tork's "For Pete's Sake", which became the closing title theme for the second season of the television show.
The Monkees' debut and second albums were meant to be a soundtrack to the first season of the TV show, to cash in on the audience. In the 2006 Rhino Deluxe Edition re-issue of their second album, "More of the Monkees", Mike Nesmith stated, "The first album shows up and I look at it with horror because it makes [us] appear as if we are a rock 'n' roll band. There's no credit for the other musicians. I go completely ballistic, and I say, 'What are you people thinking?' [The powers that be say], 'Well, you know, it's the fantasy.' I say, 'It's "not" the fantasy. You've crossed the line here! You are now duping the public. They know when they look at the television series that we're not a rock 'n' roll band; it's a show "about" a rock 'n' roll band. ... nobody for a minute believes that we are somehow this accomplished rock 'n' roll band that got their own television show. ... you putting the record out like this is just beyond the pale." Within a few months of their debut album, Music Supervisor Don Kirshner was forcibly dismissed and the Monkees took control as a real band.
The Monkees' first single, "Last Train to Clarksville" b/w "Take a Giant Step", was released in August 1966, just weeks prior to the TV broadcast debut. In conjunction with the first broadcast of the television show on September 12, 1966, on the NBC television network, NBC and Columbia had a major hit on their hands. The first long-playing album, "The Monkees", was released a month later; it spent 13 weeks at #1 and stayed on the Billboard charts for 78 weeks. Twenty years later, during their reunion, it spent another 24 weeks on the Billboard charts. This first album is also notable for featuring band member Nesmith's first foray into country rock, "Papa Gene's Blues", which mixed country, rock and Latin flavors.
In assigning instruments for purposes of the television show, a dilemma arose as to which of the four would be the drummer. Both Nesmith (a skilled guitarist and bassist) and Tork (who could play several stringed and keyboard instruments) were peripherally familiar with the instrument but both declined to give the drum set a try. Jones knew how to play the drums and tested well enough initially on the instrument, but the producers felt that, behind a drum kit, the camera would exaggerate his short stature and make him virtually hidden from view. Thus, Dolenz (who only knew how to play the guitar) was assigned to become the drummer. Tork taught Dolenz his first few beats on the drums, enough for him to fake his way through filming the pilot, but he was soon taught how to play properly. Thus, the lineup for the TV show most frequently featured Nesmith on guitar, Tork on bass, Dolenz on drums and Jones as a frontman, singer and percussionist, although this lineup did not correspond to the members' musical strengths. Tork was a more experienced guitar player than Nesmith, while Nesmith had trained on the bass. While Jones had a strong lead voice, and did sing lead on several Monkees recordings, Dolenz's voice is regarded, particularly by Nesmith, as distinctive and a hallmark of the Monkees' sound. This theoretical lineup was actually depicted once, in the music video for the band's song "Words", which shows Jones on drums, Tork playing lead guitar, Nesmith on bass and Dolenz fronting the group. In concert appearances Tork also took much of the guitar duties, even in appearances with Nesmith, and Dolenz often plays rhythm guitar on stage.
Unlike most television shows of the time, "The Monkees" episodes were written with many setups, requiring frequent breaks to prepare the set and cameras for short bursts of filming. Some of the "bursts" are considered proto-music videos, inasmuch as they were produced to sell the records. "The Monkees Tale" author Eric Lefcowitz noted that the Monkees were—first and foremost—a video group. The four actors spent 12-hour days on the set, many of them waiting for the production crew to do their jobs. Noticing that their instruments were left on the set unplugged, the four decided to turn them on and start playing.
After working on the set all day, the Monkees (usually Dolenz or Jones) would be called into the recording studio to cut vocal tracks. As the band was essential to this aspect of the recording process, there were few limits on how long they could spend in the recording studio, and the result was an extensive catalogue of unreleased recordings.
Pleased with their initial efforts, Columbia (over Kirshner's objections) planned to send the Monkees out to play live concerts. The massive success of the series—and its spin-off records—created intense pressure to mount a touring version of the group. Against the initial wishes of the producers, the band went out on the road and made their debut live performance in December 1966 in Hawaii.
They had no time to rehearse a live performance except between takes on set. They worked on the TV series all day, recorded in the studio at night and slept very little. The weekends were usually filled with special appearances or filming of special sequences. These performances were sometimes used during the actual series. The episode "Too Many Girls (Fern and Davy)" opens with a live version of "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" being performed as the scene was shot. One entire episode was filmed featuring live music. The last show of the premiere season, "Monkees on Tour", was shot in a documentary style by filming a concert in Phoenix, Arizona, on January 21, 1967. Bob Rafelson wrote and directed the episode.
In DVD commentary tracks included in the Season One release, Nesmith admitted that Tork was better at playing guitar than bass. In Tork's commentary he stated that Jones was a good drummer, and had the live performance lineups been based solely on playing ability, it should have been Tork on guitar, Nesmith on bass and Jones on drums, with Dolenz taking the fronting role. The four Monkees performed all the instruments and vocals for most of the live set. The most notable exceptions were during each member's solo sections where, during the December 1966 – May 1967 tour, they were backed by the Candy Store Prophets. During the summer, 1967 tour of the United States and the UK (from which the "Live 1967" recordings are taken), they were backed by a band called the Sundowners. The Monkees toured Australia and Japan in 1968. The results were far better than expected. Wherever they went, the group was greeted by scenes of fan adulation reminiscent of Beatlemania. This gave the singers increased confidence in their fight for control over the musical material chosen for the series.
With Jones sticking primarily to vocals and tambourine (except when filling in on the drums when Dolenz came forward to sing a lead vocal), the Monkees' live act constituted a classic power trio of electric guitar, electric bass and drums (except when Tork passed the bass part to Jones or one of the Sundowners in order to take up the banjo or electric keyboards).
Andrew Sandoval noted in Rhino's 2006 Deluxe Edition CD reissue of "More of the Monkees" that album sales were outstripping Nielsen ratings, meaning that more people were buying the music than watching the television show, which meant that the producers decided that more attention needed to be paid to the music and that more music needed to be produced for more albums. Sandoval also noted that their second album, "More of the Monkees", propelled by their second single, "I'm a Believer" b/w "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone", became the biggest selling LP of their career, spending 70 weeks on the Billboard charts, staying No. 1 for 18 weeks, becoming the third-highest-selling album of the 1960s. (The album also returned to the charts in 1986 for another 26 weeks.)
At the time songwriters Boyce and Hart considered the Monkees to be their project, with Tommy Boyce stating in the 2006 Rhino reissue of "More of the Monkees" that he considered the Monkees to be actors in the television show, while Boyce and Hart were the songwriters and producers doing the records. They wanted Micky to sing the faster songs and have Davy sing the ballads. He also stated in the liner notes that he felt that Michael's country leanings did not fit in with the Monkees' image; and, although he thought that Peter was a great musician, Peter had a different process of thinking about songs that were not right for the Monkees. Music Coordinator Kirshner, though, realizing how important the music was, wanted to move the music in a newer direction than Boyce and Hart, and so he decided to move the production to New York where his A-list of writers/producers resided.
However, the Monkees had been complaining that the music publishing company would not allow them to play their own instruments on their records or to use more of their own material. These complaints intensified when Kirshner moved track recording from California to New York, leaving the band out of the musical process until they were called upon to add their vocals to the completed tracks. This campaign eventually forced Kirshner to let the group have more participation in the recording process. Dolenz's initial reaction, mentioned in the 2006 Rhino CD reissue of "More of the Monkees", was "To me, these were the soundtrack albums to the show, and it wasn't my job. My job was to be an actor and to come in and to sing the stuff when I was asked to do so. I had no problem with that . . . It wasn't until Mike and Peter started getting so upset that Davy and I started defending them ... they were upset because it wasn't the way they were used to making music. The artist is the bottom line. The artist decides what songs are gonna go on and in what order and who writes 'em and who produces 'em." Nesmith, when asked about the situation, in "Rolling Stone" magazine, said, "... We were confused, especially me. But all of us shared the desire to play the songs we were singing. Everyone was accomplished--the notion [that] I was the only musician is one of those rumors that got started and won't stop--but it was not true ... We were also kids with our own taste in music and were happier performing songs we liked--and/or wrote--than songs that were handed to us ... The [TV show's] producers [in Hollywood] backed us and David went along. None of us could have fought the battles we did [with the music publishers] without the explicit support of the show's producers."
Four months after their debut single was released in September 1966, on January 16, 1967, the Monkees held their first recording session as a fully functioning, self-contained band, recording an early version of Nesmith's self-composed top 40 hit single "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", along with "All of Your Toys" and "She's So Far Out, She's In". Four days later, on January 20, 1967, their debut self-titled album made its belated release in the UK (it was released in October '66 in the U.S.). This same month Kirshner released their second album of songs that used session musicians, "More of the Monkees", without the band's knowledge. Nesmith and Tork were particularly upset when they were on tour in January 1967 and discovered this second album. The Monkees were annoyed at not having even been told of the release in advance, at having their opinions on the track selection ignored, at Kirshner's self-congratulatory liner notes and also because of the amateurish-looking cover art, which was merely a composite of pictures of the four taken for a J.C. Penney clothing advertisement. Indeed, the Monkees had not even been given a copy of the album; they had to buy it from a record store.
The climax of the rivalry between Kirshner and the band was an intense argument among Nesmith, Kirshner and Colgems lawyer Herb Moelis, which took place at the Beverly Hills Hotel in January 1967. Kirshner had presented the group with royalty checks and gold records. Nesmith had responded with an ultimatum, demanding a change in the way the Monkees' music was chosen and recorded. Moelis reminded Nesmith that he was under contract. The confrontation ended with Nesmith punching a hole in a wall and saying, "That could have been your face!" However, each of the members, including Nesmith, accepted the $250,000 royalty checks (equivalent to approximately $ in today's funds).
Kirshner's dismissal came in early February 1967, when he violated an agreement between Colgems and the Monkees not to release material directly created by the group together with unrelated Kirshner-produced material. Kirshner violated this agreement when he released "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You", composed and written by Neil Diamond, as a single with an early version of "She Hangs Out", a song recorded in New York with Davy Jones' vocals, as the B-side. This single was only released in Canada and was withdrawn after a couple of weeks.
Kirshner was reported to have been incensed by the group's unexpected rebellion, especially when he felt they had a "modicum" of talent when compared to the superstars of the day like John Lennon and Paul McCartney. In the liner notes for Rhino's 2006 Deluxe Edition CD reissue of "More of the Monkees", Kirshner stated, "[I controlled the group] because I had a contract. I kicked them out of the studio because I had a TV show that I had to put songs in, and to me it was a business and I had to knock off the songs." This experience led directly to Kirshner's later venture, "The Archies", which was an animated series—the "stars" existed only on animation cels, with music done by studio musicians, and obviously could not seize creative control over the records issued under their name.
Screen Gems held the publishing rights to a wealth of material, with the Monkees being offered the first choice of many new songs. Due to the abundance of material numerous tracks were recorded, but these were left unreleased until Rhino Records started releasing them through the Missing Links series of albums starting in the late 1980s. A rumor persists that the Monkees were offered "Sugar, Sugar" in 1967, but declined to record it. Producer and songwriter Jeff Barry, joint writer and composer of "Sugar, Sugar" with Andy Kim, has denied this, saying that the song had not even been written at the time.
The Monkees wanted to pick the songs they sang and played on, the songs they recorded and "be" the Monkees. With Kirshner dismissed as musical supervisor, in late February 1967 Nesmith hired former Turtles bassist Douglas Farthing Hatlelid, who was better known by his stage name Chip Douglas, to produce the next Monkees album, which was to be the first Monkees album where they were the only musicians, outside of most of the bass, and the horns. Douglas was responsible for both music presentation—actually leading the band and engineering recordings—and playing bass on most of "Headquarters." This album, along with their next, "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.", served as the soundtrack to the second season of the television show.
In March 1967 "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", composed by Nesmith and performed by Dolenz, Nesmith, Tork and bassist John London, was issued as the B-side to the Monkees' third single, "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You", and it rose to No. 39 on the charts. The A-side rose to No. 2.
Issued in May 1967, "Headquarters" had no songs released as singles in the United States, but it was still their third No. 1 album in a row, with many of its songs played on the second season of the television show. Having a more country-folk-rock sound than the pop outings under Kirshner, Sandoval notes in the 2007 Deluxe Edition reissue from Rhino that the album rose to No. 1 on May 24, 1967, with the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper" released the following week, which moved "Headquarters" to the #2 spot on the charts for the next 11 weeks—the same weeks which would become known by the counterculture as the "Summer of Love". A selection that Dolenz wrote and composed, "Randy Scouse Git", was issued under the title "Alternate Title" (owing to the controversial nature of its original title) as a single internationally, where it rose to No. 2 on the charts in the UK and Norway, and in the top 10 in other parts of the world. Tork's "For Pete's Sake" was used as the closing theme for the television show. Nesmith continued in his country-rock leanings, adding the pedal steel guitar to three of the songs, along with contributing his self-composed countrified-rock song "Sunny Girlfriend". Tork added the banjo to the Nesmith-composed rocker "You Told Me", a song whose introduction was satirical of the Beatles' "Taxman". Other notable songs are the Nesmith-composed straightforward pop-rock song "You Just May Be the One", used on the television series during both seasons, along with "Shades of Gray" (with piano introduction written by Tork), "Forget that Girl", and "No Time", used in the television show. The Monkees wrote five of the 12 songs on the album, plus the two tracks "Band 6" and "Zilch". The "Los Angeles Times", when reviewing "Headquarters", stated that "The Monkees Upgrade Album Quality" and that "The Monkees are getting better. "Headquarters" has more interesting songs and a better quality level [than previous albums]... None of the tracks is a throwaway... The improvement trend is laudable."
The high of "Headquarters" was short-lived, however. Recording and producing as a group was Tork's major interest and he hoped that the four would continue working together as a band on future recordings, according to the liner notes of the 2007 Rhino reissue of "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.". "Cuddly Toy" on "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd." marked the last time Dolenz, who originally played guitar before the Monkees, would make a solo stand as a studio drummer. In commentary for the DVD release of the second season of the show, Tork said that Dolenz was "incapable of repeating a triumph." Having been a drummer for one album, Dolenz lost interest in being a drummer and, indeed, he largely gave up playing instruments on Monkees recordings. (Producer Chip Douglas also had identified Dolenz's drumming as the weak point in the collective musicianship of the quartet, having to splice together multiple takes of Dolenz's "shaky" drumming for final use.) By this point, the four did not have a common vision regarding their musical interests, with Nesmith and Jones also moving in different directions—Nesmith following his country/folk instincts and Jones reaching for Broadway-style numbers. The next three albums featured a diverse mixture of musical style influences, including country-rock, folk-rock, psychedelic rock, soul/R&B, guitar rock, Broadway and English music hall sensibilities.
At the height of their fame in 1967, they also suffered from a media backlash. Nesmith states in the 2007 Rhino reissue of "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.", "Everybody in the press and in the hippie movement had got us into their target window as being illegitimate and not worthy of consideration as a musical force [or] certainly any kind of cultural force. We were under siege; wherever we went there was such resentment for us. We were constantly mocked and humiliated by the press. We were really gettin' beat up pretty good. We all knew what was going on inside. Kirshner had been purged. We'd gone to try to make "Headquarters" and found out that it was only marginally okay and that our better move was to just go back to the original songwriting and song-making strategy of the first albums except with a clear indication of how [the music] came to be... The rabid element and the hatred that was engendered is almost impossible to describe. It lingers to this day among people my own age." Tork disagreed with Nesmith's assessment of "Headquarters", stating, "I don't think the "Pisces" album was as groovy to listen to as "Headquarters". Technically it was much better, but I think it suffers for that reason."
With "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.", the Monkees' fourth album, they went back to making music for the television show, except that they had control over the music and which songs would be chosen. They used a mixture of themselves and session musicians on the album. They used this strategy of themselves playing, plus adding session musicians (including the Wrecking Crew, Louie Shelton, Glen Campbell, members of the Byrds and the Association, drummer "Fast" Eddie Hoh, Lowell George, Stephen Stills, Buddy Miles, and Neil Young) throughout their recording career, relying more on session musicians when the group became temporarily estranged after "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd." and recorded some of their songs separately.
Using Chip Douglas again to produce, "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.", released in November 1967 was the Monkees' fourth No. 1 album in a row, staying at No. 1 for 5 weeks, and was also their last No. 1 album. It featured the hit single "Pleasant Valley Sunday" (#3 on charts) b/w "Words" (#11 on charts), the A-side had Nesmith on electric guitar/backing vocals, Tork on piano/backing vocals, Dolenz on lead vocals and possibly guitar and Jones on backing vocals; the B-side had Micky and Peter alternating lead vocals, Peter played organ, Mike played guitar, percussion, and provided backing vocals, and Davy provided percussion and backing vocals. Other notable items about this album is that it features an early use of the Moog synthesizer on two tracks, the Nesmith-penned "Daily Nightly", along with "Star Collector". All of its songs, except for two, were featured on the Monkees' television show during the second season.
The song "What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round?", recorded in June 1967 and featured on "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.", is seen as a landmark in the fusion of country and rock despite Nesmith's prior country-flavored rock songs for the Monkees. Nesmith stated, "One of the things that I really felt was honest was country-rock. I wanted to move the Monkees more into that because ... if we get closer to country music, we'll get closer to blues, and country blues, and so forth. ... It had a lot of un-country things in it: a familiar change from a I major to a VI minor—those kinds of things. So it was a little kind of a new wave country song. It didn't sound like the country songs of the time, which was Buck Owens."
Their next single, "Daydream Believer" (with a piano intro written by Tork), shot to No. 1 on the charts, letting the Monkees hold the No. 1 position in the singles chart and the album chart with Pisces simultaneously. "Daydream Believer" used the non-album track "Goin' Down" as its B-side, which featured Nesmith and Tork on guitar with Micky on lead vocals.
During their 1986 reunion, both "Headquarters" and "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd." returned to the charts for 17 weeks.
The Monkees decided that they no longer needed Chip Douglas as a producer, and starting in November 1967, they largely produced their own sessions. Although credited to the whole band, the songs were mostly solo efforts. In a couple of cases, Boyce and Hart had returned from the first two albums to produce, but credit was given to the Monkees. It was also during this time that Michael Nesmith recorded his first solo album, "The Wichita Train Whistle Sings", a big band jazz instrumental collection of interpretations of Nesmith's compositions, arranged by the jazz musician Shorty Rogers. Praised in "The Los Angeles Times" by the author of "The Encyclopedia of Jazz", jazz critic Leonard Feather wrote "Verbally and musically, Mike Nesmith is one of the most articulate spokesmen for the new and literate breed of pop musicians who have spring from the loins of primitive rock. [The album] with its carriage trade of symphony, rock, country, western, and swing, and with jazz riding in the caboose, may well indicate where contemporary popular music will be situated in the early 1970s."
Considered by some to be the Monkees' "White Album" period (for example, Sandoval mentions this in the liner notes of Rhino Handmade's 2010 Deluxe reissue of the album), each of the Monkees contributions reflected his own musical tastes, which resulted in an eclectic album. Micky sang the pop songs (e.g., "I'll Be Back Upon My Feet"), and performed a double vocal with Mike on the Nesmith/Allison composed "Auntie's Municipal Court". Davy sang the ballads (e.g., "Daydream Believer" and "We Were Made for Each Other") and Nesmith contributed some experimental songs, like the progressive "Writing Wrongs", the unusual hit song "Tapioca Tundra", and the lo-fi 1920s sound of "Magnolia Simms". This last song is notable for added effects to make it sound like an old record (even including a "record skipping" simulation) made before the Beatles "Honey Pie", which used a similar effect.
Propelled by the hit singles "Daydream Believer" and "Valleri", along with Nesmith's self-penned top 40 hit "Tapioca Tundra", "The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees" reached No. 3 on the Billboard charts shortly after it was released in April 1968. It was the first album released after NBC announced they were not renewing "The Monkees" for a third season. The album cover—a quaint collage of items looking like a display in a jumble shop or toy store—was chosen over the Monkees' objections. It was the last Monkees' album to be released in separate, dedicated mono and stereo mixes. During the 1986 reunion, it returned to the Billboard charts for 11 weeks.
During the filming of the second season, the band became tired of scripts which they deemed monotonous and stale. They had already succeeded in eliminating the laugh track (a then-standard on American sitcoms), with the bulk of Season 2 episodes airing minus the canned chuckles. They proposed switching the format of the series to become more like a variety show, with musical guests and live performances. This desire was partially fulfilled within some second-season episodes, with guest stars like musicians Frank Zappa, Tim Buckley and Charlie Smalls (composer of "The Wiz") performing on the show. However, NBC was not interested in eliminating the existing format, and the group (except for Peter) had little desire to continue for a third season. Tork said in DVD commentary that everyone had developed such difficult personalities that the big-name stars invited as guests on the show invariably left the experience "hating everybody".
Screen Gems and NBC went ahead with the existing format anyway, commissioning "Monkees" writers Gerald Gardner and Dee Caruso to create a straight-comedy, no-music half-hour in the "Monkees" mold; a pilot episode was filmed with the then-popular nightclub act the Pickle Brothers. The pilot had the same energy and pace of "The Monkees", but never became a series.
In June 1968, Music Supervisor Lester Sill chose to release the two non-album tracks "D.W. Washburn" b/w "It's Nice To Be With You" as the Monkees' next single. The Leiber/Stoller-penned A-side broke into the Top 20, peaking at No. 19 on the charts.
After "The Monkees" was canceled in February 1968, Rafelson directed the four Monkees in a feature film, "Head". Schneider was executive producer, and the project was co-written and co-produced by Bob Rafelson with a then-relatively unknown Jack Nicholson.
The film, conceived and edited in a stream of consciousness style, featured oddball cameo appearances by movie stars Victor Mature, Annette Funicello, a young Teri Garr, boxer Sonny Liston, famous stripper Carol Doda, Green Bay Packers linebacker Ray Nitschke, and musician Frank Zappa. It was filmed at Columbia Pictures' Screen Gems studios and on location in California, Utah, and the Bahamas between February 19 and May 17, 1968 and premiered in New York City on November 6 of that year (the film later debuted in Hollywood on November 20).
The film was not a commercial success, in part because it was the antithesis of "The Monkees" television show, intended to comprehensively demolish the group's carefully groomed public image. Rafelson and Nicholson's "Ditty Diego-War Chant" (recited at the start of the film by the group) ruthlessly parodies Boyce and Hart's "Monkees Theme". A sparse advertising campaign (with no mention of the Monkees) hurt any chances of the film doing well, and it played briefly in half-filled theaters. In the DVD commentary, Nesmith said that everyone associated with the Monkees "had gone crazy" by this time. They were each using the platform of the Monkees to push their own disparate career goals, to the detriment of the Monkees project. Nesmith added that "Head" was Rafelson and Nicholson's intentional effort to "kill" the Monkees, so that they would no longer be bothered with the matter. Indeed, Rafelson and Schneider severed all ties to the band amid the bitterness that ensued over the commercial failure of "Head". At the time, Rafelson told the press, "I grooved on those four in very special ways while at the same time thinking they had absolutely no talent."
Released in October 1968, the single from the album, "The Porpoise Song", is a psychedelic pop song written by Goffin and King, with lead vocals from Micky Dolenz and backing vocals from Davy Jones, and it reached No. 62 on the Billboard charts.
The soundtrack album to the movie, "Head", reached No. 45 on the Billboard charts. Jack Nicholson assembled the film's soundtrack album, weaving dialogue and sound effects from the film in between the songs from the film. The six (plus "Ditty Diego") Monkees songs on the album range from psychedelic pop to straightforward rockers to Broadway rock to eastern-influenced pop to a folk-rock ballad. Although the Monkees performed "Circle Sky" live in the film, the studio version is chosen for the soundtrack album. The live version was later released on various compilations, including Rhino's Missing Links series of Monkees albums. The soundtrack album also includes a song from the film's composer, Ken Thorne. The album had a mylar cover, to give it a mirror-like appearance, so that the person looking at the cover would see his own head, a play on the album title "Head". Peter Tork said, "That was something special... [Jack] Nicholson coordinated the record, made it up from the soundtrack. He made it different from the movie. There's a line in the movie where [Frank] Zappa says, 'That's pretty white.' Then there's another line in the movie that was not juxtaposed in the movie, but Nicholson put them together in the [soundtrack album], when Mike says, 'And the same thing goes for Christmas'... that's funny... very different from the movie... that was very important and wonderful that he assembled the record differently from the movie... It was a different artistic experience."
Over the intervening years "Head" has developed a cult following for its innovative style and anarchic humor. Members of the Monkees, Nesmith in particular, cite the soundtrack album as one of the crowning achievements of the band.
Tensions within the group were increasing. Peter Tork, citing exhaustion, quit by buying out the last four years of his Monkees contract at $150,000 per year, equal to about $ per year today. This was shortly after the band's Far East tour in December 1968, after completing work on their 1969 NBC television special, "33⅓ Revolutions Per Monkee", which rehashed many of the ideas from "Head", only with the Monkees playing a strangely second-string role. In the DVD commentary for the television special, Dolenz noted that after filming was complete, Nesmith gave Tork a gold watch as a going-away present, engraved "From the guys down at work." (Tork kept the back, but replaced the watch several times in later years.) Most of the songs from the "33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee" TV Special were not officially released until over 40 years later, on the 2010 and 2011 Rhino Handmade Deluxe boxed sets of "Head" and "Instant Replay".
Since the Monkees at this point were producing their own songs with very little of the other band members involvement, they planned a future double album (eventually to be reduced to "The Monkees Present") on which each Monkee would separately produce one side of a disc.
In February 1969, the Monkees' seventh album, "Instant Replay," without Tork's involvement beyond playing guitar on "I Won't Be the Same Without Her", was released, which reached No. 32 on the charts. The single from the album was "Tear Drop City", which peaked at No. 56 on the U.S. Billboard chart and No. 34 on the Australian chart. According to Rhino Handmade's 2011 Deluxe Edition reissue of this album, Davy Jones told "Melody Maker", "Half of the songs were recorded over the last three years, but there are also about six new ones." The Monkees wanted to please the original 1966 fans by offering up new recordings of some previously unreleased older styled songs, as well as gain a new audience with what they considered a more mature sound. Nesmith continued in his country-rock vein after offering straight ahead rock and experimental songs on the two prior albums. Nesmith stated in Rhino Handmade's 2011 Deluxe Edition reissue, "I guess it was the same embryo beating in me that was somewhere in Don Henley and Glenn Frey and Linda Ronstadt and Neil Young. Everybody who was hanging out in those times. I could just feel this happening that there was this thing. So, I headed off to Nashville to see if I couldn't get some of the Nashville country thing into the rock 'n' roll or vice versa. What I found was that Nashville country was not the country that was going to be the basis of country-rock and that it was Western, Southwest country. It was coming much more out of the Southern California scene. I ended up with a lot of Dobro, mandolin, banjo, and things that were hard-core mountain music stuff ... the Nashville cats were so blown out by playin' this kind of music. They loved it, for one thing."
Dolenz contributed the biggest and longest Monkees' production, "Shorty Blackwell", a song inspired by his cat of the same name. Dolenz called it his "feeble attempt at something to do with "Sgt. Pepper."" Jones contributed an electric guitar rocker, "You and I". Both Jones and Dolenz continued their role of singing on the pop songs. Lyrically, it has a theme of being one of the Monkees' most melancholy albums.
Throughout 1969 the trio appeared as guests on television programs such as "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour", "The Johnny Cash Show", "Hollywood Squares", and "Laugh-In" (Jones had also appeared on "Laugh-In" separate from the group). The Monkees also had a contractual obligation to appear in several television commercials with Bugs Bunny for Kool-Aid drink mix as well as Post cereal box singles.
In April 1969, the single "Someday Man" b/w "Listen to the Band" was released, which had the unique distinction of the B-side, a Nesmith composed country-rock song, charting higher (No. 63) than the Jones-sung A-side (No. 81).
The final album with Michael Nesmith, from the Monkees' original incarnation, was their eighth album, "The Monkees Present", released in October 1969, which peaked at No. 100 on the Billboard charts. It included the Nesmith composed country-rock singles "Listen to the Band" and "Good Clean Fun" (released in September 1969). Other notable songs include the Dolenz composition "Little Girl", which featured Louie Shelton on electric guitar, joining Micky on acoustic guitar, along with "Mommy and Daddy" (B-side to the "Good Clean Fun single) in which he sang about America's treatment of the Native Americans and drug abuse, and in an earlier take, released on Rhino Handmade's 2011 Deluxe Edition of "Instant Replay", sang about JFK's assassination and the Vietnam war. Jones collaborated with Bill Chadwick on some slower ballads, along with releasing a couple of older upbeat songs from 1966.
In the summer of 1969 the three Monkees embarked on a tour with the backing of the soul band Sam and the Good-Timers. Concerts for this tour were longer sets than their earlier performances tours, with many shows running over two hours. Although the tour was met with some positive critical reception ("Billboard" in particular praised it), other critics were not favorable of the mixing of the Monkees' pop music with the Goodtimers' R&B approach. Toward the end of the tour, some dates were canceled due to poor ticket sales, and the tour failed to re-establish the band commercially, with no single entering the Top 40 in 1969. Dolenz remarked that the tour "was like kicking a dead horse. The phenomenon had peaked."
On April 14, 1970, Nesmith joined Dolenz and Jones for the last time as part of the original incarnation of the Monkees to film a Kool-Aid commercial (with the then-newly introduced Nerf balls, thrown around a mock living room by the trio, available as a premium for Kool-Aid labels), with Nesmith leaving the group to continue recording songs with his own country-rock group called Michael Nesmith & The First National Band, which he had started recording with on February 10, 1970. His first album with his own band was called "Magnetic South", and at the time he left the Monkees in April, he was recording songs for his second album with The First National Band, called "Loose Salute".
This left Dolenz and Jones to record the bubblegum pop album "Changes" as the ninth and final album by the Monkees released during its original incarnation. By this time, Colgems was hardly putting any effort into the project, and they sent Dolenz and Jones to New York for the "Changes" sessions, to be produced by Jeff Barry. In comments for the liner notes of the 1994 re-release of "Changes", Jones said that he felt they had been tricked into recording an "Andy Kim album" under the Monkees name. Except for the two singers' vocal performances, "Changes" is the only album that fails to win any significant praise from critics looking back 40 years to the Monkees' recording output. The album spawned the single "Oh My My", which was accompanied by a music film promo (produced/directed by Dolenz). Dolenz contributed one of his own compositions, "Midnight Train", which was used in the re-runs of the Monkees TV series. The "Oh My My" b/w "I Love You Better" single from the "Changes" album was the last single issued under the Monkees name in the United States until 1986. Originally released in June 1970, "Changes" first charted in Billboard's Top 200 during the Monkees' 1986 reunion, staying on the charts for 4 weeks.
September 22, 1970 marked the final recording session by the Monkees in their original incarnation, when Jones and Dolenz recorded "Do It in the Name of Love" and "Lady Jane". Not mixed until February 19, 1971, and released later that year as a single ("Do It in the Name Of Love" b/w "Lady Jane"), the two remaining Monkees then lost the rights to use the name in several countries, the U.S. included. The single was not credited to the Monkees in the U.S., but to a misspelled "Mickey Dolenz and Davy Jones", although in Japan it was issued under the Monkees' name.
