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Still Reigning

2004 video album by Slayer

Still Reigning is a live performance DVD by the thrash metal band Slayer, released in 2004 through American Recordings. Filmed at the Augusta (Maine) Civic Center on July 11, 2004, the performance showcases Slayer's 1986 album, Reign in Blood, played in its entirety with the four original band members on a set resembling their 1986 Reign in Pain Tour. Still Reigning was voted "best live DVD" by the readers of Revolver magazine, and received gold certification in 2005. The DVD is notable for the finale, which features Slayer covered in stage blood while performing the song "Raining Blood", leading to a demanding audio mixing process plagued by production and technical difficulties. The DVD's producer Kevin Shirley spent hours replacing cymbal and drum hits one-by-one. He publicly aired financial disagreements he had with the band and criticized the quality of the recording, and as a result was allegedly subjected to threats and insults from people associated with the band. ## Conception Reign in Blood was released in 1986 and was Slayer's first album to enter the Billboard 200—at 94—and their first to be awarded gold certification. Music critics praised the album; Kerrang\! described it as the "heaviest album of all time", while Steve Huey of AllMusic wrote that the album was a "stone-cold classic". The positive reception led to the band's European agent John Jackson, to suggest that the band play Reign in Blood in its entirety on the Jägermeister tour of 2003 and 2004, under the tour banner "Still Reigning". Original drummer Dave Lombardo, who recorded drums on the album, re-joined the band in 2001, after departing in 1991. This influenced the band's decision to play the album in its entirety, as they had the original members and all members regard the album as a high-point in their career. The band was going to enter the recording studio to record their next album (Christ Illusion). However, the band's producer Rick Rubin insisted the band not enter the recording studio due to problems between himself and the band's record label, American Recordings. The band's manager suggested they record a performance of one of the Jägermeister shows and release it on a DVD — the band agreed. The final track of the DVD, "Raining Blood", culminates with the band drenched by stage blood. Guitarist Jeff Hanneman came up with the idea of the blood two years after Reign in Blood'''s release, but the band lacked the funding to do so. The beginning of the film Blade (released in 1998) features a "bloodbath" with vampires dancing in a club with blood coming from the roof via a sprinkler system. The scene revived Jeff Hanneman and guitarist Kerry King's interest, and since the band released a DVD the previous year — War at the Warfield — they decided to add something different for the new DVD — raining blood. King asserted that since Lombardo was not on the previous DVD, this one was going to be important. Due to the short length of the DVD, director Dean Karr chose an additional bonus six songs from the same show as he thought certain members excelled in the performances. ## Recording and production Still Reigning was recorded at the Augusta Civic Center in Augusta, Maine, on July 11, 2004, prior to the 2004 Ozzfest. A ten-man camera crew under the direction of Dean Karr was on hand to document the show, backstage action, and exclusive interviews inside the band's tour bus. The interview, "Slayer: In their own words", is a seventeen-minute piece which features the band talking about their early years, influences, writing lyrics, Lombardo's return, and the band's eventual retirement. At one point Lombardo rejected the possibility of a future "good-bye tour" for Slayer, and states if the band realize they have "lost a step" they will "call it a day". The stage was converted to resemble the band's 1986 "Reign in Pain" tour, which featured the Slayer eagle and inverted crosses as part of the lighting rig. The stage was modified to absorb the "blood" and have it recirculate back down upon the band, which allowed for easier clean-up and lowered the chance of injury by slipping. The DVD was recorded in 1.85:1 video, which caused macro blocking errors such as aliasing and a murky stage when fully lit, and the audio featured English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo, with no subtitles. Kevin Shirley, who has worked with the bands Iron Maiden and Dream Theater, produced the DVD. He issued a statement describing the demanding mixing process which took place at a New York studio: "It's OK — some places it rocks hard, and others are a bit sloppy, but I'm sure they won't use the whole concert. It was tough to mix." The following day Shirley apologized for his "unprofessional comment" towards the band, and altered his post on his personal website to read: "The rest of the week I finished mixing a live Slayer set for a DVD, in stereo and surround, and it's great — it rocks hard, but it was tough to mix." On September 30, 2006, Shirley issued a further statement claiming he had not been paid for his work, and had received threats and insults from people associated with the band: "I've just mixed a really wonderful band with one of the worst sounding recordings ever. It's kinda disgraceful that they won't spend anything on a decent recording\! I won't say who, because last time I commented on a sloppy recording (on this page), they refused to pay me and I got all manner of threats and insults from people associated with the band, so I'd best be quiet\!" The stage blood caused technical difficulties as it soaked the microphone, guitars, and cymbals, which according to Shirley sounded like "coffee mugs being tapped with a spoon". A review of the DVD observed that "If it wasn't for guitarist Jeff Hanneman being out of position and missing all of the blood, the guitar might have sounded pretty bad." Hanneman missed the initial downpour due to a technical problem with his guitar, and was deluged by a light shower when coming back on-stage. Shirley replaced thousands of cymbal and drum hits with those used on previous recordings; the process took several days to complete. After recording the DVD, the band used a sprinkler system with diluted water rather than a bucket with blood that was like tar when recording the DVD. King later remarked, "My guitar didn't like it, that was the last time I played it," and he donated it to the Hard Rock Cafe after the show. Vocalist Tom Araya felt the same and admitted; "It was messy. I couldn't play because the initial dump at the beginning of the song got all over me. I couldn't hold my pick. I was slapping my bass trying to get sound out of it." ## Reception Still Reigning debuted on the Billboard DVD chart at number seven — selling 9,813 copies. It became the band's second DVD to receive gold certification on July 20, 2005, after War at the Warfield, which received gold certification a year earlier for sales in excess of 50,000. The readers of Revolver magazine voted it "best live DVD" in 2005, making it the second consecutive year the band topped the category. Slayer received a positive reception when performing at the Augusta Civic Center. On finishing half the set list, the band briefly left the stage and returned to play the 28-minute album, Reign in Blood as an encore. On the final song, "Raining Blood" the lights were turned off and Slayer members were deluged by two buckets of stage blood. According to King, the crowd went quiet for a few seconds until they realized the blood was part of the show. King thought Araya looked like a psychotic mass murderer, which contributed to the crowd's reaction. Following the two large drops, stage blood mixed with water was used so it looked like it was "raining blood". Andy Patrizio of IGN awarded the DVD six out of ten commenting, "Tom Araya lost his piercing shriek that opens 'Angel of Death' and the end of 'Necrophobic'", praising Lombardo's return by saying the drummer "...hasn't lost a step at all. With barely any breathing time between songs, the underground drum legend shows that an impending 40th birthday (next month) isn't going to slow him down." Patrizio stated the production was not of the highest caliber, as the rapid "MTV-style" cuts were distracting, as was the switch from black and white to color shots. Patrizio ended the review with the comment, "This is what you get for letting Uwe Boll direct your music video", Boll being a heavily criticized film director. ## Track listing - Reign in Blood'' live 1. "Angel of Death" 2. "Piece by Piece" 3. "Necrophobic" 4. "Altar of Sacrifice" 5. "Jesus Saves" 6. "Criminally Insane" 7. "Reborn" 8. "Epidemic" 9. "Postmortem" 10. "Raining Blood" - Bonus material 1. "War Ensemble" 2. "Hallowed Point" 3. "Necrophiliac" 4. "Mandatory Suicide" 5. "Spill the Blood" 6. "South of Heaven" 7. "Slayer in Their Own Words" (interview) ## Personnel - Slayer - Tom Araya – bass, vocals - Jeff Hanneman – guitar - Kerry King – guitar - Dave Lombardo – drums - Production - Dean Karr – director - Arthur Gorson – producer - Rick Sales – executive producer - Nick John – executive producer ## Certifications

Enoch Fenwick

American Jesuit priest (1780–1827)

Enoch Fenwick SJ (May 15, 1780 – November 25, 1827) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who ministered throughout Maryland and became the twelfth president of Georgetown College. Descending from one of the original Catholic settlers of the Province of Maryland, he studied at Georgetown College in what is now Washington, D.C. Like his brother and future bishop, Benedict Joseph Fenwick, he entered the priesthood, studying at St. Mary's Seminary before entering the Society of Jesus, which was suppressed at the time. He was made rector of St. Peter's Pro-Cathedral in Baltimore by Archbishop John Carroll, and remained in the position for ten years. Near the end of his pastorate, he was also made vicar general of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, which involved traveling to say Mass in remote parishes throughout rural Maryland. In 1820, Fenwick reluctantly accepted his appointment as president of Georgetown College. While he made some improvements to the curriculum, contemporaries generally considered his presidency unsuccessful due to declining enrollment and mounting debt. In August 1825, he abandoned the presidency following a disagreement with the provincial superior. Two years later, he died at Georgetown. ## Early life Enoch Fenwick was born on May 15, 1780, in St. Mary's County, Maryland. He was one of four brothers, three of whom would become priests. He descended from one of the original Catholic settlers of the Maryland Province, Cuthbert Fenwick. One of his brothers was Benedict Joseph Fenwick, who became the Bishop of Boston and a president of Georgetown College. Another brother, George Fenwick, also entered the priesthood, while another brother did not enter religious life. Fenwick enrolled at Georgetown College in 1793, which he attended until 1797. The president, Louis William Valentine DuBourg, identified him as the best student in the college, and appointed him in 1797 to teach rudiments to the young students in the lower school. He then entered St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore in 1805. The following year, he entered the Society of Jesus on October 10, becoming a member of the first class in the Jesuit novitiate at Georgetown, and one of four who were the first Jesuits ordained priests in the United States. As the Jesuit order had been officially suppressed by Pope Clement XIV, Fenwick was admitted to the Corporation of Catholic Clergymen, the civil corporation that sought to preserve the Society and its property until its restoration by Pope Pius VII in 1815. He was ordained a priest on March 12, 1808, in Georgetown, by Bishop Leonard Neale. ## Ministry in Baltimore Following his ordination, he was made the assistant to the Archbishop of Baltimore, John Carroll. Upon the death of Francis Beeston in 1809, Fenwick was appointed by Carroll as rector of St. Peter's Pro-Cathedral in Baltimore, where he raised money for the construction of a new St. Peter's church building. He oversaw work that began in 1806 and continued until 1812, before being halted by the War of 1812. Construction resumed in 1815, and was completed in 1821. Fenwick held the position of rector until 1820, when he was succeeded by James Whitfield. From 1809 to 1815, he also served on the board of directors of Georgetown College. Simultaneous with his rectorship, he became vicar general for the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 1819. In this position he served as chaplain in Port Tobacco, Maryland, where he said Mass every other Sunday. He was also required to travel to three other parishes throughout Charles County (in Lower Zacchia, Upper Zacchia, and Pomfret) every other Sunday, because they had been abandoned by a priest who returned to England. He was considered on several occasions for being raised to the episcopate, specifically as Bishop of Louisiana and the Two Floridas or Bishop of Detroit. He was also considered by Bishop Edward Fenwick for being made the coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Cincinnati. ## Georgetown College The Jesuit visitor to the United States, Peter Kenney, recommended to Archbishop Ambrose Maréchal of Baltimore that Fenwick be appointed president of Georgetown College in the summer of 1820. This recommendation heeded, he was informed that he would be named to the office in August of that year, and his term officially began on September 16, 1820. He assumed the office very reluctantly from Anthony Kohlmann, who quit the presidency to establish the Washington Seminary. Resenting his transfer from the cathedral in Baltimore to Georgetown, Fenwick viewed the college as having "one foot in the grave of disgrace" and little prospect for recovery. Fenwick undertook several reforms of the curriculum. He divided the year into two semesters, and definitively prescribed the course of study as including one class of rudiments, three in grammar, one in humanities, and one in rhetoric. Each professor also taught Ancient Greek, French, Latin, and English in their classes. The first college journal, called The Minerva, was also circulated. Printing presses were not available to the school, so it was written in manuscript form, and lasted for only a few issues. The college's library saw substantial growth during his tenure, and he personally donated a number of books. Despite these reforms, Fenwick's administration of the college was evaluated by Stephen Larigaurdelle Dubuisson, a subsequent president of Georgetown, as "wretched". The size of the student body declined, due to the opening of Columbian College and the Washington Seminary nearby, and the college's debts grew, as he viewed pursuing parents for overdue tuition and board distasteful during the economic recession. The reputation of the school suffered due to this. Fenwick attempted to offset this decline by publishing a new prospectus and placing advertisements in newspapers. His administration was markedly hands-off, as he allowed the prefect of studies, Roger Baxter, to manage most of the affairs of the school. Baxter was known for his liberal attitude toward student discipline and in his own consumption of alcohol and alleged unaccompanied visitation of women in the City of Washington; Baxter was later deported to Europe by the provincial superior, Francis Dzierozynski. On March 10, 1824, Ann Carbery Mattingly, the sister of Mayor Thomas Carbery of Washington, D.C., was apparently cured of terminal breast cancer after being delivered a Eucharist by Dubuisson, then a priest at St. Patrick's Church, in conjunction with the prayers of Prince Alexander of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst in Germany. News of the event spread quickly throughout the city and the cure was promoted as a miracle by Dubuisson and Kohlmann. Meanwhile, an anonymous letter was published in the National Intelligencer in April denouncing the legitimacy of the miracle and sharply criticizing Kohlmann. It was immediately suspected that the author of the letter was Thomas Levins, an Irish Jesuit professor at Georgetown. Dzierozynski demanded an explanation from Levins and Levins's superior, Fenwick, but both refused to answer. In October 1824, a series of even harsher letters was published, and Levins was expelled from the Society of Jesus by the Jesuit Superior General, Luigi Fortis, in January 1825. After being confronted by Dzierozynski, Fenwick left the college in August 1825 for St. Thomas Manor in Maryland and – although he had not officially resigned the presidency – refused to return to Georgetown. This effectively left Dzierozynski, who spoke little English and was unfamiliar with American ways, in charge of the school. Fenwick was officially replaced by his brother, Benedict, on September 15, 1825, who resumed the office in an acting capacity. Fenwick died on November 25, 1827, at Georgetown College, and was buried in the Jesuit Community Cemetery.

Ming–Tibet relations

Relations between Ming-dynasty China and Tibet

The Ming dynasty considered Tibet to be part of the Western Regions. While the Ming dynasty at its height had some degree of influence in Tibet, the exact nature of their relations is under dispute by modern scholars. Analysis of the relationship is further complicated by modern political conflicts and the application of Westphalian sovereignty to a time when the concept did not exist. The Historical Status of China's Tibet, a book published by the People's Republic of China, asserts that the Ming dynasty had unquestioned sovereignty over Tibet by pointing to the Ming court's issuing of various titles to Tibetan leaders, Tibetans' full acceptance of the titles, and a renewal process for successors of these titles that involved traveling to the Ming capital. Scholars in China also argue that Tibet has been an integral part of China since the 13th century and so it was a part of the Ming Empire. However, most scholars outside China, such as Turrell V. Wylie, Melvyn C. Goldstein, and Helmut Hoffman, say that the relationship was one of suzerainty, Ming titles were only nominal, Tibet remained an independent region outside Ming control, and it simply paid tribute until the Jiajing Emperor, who ceased relations with Tibet. Some scholars note that Tibetan leaders during the Ming frequently engaged in civil war and conducted their own foreign diplomacy with neighboring states such as Nepal. Some scholars underscore the commercial aspect of the Ming–Tibetan relationship, noting the Ming dynasty's shortage of horses for warfare and thus the importance of the horse trade with Tibet. Others argue that the significant religious nature of the relationship of the Ming court with Tibetan lamas is underrepresented in modern scholarship. In the hope of reviving the unique relationship during the Yuan dynasty, and his spiritual superior Drogön Chögyal Phagpa of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism, the Yongle Emperor made a concerted effort to build a secular and religious alliance with Deshin Shekpa, the Karmapa of the Karma Kagyu school. However, the Yongle Emperor's attempts were unsuccessful. The Ming initiated sporadic armed intervention in Tibet during the 14th century but did not garrison permanent troops there. The Tibetans also sometimes used armed resistance against Ming forays. The Wanli Emperor made attempts to re-establish Ming–Tibetan relations after the Mongol–Tibetan alliance initiated in 1578, which affected the foreign policy of the subsequent Qing dynasty in its support for the Dalai Lama of the Gelug school. By the late 16th century, the Mongols were successful armed protectors of the Gelug Dalai Lama after they increased their presence in the Amdo region. That culminated in Güshi Khan's conquest of Tibet from 1637 to 1642 and the establishment of the Ganden Phodrang regime by the 5th Dalai Lama with his help. ## Background on Yuan rule over Tibet ### Mongol Empire and Yuan dynasty Tibet was once a strong power contemporaneous with the Tang dynasty (618–907). Until the Tibetan Empire's collapse in the 9th century, it was the Tang's major rival in dominating Inner Asia. The Yarlung rulers of Tibet also signed various peace treaties with the Tang, culminating in a treaty in 821 that fixed the borders between Tibet and China. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period of China (907–960), while the fractured political realm of China saw no threat in a Tibet which was in just as much political disarray, there was little in the way of Sino-Tibetan relations. Few documents involving Sino-Tibetan contacts survive from the Song dynasty (960–1279). The Song were far more concerned with countering northern enemy states of the Khitan-ruled Liao dynasty (907–1125) and Jurchen-ruled Jin dynasty (1115–1234). In 1207, the Mongol ruler Genghis Khan (r. 1206–1227) conquered and subjugated the Tangut-led Western Xia dynasty (1038–1227). In the same year, he established diplomatic relations with Tibet by sending envoys there. The conquest of the Western Xia alarmed Tibetan rulers, who decided to pay tribute to the Mongols. However, when they ceased to pay tribute after Genghis Khan's death, his successor Ögedei Khan (r. 1229–1241) launched an invasion into Tibet. The Mongol prince Godan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, raided as far as Lhasa. During his attack in 1240, Prince Godan summoned Sakya Pandita (1182–1251), leader of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism, to his court in what is now Gansu in Western China. With Sakya Pandita's submission to Godan in 1247, Tibet was officially incorporated into the Mongol Empire during the regency of Töregene Khatun (1241–1246). Michael C. van Walt van Praag writes that Godan granted Sakya Pandita temporal authority over a still politically fragmented Tibet, stating that "this investiture had little real impact" but it was significant in that it established the unique "Priest-Patron" relationship between the Mongols and the Sakya lamas. Starting in 1236, the Mongol prince Kublai, who later ruled as Khagan from 1260 to 1294, was granted a large appanage in northern China by Ögedei Khan. Karma Pakshi, 2nd Karmapa Lama (1203–1283)—the head lama of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism—rejected Kublai's invitation, so instead Kublai invited Drogön Chögyal Phagpa (1235–1280), successor and nephew of Sakya Pandita, who came to his court in 1253. Kublai instituted a unique relationship with the Phagpa lama, which recognized Kublai as a superior sovereign in political affairs and the Phagpa lama as the senior instructor to Kublai in religious affairs. Kublai also made Drogön Chögyal Phagpa the director of the government agency known as the Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs and the ruling priest-king of Tibet, which comprised thirteen different states ruled by myriarchies. Tibet was later incorporated into the Yuan dynasty of China (1271–1368), the primary successor state to the Mongol Empire. Van Praag writes that this conquest "marked the end of independent China," which was then incorporated into the Yuan dynasty that ruled modern-day China proper, Tibet, Mongolia, Korea, parts of Siberia and Upper Burma. Morris Rossabi, a professor of Asian history at Queens College, City University of New York, writes that "Khubilai wished to be perceived both as the legitimate Khan of Khans of the Mongols and as the Emperor of China. Though he had, by the early 1260s, become closely identified with China, he still, for a time, claimed universal rule", and yet "despite his successes in China and Korea, Khubilai was unable to have himself accepted as the Great Khan". Thus, with such limited acceptance of his position as Great Khan, Kublai Khan increasingly became identified with China and sought support as Emperor of China. ### Overthrow of the Sakya and Yuan In 1358, the Sakya viceregal regime installed by the Mongols in Tibet was overthrown in a rebellion by the Phagmodru myriarch Tai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen (1302–1364). The Mongol Yuan court was forced to accept him as the new viceroy, and Changchub Gyaltsen and his successors, the Phagmodrupa dynasty, gained de facto rule over Tibet. In 1368, a Han revolt known as the Red Turban Rebellion toppled the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang then established the Ming dynasty, ruling as the Hongwu Emperor (r. 1368–1398). It is not clear how much the early Ming court understood the civil war going on in Tibet between rival religious sects, but the first emperor was anxious to avoid the same trouble that Tibet had caused for the Tang dynasty. Instead of recognizing the Phagmodru ruler, the Hongwu Emperor sided with the Karmapa of the nearer Kham region and southeastern Tibet, sending envoys out in the winter of 1372–1373 to ask the Yuan officeholders to renew their titles for the new Ming court. As evident in his imperial edicts, the Hongwu Emperor was well aware of the Buddhist link between Tibet and China and wanted to foster it. Rolpe Dorje, 4th Karmapa Lama (1340–1383) rejected the Hongwu Emperor's invitation, although he did send some disciples as envoys to the court in Nanjing. The Hongwu Emperor also entrusted his guru Zongluo, one of many Buddhist monks at court, to head a religious mission into Tibet in 1378–1382 in order to obtain Buddhist texts. However, the early Ming government enacted a law, later rescinded, which forbade ethnic Han to learn the tenets of Tibetan Buddhism. There is little detailed evidence of Chinese—especially lay Chinese—studying Tibetan Buddhism until the Republican era (1912–1949). Despite these missions on behalf of the Hongwu Emperor, Morris Rossabi writes that the Yongle Emperor (r. 1402–1424) "was the first Ming ruler actively to seek an extension of relations with Tibet." ## Assertions in the History of Ming The History of Ming is one of the official Twenty-Four Histories that covers the history of the Ming dynasty, compiled by the subsequent Qing dynasty (1644–1912). The compilation started in 1645 and was completed in 1739. The History of Ming follows the traditional division of official history since the Records of the Grand Historian into Annals(本紀), Treatises(志), Tables(表) and Biographies(列傳). The territories of Ming was described under Treatises on geography(地理志) and Tibet was not included in this section. Other countries were described under Biographies, and Tibet was described under Western Regions(西域), after Foreign states(外國) such as Korea(朝鲜), Vietnam(安南) and Mongol. According to the History of Ming, the Ming dynasty created the "Ngari Military-Civilian Marshal Office" for western Tibet, the "Ü-Tsang Regional Military Commission" for Ü-Tsang, and "Amdo-Kham Regional Military Commission" (Dokham [zh]) for Amdo and Kham regions. The History of Ming further states that administrative offices were set up under these high commanderies, including one Itinerant Commandery, three Pacification Commissioner's Offices, six Expedition Commissioner's Offices, four Wanhu offices (myriarchies, in command of 10,000 households each) and seventeen Qianhu offices (chiliarchies, each in command of 1,000 households). The Ming court recognized three Princes of Dharma (法王) and five Princes (王), and granted many other titles, such as Grand State Tutors (大國師) and State Tutors (國師), to key leaders of Tibetan Buddhism, including the Karma Kagyu, Sakya, and Gelug. According to the government of PRC, leading officials of these organs were all appointed by the central government and were subject to the rule of law. Yet Van Praag describes the distinct and long-lasting Tibetan law code established by the Phagmodru ruler Tai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen as one of many reforms to revive old Imperial Tibetan traditions. The late Turrell V. Wylie, a former professor of the University of Washington, and Li Tieh-tseng argue that the reliability of the heavily censored History of Ming as a credible source on Sino-Tibetan relations is questionable, in the light of modern scholarship. Other historians also assert that these Ming titles were nominal and did not actually confer the authority that the earlier Yuan titles had. Van Praag writes that the "numerous economically motivated Tibetan missions to the Ming Court are referred to as 'tributary missions'" in the History of Ming. Van Praag writes that these "tributary missions" were simply prompted by China's need for horses from Tibet, since a viable horse market in Mongol lands was closed as a result of incessant conflict. Morris Rossabi also writes that "Tibet, which had extensive contacts with China during the Yuan, scarcely had diplomatic relations with the Ming." ## Maps made during the Ming dynasty Maps made during the Ming dynasty usually drew Tibet outside the boundary of the Ming dynasty. The official Treatise on unity under Great Ming (大明一統志) described Tibet in volume 89 (out of 90 volumes) under foreign barbarians(外夷) who pay tribute to Ming. The overview map at the beginning shows Tibet to be distinct from China proper; regional names in China proper were in rectangles. Gui E, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, presented "Preface to Guang Yu Tu" to Jiajing Emperor, and the emperor praised it as "clear and concise". However, the map puts Tibet beyond the borders of Ming.In 1594, Ming official Wang Pan made a map of the Ming dynasty, and Tibet was not included in the territory of Ming. Sancai Tuhui published by Ming official Wang Yi in 1609 included a world map, and Tibet was shown as a state as well as Great Ming. ## Modern scholarly debates on Tibet-Ming relations ### Inheritance, reappointments, and titles #### Transition from Yuan to Ming Historians disagree on what the relationship was between the Ming court and Tibet and whether or not Ming China had sovereignty over Tibet. Van Praag writes that Chinese court historians viewed Tibet as an independent foreign tributary and had little interest in Tibet besides a lama-patron relationship. The historian Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa supports van Praag's position. However, Wang Jiawei and Nyima Gyaincain state that these assertions by van Praag and Shakabpa are "fallacies". The government of PRC argues that the Ming emperor sent edicts to Tibet twice in the second year of the Ming dynasty, and demonstrated that he viewed Tibet as a significant region to pacify by urging various Tibetan tribes to submit to the authority of the Ming court. They note that at the same time, the Mongol Prince Punala, who had inherited his position as ruler of areas of Tibet, went to Nanjing in 1371 to pay tribute and show his allegiance to the Ming court, bringing with him the seal of authority issued by the Yuan court. They also state that since successors of lamas granted the title of "prince" had to travel to the Ming court to renew this title, and since lamas called themselves princes, the Ming court therefore had "full sovereignty over Tibet." They state that the Ming dynasty, by issuing imperial edicts to invite ex-Yuan officials to the court for official positions in the early years of its founding, won submission from ex-Yuan religious and administrative leaders in the Tibetan areas, and thereby incorporated Tibetan areas into the rule of the Ming court. Thus, they conclude, the Ming court won the power to rule Tibetan areas formerly under the rule of the Yuan dynasty. Journalist and author Thomas Laird, in his book The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama, writes that The Historical Status of China's Tibet presents the government viewpoint of the People's Republic of China, and fails to realize that China was "absorbed into a larger, non-Chinese political unit" during the Mongol Yuan dynasty, which the book paints as a characteristic Chinese dynasty succeeded by the Ming. Laird asserts that the ruling Mongol khans never administered Tibet as part of China and instead ruled them as separate territories, comparing the Mongols with the British ruling over India and New Zealand, reasoning that much like Tibet, this did not make India part of New Zealand as a consequence. Of later Mongol and Tibetan accounts interpreting the Mongol conquest of Tibet, Laird asserts that "they, like all non-Chinese historical narratives, never portray the Mongol subjugation of Tibet as a Chinese one." The Columbia Encyclopedia distinguishes between the Yuan dynasty and the other Mongol Empire khanates of Ilkhanate, Chagatai Khanate and the Golden Horde. It describes the Yuan dynasty as "A Mongol dynasty of China that ruled from 1271 to 1368, and a division of the great empire conquered by the Mongols. Founded by Kublai Khan, who adopted the Chinese dynastic name of Yüan in 1271." The Encyclopedia Americana describes the Yuan dynasty as "the line of Mongol rulers in China" and adds that the Mongols "proclaimed a Chinese-style Yüan dynasty at Khanbaliq (Beijing)." The Metropolitan Museum of Art writes that the Mongol rulers of the Yuan dynasty "adopted Chinese political and cultural models; ruling from their capitals in Dadu, they assumed the role of Chinese emperors," although Tibetologist Thomas Laird dismissed the Yuan dynasty as a non-Chinese polity and plays down its Chinese characteristics. The Metropolitan Museum of Art also noted that in spite of the gradual assimilation of Yuan monarchs, the Mongol rulers largely ignored the literati and imposed harsh policies discriminating against southern Chinese. In his Kublai Khan: His Life and Times, Rossabi explains that Kublai "created government institutions that either resembled or were the same as the traditional Chinese ones", and he "wished to signal to the Chinese that he intended to adopt the trappings and style of a Chinese ruler". Nevertheless, the ethno-geographic caste hierarchy favoring the Mongols and other ethnicities were accorded higher status than the Han Chinese majority. Although Han Chinese who were recruited as advisers were often actually more influential than high officials, their status was not as well defined. Kublai also abolished the imperial examinations of China's civil service legacy, which was not reinstated until Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan's reign (1311–1320). Rossabi writes that Kublai recognized that in order to rule China, "he had to employ Chinese advisors and officials, yet he could not rely totally on Chinese advisers because he had to maintain a delicate balancing act between ruling the sedentary civilization of China and preserving the cultural identity and values of the Mongols." And "in governing China, he was concerned with the interests of his Chinese subjects, but also with exploiting the resources of the empire for his own aggrandizement. His motivations and objectives alternated from one to the other throughout his reign," according to Rossabi. Van Praag writes in The Status of Tibet that the Tibetans and Mongols, on the other hand, upheld a dual system of rule and an interdependent relationship that legitimated the succession of Mongol khans as universal Buddhist rulers, or chakravartin. Van Praag writes that "Tibet remained a unique part of the Empire and was never fully integrated into it," citing examples such as a licensed border market that existed between China and Tibet during the Yuan. David M. Robinson contends that various edicts and laws issued by the Hongwu Emperor, founder of the Ming dynasty, seem to reject the Mongol influence in China with the banning of Mongolian marriage and burial practices, clothing, speech and even music. However, Robinson highlights how this rhetoric contradicts the Hongwu Emperor's continuation of Yuan institutions such as the hereditary garrison system and occupations. He initiated campaigns to conquer areas not previously controlled by native Chinese dynasties, including territories in Yunnan, Liaodong (Manchuria), and Mongolia. He continued to recruit Mongols into the military and maintained the Yuan-era tradition of bringing Korean concubines and eunuchs into the imperial palace. Robinson claims that the Ming dynasty "was in many ways a true successor" to the Yuan, as the Ming emperors sought to legitimize their rule through the Yuan legacy, especially since the rival Northern Yuan dynasty continued to exist. The Yongle Emperor was far more explicit in invoking a comparison between his rule and that of Kublai Khan, as reflected in his very active foreign policy, projection of Ming Chinese power abroad and expansionist military campaigns. Following the 1449 Tumu Crisis, the Ming government actively discouraged further immigration of Mongol peoples (favoring occasional relocation policies for those who already lived in China). Mongols continued to serve as Ming military officers even after Mongol involvement in the failed 1461 Rebellion of Cao Qin, yet their numbers began to decline as hereditary officers in general were gradually replaced by men of more humble origins. #### Ming practices of giving titles to Tibetans The official position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China is that the Ming implemented a policy of managing Tibet according to conventions and customs, granting titles and setting up administrative organs over Tibet. The State Council Information Office of the People's Republic states that the Ming dynasty's Ü-Tsang Commanding Office governed most areas of Tibet. It also states that while the Ming abolished the policy council set up by the Mongol Yuan to manage local affairs in Tibet and the Mongol system of Imperial Tutors to govern religious affairs, the Ming adopted a policy of bestowing titles upon religious leaders who had submitted to the Ming dynasty. For example, an edict of the Hongwu Emperor in 1373 appointed the Tibetan leader Choskunskyabs as the General of the Ngari Military and Civil Wanhu Office, stating: > I, the sovereign of the Empire, courteously treat people from all corners of the Empire who love righteousness and pledge allegiance to the Court and assign them official posts. I have learned with great pleasure that you, Chos-kun-skyabs, who live in the Western Region, inspired by my power and reputation, are loyal to the Court and capable of safeguarding the territory in your charge. The mNgav-ris Military and Civil Wanhu Office has just been established. I, therefore, appoint you head of the office with the title of General Huaiyuan, believing that you are most qualified for the post. I expect you to be even more conscientious in your work than in the past, to comply with discipline and to care for your men so that security and peace in your region can be guaranteed. Chen Qingying, Professor of History and Director of the History Studies Institute under the China Tibetology Research Center in Beijing, writes that the Ming court conferred new official positions on ex-Yuan Tibetan leaders of the Phachu Kargyu and granted them lower-ranking positions. Of the county (zong or dzong) leaders of Neiwo Zong and Renbam Zong, Chen states that when "the Emperor learned the actual situation of the Phachu Kargyu, the Ming court then appointed the main Zong leaders to be senior officers of the Senior Command of Dbus and Gtsang." The official posts that the Ming court established in Tibet, such as senior and junior commanders, offices of Qianhu (in charge of 1,000 households), and offices of Wanhu (in charge of 10,000 households), were all hereditary positions according to Chen, but he asserts that "the succession of some important posts still had to be approved by the emperor," while old imperial mandates had to be returned to the Ming court for renewal. According to Tibetologist John Powers, Tibetan sources counter this narrative of titles granted by the Chinese to Tibetans with various titles which the Tibetans gave to the Chinese emperors and their officials. Tribute missions from Tibetan monasteries to the Chinese court brought back not only titles, but large, commercially valuable gifts which could subsequently be sold. The Ming emperors sent invitations to ruling lamas, but the lamas sent subordinates rather than coming themselves, and no Tibetan ruler ever explicitly accepted the role of being a vassal of the Ming. Hans Bielenstein writes that as far back as the Han dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE), the Han Chinese government "maintained the fiction" that the foreign officials administering the various "Dependent States" and oasis city-states of the Western Regions (composed of the Tarim Basin and oasis of Turpan) were true Han representatives due to the Han government's conferral of Chinese seals and seal cords to them. #### Changchub Gyaltsen PRC government states that after the official title "Education Minister" was granted to Tai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen (1302–1364) by the Yuan court, this title appeared frequently with his name in various Tibetan texts, while his Tibetan title "Degsi" (sic properly sde-srid or desi) is seldom mentioned. The book takes this to mean that "even in the later period of the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan imperial court and the Phagmo Drupa regime maintained a Central-local government relation." The Tai Situpa is even supposed to have written in his will: "In the past I received loving care from the emperor in the east. If the emperor continues to care for us, please follow his edicts and the imperial envoy should be well received." However, Lok-Ham Chan, a professor of history at the University of Washington, writes that Changchub Gyaltsen's aims were to recreate the old Tibetan Kingdom that existed during the Chinese Tang dynasty, to build "nationalist sentiment" amongst Tibetans, and to "remove all traces of Mongol suzerainty." Georges Dreyfus, a professor of religion at Williams College, writes that it was Changchub Gyaltsen who adopted the old administrative system of Songtsän Gampo (c. 605–649)—the first leader of the Tibetan Empire to establish Tibet as a strong power—by reinstating its legal code of punishments and administrative units. For example, instead of the 13 governorships established by the Mongol Sakya viceroy, Changchub Gyaltsen divided Central Tibet into districts (dzong) with district heads (dzong dpon) who had to conform to old rituals and wear clothing styles of old Imperial Tibet. Van Praag asserts that Changchub Gyaltsen's ambitions were to "restore to Tibet the glories of its Imperial Age" by reinstating secular administration, promoting "national culture and traditions," and installing a law code that survived into the 20th century. According to Chen, the Ming officer of Hezhou (modern day Linxia) informed the Hongwu Emperor that the general situation in Dbus and Gtsang "was under control," and so he suggested to the emperor that he offer the second Phagmodru ruler, Jamyang Shakya Gyaltsen, an official title. According to the Records of the Founding Emperor, the Hongwu Emperor issued an edict granting the title "Initiation State Master" to Sagya Gyaincain, while the latter sent envoys to the Ming court to hand over his jade seal of authority along with tribute of colored silk and satin, statues of the Buddha, Buddhist scriptures, and sarira. Dreyfus writes that after the Phagmodrupa lost its centralizing power over Tibet in 1434, several attempts by other families to establish hegemonies failed over the next two centuries until 1642 with the 5th Dalai Lama's effective hegemony over Tibet. #### Je Tsongkhapa The Ming dynasty granted titles to lamas of schools such as the Karmapa Kargyu, but the latter had previously declined Mongol invitations to receive titles. When the Ming Yongle Emperor invited Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), founder of the Gelug school, to come to the Ming court and pay tribute, the latter declined. The Historical Status of China's Tibet says that this was due to old age and physical weakness, and also because of efforts being made to build three major monasteries. Chen Qingying states that Tsongkhapa wrote a letter to decline the Emperor's invitation, and in this reply, Tsongkhapa wrote: > It is not that I don't know it is the edict of the Great dominator of the world for the sake of Buddhist doctrine, or that I do not obey the edict of Your Majesty. I am seriously ill whenever I meet the public, so I cannot embark on a journey in compliance with the imperial edict. I wish that Your Majesty might be merciful, and not be displeased; it will really be a great mercy. A. Tom Grunfeld says that Tsongkhapa claimed ill health in his refusal to appear at the Ming court, while Rossabi adds that Tsongkhapa cited the "length and arduousness of the journey" to China as another reason not to make an appearance. This first request by the Ming was made in 1407, but the Ming court sent another embassy in 1413, this one led by the eunuch Hou Xian (候顯; fl. 1403–1427), which was again refused by Tsongkhapa. Rossabi writes that Tsongkhapa did not want to entirely alienate the Ming court, so he sent his disciple Chosrje Shākya Yeshes to Nanjing in 1414 on his behalf, and upon his arrival in 1415 the Yongle Emperor bestowed upon him the title of "State Teacher"—the same title earlier awarded the Phagmodrupa ruler of Tibet. The Xuande Emperor (r. 1425–1435) even granted this disciple Chosrje Shākya Yeshes the title of a "King" (王). This title does not appear to have held any practical meaning, or to have given its holder any power, at Tsongkhapa's Ganden Monastery. Wylie notes that this—like the Karma Kargyu—cannot be seen as a reappointment of Mongol Yuan offices, since the Gelug school was created after the fall of the Yuan dynasty. #### Implications on the question of rule Dawa Norbu argues that modern Chinese Communist historians tend to be in favor of the view that the Ming simply reappointed old Yuan dynasty officials in Tibet and perpetuated their rule of Tibet in this manner. Norbu writes that, although this would have been true for the eastern Tibetan regions of Amdo and Kham's "tribute-cum-trade" relations with the Ming, it was untrue if applied to the western Tibetan regions of Ü-Tsang and Ngari. After the Phagmodrupa Changchub Gyaltsen, these were ruled by "three successive nationalistic regimes," which Norbu writes "Communist historians prefer to ignore." Laird writes that the Ming appointed titles to eastern Tibetan princes, and that "these alliances with eastern Tibetan principalities are the evidence China now produces for its assertion that the Ming ruled Tibet," despite the fact that the Ming did not send an army to replace the Mongols after they left Tibet. Yiu Yung-chin states that the furthest western extent of the Ming dynasty's territory was Gansu, Sichuan, and Yunnan while "the Ming did not possess Tibet." Shih-Shan Henry Tsai writes that the Yongle Emperor sent his eunuch Yang Sanbao into Tibet in 1413 to gain the allegiance of various Tibetan princes, while the Yongle Emperor paid a small fortune in return gifts for tributes in order to maintain the loyalty of neighboring vassal states such as Nepal and Tibet. However, Van Praag states that Tibetan rulers upheld their own separate relations with the kingdoms of Nepal and Kashmir, and at times "engaged in armed confrontation with them." Even though the Gelug exchanged gifts with and sent missions to the Ming court up until the 1430s, the Gelug was not mentioned in the History of Ming or the Ming Veritable Records. On this, historian Li Tieh-tseng says of Tsongkhapa's refusal of Ming invitations to visit the Yongle Emperor's court: > In China not only the emperor could do no wrong, but also his prestige and dignity had to be upheld at any cost. Had the fact been made known to the public that Ch'eng-tsu's repeated invitations extended to Tsong-ka-pa were declined, the Emperor's prestige and dignity would have been considered as lowered to a contemptible degree, especially at a time when his policy to show high favours toward lamas was by no means popular and had already caused resentment among the people. This explains why no mention of Tsong-k'a-pa and the Yellow Sect was made in the Ming Shih and Ming Shih lu. Wylie asserts that this type of censorship of the History of Ming distorts the true picture of the history of Sino-Tibetan relations, while the Ming court granted titles to various lamas regardless of their sectarian affiliations in an ongoing civil war in Tibet between competing Buddhist factions. Wylie argues that Ming titles of "King" granted indiscriminately to various Tibetan lamas or even their disciples should not be viewed as reappointments to earlier Yuan dynasty offices, since the viceregal Sakya regime established by the Mongols in Tibet was overthrown by the Phagmodru myriarchy before the Ming existed. Helmut Hoffman states that the Ming upheld the facade of rule over Tibet through periodic missions of "tribute emissaries" to the Ming court and by granting nominal titles to ruling lamas, but did not actually interfere in Tibetan governance. Melvyn C. Goldstein writes that the Ming had no real administrative authority over Tibet, as the various titles given to Tibetan leaders did not confer authority as the earlier Mongol Yuan titles had. He asserts that "by conferring titles on Tibetans already in power, the Ming emperors merely recognized political reality." Hugh Edward Richardson writes that the Ming dynasty exercised no authority over the succession of Tibetan ruling families, the Phagmodru (1354–1435), Rinpungpa (1435–1565), and Tsangpa (1565–1642). ### Religious significance In his usurpation of the throne from the Jianwen Emperor (r. 1398–1402), the Yongle Emperor was aided by the Buddhist monk Yao Guangxiao, and like his father, the Hongwu Emperor, the Yongle Emperor was "well-disposed towards Buddhism", claims Rossabi. On March 10, 1403, the Yongle Emperor invited Deshin Shekpa, 5th Karmapa Lama (1384–1415), to his court, even though the fourth Karmapa had rejected the invitation of the Hongwu Emperor. A Tibetan translation in the 16th century preserves the letter of the Yongle Emperor, which the Association for Asian Studies notes is polite and complimentary towards the Karmapa. The letter of invitation reads, > My father and both parents of the queen are now dead. You are my only hope, essence of buddhahood. Please come quickly. I am sending as offering a large ingot of silver, one hundred fifty silver coins, twenty rolls of silk, a block of sandalwood, one hundred fifty bricks of tea and ten pounds of incense." In order to seek out the Karmapa, the Yongle Emperor dispatched his eunuch Hou Xian and the Buddhist monk Zhi Guang (d. 1435) to Tibet. Traveling to Lhasa either through Qinghai or via the Silk Road to Khotan, Hou Xian and Zhi Guang did not return to Nanjing until 1407. During his travels beginning in 1403, Deshin Shekpa was induced by further exhortations by the Ming court to visit Nanjing by April 10, 1407. Norbu writes that the Yongle Emperor, following the tradition of Mongol emperors and their reverence for the Sakya lamas, showed an enormous amount of deference towards Deshin Shekpa. The Yongle Emperor came out of the palace in Nanjing to greet the Karmapa and did not require him to kowtow like a tributary vassal. According to Karma Thinley, the emperor gave the Karmapa the place of honor at his left, and on a higher throne than his own. Rossabi and others describe a similar arrangement made by Kublai Khan and the Sakya Phagpa lama, writing that Kublai would "sit on a lower platform than the Tibetan cleric" when receiving religious instructions from him. Throughout the following month, the Yongle Emperor and his court showered the Karmapa with presents. At Linggu Temple in Nanjing, he presided over the religious ceremonies for the Yongle Emperor's deceased parents, while twenty-two days of his stay were marked by religious miracles that were recorded in five languages on a gigantic scroll that bore the Emperor's seal. During his stay in Nanjing, Deshin Shekpa was bestowed the title "Great Treasure Prince of Dharma" by the Yongle Emperor. Elliot Sperling asserts that the Yongle Emperor, in bestowing Deshin Shekpa with the title of "King" and praising his mystical abilities and miracles, was trying to build an alliance with the Karmapa as the Mongols had with the Sakya lamas, but Deshin Shekpa rejected the Yongle Emperor's offer. In fact, this was the same title that Kublai Khan had offered the Sakya Phagpa lama, but Deshin Shekpa persuaded the Yongle Emperor to grant the title to religious leaders of other Tibetan Buddhist sects. Tibetan sources say Deshin Shekpa also persuaded the Yongle Emperor not to impose his military might on Tibet as the Mongols had previously done. Thinley writes that before the Karmapa returned to Tibet, the Yongle Emperor began planning to send a military force into Tibet to forcibly give the Karmapa authority over all the Tibetan Buddhist schools but Deshin Shekpa dissuaded him. However, Hok-Lam Chan states that "there is little evidence that this was ever the emperor's intention" and that evidence indicates that Deshin Skekpa was invited strictly for religious purposes. Marsha Weidner states that Deshin Shekpa's miracles "testified to the power of both the emperor and his guru and served as a legitimizing tool for the emperor's problematic succession to the throne," referring to the Yongle Emperor's conflict with the previous Jianwen Emperor. Tsai writes that Deshin Shekpa aided the legitimacy of the Yongle Emperor's rule by providing him with portents and omens which demonstrated Heaven's favor of the Yongle Emperor on the Ming throne. With the example of the Ming court's relationship with the fifth Karmapa and other Tibetan leaders, Norbu states that Chinese Communist historians have failed to realize the significance of the religious aspect of the Ming-Tibetan relationship. He writes that the meetings of lamas with the Emperor of China were exchanges of tribute between "the patron and the priest" and were not merely instances of a political subordinate paying tribute to a superior. He also notes that the items of tribute were Buddhist artifacts which symbolized "the religious nature of the relationship." Josef Kolmaš writes that the Ming dynasty did not exercise any direct political control over Tibet, content with their tribute relations that were "almost entirely of a religious character." Patricia Ann Berger writes that the Yongle Emperor's courting and granting of titles to lamas was his attempt to "resurrect the relationship between China and Tibet established earlier by the Yuan dynastic founder Khubilai Khan and his guru Phagpa." She also writes that the later Qing emperors and their Mongol associates viewed the Yongle Emperor's relationship with Tibet as "part of a chain of reincarnation that saw this Han Chinese emperor as yet another emanation of Manjusri." The Information Office of the State Council of the PRC preserves an edict of the Zhengtong Emperor (r. 1435–1449) addressed to the Karmapa in 1445, written after the latter's agent had brought holy relics to the Ming court. Zhengtong had the following message delivered to the Great Treasure Prince of Dharma, the Karmapa: > Out of compassion, Buddha taught people to be good and persuaded them to embrace his doctrines. You, who live in the remote Western Region, have inherited the true Buddhist doctrines. I am deeply impressed not only by the compassion with which you preach among the people in your region for their enlightenment, but also by your respect for the wishes of Heaven and your devotion to the Court. I am very pleased that you have sent bSod-nams-nyi-ma and other Tibetan monks here bringing with them statues of Buddha, horses and other specialties as tributes to the court. Despite this glowing message by the Emperor, Chan writes that a year later in 1446, the Ming court cut off all relations with the Karmapa hierarchs. Until then, the court was unaware that Deshin Shekpa had died in 1415. The Ming court had believed that the representatives of the Karma Kagyu who continued to visit the Ming capital were sent by the Karmapa. ### Tribute and exchanging tea for horses Tsai writes that shortly after the visit by Deshin Shekpa, the Yongle Emperor ordered the construction of a road and of trading posts in the upper reaches of the Yangzi and Mekong Rivers in order to facilitate trade with Tibet in tea, horses, and salt. The trade route passed through Sichuan and crossed Shangri-La County in Yunnan. The Historical Status of China's Tibet asserts that this "tribute-related trade" of the Ming exchanging Chinese tea for Tibetan horses—while granting Tibetan envoys and Tibetan merchants explicit permission to trade with Han Chinese merchants—"furthered the rule of the Ming dynasty court over Tibet". Rossabi and Sperling note that this trade in Tibetan horses for Chinese tea existed long before the Ming. Peter C. Perdue says that Wang Anshi (1021–1086), realizing that China could not produce enough militarily capable steeds, had also aimed to obtain horses from Inner Asia in exchange for Chinese tea. The Chinese needed horses not only for cavalry but also as draft animals for the army's supply wagons. The Tibetans required Chinese tea not only as a common beverage but also as a religious ceremonial supplement. The Ming government imposed a monopoly on tea production and attempted to regulate this trade with state-supervised markets, but these collapsed in 1449 due to military failures and internal ecological and commercial pressures on the tea-producing regions. Van Praag states that the Ming court established diplomatic delegations with Tibet merely to secure urgently needed horses. The Historical Status of China's Tibet argues that these were not diplomatic delegations at all, that Tibetan areas were ruled by the Ming since Tibetan leaders were granted positions as Ming officials, that horses were collected from Tibet as a mandatory "corvée" tax, and therefore Tibetans were "undertaking domestic affairs, not foreign diplomacy". Sperling writes that the Ming simultaneously bought horses in the Kham region while fighting Tibetan tribes in Amdo and receiving Tibetan embassies in Nanjing. He also argues that the embassies of Tibetan lamas visiting the Ming court were for the most part efforts to promote commercial transactions between the lamas' large, wealthy entourage and Ming Chinese merchants and officials. Kolmaš writes that while the Ming maintained a laissez-faire policy towards Tibet and limited the numbers of the Tibetan retinues, the Tibetans sought to maintain a tributary relationship with the Ming because imperial patronage provided them with wealth and power. Laird writes that Tibetans eagerly sought Ming court invitations since the gifts the Tibetans received for bringing tribute were much greater in value than the latter. As for the Yongle Emperor's gifts to his Tibetan and Nepalese vassals such as silver wares, Buddha relics, utensils for Buddhist temples and religious ceremonies, and gowns and robes for monks, Tsai writes "in his effort to draw neighboring states to the Ming orbit so that he could bask in glory, the Yongle Emperor was quite willing to pay a small price". The Information Office of the State Council of the PRC lists the Tibetan tribute items as oxen, horses, camels, sheep, fur products, medical herbs, Tibetan incenses, thangkas (painted scrolls), and handicrafts; while the Ming awarded Tibetan tribute-bearers an equal value of gold, silver, satin and brocade, bolts of cloth, grains, and tea leaves. Silk workshops during the Ming also catered specifically to the Tibetan market with silk clothes and furnishings featuring Tibetan Buddhist iconography. While the Ming dynasty traded horses with Tibet, it upheld a policy of outlawing border markets in the north, which Laird sees as an effort to punish the Mongols for their raids and to "drive them from the frontiers of China." However, after Altan Khan (1507–1582)—leader of the Tümed Mongols who overthrew the Oirat Mongol confederation's hegemony over the steppes—made peace with the Ming dynasty in 1571, he persuaded the Ming to reopen their border markets in 1573. This provided the Chinese with a new supply of horses that the Mongols had in excess; it was also a relief to the Ming, since they were unable to stop the Mongols from periodic raiding. Laird says that despite the fact that later Mongols believed Altan forced the Ming to view him as an equal, Chinese historians argue that he was simply a loyal Chinese citizen. By 1578, Altan Khan formed a formidable Mongol-Tibetan alliance with the Gelug that the Ming viewed from afar without intervention. ### Armed intervention and border stability Patricia Ebrey writes that Tibet, like Joseon Korea and other neighboring states to the Ming, settled for its tributary status while there were no troops or governors of Ming China stationed in its territory. Laird writes that "after the Mongol troops left Tibet, no Ming troops replaced them." The Historical Status of China's Tibet states that, despite the fact that the Ming refrained from sending troops to subdue Tibet and refrained from garrisoning Ming troops there, these measures were unnecessary so long as the Ming court upheld close ties with Tibetan vassals and their forces. However, there were instances in the 14th century when the Hongwu Emperor did use military force to quell unrest in Tibet. John D. Langlois writes that there was unrest in Tibet and western Sichuan, which the Marquis Mu Ying (沐英) was commissioned to quell in November 1378 after he established a Taozhou garrison in Gansu. Langlois notes that by October 1379, Mu Ying had allegedly captured 30,000 Tibetan prisoners and 200,000 domesticated animals. Yet invasion went both ways; the Ming general Qu Neng, under the command of Lan Yu, was ordered to repel a Tibetan assault into Sichuan in 1390. One of the Ming princes was noted for delinquent behavior involving Tibetans. Zhu Shuang (Prince of Qin), a son of the Hongwu Emperor, had some Tibetan boys castrated and Tibetan women seized while under the influence of drugs, following a war against minority Tibetan peoples. After his death in 1395 from either a drug overdose or toxins mixed with his medicine, Zhu Shuang was posthumously reprimanded by his father for various actions, including those against Tibetan prisoners of war (involving the slaughter of nearly two-thousand captives). Discussions of strategy in the mid Ming dynasty focused primarily on recovery of the Ordos region, which the Mongols used as a rallying base to stage raids into Ming China. Norbu states that the Ming dynasty, preoccupied with the Mongol threat to the north, could not spare additional armed forces to enforce or back up their claim of sovereignty over Tibet; instead, they relied on "Confucian instruments of tribute relations" of heaping unlimited number of titles and gifts on Tibetan lamas through acts of diplomacy. Sperling states that the delicate relationship between the Ming and Tibet was "the last time a united China had to deal with an independent Tibet," that there was a potential for armed conflict at their borders, and that the ultimate goal of Ming foreign policy with Tibet was not subjugation but "avoidance of any kind of Tibetan threat." P. Christiaan Klieger argues that the Ming court's patronage of high Tibetan lamas "was designed to help stabilize border regions and protect trade routes." Historians Luciano Petech and Sato Hisashi argue that the Ming upheld a "divide-and-rule" policy towards a weak and politically fragmented Tibet after the Sakya regime had fallen. Chan writes that this was perhaps the calculated strategy of the Yongle Emperor, as exclusive patronage to one Tibetan sect would have given it too much regional power. Sperling finds no textual evidence in either Chinese or Tibetan sources to support this thesis of Petech and Hisashi. Norbu asserts that their thesis is largely based on the list of Ming titles conferred on Tibetan lamas rather than "comparative analysis of developments in China and Tibet." Rossabi states that this theory "attributes too much influence to the Chinese," pointing out that Tibet was already politically divided when the Ming dynasty began. Rossabi also discounts the "divide-and-rule" theory on the grounds of the Yongle Emperor's failed attempt to build a strong relationship with the fifth Karmapa—one which he hoped would parallel Kublai Khan's earlier relationship with the Sakya Phagpa lama. Instead, the Yongle Emperor followed the Karmapa's advice of giving patronage to many different Tibetan lamas. The Association for Asian Studies states that there is no known written evidence to suggest that later leaders of the Gelug—Gendün Drup (1391–1474) and Gendün Gyatso (1475–1571)—had any contacts with Ming China. These two religious leaders were preoccupied with an overriding concern for dealing with the powerful secular Rinpungpa princes, who were patrons and protectors of the Karma Kargyu lamas. The Rinpungpa leaders were relatives of the Phagmodrupa, yet their authority shifted over time from simple governors to rulers in their own right over large areas of Ü-Tsang. The prince of Rinbung occupied Lhasa in 1498 and excluded the Gelug from attending New Years ceremonies and prayers, the most important event in the Gelug. While the task of New Years prayers in Lhasa was granted to the Karmapa and others, Gendün Gyatso traveled in exile looking for allies. However, it was not until 1518 that the secular Phagmodru ruler captured Lhasa from the Rinbung, and thereafter the Gelug was given rights to conduct the New Years prayer. When the Drikung Kagyu abbot of Drigung Monastery threatened Lhasa in 1537, Gendün Gyatso was forced to abandon the Drepung Monastery, although he eventually returned. The Zhengde Emperor (r. 1505–1521), who enjoyed the company of lamas at court despite protests from the censorate, had heard tales of a "living Buddha" which he desired to host at the Ming capital; this was none other than the Rinpung-supported Mikyö Dorje, 8th Karmapa Lama then occupying Lhasa. Zhengde's top advisors made every attempt to dissuade him from inviting this lama to court, arguing that Tibetan Buddhism was wildly heterodox and unorthodox. Despite protests by the Grand Secretary Liang Chu, in 1515 the Zhengde Emperor sent his eunuch official Liu Yun of the Palace Chancellery on a mission to invite this Karmapa to Beijing. Liu commanded a fleet of hundreds of ships requisitioned along the Yangtze, consuming 2,835 g (100 oz) of silver a day in food expenses while stationed for a year in Chengdu of Sichuan. After procuring necessary gifts for the mission, he departed with a cavalry force of about 1,000 troops. When the request was delivered, the Karmapa lama refused to leave Tibet despite the Ming force brought to coerce him. The Karmapa launched a surprise ambush on Liu Yun's camp, seizing all the goods and valuables while killing or wounding half of Liu Yun's entire escort. After this fiasco, Liu fled for his life, but only returned to Chengdu several years later to find that the Zhengde Emperor had died. ### Tibetans as a "national minority" Elliot Sperling, a specialist of Indian studies and the director of the Tibetan Studies program at Indiana University’s Department of Central Eurasia Studies, writes that "the idea that Tibet became part of China in the 13th century is a very recent construction." He writes that Chinese writers of the early 20th century were of the view that Tibet was not annexed by China until the Manchu Qing dynasty invasion during the 18th century. He also states that Chinese writers of the early 20th century described Tibet as a feudal dependency of China, not an integral part of it. Sperling states that this is because "Tibet was ruled as such, within the empires of the Mongols and the Manchus" and also that "China's intervening Ming dynasty ... had no control over Tibet." He writes that the Ming relationship with Tibet is problematic for China's insistence of its unbroken sovereignty over Tibet since the 13th century. As for the Tibetan view that Tibet was never subject to the rule of the Yuan or Qing emperors of China, Sperling also discounts this by stating that Tibet was "subject to rules, laws and decisions made by the Yuan and Qing rulers" and that even Tibetans described themselves as subjects of these emperors. Josef Kolmaš, a sinologist, Tibetologist, and Professor of Oriental Studies at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, writes that it was during the Qing dynasty "that developments took place on the basis of which Tibet came to be considered an organic part of China, both practically and theoretically subject to the Chinese central government." Yet he states that this was a radical change in regards to all previous eras of Sino-Tibetan relations. P. Christiaan Klieger, an anthropologist and scholar of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, writes that the vice royalty of the Sakya regime installed by the Mongols established a patron and priest relationship between Tibetans and Mongol converts to Tibetan Buddhism. According to him, the Tibetan lamas and Mongol khans upheld a "mutual role of religious prelate and secular patron," respectively. He adds that "Although agreements were made between Tibetan leaders and Mongol khans, Ming and Qing emperors, it was the Republic of China and its Communist successors that assumed the former imperial tributaries and subject states as integral parts of the Chinese nation-state." Marina Illich, a scholar of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, while discussing the life of the Gelug lama Chankya Rolpe Dorje (1717–1786), mentions the limitations of both Western and Chinese modern scholarship in their interpretation of Tibetan sources. As for the limitations imposed on scholars by the central government of the People's Republic of China on issues regarding the history of Tibet, Illich writes: > PRC scholars ... work under the strict supervision of censor bureaus and must adhere to historiographic guidelines issued by the state [and] have little choice but to frame their discussion of eighteenth-century Tibetan history in the anachronistic terms of contemporary People's Republic of China (P.R.C.) state discourse ... Bound by Party directives, these scholars have little choice but to portray Tibet as a trans-historically inalienable part of China in a way that profoundly obscures questions of Tibetan agency. Chinese state media publication China Daily states in a 2008 article that although there were dynastic changes after Tibet was incorporated into the territory of Yuan dynasty's China in the 13th century, "Tibet has remained under the jurisdiction of the central government of China." It also states that the Ming dynasty "inherited the right to rule Tibet" from the Yuan dynasty, and repeats the claims in the History of Ming about the Ming establishing two itinerant high commands over Tibet. China Daily states that the Ming handled Tibet's civil administration, appointed all leading officials of these administrative organs, and punished Tibetans who broke the law. The article was republished in other Chinese state media publications, such as People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency, China Central Television. ## Mongol-Tibetan alliance ### Altan Khan and the Dalai Lama During the reign of the Jiajing Emperor (r. 1521–1567), the native Chinese ideology of Daoism was fully sponsored at the Ming court, while Tibetan Vajrayana and even Chinese Buddhism were ignored or suppressed. Even the History of Ming states that the Tibetan lamas discontinued their trips to Ming China and its court at this point. Grand Secretary Yang Tinghe under Jiajing was determined to break the eunuch influence at court which typified the Zhengde era, an example being the costly escort of the eunuch Liu Yun as described above in his failed mission to Tibet. The court eunuchs were in favor of expanding and building new commercial ties with foreign countries such as Portugal, which Zhengde deemed permissible since he had an affinity for foreign and exotic people. With the death of Zhengde and ascension of Jiajing, the politics at court shifted in favor of the Neo-Confucian establishment which not only rejected the Portuguese embassy of Fernão Pires de Andrade (d. 1523), but had a predisposed animosity towards Tibetan Buddhism and lamas. Evelyn S. Rawski, a professor in the Department of History of the University of Pittsburgh, writes that the Ming's unique relationship with Tibetan prelates essentially ended with Jiajing's reign while Ming influence in the Amdo region was supplanted by the Mongols. The Chinese Ming dynasty also deliberately helped to propagate Tibetan Buddhism instead of Chinese Buddhism among the Mongols. The Ming assisted Altan Khan, King of the Tümed Mongols, when he requested aid in propagating Vajrayana Buddhism. Meanwhile, the Tumed Mongols began moving into the Kokonor region (modern Qinghai), raiding the Ming Chinese frontier and even as far as the suburbs of Beijing under Altan Khan (1507–1582). Klieger writes that Altan Khan's presence in the west effectively reduced Ming influence and contact with Tibet. After Altan Khan made peace with the Ming dynasty in 1571, he invited the third hierarch of the Gelug—Sönam Gyatso (1543–1588)—to meet him in Amdo (modern Qinghai) in 1578, where he accidentally bestowed him and his two predecessors with the title of Dalai Lama—"Ocean Teacher". The full title was "Dalai Lama Vajradhara", "Vajradhara" meaning "Holder of the Thunderbolt" in Sanskrit. Victoria Huckenpahler notes that Vajradhara is considered by Buddhists to be the primordial Buddha of limitless and all-pervasive beneficial qualities, a being that "represents the ultimate aspect of enlightenment." Goldstein writes that Sönam Gyatso also enhanced Altan Khan's standing by granting him the title "king of religion, majestic purity". Rawski writes that the Dalai Lama officially recognized Altan Khan as the "Protector of the Faith". Laird writes that Altan Khan abolished the native Mongol practices of shamanism and blood sacrifice, while the Mongol princes and subjects were coerced by Altan to convert to Gelug Buddhism—or face execution if they persisted in their shamanistic ways. Committed to their religious leader, Mongol princes began requesting the Dalai Lama to bestow titles on them, which demonstrated "the unique fusion of religious and political power" wielded by the Dalai Lama, as Laird writes. Kolmaš states that the spiritual and secular Mongol-Tibetan alliance of the 13th century was renewed by this alliance constructed by Altan Khan and Sönam Gyatso. Van Praag writes that this restored the original Mongol patronage of a Tibetan lama and "to this day, Mongolians are among the most devout followers of the Gelugpa and the Dalai Lama." Angela F. Howard writes that this unique relationship not only provided the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama with religious and political authority in Tibet, but that Altan Khan gained "enormous power among the entire Mongol population." Rawski writes that Altan Khan's conversion to the Gelug "can be interpreted as an attempt to expand his authority in his conflict with his nominal superior, Tümen Khan." To further cement the Mongol-Tibetan alliance, the great-grandson of Altan Khan—the 4th Dalai Lama (1589–1616)—was made the fourth Dalai Lama. In 1642, the 5th Dalai Lama (1617–1682) became the first to wield effective political control over Tibet. ### Contact with the Ming dynasty Sonam Gyatso, after being granted the grandiose title by Altan Khan, departed for Tibet. Before he left, he sent a letter and gifts to the Ming Chinese official Zhang Juzheng (1525–1582), which arrived on March 12, 1579. Sometime in August or September of that year, Sonam Gyatso's representative stationed with Altan Khan received a return letter and gift from the Wanli Emperor (r. 1572–1620), who also conferred upon Sonam Gyatso a title; this was the first official contact between a Dalai Lama and a government of China. However, Laird states that when Wanli invited him to Beijing, the Dalai Lama declined the offer due to a prior commitment, even though he was only 400 km (250 mi) from Beijing. Laird adds that "the power of the Ming emperor did not reach very far at the time." Although not recorded in any official Chinese records, Sonam Gyatso's biography states that Wanli again conferred titles on Sonam Gyatso in 1588, and invited him to Beijing for a second time, but Sonam Gyatso was unable to visit China as he died the same year in Mongolia working with Altan Khan's son to further the spread of Buddhism. Of the third Dalai Lama, China Daily states that the "Ming dynasty showed him special favor by allowing him to pay tribute." China Daily then says that Sonam Gyatso was granted the title Dorjichang or Vajradhara Dalai Lama in 1587 [sic\!], but China Daily does not mention who granted him the title. Without mentioning the role of the Mongols, China Daily states that it was the successive Qing dynasty which established the title of Dalai Lama and his power in Tibet: "In 1653, the Qing emperor granted an honorific title to the fifth Dalai Lama and then did the same for the fifth Panchen Lama in 1713, officially establishing the titles of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Erdeni, and their political and religious status in Tibet." Chen states that the fourth Dalai Lama Yonten Gyatso was granted the title "Master of Vajradhara" and an official seal by the Wanli Emperor in 1616. This was noted in the Biography of the Fourth Dalai Lama, which stated that one Soinam Lozui delivered the seal of the Emperor to the Dalai Lama. The Wanli Emperor had invited Yonten Gyatso to Beijing in 1616, but just like his predecessor he died before being able to make the journey. Kolmaš writes that, as the Mongol presence in Tibet increased, culminating in the conquest of Tibet by a Mongol leader in 1642, the Ming emperors "viewed with apparent unconcern these developments in Tibet." He adds that the Ming court's lack of concern for Tibet was one of the reasons why the Mongols pounced on the chance to reclaim their old vassal of Tibet and "fill once more the political vacuum in that country." On the mass Mongol conversion to Tibetan Buddhism under Altan Khan, Laird writes that "the Chinese watched these developments with interest, though few Chinese ever became devout Tibetan Buddhists." ### Civil war and Güshi Khan's conquest In 1565, the powerful Rinbung princes were overthrown by one of their own ministers, Karma Tseten who styled himself as the Tsangpa, "the one of Tsang", and established his base of power at Shigatse. The second successor of this first Tsang king, Karma Phuntsok Namgyal, took control of the whole of Central Tibet (Ü-Tsang), reigning from 1611 to 1621. Despite this, the leaders of Lhasa still claimed their allegiance to the Phagmodru as well as the Gelug, while the Ü-Tsang king allied with the Karmapa. Tensions rose between the nationalistic Ü-Tsang ruler and the Mongols who safeguarded their Mongol Dalai Lama in Lhasa. The fourth Dalai Lama refused to give an audience to the Ü-Tsang king, which sparked a conflict as the latter began assaulting Gelug monasteries. Chen writes of the speculation over the fourth Dalai Lama's mysterious death and the plot of the Ü-Tsang king to have him murdered for "cursing" him with illness, although Chen writes that the murder was most likely the result of a feudal power struggle. In 1618, only two years after Yonten Gyatso died, the Gelug and the Karma Kargyu went to war, the Karma Kargyu supported by the secular Ü-Tsang king. The Ü-Tsang ruler had a large number of Gelugpa lamas killed, occupied their monasteries at Drepung and Sera, and outlawed any attempts to find another Dalai Lama. In 1621, the Ü-Tsang king died and was succeeded by his young son Karma Tenkyong, an event which stymied the war effort as the latter accepted the six-year-old Lozang Gyatso as the new Dalai Lama. Despite the new Dalai Lama's diplomatic efforts to maintain friendly relations with the new Ü-Tsang ruler, Sonam Rapten (1595–1657), the Dalai Lama's chief steward and treasurer at Drepung, made efforts to overthrow the Ü-Tsang king, which led to another conflict. In 1633, the Gelugpas and several thousand Mongol adherents defeated the Ü-Tsang king's troops near Lhasa before a peaceful negotiation was settled. Goldstein writes that in this the "Mongols were again playing a significant role in Tibetan affairs, this time as the military arm of the Dalai Lama." When an ally of the Ü-Tsang ruler threatened destruction of the Gelugpas again, the fifth Dalai Lama Lozang Gyatso pleaded for help from the Mongol prince Güshi Khan (1582–1655), leader of the Khoshut (Qoshot) tribe of the Oirat Mongols, who was then on a pilgrimage to Lhasa. Güshi Khan accepted his role as protector, and from 1637 to 1640 he not only defeated the Gelugpas' enemies in the Amdo and Kham regions, but also resettled his entire tribe into Amdo. Sonam Chöpel urged Güshi Khan to assault the Ü-Tsang king's homebase of Shigatse, which Güshi Khan agreed upon, enlisting the aid of Gelug monks and supporters. In 1642, after a year's siege of Shigatse, the Ü-Tsang forces surrendered. Güshi Khan then captured and summarily executed Karma Tenkyong, the ruler of Ü-Tsang, King of Tibet. Soon after the victory in Ü-Tsang, Güshi Khan organized a welcoming ceremony for Lozang Gyatso once he arrived a day's ride from Shigatse, presenting his conquest of Tibet as a gift to the Dalai Lama. In a second ceremony held within the main hall of the Shigatse fortress, Güshi Khan enthroned the Dalai Lama as the ruler of Tibet, but conferred the actual governing authority to the regent Sonam Chöpel. Although Güshi Khan had granted the Dalai Lama "supreme authority" as Goldstein writes, the title of 'King of Tibet' was conferred upon Güshi Khan, spending his summers in pastures north of Lhasa and occupying Lhasa each winter. Van Praag writes that at this point Güshi Khan maintained control over the armed forces, but accepted his inferior status towards the Dalai Lama. Rawski writes that the Dalai Lama shared power with his regent and Güshi Khan during his early secular and religious reign. However, Rawski states that he eventually "expanded his own authority by presenting himself as Avalokiteśvara through the performance of rituals," by building the Potala Palace and other structures on traditional religious sites, and by emphasizing lineage reincarnation through written biographies. Goldstein states that the government of Güshi Khan and the Dalai Lama persecuted the Karma Kagyu sect, confiscated their wealth and property, and even converted their monasteries into Gelug monasteries. Rawski writes that this Mongol patronage allowed the Gelugpas to dominate the rival religious sects in Tibet. Meanwhile, the Chinese Ming dynasty fell to the rebellion of Li Zicheng (1606–1645) in 1644, yet his short-lived Shun dynasty was crushed by the Manchu invasion and the Han Chinese general Wu Sangui (1612–1678). China Daily states that when the following Qing dynasty replaced the Ming dynasty, it merely "strengthened administration of Tibet." However, Kolmaš states that the Dalai Lama was very observant of what was going on in China and accepted a Manchu invitation in 1640 to send envoys to their capital at Mukden in 1642, before the Ming collapsed. Dawa Norbu, William Rockhill, and George N. Patterson write that when the Shunzhi Emperor (r. 1644–1661) of the subsequent Qing dynasty invited the fifth Dalai Lama Lozang Gyatso to Beijing in 1652, Shunzhi treated the Dalai Lama as an independent sovereign of Tibet. Patterson writes that this was an effort of Shunzhi to secure an alliance with Tibet that would ultimately lead to the establishment of Manchu rule over Mongolia. In this meeting with the Qing emperor, Goldstein asserts that the Dalai Lama was not someone to be trifled with due to his alliance with Mongol tribes, some of which were declared enemies of the Qing. Van Praag states that Tibet and the Dalai Lama's power was recognized by the "Manchu Emperor, the Mongolian Khans and Princes, and the rulers of Ladakh, Nepal, India, Bhutan, and Sikkim." When the Dzungar Mongols attempted to spread their territory from what is now Xinjiang into Tibet, the Kangxi Emperor (r. 1661–1722) responded to Tibetan pleas for aid with his own expedition to Tibet, occupying Lhasa in 1720. By 1751, during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1735–1796), a protectorate and permanent Qing dynasty garrison was established in Tibet. As of 1751, Albert Kolb writes that "Chinese claims to suzerainty over Tibet date from this time." ## Administrative offices and officials' titles of the Ming ## See also - Foreign relations of imperial China - Foreign relations of Tibet - History of China - History of Tibet - Patron and priest relationship - Tibetan sovereignty debate - Tang–Tibet relations - Song–Tibet relations - Tibet under Yuan rule - Tibet under Qing rule - Ming dynasty in Inner Asia - Manchuria under Ming rule - Fourth Chinese domination of Vietnam