Jones released a solo album in 1971, titled "Davy Jones", featuring the single "Rainy Jane" / "Welcome to My Love". Both Jones and Dolenz released multiple singles as solo artists in the years following the original break-up of the Monkees. The duo continued to tour throughout most of the 1970s.
Partly because of repeats of the television series "The Monkees" on Saturday mornings and in syndication, "The Monkees Greatest Hits" charted in 1976. The LP, issued by Arista Records, who by this time had possession of the Monkees' master tapes, courtesy of their corporate owner, Screen Gems, was actually a re-packaging of an earlier (1972) compilation LP called "Refocus" that had been issued by Arista's previous label imprint, Bell Records, also owned by Screen Gems. Dolenz and Jones took advantage of this, joining ex-Monkees songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart to tour the United States. From 1975 to 1977, as the "Golden Hits of the Monkees" show ("The Guys who Wrote 'Em and the Guys who Sang 'Em!"), they successfully performed in smaller venues such as state fairs and amusement parks, as well as making stops in Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore. They also released an album of new material as "Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart". Nesmith had not been interested in a reunion. Tork claimed later that he had not been asked, although a Christmas single (credited to Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones and Peter Tork due to legal reasons) was produced by Chip Douglas and released on his own label in 1976. The single featured Douglas' and Howard Kaylan's "Christmas Is My Time Of Year" (originally recorded by a 1960s group Christmas Spirit), with a B-side of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" (Douglas released a remixed version of the single, with additional overdubbed instruments, in 1986). This was the first (albeit unofficial) Monkees single since 1971. Tork also joined Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart on stage at Disneyland in Anaheim, California on July 4, 1976, and also joined Dolenz and Jones on stage at the Starwood in Hollywood in 1977.
Other semi-reunions occurred between 1970 and 1986. Tork helped produce a Dolenz single, "Easy on You"/"Oh Someone" in 1971. Tork also recorded some unreleased tracks for Nesmith's Countryside label during the 1970s, and Dolenz (by then a successful television director in the United Kingdom) directed a segment of Nesmith's TV series "Television Parts", although his segment was ultimately not included when the series' six episodes were broadcast by NBC during the summer of 1985.
Brushed off by critics during their heyday in the late 1960s as manufactured and lacking talent, the Monkees experienced a critical and commercial renaissance two decades later. A Monkees TV show marathon ("Pleasant Valley Sunday") was broadcast on February 23, 1986, on the then five-year-old MTV video music channel. In February and March, Tork and Jones played together in Australia. Then in May, Dolenz, Jones, and Tork announced a "20th Anniversary Tour" produced by David Fishof and they began playing North America in June. Their original albums began selling again as Nickelodeon began to run their old series daily. MTV promotion also helped to resurrect a smaller version of Monkeemania, and tour dates grew from smaller to larger venues and became one of the biggest live acts of 1986 and 1987. A new greatest hits collection was issued, reaching platinum status.
By this point, Nesmith was more amenable to a reunion, but forced to sit out most projects because of prior commitments to his Pacific Arts video production company. However, he did appear with the band in a 1986 Christmas medley music video for MTV, and appeared on stage with Dolenz, Jones, and Tork at the Greek Theatre, in Los Angeles, on September 7, 1986. In September 1988, the three rejoined to play Australia again, Europe and then North America, with that string of tours ending in September 1989. Nesmith again returned at the Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, show on July 10, 1989 and took part in a dedication ceremony at the Hollywood Walk of Fame, when the Monkees received a TV star there in 1989.
The sudden revival of the Monkees in 1986 helped move the first official Monkees single since 1971, "That Was Then, This Is Now", to the No. 20 position in "Billboard" Magazine. The success, however, was not without controversy. Jones had declined to sing on the track, recorded along with two other new songs included in a compilation album, "Then & Now... The Best of The Monkees". Some copies of the single and album credit the new songs to "the Monkees", others as "Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork (of the Monkees)". Reportedly, these recordings were the source of some personal friction between Jones and the others during the 1986 tour; Jones typically left the stage when the new songs were performed.
In 1987, a new television series called "New Monkees" appeared. Other than being centered around a boy band quartet, it bore no resemblance to the earlier series or group. The "New Monkees" left the air after 13 episodes. (Neither Bob Rafelson nor Bert Schneider was involved in the development or production of the series, although it was produced by "Straybert Productions" headed by Steve Blauner, Rafelson and Schneider's partner in BBS Productions.)
In the 1990s, the Monkees continued to record new material. The band also re-issued all the original LPs on CD, each of which included between three and six bonus tracks of previously unreleased or alternate takes; the first editions came with collectable trading cards.
Dolenz, Jones and Tork appeared in a 1995 episode of "Boy Meets World", but not as themselves; Tork appeared in two episodes as Topanga Lawrence's father Jedediah. The trio also appeared together, as themselves, in the 1995 film "The Brady Bunch Movie".
Their eleventh album "Justus" was released in 1996. It was the first since 1968 on which all four original members performed and produced. "Justus" was produced by the Monkees, all songs were written by one of the four Monkees, and it was recorded using only the four Monkees for all instruments and vocals, which was the inspiration for the album title and spelling ("Justus" = Just Us).
The trio of Dolenz, Jones, and Tork reunited again for a successful 30th anniversary tour of American amphitheaters in 1996, while Nesmith joined them onstage in Los Angeles to promote the new songs from "Justus". For the first time since the brief 1986 reunion, Nesmith returned to the concert stage for a tour of the United Kingdom in 1997, highlighted by two sold-out concerts at Wembley Arena in Wembley Park, London. This was a very fitting venue, as from 30 June to 2 July 1967 the Monkees had been the first group to headline on their own at the Empire Pool, as the Arena was then called.
The full quartet also appeared in an ABC television special titled "Hey, Hey, It's the Monkees", which was written and directed by Nesmith and spoofed the original series that had made them famous. Following the UK tour, Nesmith declined to continue future performances with the Monkees, having faced harsh criticism from the British music press for his deteriorating musicianship. Tork noted in DVD commentary that "In 1966, Nesmith had learned a reasonably good version of the famous 'Last Train to Clarksville' guitar lick, but in 1996, Mike was no longer able to play it" and so Tork took over the lead guitar parts.
Nesmith's departure from the tour was acrimonious. Jones was quoted by the "Los Angeles Times" as complaining that Nesmith "made a new album with us. He toured Great Britain with us. Then all of a sudden, he's not here. Later, I hear rumors he's writing a script for our next movie. Oh, really? That's bloody news to me. He's always been this aloof, inaccessible person... the fourth part of the jigsaw puzzle that never quite fit in."
Tork, Jones, and Dolenz toured the United States in 1997, after which the group took another hiatus until 2001 when they once again reunited to tour the United States. However, this tour was also accompanied by public sniping. Dolenz and Jones had announced that they had "fired" Tork for his constant complaining and threatening to quit. Tork was quoted as saying that, as well as the fact he wanted to tour with his own band, "Shoe Suede Blues." Tork told WENN News he was troubled by the overindulgence in alcohol by other members of the tour crew:
Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones fired me just before the last two shows of our 35th anniversary tour. I'm both happy and sad over the whole thing. I always loved the work onstage—but I just couldn't handle the backstage problems. I'd given them 30 days notice that I was leaving so my position is that I resigned first and then they dropped me. Thank God I don't need the Monkees anymore...I'm a recovering alcoholic and haven't had a drink in several years. I'm not against people drinking—just when they get mean and abusive. I went on the anniversary tour with the agreement that I didn't have to put up with drinking and difficult behavior offstage. When things weren't getting better, I gave the guys notice that I was leaving in 30 days for good.
Tork later stated in 2011 that the alcohol played only a small role and Tork then said, "I take full responsibility for the backstage problems on the 2001 tour. We were getting along pretty well until I had a meltdown. I ticked the other guys off good and proper and it was a serious mistake on my part. I was not in charge of myself to the best of my ability – the way I hope I have become since. I really just behaved inappropriately, honestly. I apologized to them."
Jones and Dolenz went on to tour the United Kingdom in 2002, but Tork declined to participate. Jones and Dolenz toured the United States one more time as a duo in 2002, and then split to concentrate on their own individual projects. With different Monkees citing different reasons, the group chose not to mark their 40th anniversary in 2006.
In October 2010, Jones stated that a reunion marking the band's 45th anniversary was a possibility. Noted Monkees biographer Andrew Sandoval commented in "The Hollywood Reporter" that he "spent three years cajoling them to look beyond their recent differences (which included putting aside solo projects to fully commit to the Monkees)."
"" commenced on May 12, 2011 in Liverpool, England, before moving to North America in June and July for a total of 43 performances. Sandoval noted, "Their mixed feelings on the music business and their long and winding relationship weighed heavily, but once they hit the stage, the old magic was apparent. For the next three months...[they brought] the music and memories to fans in the band's grandest stage show in decades. Images from their series and films flashed on a huge screen behind them; even "Rolling Stone", whose owner, Jann Wenner, has vowed to keep them out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, gushed." Nesmith did not take part in the tour, which grossed approximately $4 million.
On August 8, 2011, the band cancelled ten last-minute shows due to what was initially reported as "internal group issues and conflicts", though Tork later confirmed "there were some business affairs that couldn't be coordinated correctly. We hit a glitch and there was just this weird dislocation at one point." Jones clarified that "the (45th Anniversary) tour was only supposed to go until July. And it was great, the best time we've had because we're all on the same page now. We jelled onstage and off. But then more dates were being added. And more. And then the next thing we knew, they were talking about Japan, Australia, Brazil, and we were like, 'Wait a second. This is turning into something more than a tour.' We were doing 40 songs a night, plus other material. Some of these shows were 2 hours long. Then there was the travel, getting to the next venue with no time to revive. The audiences were great. But, let's face it, we're not kids."
The 45th anniversary tour was the last with Jones, who died of a heart attack at age 66 due to atherosclerosis on February 29, 2012. Soon thereafter, rumors began to circulate that Nesmith would reunite with Dolenz and Tork in the wake of Jones' death. This was confirmed on August 8, 2012, when the surviving trio announced a series of U.S. shows for November and December, commencing in Escondido, California and concluding in New York City. The brief tour marked the first time Nesmith performed with the Monkees since 1997, as well as the first without Jones. Jones' memory was honored throughout the shows via recordings and video. During one point, the band went quiet and a recording of Jones singing "I Wanna Be Free" played while footage of him was screening behind the band. For Jones' signature song, "Daydream Believer", Dolenz said that the band had discussed who should sing the song and had concluded that it should be the fans, saying "It doesn't belong to us anymore. It belongs to you."
The Fall 2012 tour was very well received by both fans and critics, resulting in the band's scheduling a 24-date summer tour for 2013. Dubbed "A Midsummer’s Night With the Monkees", concerts also featured Nesmith, Dolenz, and Tork. "The reaction to the last tour was euphoric", Dolenz told "Rolling Stone" magazine. "It was pretty apparent there was a demand for another one." A third tour with Nesmith followed in 2014.
In 2014, the Monkees were inducted into the Pop Music Hall of Fame at the 2014 Monkees Convention. At the convention the band announced a 2014 tour of the Eastern and Midwestern US.
Dolenz and Tork toured as the Monkees in 2015 without Nesmith's participation. Nesmith stated that he was busy with other ventures, although Dolenz said that "He's always invited." In February 2016, Dolenz announced that the Monkees would be releasing a new album, titled "Good Times!", as a celebration of their 50th anniversary. "Good Times!", produced by Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne, features contributions by all three surviving members, as well as a posthumous contribution from Jones. The album was released in May 2016 to considerable success, reaching No. 14 on the Billboard 200 and generally favorable reviews.
With the release of the album, the band, featuring Dolenz and Tork, commenced their 50th anniversary tour. Nesmith did not participate in most of the tour, again citing other commitments. He did, however, make a few appearances throughout the summer of 2016, appearing virtually via Skype to perform "Papa Gene's Blues" at one concert and in person for a four-song encore at another. In September, he replaced Tork on the tour for two dates while Tork attended to a family emergency. After Tork returned to the tour, Nesmith performed with the band for a concert at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood on September 16, which he stated would likely be his final concert appearance with the Monkees. Dolenz and Tork's tour announced dates to the end of the year, including concerts in Australia and New Zealand.
After the end of the 50th anniversary tour, Dolenz, Tork, and Nesmith spent 2017 engaging in solo activities.
In 2018, Nesmith toured with a revived version of the First National Band and stated that he was in negotiations with promoters to tour again with Dolenz later in the summer. On February 20, the tour was announced as "The Monkees Present: The Mike and Micky Show", their first tour as a duo; Tork declined to participate due to wanting to focus on his new solo album. Though the pair played Monkees music and promoted the tour under the Monkees banner, Nesmith stated that "there's no pretense there about Micky and I being the Monkees. We're not."
The tour was cut short in June 2018, with four shows left unplayed, due to Nesmith having a health issue. He and Dolenz announced March 2019 as make-up dates for the missed shows. In an interview with "Rolling Stone" published on July 26, 2018, Nesmith revealed he had undergone quadruple bypass heart surgery. He was in the hospital for over a month and the health issue had persisted since early in the tour. Nesmith resumed live touring with his First National Band Redux shows in September 2018. In November 2018, Nesmith and Dolenz announced an additional eight shows had been added to the Mike and Micky Show tour. In June 2019, Nesmith and Dolenz toured the Mike and Micky Show in Australia and New Zealand.
The Monkees released a Christmas album, "Christmas Party," on October 12, 2018. The Adam Schlesinger-produced album features contributions from Andy Partridge, Scott McCaughey and author Michael Chabon. In addition to newly recorded material from the three surviving Monkees, two songs feature vocals from Davy Jones. The cover art is provided by the comic book artists Mike and Laura Allred.
Peter Tork died of cancer on February 21, 2019.
Following the success of the Mike and Micky Show, Dolenz and Nesmith announced a follow-up tour, An Evening with the Monkees, to begin in early 2020.
Controversy hit early in 1967 concerning the Monkees' studio abilities. Dolenz told a reporter that the Wrecking Crew provided the backing tracks for the first two Monkees albums, and that his origin as a drummer was simply that a Monkee had to learn to play the drums, and he only knew the guitar. A January 28, 1967 "Saturday Evening Post" article quoted Nesmith railing against the music creation process. "Do you know how debilitating it is to sit up and have to duplicate somebody else’s records?" he asked. "Tell the world we don’t record our own music." The whistle-blowing on themselves worked to force producer Don Kirshner out of the project, and the band took creative control for its third album.
But the Monkees toured the U.K. in 1967 and found a chilly reception. The front pages of several U.K. and international music papers proclaimed that the group members did not always play their own instruments or sing the backing vocals in the studio. They were derisively dubbed the "Pre-Fab Four" and the "Sunday Mirror" called them a "disgrace to the pop world". Jimi Hendrix was their tour-opener that year, and he told "Melody Maker" magazine, "Oh God, I hate them! Dishwater… You can't knock anybody for making it, but people like the Monkees?" Dealing with the controversy proved challenging on the television series. Episode No. 31, "Monkees at the Movies", first aired in April 1967 and Bob Rafelson asked the group about accusations that they did not play their instruments in concert. Nesmith responded, "I'm fixin' to walk out there in front of fifteen thousand people, man! If I don't play my own instrument, I'm in a lot of trouble!" But the "Devil and Peter Tork" episode serves as a parable, as a Kirshner-like entrepreneur has Tork sign over his soul to be a success as a musician.
In November 1967, the wave of anti-Monkees sentiment was reaching its peak while they released their fourth album, "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, & Jones Ltd". The liner notes for the 1995 re-release of this album quote Nesmith: "The press went into a full-scale war against us, talking about how 'The Monkees are four guys who have no credits, no credibility whatsoever and have been trying to trick us into believing they are a rock band.' Number 1, not only was this not the case; the reverse was true. Number 2, for the press to report with genuine alarm that the Monkees were not a real rock band was looney tunes! It was one of the great goofball moments of the media, but it stuck." Jones stated in 1969 to "Tiger Beat", "I get so angry when musicians say, 'Oh, your music is so bad', because it's not bad to the kids. Those people who talk about 'doing their own thing' are groups that go and play in the clubs that hold 50 people, while we're playing to 10,000 kids. You know, it hurts me to think that anybody thinks we're phony, because we're not. We're only doing what we think is our own thing."
"Rolling Stone" reported on October 11, 2011, that Tork believed the Monkees did not receive the respect they deserve. "The Monkees' songbook is one of the better songbooks in pop history", he said. "Certainly in the top five in terms of breadth and depth. It was revealed that we didn't play our own instruments on the records much at the very moment when the idealism of early Beatlemania in rock was at its peak. So we became the ultimate betrayers."
After "Headquarters", the Monkees started using a mixture of themselves playing along with other musicians, including members of the Wrecking Crew and Candy Store Prophets along with other musicians such as Stephen Stills, Neil Young, and Harry Nilsson; but they still wrote, sang, produced, and played on their remaining albums, except for their final offering from the original incarnation in 1970, "Changes", which was recorded after Nesmith and Tork had left the group and featured Dolenz and Jones singing to the backing tracks of what Jones referred to in the liner notes of the 1994 reissue that album as "a rejected Andy Kim album". In the same liner notes, Jones stated that he was unhappy about that recording and claimed that it was not a real album. The final album featured one Dolenz composition.
Tork commented on some of the controversy when writing about Jones's death: "When we first met, I was confronted with a slick, accomplished, young performer, vastly more experienced than I in the ways of show biz, and yes, I was intimidated. Englishness was at a high premium in my world, and his experience dwarfed my entertainer's life as a hippie, basket-passing folk singer on the Greenwich Village coffee house circuit. If anything, I suppose I was selected for the cast of 'The Monkees' TV show partly as a rough-hewn counterpart to David's sophistication. [...] the Monkees—the group now, not the TV series—took a lot of flack for being 'manufactured,' by which our critics meant that we hadn't grown up together, paying our dues, sleeping five to a room, trying to make it as had the Beatles and Rolling Stones. Furthermore, critics said, the Monkees' first albums—remember albums?—were almost entirely recorded by professional studio musicians, with hardly any input from any of us beyond lead vocals. I felt this criticism keenly, coming as I did from the world of the ethical folk singer, basically honoring the standards of the naysayers. We did play as a group live on tour."
Critics of the Monkees observed that they were simply the "Pre-Fab Four", a made-for-TV knockoff of the Beatles; however, the Beatles themselves took it in stride and even hosted a party for the Monkees when they visited England. The Beatles were recording "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" at the time of the Monkees' visit and as such, the party inspired the line in the Monkees' tune "Randy Scouse Git", written by Dolenz, which read, "the four kings of EMI are sitting stately on the floor."
George Harrison praised their self-produced musical attempts, saying, "It's obvious what's happening, there's talent there. They're doing a TV show, it's a difficult chore and I wouldn't be in their shoes for the world. When they get it all sorted out, they might turn out to be the best." (Monkees member Peter Tork was later one of the musicians on Harrison's album "Wonderwall Music", playing Paul McCartney's five-string banjo.)
Nesmith attended the Beatles' recording session for "A Day in the Life" at Abbey Road Studios; he can be seen in the Beatles' home movies, including one scene where he is talking with John Lennon. During the conversation, Nesmith had reportedly asked Lennon "Do you think we're a cheap imitation of the Beatles, your movies and your records?" to which Lennon assuredly replied, "I think you're the greatest comic talent since the Marx Brothers. I've never missed one of your programs." Nesmith wrote about this encounter on Facebook:
When the Beatles were recording Sgt. Peppers, Phyllis and I spent a few days with John and wife Cynthia Lennon at their home, and one in the studio with "the boys." That's where those pictures of John and I come from—the "Day in the Life" session. The minute I had the wherewithal—cachet and money—I raced to London and looked up John.
During the '60s it seemed to me London was the center of the World and the Beatles were the center of London and the Sgt Pepper session was the center of the Beatles. It was an extraordinary time, I thought, and I wanted to get as close as I could to the heart of it. But like a hurricane the center was not stormy or tumultuous. It was exciting, but it was calm, and to an extent peaceful. The confidence of the art permeated the atmosphere. Serene—and really, really fun. Then I discovered the reason for this. During that time in one of our longer, more reflective, talks I realized that John was not aware of who the Beatles were. Of course he could not be. He was clueless in this regard. He had never seen or experienced them. In the strange paradox of fame, none of the Beatles ever saw the Beatles the way we did. Certainly not the way I did. I loved them beyond my ability to express it. As the years passed and I met more and more exceptional people sitting in the center of their own hurricane I saw they all shared this same sensibility. None of them could actually know the force of their own work.
Dolenz was also in the studio during a "Sgt. Pepper" session, which he mentioned while broadcasting for radio WCBS-FM in New York (incidentally, he interviewed Ringo Starr on his program). On February 21, 1967, he attended the overdub and mixing session for the Beatles' "Fixing a Hole" at EMI's Abbey Road studio 2.
During the 1970s, during , Lennon, Ringo Starr, Micky Dolenz, Harry Nilsson and Keith Moon often hung out together, and were collectively known in the press as "The Hollywood Vampires".
Paul McCartney can be seen in the 2002 concert film "Back in the U.S." singing "Hey, Hey, We're The Monkees", the theme from "The Monkees" television show, while backstage.
The Monkees "Cuddly Toy" and "Daddy's Song" were written by songwriter Harry Nilsson. "Cuddly Toy" would be recorded several months before Nilsson's own debut in October 1967. At the press conference announcing the formation of Apple, the Beatles named Nilsson as both their favorite American artist and as their favorite American group. Derek Taylor, the Beatles' press officer, had introduced them to Nilsson's music.
In 1995, Ringo Starr joined Jones, Tork and Dolenz to film a Pizza Hut commercial.
Julian Lennon was a fan, stating at the time of Jones' death, "You did some great work!"
In June 2007, Tork complained to the "New York Post" that Jann Wenner had blackballed the Monkees from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. Tork stated:
[Wenner] doesn't care what the rules are and just operates how he sees fit. It is an abuse of power. I don't know whether the Monkees belong in the Hall of Fame, but it's pretty clear that we're not in there because of a personal whim. Jann seems to have taken it harder than everyone else, and now, 40 years later, everybody says, 'What's the big deal? Everybody else does it.' [Uses studio artists or backing bands.] Nobody cares now except him. He feels his moral judgment in 1967 and 1968 is supposed to serve in 2007.
In a Facebook post, Nesmith stated that he does not know if the Monkees belong in the Hall of Fame because he can only see the impact of the Monkees from the inside, and further stated: "I can see the HOF (Hall of Fame) is a private enterprise. It seems to operate as a business, and the inductees are there by some action of the owners of the Enterprise. The inductees appear to be chosen at the owner's pleasure. This seems proper to me. It is their business in any case. It does not seem to me that the HOF carries a public mandate, nor should it be compelled to conform to one."
In 1992, Davy Jones spoke to "People" magazine, stating "I'm not as wealthy as some entertainers, but I work hard, and I think the best is yet to come. I know I'm never going to make the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but maybe there's something else for me in show business. I've been given a talent—however big or little—that has given me many opportunities. I've got to try to use it the best way I can. A lot of people go days without having someone hug them or shake their hand. I get that all the time."
In 2015, Micky Dolenz said, "As far as the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame I’ve never been one to chase awards or anything like that; it’s never been very important to me. I was very proud to win an Emmy for "The Monkees", having come out of television as a kid. When we won the Emmy for best TV show in '66 or '67 that was a huge feather in my cap. But I’ve never chased that kind of stuff. I’ve never done a project and thought, 'What do I do here to win an award?' Specifically as far as the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame I’ve been very flattered that the fans and people have championed the Monkees. Very flattered and honored that they do. If you know anything about the organization, and I’ve done charity work for the foundation, the Hall of Fame is a private club."
Various magazines and news outlets, such as "Time", NPR, "The Christian Science Monitor", "Goldmine", Yahoo! Music and MSNBC have argued that the Monkees belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Beginning in 1987, Rhino Records started to make available previously unreleased Monkees recordings on a series of albums called "Missing Links". Having numerous quality songwriters, musicians, producers and arrangers—along with high budgets—at their hands while making albums during the 1960s, the band was able to record as many songs as the Beatles in half the time.
The three volumes of this initial series contained 59 songs. These include the group's first recordings as a self-contained band, including the intended single "All Of Your Toys", Nesmith's Nashville sessions, and alternate versions of songs featured only on the television series. The "Listen to the Band" box set also contained previously unreleased recordings, as did the 1994-95 series CD album reissues. Rhino/Rhino Handmade's Deluxe Edition reissue series has also included alternate mixes, unreleased songs, and the soundtrack to "33⅓ Revolutions per Monkee".
The Monkees, selected specifically to appeal to the youth market as American television's response to the Beatles with their manufactured personae and carefully produced singles, are seen as an original precursor to the modern proliferation of studio and corporation-created bands. But this critical reputation has softened somewhat, with the recognition that the Monkees were neither the first manufactured group nor unusual in this respect. The Monkees also frequently contributed their own songwriting efforts on their albums and saw their musical skills improve. They ultimately became a self-directed group, playing their own instruments and writing many of their own songs.
Monkees and 1960s music historian Andrew Sandoval wrote in "The Hollywood Reporter" that the Monkees "pioneered the music video format [and band member Mike Nesmith dreamed up the prototype for what would become MTV] and paved the way for every boy band that followed in their wake, from New Kids on the Block to 'N Sync to the Jonas Brothers, while Davy set the stage for future teen idols David Cassidy and Justin Bieber. As pop stars go, you would be hard pressed to find a successful artist who didn't take a page from the Monkees' playbook, even generations later. Monkee money also enabled Rafelson and Schneider to finance "Easy Rider" and "Five Easy Pieces", which made Jack Nicholson a star. In fact, the Monkees series was the opening salvo in a revolution that brought on the New Hollywood cinema, an influence rarely acknowledged but no less impactful."
The "Chicago Tribune" interviewed Davy Jones, who said, "We touched a lot of musicians, you know. I can't tell you the amount of people that have come up and said, 'I wouldn't have been a musician if it hadn't been for the Monkees.' It baffles me even now", Jones added. "I met a guy from Guns N' Roses, and he was overwhelmed by the meeting, and was just so complimentary."
The Monkees found unlikely fans among musicians of the punk rock period of the mid-1970s. Many of these punk performers had grown up on TV reruns of the series, and sympathized with the anti-industry, anti-establishment trend of their career. Sex Pistols and Minor Threat both recorded versions of "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" and it was often played live by Toy Love. Japanese new wave pop group the Plastics recorded a synthesizer and drum-machine version of "Last Train to Clarksville" for their 1979 album "Welcome Back".
Glenn A. Baker, author of "Monkeemania: The True Story of the Monkees", described the Monkees as "rock's first great embarrassment" in 1986:
Like an illegitimate child in a respectable family, the Monkees are destined to be regarded forever as rock's first great embarrassment; misunderstood and maligned like a mongrel at a ritzy dog show, or a test tube baby at the Vatican. The rise of the pre-fab four coincided with rock's desperate desire to cloak itself with the trappings of respectability, credibility and irreproachable heritage. The fact was ignored that session players were being heavily employed by the Beach Boys, the Beatles, the Mamas and the Papas, the Byrds and other titans of the age. However, what could "not" be ignored, as rock disdained its pubescent past, was a group of middle-aged Hollywood businessmen had actually assembled their concept of a profitable rock group and foisted it upon the world. What mattered was that the Monkees had success handed to them on a silver plate. Indeed, it was not so much righteous indignation but thinly disguised jealousy which motivated the scornful dismissal of what must, in retrospect, be seen as entertaining, imaginative and highly memorable exercise in pop culture.
"Mediaite" columnist Paul Levinson noted that "The Monkees were the first example of something created in a medium—in this case, a rock group on television—that jumped off the screen to have big impact in the real world."
When commenting on the death of Jones on February 29, 2012, "Time" magazine contributor James Poniewozik praised the television show, saying that "even if the show never meant to be more than entertainment and a hit-single generator, we shouldn't sell "The Monkees" short. It was far better TV than it had to be; during an era of formulaic domestic sitcoms and wacky comedies, it was a stylistically ambitious show, with a distinctive visual style, absurdist sense of humor and unusual story structure. Whatever Jones and the Monkees were meant to be, they became creative artists in their own right, and Jones' chipper Brit-pop presence was a big reason they were able to produce work that was commercial, wholesome and yet impressively weird.
"Both the style and substance of the Monkees were imitated by American boy band Big Time Rush (BTR), who performed in their own television series which -- by admission of series creator Scott Fellows -- was heavily influenced by the Monkees. Similarly to the Monkees, Big Time Rush featured a "made-for-tv" boy band often caught in a series of misadventures, hijinks, and somewhat slapstick comedy. The show, now in reruns but still hugely popular on Teen Nick, is highly stylized and patterned after the Monkees, even capped with similar cartoonish sound effects. Like the Monkees, BTR has also seen critical and commercial success in America and worldwide through album, singles and high TV ratings worldwide."
The Criterion Collection, which has a stated goal to release "a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films, [and] has been dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements" recognized the Monkees' film "Head" as meeting their criteria when they fully restored and released it on DVD and Blu-ray in 2010. They stated that "Head" was "way, way ahead of its time" and "arguably the most authentically psychedelic film made in 1960s Hollywood", "Head" dodged commercial success on its release but has since been reclaimed as one of the great cult objects of its era."
In the book "Hey, Hey We're The Monkees", Rafelson wrote that "[Head] explored techniques on film that hadn't been used before. The first shot of Micky under water is a perfect example. Now you see it on MTV all the time, but it was invented for the movie [...] I got two long-haired kids out of UCLA who created the effects that the established laboratory guys said couldn't be done. We invented double-matted experiences. Polarization hadn't been used in movies before. ... When it was shown in France, the head of the Cinematheque overly praised the movie as a cinematic masterpiece, and from that point on, this movie began to acquire an underground reputation."
In 2010, Nick Vernier Band created a digital "Monkees reunion" through the release of "Mister Bob (featuring the Monkees)," a new song produced under license from Rhino Entertainment, containing vocal samples from the band's recording "Zilch".
The contract bridge convention known as either Last Train or Last Train to Clarksville was so named by its inventor, Jeff Meckstroth, after the Monkees' song.
A comic book series, "The Monkees", was published in the United States by Dell Comics, which ran for 17 issues from 1967 to 1969.
In the United Kingdom, a "Daily Mirror" "Crazy Cartoon Book" featured four comic stories as well as four photos of the Monkees, all in black and white; it was published in 1967.
In 2000, VH-1 produced the television biopic "Daydream Believers: The Monkees' Story". In 2002, the movie was released on DVD and featured both commentaries and interviews with Dolenz, Jones and Tork. The aired version did differ from the DVD release, as the TV version had an extended scene with all four Monkees meeting the Beatles, but with a shortened Cleveland concert segment. It was also available on VHS.
A stage musical opened in the UK at the Manchester Opera House on Friday March 30, 2012, and was dedicated to Davy Jones (the Jones family attended the official opening on April 3). The production is a Jukebox musical and starred Stephen Kirwan, Ben Evans, Tom Parsons and Oliver Savile as actors playing the parts of the Monkees (respectively Dolenz, Jones, Nesmith, Tork) who are hired by an unscrupulous businessman to go on a world tour pretending to be the real band. The show includes 18 Monkees songs plus numbers by other 60s artists. It ran in Manchester as part of the "Manchester Gets it First" program until April 14, 2012 before a UK tour. Following its Manchester run, the show appeared in the Glasgow King's Theatre and the Sunderland Empire Theatre. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31417 |
Thermobaric weapon
A thermobaric weapon, aerosol bomb, or vacuum bomb is a type of explosive that uses oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion. In practice, the blast wave typically produced by such a weapon is of a significantly longer duration than that produced by a conventional condensed explosive. The fuel–air explosive (FAE) is one of the best-known types of thermobaric weapons.
Most conventional explosives consist of a fuel–oxidizer premix (gunpowder, for example, contains 25% fuel and 75% oxidizer), whereas thermobaric weapons are almost 100% fuel, so thermobaric weapons are significantly more energetic than conventional condensed explosives of equal weight. Their reliance on atmospheric oxygen makes them unsuitable for use underwater, at high altitude, and in adverse weather. They are, however, considerably more destructive when used against field fortifications such as foxholes, tunnels, bunkers, and caves—partly due to the sustained blast wave and partly by consuming the oxygen inside.
There are many different types of thermobaric weapons that can be fitted to hand-held launchers.
The term "thermobaric" is derived from the Greek words for "heat" and "pressure": "thermobarikos" (θερμοβαρικός), from "thermos" (θερμός), hot + "baros" (βάρος), weight, pressure + suffix "-ikos" (-ικός), suffix "-ic".
Other terms used for this family of weapons are "high-impulse thermobaric weapons" (HITs), "heat and pressure weapons", "vacuum bombs", or "fuel–air explosives" (FAE or FAX).
In contrast to a condensed explosive in which oxidation in a confined region produces a blast front emanating from a single source, a thermobaric flame front accelerates to a large volume, which produces pressure fronts both within the mixture of fuel and oxidant and then in the surrounding air.
Thermobaric explosives apply the principles underlying accidental unconfined vapor cloud explosions, which include those from dispersions of flammable dusts and droplets. Previously, such explosions were most often encountered in flour mills and their storage containers, and later in coal mines; but, now, most commonly in partially or fully empty oil tankers and refinery tanks and vessels, including an incident at Buncefield in the UK in 2005 where the blast wave woke people from its centre.
A typical weapon consists of a container packed with a fuel substance, in the center of which is a small conventional-explosive "scatter charge". Fuels are chosen on the basis of the exothermicity of their oxidation, ranging from powdered metals, such as aluminum or magnesium, to organic materials, possibly with a self-contained partial oxidant. The most recent development involves the use of nanofuels.
A thermobaric bomb's effective yield requires the most appropriate combination of a number of factors; among these are how well the fuel is dispersed, how rapidly it mixes with the surrounding atmosphere, and the initiation of the igniter and its position relative to the container of fuel. In some designs, strong munitions cases allow the blast pressure to be contained long enough for the fuel to be heated up well above its auto-ignition temperature, so that once the container bursts the super-heated fuel will auto-ignite progressively as it comes into contact with atmospheric oxygen.
Conventional upper and lower limits of flammability apply to such weapons. Close in, blast from the dispersal charge, compressing and heating the surrounding atmosphere, will have some influence on the lower limit. The upper limit has been demonstrated strongly to influence the ignition of fogs above pools of oil. This weakness may be eliminated by designs where the fuel is preheated well above its ignition temperature, so that its cooling during its dispersion still results in a minimal ignition delay on mixing. The continual combustion of the outer layer of fuel molecules as they come into contact with the air, generates additional heat which maintains the temperature of the interior of the fireball, and thus sustains the detonation.
In confinement, a series of reflective shock waves are generated, which maintain the fireball and can extend its duration to between 10 and 50 ms as exothermic recombination reactions occur. Further damage can result as the gases cool and pressure drops sharply, leading to a partial vacuum. This rarefaction effect has given rise to the misnomer "vacuum bomb". Piston-type afterburning is also believed to occur in such structures, as flame-fronts accelerate through it.
A fuel–air explosive (FAE) device consists of a container of fuel and two separate explosive charges. After the munition is dropped or fired, the first explosive charge bursts open the container at a predetermined height and disperses the fuel (also possibly ionizing it, depending on whether a fused quartz dispersal charge container was employed) in a cloud that mixes with atmospheric oxygen (the size of the cloud varies with the size of the munition). The cloud of fuel flows around objects and into structures. The second charge then detonates the cloud, creating a massive blast wave. The blast wave destroys reinforced buildings and equipment and kills and injures people. The antipersonnel effect of the blast wave is more severe in foxholes and tunnels, and in enclosed spaces, such as bunkers and caves.
Fuel–air explosives were first developed by the United States for use in Vietnam. In response, Soviet scientists quickly developed their own FAE weapons, which were reportedly used against China in the Sino-Soviet border conflict, and against the Mujahideen in Afghanistan. Since then, research and development has continued and currently Russian forces field a wide array of third-generation FAE warheads.
A Human Rights Watch report of 1 February 2000 quotes a study made by the US Defense Intelligence Agency:
According to a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency study, "the effect of an FAE explosion within confined spaces is immense. Those near the ignition point are obliterated. Those at the fringe are likely to suffer many internal, and thus invisible injuries, including burst eardrums and crushed inner ear organs, severe concussions, ruptured lungs and internal organs, and possibly blindness." Another Defense Intelligence Agency document speculates that, because the "shock and pressure waves cause minimal damage to brain tissue... it is possible that victims of FAEs are not rendered unconscious by the blast, but instead suffer for several seconds or minutes while they suffocate".
First attempts had previously been undertaken during the Second World War by the German Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht, their inventor being Mario Zippermayr. The initial weapon – named "Taifun" (Typhoon)—was based on coal dust and concentrated oxygen pumped into a space and detonated. The effect was a development from observing coal mine accidents in the 1920s. It was first used against Russian bunkers at Sevastapol. Taifun B was a development that allowed an aerosol of kerosene, coal dust and aluminium powder to be delivered over the battlefield by bursting rocket propelled canisters launched from half tracks over a target such as a mass of tanks or troops. In 1944, the weapon was positioned behind Calais to aid in a counterattack in the event of a successful Allied taking of the port. Once it became clear that the Normandy landings were the real invasion, the weapon system was moved to counter the American breakout. Immediately prior to its firing, the weapon system was knocked out in a routine bombardment and was never actually used. Replacement of the system proved difficult due to material shortages — principally the pure powdered aluminium. Further developments for delivery by V1 for use as a tactical weapon were not pursued. The source of this citation has been under extensive scrutiny for being German war propaganda, so the existence of the Taifun B is most likely manufactured.
Thermobaric weapons were developed in the 1960s in the Soviet Union and US; however, the first attempts had previously been undertaken during the Second World War by the German Luftwaffe.
The Soviet armed forces extensively developed FAE weapons, such as the RPO-A, and Russia used them in Chechnya.
The Russian armed forces have developed thermobaric ammunition variants for several of their weapons, such as the TBG-7V thermobaric grenade with a lethality radius of , which can be launched from an RPG-7. The GM-94 is a pump-action grenade launcher designed mainly to fire thermobaric grenades for close quarters combat. The grenade weighed and contained of explosive, its lethality radius is ; however, due to the deliberate "fragmentation-free" design of the grenade, is considered a safe distance. The RPO-A and upgraded RPO-M are infantry-portable RPGs designed to fire thermobaric rockets. The RPO-M, for instance, has a thermobaric warhead with a TNT equivalence of and destructive capabilities similar to a high explosive fragmentation artillery shell. The RShG-1 and the RShG-2 are thermobaric variants of the RPG-27 and RPG-26 respectively. The RShG-1 is the more powerful variant, with its warhead having a lethality radius and producing about the same effect as of TNT. The RMG is a further derivative of the RPG-26 that uses a tandem-charge warhead, whereby the precursor HEAT warhead blasts an opening for the main thermobaric charge to enter and detonate inside. The RMG's precursor HEAT warhead can penetrate 300 mm of reinforced concrete or over 100 mm of rolled homogeneous armour, thus allowing the -diameter thermobaric warhead to detonate inside.
The other examples include the SACLOS or millimeter wave radar-guided thermobaric variants of the 9M123 Khrizantema, the 9M133F-1 thermobaric warhead variant of the 9M133 Kornet, and the 9M131F thermobaric warhead variant of the 9K115-2 Metis-M, all of which are anti-tank missiles. The Kornet has since been upgraded to the Kornet-EM, and its thermobaric variant has a maximum range of and has a TNT equivalence of . The 9M55S thermobaric cluster warhead rocket was built to be fired from the BM-30 Smerch MLRS. A dedicated carrier of thermobaric weapons is the purpose-built TOS-1, a 24-tube MLRS designed to fire thermobaric rockets. A full salvo from the TOS-1 will cover a rectangle . The Iskander-M theatre ballistic missile can also carry a thermobaric warhead.
Many Russian Air Force munitions also have thermobaric variants. The S-8 rocket has the S-8DM and S-8DF thermobaric variants. The S-8's brother, the S-13, has the S-13D and S-13DF thermobaric variants. The S-13DF's warhead weighs only , but its power is equivalent to of TNT. The KAB-500-OD variant of the KAB-500KR has a thermobaric warhead. The ODAB-500PM and ODAB-500PMV unguided bombs carry a fuel–air explosive each. The KAB-1500S GLONASS/GPS guided bomb also has a thermobaric variant. Its fireball will cover a radius and its lethal zone is a radius. The 9M120 Ataka-V and the 9K114 Shturm ATGMs both have thermobaric variants.
In September 2007, Russia exploded the largest thermobaric weapon ever made. Its yield was reportedly greater than the smallest dial-a-yield nuclear weapons at their lowest settings. Russia named this particular ordnance the "Father of All Bombs" in response to the United States developed Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb whose backronym is the "Mother of All Bombs", and which previously held the title of the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in history. The Russian bomb contains an approximate 7 ton charge of a liquid fuel, such as pressurized ethylene oxide, mixed with an energetic nanoparticle, such as aluminium, surrounding a high explosive burster that when detonated created an explosion equivalent to of TNT.
Current U.S. FAE munitions include:
The XM1060 40-mm grenade is a small-arms thermobaric device, which was delivered to U.S. forces in April 2003. Since the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, the US Marine Corps has introduced a thermobaric "Novel Explosive" (SMAW-NE) round for the Mk 153 SMAW rocket launcher. One team of Marines reported that they had destroyed a large one-story masonry type building with one round from .
The AGM-114N Hellfire II, first used by U.S. forces in 2003 in Iraq, uses a Metal Augmented Charge (MAC) warhead that contains a thermobaric explosive fill using aluminium powder coated or mixed with PTFE layered between the charge casing and a PBXN-112 explosive mixture. When the PBXN-112 detonates, the aluminium mixture is dispersed and rapidly burns. The resultant sustained high pressure is extremely effective against people and structures.
In 1983, a program of military research was launched with collaboration between the Spanish Ministry of Defence (Directorate General of Armament and Material, DGAM), Explosives Alaveses (EXPAL) and Explosives Rio Tinto (ERT) with the goal of developing a Spanish version of a thermobaric bomb, the BEAC ("Bomba Explosiva de Aire-Combustible"). A prototype was tested successfully in a foreign location out of safety and confidentiality concerns. The Spanish Air Force has an undetermined number of BEACs in its inventory.
The TOS-1 system was test fired in Panjshir Valley during the Soviet–Afghan War in the late 1980s.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that Russian military forces used ground-delivered thermobaric weapons in the storming of the Russian parliament during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis and also during the Battle for Grozny (first and second Chechen wars) to attack dug-in Chechen fighters. The use of both TOS-1 heavy MLRS and "RPO-A Shmel" shoulder-fired rocket system in the Chechen wars is reported to have occurred.
It is theorized that a multitude of handheld thermobaric weapons were used by the Russian Armed Forces in their efforts to retake the school during the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis. The RPO-A and either the TGB-7V thermobaric rocket from the RPG-7 or rockets from either the RShG-1 or the RShG-2 is claimed to have been used by the Spetsnaz during the initial storming of the school. At least three and as many as nine RPO-A casings were later found at the positions of the Spetsnaz. The Russian government later admitted to the use of the RPO-A during the crisis.
According to the UK Ministry of Defence, British military forces have also used thermobaric weapons in their AGM-114N Hellfire missiles (carried by Apache helicopters and UAVs) against the Taliban in the War in Afghanistan.
The US military also used thermobaric weapons in Afghanistan. On 3 March 2002, a single laser guided thermobaric bomb was used by the United States Air Force against cave complexes in which Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters had taken refuge in the Gardez region of Afghanistan. The SMAW-NE was used by the US Marines during the First Battle of Fallujah and Second Battle of Fallujah.
Reports by the rebel fighters of the Free Syrian Army claim the Syrian Air Force used such weapons against residential area targets occupied by the rebel fighters, as for instance in the Battle for Aleppo and also in Kafar Batna. A United Nations panel of human rights investigators reported that the Syrian government used thermobaric bombs against the rebellious town of Qusayr in March 2013.
Russia and Syrian government are using thermobaric bombs and other thermobaric munitions during the Syrian Civil War against insurgents and insurgent held civilian areas.
Thermobaric and fuel–air explosives have been used in guerrilla warfare since the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing in Lebanon, which used a gas-enhanced explosive mechanism, probably propane, butane or acetylene. The explosive used by the bombers in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in the US incorporated the FAE principle, using three tanks of bottled hydrogen gas to enhance the blast. Jemaah Islamiyah bombers used a shock-dispersed solid fuel charge, based on the thermobaric principle, to attack the Sari nightclub in the 2002 Bali bombings. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31418 |
Tabasco sauce
Tabasco is a brand of hot sauce made from tabasco peppers ("Capsicum frutescens" var. "tabasco"), vinegar, and salt. It is produced by McIlhenny Company of Avery Island, Louisiana.
According to company legend, Tabasco was first produced in 1868 by Edmund McIlhenny, a Maryland-born former banker who moved to Louisiana around 1840.
However, as Jeffrey Rothfeder's book "McIlhenny's Gold" points out, some of the McIlhenny Company's official history is disputed. A book review by Mark Robichaux of "The Wall Street Journal" quotes Rothfeder's book:
"The story actually begins in the pre-Civil War era with a New Orleans plantation owner named Maunsel White, who was famous for the food served at his sumptuous dinner parties. Mr. White's table no doubt groaned with the region's varied fare—drawing inspiration from European, Caribbean, and Cajun sources—but one of his favorite was of his own devising, made from a pepper named for its origins in the Mexican state of Tabasco. White added it to various dishes and bottled it for his guests. Although the McIlhennys have tried to dismiss the possibility, it seems clear now that in 1849, a full two decades before Edmund McIlhenny professed to discover the Tabasco pepper, White was already growing Tabasco chilies on his plantation."
Rothfeder cited a January 26, 1850 letter to the "New Orleans Daily Delta" newspaper crediting the slave-owning banker-politician Maunsel White as having introduced "Tobasco red pepper" (sic) to the southern United States and asserting that the McIlhenny was at least inspired by White's recipe. Jean Andrews, in her book "Peppers: the Domesticated Capsicums," goes further to declare—citing United States Circuit Court testimony from 1922—that prior to his death in 1862, “White gave some [pepper] pods, along with his recipe, to his friend Edmund McIlhenny, during a visit to White’s Deer Range Plantation.”
To distribute his, Edmund McIlhenny initially obtained unused cologne bottles from a New Orleans glass supplier. On his death in 1890, McIlhenny was succeeded by his eldest son, John Avery McIlhenny, who expanded and modernized the business, but resigned after only a few years in order to join Theodore Roosevelt's 1st US Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, the Rough Riders. On John's departure, brother Edward Avery McIlhenny, a self-taught naturalist fresh from an Arctic adventure, assumed control of the company and also focused on expansion and modernization, running the business from 1898 until his death in 1949.
Walter S. McIlhenny in turn succeeded his uncle Edward Avery McIlhenny, serving as president of McIlhenny Company from 1949 until his death in 1985. Edward McIlhenny Simmons then ran the company as president and CEO for several years, remaining as board chairman until his death in 2012. Paul McIlhenny became company president in 1998 and was chairman until his death in 2013. In 2012 McIlhenny cousin Tony Simmons assumed the company's presidency and in June 2019 his cousin Harold Osborn was chosen as the next president and CEO.
McIlhenny is one of just a few U.S. companies to have received a royal warrant of appointment that certifies the company as a supplier to Queen Elizabeth II. McIlhenny is one of the 850 companies around the world that have been officially designated as suppliers to the queen by such warrants. The warrant held is "Supplier of Tabasco HM The Queen – Master of the Household – Granted in 2009".
In 2005, Avery Island was hit hard by Hurricane Rita, and the family constructed a -high levee around the low side of the factory and invested in back-up generators.
Originally all peppers used in Tabasco were grown on Avery Island. Today peppers grown on the Island are used to produce seed stock, which is then shipped to foreign growers primarily in Central and South America. More predictable weather and readily available farmland in these locales allow a constant year-round supply. This ensures the availability of peppers should severe weather or other problems occur at a particular growing location.
Following company tradition, peppers are picked by hand. To ensure ripeness, pickers compare peppers to a little red stick ("le petit bâton rouge"); peppers that match the color of the stick are then introduced into the sauce production process. Peppers are ground into a mash on the day of harvest and placed along with salt in white oak barrels previously used for whiskey of various distilleries. To prepare the barrel, the inside of the barrel is de-charred (top layer of wood is removed), torched, and cleaned, to minimize the presence of any residual whiskey. The barrels are then used in warehouses on Avery Island for aging the mash.
After aging for up to three years, the mash is strained to remove skins and seeds. The resulting liquid is then mixed with "distilled vinegar", stirred occasionally for a month, and then bottled as finished sauce. Tabasco has released a Tabasco reserve edition with peppers aged for up to eight years, mixed with wine vinegar.
Tabasco diamond reserve edition was a limited bottling released in 2018 to commemorate the brand's 150th anniversary. This sauce consists of peppers that have been aged for up to fifteen years, then mixed with sparkling white wine vinegar.
Much of the salt used in Tabasco production comes from the Avery Island salt dome, the largest one in Louisiana
Several sauces are produced under the "Tabasco" brand name. A few of the varieties include:
The habanero, chipotle, and garlic sauces include the tabasco peppers blended with other peppers, whereas the jalapeño variety does not include tabasco peppers. None of these sauces, however, has the three-year aging process the flagship product uses. The brand also produces a selection of Tabasco Chocolate.
Tabasco brand pepper sauce is sold in more than 195 countries and territories and is packaged in 25 languages and dialects. The Tabasco bottle is still modeled after the cologne-style bottles used for the first batch of sauce in 1868. As many as 720,000 two-ounce (57 ml) bottles of Tabasco sauce are produced daily at the Tabasco factory on Avery Island. Bottles range from the common two-ounce and five-ounce (59 ml and 148 ml) bottles, up to a one US gallon-(3.8 liter) jug for food service businesses, and down to a 1/8-ounce (3.7 ml) miniature bottle. There are also 0.11-ounce portion control (PC) packets of Tabasco sauce.
One-eighth-ounce bottles of Tabasco, bearing the presidential seal, are served on Air Force One. The US military has included Tabasco sauce in Meals, Ready-to-Eat (MREs) since the 1980s. The Australian, British and Canadian armies also issue small bottles of Tabasco sauce in their rations.
McIlhenny Company produces Tabasco brand products that contain pepper seasoning, including popcorn, nuts, olives, mayonnaise, mustard, steak sauce, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, marinating sauce, barbecue sauce, chili sauce, pepper jelly, and Bloody Mary mix. McIlhenny Company also permits other brands to use and advertise Tabasco sauce as an ingredient in their products (a common marketing practice called "co-branding"), including Spam, Hormel chili, Slim Jim beef sticks, Heinz ketchup, A1 steak sauce, Plochman's mustard, Cheez-It crackers, Lawry's salt, Zapp's potato chips, Heluva Good dip, and Vlasic pickles.
The original red Tabasco sauce has a shelf life of five years when stored in a cool and dry place; other Tabasco flavors have shorter shelf lives.
Tabasco appeared on the menu of NASA's space shuttle program and went into orbit on the shuttles. It was on Skylab and on the International Space Station and is popular with astronauts as a means of countering the bland food they frequently are provided with in space.
During the Vietnam War, Brigadier General Walter S. McIlhenny issued "The Charlie Ration Cookbook". (Charlie ration or "C-Rats" was the name for the field meal then given to troops.) This cookbook came wrapped around a two-ounce bottle of Tabasco sauce in a camouflaged, water-resistant container. It instructed troops how to mix C-rations to make such meals as "Combat Canapés" or "Breast of Chicken under Bullets." Soldiers also requested their families to send them Tabasco sauce in "care packages" from home.
During the 1980s, the U.S. military began to include miniature bottles of Tabasco sauce in its MREs. Eventually, miniature bottles of Tabasco sauce were included in two-thirds of all MRE menus. During the same period, McIlhenny Company issued a new military-oriented cookbook using characters from the comic strip "Beetle Bailey". Titled "The Unofficial MRE Cookbook", it was offered free of charge to U.S. troops.
In a 1982 article titled "Pepper Sauce Toxicity" Tabasco pepper sauce's toxicity was evaluated based on red peppers and vinegar. Sprague-Dawley rats (lab rats) were tested on. The oral median lethal dose in male lab rats was determined to be 23.58 mL/kg body weight (BW) with an upper limit of 29.75 mL/kg BW and a lower limit of 18.70 mL/kg BW. The median lethal dose in the female lab rats was found to be 19.52 mL/kg BW (15.64 mL/kg BW lower, 24.35 mL/kg BW upper).
The Tabasco bottle is an original design and has remained almost unchanged up to the present.
In 1894 composer George W. Chadwick composed the Burlesque Opera of Tabasco, a musical comedy that conductor Paul Mauffray revived in 2018 with support from McIlhenny Company.
Tabasco has appeared in many movies and cartoons, as well as on television. It featured in two James Bond films in the 1970s, "The Man with the Golden Gun" and "The Spy Who Loved Me", as well as a shot of the iconic bottle in Sidney Lumet's 1974 film "Murder On The Orient Express". Some appearances date as far back as the Our Gang short "Birthday Blues" in 1932 and Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times" in 1936. In "Back to the Future Part III", the saloon bartender uses Tabasco as an ingredient for an instant hangover cure he calls "wake-up juice". Tabasco sauce was also an important element in the television series "Roswell" about alien/human hybrid teenagers who craved foods that were sweet and spicy and often carried bottles of Tabasco sauce with them. When the network tried to cancel the series in the first season, thousands of fans mailed bottles of Tabasco to the network to show their support. The series continued for three seasons.
It is also shown in "The Princess and the Frog".
The bottle also graced the side of Darrell Waltrip's race car for a brief period. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31419 |
Talc
Talc is a clay mineral composed of hydrated magnesium silicate with the chemical formula Mg3Si4O10(OH)2. Talc in powdered form, often in combination with corn starch, is widely used as baby powder. This mineral is used as a thickening agent and lubricant, is an ingredient in ceramics, paint and roofing material, and is also one of the main ingredients in many cosmetic products. It occurs as foliated to fibrous masses, and in an exceptionally rare crystal form. It has a perfect basal cleavage, uneven flat fracture and it is foliated with a two dimensional platy form.
The Mohs scale of mineral hardness is based on scratch hardness comparison, ranging from 1-10, a value of 10 being the hardest of minerals. Talc is the defining value 1 and therefore the softest of minerals. Any mineral below a value of 2 on Mohs scale of mineral hardness can be scratched by a fingernail. When scraped on a streak plate it produces a white streak, though this indicator is of little importance because most silicate minerals produce a white streak. Talc is translucent to opaque with colors ranging from whitish grey to green with a vitreous and pearly luster. Talc is not soluble in water, but is slightly soluble in dilute mineral acids.
Soapstone is a metamorphic rock composed predominantly of talc.
The word "talc" derives from Medieval Latin "talcum", which in turn originates from "ṭalq" which, derives from "tālk". In ancient times, the word was used for various related minerals, including talc, mica, and selenite.
Talc dominantly forms from the metamorphism of magnesian minerals such as serpentine, pyroxene, amphibole, and olivine, in the presence of carbon dioxide and water. This is known as "talc carbonation" or "steatization" and produces a suite of rocks known as talc carbonates.
Talc is primarily formed by hydration and carbonation by this reaction:
Talc can also be formed via a reaction between dolomite and silica, which is typical of skarnification of dolomites by silica-flooding in contact metamorphic aureoles:
Talc can also be formed from magnesian chlorite and quartz in blueschist and eclogite metamorphism by the following metamorphic reaction:
Talc is also found as a diagenetic mineral in sedimentary rocks where it can form from the transformation of metastable hydrated magnesium-clay precursors such as kerolite, sepiolite, or stevensite that can precipitate from marine and lake water in certain conditions.
In this reaction, the ratio of talc and kyanite depends on aluminium content, with more aluminous rocks favoring production of kyanite. This is typically associated with high-pressure, low-temperature minerals such as phengite, garnet, and glaucophane within the lower blueschist facies. Such rocks are typically white, friable, and fibrous, and are known as
whiteschist.
Talc is a trioctahedral layered mineral; its structure is similar to pyrophyllite, but with magnesium in the octahedral sites of the composite layers.
Talc is a common metamorphic mineral in metamorphic belts that contain ultramafic rocks, such as soapstone (a high-talc rock), and within whiteschist and blueschist metamorphic terranes. Prime examples of whiteschists include the Franciscan Metamorphic Belt of the western United States, the western European Alps especially in Italy, certain areas of the Musgrave Block, and some collisional orogens such as the Himalayas, which stretch along Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Bhutan.
Talc carbonate ultramafics are typical of many areas of the Archaean cratons, notably the komatiite belts of the Yilgarn Craton in Western Australia. Talc-carbonate ultramafics are also known from the Lachlan Fold Belt, eastern Australia, from Brazil, the Guiana Shield, and from the ophiolite belts of Turkey, Oman, and the Middle East.
China is the key world talc and steatite producing country with an output of about 2.2M tonnes(2016), which accounts for 30% of total global output. The other major producers are Brazil (12%), India (11%), the U.S. (9%), France (6%), Finland (4%), Italy, Russia, Canada, and Austria (2%, each).
Notable economic talc occurrences include the Mount Seabrook talc mine, Western Australia, formed upon a polydeformed, layered ultramafic intrusion. The France-based Luzenac Group is the world's largest supplier of mined talc. Its largest talc mine at Trimouns near Luzenac in southern France produces 400,000 tonnes of talc per year.
Extraction in disputed areas of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, has led the international monitoring group Global Witness to declare talc a conflict mineral, as the profits are used to fund armed confrontation between the Taliban and Islamic State.
Talc is used in many industries, including paper making, plastic, paint and coatings, rubber, food, electric cable, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and ceramics. A coarse grayish-green high-talc rock is soapstone or steatite, used for stoves, sinks, electrical switchboards, etc. It is often used for surfaces of laboratory table tops and electrical switchboards because of its resistance to heat, electricity and acids. In finely ground form, talc finds use as a cosmetic (talcum powder), as a lubricant, and as a filler in paper manufacture. It is used to coat the insides of inner tubes and rubber gloves during manufacture to keep the surfaces from sticking. Talcum powder, with heavy refinement, has been used in baby powder, an astringent powder used to prevent diaper rash. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents not use baby powder because it poses a risk of respiratory problems, including breathing trouble and serious lung damage if the baby inhales it. The small size of the particles makes it difficult to keep them out of the air while applying the powder. Zinc oxide-based ointments are a much safer alternative.
It is also often used in basketball to keep a player's hands dry. Most tailor's chalk, or French chalk, is talc, as is the chalk often used for welding or metalworking.
Talc is also used as food additive or in pharmaceutical products as a glidant. In medicine, talc is used as a pleurodesis agent to prevent recurrent pleural effusion or pneumothorax. In the European Union, the additive number is E553b.
Talc may be used in the processing of white rice as a buffing agent in the polishing stage.
Due to its low shear strength, talc is one of the oldest known solid lubricants. Also a limited use of talc as friction-reducing additive in lubricating oils is made.
Talc is widely used in the ceramics industry in both bodies and glazes. In low-fire art-ware bodies, it imparts whiteness and increases thermal expansion to resist crazing. In stonewares, small percentages of talc are used to flux the body and therefore improve strength and vitrification. It is a source of MgO flux in high-temperature glazes (to control melting temperature). It is also employed as a matting agent in earthenware glazes and can be used to produce magnesia mattes at high temperatures.
ISO standard for quality (ISO 3262)
Patents are pending on the use of magnesium silicate as a cement substitute. Its production requirements are less energy-intensive than ordinary Portland cement (at a heating requirement of around 650 °C for talc compared to 1500 °C for limestone to produce Portland cement), while it absorbs far more carbon dioxide as it hardens. This results in a negative carbon footprint overall, as the cement substitute removes 0.6 tonnes of CO2 per tonne used. This contrasts with a positive carbon footprint of 0.4 tonne per tonne of conventional cement.
Talc is used in the production of the materials that are widely used in the building interiors such as base content paints in wall coatings. Other areas that use talc to a great extent are organic agriculture, food industry, cosmetics, and hygiene products such as baby powder and detergent powder.
Talc is sometimes used as an adulterant to illegal heroin, to expand volume and weight and thereby increase its street value. With intravenous use, it may lead to pulmonary talcosis, a granulomatous inflammation in the lungs.
Sterile talc powder (NDC 63256-200-05) is a sclerosing agent used in the procedure of pleurodesis. This can be helpful as a cancer treatment to prevent pleural effusions (an abnormal collection of fluid in the space between the lungs and the thoracic wall). It is inserted into the space via a chest tube, causing it to close up, so fluid cannot collect there. The finished product has been sterilized by gamma irradiation.
Suspicions have been raised that talc use contributes to certain types of disease, mainly cancers of the ovaries and lungs. Talc containing asbestos is classified as a group 1 agent (carcinogenic to humans), talc use in the perineal classified as group 2B (possibly carcinogenic to humans) and talc not containing asbestos is classified as group 3 (unclassifiable as to carcinogenicity in humans)(all in the IARC listing). Reviews by Cancer Research UK and the American Cancer Society conclude that some studies have found a link, but other studies have not.
The studies discuss pulmonary issues, lung cancer, and ovarian cancer. One of these, published in 1993, was a US National Toxicology Program report, which found that cosmetic grade talc containing no asbestos-like fibres was correlated with tumor formation in rats forced to inhale talc for 6 hours a day, five days a week over at least 113 weeks. A 1971 paper found particles of talc embedded in 75% of the ovarian tumors studied.
Research published in 1995 and 2000 concluded that it was plausible that talc could cause ovarian cancer, but no conclusive evidence was shown. The Cosmetic Ingredient Review Expert Panel concluded in 2015 that talc, in the concentrations currently used in cosmetics, is safe.. In 2018, Health Canada issued a warning, advising against inhaling talcum powder or using it in the female perianal area.