Orel Hershiser's scoreless innings streak

Major League Baseball pitching record

During the 1988 Major League Baseball season, pitcher Orel Hershiser of the Los Angeles Dodgers set the MLB record for consecutive scoreless innings pitched. Over 59 consecutive innings, opposing hitters did not score a run against Hershiser. During the streak, he averted numerous high-risk scoring situations. The streak spanned from the sixth inning of an August 30 game against the Montreal Expos to the 10th inning of a September 28 game against the San Diego Padres. The previous record of 58+2⁄3 innings was set by former Dodger pitcher Don Drysdale in 1968; as the team's radio announcer, Drysdale called Hershiser's streak as he pursued the new record. Pundits have described the streak as among the greatest records in baseball history, with one pundit ranking it among the greatest individual feats in American sports. During the streak, the Elias Sports Bureau changed its criteria for the official consecutive scoreless innings record for starting pitchers from including fractional innings in which one or two outs had been recorded to counting only complete scoreless innings. Since the streak was active at the end of the 1988 season, it could have spanned two separate seasons. However, Hershiser yielded a run in his first inning of work in the 1989 season against the Cincinnati Reds, thus ending the streak at 59 consecutive scoreless innings pitched. The streak includes only innings pitched in the regular season, excluding eight scoreless innings Hershiser pitched to start Game 1 of the 1988 National League Championship Series on October 4 (unofficially extending his streak to 67 combined innings). Although he completed the ninth inning in each start, the streak's final game lasted 16 innings, of which he pitched only the first 10. Thus, Hershiser did not match Drysdale's record of six consecutive complete game shutouts. Like Drysdale's streak, the penultimate game of Hershiser's streak was a Dodgers–Giants game that featured a controversial umpire's ruling that saved the streak. The streak was initially overshadowed by Hershiser achieving 20 wins and the race for the NL Cy Young Award between Hershiser and Danny Jackson until Hershiser reached 40 consecutive innings. Another distraction during the streak was his wife's pregnancy and his son's childbirth complications. The record-setting game was overshadowed by the 1988 Summer Olympics, football, and baseball pennant races; it was not broadcast on local television in Los Angeles. Following the regular season, Hershiser was awarded the NL Cy Young Award. In the playoffs, he earned both the NL Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award and the World Series MVP Award. He also secured Sportsman of the Year and Associated Press Athlete of the Year honors. Hershiser appeared in the 1989 MLB All-Star Game and continued to be an effective pitcher for many seasons, including two additional appearances in the World Series, one of which was preceded by his winning the 1995 AL Championship Series MVP Award. ## Background Hershiser was selected by Dodgers in the 17th round of the 1979 MLB draft with the 440th overall selection. He made his professional debut with the Class A Dodger farm team in the Midwest League, the Clinton Dodgers in 1979. He made his major league debut for the Dodgers on September 1, 1983, against the Montreal Expos. Hershisher made his first start on May 26, 1984, against the New York Mets and became a full-time starter in the Dodgers' rotation on July 14. Hershiser had pitched a 33+2⁄3-inning scoreless streak in 1984, eventually joining Gaylord Perry and Luis Tiant as the only pitchers between 1963 and 2014 with at least two streaks of this length. Hershiser's 1984 streak, which was the longest scoreless inning streak of the year, was broken up on July 24 by a home run by two-time NL Most Valuable Player Dale Murphy of the Atlanta Braves. His streak included a blown save on July 8 against the St. Louis Cardinals and a nine-inning shutout against the Cardinals on July 19. Despite an emergency appendectomy that delayed his spring training and shortened his time to get in shape for the season, Hershiser had been named NL Baseball Pitcher of the Month in April and a participant in the 1988 All-Star Game, getting outs against all three batters. In the eight games he started between July 10 and August 14, Hershiser had a 3–4 win–loss record with a 4.76 earned run average (ERA), raising his season ERA from 2.46 to 3.06. Following his August 14 start in which he left the game after two innings (his shortest appearance since 1985) with the Dodgers behind the Giants 8–2, he pitched complete games on August 19 (a shutout) and August 24. Prior to the game, Hershiser trailed teammate Tim Leary in shutouts, six to three, and Leary also combined with other pitchers to record a shutout that was not counted in his individual total. Previously, Walter Johnson of the 1913 Washington Senators had held the consecutive scoreless innings record, at 55+2⁄3, with two relief appearances, which gave him a fractional total. In 1968, Drysdale, also of the Dodgers, surpassed Johnson by pitching 58+2⁄3 innings in six consecutive nine-inning shutouts between May 14 and June 4, 1968. Drysdale's streak ended with four scoreless innings in a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on June 8. ## The streak The streak spanned Hershiser's 29th through 35th (and final) starts of the 1988 season for the Dodgers, which were the 190th through 196th games of his career. It began on August 30 against the Expos, after seven-time All-Star Tim Raines scored with two outs in the fifth inning. The streak ended on April 5, 1989, against Cincinnati, when Barry Larkin scored with two outs in the first inning. During the streak, although 41 of the 59 scoreless innings came on the road away from traditionally pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium, Hershiser lowered his ERA from 2.90 to 2.26. The Dodgers scored only 13 runs in support of Hershiser's 59 innings. Overall, opposing hitters batted 0-for-9 with runners on third and 0-for-31 with runners in scoring position. During the streak, according to the Chicago Tribune, Hershiser caused opposing teams to leave 30 runners on base; Drysdale, in his streak, left 35. However, USA Today reported that Hershiser left 36 runners on base. At that point in his career, Hershiser was regarded as a "right-handed sinkerball artist" although he did not throw a sinker. He relied on a fastball, slider, curveball, and split-finger fastball, the latter of which he used as a sinker. Once Hershiser achieved his second consecutive complete-game shutout to reach 22 consecutive scoreless innings, he was lauded for his 20th win in the national press while the local press praised his serious contention for the Cy Young Award, given to the league's best pitcher. The 20th win had been his preseason goal. His third consecutive complete-game shutout, which brought him to 31 consecutive innings, was said in local newspapers to have strengthened his Cy Young Award chances and in national newspapers to have helped his team in the pennant race. There was little emphasis on the historical context of his streak at this point, even among newspapers that headlined the streak. Upon reaching 40 consecutive innings, most of the national media began to mention that the record was 58 (in some cases 58+2⁄3). In some papers, Hershiser's approach to the record was being described as a chase. Hershiser, however, said that he was primarily focused on his hospitalized newborn son. After Hershiser reached 49 consecutive innings because of what some sources describe as an umpire's favorable interference ruling on a double play, the sports media compared him to Drysdale, who had a similar incident occur during his streak. The Houston Chronicle noted that both beneficial calls were in Dodgers–Giants games. However, the press also noted that Hershiser needed another complete game shutout to tie Drysdale and pass Johnson on the all-time consecutive scoreless innings list. In addition to covering the record pursuit, some sportswriters perceived that Hershiser had taken a commanding lead in the Cy Young Award race. Despite the official ruling by MLB statistician Seymour Siwoff that only full innings of starting pitchers count toward the record, some sportswriters continued to refer to the record as 58+2⁄3 innings. The pennant race also continued to draw attention as the Dodgers closed in on the NL West division title. An Associated Press article noted that it was Hershiser's eighth consecutive complete game and 15th of the season and Hershiser's fifth consecutive complete game shutout. As Hershiser's last remaining start approached, the media mentioned that he needed one more complete game shutout to tie the all-time record. When the total reached 49, Hershiser first began to believe that the record was within reach. Not only were his teammates too superstitious to talk to him about the streak, but Dodgers announcer Drysdale also avoided the subject when talking to Hershiser for fear of jinxing him. Hershiser was not superstitious about the record, saying, "I'm pretty loosey-goosey about it.... I talk about it all the time. I'm not superstitious." ### August 30, 1988 The Dodgers entered the game with a 76–54 record and a 6.5-game lead in the NL West over the Houston Astros, while the Montreal Expos were 11 games back in third place in the NL East with a 66–64 record entering the game. With the August 30 win, the Dodgers retained their 6.5-game lead. The win marked the Dodgers' fifth consecutive win and 12th out of 15. Hershiser contributed a two-run double in the second inning to help the Dodgers build a 3–0 lead. After Hershiser gave up two runs in the fifth, no baserunners reached second base against him in the final four innings, thus marking the first four scoreless innings of his streak. The game marked Hershiser's third consecutive and 10th complete game of the season. Following the game, his 2.84 ERA ranked third on the team behind Tim Leary (2.44) and John Tudor (2.37). ### September 5, 1988 Hershiser had been scheduled to pitch against the NL-leading New York Mets (80–54) on Sunday, September 4, but a rainout delayed his performance. The Dodgers entered the game with a 77–57 record and a five-game lead in the NL West over the Astros, while the Atlanta Braves were 31 games back in sixth place in the division with a 46–88 record entering the game. With the September 5 win, the Dodgers retained their 5-game lead. Hershiser struck out Dale Murphy four times, once resorting to a rare sidearm curveball to do so, to the dismay of pitching coach Ron Perranoski, who worried about injuries caused by sidearm pitching. According to ESPN's Mark Simon, this was the only game of Murphy's 2,180-game career in which a single pitcher struck him out four times. After a two-out walk to Dion James in the third inning, Hershiser allowed no baserunners until the ninth inning. With his fourth straight complete game, Hershiser raised his record to 19–8, making him 3–1 with a 1.00 ERA in those games. ### September 10, 1988 The Dodgers entered the game with a 79–60 record and a four-game lead in the NL West over the Houston Astros, while the Cincinnati Reds were 5.5 games back in third place in the division with a 74–66 record entering the game. With the September 10 win, the Dodgers held a five-game lead. Although left-handed pitcher Fernando Valenzuela had won 20 games in 1986, Hershiser became the first Dodger righthander to win 20 games since Don Sutton in 1976. Hershiser said, about reaching this accomplishment, "It's a goal that the world sets as a standard, and when you reach it, it's a great feeling." In the Cy Young Award race, Danny Jackson of the Reds had beaten the Dodgers the night before to move to 21-6 with a 2.43 ERA (against Hershiser's 20-8 with a 2.62 ERA). In the third inning, Hershiser struck out Eric Davis with the bases loaded and two outs and later got Davis to hit into two double plays. In the seventh inning, Ken Griffey, Sr. and Larkin were retired after the Reds put runners on first and third base with one out. The game marked Hershiser's fifth consecutive complete game (and 12th of the season). ### September 14, 1988 The Dodgers entered the game with an 83–60 record and a 6.5-game lead in the NL West over the Astros, while the Atlanta Braves were 34 games back in sixth place in the division with a 49–94 record entering the game. With Hershiser's September 14 win, the Dodgers maintained a 6.5-game lead. Hershiser's record on the season against the Braves was 5–0 with a 1.29 ERA. The game marked only the third time in 1988 that he pitched on three days' rest. Lasorda and Perranoski moved Hershiser's start up one day because they wanted him to pitch the next week against the second-place Houston Astros. With the streak at 31 innings Hershiser tied Jackson in number of wins, and moved into a tie for the sixth longest scoreless streak for the franchise since the 1958 relocation to Los Angeles. Although Drysdale's record was mentioned after he reached 31 consecutive innings, the focus of the media was on the Cy Young Award race with Jackson. The win was Hershiser's seventh consecutive against the Braves, a streak that began on September 13, 1987. The Braves opened the third inning with back-to-back singles by Ozzie Virgil and Terry Blocker. Hershiser responded by striking out opposing pitcher Rick Mahler and Ron Gant and then retiring Jeff Blauser on a flyball to left. In the seventh inning, a double by Andrés Thomas was followed with an error by Franklin Stubbs, giving the Braves runners at first and third. Hershiser loaded the bases with an intentional walk before retiring Mahler and Gant again. Gant's flyball sent Gibson to the outfield wall. Hershiser described it as his worst outing of his six consecutive complete games, saying: "It was the worst I've thrown in the last five or six starts.... I was really inconsistent. I didn't have good stuff or location. I couldn't establish a pattern. I had to work hard adjusting and got away with pitches I wouldn't have if I was going badly." The Dodgers' only run came in the ninth inning on what newspapers described as a successful hit and run play in which Mike Marshall on a 2-2 count doubled Kirk Gibson in from first base. However, as recalled by Marshall: "Let me tell you, it wasn't a hit-and-run. Gibby was probably going with two strikes. We never would hit-and-run with us. You can call it a run-and-hit." Orel and wife Jamie scheduled induced labor for the following day, an off day for the Dodgers. ### September 19, 1988 The Dodgers entered the game with an 86–61 record and a nine-game lead in the NL West over the Astros and Giants, each of whom held a 78–71 record. With the September 19 win, the Dodgers held a 9.5-game lead over the Reds. The game marked Hershiser's second consecutive 1–0 victory. The game marked Nolan Ryan's final start for the Astros. He pitched two innings (striking out four Dodgers) before leaving the game because of a hamstring cramp. Hershiser retired the final 13 batters in a row. Based on the rules in place on September 20, Hershiser would have ended up 2⁄3 inning shy of Drysdale's record even with two nine-inning shutouts in his final two starts. Jackson also won his 22nd game that night. Hershiser's ERA in the seven consecutive complete games had fallen to 0.57. Houston's strongest scoring opportunities came about because of Dodger errors: Kevin Bass recorded a two-out single followed by a stolen base. Then a Griffin error on a Glenn Davis ground ball moved the runner to third base and dangerously close to home plate. Also, in the fifth inning Stubbs' error put runners on first and second with no outs. The game marked Hershiser's sixth (and fourth consecutive) shutout of the season, making him the first Dodger since Drysdale in 1968 to record four in a row. This performance of September 19 was the middle of three consecutive shutouts posted by the Dodgers. Tudor posted one on September 18 with relief from Alejandro Peña; Tim Belcher pitched a shutout on September 20. On September 19, Hershiser's four-day-old son Jordan was suffering from fluid buildup in his lungs in a Pasadena hospital. Hershiser, by winning that day, reduced the Dodgers' magic number to five over the Reds. Publications such as The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times began to take note of the streak length and the nearer horizon of the record as Hershiser reached 40 consecutive innings with this win. Several Canadian newspapers even used the word chasing to note Hershiser's progress—e.g., The Ottawa Citizen ran a story titled "Hershiser chasing record." ### September 23, 1988 In order that Hershiser and the rest of the staff could have their normal number of days of rest heading into the playoff series that could start as early as October 3, Hershiser pitched on only three days' rest rather than making his regular start on September 24. The Dodgers entered the game with an 89–63 record and an eight-game lead in the NL West over the Cincinnati Reds, while the San Francisco Giants were 10.5 games back in fourth place in the division with a 79–74 record entering the game. With the September 23 win, the Dodgers retained an eight-game lead over the Reds. The victory reduced the Dodgers' magic number to two. The game marked Hershiser's eighth consecutive complete game and fifteenth of the season and Hershiser's fifth consecutive complete game shutout, which stretched his consecutive scoreless inning streak to 49. Following the game, Hershiser was quoted as saying, "I want to keep putting zeroes up there — not because of the streak, but for the team.... I want to stay hot right up through the playoffs." Prior to the start, Seymour Siwoff, the Elias Sports Bureau chief and official statistician for MLB, determined that the official method of accounting for consecutive scoreless innings would count only whole innings for starting pitchers and that if the streak extended into 1989 it would bear an asterisk. Previously there had been division among various sources on whether to include fractional innings. According to some sources, official statisticians such as Siwoff had a long history of counting only complete scoreless innings by starting pitchers. Hershiser's September 23 shutout lifted him to third on the all-time consecutive scoreless innings list, behind Johnson and Drysdale. He also passed Carl Hubbell and G. Harris "Doc" White, each of whom had streaks of 45 innings on the newly redefined record's list, and Bob Gibson, who had a streak of 47 before the record was redefined. Hershiser also became one of three pitchers to throw five consecutive shutouts, joining Drysdale, who did it in 1968, and White, who did it in 1904. His 23 wins were the most by a Dodger since Sandy Koufax had won 27 games in 1966. During the third inning of the September 23 game, according to articles written by ESPN and the Los Angeles Times, after José Uribe and Atlee Hammaker got on base with consecutive singles, Brett Butler grounded into a force out at second base to leave Uribe on third and Butler on first. When Ernie Riles hit a groundball, Butler interfered with Dodger shortstop Alfredo Griffin causing a bad throw and breaking up the double play. A run was posted on the scoreboard after Uribe crossed home plate. However, Bob Engel ruled that the double play had been broken up by interference, making the play a double play. This allowed the streak to continue beyond 42 innings. Contemporaneous sources such as The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times noted that, when Butler swiped at Griffin's leg, Griffin threw over the head of Tracy Woodson. Other contemporaneous sources such as Sports Illustrated and USA Today said that Paul Runge ruled that Butler had interfered with second baseman Steve Sax's relay throw to Griffin. Several sources noted that, late in Drysdale's streak, Drysdale benefited similarly when Harry Wendelstedt nullified Dick Dietz's bases-loaded hit by pitch for failing to attempt to avoid the pitch. Hershiser retired the side in order in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. In the game, Giants manager Roger Craig made what some describe as a questionable pinch hitting substitution. In order to contest Hershiser with a left-handed batter, with runners on first and second and one out, he substituted rookie Francisco Meléndez (batting .190) for Robby Thompson (batting .266), which resulted in an inning-ending double play. That day, USA Today claimed that Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda had determined his postseason pitching rotation with Hershiser slated for Game 1 of the NLCS, but Lasorda denied having any plan in place for a playoff appearance that had not yet been clinched. The Dodgers' runs came on Mickey Hatcher's first home run of the season in the eighth inning. ### September 28, 1988 As his turn in the rotation approached, Hershiser joked that he would skip a start and rest for the playoffs rather than pursue the record. The Dodgers had clinched the NL West on September 26. Thus, the focus of the game on the 28th was on Hershiser's need to get nine scoreless innings to tie Drysdale, which was Hershiser's hope. On September 27, Lasorda announced the Dodger starting pitchers for Game 1 (Hershiser) and Game 2 (Tudor) of the NL Championship series, which would begin the following Tuesday, October 4. The Dodgers entered the game with a 92–65 record and a seven-game lead in the NL West over the Cincinnati Reds, while the San Diego Padres were 13 games back in fifth place in the division with a 79–78 record entering the game. With the September 28 loss, the Dodgers retained a seven-game lead over the Reds. In the off days leading up to Hershiser's last start, Frank Viola had tied Jackson and Hershiser at 23 wins for the MLB lead. Hershiser had ended Padres catcher Benito Santiago's 34-game hitting streak the year before and the Padres were eager to snap Hershiser's streak. Santiago's streak was an MLB record for a catcher, an MLB record for a rookie and a team record for the Padres. No one who has started a hitting streak at age 22 or younger has matched the streak since. According to Tony Gwynn, "We wanted so badly to put a run on the board.... Maybe, we tried a little too hard. You have to give the man credit. He didn't give me one decent pitch to hit all night. He put everything right where he wanted it to go." Prior to the game Hershiser explained why he wanted to win a World Series more than break the scoreless innings streak: "You can break a record or win a Cy Young and go home and celebrate with your wife and friends, but after it's over there's only a few people that really care about it. But if you win a team thing, you've got 24 guys and all their families, all their friends, a whole city celebrating." Hershiser picked Roberto Alomar off at first base to end the eighth inning. When the game went into extra innings, Hershiser did not want to continue: "I really didn't want to break it," Hershiser said. "I wanted to stop at 58. I wanted me and Don to be together at the top. But the higher sources (Lasorda and Perranoski) told me they weren't taking me out of the game, so I figured, what the heck, I might as well get the guy out." Through the first nine innings, no Padre had reached second base. Lasorda, Perranoski and Ben Hines all believed that he owed it to the game and to himself to continue. Hershiser made it through the 10th inning, with the record-setting out being a Keith Moreland flyball caught by right fielder José González. However, he had some close calls in a couple of innings. Marvell Wynne struck out swinging to open the inning, but reached first base after a wild pitch evaded catcher Mike Scioscia. The following two hitters, Santiago and Randy Ready, moved Wynne over to third with two outs. Then, Garry Templeton was given an intentional base on balls. Templeton advanced to second base before the final out was recorded. Even after achieving the record, Hershiser expressed regret: "Because of respect for Don and respect for the record, I don't think I should have walked to the mound in a situation where I'm supposed to be resting for the playoffs, just to beat a record. That would have tarnished the whole thing." According to some sources, Drysdale was the person who convinced Hershiser to take the mound for the 10th inning, saying, "I gave him a kick in the pants and told him to get out there and go as far as he can." However, other sources state that Drysdale merely said that, if he had known about Hershiser's hesitance to break the record, he would have reassured him, saying, "I'd have kicked him right in the rear if I had known that.... I'd have told him to get his buns out there and get them." When the 10th inning ended, giving Hershiser the record, he "stood bent with his hands on his knees for a long moment after the final out and then was inundated by teammates pouring out of the dugout to congratulate him." Drysdale served as the Dodger radio broadcast announcer with Vin Scully that year. As Hershiser left the mound with the record in hand, he was searching for Drysdale and saying, "Where is Drysdale? I've got to find Drysdale." Drysdale was on hand to congratulate Hershiser after the game. In fact, when Hershiser returned to the dugout, Drysdale was waiting with his microphone for an interview. During Hershiser's streak he posted 59 IP, 0 runs, 31 hits, 38 strikeouts, 10 walks, and three extra-base hits, while Drysdale had posted 58 IP, 0 runs, 28 hits, 45 strikeouts, 10 walks, and three extra-base hits. Drysdale maintained the record for consecutive shutouts (six) because Hershiser did not pitch beyond the first 10 innings of his September 28 start because it lasted 16 innings. Hershiser's record was overshadowed because the 1988 Summer Olympics and the start of the 1988 National Football League season occurred at the same time. Los Angeles had two NFL teams at the time (Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Raiders). Additionally, baseball fans were more concerned with pennant races. Furthermore, four of the final five games in the streak were played in the Pacific Time Zone, limiting the games' visibility to the rest of the country. Controversially, KTTV did not broadcast either the September 26 game in which the Dodgers clinched the NL West or the September 28 game in which Hershiser set the record. Instead, it showed Friday the 13th and The Funhouse on September 26 and 28, respectively. The record-setting game drew an attendance of 22,596. ### October 4, 1988 The New York Mets concluded the regular season with a record of 100–60 while the Dodgers had a 94–67 record. The Mets had won 10 of the 11 head-to-head regular season contests and were the favorite in the series. On October 4, 1988, Hershiser posted eight scoreless innings in Game 1 of the 1988 NL Championship Series (bringing his unofficial total of consecutive scoreless innings to 67) before surrendering runs in the ninth inning. In both the third and sixth innings the Mets got two runners on base only to have the third out recorded on infield grounders to Hershiser. In the ninth inning, Gregg Jefferies led off with a single on a sinker down the middle and reached second base on a ground out in a hit and run play with Keith Hernandez. Jefferies, a rookie, recorded his third hit in four at bats in his first ever appearance against Hershiser. With Jefferies on second, Darryl Strawberry posted an RBI double on a pitch he described as up in the strike zone. Strawberry had fouled off four fastballs before getting what Lasorda called a hanging curveball. After Hershiser gave up a run in the ninth inning 100 pitches into his performance, pitching coach Perranoski removed him from the game by signaling for a double switch before getting to the mound to talk to Hershiser. The Dodgers' bullpen had led the league in saves that year. Howell had recorded 18 consecutive scoreless innings in relief. Howell's scoreless streak was longer in calendar days, his last runs allowed occurring on August 11. It had been 35 days since anyone had scored a run against Hershiser. Controversially, Mets pitcher David Cone attributed Hershiser's success to luck after the Mets rallied to score against him in the ninth inning. The Mets went on to add two more runs on Gary Carter's shallow fly ball that center fielder John Shelby could not secure until it first hit the ground. The ball bounced out of his glove as he lunged for the catch, yielding the tying and winning runs. Despite the results, Hershiser's scoreless inning streak in the regular season was still intact at 59 consecutive innings, as the runs scored against him on October 4 were in the postseason. ### April 5, 1989 The Dodgers entered the game with a 0–1 record, having lost to the Reds, who were 1–0 the day before. As Hershiser prepared for his first start, he said that the continuation of the streak via the asterisk did not mean much to him and that in his mind the streak was already over. His mound opponent was Tom Browning, who had pitched a perfect game the last time he had faced the Dodgers (September 16, 1988). Todd Benzinger drove in Larkin to end Hershiser's streak in the first inning and Hershiser was tagged with his first loss since August 24. The Dodgers endured three errors and a passed ball in the game. Leadoff hitter Larkin chopped a groundball over Hershiser into centerfield. Hershiser's pick off throw hit Larkin's armpit. After Hershiser retired Chris Sabo and Eric Davis via strikeout, he walked Kal Daniels, who had a career .500 batting average and four home runs against Hershiser, on four pitches. Then Benzinger, with whom Hershiser was unfamiliar, singled through the right side of the Dodger infield to score Larkin, thus ending Hershiser's streak. Howell did not allow an earned run in his second 1989 outing on April 10. Thus, Howell's streak went from August 11, 1988, through April 9, 1989. ## Reaction and outcome It had been unlikely that Hershiser would ever become a successful major league pitcher. He was unable to make his high school varsity team until he was a junior, and he went undrafted as a high schooler. He failed to make the Bowling Green State University team as a freshman and, after graduating, he struggled through two years in both Double A and Triple A baseball. Drysdale said that he enjoyed rooting for Hershiser because his jersey number, 55, like Drysdale's own number, 53, indicated that Hershiser had been a long shot to make the majors (lower numbers were generally assigned to better prospects). After the record was broken, Drysdale said that he was not surprised that his record was broken. Even though Hershiser had the second-best (behind Dwight Gooden) career ERA among active pitchers, he believed that someone would surpass the record because he did not think that he was that great a pitcher, saying, "I think someone's going to break it from me because I know I'm not any big deal." After his NLCS Game 1 performance, Hershiser went on to post a 21+1⁄3 scoreless innings streak in the 1988 NL Championship Series and 1988 World Series, winning both the NL Championship Series Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award and the World Series MVP Award. Hershiser also won the 1988 NL Cy Young Award. Hershiser's season was recognized outside of baseball as well. He earned the Sportsman of the Year from Sports Illustrated in December and Associated Press Athlete of the Year in January 1989, becoming the first non-Olympian to win the award in an Olympic year in 20 years. After seeking arbitration in January, Hershiser signed a new three-year, $7.9 million contract on February 16. Hershiser's annual salary of $2,766,667 (equal to $ in dollars) moved him ahead of Cal Ripken as baseball's highest-paid player at the time. Following his success of the 1988 season, Hershiser realized that any future exploits would be seen comparatively as a failure, even as he began spring training in 1989 with the streak still active. Hershiser's combined single-season total of 309+2⁄3 innings pitched including both the regular season and postseason has not been surpassed since 1988. Nonetheless, he would lead the NL in innings pitched for a third consecutive season in 1989. Hershiser's statistics in 1989 were nearly identical to 1988 except for his win–loss record. Two wins during the 1988 streak were against the Atlanta Braves. Hershiser would eventually win 12 consecutive decisions against the Braves (a post-1920 record for a pitcher against a single franchise). His 1–0 win on September 14 over the Braves and 1–0 win over the Astros on September 19 were the last of his three career 1–0 victories. After posting seven shutouts in his previous 11 starts, he was able to tally only six more in his remaining 319 career starts. Hershiser was selected to the 1989 MLB All-Star Game and also contributed to two Cleveland Indians World Series runs (1995 and 1997), earning another League Championship Series MVP in 1995. ### Historical context Some sports historians consider Hershiser's record to be among baseball's most outstanding records. In Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records by Kerry Banks, Hershiser's streak is ranked as the seventh-greatest baseball record. One commentator, ESPN's Jeff Merron, named it the third-greatest individual streak in American sports history, behind Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak and Edwin Moses' 107 straight hurdles finals wins. The record that Hershiser broke was regarded as "one of the most unbreakable records in baseball". In 2013, the 25th anniversary of Hershiser's record-breaking season was widely heralded in the press. ESPN, Los Angeles Daily News, and SB Nation are among the media outlets that covered the anniversary. SB Nation ran stories on the 25th anniversary of each of Hershiser's starts during the streak. Baseball Digest celebrated the accomplishment with stories during the 10th, 15th and 20th anniversary seasons. ## Subsequent challenges In the first 25 years after Hershiser recorded his streak, the closest challenge came from Brandon Webb of the 2007 Arizona Diamondbacks, who pitched 42 consecutive scoreless innings. Greg Maddux and Kenny Rogers were the only other pitchers to have reached 39 innings during that time period. R. A. Dickey threw a streak of more than 32 consecutive scoreless innings that broke the Mets franchise record in 2012. The streak was snapped by baseball etiquette against "running up the score"; Mets manager Terry Collins opted not to position his infield in with a runner on third and one out with a 9–0 lead, allowing a routine ground ball hit to score a runner and end Dickey's streak. In 2014, Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw pitched 41 consecutive scoreless innings, before giving up a solo home run to the Padres' Chase Headley on July 10. In 2015 another Dodger, Zack Greinke, maintained a streak of 452⁄3 consecutive innings without allowing a run. It ended on July 26. In 2022, Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen threw 441⁄3 consecutive scoreless innings. ## See also - Scoreless innings streak

Boundary Fire (2017)

Wildfire in Arizona, United States

The Boundary Fire was a 2017 wildfire in Arizona that burned 17,788 acres (7,199 ha) of the Coconino and Kaibab National Forests. The fire was ignited on June 1 when lightning struck a spot on the northeast side of Kendrick Peak within the Coconino National Forest. The fire spread rapidly because of high temperatures, steep terrain, leftover dead trees from a wildfire in 2000, and high wind speeds. The winds blew smoke over local communities and infrastructure, leading to the closure of U.S. Route 180 from June 8 to June 21. Smoke was also visible from the Grand Canyon. The Boundary Fire burned out on July 3, 2017, after 32 days of firefighting. The cost of managing the fire was $9.4 million (equivalent to $ million in ). Damage to the area's foliage increased the risk of landslides into 2018. ## Background Wildfires are a natural part of the ecological cycle of the Southwestern United States, but human-induced climate change has caused them to increase in number, destructiveness, duration, and frequency. Fire suppression efforts can also have the contradictory effect of worsening the effects of fires that do occur. The Boundary Fire was one of 2,321 wildfires that burned 429,564 acres (173,838 ha) in Arizona in 2017. In a report released in April 2017, about a month before the fire, Arizona State Forester Jeff Whitney expected a typical season in the state's northern forests but one with high fire potential in the state's southern grasslands because of high temperatures, low humidity, and an abundance of fuels. Temperatures in Arizona were higher than usual through the 2017 season; on July 4, the National Weather Service stated that that year's June was the fifth-hottest recorded in the city of Flagstaff, which sits between the Coconino and Kaibab National Forests. According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, Flagstaff recorded temperatures of up to 93 °F (34 °C) between June 12 and June 27. By August, wildfires had burned the most land since the 2011 season. ## Progression The Boundary Fire was sparked when lightning struck the northeast slope of Kendrick Peak, within Coconino National Forest, at about 2:02 pm on June 1, 2017. The fire grew to 380 acres (150 ha) by June 6. Owing to the danger posed to firefighters by difficult terrain and leftover dead trees from the Pumpkin Fire in 2000, the United States Forest Service (USFS) decided to confine the Boundary Fire to a 15,000-acre (6,100 ha) area around the mountain and allow it to burn out naturally. Firefighters began creating firebreaks along roads in the area on June 6, especially to the west of the fire. On June 8, high winds fanned the fire over the firebreaks to its north and towards U.S. Route 180 (US 180), 2 mi (3.2 km) from the fire at that time. That night, fire managers closed US 180 as firefighters monitored the fire's spread. Smoke from the Boundary Fire drifted into communities surrounding the fire, such as Flagstaff, and was visible from the Grand Canyon, approximately 65 mi (105 km) north of Flagstaff. By June 9, the Boundary Fire had grown to 1,550 acres (630 ha) and was burning along US 180 and within both Coconino and Kaibab National Forests. Fanned by strong winds on June 10 and 11, the fire swelled to 4,420 acres (1,790 ha) and was being managed by 261 firefighters. After June 12, reduced winds enabled the USFS to use aerial ignition, a form of controlled burn, to spread the fire uphill more quickly, reducing the damage to the soil from the fire. By June 14, the fire had grown to 5,784 acres (2,341 ha) and was being managed by almost 500 firefighters with aerial firefighting assets. Low wind speeds allowed ground crews and aerial assets to continue with controlled burns from June 15 to June 19, ahead of forecasted high temperatures in the following days. By June 19, the fire had burned 8,067 acres (3,265 ha). The next day brought light rain, cloud cover, and a higher humidity, which caused the fire to burn lower to the ground and consume detritus rather than foliage. Firefighters were able to secure fire breaks and private property, increasing the portion of the fire that was contained from 18% to 30%. The visibility along US 180 had improved enough by June 21 to allow the Arizona Department of Transportation to reopen the road with reduced speed limits. On June 22, firefighters raised containment of the Boundary Fire to 42 percent despite high winds and temperatures that fanned it to 11,540 acres (4,670 ha). On June 23, the USFS stated that it believed the area closed by the fire could expand to 18,000 acres (7,300 ha), but made progress in containing its spread. By June 25, the fire had grown to 17,049 acres (6,899 ha) but was 88 percent contained, and temperatures dipped to 88 °F (31 °C). Aerial firefighting assets were temporarily grounded on June 25 because a civilian drone flew over the fire. The fire burned out on July 3. ## Aftermath The Boundary Fire burned 17,788 acres (7,199 ha) over 32 days and cost $9.4 million (equivalent to $ million in ) to suppress. Of the total area burned, three percent suffered total foliage mortality. No structures were damaged or destroyed. Four evacuated civilians suffered injuries related to the fire. Almost 500 firefighters worked to contain and suppress the Boundary Fire at its height. Due to the smoke from the Boundary Fire and plans for a later prescribed burn, the USFS decided to quickly suppress the Government Fire when it ignited "a few miles away" in the same season. ### Environmental consequences Trails on Kendrick Peak did not reopen until September 14, 2017, because of the potential for landslides caused by heavy rains brought by the North American monsoon. The Kaibab National Forest Supervisor stated that the closure was prolonged to "allow the landscape to stabilize during the immediate post-fire period", particularly with the added monsoon conditions. Forest Road 149, near Kendrick Peak, was closed again in July 2018 because the area was at risk for landslides, as stabilizing foliage growth after the Boundary Fire had been slow in that area. The base camp for fighting the Boundary Fire was located at a nearby fairground. When the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) visited the site for an audit on June 19, 2017, the camp was consuming 106 US gallons (400 L) of diesel fuel per day for lighting, electricity, and food preservation, as well as 2,250 US gallons (8,500 L) of water. The audit also found that 5% of the waste was recycled and all of the batteries were single-use.

Operation Cobra

American offensive in the Western Theater of World War II

Operation Cobra was an offensive launched by the First United States Army under Lieutenant General Omar Bradley seven weeks after the D-Day landings, during the Normandy campaign of World War II. The intention was to take advantage of the distraction of the Germans by the British and Canadian attacks around Caen in Operation Goodwood, and thereby break through the German defenses that were penning in their forces, while the Germans were unbalanced. Once a corridor had been created, the First Army would then be able to advance into Brittany, rolling up the German flanks once free of the constraints of the bocage country. After a slow start, the offensive gathered momentum and German resistance collapsed as scattered remnants of broken units fought to escape to the Seine. Lacking the resources to cope with the situation, the German response was ineffectual mainly due to the effect of Operation Bluecoat and the entire Normandy front soon collapsed. Operation Cobra, together with concurrent offensives by the British Second Army and the Canadian First Army, was decisive in securing an Allied victory in the Normandy campaign. Having been delayed several times by poor weather, Operation Cobra commenced on 25 July 1944, with a concentrated aerial bombardment from thousands of Allied aircraft. Supporting offensives had drawn the bulk of German armored reserves toward the British and Canadian sector and, coupled with the general lack of men and materiel available to the Germans, it was impossible for them to form successive lines of defense. Units of the U.S. VII Corps led the initial two-division assault, while other First U.S. Army corps mounted supporting attacks designed to pin German units in place. Progress was slow on the first day but opposition started to crumble once the defensive crust had been broken. By 27 July, most organized resistance had been overcome and the VII and VIII Corps advanced rapidly, isolating the Cotentin Peninsula. By 31 July, XIX Corps had destroyed the last forces opposing the First Army, which emerged from the bocage. Reinforcements were moved west by Field Marshal Günther von Kluge and employed in various counterattacks, the largest of which, Unternehmen Lüttich (Operation Liège), was launched on 7 August between Mortain and Avranches. Although this led to the bloodiest phase of the battle, it was mounted by already exhausted and understrength units and was a costly failure. On 8 August, troops of the newly activated Third United States Army captured the city of Le Mans, formerly the German 7th Army headquarters. Operation Cobra transformed the high-intensity infantry combat of Normandy into rapid maneuver warfare and led to the creation of the Falaise pocket and the loss of the German strategic position in northwestern France. ## Background Following the successful Allied invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944, progress inland was slow. To facilitate the Allied build-up in France and to secure room for further expansion, the deep water port of Cherbourg on the western flank of the U.S. sector and the historic town of Caen in the British and Canadian sector to the east, were early objectives. The original plan for the Normandy campaign envisioned strong offensive efforts in both sectors, in which the Second Army (Lieutenant-General Sir Miles Dempsey) would secure Caen and the area south of it and the First U.S. Army (Lieutenant General Omar Bradley) would "wheel round" to the Loire valley. General Sir Bernard Montgomery—commanding all Allied ground forces in Normandy—intended Caen to be taken on D-Day, while Cherbourg was expected to fall 15 days later. The Second Army was to seize Caen and then form a front to the southeast, extending to Caumont-l'Éventé, to acquire airfields and protect the left flank of the First U.S. Army as it moved on Cherbourg. Possession of Caen and its surroundings—desirable for open terrain that would permit maneuver warfare—would also give the Second Army a suitable staging area for a push south to capture Falaise, which could be used as the pivot for a swing east to advance on Argentan and then the Touques River. The capture of Caen has been described by the British official historian Lionel Ellis as the most important D-Day objective assigned to the British I Corps (Lieutenant-General John Crocker). Ellis and Chester Wilmot called the Allied plan "ambitious" since the Caen sector contained the strongest defenses in Normandy. The initial attempt by I Corps to reach the city on D-Day was blocked by elements of the 21st Panzer Division and with the Germans committing most of the reinforcements sent to meet the invasion to the defense of Caen, the Anglo-Canadian front rapidly congealed short of the Second Army's objectives. Operation Perch in the week following D-Day and Operation Epsom (26–30 June) brought some territorial gains and depleted its defenders but Caen remained in German hands until Operation Charnwood (7–9 July), when the Second Army managed to take the northern part of the city up to the River Orne in a frontal assault. The successive Anglo-Canadian offensives around Caen kept the best of the German forces in Normandy, including most of the armor, to the eastern end of the Allied lodgement but even so the First U.S. Army made slow progress against dogged German resistance. In part, operations were slow due to the constraints of the bocage landscape of densely packed banked hedgerows, sunken lanes and small woods, for which U.S. units had not trained. With no ports in Allied hands, all reinforcement and supply had to take place over the beaches via the two Mulberry harbors and were at the mercy of the weather. On 19 June, a severe storm descended on the English Channel, lasting for three days and causing significant delays to the Allied build-up and the cancellation of some operations. The First U.S. Army advance in the western sector was eventually halted by Bradley before the town of Saint-Lô, to concentrate on the seizure of Cherbourg. The defense of Cherbourg consisted largely of four German battlegroups formed from the remnants of units that had retreated up the Cotentin Peninsula, but the port defenses had been designed principally to meet an attack from the sea. Organized German resistance finally ended on 27 June, when the U.S. 9th Infantry Division managed to reduce the defenses of Cap de la Hague, north-west of the port. Within four days, VII Corps (Major General J. Lawton Collins) resumed the offensive toward Saint-Lô, alongside XIX Corps and VIII Corps, causing the Germans to move more armor into the U.S. sector. ## Planning The originator of the idea for Operation Cobra is disputed. According to Montgomery's official biographer, the foundation of Operation Cobra was laid on 13 June. Planning was immensely aided by detailed Ultra intelligence which supplied up-to-date decodes of communications between Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW, the German armed forces high command) and Hitler's generals. Montgomery's plan at that time called for the U.S. First Army to take Saint-Lô and Coutances and then make two southward thrusts; one from Caumont toward Vire and Mortain and the other from Saint-Lô toward Villedieu and Avranches. Although pressure was to be kept up along the Cotentin Peninsula towards La Haye-du-Puits and Valognes, the capture of Cherbourg was not the priority. With the capture of Cherbourg by VII Corps on 27 June, Montgomery's initial timetable was overtaken by events and the thrust from Caumont was never adopted. Following the conclusion of Operation Charnwood and the cancellation of the First Army offensive towards Saint-Lô, Montgomery met with Bradley and Dempsey on 10 July to discuss plans for the 21st Army Group. Bradley said that progress on the western flank was very slow but that plans had been laid for another breakout attempt, codenamed Operation Cobra, to be launched by the First Army on 18 July. Montgomery approved the plan and that the strategy would remain the diversion of German attention from the First Army to the British and Canadian sector. Dempsey was instructed to "go on hitting, drawing the German strength, especially the armour, onto yourself—so as to ease the way for Brad". To accomplish this, Operation Goodwood was planned and Eisenhower ensured that both operations would have the support of the Allied strategic bombers. On 12 July, Bradley briefed his commanders on the Cobra plan, which consisted of three phases. The main effort would be under the control of VII Corps. In the first phase, the breakthrough attack would be conducted by the 9th Infantry Division (Major General Manton S. Eddy) and the 30th Infantry Division (Major General Leland Hobbs), which would break into the German defensive zone and then hold the flanks of the penetration while the 1st Infantry Division (Major General Clarence Huebner) and 2nd Armored Division (Major General Edward H. Brooks) pushed into the depth of the position until resistance collapsed. The 1st Infantry Division "was to take Marigny, with this objective exploited by a stream of General Watson's 3rd Armored Division armor that would move south toward Coutances". The 2nd Armored Division—part of "Collins' exploitation force" of the 2nd Armored Division in the east of the VII Corps sector and the "1st Infantry Division reinforced by Combat Command B (CCB) of the 3rd Armored division in the west"—would "pass through the 30th Infantry Division sector ... and guard the overall American left flank." If VII Corps succeeded, the western German position would become untenable, permitting a relatively easy advance to the southwest end of the bocage to cut off and seize the Brittany peninsula. First Army intelligence estimated that no German counterattack would occur in the first few days after Cobra's launch and that if they did later, they would be no more than battalion-sized operations. Cobra was to be a concentrated attack on a 6,400 m (7,000 yd) front, unlike previous U.S. broad front offensives and would have a mass of air support. Fighter-bombers would concentrate on hitting forward German defenses in a 230 m (250 yd) belt immediately south of the Saint-Lô–Periers road, while General Spaatz's heavy bombers would bomb to a depth of 2,300 m (2,500 yd) behind the German main line of resistance. It was anticipated that the physical destruction and shock value of a short, intense preliminary bombardment would greatly weaken the German defense so in addition to divisional artillery, Army- and Corps-level units would provide support, including nine heavy, five medium and seven light artillery battalions. More than a thousand divisional and corps artillery pieces were committed to the offensive and approximately 140,000 artillery rounds were allocated to the operation in VII Corps, with another 27,000 for VIII Corps. To overcome the constraints of the bocage that had made attacks so difficult and costly for both sides, Rhino modifications were made to some M4 Sherman, M5A1 Stuart tanks and M10 tank destroyers, by fitting them with hedge-breaching 'tusks' that could force a path through hedgerows. German tanks remained restricted to the roads but U.S. armored vehicles could maneuver more freely, although the effectiveness of the devices was exaggerated. By the eve of Cobra, 60 percent of the tanks of the First Army had the rhino modification. To preserve operational security, Bradley forbade their use until Cobra was launched. In all, 1,269 M4 medium tanks, 694 M5A1 light tanks and 288 M10 tank destroyers were available. ### Supporting operations On 18 July, the British VIII and I Corps—to the east of Caen—launched Operation Goodwood. The offensive began with the largest air bombardment in support of ground forces yet, with more than 1,000 aircraft dropping 6,000 short tons (5,400 t) of high explosive and fragmentation bombs from low altitude. German positions to the east of Caen were shelled by 400 artillery pieces and many villages were reduced to rubble but German artillery further to the south, on the Bourguébus Ridge, was outside the range of the British artillery and the defenders of Cagny and Émiéville were largely unscathed by the bombardment. This contributed to the losses suffered by Second Army, which sustained over 4,800 casualties. Principally an armored offensive in order to conserve infantry manpower, between 250 and 400 British tanks were put out of action, although recent examination suggests that only 140 were completely destroyed with an additional 174 damaged. The operation remains the largest tank battle ever fought by the British Army and resulted in the expansion of the Orne bridgehead and the capture of Caen on the south bank of the Orne. Simultaneously, the II Canadian Corps on the western flank of Goodwood began Operation Atlantic to strengthen the Allied foothold along the banks of the Orne river and take Verrières Ridge to the south of Caen. Atlantic made initial gains but ran out of steam as casualties mounted. Having cost the Canadians 1,349 men and with the heavily defended ridge firmly in German hands, Atlantic was closed down on 20 July. At Montgomery's urging, "strongly underlined in the Supreme Commander's communications to Montgomery", the II Canadian Corps commander, Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds, began a second offensive a few days later, codenamed Operation Spring. This had the limited but important aim of tying down German units to prevent them from being transferred to the U.S. sector, although Simonds took the opportunity to make another bid for Verrières Ridge. Again the fighting for Verrières Ridge proved extremely bloody for the Canadians, with 25 July marking the costliest day for a Canadian battalion—The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada—since the Dieppe Raid of 1942. A counterstroke by two German divisions pushed the Canadians back past their start lines and Simonds had to commit reinforcements to stabilize the front. With Goodwood, the Canadian operations caused the Germans to commit most of their armor and reinforcements to the eastern sector. Operation Spring—despite its cost—had drawn the 9th SS Panzer Division away from the U.S. sector on the eve of Operation Cobra. Only two Panzer divisions with 190 tanks now faced the First Army. Seven Panzer divisions with 750 tanks were around Caen, far away from Operation Cobra as were all the heavy Tiger tank battalions and the three Nebelwerfer brigades in Normandy. ### Logistics Each division consumed 750 short tons (680 t) of supplies daily. ## Allied offensive ### Preliminary attacks To gain good terrain for Operation Cobra, Bradley and Collins conceived a plan to push forward to the Saint-Lô–Periers road, along which VII and VIII Corps were securing jumping-off positions. On 18 July, at a cost of 5,000 casualties, the U.S. 29th and 35th Infantry Divisions managed to gain the vital heights of Saint-Lô, driving back General der Fallschirmtruppen Eugen Meindl's II Parachute Corps. Meindl's paratroopers, together with the 352nd Infantry Division (which had been in action since its D-Day defense of Omaha Beach) were now in ruins, and the stage for the main offensive was set. Due to poor weather conditions that had also been hampering Goodwood and Atlantic, Bradley decided to postpone Cobra for a few days—a decision that worried Montgomery, as the British and Canadian operations had been launched to support a breakout attempt that was failing to materialize. By 24 July the skies had cleared enough for the start order to be given, and 1,600 Allied aircraft took off for Normandy. However, the weather closed in again over the battlefield. Under poor visibility conditions, more than 25 Americans were killed and 130 wounded in the bombing before the air support operation was postponed until the following day. Some enraged soldiers opened fire on their own aircraft, a not uncommon practice in Normandy when suffering from friendly fire. ### Main attack and breakthrough 25–27 July After the one-day postponement, Cobra got underway at 09:38 on 25 July, when around 600 Allied fighter-bombers attacked strongpoints and enemy artillery along a 270 m (300 yd)-wide strip of ground located in the St. Lô area. For the next hour, 1,800 heavy bombers of the U.S. Eighth Air Force saturated a 6,000 yd × 2,200 yd (3.4 mi × 1.3 mi; 5.5 km × 2.0 km) area on the Saint-Lô–Periers road, succeeded by a third and final wave of medium bombers. Approximately 3,000 U.S. aircraft had carpet-bombed a narrow section of the front, with the Panzer-Lehr-Division taking the brunt of the attack. However, once again not all the casualties were German; Bradley had specifically requested that the bombers approach the target from the east, out of the sun and parallel to the Saint-Lô–Periers road, in order to minimize the risk of friendly losses, but most of the airmen instead came in from the north, perpendicular to the front line. Bradley, however, had apparently misunderstood explanations from the heavy bomber commanders that a parallel approach was impossible because of the time and space constraints Bradley had set. Additionally, a parallel approach would not in any event have assured that all bombs would fall behind German lines because of deflection errors or obscured aim points due to dust and smoke. Despite efforts by U.S. units to identify their positions, inaccurate bombing by the Eighth Air Force killed 111 men and wounded 490. The dead included Bradley's friend and fellow West Pointer Lieutenant General Lesley McNair—the highest-ranking U.S. soldier to be killed in action in the European Theater of Operations. By 11:00, the infantry began to move forward, advancing from crater to crater beyond what had been the German outpost line. Although no serious opposition was forecast, the remnants of Fritz Bayerlein's Panzer Lehr—consisting of roughly 2,200 men and 45 armored vehicles—had regrouped and were prepared to meet the advancing U.S. troops, and to the west of Panzer Lehr the German 5th Parachute Division had escaped the bombing almost intact. Collins' VII Corps were quite disheartened to meet fierce enemy artillery fire, which they expected to have been suppressed by the bombing. Several U.S. units found themselves entangled in fights against strongpoints held by a handful of German tanks, supporting infantry and 88 mm (3.46 in) guns—VII Corps gained only 2,000 m (2,200 yd) during the rest of the day. However, if the first day's results had been disappointing, General Collins found cause for encouragement; although the Germans were fiercely holding their positions, these did not seem to form a continuous line and were susceptible to being outflanked or bypassed. Even with prior warning of the U.S. offensive, the British and Canadian actions around Caen had convinced the Germans that the real threat lay there, and tied down their available forces to such an extent that a succession of meticulously prepared defensive positions in depth, as encountered during Goodwood and Atlantic, were not created to meet Cobra. On the morning of 26 July, the U.S. 2nd Armored Division and the 1st Infantry Division joined the attack as planned, reaching one of Cobra's first objectives—a road junction north of Le Mesnil-Herman—the following day. Also on 26 July, VIII Corps (Major General Troy H. Middleton) entered the battle, led by the 8th U.S. Infantry Division and 90th U.S. Infantry Division. Despite clear paths of advance through the floods and swamps across their front, both divisions initially disappointed the First Army by failing to gain significant ground but first light the next morning revealed that the Germans had been compelled to retreat by their crumbling left flank, leaving only immense minefields to delay VIII Corps. By noon on 27 July, the U.S. 9th Infantry Division was also clear of any organized German resistance and was advancing rapidly. ### Breakout and advance 28–30 July By 28 July, the German defenses across the U.S. front had largely collapsed under the full weight of the VII and VIII Corps advance and resistance was disorganized and patchy. The 4th Armored Division (VIII Corps)—entering combat for the first time—captured Coutances but met stiff opposition east of the town and U.S. units penetrating into the depth of the German positions were counter-attacked by elements of the 2nd SS Panzer Division, 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division and the 353rd Infantry Division, seeking to escape entrapment. Around Roncey, P-47 Thunderbolts of the 405th Fighter Group destroyed a German column of 122 tanks, 259 other vehicles and 11 artillery pieces. An attack by British Hawker Typhoon fighter-bombers close to La Baleine destroyed nine tanks, eight other armored vehicles and 20 other vehicles. A counter-attack was mounted against the U.S. 2nd Armored Division by German remnants but this was a disaster and the Germans abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot. Two columns of the 2nd SS Panzer Division were mauled by the U.S. 2nd Armored Division. A column around La Chapelle was bombarded at point blank range by 2nd Armored Division artillery. In two hours, U.S. artillery fired over 700 rounds, into the column. The Germans suffered the loss of 50 dead, 60 wounded and 197 taken prisoner. Material losses were over 260 German combat vehicles destroyed. Beyond the town another 1,150 German soldiers were killed and the Germans lost 96 armored combat vehicles and trucks. The U.S. 2nd Armored Division destroyed 64 German tanks and 538 other German combat vehicles during Operation Cobra. The U.S. 2nd Armored Division suffered 49 tank losses in the process. The 2nd Armored Division also inflicted over 7,370 casualties on the Germans while suffering 914 casualties. At the beginning of Operation Cobra the German Panzer Lehr Division had only 2,200 combat troops, 12 Panzer IV and 16 Panthers fit for action and 30 tanks in various states of repair behind the lines. Panzer Lehr was in the path of Allied bombing that consisted of 1,500 bombers. The division suffered about 1,000 casualties during this bombardment. An exhausted and demoralized Bayerlein reported that his Panzer Lehr Division, which had been ground down in the fighting against the British in June and before moving to the American front and suffering further losses around St Lo at start of July, was "finally annihilated", with its armor wiped out, its personnel either casualties or missing and all headquarters records lost. Field Marshal Günther von Kluge Oberbefehlshaber West (commander of German forces on the Western Front)—was mustering reinforcements, and elements of the 2nd Panzer Division and the 116th Panzer Division were approaching the battlefield. The U.S. XIX Corps (Major General Charles H. Corlett) entered the battle on 28 July on the left of VII Corps and between 28 and 31 July became embroiled with these reinforcements in the fiercest fighting since Cobra began. During the night of 29/30 July near Saint-Denis-le-Gast, to the east of Coutances, elements of the 2nd Armored Division found themselves fighting for their lives against a German column from the 2nd SS Panzer Division and 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division, which passed through the U.S. lines in the darkness. Other elements of the 2nd Armored Division were attacked near Cambry and fought for six hours; Bradley and his commanders knew that they were dominating the battlefield and such desperate assaults were no threat to the U.S. position. When ordered to concentrate his division, Colonel Heinz Günther Guderian the senior staff officer of the 116th Panzer Division was frustrated by the high level of Allied fighter-bomber activity. Without receiving direct support from the 2nd Panzer Division as promised, Guderian stated that his panzergrenadiers could not succeed in a counterattack against the Americans. Advancing southward along the coast, later that day, the U.S. VIII Corps seized the town of Avranches—described by historian Andrew Williams as "the gateway to Brittany and southern Normandy"—and by 31 July XIX Corps had thrown back the last German counterattacks after fierce fighting, inflicting heavy losses in men and tanks. The U.S. advance was now relentless, and the First Army was finally free of the bocage. ### Operation Bluecoat, 30 July – 7 August On 30 July, to protect Cobra's flank and prevent the disengagement and relocation of further German forces, VIII Corps and XXX Corps of the Second Army began Operation Bluecoat southwards from Caumont toward Vire and Mont Pinçon. Bluecoat kept German armored units fixed on the British eastern front and continued the wearing down of the strength of German armored formations in the area. The breakthrough in the center of the Allied front surprised the Germans, when they were distracted by the Allied attacks at both ends of the Normandy bridgehead. By the time of the U.S. breakout at Avranches, there was little to no reserve strength left for Unternehmen Lüttich, which had been defeated by 12 August, leaving the 7th Army with no choice but to retire rapidly east of the Orne river, with a rearguard of the remaining armored and motorized units, to allow time for the surviving infantry to reach the Seine. After the first stage of the withdrawal beyond the Orne, the maneuver collapsed for a lack of fuel, Allied air attacks and the constant pressure of the Allied armies, culminating in the encirclement of German forces in the Falaise pocket. ## Aftermath At noon on 1 August, the U.S. Third Army was activated under the command of Lieutenant General George S. Patton. Lieutenant General Courtney Hodges assumed command of the First Army and Bradley was promoted to the overall command of both armies, named the U.S. 12th Army Group. Patton wrote a poem containing the words, > So let us do real fighting, boring in and gouging, biting. > Let's take a chance now that we have the ball. > Let's forget those fine firm bases in the dreary shell raked spaces, > Let's shoot the works and win\! Yes, win it all\! The U.S. advance following Cobra was extraordinarily rapid. Between 1 and 4 August, seven divisions of Patton's Third Army had swept through Avranches and over the bridge at Pontaubault into Brittany. The Westheer (German army in the west) had been reduced to such a poor state by the Allied offensives that, with no prospect of reinforcement in the wake of Operation Bagration, the Soviet summer offensive against Army Group Centre, very few Germans believed they could now avoid defeat. Rather than order his remaining forces to withdraw to the Seine, Adolf Hitler sent a directive to von Kluge demanding "an immediate counterattack between Mortain and Avranches" (Unternehmen Lüttich) to "annihilate" the enemy and make contact with the west coast of the Cotentin peninsula. Eight of the nine Panzer divisions in Normandy were to be used in the attack but only four (one of them incomplete) could be relieved from their defensive tasks and assembled in time. German commanders immediately protested that such an operation was impossible given their remaining resources but these objections were overruled and the counter-offensive commenced, on 7 August around Mortain. The 2nd, 1st SS and 2nd SS Panzer Divisions led the assault, although with only 75 Panzer IVs, 70 Panthers and 32 self-propelled guns. Hopelessly optimistic, the offensive was over within 24 hours, although fighting continued until 13 August. By 8 August, the city of Le Mans—the former headquarters of the German 7th Army—had fallen to the Americans. With von Kluge's few remaining battleworthy formations destroyed by the First Army, the Allied commanders realized that the entire German position in Normandy was collapsing. Bradley declared: > This is an opportunity that comes to a commander not more than once in a century. We're about to destroy an entire hostile army and go all the way from here to the German border. On 14 August, in conjunction with U.S. movements northward to Chambois, Canadian forces launched Operation Tractable; the Allied intention was to trap and destroy the German 7th Army and 5th Panzer Army near the town of Falaise. Five days later, the two arms of the encirclement were almost complete; the advancing U.S. 90th Infantry Division had made contact with the Polish 1st Armored Division and the first Allied units crossed the Seine at Mantes Gassicourt, while German units were fleeing eastward by any means they could find. By 22 August, the Falaise Pocket—which the Germans had been fighting desperately to keep open to allow their trapped forces to escape—was finally sealed, ending the Battle of Normandy with a major Allied victory. All German forces west of the Allied lines were now dead or in captivity and although perhaps 100,000 German troops escaped they left behind 40,000–50,000 prisoners and more than 10,000 dead. A total of 344 tanks and self-propelled guns, 2,447 soft-skinned vehicles and 252 artillery pieces were found abandoned or destroyed in the northern sector of the pocket. The Allies were able to advance freely through undefended territory and by 25 August all four Allied armies (First Canadian, Second British, First U.S., and Third U.S.) involved in the Normandy campaign were on the river Seine.