In the United States, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health have set occupational exposure limits to respirable talc dusts at 2 mg/m3 over an eight-hour workday. At levels of 1000 mg/m3, inhalation of talc is considered immediately dangerous to life and health.
The United States Food and Drug Administration considers talc (magnesium silicate) generally recognized as safe (GRAS) to use as an anticaking agent in table salt in concentrations smaller than 2%.
One particular issue with commercial use of talc is its frequent co-location in underground deposits with asbestos ore. Asbestos is a general term for different types of fibrous silicate minerals, desirable in construction for their heat resistant properties. There are six varieties of asbestos; the most common variety in manufacturing, white asbestos, is in the serpentine family. Serpentine minerals are sheet silicates; although not in the serpentine family, talc is also a sheet silicate, with two sheets connected by magnesium cations. The frequent co-location of talc deposits with asbestos may result in contamination of mined talc with white asbestos, which poses serious health risks when dispersed into the air and inhaled. Stringent quality control since 1976, including separating cosmetic- and food-grade talc from "industrial"-grade talc, has largely eliminated this issue, but it remains a potential hazard requiring mitigation in the mining and processing of talc. A 2010 US FDA survey failed to find asbestos in a variety of talc-containing products. A 2018 Reuters investigation asserted that pharmaceuticals company Johnson & Johnson knew for decades that there was asbestos in its baby powder, and in 2020 the company stopped selling its baby powder in the USA and Canada.
In 2006 the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified talcum powder as a possible human carcinogen if used in the female genital area. Yet no federal agency in the US acted to remove talcum powder from the market or add warnings.
In February 2016, as the result of a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson (J&J), a St. Louis jury awarded $72 million to the family of an Alabama woman who died from ovarian cancer. The family claimed that the use of talcum powder was responsible for her cancer.
In May 2016, a South Dakota woman was awarded $55 million as the result of another lawsuit against J&J. The woman had used Johnson & Johnson's Baby Powder for more than 35 years before being diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2011.
In October 2016, a St. Louis jury awarded $70.1 million to a Californian woman with ovarian cancer who had used Johnson's Baby Powder for 45 years.
In August 2017, a Los Angeles jury awarded $417 million to a Californian woman, Eva Echeverria, who developed ovarian cancer as a "proximate result of the unreasonably dangerous and defective nature of talcum powder", her lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson stated. On 20 October 2017, Los Angeles Superior Court judge Maren Nelson dismissed the verdict. The judge stated that Echeverria proved there is "an ongoing debate in the scientific and medical community about whether talc more probably than not causes ovarian cancer and thus (gives) rise to a duty to warn", but not enough to sustain the jury's imposition of liability against Johnson & Johnson stated, and concluded that Echeverria did not adequately establish that talc causes ovarian cancer.
In July 2018, a court in St. Louis awarded a $4.7bn claim ($4.14bn in punitive damages and $550m in compensatory damages) against J&J to 22 claimant women, concluding that the company had suppressed evidence of asbestos in its products for more than four decades.
At least 1,200 to 2,000 other talcum powder-related lawsuits are pending. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31422 |
Tom Collins
The Tom Collins is a Collins cocktail made from gin, lemon juice, sugar, and carbonated water. First memorialized in writing in 1876 by Jerry Thomas, "the father of American mixology", this "gin and sparkling lemonade" drink is typically served in a Collins glass over ice. A "Collins mix" can be bought premixed at stores and enjoyed alone (like a soft drink) or with gin.
In August 1891, British physician Sir Morell Mackenzie wrote an article in the influential 19th century magazine "Fortnightly Review" claiming that England was the originating country for the Tom Collins cocktail and a person named John Collins was its creator. In the article, Mackenzie quoted an old song, the title of which he indicated to be "John Collins." However, the British weekly magazine "Punch" immediately disparaged Mackenzie's efforts, noting in August 1891 that the title of the song actually was "Jim Collins" and that Mackenzie otherwise inaccurately quoted and characterized the song.
The earliest publication of any Collins as well as any Fizz recipe, are both located in the same book, Harry Johnson’s 1882 book, "New and Improved Bartender’s Manual or How to Mix Drinks of the Present Style". In this book, you can find a Tom Collins calling for Old Tom gin and a John Collins calling for Holland Gin, most likely what is known as Genièvre.
Cocktail historian David Wondrich stated that there are several other earlier mentions of this version of the drink and that it does bear a striking resemblance to the gin punches served at London clubs like the Garrick in the first half of the 19th century.
Confusion over the cocktail's origins continued as American writer Charles Montgomery Skinner noted in 1898 that the Tom Collins had made its way to the "American Bars" in England, France, and Germany, where the American invention stimulated curiosity in Europe and served as a reflection of American art.
As time passed, interest in the Tom Collins diminished and its origins became lost. Early on during the 1920s Prohibition in the United States, the American journalist and student of American English H. L. Mencken said:The origin of the ... Tom-Collins ... remains to be established; the historians of alcoholism, like the philologists, have neglected them. But the essentially American character of [this and other drinks] is obvious, despite the fact that a number have gone over into English. The English, in naming their drinks, commonly display a far more limited imagination. Seeking a name, for example, for a mixture of whiskey and soda- water, the best they could achieve was whiskey-and-soda. The Americans, introduced to the same drink, at once gave it the far more original name of high-ball.
A drink known as a John Collins has existed since the 1860s at the very least and is believed to have originated with a headwaiter of that name who worked at Limmer's Old House in Conduit Street in Mayfair, which was a popular London hotel and coffee house around 1790–1817.
The following rhyme was written by Frank and Charles Sheridan about John Collins:
My name is John Collins, head waiter at Limmer's,
Corner of Conduit Street, Hanover Square,
My chief occupation is filling brimmers
For all the young gentlemen frequenters there.
Drinks historian David Wondrich has speculated that the original recipe that was introduced to New York in the 1850s would have been very similar to the gin punches that are known to have been served at fashionable London clubs such as the Garrick during the first half of the 19th century. He states that these would have been along the lines of "gin, lemon juice, chilled soda water, and maraschino liqueur".
The specific call for Old Tom gin in the 1869 recipe is a likely cause for the subsequent name change to "Tom Collins" in Jerry Thomas's 1876 recipe. Earlier versions of the gin punch are likely to have used Hollands instead.
Some confusion regarding the origin of the drink and the cause for its change of name has arisen in the past due to the following:
In 1874, people in New York, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere in the United States would start a conversation with "Have you seen Tom Collins?" After the listener predictably reacts by explaining that they did not know a Tom Collins, the speaker would assert that Tom Collins was talking about the listener to others and that Tom Collins was "just around the corner", "in a [local] bar," or somewhere else near. The conversation about the nonexistent Tom Collins was a proven hoax of exposure. In The Great Tom Collins hoax of 1874, as it became known, the speaker would encourage the listener to act foolishly by reacting to patent nonsense that the hoaxer deliberately presents as reality. In particular, the speaker desired the listener to become agitated at the idea of someone talking about them to others such that the listener would rush off to find the purportedly nearby Tom Collins. Similar to the New York Zoo hoax of 1874, several newspapers propagated the very successful practical joke by printing stories containing false sightings of Tom Collins. The 1874 hoax quickly gained such notoriety that several 1874 music hall songs memorialized the event (copies of which now are in the U.S. Library of Congress).
The first published Tom Collins recipe appears to have been in Harry Johnson’s 1882 book, "New and Improved Bartender’s Manual or How to Mix Drinks of the Present Style". This book contains a recipe for two Collins drinks, the John Collins and the Tom Collins. The John Collins calls for Holland Gin, which is most likely what is also known as Genièvre, but the recipe for the Tom Collins in this book is as follows:
Tom Collins
Three-quarters table-spoon of sugar;
3 or 4 dashes of lime or lemon juice;
3 or 4 pieces of broken ice;
1 wine glass full of Old Tom gin;
1 bottle of plain soda water;
mix up well with a spoon, remove the ice, and serve.
Attention must be paid not to let the foam of the soda water spread over the glass.
In the 1884 book, "The Modern Bartender’s Guide" by O. H. Byron there is a drink called a “John Collins’ Gin” where he calls simply for gin with no specifications of which gin, lemon juice, sugar, and filled with soda. That book also has a “Tom Collins’ Brandy”, which consists of brandy, lemon juice, gum syrup and Maraschino liqueur, and filled with soda water built in the glass over ice. This book also lists a recipe for a, “Tom Collins Gin and Whiskey”, with the only instructions of, “Are concocted in the same manner as a Brandy receipt, substituting their respective liquors.”
In another 1884 book, "Scientific Barkeeping" by E.N. Cook & Co, you can also find a John Collins and a Tom Collins, with the John Collins calling for Holland Gin and the Tom Collins calling for Whiskey.
There is a recipe for the Tom Collins in the 1887 posthumous edition of Jerry Thomas' "Bar-Tender's Guide." Since New York based Thomas would have known about the widespread hoax and the contents of his 1876 published book were developed during or right after The Great Tom Collins hoax of 1874, it was believed by George Sinclair that the hoax event was the most plausible source of the name for the Tom Collins cocktail. Classified under the heading "Collins" with similarly named whisky and brandy drinks, Jerry Thomas' Tom Collins Gin instructed:
Tom Collins (1887)
Take 5 or 6 dashes of gum syrup.
Juice of a small lemon.
1 large wine-glass of gin.
2 or 3 lumps of ice;
Shake up well and strain into a large bar-glass. Fill up the glass with plain soda water and drink while it is lively.
This was distinguished from the Gin Fizz cocktail in that the 3 dashes of lemon juice in the Gin Fizz was "fizzed" with carbonated water to essentially form a "Gin and Sodawater" whereas the considerably more "juice of a small lemon" in the Tom Collins essentially formed a "Gin and Sparkling Lemonade" when sweetened with the gum syrup. The type of gin used by Thomas was not specified in his 1887 book, but was most likely Old Tom if that was responsible for the change in the drink's name. If, alternatively, the change in name was caused by the popularity of the Tom Collins Hoax of 1874 then it is more probable that Holland gin rather than English London Dry Gin was intended since Jerry Thomas' Gin Fizz (1887) called for Holland gin and Hollands Gin (Jenever) was imported into the United States at that time at a ratio of approximately 6 liters to every liter of English Old Tom Gin.
By 1878, the Tom Collins was being served in the bar rooms of New York City and elsewhere. Identified as among 'the favorite drinks which are in demand everywhere' in an advertisement for the 1878 edition of "The Modern Bartender's Guide" by O. H. Byron, both Tom Collins gin and whiskey and Tom Collins brandy were considered fancy drinks. In the 1891 book, "The Flowing Bowl: When and what to Drink," author William Schmidt listed the Tom Collins as including:
Tom Collins Gin (1891)
The juice of half a lemon in a large glass,
a bar-spoonful of sugar,
a drink of Tom gin; mix this well;
2 lumps of ice,
a bottle of plain soda.
Mix well and serve.
One turn of the 20th century recipe subsequently replaced the lemon juice with lime juice.
An alternative history places the origin in St. Louis.
The 1986 "The Book of Cocktails" provides a modern take on Thomas' 1876 recipe for this long drink:John (or Tom) Collins (1986)ice cubes2 oz. [6 cL] dry gin2 oz. [6 cL] lemon juice1 teaspoon sugar (gomme) syrupsoda waterslice of lemon1 colored cherryPlace ample ice in large glass. Add gin, lemon juice and syrup. Top up with soda water and stir well. Serve with lemon slice, cherry and a straw.
A simple Summer Collins is a two-ingredient cocktail consisting only of equal parts gin and lemonade, served over ice with an optional fruit garnish. The vodka Collins uses vodka in place of gin. The South Side uses limeade in place of lemonade and adds mint. A Rum Collins uses light rum in place of gin.
The Juan Collins is a Collins cocktail made from tequila, lime juice, sugar or some other sweetening agent, and club soda. It is a variation of the original Tom Collins, first memorialized in writing in 1876 by "the father of American mixology" Jerry Thomas. This drink typically is served in a Collins glass over ice. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31423 |
Torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target.
Historically, it was called an automotive, automobile, locomotive or fish torpedo; colloquially called a "fish". The term "torpedo" was originally employed for a variety of devices, most of which would today be called mines. From about 1900, "torpedo" has been used strictly to designate a self-propelled underwater explosive device.
While the battleship had evolved primarily around engagements between armored warships with large-calibre guns, the torpedo allowed small torpedo boats and other lighter surface vessels, submarines/submersibles, even improvised fishing boats or frogmen, and later light aircraft, to destroy large ships without the need of large guns, though sometimes at the risk of being hit by longer-range artillery fire.
Modern torpedoes can be divided into lightweight and heavyweight classes; and into straight-running, autonomous homers, and wire-guided. They can be launched from a variety of platforms.
The word "torpedo" comes from the name of a genus of electric rays in the order "Torpediniformes", which in turn comes from the Latin "torpere" ("to be stiff or numb"). In naval usage, the American Robert Fulton introduced the name to refer to a towed gunpowder charge used by his French submarine (first tested in 1800) to demonstrate that it could sink warships.
Torpedo-like weapons were first proposed many centuries before they were successfully developed. For example, in 1275, Arab engineer Hasan al-Rammah – who worked as a military scientist for the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt – wrote that it might be possible to create a projectile resembling "an egg", which propelled itself through water, whilst carrying "fire".
In modern language, a "torpedo" is an underwater self-propelled explosive, but historically, the term also applied to primitive naval mines. These were used on an ad hoc basis during the early modern period up to the late 19th century. Early spar torpedoes were created by the Dutchman Cornelius Drebbel in the employ of King James I of England; he attached explosives to the end of a beam affixed to one of his own submarines and they were used (to little effect) during the English expeditions to La Rochelle in 1626.
An early submarine, , attempted to lay a bomb with a timed fuse on the hull of during the American Revolutionary War, but failed in the attempt.
In the early 1800s, the American inventor Robert Fulton, while in France, "conceived the idea of destroying ships by introducing floating mines under their bottoms in submarine boats". He coined the term "torpedo" in reference to the explosive charges with which he outfitted his submarine "Nautilus". However, both the French and the Dutch governments were uninterested in the submarine. Fulton then concentrated on developing the torpedo independent of a submarine deployment. On 15 October 1805, while in England, Fulton put on a public display of his "infernal machine", sinking the brig "Dorothea" with a submerged bomb filled with of gunpowder and a clock set to explode in 18 minutes. However, the British government refused to purchase the invention, stating they did not wish to "introduce into naval warfare a system that would give great advantage to weaker maritime nations". Fulton carried out a similar demonstration for the US government on 20 July 1807, destroying a vessel in New York's harbor. Further development languished as Fulton focused on his "steam-boat matters". During the War of 1812, torpedoes were employed in attempts to destroy British vessels and protect American harbors. In fact a submarine-deployed torpedo was used in an unsuccessful attempt to destroy while in New London's harbor. This prompted the British Captain Hardy to warn the Americans to cease efforts with the use of any "torpedo boat" in this "cruel and unheard-of warfare", or he would "order every house near the shore to be destroyed".
Torpedoes were used by the Russian Empire during the Crimean War in 1855 against British warships in the Gulf of Finland. They used an early form of chemical detonator.
During the American Civil War, the term torpedo was used for what is today called a contact mine, floating on or below the water surface using an air-filled demijohn or similar flotation device. These devices were very primitive and apt to prematurely explode. They would be detonated on contact with the ship or after a set time, although electrical detonators were also occasionally used. was the first warship to be sunk in 1862 by an electrically-detonated mine. Spar torpedoes were also used; an explosive device was mounted at the end of a spar up to long projecting forward underwater from the bow of the attacking vessel, which would then ram the opponent with the explosives. These were used by the Confederate submarine to sink although the weapon was apt to cause as much harm to its user as to its target. Rear Admiral David Farragut's famous/apocryphal command during the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" refers to a minefield laid at Mobile, Alabama.
On 26 May 1877, during the Romanian War of Independence, the Romanian spar torpedo boat attacked and sank the Ottoman river monitor "Seyfi". This was the first instance in history when a torpedo craft sank its targets without also sinking.
A prototype self-propelled torpedo was created by a commission placed by Giovanni Luppis, an Austro-Hungarian naval officer from Rijeka (modern-day Croatia), at the time a port city of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, and Robert Whitehead, an English engineer who was the manager of a town factory. In 1864, Luppis presented Whitehead with the plans of the "salvacoste" (coastsaver), a floating weapon driven by ropes from the land that had been dismissed by the naval authorities due to the impractical steering and propulsion mechanisms.
In 1866 British engineer Robert Whitehead invented the first effective self-propelled torpedo, the eponymous Whitehead torpedo. French and German inventions followed closely, and the term "torpedo" came to describe self-propelled projectiles that traveled under or on water. By 1900, the term no longer included mines and booby-traps as the navies of the world added submarines, torpedo boats and torpedo boat destroyers to their fleets.
Whitehead was unable to improve the machine substantially, since the clockwork motor, attached ropes, and surface attack mode all contributed to a slow and cumbersome weapon. However, he kept considering the problem after the contract had finished, and eventually developed a tubular device, designed to run underwater on its own, and powered by compressed air. The result was a submarine weapon, the "Minenschiff" (mine ship), the first modern self-propelled torpedo, officially presented to the Austrian Imperial Naval commission on 21 December 1866.
The first trials were not successful as the weapon was unable to maintain a course at a steady depth. After much work, Whitehead introduced his "secret" in 1868 which overcame this. It was a mechanism consisting of a hydrostatic valve and pendulum that caused the torpedo's hydroplanes to be adjusted so as to maintain a preset depth.
After the Austrian government decided to invest in the invention, Whitehead started the first torpedo factory in Rijeka. In 1870, he improved the devices to travel up to approximately at a speed of up to , and by 1881 the factory was exporting torpedoes to ten other countries. The torpedo was powered by compressed air and had an explosive charge of gun-cotton. Whitehead went on to develop more efficient devices, demonstrating torpedoes capable of in 1876, in 1886, and, finally, in 1890.
Royal Navy (RN) representatives visited Rijeka for a demonstration in late 1869, and in 1870 a batch of torpedoes was ordered. In 1871, the British Admiralty paid Whitehead £15,000 for certain of his developments and production started at the Royal Laboratories in Woolwich the following year. In 1893, RN torpedo production was transferred to the Royal Gun Factory. The British later established a Torpedo Experimental Establishment at and a production facility at the Royal Naval Torpedo Factory, Greenock in 1910. These are now closed.
Whitehead opened a new factory near Portland Harbour, England in 1890, which continued making torpedoes until the end of World War II. Because orders from the RN were not as large as expected, torpedoes were mostly exported. A series of devices was produced at Rijeka, with diameters from upward. The largest Whitehead torpedo was in diameter and long, made of polished steel or phosphor bronze, with a gun-cotton warhead. It was propelled by a three-cylinder Brotherhood engine, using compressed air at around and driving two contra-rotating propellers, and was designed to self-regulate its course and depth as far as possible. By 1881, nearly 1,500 torpedoes had been produced. Whitehead also opened a factory at St Tropez in 1890 that exported torpedoes to Brazil, Holland, Turkey and Greece.
Whitehead purchased rights to the gyroscope of Ludwig Obry in 1888 but it was not sufficiently accurate, so in 1890 he purchased a better design to improve control of his designs, which came to be called the "Devil's Device". The firm of L. Schwartzkopff in Germany also produced torpedoes and exported them to Russia, Japan and Spain. In 1885, Britain ordered a batch of 50 as torpedo production at home and at Rijeka could not meet demand.
By World War I, Whitehead's torpedo remained a worldwide success, and his company was able to maintain a monopoly on torpedo production. By that point, his torpedo had grown to a diameter of 18 inches with a maximum speed of with a warhead weighing .
Whitehead faced competition from the American Lieutenant Commander John A. Howell, whose own design, driven by a flywheel, was simpler and cheaper. It was produced from 1885 to 1895, and it ran straight, leaving no wake. A Torpedo Test Station was set up on Rhode Island in 1870. The Howell torpedo was the only United States Navy model until Whitehead torpedoes produced by Bliss and Williams entered service in 1894. Five varieties were produced, all 18-inch diameter. The United States Navy started using the Whitehead torpedo in 1892 after an American company, E.W. Bliss, secured manufacturing rights.
Ships of the line were superseded by ironclads, large steam powered ships with heavy gun armament and heavy armour, in the mid 19th century. Ultimately this line of development led to the dreadnought category of all-big-gun battleship, starting with .
Although these ships were incredibly powerful, the new weight of armour slowed them down, and the huge guns needed to penetrate that armour fired at very slow rates. This allowed for the possibility of a small and fast ship that could attack the battleships, at a much lower cost. The introduction of the torpedo provided a weapon that could cripple, or sink, any battleship.
The first boat designed to fire the self-propelled Whitehead torpedo was , completed in 1877. The French Navy followed suit in 1878 with , launched in 1878 though she had been ordered in 1875. The first torpedo boats were built at the shipyards of Sir John Thornycroft, and gained recognition for their effectiveness.
At the same time inventors were working on building a guided torpedo. Prototypes were built by John Ericsson, John Louis Lay, and Victor von Scheliha, but the first practical guided missile was patented by Louis Brennan, an emigre to Australia, in 1877.
It was designed to run at a consistent depth of , and was fitted with an indicator mast that just broke the surface of the water. At night the mast had a small light, only visible from the rear. Two steel drums were mounted one behind the other inside the torpedo, each carrying several thousands yards of high-tensile steel wire. The drums connected via a differential gear to twin contra-rotating propellers. If one drum was rotated faster than the other, then the rudder was activated. The other ends of the wires were connected to steam-powered winding engines, which were arranged so that speeds could be varied within fine limits, giving sensitive steering control for the torpedo.
The torpedo attained a speed of using a wire in diameter but later this was changed to to increase the speed to . The torpedo was fitted with elevators controlled by a depth-keeping mechanism, and the fore and aft rudders operated by the differential between the drums.
Brennan travelled to Britain, where the Admiralty examined the torpedo and found it unsuitable for shipboard use. However, the War Office proved more amenable, and in early August 1881 a special Royal Engineer committee was instructed to inspect the torpedo at Chatham and report back directly to the Secretary of State for War, Hugh Childers. The report strongly recommended that an improved model be built at government expense. In 1883 an agreement was reached between the Brennan Torpedo Company and the government. The newly appointed Inspector-General of Fortifications in England, Sir Andrew Clarke, appreciated the value of the torpedo and in spring 1883 an experimental station was established at Garrison Point Fort, Sheerness on the River Medway and a workshop for Brennan was set up at the Chatham Barracks, the home of the Royal Engineers. Between 1883 and 1885 the Royal Engineers held trials and in 1886 the torpedo was recommended for adoption as a harbour defence torpedo. It was used throughout the British Empire for more than fifteen years.
Around 1897, Nikola Tesla patented a remote-controlled boat and later demonstrated the feasibility of radio-guided torpedoes to the United States military, only to be turned down.
The Royal Navy frigate was the first naval vessel to fire a torpedo in anger during the Battle of Pacocha against rebel Peruvian ironclad on 29 May 1877. The Peruvian ship successfully outran the device. On 16 January 1878, the Turkish steamer "Intibah" became the first vessel to be sunk by self-propelled torpedoes, launched from torpedo boats operating from the tender under the command of Stepan Osipovich Makarov during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. In another early use of the torpedo, Chilean frigate was sunk on 23 April 1891 by a torpedo from the gunboat , during the 1891 Chilean Civil War. The Chinese turret ship was purportedly hit and disabled by a torpedo after numerous attacks by Japanese torpedo boats during the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894. At this time torpedo attacks were still very close range and very dangerous to the attackers.
Several western sources reported that the Qing dynasty Imperial Chinese military, under the direction of Li Hongzhang, acquired "electric torpedoes," which they deployed in numerous waterways, along with fortresses and numerous other modern military weapons acquired by China. At the Tientsin Arsenal in 1876, the Chinese developed the capacity to manufacture these "electric torpedoes" on their own. Although a form of Chinese art, the Nianhua, depict such torpedoes being used against Russian ships during the Boxer Rebellion, whether they were actually used in battle against them is undocumented and unknown.
The Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) was the first great war of the 20th century. During the course of the war the Imperial Russian and Imperial Japanese navies launched nearly 300 torpedoes at each other, all of them of the "self propelled automotive" type. The deployment of these new underwater weapons resulted in one battleship, two armoured cruisers, and two destroyers being sunk in action, with the remainder of the roughly 80 warships being sunk by the more conventional methods of gunfire, mines, and scuttling.
On 27 May 1905, during the Battle of Tsushima, Admiral Rozhestvensky's flagship, the battleship , had been gunned to a wreck by Admiral Tōgō's 12-inch gunned battleline. With the Russians sunk and scattering, Tōgō prepared for pursuit, and while doing so ordered his torpedo boat destroyers (TBDs) (mostly referred to as just "destroyers" in most written accounts) to finish off the Russian battleship. "Knyaz Suvorov" was set upon by 17 torpedo-firing warships, ten of which were destroyers and four torpedo boats. Twenty-one torpedoes were launched at the pre-dreadnought, and three struck home, one fired from the destroyer and two from torpedo boats "No. 72" and "No. 75". The flagship slipped under the waves shortly thereafter, taking over 900 men with her to the bottom.
The end of the Russo-Japanese War fuelled new theories, and the idea of dropping lightweight torpedoes from aircraft was conceived in the early 1910s by Bradley A. Fiske, an officer in the United States Navy. Awarded a patent in 1912, Fiske worked out the mechanics of carrying and releasing the aerial torpedo from a bomber, and defined tactics that included a night-time approach so that the target ship would be less able to defend itself. Fiske determined that the notional torpedo bomber should descend rapidly in a sharp spiral to evade enemy guns, then when about above the water the aircraft would straighten its flight long enough to line up with the torpedo's intended path. The aircraft would release the torpedo at a distance of from the target. Fiske reported in 1915 that, using this method, enemy fleets could be attacked within their own harbors if there was enough room for the torpedo track.
Meanwhile, the Royal Naval Air Service began actively experimenting with this possibility. The first successful aerial torpedo drop was performed by Gordon Bell in 1914 – dropping a Whitehead torpedo from a Short S.64 seaplane. The success of these experiments led to the construction of the first purpose-built operational torpedo aircraft, the Short Type 184, built from 1915.
An order for ten aircraft was placed, and 936 aircraft were built by ten different British aircraft companies during the First World War. The two prototype aircraft were embarked upon , which sailed for the Aegean on 21 March 1915 to take part in the Gallipoli campaign.
On 12 August 1915 one of these, piloted by Flight Commander Charles Edmonds, was the first aircraft in the world to attack an enemy ship with an air-launched torpedo.
On 17 August 1915 Flight Commander Edmonds torpedoed and sank an Ottoman transport ship a few miles north of the Dardanelles. His formation colleague, Flight Lieutenant G B Dacre, was forced to land on the water owing to engine trouble but, seeing an enemy tug close by, taxied up to it and released his torpedo, sinking the tug. Without the weight of the torpedo Dacre was able to take off and return to "Ben-My-Chree".
Torpedoes were widely used in World War I, both against shipping and against submarines. Germany disrupted the supply lines to Britain largely by use of submarine torpedoes, though submarines also extensively used guns. Britain and its allies also used torpedoes throughout the war. U-boats themselves were often targeted, twenty being sunk by torpedo. Two Royal Italian Navy torpedo boats scored a success against an Austrian-Hungarian squadron, sinking the battleship with two torpedoes.
Initially the Imperial Japanese Navy purchased Whitehead or Schwartzkopf torpedoes but by 1917 they were conducting experiments with pure oxygen instead of compressed air. Because of explosions they abandoned the experiments but resumed them in 1926 and by 1933 had a working torpedo. They also used conventional wet-heater torpedoes.
In the inter-war years, financial stringency caused nearly all navies to skimp on testing their torpedoes. Only the Japanese had fully tested torpedoes (in particular the Type 93, nicknamed "Long Lance" postwar by the US official historian Samuel E. Morison) at the start of World War II. Unreliable torpedoes caused many problems for the American submarine force in the early years of the war, primarily in the Pacific Theater. One possible exception to the pre-war neglect of torpedo development was the 45-cm calibre, 1931-premiered Japanese Type 91 torpedo, the sole aerial torpedo ("Koku Gyorai") developed and brought into service by the Japanese Empire before the war. The Type 91 had an advanced PID controller and jettisonable, wooden "Kyoban" aerial stabilizing surfaces which released upon entering the water, making it a formidable anti-ship weapon; Nazi Germany considered manufacturing it as the "Luftorpedo LT 850" after August 1942..
Many classes of surface ships, submarines, and aircraft were armed with torpedoes. Naval strategy at the time was to use torpedoes, launched from submarines or warships, against enemy warships in a fleet action on the high seas. There was concern torpedoes would be ineffective against warships' heavy armor; an answer to this was to detonate torpedoes underneath a ship, badly damaging its keel and the other structural members in the hull, commonly called "breaking its back". This was demonstrated by magnetic influence mines in World War I. The torpedo would be set to run at a depth just beneath the ship, relying on a magnetic exploder to activate at the appropriate time.
Germany, Britain and the U.S. independently devised ways to do this; German and American torpedoes, however, suffered problems with their depth-keeping mechanisms, coupled with faults in magnetic pistols shared by all designs. Inadequate testing had failed to reveal the effect of the Earth's magnetic field on ships and exploder mechanisms, which resulted in premature detonation. The "Kriegsmarine" and Royal Navy promptly identified and eliminated the problems. In the United States Navy (USN), there was an extended wrangle over the problems plaguing the Mark 14 torpedo (and its Mark 6 exploder). Cursory trials had allowed bad designs to enter service. Both the Navy Bureau of Ordnance and the United States Congress were too busy protecting their own interests to correct the errors, and fully functioning torpedoes only became available to the USN twenty-one months into the Pacific War.
British submarines used torpedoes to interdict the Axis supply shipping to North Africa, while Fleet Air Arm Swordfish sank three Italian battleships at Taranto by torpedo and (after a mistaken, but abortive, attack on ) scored one crucial hit in the hunt for the German battleship . Large tonnages of merchant shipping were sunk by submarines with torpedoes in both the Battle of the Atlantic and the Pacific War.
Torpedo boats, such as MTBs, PT boats, or S-boats, enabled relatively small but fast craft to carry enough firepower, in theory, to destroy a larger ship, though this rarely occurred in practice. The largest warship sunk by torpedoes from small craft in World War II was the British cruiser , sunk by Italian MAS boats on the night of 12/13 August 1942 during Operation Pedestal. Destroyers of all navies were also armed with torpedoes to attack larger ships. In the Battle off Samar, destroyer torpedoes from the escorts of American task force "Taffy 3" showed effectiveness at defeating armor. Damage and confusion caused by torpedo attacks were instrumental in beating back a superior Japanese force of battleships and cruisers. In the Battle of the North Cape in December 1943, torpedo hits from British destroyers and slowed the German battleship enough for the British battleship to catch and sink her, and in May 1945 the British 26th Destroyer Flotilla (coincidentally led by "Saumarez" again) ambushed and sank Japanese heavy cruiser .
At the beginning of World War II, Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil developed a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes, intended to use frequency-hopping technology to defeat the threat of jamming by the Axis powers. Although the US Navy did not adopt the technology until the 1960s, various spread-spectrum techniques are incorporated into Bluetooth technology and are similar to methods used in legacy versions of Wi-Fi. This work led to their induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014.
Because of improved submarine strength and speed, torpedoes had to be given improved warheads and better motors. During the Cold War torpedoes were an important asset with the advent of nuclear-powered submarines, which did not have to surface often, particularly those carrying strategic nuclear missiles.
A number of navies have launched torpedo strikes since World War II, including:
The Whitehead torpedo of 1866, the first successful self-propelled torpedo, used compressed air as its energy source. The air was stored at pressures of up to and fed to a piston engine that turned a single propeller at about 100 rpm. It could travel about at an average speed of . The speed and range of later models was improved by increasing the pressure of the stored air. In 1906 Whitehead built torpedoes that could cover nearly at an average speed of .
At higher pressures the adiabatic cooling experienced by the air as it expanded in the engine caused icing problems. This drawback was remedied by heating the air with seawater before it was fed to the engine, which increased engine performance further, because the air expanded even more after heating. This was the principle used by the Brotherhood engine.
Passing the air through an engine led to the idea of injecting a liquid fuel, like kerosene, into the air and igniting it. In this manner the air is heated more and expands even further, and the burned propellant adds more gas to drive the engine. Construction of such "heated" torpedoes started circa 1904 by Whitehead's company.
A further improvement was the use of water to cool the combustion chamber of the fuel-burning torpedo. This not only solved heating problems so more fuel could be burned but also allowed additional power to be generated by feeding the resulting steam into the engine together with the combustion products. Torpedoes with such a propulsion system became known as "wet heaters", while heated torpedoes without steam generation were retrospectively called "dry heaters". A simpler system was introduced by the British Royal Gun factory in 1908. Most torpedoes used in World War I and World War II were wet-heaters.
The amount of fuel that can be burned by a torpedo engine (i.e. wet engine) is limited by the amount of oxygen it can carry. Since compressed air contains only about 21% oxygen, engineers in Japan developed the Type 93 (nicknamed "Long Lance" postwar) for destroyers and cruisers in the 1930s. It used pure compressed oxygen instead of compressed air and had performance unmatched by any contemporary torpedo in service, through the end of World War II. However, oxygen systems posed a serious danger to any ship that came under attack while still carrying such torpedoes; Japan lost several cruisers partly due to catastrophic secondary explosions of Type 93s. During the war, Germany experimented with hydrogen peroxide for the same purpose.
The Brennan torpedo had two wires wound around internal drums. Shore-based steam winches pulled the wires, which spun the drums and drove the propellers. An operator controlled the relative speeds of the winches, providing guidance. Such systems were used for coastal defence of the British homeland and colonies from 1887 to 1903 and were purchased by, and under the control of, the Army as opposed to the Navy. Speed was about for over 2,400 m.
The Howell torpedo used by the US Navy in the late 19th century featured a heavy flywheel that had to be spun up before launch. It was able to travel about at . The Howell had the advantage of not leaving a trail of bubbles behind it, unlike compressed air torpedoes. This gave the target vessel less chance to detect and evade the torpedo, and avoided giving away the attacker's position. Additionally, it ran at a constant depth, unlike Whitehead models.
Electric propulsion systems avoided tell-tale bubbles. John Ericsson invented an electrically propelled torpedo in 1873, it was powered by a cable from an external power source, as batteries of the time had insufficient capacity. The Sims-Edison torpedo was similarly powered. The Nordfelt torpedo was also electrically powered and was steered by impulses down a trailing wire.
Germany introduced its first battery-powered torpedo shortly before World War II, the G7e. It was slower and had shorter range than the conventional G7a, but was wakeless and much cheaper. Its lead-acid rechargeable battery was sensitive to shock, required frequent maintenance before use, and required preheating for best performance. The experimental G7es, an enhancement of the G7e, used primary cells.
The United States had an electric design, the Mark 18, largely copied from the German torpedo (although with improved batteries), as well as FIDO, an air-dropped acoustic homing torpedo for anti-submarine use.
Modern electric torpedoes such as the Mark 24 Tigerfish or DM2 series commonly use silver oxide batteries that need no maintenance, so torpedoes can be stored for years without losing performance.
A number of experimental rocket-propelled torpedoes were tried soon after Whitehead's invention but were not successful. Rocket propulsion has been implemented successfully by the Soviet Union, for example in the VA-111 Shkval—and has been recently revived in Russian and German torpedoes, as it is especially suitable for supercavitating devices.
Modern torpedoes use a variety of propellants, including electric batteries (as with the French F21 torpedo), monopropellants (e.g., Otto fuel II as with the US Mark 48 torpedo), and bipropellants (e.g., hydrogen peroxide plus kerosene as with the Swedish Torped 62, sulfur hexafluoride plus lithium as with the US Mark 50 torpedo, or Otto fuel II plus hydroxyl ammonium perchlorate as with the British Spearfish torpedo).
The first of Whitehead's torpedoes had a single propeller and needed a large vane to stop it spinning about its longitudinal axis. Not long afterward the idea of contra-rotating propellers was introduced, to avoid the need for the vane. The three-bladed propeller came in 1893 and the four-bladed one in 1897. To minimise noise, today's torpedoes often use pump-jets.
Some torpedoes—like the Russian VA-111 Shkval, Iranian Hoot, and German —use supercavitation to increase speed to over . Torpedoes that don't use supercavitation, such as the American Mark 48 and British Spearfish, are limited to under , though manufacturers and the military don't always release exact figures.
Torpedoes may be aimed at the target and fired unguided, similarly to a traditional artillery shell, or they may be guided onto the target. They may be guided automatically towards the target by some procedure, e.g., sound (homing), or by the operator, typically via commands sent over a signal-carrying cable (wire guidance).
The Victorian era Brennan torpedo could be steered onto its target by varying the relative speeds of its propulsion cables. However, the Brennan required a substantial infrastructure and was not suitable for shipboard use. Therefore, for the first part of its history, the torpedo was guided only in the sense that its course could be regulated so as to achieve an intended impact depth (because of the sine wave running path of the Whitehead, this was a hit or miss proposition, even when everything worked correctly) and, through gyroscopes, a straight course. With such torpedoes the method of attack in small torpedo boats, torpedo bombers and small submarines was to steer a predictable collision course abeam to the target and release the torpedo at the last minute, then veer away, all the time subject to defensive fire.
In larger ships and submarines, fire control calculators gave a wider engagement envelope. Originally, plotting tables (in large ships), combined with specialised slide rules (known in U.S. service as the "banjo" and "Is/Was"), reconciled the speed, distance, and course of a target with the firing ship's speed and course, together with the performance of its torpedoes, to provide a firing solution. By the Second World War, all sides had developed automatic electro-mechanical calculators, exemplified by the U.S. Navy's Torpedo Data Computer. Submarine commanders were still expected to be able to calculate a firing solution by hand as a backup against mechanical failure, and because many submarines existing at the start of the war were not equipped with a TDC; most could keep the "picture" in their heads and do much of the calculations (simple trigonometry) mentally, from extensive training.
Against high-value targets and multiple targets, submarines would launch a spread of torpedoes, to increase the probability of success. Similarly, squadrons of torpedo boats and torpedo bombers would attack together, creating a "fan" of torpedoes across the target's course. Faced with such an attack, the prudent thing for a target to do was to turn so as to parallel the course of the incoming torpedo and steam away from the torpedoes and the firer, allowing the relatively short range torpedoes to use up their fuel. An alternative was to "comb the tracks", turning to parallel the incoming torpedo's course, but turning towards the torpedoes. The intention of such a tactic was still to minimise the size of target offered to the torpedoes, but at the same time be able to aggressively engage the firer. This was the tactic advocated by critics of Jellicoe's actions at Jutland, his caution at turning away from the torpedoes being seen as the reason the Germans escaped.
The use of multiple torpedoes to engage single targets depletes torpedo supplies and greatly reduces a submarine's combat endurance. Endurance can be improved by ensuring a target can be effectively engaged by a single torpedo, which gave rise to the guided torpedo.
In World War II the Germans introduced programmable pattern-running torpedoes, which would run a predetermined pattern until they either ran out of fuel, or hit something. The earlier version, FaT, ran out after launch in a straight line, and then weaved backwards and forwards parallel to that initial course, whilst the more advanced LuT could transit to a different angle after launch, and then enter a more complex weaving pattern.
Though Luppis' original design had been rope guided, torpedoes were not wire-guided until the 1960s.
During the First World War the U.S. Navy evaluated a radio controlled torpedo launched from a surface ship called the Hammond Torpedo. A later version tested in the 1930s was claimed to have an effective range of .
Modern torpedoes use an umbilical wire, which nowadays allows the computer processing-power of the submarine or ship to be used. Torpedoes such as the U.S. Mark 48 can operate in a variety of modes, increasing tactical flexibility.
Homing "fire and forget" torpedoes can use passive or active guidance, or a combination of both. Passive acoustic torpedoes home in on emissions from a target. Active acoustic torpedoes home in on the reflection of a signal, or "ping", from the torpedo or its parent vehicle; this has the disadvantage of giving away the presence of the torpedo. In semi-active mode, a torpedo can be fired to the last known position or calculated position of a target, which is then acoustically illuminated ("pinged") once the torpedo is within attack range.
Later in the Second World War torpedoes were given acoustic (homing) guidance systems, with the American Mark 24 mine and Mark 27 torpedo and the German G7es torpedo. Pattern-following and wake homing torpedoes were also developed. Acoustic homing formed the basis for torpedo guidance after the Second World War.
The homing systems for torpedoes are generally acoustic, though there have been other target sensor types used. A ship's acoustic signature is not the only emission a torpedo can home in on: to engage U.S. supercarriers, the Soviet Union developed the 53–65 wake-homing torpedo. As standard acoustic lures can't distract a wake homing torpedo, the US Navy has installed the Surface Ship Torpedo Defense on aircraft carriers that uses a Countermeasure Anti-Torpedo to home in on and destroy the attacking torpedo.
The warhead is generally some form of aluminized explosive, because the sustained explosive pulse produced by the powdered aluminium is particularly destructive against underwater targets. Torpex was popular until the 1950s, but has been superseded by PBX compositions. Nuclear warheads for torpedoes have also been developed, e.g. the Mark 45 torpedo. In lightweight antisubmarine torpedoes designed to penetrate submarine hulls, a shaped charge can be used. Detonation can be triggered by direct contact with the target or by a proximity fuze incorporating sonar and/or magnetic sensors.
Torpedoes can also carry nuclear warheads to massively improve their blast radius and destructive effects (see nuclear torpedo.)
When a torpedo with a contact fuze strikes the side of the target hull, the resulting explosion creates a bubble of expanding gas, the walls of which move faster than the speed of sound in water, thus creating a shock wave. The side of the bubble which is against the hull rips away the external plating creating a large breach. The bubble then collapses in on itself, forcing a high-speed stream of water into the breach which can destroy bulkheads and machinery in its path.
A torpedo fitted with a proximity fuze can be detonated directly under the keel of a target ship. The explosion creates a gas bubble which may damage the keel or underside plating of the target. However, the most destructive part of the explosion is the upthrust of the gas bubble, which will bodily lift the hull in the water. The structure of the hull is designed to resist downward rather than upward pressure, causing severe strain in this phase of the explosion. When the gas bubble collapses, the hull will tend to fall into the void in the water, creating a sagging effect. Finally, the weakened hull will be hit by the uprush of water caused by the collapsing gas bubble, causing structural failure. On vessels up to the size of a modern frigate, this can result in the ship breaking in two and sinking. This effect is likely to prove less catastrophic on a much larger hull, for instance that of an aircraft carrier.
The damage that may be caused by a torpedo depends on the "shock factor value", a combination of the initial strength of the explosion and of the distance between the target and the detonation. When taken in reference to ship hull plating, the term "hull shock factor" (HSF) is used, while keel damage is termed "keel shock factor" (KSF). If the explosion is directly underneath the keel, then HSF is equal to KSF, but explosions that are not directly underneath the ship will have a lower value of KSF.
Usually only created by contact detonation, direct damage is a hole blown in the ship. Among the crew, fragmentation wounds are the most common form of injury. Flooding typically occurs in one or two main watertight compartments, which can sink smaller ships or disable larger ones.
The bubble jet effect occurs when a mine or torpedo detonates in the water a short distance away from the targeted ship. The explosion creates a bubble in the water, and due to the difference in pressure, the bubble will collapse from the bottom. The bubble is buoyant, and so it rises towards the surface. If the bubble reaches the surface as it collapses, it can create a pillar of water that can go over a hundred meters into the air (a "columnar plume"). If conditions are right and the bubble collapses onto the ship's hull, the damage to the ship can be extremely serious; the collapsing bubble forms a high-energy jet that can break a metre-wide hole straight through the ship, flooding one or more compartments, and is capable of breaking smaller ships apart. The crew in the areas hit by the pillar are usually killed instantly. Other damage is usually limited.
The Baengnyeong incident, in which broke in half and sank off the coast South Korea in 2010, was caused by the bubble jet effect, according to an international investigation.
If the torpedo detonates at a distance from the ship, and especially under the keel, the change in water pressure causes the ship to resonate. This is frequently the most deadly type of explosion, if it is strong enough. The whole ship is dangerously shaken and everything on board is tossed around. Engines rip from their beds, cables from their holders, etc. A badly shaken ship usually sinks quickly, with hundreds, or even thousands of small leaks all over the ship and no way to power the pumps. The crew fare no better, as the violent shaking tosses them around. This shaking is powerful enough to cause disabling injury to knees and other joints in the body, particularly if the affected person stands on surfaces connected directly to the hull (such as steel decks).
The resulting gas cavitation and shock-front-differential over the width of the human body is sufficient to stun or kill divers.
Control surfaces are essential for a torpedo to maintain its course and depth. A homing torpedo also needs to be able to outmanoeuvre a target. Good hydrodynamics are needed for it to attain high speed efficiently and also to give long range, since the torpedo has limited stored energy.
Torpedoes may be launched from submarines, surface ships, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, unmanned naval mines and naval fortresses. They are also used in conjunction with other weapons; for example the Mark 46 torpedo used by the United States is the warhead section of the ASROC (Anti-Submarine ROCket) and the CAPTOR mine (CAPsulated TORpedo) is a submerged sensor platform which releases a torpedo when a hostile contact is detected.
Originally, Whitehead torpedoes were intended for launch underwater and the firm was upset when they found out the British were launching them above water, as they considered their torpedoes too delicate for this. However, the torpedoes survived. The launch tubes could be fitted in a ship's bow, which weakened it for ramming, or on the broadside; this introduced problems because of water flow twisting the torpedo, so guide rails and sleeves were used to prevent it. The torpedoes were originally ejected from the tubes by compressed air but later slow burning gunpowder was used. Torpedo boats originally used a frame that dropped the torpedo into the sea. Royal Navy Coastal Motor Boats of World War I used a rear-facing trough and a cordite ram to push the torpedoes into the water tail-first; they then had to move rapidly out of the way to avoid being hit by their own torpedo.
Developed in the run-up to the First World War, multiple-tube mounts (initially twin, later triple and in WW2 up to quintuple in some ships) for torpedoes in rotating turntable mounts appeared. Destroyers could be found with two or three of these mounts with between five and twelve tubes in total. The Japanese went one better, covering their tube mounts with splinter protection and adding reloading gear (both unlike any other navy in the world), making them true turrets and increasing the broadside without adding tubes and top hamper (as the quadruple and quintuple mounts did). Considering their Type 93s very effective weapons, the IJN equipped their cruisers with torpedoes. The Germans also equipped their capital ships with torpedoes.
Smaller vessels such as PT boats carried their torpedoes in fixed deck mounted tubes using compressed air. These were either aligned to fire forward or at an offset angle from the centerline.
Later, lightweight mounts for homing torpedoes were developed for anti-submarine use consisting of triple launch tubes used on the decks of ships. These were the 1960 Mk 32 torpedo launcher in the US and part of STWS (Shipborne Torpedo Weapon System) in the UK. Later a below-decks launcher was used by the RN. This basic launch system continues to be used today with improved torpedoes and fire control systems.
Modern submarines use either swim-out systems or a pulse of water to discharge the torpedo from the tube, both of which have the advantage of being significantly quieter than previous systems, helping avoid detection of the firing from passive sonar. Earlier designs used a pulse of compressed air or a hydraulic ram.
Early submarines, when they carried torpedoes, were fitted with a variety of torpedo launching mechanisms in a range of locations; on the deck, in the bow or stern, amidships, with some launch mechanisms permitting the torpedo to be aimed over a wide arc. By World War II, designs favoured multiple bow tubes and fewer or no stern tubes. Modern submarine bows are usually occupied by a large sonar array, necessitating midships tubes angled outward, while stern tubes have largely disappeared. The first French and Russian submarines carried their torpedoes externally in Drzewiecki drop collars. These were cheaper than tubes, but less reliable. Both the United Kingdom and United States experimented with external tubes in World War II. External tubes offered a cheap and easy way of increasing torpedo capacity without radical redesign, something neither had time or resources to do prior to, or early in, the war. British T-class submarines carried up to 13 torpedo tubes, up to 5 of them external. America's use was mainly limited to earlier "Porpoise"-, -, and -class boats. Until the appearance of the s, most American submarines only carried 4 bow and either 2 or 4 stern tubes, something many American submarine officers felt provided inadequate firepower. This problem was compounded by the notorious unreliability of the Mark 14 torpedo.
Late in World War II, the U.S. adopted a homing torpedo (known as "Cutie") for use against escorts. It was basically a modified Mark 24 Mine with wooden rails to allow firing from a torpedo tube.
Aerial torpedoes may be carried by fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters or missiles. They are launched from the first two at prescribed speeds and altitudes, dropped from bomb-bays or underwing hardpoints.
Although lightweight torpedoes are fairly easily handled, the transport and handling of heavyweight ones is difficult, especially in the small space of a submarine. After the Second World War, some Type XXI submarines were obtained from Germany by the United States and Britain. One of the main novel developments seen was a mechanical handling system for torpedoes. Such systems were widely adopted as a result of this discovery.
Torpedoes are launched several ways:
Many navies have two weights of torpedoes:
In the case of deck or tube launched torpedoes, the diameter of the torpedo is obviously a key factor in determining the suitability of a particular torpedo to a tube or launcher, similar to the caliber of the gun. The size is not quite as critical as for a gun, but diameter has become the most common way of classifying torpedoes.
Length, weight, and other factors also contribute to compatibility. In the case of aircraft launched torpedoes, the key factors are weight, provision of suitable attachment points, and launch speed. Assisted torpedoes are the most recent development in torpedo design, and are normally engineered as an integrated package. Versions for aircraft and assisted launching have sometimes been based on deck or tube launched versions, and there has been at least one case of a submarine torpedo tube being designed to fire an aircraft torpedo.
As in all munition design, there is a compromise between standardisation, which simplifies manufacture and logistics, and specialisation, which may make the weapon significantly more effective. Small improvements in either logistics or effectiveness can translate into enormous operational advantages.
Modern German Navy:
The torpedoes used by the World War II Kriegsmarine included:
Islamic Republic of Iran Navy
Islamic Revolution Guard Corps Navy:
The torpedoes used by the Imperial Japanese Navy (World War II) included:
Modern Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force:
Torpedoes used by the Royal Canadian Navy include:
The torpedoes used by the Royal Navy include:
Torpedoes used by the Russian Navy include:
In April 2015, the "Fizik" (UGST) heat-seeking torpedo entered service to replace the wake-homing USET-80 developed in the 1980s and the next-gen Futlyar entered service in 2017.
The major torpedoes in the United States Navy inventory are: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31424 |
Turkish cuisine
Turkish cuisine (Turkish: "Türk mutfağı") is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Central Asian, Middle Eastern, Eastern European, Armenian and Balkan cuisines. Turkish cuisine has in turn influenced those and other neighbouring cuisines, including those of Southeast Europe (Balkans), Central Europe, and Western Europe. The Ottomans fused various culinary traditions of their realm with influences from Levantine cuisines, along with traditional Turkic elements from Central Asia (such as yogurt and pastırma), creating a vast array of specialities.
Turkish cuisine varies across the country. The cooking of Istanbul, Bursa, Izmir, and rest of the Asia Minor region inherits many elements of Ottoman court cuisine, with a lighter use of spices, a preference for rice over bulgur, koftes and a wider availability of vegetable stews ("türlü"), eggplant, stuffed dolmas and fish. The cuisine of the Black Sea Region uses fish extensively, especially the Black Sea anchovy ("hamsi") and includes maize dishes. The cuisine of the southeast (e.g. Urfa, Gaziantep, Adıyaman and Adana) is famous for its variety of kebabs, "mezes" and dough-based desserts such as "baklava", "şöbiyet", "kadayıf", and "künefe".
Especially in the western parts of Turkey, where olive trees grow abundantly, olive oil is the major type of oil used for cooking. The cuisines of the Aegean, Marmara and Mediterranean regions are rich in vegetables, herbs, and fish. Central Anatolia has many famous specialties, such as "keşkek", "mantı" (especially from Kayseri) and "gözleme". Food names directly cognate with "mantı" are found also in Chinese ("mantou" or steamed bun) and Korean cuisine ("mandu"). In fact, origin of Turkish mantı comes from Chinese mantou
A specialty's name sometimes includes that of a city or region, either in or outside of Turkey, and may refer to the specific technique or ingredients used in that area. For example, the difference between "Urfa kebap" and "Adana kebap" is the thickness of the skewer and the amount of hot pepper that the kebab contains. "Urfa kebap" is less spicy and thicker than "Adana kebap". Although meat-based foods such as kebabs are the mainstay in Turkish cuisine as presented in foreign countries, native Turkish meals largely center around rice, vegetables, and bread.
Turks usually prefer a rich breakfast. A typical Turkish breakfast consists of cheese ("beyaz peynir", "kaşar" etc.), butter, olives, eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, jam, honey, and kaymak, sucuk (a spicy Turkish food similar to sausages), "pastırma", "börek", "simit", "poğaça" and soups are eaten as a morning meal in Turkey. A specialty for breakfast is called menemen, which is prepared with tomatoes, green peppers, onion, olive oil and eggs. Invariably, Turkish tea is served at breakfast. The Turkish word for breakfast, "kahvaltı", means "before coffee".
Homemade food is still preferred by Turkish people. Although the newly introduced way of life pushes the new generation to eat out; Turkish people generally prefer to eat at home. A typical meal starts with soup (especially in wintertime), followed by a dish made of vegetables (olive oil or with grounded meat), meat or legumes boiled in a pot (typically with meat or minced meat), often with or before rice, pasta or bulgur pilav accompanied by a salad or cacık (diluted cold yogurt dish with garlic, salt, and cucumber slices). In summertime many people prefer to eat a cold dish of vegetables cooked with olive oil ("zeytinyağlı yemekler") instead of the soup, either before or after the main course, which can also be a chicken, meat or fish plate.
Although fast food is gaining popularity and many major foreign fast food chains have opened all over Turkey, Turkish people still rely primarily on the rich and extensive dishes of Turkish cuisine. In addition, some traditional Turkish foods, especially "köfte", "döner", "kokoreç", "kumpir," "midye tava," "börek" and "gözleme", are often served as fast food in Turkey. Eating out has always been common in large commercial cities. "Esnaf lokantası" (meaning restaurants for shopkeepers and tradesmen) are widespread, serving traditional Turkish home cooking at affordable prices.
In the hot Turkish summer, a meal often consists of fried vegetables such as eggplant (aubergine) and peppers or potatoes served with yogurt or tomato sauce. Menemen and çılbır are typical summer dishes, based on eggs. Sheep cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelons and melons also make a light summer meal. Those who like helva for dessert prefer "summer helva", which is lighter and less sweet than the regular one.
Frequently used ingredients in Turkish specialties include: lamb, beef, rice, fish, eggplants, green peppers, onions, garlic, lentils, beans, zucchinis and tomatoes. Nuts, especially pistachios, chestnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, and walnuts, together with spices, have a special place in Turkish cuisine, and are used extensively in desserts or eaten separately. Semolina flour is used to make a cake called "revani" and "irmik helvasi".
Olives are also common on various breakfasts and meze tables frequently. Beyaz peynir and yoğurt are part of many dishes including börek, manti, kebab and cacık.
Butter or margarine, olive oil, sunflower oil, canola oil, and corn oil are widely used for cooking. Sesame, hazelnut, peanut and walnut oils are used as well. "Kuyruk yağı" (tail fat of sheep) is sometimes used in kebabs and meat dishes.
The rich and diverse flora of Turkey means that fruit is varied, abundant and cheap. In Ottoman Cuisine, fruit frequently accompanied meat as a side dish. Plums, apricots, pomegranates, pears, apples, grapes, and figs, along with many kinds of citrus are the most frequently used fruit, either fresh or dried, in Turkish cuisine. For example, "komposto" (compote) or "hoşaf" (from Persian "khosh âb", literally meaning "nice water") are among the main side dishes to meat or pilav. "Dolma" and pilaf usually contain currants or raisins. "Etli yaprak sarma" (vine leaves stuffed with meat and rice) used to be cooked with sour plums in Ottoman cuisine. Turkish desserts do not normally contain fresh fruit, but may contain dried varieties.
Eggplant () has a special place in the Turkish cuisine.
In some regions, meat, which was mostly eaten only at wedding ceremonies or during the "Kurban Bayramı" ("Eid ul-Adha") as "etli pilav" (pilav with meat), has become part of the daily diet since the introduction of industrial production. Veal, formerly shunned, is now widely consumed.
The main use of meat in cooking remains the combination of ground meat and vegetable, with names such as "kıymalı fasulye" (beans with ground meat) or "kıymalı ıspanak" (spinach with ground meat, which is sometimes served with yoğurt).
Alternatively, in coastal towns cheap fish such as "sardalya" (sardines) or "hamsi" (anchovies) are widely available, as well as many others with seasonal availability. Poultry consumption, almost exclusively of chicken and eggs, is common. Milk-fed lambs, once the most popular source of meat in Turkey, comprise a small part of contemporary consumption. "Kuzu çevirme", cooking milk-fed lamb on a spit, once an important ceremony, is rarely seen.
Yoğurt is an important element in Turkish cuisine. In fact, the English word yogurt or yoghurt derives from the Turkish word "yoğurt". Yoğurt can accompany almost all meat dishes (kebabs, köfte), vegetable dishes (especially fried eggplant, courgette, spinach with minced meat etc.), "meze" and a specialty called "mantı" (folded triangles of dough containing minced meat). In villages, yoğurt is regularly eaten with pilav or bread. A thicker, higher-fat variety, "süzme yoğurt" or "strained yogurt", is made by straining the yoğurt curds from the whey. One of the most common Turkish drinks, "ayran", is made from yoğurt. Also, yoğurt is often used in the preparation of cakes, some soups and pastries.
Turkey produces many varieties of cheese, mostly from sheep's milk. In general, these cheeses are not long matured, with a comparatively low fat content. The production of many kinds of cheese is local to particular regions. There are 193 different cheeses in Turkey, but only 8 of these cheeses have geographical indication.
A Turkish meal usually starts with a thin soup ("çorba"). Soups are usually named after their main ingredient, the most common types being; mercimek (lentil) çorbası, yogurt, or wheat (often mashed) called tarhana çorbası. Delicacy soups are the ones that are usually not the part of the daily diet, such as İşkembe soup and paça çorbası, although the latter also used to be consumed as a nutritious winter meal. Before the popularisation of the typical Turkish breakfast, soup was the default morning meal for some people.
The most common soups in Turkish cuisine are:
Turkish cuisine has a range of savoury and sweet pastries. Dough based specialties form an integral part of traditional Turkish cuisine.
The use of layered dough is rooted in the nomadic character of early Central Asian Turks. The combination of domed metal sač and oklava (the Turkish rod-style rolling pin) enabled the invention of the layered dough style used in börek (especially in "su böreği", or 'water pastry', a salty baklava-like pastry with cheese filling), güllaç and baklava.
Börek is the general name for salty pastries made with yufka (a thick phyllo dough), which consists of thin layers of dough. Su böreği, made with boiled yufka/phyllo layers, cheese and parsley, is the most frequently eaten. Çiğ börek (also known as "Tatar böreği") is fried and stuffed with minced meat. Kol böreği is another well-known type of börek that takes its name from its shape, as do fincan (coffee cup), muska (talisman), Gül böreği (rose) or Sigara böreği (cigarette). Other traditional Turkish böreks include Talaş böreği (phyllo dough filled with vegetables and diced meat), Puf böreği. Laz böreği is a sweet type of börek, widespread in the Black Sea region.
Poğaça is the label name for dough based salty pastries. Likewise çörek is another label name used for both sweet and salty pastries.
Gözleme is a food typical in rural areas, made of lavash bread or phyllo dough folded around a variety of fillings such as spinach, cheese and parsley, minced meat or potatoes and cooked on a large griddle (traditionally sač).
Katmer is another traditional rolled out dough. It can be salty or sweet according to the filling. Katmer with pistachio and kaymak is a sweet food and one of the most popular breakfast items in Gaziantep.
Lahmacun (meaning dough with meat in Arabic) is a thin flatbread covered with a layer of spiced minced meat, tomato, pepper, onion or garlic.
Pide, which can be made with minced meat (together with onion, chopped tomatoes, parsley and spices), kashar cheese, spinach, white cheese, pieces of meat, braised meat (kavurma), sucuk, pastırma or/and eggs put on rolled-out dough, is one of the most common traditional stone-baked Turkish specialities.
Açma is a soft bread found in most parts of Turkey. It is similar to simit in shape, is covered in a glaze, and is usually eaten as a part of breakfast or as a snack.
A vegetable dish can be a main course in a Turkish meal. A large variety of vegetables are used, such as spinach, leek, cauliflower, artichoke, cabbage, celery, eggplant, green and red bell peppers, string bean and jerusalem artichoke. A typical vegetable dish is prepared with a base of chopped onions, carrots sautéed first in olive oil and later with tomatoes or tomato paste. The vegetables and hot water will then be added. Quite frequently a spoon of rice and lemon juice is also added. Vegetable dishes usually tend to be served with its own water (the cooking water) thus often called in colloquial Turkish "sulu yemek" (literally "a dish with juice"). Minced meat can also be added to a vegetable dish but vegetable dishes that are cooked with olive oil "(zeytinyağlılar)" are often served cold and do not contain meat. Spinach, leek, string bean and artichoke with olive oil are among the most widespread dishes in Turkey.
Dolma is the name used for stuffed vegetables. Like the vegetables cooked with olive oil as described above dolma with olive oil does not contain meat. Many vegetables are stuffed, most typically green peppers ("biber dolması"), eggplants, tomatoes, or zucchini/courgettes ("kabak dolması"), vine leaves ("yaprak dolması"). If vine leaves are used, they are first pickled in brine. However, dolma is not limited to these common types; many other vegetables and fruits are stuffed with a meat or pilav mixture. For example, artichoke dolma ("enginar dolması") is an Aegean region specialty. Fillings used in dolma may consist of parts of the vegetable carved out for preparation, pilav with spices or minced meat.