Ico

2001 video game

Ico (イコ, Iko, /ˈiːkoʊ/) is a 2001 action-adventure game developed and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. It was designed and directed by Fumito Ueda, who wanted to create a minimalist game based on a "boy meets girl" concept. Originally planned for the PlayStation, Ico took approximately four years to develop. The team employed a "subtracting design" approach to reduce elements of gameplay that interfered with the game's setting and story in order to create a high level of immersion. The player controls Ico, a boy born with horns, which his village considers a bad omen. After warriors lock him in an abandoned castle, he frees Yorda, the daughter of the castle's Queen, who plans to use Yorda to extend her life. Ico must work with Yorda to escape the castle, protecting her from enemies, assisting her across puzzles and solving puzzles. Ico introduced several design and technical elements that have influenced subsequent games, including a story told with minimal dialogue, bloom lighting, and key frame animation. Although not a commercial success, it was acclaimed for its art, original gameplay and story elements and received several awards, including "Game of the Year" nominations and three Game Developers Choice Awards. Considered a cult classic, it has been called one of the greatest video games ever made, and is often brought up in discussions about video games as an art form. It was rereleased in Europe in 2006 in conjunction with Shadow of the Colossus, the spiritual successor to Ico. A high-definition remaster of the game was released alongside Shadow of the Colossus for the PlayStation 3 in The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection in 2011. ## Gameplay Ico is primarily a three-dimensional platform game. The player controls Ico from a third-person perspective as he explores the castle and attempts to escape it with Yorda. The camera is fixed in each room or area but swivels to follow Ico or Yorda as they move; the player can also pan the view a small degree in other directions to observe more of the surroundings. The game includes many elements of platform games; for example, the player must have Ico jump, climb, push and pull objects, and perform other tasks such as solving puzzles in order to progress within the castle. These actions are complicated by the fact that only Ico can carry out these actions; Yorda can jump only short distances and cannot climb over tall barriers. The player must use Ico so that he helps Yorda cross obstacles, such as by lifting her to a higher ledge, or by arranging the environment to allow Yorda to cross a larger gap herself. The player can tell Yorda to follow Ico, or to wait at a particular spot. The player can have Ico take Yorda's hand and pull her along at a faster pace across the environment. Players are unable to progress in the game until they move Yorda to certain doors that only she can open. Escaping the castle is made difficult by shadow creatures sent by the Queen. These creatures attempt to drag Yorda into black vortexes if Ico leaves her for any length of time, or if she is in certain areas of the castle. Ico can dispel these shadows using a stick or sword and pull Yorda free if she is drawn into a vortex. While the shadow creatures cannot harm Ico, the game is over if Yorda becomes fully engulfed in a vortex; the player restarts from a save point. The player will also restart from a save point if Ico falls from a large height. Save points in the game are represented by stone benches that Ico and Yorda rest on as the player saves the game. In European and Japanese releases, upon completion of the game, the player has the opportunity to restart the game in a local co-operative two-player mode, where the second player plays as Yorda, still under the same limitations as the computer-controlled version of the character. ## Plot Ico (イコ, pronounced "Ee-ko"), a horned boy, is taken by a group of warriors to an abandoned castle and locked inside a stone coffin to be sacrificed. A tremor topples the coffin and Ico escapes. As he searches the castle, he comes across Yorda (ヨルダ, Yoruda), a captive girl who speaks a different language. Ico helps Yorda escape and defends her from shadow-like creatures. The pair makes their way through the castle and arrive at the bridge leading to land. As they cross, the Queen, ruler of the castle, appears and tells Yorda that as her daughter she cannot leave the castle. Later, as they try to escape on the bridge, it splits up and they get separated. Yorda tries to save Ico but the Queen prevents it. He ends up falling off the bridge and losing consciousness. Ico awakens below the castle and makes his way back to the upper levels, finding a magic sword that dispels the shadow creatures. After discovering that Yorda has been turned to stone by the Queen, he confronts the Queen in her throne room, who reveals that she plans to restart her life anew by taking possession of Yorda's body. Ico slays the Queen with the magic sword, but his horns are broken in the fight and at the end of it he is knocked unconscious. With the Queen's death the castle begins to collapse around Ico, but the Queen's spell on Yorda is broken, and a shadowy Yorda carries Ico safely out of the castle to a boat, sending him to drift to the shore alone. Her final phrase "Nonomori" (the only dialogue not translated in the game) is spoken by her to Ico as he drifts away from the castle. Ico awakens on a beach shore to find the distant castle in ruins, and Yorda, in her human form, washed up nearby. She wakes up and smiles at Ico. ## Development Lead designer Fumito Ueda came up with the concept for Ico in 1997, envisioning a "boy meets girl" story where the two main characters would hold hands during their adventure, forming a bond between them without communication. Ueda's original inspiration for Ico was a TV commercial he saw, of a woman holding the hand of a child while walking through the woods, and the manga series Galaxy Express 999, where a woman is a guardian for the young hero as they adventure through the galaxy, which he thought about adapting into a new idea for video games. He also cited his work as an animator on Kenji Eno's Sega Saturn game Enemy Zero, which influenced the animation work, cinematic cutscenes, lighting effects, sound design, and mature appeal. Ueda was also inspired by the video game Another World (Outer World in Japan), which used cinematic cutscenes, lacked any head-up display elements as to play like a movie, and also featured an emotional connection between two characters despite the use of minimal dialog. He also cited Sega Mega Drive games, Virtua Fighter, Lemmings, Flashback and the original Prince of Persia games as influences, specifically regarding animation and gameplay style. With the help of an assistant, Ueda created an animation in Lightwave to get a feel for the final game and to better convey his vision. In the three-minute demonstration reel, Yorda had the horns instead of Ico, and flying robotic creatures were seen firing weapons to destroy the castle. Ueda stated that having this movie that represented his vision helped to keep the team on track for the long development process, and he reused this technique for the development of Shadow of the Colossus, the team's next effort. Ueda, at the time an employee at Sony Computer Entertainment Japan, began working with producer Kenji Kaido in 1998 to develop the idea and bring the game to the PlayStation. Ico's design aesthetics were guided by three key notions: to make a game that would be different from others in the genre, feature an aesthetic style that would be consistently artistic, and play out in an imaginary yet realistic setting. This was achieved through the use of "subtracting design"; they removed elements from the game which interfered with the game's reality. This included removing any form of interface elements, keeping the gameplay focused only on the escape from the castle, and reducing the number of types of enemies in the game to a single foe. An interim design of the game shows Ico and Yorda facing horned warriors similar to those who take Ico to the castle. The game originally focused on Ico's attempt to return Yorda to her room in the castle after she was kidnapped by these warriors. Ueda believed this version had too much detail for the graphics engine they had developed, and as part of the "subtracting design", replaced the warriors with the shadow creatures. Ueda also brought in a number of people outside the video game industry to help with development. These consisted of two programmers, four artists, and one designer in addition to Ueda and Kaido, forming the base of what is now known as Team Ico. On reflection, Ueda noted that the subtracting design may have taken too much out of the game, and did not go to as great an extreme with Shadow of the Colossus. After two years of development, the team ran into limitations on the PlayStation hardware and faced a critical choice: either terminate the project altogether, alter their vision to fit the constraints of the hardware, or continue to explore more options. The team decided to remain true to Ueda's vision, and began to use the Emotion Engine of the PlayStation 2, taking advantage of the improved abilities of the platform. Character animation was accomplished through key frame animation instead of the more common motion capture technique. The game took about four years to create. Ueda purposely left the ending vague, not stating whether Yorda was alive, whether she would travel with Ico, or if it was simply the protagonist's dream. The cover used for releases in Japan and PAL regions was drawn by Ueda himself, and was inspired by the Italian artist Giorgio de Chirico and his work The Nostalgia of the Infinite. Ueda believed that "the surrealistic world of de Chirico matched the allegoric world of Ico". The North American version lacks this cover as well as additional features that become available after the player completes the game once. The development team was unable to provide Ueda's cover or the additional features such as the two-player mode in time for Sony's planned North American release date, but included them for the later releases in Japan and PAL regions. Since release, the North American cover has been considered one of the worst pieces of cover art for video games in contrast to the game's quality and the Japanese/PAL cover. On reflection, Yasuhide Kobayashi, vice-president of Sony's Japan Studio, believed the North American box art and lack of an identifiable English title led to the game's poor sales in the United States, and stated plans to correct that for the release of The Last Guardian. For its original release, a limited edition of the game was available in PAL regions that included a cardboard wrapping displaying artwork from the game and four art cards inside the box. The game was re-released as a standard edition in 2006 across all PAL regions except France after the 2005 release of Shadow of the Colossus, Ico's spiritual sequel, to allow players to "fill the gap in their collection". Ico uses minimal dialogue in a fictional language to provide the story throughout the game. Voice actors included Kazuhiro Shindō as Ico, Rieko Takahashi as Yorda, and Misa Watanabe as the Queen. Ico and the Queen's words are presented in either English or Japanese subtitles depending on the release region, but Yorda's speech is presented in a symbolic language. Ueda opted not to provide the translation for Yorda's words as it would have overcome the language barrier between Ico and Yorda, and detracted from the "holding hands" concept of the game. In the non-North American releases, playing through the game again after completing the game replaces the symbolic text with appropriate language subtitles. ## Other media ### Soundtrack Ico's audio featured a limited amount of music and sound effects. The soundtrack, Ico: Kiri no Naka no Senritsu (ICO~霧の中の旋律~, Iko Kiri no Naka no Senritsu, lit. "Ico: Melody in the mist"), was composed by Michiru Oshima and sound unit "pentagon" (Koichi Yamazaki & Mitsukuni Murayama) and released in Japan by Sony Music Entertainment on February 20, 2002. The album was distributed by Sony Music Entertainment Visual Works. The last song of the CD, "ICO -You Were There-", includes vocals sung by former Libera member Steven Geraghty. ### Novelization A novelization of the game titled Ico: Kiri no Shiro (ICO-霧の城-, Iko: Kiri no Shiro, lit. 'Ico: Castle of Mist') was released in Japan in 2004. Author Miyuki Miyabe wrote the novel because of her appreciation of the game. A Korean translation of the novel, entitled 이코 – 안개의 성 (I-ko: An-gae-eui Seong) came out the following year, by Hwangmae Publishers, while an English translation was published by Viz Media on August 16, 2011. ### Cross title content Costumes (including Ico and Yorda), stickers, and sound effects from Ico are part of an add-on pack for the game LittleBigPlanet, alongside similar materials from Shadow of the Colossus, after being teased by the game's developers Media Molecule about two weeks prior. Ico makes a cameo appearance in Astro's Playroom. ### Film In 2010, Misher Films said that a film adaption of Ico may come about based on the success of their then-planned adaptation of Shadow of the Colossus. ## Reception Ico received critical acclaim, becoming a cult hit among players. The game has an aggregated review score of 90 out of 100 at Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu magazine gave the PlayStation 2 version a score of 30 out of 40. The game is considered by some to be one of the greatest games of all time; Edge ranked Ico as the 13th top game in a 2007 listing, while IGN ranked the game at number 18 in 2005, and at number 57 in 2007. Ico has been used as an example of a game that is a work of art. Ueda commented that he purposely tried to distance Ico from conventional video games due to the negative image video games were receiving at that time, in order to draw more people to the title. Some reviewers have likened Ico to older, simpler adventure games such as Prince of Persia or Tomb Raider, that seek to evoke an emotional experience from the player; IGN's David Smith commented that while simple, as an experience the game was "near indescribable." The game's graphics and sound contributed strongly to the positive reactions from critics; Smith continues that "The visuals, sound, and original puzzle design come together to make something that is almost, if not quite, completely unlike anything else on the market, and feels wonderful because of it." Many reviewers were impressed with the expansiveness and the details given to the environments, the animation used for the main characters despite their low polygon count, and the use of lighting effects. Ico's ambiance, created by the simple music and the small attention to detail in the voice work of the main characters, were also called out as strong points for the game. Charles Herold of The New York Times summed up his review stating that "Ico is not a perfect game, but it is a game of perfect moments." Herold later commented that Ico breaks the mold of games that usually involve companions. In most games these companions are invulnerable and players will generally not concern with the non-playable characters' fate, but Ico creates the sense of "trust and childish fragility" around Yorda, which leads to the character being "the game's entire focus". The game is noted for its simple combat system that would "disappoint those craving sheer mechanical depth", as stated by GameSpot's Miguel Lopez. The game's puzzle design has been praised for creating a rewarding experience for players who work through challenges on their own; Kristen Reed of Eurogamer, for example, said that "you quietly, logically, willingly proceed, and the illusion is perfect: the game never tells you what to do, even though the game is always telling you what to do". Ico is also considered a short game, taking between seven and ten hours for a single play through, which GameRevolution calls "painfully short" with "no replay outside of self-imposed challenges". G4TV's Matthew Keil, however, felt that "the game is so strong, many will finish 'Ico' in one or two sittings". The lack of features in the North American release, which would become unlocked on subsequent playthroughs after completing the game, was said to reduce the replay value of the title. Electronic Gaming Monthly notes that "Yorda would probably be the worst companion -she's scatterbrained and helpless; if not for the fact that the player develops a bond with her, making the game's ending all the more heartrending." Francesca Reyes reviewed the game for Next Generation, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "Intensely involving and wonderfully simple, Ico, though flawed, deserves to find its niche as a quiet classic." Despite the positive praise, the original title did not sell well. By 2009, only 700,000 copies were sold worldwide, with 270,000 in the United States, and the bulk in PAL regions. Ueda considered his design by subtraction approach may have hurt the marketing of the game, as at the time of the game's release, promotion of video games were primarily done through screenshots, and as Ico lacked any heads-up display, it appeared uninteresting to potential buyers. ### Awards Ico received several acclamations from the video game press, and was considered to be one of the Games of the Year by many publications, despite competing with releases such as Halo: Combat Evolved, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and Grand Theft Auto III. The game received three Game Developers Choice Awards in 2002, including "Excellence in Level Design", "Excellence in Visual Arts", and "Game Innovation Spotlight". The game won two Interactive Achievement Awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences in 2002 for outstanding achievement in "Art Direction" and "Character or Story Development"; it also received nominations for "Game of the Year", "Console Game of the Year", "Console Action/Adventure Game of the Year", "Innovation in Console Gaming", and outstanding achievement in "Game Design" and "Sound Design". It won GameSpot's annual "Best Graphics, Artistic" prize among console games. It was one of three titles to win the Special Award at the sixth CESA Game Awards. ## Legacy Ico influenced numerous other video games, which borrowed from its simple and visual design ideals. Several game designers, such as Eiji Aonuma, Hideo Kojima, and Jordan Mechner, have cited Ico as having influenced the visual appearance of their games, including The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, respectively. Marc Laidlaw, scriptwriter for the Half-Life series, commented that, among several other more memorable moments in the game, the point where Yorda attempts to save Ico from falling off the damaged bridge was "a significant event not only for that game, but for the art of game design". The Naughty Dog team used Ico as part of the inspiration for developing Uncharted 3. Vander Caballero credits Ico for inspiring the gameplay of Papo & Yo. Phil Fish used the design by subtraction approach in developing the title Fez. The developers of both Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and Rime have Ico as a core influence on their design. Hidetaka Miyazaki, creator and director of the Dark Souls series, cited Ico as a key influence to him becoming involved in developing video games, stating that Ico "awoke me to the possibilities of the medium". Goichi Suda aka Suda51, said that Ico's save game method, where the player has Ico and Yorda sit on a bench to save the game, inspired the save game method in No More Heroes where the player-character sits on a toilet to save the game. Ico was one of the first video games to use a bloom lighting effect, which later became a popular effect in video games. Patrice Désilets, creator of Ubisoft games such as Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Assassin's Creed, cited Ico as an influence on the game design of The Sands of Time. Jenova Chen, creator of art games such as Flower and Journey, cited Ico as one of his biggest influences. Ico was also cited as an influence by Halo 4 creative director Josh Holmes. Naughty Dog said The Last of Us was influenced by Ico, particularly in terms of character building and interaction, and Neil Druckmann credited the gameplay of Ico as a key inspiration when he began developing the story of The Last of Us. Film director Guillermo del Toro cited both Ico and Shadow of the Colossus as "masterpieces" and part of his directorial influence. Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead considers it one of his top ten video games of all time, saying it "might be the best one". ### Other Team Ico games Shadow of the Colossus was developed by the same team and released for the PlayStation 2 in 2005. The game features similar graphics, gameplay, and storytelling elements as Ico. The game was referred by its working title "Nico" ("Ni" being Japanese for the number 2") until the final title was revealed. Ueda, when asked about the connection between the two games, stated that Shadow of the Colossus is a prequel to Ico. Team Ico's third game, The Last Guardian, was announced for the PlayStation 3 at E3 2009. The game centers on the connection between a young boy and a large griffin-like creature that he befriends, requiring the player to cooperate with the creature to solve the game's puzzles. The game fell into development hell due to hardware limitations and the departure of Ueda from Sony around 2012, along with other Team Ico members, though Ueda and the other members continued to work on the game via consulting contracts. Development subsequently switched to the PlayStation 4 in 2012, and the game was reannounced in 2015 and released in December 2016. Ueda has said that "the essence of the game is rather close to Ico". ### HD remaster Ico, along with Shadow of the Colossus, received a high-definition remaster for the PlayStation 3 that was released worldwide in September 2011. In addition to improved graphics, the games were updated to include support for stereoscopic 3D and PlayStation Trophies. The Ico port was also based on the European version, and includes features such as Yorda's translation and the two-player mode. In North America and Europe/PAL regions, the two games were released as a single retail collection, while in Japan, they were released as separate titles. Both games have since been released separately as downloadable titles on the PlayStation Network store. Patch 1.01 for the digital high-definition Ico version added the Remote Play feature, allowing the game to be played on the PlayStation Vita.

Virus

Infectious agent that replicates in cells

A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Viruses are found in almost every ecosystem on Earth and are the most numerous type of biological entity. Since Dmitri Ivanovsky's 1892 article describing a non-bacterial pathogen infecting tobacco plants and the discovery of the tobacco mosaic virus by Martinus Beijerinck in 1898, more than 11,000 of the millions of virus species have been described in detail. The study of viruses is known as virology, a subspeciality of microbiology. When infected, a host cell is often forced to rapidly produce thousands of copies of the original virus. When not inside an infected cell or in the process of infecting a cell, viruses exist in the form of independent viral particles, or virions, consisting of (i) genetic material, i.e., long molecules of DNA or RNA that encode the structure of the proteins by which the virus acts; (ii) a protein coat, the capsid, which surrounds and protects the genetic material; and in some cases (iii) an outside envelope of lipids. The shapes of these virus particles range from simple helical and icosahedral forms to more complex structures. Most virus species have virions too small to be seen with an optical microscope and are one-hundredth the size of most bacteria. The origins of viruses in the evolutionary history of life are still unclear. Some viruses may have evolved from plasmids, which are pieces of DNA that can move between cells. Other viruses may have evolved from bacteria. In evolution, viruses are an important means of horizontal gene transfer, which increases genetic diversity in a way analogous to sexual reproduction. Viruses are considered by some biologists to be a life form, because they carry genetic material, reproduce, and evolve through natural selection, although they lack some key characteristics, such as cell structure, that are generally considered necessary criteria for defining life. Because they possess some but not all such qualities, viruses have been described as "organisms at the edge of life" and as replicators. Viruses spread in many ways. One transmission pathway is through disease-bearing organisms known as vectors: for example, viruses are often transmitted from plant to plant by insects that feed on plant sap, such as aphids; and viruses in animals can be carried by blood-sucking insects. Many viruses spread in the air by coughing and sneezing, including influenza viruses, SARS-CoV-2, chickenpox, smallpox, and measles. Norovirus and rotavirus, common causes of viral gastroenteritis, are transmitted by the faecal–oral route, passed by hand-to-mouth contact or in food or water. The infectious dose of norovirus required to produce infection in humans is fewer than 100 particles. HIV is one of several viruses transmitted through sexual contact and by exposure to infected blood. The variety of host cells that a virus can infect is called its host range: this is narrow for viruses specialized to infect only a few species, or broad for viruses capable of infecting many. Viral infections in animals provoke an immune response that usually eliminates the infecting virus. Immune responses can also be produced by vaccines, which confer an artificially acquired immunity to the specific viral infection. Some viruses, including those that cause HIV/AIDS, HPV infection, and viral hepatitis, evade these immune responses and result in chronic infections. Several classes of antiviral drugs have been developed. ## Etymology The English word "virus" comes from the Latin vīrus, which refers to poison and other noxious liquids. Vīrus comes from the same Indo-European root as Sanskrit viṣa, Avestan vīša, and Ancient Greek ἰός (iós), which all mean "poison". The first attested use of "virus" in English appeared in 1398 in John Trevisa's translation of Bartholomeus Anglicus's De Proprietatibus Rerum. Virulent, from Latin virulentus ('poisonous'), dates to . A meaning of 'agent that causes infectious disease' is first recorded in 1728, long before the discovery of viruses by Dmitri Ivanovsky in 1892. The English plural is viruses (sometimes also vira), whereas the Latin word is a mass noun, which has no classically attested plural (vīra is used in Neo-Latin). The adjective viral dates to 1948. The term virion (plural virions), which dates from 1959, is also used to refer to a single viral particle that is released from the cell and is capable of infecting other cells of the same type. ## Origins Viruses are found wherever there is life and have probably existed since living cells first evolved. The origin of viruses is unclear because they do not form fossils, so molecular techniques are used to infer how they arose. In addition, viral genetic material occasionally integrates into the germline of the host organisms, by which they can be passed on vertically to the offspring of the host for many generations. This provides an invaluable source of information for paleovirologists to trace back ancient viruses that existed as far back as millions of years ago. There are three main hypotheses that aim to explain the origins of viruses: - Regressive hypothesis: Viruses may have once been small cells that parasitised larger cells. Over time, genes not required by their parasitism were lost. The bacteria rickettsia and chlamydia are living cells that, like viruses, can reproduce only inside host cells. They lend support to this hypothesis, as their dependence on parasitism is likely to have caused the loss of genes that enabled them to survive outside a cell. This is also called the "degeneracy hypothesis", or "reduction hypothesis". Cellular origin hypothesis: Some viruses may have evolved from bits of DNA or RNA that "escaped" from the genes of a larger organism. The escaped DNA could have come from plasmids (pieces of naked DNA that can move between cells) or transposons (molecules of DNA that replicate and move around to different positions within the genes of the cell). Once called "jumping genes", transposons are examples of mobile genetic elements and could be the origin of some viruses. They were discovered in maize by Barbara McClintock in 1950. This is sometimes called the "vagrancy hypothesis", or the "escape hypothesis". Co-evolution hypothesis: This is also called the "virus-first hypothesis" and proposes that viruses may have evolved from complex molecules of protein and nucleic acid at the same time that cells first appeared on Earth and would have been dependent on cellular life for billions of years. Viroids are molecules of RNA that are not classified as viruses because they lack a protein coat. They have characteristics that are common to several viruses and are often called subviral agents. Viroids are important pathogens of plants. They do not code for proteins but interact with the host cell and use the host machinery for their replication. The hepatitis delta virus of humans has an RNA genome similar to viroids but has a protein coat derived from hepatitis B virus and cannot produce one of its own. It is, therefore, a defective virus. Although hepatitis delta virus genome may replicate independently once inside a host cell, it requires the help of hepatitis B virus to provide a protein coat so that it can be transmitted to new cells. In similar manner, the sputnik virophage is dependent on mimivirus, which infects the protozoan Acanthamoeba castellanii. These viruses, which are dependent on the presence of other virus species in the host cell, are called "satellites" and may represent evolutionary intermediates of viroids and viruses. In the past, there were problems with all of these hypotheses: the regressive hypothesis did not explain why even the smallest of cellular parasites do not resemble viruses in any way. The escape hypothesis did not explain the complex capsids and other structures on virus particles. The virus-first hypothesis contravened the definition of viruses in that they require host cells. Viruses are now recognised as ancient and as having origins that pre-date the divergence of life into the three domains. This discovery has led modern virologists to reconsider and re-evaluate these three classical hypotheses. The evidence for an ancestral world of RNA cells and computer analysis of viral and host DNA sequences give a better understanding of the evolutionary relationships between different viruses and may help identify the ancestors of modern viruses. To date, such analyses have not proved which of these hypotheses is correct. It seems unlikely that all currently known viruses have a common ancestor, and viruses have probably arisen numerous times in the past by one or more mechanisms. ## Microbiology ### Discovery The first evidence of the existence of viruses came from experiments with filters that had pores small enough to retain bacteria. In 1892, Dmitri Ivanovsky used one of these filters to show that sap from a diseased tobacco plant remained infectious to healthy tobacco plants despite having been filtered. Martinus Beijerinck called the filtered, infectious substance a "virus" and this discovery is considered to be the beginning of virology. The subsequent discovery and partial characterization of bacteriophages by Frederick Twort and Félix d'Herelle further catalyzed the field, and by the early 20th century many viruses had been discovered. In 1926, Thomas Milton Rivers defined viruses as obligate parasites. Viruses were demonstrated to be particles, rather than a fluid, by Wendell Meredith Stanley, and the invention of the electron microscope in 1931 allowed their complex structures to be visualised. ### Life properties Scientific opinions differ on whether viruses are a form of life or organic structures that interact with living organisms. They have been described as "organisms at the edge of life", since they resemble organisms in that they possess genes, evolve by natural selection, and reproduce by creating multiple copies of themselves through self-assembly. Although they have genes, they do not have a cellular structure, which is often seen as the basic unit of life. Viruses do not have their own metabolism and require a host cell to make new products. They therefore cannot naturally reproduce outside a host cell—although some bacteria such as rickettsia and chlamydia are considered living organisms despite the same limitation. Accepted forms of life use cell division to reproduce, whereas viruses spontaneously assemble within cells. They differ from autonomous growth of crystals as they inherit genetic mutations while being subject to natural selection. Virus self-assembly within host cells has implications for the study of the origin of life, as it lends further credence to the hypothesis that life could have started as self-assembling organic molecules. The virocell model first proposed by Patrick Forterre considers the infected cell to be the "living form" of viruses and that virus particles (virions) are analogous to spores. Although the living versus non-living debate continues, the virocell model has gained some acceptance. ### Structure Viruses display a wide diversity of sizes and shapes, called 'morphologies'. In general, viruses are much smaller than bacteria and more than a thousand bacteriophage viruses would fit inside an Escherichia coli bacterium's cell. Many viruses that have been studied are spherical and have a diameter between 20 and 300 nanometres. Some filoviruses, which are filaments, have a total length of up to 1400 nm; their diameters are only about 80 nm. Most viruses cannot be seen with an optical microscope, so scanning and transmission electron microscopes are used to visualise them. To increase the contrast between viruses and the background, electron-dense "stains" are used. These are solutions of salts of heavy metals, such as tungsten, that scatter the electrons from regions covered with the stain. When virions are coated with stain (positive staining), fine detail is obscured. Negative staining overcomes this problem by staining the background only. A complete virus particle, known as a virion, consists of nucleic acid surrounded by a protective coat of protein called a capsid. These are formed from protein subunits called capsomeres. Viruses can have a lipid "envelope" derived from the host cell membrane. The capsid is made from proteins encoded by the viral genome and its shape serves as the basis for morphological distinction. Virally-coded protein subunits will self-assemble to form a capsid, in general requiring the presence of the virus genome. Complex viruses code for proteins that assist in the construction of their capsid. Proteins associated with nucleic acid are known as nucleoproteins, and the association of viral capsid proteins with viral nucleic acid is called a nucleocapsid. The capsid and entire virus structure can be mechanically (physically) probed through atomic force microscopy. In general, there are five main morphological virus types: - Helical: These viruses are composed of a single type of capsomere stacked around a central axis to form a helical structure, which may have a central cavity, or tube. This arrangement results in virions which can be short and highly rigid rods, or long and very flexible filaments. The genetic material (typically single-stranded RNA, but single-stranded DNA in some cases) is bound into the protein helix by interactions between the negatively charged nucleic acid and positive charges on the protein. Overall, the length of a helical capsid is related to the length of the nucleic acid contained within it, and the diameter is dependent on the size and arrangement of capsomeres. The well-studied tobacco mosaic virusand inovirus are examples of helical viruses. - Icosahedral: Most animal viruses are icosahedral or near-spherical with chiral icosahedral symmetry. A regular icosahedron is the optimum way of forming a closed shell from identical subunits. The minimum number of capsomeres required for each triangular face is 3, which gives 60 for the icosahedron. Many viruses, such as rotavirus, have more than 60 capsomers and appear spherical but they retain this symmetry. To achieve this, the capsomeres at the apices are surrounded by five other capsomeres and are called pentons. Capsomeres on the triangular faces are surrounded by six others and are called hexons. Hexons are in essence flat and pentons, which form the 12 vertices, are curved. The same protein may act as the subunit of both the pentamers and hexamers or they may be composed of different proteins. - Prolate: This is an icosahedron elongated along the fivefold axis and is a common arrangement of the heads of bacteriophages. This structure is composed of a cylinder with a cap at either end. - Enveloped: Some species of virus envelop themselves in a modified form of one of the cell membranes, either the outer membrane surrounding an infected host cell or internal membranes such as a nuclear membrane or endoplasmic reticulum, thus gaining an outer lipid bilayer known as a viral envelope. This membrane is studded with proteins coded for by the viral genome and host genome; the lipid membrane itself and any carbohydrates present originate entirely from the host. Influenza virus, HIV (which causes AIDS), and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (which causes COVID-19) use this strategy. Most enveloped viruses are dependent on the envelope for their infectivity. - Complex: These viruses possess a capsid that is neither purely helical nor purely icosahedral, and that may possess extra structures such as protein tails or a complex outer wall. Some bacteriophages, such as Enterobacteria phage T4, have a complex structure consisting of an icosahedral head bound to a helical tail, which may have a hexagonal base plate with protruding protein tail fibres. This tail structure acts like a molecular syringe, attaching to the bacterial host and then injecting the viral genome into the cell. The poxviruses are large, complex viruses that have an unusual morphology. The viral genome is associated with proteins within a central disc structure known as a nucleoid. The nucleoid is surrounded by a membrane and two lateral bodies of unknown function. The virus has an outer envelope with a thick layer of protein studded over its surface. The whole virion is slightly pleomorphic, ranging from ovoid to brick-shaped. #### Giant viruses Mimivirus is one of the largest characterised viruses, with a capsid diameter of 400 nm. Protein filaments measuring 100 nm project from the surface. The capsid appears hexagonal under an electron microscope, therefore the capsid is probably icosahedral. In 2011, researchers discovered the largest then known virus in samples of water collected from the ocean floor off the coast of Las Cruces, Chile. Provisionally named Megavirus chilensis, it can be seen with a basic optical microscope. In 2013, the Pandoravirus genus was discovered in Chile and Australia, and has genomes about twice as large as Megavirus and Mimivirus. All giant viruses have dsDNA genomes and they are classified into several families: Mimiviridae, Pithoviridae, Pandoraviridae, Phycodnaviridae, and the Mollivirus genus. Some viruses that infect Archaea have complex structures unrelated to any other form of virus, with a wide variety of unusual shapes, ranging from spindle-shaped structures to viruses that resemble hooked rods, teardrops or even bottles. Other archaeal viruses resemble the tailed bacteriophages, and can have multiple tail structures. ### Genome An enormous variety of genomic structures can be seen among viral species; as a group, they contain more structural genomic diversity than plants, animals, archaea, or bacteria. There are millions of different types of viruses, although fewer than 7,000 types have been described in detail.As of January 2021, the NCBI Virus genome database has more than 193,000 complete genome sequences, but there are doubtlessly many more to be discovered. A virus has either a DNA or an RNA genome and is called a DNA virus or an RNA virus, respectively. Most viruses have RNA genomes. Plant viruses tend to have single-stranded RNA genomes and bacteriophages tend to have double-stranded DNA genomes. Viral genomes are circular, as in the polyomaviruses, or linear, as in the adenoviruses. The type of nucleic acid is irrelevant to the shape of the genome. Among RNA viruses and certain DNA viruses, the genome is often divided into separate parts, in which case it is called segmented. For RNA viruses, each segment often codes for only one protein and they are usually found together in one capsid. All segments are not required to be in the same virion for the virus to be infectious, as demonstrated by brome mosaic virus and several other plant viruses. A viral genome, irrespective of nucleic acid type, is almost always either single-stranded (ss) or double-stranded (ds). Single-stranded genomes consist of an unpaired nucleic acid, analogous to one-half of a ladder split down the middle. Double-stranded genomes consist of two complementary paired nucleic acids, analogous to a ladder. The virus particles of some virus families, such as those belonging to the Hepadnaviridae, contain a genome that is partially double-stranded and partially single-stranded. For most viruses with RNA genomes and some with single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) genomes, the single strands are said to be either positive-sense (called the 'plus-strand') or negative-sense (called the 'minus-strand'), depending on if they are complementary to the viral messenger RNA (mRNA). Positive-sense viral RNA is in the same sense as viral mRNA and thus at least a part of it can be immediately translated by the host cell. Negative-sense viral RNA is complementary to mRNA and thus must be converted to positive-sense RNA by an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase before translation. DNA nomenclature for viruses with genomic ssDNA is similar to RNA nomenclature, in that positive-strand viral ssDNA is identical in sequence to the viral mRNA and is thus a coding strand, while negative-sense viral ssDNA is complementary to the viral mRNA and is thus a template strand. Several types of ssDNA and ssRNA viruses have genomes that are ambisense in that transcription can occur off both strands in a double-stranded replicative intermediate. Examples include geminiviruses, which are ssDNA plant viruses and arenaviruses, which are ssRNA viruses of animals. #### Genome size Genome size varies greatly between species. The smallest—the ssDNA circoviruses, family Circoviridae—code for only two proteins and have a genome size of only two kilobases; the largest—the pandoraviruses—have genome sizes of around two megabases which code for about 2500 proteins. Virus genes rarely have introns and often are arranged in the genome so that they overlap. In general, RNA viruses have smaller genome sizes than DNA viruses because of a higher error-rate when replicating, and have a maximum upper size limit. Beyond this, errors when replicating render the virus useless or uncompetitive. To compensate, RNA viruses often have segmented genomes—the genome is split into smaller molecules—thus reducing the chance that an error in a single-component genome will incapacitate the entire genome. In contrast, DNA viruses generally have larger genomes because of the high fidelity of their replication enzymes. Single-strand DNA viruses are an exception to this rule, as mutation rates for these genomes can approach the extreme of the ssRNA virus case. ### Genetic mutation and recombination Viruses undergo genetic change by several mechanisms. These include a process called antigenic drift where individual bases in the DNA or RNA mutate to other bases. Most of these point mutations are "silent"—they do not change the protein that the gene encodes—but others can confer evolutionary advantages such as resistance to antiviral drugs. Antigenic shift occurs when there is a major change in the genome of the virus. This can be a result of recombination or reassortment. The Influenza A virus is highly prone to reassortment; occasionally this has resulted in novel strains which have caused pandemics. RNA viruses often exist as quasispecies or swarms of viruses of the same species but with slightly different genome nucleoside sequences. Such quasispecies are a prime target for natural selection. Segmented genomes confer evolutionary advantages; different strains of a virus with a segmented genome can shuffle and combine genes and produce progeny viruses (or offspring) that have unique characteristics. This is called reassortment or 'viral sex'. Genetic recombination is a process by which a strand of DNA (or RNA) is broken and then joined to the end of a different DNA (or RNA) molecule. This can occur when viruses infect cells simultaneously and studies of viral evolution have shown that recombination has been rampant in the species studied. Recombination is common to both RNA and DNA viruses. Coronaviruses have a single-strand positive-sense RNA genome. Replication of the genome is catalyzed by an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. The mechanism of recombination used by coronaviruses likely involves template switching by the polymerase during genome replication. This process appears to be an adaptation for coping with genome damage. ### Replication cycle Viral populations do not grow through cell division, because they are acellular. Instead, they use the machinery and metabolism of a host cell to produce multiple copies of themselves, and they assemble in the cell. When infected, the host cell is forced to rapidly produce thousands of copies of the original virus. Their life cycle differs greatly between species, but there are six basic stages in their life cycle: Attachment is a specific binding between viral capsid proteins and specific receptors on the host cellular surface. This specificity determines the host range and type of host cell of a virus. For example, HIV infects a limited range of human leucocytes. This is because its surface protein, gp120, specifically interacts with the CD4 molecule—a chemokine receptor—which is most commonly found on the surface of CD4+ T-Cells. This mechanism has evolved to favour those viruses that infect only cells in which they are capable of replication. Attachment to the receptor can induce the viral envelope protein to undergo changes that result in the fusion of viral and cellular membranes, or changes of non-enveloped virus surface proteins that allow the virus to enter. Penetration or viral entry follows attachment: Virions enter the host cell through receptor-mediated endocytosis or membrane fusion. The infection of plant and fungal cells is different from that of animal cells. Plants have a rigid cell wall made of cellulose, and fungi one of chitin, so most viruses can get inside these cells only after trauma to the cell wall. Nearly all plant viruses (such as tobacco mosaic virus) can also move directly from cell to cell, in the form of single-stranded nucleoprotein complexes, through pores called plasmodesmata. Bacteria, like plants, have strong cell walls that a virus must breach to infect the cell. Given that bacterial cell walls are much thinner than plant cell walls due to their much smaller size, some viruses have evolved mechanisms that inject their genome into the bacterial cell across the cell wall, while the viral capsid remains outside. Uncoating is a process in which the viral capsid is removed: This may be by degradation by viral enzymes or host enzymes or by simple dissociation; the end-result is the releasing of the viral genomic nucleic acid. Replication of viruses involves primarily multiplication of the genome. Replication involves the synthesis of viral messenger RNA (mRNA) from "early" genes (with exceptions for positive-sense RNA viruses), viral protein synthesis, possible assembly of viral proteins, then viral genome replication mediated by early or regulatory protein expression. This may be followed, for complex viruses with larger genomes, by one or more further rounds of mRNA synthesis: "late" gene expression is, in general, of structural or virion proteins. Assembly – Following the structure-mediated self-assembly of the virus particles, some modification of the proteins often occurs. In viruses such as HIV, this modification (sometimes called maturation) occurs after the virus has been released from the host cell. Release – Viruses can be released from the host cell by lysis, a process that kills the cell by bursting its membrane and cell wall if present: this is a feature of many bacterial and some animal viruses. Some viruses undergo a lysogenic cycle where the viral genome is incorporated by genetic recombination into a specific place in the host's chromosome. The viral genome is then known as a "provirus" or, in the case of bacteriophages a "prophage". Whenever the host divides, the viral genome is also replicated. The viral genome is mostly silent within the host. At some point, the provirus or prophage may give rise to the active virus, which may lyse the host cells. Enveloped viruses (e.g., HIV) typically are released from the host cell by budding. During this process, the virus acquires its envelope, which is a modified piece of the host's plasma or other, internal membrane. ### Genome replication The genetic material within virus particles, and the method by which the material is replicated, varies considerably between different types of viruses. - DNA viruses: The genome replication of most DNA viruses takes place in the cell's nucleus. If the cell has the appropriate receptor on its surface, these viruses enter the cell either by direct fusion with the cell membrane (e.g., herpesviruses) or—more usually—by receptor-mediated endocytosis. Most DNA viruses are entirely dependent on the host cell's DNA and RNA synthesising machinery and RNA processing machinery. Viruses with larger genomes may encode much of this machinery themselves. In eukaryotes, the viral genome must cross the cell's nuclear membrane to access this machinery, while in bacteria it need only enter the cell. - RNA viruses: Replication of RNA viruses usually takes place in the cytoplasm. RNA viruses can be placed into four different groups depending on their modes of replication. The polarity (whether or not it can be used directly by ribosomes to make proteins) of single-stranded RNA viruses largely determines the replicative mechanism; the other major criterion is whether the genetic material is single-stranded or double-stranded. All RNA viruses use their own RNA replicase enzymes to create copies of their genomes. - Reverse transcribing viruses: Reverse transcribing viruses have ssRNA (Retroviridae, Metaviridae, Pseudoviridae) or dsDNA (Caulimoviridae, and Hepadnaviridae) in their particles. Reverse transcribing viruses with RNA genomes (retroviruses) use a DNA intermediate to replicate, whereas those with DNA genomes (pararetroviruses) use an RNA intermediate during genome replication. Both types use a reverse transcriptase, or RNA-dependent DNA polymerase enzyme, to carry out the nucleic acid conversion. Retroviruses integrate the DNA produced by reverse transcription into the host genome as a provirus as a part of the replication process; pararetroviruses do not, although integrated genome copies of especially plant pararetroviruses can give rise to infectious virus. They are susceptible to antiviral drugs that inhibit the reverse transcriptase enzyme, e.g. zidovudine and lamivudine. An example of the first type is HIV, which is a retrovirus. Examples of the second type are the Hepadnaviridae, which includes Hepatitis B virus. ### Cytopathic effects on the host cell The range of structural and biochemical effects that viruses have on the host cell is extensive. These are called 'cytopathic effects'. Most virus infections eventually result in the death of the host cell. The causes of death include cell lysis, alterations to the cell's surface membrane and apoptosis. Often cell death is caused by cessation of its normal activities because of suppression by virus-specific proteins, not all of which are components of the virus particle. The distinction between cytopathic and harmless is gradual. Some viruses, such as Epstein–Barr virus, can cause cells to proliferate without causing malignancy, while others, such as papillomaviruses, are established causes of cancer. ### Dormant and latent infections Some viruses cause no apparent changes to the infected cell. Cells in which the virus is latent and inactive show few signs of infection and often function normally. This causes persistent infections and the virus is often dormant for many months or years. This is often the case with herpes viruses. ### Host range Viruses are by far the most abundant biological entities on Earth and they outnumber all the others put together. They infect all types of cellular life including animals, plants, bacteria and fungi. Different types of viruses can infect only a limited range of hosts and many are species-specific. Some, such as smallpox virus for example, can infect only one species—in this case humans, and are said to have a narrow host range. Other viruses, such as rabies virus, can infect different species of mammals and are said to have a broad range. The viruses that infect plants are harmless to animals, and most viruses that infect other animals are harmless to humans. The host range of some bacteriophages is limited to a single strain of bacteria and they can be used to trace the source of outbreaks of infections by a method called phage typing. The complete set of viruses in an organism or habitat is called the virome; for example, all human viruses constitute the human virome. ### Novel viruses A novel virus is one that has not previously been recorded. It can be a virus that is isolated from its natural reservoir or isolated as the result of spread to an animal or human host where the virus had not been identified before. It can be an emergent virus, one that represents a new virus, but it can also be an extant virus that has not been previously identified. The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic is an example of a novel virus. ## Classification Classification seeks to describe the diversity of viruses by naming and grouping them on the basis of similarities. In 1962, André Lwoff, Robert Horne, and Paul Tournier were the first to develop a means of virus classification, based on the Linnaean hierarchical system. This system based classification on phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. Viruses were grouped according to their shared properties (not those of their hosts) and the type of nucleic acid forming their genomes. In 1966, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) was formed. The system proposed by Lwoff, Horne and Tournier was initially not accepted by the ICTV because the small genome size of viruses and their high rate of mutation made it difficult to determine their ancestry beyond order. As such, the Baltimore classification system has come to be used to supplement the more traditional hierarchy. Starting in 2018, the ICTV began to acknowledge deeper evolutionary relationships between viruses that have been discovered over time and adopted a 15-rank classification system ranging from realm to species. Additionally, some species within the same genus are grouped into a genogroup. ### ICTV classification The ICTV developed the current classification system and wrote guidelines that put a greater weight on certain virus properties to maintain family uniformity. A unified taxonomy (a universal system for classifying viruses) has been established. Only a small part of the total diversity of viruses has been studied. As of 2022, 6 realms, 10 kingdoms, 17 phyla, 2 subphyla, 40 classes, 72 orders, 8 suborders, 264 families, 182 subfamilies, 2,818 genera, 84 subgenera, and 11,273 species of viruses have been defined by the ICTV. The general taxonomic structure of taxon ranges and the suffixes used in taxonomic names are shown hereafter. As of 2022, the ranks of subrealm, subkingdom, and subclass are unused, whereas all other ranks are in use. - Realm (-viria) : Subrealm (-vira) : : Kingdom (-virae) : : : Subkingdom (-virites) : : : : Phylum (-viricota) : : : : : Subphylum (-viricotina) : : : : : : Class (-viricetes) : : : : : : : Subclass (-viricetidae) : : : : : : : : Order (-virales) : : : : : : : : : Suborder (-virineae) : : : : : : : : : : Family (-viridae) : : : : : : : : : : : Subfamily (-virinae) : : : : : : : : : : : : Genus (-virus) : : : : : : : : : : : : : Subgenus (-virus) : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Species ### Baltimore classification The Nobel Prize-winning biologist David Baltimore devised the Baltimore classification system. The ICTV classification system is used in conjunction with the Baltimore classification system in modern virus classification. The Baltimore classification of viruses is based on the mechanism of mRNA production. Viruses must generate mRNAs from their genomes to produce proteins and replicate themselves, but different mechanisms are used to achieve this in each virus family. Viral genomes may be single-stranded (ss) or double-stranded (ds), RNA or DNA, and may or may not use reverse transcriptase (RT). In addition, ssRNA viruses may be either sense (+) or antisense (−). This classification places viruses into seven groups: ## Role in human disease Examples of common human diseases caused by viruses include the common cold, influenza, chickenpox, and cold sores. Many serious diseases such as rabies, Ebola virus disease, AIDS (HIV), avian influenza, and SARS are caused by viruses. The relative ability of viruses to cause disease is described in terms of virulence. Other diseases are under investigation to discover if they have a virus as the causative agent, such as the possible connection between human herpesvirus 6 (HHV6) and neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis and chronic fatigue syndrome. There is controversy over whether the bornavirus, previously thought to cause neurological diseases in horses, could be responsible for psychiatric illnesses in humans. Viruses have different mechanisms by which they produce disease in an organism, which depends largely on the viral species. Mechanisms at the cellular level primarily include cell lysis, the breaking open and subsequent death of the cell. In multicellular organisms, if enough cells die, the whole organism will start to suffer the effects. Although viruses cause disruption of healthy homeostasis, resulting in disease, they may exist relatively harmlessly within an organism. An example would include the ability of the herpes simplex virus, which causes cold sores, to remain in a dormant state within the human body. This is called latency and is a characteristic of the herpes viruses, including Epstein–Barr virus, which causes glandular fever, and varicella zoster virus, which causes chickenpox and shingles. Most people have been infected with at least one of these types of herpes virus. These latent viruses might sometimes be beneficial, as the presence of the virus can increase immunity against bacterial pathogens, such as Yersinia pestis. Some viruses can cause lifelong or chronic infections, where the viruses continue to replicate in the body despite the host's defence mechanisms. This is common in hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus infections. People chronically infected are known as carriers, as they serve as reservoirs of infectious virus. In populations with a high proportion of carriers, the disease is said to be endemic. ### Epidemiology Viral epidemiology is the branch of medical science that deals with the transmission and control of virus infections in humans. Transmission of viruses can be vertical, which means from mother to child, or horizontal, which means from person to person. Examples of vertical transmission include hepatitis B virus and HIV, where the baby is born already infected with the virus. Another, more rare, example is the varicella zoster virus, which, although causing relatively mild infections in children and adults, can be fatal to the foetus and newborn baby. Horizontal transmission is the most common mechanism of spread of viruses in populations. Horizontal transmission can occur when body fluids are exchanged during sexual activity, by exchange of saliva or when contaminated food or water is ingested. It can also occur when aerosols containing viruses are inhaled or by insect vectors such as when infected mosquitoes penetrate the skin of a host. Most types of viruses are restricted to just one or two of these mechanisms and they are referred to as "respiratory viruses" or "enteric viruses" and so forth. The rate or speed of transmission of viral infections depends on factors that include population density, the number of susceptible individuals, (i.e., those not immune), the quality of healthcare and the weather. Epidemiology is used to break the chain of infection in populations during outbreaks of viral diseases. Control measures are used that are based on knowledge of how the virus is transmitted. It is important to find the source, or sources, of the outbreak and to identify the virus. Once the virus has been identified, the chain of transmission can sometimes be broken by vaccines. When vaccines are not available, sanitation and disinfection can be effective. Often, infected people are isolated from the rest of the community, and those that have been exposed to the virus are placed in quarantine. To control the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in cattle in Britain in 2001, thousands of cattle were slaughtered. Most viral infections of humans and other animals have incubation periods during which the infection causes no signs or symptoms. Incubation periods for viral diseases range from a few days to weeks, but are known for most infections. Somewhat overlapping, but mainly following the incubation period, there is a period of communicability—a time when an infected individual or animal is contagious and can infect another person or animal. This, too, is known for many viral infections, and knowledge of the length of both periods is important in the control of outbreaks. When outbreaks cause an unusually high proportion of cases in a population, community, or region, they are called epidemics. If outbreaks spread worldwide, they are called pandemics. ### Epidemics and pandemics A pandemic is a worldwide epidemic. The 1918 flu pandemic, which lasted until 1919, was a category 5 influenza pandemic caused by an unusually severe and deadly influenza A virus. The victims were often healthy young adults, in contrast to most influenza outbreaks, which predominantly affect juvenile, elderly, or otherwise-weakened patients. Older estimates say it killed 40–50 million people, while more recent research suggests that it may have killed as many as 100 million people, or 5% of the world's population in 1918. Although viral pandemics are rare events, HIV—which evolved from viruses found in monkeys and chimpanzees—has been pandemic since at least the 1980s. During the 20th century there were four pandemics caused by influenza virus and those that occurred in 1918, 1957 and 1968 were severe. Most researchers believe that HIV originated in sub-Saharan Africa during the 20th century; it is now a pandemic, with an estimated 37.9 million people now living with the disease worldwide. There were about 770,000 deaths from AIDS in 2018. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that AIDS has killed more than 25 million people since it was first recognised on 5 June 1981, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. In 2007 there were 2.7 million new HIV infections and 2 million HIV-related deaths. Several highly lethal viral pathogens are members of the Filoviridae. Filoviruses are filament-like viruses that cause viral hemorrhagic fever, and include ebolaviruses and marburgviruses. Marburg virus, first discovered in 1967, attracted widespread press attention in April 2005 for an outbreak in Angola. Ebola virus disease has also caused intermittent outbreaks with high mortality rates since 1976 when it was first identified. The worst and most recent one is the 2013–2016 West Africa epidemic. Except for smallpox, most pandemics are caused by newly evolved viruses. These "emergent" viruses are usually mutants of less harmful viruses that have circulated previously either in humans or other animals. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) are caused by new types of coronaviruses. Other coronaviruses are known to cause mild infections in humans, so the virulence and rapid spread of SARS infections—that by July 2003 had caused around 8,000 cases and 800 deaths—was unexpected and most countries were not prepared. A related coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2), thought to have originated in bats, emerged in Wuhan, China in November 2019 and spread rapidly around the world. Infections with the virus caused the COVID-19 pandemic that started in 2020. Unprecedented restrictions in peacetime were placed on international travel, and curfews were imposed in several major cities worldwide in response to the pandemic. ### Cancer Viruses are an established cause of cancer in humans and other species. Viral cancers occur only in a minority of infected persons (or animals). Cancer viruses come from a range of virus families, including both RNA and DNA viruses, and so there is no single type of "oncovirus" (an obsolete term originally used for acutely transforming retroviruses). The development of cancer is determined by a variety of factors such as host immunity and mutations in the host. Viruses accepted to cause human cancers include some genotypes of human papillomavirus, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, Epstein–Barr virus, Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus and human T-lymphotropic virus. The most recently discovered human cancer virus is a polyomavirus (Merkel cell polyomavirus) that causes most cases of a rare form of skin cancer called Merkel cell carcinoma. Hepatitis viruses can develop into a chronic viral infection that leads to liver cancer. Infection by human T-lymphotropic virus can lead to tropical spastic paraparesis and adult T-cell leukaemia. Human papillomaviruses are an established cause of cancers of cervix, skin, anus, and penis. Within the Herpesviridae, Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus causes Kaposi's sarcoma and body-cavity lymphoma, and Epstein–Barr virus causes Burkitt's lymphoma, Hodgkin's lymphoma, B lymphoproliferative disorder, and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Merkel cell polyomavirus closely related to SV40 and mouse polyomaviruses that have been used as animal models for cancer viruses for over 50 years. ### Host defence mechanisms The body's first line of defence against viruses is the innate immune system. This comprises cells and other mechanisms that defend the host from infection in a non-specific manner. This means that the cells of the innate system recognise, and respond to, pathogens in a generic way, but, unlike the adaptive immune system, it does not confer long-lasting or protective immunity to the host. RNA interference is an important innate defence against viruses. Many viruses have a replication strategy that involves double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). When such a virus infects a cell, it releases its RNA molecule or molecules, which immediately bind to a protein complex called a dicer that cuts the RNA into smaller pieces. A biochemical pathway—the RISC complex—is activated, which ensures cell survival by degrading the viral mRNA. Rotaviruses have evolved to avoid this defence mechanism by not uncoating fully inside the cell, and releasing newly produced mRNA through pores in the particle's inner capsid. Their genomic dsRNA remains protected inside the core of the virion. When the adaptive immune system of a vertebrate encounters a virus, it produces specific antibodies that bind to the virus and often render it non-infectious. This is called humoral immunity. Two types of antibodies are important. The first, called IgM, is highly effective at neutralising viruses but is produced by the cells of the immune system only for a few weeks. The second, called IgG, is produced indefinitely. The presence of IgM in the blood of the host is used to test for acute infection, whereas IgG indicates an infection sometime in the past. IgG antibody is measured when tests for immunity are carried out. Antibodies can continue to be an effective defence mechanism even after viruses have managed to gain entry to the host cell. A protein that is in cells, called TRIM21, can attach to the antibodies on the surface of the virus particle. This primes the subsequent destruction of the virus by the enzymes of the cell's proteosome system. A second defence of vertebrates against viruses is called cell-mediated immunity and involves immune cells known as T cells. The body's cells constantly display short fragments of their proteins on the cell's surface, and, if a T cell recognises a suspicious viral fragment there, the host cell is destroyed by 'killer T' cells and the virus-specific T-cells proliferate. Cells such as the macrophage are specialists at this antigen presentation. The production of interferon is an important host defence mechanism. This is a hormone produced by the body when viruses are present. Its role in immunity is complex; it eventually stops the viruses from reproducing by killing the infected cell and its close neighbours. Not all virus infections produce a protective immune response in this way. HIV evades the immune system by constantly changing the amino acid sequence of the proteins on the surface of the virion. This is known as "escape mutation" as the viral epitopes escape recognition by the host immune response. These persistent viruses evade immune control by sequestration, blockade of antigen presentation, cytokine resistance, evasion of natural killer cell activities, escape from apoptosis, and antigenic shift. Other viruses, called 'neurotropic viruses', are disseminated by neural spread where the immune system may be unable to reach them due to immune privilege. ### Prevention and treatment Because viruses use vital metabolic pathways within host cells to replicate, they are difficult to eliminate without using drugs that cause toxic effects to host cells in general. The most effective medical approaches to viral diseases are vaccinations to provide immunity to infection, and antiviral drugs that selectively interfere with viral replication. #### Vaccines Vaccination is a cheap and effective way of preventing infections by viruses. Vaccines were used to prevent viral infections long before the discovery of the actual viruses. Their use has resulted in a dramatic decline in morbidity (illness) and mortality (death) associated with viral infections such as polio, measles, mumps and rubella. Smallpox infections have been eradicated. Vaccines are available to prevent over thirteen viral infections of humans, and more are used to prevent viral infections of animals. Vaccines can consist of live-attenuated or killed viruses, viral proteins (antigens), or RNA. Live vaccines contain weakened forms of the virus, which do not cause the disease but, nonetheless, confer immunity. Such viruses are called attenuated. Live vaccines can be dangerous when given to people with a weak immunity (who are described as immunocompromised), because in these people, the weakened virus can cause the original disease. Biotechnology and genetic engineering techniques are used to produce subunit vaccines. These vaccines use only the capsid proteins of the virus. Hepatitis B vaccine is an example of this type of vaccine. Subunit vaccines are safe for immunocompromised patients because they cannot cause the disease. The yellow fever virus vaccine, a live-attenuated strain called 17D, is probably the safest and most effective vaccine ever generated. #### Antiviral drugs Antiviral drugs are often nucleoside analogues (fake DNA building-blocks), which viruses mistakenly incorporate into their genomes during replication. The life-cycle of the virus is then halted because the newly synthesised DNA is inactive. This is because these analogues lack the hydroxyl groups, which, along with phosphorus atoms, link together to form the strong "backbone" of the DNA molecule. This is called DNA chain termination. Examples of nucleoside analogues are aciclovir for Herpes simplex virus infections and lamivudine for HIV and hepatitis B virus infections. Aciclovir is one of the oldest and most frequently prescribed antiviral drugs. Other antiviral drugs in use target different stages of the viral life cycle. HIV is dependent on a proteolytic enzyme called the HIV-1 protease for it to become fully infectious. There is a large class of drugs called protease inhibitors that inactivate this enzyme. There are around thirteen classes of antiviral drugs each targeting different viruses or stages of viral replication. Hepatitis C is caused by an RNA virus. In 80% of people infected, the disease is chronic, and without treatment, they are infected for the remainder of their lives. There are effective treatments that use direct-acting antivirals. The treatment of chronic carriers of the hepatitis B virus has also been developed by using similar strategies that include lamivudine and other anti-viral drugs. ## Infection in other species Viruses infect all cellular life and, although viruses occur universally, each cellular species has its own specific range that often infects only that species. Some viruses, called satellites, can replicate only within cells that have already been infected by another virus. ### Animal viruses Viruses are important pathogens of livestock. Diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease and bluetongue are caused by viruses. Companion animals such as cats, dogs, and horses, if not vaccinated, are susceptible to serious viral infections. Canine parvovirus is caused by a small DNA virus and infections are often fatal in pups. Like all invertebrates, the honey bee is susceptible to many viral infections. Most viruses co-exist harmlessly in their host and cause no signs or symptoms of disease. ### Plant viruses There are many types of plant viruses, but often they cause only a loss of yield, and it is not economically viable to try to control them. Plant viruses are often spread from plant to plant by organisms, known as vectors. These are usually insects, but some fungi, nematode worms, single-celled organisms, and parasitic plants are vectors. When control of plant virus infections is considered economical, for perennial fruits, for example, efforts are concentrated on killing the vectors and removing alternate hosts such as weeds. Plant viruses cannot infect humans and other animals because they can reproduce only in living plant cells. Originally from Peru, the potato has become a staple crop worldwide. The potato virus Y causes disease in potatoes and related species including tomatoes and peppers. In the 1980s, this virus acquired economical importance when it proved difficult to control in seed potato crops. Transmitted by aphids, this virus can reduce crop yields by up to 80 per cent, causing significant losses to potato yields. Plants have elaborate and effective defence mechanisms against viruses. One of the most effective is the presence of so-called resistance (R) genes. Each R gene confers resistance to a particular virus by triggering localised areas of cell death around the infected cell, which can often be seen with the unaided eye as large spots. This stops the infection from spreading. RNA interference is also an effective defence in plants.\> When they are infected, plants often produce natural disinfectants that kill viruses, such as salicylic acid, nitric oxide, and reactive oxygen molecules. Plant virus particles or virus-like particles (VLPs) have applications in both biotechnology and nanotechnology. The capsids of most plant viruses are simple and robust structures and can be produced in large quantities either by the infection of plants or by expression in a variety of heterologous systems. Plant virus particles can be modified genetically and chemically to encapsulate foreign material and can be incorporated into supramolecular structures for use in biotechnology. ### Bacterial viruses Bacteriophages are a common and diverse group of viruses and are the most abundant biological entity in aquatic environments—there are up to ten times more of these viruses in the oceans than there are bacteria, reaching levels of 250,000,000 bacteriophages per millilitre of seawater. These viruses infect specific bacteria by binding to surface receptor molecules and then entering the cell. Within a short amount of time, in some cases, just minutes, bacterial polymerase starts translating viral mRNA into protein. These proteins go on to become either new virions within the cell, helper proteins, which help assembly of new virions, or proteins involved in cell lysis. Viral enzymes aid in the breakdown of the cell membrane, and, in the case of the T4 phage, in just over twenty minutes after injection over three hundred phages could be released. The major way bacteria defend themselves from bacteriophages is by producing enzymes that destroy foreign DNA. These enzymes, called restriction endonucleases, cut up the viral DNA that bacteriophages inject into bacterial cells. Bacteria also contain a system that uses CRISPR sequences to retain fragments of the genomes of viruses that the bacteria have come into contact with previously, which allows them to block the virus's replication through a form of RNA interference. This genetic system provides bacteria with acquired immunity to infection. Some bacteriophages are called "temperate" because they cause latent infections and do not immediately destroy their host cells. Instead, their DNA is incorporated with the host cell's as a prophage. These latent infections become productive when the prophage DNA is activated by stimuli such as changes in the environment. The intestines of animals, including humans, contain temperate bacteriophages, which are activated by various stimuli including changes in diet and antibiotics. Although first observed in bacteriophages, many other viruses are known to form proviruses including HIV. ### Archaeal viruses Some viruses replicate within archaea: these are DNA viruses with unusual and sometimes unique shapes. These viruses have been studied in most detail in the thermophilic archaea, particularly the orders Sulfolobales and Thermoproteales. Defences against these viruses involve RNA interference from repetitive DNA sequences within archaean genomes that are related to the genes of the viruses. Most archaea have CRISPR–Cas systems as an adaptive defence against viruses. These enable archaea to retain sections of viral DNA, which are then used to target and eliminate subsequent infections by the virus using a process similar to RNA interference. ## Role in aquatic ecosystems Viruses are the most abundant biological entity in aquatic environments. There are about ten million of them in a teaspoon of seawater. Most of these viruses are bacteriophages infecting heterotrophic bacteria and cyanophages infecting cyanobacteria and they are essential to the regulation of saltwater and freshwater ecosystems. Bacteriophages are harmless to plants and animals, and are essential to the regulation of marine and freshwater ecosystems are important mortality agents of phytoplankton, the base of the foodchain in aquatic environments. They infect and destroy bacteria in aquatic microbial communities, and are one of the most important mechanisms of recycling carbon and nutrient cycling in marine environments. The organic molecules released from the dead bacterial cells stimulate fresh bacterial and algal growth, in a process known as the viral shunt. In particular, lysis of bacteria by viruses has been shown to enhance nitrogen cycling and stimulate phytoplankton growth. Viral activity may also affect the biological pump, the process whereby carbon is sequestered in the deep ocean. Microorganisms constitute more than 90% of the biomass in the sea. It is estimated that viruses kill approximately 20% of this biomass each day and that there are 10 to 15 times as many viruses in the oceans as there are bacteria and archaea. Viruses are also major agents responsible for the destruction of phytoplankton including harmful algal blooms, The number of viruses in the oceans decreases further offshore and deeper into the water, where there are fewer host organisms. In January 2018, scientists reported that 800 million viruses, mainly of marine origin, are deposited daily from the Earth's atmosphere onto every square meter of the planet's surface, as the result of a global atmospheric stream of viruses, circulating above the weather system but below the altitude of usual airline travel, distributing viruses around the planet. Like any organism, marine mammals are susceptible to viral infections. In 1988 and 2002, thousands of harbour seals were killed in Europe by phocine distemper virus. Many other viruses, including caliciviruses, herpesviruses, adenoviruses and parvoviruses, circulate in marine mammal populations. In December 2022, scientists reported the first observation of virovory via an experiment on pond water containing chlorovirus, which commonly infects green algae in freshwater environments. When all other microbial food sources were removed from the water, the ciliate Halteria was observed to have increased in number due to the active consumption of chlorovirus as a food source instead of its typical bacterivore diet. ## Role in evolution Viruses are an important natural means of transferring genes between different species, which increases genetic diversity and drives evolution. It is thought that viruses played a central role in early evolution, before the diversification of the last universal common ancestor into bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes. Viruses are still one of the largest reservoirs of unexplored genetic diversity on Earth. ## Applications ### Life sciences and medicine Viruses are important to the study of molecular and cell biology as they provide simple systems that can be used to manipulate and investigate the functions of cells. The study and use of viruses have provided valuable information about aspects of cell biology. For example, viruses have been useful in the study of genetics and helped our understanding of the basic mechanisms of molecular genetics, such as DNA replication, transcription, RNA processing, translation, protein transport, and immunology. Geneticists often use viruses as vectors to introduce genes into cells that they are studying. This is useful for making the cell produce a foreign substance, or to study the effect of introducing a new gene into the genome. Similarly, virotherapy uses viruses as vectors to treat various diseases, as they can specifically target cells and DNA. It shows promising use in the treatment of cancer and in gene therapy. Eastern European scientists have used phage therapy as an alternative to antibiotics for some time, and interest in this approach is increasing, because of the high level of antibiotic resistance now found in some pathogenic bacteria. The expression of heterologous proteins by viruses is the basis of several manufacturing processes that are currently being used for the production of various proteins such as vaccine antigens and antibodies. Industrial processes have been recently developed using viral vectors and several pharmaceutical proteins are currently in pre-clinical and clinical trials. #### Virotherapy Virotherapy involves the use of genetically modified viruses to treat diseases. Viruses have been modified by scientists to reproduce in cancer cells and destroy them but not infect healthy cells. Talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC), for example, is a modified herpes simplex virus that has had a gene, which is required for viruses to replicate in healthy cells, deleted and replaced with a human gene (GM-CSF) that stimulates immunity. When this virus infects cancer cells, it destroys them and in doing so the presence the GM-CSF gene attracts dendritic cells from the surrounding tissues of the body. The dendritic cells process the dead cancer cells and present components of them to other cells of the immune system. Having completed successful clinical trials, the virus gained approval for the treatment of melanoma in late 2015. Viruses that have been reprogrammed to kill cancer cells are called oncolytic viruses. ### Materials science and nanotechnology From the viewpoint of a materials scientist, viruses can be regarded as organic nanoparticles. Their surface carries specific tools that enable them to cross the barriers of their host cells. The size and shape of viruses and the number and nature of the functional groups on their surface are precisely defined. As such, viruses are commonly used in materials science as scaffolds for covalently linked surface modifications. A particular quality of viruses is that they can be tailored by directed evolution. The powerful techniques developed by life sciences are becoming the basis of engineering approaches towards nanomaterials, opening a wide range of applications far beyond biology and medicine. Because of their size, shape, and well-defined chemical structures, viruses have been used as templates for organising materials on the nanoscale. Examples include the work at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., using Cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV) particles to amplify signals in DNA microarray based sensors. In this application, the virus particles separate the fluorescent dyes used for signalling to prevent the formation of non-fluorescent dimers that act as quenchers. Another example is the use of CPMV as a nanoscale breadboard for molecular electronics. ### Synthetic viruses Many viruses can be synthesised de novo ("from scratch"). The first synthetic virus was created in 2002. Although somewhat of a misconception, it is not the actual virus that is synthesised, but rather its DNA genome (in case of a DNA virus), or a cDNA copy of its genome (in case of RNA viruses). For many virus families the naked synthetic DNA or RNA (once enzymatically converted back from the synthetic cDNA) is infectious when introduced into a cell. That is, they contain all the necessary information to produce new viruses. This technology is now being used to investigate novel vaccine strategies. The ability to synthesise viruses has far-reaching consequences, since viruses can no longer be regarded as extinct, as long as the information of their genome sequence is known and permissive cells are available. As of June 2021, the full-length genome sequences of 11,464 different viruses, including smallpox, are publicly available in an online database maintained by the National Institutes of Health. ### Weapons The ability of viruses to cause devastating epidemics in human societies has led to the concern that viruses could be weaponised for biological warfare. Further concern was raised by the successful recreation of the infamous 1918 influenza virus in a laboratory. The smallpox virus devastated numerous societies throughout history before its eradication. There are only two centres in the world authorised by the WHO to keep stocks of smallpox virus: the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology VECTOR in Russia and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States. It may be used as a weapon, as the vaccine for smallpox sometimes had severe side-effects, it is no longer used routinely in any country. Thus, much of the modern human population has almost no established resistance to smallpox and would be vulnerable to the virus. ## See also - Cross-species transmission - Glossary of virology - - Non-cellular life - Gene transfer agent - Retrozyme - Smallest organisms - - Viral metagenomics - Viroplasm - Zoonosis