Mercimek köfte, although being named köfte, does not contain any meat. Instead, red lentil is used as the major ingredient together with spring onion, tomato paste etc.
Imam bayildi is a version of karnıyarık with no minced meat inside. It can be served as a meze as well.
Fried eggplant and pepper is a common summer dish in Turkey. It is served with yoğurt or tomato sauce and garlic.
Mücver is prepared with grated squash/courgette or potatoes, egg, onion, dill or cheese and flour. It can be either fried or cooked in the oven.
Pilav can be served either as a side dish or main dish but "bulgur pilavı" (pilav made of boiled and pounded wheat - "bulgur") is also widely eaten. The dishes made with "kuru fasulye" (white beans), "nohut" (chickpeas), "mercimek" (lentils), "börülce" (black-eyed peas), etc., combined with onion, vegetables, minced meat, tomato paste and rice, have always been common due to being economical and nutritious.
Turşu is pickle made with brine, usually with the addition of garlic. It is often enjoyed as an appetizer. It is made with a large variety of vegetables, from cucumber to courgette. In the towns on the Aegean coast, the water of turşu is consumed as a drink. It comes from the Persian "Torshi", which refers to pickled "Torsh" (sour) vegetables.
Meze is a selection of food served as the appetizer course with or without drinks. Some of them can be served as a main course as well.
Aside from olive, mature "kaşar" kashar cheese, white cheese, various mixed pickles turşu, frequently eaten Turkish mezes include:
Dolma is a verbal noun of the Turkish verb "dolmak" 'to be stuffed (or filled)', and means simply 'stuffed thing'. Sarma is also verbal noun of the Turkish verb "sarmak" 'to wrap', and means simply 'wrapped/wrapping'. Dolma and sarma has a special place in Turkish Cuisine. It can be eaten either as a meze or a main dish. It can be cooked either as a vegetable dish or meat dish. If a meat mixture is put in, it is usually served hot with yogurt and spices such as oregano and red pepper powder with oil. If the mixture is only vegan recipe it should only have olive oil rice or bulgur and some nuts and raisins inside especially blackcurrant.
Zeytinyağlı yaprak sarması (stuffed leaves with olive oil) is the sarma made with vine leaves stuffed with a rice-spice mixture and cooked with olive oil. This type of dolma does not contain meat, is served cold and also referred to as "sarma", which means "wrapping" in Turkish. Dried fruit such as blackcurant; raisins, figs or cherries and cinnamon and allspice used to be added into the mixture to sweeten "zeytinyağlı dolma" in Ottoman Cuisine. Vine leaves ("yaprak") could be filled not only with rice and spices but also with meat and rice, "etli yaprak sarma", in which case it was often served hot with yogurt. The word "sarma" is also used for some types of desserts, such as fıstık sarma (wrapped pistachio).
Melon dolma along with quince or apple dolma was one of the palace's specialties (raw melon stuffed with minced meat, onion, rice, almonds, cooked in an oven). In contemporary Turkey, a wide variety of dolma is prepared. Although it is not possible to give an exhaustive list of dolma recipes, courgette ("kabak"), aubergine ("patlıcan"), tomato ("domates"), pumpkin ("balkabağı"), pepper ("biber"), cabbage ("lahana") (black or white cabbage), chard ("pazı") and mussel ("midye") dolma constitute the most common types. Instead of dried cherries in the Palace Cuisine, currants are usually added to the filling of dolma cooked in olive oil. A different type of dolma is mumbar dolması, for which the membrane of intestines of sheep is filled up with a spicy rice pilav-nut mixture.
"Kebab" refers to a great variety of meat-based dishes in Turkish cuisine. Kebab in Turkey encompasses not only grilled or skewered meats, but also stews and casseroles.
Turkey is surrounded by seas which contain a large variety of fish. Fish are grilled, fried or cooked slowly by the "buğulama" (poaching) method. "Buğulama" is fish with lemon and parsley, covered while cooking so that it will be cooked with steam. The term "pilâki" is also used for fish cooked with various vegetables, including onion in the oven. In the Black Sea region, fish are usually fried with thick corn flour. Fish are also eaten cold; as smoked (isleme) or dried (çiroz), canned, salted or pickled (lâkerda). Fish is also cooked in salt or in dough in Turkey. Pazıda Levrek is a seafood speciality which consists of sea bass cooked in chard leaves. In fish restaurants, it is possible to find other fancy fish varieties like "balık dolma" (stuffed fish), "balık iskender" (inspired by İskender kebap), fishballs or fish en papillote. Fish soup prepared with vegetables, onion and flour is common in coastal towns and cities. In Istanbul's Eminönü and other coastal districts, grilled fish served in bread with tomatoes, herbs and onion is a popular fast food. In the inner parts of Turkey, trout "alabalık" is common as it is the main type of freshwater fish. Popular seafood mezes at coastlines include stuffed mussels, fried mussel and fried "kalamar" (squid) with tarator sauce.
Popular sea fish in Turkey include:
One of the world-renowned desserts of Turkish cuisine is baklava. Baklava is made either with pistachios or walnuts. Turkish cuisine has a range of baklava-like desserts which include şöbiyet, bülbül yuvası, saray sarması, sütlü nuriye, and sarı burma.
Kadaif ('Kadayıf') is a common Turkish dessert that employs shredded yufka. There are different types of kadaif: tel (wire) or Burma (wring) kadayıf, both of which can be prepared with either walnuts or pistachios.
Although carrying the label "kadayıf", ekmek kadayıfı is totally different from "tel kadayıf". Künefe and ekmek kadayıfı are rich in syrup and butter, and are usually served with kaymak (clotted/scrambled butter). Künefe contains wire kadayıf with a layer of melted cheese in between and it is served hot with pistachios or walnuts.
Among milk-based desserts, the most popular ones are muhallebi, su muhallebisi, sütlaç (rice pudding), keşkül, kazandibi (meaning the bottom of "kazan" because of its burnt surface), and tavuk göğsü (a sweet, gelatinous, milk pudding dessert quite similar to kazandibi, to which very thinly peeled chicken breast is added to give a chewy texture). A speciality from the Mediterranean region is haytalı, which consists of pieces of starch pudding and ice cream (or crushed ice) put in rose water sweetened with syrup.
Helva (halva): un helvası (flour helva is usually cooked after someone has died), irmik helvası (cooked with semolina and pine nuts), yaz helvası (made from walnut or almond), tahin helvası (crushed sesame seeds), kos helva, pişmaniye (floss halva).
Other popular desserts include; Revani (with semolina and starch), şekerpare, kalburabasma, dilber dudağı, vezir parmağı, hanım göbeği, kemalpaşa, tulumba, zerde, höşmerim, paluze, irmik tatlısı/peltesi, lokma.
Güllaç is a dessert typically served at Ramadan, which consists of very thin, large dough layers put in milk and rose water, served with pomegranate seeds and walnuts. A story is told that in the kitchens of the Palace, those extra thin dough layers were prepared with "prayers", as it was believed that if one did not pray while opening phyllo dough, it would never be possible to obtain such thin layers.
Aşure can be described as a sweet soup containing boiled beans, wheat and dried fruits. Sometimes cinnamon and rose water is added when being served. According to legend, it was first cooked on Noah's Ark and contained seven different ingredients in one dish. All the Anatolian peoples have cooked and are still cooking aşure especially during the month of Muharrem.
Some traditional Turkish desserts are fruit-based: "ayva tatlısı" (quince), "incir tatlısı" (fig), "kabak tatlısı" (pumpkin), "elma tatlısı" (apple) and "armut tatlısı" (pear). Fruits are cooked in a pot or in an oven with sugar, carnations and cinnamon (without adding water). After being chilled, they are served with walnuts or pistachios and kaymak.
Homemade cookies/biscuits are commonly called kurabiye in Turkish. The most common types are acıbadem kurabiyesi (prepared only with eggs, sugar and almonds), un kurabiyesi (flour kurabiye) and cevizli kurabiye (kurabiye with walnuts). Another dough based dessert is ay çöreği.
Tahin-pekmez is a traditional combination especially in rural areas. Tahin is sesame paste and pekmez is grape syrup. These are sold separately and mixed before consumption.
Lokum (Turkish delight), which was eaten for digestion after meals and called "rahat hulkum" in the Ottoman era, is another well-known sweet/candy with a range of varieties.
Cezerye, cevizli (walnut) sucuk (named after its sucuk/sujuk like shape, also known as Churchkhela in Circassian region) and pestil (fruit pestils) are among other common sweets.
Marzipan "badem ezmesi" or "fıstık ezmesi" (made of ground pistachios) is another common confection in Turkey.
Another jelly like Turkish sweet is macun. Mesir macunu of Manisa/İzmir (which was also called "nevruziye" as this macun was distributed on the first day of spring in the Ottoman Palace) contains 41 different spices. It is still believed that "mesir macunu" is good for health and has healing effects. As with lokum, nane macunu (prepared with mint) used to be eaten as a digestive after heavy meals. Herbs and flowers having curative effects were grown in the gardens of Topkapı under the control of the chief doctor "hekimbaşı" and pharmacists of the Palace who used those herbs for preparing special types of macun and sherbet.
There are also several types of ice creams based on salep powder or Cornstarch with Rose water such as Dondurma (Turkish gum ice cream), dried fruit ice cream, ice cream rose petals.
Dried fruit, used in dolma, pilav, meat dishes and other desserts is also eaten with almonds or walnuts as a dessert. Figs, grapes, apricots are the most widespread dried fruits.
"Kaymak" (clotted cream-butter) is often served with desserts to cut through their sweetness.
Turkish tea or Turkish coffee, with or without sugar, is usually served after dinner or more rarely together with desserts.
Although the majority of Turks profess the Islamic religion, alcoholic beverages are as widely available as anywhere. Rakı (pronounced [ɾaˈkɯ]) is the most popular alcoholic drink in Turkey. It is considered as the national alcoholic beverage of Turkey. Traditionally, sour cherry liquor is also served with Turkish coffee in religious holidays.
There are a few local brands of lager such as Bomonti, Marmara34 and Efes Pilsen and a small selection of international beers that are produced in Turkey such as Skol, Beck's, Miller, Foster's, Carlsberg and Tuborg. In Turkey, craft beers became popular in present-day; Gara Guzu, Feliz Kulpa, Pablo and Graf are some Turkish craft beer brands
There are a variety of local wines produced by Turkish brands such as Sevilen, Kavaklıdere, Doluca, Corvus, Kayra, Pamukkale and Diren which are getting more popular with the change of climatic conditions that affect the production of wine. A range of grape varieties are grown in Turkey. For the production of red wine, the following types of grapes are mainly used; in the Marmara Region, Pinot noir, Adakarası, Papazkarası, Semillion, Kuntra, Gamay, Cinsault; in the Aegean Region, Carignane, Çalkarası, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Alicante Bouschet; in the Black Sea Region and the eastern part of the country, Öküzgözü, Boğazkere; in Central Anatolia, Kalecik Karası, Papazkarası, Dimrit; in the Mediterranean Region, Sergi Karası, Dimrit. As for white wine, the grapes can be listed as follows; in the Marmara Region, Chardonnay, Riesling, Semillion, Beylerce, Yapıncak; in the Aegean Region, muscat and semillion; in the Black Sea Region, Narince; in Central Anatolia, Emir, Hasandede (for further info ). In addition to mass production, it is quite popular to produce wines in private farms and sell them in the locality. Visitors can find different "home made" wines in Central Anatolia (Kapadokya/Cappadocia region - Nevşehir), the Aegean coast (Selçuk and Bozcaada (an island in the Aegean Sea)).
At breakfast and all day long Turkish people drink black tea ("çay"). Tea is made with two teapots in Turkey. Strong bitter tea made in the upper pot is diluted by adding boiling water from the lower. Turkish coffee ("kahve") is usually served after meals or with dessert.
Ayran (yogurt drink) is the most common cold beverage, which may accompany almost all dishes in Turkey, except those with fish and other seafood. It's a mix of yogurt and water, similar to lassi. It may be served with salt, according to taste.
Şalgam suyu (mild or spicy fermented red carrot juice) is another important non-alcoholic beverage that is usually combined with kebabs or served together with rakı.
Boza is a traditional winter drink, which is also known as millet wine (served cold with cinnamon and sometimes with leblebi).
Sahlep is another favorite in winter (served hot with cinnamon). Sahlep is extracted from the roots of wild orchids and may be used in Turkish ice cream as well. This was a popular drink in western Europe before coffee was brought from Africa and came to be widely known.
"Limonata" (lemonade) is very popular. It is traditionally served with baklava and other sweets. Sometimes lemonade is served with strawberry flavoring. This is called "çıleklı lımonata".
Sherbet (Turkish "şerbet," pronounced ) is a syrup which can be made from any of a wide variety of ingredients, especially fruits, flowers, or herbs. Examples include pears, quinces, strawberries, apples, cornelian cherry, pomegranates, oranges, rose petals, rose hips, or licorice and spices. Sherbet is drunk diluted with cold water.
In classical Turkish cuisine, hoşaf (from the Persian "Khosh-ab", meaning "fresh water") alternatively accompanies meat dishes and "pilav" (pilaf). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31427 |
Tourmaline
Tourmaline (, - , ) is a crystalline boron silicate mineral compounded with elements such as aluminium, iron, magnesium, sodium, lithium, or potassium. Tourmaline is classified as a semi-precious stone and the gemstone can be found in a wide variety of colors.
According to the "Madras Tamil Lexicon" the name comes from the word "thoramalli" (තෝරමල්ලි) or "tōra- molli", which is applied to a group of gemstones found in the southern parts of the Indian Subcontinent. According to the same source, the Tamil "tuvara-malli" (துவரைமல்லி) and "toramalli" are also derived from the Sinhalese root word. This etymology is also given in other standard dictionaries including the Oxford English Dictionary.
Brightly colored Ceylonese gem tourmalines were brought to Europe in great quantities by the Dutch East India Company to satisfy a demand for curiosities and gems. Tourmaline was sometimes called the "Ceylonese Sri Lankan Magnet" because it could attract and then repel hot ashes due to its pyroelectric properties.
Tourmalines were used by chemists in the 19th century to polarize light by shining rays onto a cut and polished surface of the gem.
Commonly encountered species and varieties:
Schorl species:
Dravite species: from the Drave district of Carinthia
Elbaite species: named after the island of Elba, Italy
The most common species of tourmaline is "schorl", the sodium iron (divalent) endmember of the group. It may account for 95% or more of all tourmaline in nature. The early history of the mineral schorl shows that the name "schorl" was in use prior to 1400 because a village known today as Zschorlau (in Saxony, Germany) was then named "Schorl" (or minor variants of this name), and the village had a nearby tin mine where, in addition to cassiterite, black tourmaline was found. The first description of schorl with the name "schürl" and its occurrence (various tin mines in the Ore Mountains) was written by Johannes Mathesius (1504–1565) in 1562 under the title "Sarepta oder Bergpostill". Up to about 1600, additional names used in the German language were "Schurel", "Schörle", and "Schurl". Beginning in the 18th century, the name "Schörl" was mainly used in the German-speaking area. In English, the names "shorl" and "shirl" were used in the 18th century. In the 19th century the names "common schorl", "schörl", "schorl" and "iron tourmaline" were the English words used for this mineral.
Dravite, also called brown tourmaline, is the sodium magnesium rich tourmaline endmember. Uvite, in comparison, is a calcium magnesium tourmaline. Dravite forms multiple series, with other tourmaline members, including schorl and elbaite.
The name "dravite" was used for the first time by Gustav Tschermak (1836–1927), Professor of Mineralogy and Petrography at the University of Vienna, in his book "Lehrbuch der Mineralogie" (published in 1884) for magnesium-rich (and sodium-rich) tourmaline from village Dobrova near Unterdrauburg in the Drava river area, Carinthia, Austro-Hungarian Empire. Today this tourmaline locality (type locality for dravite) at Dobrova (near Dravograd), is a part of the Republic of Slovenia. Tschermak gave this tourmaline the name dravite, for the Drava river area, which is the district along the Drava River (in German: "Drau", in Latin: "Drave") in Austria and Slovenia. The chemical composition which was given by Tschermak in 1884 for this dravite approximately corresponds to the formula NaMg3(Al,Mg)6B3Si6O27(OH), which is in good agreement (except for the OH content) with the endmember formula of dravite as known today.
Dravite varieties include the deep green chromium dravite and the vanadium dravite.
A lithium-tourmaline elbaite was one of three pegmatitic minerals from Utö, Sweden, in which the new alkali element lithium (Li) was determined in 1818 by Johan August Arfwedson for the first time. Elba Island, Italy, was one of the first localities where colored and colorless Li-tourmalines were extensively chemically analysed. In 1850 Karl Friedrich August Rammelsberg described fluorine (F) in tourmaline for the first time. In 1870 he proved that all varieties of tourmaline contain chemically bound water. In 1889 Scharitzer proposed the substitution of (OH) by F in red Li-tourmaline from Sušice, Czech Republic. In 1914 Vladimir Vernadsky proposed the name "Elbait" for lithium-, sodium-, and aluminum-rich tourmaline from Elba Island, Italy, with the simplified formula (Li,Na)HAl6B2Si4O21. Most likely the type material for elbaite was found at Fonte del Prete, San Piero in Campo, Campo nell'Elba, Elba Island, Province of Livorno, Tuscany, Italy. In 1933 Winchell published an updated formula for elbaite, H8Na2Li3Al3B6Al12Si12O62, which is commonly used to date written as Na(Li1.5Al1.5)Al6(BO3)3[Si6O18](OH)3(OH). The first crystal structure determination of a Li-rich tourmaline was published in 1972 by Donnay and Barton, performed on a pink elbaite from San Diego County, California, United States.
The tourmaline mineral group is chemically one of the most complicated groups of silicate minerals. Its composition varies widely because of isomorphous replacement (solid solution), and its general formula can be written as
where:
Luinaite-(OH) is a monoclinic distorted variant. A revised nomenclature for the tourmaline group was published in 2011.
Tourmaline is a six-member ring cyclosilicate having a trigonal crystal system. It occurs as long, slender to thick prismatic and columnar crystals that are usually triangular in cross-section, often with curved striated faces. The style of termination at the ends of crystals is sometimes asymmetrical, called hemimorphism. Small slender prismatic crystals are common in a fine-grained granite called aplite, often forming radial daisy-like patterns. Tourmaline is distinguished by its three-sided prisms; no other common mineral has three sides. Prisms faces often have heavy vertical striations that produce a rounded triangular effect. Tourmaline is rarely perfectly euhedral. An exception was the fine dravite tourmalines of Yinnietharra, in western Australia. The deposit was discovered in the 1970s, but is now exhausted. All hemimorphic crystals are piezoelectric, and are often pyroelectric as well.
Tourmaline has a variety of colors. Iron-rich tourmalines are usually black to bluish-black to deep brown, while magnesium-rich varieties are brown to yellow, and lithium-rich tourmalines are almost any color: blue, green, red, yellow, pink, etc. Rarely, it is colorless. Bi-colored and multicolored crystals are common, reflecting variations of fluid chemistry during crystallization. Crystals may be green at one end and pink at the other, or green on the outside and pink inside; this type is called watermelon tourmaline. Some forms of tourmaline are dichroic; they change color when viewed from different directions.
The pink color of tourmalines from many localities is the result of prolonged natural irradiation. During their growth, these tourmaline crystals incorporated Mn2+ and were initially very pale. Due to natural gamma ray exposure from radioactive decay of 40K in their granitic environment, gradual formation of Mn3+ ions occurs, which is responsible for the deepening of the pink to red color.
Opaque black schorl and yellow tsilaisite are idiochromatic tourmaline species that have high magnetic susceptibilities due to high concentrations of iron and manganese respectively. Most gem-quality tourmalines are of the elbaite species. Elbaite tourmalines are allochromatic, deriving most of their color and magnetic susceptibility from schorl (which imparts iron) and tsilaisite (which imparts manganese).
Red and pink tourmalines have the lowest magnetic susceptibilities among the elbaites, while tourmalines with bright yellow, green and blue colors are the most magnetic elbaites. Dravite species such as green chromium dravite and brown dravite are diamagnetic. A handheld neodymium magnet can be used to identify or separate some types of tourmaline gems from others. For example, blue indicolite tourmaline is the only blue gemstone of any kind that will show a drag response when a neodymium magnet is applied. Any blue tourmaline that is diamagnetic can be identified as paraiba tourmaline colored by copper in contrast to magnetic blue tourmaline colored by iron.
Some tourmaline gems, especially pink to red colored stones, are altered by heat treatment to improve their color. Overly dark red stones can be lightened by careful heat treatment. The pink color in manganese-containing near-colorless to pale pink stones can be greatly increased by irradiation with gamma-rays or electron beams. Irradiation is almost impossible to detect in tourmalines, and does not, currently, affect the value. Heavily included tourmalines, such as rubellite and Brazilian paraiba, are sometimes clarity-enhanced. A clarity-enhanced tourmaline (especially the paraiba variety) is worth much less than an untreated gem of equal clarity.
Tourmaline is found in granite and granite pegmatites and in metamorphic rocks such as schist and marble. Schorl and lithium-rich tourmalines are usually found in granite and granite pegmatite. Magnesium-rich tourmalines, dravites, are generally restricted to schists and marble. Tourmaline is a durable mineral and can be found in minor amounts as grains in sandstone and conglomerate, and is part of the ZTR index for highly weathered sediments.
Gem and specimen tourmaline is mined chiefly in Brazil and Africa. Some placer material suitable for gem use comes from Sri Lanka and India. In addition to Brazil, tourmaline is mined in Tanzania, Nigeria, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Afghanistan, India, Sri Lanka, Belitung Island - Indonesia and Malawi.
Some fine gems and specimen material have been produced in the United States, with the first discoveries in 1822, in the state of Maine. California became a large producer of tourmaline in the early 1900s. The Maine deposits tend to produce crystals in raspberry pink-red as well as minty greens. The California deposits are known for bright pinks, as well as bicolors. During the early 1900s, Maine and California were the world's largest producers of gem tourmalines. The Empress Dowager Cixi of China loved pink tourmaline and bought large quantities for gemstones and carvings from the then new Himalaya Mine, located in San Diego County, California. It is not clear when the first tourmaline was found in California. Native Americans have used pink and green tourmaline as funeral gifts for centuries. The first documented case was in 1890 when Charles Russel Orcutt found pink tourmaline at what later became the Stewart Mine at Pala, San Diego County.
Almost every color of tourmaline can be found in Brazil, especially in the Brazilian states of Minas Gerais and Bahia. The new type of tourmaline, which soon became known as paraiba tourmaline, came in blue and green. Brazilian paraiba tourmaline usually contains abundant inclusions. Much of the paraiba tourmaline from Brazil actually comes from the neighboring state of Rio Grande do Norte. Material from Rio Grande do Norte is often somewhat less intense in color, but many fine gems are found there. It was determined that the element copper was important in the coloration of the stone.
A large cut tourmaline from Paraiba, measuring and weighing 191.87 carats, was included in the Guinness World Records. The large natural gem, owned by Billionaire Business Enterprises, is a bluish-green in color. The flawless oval shaped cut stone was presented in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on 14 October 2009.
In the late 1990s, copper-containing tourmaline was found in Nigeria. The material was generally paler and less saturated than the Brazilian materials, although the material generally was much less included. A more recent African discovery from Mozambique has also produced tourmaline colored by copper, similar to the Brazilian paraiba. While its colors are somewhat less bright than top Brazilian material, Mozambique paraiba is often less-included and has been found in larger sizes. The Mozambique paraiba material usually is more intensely colored than the Nigerian.
Another highly valuable variety is chrome tourmaline, a rare type of dravite tourmaline from Tanzania. Chrome tourmaline is a rich green color due to the presence of chromium atoms in the crystal. Of the standard elbaite colors, blue indicolite gems are typically the most valuable, followed by green verdelite and pink to red rubellite. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31428 |
Twin paradox
In physics, the twin paradox is a thought experiment in special relativity involving identical twins, one of whom makes a journey into space in a high-speed rocket and returns home to find that the twin who remained on Earth has aged more. This result appears puzzling because each twin sees the other twin as moving, and so, according to an incorrect and naive application of time dilation and the principle of relativity, each should paradoxically find the other to have aged less. However, this scenario can be resolved within the standard framework of special relativity: the travelling twin's trajectory involves two different inertial frames, one for the outbound journey and one for the inbound journey. Another way of looking at it is by realising that the travelling twin is undergoing acceleration, which makes him a non-inertial observer. In both views there is no symmetry between the spacetime paths of the twins. Therefore, the twin paradox is not a paradox in the sense of a logical contradiction.
Starting with Paul Langevin in 1911, there have been various explanations of this paradox. These explanations "can be grouped into those that focus on the effect of different standards of simultaneity in different frames, and those that designate the acceleration [experienced by the travelling twin] as the main reason". Max von Laue argued in 1913 that since the traveling twin must be in two separate inertial frames, one on the way out and another on the way back, this frame switch is the reason for the aging difference. Explanations put forth by Albert Einstein and Max Born invoked gravitational time dilation to explain the aging as a direct effect of acceleration. However, it has been proven that general relativity, or even acceleration, are not necessary to explain the effect, as the effect still applies to a theoretical observer that can invert the direction of motion instantly, maintaining constant speed all through the two phases of the trip. Such observer can be thought of as a pair of observers, one travelling away from the starting point and another travelling toward it, passing by each other where the turnaround point would be. At this moment, the clock reading in the first observer is transferred to the second one, both maintaining constant speed, with both trip times being added at the end of their journey.
In his famous paper on special relativity in 1905, Albert Einstein deduced that when two clocks were brought together and synchronized, and then one was moved away and brought back, the clock which had undergone the traveling would be found to be lagging behind the clock which had stayed put. Einstein considered this to be a natural consequence of special relativity, not a paradox as some suggested, and in 1911, he restated and elaborated on this result as follows (with physicist Robert Resnick's comments following Einstein's):
In 1911, Paul Langevin gave a "striking example" by describing the story of a traveler making a trip at a Lorentz factor of (99.995% the speed of light). The traveler remains in a projectile for one year of his time, and then reverses direction. Upon return, the traveler will find that he has aged two years, while 200 years have passed on Earth. During the trip, both the traveler and Earth keep sending signals to each other at a constant rate, which places Langevin's story among the Doppler shift versions of the twin paradox. The relativistic effects upon the signal rates are used to account for the different aging rates. The asymmetry that occurred because only the traveler underwent acceleration is used to explain why there is any difference at all, because "any change of velocity, or any acceleration has an absolute meaning".
Max von Laue (1911, 1913) elaborated on Langevin's explanation. Using Hermann Minkowski's spacetime formalism, Laue went on to demonstrate that the world lines of the inertially moving bodies maximize the proper time elapsed between two events. He also wrote that the asymmetric aging is completely accounted for by the fact that the astronaut twin travels in two separate frames , while the Earth twin remains in one frame, and the time of acceleration can be made arbitrarily small compared with the time of inertial motion. Eventually, Lord Halsbury and others removed any acceleration by introducing the "three-brother" approach. The traveling twin transfers his clock reading to a third one, traveling in the opposite direction. Another way of avoiding acceleration effects is the use of the relativistic Doppler effect (see below).
Neither Einstein nor Langevin considered such results to be problematic: Einstein only called it "peculiar" while Langevin presented it as a consequence of absolute acceleration. Both men argued that, from the time differential illustrated by the story of the twins, no self-contradiction could be constructed. In other words, neither Einstein nor Langevin saw the story of the twins as constituting a challenge to the self-consistency of relativistic physics.
Consider a space ship traveling from Earth to the nearest star system: a distance years away, at a speed (i.e., 80 percent of the speed of light).
To make the numbers easy, the ship is assumed to attain full speed in a negligible time upon departure (even though it would actually take close to a year accelerating at 1 "g" to get up to speed). Similarly, at the end of the outgoing trip, the change in direction needed to start the return trip is assumed to occur in a negligible time. This can also be modelled by assuming that the ship is already in motion at the beginning of the experiment and that the return event is modelled by a Dirac delta distribution acceleration.
The parties will observe the situation as follows:
The Earth-based mission control reasons about the journey this way: the round trip will take in Earth time ("i.e." everybody on Earth will be 10 years older when the ship returns). The amount of time as measured on the ship's clocks and the aging of the travelers during their trip will be reduced by the factor formula_1, the reciprocal of the Lorentz factor (time dilation). In this case and the travelers will have aged only when they return.
The ship's crew members also calculate the particulars of their trip from their perspective. They know that the distant star system and the Earth are moving relative to the ship at speed "v" during the trip. In their rest frame the distance between the Earth and the star system is years (length contraction), for both the outward and return journeys. Each half of the journey takes , and the round trip takes twice as long (6 years). Their calculations show that they will arrive home having aged 6 years. The travelers' final calculation about their aging is in complete agreement with the calculations of those on Earth, though they experience the trip quite differently from those who stay at home.
No matter what method they use to predict the clock readings, everybody will agree about them. If twins are born on the day the ship leaves, and one goes on the journey while the other stays on Earth, they will meet again when the traveler is 6 years old and the stay-at-home twin is 10 years old.
The paradoxical aspect of the twins' situation arises from the fact that at any given moment the travelling twin's clock is running slow in the earthbound twin's inertial frame, but based on the relativity principle one could equally argue that the earthbound twin's clock is running slow in the travelling twin's inertial frame. One proposed resolution is based on the fact that the earthbound twin is at rest in the same inertial frame throughout the journey, while the travelling twin is not: in the simplest version of the thought-experiment, the travelling twin switches at the midpoint of the trip from being at rest in an inertial frame which moves in one direction (away from the Earth) to being at rest in an inertial frame which moves in the opposite direction (towards the Earth). In this approach, determining which observer switches frames and which does not is crucial. Although both twins can legitimately claim that they are at rest in their own frame, only the traveling twin experiences acceleration when the spaceship engines are turned on. This acceleration, measurable with an accelerometer, makes his rest frame temporarily non-inertial. This reveals a crucial asymmetry between the twins's perspectives: although we can predict the aging difference from both perspectives, we need to use different methods to obtain correct results.
Although some solutions attribute a crucial role to the acceleration of the travelling twin at the time of the turnaround, others note that the effect also arises if one imagines two separate travellers, one outward-going and one inward-coming, who pass each other and synchronize their clocks at the point corresponding to "turnaround" of a single traveller. In this version, physical acceleration of the travelling clock plays no direct role; "the issue is how long the world-lines are, not how bent". The length referred to here is the Lorentz-invariant length or "proper time interval" of a trajectory which corresponds to the elapsed time measured by a clock following that trajectory (see Section Difference in elapsed time as a result of differences in twins' spacetime paths below). In Minkowski spacetime, the travelling twin must feel a different history of accelerations from the earthbound twin, even if this just means accelerations of the same size separated by different amounts of time, however "even this role for acceleration can be eliminated in formulations of the twin paradox in curved spacetime, where the twins can fall freely along space-time geodesics between meetings".