God of War: Chains of Olympus

2008 video game

God of War: Chains of Olympus is a 2008 action-adventure hack and slash video game developed by Ready at Dawn and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation Portable. It is the fourth installment in the God of War series, the second chronologically, and a prequel to the original God of War. It is loosely based on Greek mythology and set in ancient Greece, with vengeance as its central motif. The player controls Kratos, a Spartan warrior who serves the Olympian gods. Kratos is guided by the goddess Athena, who instructs him to find the Sun God Helios, as the Dream God Morpheus has caused many of the gods to slumber in Helios' absence. With the power of the Sun and the aid of the Titan Atlas, Morpheus and the Queen of the Underworld Persephone intend to destroy the Pillar of the World and in turn Olympus. The gameplay is similar to the previous installments, with a focus on combo-based combat, achieved through the player's main weapon—the Blades of Chaos—and secondary weapons acquired throughout the game. It features quick time events that require the player to complete game controller actions in a timed sequence to defeat stronger enemies and bosses. The player can use up to three magical attacks as alternative combat options. The game also features puzzles and platforming elements. The series' control scheme was reconfigured to compensate for the smaller number of buttons on the PSP compared to the PlayStation 2's controller; Ready at Dawn's solutions for the controls were praised by critics. Chains of Olympus was acclaimed by critics, becoming the highest-rated PSP title on Metacritic and GameRankings. The game's graphics were particularly praised, with 1UP declaring the game was "a technical showpiece for Sony, and arguably the best-looking game on the system." It won several awards, including "Best PSP Action Game", "Best Graphics Technology", and "Best Use of Sound". As of June 2012, the game has sold 3.2 million copies worldwide, making it the seventh best-selling PlayStation Portable game of all time. Together with 2010's God of War: Ghost of Sparta, Chains of Olympus was remastered and released on September 13, 2011, as part of the God of War: Origins Collection for the PlayStation 3. The remastered version was included in the God of War Saga released on August 28, 2012, also for PlayStation 3. ## Gameplay God of War: Chains of Olympus is a third-person single-player video game viewed from a fixed camera perspective. The player controls the character Kratos in combo-based combat, platforming, and puzzle game elements, and battles foes who primarily stem from Greek mythology, including cyclopes, Gorgons, satyrs, harpies, minotaurs, hoplites, and sphinxes. Morpheus beasts, shades, banshees, fire guards, fire sentries, hyperion guards, and death knights were created specifically for the game. Platforming elements require the player to climb walls, jump across chasms, swing on ropes, and balance across beams to proceed through sections of the game. Some puzzles are simple, such as moving a box so that the player can use it as a jumping-off point to access a pathway unreachable with normal jumping, but others are more complex, such as finding several items across different areas of the game to unlock one door. ### Combat Kratos' main weapon is the Blades of Chaos: a pair of blades attached to chains that are wrapped around the character's wrists and forearms. In gameplay, the blades can be swung offensively in various maneuvers. As the game progresses, Kratos acquires new weapons—the Sun Shield and Gauntlet of Zeus—offering alternative combat options. Kratos only learns three magical abilities, as opposed to four in previous installments, including the Efreet, the Light of Dawn, and Charon's Wrath, giving him a variety of ways to attack and kill enemies. He acquires the relic Triton's Lance—similar to Poseidon's Trident in God of War— which allows him to breathe underwater; a necessary ability as parts of the game require long periods of time there. The challenge mode in this game is called the Challenge of Hades (five trials), and requires players to complete a series of specific tasks (e.g., Burn 50 soldiers with the Efreet). It is unlocked by completing the game. The player may unlock bonus costumes for Kratos, behind-the-scenes videos, and concept art of the characters and environments, as rewards. Completion of each of the game's difficulty levels unlocks additional rewards. ## Synopsis ### Setting As with the previous games in the God of War franchise, God of War: Chains of Olympus is set in an alternate version of ancient Greece, populated by the Olympian gods, Titans, and other beings of Greek mythology. With the exception of flashbacks, the events are set between those of the games Ascension (2013) and God of War (2005). Several locations are explored, including the real-world locations of the ancient cities of Attica and Marathon, the latter including fictional settings of the Temple of Helios and the Caves of Olympus, and several other fictional locations, including the Underworld, which features scenes at the River Styx, Tartarus, the Fields of Elysium, and the Temple of Persephone. Attica is a war-torn city under assault by the Persian Empire and their pet basilisk and is the site of Eurybiades' last battle. The city of Marathon is covered in the black fog of the Dream God, Morpheus. Just beyond the city is the Temple of Helios, which sits atop the Sun Chariot, which has plummeted to Earth in Helios' absence. Boreas, Zephyros, Euros, and Notos, the gods of the north, west, east, and south winds, respectively, reside in the temple and guide the chariot. The Caves of Olympus is a cavern below Mount Olympus and houses the dawn-goddess Eos, the Primordial Fires, and a statue of Triton. The Underworld is the underground realm of the dead and is host to the River Styx and the ferryman of the dead, Charon. Tartarus is the prison of the dead and the Titans where the massive Titan Hyperion is chained. The Fields of Elysium are home to deserving souls that roam peacefully and are overlooked by the Temple of Persephone. ### Characters The protagonist of the game is Kratos (voiced by Terrence C. Carson), a former Captain of Sparta's Army, and once servant to the God of War, Ares. He now serves the other Olympian gods in hopes that they will free him of his nightmares. Other characters include Kratos' mentor and ally Athena (Erin Torpey), the Goddess of Wisdom; Eos (Erin Torpey), the Goddess of Dawn and sister of Helios; Persephone (Marina Gordon), the Queen of the Underworld and the main antagonist; and Atlas (Fred Tatasciore), a four-armed Titan imprisoned in Tartarus after the Great War. Kratos' deceased daughter Calliope (Debi Derryberry) briefly reunites with him in the Fields of Elysium and his wife Lysandra appears in a flashback. Minor characters include Helios (Dwight Schultz), the captured Sun God; Charon (Dwight Schultz), the ferryman of the Underworld; and the Persian king (Fred Tatasciore), leader of the Persian forces attacking Attica. The Dream God Morpheus is an unseen character that affects the plot. ### Plot About halfway through Kratos' ten years of service to the Olympian gods, he is sent to the city of Attica to help defend it from the invading Persian army. After successfully killing the Persian king, decimating his army, and slaying their pet basilisk, Kratos observes the Sun fall from the sky, plunging the world into darkness. As he fights his way through the city of Marathon, the Spartan witnesses the black fog of Morpheus covering the land. He hears a haunting flute melody, which he recognizes as a melody once played by his deceased daughter Calliope. Finding the Temple of Helios, Kratos learns from Athena that Morpheus has caused many of the gods to fall into a deep slumber due to the absence of light. Before she succumbs to slumber, Athena tasks Kratos to find Helios, return him to the sky, and break Morpheus’ grasp on the world. The Spartan eventually locates Helios' sister, Eos, who tells Kratos that the Titan Atlas has abducted her brother. Eos advises Kratos to seek the Primordial Fires, which he uses to awaken the fire steeds of Helios. The steeds take the Spartan to the Underworld, where he has two encounters with Charon at the River Styx. Although Charon initially defeats Kratos and banishes him to Tartarus, the Spartan returns with the Gauntlet of Zeus and destroys the ferryman. Kratos soon spots Calliope and chases after her. After locating the Temple of Persephone and confronting the Queen of the Underworld, Kratos is given a choice: renounce his power and be with his deceased daughter (at a cost to mankind) or proceed with his mission. Kratos sacrifices his weapons and power to be reunited with his daughter but discovers that Persephone is embittered by Zeus' betrayal and her imprisonment in the Underworld with her husband Hades, whom she did not love. While he was distracted by his reunion with Calliope, Persephone's ally Atlas was using the power of the kidnapped Helios to destroy the Pillar of the World, which would also end Olympus. As the resulting destruction of the Pillar will also cause the souls of the Underworld, including Calliope, to be lost, Kratos reluctantly abandons his daughter forever in order to save her life. Taking back his power, Kratos battles Persephone and Atlas, binding the Titan to the Pillar before slaying the goddess. Although victorious, he is warned by a dying Persephone that his suffering will never end. Atlas, forced to hold the weight of the world on his shoulders for eternity, also warns Kratos that he will eventually regret helping the gods and that he and Atlas will meet again. Kratos then rides the Sun Chariot back to the mortal world and into the sky as Morpheus retreats. In a post-credits scene, Kratos is still riding Helios' chariot back into the sky and after seeing the return of the Sun, Kratos loses consciousness from the exertion and plummets to the ground. At the last moment, Kratos is saved by Athena and Helios, and Athena tells Helios that "He will live." ## Development Game developer Ready at Dawn pitched the idea of a God of War game for the PlayStation Portable to Santa Monica Studio soon after the original God of War launched. It is the first installment in the series to not be developed primarily by Santa Monica Studio, who nevertheless assisted on development. In February 2007, Ready at Dawn posted a teaser featuring "Coming Soon" in the God of War font. An editor from 1UP obtained an early copy of God of War II and posted the game's instruction manual, featuring a one-page teaser with "PSP" in the Omega symbol and stating "Coming 2007". On March 12, 2007, God of War II was launched at the Metreon: God of War II Game Director Cory Barlog officially confirmed the development of Chains of Olympus, stating "It is its own story that connects to the overall story. God of War, God of War II, and then if all the stars align God of War III will be the telling of a trilogy. This PSP story will be a further fleshing out." An initial trailer for Chains of Olympus was released on April 25, 2007, coinciding with the announcement of a demo on UMD—the optical disc medium for the PSP. The trailer is narrated by voice actress Linda Hunt. God of War: Chains of Olympus uses a proprietary, in-house engine referred to as the Ready at Dawn engine, which expanded on the engine created for their previous game, Daxter (2006), to include a fluid and cloth simulator. The camera system was modified to cater to the fixed cinematic camera for God of War gameplay, and the lighting system was reworked to aid in presenting realistic graphics. The game was originally designed for the PlayStation Portable's restricted 222 megahertz (MHz) processor. Ready at Dawn repeatedly contacted Sony regarding increasing the clock speed of the PSP on account of the difference to the game and had developed a version of the game with higher speed. Sony released a firmware upgrade that allowed games to use the full 333 MHz processor. The faster processor allowed for more realistic blood effects, lighting effects, and shadows as well as improved enemy intelligence. The upgrade, however, noticeably decreased battery life. After the game's completion, Game Director Ru Weerasuriya stated multiplayer options and other puzzles, characters, and dialogue had to be removed due to time constraints. ### Audio Two of the voice actors returned from the previous installments to reprise their roles, which were Terrence C. Carson and Linda Hunt, who voiced Kratos and the narrator respectively. Erin Torpey adopted the dual roles of Athena and Eos. Fred Tatasciore, who voiced different characters in previous installments, returned, and in this game, voiced both Atlas and the Persian King. Carole Ruggier and Michael Clarke Duncan did not return to reprise their roles, which were Athena and Atlas respectively. Voice actor Dwight Schultz voiced both Charon and Helios; Debi Derryberry voiced Calliope and continued this role in a later installment; and Marina Gordon provided the voice of Persephone. Brian Kimmet, Don Luce, and Andrew Wheeler provided the voices of several minor characters and Keythe Farley was the Voice Director. The soundtrack was composed by Gerard K. Marino, but was never commercially released. After the release of the demo disc, Ready at Dawn offered pre-order customers a music track on disc titled "Battle of Attica". Composer Gerard Marino stated that it was the first cue written for the game, based on concept art and screenshots. Marino composed roughly thirteen minutes of music for the game and re-worked other music from the previous titles. Three tracks from the soundtrack are included as bonus tracks on the God of War: Ghost of Sparta soundtrack. ## Release The demo disc, officially titled God of War: Chains of Olympus – Special Edition: Battle of Attica, was released on September 27, 2007. In the demo, Kratos battles Persian soldiers and a giant basilisk. The demo progresses through the city of Attica as Kratos chases the basilisk, culminating with Kratos fighting the Persian King. The disc also included a developer video and a lanyard in the shape of the Greek letter Omega. Following the demo's release, a downloadable version was made available through the PlayStation Store in North American and European regions. Due to the delay of the game, Ready at Dawn offered a "special edition" version of the demo to pre-order customers, with one Ready at Dawn developer stating that preparation of the special demo disc took up to 40% of the team's production time. God of War: Chains of Olympus was originally scheduled to be released during the fourth quarter of 2007, but it was rescheduled and released on March 4, 2008, in North America, March 27 in Australia, March 28 in Europe, and July 10 in Japan, where it was published by Capcom. The game was a commercial success, debuting at No. 5 on the North American charts with 340,500 copies sold in the first month. The game was re-released in Europe on October 17, 2008, as part of Sony's Platinum Range and was also re-released in Japan and North America in April 2009 under Capcom's Best Price and Sony's Greatest Hits labels, respectively. It became available for download from the PlayStation Store on September 30, 2009, in North America, October 1 in Europe, and November 11, 2010, in Japan. Sony released a limited-edition bundle pack only in North America, on June 3, 2008. The pack included the game, a UMD of the 2007 film Superbad, a voucher for the PSP title Syphon Filter: Combat Ops, and a red edition of the console imprinted with an image of Kratos' face on the rear. As of June 2012, Chains of Olympus has sold more than 3.2 million copies worldwide. Together with God of War: Ghost of Sparta, the game was released for the PlayStation 3 as part of the God of War: Origins Collection (called God of War Collection – Volume II in Europe) on September 13, 2011, in North America, September 16 in Europe, September 29 in Australia, and October 6 in Japan. The collection is a remastered port of both games to the PS3 hardware, with features including high-definition resolution, stereoscopic 3D, anti-aliased graphics locked at 60 frames per second, DualShock 3 vibration function, and PlayStation 3 Trophies. God of War: Origins Collection and full trials of its two games were also released for download on the PlayStation Store on September 13, 2011, in North America. By June 2012, the collection had sold 711,737 copies worldwide. On August 28, 2012, God of War Collection, God of War III, and Origins Collection were released as part of the God of War Saga under Sony's line of PlayStation Collections for the PlayStation 3 in North America. ## Reception God of War: Chains of Olympus received "universal acclaim", according to review aggregator Metacritic, achieving the highest composite score for a PlayStation Portable title. The game was praised for its graphics and presentation. Matt Leone of 1UP claimed Chains of Olympus is "a technical showpiece for Sony, and arguably the best-looking game on the system." Robert Falcon of Modojo.com similarly praised the presentation, calling it "an absolute stunner, the pinnacle of PSP development". He also praised the visuals as "absolutely breathtaking," and that the "game moves beautifully throughout, with very little loss in detail or speed." However, G4's Jonathan Hunt said that it "occasionally suffers from screen tearing and framerate drops." Several reviewers praised Ready at Dawn's solution for the controls and gameplay. Because the PlayStation 2 (PS2) controller has two analog sticks and the PSP only has one, GamePro stated "the lack of a second analog stick could have been problematic but it's not." Modojo.com similarly stated that despite the lack of a second analog stick, "Kratos handles superbly on the PSP" and that the weapon and magic attacks are "mapped out perfectly around the PSP's control set-up." IGN's Chris Roper even claimed the control scheme "works better than on the PS2." Roper further claimed that Ready at Dawn "has done a stellar job of keeping Kratos' move set intact," stating that "combat is extremely responsive." Matt Leone of 1UP similarly praised developers solution for the control scheme as well as the game's "fantastic" pacing. However, GamePro criticized the relative lack of variety in enemies. The puzzles were criticized, and G4 claimed that some "are so maddeningly difficult to solve", while GameSpot's Aaron Thomas noted the lack of puzzles, claiming that it "could have used more". GamePro also criticized the fact that "You still have to lug boxes around to solve environmental puzzles". Kristan Reed of Eurogamer also criticized Ready at Dawn for cutting some puzzles, as well as cutting co-op play, multiplayer, dialogue, and characters. GameSpot and IGN criticized the short length and minimal boss fights, although GamePro stated that it has "the same epic feel" as the previous installments and claimed that if it was the only God of War title, "it would still stand on its own merits." GameTrailers went on to praise the replay value for being able to "bring your powered-up methods of destruction with you." ### Awards and accolades In IGN's Best of 2008 Awards, Chains of Olympus received the awards for "Best PSP Action Game", "Best Graphics Technology", and "Best Use of Sound". In GameSpot's Best Games of 2008, it received the "Readers' Choice Award". Diehard GameFAN awarded it "Best PSP Game" for 2008. At the 2008 Spike Video Game Awards, it was a nominee for "Best Handheld Game". It was Metacritic's 2008 "PSP Game of the Year". During the 12th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards in 2009, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences awarded Chains of Olympus with "Hand-Held Game of the Year", along with receiving a nomination for "Adventure Game of the Year". In September 2010, GamePro named God of War: Chains of Olympus the best PSP game.

Olivia Shakespear

British writer

Olivia Shakespear (; 17 March 1863 – 3 October 1938) was a British novelist, playwright, and patron of the arts. She wrote six books that are described as "marriage problem" novels. Her works sold poorly, sometimes only a few hundred copies. Her last novel, Uncle Hilary, is considered her magnum opus. She wrote two plays in collaboration with Florence Farr. Olivia was the daughter of a retired adjutant general, and had little formal education. She was well-read however, and developed a love of literature. In 1885 she married London barrister Henry Hope Shakespear, and in 1886 gave birth to their only child, Dorothy. In 1894 her literary interests led to a friendship with William Butler Yeats that became physically intimate in 1896. He declared that they "had many days of happiness" to come, but the affair ended in 1897. They nevertheless remained lifelong friends and corresponded frequently. On October 20, 1917, Yeats married Georgie Hyde-Lees, Olivia Shakespear's step-niece and Dorothy's best friend. Olivia began hosting weekly salons frequented by Ezra Pound and other modernist writers and artists in 1909, and became influential in London literary society. Olivia's daughter Dorothy Shakespear married Pound in 1914, despite the less than enthusiastic blessing of her parents. After their marriage, Pound used funds received from Olivia to support T. S. Eliot and James Joyce. When Dorothy gave birth to a son, Omar Pound, in France in 1926, Olivia assumed guardianship of the boy. He lived with Olivia until her death twelve years later, in 1938. ## Early life and marriage Olivia's father, Henry Tod Tucker, was born in Edinburgh and joined the British Indian Army as an ensign at age 16. He rose to the rank of Adjutant General in Bengal, but retired in 1856 at age 48 owing to ill health. Within a year of returning to Britain he married Harriet Johnson (b. 1821) of Bath. The couple moved to the Isle of Wight where their two daughters were born: Florence in 1858 and Olivia on 17 March 1863. Soon after they relocated to Sussex where their third child, Henry, was born in 1866. In 1877 the family moved to London and raised their daughters in a social world that encouraged the pursuit of leisure. Olivia often visited her many Johnson relatives in the country, and became particularly fond of her cousin Lionel Johnson—the only one of many uncles and cousins not to join the military—who went on to become a poet and friend to W. B. Yeats. It is likely that Olivia received little formal education; she may have been educated by tutors, and appears to have become well-read as a young woman. In 1885 Olivia married Henry Hope Shakespear, a man described by Terence Brown in The Life of W.B. Yeats: A Critical Biography as "worthy" but "dull". Born in India in 1849, he was descended from 17th-century East London ropemakers and, like Olivia, came from a military family. Henry had attended Harrow, studied law, and joined a law practice in 1875. The couple married on 8 December 1885, and honeymooned in Boulogne and Paris. Olivia's father endowed them with a comfortable income in the form of a trust. Nine months after the wedding their only child, Dorothy, was born on 14 September 1886; Olivia realised soon that the marriage was devoid of passion. Yeats' biographer Alexander Jeffares writes, "she was unselfcentered, unselfish, deeply imaginative and sympathetic and, until she met Yeats, she seems to have accepted the fact of her unhappy loveless marriage". Shakespear dissolved his legal partnership in the late 1880s—his partner may have been embezzling from clients' trusts—and formed his own practice. Harwood writes that Shakespear's attitude to the situation showed a certain amount of "timidity" on his part and a definite "dislike of scenes". During this period Olivia moved from socialising with military wives to literary women: Valentine Fox (unhappily married to a Kent brewer) and Pearl Craigie, a divorced American writer who published as John Oliver Hobbes. ## W. B. Yeats ### Friendship On 16 April 1894, accompanied by Pearl Craigie, Olivia attended a literary dinner to launch The Yellow Book, and was seated opposite W. B. Yeats. Recently returned from visiting Maud Gonne in Paris, Yeats was in London for the production of his play The Land of Heart's Desire. The two were not introduced that evening but Yeats, probably through Lionel Johnson (who became disruptively drunk at the dinner), enquired about the woman seated opposite. Yeats was deeply affected, later writing in his memoirs of the encounter: "I noticed opposite me .... a woman of great beauty ... She was exquisitely dressed ... and suggested to me an incomparable distinction." Soon after, Olivia attended a showing of The Land of Heart's Desire, and found herself moved by the performance. She wanted to meet the "tall and black haired" poet and asked Johnson to invite Yeats to tea on 10 May 1894, adding in her handwriting to the invitation, "I shall be so glad to see you". In his Memoirs Yeats referred to her as "Diana Vernon", writing, "In this book I cannot giver her real name—Diana Vernon sounds pleasantly in my ears and will suit as well as any other". They quickly established a strong friendship, with Olivia listening sympathetically to his obsessive love for Maud. When Yeats later described their friendship, he wrote, "I told her of my love sorrow, indeed it was my obsession, never leaving by day or night". Writing in The Last Courtly Lover, Gloria Kline suggests Olivia and Yeats began a friendship based on the discussion of literature and his willingness to review her work. John Unterecker, writing in "Faces and False Faces", sees friendship as the most important aspect in the relationship, explaining, "she found in Yeats, as he in her, a person who could discuss literature and ideas ... she was one of the few persons with whom he could be completely relaxed". Comparing the difference between Maud and Olivia he writes, "Maud Gonne offered Yeats subject matter for poetry, the 'interesting' life he had hoped for, and Olivia Shakespear offered him repose". According to Kline, Yeats compared Olivia to Diana and Maud to Helen; he was attracted to dark coloured women, describing Olivia's skin as "a little darker than a Greek's would have been and her hair was very dark". Literary scholar Humphrey Carpenter writes that Yeats' impression of Olivia was one of a woman with "a profound culture, a knowledge of French, English, and Italian and seemed always at leisure. Her nature was gentle and contemplative, and she was content, it seems, to have no more of life than leisure and the talk of her friends". Nevertheless, she was working on her third novel, Beauty's Hour. It is likely that Yeats read the manuscript, suggested revisions, and he may have contributed to the characterisations. Kline believes the two began a friendship based on the discussion of literature; Yeats biographer Foster adds they were drawn together by a mutual interest in the occult. For Yeats, then aged 30, an important aspect of their friendship was the opportunity it presented for a sexual relationship with a woman, something he had not then experienced. In August Yeats returned to Ireland, continuing his correspondence with Olivia, writing to her about Maud's recently giving birth to a daughter, Iseult. In her letters Olivia may have been honest about her feelings toward him; in April 1895 he wrote to her, "I no more complain of your writing of love, than I would complain of a portrait painter keeping to portraits". ### Love affair Yeats delayed visiting Olivia in London a month later; he instead tended to Johnson, who was involved in the Wilde case and descending into the alcoholism that would kill him. Yeats appeared to have persuaded himself that Olivia and her cousin shared a flaw, writing, "here is the same weakness I thought ... Her beauty ... dark and still, had the nobility of defeated things, and how could it help but wring my heart. I took a fortnight to decide what I should do". He constructed a plan to reconcile his desire with what he believed to be her wickedness: he would ask that she leave her husband to live with him. Until then their friendship would remain platonic. Yeats finally visited Olivia at her Porchester Square home a few weeks later to present his well-thought-out intentions but, to his bewilderment, Olivia declared her love for him. Unsure of himself, he took another absence, during which he decided that if Maud was unattainable, or unavailable due to circumstances, he would have Olivia, writing "but after all if I could not get the woman I loved it would be a comfort for a little while to devote myself to another". For Yeats, Olivia was willing to lose her daughter, financial security, social standing, and the goodwill of her family. Although her husband had grounds to sue Yeats and consequently destroy his reputation, her best hope against complete ruin was Shakespear's strong dislike of public scenes. Then Yeats lost his nerve again, suggesting instead each seek advice from a friend (a "sponsor"). He probably chose Florence Farr to be his sponsor while Olivia chose Valentine Fox—Harwood speculates that the sponsors advised the two to go ahead with the affair, perhaps to Yeats' discomfort. On 15 July 1895, Yeats and Olivia travelled to Kent to visit Valentine Fox; the trip Harwood says "would have been, emotionally speaking a highly charged outing". Of the railway trip, Yeats wrote in his memoirs, "when on our first railway journey together—we were to spend the day at Kent—she gave the long passionate kiss of love, I was startled & a little shocked". They went on to share more passionate kisses in art galleries and at her home. Still distressed about Lionel, Yeats turned to Arthur Symons for companionship, moving into a room adjacent to his in October 1895. One day while preoccupied and thinking about Maud he locked himself out just before Olivia and her sponsor arrived to visit; as soon as she left, he stayed up all night telling Symons about Maud. She arrived in London a few weeks later for a brief visit. Yeats was ambivalent about Olivia despite the advice of the sponsors; with no money to support her, he suggested she seek a legal separation (instead of a divorce), sparing her social ostracism and financial ruin. Ezra Pound's biographer Jay Wilhelm suggests Shakespear knew that Olivia loved Yeats but seemed more concerned about the loss of social status in the event of divorce, causing Yeats and Olivia to decide that "it was kinder to simply deceive him than totally abandon him". In January 1896 Yeats moved again, into a small flat in Woburn Place, so as to be nearer to her. Finally after a charged bed-buying session, with Yeats describing "an embarrassed conversation upon the width", and his nervousness preventing them at first from becoming lovers, he eventually wrote in January 1896, "at last she came to me in my thirtieth year .... and we had many days of happiness". Yeats' happiness is apparent in the poems he wrote at that period, and for the duration of their affair, Olivia appears to have acted as a muse to the poet.[1] Six months later Yeats had returned Ireland, and in August Olivia was visiting Valentine Fox with her husband where she received news of her father's death. She left for an extended stay in Torquay, where she stayed until September before leaving for a visit to Scotland with her husband. Yeats left Ireland for Paris to visit Maud in November, and did not return to London until January 1897, with Maud following close behind and arriving in London in February. Yeats wrote of Maud's visit: "Maud wrote to me ... she was in London & would I come to dine. I dined with her & my trouble increased—she certainly had no thought of the mischief she was doing – & at last one morning .... [Olivia] found my mood did not answer hers and & burst into tears—'There is someone else in your heart' she said. It was the breaking between us for many years". The affair ended that spring when Yeats again returned to Ireland. Olivia did not visit him again at Woburn Place for many years, according to Yeats biographer Richard Ellmann. ## Pembroke Mansions Olivia's life is not well documented between 1897 and 1908. She visited her cousin Lionel for the last time in 1897 before he was isolated by his alcoholism. He died alone of a cerebral haemorrhage in 1902. In 1899 the family suffered an unspecified financial setback that forced them to move into an apartment in Bayswater to Pembroke Mansions, which a friend described by as "an uninviting Bayswater slum". A few months later Olivia's mother died. Within a week Olivia received a letter of condolence from Yeats, which may have been the first letter she received from him in two years, since 1897. Several scholars and biographers speculate that they resumed their love affair at some point between 1903 and 1910; Pound biographer Wilhelm believes they reconciled as early as 1903, while Yeats biographers Jeffares and Ross suggest the affair likely reignited for a period in 1906. For a short time in 1901 Olivia held a position as a book reviewer for The Kensington Review, a small literary magazine, until it succumbed to poor sales. After, she dabbled in the occult and became friendly with prominent London occultists. In 1902 she co-wrote with Florence Farr — who for a time led the Order of Golden Dawn — two plays on the occult, The Beloved of Hathor and The Shrine of the Golden Hawk, which were subsequently published as a pair. Although the family received an inheritance from Olivia's mother, they continued to live in Bayswater. For a period Dorothy was at boarding school, after which she was sent to a finishing school in Geneva. To save money, the family often left London during the summer, to take long visits to relatives in the country, in particular her brother Henry Tucker. Not until 1905 did the family lease a house in Brunswick Gardens, near Kensington Palace, when Dorothy returned home to live with her parents. ## Dorothy and Ezra Pound Records of Olivia's life resume through Dorothy's letters and diaries surrounding the arrival of the American poet Ezra Pound in London in 1909. Following her friends in Kensington society, Olivia opened her home once a week for a salon, beginning an important period in her life. When Yeats returned to London that year, Olivia became the centre of a blossoming literary movement. Yeats held a Monday evening salon; those who attended usually also visited Olivia's. She hosted, and became a nexus for, much of the pre-war literary activity in London. Notable attendees included Pound, Hilda Doolitle, Yeats, Wyndham Lewis, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Walter Morse Rummel, Richard Aldington, William Carlos Williams, T. E. Hulme and John Cournos. The gatherings were held in her drawing room, a place Pound described in a letter as "full of white magic". Olivia was by now a well-known occultist and hosted séances in her drawing room. She became well-versed in astrology and palmistry, passing on what she knew to Dorothy who shared her interest. Both read grimoires; Olivia was an expert at "drawing occult symbols" and quite familiar with the symbology of the occult. Olivia met Pound in January 1909 at a Kensington salon hosted by a friend; she invited him for tea on 16 February 1909, and, at his insistence, introduced Pound to Yeats in May 1909. Yeats had recently returned to London and began a thorough investigation of spiritualism and the occult, turning to Olivia for advice. She took the young American poet to Yeats' rooms at Woburn Place, fostering their relationship. Dorothy soon fell in love with Pound. In late 1909 and early 1910 Olivia and Dorothy attended his lectures at the London Polytechnic Institution; in June 1910 they joined him in Sirmione, Italy. For reasons unclear to biographers Olivia forbade the two from writing to each other during his extended visit to New York from 1910 to 1911. Despite the restriction Dorothy seems to have considered herself engaged to Pound, although uncertain whether he intended to stay in New York or return to London. In 1910 Yeats thought his horoscope suggested a return to Olivia; he distanced himself from Maud and in June began to see Olivia more frequently. Pound was fond of Olivia, which may have caused Yeats some jealousy as when, for example, Pound met the two at the theatre and took them afterward to tea—an occasion when Yeats was extremely rude to Pound. A year later, Olivia introduced Yeats to Georgie Hyde-Lees, her 18-year-old step-niece and Dorothy's best friend, whom Yeats eventually married. Pound returned from America in 1911 and resumed his visits to Olivia and Dorothy, adhering to Olivia's restrictions. That October Pound formally asked to marry Dorothy; her father refused on the basis of Pound's meagre income. Neither Dorothy nor Pound gave up: he again asked for permission to marry her in March 1912 but was again rejected. In Dorothy's mind they continued to be engaged, although they were only allowed short visits in the Family drawing room once a week or every two weeks. Olivia became concerned about her daughter after Hilda Doolittle, who also believed she was engaged to Pound, arrived in London in 1911. Olivia welcomed H.D. to her home, but she witnessed the interactions between Dorothy, Pound, H.D. and Richard Aldington, whom H.D. married in 1913. In September 1912 Olivia wrote a stern letter to Pound, in which she pointedly told him to break off his friendship with Dorothy: > You told me you were prepared to see less of Dorothy this winter. I don't know if you wd rather leave it to me to say I don't think it advisable she should see so much of you etc. or whether you wd rather do it in your own way .... I don't know if she still considers herself engaged to you—but she obviously can't marry you—it's hardly decent\! There's another point too—which is the personal inconvenience & bother to myself—I had all last winter, practically to keep 2 days a week for you to come & see her ... She must marry—She & I can't possibly go on living this feminine life practically à deux for ever, & we haven't money enough to separate ... You ought to go away—Englishmen don't understand yr American ways, & any man who wanted to marry her wd be put off by the fact of yr friendship (or whatever you call it) with her. If you had £500 a year I should be delighted for you to marry her\! In 1913, Olivia introduced Pound to vorticist sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska at an art exhibition at the Albert Hall. At the same exhibition the sculptor met Nina Hamnett, whom he subsequently used as a model for a series of nudes bronzes, one of which Olivia bought. In 1914, Olivia translated a grimoire for Yeats and Pound, who spent November 1913 to January 1914 in the countryside at Stone Cottage in Ashdown Forest—Pound acting as secretary to Yeats—researching the occult. They read several grimoires, and Olivia provided for them a translation of the Abbot of Villar's 1670 grimoire Le Comte de Gabalis. Her translation was serialised in the literary magazine The Egoist later that year. By 1914 Olivia seems to have realised that Dorothy was determined to marry Pound, and finally consented; ironically Pound was then earning less than he had in 1911. Hope Shakespear relented when the couple agreed to a church wedding rather than a civil ceremony, which took place on 20 April 1914. Olivia gave them two early circus drawings by Pablo Picasso. ## Later life and death After Dorothy's wedding much of the documentation of Olivia's life ceases. She moved out of Brunswick Gardens in 1924, throwing away personal correspondence and giving away hundreds of books. Hope Shakespear died on 5 July 1923; within months Olivia moved to an apartment in West Kensington, taking with her two maids who had been with the family for decades. Her life continued unchanged, filled with social events. In September 1926, Dorothy gave birth to a son, Omar Pound, who in 1927 was brought from France to be raised in England. Olivia became his guardian and Dorothy spent summers with her mother and son. In 1926 Yeats spent several weeks in London, likely visiting Olivia frequently. He showed regret for his behaviour in 1897, writing to her, "I came across two early photographs of you yesterday ... Who ever had a like profile?—a profile from a Sicilian coin. One looks back to one's youth as to a cup that a mad man dying of thirst left half tasted. I wonder if you feel like that?" The two maintained their correspondence, as they had for many years. Olivia continued to socialise and had many friends, one of whom, Wyndham Lewis, painted her portrait; he enjoyed her company despite finding it difficult to relate to others. She stopped writing but remained an avid reader, turning to detective stories for light relief although she also kept up with literary authors. She became friendly with Thomas MacGreevy, whom she invited for tea, later writing to him, "WBY has given me the new edition of Reveries and the Veil, & I am re-reading it all. It is very beautifully done. He was about 29 when I first knew him". McGreevy told Yeats that Olivia was "always a symbol of elegance, a kind of gold and ivory image". Harwood writes of her, "Olivia Shakespear was avant-garde in literature, agnostic in religion, and conservative in politics, at least later in life". Olivia's correspondence with Pound continued throughout the 1920s and 1930s, when she acted in part as his agent in London. In 1924, at Pound's request, she welcomed George Antheil into her social circle, procured artwork and books that were sent on to Dorothy and Ezra in Rapallo, and mediated in a dispute between Pound and Lewis. She was uninterested in Pound's politics and economic views and particularly disliked his later Cantos. After her husband's death, Olivia's income was sufficient to support a comfortable lifestyle. During the 1920s and 1930s she gradually increased Dorothy's income (which was also increased by various family bequests), and in the 1930s she made investments in Dorothy's name, sending the proceeds to Dorothy and Pound. In a very real sense, according to Harwood, Olivia Shakespear is the "unsung heroine" of the modernist period, because much of the money Ezra Pound generously used to support struggling writers such as T. S. Eliot and James Joyce came from her. Olivia died of complications brought on by gall bladder disease on 3 October 1938. The day before her death she wrote in a letter to Dorothy: "On Monday I was taken suddenly ill with gall bladder trouble—awful pain—sent for Doctor Barnes—he gave me dope & an injection and pain gradually went ... He says I am going on all right, but of course I feel rather a wreck". She died the following day of a heart attack. John Unterecker believes Olivia's death shattered Yeats, who died only months later, because she added warmth to his life. Yeats wrote of her death: > Olivia Shakespear has died suddenly. For more than forty years she has been the centre of my life in London and during all that time we have never had a quarrel, sadness sometimes but never a difference. When I first met her she was in her late twenties but in looks a lovely young girl. When she died she was a lovely old woman ... She came of a long line of soldiers and during the last war thought it her duty to stay in London through all the air raids. She was not more lovely than distinguished—no matter what happened she never lost her solitude ... For the moment I cannot bear the thought of London. I will find her memory everywhere. Dorothy was ill when her mother died, unable to travel to London. She sent Pound to organise the funeral and to clear out the house. Ezra sorted through Olivia's correspondence and returned to Yeats many of her letters. Unterecker writes that Yeats made an effort to keep the correspondence private: "Shortly before his death he methodically destroyed a large group of letters to Olivia Shakespear. These, returned to him after her death ... Yeats wanted no one to read". ## Novels: description and reception Olivia had six novels published between 1894 and 1910, which as described by Foster are about women unhappy in love, with insipid and uninspiring male characters. The heroines—frequently orphaned, educated by elderly tutors, and depicted in country house libraries—fall in love with much older men in the later novels. The first two novels were published in 1894 to mixed reviews. Love on a Mortal Lease (title from George Meredith) was released in June, followed in November by The Journey of High Honour, at 30,000 words considerably shorter than the 355 pages of Love on a Mortal Lease. Each novel sold only a few hundred copies. Harwood describes the early work such as Love on a Mortal Lease as showing stylistic similarities to contemporary women novelists such as Craighie and Rhonda Broughton, with witty dialogue in Craighie's style, although he thinks Olivia brought a more serious voice to her work. He describes Love on a Mortal Lease as a work in which the heroine is well-characterised but the background is weak. In the summer of 1896, "The Savoy," edited by Arthur Symons, published a two-part novella by Shakespear called "Beauty's Hour". Anne Margaret Daniel says that the story was inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1886), with the dilemma of good vs. evil translated here into that of an unattractive woman who longs for beauty. In 2016, Valancourt Books published Daniel's edition of "Beauty's Hour", marking the first return to print of Shakespear's fiction for many decades. She dedicated The False Laurel, published in 1896, to Lionel Johnson. The plot features a poetess who falls in love with and marries an insipid young poet, giving up her own writing to attend to his needs. She becomes bored, writes a successful play, and then goes mad. The False Laurel was the least successful of her books, selling fewer than 200 copies. It received a poor review from The Bookman but a good one from The Athenaeneum. Rupert Armstrong was published in 1899 by Harper and Brothers, dedicated to Valentine Fox. In this, the fourth of her novels, Harwood believes her writing and voice became more original. The complicated plot—a mother and daughter struggle for "possession of the [father's] artistic soul"—shows hints of incestuous love, a theme found in her later work. Written during the affair with Yeats, Harwood sees the characters presented "in a precise, bitter intensity unlike anything in the earlier work". The Devotees was published by Heinemann in 1904. Like Rupert Armstrong, the plot of The Devotees depicts a mildly incestuous love: a young man and girl, raised together since childhood, devote themselves for decades to his drug-addicted mother before they marry. The reviews were mostly unkind. Olivia's final novel, Uncle Hilary, was published in 1910 and is considered her best work. Of Uncle Hilary Jane Eldridge Miller writes in Rebel Women: Feminism, Modernism, and the Edwardian Novel, "Shakespear demonstrates the ways in which that ideal leads to disillusionment and resentment". In the complicated plot a young woman unwittingly marries her stepfather, leaves him, and accepts a marriage proposal from her guardian. Harwood believes her loveless marriage, the love affair with Yeats, the frustration with Dorothy, and Pound's unfaithfulness to Dorothy, built in her a strength and acceptance of life that bordered on the spiritual and she no longer needed to write. Miller writes that in the novel Olivia explores "marriage laws, divorce, and bigamy", with a focus on the nature of romantic love—rejected in favour of spiritual and intellectual pursuits. Leon Surette writes in The Birth of Modernism, Olivia's Uncle Hilary highlights the ties between spiritualism, occultism and feminism, seeing Uncle Hilary as a feminist novel which he describes as "quite readable". Jane Miller characterises the works as "marriage problem" novels in which the wife confronts the reality of marriage, its restrictions, and the need to achieve independence. By finding interests outside marriage the wife loses the overwhelming need for love within the marriage. Miller writes that in Uncle Hilary Olivia examines issues such as marriage laws, divorce, and bigamy, while focusing on the nature of romantic love. It was in Uncle Hilary that Olivia wrote of love: "Love is the worst slavery that exists ... it is the most persistent of illusions". ## List of works Novels - Love on a Mortal Lease (1894) – WorldCat - The Journey of High Honour (1894) – WorldCat - The False Laurel (1896) – WorldCat - Rupert Armstrong (1898) – WorldCat - The Devotees (1904) – WorldCat - Uncle Hilary (1909) – WorldCat Plays - The Beloved of Hathor (1902) – (reprint, also includes The Shrine of the Golden Hawk) - The Shrine of the Golden Hawk (1902) Novella''' - "Beauty's Hour" (1896) – (reprint) 1. Hassett describes Yeats' "He Remembers Forgotten Beauty", published in ''The Savoy in January 1896, as a "moving encomium to Olivia" in which she is symbolically cast as a White Goddess or lunar goddess. See Hassett (2010), pp. 18–19.