For a moment-by-moment understanding of how the time difference between the twins unfolds, one must understand that in special relativity there is no concept of "absolute present". For different inertial frames there are different sets of events that are simultaneous in that frame. This relativity of simultaneity means that switching from one inertial frame to another requires an adjustment in what slice through spacetime counts as the "present". In the spacetime diagram on the right, drawn for the reference frame of the Earth-based twin, that twin's world line coincides with the vertical axis (his position is constant in space, moving only in time). On the first leg of the trip, the second twin moves to the right (black sloped line); and on the second leg, back to the left. Blue lines show the "planes of simultaneity" for the traveling twin during the first leg of the journey; red lines, during the second leg. Just before turnaround, the traveling twin calculates the age of the Earth-based twin by measuring the interval along the vertical axis from the origin to the upper blue line. Just after turnaround, if he recalculates, he will measure the interval from the origin to the lower red line. In a sense, during the U-turn the plane of simultaneity jumps from blue to red and very quickly sweeps over a large segment of the world line of the Earth-based twin. When one transfers from the outgoing inertial frame to the incoming inertial frame there is a jump discontinuity in the age of the Earth-based twin (6.4 years in the example above).
As mentioned above, an "out and back" twin paradox adventure may incorporate the transfer of clock reading from an "outgoing" astronaut to an "incoming" astronaut, thus entirely eliminating the effect of acceleration. Also, according to the so-called "clock postulate", physical acceleration of clocks doesn't contribute to the kinematical effects of special relativity. Rather, the time differential between two reunited clocks is produced purely by uniform inertial motion, as discussed in Einstein's original 1905 relativity paper, as well as in all subsequent kinematical derivations of the Lorentz transformations.
Because spacetime diagrams incorporate Einstein's clock synchronization (with its lattice of clocks methodology), there will be a requisite jump in the reading of the Earth clock time made by a "suddenly returning astronaut" who inherits a "new meaning of simultaneity" in keeping with a new clock synchronization dictated by the transfer to a different inertial frame, as explained in Spacetime Physics by John A. Wheeler.
If, instead of incorporating Einstein's clock synchronization (lattice of clocks), the astronaut (outgoing and incoming) and the Earth-based party regularly update each other on the status of their clocks by way of sending radio signals (which travel at light speed), then all parties will note an incremental buildup of asymmetry in time-keeping, beginning at the "turn around" point. Prior to the "turn around", each party regards the other party's clock to be recording time differently from his own, but the noted difference is symmetrical between the two parties. After the "turn around", the noted differences are not symmetrical, and the asymmetry grows incrementally until the two parties are reunited. Upon finally reuniting, this asymmetry can be seen in the actual difference showing on the two reunited clocks.
All processes—chemical, biological, measuring apparatus functioning, human perception involving the eye and brain, the communication of force—are constrained by the speed of light. There is clock functioning at every level, dependent on light speed and the inherent delay at even the atomic level. Biological aging, therefore, is in no way different from clock time-keeping. This means that biological aging would be slowed in the same manner as a clock.
In view of the frame-dependence of simultaneity for events at different locations in space, some treatments prefer a more phenomenological approach, describing what the twins would observe if each sent out a series of regular radio pulses, equally spaced in time according to the emitter's clock. This is equivalent to asking, if each twin sent a video feed of themselves to each other, what do they see in their screens? Or, if each twin always carried a clock indicating his age, what time would each see in the image of their distant twin and his clock?
Shortly after departure, the traveling twin sees the stay-at-home twin with no time delay. At arrival, the image in the ship screen shows the staying twin as he was 1 year after launch, because radio emitted from Earth 1 year after launch gets to the other star 4 years afterwards and meets the ship there. During this leg of the trip, the traveling twin sees his own clock advance 3 years and the clock in the screen advance 1 year, so it seems to advance at the normal rate, just 20 image seconds per ship minute. This combines the effects of time dilation due to motion (by factor ε=0.6, five years on Earth are 3 years on ship) and the effect of increasing light-time-delay (which grows from 0 to 4 years).
Of course, the observed frequency of the transmission is also the frequency of the transmitter (a reduction in frequency; "red-shifted"). This is called the relativistic Doppler effect. The frequency of clock-ticks (or of wavefronts) which one sees from a source with rest frequency "f"rest is
when the source is moving directly away. This is "f"obs = "f"rest for "v"/"c" = 0.8.
As for the stay-at-home twin, he gets a slowed signal from the ship for 9 years, at a frequency the transmitter frequency. During these 9 years, the clock of the traveling twin in the screen seems to advance 3 years, so both twins see the image of their sibling aging at a rate only their own rate. Expressed in other way, they would both see the other's clock run at their own clock speed. If they factor out of the calculation the fact that the light-time delay of the transmission is increasing at a rate of 0.8 seconds per second, "both" can work out that the other twin is aging slower, at 60% rate.
Then the ship turns back toward home. The clock of the staying twin shows "1 year after launch" in the screen of the ship, and during the 3 years of the trip back it increases up to "10 years after launch", so the clock in the screen seems to be advancing 3 times faster than usual.
When the source is moving towards the observer, the observed frequency is higher ("blue-shifted") and given by
This is "f"obs = 3"f"rest for "v"/"c" = 0.8.
As for the screen on Earth, it shows that trip back beginning 9 years after launch, and the traveling clock in the screen shows that 3 years have passed on the ship. One year later, the ship is back home and the clock shows 6 years. So, during the trip back, "both" twins see their sibling's clock going 3 times faster than their own. Factoring out the fact that the light-time-delay is decreasing by 0.8 seconds every second, each twin calculates that the other twin is aging at 60% his own aging speed.
The "x"–"t" (space–time) diagrams at left show the paths of light signals traveling between Earth and ship (1st diagram) and between ship and Earth (2nd diagram). These signals carry the images of each twin and his age-clock to the other twin. The vertical black line is the Earth's path through spacetime and the other two sides of the triangle show the ship's path through spacetime (as in the Minkowski diagram above). As far as the sender is concerned, he transmits these at equal intervals (say, once an hour) according to his own clock; but according to the clock of the twin receiving these signals, they are not being received at equal intervals.
After the ship has reached its cruising speed of 0.8"c", each twin would see 1 second pass in the received image of the other twin for every 3 seconds of his own time. That is, each would see the image of the other's clock going slow, not just slow by the "ε" factor 0.6, but even slower because light-time-delay is increasing 0.8 seconds per second. This is shown in the figures by red light paths. At some point, the images received by each twin change so that each would see 3 seconds pass in the image for every second of his own time. That is, the received signal has been increased in frequency by the Doppler shift. These high frequency images are shown in the figures by blue light paths.
The asymmetry between the Earth and the space ship is manifested in this diagram by the fact that more blue-shifted (fast aging) images are received by the ship. Put another way, the space ship sees the image change from a red-shift (slower aging of the image) to a blue-shift (faster aging of the image) at the midpoint of its trip (at the turnaround, 5 years after departure); the Earth sees the image of the ship change from red-shift to blue shift after 9 years (almost at the end of the period that the ship is absent). In the next section, one will see another asymmetry in the images: the Earth twin sees the ship twin age by the same amount in the red and blue shifted images; the ship twin sees the Earth twin age by different amounts in the red and blue shifted images.
The twin on the ship sees low frequency (red) images for 3 years. During that time, he would see the Earth twin in the image grow older by . He then sees high frequency (blue) images during the back trip of 3 years. During that time, he would see the Earth twin in the image grow older by When the journey is finished, the image of the Earth twin has aged by
The Earth twin sees 9 years of slow (red) images of the ship twin, during which the ship twin ages (in the image) by He then sees fast (blue) images for the remaining 1 year until the ship returns. In the fast images, the ship twin ages by The total aging of the ship twin in the images received by Earth is , so the ship twin returns younger (6 years as opposed to 10 years on Earth).
To avoid confusion, note the distinction between what each twin sees and what each would calculate. Each sees an image of his twin which he knows originated at a previous time and which he knows is Doppler shifted. He does not take the elapsed time in the image as the age of his twin now.
when the image was emitted. A similar calculation reveals that his twin was aging at the same reduced rate of "εf"rest in all low frequency images.
It may be difficult to see where simultaneity came into the Doppler shift calculation, and indeed the calculation is often preferred because one does not have to worry about simultaneity. As seen above, the ship twin can convert his received Doppler-shifted rate to a slower rate of the clock of the distant clock for both red and blue images. If he ignores simultaneity, he might say his twin was aging at the reduced rate throughout the journey and therefore should be younger than he is. He is now back to square one, and has to take into account the change in his notion of simultaneity at the turnaround. The rate he can calculate for the image (corrected for Doppler effect) is the rate of the Earth twin's clock at the moment it was sent, not at the moment it was received. Since he receives an unequal number of red and blue shifted images, he should realize that the red and blue shifted emissions were not emitted over equal time periods for the Earth twin, and therefore he must account for simultaneity at a distance.
During the turnaround, the traveling twin is in an accelerated reference frame. According to the equivalence principle, the traveling twin may analyze the turnaround phase as if the stay-at-home twin were freely falling in a gravitational field and as if the traveling twin were stationary. A 1918 paper by Einstein presents a conceptual sketch of the idea. From the viewpoint of the traveler, a calculation for each separate leg, ignoring the turnaround, leads to a result in which the Earth clocks age less than the traveler. For example, if the Earth clocks age 1 day less on each leg, the amount that the Earth clocks will lag behind amounts to 2 days. The physical description of what happens at turnaround has to produce a contrary effect of double that amount: 4 days' advancing of the Earth clocks. Then the traveler's clock will end up with a net 2-day delay on the Earth clocks, in agreement with calculations done in the frame of the stay-at-home twin.
The mechanism for the advancing of the stay-at-home twin's clock is gravitational time dilation. When an observer finds that inertially moving objects are being accelerated with respect to themselves, those objects are in a gravitational field insofar as relativity is concerned. For the traveling twin at turnaround, this gravitational field fills the universe. In a weak field approximation, clocks tick at a rate of where "Φ" is the difference in gravitational potential. In this case, where "g" is the acceleration of the traveling observer during turnaround and "h" is the distance to the stay-at-home twin. The rocket is firing towards the stay-at-home twin, thereby placing that twin at a higher gravitational potential. Due to the large distance between the twins, the stay-at-home twin's clocks will appear to be sped up enough to account for the difference in proper times experienced by the twins. It is no accident that this speed-up is enough to account for the simultaneity shift described above. The general relativity solution for a static homogeneous gravitational field and the special relativity solution for finite acceleration produce identical results.
Other calculations have been done for the traveling twin (or for any observer who sometimes accelerates), which do not involve the equivalence principle, and which do not involve any gravitational fields. Such calculations are based only on the special theory, not the general theory, of relativity. One approach calculates surfaces of simultaneity by considering light pulses, in accordance with Hermann Bondi's idea of the k-calculus. A second approach calculates a straightforward but technically complicated integral to determine how the traveling twin measures the elapsed time on the stay-at-home clock. An outline of this second approach is given in a .
The following paragraph shows several things:
Let clock "K" be associated with the "stay at home twin".
Let clock K' be associated with the rocket that makes the trip.
At the departure event both clocks are set to 0.
Knowing that the clock "K" remains inertial (stationary), the total accumulated proper time Δ"τ" of clock K' will be given by the integral function of coordinate time Δ"t"
where "v"("t") is the "coordinate velocity" of clock K' as a function of "t" according to clock "K", and, e.g. during phase 1, given by
This integral can be calculated for the 6 phases:
where "a" is the proper acceleration, felt by clock K' during the acceleration phase(s) and where the following relations hold between "V", "a" and "T"a:
So the traveling clock K' will show an elapsed time of
which can be expressed as
whereas the stationary clock "K" shows an elapsed time of
which is, for every possible value of "a", "T"a, "T"c and "V", larger than the reading of clock K':
In the standard proper time formula
Δ"τ" represents the time of the non-inertial (travelling) observer K' as a function of the elapsed time Δ"t" of the inertial (stay-at-home) observer "K" for whom observer K' has velocity "v"("t") at time "t".
To calculate the elapsed time Δ"t" of the inertial observer "K" as a function of the elapsed time Δ"τ" of the non-inertial observer K', where only quantities measured by K' are accessible, the following formula can be used:
where "a(τ)" is the proper acceleration of the non-inertial observer K' as measured by himself (for instance with an accelerometer) during the whole round-trip. The Cauchy–Schwarz inequality can be used to show that the inequality follows from the previous expression:
Using the Dirac delta function to model the infinite acceleration phase in the standard case of the traveller having constant speed "v" during the outbound and the inbound trip, the formula produces the known result:
In the case where the accelerated observer K' departs from "K" with zero initial velocity, the general equation reduces to the simpler form:
which, in the "smooth" version of the twin paradox where the traveller has constant proper acceleration phases, successively given by "a", −"a", −"a", "a", results in
where the convention "c" = 1 is used, in accordance with the above expression with acceleration phases and inertial (coasting) phases
Twins Bob and Alice inhabit a space station in circular orbit around a massive body in space. Bob suits up and exits the station. While Alice remains inside the station, continuing to orbit with it as before, Bob uses a rocket propulsion system to cease orbiting and hover where he was. When the station completes an orbit and returns to Bob, he rejoins Alice. Alice is now younger than Bob. In addition to rotational acceleration, Bob must decelerate to become stationary and then accelerate again to match the orbital speed of the space station.
Einstein's conclusion of an actual difference in registered clock times (or aging) between reunited parties caused Paul Langevin to posit an actual, albeit experimentally undetectable, absolute frame of reference:
In 1911, Langevin wrote: "A uniform translation in the aether has no experimental sense. But because of this it should not be concluded, as has sometimes happened prematurely, that the concept of aether must be abandoned, that the aether is non-existent and inaccessible to experiment. Only a uniform velocity relative to it cannot be detected, but any change of velocity .. has an absolute sense."
In 1913, Henri Poincaré posthumous "Last Essays" were published and there he had restated his position: "Today some physicists want to adopt a new convention. It is not that they are constrained to do so; they consider this new convention more convenient; that is all. And those who are not of this opinion can legitimately retain the old one."."
In the relativity of Poincaré and Hendrik Lorentz, which assumes an absolute (though experimentally indiscernable) frame of reference, no twin paradox arises due to the fact that clock slowing (along with length contraction and velocity) is regarded as an actuality, hence the actual time differential between the reunited clocks.
That interpretation of relativity, which John A. Wheeler calls "ether theory B (length contraction plus time contraction)", did not gain as much traction as Einstein's, which simply disregarded any deeper reality behind the symmetrical measurements across inertial frames. There is no physical test which distinguishes one interpretation from the other.
More recently (in 2005), Robert B. Laughlin (Physics Nobel Laureate, Stanford University), wrote about the nature of space:
"It is ironic that Einstein's most creative work, the general theory of relativity, should boil down to conceptualizing space as a medium when his original premise [in special relativity] was that no such medium existed . . . The word 'ether' has extremely negative connotations in theoretical physics because of its past association with opposition to relativity. This is unfortunate because, stripped of these connotations, it rather nicely captures the way most physicists actually think about the vacuum. . . . Relativity actually says nothing about the existence or nonexistence of matter pervading the universe, only that any such matter must have relativistic symmetry." (i.e., as measured)."
A. P. French writes, in "Special Relativity":
"Note, though, that we are appealing to the reality of A's acceleration, and to the observability of the inertial forces associated with it. Would such effects as the twin paradox exist if the framework of fixed stars and distant galaxies were not there? Most physicists would say no. Our ultimate definition of an inertial frame may indeed be that it is a frame having zero acceleration with respect to the matter of the universe at large.")."
Robert A. Heinlein's "Time for the Stars" uses the Twin paradox as the theme of a Science Fiction novel – starting with a pair of identical twins of whom one embarks on an epic space voyage while the other remains on Earth. It ends with the space travelling twin returning to Earth, still a young man, to find his twin an extremely old man and eventually marry his own great-grandniece, who is roughly his biological age.
The "ideal clock" is a clock whose action depends only on its instantaneous velocity, and is independent of any acceleration of the clock. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31429 |
Summary of Decameron tales
This article contains summaries and commentaries of the 100 stories within Giovanni Boccaccio's "The Decameron".
Each story of the "Decameron" begins with a short heading explaining the plot of the story. The 1903 translation headings are used in many of these summaries. Commentary on the tale itself follows.
Before beginning the story-telling sessions, the ten young Florentines, seven women and three men, referred to as the "Brigata", gather at the Basilica di Santa Maria Novella and together decide to escape the Black Death by leaving the city to stay in a villa in the countryside for the next two weeks. Each agrees to tell one story each day for ten days. The stories are told in the garden of the first villa that the company stays at, which is located a few miles outside the city.
Under the rule of Pampinea, the first day of story-telling is open topic. Although there is no assigned theme of the tales this first day, six deal with one person censuring another and four are satires of the Catholic Church.
Ser Cepparello, commonly known as Ciapelletto, a notoriously wicked man, travels on business to Burgundy, a region he is unknown in, as a favor to Musciatto Franzesi. Once there, he soon falls terminally ill. The two Florentine brothers who were housing him during his stay bring a friar from a nearby convent to hear his confession and give him his last rites. Ciappelletto proceeds to tell the friar lies about his life that make him seem very pure, while pretending to cringe over venial sins. He is completely believed by the friar, who preaches a sermon on his life after he passes away. The townspeople who hear the sermon believe that he was a holy man and revere him as a saint long after Ciapelletto dies.
Panfilo is the storyteller of the first tale of the entire collection, which is also the first tale ridiculing then-current practices of the Roman Catholic Church (in this case canonization by the people). The earliest source of this story is found in chapter eight of Saint Sulpicius Severus's biography of Saint Martin of Tours. The biography dates from around 400 AD.
Abraham, a Jew of Paris, is the friend of Giannotto di Civignì, who for years has urged him to become a Christian. One day Abraham departs for Rome, telling Giannotto that he wants to see the leaders of the Church – the pope and the curia – to decide whether or not he wants to convert. Giannotto, knowing of the debauched and decadent ways of the Roman clergy, fears Abraham will never want to convert after witnessing the corruption of the Church. But when Abraham returns, he converts, concluding that if Christianity can still spread even when its hierarchy is so corrupt, it must be the true word of God.
Neifile tells both the second story of the book and the second anti-Catholic story. In this caustic story, the Jew converts because he logically concludes that only a religion supported by God could prosper despite the corruption of its leadership. The earliest source of this tale is in Busone da Gubbio's "Avventuroso Ciciliano", written in Italian in 1311. This tale has also been told about Muslims, including Saladin.
Saladin, a powerful sultan, finds that his treasury is exhausted. Melchizedek, a Jew, has money enough to cover the shortfall, but Saladin believes he is too avaricious to lend it fairly. Saladin tries to trick Melchizedek into giving offense (and justifying the seizure of his wealth) by asking him whether Judaism, Christianity, or Islam is the true Word of God. Melchizedek evades the trap by comparing it to the story of a merchant who had a precious ring and three virtuous sons. Having promised the ring (and with it, his estate) to all three, the king had two equally precious copies made and gave one ring to each son. Thus it could not be determined who was heir to the estate. Likewise, it cannot be determined which faith is the truth. Saladin appreciates Melchizedek's wisdom and decides to be honest with him. In the end, Saladin gets his loan and repays it and Melchizedek gets Saladin's respect and gifts of praise for his intelligence.
Filomena narrates this tale, which portrays the main character as wise and in a positive light. Unlike other Medieval and Renaissance authors, Boccaccio treats Jews with respect. Boccaccio may have had contact with Jews while living in Naples as a young man. The oldest source is found in a French work by Stephen of Bourbon called "The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit". However, a slightly younger (c. 1321) Italian story in Bosone da Gubbio's "L'avventuroso siciliano" was Boccaccio's probable source. This tale was especially popular in the Renaissance and can be found in many versions all over Europe. It is also referred to as "The Tale of the Three Rings" and "The Legend of the Three Rings" and, according to Carlo Ginzburg, was quoted in the heresy trial of the Italian miller Menocchio.
A young monk lapses into seducing a young woman and is secretly observed by an elder abbot. However, he knows that he has been seen and so leaves, on pretense of finishing a task, and gives the key to his room to the abbot, who then goes to see the girl for himself and take his own advantage of her. The monk, who hid, watching all of this, uses it to balk prosecution. The monk and the abbot quickly rush the woman out of the monastery but often bring her back in.
Dioneo, who has acquired the reputation of the most bawdy of the storytellers, narrates this tale. The earliest surviving source for this anti-clerical tale is found in "Cento Novelle Antiche", an Italian compilation of short stories from the end of the 13th century. Boccaccio could have possibly also taken the tale from a French "fabliau", ""L'Evesque qui benit sa maitresse"" ("The bishop who blesses his mistress").
The Marchioness of Montferrat by a banquet of hens seasoned with wit checks the mad passion of the King of France.
Fiammetta tells this story, which originates from "The Thousand and One Arabian Nights".
A well-off man, becoming rather tipsy, rashly says that his wine is "good enough for Christ himself". The greedy inquisitor hears this and prosecutes him. After some time for attending to penances imposed upon him, he hears at a mass that "you shall receive an hundredfold and shall possess eternal life". He returns to the inquisitor and marks large amounts of "swill" being given to the poor. He commiserates with the inquisitor saying that if he receives 100 times as much in the afterlife, he would be drowned. This incenses the inquisitor, but also embarrasses him for his gluttony.
Emilia narrates yet another anti-clerical tale, the fourth of the day so far. Some commentators have identified the inquisitor as Pietro della Aquila, the inquisitor of Florence in 1345.
Bergamino, with a story of Primasso (probably Hugh Primas) and the Abbot of Cluny, finely censures a sudden excess of avarice in Messer Can Grande della Scala.
Filostrato tells this tale about Dante's benefactor, whom he praises in the "Paradiso" section of the "Divine Comedy", xvii, 68.
Guglielmo Borsiere by a neat retort sharply censures avarice in Messer Ermino de' Grimaldi.
Just like the previous three novellas, Lauretta's tale tells of one person censuring another in a clever way. There is no known source for this tale.
This tale also includes another Dante reference, this time to "Inferno", xvi, 66. Dante's influence is everywhere seen in the "Decameron", from its subtitle (a reference to "Inferno", v) to its physical arrangement and careful attention to Medieval numerology. Also Boccaccio often tells tales about the lives of people whose souls Dante had met in his epic journey through the afterlife.
The censure of a Gascon lady converts the King of Cyprus from a churlish to an honourable temper.
Elissa narrates another tale of censure. Boccaccio took this story directly from "Cento Novelle Antiche", in which the male character is also the King of Cyprus.
Master Alberto da Bologna honorably puts to shame a lady who sought occasion to put him to shame in that he was in love with her.
Pampinea narrates the last tale of the day, another tale of censure (the sixth of the day).
Filomena reigns during the second day and she assigns a topic to each of the storytellers: Misadventures that suddenly end happily.
Martellino pretends to be a paralytic, and makes it appear as if he were cured by being placed upon the body of St. Arrigo. His trick is detected; he is beaten and arrested, and is in peril of hanging, but finally escapes.
Neifile narrates this tale, which, like I, 1, ridicules the Catholic tradition of discerning the Saints. Although there is no known earlier source for this tale, the part where Martellino's friends are carrying him in on a cot references Mark 2:2 and Luke 5:19.
Rinaldo d'Asti is robbed, arrives at Castle Guglielmo, and is entertained by a widow lady; his property is restored to him, the robbers caught and hanged, and he returns home safe and sound.
This story seems to originate in the "Panchatantra", a work originally composed in Sanskrit, and was already 1,500 years old by the time Boccaccio retold it. Filostrato tells this version of the tale.
Three young men squander their substance and are reduced to poverty. Their nephew, returning home a desperate man, falls in love with an abbess, in whom he discovers the daughter of the King of England. She marries him, and he retrieves the losses and reestablishes the fortune of his uncles.
Pampinea narrates this tale of which no earlier version is known.
Landolfo Ruffolo is reduced to poverty, turns corsair, is captured by Genoese, is shipwrecked, escapes on a chest full of jewels, and, being cast ashore at Corfu, is hospitably entertained by a woman, and returns home wealthy.
Lauretta narrates.
Andreuccio da Perugia comes to Naples to buy horses, meets with three serious adventures in one night, comes safe out of them all, and returns home with a ruby.
Fiammetta tells this story which is actually a combination of two earlier tales. The beginning of the tale is first recorded in about 1228 by Courtois d'Arrass in his "Boivin de Provins." The portion of Andreuccio being trapped in the tomb of the archbishop and how he escapes comes from the Ephesian Tale by Xenophon of Ephesus, which was written in about 150 AD. That portion of the tale is so memorable that it was still being told as a true story in the cities and countryside of Europe in the early 20th century
Madam Beritola loses two sons, is found with two goats on an island, goes thence to Lunigiana, where one of her sons takes service with her master, and lies with his daughter, for which he is put in prison. Sicily rebels against King Charles, the son is recognized by the mother, marries the master's daughter, and, his brother being discovered, is reinstated in great honor.
Emilia tells this story. It resembles the story of Sir Isumbras, which dates from before 1320 and was very popular in medieval England.
The Sultan of Babylon sends one of his daughters, Alatiel, overseas, designing to marry her to the King of Algarve. By diverse adventures she comes in the space of four years into the hands of nine men in varied places. At last she is restored to her father, whom she quits again in the guise of a virgin, and, as was at first intended, is married to the King of Algarve.
This scandalous tale is told by Panfilo. There is no agreement on its origin, probably because of the very eclectic nature of the plot, which may have been pieced together from various sources by Boccaccio. Some suggest One Thousand and One Nights or the Ephesian Tale may have given some inspiration to the author for this tale, but not enough that either could definitely been called a source.
The Count of Antwerp, laboring under a false accusation, goes into exile. He leaves his two children in different places in England, and takes service in Ireland. Returning to England an unknown man, he finds his son and daughter prosperous. He serves as a groom in the army of the King of France; his innocence is established, and he is restored to his former honors.
Elissa narrates this story, which shares its theme of a woman's vengeance for being spurned with many ancient stories. However, a direct source may be the real-life story of Pierre de La Broce and Lady of Brabant. Dante writes about the soul of the former in "Purgatorio", vi. A literary source may have been a Provençal romance written in 1318 by Arnaud Vidal de Castelnaudary called "Guillaume de la Barre". However, the theme is so common that pinning down one main source is very difficult.
Bernabò of Genoa, deceived by Ambrogiuolo, loses his money and commands his innocent wife to be put to death. She escapes, habits herself as a man, and serves the Sultan. She discovers the deceiver, and brings Bernabò to Alexandria, where the deceiver is punished. She then resumes the garb of a woman, and with her husband returns wealthy to Genoa.
Filomena tells this story, which is best known to English readers through Shakespeare's "Cymbeline". The oldest known version of this story is a French romance from the 13th century called "Roman de la Violette ou de Gerard de Nevers" by Gilbert de Montreuil.
Paganino da Monaco carries off the wife of Messer Ricciardo di Chinzica, who, having learned where she is, goes to Paganino and in a friendly manner asks him to restore her. He consents, provided she be willing. She refuses to go back with her husband. Messer Ricciardo dies, and she marries Paganino.
In the last tale of the second day Dioneo begins his pattern of telling the last tale of the day, which he will continue until the end of the "Decameron". The moral of the story – that a young woman should not marry an old man – is common in late medieval vernacular literature.
Neifile presides as queen during the third day. In these stories a person either has painfully acquired something or has lost it and then regained it.
Masetto da Lamporecchio feigns to be mute, and obtains a gardener's place at a convent of women, who with one accord make haste to lie with him.
Filostrato's tale of a man's devices that he employs to enjoy the physical company of a convent of nuns was also in "Cento Novelle Antiche" from the 13th century.
A groom lies with the wife of King Agilulf, who learns the fact, keeps his own counsel, finds out the groom and shears him. The shorn shears all his fellows and so comes safe out of the scrape.
Pampinea's clever tale originates in either the "Panchatantra", a Sanskrit story from the 4th century AD, or the "Histories" of Herodotus. However, Boccaccio's version is unique in that the husband in the tale preserves both his honor and that of his wife, and emphasis on "keeping up appearances" that is distinct of the Renaissance merchant class, to which Boccaccio belonged.
Under cloak of confession and a most spotless conscience, a lady, enamored of a young man, induces a dim-witted friar unwittingly to provide a means to the entire gratification of her passion.
Filomena narrates this story.
Dom Felice instructs Friar Puccio how to attain blessedness by doing a penance. Friar Puccio does the penance, and meanwhile Dom Felice has a good time with Friar Puccio's wife.
Panfilo narrates.
Zima gives a palfrey to Messer Francesco Vergellesi, who in return suffers him to speak with his wife. She keeping silence, he answers in her stead, and the sequel is in accordance with his answer.
This tale is originally found in "Hitopadesha", a Sanskrit collection of tales. Boccaccio, though, may have directly taken the tale from "The Seven Wise Masters", which, although oriental in origin, was widely circulating in Latin at the time the "Decameron" was written. Elissa narrates.
Ricciardo Minutolo loves the wife of Filippello Fighinolfi, and knowing her to be jealous, makes her believe that his own wife is to meet Filippello at a Turkish bath house on the ensuing day; whereby she is induced to go thither, where, thinking to have been with her husband, she discovers that she has tarried with Ricciardo.
Fiammetta tells this tale, which like the previous one, was taken from "The Seven Wise Masters".
Tedaldo, being in disfavour with his lady, departs from Florence. He returns after a while in the guise of a pilgrim, speaks with his lady, and makes her sensible of her fault. Her husband, convicted of slaying him, he delivers from peril of death, reconciles him with his brothers, and thereafter discreetly enjoys his lady.
Emilia narrates this tale, which has no known previous version.
Ferondo, having taken a certain powder, is interred for dead; is disinterred by the abbot, who enjoys his wife; is put in prison and taught to believe that he is in purgatory; is then resuscitated, and rears as his own a boy begotten by the abbot upon his wife.
Lauretta's tale of the elaborate ruses that an abbot undertakes to enjoy Ferondo's wife was probably taken by Boccaccio from a French fabliau by Jean de Boves called . Boccaccio not only capitalizes on the tale to poke fun at the clerics of his day, but also at the simple-mindedness of some of his countrymen.
Gillette of Narbonne cures the King of France of a fistula, craves for spouse Bertrand de Roussillon, who marries her against his will, and hies him in despite to Florence, where, as he courts a young woman, Gillette lies with him in her stead, and has two sons by him; for which cause he afterwards takes her into favour and entreats her as his wife.
Neifile narrates this tale, which was written first by the Sanskrit dramatist and poet Kālidāsa in his "The Recognition of Śakuntalā". The time of Kālidāsa's life is uncertain, but some scholars think that he lived in the 5th century. Boccaccio may have taken the tale from an 11th-century French version. This tale is the basis for Shakespeare's play "All's Well That Ends Well".
Alibech, a non-Christian girl of Gafsa, turns hermit, and is taught by Rustico, a monk, how the Devil is put in hell. She is afterwards conveyed thence, and becomes the wife of Neerbale.
Dioneo narrates what is by far the most obscene and bawdy tale in the "Decameron". Alibech, a naive young woman, wanders into the desert in an attempt to become closer to God. She happens upon the monk Rustico, and he deflowers her under the pretense of teaching her how to better please God. Alibech becomes more enthusiastic about putting the Devil back into Hell than Rustico, almost to the point of his ruin. Meanwhile, her family and family home are incinerated, leaving her the only heir. Neerbale kidnaps her, much to Rustico's relief and Alibech's displeasure, and Alibech is made to marry Neerbale. The night before the wedding, she is questioned by other women as to how Alibech served God in the desert, and upon explaining to her ladies how the Devil is put back into Hell, is informed that Neerbale will surely know how to help her serve God once more.