Derfflinger-class battlecruiser

Battlecruiser class of the German Imperial Navy

The Derfflinger class was a class of three battlecruisers () of the Imperial German Navy. The ships were ordered for the 1912–13 Naval Building Program of the German Imperial Navy as a reply to the Royal Navy's two new Lion-class battlecruisers that had been launched a few years earlier. The preceding Moltke class and the incrementally improved Seydlitz represented the end of the evolution of Germany's first generation of battlecruisers. The Derfflinger class had considerable improvements, including a larger primary armament, all of which was mounted on the centerline. The ships were also larger than the preceding classes. The Derfflinger class used a similar propulsion system, and as a result of the increased displacement were slightly slower. The class comprised three ships: Derfflinger, Lützow, and Hindenburg. All three of the ships saw active service with the High Seas Fleet during World War I. Derfflinger was commissioned shortly after the outbreak of war, and was present at most of the naval actions in the North Sea, including the battles of Dogger Bank and Jutland. Lützow was commissioned in August 1915, and participated only in the raid on Yarmouth before being sunk at Jutland. Hindenburg was commissioned into the fleet in May 1917, and saw no major action. Derfflinger and Hindenburg were interned at Scapa Flow following the armistice in November 1918. Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, who was in command of the interned High Seas Fleet, ordered the ships to be scuttled in an attempt to prevent their possible seizure by the Royal Navy. ## Design The Derfflinger-class battlecruisers were a result of the fourth and final Naval Law, which was passed in 1912. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz used public outcry over the British involvement in the Agadir Crisis of 1911 to pressure the Reichstag into appropriating additional funds to the Navy. The Fourth Naval Law secured funding for three new dreadnoughts, two light cruisers, and an extra 15,000 officers and men in the Navy for 1912. The three dreadnoughts secured in the bill became Derfflinger, Lützow, and Hindenburg. Design work on the first two ships began in October 1910 and continued until June 1911; Hindenburg was built to a slightly modified design, which was created between May and October 1912. When design work began, the navy department was asked to submit new requirements to fix deficiencies found in the preceding battlecruiser classes, which primarily covered propulsion systems and the main armament. Previous battlecruisers used a four shaft arrangement for their engines; reducing the number to three would allow the new ships to equip a diesel engine on the central shaft. This would substantially increase the cruising range, and would ease the transfer of fuel and reduce the number of crew needed to operate the ships' machinery. The navy department also argued for an increase in the main battery guns, from 28-centimeter (11 in) guns to 30.5 cm (12 in) weapons. This was because the latest British battleships had thicker main belt armor, up to 300 millimeters (12 in). Since the German battlecruisers were intended to fight in the line of battle, their armament needed to be sufficiently powerful to penetrate the armor of their British opponents. Weight increases were managed by reducing the number of guns, from 10 to 8—the increase in gun caliber added only 36 tons to the ships' displacement. Tirpitz argued against the increase in gun caliber, for he thought the 28 cm gun was powerful enough. A new construction technique was employed to save weight. Previous battlecruisers were built with a combination of transverse and longitudinal steel frames; the Derfflinger-class ships dispensed with the transverse frames and used only the longitudinal ones. This enabled the ship to retain structural strength and a lower weight. As with all preceding capital ships, the outer hull spaces between the hull wall and the torpedo bulkhead were used for coal storage. On 1 September 1910, the design board chose the 30.5 cm, to be mounted in four twin turrets on the centerline of the ship. The armor layout was kept the same as in Seydlitz. In the meantime, pressure from the British public and media had forced the British Parliament to step up ship building. Kaiser Wilhelm II requested that the build time for the new battlecruisers be reduced to two years each, as opposed to three years. This proved unfeasible, because neither the armor or armament firms could supply the necessary materials according to an expedited schedule. ### General characteristics Derfflinger and Lützow were 210 m (690 ft) long at the waterline and 210.40 m (690 ft 3 in) long overall. Hindenburg was slightly longer, at 212.50 m (697 ft 2 in) at the waterline and 212.80 m (698 ft 2 in) overall. All three ships had a beam of 29 m (95 ft 2 in), and a draft of between 9.20 m (30 ft 2 in) forward and 9.57 m (31 ft 5 in) aft. The first two ships were designed to displace 26,600 tonnes (26,200 long tons) with a standard load, and up to 31,200 tonnes (30,700 long tons) at combat weight. Hindenburg displaced slightly more, at 26,947 tonnes (26,521 long tons) standard and 31,500 tonnes (31,000 long tons) fully laden. The ships' hulls were constructed from longitudinal steel frames, over which the outer hull plates were riveted. Derfflinger's hull contained 16 watertight compartments, though Lützow and Hindenburg had an additional seventeenth compartment. All three ships had a double bottom that ran for 65% of the length of the hull. This was a decrease from preceding German battlecruisers, which had a double bottom for at least 75% of the hull. The ships were regarded as excellent sea boats by the German navy. The Derfflinger-class ships were described as having had gentle motion, though they were "wet" at the casemate deck. The ships lost up to 65% speed with the twin rudders hard over, and heeled up to 11 degrees. This was greater than any of the preceding battlecruiser designs, and as a result, anti-roll tanks were fitted to Derfflinger. The three ships had a metacentric height of 2.60 m (8 ft 6 in). The standard crew for one of the vessels was 44 officers and 1,068 men; when serving as the flagship for the I Scouting Group, the ships carried an additional 14 officers and 62 men. The Derfflingers carried smaller craft, including one picket boat, three barges, two launches, two yawls, and two dinghies. ### Machinery By the time construction work on Derfflinger began, it was determined that the diesel engine was not ready for use. Instead, the plan to use a three-shaft system was abandoned and the ships reverted to the standard four-shaft arrangement. Each of the three ships was equipped with two sets of marine-type turbines; each set drove a pair of 3-bladed screws that were 3.90 m (12 ft 10 in) in diameter on Derfflinger and Lützow and 4 m (13 ft 1 in) in diameter on Hindenburg. Each set consisted of a high- and low-pressure turbine—the high-pressure machines drove the outer shafts while the low-pressure turbines turned the inner pair. Steam was supplied to the turbines from 14 coal-fired marine-type double boilers and eight oil-fired marine-type double-ended boilers. Each ship was equipped with a pair of turbo-electric generators and a pair of diesel-electric generators that provided a total of 1,660 kilowatts at 220 volts. Each ship was equipped with two rudders. The engines for first two ships were designed to provide 62,138 shaft horsepower (46,336 kW), at 280 revolutions per minute. This would have given the two ships a top speed of 26.5 knots (49.1 km/h; 30.5 mph). During trials, Derfflinger's engines achieved 75,586 shp (56,364 kW), but a top speed of 25.5 knots (47.2 km/h; 29.3 mph). Lützow's engines reached 79,880 shp (59,570 kW) and a top speed of 26.4 knots (48.9 km/h; 30.4 mph). Hindenburg's power plant was rated at 71,015 shp (52,956 kW) at 290 rpm, for a top speed of 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph). On trials she reached 94,467 shp (70,444 kW) and 26.6 knots (49.3 km/h; 30.6 mph). Derfflinger could carry 3,500 t (3,400 long tons) of coal and 1,000 t (980 long tons) of oil; at a cruising speed of 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph), she had a range of 5,600 nautical miles (10,400 km; 6,400 mi). Lützow carried 3,700 t (3,600 long tons) of coal and 1,000 tons of oil, though she had no advantage in range over her sister Derfflinger. Hindenburg also stored 3,700 tons of coal, as well as 1,200 t (1,200 long tons) of oil; her range at 14 knots was rated at 6,100 nautical miles (11,300 km; 7,000 mi). ### Armament The Derfflinger-class ships were armed with eight 30.5 cm (12 in) SK L/50 guns in four twin gun turrets, two forward of the main superstructure in a superfiring pair and two to the rear of the ship, in a similar arrangement. The guns were housed in Drh.L C/1912 mounts on the first two ships, and in Drh.L C/1913 mounts on Hindenburg. The turrets were trained with electric motors, while the guns were elevated hydraulically, up to 13.5 degrees. The guns fired 405.5-kilogram (894 lb) armor-piercing shells at a muzzle velocity of 855 meters per second (2,805 ft/s). At 13.5 degrees, the shells could hit targets out to 18,000 m (20,000 yd). The turrets were modified in 1916 to increase the elevation maximum to 16 degrees. This correspondingly increased the range to 20,400 m (22,300 yd). The ships carried 720 shells, or 90 per gun; each gun was supplied with 65 armor-piercing (AP) shells and 25 semi-AP shells for use against targets with less armor protection. The 30.5 cm gun had a rate of fire of between 2–3 shells per minute, and was expected to fire 200 shells before replacement was necessary. The guns were also capable of firing 405.9 kg (894.8 lb) high explosive shells. The shells were loaded with two RP C/12 propellant charges: a main charge in a brass cartridge that weighed 91 kg (201 lb) and a fore charge in a silk bag that weighed 34.5 kg (76 lb). The propellant magazines were located underneath the shell rooms for the two forward turrets as well as the rear superfiring turret; the arrangement was reversed for the rearmost turret. The ships were designed to carry a secondary armament of fourteen 15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/45 guns, mounted in casemates along the superstructure. Because Derfflinger had to be fitted with anti-roll tanks, two of the casemated guns had to be removed, to allow enough room in the hull. Lützow and Hindenburg were equipped with the designed number of guns. Each gun was supplied with 160 rounds, and had a maximum range of 13,500 m (14,800 yd), though this was later extended to 16,800 m (18,400 yd). The guns had a sustained rate of fire of five to seven rounds per minute. The shells were 45.3 kg (99.8 lb), and were loaded with a 13.7 kg (31.2 lb) RPC/12 propellant charge in a brass cartridge. The guns fired at a muzzle velocity of 835 meters per second (2,740 ft/s). The guns were expected to fire around 1,400 shells before they needed to be replaced. The three ships carried a variety of 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/45 guns in several configurations. The Derfflinger-class ships were initially equipped with eight of these weapons, all in single mounts; four were placed in the forward superstructure and four in the aft superstructure. The ships also carried four 8.8 cm Flak L/45 anti-aircraft guns, which were emplaced around the forward funnel, with the exception of Lützow, which carried the Flak guns around the rear funnel. After 1916, the four 8.8 cm guns in the forward superstructure were removed. The Flak guns were emplaced in MPL C/13 mountings, which allowed depression to −10 degrees and elevation to 70 degrees. These guns fired 9 kg (19.8 lb) shells, and had an effective ceiling of 9,150 m (30,019 ft 8 in) at 70 degrees. The ships were also armed with submerged torpedo tubes in their hulls. Derfflinger was equipped with four 50 cm tubes; the later ships were armed with more powerful 60 cm weapons. The tubes were arranged with one in the bow, one in the stern, and two on the broadside. Derfflinger's 50 cm torpedoes were the G7 type, 7.02 m (276 in) long and armed with a 195 kg (430 lb) Hexanite warhead. The torpedo had a range of 4,000 m (4,370 yd) when set at a speed of 37 knots, and up to 9,300 m (10,170 yd) at 27 knots. The 60 cm torpedoes were the H8 type, which were 8 m long and carried a 210 kg (463 lb) Hexanite warhead. The torpedoes had a range of 6,000 m (6,550 yd) when set at a speed of 36 knots; at a reduced speed of 30 knots, the range increased significantly to 14,000 m (15,310 yd). ### Armor The Derfflinger-class ships were protected with Krupp cemented steel armor, as was the standard for German warships of the period. They had an armor belt that was 300 mm (12 in) thick in the central citadel of the ship, where the most important parts of the ship were. This included the ammunition magazines and the machinery spaces. The belt was reduced in less critical areas, to 120 mm (4.7 in) forward and 100 mm (3.9 in) aft. The belt tapered down to 30 mm (1.2 in) at the bow, though the stern was not protected by armor at all. A 45 mm (1.8 in) thick torpedo bulkhead ran the length of the hull, several meters behind the main belt. The main armored deck ranged in thickness from 30 mm thick in less important areas, to 80 mm (3.1 in) in the sections that covered the more critical areas of the ship. The forward conning tower was protected with heavy armor: the sides were 300 mm thick and the roof was 130 mm (5.1 in) thick. The rear conning tower was less well armored; its sides were only 200 mm (7.9 in) thick and the roof was covered with 50 mm (2 in) of armor plate. The main battery gun turrets were also heavily armored: the turret sides were 270 mm (11 in) thick and the roofs were 110 mm (4.3 in) thick. On Hindenburg, the thickness of the turret roofs was increased to 150 mm (5.9 in). The 15 cm guns had 150 mm-worth of armor plating in the casemates; the guns themselves had 70 mm (2.8 in) thick shields to protect their crews from shell splinters. ## Construction Of the three ships in its class, only Derfflinger was ordered as an addition to the fleet, under the provisional name "K". The other two ships were to intended to replace obsolete vessels; Lützow was ordered as Ersatz Kaiserin Augusta for the elderly protected cruiser Kaiserin Augusta and the contract for Hindenburg was issued under the provisional name Ersatz Hertha, to replace the protected cruiser Hertha. Derfflinger was constructed at Blohm & Voss in Hamburg under construction number 213. She was the least expensive of the three ships, at a cost of 56 million gold marks. The ship was ready to be launched on 14 June 1913, but during the ceremony, one of the wooden sledges upon which the hull rested became jammed. It took until 12 July for her to enter the water. She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 1 September 1914, shortly after the outbreak of World War I. Lützow was built at the Schichau dockyard in Danzig under construction number 885, at the cost of 58 million gold marks. The ship was launched on 29 November 1913, and after lengthy trials, commissioned on 8 August 1915. Hindenburg, the final member of the class, was built at the Imperial Dockyard in Wilhelmshaven, under construction number 34. The ship was built at a cost of 59 million gold marks, the most expensive of the three vessels. She was launched on 1 August 1915 and commissioned on 10 May 1917. ## Ships of the class ## Service history ### SMS Derfflinger Named after Georg von Derfflinger, a German field marshal during the Thirty Years' War, Derfflinger was commissioned on 1 September 1914. A dockyard crew transferred the ship from Hamburg to Kiel, via the Skagen. The ship was assigned to the I Scouting Group at the end of October. Damage to the ship's turbines sustained during trials prevented the ship from seeing active service until 16 November. On 15 December, the ship took part in the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby. She was also present during the battle of Dogger Bank on 24 January 1915. The ship was hit once by a 13.5-inch shell from one of the British battlecruisers; in response, she heavily damaged HMS Lion. Repair work was completed by 16 February, but Derfflinger's starboard turbine was accidentally damaged on 28 June, and the ship was again in the dockyard until August. On 24 April 1916, Derfflinger took part in the bombardment of Yarmouth. On 31 May, Derfflinger was heavily engaged during the Battle of Jutland, as the second ship in the German battlecruiser line. She sustained 21 major hits during the battle, but dealt considerable damage to the British battlecruiser force as well. At 16:26, HMS Queen Mary sank after a magazine explosion that tore the ship apart; she had been targeted with a hail of heavy-caliber gunfire from Derfflinger and Seydlitz. Two hours later, at 18:30, HMS Invincible suffered a similar fate, though Derfflinger was assisted by her sister Lützow. During the engagement, Derfflinger had both of her rear turrets knocked out by British gunfire. Her crew suffered 157 men killed and 26 wounded, which was the highest casualty figure for any German ship not sunk. The resilience of the vessel earned her the nickname "Iron Dog" from her British adversaries. Repair work lasted until 15 October, during which the ship had her pole mast removed and replaced with a tripod mast. The ship conducted training operations until November, at which point she returned to active duty with the fleet. Following the German capitulation in November 1918, Derfflinger was interned with a significant portion of the High Seas Fleet in Scapa Flow. On 21 June 1919, with the guard ships of the Royal Navy out on maneuvers, Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter ordered that the fleet be scuttled. The resulting scuttling of the German fleet saw some 66 vessels of various types sunk. Among those was Derfflinger, which sank at 14:45. The ship was raised in 1939 to be broken up for scrap metal, but the outbreak of World War II intervened. The ship, which remained capsized, was anchored off the island of Risa until 1946, at which point she was sent to Faslane Port, where she was broken up. The ship's bell was delivered to the German Federal Navy on 30 August 1965. ### SMS Lützow Lützow was named after Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm von Lützow, a Prussian lieutenant-general who fought during the Napoleonic Wars. The ship was commissioned on 8 August 1915, and then underwent trials. On 25 October, while still running sea trials, Lützow's port low pressure turbine was severely damaged. She was sent to Kiel for repairs, which lasted until late January 1916. The ship went on additional trials that lasted until 19 February. Lützow was by then fully operational, and assigned to I Scouting Group on 20 March 1916. She took part in two fleet advances, on 25 March and 21–22 April, without any major incidents. The following day, on 23 April, Lützow, along with her sister Derfflinger and the battlecruisers Seydlitz, Moltke, and Von der Tann, bombarded Yarmouth. While en route to the target, Vice Admiral Franz von Hipper's flagship Seydlitz was heavily damaged by mines. As a result, Lützow was transferred to the role of squadron flagship. During the operation, the German battlecruisers encountered British light forces, and a running battle ensued. Lützow engaged the light cruiser HMS Conquest and hit her several times. At the Battle of Jutland, she was the first ship in the German line, and Hipper's flagship, and drew fire from the British battlecruisers which included hits below her waterline. Shortly after the start of the battlecruiser action, Lützow hit her opponent Lion several times; one hit knocked out Lion's "Q" turret, and the resulting magazine fire nearly destroyed the ship. Shortly after 19:00, the armored cruisers Defence and Warrior inadvertently ran into the German line; Lützow opened fire immediately, followed by several German dreadnoughts. In a hail of shells, Defence's ammunition magazines detonated and the ship was sunk. At around the same time, the fresh battlecruisers of the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron engaged their German opposites. Between 19:26 and 19:34, Lützow sustained four 12-inch shell hits in her bow from the British battlecruisers; these eventually proved to be fatal. Despite this, at 19:30, the combined fire of Lützow and her sister Derfflinger destroyed the battlecruiser Invincible. By 20:15, Lützow had been hit five more times, including hits on her two forward turrets. By 22:15, Lützow had shipped nearly 2,400 tons of water, and the ship was dangerously down by the bows. After midnight, attempts were made to steer the ship in reverse. This failed when the bow became submerged enough to bring the stern out of the water; by 02:20, the screws and both rudders were coming out of the water and the ship was no longer able to steer. The order to abandon ship was given, and at 02:47, Lützow was sunk by the torpedo boat G38. The ship was lost because the flooding in the bow could not be controlled; the forward pump system failed and the central system could not keep up with the rising water. The crew was picked up by four torpedo boats that had been escorting the crippled battlecruiser; during the battle the ship suffered 116 men killed. ### SMS Hindenburg Hindenburg was the last battlecruiser completed for the Imperial German Navy, and as such had a very short career. She was commissioned 10 May 1917, and was fully operational by 20 October 1917, too late to see any major action in World War I. On 17 November Hindenburg and Moltke, along with the light cruisers of II Scouting Group, were acting as distant support for German minesweepers off the German coast when they were attacked by British battlecruisers. The raid was brief; by the time Hindenburg and Moltke arrived on the scene, the British ships had broken off the attack and withdrawn. Six days later, Hindenburg replaced Seydlitz as flagship of I Scouting Group. On 23 April 1918, the ship took part in an abortive fleet advance into the North Sea that attempted to intercept an Allied convoy. Moltke sustained mechanical damage while en route, and as a result, Vice Admiral Hipper decided to cancel the operation. On 11 August, Hipper was promoted to Admiral and given command of the entire High Seas Fleet. Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter replaced Hipper as the commander of I Scouting Group; he raised his flag on Hindenburg the following day. Hindenburg was interned at Scapa Flow, along with her sister Derfflinger and the rest of the German battlecruisers. She was scuttled on 21 June 1919, and sank at 17:00. Several unsuccessful attempts to raise her were made; on 23 July 1930 the ship was finally raised. From 1930 to 1932 she was scrapped at Rosyth. Her bell was presented to the German Federal Navy on 28 May 1959.

Mellitus

Archbishop of Canterbury from 619 to 624, Christian saint

Mellitus (/məˈlaɪtəs/; died 24 April 624) was the first bishop of London in the Saxon period, the third archbishop of Canterbury, and a member of the Gregorian mission sent to England to convert the Anglo-Saxons from their native paganism to Christianity. He arrived in 601 AD with a group of clergy sent to augment the mission, and was consecrated as Bishop of London in 604. Mellitus was the recipient of a famous letter from Pope Gregory I known as the Epistola ad Mellitum, preserved in a later work by the medieval chronicler Bede, which suggested the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons be undertaken gradually, integrating pagan rituals and customs. In 610, Mellitus returned to Italy to attend a council of bishops, and returned to England bearing papal letters to some of the missionaries. Mellitus was exiled from London by the pagan successors to his patron, King Sæberht of Essex, following the latter's death around 616. King Æthelberht of Kent, Mellitus' other patron, died at about the same time, forcing him to take refuge in Gaul. Mellitus returned to England the following year, after Æthelberht's successor had been converted to Christianity, but he was unable to return to London, whose inhabitants remained pagan. Mellitus was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 619. During his tenure, he was alleged to have miraculously saved the cathedral, and much of the town of Canterbury, from a fire. After his death in 624, Mellitus was revered as a saint. ## Early life The medieval chronicler Bede described Mellitus as being of noble birth. In letters, Pope Gregory I called him an abbot, but it is unclear whether Mellitus had previously been abbot of a Roman monastery, or this was a rank bestowed on him to ease his journey to England by making him the leader of the expedition. The papal register, a listing of letters sent out by the popes, describes him as an "abbot in Frankia" in its description of the correspondence, but the letter itself only says "abbot". The first time Mellitus is mentioned in history is in the letters of Gregory, and nothing else of his background is known. It appears likely that he was a native of Italy, along with all the other bishops consecrated by Augustine. ## Journey to England Pope Gregory I sent Mellitus to England in June 601, in response to an appeal from Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury. Augustine needed more clergy to join the Gregorian mission that was converting the kingdom of Kent, then ruled by Æthelberht, from paganism to Christianity. The new missionaries brought with them a gift of books and "all things which were needed for worship and the ministry of the Church." Thomas of Elmham, a 15th-century Canterbury chronicler, claimed that in his day there were a number of the books brought to England by Mellitus still at Canterbury. Examination of the remaining manuscripts has determined that one possible survivor of Mellitus' books is the St Augustine Gospels, now in Cambridge, as Corpus Christi College, MS (manuscript) 286. Along with the letter to Augustine, the missionaries brought a letter for Æthelberht, urging the King to act like the Roman Emperor Constantine I and force the conversion of his followers to Christianity. The king was also encouraged to destroy all pagan shrines. The historian Ian Wood has suggested that Mellitus' journey through Gaul probably took in the bishoprics of Vienne, Arles, Lyons, Toulon, Marseilles, Metz, Paris, and Rouen, as evidenced by the letters that Gregory addressed to those bishops soliciting their support for Mellitus' party. Gregory also wrote to the Frankish kings Chlothar II, Theuderic II, Theudebert II, along with Brunhilda of Austrasia, who was Theudebert and Theuderic's grandmother and regent. Wood feels that this wide appeal to the Frankish episcopate and royalty was an effort to secure more support for the Gregorian mission. While on his journey to England, Mellitus received a letter from Gregory allowing Augustine to convert pagan temples to Christian churches, and to convert pagan animal sacrifices into Christian feasts, to ease the transition to Christianity. Gregory's letter marked a sea change in the missionary strategy, and was later included in Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Usually known as the Epistola ad Mellitum, it conflicts with the letter sent to Æthelberht, which the historian R. A. Markus sees as a turning point in missionary history, when forcible conversion gave way to persuasion. This traditional view, that the Epistola represents a contradiction of the letter to Æthelberht, has been challenged by the historian and theologian George Demacopoulos, who argues that the letter to Æthelberht was mainly meant to encourage the King in spiritual matters, while the Epistola was sent to deal with purely practical matters, and thus the two do not contradict each other. ## Bishop of London Exactly when Mellitus and his party arrived in England is unknown, but he was certainly in the country by 604, when Augustine consecrated him as bishop in the province of the East Saxons, making Mellitus the first Bishop of London after the Roman departure (London was the East Saxons' capital). The city was a logical choice for a new bishopric, as it was a hub for the southern road network. It was also a former Roman town; many of the Gregorian mission's efforts were centred in such locations. Before his consecration, Mellitus baptised Sæberht, Æthelberht's nephew, who then allowed the bishopric to be established. The episcopal church built in London was probably founded by Æthelberht, rather than Sæberht. Although Bede records that Æthelberht gave lands to support the new episcopate, a charter that claims to be a grant of lands from Æthelberht to Mellitus is a later forgery. Although Gregory had intended London to be the southern archbishopric for the island, Augustine never moved his episcopal see to London, and instead consecrated Mellitus as a plain bishop there. After Augustine's death in 604, Canterbury continued to be the site of the southern archbishopric, and London remained a bishopric. It may have been that the Kentish king did not wish greater episcopal authority to be exercised outside his own kingdom. Mellitus attended a council of bishops held in Italy in February 610, convened by Pope Boniface IV. The historian N. J. Higham speculates that one reason for his attendance may have been to assert the English Church's independence from the Frankish Church. Boniface had Mellitus take two papal letters back to England, one to Æthelbert and his people, and another to Laurence, the Archbishop of Canterbury. He also brought back the synod's decrees to England. No authentic letters or documents from this synod remain, although some were forged in the 1060s and 1070s at Canterbury. During his time as a bishop, Mellitus joined with Justus, the Bishop of Rochester, in signing a letter that Laurence wrote to the Celtic bishops urging the Celtic Church to adopt the Roman method of calculating the date of Easter. This letter also mentioned the fact that Irish missionary bishops, such as Dagan, refused to eat with the Roman missionaries. Both Æthelberht and Sæberht died around 616 or 618, causing a crisis for the mission. Sæberht's three sons had not converted to Christianity, and drove Mellitus from London. Bede says that Mellitus was exiled because he refused the brothers' request for a taste of the sacramental bread. Whether this occurred immediately after Sæberht's death or later is impossible to determine from Bede's chronology, which has both events in the same chapter but gives neither an exact time frame nor the elapsed time between the two events. The historian N. J. Higham connects the timing of this episode with a change in the "overkingship" from the Christian Kentish Æthelberht to the pagan East Anglian Raedwald, which Higham feels happened after Æthelberht's death. In Higham's view, Sæberht's sons drove Mellitus from London because they had passed from Kentish overlordship to East Anglian, and thus no longer needed to keep Mellitus, who was connected with the Kentish kingdom, in office. Mellitus fled first to Canterbury, but Æthelberht's successor Eadbald was also a pagan, so Mellitus, accompanied by Justus, took refuge in Gaul. Mellitus was recalled to Britain by Laurence, the second Archbishop of Canterbury, after his conversion of Eadbald. How long Mellitus' exile lasted is unclear. Bede claims it was a year, but it may have been longer. Mellitus did not return to London, because the East Saxons remained pagan. Although Mellitus fled, there does not seem to have been any serious persecution of Christians in the East Saxon kingdom. The East Saxon see was not occupied again until Cedd was consecrated as bishop in about 654. ## Archbishop and death Mellitus succeeded Laurence as the third Archbishop of Canterbury after the latter's death in 619. During his tenure as archbishop, Mellitus supposedly performed a miracle in 623 by diverting a fire that had started in Canterbury and threatened the church. He was carried into the flames, upon which the wind changed direction, thus saving the building. Bede praised Mellitus' sane mind, but other than the miracle, little happened during his time as archbishop. Bede also mentioned that Mellitus suffered from gout. Boniface wrote to Mellitus encouraging him in the mission, perhaps prompted by the marriage of Æthelburh of Kent to King Edwin of Northumbria. Whether Mellitus received a pallium, the symbol of an archbishop's authority, from the pope is unknown. Mellitus died on 24 April 624, and was buried at St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury that same day. He became revered as a saint after his death, and was allotted the feast day of 24 April. In the ninth century, Mellitus' feast day was mentioned in the Stowe Missal, along with Laurence and Justus. He was still venerated at St Augustine's in 1120, along with a number of other local saints. There was also a shrine to him at Old St Paul's Cathedral in London. Shortly after the Norman Conquest, Goscelin wrote a life of Mellitus, the first of several to appear around that time, but none contain any information not included in Bede's earlier works. These later medieval lives do, however, reveal that during Goscelin's lifetime persons suffering from gout were urged to pray at Mellitus' tomb. Goscelin records that Mellitus' shrine flanked that of Augustine, along with Laurence, in the eastern central chapel of the presbytery. ## See also - List of members of the Gregorian mission

Westcott railway station

Railway station in Westcott, Buckinghamshire

Westcott railway station was a small station built to serve the village of Westcott, Buckinghamshire, and nearby buildings attached to Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild's estate at Waddesdon Manor. It was built by the Duke of Buckingham in 1871 as part of a short horse-drawn tramway to allow for the transport of goods from and around his extensive estates in Buckinghamshire and to connect the Duke's estates to the Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway at Quainton Road. A lobbying campaign by residents of the town of Brill led to the tramway being converted for passenger use and extended to Brill railway station in 1872, becoming known as the Brill Tramway. Cheaply built and ungraded, and using poor quality locomotives, services on the line were very slow, initially limited to 5 miles per hour (8 km/h). In the 1890s it was planned to extend the tramway to Oxford, but the scheme was abandoned. Instead, the operation of the line was taken over by the Metropolitan Railway in 1899. Following the 1933 transfer of the Metropolitan Railway to public ownership to become the Metropolitan line of London Transport, Westcott station became a part of the London Underground, despite being over 40 miles (64 km) from central London. The management of London Transport believed it very unlikely that the line could ever be made viable, and Westcott station was closed, along with the rest of the line, from 30 November 1935. The station building and its associated house are the only significant buildings from the Brill Tramway to survive other than the former junction station at Quainton Road. ## Brill Tramway On 23 September 1868 the small Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway (A\&BR) opened, linking the Great Western Railway's station at Aylesbury to the London and North Western Railway's Oxford to Bletchley line at Verney Junction. On 1 September 1894 London's Metropolitan Railway (MR) reached Aylesbury, and shortly afterwards connected to the A\&BR line, with local MR services running to Verney Junction from 1 April 1894. Through trains from the MR's London terminus at Baker Street commenced on 1 January 1897. Richard Plantagenet Campbell Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, had long had an interest in railways, and had served as Chairman of the London and North Western Railway from 1852 to 1861. In the early 1870s he decided to build a light railway to carry freight from his estates in Buckinghamshire to the A\&BR's line at Quainton Road. The first stage of the line, known as the Wotton Tramway, was a 4-mile (6.4 km) line from Quainton Road via Wotton to a coal siding at Kingswood, and opened on 1 April 1871. Intended for use by horse trams, the line was built with longitudinal sleepers to avoid horses tripping on the sleepers. Lobbying from the nearby town of Brill for the introduction of passenger services on the line led to an extension from Wotton to Brill railway station, at the foot of Brill Hill 3⁄4 of a mile (1.2 of a km) from the hilltop town of Brill itself, in the summer of 1872 and the introduction of two mixed trains each day in each direction, at which time the line was renamed the Brill Tramway. The Duke bought two Aveling and Porter traction engines modified to work as locomotives for the line, each with a top speed of 8 miles per hour (13 km/h), although a speed limit of 5 miles per hour (8 km/h) was enforced. The Duke died in 1889, and in 1894 the trustees of his estate set up the Oxford & Aylesbury Tramroad Company (O\&ATC) with the intention of extending the line from Brill to Oxford. The MR leased the Brill Tramway from 1 December 1899, although the line continued to be owned by the O\&ATC. ## Services and facilities Westcott station was the second station from Quainton Road, about 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) east of Quainton Road. The station consisted of a single platform with a small wooden station building, and was immediately south of the village of Westcott, which at the time of the railway's opening had a population of about 150. Initially named "Westcott Siding", the station was renamed "Westcott" shortly after opening. The station was initially built with a single low wooden platform, primarily intended for loading and unloading freight. After the 1899 transfer of services to the Metropolitan Railway, the MR introduced a single Brown Marshall passenger carriage on the line; at this time, a short section of platform was raised to conventional height to allow access to the higher doors on the new carriage. Limited by poor quality locomotives and the bumpy, cheaply laid track which followed the contours of the hills, trains ran very slowly in the area; in 1882 trains took 20 minutes to travel the short distance from Quainton Road to Westcott, and 50 minutes from Westcott to Brill. From 1872 to 1894 Westcott station was served by two passenger trains per day in each direction, and from 1895 to 1899 the number was increased to three per day. Following the 1899 transfer of services to the Metropolitan Railway, the station was served by four trains per day in each direction until closure in 1935. Improvements to the line carried out at the time of the transfer to the Oxford & Aylesbury Tramroad reduced journey times from Westcott to Quainton Road and Brill to 13 minutes and 28 minutes respectively. Passenger trains generally served the station only on weekdays, although between 1903 and 1922 trains also ran on Sundays. While the village of Westcott was small, the proximity of Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild's estate at Waddesdon Manor made Westcott one of the busier stations on the branch in terms of passenger and goods traffic. Despite the low frequency of service and relatively low numbers of people using the station, Westcott station was staffed; the single employee's responsibilities included maintaining the oil lamps on the platform and working a nearby level crossing gate. As with all employees on the line, staff at the station were contractually obliged to "devote themselves exclusively to the service, attend regularly during the appointed hours and to refrain from using improper language, cursing or swearing". The single member of staff was provided with a house immediately adjacent to the station; built by the Duke of Buckingham, the house bears the inscription "B\&C" (Buckingham & Chandos). A small gasworks a short distance to the south of Westcott station opened in 1889 to provide power to Waddesdon Manor and to other buildings on the Rothschild's estate. A short spur line was built from Westcott station to the gasworks, running immediately parallel to the road south from Westcott village. In 1926 the gasworks closed and was replaced by an electrical generator elsewhere on the Waddesdon Manor grounds, and the track of the spur was removed. ## Closure On 1 July 1933 the Metropolitan Railway, along with London's other underground railways aside from the small Waterloo & City Railway, was taken into public ownership as part of the newly formed London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB). As a consequence, despite it being 43 miles (69 km) from the City of London, Westcott station became part of the London Underground network. The Brill Tramway was by this time losing significant sums of money. Goods traffic had dwindled, and unlike other areas served by the former Metropolitan Railway, passenger numbers were low; in 1932 Westcott station saw only 1,560 passengers and collected only £27 (about £ in 2024) in passenger receipts. Frank Pick, managing director of the Underground Group from 1928 and the Chief Executive of the LPTB, saw the lines beyond Aylesbury to Brill and Verney Junction as having little future as financially viable passenger routes, concluding that over £2000 (about £ in 2024) would be saved simply by closing the Brill Tramway. As a consequence, the LPTB decided to abandon all passenger services beyond Aylesbury. The Brill Tramway was closed on 1 December 1935, with the last trains running on 30 November. ## After closure Upon the withdrawal of London Transport services the lease expired and the railway and stations reverted to the control of the Oxford & Aylesbury Tramroad Company. With no funds and no rolling stock of its own the O\&ATC was unable to operate the line, and on 2 April 1936 the entire infrastructure of the line was sold at auction. The cheapest of the 53 lots sold were the Westcott station sign and the oil lamps from the Westcott level crossing, both of which sold for one shilling. The railway house at Westcott was also sold, fetching £305 (about £ in 2024). Metropolitan line trains ceased to run north of Aylesbury from 6 July 1936. London and North Eastern Railway services (British Rail from 1948) continued to run from London's Marylebone station over the line to Verney Junction via Quainton Road until March 1963. No trace of the line at Westcott remains, but the station building remains in place in the back garden of the former station house, now a private residence, and carries an exact replica of its original "Westcott" station sign. Aside from the junction station at Quainton Road, now preserved as the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, the two buildings at Westcott are the only significant buildings associated with the Brill Tramway to have survived. ## See also - Infrastructure of the Brill Tramway

Manzanar

World War II Japanese-American internment camp in California

Manzanar is the site of one of ten American concentration camps, where more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II from March 1942 to November 1945. Although it had over 10,000 inmates at its peak, it was one of the smaller internment camps. It is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains in California's Owens Valley, between the towns of Lone Pine to the south and Independence to the north, approximately 230 miles (370 km) north of Los Angeles. Manzanar means "apple orchard" in Spanish. The Manzanar National Historic Site, which preserves and interprets the legacy of Japanese American incarceration in the United States, was identified by the United States National Park Service as the best-preserved of the ten former camp sites. The first Japanese Americans arrived at Manzanar in March 1942, just one month after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, to build the camp their families would be staying in. Manzanar was in operation as an internment camp from 1942 until 1945. Since the last of those incarcerated left in 1945, former detainees and others have worked to protect Manzanar and to establish it as a National Historic Site to ensure that the history of the site, along with the stories of those who were incarcerated there, is recorded for current and future generations. The primary focus is the Japanese American incarceration era, as specified in the legislation that created the Manzanar National Historic Site. The site also interprets the former town of Manzanar, the ranch days, the settlement by the Owens Valley Paiute, and the role that water played in shaping the history of the Owens Valley. ## Background Manzanar was first inhabited by Indigenous Americans nearly 10,000 years ago. Approximately 1,500 years ago, the area was settled by the Owens Valley Paiute, who ranged across the Owens Valley from Long Valley on the north to Owens Lake on the south, and from the crest of the Sierra Nevada on the west to the Inyo Mountains on the east. When European American settlers first arrived in the Owens Valley in the mid-19th century, they found a number of large Paiute villages in the Manzanar area. John Shepherd, one of the first of the new settlers, homesteaded 160 acres (65 ha) of land 3 miles (5 km) north of Georges Creek in 1864. With the help of Owens Valley Paiute field workers and laborers, he expanded his ranch to 2,000 acres (810 ha). In 1905, George Chaffey, an agricultural developer from Southern California, purchased Shepherd's ranch and subdivided it, along with other adjacent ranches. He founded the town of Manzanar in 1910, along the main line of the Southern Pacific. By August 1911, the town's population was approaching 200. The company built an irrigation system over an area of 1,000 acres (400 ha) and planted about 20,000 fruit trees. By 1920, the town had more than 25 homes, a two-room school, a town hall, and a general store. Also at that time, nearly 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) of apple, pear, and peach trees were under cultivation; along with crops of grapes, prunes, potatoes, corn and alfalfa; and large vegetable and flower gardens. As early as March 1905, the City of Los Angeles began acquiring water rights in the Owens Valley. In 1913, it completed construction of its 233-mile (375 km) Los Angeles Aqueduct, In dry years, Los Angeles pumped ground water and drained all surface water, diverting all of it into its aqueduct and leaving Owens Valley ranchers without water. Without water for irrigation, the holdout ranchers were forced off their ranches and out of their communities; that included the town of Manzanar, which was abandoned by 1929. Manzanar remained uninhabited until the United States Army leased 6,200 acres (2,500 ha) from the City of Los Angeles for the Manzanar War Relocation Center. ## Establishment After the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Government swiftly moved to begin solving the "Japanese Problem" on the West Coast of the United States. In the evening hours of that same day, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested selected "enemy aliens", including more than 5,500 Issei men. Many citizens in California were alarmed about potential activities by people of Japanese descent. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the Secretary of War to designate military commanders to prescribe military areas and to exclude "any or all persons" from such areas. The order also authorized the construction of what were later called "relocation centers" by the War Relocation Authority (WRA), to house those who were to be excluded. This order resulted in the forced relocation of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were native-born American citizens; the rest had been prevented from becoming citizens by federal law. Over 110,000 were incarcerated in the ten concentration camps located far inland and away from the coast. Manzanar was the first of the ten concentration camps to be established, and began accepting detainees in March 1942. Initially, it was a temporary "reception center", known as the Owens Valley Reception Center from March 21, 1942, to May 31, 1942. At that time, it was operated by the US Army's Wartime Civilian Control Administration (WCCA). The first director of the camp was Calvin E. Triggs, a longtime veteran of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a signature program of the Second New Deal. Many of his fellow employees had worked in that agency. Manzanar, according to one insider, was "manned just about 100% by the WPA." Drawing on experiences derived from New Deal era road building, Triggs, funded primarily through the WPA, supervised the installation of such features as guard towers and spotlights. The Owens Valley Reception Center was transferred to the WRA on June 1, 1942, and officially became the "Manzanar War Relocation Center". The first Japanese Americans to arrive at Manzanar were volunteers who helped build the camp. By mid–April, up to 1,000 Japanese Americans were arriving daily, and by July, the population of the camp neared 10,000. About 90 percent of the incarcerated were from the Los Angeles area, with the rest coming from Stockton, California; and Bainbridge Island, Washington. Many were farmers and fishermen. Manzanar held 10,046 adults and children at its peak, and a total of 11,070 were incarcerated there. ## Camp conditions and facilities ### Climate and location The Manzanar facility was located between Lone Pine and Independence. The weather at Manzanar caused suffering for the inmates, few of whom were accustomed to the extremes of the area's climate. While the majority of people were from the Los Angeles area, some were from places with much different climates (such as Bainbridge Island in Washington). The temporary buildings were inadequate to shield people from the weather. The Owens Valley lies at an elevation of about 4,000 feet (1,200 m). Summers on the desert floor of the Owens Valley are generally hot, with temperatures often exceeding 100 °F (38 °C). Winters bring occasional snowfall and daytime temperatures that often drop into the 40 °F (4 °C) range. At night, temperatures are generally 30 to 40 °F (16.7 to 22.2 °C) lower than the daytime highs, and high winds are common day or night. The area's mean annual precipitation is barely five inches (12.7 cm). The ever-present dust was a continual problem due to the frequent high winds; so much so that people usually woke up in the morning covered from head to toe with a fine layer of dust, and they constantly had to sweep dirt out of the barracks. "In the summer, the heat was unbearable," said former Manzanar inmate Ralph Lazo. "In the winter, the sparsely rationed oil didn't adequately heat the tar paper-covered pine barracks with knotholes in the floor. The wind would blow so hard, it would toss rocks around." ### Camp layout and facilities The camp site was situated on 6,200 acres (2,500 ha) at Manzanar, leased from the City of Los Angeles, with the developed portion covering approximately 540 acres (220 ha). Eight guard towers equipped with machine guns were located at intervals around the perimeter fence, which was topped by barbed wire. The grid layout used in the camp was standard, and a similar layout was used in all of the relocation centers. The residential area was about one square mile (2.6 km²), and consisted of 36 blocks of hastily constructed, 20-foot (6.1 m) by 100-foot (30 m) tarpaper barracks, with each family (up to eight people) living in a single 20-foot (6.1 m) by 25-foot (7.6 m) "apartment" in the barracks. Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, a Manzanar survivor, described the living conditions in her book: "After dinner we were taken to Block 16, a cluster of fifteen barracks that had just been finished a day or so earlier—although finished was hardly a word for it. The shacks were built of pine planking covered with tarpaper. They sat on concrete footings, with about two feet of open space between the floorboards and the ground. Gaps showed between the planks, and as the weeks passed and the green wood dried out, the gaps widened. Knotholes gaped in the uncovered floor." In the book, she goes on to explain the size and layout of the barracks. They were divided into six units that were sixteen long by twenty feet wide, and a single light bulb hung from the ceiling. They had an oil stove for heat as well as two army blankets each, some mattress covers and steel army cots. These apartments consisted of partitions with no ceilings, eliminating any chance of privacy. Lack of privacy was a major problem, especially since the camp had communal men's and women's latrines. Former Manzanar inmate Rosie Kakuuchi said that the communal facilities were "[o]ne of the hardest things to endure", adding that neither the latrines nor showers had partitions or stalls. Each residential block also had a communal mess hall (large enough to serve 300 people at one time), a laundry room, a recreation hall, an ironing room, and a heating oil storage tank, although Block 33 lacked a recreation hall. In addition to the residential blocks, Manzanar had 34 blocks that had staff housing, camp administration offices, two warehouses, a garage, a camp hospital, and 24 firebreaks. The camp had school facilities, a high-school auditorium (that was also used as a theatre), staff housing, chicken and hog farms, churches, a cemetery, a post office, a hospital, an orphanage, two community latrines, an outdoor theater, and other necessary amenities that one would expect to find in most American cities. Some of the facilities were not built until after the camp had been operating for a while. The camp perimeter had eight watchtowers manned by armed military police, and it was enclosed by five-strand barbed wire. There were sentry posts at the main entrance. Many of the camp administration staff lived inside the fence at the camp, though the military police lived outside the fence. ### Commercial facilities Typical businesses such as a cooperative store and other shops and a camp newspaper were operated by the internees. A camouflage net factory, to provide the nets to various military units, was operated on the site. An experimental plantation for producing natural rubber from the Guayule plant was built and operated. Before a hospital was built, doctors in the camp faced many difficulties, including treating internees for diseases such as measles, chickenpox, whooping cough, and diarrhea. Treatment facilities were often the barracks, which did not include running water or heating. Once the Manzanar Hospital was built, it included a kitchen, operating rooms, treatment wards, laboratories, and other facilities. All medical treatment in Manzanar was provided at no charge. Manzanar Children's Village, an orphanage housing 101 Japanese-American orphans from June 1942 to September 1945, operated within the camp. Children incarcerated there were from multiple orphanages in the Los Angeles area as well as locations in Washington, Oregon, and Alaska. Infants born to unmarried mothers in other WRA camps were also sent to Children's Village over the next three years. The 61 remaining children in Maryknoll, Shonien and the Salvation Army Home were slated for removal. On June 23, 1942, they were bused, under armed guard, with several adult caretakers, from Los Angeles to Manzanar. Over the next few months, approximately thirty more children from Washington, Oregon and Alaska, mostly orphans who had been living with non-Japanese foster families, would arrive in Manzanar. ## Life in camp After being uprooted from their homes and communities, the incarcerated people had to endure primitive, sub-standard conditions and lack of privacy. They had to wait in line for meals, at latrines, and at the laundry room. Each camp was intended to be self-sufficient, and Manzanar was no exception. Cooperatives operated various services, such as the camp newspaper, beauty salons and barber shops, shoe repair, libraries, and more. In addition, there were some who raised chickens, hogs, and vegetables, and cultivated the existing orchards for fruit. During the time Manzanar was in operation, 188 weddings were held, 541 children were born in the camp, and between 135 and 146 individuals died. Life in the camp became more difficult as sickness spread throughout it. The housing sector of the camp was just 500 acres and held more than ten thousand prisoners at its peak. The compactness of the camp led many people to fall ill even though they were given vaccines upon arrival to the camp. The water at Manzanar was unclean, and caused many inmates to suffer from dysentery. Some of those interned at the camp supported the policies implemented by the War Relocation Authority, causing them to be targeted by others in the camp. On December 6, 1942, a riot broke out and two internees were killed. Togo Tanaka was one of those targeted, but he escaped by disguising himself and mingling into the crowd that was searching for him. Others were outraged that their patriotism was being questioned simply because of their ethnic heritage. Despite the hardships endured, the internees gradually "turned [the] concentration camp into a community" by "[spending] their days creating beautiful things". ### Food The barracks at Manzanar had no cooking areas, and all meals were served at block mess halls. The mess hall lines were long and stretched outside regardless of weather. The cafeteria-style eating was named by the 1980s Congressional Committee on the Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) as a cause of the deterioration of the family due to children wanting to eat with their friends instead of their families, and families not always being able to eat together. There was a strict meal schedule, with one young detainee noting "We eat from 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM o'clock in the morning 12:00 PM-1:00 PM in afternoon and 5:00 PM-6:00 in night and on Sunday we eat 8:00 AM-9:00." Food at Manzanar was based on military requirements. Meals usually consisted of hot rice and vegetables, since meat was scarce due to rationing. In 1944, a chicken ranch and a hog farm began operation, providing the camp with meat. As many of the internees were farmers, they used their knowledge of fertilizers, irrigation, land reclamation, and cultivation to successfully grow productive gardens. They made their own soy sauce and tofu. Many families had small gardens outside their barracks. The food varied in quality, but was mostly substandard compared to the food the internees ate prior to incarceration. Togo Tanaka described how people "got sick from eating ill-prepared food." Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga described trying to take care of her newborn daughter, saying that the child was so sick that, while "[m]ost infants double their weight, birth weight, at six months", her daughter "had not doubled her weight in a year". The food in Manzanar was heavily starchy and low quality, including Vienna sausages, canned string beans, hot dogs, and apple sauce. Outside of the sausages and hot dogs, meat was rare, usually consisting of chicken or mutton that was heavily breaded and fried. Frank Kikuchi, an internee at Manzanar, stated that some of the newspapers lied to the American public by telling them that the "Japs [in the camps] are getting steaks, chops, eggs, or eating high off the hog." Camp, school, and individual gardens eventually helped supplement the menu in the mess halls. Internees also snuck out of the camp to go fishing, often bringing back their catches to the camp. Harry Ueno accused camp administrators and leaders in the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) of stealing food meant for the internees and then selling it on the black market. During the December 1942 camp riot, Ueno was arrested for allegedly beating another internee who was a member of the JACL. ### Employment Most of the adults were employed at Manzanar to keep the camp running. In order for the camps to be self-sufficient, the adults were employed in a variety of jobs to supply the camp and the military. Jobs included clothing and furniture manufacturing, farming and tending orchards, military manufacturing such as camouflage netting and experimental rubber, teaching, civil service jobs such as police, fire fighters, and nursing, and general service jobs operating stores, beauty parlors, and a bank. A farm and orchards provided vegetables and fruits for use by the camp, and people of all ages worked to maintain them. By the summer of 1943, camp gardens and farms were producing potatoes, onions, cucumbers, Chinese cabbage, watermelon, eggplant, tomatoes, aster, red radishes, and peppers. Eventually, there were more than 400 acres of farms producing more than 80 percent of the produce used by the camp. In early 1944, a chicken ranch began operation, and in late April of the same year, the camp opened a hog farm. Both operations provided welcome meat supplements to the diet. Shortly after being interned, Togo Tanaka and Joe Masaoka were hired by anthropologist Robert Redfield as documentary historians for the camp. In addition to his work at the Manzanar Free Press, he filed hundreds of reports to the WRA that often criticized those in charge at the camp and the living conditions in the camp. Unskilled workers earned US$8 per month ($ per month as of 2024), semi-skilled workers earned $12 per month ($ per month as of 2024), skilled workers made $16 per month ($ per month as of 2024), and professionals earned $19 per month ($ per month as of 2024). In addition, everybody received $3.60 per month ($ per month as of 2024) as a clothing allowance. ### Manzanar Free Press The Manzanar Free Press was first published April 11, 1942, and was published through the October 19, 1945, issue. It was published with both Japanese and English sections, with the Japanese section added on July 14, 1942. Between the first issue and the May 31, 1942, issue, it was published at the Manzanar Assembly Center, which was operated by the Wartime Civil Control Administration. After that, it was published at the Manzanar Relocation Center until it ceased publication. The paper was originally published as four pages biweekly which were hand-typed and mimeographed. The circulation increased as the number of people in the camp grew, the release increased to three issues weekly, and a printing press was acquired, allowing the paper to be typeset beginning on July 22, 1942. The page count also increased to six. Journalists who reported for the newspaper include Togo Tanaka, who was the English section editor of the Rafu Shimpo before being incarcerated. Tanaka also delivered the Free Press before working as a journalist for them. While working as a reporter for the Free Press, Tanaka wrote hundreds of articles documenting the everyday life in the camp. Beginning on July 22, 1942, Chiye Mori, poet and journalist, was listed as an editor. Despite the name of the newspaper, the War Relocation Authority (WRA) controlled the content of the paper and used it to publish announcements from the camp administration, news from other camps, orders, rules and guidelines from the WRA, and upcoming camp events, in addition to the regular content. Some content was not allowed to be published. The standard content included articles about life in the camps, sports scores and coverage, coverage of the war, and so on. ### Recreation People made life at Manzanar more tolerable through recreation. They participated in sports, including baseball, football, basketball, soccer, volleyball, softball, and martial arts. A nine-hole golf course was built at the camp. Lou Frizzell served as the musical director, and under his mentorship Mary Nomura became known as the "songbird of Manzanar" for her performances at dances and other camp events. Theatre performances—for internees, camp administration and WRA staff, and even for some members of the surrounding communities—included original productions by internees as well as traditional Japanese works of kabuki and noh. Internees, many of whom were relocated from their landscaping businesses in the Los Angeles area, personalized and beautified their barren surroundings by building elaborate gardens and parks, which often included pools, waterfalls, and rock ornaments. Competitions were often held between landscapers as they created gardens in the public spaces of the camp (such as between barracks). The camp administration even allowed some gardens to be created outside the camp. These helped create a sense of community and gave the internees a place to heal. Remnants of some of the gardens, pools, and rock ornaments are still present at Manzanar, and there are plans to restore at least some of them. One of the most popular pastimes for those incarcerated at Manzanar was baseball. The men there formed almost 100 baseball teams, and the women formed 14. Regular seasons were established, teams were divided into leagues, and championship games were held. The teams included both professional and amateur players. Some of the players viewed playing baseball as a way to prove their loyalty to America, treating it like wearing an American flag. Photographer Ansel Adams took his photo (right) as part of his effort to show how those incarcerated at Manzanar "overcome [their] sense of defeat and despair." Many Japanese cultural celebrations were continued, though the official photos allowed out by the WRA rarely showed them. The New Year tradition of mochitsuki—pounding glutinous rice into mochi—was regularly covered by the camp newspaper. Craftsman in the camp carved geta for many of the residents, though the official photography only pointed out that they were useful for keeping above the dusty ground. ### Manzanar Riot Although most quietly accepted their fate during World War II, there was some resistance in the camps. Poston, Heart Mountain, Topaz, and Tule Lake each had civil disturbances about wage differences, black marketing of sugar, food shortages, intergenerational friction, rumors of "informers" reporting to the camp administration or the FBI, and other issues. The most serious incident occurred at Manzanar on December 5–6, 1942 (with some of the actions on both sides carrying over into the following days), and became known as the "Manzanar Revolt" or "Manzanar Riot". Some of the tension that precipitated the riot was related to work availability and the pay of those jobs, with Nisei and members of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) getting preferential treatment. After several months of tension between those who supported the JACL and a group of Kibei (Japanese Americans educated in Japan), rumors spread that sugar and meat shortages were the result of black marketing by camp administrators. To make matters worse, JACL leader Fred Tayama was beaten by six masked men on the evening of December 5. Harry Ueno, the leader of the Kitchen Workers Union, and two others suspected of involvement, were arrested. The other two suspects were questioned and released, but Ueno was removed from Manzanar. About 200 internees met on the morning of December 6 in the gardens at the Block 22 mess hall to discuss what they should do, and another meeting was scheduled for a few hours later. Between two and four thousand people gathered at the meeting where they listened to speeches and chose five people to present their grievances to the camp director. The crowd decided to follow the five representatives, which caused the camp director to tell the military police to muster in order to be available to control the crowd. The five representatives demanded that Ueno be released, but the camp director did not immediately agree. After the crowd began getting more unruly, the director finally agreed to release Ueno if the crowd agreed he should still stand trial, no one attempted to break him out of the camp jail, the five representatives would discuss any further wants with the director, the protesting crowds would disperse and not reassemble, and the five would work to dispel and quiet the protesters. Ueno was then returned to the camp jail in the early evening. When the five representatives went to verify that Ueno was in the jail, the crowd again returned to protest. Instead of dispersing as asked, they broke into groups to try to find Tayama and kill him. When they were unable to find him in the hospital, they began searching all through the camp for Tayama as well as Tokie Slocum and Togo Tanaka, two other suspected collaborators. When they were unable to find any of them, the searchers began returning toward the jail. While the smaller search parties were searching the camp, the camp director had been trying to negotiate with the five representatives. This appeared to work initially, but the crowd gradually became more angry and started throwing bottles and rocks at the soldiers. The military police responded with tear gas to disperse them. As people ran to avoid the tear gas, some in the crowd pushed a driverless truck toward the jail. At that moment, the military police fired into the crowd, killing a 17-year-old boy instantly. A 21-year-old man who was shot in the abdomen died a few days later. At least nine to ten other prisoners were wounded, and a military police corporal was wounded by a ricocheting bullet. That night, some inmates continued attacking suspected collaborators and meeting in small groups while avoiding military police patrols. Over the next several days, internees marked as suspected collaborators were quietly removed from the camp with their families in order to protect them from being beaten or killed by the protesters. ### 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd regimental Combat Team The vanguard of Japanese American (JA) combat units was the legendary 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate) made up of soldiers in the Hawaii National Guard that was formed in June 1942. The training record of the 100th Battalion at Camp McCoy WI from June to December 1942 convinced the War Department to authorize the formation of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT) on February 1, 1943. On August 21, 1943, the 100th Battalion was deployed to Oran in North Africa. This unit became the War Department's test on whether JA soldiers could be trusted in combat when it landed in Italy in September 1943 as part of the 34th Infantry Division. The unparalleled bravery of the 100th Battalion in the first weeks of combat forever answered this question of trust, paving the way for the 442nd RCT to join them in June 1944. Because of the 100th Battalion's sterling training record and the Varsity Victory Volunteers, a group of University of Hawaii ROTC students who received positive publicity for their volunteer civilian labor for the U.S. Army, along with many organizations and leaders in Hawaii and on the mainland lobbying the government to allow Japanese Americans to serve in the armed forces, President Roosevelt authorized the formation of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT) on Feb. 1, 1943. When the announcement about the new unit was made, 10,000 young men in Hawaii signed up from which 2,686 were selected, and along with 1,182 from the mainland, they were sent to Camp Shelby in Mississippi for basic training in April 1943. Along with the cadre of those already in the Army, roughly 2/3 of the 442nd RCT were from Hawaii and 1/3 from the mainland. Of the nearly 160,000 people of Japanese descent living in Hawaii in 1940, fewer than 2,000 were incarcerated compared to the mass incarceration of those on the West Coast; thus, less than 2% of the soldiers from the islands had families in the camps. ## Closure The WRA closed Manzanar when the final internee left at 11:00 a.m. on November 21, 1945. It was the sixth camp to be closed. Although the Japanese Americans had been brought to the Owens Valley by the United States Government, they had to leave the camp and travel to their next destinations on their own. The WRA gave each person $25 ($ today), one-way train or bus fare, and meals to those who had less than $600 ($ today). While many left the camp voluntarily, a significant number refused to leave because they had no place to go after having lost everything when they were forcibly uprooted and removed from their homes. As such, they had to be forcibly removed once again, this time from Manzanar. Indeed, those who refused to leave were generally removed from their barracks, sometimes by force, even if they had no place to go. Between 135 and 146 Japanese Americans died at Manzanar. Fifteen were buried there, but only five graves remain, as most were reburied elsewhere by their families. The Manzanar cemetery site is marked by a monument that was built by stonemason Ryozo Kado in 1943. An inscription in Japanese on the front (east side) of the monument reads 慰霊塔 ('Soul Consoling Tower': ireitō=Mandarin: wèi-líng-tǎ 'consoling-soul monument' ). The inscription on the back (west side) reads "Erected by the Manzanar Japanese" on the left-hand column, and "August 1943" on the right-hand column. After the camp was closed, the site eventually returned to its original state. Within a couple of years, all the structures had been removed, with the exception of the two sentry posts at the entrance, the cemetery monument, and the former Manzanar High School auditorium, which was purchased by the County of Inyo. The County leased the auditorium to the Independence Veterans of Foreign Wars, who used it as a meeting facility and community theater until 1951. After that, the building was used as a maintenance facility by the Inyo County Road Department. The site also retained numerous building foundations, portions of the water and sewer systems, the outline of the road grid, some landscaping, and much more. Despite four years of use, the site also retains evidence of the ranches and of the town of Manzanar, as well as artifacts from the days of the Owens Valley Paiute settlement. ## Preservation and remembrance During the war, the War Relocation Authority hired photographers Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange to document through pictures the Japanese-Americans impacted by the forced relocation, including Manzanar. Togo Tanaka and Joe Masaoka were hired by anthropologist Robert Redfield as documentary historians for the camp on behalf of the WRA. ### Manzanar Pilgrimage On December 21, 1969, about 150 people departed Los Angeles by car and bus, headed for Manzanar. It was the first official annual Manzanar Pilgrimage, though two ministers—the Reverend Sentoku Mayeda and the Reverend Shoichi Wakahiro—had been making annual pilgrimages to Manzanar since the camp closed in 1945. The non-profit Manzanar Committee, formerly led by Sue Kunitomi Embrey, has sponsored the Pilgrimage since 1969. The event is held annually on the last Saturday of April with hundreds of visitors of all ages and backgrounds, including former inmates, gathering at the Manzanar cemetery to remember the incarceration. The hope is that participants can learn about it and help ensure that what is generally accepted to be a tragic chapter in American history is neither forgotten nor repeated. The program traditionally consists of speakers, cultural performances, an interfaith service to memorialize those who died at Manzanar, and Ondo dancing. In 1997, the Manzanar At Dusk program became a part of the Pilgrimage. The program attracts local area residents, as well as descendants of Manzanar's ranch days and the town of Manzanar. Through small-group discussions, the event gives participants the opportunity to hear directly from those who had been there and to talk about the relevance of what had happened at Manzanar to their own lives. Since the September 11 attacks, American Muslims have participated in the Pilgrimage to promote and increase awareness of civil rights protections in the wake of widespread suspicions harbored against them post-9/11. A group of 150 Muslims visited in 2017, in part to compare treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II with how Muslims are treated following the 9/11 attacks. Over 2,000 people visited the site on April 27, 2019, for the 50th anniversary of the first pilgrimage, including a number of Muslim speakers, and a group of Muslims held afternoon prayers at the monument. ### Designations The Manzanar Committee's efforts resulted in the State of California naming Manzanar as California Historical Landmark \#850 in 1972, with an historical marker being placed at the sentry post on April 14, 1973. Manzanar, which had been historically owned by the City of Los Angeles, was registered as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1976. The Manzanar Committee also spearheaded efforts for Manzanar to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and in February 1985, Manzanar was designated a National Historic Landmark. Embrey and the committee, along with California representative Mel Levine, led the effort to have Manzanar designated a National Historic Site, and on March 3, 1992, President George H. W. Bush signed House Resolution 543 into law. This act of Congress established the Manzanar National Historic Site "to provide for the protection and interpretation of the historical, cultural, and natural resources associated with the relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II." Five years later, the National Park Service acquired 814 acres (329 ha) of land at Manzanar from the City of Los Angeles. It was the first of the camps to be designated as a National Historical Site. After Congress named Manzanar a National Historic Site and gave the National Park Service the job of restoring the site in 1992, protests against its creation emerged. Letters were sent to the National Park Service included statements that Manzanar should be portrayed as a guest housing center, with others stating that calling the site a concentration camp is "treason", threatening dismissal campaigns against National Park Service employees and other related individuals, threatening to destroy buildings, and objecting to the use of the phrase "concentration camp" on signage at the site. The California State historical marker was hacked and stained, with the first "C" of "concentration camp" ground off. A man describing himself as a World War II veteran stated that he had driven 200 miles to urinate on the marker. ## Monument facilities and setting The site features a visitor center with a gift shop, housed in the historically restored Manzanar High School Auditorium with a reconstructed stage proscenium. The auditorium and the two sentry posts at the entrance are the only original structures from the time the camp was operating during World War II. Permanent exhibits tell the stories of the internee transportation to Manzanar, the Owens Valley Paiute, the ranchers, the town of Manzanar, the role that water played in shaping the history of the Owens Valley, and one that plays a video of Ronald Reagan signing the Civil Liberties Act. An "interpretive center" helps visitors gain an understanding of some of the internees' experiences. The exhibits in the center are constructed with materials that would have been used—or are similar to those used—when the camp was in operation. Details of camp experiences are from all ten of the relocation centers. A driving tour with 27 points of interest takes visitors around the site. A mess hall, salvaged from a closing military facility, was added to the site in 2002. The replica guard tower was built in 2005. The Manzanar cemetery, where some of the internees who died at the camp were buried, also contains the memorial obelisk, which was built by masons in the camp in August 1943. All of the remains have been removed to other locations. The site features restored sentry posts at the camp entrance, a replica of a camp guard tower built in 2005, a self-guided tour road, and wayside exhibits. Staff offer guided tours and other educational programs, including a Junior Ranger educational program for children between four and fifteen years of age. ### Reconstruction Under most circumstances, the National Park Service discourages the reconstruction of structures and artifacts that are no longer extant, but allows for exceptions when "there is no alternative that would accomplish the park's interpretive mission, there is sufficient data to enable an accurate reconstruction," and "the reconstruction occurs on the original location." On the basis that these criteria were met, and after extensive discussion with the Japanese-American community, the NPS decided to proceed with a reconstruction of some elements of the original site alongside preservation of those remnants that survive. The National Park Service is reconstructing one of the 36 residential blocks as a demonstration block (Block 14, adjacent to and west of the Visitor Center). One barrack appears as it would have when Japanese Americans first arrived at Manzanar in 1942, while another has been reconstructed to represent barracks life in 1945. Exhibits in these barracks opened on April 16, 2015. A restored World War II mess hall, moved to the site from Bishop Airport in 2002, was opened to visitors in late 2010. The Manzanar National Historic Site also unveiled its virtual museum on May 17, 2010. National Park Service staff have continued to uncover artifacts from throughout Manzanar's history, the result of archaeological digs that have also excavated several of the gardens designed and built there, including the noted Merritt Park (also known as Pleasure Park). In progress is a classroom exhibit that will be housed in the Block 9 barracks and an historic replica of the Block 9 women's latrine (opened in October 2016, but with no interpretive exhibit materials at this time). ## Reception of and discussion regarding Manzanar The Manzanar site had 1,275,195 people visit from 2000 through December 2016. The National Park Service's interpretation of events and experiences has been described as both "[willing] to memorialize a shameful, unconstitutional policy" and "providing a shortcut around the unjust suffering and often insurmountable adversity imposed by the internment". Congressman Mel Levine said the site should "serve as a reminder of the grievous errors and inhumane policies we pursued domestically during World War II and a reminder that we must never again allow such actions to occur in this country." Academics have criticized those who initiated and implemented the WRA relocation policy and members of the JACL for supporting the WRA policies. They have also pointed out that the majority of accounts of the relocation published within the first few decades following the closure of the camps have been from the perspective of the WRA and the JACL. ### Terminology Since the end of World War II, there has been debate over the terminology used to refer to Manzanar and the other camps in which Americans of Japanese ancestry and their immigrant parents were incarcerated by the United States Government during the war. Manzanar has been referred to as a "War Relocation Authority center", "War Relocation Center", "relocation camp", "relocation center", "internment camp", "incarceration camp", "prison camp", and "concentration camp". Prior to the opening of an exhibit about the American camps at Ellis Island, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and the National Park Service, which manages Ellis Island, expressed concern regarding the use of the term "concentration camp" in the exhibit. At a meeting held at the offices of the AJC in New York City, leaders representing Japanese Americans and Jewish Americans reached an understanding about the use of the term, and the Japanese American National Museum and the AJC issued a joint statement: > A concentration camp is a place where people are imprisoned not because of any crimes they have committed, but simply because of who they are. Although many groups have been singled out for such persecution throughout history, the term 'concentration camp' was first used at the turn of the [20th] century in the Spanish American and Boer Wars. During World War II, America's concentration camps were clearly distinguishable from Nazi Germany's. Nazi camps were places of torture, barbarous medical experiments and summary executions; some were extermination centers with gas chambers. ## In popular culture ### Films and television A made-for-television movie, Farewell to Manzanar aired on NBC in 1976. It was based on the 1973 memoir of the same name, written by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, who was incarcerated at Manzanar as a child, and her husband James D. Houston. In 2011, the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) announced that they had negotiated the rights to the movie, and that they would make it available for purchase on DVD. The 1990 feature film Come See the Paradise detailed the forced removal and incarceration at Manzanar of a Japanese American family from Los Angeles. In the 1984 film The Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi opens up to his student Daniel about the dual loss of his wife and son in childbirth at the Manzanar internment camp; the actor who played Mr. Miyagi, Pat Morita, was interned for two years at Manzanar with his parents. The short film, A Song for Manzanar, depicts the true story of a detainee and her struggle to remain hopeful for her son and stay in contact with her family in Hiroshima. In "Baku", the 2018 season three episode of The Man in the High Castle TV series, Frank Frink is executed for his resistance against the Japanese occupation by Kenpeitai inspector Kido. ### Music Folk/country musician Tom Russell wrote "Manzanar", a song about the Japanese American incarceration, that was released on his album Box of Visions (1993). Laurie Lewis covered the song on her album Seeing Things (1998), adding the koto to her performance. The Asian American jazz fusion band Hiroshima has a song entitled "Manzanar", inspired by the incarceration, on its album The Bridge (2003). Hiroshima's song "Living in America", on its album titled East (1990), contains the phrase "I still remember Manzanar". Fort Minor's song "Kenji", from the album The Rising Tied (2005), tells the true story of Mike Shinoda's family including their experiences during their imprisonment at Manzanar. The band Channel 3 recorded a song titled "Manzanar" about the incarceration. American composer Steve Heitzeg's work "Green Hope After Black Rain (Symphony for the Survivors of Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the Manzanar Concentration Camp)" is a memorial to the victims of the 1945 atomic bombings of the two Japanese cities as well as the Manzanar camp. It includes percussion elements made from Hiroshima and Nagasaki trees as well as stones from Manzanar. It was premiered in 2022 by the Saint Paul Civic Symphony in Minnesota. ### Literature The 1994 novel Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson contains scenes and details relating to Japanese Americans from the state of Washington and their incarceration experiences at Manzanar. A 1999 film of the same name was based on the book. ## See also - California during World War II

Mary Celeste

Ship found abandoned in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872

Mary Celeste (/səˈlɛst/; often erroneously referred to as Marie Celeste) was a Canadian-built, American-registered merchant brigantine that was discovered adrift and deserted in the Atlantic Ocean off the Azorean islands on December 4, 1872. The Canadian brigantine Dei Gratia found her in a dishevelled but seaworthy condition under partial sail and with her lifeboat missing. The last entry in her log was dated ten days earlier. She had left New York City for Genoa on November 7 and was still amply provisioned when found. Her cargo of alcohol was intact, and the captain's and crew's personal belongings were undisturbed. None of those who had been on board were ever seen or heard from again. Mary Celeste was built in Spencer's Island, Nova Scotia, and launched under British registration as Amazon in 1861. She was transferred to American ownership and registration in 1868, when she acquired her new name. Thereafter she sailed uneventfully until her 1872 voyage. At the salvage hearings in Gibraltar following her recovery, the court's officers considered various possibilities of foul play, including mutiny by Mary Celeste's crew, piracy by the Dei Gratia crew or others, and conspiracy to carry out insurance or salvage fraud. No convincing evidence supported these theories, but unresolved suspicions led to a relatively low salvage award. The inconclusive nature of the hearings fostered continued speculation as to what had happened to the ship's occupants, and the story has repeatedly been complicated by false detail and fantasy. Hypotheses that have been advanced include the effects on the crew of alcohol fumes rising from the cargo, submarine earthquakes, waterspouts, attack by a giant squid, and paranormal intervention. After the Gibraltar hearings, Mary Celeste continued in service under new owners. In 1885, her captain deliberately wrecked her off the coast of Haiti as part of an attempted insurance fraud. The story of her 1872 abandonment has been recounted and dramatized many times in documentaries, novels, plays, and films, and the name of the ship has become a byword for unexplained desertion. In 1884, Arthur Conan Doyle wrote "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement", a short story based on the mystery, but spelled the vessel's name as Marie Celeste. The story's popularity led to the spelling becoming more common than the original in everyday use. ## Early history The keel of the future Mary Celeste was laid in late 1860 at the shipyard of Joshua Dewis in the village of Spencer's Island, on the shores of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. The ship was constructed of locally felled timber, with two masts, and was rigged as a brigantine; she was carvel-built, the hull planking flush rather than overlapping. She was launched on May 18, 1861, given the name Amazon, and registered at nearby Parrsboro on June 10, 1861. Her registration documents described her as 99.3 feet (30.3 m) in length, 25.5 feet (7.8 m) broad, with a depth of 11.7 feet (3.6 m), and of 198.42 gross tonnage. She was owned by a local consortium of nine people, headed by Dewis; among the co-owners was Robert McLellan, the ship's first captain. For her maiden voyage in June 1861, Amazon sailed to Five Islands, Nova Scotia to take on a cargo of timber for passage across the Atlantic to London. After supervising the ship's loading, Captain McLellan fell ill; his condition worsened. The Amazon returned to Spencer's Island where McLellan died on June 19. John Nutting Parker took over as captain, and resumed the voyage to London, in the course of which Amazon encountered further misadventures. She collided with fishing equipment in the narrows off Eastport, Maine, and after leaving London ran into and sank a brig in the English Channel. Parker remained in command for two years, during which Amazon worked mainly in the West Indies trade. She crossed the Atlantic to France in November 1861, and in Marseille was the subject of a painting, possibly by Honoré de Pellegrin, a well-known maritime artist of the Marseilles School. In 1863, Parker was succeeded by William Thompson, who remained in command until 1867. These were quiet years; Amazon's mate later recalled that, "We went to the West Indies, England and the Mediterranean—what we call the foreign trade. Not a thing unusual happened." In October 1867, at Cape Breton Island, Amazon was driven ashore in a storm, and was so badly damaged that her owners abandoned her as a wreck. On October 15, she was acquired as a derelict by Alexander McBean, of Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. ### Ownership reassignment and name change Within a month, McBean sold the wreck to a local businessman, who in November 1868, sold it to Richard W. Haines, an American mariner from New York. Haines paid US$1,750 for the wreck, and then spent $8,825 restoring it. He made himself her captain, and, in December 1868, registered her with the Collector of the Port of New York as an American vessel, under a new name, Mary Celeste. In October 1869, the ship was seized by Haines's creditors, and sold to a New York consortium headed by James H. Winchester. During the next three years, the composition of this consortium changed several times, although Winchester retained at least a half-share throughout. No record of Mary Celeste's trading activities during this period have been found. Early in 1872, the ship underwent a major refit, costing $10,000, which enlarged her considerably. Her length was increased to 103 feet (31 m), her breadth to 25.7 feet (7.8 m) and her depth to 16.2 feet (4.9 m). Among the structural changes, a second deck was added; an inspector's report refers to extensions to the poop deck, new transoms and the replacement of many timbers. The work increased the ship's tonnage to 282.28. On October 29, 1872, the consortium was made up of Winchester with six shares and two minor investors with one share apiece, the remaining four of twelve shares being held by the ship's new captain, Benjamin Spooner Briggs. ### Captain Briggs and crew Benjamin Briggs was born in Wareham, Massachusetts, on April 24, 1835, one of five sons of sea captain Nathan Briggs. All but one of the sons went to sea, two becoming captains. Benjamin was an observant Christian who read the Bible regularly and often bore witness to his faith at prayer meetings. In 1862, he married his cousin Sarah Elizabeth Cobb, and enjoyed a Mediterranean honeymoon on board his schooner Forest King. Two children were born: Arthur in September 1865, and Sophia Matilda in October 1870. By the time of Sophia's birth, Briggs had achieved a high standing within his profession. He considered retiring from the sea to go into business with his seafaring brother Oliver, who had also grown tired of the wandering life. They did not proceed with this project, but each invested his savings in a share of a ship: Oliver invested in Julia A. Hallock, and Benjamin in Mary Celeste. In October 1872, Benjamin took command of Mary Celeste for her first voyage following her extensive New York refit, which was to take her to Genoa in Italy. He arranged for his wife and infant daughter to accompany him, while his school-aged son was left at home in the care of his grandmother. Briggs chose the crew for this voyage with care. First mate Albert G. Richardson was married to a niece of Winchester and had sailed under Briggs before. Second mate Andrew Gilling, aged about 25, was born in New York, and was of Danish extraction. The steward, newly married Edward William Head, was signed on with a personal recommendation from Winchester. The four general seamen were Germans from the Frisian Islands: the brothers Volkert and Boz Lorenzen, Arian Martens, and Gottlieb Goudschaal. A later testimonial described them as "peaceable and first-class sailors." In a letter to his mother shortly before the voyage, Briggs declared himself eminently satisfied with ship and crew. Sarah Briggs informed her mother that the crew appeared to be quietly capable "... if they continue as they have begun". ## Abandonment ### New York On October 20, 1872, Briggs arrived at Pier 50 on the East River in New York City to supervise the loading of the ship's cargo of 1,701 barrels of alcohol; his wife and infant daughter joined him a week later. On Sunday, November 3, Briggs wrote to his mother to say that he intended to leave on Tuesday, adding that "our vessel is in beautiful trim and I hope we shall have a fine passage." On the morning of Tuesday, November 5, Mary Celeste left Pier 50 with Briggs, his wife and daughter, and seven crew members, and moved into New York Harbor. The weather was uncertain, and Briggs decided to wait for better conditions. He anchored the ship just off Staten Island, where Sarah used the delay to send a final letter to her mother-in-law. "Tell Arthur," she wrote, "I make great dependence on the letters I shall get from him, and will try to remember anything that happens on the voyage which he would be pleased to hear." The weather eased two days later, and Mary Celeste left the harbor and entered the Atlantic. While Mary Celeste prepared to sail, the Canadian brigantine Dei Gratia lay nearby in Hoboken, New Jersey, awaiting a cargo of petroleum destined for Genoa via Gibraltar. Captain David Morehouse and first mate Oliver Deveau were Nova Scotians, both highly experienced and respected seamen. Captains Briggs and Morehouse shared common interests, and some writers think it likely that they knew each other, if only casually. Some accounts assert that they were close friends who dined together on the evening before Mary Celeste's departure, but the evidence for this is limited to a recollection by Morehouse's widow 50 years after the event. Dei Gratia departed for Gibraltar on November 15, following the same general route eight days after Mary Celeste. ### Derelict Dei Gratia had reached a position of , midway between the Azores and the coast of Portugal at about 1 p.m. on Wednesday, December 4, 1872, land time (Thursday, December 5, sea time). Captain Morehouse came on deck, and the helmsman reported a vessel heading unsteadily towards Dei Gratia at a distance of about six miles (9.7 km). The ship's erratic movements and the odd set of her sails led Morehouse to suspect that something was wrong. As the vessel drew close, he could see nobody on deck, and he received no reply to his signals, so he sent Deveau and second mate John Wright in a ship's boat to investigate. The pair established that this was the Mary Celeste by the name on her stern; they then climbed aboard and found the ship deserted. The sails were partly set and in a poor condition, some missing altogether, and much of the rigging was damaged, with ropes hanging loosely over the sides. The main hatch cover was secure, but the fore and lazarette hatches were open, their covers beside them on the deck. The ship's single lifeboat was a small yawl that had apparently been stowed across the main hatch, but it was missing, while the binnacle housing the ship's compass had shifted from its place and its glass cover was broken. There was about three and a half feet (1.1 m) of water in the hold, a significant but not alarming amount for a ship of this size. A makeshift sounding rod (a device for measuring the amount of water in the hold) was found abandoned on the deck. They found the ship's daily log in the mate's cabin, and its final entry was dated at 8 a.m. on November 25, nine days earlier. It recorded Mary Celeste's position then as off Santa Maria Island in the Azores, nearly 400 nautical miles (740 km) from the point where Dei Gratia encountered her. Deveau saw that the cabin interiors were wet and untidy from water that had entered through doorways and skylights, but were otherwise in reasonable order. He found personal items scattered about Briggs' cabin, including a sheathed sword under the bed, but most of the ship's papers were missing along with the captain's navigational instruments. Galley equipment was neatly stowed away; there was no food prepared or under preparation, but there were ample provisions in the stores. There were no obvious signs of fire or violence; the evidence indicated an orderly departure from the ship by means of the missing lifeboat. Deveau returned to report these findings to Morehouse, who decided to bring the derelict into Gibraltar 600 nautical miles (1,100 km) away. Under maritime law, a salvor could expect a substantial share of the combined value of rescued vessel and cargo, the exact award depending on the degree of danger inherent in the salvaging. Morehouse divided Dei Gratia's crew of eight between the two vessels, sending Deveau and two experienced seamen to Mary Celeste while he and four others remained on Dei Gratia. The weather was relatively calm for most of the way to Gibraltar, but each ship was seriously undercrewed and progress was slow. Dei Gratia reached Gibraltar on December 12; Mary Celeste had encountered fog and arrived on the following morning. She was immediately impounded by the vice admiralty court to prepare for salvage hearings. Deveau wrote to his wife that the ordeal of bringing the ship in was such that "I can hardly tell what I am made of, but I do not care so long as I got in safe. I shall be well paid for the Mary Celeste." ## Gibraltar salvage hearings The salvage court hearings began in Gibraltar on December 17, 1872, under Sir James Cochrane, the chief justice of Gibraltar. The hearing was conducted by Frederick Solly-Flood, Attorney General of Gibraltar, who was also Advocate-General and Proctor for the Queen in Her Office of Admiralty. Flood was described by a historian of the Mary Celeste affair as a man "whose arrogance and pomposity were inversely proportional to his IQ", and as "... the sort of man who, once he had made up his mind about something, couldn't be shifted". The testimonies of Deveau and Wright convinced Flood unalterably that a crime had been committed, a belief picked up by the New York Shipping and Commercial List on December 21: "The inference is that there has been foul play somewhere, and that alcohol is at the bottom of it." On December 23, Flood ordered an examination of Mary Celeste, which was carried out by John Austin, Surveyor of Shipping, with the assistance of a diver, Ricardo Portunato. Austin noted cuts on each side of the bow, caused, he thought, by a sharp instrument, and found possible traces of blood on the captain's sword. His report emphasized that the ship did not appear to have been struck by heavy weather, citing a vial of sewing machine oil found upright in its place. Austin did not acknowledge that the vial might have been replaced since the abandonment, nor did the court raise this point. Portunato's report on the hull concluded that the ship had not been involved in a collision or run aground. A further inspection by a group of Royal Naval captains endorsed Austin's opinion that the cuts on the bow had been caused deliberately. They also discovered stains on one of the ship's rails that might have been blood, together with a deep mark possibly caused by an axe. These findings strengthened Flood's suspicions that human wrongdoing rather than natural disaster lay behind the mystery. On January 22, 1873, he sent the reports to the Board of Trade in London, adding his own conclusion that the crew had got at the alcohol and murdered the Briggs family and the ship's officers in a drunken frenzy. They had cut the bows to simulate a collision, then fled in the yawl to suffer an unknown fate. Flood thought that Morehouse and his men were hiding something, specifically that Mary Celeste had been abandoned in a more easterly location, and that the log had been doctored. He could not accept that Mary Celeste could have traveled so far while uncrewed. James Winchester arrived in Gibraltar on January 15, to enquire when Mary Celeste might be released to deliver her cargo. Flood demanded a surety of $15,000, money Winchester did not have. Winchester became aware that Flood thought Winchester might have deliberately engaged a crew that would kill Briggs and his officers as part of some conspiracy. On January 29, during a series of sharp exchanges with Flood, Winchester testified to Briggs's high character, and insisted that Briggs would not have abandoned the ship except in extremity. Flood's theories of mutiny and murder received significant setbacks when scientific analysis of the stains found on the sword and elsewhere on the ship showed that they were not blood. A second blow to Flood followed in a report commissioned by Horatio Sprague, the American consul in Gibraltar, from Captain Shufeldt of the US Navy. In Shufeldt's view, the marks on the bow were not man-made, but came from the natural actions of the sea on the ship's timbers. With nothing concrete to support his suspicions, Flood reluctantly released Mary Celeste from the court's jurisdiction on February 25. Two weeks later, with a locally raised crew headed by Captain George Blatchford from Massachusetts, she left Gibraltar for Genoa. The question of the salvage payment was decided on April 8, when Cochrane announced the award: £1,700, or about one-fifth of the total value of ship and cargo. This was far lower than the general expectation—one authority thought that the award should have been twice or even three times that amount, given the level of hazard in bringing the derelict into port. Cochrane's final words were harshly critical of Morehouse for his decision, earlier in the hearing, to send Dei Gratia under Deveau to deliver her cargo of petroleum—although Morehouse had remained in Gibraltar at the disposal of the court. Cochrane's tone carried an implication of wrongdoing, which, says Hicks, ensured that Morehouse and his crew "...would be under suspicion in the court of public opinion forever." ## Proposed explanations ### Foul play The evidence in Gibraltar failed to support Flood's theories of murder and conspiracy, yet suspicion of foul play lingered. Flood, and some newspaper reports, briefly suspected insurance fraud on the part of Winchester on the basis that Mary Celeste had been heavily overinsured. Winchester was able to refute these allegations, and no inquiry was instituted by the insurance companies that had issued the policies. In 1931, an article in the Quarterly Review suggested that Morehouse could have lain in wait for Mary Celeste, then lured Briggs and his crew aboard Dei Gratia and killed them there. Paul Begg argues that this theory ignores the fact that Dei Gratia was the slower ship; she left New York eight days after Mary Celeste departed and would not have caught Mary Celeste before she reached Gibraltar. Another theory posits that Briggs and Morehouse were partners in a conspiracy to share the salvage proceeds, although no evidence exists of a friendship between the two captains. Hicks comments that "if Morehouse and Briggs had been planning such a scam, they would not have devised such an attention-drawing mystery." He also asks why Briggs abandoned his son Arthur if he had intended to disappear permanently. Although Riffian pirates were active off the coast of Morocco in the 1870s, Charles Edey Fay observes that pirates would have looted the ship, but the personal possessions, some of significant value, of the captain and crew were left undisturbed. In 1925, historian John Gilbert Lockhart surmised that Briggs slaughtered all on board and then killed himself in a fit of religious mania. Lockhart later spoke to Briggs's descendants, and he apologized and withdrew this theory in a later edition of his book. ### Lifeboat Briggs's cousin Oliver Cobb later suggested that the transfer of personnel to the yawl may have been intended as a temporary safety measure. He speculated from Deveau's report on the state of the rigging and ropes that the ship's main halliard may have been used to attach the yawl to the ship, enabling the company to return to Mary Celeste when the danger had passed. However, Mary Celeste would have sailed away empty if the line had parted, leaving the yawl adrift with its occupants. Begg notes that it would be illogical to attach the yawl to a vessel that the crew thought was about to explode or sink. Macdonald Hastings argues that Briggs was an experienced captain who would not have led a panicked abandonment, writing: "If the Mary Celeste had blown her timbers, she would still have been a better bet for survival than the ship's boat." According to Hastings, if Briggs had relied on the ship's boat for survival rather than on Mary Celeste, he would have "behaved like a fool; worse, a frightened one." Arthur N. Putman, a New York insurance appraiser, was a leading investigator in sea mysteries in the early 20th century and wrote a similar lifeboat theory stressing that only a single lifeboat was missing from the vessel. He discovered that the boat's rope was cut, not untied, which indicated that the abandonment of Mary Celeste was performed quickly. The ship's log contained several mentions of ominous rumbling and small explosions from the hold, although cargos of alcohol naturally emit explosive gas and such sounds are commonly heard. He supposes that there had been a more intense explosion and, in response, a sailor ventured below deck with an open flame or lit cigar that ignited the fumes, causing an explosion violent enough to dislodge the top of the hatch, which had been found in an unusual position. Putman also postulated that in a panicked terror the captain, his family and the crew boarded the lone lifeboat, cut the rope and abandoned Mary Celeste. ### Natural phenomena Commentators generally agree that some extraordinary and alarming circumstance must have arisen to cause the entire crew to abandon a sound and seaworthy ship with ample provisions. Deveau ventured an explanation based on the sounding rod found on deck. He suggested that Briggs abandoned ship after a false sounding because of a malfunction, perhaps of the pumps, that created a false impression that the vessel was rapidly accumulating water. A severe waterspout strike before the abandonment could explain the amount of water in the ship and the ragged state of her rigging and sails. The low barometric pressure generated by the spout could have driven water from the bilges up into the pumps, leading the crew to overestimate the amount of water on Mary Celeste and believe that she was in danger of sinking. Other explanations include the possible appearance of a displaced iceberg, the fear of running aground while becalmed and a sudden submarine earthquake. Hydrographical evidence suggests that an iceberg drifting so far south was improbable and other ships would have seen it. Begg gives more consideration to a theory that Mary Celeste began drifting towards the Dollabarat reef off Santa Maria Island when she was becalmed. The theory supposes that Briggs feared that his ship would run aground and launched the yawl in the hope of reaching land. The wind could then have lifted and blown Mary Celeste away from the reef while the rising seas swamped and sank the yawl. The weakness of this theory is that if the ship had been becalmed, all sails would have been set to catch any available breeze, yet it was found with many of its sails furled. An earthquake on the seabed could have caused sufficient turbulence on the surface to damage parts of Mary Celeste's cargo, thus releasing noxious fumes. Rising fears of an imminent explosion could have led Briggs to order the ship's abandonment; the displaced hatches suggest that an inspection, or an attempted airing, had taken place. The New York World of January 24, 1886 drew attention to a case in which a vessel carrying alcohol had exploded. The same journal's issue of February 9, 1913 cited a seepage of alcohol through a few porous barrels as the source of gases that may have caused or threatened an explosion in Mary Celeste's hold. Briggs's cousin Oliver Cobb was a strong proponent of this theory, in which a sufficiently alarming scenario—rumblings from the hold, the smell of escaping fumes and possibly an explosion—could have caused Briggs to have ordered the evacuation of the ship. In his haste to leave the ship before it exploded, Briggs may have failed to properly secure the yawl to the tow line. A sudden breeze could have blown the ship away from the occupants of the yawl, leaving them to succumb to the elements. The lack of damage from an explosion and the generally sound state of the cargo upon discovery tend to weaken this case. In 2006, an experiment was performed for Channel Five television by chemist Andrea Sella of University College, London, and the results helped to revive the explosion theory. Sella built a model of the hold, with paper cartons representing the barrels. Using butane gas, he created an explosion that caused a considerable blast and ball of flame, but contrary to expectation, there was no fire damage within the replica hold. He said: "What we created was a pressure-wave type of explosion. There was a spectacular wave of flame but, behind it, was relatively cool air. No soot was left behind and there was no burning or scorching." ## Myths and false histories Fact and fiction became intertwined in the decades that followed. The Los Angeles Times retold the Mary Celeste story in June 1883 with invented detail. "Every sail was set, the tiller was lashed fast, not a rope was out of place. ... The fire was burning in the galley. The dinner was standing untasted and scarcely cold ... the log written up to the hour of her discovery." The November 1906 Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine reported that Mary Celeste drifted off the Cape Verde Islands, some 1,400 nautical miles (2,600 km) south of the actual location. Among many inaccuracies, the first mate was "a man named Briggs," and there were live chickens on board. The most influential retelling, according to many commentators, was a story in the January 1884 issue of the Cornhill Magazine which ensured that the Mary Celeste affair would never be forgotten. This was an early work of Arthur Conan Doyle, a 25 year-old ship's surgeon at the time. Doyle's story "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" did not adhere to the facts. He renamed the ship Marie Celeste, the captain's name was J. W. Tibbs, the fatal voyage took place in 1873, and it was from Boston to Lisbon. The vessel carried passengers, among them the titular Jephson. In the story, a fanatic named Septimius Goring with a hatred of the white race has suborned members of the crew to murder Tibbs and take the vessel to the shores of Western Africa. The rest of the ship's company is killed, save for Jephson who is spared because he possesses a magical charm that is venerated by Goring and his accomplices. Doyle had not expected his story to be taken seriously, but Sprague was still serving as the U.S. consul in Gibraltar and was sufficiently intrigued to inquire if any part of the story might be true. In 1913, The Strand Magazine provided an alleged survivor's account from one Abel Fosdyk, supposedly Mary Celeste's steward. In this version, the crew had gathered on a temporary swimming platform to watch a swimming contest, when the platform suddenly collapsed. All except Fosdyk were drowned or eaten by sharks. Unlike Doyle's story, the magazine proposed this as a serious solution to the enigma, but it contained many simple mistakes, including "Griggs" for Briggs, "Boyce" for Morehouse, Briggs's daughter as a seven-year-old child rather than a two-year-old, a crew of 13, and an ignorance of nautical language. Many more people were convinced by a plausible literary hoax of the 1920s perpetrated by Irish writer Laurence J. Keating, again presented as a survivor's story of one John Pemberton. This one told a complex tale of murder, madness, and collusion with the Dei Gratia. It included basic errors, such as using Doyle's name ("Marie Celeste") and misnaming key personnel. Nevertheless, the story was so convincingly told that the New York Herald Tribune of July 26, 1926, believed its truth to be beyond dispute. Hastings describes Keating's hoax as "an impudent trick by a man not without imaginative ability." In 1924, the Daily Express published a story by Captain R. Lucy, whose alleged informant was Mary Celeste's former boatswain, although no such person is recorded in the registered crew list. In this tale, Briggs and his crew are cast in the role of predators; they sight a derelict steamer, which they board and find deserted with £3,500 of gold and silver in its safe. They decide to split the money, abandon Mary Celeste, and seek new lives in Spain, which they reach by using the steamer's lifeboats. Hastings finds it astonishing that such an unlikely story was widely believed for a time; readers, he says, "were fooled by the magic of print." Chambers's Journal of September 17, 1904, suggests that the entire complement of Mary Celeste was plucked off one by one by a giant octopus or squid. According to the Natural History Museum, giant squid (Architeuthis dux) can reach 15 meters (49 ft) in length and have been known to attack ships. Begg remarks that such a creature could conceivably have picked off a crew member, but it could hardly have taken the yawl and the captain's navigation instruments. Other explanations have suggested paranormal intervention; an undated edition of the British Journal of Astrology describes the Mary Celeste story as "a mystical experience", connecting it "with the Great Pyramid of Gizeh, the lost continent of Atlantis, and the British Israel Movement". The Bermuda Triangle has been invoked, even though Mary Celeste was abandoned in a completely different part of the Atlantic. Similar fantasies have considered theories of abduction by aliens in flying saucers. ## Later career and final voyage Mary Celeste left Genoa on June 26, 1873, and arrived in New York on September 19. The Gibraltar hearings, with newspaper stories of bloodshed and murder, had made her an unpopular ship; Hastings records that she "... rotted on wharves where nobody wanted her." In February 1874, the consortium sold the ship, at a considerable loss, to a partnership of New York businessmen. Under this new ownership, Mary Celeste sailed mainly in the West Indian and Indian Ocean routes, regularly losing money. Details of her movements occasionally appeared in the shipping news; in February 1879, she was reported at the island of St. Helena, where she had called to seek medical assistance for her captain, Edgar Tuthill, who had fallen ill. Tuthill died on the island, encouraging the idea that the ship was cursed—he was her third captain to die prematurely. In February 1880, the owners sold Mary Celeste to a partnership of Bostonians headed by Wesley Gove. A new captain, Thomas L. Fleming, remained in the post until August 1884, when he was replaced by Gilman C. Parker. During these years, the ship's port of registration changed several times, before reverting to Boston. There are no records of her voyages during this time, although Brian Hicks, in his study of the affair, asserts that Gove tried hard to make a success of her. In November 1884, Parker conspired with a group of Boston shippers, who filled Mary Celeste with a largely worthless cargo, misrepresented on the ship's manifest as valuable goods and insured for US$30,000 ($ today). On December 16, Parker set out for Port-au-Prince, the capital and chief port of Haiti. On January 3, 1885, Mary Celeste approached the port via the channel between Gonâve Island and the mainland, in which lay a large and well-charted coral reef, the Rochelois Bank. Parker deliberately ran the ship on to this reef, ripping out her bottom and wrecking her beyond repair. He and the crew then rowed themselves ashore, where Parker sold the salvageable cargo for $500 to the American consul, and instituted insurance claims for the alleged value. When the consul reported that what he had bought was almost worthless, the ship's insurers began a thorough investigation, which soon revealed the truth of the over-insured cargo. In July 1885, Parker and the shippers were tried in Boston for conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. Parker was additionally charged with "wilfully cast[ing] away the ship," a crime known as barratry, which at the time carried the death penalty. The conspiracy case was heard first, but on August 15, the jury announced that they could not agree on a verdict. Some jurors were unwilling to risk prejudicing Parker's forthcoming capital trial by finding him guilty on the conspiracy charge. Rather than ordering an expensive retrial, the judge negotiated an arrangement whereby the defendants withdrew their insurance claims and repaid all they had received. The barratry charge against Parker was deferred, and he was allowed to go free. Nevertheless, his professional reputation was ruined, and he died in poverty three months later. One of his co-defendants went mad, and another killed himself. Begg observes that "if the court of man could not punish these men ... the curse that had devilled the ship since her first skipper Robert McLellan had died on her maiden voyage could reach beyond the vessel's watery grave and exact its own terrible retribution." In August 2001, an expedition headed by the marine archaeologist and author Clive Cussler announced that they had found the remains of a ship embedded in the Rochelois reef. Only a few pieces of timber and some metal artifacts could be salvaged, the remainder of the wreckage being lost within the coral. Initial tests on the wood indicated that it was the type extensively used in New York shipyards at the time of Mary Celeste's 1872 refit, and it seemed the remains of Mary Celeste had been found. However, dendrochronological tests carried out by Scott St George of the Geological Survey of Canada showed that the wood came from trees, most probably from the US state of Georgia, that would still have been growing in 1894, about ten years after Mary Celeste's demise. ## Legacy and commemorations Mary Celeste was not the first reported case of a ship being found strangely deserted on the high seas. Rupert Gould, a naval officer and investigator of maritime mysteries, lists other such occurrences between 1840 and 1855. Whatever the truth of these stories, it is the Mary Celeste that is remembered; the ship's name, or the misspelled Marie Celeste, has become fixed in people's minds as synonymous with inexplicable desertion. In October 1955, , a 70-ton motor vessel, disappeared in the South Pacific while traveling between Samoa and Tokelau, with 25 people on board. The vessel was found a month later, deserted and drifting north of Vanua Levu, 600 miles (970 km) from its route. None of those aboard were seen again, and a commission of inquiry failed to establish an explanation. David Wright, the affair's principal historian, has described the case as "... a classic marine mystery of Mary Celeste proportions." The Mary Celeste story inspired two well-received radio plays in the 1930s, by L. Du Garde Peach and Tim Healey respectively, and a stage version of Peach's play in 1949. Several novels have been published, generally offering natural rather than fantastic explanations. In 1935, the British film company Hammer Film Productions issued The Mystery of the Mary Celeste (retitled Phantom Ship for American audiences), starring Bela Lugosi as a deranged sailor. It was not a commercial success, although Begg considers it "a period piece well worth watching". A 1938 short film titled The Ship That Died presents dramatizations of a range of theories to explain the abandonment: mutiny, fear of explosion due to alcohol fumes, and the supernatural. The Mary Celeste featured in the 1965 Doctor Who episode The Chase where the disappearance of the crew was explained as being due to a mass panic caused by the sudden appearance of a party of Daleks searching for the Doctor and his companions who had briefly landed the TARDIS on the ship a few minutes prior. In November 2007, the Smithsonian Channel screened a documentary, The True Story of the Mary Celeste, which investigated many aspects of the case without offering any definite solution. One theory proposed pump congestion and instrument malfunction. The Mary Celeste had been used for transporting coal, which is known for its dust, before it was loaded with alcohol. The pump was found disassembled on deck, so the crew may have been attempting to repair it. The hull was packed full, and the captain would have no way of judging how much water had been taken on while navigating rough seas. The filmmakers postulated that the chronometer was faulty, meaning that Briggs could have ordered abandonment thinking that they were close to Santa Maria, when they were 120 miles (190 km) farther west. At Spencer's Island, Mary Celeste and her lost crew are commemorated by a monument at the site of the brigantine's construction and by a memorial outdoor cinema built in the shape of the vessel's hull. Postage stamps commemorating the incident have been issued by Gibraltar (twice) and by the Maldives (twice, once with the name of the ship misspelt as Marie Celeste). ## See also - Ghost ship - List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea

Sayfo

Assyrian genocide (1914–1924)

The Sayfo (, lit. 'sword'), also known as the Seyfo or the Assyrian genocide, was the mass murder and deportation of Assyrian/Syriac Christians in southeastern Anatolia and Persia's Azerbaijan province by Ottoman forces and some Kurdish tribes during World War I. The Assyrians were divided into mutually antagonistic churches, including the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Chaldean Catholic Church. Before World War I, they largely lived in mountainous and remote areas of the Ottoman Empire and Persia, some of which were effectively stateless. The Ottoman Empire's nineteenth-century centralization efforts led to increased violence and danger for the Assyrians. Mass killing of Assyrian civilians began during the Ottoman occupation of Azerbaijan from January to May 1915, during which massacres were committed by Ottoman forces and pro-Ottoman Kurds. In Bitlis province, Ottoman troops returning from Persia joined local Kurdish tribes to massacre the local Christian population (Armenians and Assyrians). Ottoman forces and Kurds attacked the Assyrian tribes of Hakkari in mid-1915, driving them out by September despite the tribes mounting a coordinated military defense. Governor Mehmed Reshid initiated a genocide of all of the Christian communities in Diyarbekir province, including Syriac Christians, facing only sporadic armed resistance in some parts of Tur Abdin. Ottoman Assyrians living farther south, in present-day Iraq and Syria, were not targeted in the genocide. The Sayfo occurred concurrently with and was closely related to the Armenian genocide, although the Sayfo is considered to have been less systematic. Local actors played a larger role than the Ottoman government, but the latter also ordered attacks on certain Assyrians. Motives for killing included a perceived lack of loyalty among some Assyrian communities to the Ottoman Empire and the desire to appropriate their land. At the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, the Assyro-Chaldean delegation said that its losses were 250,000, about half the prewar population. The accuracy of this figure is unknown. They later revised their estimate to 275,000 dead at the Lausanne Conference in 1923. The Sayfo is less studied than the Armenian genocide. Efforts to have it recognized as a genocide began during the 1990s, spearheaded by the Assyrian diaspora. Although several countries acknowledge that Assyrians in the Ottoman Empire were victims of a genocide, this assertion is rejected by the Turkish government. ## Terminology There is no universally accepted translation in English for the endonym Suryoyo or Suryoye. The choice of which term to use, such as Assyrian, Syriac, Aramean, and Chaldean, is often determined by political alignment. The Church of the East was the first to adopt an identity derived from ancient Assyria. The Syriac Orthodox Church has officially rejected the use of Assyrian in favor of Syrian since 1952, although not all Syriac Orthodox reject Assyrian identity. Since the Ottoman Empire was organized by religion, Ottoman officials referred to populations by their religious affiliation rather than ethnicity. Therefore, according to historian David Gaunt, "speaking of an 'Assyrian Genocide' is anachronistic". In Neo-Aramaic, the languages historically spoken by Assyrians, it has been known since 1915 as Sayfo or Seyfo (ܣܝܦܐ, lit. 'sword'), which, since the tenth century, has also meant 'extermination' or 'extinction'. Other terms used by some Assyrians include nakba (Arabic for 'catastrophe') and firman (Turkish for 'order', as Assyrians believed that they were killed according to an official decree). ## Background The people now called Assyrian, Chaldean, or Aramean are native to Upper Mesopotamia and historically spoke Aramaic varieties, and their ancestors converted to Christianity in the first centuries CE. The first major schism in Syriac Christianity dates to 410, when Christians in the Sasanian Empire formed the Church of the East to distinguish themselves from the official religion of the Roman Empire. The West Syriac church, later the Syriac Orthodox Church, was persecuted by Roman rulers for theological differences but remained separate from the Church of the East. The schisms in Syriac Christianity were fueled by political divisions between empires and personal antagonism between clergymen. Middle Eastern Christian communities were devastated by the Crusades and the Mongol invasions. The Chaldean and Syriac Catholic Churches split from the Church of the East and the Syriac Orthodox Church, respectively, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and entered into full communion with the Catholic Church. Each church considered the others heretical. ### Assyrians in the Ottoman Empire In its millet system, the Ottoman Empire recognized religious denominations rather than ethnic groups: Süryaniler / Yakubiler (Syriac Orthodox or Jacobites), Nasturiler (Church of the East or Nestorians), and Keldaniler (Chaldean Catholic Church). Until the nineteenth century, these groups were part of the Armenian millet. Assyrians in the Ottoman Empire lived in remote, mountainous areas, where they had settled to avoid state control. Although this remoteness enabled Assyrians to avoid military conscription and taxation, it also cemented internal differences and prevented the emergence of a collective identity similar to the Armenian national movement. Unlike the Armenians, Syriac Christians did not control a disproportionate part of Ottoman commerce and did not have significant populations in nearby hostile countries. There were no accurate estimates of the prewar Assyrian population, but Gaunt gives a possible figure of 500,000 to 600,000. Midyat, in Diyarbekir province (vilayet), was the only town in the Ottoman Empire with an Assyrian majority (Syriac Orthodox, Chaldeans, and Protestants). Syriac Orthodox Christians were concentrated in the hilly rural areas around Midyat, known as Tur Abdin, where they lived in almost 100 villages and worked in agriculture or crafts. Syriac Orthodox culture was centered in two monasteries near Mardin (west of Tur Abdin): Mor Gabriel and Deyrulzafaran. Outside the core area of Syriac settlement, there were also sizable populations in villages and the towns of Urfa, Harput, and Adiyaman. Unlike the Syriac population of Tur Abdin, many of these Syriacs spoke non-Aramaic languages. Under the Qudshanis-based Patriarch of the Church of the East, Assyrian tribes controlled the Hakkari mountains east of Tur Abdin (adjacent to the Ottoman–Persian border). Hakkari is very mountainous, with peaks reaching 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) and separated by steep gorges; many areas were only accessible by footpaths carved into the mountainsides. The Assyrian tribes sometimes fought each other on behalf of their Kurdish allies. Church of the East settlement began in the east on the western shore of Lake Urmia in Persia; a Chaldean enclave was just north, in Salamas. There was a Chaldean area around Siirt in Bitlis province (northeast of Tur Abdin and northwest of Hakkari, less mountainous than Hakkari), but most Chaldeans lived farther south in present-day Iraq. ### Worsening conflicts Although the Kurds and Assyrians were well-integrated with each other, Gaunt writes that this integration "led straight into a world marked by violence, raiding, the kidnapping and rape of women, hostage taking, cattle stealing, robbery, plundering, the torching of villages and a state of chronic unrest". Assyrian efforts to maintain their autonomy collided with the Ottoman Empire's nineteenth-century attempts at centralization and modernization to assert control over what had effectively been a stateless region. The first mass violence targeting Assyrians was in the mid-1840s, when Kurdish emir Bedir Khan devastated Hakkari and Tur Abdin, killing several thousands. During intertribal feuds, the bulk of the violence was directed at Christian villages under the protection of the opposing tribe. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, the Ottoman state armed the Kurds with modern weapons to fight Russia. When the Kurds refused to return the weapons at the end of the war, Assyrians—relying on older weapons—were at a disadvantage and subject to increasing violence. The irregular Hamidiye cavalry were formed in the 1880s from Kurdish tribes loyal to the government; their exemption from civil and military law enabled them to commit acts of violence with impunity. The rise of political Islam in the form of Kurdish shaikhs also widened the divide between the Assyrians and the Muslim Kurds. Many Assyrians were killed in the 1895 massacres of Diyarbekir. Violence worsened after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, despite Assyrian hopes that the new government would stop promoting anti-Christian Islamism. In 1908, 12,000 Assyrians were expelled from the Lizan valley by the Kurdish emir of Barwari. Due to increasing Kurdish attacks which Ottoman authorities did nothing to prevent, Patriarch of the Church of the East Mar Shimun XIX Benyamin began negotiations with the Russian Empire before World War I. ## World War I Before the war, Russia and the Ottoman Empire courted populations in each other's territory to wage guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines. The Ottoman Empire tried to enlist Caucasian Muslims and Armenians, as well as Assyrians and Azeris in Persia, and Russia looked to the Armenians, Kurds, and Assyrians living in the Ottoman Empire. Prior to the war, Russia controlled parts of northeastern Persia, including Azerbaijan and Tabriz. Like other genocides, the Sayfo had a number of causes. The rise of nationalism led to competing Turkish, Kurdish, Persian, and Arab national movements, which contributed to increasing violence in the already conflict-ridden borderlands inhabited by the Assyrians. Historian Donald Bloxham emphasizes the negative influence of European powers interfering in the Ottoman Empire under the premise of protecting Ottoman Christians. This imperialism put the Ottoman Christians at risk of retaliatory attacks. In 1912 and 1913, the Ottoman loss in the Balkan Wars triggered an exodus of Muslim refugees from the Balkans. The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) government decided to resettle the refugees in eastern Anatolia, on land confiscated from populations deemed disloyal to the empire. There was a direct connection between the deportation of the Christian population and the resettlement of Muslims in the depopulated areas. The goals of the population replacement were to Turkify the Balkan Muslims and end the perceived internal threat from the Christian populations. With local politicians predisposed to violence against non-Muslims, these factors helped generate the preconditions for genocide. CUP politician Enver Pasha set up the paramilitary Special Organization, which was loyal to himself. Its members, many of whom were convicted criminals released from prison for the task, operated as spies and saboteurs. The Ottoman Empire ordered a full mobilization for war on 24 July 1914, and concluded the German–Ottoman alliance shortly thereafter. In August 1914, the CUP sent a delegation to an Armenian conference offering an autonomous Armenian region if the Armenian Revolutionary Federation incited a pro-Ottoman revolt in Russia in the event of war. The Armenians refused. According to Gaunt, a similar offer was probably made to Mar Shimun in Van on 3 August. After returning to Qudshanis, Mar Shimun sent letters urging his followers to "fulfill strictly all their duties to the Turks". The Assyrians in Hakkari (like many other Ottoman subjects) resisted conscription into the Ottoman army during the mobilization, and many fled to Persia in August. Those in Mardin, however, accepted conscription. ## Ethnic cleansing of Hakkari ### Massacres of lowland Assyrians In August 1914, Assyrians in nine villages near the border were forced to flee to Persia and their villages were burned after they refused to join the Ottoman army. On 26 October 1914, a few days before the Ottoman Empire entered World War I, Ottoman interior minister Talaat Pasha sent a telegram to Djevdet Bey, the governor of Van province (which included Hakkari). In a planned Ottoman attack in Persia, the loyalty of the Hakkari Assyrians was doubted. Talaat ordered the deportation and resettlement of the Assyrians who lived near the Persian border with Muslims farther west. No more than twenty Assyrians would live in each resettlement, destroying their culture, language, and traditional way of life. Gaunt cites this order as the beginning of the Sayfo. The government in Van reported that the order could not be implemented due to the lack of forces to carry it out, and by 5 November the expected Assyrian unrest did not materialize. Assyrians in Julamerk and Gawar were arrested or killed, and Ottoman irregulars attacked Assyrian villages throughout Hakkari in retaliation for their refusal to follow the order. The Assyrians, unaware of the government's role in these events until December 1914, protested to the governor of Van. The Ottoman garrison in the border town of Bashkale was commanded by Kazim Karabekir, and the local Special Organization branch by Ömer Naji [tr]. Russian forces captured Bashkale and Sarai in November 1914 and held both for a few days. After their recapture by the Ottomans, the towns' local Christians were punished as collaborators, out of proportion to any actual collaboration. Local Ottoman forces consisting of gendarmerie, Hamidiye irregulars, and Kurdish volunteers were unable to mount attacks on the Assyrian tribes on the highlands, confining their attacks to poorly-armed Christian villages in the plains. Refugees from the area told the Russian army that "nearly the entire male Christian population of Gawar and Bashkale" had been massacred. In May 1915, Ottoman forces retreating from Bashkale massacred hundreds of Armenian women and children before continuing to Siirt. ### Preparations for war Mar Shimun learned about the massacre of Assyrians in lowland areas, and believed that the highland tribes would be next. Via Agha Petros, an Assyrian interpreter for the Russian consulate in Urmia, he contacted the Russian authorities. Shimun traveled to Bashkale to meet Mehmed Shefik Bey, an Ottoman official sent from Mardin to win over the Assyrians for the Ottoman cause, in December 1914. Shefik promised protection and money in exchange for a written promise that the Assyrians would not side with Russia or permit their tribes to take up arms against the Ottoman government. The tribal chiefs considered the offer, but rejected it. In January 1915, Kurds blocked the route from Qudshanis to the Assyrian tribes. The patriarch's sister, Surma D'Bait Mar Shimun, left Qudshanis the following month with 300 men. Early in 1915, the tribes of Hakkari were preparing to defend themselves from a large-scale attack; they decided to send women and children to the area around Chamba in Upper Tyari, leaving only combatants behind. On 10 May, the Assyrian tribes met and declared war (or a general mobilization) against the Ottoman Empire. In June, Mar Shimun traveled to Persia to ask for Russian support. He met with General Fyodor Chernozubov in Moyanjik (in the Salmas valley), who promised support. The patriarch and Agha Petros also met Russian consul Basil Nikitin in Salmas shortly before 21 June, but the promised Russian help never materialized. In May, Assyrian warriors were part of the Russian force which was rushed to relieve the defense of Van; Haydar Bey, the governor of Mosul, was given the power to invade Hakkari. Talaat ordered him to drive the Assyrians out and added, "We should not let them return to their homelands". The ethnic-cleansing operation was coordinated by Enver, Talaat, and military and civilian Ottoman authorities. To legalize the invasion, the districts of Julamerk, Gawar, and Shemdinan were temporarily transferred to Mosul province. The Ottoman army joined local Kurdish tribes against specific targets. Suto Agha of the Kurdish Oramar tribe attacked Jilu, Dez, and Baz from the east; Said Agha attacked a valley in Lower Tyari; Ismael Agha targeted Chamba in Upper Tyari, and the Upper Berwar emir attacked Ashita, the Lizan valley, and Lower Tyari from the west. ### Invasion of the highlands The joint encirclement operation was launched on 11 June. The Jilu tribe was attacked at the beginning of the campaign by several Kurdish tribes; the fourth-century church of Mar Zaya, with historic artifacts, was destroyed. Ottoman forces based in Julamerk and Mosul launched a joint attack on Tyari on 23 June. Haydar first attacked the Tyari villages of Ashita and Sarespido; later, an expeditionary force of three thousand Turks and Kurds attacked the mountain pass between Tyari and Tkhuma. Although the Assyrians were victorious in most of the battles, they had unsustainable losses of lives and ammunition and lacked their invaders' German-manufactured rifles, machine guns, and artillery. In July, Mar Shimun sent Malik Khoshaba and bishop Mar Yalda Yahwallah from Barwari to Tabriz in Persia to request urgent assistance from the Russians. The Kurdish Barzani tribe assisted the Ottoman army and laid waste to Tkhuma, Tyari, Jilu, and Baz. During the campaign, Ottoman forces took no prisoners. Mar Shimun's brother, Hormuz, was arrested while he was studying in Constantinople; in late June, Talaat tried to obtain the surrender of the Assyrian tribes by threatening Hormuz' life if Mar Shimun did not capitulate. The Assyrians refused, and he was killed. Outnumbered and outgunned, the Assyrians retreated further into the high mountains without food and watched as their homes, farms, and herds were pillaged. They had no other option but fleeing to Persia, which most had done by September. Most of the men joined the Russian army, hoping to return home. During the 1915 fighting, the Assyrians' only strategic objective was defensive; the Ottoman goal was to defeat the Assyrian tribes and prevent their return. ## Ottoman occupation of Azerbaijan In 1903, Russia estimated that 31,700 Assyrians lived in Persia. Facing attacks from their Kurdish neighbors, the Assyrian villages in the Ottoman–Persian borderlands organized self-defense forces; by the outbreak of World War I, they were well armed. In 1914, before the declaration of war against Russia, Ottoman forces crossed the border into Persia and destroyed Christian villages. Large-scale attacks in late September and October 1914 targeted many Assyrian villages, and the attackers neared Urmia. Due to Ottoman attacks, thousands of Christians living along the border fled to Urmia. Others arrived in Persia after fleeing from the Ottoman side of the border. The November 1914 proclamation of jihad by the Ottoman government inflamed jihadist sentiments in the Ottoman–Persian border area, convincing the local Kurdish population to side with the Ottomans. In November, Persia declared its neutrality; however, it was not respected by the warring parties. Russia organized units of Assyrian and Armenian volunteers to bolster local Russian forces against Ottoman attack. Assyrians led by Agha Petros declared their support for the Entente, and marched in Urmia. Agha Petros later said that he had been promised by Russian officials that in exchange for their support, they would receive an independent state after the war. Ottoman irregulars in Van province crossed the Persian border, attacking Christian villages in Persia. In response, Persia shut down the Ottoman consulates in Khoy, Tabriz, and Urmia and expelled Sunni Muslims. Ottoman authorities retaliated with the expulsion of several thousand Hakkari Assyrians to Persia. Resettled in farming villages, the Assyrians were armed by Russia. The Russian government was aware that the Assyrians and Armenians of Azerbaijan could not stop an Ottoman army, and was indifferent to the danger to which these communities would be exposed in an Ottoman invasion. On 1 January 1915, Russia abruptly withdrew its forces. Ottoman forces led by Djevdet, Kazim Karabekir, and Ömer Naji occupied Azerbaijan with no opposition. Immediately after the withdrawal of Russian forces, local Muslims committed pogroms against Christians; the Ottoman army also attacked Christian civilians. Over a dozen villages were sacked and, of the large villages, only Gulpashan was left intact. News of the atrocities spread quickly, leading many Armenians and Assyrians to flee to the Russian Caucasus. Those north of Urmia had more time to flee. According to several estimates, about 10,000 or 15,000 to 20,000 crossed the border into Russia. Assyrians who had volunteered for the Russian forces were separated from their families, who were often left behind. An estimated 15,000 Ottoman troops reached Urmia by 4 or 5 January, and Dilman on 8 January. ### Massacres Ottoman troops began attacking Christian villages during their February 1915 retreat, when they were turned back by a Russian counterattack. Facing losses which they blamed on Armenian volunteers and imagining a broad Armenian rebellion, Djevdet ordered massacres of Christian civilians to reduce the potential future strength of volunteer units. Some local Kurdish tribes participated in the killings, but others protected Christian civilians. Some Assyrian villages also engaged in armed resistance when attacked. The Persian Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested the atrocities to the Ottoman government, but lacked the power to prevent them. Many Christians did not have time to flee during the Russian withdrawal, and 20,000 to 25,000 refugees were stranded in Urmia. Nearly 18,000 Christians sought shelter in the city's Presbyterian and Lazarist missions. Although there was reluctance to attack the missionary compounds, many died of disease. Between February and May, when the Ottoman forces pulled out, there was a campaign of mass execution, looting, kidnapping, and extortion against Christians in Urmia. More than 100 men were arrested at the Lazarist compound, and dozens, including Mar Dinkha, bishop of Tergawer, were executed on 23 and 24 February. Near Urmia, the large Syriac village of Gulpashan was attacked; men were killed, and women and children were abducted and raped. There were no missionaries in the Salmas valley to protect Christians, although some local Muslims tried to do so. In Dilman, the Persian governor offered shelter to 400 Christians; he was forced to surrender the men to Ottoman forces, however, who executed them in the town square. The Ottoman forces lured Christians to Haftevan, a village south of Dilman, by demanding that they register there, and arrested notable people in Dilman who were brought to the village for execution. Over two days in February, 700 to 800 people, including the entire male Christian population, was murdered in Haftevan. The killings were committed by the Ottoman army, led by Djevdet, and the local Shekak Kurdish tribe, led by Simko Shikak. In April, Ottoman army commander Halil Pasha arrived in Azerbaijan with reinforcements from Rowanduz. Halil and Djevdet ordered the murder of Armenian and Syriac soldiers serving in the Ottoman army, and several hundred were killed. In several other massacres in Azerbaijan in early 1915, hundreds of Christians were killed and women were targeted for kidnapping and rape; seventy villages were destroyed. In May and June, Christians who had fled to the Caucasus returned to find their villages destroyed. Armenian and Assyrian volunteers attacked Muslims in revenge. After retreating from Persia, Ottoman forces—blaming Armenians and Assyrians for their defeat—took revenge against Ottoman Christians. Ottoman atrocities in Persia were widely covered by international media in mid-March 1915, prompting a declaration on 24 May by Russia, France, and the United Kingdom condemning them. The Blue Book, a collection of eyewitness reports of Ottoman atrocities published by the British government in 1916, devoted 104 of its 684 pages to the Assyrians. ## Butcher battalion in Bitlis A Kurdish rebellion in Bitlis province was suppressed shortly before the outbreak of war in November 1914. The CUP government reversed its previous opposition to the Hamidiye regiments, recruiting them to put down the rebellion. As elsewhere, military requisitions became pillage; in February, labor-battalion recruits began to disappear. In July and August 1915, 2,000 Chaldeans and Syriac Orthodox from Bitlis were among those who fled to the Caucasus when the Russian army retreated from Van. Before the war, Siirt and the surrounding area were Christian enclaves populated largely by Chaldean Catholics. Catholic priest Jacques Rhétoré [fr] estimated that there were 60,000 Christians living in the Siirt district (sanjak), including 15,000 Chaldeans and 20,000 Syriac Orthodox. Violence in Siirt began on 9 June with the arrest and execution of Armenian, Syriac Orthodox, and Chaldean clerics and notable residents, including the Chaldean bishop Addai Sher. After retreating from Persia, Djevdet led the siege of Van; he continued to Bitlis province in June with 8,000 soldiers, whom he called the "butcher battalion" (). The arrival of these troops in Siirt led to more violence. District governor (mutasarrif) Serfiçeli Hilmi Bey and Siirt mayor Abdul Ressak were replaced because they did not support the killing. Forty local officials in Siirt organized the massacres. During the month-long massacre, Christians were killed in the streets or their houses (which were looted). The Chaldean diocese of Siirt was destroyed, including its library of rare manuscripts. The massacre was organized by Bitlis governor Abdülhalik Renda, the chief of police, the mayor, and other prominent local residents. The killing in Siirt was committed by çetes, and the surrounding villages were destroyed by Kurds; many local Kurdish tribes were involved. According to Venezuelan mercenary Rafael de Nogales, the massacre was planned as revenge for Ottoman defeats by Russia. De Nogales believed that Halil was trying to assassinate him, since the CUP had disposed of other witnesses. He left Siirt as quickly as he could, passing deportation columns of Syriac and Armenian women and children. Only 400 people were deported from Siirt; the remainder were killed or kidnapped by Muslims. The deportees (women and children, since the men had been executed) were forced to march west from Siirt towards Mardin or south towards Mosul, assaulted by police. As they passed through, their possessions, including their clothes, were stolen by local Kurds and Turks. Those unable to keep up were killed. Women considered attractive were abducted by police or Kurds, raped, and killed. One site of attacks and robbery by Kurds was the gorge of Wadi Wawela in Sawro kaza, northeast of Mardin. No deportees reached Mardin, and only 50 to 100 Chaldeans (of an original 7,000 to 8,000) reached Mosul. Three Assyrian villages in Siirt—Dentas, Piroze and Hertevin—survived the Sayfo, existing until 1968 when their residents emigrated. After leaving Siirt, Djevdet proceeded to Bitlis and arrived on 25 June. His forces killed men, and the women and girls were enslaved by Turks and Kurds. The Syriac Orthodox Church estimated its Bitlis province losses at 8,500, primarily in Schirwan and Gharzan. ## Diyarbekir The situation for Christians in Diyarbekir province worsened during the winter of 1914–1915; the Saint Ephraim church was vandalized, and four young men from the Syriac village of Qarabash (near Diyarbekir) were hanged for desertion. Syriacs who protested the executions were clubbed by police, and two died. In March, many non-Muslim soldiers were disarmed and transferred to road-building labor battalions. Harsh conditions, mistreatment, and individual murders led to many deaths. On 25 March, CUP founding member Mehmed Reshid was appointed governor of Diyarbekir. Chosen for his record of anti-Armenian violence, Reshid brought thirty Special Organization members (mainly Circassians) who were joined by released convicts. Many local officials (kaymakams and district governors) refused to follow Reshid's orders, and were replaced in May and June 1915. Kurdish confederations were offered rewards to allow their Syriac clients to be killed. Government allies complied (including the Milli and Dekşuri), and many who had supported the anti-CUP 1914 Bedirhan revolt switched sides because the extermination of Christians did not threaten their interests. The Raman tribe became enthusiastic executioners for Reshid, but parts of the Heverkan leadership protected Christians; this limited Reshid's genocide, and allowed pockets of resistance to survive in Tur Abdin. Some Yazidis, who were also persecuted by the government, aided the Christians. The killers in Diyarbekir were typically volunteers organized by local leaders, and the freelance perpetrators took a share of the loot. Some women and children were abducted into local Kurdish or Arab families. Thousands of Armenians and several hundred Syriacs (including all their clergymen) in Diyarbekir city were arrested, deported, and massacred in June. In the Viranşehir kaza, west of Mardin, its Armenians were massacred in late May and June 1915. Syriacs were not killed, but many lost their property and some were deported to Mardin in August. In total, 178 Syriac towns and villages near Diyarbekir were wiped out and most of them razed. ### Targeting of non-Armenian Christians Under Reshid's leadership, a systematic anti-Christian extermination was conducted in Diyarbekir province which included Syriacs and the province's few Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholics. Reshid knew that his decision to extend the persecution to all Christians in Diyarbekir was against the central government's wishes, and he concealed relevant information from his communications. Unlike the government, Reshid and his Mardin deputy Bedri Bey classified all Aramaic-speaking Christians as Armenians: enemies of the CUP who must be eliminated. Reshid planned to replace Diyarbekir's Christians with selected, approved Muslim settlers to counterbalance the potentially-rebellious Kurds; in practice, however, the areas were resettled by Kurds and the genocide consolidated the province's Kurdish presence. Historian Uğur Ümit Üngör says that in Diyarbekir, "most instances of massacre in which the militia engaged were directly ordered by" Reshid and "all Christian communities of Diyarbekir were equally hit by the genocide, although the Armenians were often particularly singled out for immediate destruction". The priest Jacques Rhétoré estimated that the Syriac Orthodox in Diyarbekir province lost 72 percent of their population, compared to 92 percent of Armenian Catholics and 97 percent of Armenian Apostolic Church adherents. German diplomats noticed that the Ottoman deportations were targeting groups other than Armenians, leading to a complaint from the German government. Austria-Hungary and the Holy See also protested the violence against non-Armenians. Talaat Pasha telegraphed Reshid on 12 July 1915 that "measures adopted against the Armenians are absolutely not to be extended to other Christians ... you are ordered to put an immediate end to these acts". No action was taken against Reshid for exterminating Syriac Christians or assassinating Ottoman officials who disagreed with the massacres, however, and in 1916 he was appointed governor of Ankara. Talaat's telegram may have been sent in response to German and Austrian opposition to the massacres, with no expectation of implementation. The perpetrators began separating Armenians and Syriacs in early July, only killing the former; however, the killing of Syriacs resumed in August and September. ### Mardin district Christians in Mardin were largely untouched until May 1915. At the end of May, they heard about the abduction of Christian women and the murder of wealthy Christians elsewhere in Diyarbekir to steal their property. Extortion and violence began in Mardin district, despite the efforts of district governor Hilmi Bey. Hilmi rejected Reshid's demands to arrest Christians in Mardin, saying that they posed no threat to the state. Reshid sent Pirinççizâde Aziz Feyzi to incite anti-Christian violence in April and May, and Feyzi bribed or persuaded the Deşi, Mışkiye, Kiki and Helecan chieftains to join him. Mardin police chief Memduh Bey arrested dozens of men in early June, using torture to extract confessions of treason and disloyalty and extorting money from their families. Reshid appointed a new mayor and officials in Mardin, who organized a 500-man militia to kill. He also urged the central government to depose Hilmi, which it did on 8 June. He was replaced by the equally-resistant Shefik, whom Reshid also tried to depose. The cooperative Ibrahim Bedri was appointed as an official and Reshid used him to carry out his orders, bypassing Shefik. Reshid also replaced Midyat governor Nuri Bey with the hardline Edib Bey in July 1915, after Nuri refused to cooperate with Reshid. On the night of 26 May, militiamen were caught attempting to plant arms in a Syriac Catholic church in Mardin. Their intent was to cite the supposed discovery of an arms cache as evidence of a Christian rebellion to justify the planned massacres. Mardin's well-to-do Christians were deported in convoys, the first of which left the city on 10 June. Those who refused to convert to Islam were murdered on the road to Diyarbekir. Half of the second convoy, which departed on 12 June, had been massacred before messengers from Diyarbekir announced that the non-Armenians had been pardoned by the sultan; they were subsequently freed. Other convoys from Mardin were targeted for extermination from late June until October. The city's Syriac Orthodox made a deal with authorities and were spared, but the other Christian denominations were decimated. All Christian denominations were treated the same in the Mardin district countryside. Militia and Kurds attacked the village of Tell Ermen on 1 July, killing men, women, and children indiscriminately in the church after raping the women. The next day, more than 1,000 Syriac Orthodox and Catholics were massacred in Eqsor by militia and Kurds from the Milli, Deşi, Mişkiye, and Helecan tribes. Looting continued for several days before the village was burned down (which could be seen from Mardin). In Nusaybin, Talaat's order to spare the Syriacs was ignored as Christians of all denominations (including many Syriac Orthodox Church members) were arrested in mid-August and murdered in a ravine. In Djezire (Cizre) kaza, Syriac Orthodox leader Gabro Khaddo cooperated with the authorities, defused plans for armed resistance, and paid a large ransom in June 1915; almost all Syriacs were killed with the kaza's Armenians at the end of August. Some Armenian and Syriac Orthodox men were drafted to work in road construction or harvesting crops in place of those who had been killed. In August 1915, the harvest was over; the Armenians were killed, and the Syriacs were released. #### Tur Abdin In Tur Abdin, some Syriac Christians fought their attempted extermination. This was considered treason by Ottoman officials, who reported massacre victims as rebels. Christians in Midyat considered resistance after hearing about massacres elsewhere, but the local Syriac Orthodox community initially refused to support this. On 21 June, 100 men (mostly Armenians and Protestants) were arrested, tortured for confessions implicating others, and executed outside the city; this panicked the Syriac Orthodox. Local people refused to hand over their arms, attacked government offices, and cut telegraph lines; local Arab and Kurdish tribes were recruited to attack the Christians. The town was pacified in early August after weeks of bloody urban warfare which killed hundreds of Christians. Survivors fled east to the more-defensible Iwardo, which held out successfully with the food aid of local Yazidis. In June 1915, many Syriacs from Midyat kaza were massacred; others fled to the hills. A month earlier, local tribes and the Ramans began attacking Christian villages near Azakh (present-day İdil) on the road from Midyat to Djezire. Survivors fled to Azakh, since it was defensible. The villages were attacked from north to south, giving the attackers at Azakh (one of the southernmost villages) more time to prepare. The primarily Syriac Orthodox village refused to hand over Catholics and Protestants, as demanded by the authorities. Azakh was first attacked on 17 or 18 August, but the defenders repelled this and subsequent attacks over the next three weeks. Against the advice of General Mahmud Kâmil Pasha, Enver ordered the rebellion suppressed in November. Parts of the Third, Fourth, and Sixth Armies and a Turkish–German expeditionary force under Max Erwin von Scheubner-Richter and Ömer Naji were sent to crush the rebels, the latter diverted from attacking Tabriz. To justify the attack on Azakh, Ottoman officials claimed (with no evidence) that Armenian rebels had "cruelly massacred the Muslim population of the region". Scheubner, skeptical of the attack, forbade any Germans from participating. German general Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz and the German ambassador in Constantinople, Konstantin von Neurath, informed Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg of the Ottoman request for German assistance in crushing the resistance. The Germans refused, fearing that the Ottomans would insinuate that the Germans initiated the anti-Christian atrocities. The defenders launched a surprise attack on Ottoman troops during the night of 13–14 November, which led to a truce (lobbied by the Germans) which ended the resistance on favorable terms for the villagers. On 25 December 1915, the Ottoman government decreed that "instead of deporting all of the Syriac people", they were to be confined "in their present locations". Most of Tur Abdin was in ruins by this time, except for villages which resisted and families who found refuge in monasteries. Other Syriacs had fled south, into present-day Syria and Iraq. ## Aftermath ### Ethnic violence in Azerbaijan After their expulsion from Hakkari, the Assyrians and their herds were resettled by Russian occupation authorities near Khoy, Salmas and Urmia. Many died during the first winter due to lack of food, shelter, and medical care, and they were resented by local residents for worsening living standards. Assyrian men from Hakkari offered their services to the Russian military; although their knowledge of local terrain was useful, they were poorly disciplined. In 1917, Russia's withdrawal from the war after the Russian Revolution dimmed prospects of a return to Hakkari. About 5,000 Assyrian and Armenian militia policed the area, but they frequently abused their power and killed Muslims without provocation. From February to July 1918, the region was engulfed by ethnic violence. On 22 February, local Muslims and the Persian governor began an uprising against the Christian militias in Urmia. The better-organized Christians, led by Agha Petros, brutally crushed the uprising; hundreds (possibly thousands) were killed. On 16 March, Mar Shimun and many of his bodyguards were killed by the Kurdish chieftain Simko Shikak, probably at the instigation of Persian officials fearing Assyrian separatism, after they met to discuss an alliance. Assyrians went on a killing and looting spree; unable to find Simko, they murdered Persian officials and inhabitants. The Kurds responded by massacring Christians, regardless of denomination or ethnicity. Christians were massacred in Salmas in June and in Urmia in early July, and many Assyrian women were abducted. Christian militias in Azerbaijan were no match for the Ottoman army when it invaded in July 1918. Tens of thousands of Ottoman and Persian Assyrians fled south to Hamadan, where the British Dunsterforce was garrisoned, on 18 July to escape Ottoman forces approaching Urmia under Ali İhsan Sâbis. The Ottoman invasion was followed by killings of Christians, including Chaldean archbishop Toma Audo, and the sacking of Urmia. Some remained in Persia, but there was another anti-Christian massacre on 24 May 1919. Historian Florence Hellot-Bellier says that the interethnic violence of 1918 and 1919 "demonstrate[s] the degree of violence and resentment which had accumulated throughout all of these years of war and the break-up of the long-standing links between the inhabitants of the Urmia region". According to Gaunt, Assyrian "victims, when given the chance, turned without hesitation into perpetrators". ### Exile in Iraq During the journey to Hamadan, the Assyrians were harassed by Kurdish irregulars (probably at the instigation of Simko and Sayyid Taha); some died of exhaustion. Many were killed near Heydarabad, and another 5,000 during an ambush by Ottoman forces and Kurdish irregulars near the Sahin Ghal'e mountain pass. Dependent on the British for protection, they were resettled in a refugee camp in Baqubah (near Baghdad) which held fifteen thousand Armenians and thirty-five thousand Assyrians in October 1918. Conditions at the camp were poor, and an estimated 7,000 Assyrians died there. Although the United Kingdom requested that Assyrian refugees be allowed to return, the Persian government refused. In 1920, the camp in Baqubah was shut down and Assyrians hoping to return to Azerbaijan or Hakkari were sent northwards to Midan. About 4,500 Assyrians were resettled near Duhok and Akre in northern Iraq. They worked as soldiers for the British rulers of Mandatory Iraq, which backfired when the British did not follow through with their repeated promises to resettle Assyrians in areas where they would be safer. After the end of the mandate, Assyrians were killed in the 1933 Simele massacre. After the massacre, France allowed 24,000 to 25,000 Assyrians to resettle along the Khabur in northeastern Syria. Other Assyrians were exiled in the Caucasus, Russia, or Lebanon, and a few immigrated to the United States, Canada, South America, and Europe. ### Assyrians in Turkey A few thousand Assyrians remained in Hakkari after 1915, and others returned after the war. Armed by the British, Agha Petros led a group of Assyrians from Tyari and Tkhuma who wanted to return in 1920; he was repulsed by Barwari chieftain Rashid Bek and the Turkish army. The remaining Assyrians were driven out again in 1924 by a Turkish army commanded by Kazim Karabekir, and the mountains were depopulated. In Siirt, Islamicized Syriacs (primarily women) were left behind. Their Kurdified (or Arabized) descendants still live there. The survivors lost access to their property, becoming landless agricultural laborers, or later, an urban underclass. The depopulated Christian villages were resettled by Kurds or Muslims from the Caucasus. During and after the genocide, more than 150 churches and monasteries were demolished. Others were converted to mosques or other uses. Many manuscripts and cultural objects were destroyed. After 1923, local politicians went on an anti-Christian campaign which negatively impacted the Syriac communities (such as Adana, Urfa or Adiyaman) unaffected by the 1915 genocide. Many were forced to abandon their property and flee to Syria, eventually settling in Aleppo, Qamishli, or the Khabur region. Despite its effort to court the Turkish nationalists, including denying that Syriac Orthodox had been persecuted during the war, the Syriac Orthodox patriarchate was expelled from Turkey in 1924. Unlike the Armenians, Jews, and Greeks, Assyrians were not recognized as a minority group in the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. The remaining population lived in submission to Kurdish aghas, subject to harassment and abuse which drove them to emigrate. Turkish laws denaturalized those who had fled and confiscated their property. Despite their citizenship rights, many Assyrians who remained in Turkey had to re-purchase their property from Kurdish aghas or risk losing their Turkish citizenship. A substantial number of Assyrians continued to live in Tur Abdin until the 1980s. Some scholars have described the ongoing exclusion and harassment of Assyrians in Turkey as a continuation of the Sayfo. ### Paris Peace Conference In 1919, Assyrians attended the Paris Peace Conference and attempted to lobby for compensation for their war losses. Although it has been labeled "the Assyrian delegation" in historiography, it was neither an official delegation nor a cohesive entity. Many attendees demanded monetary reparations for their war losses and an independent state, and all emphasized that Assyrians could not live under Muslim rule. Territory claimed by the Assyrians included parts of present-day Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. Although there was considerable sympathy for the Assyrians, none of their demands were met. The British and the French had other plans for the Middle East, and the rising Turkish nationalist movement was also an obstacle. The Assyrians recalled that the British had promised them an independent country in exchange for their support, although it is disputed if such a promise was ever made; many Assyrians felt betrayed that this desire was not fulfilled. ## Death toll Assyrian delegates at the Paris Peace Conference said that their losses were 250,000 in the Ottoman Empire and Persia, around half of the prewar population. In 1923, at the Lausanne Conference, they raised their estimate to 275,000. The source of these numbers is unknown and, according to Gaunt, their accuracy has been impossible to verify and the Assyrian delegation had an incentive to exaggerate. Although more than 50 percent of the population was killed in some areas, Assyrian communities in present-day Syria and Iraq were left mainly intact. The Sayfo was less systematic than the Armenian genocide; all Christians were killed in some places, but local officials spared Assyrians and targeted Armenians in others. ## Legacy For Assyrians, the Sayfo is considered the greatest modern example of their persecution. Eyewitness accounts of the genocide were typically passed down orally, rather than in writing; memories were often passed down in lamentations. After large-scale migration to Western countries (where Assyrians had greater freedom of speech) during the second half of the twentieth century, accounts began to be communicated more publicly by grandchildren of survivors. ### International recognition The Sayfo is less well known than the Armenian genocide, partially because its targets were divided among mutually-antagonistic churches and did not develop a collective identity. During the 1990s, before the first academic research on the Sayfo, Assyrian diaspora groups (inspired by campaigns for Armenian genocide recognition) began to press for a similar formal acknowledgement. In parallel with the political campaign, Armenian genocide research began to include Assyrians as victims. In December 2007, the International Association of Genocide Scholars passed a resolution recognizing the Assyrian genocide. The Sayfo is also recognized as a genocide in resolutions passed by Sweden (in 2010), Armenia (2015), the Netherlands (2015), and Germany (in 2016). Memorials in Armenia, Australia, Belgium, France, Greece, Sweden, Ukraine, and the United States commemorate victims of the Sayfo. ### Denial and justification The Turkish government denies that the Sayfo was a genocide; unlike its denial of the Armenian genocide, however, it prefers to avoid the issue. After the 1915 genocide, the Turkish government initially silenced its discussion in high culture and written works. Non-Turkish music and poetry were suppressed, and the Syriac Orthodox Church discouraged discussion of the Sayfo for fear of reprisals from the Turkish government. Those attempting to justify the destruction of Assyrian communities in the Ottoman Empire cite military resistance by some Assyrians against the Ottoman government. According to Gaunt et al., "Under no circumstances are states allowed to annihilate an entire population simply because it refuses to comply with a hostile government order to vacate their ancestral homes". Assyrian idealization of their military leaders, including those who committed war crimes against Muslims, has also been cited as a reason why all Assyrians deserved their fate. In 2000, Turkish Syriac Orthodox priest Yusuf Akbulut was secretly recorded saying: "At that time it was not only the Armenians but also the Assyrians [Süryani] who were massacred on the grounds that they were Christians". The recording was given to Turkish prosecutors, who charged Akbulut with inciting ethnic hatred. Assyrian diaspora activists mobilized in support of Akbulut, persuading several European members of parliament to attend his trial; after more than a year, he was acquitted and released. Turkish Australians interviewed by researcher Adriaan Wolvaardt had identical attitudes towards the Sayfo and the Armenian genocide, rejecting both as unfounded. Wolvaardt wrote that bringing up the Sayfo was "viewed as a form of hate directed against Turks", some of whom had considered leaving the Sydney suburb of Fairfield after a Sayfo memorial was built there.