Because of its "graphic" nature, this tale has at times been translated incompletely, as in John Payne's translation, where Alibech's sexual awakening is left untranslated and is accompanied with this footnote: "The translators regret that the disuse into which magic has fallen, makes it impossible to render the technicalities of that mysterious art into tolerable English; they have therefore found it necessary to insert several passages in the original Italian." No known earlier versions of it exist.
Boccaccio begins this day with a defense of his work as it is thus far completed. Although he says that portions of the earlier days were circulating among the literate citizens of Tuscany while the work was in progress, this is doubtful. Instead, Boccaccio is probably just shooting down potential detractors. The reader must remember that vernacular fictional prose was not a respected genre in 14th century Italy and some of the criticisms Boccaccio combats in the introduction to the fourth day were common attitudes towards the genre. Others, however, were specific to the "Decameron" itself.
One criticism of the latter type was that it was not healthy for a man of Boccaccio's age – approximately 38 – to associate with young ladies, to whom the work is supposedly written. To defend against this criticism, Boccaccio tells a story explaining how natural it is for a man to enjoy a woman's company. In this story, Filipo Balducci is a hermit living with his son on Mount Asinaio after the death of his wife and travels occasionally to Florence for supplies. One day his son – now eighteen and having never before left the mountain – accompanies him because Filipo is too infirm to make the journey alone. While there the son becomes fascinated with women, even though he had never seen one before and Filipo regrets ever bringing his son to Florence.
This is commonly referred to as the 101st story of the "Decameron". The story originates in the "Ramayana", a Sanskrit epic from the 4th century BCE. The tale was quite common during the medieval era, appearing in "Barlaam and Josaphat" (written in the 8th century), an exemplum of Jacques de Vitry (13th century) and "Cento Novelle Antiche" (also 13th century), "The Seven Wise Masters", and Italian collection of fables called "Fiori di Virtù" (14th century), Odo of Shirton's "De heremita iuvene" (12th century), and a French fabliau (13th century). The last two are the most probable sources for Boccaccio because in them the father refers to the women as "geese", whereas in the earlier versions he calls them "demons" who tempt the souls of men.
Filostrato reigns during the fourth day, in which the storytellers tell tales of lovers whose relationship ends in disaster. This is the first day a male storyteller reigns.
Tancredi, Prince of Salerno and father of Ghismonda, slays his daughter's lover, Guiscardo, and sends her his heart in a golden cup: Ghismonda, the daughter, pours upon it a poisonous distillation, which she drinks and dies.
Fiammetta narrates this tale, whose earliest source is a French manuscript written by a man named Thomas. However, it is referred to in the early 12th century of Tristan and Iseult.
Friar Alberto deceives a woman into believing that the Angel Gabriel is in love with her. As an excuse to sleep with her, Friar Alberto tells her that Gabriel can enter his body. Afterward, for fear of her kinsmen, he flings himself out of her window and finds shelter in the house of a poor man. The next day the poor man leads him in the guise of a wild man into the piazza, where, being recognized, he is apprehended by his fellow monks and imprisoned.
Pampinea tells the second tale of the day, which is a very ancient tale. Supposedly it comes from an episode in the life of Alexander the Great. Other notable previous recordings of it include Josephus's "Jewish Antiquities", the "Pantschantantra", and "One Thousand and One Arabian Nights".
Three young men love three sisters, and flee with them to Crete. The eldest of the sisters slays her lover for jealousy. The second saves the life of the first by yielding herself to the Duke of Crete. Her lover slays her, and makes off with the first: the third sister and her lover are charged with the murder, are arrested and confess the crime. They escape death by bribing the guards, flee destitute to Rhodes, and there in destitution die.
Lauretta narrates.
Gerbino, in breach of the plighted faith of his grandfather, King William, attacks a ship of the King of Tunis to rescue his daughter. She is killed by those aboard the ship, Gerbino slays them, and afterward he is beheaded.
There is no known source for Elissa's tale.
Lisabetta's brothers slay her lover. He appears to her in a dream and shows her where he is buried. She disinters the head and sets it in a pot of basil, whereon she daily weeps a great while. Her brothers take the pot from her and she dies shortly after.
Filomena tells this story, one of the most famous in the "Decameron", and the basis of John Keats' narrative poem "Isabella, or the Pot of Basil".
Andreuola loves Gabriotto: she tells him a dream that she has had; he tells her a dream of his own, and dies suddenly in her arms. While she and her maidservant are carrying his corpse to his house, they are taken by the Signory. She tells how the matter stands, is threatened with violence by the "podestà", but will not brook it. Her father hears how she is bested; and, her innocence being established, causes her to be set at large; but she, being minded to tarry no longer in the world, becomes a nun.
Panfilo, the first male storyteller of the day to narrate, tells this tale.
Simona loves Pasquino; they are together in a garden; Pasquino rubs a leaf of sage against his teeth, and dies; Simona is arrested, and, with intent to show the judge how Pasquino died, rubs one of the leaves of the same plant against her teeth, and likewise dies.
Emilia narrates.
Girolamo loves Salvestra: yielding to his mother's prayers he goes to Paris; he returns to find Salvestra married; he enters her house by stealth, lays himself by her side, and dies; he is borne to the church, where Salvestra lays herself by his side, and dies.
Neifile narrates.
Sieur Guillaume de Roussillon slays his wife's lover, Sieur Guillaume de Cabestaing, and gives her his heart to eat. When she finds out, she throws herself from a high window, dies, and is buried with her lover.
Filostrato tells this story, which has so many similarities with tale IV, 1 that both tales could have shared sources.
The wife of a leech, deeming her lover, who has taken an opiate, to be dead, puts him in a chest, which, with him therein, two usurers carry off to their house. He comes to himself, and is taken for a thief; but, the lady's maid giving the Signory to understand that she had put him in the chest which the usurers stole, he escapes the gallows, and the usurers are fined for the theft of the chest.
Dioneo, whose stories are exempt from being governed by the theme of each day, tells this tale of Buddhist origin.
During the fifth day Fiammetta, whose name means small flame, sets the theme of tales where lovers pass through disasters before having their love end in good fortune.
Cimon, by loving, waxes wise, wins his wife Iphigenia by capture on the high seas, and is imprisoned at Rhodes. He is freed by Lysimachus; and the two capture Cassandra and recapture Iphigenia in the hour of their marriage. They flee with their ladies to Crete, and having there married them, are brought back to their homes.
Like the tale in the introduction to the fourth day, Panfilo's tale seems to derive from the story of "Barlaam and Josaphat".
Gostanza loves Martuccio Gomito and after hearing that he is dead, gives way to despair, and hies her alone aboard a boat, which is wafted by the wind to Susa. She finds him alive in Tunis, and makes herself known to him. Having gained high place in the king's favour by way of his council, he marries Gostanza and returns with her to Lipari.
Emilia narrates this tale, one part of which (the motif of using extra fine bow strings) supposedly is based on a real event, according to a chronicle by Giovanni Villani. In Villani's story's Emperor Kassan of the Tartars thus defeated the Sultan of Egypt in 1299.
Pietro Boccamazza runs away with Agnolella and encounters a gang of robbers. The girl takes refuge in the woods and is guided to a castle. Pietro is taken but escapes from the robbers. After some adventures, he arrives at the castle and marries Agnolella; they return to Rome.
Elissa tells this tale.
Ricciardo Manardi is found by Messer Lizio da Valbona after an affair with his daughter, whom he marries, and remains at peace with her father.
Filostrato narrates this tale, which some claim bears a resemblance to "Lai du Laustic" by the famed late 12th-century poet Marie de France. However, the resemblance is not strong and the story may be of either Boccaccio's invention or may come from oral tradition.
Guidotto da Cremona dies leaving a girl to Giacomino da Pavia. She has two lovers in Faenza, Giannole di Severino and Minghino di Mingole, who fight about her. She is discovered to be Giannole's sister, and is given to Minghino to marry.
Neifile tells this story which has no previous literary recording.
Gianni di Procida, being found with a damsel that he loves, and who had been given to King Frederick, is bound with her to a stake, so to be burned. He is recognized by Ruggieri dell'Oria, is freed, and marries her.
Pampinea narrates this tale.
Teodoro is sold to Messer Amerigo as a slave when still a child. He is christened and brought up together with Violente, the daughter of his master. The two fall in love and Violente eventually bears a boy. Threatened with death by her outraged father she names the father who is sentenced to the gallows. Amerigo orders his daughter to choose between knife or poison and the child to be killed. Traveling Armenian dignitaries recognize the condemned by a strawberry shaped birth mark. Thus his life is saved as well as Violente's in the last minute. The couple get the blessing of their father, marry and live a happy life until old age.
Lauretta narrates.
In his love for a young lady of the Traversari family, Nastagio degli Onesti squanders his wealth without being loved in return. He is entreated by his friends to leave the city, and goes away to Chiassi, where he sees a female ghost cursed to be hunted down and killed by a horseman and devoured by a pack of hounds every week. He finds out that the cursed horseman was in a similar situation to his own, and committed suicide while the woman died afterwards unrepentant for her role in his death. Nastagio then invites his kinfolk and the lady he loves to a banquet at this same place, so the ghost woman is torn to pieces before the eyes of his beloved, who, fearing a similar fate, accepts Nastagio as her husband.
Filomena's tale may originate from the early 13th century "Chronicle of Helinandus". However, the tale was a widespread one and Boccaccio could have taken it from any number of sources or even oral tradition.
Federigo degli Alberighi, who loves but is not loved in return, spends all the money he has in courtship and is left with only a falcon, which, since he has nothing else to give her, he offers to his lady to eat when she visits his home; then she, learning of this, changes her mind, takes him for her husband, and makes him rich.
Fiammetta's tale (she is the speaker in this story, contrary to what a couple of incorrect sources may say) is also told about the legendary Hatim Tai, who lived in the 6th century and sacrificed his favorite horse to provide a meal for the ambassador of the Greek Emperor. This earliest version of the tale is of Persian origin.
Pietro di Vinciolo goes from home to eat, and his wife brings a boy into the house to bear her company. Pietro returns, and she hides her lover under a hen-coop. Pietro explains that in the house of Ercolano, with whom he was to have supped, there was discovered a young man bestowed there by Ercolano's wife. The lady censures Ercolano's wife, but unluckily an ass treads on the fingers of the boy that is hidden under the hen-coop, so that he cries out in pain. Pietro runs to the place, sees him, and apprehends the trick played on him by his wife, which nevertheless he finally condones, because he is not himself free from blame.
As is custom among the ten storytellers, Dioneo tells the last and most bawdy tale of the day. This story is taken from Lucius Apuleius's 2nd-century "The Golden Ass".
During the sixth day of storytelling, Elissa is queen of the "brigata" and chooses for the theme stories in which a character avoids attack or embarrassment through a clever remark.
Many stories in the sixth day do not have previous versions. Boccaccio may have invented many of them himself. He certainly was clever enough to have created the situations and the retorts.
A knight offers to carry Madonna Oretta a horseback with a story, but tells it so badly that she begs him to let her dismount.
Filomena narrates this tale, which many see as revealing Boccaccio's opinion of what makes a good or bad storyteller, just as portions of "Hamlet" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" contain Shakespeare's opinion of what makes a good or bad actor.
Cisti, a baker, by an apt speech gives Messer Geri Spina to know that he has by inadvertence asked that of him which he should not.
Pampinea narrates.
Monna Nonna de' Pulci by a ready retort silences the scarce seemly jesting of the Bishop of Florence.
Lauretta narrates.
Chichibio, cook to Currado Gianfigliazzi, owes his safety to a ready answer, whereby he converts Currado's wrath into laughter, and evades the evil fate with which Currado had threatened him.
Neifile narrates.
Messer Forese da Rabatta, a knowledgeable jurist, and Master Giotto, a painter, make fun of each other's poor appearance while returning from Mugello.
Panfilo narrates this tale.
Michele Scalza proves to certain young men that the Baronci are the best gentlemen in the world and the Maremma, and wins a supper.
Fiammetta narrates.
Madonna Filippa, being found by her husband with her lover, is cited before the court, and by a ready and clever answer acquits herself, and brings about an alteration of the statute.
Filostrato narrates this tale which modern readers with their ideas of gender equality can appreciate.
Fresco admonishes his niece not to look at herself in the glass, if it is, as she says, grievous to her to see nasty folk.
Emilia narrates. Admonitions against the sin of vanity were common in the medieval era.
Guido Cavalcanti by a quip neatly rebukes certain Florentine gentlemen who had taken advantage of him.
Elissa narrates.
Friar Cipolla promises to show certain country-folk a feather of the Angel Gabriel, in lieu of which he finds coals, which he claims are those with which Saint Lawrence was roasted.
Dioneo narrates this story which mocks the worship of relics. The story originates in the Sanskrit collection of stories called "Canthamanchari". This story—a classic from the collection—takes place in Certaldo, Boccaccio's hometown (and the location where he would later die). Friar Cipolla's name means "Brother Onion," and Certaldo was famous in that era for its onions. In the story one can sense a certain love on Boccaccio's part for the people of Certaldo, even while he is mocking them.
During the seventh day Dioneo serves as king of the "brigata" and sets the theme for the stories: tales in which wives play tricks on their husbands.
Gianni Lotteringhi hears a knocking at his door at night: he awakens his wife, who persuades him that it is a werewolf, which they fall to exorcising with a prayer; whereupon the knocking ceases.
Emilia tells the first tale of the day. In it Boccaccio states that he heard it from an old woman who claimed it was a true story and heard it as a child. Although we will never know if Boccaccio really did hear the story from an old woman or not (it is possible), the story is certainly not true. It resembles an earlier French "fabliau" by Pierre Anfons called "Le revenant". Also, the English description of the creature as a "werewolf" is improper. The Italian word, "", describes a supernatural cat monkey creature or quite simply a ghost.
Her husband returning home, Peronella hides her lover in a barrel; which, being sold by her husband, she claims she had already sold to someone currently examining it from the inside to see if it is sound. The lover jumps out, and the husband searches the barrel for him while he has his way with the wife, and afterwards has the husband carry it to his house.
Filostrato narrates this tale, which Boccaccio certainly took from Apuleius's "The Golden Ass", the same source as tale V, 10.
Friar Rinaldo lies with his godchild's mother: her husband finds him in the room with her; and they make him believe that he was curing his godson of worms by a charm.
Elissa tells this tale, which has so many similar versions in French, Italian, and Latin, that it is impossible to identify one as a potential source for this one. The relationship between a child's godparent and biological parent was considered so sacred at the time that intercourse between them was considered incest. This belief is ridiculed by Boccaccio in a later tale (VII, 10).
Tofano one night locks his wife out of the house. Finding that she cannot convince him to let her in, she pretends to throw herself into a well, throwing a large stone inside. Tofano comes out of the house, and runs to the spot, and she goes into the house, locks him out, and hurls abuse at him from within.
Lauretta is the narrator of this very old tale. The earliest form of it is found in the Sanskrit "Śukasaptati" ("The Parrot's Seventy Tales"), which was compiled in the 6th century AD. A later version from the 11th century is found in "Disciplina Clericalis", which was written in Latin by Petrus Alphonsi, a Jewish convert to Christianity. The tale was very popular and appears in many vernacular languages of the era.
A jealous husband disguises himself as a priest, and hears his own wife's confession: she tells him that she loves a priest, who comes to her every night. The husband posts himself at the door to watch for the priest, and meanwhile the lady brings her lover in by the roof, and tarries with him.
Fiammetta's tale most likely originates from a French fabliau or a possibly Provençal romance, both of which were recorded not too long before the "Decameron" was written.
Madonna Isabella has with her Leonetto, her accepted lover, when she is surprised by Messer Lambertuccio, by whom she is beloved: her husband coming home about the same time, she sends Messer Lambertuccio forth of the house drawn sword in hand, and the husband afterwards escorts Leonetto home.
Pampinea narrates this version of a common medieval tale which originates from the "Hitopadesha" of India. Later versions pass the tale into Persian, French, Latin (in "The Seven Wise Masters"), and Hebrew.
Lodovico tells Madonna Beatrice the love that he has for her. She sends Egano, her husband, into a garden disguised as herself, and lies with Lodovico. Afterwards, being risen, Lodovico goes to the garden and cudgels Egano.
Filomena's humorous tale probably derives from an earlier French fabliau.
A husband grows jealous of his wife, and discovers that she has warning of her lover's approach by a piece of pack-thread, which she ties to her great toe at nights. While he is pursuing her lover, she puts another woman in bed in her place. The husband, finding her there, beats her, and cuts off her hair. He then goes and calls his wife's brothers, who, holding his accusation to be false, subject him to a torrent of abuse.
Neifile tells this tale. It comes originally from the "Pantschatantra" and later forms part of other tale collections in Sanskrit, Arabic, French, and Persian. Boccaccio probably used a French version of the tale.
Lydia, wife of Nicostratus, loves Pyrrhus, who to assure himself thereof, asks three things of her, all of which she does, and therewithal enjoys him in presence of Nicostratus, and makes Nicostratus believe that what he saw was not real.
Panfilo narrates. Boccaccio combined two earlier folk tales into one to create this story. The test of fidelity is previously recorded in French (a "fabliau") and Latin ("Lidia", an elegiac comedy), but comes originally from India or Persia. The story of the pear tree, best known to English-speaking readers from "The Canterbury Tales", also originates from Persia in the "Bahar-Danush", in which the husband climbs a date tree instead of a pear tree. The story could have arrived in Europe through the "One Thousand and One Nights", or perhaps the version in book VI of the "Masnavi" by Rumi.
Two Sienese men love a lady, one of them being her child's godfather: the godfather dies, having promised his comrade to return to him from the other world; which he does, and tells him what sort of life is led there.
As usual, Dioneo narrates the last tale of the day. See the commentary for VII, 3 for information about the relation between a child's parent and godparent.
Lauretta reigns during the eighth day of storytelling. During this day the members of the group tell stories of tricks women play on men or that men play on women.
Gulfardo borrows moneys of Guasparruolo, which he has agreed to give Guasparruolo's wife, that he may lie with her. He gives them to her, and in her presence tells Guasparruolo that he has done so, and she acknowledges that it is true.
Neifile narrates. This tale (and the next one) comes from a 13th-century French fabliau by Eustache d'Amiens. English speakers know it best from Chaucer's "The Shipman's Tale". Chaucer borrowed from the same fabliau as Boccaccio did.
The priest of Varlungo lies with Monna Belcolore: he leaves with her his cloak by way of pledge, and receives from her a mortar. He returns the mortar, and demands of her the cloak that he had left in pledge, which the good lady returns him with a gibe.
Panfilo tells this story, which can be considered a variation of VIII, 1.
Calandrino, Bruno and Buffalmacco go in quest of the heliotrope (bloodstone) beside the Mugnone. Thinking to have found it, Calandrino gets him home laden with stones. His wife chides him: whereat he waxes wroth, beats her, and tells his comrades what they know better than he.
Elissa narrates this tale, the first in which Bruno and Buffalmacco appear. The two were early Renaissance Italian painters. However, both are known far better for their love of practical jokes than for their artistic work. Boccaccio probably invented this tale himself, though, and used well known jokers as characters.
The rector of Fiesole loves a widow lady, by whom he is not loved and, in attempting to lie with her, is tricked by the lady to have sex with her maid, with whom the lady's brothers cause him to be found by his Bishop.
Emilia's tale originates from the fabliau "Le Prestre et Alison" by Guillaume Le Normand.
Three young men pull down the breeches of a judge from the Marches, while he is administering justice on the bench.
Filostrato narrates.
Bruno and Buffalmacco steal a pig from Calandrino, and induce him to deduce its recovery by means of pills of ginger and Vernaccia wine. Of the said pills they give him two, one after the other, made of dog-ginger compounded with aloes; and it then appearing as if he had had the pig himself, they constrain him to buy them off, if he would not have them tell his wife.
Filomena narrates. Just like Bruno and Buffalmacco, Calandrino was also in reality a 14th-century Italian Renaissance painter. However, Calandrino was known as a simpleton by his contemporaries. It is possible that this tale may be true and Boccaccio recorded it first. The test that Bruno and Buffalmacco submit Calandrino to was really a medieval lie detector test and the tale is consistent with what we know about the characters of the three painters.
A scholar loves a widow lady, who, being enamoured of another, causes him to spend a winter's night awaiting her in the snow. He afterwards by a stratagem causes her to stand for a whole day in July, naked upon a tower, exposed to the flies, the gadflies, and the sun.
Pampinea tells this story of revenge over spurned love, which has many common analogues in many languages in antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and early modern periods.
Two men keep with one another: the one lies with the other's wife: the other, being aware of it, manages with the aid of his wife to have the one locked in a chest, upon which he then lies with the wife of him that is locked therein.
Fiammetta narrates this tale. Like many of the eighth day it has a theme in common with many tales from the ancient and medieval era and it is not possible to point to one source that served as Boccaccio's inspiration.
Bruno and Buffalmacco prevail upon Master Simone, a physician, to betake him by night to a certain place, there to be enrolled in a company that go the course. Buffalmacco throws him into a foul ditch, and there they leave him.
Lauretta narrates another tale about Bruno and Buffalmacco and their practical jokes. This story is probably just a vehicle for Boccaccio's ability to coin word play, just as tale VI, 10 did.
A Sicilian woman cunningly conveys from a merchant that which he has brought to Palermo; he, making a show of being come back with far greater store of goods than before, borrows money of her, and leaves her in lieu thereof water and tow.
The story that Dioneo tells is found in Alphonsus's "Disciplina Clericalis" and the "Gesta Romanorum", both of which are written in Latin.
Emilia is queen of the brigata for the ninth day. For the second time there is no prescribed theme for the stories of the day (the only other time was during the first day).
Madonna Francesca, having two lovers, the one Rinuccio, the other Alessandro, by name, and loving neither of them, induces the one to simulate a corpse in a tomb, and the other to enter the tomb to fetch him out: whereby, neither satisfying her demands, she artfully rids herself of both.
Filomena narrates.
An abbess rises in haste and in the dark, with intent to surprise an accused nun in bed with her lover: thinking to put on her veil, she puts on instead the breeches of a priest that she has with her. The nun, after pointing out her abbess's head covering, is acquitted, and thenceforth finds it easier to meet with her lover.
Elissa is the narrator of this tale which was either taken from a fabliau by Jean de Condé written between 1313 and 1337, or from a story about Saint Jerome in "The Golden Legend", written about 1260. The former was the more likely source for Boccaccio.
Master Simone, at the insistence of Bruno and Buffalmacco and Nello, makes Calandrino believe that he is pregnant. Calandrino, accordingly, gives them capons and money for medicines, and is cured without being delivered.
Filostrato narrates this humorous story.
Cecco, son of Messer Fortarrigo, loses his all at play at Buonconvento, besides the money of Cecco, son of Messer Angiulieri; whom, running after him in his shirt and crying out that he has robbed him, he causes to be taken by peasants: he then puts on his clothes, mounts his palfrey, and leaves him to follow in his shirt.
Neifile is the narrator of this tale.
Calandrino falls in love with Niccolosa, the wife of the master of the house. Bruno gives him a scroll, averring that, if he touches her with it, she will do anything he says. They are discovered together by his wife, Tessa, who proceeds to beat and scratch him. Bruno and Buffalmacco, who told Tessa of the affair to begin with, laugh at Calandrino`s misfortune.
Two young men lodge at an inn, of whom the one lies with the host's daughter, his wife accidentally lying with the other. He that lay with the daughter afterwards gets into her father's bed and tells him all, taking him to be his comrade. They exchange words: whereupon the good woman, apprehending the circumstances, gets her to bed with her daughter, and by divers apt words re-establishes perfect accord.
Panfilo's tale comes from Jean Bodel's fabliau ""Gombert et les deus Clers"", a story also used by Chaucer for "The Reeve's Tale".
Talano di Molese dreams that a wolf tears and rends all the neck and face of his wife: he gives her warning thereof, which she heeds not, and the dream comes true.
Pampinea narrates this tale, for which no known earlier source exists.
Biondello gulls Ciacco in the matter of a breakfast: for which prank Ciacco is cunningly avenged on Biondello, causing him to be shamefully beaten.
Lauretta acts as the narrator of this novella.
Two young men ask counsel of Solomon; the one, how he is to make himself beloved, the other, how he is to reduce an unruly wife to order. The King bids the one to love, and the other to go to the Bridge of Geese. The one bid to love finds true love in return. The other observes a mule train crossing the bridge and sees that by beating a stubborn mule, the herder persuades it to cross the bridge. Upon returning home, he employs the same tactics on his wife; beating her senseless when she refuses to make what he wants for dinner. He wakes the next day to a hot breakfast and returns home that evening to his favorite meal. It appears he has cured his wife of her stubbornness.
Emilia narrates this tale, which probably originated in Asia.
Dom Gianni at the instance of his gossip Pietro uses an enchantment to transform Pietro's wife Gemmata into a mare; but, when he comes to attach the tail, Gossip Pietro, by saying that he will have none of the tail, makes the enchantment of no effect.
Dioneo's bawdy story from a French fabliau, "De la demoiselle qui vouloit voler en l'air."
Panfilo is the king of the last day of storytelling and he orders the company to tell stories about deeds of munificence. These tales seem to escalate in their degrees of munificence until the end, where the day (and the entire "Decameron") reaches an apex in the story of patient Griselda.
A knight in the service of the King of Spain deems himself ill requited. Wherefore the King, by most cogent proof, shows him that the blame rests not with him, but with the knight's own evil fortune; after which, he bestows upon him a noble gift.
Neifile's story is one of the most widely diffused ones in the entire collection. Its origins come from two different stories. The first part (the comparison of the king to a mule) comes from Busone de'Raffaelli da Gubbio's "Fortunatus Siculus," written about 1333 in Italian. The second part (concerning the caskets, known to English speakers from Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice") originates from about 800 AD from Joannes Damascensus's account of Barlaam and Josaphat and was written in Greek. Boccaccio most likely was inspired, though, by the "Gesta Romanorum".
Ghino di Tacco captures the Abbot of Cluny, cures him of a disorder of the stomach, and releases him. The abbot, on his return to the court of Rome, reconciles Ghino with Pope Boniface, and makes him prior of the Hospital.
Elissa narrates. Ghino di Tacco is the Italian equivalent of the English Robin Hood, with the difference that di Tacco was a real person whose deeds as a chief of a band of robbers passed into legend. He lived in the latter half of the 13th century. Boccaccio's tale, though, is one of many legends that grew up around him.
Nathan, an elderly rich man of Cathay, is noted for his exceeding generosity towards the guests of his house on the road leading out of the capital. Mithridanes, a wealthy young man living not far from Nathan, attempts to emulate him, but is frustrated and resolves to kill him. Falling in with Nathan unawares, Nathan advises Mithridanes how to compass his end. Following Nathan's advice, he finds the older gentleman in a copse, and recognizing him, is shame-stricken, and becomes his friend.
Filostrato tells this tale. He attributes it to "various Genoese", but this may be seen as a reluctance to credit Marco Polo (as a Venetian an enemy of Florence and greatly disdained by Boccaccio personally); although no specific tale resembling this one appears in Polo's writings, his reports of Kublai Khan's generosity are likely the inspiration for the tale.
Messer Gentile de' Carisendi, from Modena, disinters a lady that he loves, who has been buried for dead. She, being reanimated, gives birth to a male child; and Messer Gentile restores her, with her son, to Niccoluccio Caccianimico, her husband.
Lauretta gives this story, for which there is no clear surviving source.
Messer Ansaldo is in love with Madonna Dianora, a married woman, and often sends her messages of his love. She does not return his affections, and in an attempt to put him off says that she will only be his if he can prove his love by providing for her a garden as fair in January as it is in May. Messer Ansaldo hires for a great sum a necromancer, and thereby gives her the garden. Madonna Dianora tells her husband of her promise, and he says that, while he would prefer that she remain faithful to him if possible, she must keep her word to Messer Ansaldo. When Messer Ansaldo learns of this he releases her from her promise and she returns to her husband. From then on Messer Ansaldo felt only honorable affection for Madonna Dianora. The necromancer is impressed by this and refuses to take any payment from Messer Ansaldo.
Emilia narrates. This tale is found in later manuscripts of the "Śukasaptati". It is found in several story collections from Asia and in many languages.
King Charles the Old, being conqueror, falls in love with a young maiden, and afterward growing ashamed of his folly bestows her and her sister honourably in marriage.
Fiammetta narrates.
King Pedro, being apprised of the fervent love borne him by Lisa Puccini, who thereof is sick, comforts her, and forthwith gives her in marriage to a young gentleman, and having kissed her on the brow, professes himself her knight ever after.
Pampinea tells this tale. No earlier versions are known, although there may have been a folk tale based on the adventures of Macalda di Scaletta with King Pedro.
Sophronia, albeit she deems herself wife to Gisippus, is wife to Titus Quintius Fulvus, and goes with him to Rome, where Gisippus arrives in indigence, and deeming himself scorned by Titus, to compass his own death, avers that he has slain a man. Titus recognizes him, and to save his life, alleges that 'twas he that slew the man: whereof he that did the deed being witness, he discovers himself as the murderer. Whereby it comes to pass that they are all three liberated by Octavianus; and Titus gives Gisippus his sister to wife, and shares with him all his substance.
Filomena narrates this story, which Boccaccio may have taken from Alphonsus's "Disciplina clericalis." However, its ultimate source is from the East, although there are disputes as to exactly where or when.
Saladin, the Sultan, in guise of a merchant, is honourably entreated by Messer Torello. The Crusade ensuing, Messer Torello appoints a date, after which his wife may marry again: he is taken prisoner by Saladin, and by training hawks comes under Saladin's notice. Saladin recognizes him, makes himself known to him, and entreats him with all honor. Messer Torello falls sick, and by magic arts is transported in a single night to Pavia, where his wife's second marriage is then to be solemnized, and being present thereat, is recognized by her, and returns with her to his house.
Panfilo is the narrator of this tale.
The Marquis of Saluzzo, Gualtieri, overborne by the entreaties of his vassals, consents to take a wife, but, being minded to please himself in the choice of her, takes a husbandman's daughter. He has two children by her, both of whom he makes her believe that he has put to death. Afterward, feigning to be tired of her, and to have taken another wife, he turns her out of doors in her shift, and brings his daughter into the house in guise of his bride; but, finding her patient under it all, he brings her home again, and shows her children, now grown up, and honours her, and causes her to be honoured, as Marchioness.
Dioneo tells the final (and possibly most retold) story of the "Decameron". Although Boccaccio was the first to record the story, he almost certainly did not invent it. Petrarch mentions having heard it many years before, but not from Boccaccio. Therefore, it was probably already circulating in oral tradition when the "Decameron" was written. Petrarch later retold the story in Latin, which is probably the biggest factor that contributed to its huge popularity in subsequent centuries.
The work concludes rather abruptly. Boccaccio, as he does in the introduction of the fourth day, defends his work against detractors. However, this time he does it in a humorous and sacrilegious way. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31430 |
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