Tropical Storm Ileana (2018)

Eastern Pacific tropical storm

Tropical Storm Ileana was a small tropical cyclone that affected western Mexico in early August 2018, causing deadly flooding. The eleventh tropical cyclone and ninth named storm of the 2018 Pacific hurricane season, Ileana originated from a tropical wave that the National Hurricane Center began monitoring on July 26 as the wave left the west coast of Africa. The wave traveled across the Atlantic Ocean with no thunderstorm activity, before crossing into the Eastern Pacific Ocean early on August 4. Rapidly developing, the disturbance organized into a tropical depression on the evening of the same day. Initially, the depression was well-defined, but it soon degraded due to northerly wind shear. Despite the unfavorable conditions, the system began to strengthen on August 5, becoming Tropical Storm Ileana. A day later, on August 6, Ileana began to develop an eyewall structure as it reached its peak intensity with winds of 65 mph (100 km/h) and a pressure of 998 mbar (29.47 inHg). The storm gradually became intertwined with the nearby Hurricane John; over the next day, the circulation of John disrupted Ileana before ultimately absorbing it on August 7. Ileana prompted the issuance of multiple watches and warnings along the coast of Baja California Sur and the Pacific coast of Mexico. The system paralleled the Pacific coast for much of its existence. Ileana caused a total of eight deaths in Mexico; four people were killed in Guerrero and another four died in Chiapas. Flooding also ensued in the states of Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Mexico. ## Meteorological history The origins of Ileana can be traced back to a tropical wave that departed from the west coast of Africa on July 26. The wave had virtually no convection as it crossed over the Atlantic. Once the wave entered the Eastern Pacific Ocean early on August 4, thunderstorm and convective activity rapidly increased. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) first noted the potential for development on August 3. After satellite imagery indicated that an area of low pressure had formed a few hundred miles south of the Gulf of Tehuantepec and was showing signs of organization, the NHC raised the system's two-day development chances to 50% around 17:00 UTC on August 4. Only an hour later, at 18:00 UTC, the system was designated as a tropical depression while located about 230 mi (370 km) south-southeast of Puerto Angel, Mexico. Around that time, the depression had a well-defined low-pressure center and a pronounced, arced band of deep convection. Six hours later, the structure of the depression had degraded due to northerly wind shear caused by the stronger disturbance that would later become Hurricane John. The low-level center of the depression had become exposed in the northwest as it moved out from under the edge of the convection; simultaneously, convection decreased in the east and south. The depression was traveling west-northwest under the influence of the aforementioned disturbance, which was located to the west, and a mid-level ridge located to the east. Despite the disruptive wind shear, the depression then began to strengthen, becoming Tropical Storm Ileana on August 5 at 12:00 UTC. At that time, Ileana had a fairly symmetrical structure and a central dense overcast-like feature. Ileana continued to strengthen over the next day after entering an area with warm sea surface temperatures of 86 to 88 °F (30 to 31 °C). Ileana reached peak intensity on August 6 at 12:00 UTC with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 998 mbar (29.47 inHg), while located approximately 115 mi (185 km) southwest of Acapulco. Around the same time, Ileana had strong deep convection with cloud temperatures of −121 to −130 °F (−85 to −90 °C). Soon after, microwave imagery and Acapulco radar showed the emergence of an eyewall structure at the mid-levels of the system. By 21:00 UTC on August 6, Ileana had become increasingly intertwined in the outer bands of Hurricane John to the west as the two systems began to experience the Fujiwhara effect. The nearby Sierra Madre Mountains further disrupted Ileana's circulation center. The storm was completely absorbed by John at 12:00 UTC on August 7, just west of Cabo Corrientes. ## Preparations and impact As a precautionary measure, the Government of Mexico issued a tropical storm watch for the country's Pacific coast from Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán, to Cabo Corrientes, Jalisco, on August 5 at 22:40 UTC. The watch was upgraded to a tropical storm warning at 03:00 UTC on August 6. Six hours later, the Government of Mexico issued a hurricane watch for Punta San Telmo, Michoacán, to Playa Perula, Jalisco, and a tropical storm watch for the southern tip of Baja California Sur from Los Barrilles to Todos Santos. All watches and warnings were gradually discontinued after Ileana's strongest winds were forecast to remain offshore. Overall, a green alert was issued for Mexico, signifying a low level of danger. Heavy rainfall in association with Ileana prompted the issuance of orange alerts in Álvaro Obregón and Magdalena Contreras as well as yellow alerts for the rest of Mexico City. In the state of Guerrero, Ileana caused a total of four deaths. On August 5, the body of 35-year-old man was discovered in the Huacapa River in Chilpancingo. The man had reportedly been pushing a car out of a ravine when a strong current pulled him down to the river where he drowned. A fishing boat capsized in Acapulco, causing an 8-year-old and a 15-year-old to fall into the Laguna and drown. The storm caused power outages in multiple Acapulcan neighborhoods and left flooding there. A rainfall total of 3.54 in (90 mm) was recorded at the Acapulco International Airport. Rip currents along the coast at Acapulco resulted in the death of a tourist at La Condesa beach. He was rescued by lifeguards, but later died despite receiving medical treatment. In the nearby municipality of Coyuca de Benítez, at least 20 homes were inundated and numerous streets were flooded. In the municipality of Santiago Choapam in Oaxaca, heavy rains from Ileana caused a landslide that left a house in ruins. All inhabitants of the structure were unharmed. A peak rainfall total of 7.71 in (196 mm) was observed in Jacatepec, Oaxaca. In Jiquipilas, Chiapas, Ileana caused another four deaths on August 6. A vehicle containing 18 individuals was swept away by water currents while attempting to cross a flooded bridge; three children and one adult were later found dead. The state of Michoacán required MX$13.6 million (US$737,000) to repair damage to roads and houses in 15 neighborhoods. In the state of Mexico, heavy rains from Ileana caused severe flooding; in the municipality of Huixquilucan, two homes were flooded and a sewage canal overflowed. The Anillo Periférico, Mexico City – Toluca highway, and several other roads in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area experienced flooding. The Mexico City Metro (STC) also implemented safety measures for several of its lines, such as the manual operation of trains and decrease in travel speed. The San Jerónimo Canal overflowed in the El Rosal neighborhood in Magdalena Contreras. A tree measuring 15 m (49 ft) in height completely blocked a road and a total of 33 structures were inundated throughout Mexico City. ## See also - Weather of 2018 - Tropical cyclones in 2018 - List of Eastern Pacific tropical storms - Other tropical cyclones named Ileana - Tropical Storm Irwin (1993) – a tropical storm of a similar intensity that was also absorbed by a nearby hurricane - Hurricane Erick (2013) – Category 1 hurricane that followed a similar path and affected similar areas

Francis Willughby

English ornithologist and ichthyologist

Francis Willughby (sometimes spelt Willoughby, ) FRS (22 November 1635 – 3 July 1672) was an English ornithologist, ichthyologist and mathematician, and an early student of linguistics and games. He was born and raised at Middleton Hall, Warwickshire, the only son of an affluent country family. He was a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was tutored by the mathematician and naturalist John Ray, who became a lifetime friend and colleague, and lived with Willughby after 1662 when Ray lost his livelihood through his refusal to sign the Act of Uniformity. Willughby was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1661, then aged 27. Willughby, Ray, and others such as John Wilkins were advocates of a new way of studying science, relying on observation and classification, rather than the received authority of Aristotle and the Bible. To this end, Willughby, Ray and their friends undertook a number of journeys to gather information and specimens, initially in England and Wales, but culminating in an extensive tour of continental Europe, visiting museums, libraries and private collections as well as studying local animals and plants. After their continental tour, he and Ray lived and worked mainly at Middleton Hall. Willughby married Emma Barnard in 1668 and the couple had three children. Willughby had suffered bouts of illness over the years, and eventually died of pleurisy in July 1672, aged 36. His premature death meant that it fell to Ray to complete the works on animals they had jointly planned. In due course, Ray published books on birds, fish and invertebrates, the Ornithologiae Libri Tres, Historia Piscium and Historia Insectorum. The Ornithology was also published in an expanded form in English. The books included innovative and effective ways of classifying animals, and all three were influential in the history of life science, including their effect on subsequent natural history writers and their importance in the development of Linnaeus's binomial nomenclature. ## Early life Francis Willughby was born at Middleton Hall, Warwickshire on 22 November 1635, the only son of Sir Francis Willoughby and his wife Cassandra (née Ridgeway). His grandfathers were Sir Percival Willoughby of Wollaton Hall, and Thomas Ridgeway, 1st Earl of Londonderry. The family were affluent gentry, whose main seat, inherited by Francis, was Wollaton Hall, now in Nottingham. The younger Francis studied at Bishop Vesey's Grammar School, Sutton Coldfield and Trinity College, Cambridge. He appears to have read widely, his library at his death containing an estimated 2,000 books, including literary, historical and heraldic works as well as natural science volumes. Willughby commenced his studies at Trinity aged 17 as a Fellow-commoner. His tutor was James Duport, who shared the Willughbys' royalist sympathies in the English Civil War. John Ray, then a mathematics fellow at Trinity, arranged for his student Isaac Barrow to teach Willughby that subject. The two became friends, and in 1655 Barrow dedicated his Euclid's Elements to Willughby and two other wealthy fellow pupils. Although affluent students often left university without a degree, Willughby graduated BA in January 1656, and this was later promoted to MA by seniority in July 1660. In 1657 he joined Gray's Inn, not an unusual step for a man of property who might have to deal with legal disputes. Willughby and Ray had collaborated at Trinity on several "chymistry" projects, including making "sugar of lead" and extracting antimony, and in 1663 Willughby, then aged 27, was elected a founder Fellow of the Royal Society on the nominations of Ray and John Wilkins, who became Master of Trinity College in 1660, and eventually Bishop of Chester. In 1667 Ray was also elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society, but was excused the subscription because of his relative poverty. ## Travels In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, Francis Bacon had advocated the advancement of knowledge through observation and experiment, rather than relying on the authority of Aristotle and the church. The Royal Society and its members such as Ray, Wilkins and Willughby sought to put the empirical method into practice, including travelling to collect specimens and information. Willughby helped Ray in collecting plants for his botanical work Catalogus Plantarum circa Cantabrigiam Nascentium (the Cambridge Catalogue), which was published anonymously in February 1660. Later that year, Ray and Willughby journeyed through northern England to the Lake District, the Isle of Man and the Calf of Man, seeing a Manx shearwater chick at the last site. Willughby then briefly visited the University of Oxford to consult some rare natural history books. ### Cheshire and Wales In May 1662, Willughby, Ray and Philip Skippon, Ray's student, set out on a second journey through Nantwich and Chester and west to Anglesey. They returned inland to Llanberis and were shown a local lake fish called a torgoch, which Willughby recognised as essentially the same as the Windermere charr he had described previously in the Lake District. The party then headed south through west Wales to Pembroke, visiting Bardsey Island on the way. They then proceeded back along the Welsh south coast to Tenby, where they saw many fish species, and Aberavon, where they were shown a rare black-winged stilt. Willughby interviewed Welsh speakers to attempt a systematic study of the language that, although never published, influenced subsequent scholars. It was during this trip that Ray and Willughby decided to attempt to classify all living things, with Ray mainly working on plants and Willughby on animals. The tables of species they produced were used by Wilkins as part of a unifying scheme later published in 1668 as An Essay towards a Real Character, and a Philosophical Language. Wilkins' intention was to create a universal terminology to describe the natural world, and the study of languages and writing systems was meant to create a logical linguistic framework for his classification. Willughby and his companions parted company when he fell ill at Gloucester while they continued through the West Country to Land's End. When Willughby had recovered, he spent part of the summer birdwatching in Lincolnshire. Ray and Willughby later visited the West Country together in 1667, returning via Dorset, Hampshire and London. ### Europe In August 1662 Ray resigned his Fellowship at Cambridge, being unwilling to subscribe to the requirements of the Act of Uniformity imposed on Church of England clerics. Unemployed and without a source of income, his position might have been difficult, but Willughby offered him accommodation and work at Middleton, writing "I am likely to spend much of my life afterwards in wandring or else in Private Studiing at Oxford. having but little heart to thinke of settling, or ingaging in a family. I shall bee Verie glad of your constant company and assistance in my studies". In April 1663, Willughby, Ray, Skippon and Nathaniel Bacon (another friend from Trinity) departed for continental Europe on a pre-planned itinerary armed with the requisite passports and letters of introduction to notable personages, with Willughby's wealth making the trip financially viable. They intended to visit museums, libraries and private collections, and also study local animals and plants. Given the limitations of time on their demanding schedule, fish and bird markets were a useful source of information and specimens. Although all kept journals, most of Willughby's are lost, and the journey is mainly documented in Ray's Observations topographical, moral & physiological made in a journey through part of the Low-Countries, Germany, Italy and France, which included Willughby's notes from Spain. The travellers visited Brussels, the University of Leuven, Antwerp, Delft, The Hague and Leiden's university and public library. On 5 June they visited a colony of cormorants, grey herons and spoonbills at Zevenhuizen, and Willughby dissected a spoonbill chick obtained there. The party continued north through Haarlem, Amsterdam and Utrecht before heading to Strasbourg, where Willughby made a diversion to buy a handwritten book from its author, Leonard Baldner. This book was illustrated with paintings of birds, fish and other animals. Baldner was a prosperous former fisherman, town councillor and self-taught naturalist who, like the Englishmen, only wrote about what he saw. Frederick Slare FRS made a translation of the German text into English, later added to Willughby's copy after his death. Ray claimed in his preface to the Ornithology: "For my part, I must needs acknowledge that I have received much light and information from the Work of this poor man, and have been thereby inabled to clear many difficulties, and rectifie some mistakes in Gesner.", although in practice few of Baldner's insights were incorporated into the text. The party continued through Liège, Cologne and Nuremberg, and arrived in Vienna on 15 September where they stayed for several days before leaving on 24 September for Venice. The journey through the Alps was arduous, with poor mountain tracks, bad weather and little food except bread, and it was 6 October before they reached their destination, where Skippon listed 60 species of fish and 28 kinds of birds he had noted in the Venetian markets. The group remained in Venice from 6 October 1663 to 1 February 1664, apart from a trip to Padua, where they investigated medical procedures including the dissection of human corpses. They then travelled through northern Italy, stopping in Ferrara, Verona, Bologna, Milan and Genoa. In Bologna they toured the public museum of the 'Bologna Aristotle', Ulisse Aldrovandi, "by the favor of Dr. Ovidio Montalbani," its current curator. On 15 April 1664 they set sail for Naples from Livorno. It was here that the party divided, Willughby and Bacon heading to Rome, where they spent May, June and July, while Ray and Skippon went on to Sicily and Malta. Throughout the continental journey, Willughby and Skippon in particular had continued their research into languages. In Vienna, apart from visiting the local collections, they had taken the opportunity to study Turkish and several Slavic languages, and surviving manuscripts show comparison tables for seventeen languages including Basque, Armenian and Persian. Bacon contracted smallpox somewhere in Northern Italy, and Willughby continued with just a servant to Montpellier, where Ray was already present. Willughby entered Spain on 31 August and progressed through Valencia, Granada, Seville, Cordoba and Madrid, reaching Irun on 14 November. Willughby found little of scientific interest in Spain, which he considered backward. He also disliked the land and the people: "almost desolate... tyrannical inquisition... multitude of whores... wretched laziness... very like the Welsh and Irish." ## Later life and death In Seville, Willughby had received a letter saying that his father was seriously ill, so he had hastened his return to Middleton where he arrived shortly before Christmas 1664. His father died in December 1665 and Francis then became responsible for the estate. Willughby was soon being urged by his relatives to find a wife, but procrastinated knowing that this would restrict his researches. In 1661 he had sent the Royal Society the first paper to describe the life cycle of insects, and he and Ray also verified the parasitoidism of caterpillars by ichneumon wasps. Willughby also bred and studied leaf-cutter bees, his chosen research species later being named after him as Willughby's leaf-cutter bee, Megachile willughbiella. Willughby was the first person to unambiguously distinguish the honey buzzard from the common buzzard, and in 2018 it was suggested that the former species should be renamed "Willughby's Buzzard" to commemorate this. In 1668 Willughby married Emma Barnard, daughter of Sir Henry Barnard of Bridgnorth and London. They had three children. Their first child, Francis, died at the age of nineteen, while their daughter Cassandra Willoughby married the Duke of Chandos, who was a patron of the English naturalist Mark Catesby. The second son, Thomas, was created Baron Middleton in 1711 by Queen Anne. Willughby and Ray continued their researches, now mainly on birds, with the help of Francis Jessop, another Trinity alumnus, who sent them specimens from the Peak District, including twite and red grouse. They also were the first to investigate the active flow of sap in birches. Willughby had suffered several periods of illness, including violent fevers, between 1668 and 1671, described by Ray as "tertian ague" (malaria), and the additional physical and financial demands occasioned by having to defend a bitterly disputed inheritance put him under more strain. On 3 June 1672 he became seriously ill again, and signed his will on 24 June, disbarring any Catholic descendants from inheriting. He died on 3 July. The immediate cause of death was pleurisy, probably related to pneumonia. He was buried at St. John the Baptist parish church, Middleton, with Ray, Skippon and Jessop present with the family at the interment. The church contains a large memorial commemorating Francis, his parents, Francis senior and Cassandra, and his son, also Francis; this was erected by his second son, Thomas. ## Subjects of his studies As well as being a friend, John Ray was one of five executors of Willughby's will, in which he was left the sum of £60 a year for life. He saw it as his duty to complete and publish his colleague's work on animals. ### Birds Willughby's Ornithology was intended to describe all the then-known birds worldwide. Its innovative features were an effective classification system based on anatomical features, such the bird's beak, feet and overall size, and a dichotomous key, which helped readers to identify birds by guiding them to the page describing that group. The authors also placed an asterisk against species of which they had no first-hand knowledge, and were therefore unable to verify. Willughby had been keen to add details of "characteristic marks" to help with identification. The authors also largely avoided the practice of previous writers, such as Conrad Gessner, by not including extraneous material relating to the species, such as proverbs, references in history and literature, or use as an emblem. The book was published in Latin as Ornithologiae Libri Tres (Three Books of Ornithology) in 1676. The first of the three sections included an introduction to bird biology, an explanation of the new classification system and the dichotomous key. The second and third sections described land birds and seabirds respectively. Emma Willughby paid for the 80 metal-engraved plates that completed the work, and this is acknowledged on the title page. The English-language version, The Ornithology of Francis Willughby of Middleton, published in 1678, included additional material, including a section on fowling to broaden its appeal, but had no mention of Willughby's widow. Its commercial success is unknown, but its influence was profound. ### Fish The next book, on fish, was many years in the making; Willughby's widow had remarried, and her new husband, Josiah Child, had barred Ray from accessing his friend's papers. Furthermore, there were far more known species of fish than there were birds to describe, and Ray was working on his own History of Plants. The Historia Piscium was finally published in Latin in 1686 with a dedication to Samuel Pepys, President of the Royal Society, who had made a generous financial contribution to the project. The book had four sections: an introduction to fish biology; cetaceans; cartilaginous fish (sharks and rays); and bony fish, the last group being further classified by the number and nature of their fins. 187 plates completed the work, their cost making the book a financial disaster for the Royal Society, which had largely funded its publication. ### "Insects" In the seventeenth century, the term "insect" had a much wider meaning than it does today, so the third major book, Historia Insectorum, included many other invertebrates, such as worms, spiders and millipedes. It excluded molluscs, perhaps because Martin Lister, another Fellow of the Royal Society, was writing his own Historia Animalium that covered that group. Ray's problems with completing this publication were much the same as with the fish book, although in 1704 he was able to see manuscripts prepared independently by Sir Thomas Willoughby and the scholar Thomas Man, Sir Thomas having moved into Wollaton Hall in 1687 and regained access to Middleton and his father's papers and possessions. Ray died in January 1705, and little happened with the Historia Insectorum until William Derham and the Royal Society finally published it in 1710 in Latin, incomplete, unillustrated and under Ray's name only. Ray, however, makes it clear that Willughby did the bulk of the insect research, including, for example, 20 pages of beetle descriptions. The book had four sections, starting with an innovative classification system based on metamorphosis. The second section contained the main species descriptions, followed by Ray's observations of butterflies and moths and their caterpillars, and an appendix by Martin Lister on British beetles. Plates prepared by Sir Thomas Willoughby were not used, and they have now been lost, as have the manuscripts Sir Thomas showed to Ray. ### Games and probability Willughby's Book of Games was unfinished at his death, but was published with accompanying interpretative material in 2003. He gave details of dozens of games and sports, including cards, cockfighting, football and word games; some are now unfamiliar, such as "Lend me your Skimmer". For each entry he included the rules, equipment and manner of play. He also studied the first games that babies and children play, and wrote a more mathematical section "On the rebounding of tennis balls". As with his biological works, the Book of Games is organised on the empirical principles of observation, description, and classification. A lost work appears to have been one that, according to his daughter Cassandra, "shews the chances of most games", which may have been titled The Book of Dice ("Historii Chartitudii"). Willughby was a competent mathematician, and there is evidence that the lost text considered probability with regard to card and dice games. ### Illustrations and sources The numerous plates illustrating the species in the bird and fish books came from a number of sources. Willughby's own extensive collection included paintings he had bought on his European travels, and he also borrowed pictures owned by friends like Skippon and Sir Thomas Browne. Many illustrations were taken from previous publications by other writers, and some were based on Francis Barlow's oil-paintings of birds in Charles II's aviary in St James's Park. The illustrations taken from earlier books were from many sources, particularly the earlier natural histories or ornithologies by Ulisse Aldrovandi, Pietro Olina, Georg Marcgrave and Willem Piso. Where feasible, Willughby and Ray compared the available illustrations with life or specimens, or, if that were not possible, against each other, to select the most accurate version for publication. In addition to these authors, sources used for the text included works by Carolus Clusius, Adriaen Collaert, Gervase Markham, Juan Eusebio Nieremberg and Ole Worm. Olina's Ucelliera, at least, seems to have been revisited between the Latin and English editions of the Ornithology, since the later version contains a description of territorial behaviour by the nightingale absent from the earlier work. ## Legacy Much of Willughby's written work has been lost, along with his scientific equipment and most of his collections of items of natural history interest; what remains is largely owned by the family and housed in the University of Nottingham Middleton archive. The Ornithology influenced Réamur in organising his great bird collection, and Brisson in the compilation of his own work on the topic. Georges Cuvier commented on the influence of the Historia Piscium, and Carl Linnaeus from 1735 onwards relied heavily on Willughby and Ray's books in his Systema Naturae, the basis of binomial nomenclature. The lack of physical evidence, together with Willughby's early death and the publication of his books by Ray, means that the relative contributions of the two men has subsequently been disputed. Willughby's work was initially well-regarded, but Ray's reputation grew as time passed, and, in 1788, the English botanist James Edward Smith wrote that Willughby's contribution had been overstated by his friend, who gave himself too little credit. The opposite view was given by William Swainson, who felt that Ray's fame rested entirely on that of his patron, and he lacked the genius to have achieved anything on his own. The pendulum swung again when Charles E. Raven wrote his 1942 biography of Ray, seeing him as the senior partner and saying that Willughby had "less knowledge, patience and judgment" than Ray, whom he considered a scientist of genius, and whose contributions he tended to compare favourably with the achievements of most other writers. Raven was unaware of the Willughby family archive at the University of Nottingham when he wrote his book, and access to that and other new material have led to modern appraisals giving a more balanced picture, with the two men seen to have made significant individual contributions, each demonstrating his own strengths. Willughby and Ray discovered several previously undescribed species of birds, fish and invertebrates. The names of the Windermere charr (Salvelinus willughbii), Willughby's leaf-cutter bee (Megachile willughbiella) and the tropical plant genus Willughbeia all commemorate the younger man. However, Willughby and Ray's main influence was through their three books, especially the Ornithology, with their emphasis on systematic description and classification. Even Willughby's own collection of 170 plates and nature paintings seems to be intended not just to provide individual illustrations, but to be an integral part of a collection intended to reinforce the order of nature. ## Books

Marshalsea

Former prison in Southwark, London

The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners—including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition—it became known, in particular, for its incarceration of the poorest of London's debtors. Over half of England's prisoners in the 18th century were in jail because of debt. Run privately for profit, as were all English prisons until the 19th century, the Marshalsea looked like an Oxbridge college and functioned as an extortion racket. Debtors in the 18th century who could afford the prison fees had access to a bar, shop and restaurant, and retained the crucial privilege of being allowed out during the day, which gave them a chance to earn money for their creditors. Everyone else was crammed into one of nine small rooms with dozens of others, possibly for years for the most modest of debts, which increased as unpaid prison fees accumulated. The poorest faced starvation and, if they crossed the jailers, torture with skullcaps and thumbscrews. A parliamentary committee reported in 1729 that 300 inmates had starved to death within a three-month period, and that eight to ten were dying every 24 hours in the warmer weather. The prison became known around the world in the 19th century through the writing of the English novelist Charles Dickens, whose father was sent there in 1824, when Dickens was 12, for a debt to a baker. Forced as a result to leave school to work in a factory, Dickens based several of his characters on his experience, most notably Amy Dorrit, whose father is in the Marshalsea for debts so complex no one can fathom how to get him out. Much of the prison was demolished in the 1870s, although parts of it were used as shops and rooms into the 20th century. A local library now stands on the site. All that is left of the Marshalsea is the long brick wall that marked its southern boundary, the existence of what Dickens called "the crowding ghosts of many miserable years" recalled only by a plaque from the local council. "[I]t is gone now," he wrote, "and the world is none the worse without it." ## Background ### Etymology, Marshalsea Court Marshalsea or marshalcy referred to the office of a marshal, derived from the Anglo-French mareschalcie. Marshal originally meant farrier, from the Old Germanic marh (horse) and scalc (servant), later a title bestowed on those presiding over the courts of Medieval Europe. Marshalsea was originally the name of the Marshalsea Court. The prison was built to hold those brought before that court and the Court of the King's Bench, to which Marshalsea rulings could be appealed. Also known as the Court of the Verge, and the Court of the Marshalsea of the Household of the Kings of England, the Marshalsea court was a jurisdiction of the royal household. From around 1290, it governed members of the household who lived within "the verge", defined as within 12 miles (19 km) of the king. From 1530 to 1698 the verge was usually 12 miles around the Palace of Whitehall, the royal family's main residence, but the Marshalsea was an ambulatory court that moved around the country with the king, dealing with trespass, contempt and debt. Increasingly it came to be used by people not connected to the royal household. ### Southwark Settled by the Romans around 43 AD, Southwark served as an entry point into London from southern England, particularly along Watling Street, the Roman road from Canterbury. This ran into what is now Southwark's Borough High Street and from there north to old London Bridge. The area became known for its travellers and inns, including Geoffrey Chaucer's Tabard Inn. The itinerant population brought with it poverty, prostitutes, bear baiting, theatres (including Shakespeare's Globe) and prisons. In 1796 there were five prisons in Southwark—the Clink, King's Bench, Borough Compter, White Lion and the Marshalsea—compared to 18 in London as a whole. ### Prisons in England Until the 19th century imprisonment in England was not viewed as a punishment, except for minor offences such as vagrancy; prisons simply held people until their creditors had been paid or their fate decided by judges. Options included execution (ended 1964), flogging (1961), the stocks (1872), the pillory (1830), the ducking stool (1817), joining the military, or penal transportation to America or Australia (1867). In 1774 there were just over 4,000 prisoners in Britain, half of them debtors, out of a population of six million. (In 2010 there were over 85,000 prisoners in England and Wales out of a population of 56 million.) Eighteenth-century prisons were effectively lodging houses. Poorly maintained and often filthy, they might consist of a couple of rooms in a cellar. Before the Gaols Act 1823 (4 Geo. 4. c. 64), then the Prisons Act 1835 and the Prison Act 1877, they were administered by the royal household, the aristocracy and the bishops, and run for profit by private individuals who bought the right to manage and make money from them. Prisoners had to pay rent, feed and clothe themselves and, in the larger prisons, furnish their rooms. One man found not guilty at trial in 1669 was not released because he owed prison fees from his pre-trial confinement, a position supported by the judge, Matthew Hale. Jailers sold food or let out space for others to open shops; the Marshalsea contained several shops and small restaurants. Prisoners with no money or external support faced starvation. If the prison did supply food to its non-paying inmates, it was purchased with charitable donations—donations sometimes siphoned off by the jailers—usually bread and water with a small amount of meat, or something confiscated as unfit for human consumption. Jailers would load prisoners with fetters and other iron, then charge for their removal, known as "easement of irons" (or "choice of irons"); this became known as the "trade of chains". The prison reformer John Howard travelled around the country in the 1770s inspecting jails, and presented his research in The State of the Prisons in England and Wales (1777). In a jail owned by the Bishop of Ely, Howard wrote, prisoners had ten years earlier been kept chained to the floor on their backs, with spiked collars round their necks and iron bars over their legs. The Duke of Portland had a one-room cellar in Chesterfield that housed four prisoners, with no straw or heat, which had not been cleaned for months. Lord Arundel owned a jail in Penzance, where Howard found a debtor in a room 11 ft × 11 ft and 6 ft high, with a small window. The door of the room had not been opened for four weeks. ### Debt in England Before the Bankruptcy Act 1869, debtors in England were routinely imprisoned at the pleasure of their creditors. Around 10,000 people in England and Wales were in prison for debt in 1641, often for small amounts. In the 18th century debtors comprised over half the prison population: 945 of London's 1,500 prisoners in 1779 were debtors. According to John Wade, writing in 1829, in London in 1826–1827, 753 people were imprisoned for debts under £5, for between 20 and 100 days. In Southwark that year the debts of 1,893 prisoners amounted collectively to £16,442 (). Other European countries had legislation limiting imprisonment for debt to one year, but debtors in England were imprisoned until their creditors were satisfied. When the Fleet Prison closed in 1842, two debtors were found to have been there for 30 years. Prisoners would often take their families with them, which meant that entire communities sprang up inside the debtors' jails. The community created its own economy, with jailers charging for room, food, drink and furniture, or selling concessions to others, and attorneys charging fees in fruitless efforts to get the debtors out. Prisoners' families, including children, often had to find employment simply to cover the cost of the imprisonment. Legislation began to address the problem from 1649 onwards, but it was slow to make a difference. Helen Small writes that, under George III (reigned 1760–1820), new legislation prevented debts of under 40 shillings leading to jail () but even the smallest debt would exceed that once lawyers' fees were added. Under the Insolvent Debtors Act 1813, debtors could request release after 14 days by taking an oath that their assets did not exceed £20, but if a creditor objected they had to stay inside. Even after years in prison, the debt remained to be paid. ## First Marshalsea (1373–1811) ### Overview, sources The Marshalsea occupied two buildings on the same street in Southwark. The first dated back to the 14th century at what would now be 161 Borough High Street, between King Street and Mermaid Court. By the late 16th century, the building was "crumbling". In 1799 the government reported that it would be rebuilt 130 yards (120 m) south on what is now 211 Borough High Street. Measuring around 150 by 50 feet (46 by 15 metres), with a turreted front lodge, the first Marshalsea was set slightly back from Borough High Street. There is no record of when it was built. Historian Jerry White writes that it existed by 1300, but according to Ida Darlington, editor of the 1955 Survey of London, there is a mention of "the good men of the town of Suthwerk" being granted a licence in 1373 to build a house on Southwark's High Street to hold prisoners appearing before the Marshalsea of the King's household. Darlington writes that earlier mentions of a Marshalsea prison may refer to other prisons, one kept by the Knight Marshal at York and another at Canterbury. There is a reference to the Marshalsea prison in Southwark being set on fire in 1381 by Wat Tyler during the Peasants' Revolt. John Cope, esquire, is described as marshal of the marshalsea hospice in 1412; William Bradwardyn was described as marshal in 1421. Robert Fayrford is named as a coroner in the court of the Marshalsea Hospice, in 1433; Further, Henry Langton, as marshall, in 1452. Most of the first Marshalsea, as with the second, was taken up by debtors; in 1773 debtors within 12 miles of Westminster could be imprisoned there for a debt of 40 shillings. Jerry White writes that London's poorest debtors were housed in the Marshalsea. Wealthier debtors secured their removal from the Marshalsea by writ of habeas corpus, and arranged to be moved to the Fleet or King's Bench, both of which were more comfortable. The prison also held a small number of men being tried at the Old Bailey for crimes at sea. The Marshalsea was technically under the control of the Knight Marshal, but was let out to others who ran it for profit. For example, in 1727 the Knight Marshal, Philip Meadows, hired John Darby, a printer, as prison governor, who in turn leased it to William Acton, a butcher (who was later tried for murdering three of its prisoners). Acton had previously worked as one of the prison's turnkeys. He paid Darby £140 a year () for a seven-year lease, giving him the right to act as resident warden and chief turnkey, and an additional £260 for the right to collect rent from the rooms, and sell food and drink. Much of our information about the first Marshalsea is about the prison in the early 18th century, courtesy of three sources. John Baptist Grano (1692 – c. 1748), one of George Frederick Handel's trumpeters at the opera house in London's Haymarket, was jailed there for a debt of £99 (£ today), and kept a detailed diary, A Journal of My Life inside the Marshalsea, of his 458-day incarceration from 30 May 1728 until 23 September 1729. The other two key sources are a 1729 report by a parliamentary committee, led by James Oglethorpe MP, on the state of the Fleet and the Marshalsea, and the subsequent murder trial that year of William Acton, the Marshalsea's chief jailor. ### Master's side By the 18th century, the prison had separate areas for its two classes of prisoner: the master's side, which housed about 50 rooms for rent, and the common or poor side, consisting of nine small rooms, or wards, into which 300 people were confined from dusk until dawn. Room rents on the master's side were ten shillings a week in 1728, with most prisoners forced to share. John Baptist Grano paid 2s 6d (two shillings and six pennies) for a room with two beds on the master's side, shared with three other prisoners: Daniel Blunt, a tailor who owed £9, Benjamin Sandford, a lighterman from Bermondsey who owed £55, and a Mr. Blundell, a jeweller. Women prisoners who could pay the fees were housed in the women's quarters, known as the oak. The wives, daughters and lovers of male prisoners were allowed to live with them, if someone was paying their way. Known as the castle by inmates, the prison had a turreted lodge at the entrance, with a side room called the pound, where new prisoners would wait until a room was found for them. The front lodge led to a courtyard known as the park. This had been divided in two by a long narrow wall, so that prisoners from the common side could not be seen by those on the master's side, who preferred not to be distressed by the sight of abject poverty, especially when they might themselves be plunged into it at any moment. There was a bar run by the governor's wife, and a chandler's shop run in 1728 by a Mr and Mrs Cary, both prisoners, which sold candles, soap and a little food. There was a coffee shop run in 1729 by a long-term prisoner, Sarah Bradshaw, and a steak house called Titty Doll's run by another prisoner, Richard McDonnell, and his wife. There was also a tailor and a barber, and prisoners from the master's side could hire prisoners from the common side to act as their servants. The prison reformer John Howard visited the Marshalsea on 16 March 1774. He reported that there was no infirmary, and that the practice of "garnish" was in place, whereby new prisoners were bullied into giving money to the older prisoners upon arrival. Five rooms on the master's side were being let to a man who was not a prisoner; he had set up a chandler's shop in one of them, lived in two others with his family, and sublet two to prisoners. During Howard's visit, the tap room, or beer room, had been let to a prisoner who was living "within the rules" or "within the liberty" of the King's Bench prison; this meant that he was a King's Bench inmate who, for a fee, was allowed to live outside, within a certain radius of the prison. Although legislation prohibited jailers from having a pecuniary interest in the sale of alcohol within their prisons, it was a rule that was completely ignored. Howard reported that, in the summer of 1775, 600 pots of beer were brought into the Marshalsea one Sunday from a public house, because the prisoners did not like the beer in the tap room. ### Common side Prisoners on the master's side rarely ventured to the common side. John Baptist Grano went there just once, on 5 August 1728, writing in his diary: "I thought it would have kill'd me." There was no need for other prisoners to see it, John Ginger writes. It was enough that they knew it existed to keep the rental money, legal fees and other gratuities flowing from their families, fees that anywhere else would have seen them living in the lap of luxury, but which in the Marshalsea could be trusted merely to stave off disease and starvation. By all accounts, living conditions in the common side were horrific. In 1639 prisoners complained that 23 women were being held in one room without space to lie down, leading to a revolt, with prisoners pulling down fences and attacking the guards with stones. Prisoners were regularly beaten with a "bull's pizzle" (a whip made from a bull's penis), or tortured with thumbscrews and a skullcap, a vice for the head that weighed 12 pounds (5.4 kg). What often finished them off was being forced to lie in the strong room, a windowless shed near the main sewer, next to piles of night soil and cadavers awaiting burial. Dickens described it as "dreaded by even the most dauntless highwaymen and bearable only to toads and rats". One apparently diabetic army officer who died in the strong room—he had been ejected from the common side because inmates had complained about the smell of his urine—had his face eaten by rats within hours of his death, according to a witness. When William Acton ran the jail in the 1720s, the income from charities, collected to buy food for inmates on the common side, was directed instead to a group of trusted prisoners who policed the prison on Acton's behalf. The same group swore during Acton's trial in 1729 for murder that the strong room was the best room in the house. Ginger writes that Acton and his wife, who lived in a comfortable apartment near the lodge, knew they were sitting on a powder keg: "When each morning the smell of freshly baked bread filled ... the yard ... only brutal suppression could prevent the Common Side from erupting." ### 1729 Gaols Committee The common side did erupt after a fashion in 1728 when Robert Castell, an architect and debtor in the Fleet prison, who had been living in lodgings outside the jail within the rules, was taken to a "sponging house" after refusing to pay a higher prison fee to the Fleet's notorious warden, Thomas Bambridge. Sponging houses were private lodgings where prisoners were incarcerated before being taken to jail; they acquired the name because they squeezed the prisoner's last money out of him. When Castell arrived at the sponging house on 14 November he was forced to share space with a man who was dying of smallpox, as a result of which he became infected and died less than a month later. Castell had a friend, James Oglethorpe, a Tory MP who years later founded the American colony of Georgia. Oglethorpe began to ask questions about the treatment of debtor prisoners, and a group of debtors, perhaps at Oglethorpe's instigation, lodged a complaint about their treatment with the Lord Mayor of London and his aldermen, who interviewed the Fleet's warden on 21 December 1728. In February 1729 the House of Commons appointed a parliamentary committee, the Gaols Committee, chaired by Oglethorpe, to examine conditions in the Fleet and Marshalsea. The committee visited the Fleet on 27 February and the Marshalsea on 25 March. William Hogarth accompanied the committee on its visit to the Fleet, sketching it, then painting it in oil (left). The painting was commissioned by Sir Archibald Grant, MP for Aberdeenshire, standing third from the right. The man in irons is thought to be Jacob Mendez Solas, a Portuguese prisoner. The committee was shocked by the prisoners' living conditions. In the Fleet they found Sir William Rich, a baronet, in irons. Unable to pay the prison fee, he had been burned with a red-hot poker, hit with a stick and kept in a dungeon for ten days for having wounded the warden with a shoemaker's knife. In the Marshalsea they found that prisoners on the common side were being routinely starved to death: > All the Support such poor Wretches have to subsist on, is an accidental Allowance of Pease, given once a week by a Gentleman, who conceals his Name, and about Thirty Pounds of Beef, provided by the voluntary Contribution of the Judge and Officers of the Marshalsea, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; which is divided into very small Portions, of about an Ounce and a half, distributed with One-Fourth-part of an Half-penny Loaf ... > > When the miserable Wretch hath worn out the Charity of his Friends, and consumed the Money, which he hath raised upon his Cloaths, and Bedding, and hath eat his last Allowance of Provisions, he usually in a few Days grows weak, for want of Food, with the symptoms of a hectick Fever; and when he is no longer able to stand, if he can raise 3d to pay the Fee of the common Nurse of the Prison, he obtains the Liberty of being carried into the Sick Ward, and lingers on for about a Month or two, by the assistance of the above-mentioned Prison Portion of Provision, and then dies. ### Trial of William Acton As a result of the Gaols Committee's inquiries, several key figures within the jails were tried for murder in August 1729, including Thomas Bambridge of the Fleet and William Acton of the Marshalsea. Given the strongly worded report of the Gaols Committee, the trials were major public events. Ginger writes that, when the Prince of Wales's bookseller presented his bill at the end of that year, two of the 41 volumes on it were accounts of William Acton's trial. #### Case of Thomas Bliss The first case against Acton, before Mr. Baron Carter, was for the murder in 1726 of Thomas Bliss, a carpenter and debtor. Unable to pay the prison fees, Bliss had been left with so little to eat that he had tried to escape by throwing a rope over the wall, but his pursuers severed it and he fell 20 feet into the prison yard. Wanting to know who had supplied the rope, Acton beat him with a bull's pizzle, stamped on his stomach, placed him in the hole (a damp space under the stairs), then in the strong room. Originally built to hold pirates, the strong room was just a few yards from the prison's sewer. It was never cleaned, had no drain, no sunlight, no fresh air—the smell was described as "noisome"—and was full of rats and sometimes "several barrow fulls of dung". Several prisoners told the court that it contained no bed, so that prisoners had to lie on the damp floor, possibly next to corpses awaiting burial. But a group of favoured prisoners Acton had paid to police the jail told the hearing there was indeed a bed. One of them said he often chose to lie in there himself, because the strong room was so clean; the "best room on the Common side of the jail", said another. This despite the court's having heard that one prisoner's left side had mortified from lying on the wet floor, and that a rat had eaten the nose, ear, cheek and left eye of another. Bliss was left in the strong room for three weeks wearing a skullcap (a heavy vice for the head), thumb screws, iron collar, leg irons, and irons round his ankles called sheers. One witness said the swelling in his legs was so bad that the irons on one side could no longer be seen for overflowing flesh. His wife, who was able to see him through a small hole in the door, testified that he was bleeding from the mouth and thumbs. He was given a small amount of food but the skullcap prevented him from chewing; he had to ask another prisoner, Susannah Dodd, to chew his meat for him. He was eventually released from the prison, but his health deteriorated and he died in St. Thomas's Hospital. #### Other cases, acquittal The court was told of three other cases. Captain John Bromfield, Robert Newton and James Thompson all died after similar treatment from Acton: a beating, followed by time in the hole or strong room, before being moved to the sick ward, where they were left to lie on the floor in leg irons. So concerned was Acton for his reputation that he requested the indictments be read out in Latin, but his worries were misplaced. The government wanted an acquittal to protect the good name of the Knight Marshal, Sir Philip Meadows, who had hired John Darby as prison governor, who in turn had leased the prison to Acton. Acton's favoured prisoners had testified on his behalf, introducing contradictory evidence that the trial judge stressed to the jury. A stream of witnesses spoke of his good character, including a judge, an MP, his butcher, brewer, confectioner and solicitor—his coal merchant thought Acton "improper for the post he was in from his too great compassion"—and he was found not guilty on all charges. The Gaols Committee had managed to draw attention to the plight of England's prisoners, but reform had eluded them. ### Notable prisoners Although most Marshalsea prisoners were debtors, the prison was second in importance only to the Tower of London. From the 14th century onwards, minor political figures were held there instead of in the Tower, mostly for sedition. William Hepworth Dixon wrote in 1885 that it was full of "poets, pirates, parsons, plotters; coiners, libellers, defaulters, Jesuits; vagabonds of every class who vexed the souls of men in power ..." During the Elizabethan era, it became the main holding prison for Roman Catholics suspected of sedition. Bishop Bonner, the last Roman Catholic Bishop of London, was imprisoned there in 1559, supposedly for his own safety, until his death 10 years later. William Herle, a spy for Lord Burghley, Elizabeth I's chief adviser, was held there in 1570 and 1571. According to historian Robyn Adams, the prison leaked both physically and metaphorically; in correspondence about Marshalsea prisoners suspected of involvement in a 1571 plot to kill the Queen, Herle wrote of a network within the prison for smuggling information out of it, which included hiding letters in holes in the crumbling brickwork for others to pick up. Intellectuals regularly found themselves in the Marshalsea. The playwright Ben Jonson, a friend of Shakespeare, was jailed in 1597 for his play The Isle of Dogs, which was immediately suppressed, with no extant copies; on 28 July that year the Privy Council was told it was a "lewd plaie that was plaied in one of the plaie houses on the Bancke Side, contaynynge very seditious and sclandrous matter". The poet Christopher Brooke was jailed in 1601 for helping 17-year-old Ann More marry John Donne without her father's consent. George Wither, the political satirist, wrote his poem "The Shepherds Hunting" in 1614 in the Marshalsea; he was held for four months for libel over his Abuses Stript and Whipt (1613), 20 satires criticizing revenge, ambition and lust, one of them directed at the Lord Chancellor. Nicholas Udall, vicar of Braintree and headmaster of Eton College, was sent there in 1541 for buggery and suspected theft; his appointment in 1555 as headmaster of Westminster School suggests that the episode did his name no lasting harm. Irish nobles Brian O'Connor Faly, Baron Offaly, and Giolla Pádraig O'More, Lord of Laois, were imprisoned there in November 1548. O'More died in the Marshalsea - O'Connor Faly was later moved to the Tower. Thomas Drury was sent to the Marshalsea on 15 July 1591, charged with "diuerse greate and fonde matters"; Drury was involved in 1593 with the allegation of atheism against the playwright Christopher Marlowe. In 1629 the jurist John Selden was jailed there for his involvement in drafting the Petition of Right, a document limiting the actions of the King, regarded as seditious although it had been passed by Parliament. When Sir John Eliot, Vice-Admiral of Devon, was moved to the Marshalsea in 1632 from the Tower of London for questioning the right of the King to tax imports and exports, he described it as leaving his palace in London for his country house in Southwark. Colonel Thomas Culpeper ended up in the Marshalsea in 1685 or 1687 for striking the Duke of Devonshire, William Cavendish, on the ear. ## Second Marshalsea (1811–1842) ### Overview When the prison reformer James Neild visited the first Marshalsea in December 1802, just 34 debtors were living there, along with eight wives and seven children. Neild wrote that it was in "a most ruinous and insecure state, and the habitations of the debtors wretched in the extreme". There had been riots in the prison in 1749 and 1768. The government acknowledged in 1799 that it had fallen into a state of decay, and a decision was made to rebuild it 130 yards south (119 m), at 150 High Street (now called Borough High Street), on the site of the White Lion prison, also known as the Borough Gaol. This was on the south side of Angel Court and Angel Alley, two narrow streets that no longer exist. Costing £8,000 to complete () the new prison opened in 1811 with two sections, one for Admiralty prisoners under court martial, and one for debtors, with a shared chapel that had been part of the White Lion. ### Debtors Like the first Marshalsea, the second was notoriously cramped. In 1827, 414 out of its 630 debtors were there for debts under £20; 1,890 people in Southwark were imprisoned that year for a total debt of £16,442. The debtors' section consisted of a brick barracks, a yard measuring 177 ft × 56 ft (54 m × 17 m), a kitchen, a public room, and a tap room or snuggery, where debtors could drink as much beer as they wanted, at fivepence a pot in 1815. Philpotts reports that, by the early 19th century, most debtors spent only months in the prison; on 19 April 1826 it held 105 debtors, 99 of whom had been there for less than six months and the other six for less than a year. The barracks was less than 10 yards wide and 33 yards long (9 m × 30 m) and was divided into eight houses, each with three floors, containing 56 rooms in all. Each floor had seven rooms facing the front and seven in the back. There were no internal hallways. The rooms were accessed directly from the outside via eight narrow wooden staircases, a fire hazard given that the stairs provided the sole exit and the houses were separated only by thin lathe and plaster partitions. Women debtors were housed in rooms over the tap room. The rooms in the barracks (the men's rooms) were 10 ft 10 in (3.30 m) square and 8–9 ft (2.4–2.7 m) high, with a window, wooden floors and a fireplace. Each housed two or three prisoners, and as the rooms were too small for two beds, prisoners had to share. Apart from the bed, prisoners were expected to provide their own furniture. The anonymous witness complained in 1833: > "170 persons have been confined at one time within these walls, making an average of more than four persons in each room—which are not ten feet square\!\!\! I will leave the reader to imagine what the situation of men, thus confined, particularly in the summer months, must be." Much of the prison business was run by a debtors' committee of nine prisoners and a chair (a position held by Dickens' father). Appointed on the last Wednesday of each month, and meeting every Monday at 11 am, the committee was responsible for imposing fines for rules violations, an obligation they met with enthusiasm. Debtors could be fined for theft; throwing water or filth out of windows or into someone else's room; making noise after midnight; cursing, fighting or singing obscene songs; smoking in the beer room from 8–10 am and 12–2 pm; defacing the staircase; dirtying the privy seats; stealing newspapers or utensils from the snuggery; urinating in the yard; drawing water before it had boiled; and criticizing the committee. As dreadful as the Marshalsea was, it kept the creditors away. Debtors could even arrange to have themselves arrested by a business partner to enter the jail when it suited them. Historian Margot Finn writes that discharge was therefore used as a punishment; one debtor was thrown out in May 1801 for "making a Noise and disturbance in the prison". ### Garnish and chummage Upon arrival, new prisoners were expected to pay garnish, a donation to the prisoners' committee. When the commissioners reported to Parliament between 1815 and 1818, male prisoners were paying five shillings and sixpence, increased to eight shillings and sixpence by the time the anonymous witness was writing in 1833. Women were asked for a smaller sum. The fee allowed prisoners to use the snuggery, where water could be boiled and meals cooked, and candles and newspapers obtained. Prisoners failing to pay were declared defaulters by the prison crier, had their names written up in the kitchen, and were sent to Coventry. After paying garnish, prisoners were given a "chum ticket", which told them which room was theirs and which prisoners they would be chumming with. They would often spend the first night in the infirmary until a room could be made ready, and sometimes three or four nights walking around the yard before a chum could be found, although they were already being charged for the room they did not have. According to Dickens specialist Trey Philpotts, the newest arrival was usually placed with the youngest prisoner who was living alone. A wealthier prisoner could pay his roommate to go away—"buy out the chum"—for half-a-crown a week in 1818, while the outcast chum would sleep in the tap room or find another room to rent in the prison. The only prisoners not expected to pay chummage were debtors who had declared themselves insolvent by swearing an oath that they had assets worth less than 40 shillings. If their creditors agreed, they could be released after 14 days, but if anyone objected, they remained confined to the poor side of the building, near the women's side, receiving a small weekly allowance from the county and money from charity. ### Admiralty prisoners The Admiralty division housed a few prisoners under naval courts-martial for mutiny, desertion, piracy, and what the deputy marshal preferred in 1815 to call "unnatural crimes", a euphemism for sex between men. Unlike other parts of the prison that had been built from scratch in 1811, the Admiralty division—as well as the northern boundary wall, the dayroom and the chapel—had been part of the old Borough gaol and were considerably run down. The cells were so rotten they were barely able to confine the prisoners; in 1817 one actually broke through his cell walls. The low boundary wall meant that Admiralty prisoners were often chained to bolts fixed to the floor in the infirmary. They were supposed to have a separate yard to exercise in, so that criminals were not mixing with debtors, but in fact the prisoners mixed often and happily, according to Dickens. The parliamentary committee deplored this practice, arguing that Admiralty prisoners were characterized by an "entire absence of all control", and were bound to have a bad effect on the debtors. The two groups would retreat to their own sections during inspections, Dickens wrote: > [T]he smugglers habitually consorted with the debtors ... except at certain constitutional moments when somebody came from some Office, to go through some form of overlooking something, which neither he nor anybody else knew anything about. On those truly British occasions, the smugglers, if any, made a feint of walking into the strong cells and the blind alley, while this somebody pretended to do his something; and made a reality of walking out again as soon as he hadn't done it—neatly epitomizing the administration of most of the public affairs, in our right little, tight little island. ### Women According to the anonymous eyewitness, women in the Marshalsea were in constant moral danger: "How often has female virtue been assailed in poverty? Alas how often has it fallen, in consequence of a husband or a father having been a prisoner for debt?" The prison doctor would visit every other day to attend to prisoners, and sometimes their children—to "protect his reputation", according to a doctor testifying in 1815 to a parliamentary commission—but would not attend to their wives. This left women to give birth alone or with the help of other prisoners. The doctor told the commission he had helped just once with a birth, and then only as a matter of courtesy, because it was not included in his salary. The presence of wives, lovers and daughters was taken for granted. Visitors could come and go freely, and even live with the prisoners, without being asked who they were. Female prisoners were allowed to mix with the men. Some of the rooms were let to prostitutes. The prison gates were closed from ten at night until eight the next morning, with a bell warning visitors half an hour before closing time, and an officer walking around the prison calling, "Strangers, women and children all out\!" ### Closure and abolition The Marshalsea was closed by an Act of Parliament (Public Act 5 & 6 Vict. c. 22) in 1842, and on 19 November that year the inmates were relocated to the Bethlem hospital if they were mentally ill, or to the King's Bench Prison, at that point renamed the Queen's Prison. On 31 December 1849 the Court of the Marshalsea of the Household of the Kings of England was abolished, and its power transferred to Her Majesty's Court of Common Pleas at Westminster. The buildings and land were auctioned off in July 1843 and purchased for £5,100 by W. G. Hicks, an ironmonger. The property consisted of the keeper's house, the canteen (known as a suttling house), the Admiralty section, the chapel, a three-storey brick building and eight brick houses, all closed off from Borough High Street by iron gates. Imprisonment for debt was finally outlawed in England in 1869, except in cases of fraud or refusal to pay, and in the 1870s the Home Office demolished most of the prison buildings, though in 1955 parts of it were still in use by George Harding & Sons, hardware merchants. Dickens visited what was left of the Marshalsea in May 1857, just before he finished Little Dorrit. He wrote in the preface: > Some of my readers may have an interest in being informed whether or no any portions of the Marshalsea Prison are yet standing. I did not know, myself, until the sixth of this present month, when I went to look. I found the outer front courtyard, often mentioned in this story, metamorphosed into a butter shop; and then I almost gave up every brick of the jail for lost. Wandering, however, down a certain adjacent "Angel Court, leading to Bermondsey", I came to "Marshalsea Place": the houses in which I recognised, not only as the great block of the former prison, but as preserving the rooms that arose in my mind's eye when I became Little Dorrit's biographer ... > > A little further on, I found the older and smaller wall, which used to enclose the pent-up inner prison where nobody was put, except for ceremony. But, whosoever goes into Marshalsea Place, turning out of Angel Court, leading to Bermondsey, will find his feet on the very paving-stones of the extinct Marshalsea jail; will see its narrow yard to the right and to the left, very little altered if at all, except that the walls were lowered when the place got free; will look upon the rooms in which the debtors lived; and will stand among the crowding ghosts of many miserable years. ### Location of prison remains The building on the site of the prison houses Southwark Council's John Harvard Library and Local Studies Library, at 211 Borough High Street, just north of the junction with Tabard Street. All that remains of the Marshalsea is the brick wall that marked the southern boundary of the prison, separating it from St George's churchyard, now a small garden. It can be reached by underground on the Northern line to Borough tube station, or by train to London Bridge station. The surviving wall runs along an alleyway that was part of the prison, now called Angel Place. The name Angel Place has led to confusion because there were two alleyways on the north side of the Marshalsea (Angel Court and Angel Alley), the first of which Dickens refers to when giving directions to the prison remains in 1857. See Richard Horwood's 18th-century map, which shows Angel Court/Angel Alley near the Borough Goal [sic], marked by the number 2. The wall is marked on the garden side, on what would have been the external wall of the prison, by a plaque from the local council. There is also a paving stone with information about Dickens's father. The Cuming Museum has one of the prison's pumps and the Dickens House Museum one of its windows. ## See also - Cross Bones - Liberty of the Clink - Marshalsea Road - United Kingdom insolvency law

Brighton hotel bombing

1984 IRA assassination attempt on Margaret Thatcher

On 12 October 1984 the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) attempted to assassinate members of the British government, including the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, England. Five people were killed, including the Conservative MP Sir Anthony Berry; more than thirty people were injured. Thatcher was uninjured. The bombing was a key moment in the Troubles, the conflict in Northern Ireland between unionists and republicans over the constitutional position of Northern Ireland, which took place between the late 1960s and 1998. The IRA decided to assassinate Thatcher during the 1981 Irish hunger strike. Her stance against the return of Special Category Status to republican prisoners—the status that meant they were treated as political prisoners, rather than as criminals—meant the strike was not quickly settled, and ten prisoners died. After two years of planning, including reconnoitering the 1982 and 1983 Conservative Party Conferences, a long-delay time bomb was planted in the hotel by the IRA member Patrick Magee over three weeks before the 1984 conference. The IRA knew the hotel would be occupied by Thatcher and many of her cabinet. The bomb exploded at 2:54 am when most guests were in bed. The force of the explosion was upwards and broke through the roof, dislodging one of the hotel's chimney stacks, which weighed five long tons (5.1 t). This crashed through several floors, killing or injuring many of the occupants. Thatcher decided to continue the conference as normal, and was given a standing ovation by delegates as she entered the stage just six and a half hours after the explosion. The investigation took eight months. A partial palm print was found on the room registration card from when Magee checked in and police surveillance on IRA members led them to him. In 1986 he was tried, found guilty and sent to prison for eight concurrent life sentences, with the recommendation that he serve at least thirty-five years before being considered for parole. He was released under licence in June 1999 as part of the Good Friday Agreement. Negotiations between the British and Irish governments that had begun in 1980 continued despite the bombing, although the pace of the talks was slowed to ensure it did not appear that the British government was conceding to pressure because of the bomb. They resulted in the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement, which gave the Irish government an advisory role in Northern Ireland's government. ## Background ### The Troubles in the late 1970s and 1980s The Troubles were the conflict in Northern Ireland that began in the late 1960s between the majority population of unionists and the republican minority. The unionists—also known as loyalists—wanted Northern Ireland to remain within the UK; Irish republicans wanted Northern Ireland to leave the UK and join a united Ireland. According to the political scientist Stephen Kelly, four events impacted the approach and policies towards Northern Ireland of Margaret Thatcher, the leader of the Opposition and then prime minister: the assassination of Airey Neave; the assassination of Lord Mountbatten and the Warrenpoint ambush, which took place on the same day; and the 1981 Irish hunger strike. In March 1979 Neave, the shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland, was assassinated by the Irish National Liberation Army in a car bomb attack in the Palace of Westminster. Neave was a friend and political mentor to Thatcher, who was described by her biographer Jonathan Aitken as being "numb with shock" at the news of his death. On 27 August 1979—less than four months after Thatcher became prime minister—Mountbatten was killed by a bomb on his fishing boat, off the coast of Mullaghmore, County Sligo, in the Irish Republic. The device had been planted by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). On the same day, the IRA also killed eighteen British soldiers near Warrenpoint, with two bombs—the highest loss of life suffered in a single incident by the British Army during the Troubles. In March 1981 Bobby Sands, an IRA member who was imprisoned at the Maze prison, Northern Ireland, went on hunger strike for the return of Special Category Status (SCS) to prisoners. SCS involved treating those prisoners under different, more favourable, conditions with the status of political prisoners rather than as criminals. It included not having to wear prison uniform and being able to freely associate with other prisoners. While on hunger strike, Sands stood in the Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election and won. Thatcher remained unmoved on the point of allowing Special Category Status and said "There can be no question of political status for someone who is serving a sentence for crime. Crime is crime is crime: it is not political, it is crime, and there can be no question of granting political status". Ten men died of starvation before the strike came to an end. Sands was the first to die, which he did on 5 May 1981, after 66 days of starvation; his death led to rioting in republican areas of Northern Ireland. Because of the hunger strikes and the deaths of those involved, Thatcher was reviled by Irish republicans. According to the political scientist Richard English, Thatcher was "a republican hate-figure of Cromwellian proportions". English highlights as examples comments about Thatcher from the IRA member Danny Morrison: "that unctuous, self-righteous fucker" and "the biggest bastard we have ever known". Because of her staunch unionist position and because they considered her responsible for the deaths of the hunger strikers, the IRA leadership decided to try to assassinate her before the hunger strikes ended. ### Thatcher's approach to Northern Ireland, 1979–1984 Thatcher's outlook on Northern Ireland came from an inherently unionist position; she wanted a military victory over the IRA and "integration", that is, treating Northern Ireland like the rest of the UK, rather than having separate laws and political processes. Her support for integration, however, was abandoned after Neave's death and after she came to power. According to Eamonn Kennedy, the Irish ambassador to the UK between 1978 and 1983, the murder of Neave and the deaths of British soldiers "left deep psychological scars" on her Irish outlook. Thatcher's unionist stance was intuitive; in her autobiography she wrote "My own instincts are profoundly Unionist. ... But, then, any Conservative should in his bones be a Unionist too. Our party has always, throughout its history, been committed to the defence of the Union." Kelly considers that "Thatcher's attitude to Northern Ireland was a powerful blend of reactionary policies and personal indifference." She admitted ignorance of the nuances of Northern Irish politics, and said in her memoirs "But what British politician will ever fully understand Northern Ireland?" According to Kelly, the focal point of Thatcher's hardline approach to Northern Ireland was security and the need to defeat paramilitary—specifically republican—violence. There was flexibility in her approach, however. During the hunger strikes, she personally gave the go-ahead for secret talks with the IRA to bring about a negotiated end to the strike. In 1980, despite saying publicly that the Irish Republic had no right to interfere with the UK's governing of Northern Ireland, she met Charles Haughey, the taoiseach (the Irish prime minister), to discuss the relationship. ### Patrick Magee Patrick Magee was born in Belfast in 1951 and moved to Norwich, Norfolk, when he was two. In 1971 he returned to Belfast, and joined the IRA in 1972 after attending a shebeen—an illicit drinking den—in the Unity Flats area of Belfast, raided by British soldiers. He was beaten and detained for thirty-six hours without charge; in 2001 he said the incident left him with "a sense of anger. Real anger. I felt I just couldn't walk away from this". He was soon assigned to be one of the IRA's "engineering officers", the organisation's term for a bomb maker. He was interned (detained without trial) at Long Kesh prison from June 1973 to November 1975. In the mid-1970s the IRA changed its structure from a battalion to a cell-based system. Each cell—also called an active service unit (ASU)—normally comprised four volunteers, of which only the leader was in contact with the level above. At this time Magee joined the England Department, the IRA's ASU that operated in England. He was periodically active there between 1978 and 1979, and in 1983. In 1983 Magee was part of the ASU that planned to bomb the Eagle and Child pub in Lancashire, popular with soldiers as it was situated next to Weeton Barracks. His IRA handler in England was Raymond O'Connor, who rented a flat for Magee and a comrade, and drove the pair to the location to view the target. O'Connor had been arrested by Lancashire Special Branch the previous year and been identified as a member of the IRA; he had been recruited by police as an informer and was passing details of Magee's mission to them. Magee and his comrade became suspicious of O'Connor and realised they were under surveillance; they returned to Dublin. When the pair told their IRA superiors that they had been followed, they were not believed. Magee later wrote that "There was a suspicion at home that we had panicked. No one could credit that we had narrowly escaped a trap. ... It appeared my operational days were over. I remember saying as much to a comrade, who agreed." ## Build-up Having decided to assassinate Thatcher, IRA intelligence officers began to monitor her movements and security arrangements. In 1982 two IRA volunteers went to the Conservative Party conference in Brighton, on Britain's south coast. Magee and another IRA member visited Blackpool on the north-west coast, where the 1983 conference was scheduled to take place. It was decided to make the attempt in 1984 when the conference would be back in Brighton. After police arrested two members of the England Department—Thomas Quigley and Paul Kavannagh—Magee was selected as the bomb maker. On 15 September 1984—some four weeks before the Conservative Party Conference—Magee registered at the Grand Hotel in Brighton under the pseudonym "Roy Walsh". He used the name of the IRA bomber who had been convicted for his role in the IRA's 1973 Old Bailey bombing. After completing the hotel's registration card, Magee gave a false address (27 Braxfield Road, London, SE4), stated he was English, omitted his passport details and paid £180 for three nights' stay. He asked for, and was given, room 629, on the sixth floor; he asked for an upper floor as he thought that would be where Thatcher would stay. The higher level was because the IRA planners thought Thatcher would want for additional security in case striking miners took over areas of the hotel. On the day he arrived Magee had lunch at the hotel's restaurant with a man named "The Pope". The man visited Magee over the following three days but did not stay overnight. Two female IRA couriers delivered bomb materials to the room; neither of the women nor the other man have been identified. The journalist Rory Carroll, who wrote a history of the bombing, considers that "It is unlikely that more than four people were involved". According to Magee, the bomb comprised 105 pounds (48 kg) of gelignite; security forces later erroneously said it was 30 pounds (14 kg) of Semtex. The device was fitted with a long-delay timer, such as the type used in videocassette recorders. The timing unit was battery powered and a Memo Park timer was also incorporated into the device; Carroll considers the timer was probably part of an anti-handling device, designed to counter any interference by a bomb disposal team if the device was found before detonation. To mask the smell of the explosives—a distinctive aroma similar to almonds—the device was wrapped in several layers of plastic. Once the bomb was set, Magee removed the side panel of the bath and placed the device within the space. He and his colleagues finished around 10:00 pm on 17 September, and ordered a bottle of vodka and three bottles of Coca-Cola to be delivered to the room. He spent the third night in the room and checked out at around 9:00 am the following day. ## Conference and explosion, 9–12 October 1984 The conference began on 9 October 1984 and was scheduled to last four days; Thatcher's speech was scheduled for the final day. Thatcher was staying in the hotel's Napoleon Suite, three rooms with a sea view on the first floor. Her staff set up an office in rooms across the corridor. Before her arrival, a police dog and handler searched the suite and other rooms on the first floor, but none of the rooms on the other floors. The search was cursory; the officer spent only thirty minutes in her rooms. The officer later recalled that the suite had staff and aides walking in and out while he worked. Uniformed and plainclothes police were posted in and outside the hotel. On the evening of 11 October Norman Tebbit—secretary of state for trade and industry—and his wife Margaret attended a reception hosted by Alistair McAlpine, the treasurer of the Conservative Party; they left at around midnight and returned to their room. A ball was being held in nearby Top Rank ballroom, which Thatcher visited for 45 minutes, returning to the hotel at about 11:45 pm. In her suite, she continued to work on her conference speech. She finished at around 2:45 am and decided to work on some government business with Robin Butler, her principal private secretary, before going to bed. She went to the toilet and returned to her desk at 2:52 am. The bomb exploded at 2:54 am on 12 October 1984. The occupants of room 629 were Donald Maclean—the president of the Scottish Conservatives—and his wife Muriel; they were in bed at the time. She was blown sideways by the blast; he was blown upwards. In the neighbouring room, 628, Lady Shattock, the wife of Sir Gordon Shattock, the Western Area chairman of the Conservative Party, was bending over the bath; the wall between the bathroom of 629 and 628 disintegrated, and fragments of the ceramic tiles were "driven into her body like bullets", according to an army explosives expert. She was decapitated and her body was blown across the corridor into room 638. Her husband fell through the collapsing floors down to the basement but survived. The force of the explosion going upward broke through the roof and dislodged one of the hotel's chimney stacks; eleven feet (3.4 m) tall, it weighed five long tons (5.1 t). It fell through the roof, through the rooms ending in 28 and clipping those ending in 29. The bomb and the falling chimney took out much of the front of the building, creating a hole thirty feet (9.1 m) deep and fifteen feet (4.6 m) wide. As the chimney fell through the roof, it destroyed all the rooms ending in 28. First was 528 where Eric Taylor—the North-West Area chairman of the Conservative Party—was staying; he was killed. Room 428 accommodated John Wakeham, the chief whip; his wife Roberta was killed. In room 328 Sir Anthony Berry, the deputy chief whip, was also killed. In 228 was Norman Tebbit and his wife Margaret. Tebbit later recalled: > the ceiling came crashing down on us and then, in a hail of debris, the floor collapsed, catapulting us down under an avalanche of bricks, timber and plaster. The force of the impact was indescribable—blow after blow as the debris smashed on to my left side. Something tore into my abdomen with a terrible blow and I heard my very guts sloshing inside me. There was a colossal impact tearing a great hole in my side, then I stopped falling—with no idea where, nor even which way up I was, as the debris cascaded down. Thatcher's room was below the Tebbits'; her bathroom was badly damaged but she, her husband and Robin Butler were all uninjured. According to Carroll, the bomb "did not even scratch her. But it came very, very close." He theorised that if she had still been in the bathroom, "she would have been cut to ribbons, perhaps fatally". ## Immediate aftermath, 12 October 1984 Sussex Police and the East Sussex Fire Brigade were soon on the scene. One of the first policemen to arrive, Paul Parton, later described what he remembered: > As we got closer and the dust was starting to settle, you could see [a policeman] laying on the ground, being supported by other policemen, people screaming, hanging off balconies, alarm bells ringing, water pouring out of broken pipes, and you could see the people up on the balcony. It was horrific. On arrival with three fire engines, station officer Fred Bishop of the fire brigade requested ten more and as many ambulances as could be spared. Although fire brigade regulations for attending a bombing were that, unless there was a fire in progress, the fire engines were to park two streets away, maintain radio silence and wait for the bomb squad, Bishop and his crew entered the hotel. Throughout the night they tunnelled through areas of the debris to rescue the people trapped in the rubble. Muriel Maclean was found with her right leg mangled; she was rescued but died of her injuries a month later. Inside the hotel, the Thatchers, Butler, several cabinet ministers with their partners and the Conservative secretarial staff who were still working, made their way downstairs and left the hotel through the rear entrance; they were taken to Brighton police station, which was thought the most secure place for them. Several other cabinet members were also taken to the police station, where Thatcher announced that the party conference would continue at 9:00 am. She, her husband and secretary spent the night at Lewes police college. After the explosion Tebbit and his wife ended up next to each other, twelve feet (3.7 m) above the hotel's reception, both alive but buried under tonnes of rubble; they held hands and talked to each other for comfort. Margaret was rescued first. She had a broken neck and was paralysed from the neck down; she had to use a wheelchair for the rest of her life because of her injuries. At 6:53 am Tebbit was finally taken out of the hotel in his pyjamas and on a stretcher; his extraction was caught on cameras as they were broadcasting live for breakfast television. The images, according to Carroll, "became a defining drama of the Brighton bomb". Tebbit had severe injuries to his ribs, shoulder and pelvis. The final casualty, John Wakeham, was extracted from under timber and rubble in the foyer, having fallen from the fourth floor. Casualties were lighter than the emergency services first expected; only thirty-three people were treated in hospital. Injuries included broken bones, lacerations and crush injuries. Magee was staying with republican sympathisers in Cork; he heard the news of the explosion at 6:00 am. Writing in 2019 he recalled that "my immediate emotion was relief. Relief that the device had worked". That morning the IRA Army Council issued a statement: > The IRA claims responsibility for the detonation of 100lb of gelignite in Brighton against the British cabinet and Tory warmongers. Thatcher will now realise that Britain cannot occupy our country, torture our prisoners and shoot our people in their own streets and get away with it.Today we were unlucky, but remember we have only to be lucky once, you will have to be lucky always. Give Ireland peace and there will be no war. Many of the conference attendees had lost their clothes in the hotel. With the conference due to restart at 9:00 am that morning, McAlpine hired a coach and several taxis to take them to a local branch of Marks & Spencer at 8:00 am, which he had arranged to be opened early for them. The Conservative Party paid for new clothes for them and had them back at the conference centre for it to open. Observing this, the BBC producer Ivor Gaber said, "If you ever want to understand how the Conservatives always win elections, you just watch the organisation." The conference started at 9:30 am with a standing ovation for Thatcher as she arrived on stage, followed by a two-minute silence. At 2:00 pm she gave her close-of-conference speech, which opened with comments on the bombing: > The bomb attack on the Grand Hotel early this morning was first and foremost an inhuman, undiscriminating attempt to massacre innocent unsuspecting men and women staying in Brighton for our Conservative Conference. ... [The bomb] was an attempt not only to disrupt and terminate our Conference; it was an attempt to cripple Her Majesty's democratically-elected Government. That is the scale of the outrage in which we have all shared, and the fact that we are gathered here now—shocked, but composed and determined—is a sign not only that this attack has failed, but that all attempts to destroy democracy by terrorism will fail. ## Reactions The attack was condemned by world leaders. This included denunciation from Garret FitzGerald, the taoiseach, who called the bombing "a gross miscalculation of the character of the British people and the nature of British democracy". Thatcher's decision to continue with the conference was supported by her domestic political opponents, including Neil Kinnock, leader of the Labour Party, David Steel of the Liberal Party and David Owen of the Social Democratic Party. Kinnock said "That is the way we must respond to such vile acts in this democracy. There can be no concessions to the murdering madness of those who commit crimes like this bombing." The political historians Ioana Emy Matesan and Ronit Berger consider that although there was some domestic condemnation, "overall the public condemnation was fairly weak". They suggest that "it seems as though since the target was the Conservative party, there was no widespread public condemnation and no rise in public fear of being targeted". The singer Morrissey commented "The only sorrow of the Brighton bombing is that Thatcher escaped unscathed." In 1998 the author and comedy scriptwriter John O'Farrell wrote "I felt a surge of excitement at the nearness of her demise and yet disappointment that such a chance had been missed. This was me—the pacifist, anti-capital-punishment, anti-IRA liberal—wishing that they had got her." The bombing was celebrated in some quarters. Republican prisoners in the Maze prison celebrated the news of the explosion with cheers of "Fuck Thatcher" and "Up the 'Ra". The British press was mostly condemnatory of the attack. Caroll identifies xenophobic references in the reports, including The Sunday Express's rhetorical question "Wouldn't you rather admit to being a pig than to being Irish?" The Sun said the bombers "must be hunted remorselessly and exterminated like rats". An Phoblacht (The Republic)—the republican newspaper published by Sinn Féin, the political party associated with the IRA—ran the headline "IRA Blitz Brits". The bombing was front page news and appeared on news reports globally; most of the leading articles in newspapers were condemnatory of the attack, although some of those in countries hostile to Britain and Thatcher, such as North Korea, took the opportunity to attack her. The editorial in The Washington Post highlighted the possibility that the funds for the bombing may have come from US donors, and considered that "Americans of conscience must reject this violence and reject association with the killers whose cowardly acts of murder and mayhem are despised on both sides of the Atlantic". Similarly, the editorial of The New York Times stated "the IRA has turned overseas for support it cannot find in Dublin, playing on the gullibility of a small minority among the 40 million Americans of Irish descent". In an editorial condemnatory of the IRA and the bombing, The Irish Times focused on the ongoing talks between the British and Irish governments and wrote of their hope that "no bombs, no horrors, no attempts by nihilists to destroy the hope of peace, must be allowed to deflect the process". ## Investigation and Magee's actions, 12 October 1984 – 22 June 1985 ### October 1984 to January 1985 The investigation began at daybreak on the morning of 12 October, with police forensics teams examining the seafront and roadway directly in front of the hotel. They were unable to access the interior until the fire brigade had found the final missing guest. This turned out to be the body of Jeanne Shattock, which was located either in the evening of 12 October, or the following day. Police instructed the firemen to leave her body in situ as the location was a crime scene. Forensic teams went through the rubble, sifting and searching as they went. Over eight hundred long tons (810 t) of rubble was collected in nearly 3,800 plastic dustbins and sent to the Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment at Fort Halstead, Kent. Once there, it was sieved again and forensically analysed. In the basement of the hotel, the police located the registration cards of the previous guests of the hotel; pre-computerisation of the booking system, these were the only records of those who had stayed at the Grand. After two weeks of searching, a part of the Memo Park timer was located in the U-bend of the toilet in room 329. The police searches of the hotel lasted until 30 October. The Anti-Terrorist Branch of the police informed the investigation team of an IRA cache found in Salcey Forest which had a missing timer that was possibly set to twenty-four days, six hours and thirty-six minutes. The cache had been found in January 1984 in buried dustbins that contained arms and bomb-making equipment. The haul included submachine guns, handguns, grenades, ArmaLite ammunition, mercury tilt switches and six long-delay timers, numbered between one and seven, with number four missing. All were pre-set for the same length delay. This would have meant placing the bomb on 17 September. Looking at the registration cards for the four rooms at the epicentre of the explosion—rooms 528, 529, 628 and 629—for that day, they investigated the people who had stayed on that date and established that the card for Roy Walsh showed a false name. The registration card was fingerprinted and showed a partial palm print; in January 1985 this matched with prints taken for Magee when he had been arrested in Norwich in 1967. ### January to June 1985 With no knowledge of where Magee was, the information that he was the bomber was kept secret within the investigation team. Surveillance by the RUC Special Branch and the Garda Síochána on Magee's wife—the RUC while she was still in Northern Ireland; the Garda when she crossed the border to the Republic—had located Magee in Ballymun, an outer suburb in the north of Dublin. Rather than request extradition to the UK, the British government, police and security services decided to wait until Magee returned to the UK. The British government chose not to tell their Irish counterparts that Magee was the bomber, but instead had the police ask the Garda to keep him under surveillance. In 1985 the IRA planned a series of bomb attacks in British tourist destinations, mainly seaside resorts, over the summer period. The aim was to have sixteen bombs explode within fourteen days. Magee volunteered to be included in the group. A small team of four was formed: Magee; Gerry McDonnell, who was experienced with electronics and had operated in England previously; Martina Anderson, who had been charged with causing an explosion in 1981; and Ella O'Dwyer, a newcomer to the IRA's active service who had joined their cause because of the hunger strikes. In March 1985 Magee gave the Irish police surveillance team the slip and travelled to Britain where he and O'Dwyer rented a flat in Glasgow. On 15 June he and a female partner rented a room at the Rubens Hotel, overlooking the Royal Mews, which is situated on the grounds of Buckingham Palace. They rented room 112 for £70 for one night and planted a pre-assembled bomb that comprised 3 pounds 9 ounces (1.6 kg) of gelignite, set with a long delay timer to explode at 1:00 pm on 29 July. It was placed behind the bedside table, which had to be unscrewed from the wall for the device to be placed, and then screwed back in place. Soon after Magee rented a flat in Hackney Road to use as the England Department's base in London. In June 1985 the RUC undertook surveillance on Peter Sherry, the commander of the East Tyrone Brigade. He was followed from his home in Dungannon to Belfast docks, where a tip-off to police had alerted them that a member of the IRA was to be smuggled over to mainland Britain. The surveillance was picked up in Ayr, Scotland, by special branch officers from Strathclyde Police who were joined by a small detachment of RUC officers who had been trailing Sherry. He travelled to Carlisle where he stayed overnight. As he was now in England, Strathclyde Police had no jurisdiction; they contacted the Special Branch of the Metropolitan Police who travelled overnight to Carlisle. The following day, 22 June 1985, Sherry went to the railway station where he met Magee, who had travelled from London. Magee was immediately identified by the surveillance team. A decision was made not to arrest the two men immediately, but to continue following them as the pair returned to the rented flat in Langside, Glasgow, where the rest of the England Department ASU were staying. ## Arrest and trial The police decided to raid the Langside property, although it was not known which of the building's eight flats the men were in. It was decided that all eight flats were to be raided at the same time, with two officers assigned per flat, at least one of whom should be armed, with other officers on standby to assist. At about 7:00 pm on 22 June 1985, all the doors in the premises were knocked on. On the ground floor Magee and his compatriots were expecting the landlord to come round for the rent. As Magee answered the door he was arrested; other policemen entered the premises and arrested the four other IRA members present: Sherry, McDonnell, O'Dwyer and Anderson. When searching McDonnell, police found the list of cities in which the England ASU had been intending to plant bombs. A tick was next to the first entry, which read "London, 1st floor, 112, front, The Rubens Hotel, Buckingham Palace Road. BT plus 48". Also found was a schematic of the device, which showed "BT" meant booby trap. The device was soon found and disabled. The trial of Magee, McDonnell, Sherry, Anderson and O'Dwyer opened on 6 May 1986 and lasted until 11 June. Also included with the accused was Shaun McShane, an IRA sympathiser who had assisted the England Department with providing premises where they could stay; he was charged with aiding and abetting. During the trial the police were accused of planting a firearm on McDonnell. It had been, the police claimed, in McDonnell's waistband when he was arrested; he denied it was his. No fingerprints were found on the weapon. Police denied they had planted evidence on him. The police were also accused of planting Magee's palmprint on the hotel registration card, which they denied. Magee reiterated the claim in 2000, saying "If that was my fingerprint I did not put it there". Sherry, McDonnell, Anderson and O'Dwyer were sentenced to life imprisonment. McShane was sentenced to eight years; this was reduced to six years on appeal. Magee was sentenced to eight life sentences, to be run concurrently, with the recommendation that he serve at least thirty-five years before being considered for parole. After the verdict was announced, Magee spoke his only words of the trial: "Tiocfaidh ár lá" ("Our day will come"). ## Repercussions and legacy In the early 1980s, and prior to the Brighton bomb, there were several assassinations or assassination attempts in London. The rise in such attempts, and the events at Brighton, changed the approach taken by the British government to turn Britain into a "permanent counter-assassination state", according to the historian Simon Ball. The previously relaxed view of Special Branch close protection officers had already been under review prior to Brighton, and a new bodyguard system was implemented by Thatcher a few days after the bombing. In the House of Commons debate on the bomb, Leon Brittan, the home secretary, said: > Total security is impossible in a free, democratic society. Political and other leaders are vulnerable because they must be accessible. Everything that can be done will be done to prevent such outrages and to protect their targets. But we will not be bombed into boltholes by terrorists. Measures were brought in to protect prominent politicians, including permanent security after they had left office. Special Branch provided more than a hundred officers for government and diplomatic protection to counter threats and assassination attempts, which cost the Metropolitan Police £59 million a year in 1993. The journalist David Hughes, who was covering the Brighton conference for The Daily Telegraph writes that the bomb, and the subsequent changes in security provision "marked the end of an age of comparative innocence. From that day forward, all party conferences in this country have become heavily defended citadels". In addition to historical news coverage, the Brighton bomb has been described in books, including histories of what happened and personal memoirs from those involved. The events have also been depicted in music, film and fiction, and been examined in television documentaries. ### Northern Ireland policy Despite the bombing, Thatcher did not call off the ongoing talks with the Irish government. She saw these as important in stopping the political support for Sinn Féin in favour of the constitutional—and peaceful—nationalism of the Social Democratic and Labour Party. Instead she slowed the process and rejected some aspects under negotiation, as she did not want to give the impression that the bomb had resulted in any weakening of the British negotiating position. The bomb, however, left a deep impression on Thatcher and demonstrated that a solution to the violence needed to be found. In the opinion of the political scientist Feargal Cochrane, the bomb acted as "a catalyst" for the discussions that led to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement on 15 November 1985, despite opposition from within Thatcher's own party. The agreement gave the Irish government an advisory role in Northern Ireland's government while confirming that there would be no change in the constitutional position of Northern Ireland unless a majority of its citizens voted to join the Republic. ### Magee's release In 1997 Magee's sentence was changed to a whole life order, meaning he would never be released from prison. This was later quashed as part of the Good Friday Agreement and Magee was released under licence in June 1999, despite a challenge by Jack Straw, the home secretary, to stop it. The Independent Sentence Review Commission—the body that decided whether paramilitaries should be released—endorsed his discharge. In 2000 Magee and Jo Berry, the daughter of Sir Anthony Berry, met at Berry's request; she wanted to understand the conflict from Magee's perspective. Magee described it as "a moment of profound significance to me". He said that about halfway through their three-hour talk: > the goodness and intelligence and value I perceived in this woman must in some measure have come from her father. And I had killed him. I had killed a fine human being. It had evidently been more comfortable for me to live with the perception that as a Tory he was simply the enemy, a warmonger, driven by greed, without a personal moral code or a rounded background. I too was guilty of demonising the enemy. The two met again several times and became friends, giving talks together at reconciliation events; in 2009 they formed the organisation Building Bridges for Peace, which aimed to bring divided communities together through dialogue.

French battleship Courbet (1911)

Courbet-class battleship

Courbet was the lead ship of her class of four dreadnought battleships, the first ones built for the French Navy. She was completed shortly before the start of World War I in August 1914. She spent the war in the Mediterranean, where she helped to sink an Austro-Hungarian cruiser, covered the Otranto Barrage that blockaded the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the Adriatic Sea, and often served as a flagship. Although upgraded several times before World War II, she was not considered to be a first-line battleship by the 1930s and spent much of that decade as a gunnery training ship. A few weeks after the German invasion of France on 10 May 1940, Courbet was hastily reactivated. She supported Allied troops in the defence of Cherbourg in mid-June, taking refuge in England shortly afterwards. As part of Operation Catapult, the ship was seized in Portsmouth by British forces on 3 July and was turned over to the Free French a week later. She was used as a stationary anti-aircraft battery and as an accommodation ship there. Courbet was disarmed in early 1941 and was used as a target ship during 1943. Her engines and boilers were removed in 1944 to prepare her for use as a breakwater during the Normandy landings (Operation Neptune) in June 1944. She was scrapped in situ after the war. ## Background and description By 1909, the French Navy was convinced of the superiority of the all-big-gun battleship like HMS Dreadnought over mixed-calibre designs such as the Danton class, which preceded the Courbets. The following year, the new Minister of the Navy, Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère, selected a design that was comparable to the foreign dreadnoughts then under construction to be built as part of the 1906 Naval Programme. The ships were 166 metres (544 ft 7 in) long overall and had a beam of 27 metres (88 ft 7 in) and a mean draught of 9.04 metres (29 ft 8 in). They displaced 23,475 tonnes (23,104 long tons) at normal load and 25,579 tonnes (25,175 long tons) at deep load. Their crew numbered 1,115 men as a private ship and 1,187 when serving as a flagship. The ships were powered by two licence-built Parsons steam turbine sets, each driving two propeller shafts. Unlike her sister ships, Courbet had 24 Niclausse boilers to provide steam for her turbines. These boilers were coal-burning with auxiliary oil sprayers and were designed to produce 28,000 metric horsepower (20,594 kW; 27,617 shp). The ships had a designed speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph), although Courbet only reached 20.8 knots (38.5 km/h; 23.9 mph) during her sea trials. The Courbet-class ships carried enough coal and fuel oil to give them a range of 4,200 nautical miles (7,800 km; 4,800 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). The main battery of the Courbet class consisted of twelve Canon de 305-millimetre (12 in) mle 1906–1910 guns mounted in six twin-gun turrets, with two pairs of superfiring turrets fore and aft of the superstructure, and a pair of wing turrets amidships. Their secondary armament was twenty-two Canon de 138.6-millimetre (5.5 in) mle 1910, which were mounted singly in casemates in the hull. Four Canon de 47-millimetre (1.9 in) mle 1902 Hotchkiss guns were fitted, two on each broadside in the superstructure. They were also armed with four 450-millimetre (17.7 in) submerged torpedo tubes, a pair on each broadside, and could stow 10 mines below decks. The ships' waterline belt ranged in thickness from 140 to 250 mm (5.5 to 9.8 in) and was thickest amidships. The gun turrets were protected by 250–360 millimetres (9.8–14.2 in) of armour and 160-millimetre (6.3 in) plates protected the casemates. The curved armoured deck was 40 mm (1.6 in) thick on the flat and 70 mm (2.8 in) on the outer slopes. The conning tower had 266 mm (10.5 in) thick face and sides. ## Construction and career Courbet was ordered on 11 August 1910 and named after Admiral Amédée Courbet. She was laid down on 1 September 1910 at the Arsenal de Lorient and launched on 23 September 1911. Shortly after finishing her machinery trials, she ferried the President of France, Raymond Poincaré, to Britain for a short visit on 24–26 June 1913. Courbet was completed on 8 October at a cost of F57,700,000 and was commissioned into the fleet on 19 November. Courbet and her sister Jean Bart were assigned to the 1st Battle Division (1ère Division de ligne) of the 1st Battle Squadron (1^ère Escadre de ligne) of the 1st Naval Army (^1ère Armée Navale), at Toulon in mid-November and Courbet became the flagship of Vice-Admiral (Vice-amiral) Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère, commander of the 1st Battle Squadron, on 5 January 1914. ### World War I By the time that France declared war on Germany on 2 August, Courbet had been relieved of her assignment to the 1st Division because Boué de Lapeyrère had become commander of the 1st Naval Army and the ship was now the fleet flagship. Since the whereabouts of the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben was unknown, he split his forces into three groups to cover the movements of troop convoys between French North Africa and metropolitan France. He accompanied the 2nd Battle Squadron (Group B) to Bougie, French Algeria, in Courbet before rendezvousing with her sisters Jean Bart and France off Valencia, Spain, to escort them to Toulon because the guns of the former were malfunctioning and the latter was so new that she did not have any ammunition aboard. On 7 August, Courbet and the battleship Condorcet took over the escort of a convoy from Algiers and then re-coaled in Toulon. When France declared war on Austria-Hungary on 12 August, Boué de Lapeyrère decided on a sortie into the Adriatic intended to force the Austro-Hungarian fleet to give battle. After rendezvousing with a small British force on the 15th, he ordered his forces to split with the battleships headed for Otranto, Italy, while the armoured cruisers patrolled off the Albanian coast. Before the two groups got very far apart, several Austro-Hungarian ships were spotted on 16 August, and the Allied fleet was successful in cutting off and sinking the protected cruiser SMS Zenta off Antivari; the destroyer SMS Ulan managed to escape. The following day, Boué de Lapeyrère transferred his flag to Jean Bart. On 1 September, the 1st Naval Army briefly bombarded Austro-Hungarian coastal fortifications defending the Bay of Cattaro to discharge the unfired shells remaining in the guns after sinking Zenta. Aside from several uneventful sorties into the Adriatic, the French capital ships spent most of their time cruising between the Greek and Italian coasts to prevent the Austro-Hungarian fleet from attempting to break out of the Adriatic. The torpedoing of Jean Bart on 21 December by the Austro-Hungarian submarine U-12 showed that the battleships were vulnerable to this threat, and they were withdrawn to spend the rest of the month further south at an anchorage in Navarino Bay. On 11 January 1915, the French were alerted that the Austro-Hungarian fleet was going to sortie from its base at Pola, so Courbet, Paris and France led the Naval Army north to the Albanian coast. It proved to be a false alarm, and they were back at their moorings three days later. In the meantime, the ships patrolled the Ionian Sea. The Italian declaration of war on Austria-Hungary on 23 May, and the Italian decision to assume responsibility for naval operations in the Adriatic, allowed the French Navy to withdraw to either Malta or Bizerte, French Tunisia, to cover the Otranto Barrage. At some point during the year, Courbet's 47 mm guns were put on high-angle mountings to allow them to be used as anti-aircraft (AA) guns. They were later supplemented by a pair of 75 mm (3 in) Mle 1891 G guns on anti-aircraft mounts. On 27 April 1916, the French began using the port of Argostoli on the Greek island of Cephalonia as a base. Around this time, many men from the battleships' crews were transferred to anti-submarine ships. At the beginning of 1917, the French began to use the Greek island of Corfu as well, but shortages of coal severely limited the battleships' ability to go to sea. In 1918, they were almost immobile, leaving Corfu only for maintenance and repairs. On 1 July, the Naval Army was reorganised with Courbet, Paris and Jean Bart assigned to the 2nd Battle Division of the 1st Battle Squadron. At some point during the year, Courbet's mainmast was shortened and a motorised winch was installed to allow her to operate a kite balloon, but this was not a success. ### Interwar years After the war ended on 11 November, Courbet returned to Toulon for a refit; the ship was briefly placed in reserve before she became Vice-Admiral Charlier's flagship between 6 June 1919 and 20 October 1920. On 10 February 1920, the 1st Naval Army was disbanded and replaced by the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron (Escadre de la Méditerranée orientale) and its Western counterpart (Escadre de la Méditerranée occidentale); all of the Courbets assigned to the 1st Battle Squadron of the latter unit, with Courbet, Jean Bart and Paris in the 1st Battle Division and France in the 2nd Battle Division. Charlier commanded both the 1st Division and the Western Mediterranean Squadron at this time. The two squadrons were combined into the Mediterranean Squadron (Escadre de la Méditerranée) on 20 July 1921. The following year, she became a gunnery training ship at Toulon, but she suffered a serious boiler fire on 6 June 1923 that required repairs, so she was given the first of her modernisations between 9 July 1923 and 16 April 1924, at La Seyne-sur-Mer. This included replacing four boilers with oil-fired du Temple boilers and trunking together her two forward funnels. The maximum elevation of the main armament was increased from 12° to 23° which increased their maximum range to 26,000 metres (28,000 yd). Her existing AA guns were replaced with four 75 mm Modèle 1918 AA guns, and her bow armour was removed to make her more seaworthy. A new tripod foremast with a fire-control position at its top was fitted. A Barr & Stroud 4.57-metre (15 ft) rangefinder was positioned on the roof of the fire-control position and an experimental Barr & Stroud FX2 7.6-metre (24 ft 11 in) coincidence rangefinder was installed on the roof of the aft superfiring turret, replacing the 2-metre (6 ft 7 in) instrument inside the turret. She had another boiler fire on 1 August 1924, burning 13 men, of whom 3 later died of their wounds, and remained under repair for the rest of the year. Courbet and the battleship Provence visited Naples, Italy, on 15–19 June 1925 then rendezvoused with Jean Bart and Paris at Mers-el-Kebir, French Algeria, for manoeuvres in the Bay of Biscay with the Atlantic-based ships that began on the 26th. Afterwards, the assembled ships were reviewed by the President of France, Gaston Doumergue at Cherbourg, and the Mediterranean-based ships returned to Toulon on 12 August. On 1 January 1927, the Mediterranean Squadron was renamed the 1st Squadron. Two weeks later, Courbet began a lengthy modernisation that lasted until 12 January 1931. This was much more extensive than her earlier refit as all of her boilers were replaced or overhauled: she received six oil-fired du Temple boilers that had been built for the scrapped battleship Normandie and sixteen coal-fired boilers from Normandie's sister Flandre. The ship was only able to reach 18.2 knots (33.7 km/h; 20.9 mph) at a displacement of 24,748 tonnes (24,357 long tons) during her sea trials afterwards. Courbet's fire-control systems were comprehensively upgraded with the installation of a Saint-Chamond-Granat system in a director-control tower (DCT) on the top of the tripod mast, and all of her original rangefinders were replaced with the exception of the 2-metre (6 ft 7 in) rangefinders in each turret. The DCT was fitted with a 4.57-metre coincidence rangefinder, and a 3-metre (9 ft 10 in) stereo rangefinder was added to the DCT to measure the distance between the target and shell splashes. Additional 4.57-metre rangefinders were added in a duplex mounting atop the conning tower and another at the base of the mainmast. The Barr & Stroud 7.6-metre instrument was removed, and a traversable 8.2-metre (26 ft 11 in) rangefinder was fitted to the roof of the forward superfiring turret. Directors with 2-metre rangefinders were also added to control the secondary guns. The ship's Mle 1918 AA guns were exchanged for seven Canon de 75 mm modèle 1922 guns, and they were provided with a pair of high-angle 1.5-metre (4 ft 11 in) rangefinders, one on top of the duplex unit on the conning tower and one in the aft superstructure. On 25 March 1931, Courbet had a breakdown in one of her turbines and had to return to the shipyard for repairs. After running her sea trials on 9–12 June, she was assigned to the Training Division as part of the gunnery school. The ship conducted several gunnery exercises from 4 February to 27 May 1932 before she returned to the shipyard to have her condensers retubed and her two inner propellers replaced. In 1933 and 1934, Courbet and her sister Paris, both assigned to the Training Division, rarely left port. Courbet had her propulsion machinery overhauled in 1937–1938, and the navy took the opportunity to remove her torpedo tubes and reinforce her anti-aircraft armament with the addition of a few Hotchkiss 13.2-millimetre (0.5 in) anti-aircraft machineguns. The Training Squadron was disbanded on 10 June 1939, and the sisters were assigned to the 3rd Battle Division of the 5th Squadron. The ships began a cruise on 14 June during which they visited Mers-el-Kebir and Casablanca, French Morocco, before arriving in Brest on 11 July where the division was assigned to the 2nd Maritime Region which was headquartered there, retaining their role as gunnery training ships. ### World War II From the beginning of World War II in September 1939, Courbet and Paris continued training until after the German invasion of France on 10 May 1940. They were mobilised on 21 May with augmented crews and assigned to the command of Vice-Admiral Jean-Marie Abrial for the defence of the French ports on the English Channel. Courbet provided gunfire support to the defenders of Cherbourg on 19 June against the advancing 7th Panzer Division and then covered the evacuation of the town by the Allies during Operation Aerial. The ship sailed for Portsmouth, England, the following day. Courbet was seized there, as part of Operation Catapult, by British forces on 3 July to prevent French ships from falling into German hands after the French surrender in late June. The ship was given to the Free French a week later, who used her as an anti-aircraft battery in Portsmouth, until she was disarmed on 31 March 1941, and used as an accommodation ship. At Loch Striven, Scotland, she was used as a target for the "Highball" bouncing bomb trials between 9 May and December 1943. "Highball" was a smaller version of "Upkeep" used in Operation Chastise, also known as the Dambuster Raid. Courbet remained in use as a depot and target ship until she was earmarked for use as a "Gooseberry" breakwater at Sword Beach during the Normandy landings. The ship had to be towed from Weymouth on 7 June by a pair of British tugboats as her engines and boilers had been removed earlier and replaced with concrete. She was scuttled on 9 June off Sword Beach and was hit by Neger manned torpedoes during the nights of 15–16 and 16–17 August. As such, she was probably the only ship ever attacked by secret weapons of both sides during the conflict. She was slowly scrapped in place after the war; the demolition was completed in 1970.

Johnstown Inclined Plane

Funicular in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, US

The Johnstown Inclined Plane is a 896.5-foot (273.3 m) funicular in Johnstown, Cambria County, Pennsylvania, U.S. The incline and its two stations connect the city of Johnstown, situated in a valley at the confluence of the Stonycreek and the Little Conemaugh rivers, to the borough of Westmont on Yoder Hill. The Johnstown Inclined Plane is billed as the "world's steepest vehicular inclined plane". It can carry automobiles and passengers, up or down a slope with a grade of 71.9%. The travel time between stations is 90 seconds. After a catastrophic flood in 1889, the Johnstown Inclined Plane was completed in 1891 to serve as an escape route from floods in the valley, as well as a convenient mode of transportation for residents of the new communities above the valley. It was operated by Cambria Iron Company and its successor Bethlehem Steel until 1935, when it was sold to the borough of Westmont. The incline was briefly shut down in 1962 when its supply of power from Bethlehem Steel was terminated. Twice in its history, the Johnstown Inclined Plane fulfilled its role as a means of evacuation from floods—once in 1936 and again in 1977. The incline was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and was designated a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1994. It had major renovations in 1962 and from 1983 to 1984. ## Design The Johnstown Inclined Plane was designed by Hungarian-American engineer Samuel Diescher, who had also designed the Duquesne, Castle Shannon and Fort Pitt Inclines in Pittsburgh. The funicular consists of a parallel set of broad gauge railroad tracks with a 70.9% grade or an angle of 35 degrees and 28 minutes from the horizontal. The incline is 896.5 feet (273.3 m) long and ascends 502.2 feet (153.1 m) vertically to the top of Yoder Hill and the borough of Westmont, the station of which is at an elevation of 1,693.5 feet (516.2 m) above sea level. The rails are supported by 720 14-foot-long (4 m) railroad ties made from Southern Yellow Pine. The incline is illuminated at night by 114 high-pressure sodium-vapor lamps mounted along the sides of tracks. There was a stairway between the tracks with 966 steps; this was removed c. 1963. Two cars traverse the slope; as one descends, the other ascends and acts as a counterweight. The cars are 15 feet 6 inches (4.7 m) wide, 15 feet 2 inches (4.6 m) tall, and 34 feet (10 m) long, and are large enough to carry either 65 people, 6 motorcycles, or an automobile. While the cars are open to the elements, an enclosed seating area with a bench is situated along the outer side of the incline. The cables connecting the cars are 2-inch-diameter (50.8 mm), 6×36 right regular lay, steel wire rope. They are wound around a 3-short-ton (2.7-metric-ton; 2.7-long-ton), 16-foot-diameter (5 m) drum that connects the cars. The cable on the north track is 1,075 feet (328 m) long, while the south cable is 7 feet (2.13 m) shorter. Each car weighs 22 short tons (20.0 metric tons; 19.6 long tons), but they and the cables can carry an additional load of 15 short tons (13.6 metric tons; 13.4 long tons). A 400-horsepower (298 kW) electric motor drives the drum, simultaneously winding and unwinding the cable, to propel the incline. The Johnstown Inclined Plane is unusual in that the motor and winch are located at a 90-degree angle to the incline instead of directly underneath it. Operation of the incline is controlled via a foot pedal located in a booth in the upper station. An emergency brake engages if the air pressure needed to control the incline is insufficient; the brake also engages if a dead man's switch is tripped in the operator's booth. In addition to the hauling cables, a 972-foot (296 m) safety cable capable of withstanding 165 short tons (149.7 metric tons; 147.3 long tons) is also connected to the cars. ## History ### Background and construction Inclines are common in Europe, and immigrants, like the German, Slavic, and Welsh people who settled near Johnstown, remembered them from their native lands and brought the concept to the United States. The earliest inclines in the United States were a series of 10 that were built in the 1830s as part of the Allegheny Portage Railroad. The portage railroad carried canal boats over the Allegheny Mountains to connect the canals from Pittsburgh to the ones from Philadelphia. Pittsburgh at one time also had "at least 17" inclines—some carried passengers, others freight, while another two inclines (like the Nunnery Hill Incline) were curved. On May 31, 1889, the South Fork Dam collapsed upstream of Johnstown on the Little Conemaugh River. The resulting deluge devastated the city, killing 2,209 people. As the city rebuilt, the Cambria Iron Company started work on a residential development atop Yoder Hill. To provide easy transportation on the steep slope for residents of the new community of Westmont, the company constructed an inclined plane. In addition to being a convenient mode of transportation, the Johnstown Inclined Plane doubled as an escape route in event of flood. Diescher was hired by Cambria Iron to design the incline. The rails used in the incline were manufactured in Johnstown at Cambria Iron, and many of the construction tools handcrafted there. The 232-foot (71 m) Inclined Plane Bridge was built to span the Stoneycreek River to provide access to the lower station of the incline. Originally named the Cambria Inclined Plane, the Johnstown Inclined Plane opened on June 1, 1891 and cost $133,296 to build. The convenience the incline provided stimulated a rapid growth of population in Westmont and made the borough one of the country's first suburbs. Over 40 million trips were taken on the incline in its first 80 years of operation. ### Use The incline's original steam engine was disconnected on January 6, 1912, and replaced with an electric motor. The cars used on the incline were originally double-deckers, but were reconfigured into a single-decker design in 1921. The double-decker cars had horses and wagons riding on the main, upper deck and passengers riding in a compartment below. Only one human fatality has occurred at the incline; it was determined that the incident was not caused by the incline itself. There were two incidents in the 1920s when horses aboard the incline became spooked and leapt from the car onto the tracks. Bethlehem Steel, the successor to Cambria Iron, sold the Johnstown Inclined Plane to the borough of Westmont in April 1935. On March 17, 1936, nearly 4,000 people were evacuated from Johnstown to higher ground via the incline as the Stoneycreek and Conemaugh Rivers overflowed their banks. The floodwaters continued downstream and eventually reached Pittsburgh. From February 1938 to July 1953, the Johnstown Traction Company operated transit buses from Johnstown to Westmont with the "fully loaded public buses" being carried by the incline. Bethlehem Steel stopped supplying electricity to the Johnstown Inclined Plane when the factory switched to "an incompatible power system", forcing the incline to close on January 31, 1962. Because of public pressure to keep the incline operating, it was reopened in July 1962 after extensive renovation, in which the electric motor was rewound, ties were replaced, and the cars were repainted. The Johnstown Inclined Plane was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 18, 1973. On July 20, 1977, the incline was again used as an escape route, evacuating residents from the valley amid rising floodwaters. It also carried "boats, emergency personnel, and equipment down to the valley to aid in rescue operations". The incline was again sold for $1 by Westmont borough on March 8, 1983, to the Cambria County Transit Authority, now CamTran. CamTran initiated a $4.2 million renovation on September 7, 1983, replacing "the incline's foundation piers, structural steel, and track." The renovations were completed on August 22, 1984, and the incline was rededicated on September 6. It was designated an Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in September 1994. A footbridge spanning Pennsylvania Route 56 between the incline and Vine Street was opened around the same time. On September 1, 2000, the incline was closed when the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) undertook an $2.3 million renovation of the bridge and its access road. It was reopened in April 2001, but again closed in September to allow PennDOT to finish repairs to the bridge deck. The repairs were completed on December 14, 2001. A strong thunderstorm disrupted power to the incline on April 16, 2010, stranding the cars and two passengers almost halfway down the slope. The rescue took three hours, and ended when firefighters rappelled down the tracks to reach the car. The Johnstown Inclined Plane was closed from September 9 to October 14, 2010, for the installation of a new 9,000-pound (4,100 kg) "hoist brake shaft." From October 29 to October 31, 2012, CamTran shut down the incline fearing power outages due to the passage of Hurricane Sandy. During the annual Thunder in the Valley motorcycle rally, two resistors failed and stopped the incline near the stations on June 28, 2014. Repairs took approximately a month after consultants diagnosed the failure. Sensor issues briefly disrupted service in August 2014 and, again, December 2014 forcing the incline to start its winter maintenance period early. ### Refurbishment In 2021, the incline closed for a two year project to extensively renovate the incline at a cost of more than $12 million. The refurbishment included restoration of the cars, a complete overhaul of the mechanical and electrical systems, and replacement all the track ties. The project was funded by a variety of state and federal grants, and donations from local foundations. ## Current operations With the growing usage of the automobile and construction of new roads, ridership on the incline diminished. It was losing $25,000 a year by 1961. Since the 1980s, the incline has become one of the main tourist attractions in Johnstown, with people visiting the incline to "ride for fun, nostalgia and novelty." Primarily used for tourism, the incline's use by commuters, who bike or walk to work, has also increased. CamTran's Route 18 transit bus offers connections between the incline and downtown Johnstown. As of 2017, the cost for a ride on the incline is $3 or $5 for a roundtrip. The one way fare for automobiles $8. The incline takes around 90 seconds to travel between stations. The same trip takes 10 minutes by automobile. In 2021, the Johnstown Inclined Plane had an annual ridership of 20,193 passengers, a decrease of 50.5 percent from the previous year. The upper station has a gift shop selling souvenirs and snacks. A visitor center is located adjacent to the station. The mechanical room housing the incline's hoisting mechanism can be viewed from windows in the gift shop and the visitor center lobby. An observation deck providing views of the incline, the city, and the valley is located on the opposite side of the station from the visitor center. Two hiking trails and several mountain bike trails allow visitors to recreate on the hillside. One of the hiking trails is a sculpture trail, with works created in 1989 by local artist James Wolfe, who used remnants of the Bethlehem Steel factory in Johnstown. ## See also - List of funicular railways - List of Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmarks - National Register of Historic Places listings in Cambria County, Pennsylvania ## Explanatory notes ## General sources

1838 Jesuit slave sale

Sale by the Jesuits in Maryland

On June 19, 1838, the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus agreed to sell 272 slaves to two Louisiana planters, Henry Johnson and Jesse Batey, for $115,000 (equivalent to approximately $ in ). This sale was the culmination of a contentious and long-running debate among the Maryland Jesuits over whether to keep, sell, or free their slaves, and whether to focus on their rural estates or on their growing urban missions, including their schools. In 1836, the Jesuit superior general, Jan Roothaan, authorized the Maryland provincial superior to carry out the sale on three conditions: the slaves must be permitted to practice their Catholic faith, their families must not be separated, and the proceeds of the sale must be used only to support Jesuits in training. It soon became clear that Roothaan's conditions had not been fully met. The Jesuits ultimately received payment many years late and never received the full $115,000. Only 206 of the 272 slaves were actually delivered because the Jesuits permitted the elderly and those with spouses who were living nearby and not owned by Jesuits to remain in Maryland. The sale prompted immediate outcry from fellow Jesuits. Some wrote emotional letters to Roothaan denouncing its immorality. Eventually, Roothaan removed Thomas Mulledy as provincial superior for disobeying orders and promoting scandal, exiling him to Nice for several years. Despite coverage of the Maryland Jesuits' slave ownership and the 1838 sale in academic literature, news of these facts came as a surprise to the public in 2015, prompting a study of Georgetown University's and the Jesuits' historical relationship with slavery. Georgetown and the College of the Holy Cross renamed buildings, Georgetown granted legacy admissions preference to the slaves' descendants, and the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States pledged to raise $100 million for them. ## Background ### Emergence of Jesuit manors The Society of Jesus, whose members are known as Jesuits, established its first presence in the Mid-Atlantic region of the Thirteen Colonies alongside the first settlers of the British Province of Maryland, which had been founded as a Catholic colony and refuge. Three Jesuits traveled aboard The Ark and The Dove on Lord Baltimore's voyage to settle Maryland in 1634. The Jesuits received land patents from Lord Baltimore in 1636, were gifted land in some Catholic Marylanders' wills, and purchased some land on their own, eventually becoming substantial landowners in the colony. As the sole ministers of Catholicism in Maryland at the time, the Jesuit estates became the centers of Catholicism. From these estates, the Jesuits traveled the countryside on horseback, administering the sacraments and catechizing the Catholic laity. They also established schools on their lands. Much of this land was put to use as plantations, the revenue from which financed the Jesuits' ministries. While the plantations were initially worked by indentured servants, as the institution of indentured servitude began to fade away in Maryland, African slaves replaced indentured servants as the primary workers on the plantations. Many of these slaves were gifted to the Jesuits, while others were purchased. The first record of slaves working Jesuit plantations in Maryland dates to 1711, but it is likely that there were slave laborers on the plantations a generation before then. When the Society of Jesus was suppressed worldwide by Pope Clement XIV in 1773, ownership of the plantations was transferred from the Jesuits' Maryland Mission to the newly established Corporation of Roman Catholic Clergymen. Several of the Jesuits' slaves unsuccessfully attempted to sue for their freedom in the courts in the 1790s. By 1824, the Jesuit plantations totaled more than 12,000 acres (4,900 hectares) in the State of Maryland, and 1,700 acres (690 hectares) in eastern Pennsylvania. These consisted primarily of the plantations of White Marsh in Prince George's County, St. Inigoes and Newtown Manor in St. Mary's County, St. Thomas Manor in Charles County, and Bohemia Manor in Cecil County. The main crops grown were tobacco and corn. Due to these extensive landholdings, the Propaganda Fide in Rome had come to view the American Jesuits negatively, believing they lived lavishly like manorial lords. In reality, by the early 19th century, the Jesuit plantations were in such a state of mismanagement that in 1820, the Jesuit Superior General in Rome, Tadeusz Brzozowski, sent Irish Jesuit Peter Kenney as a canonical visitor to review the operations of the Maryland Mission. In addition to becoming physically dilapidated, all but one of the plantations had fallen into debt. On some plantations, the majority of slaves did not work because they were too young or old. The condition of slaves on the plantations varied over time, as did the condition of the Jesuits living with them. Kenney found the slaves facing arbitrary discipline, a meager diet, pastoral neglect, and engaging in vice. By the 1830s, however, their material and religious conditions had improved considerably. One of the Maryland Jesuits' institutions, Georgetown College (later known as Georgetown University), also rented slaves. While the school did own a small number of slaves over its early decades, its main relationship with slavery was the leasing of slaves to work on campus, a practice that continued past the 1838 slave sale. ### Debate over the slavery question Beginning in 1800, there were instances of the Jesuit plantation managers freeing individual slaves or permitting slaves to purchase their freedom. As early as 1814, the trustees of the Corporation of Roman Catholic Clergymen discussed manumitting all their slaves and abolishing slavery on the Jesuit plantations, though in 1820, they decided against universal manumission. In 1830, the new Superior General, Jan Roothaan, returned Kenney to the United States, specifically to address the question of whether the Jesuits should divest themselves of their rural plantations altogether, which by this time had almost completely paid down their debts. While Roothaan decided in 1831, based on the advice of the Maryland Mission superior, Francis Dzierozynski, that the Jesuits should maintain and improve their plantations rather than sell them, Kenney and his advisors (Thomas Mulledy, William McSherry, and Stephen Dubuisson) wrote to Roothaan in 1832 about the growing public opposition to slavery in the United States, and strongly urged Roothaan to allow the Jesuits to gradually free their slaves. Mulledy in particular felt that the plantations were a drain on the Maryland Jesuits; he urged selling the plantations as well as the slaves, believing the Jesuits were only able to support either their estates or their schools in growing urban areas: Georgetown College in Washington, D.C., and St. John's College in Frederick, Maryland. Mulledy and McSherry became increasingly vocal in their opposition to Jesuit slave ownership. While they continued to support gradual emancipation, they believed that this option was becoming increasingly untenable, as the Maryland public's concern grew about the expanding number of free blacks. The two feared that because the public would not accept additional manumitted blacks, the Jesuits would be forced to sell their slaves en masse. The Maryland Jesuits, having been elevated from a mission to the status of a province in 1833, held their first provincial congregation in 1835, where they considered again what to do with their plantations. The province was sharply divided, with the American-born Jesuits supporting a sale and the missionary European Jesuits opposing on the basis that it was immoral both to sell their patrimonial lands and to materially and morally harm the slaves by selling them into the Deep South, where they did not want to go. At the congregation, the senior Jesuits in Maryland voted six to four to proceed with a sale of the slaves, and Dubuisson submitted to the Superior General a summary of the moral and financial arguments on either side of the debate. Meanwhile, in order to fund the province's operations, McSherry, as the first provincial superior of the Maryland Province, began selling small groups of slaves to planters in Louisiana in 1835, arguing that it was not possible to sell the slaves to local planters and that the buyers had assured him that they would not mistreat the slaves and would permit them to practice their Catholic faith. ## The sale In October 1836, Roothaan officially authorized the Maryland Jesuits to sell their slaves, so long as three conditions were satisfied: the slaves were to be permitted to practice their Catholic faith, their families were not to be separated, and the proceeds of the sale had to be used to support Jesuits in training, rather than to pay down debts. McSherry delayed selling the slaves because their market value had greatly diminished as a result of the Panic of 1837, and because he was searching for a buyer who would agree to these conditions. In October of that year, Mulledy succeeded McSherry, who was dying, as provincial superior. Mulledy quickly made arrangements to carry out the sale. He located two Louisiana planters who were willing to purchase the slaves: Henry Johnson, a former United States Senator and governor of Louisiana, and Jesse Batey. They were looking to buy slaves in the Upper South more cheaply than they could in the Deep South, and agreed to Mulledy's asking price of approximately $400 per person. ### Terms of the agreement On June 19, 1838, Mulledy, Johnson, and Batey signed articles of agreement formalizing the sale. Johnson and Batey agreed to pay $115,000, equivalent to $ in , over the course of ten years plus six percent annual interest. In exchange, they would receive 272 slaves from the four Jesuit plantations in southern Maryland, constituting nearly all of the slaves owned by the Maryland Jesuits. Johnson and Batey were to be held jointly and severally liable and each additionally identified a responsible party as a guarantor. The slaves were also identified as collateral in the event that Johnson, Batey, and their guarantors defaulted on their payments. The articles of agreement listed each of the slaves being sold by name. More than half were younger than 20, and nearly a third were not yet 10 years old. The agreement provided that 51 slaves would be sent to the port of Alexandria, Virginia, in order to be shipped to Louisiana. Upon receipt of these 51, Johnson and Batey were to pay the first $25,000. The first payment on the remaining $90,000 would become due after five years. The remainder of the slaves were accounted for in three subsequent bills of sale executed in November 1838, which specified that 64 would go to Batey's plantation named West Oak in Iberville Parish and 140 slaves would be sent to Johnson's two plantations, Ascension Plantation (later known as Chatham Plantation) in Ascension Parish and another in Maringouin in Iberville Parish. ### Delivery of the slaves Anticipating that some of the Jesuit plantation managers who opposed the sale would encourage their slaves to flee, Mulledy, along with Johnson and a sheriff, arrived at each of the plantations unannounced to gather the first 51 slaves for transport. When Mulledy returned in November to gather the rest of the slaves, the plantation managers had their slaves flee and hide. The slaves Mulledy gathered were sent on the three-week voyage aboard the Katherine Jackson, which departed Alexandria on November 13 and arrived in New Orleans on December 6. Most of the slaves who fled returned to their plantations, and Mulledy made a third visit later that month, where he gathered some of the remaining slaves for transport. Not all of the 272 slaves intended to be sold to Louisiana met that fate. In total, only 206 are known to have been transported to Louisiana. Several substitutions were made to the initial list of those to be sold, and 91 of those initially listed remained in Maryland. There are several reasons many slaves were left behind. The Jesuits decided that the elderly would not be sold south and instead would be permitted to remain in Maryland. Other slaves were sold locally in Maryland so that they would not be separated from their spouses who were either free or owned by non-Jesuits, in compliance with Roothaan's order. Johnson allowed these slaves to remain in Maryland because he intended to return and try to buy their spouses as well. Some of the initial 272 slaves who were not delivered to Johnson were replaced with substitutes. An unknown number of slaves may also have run away and escaped transportation. ## Aftermath ### Scandal and reproach Almost immediately, the sale, which was one of the largest slave sales in the history of the United States, became a scandal among American Catholics. Many Maryland Jesuits were outraged by the sale, which they considered to be immoral, and many of them wrote graphic, emotional accounts of the sale to Roothaan. Benedict Fenwick, a Jesuit and the Bishop of Boston, privately lamented the fate of the slaves and considered the sale an extreme measure. Dubuisson described how the public reputation of the Jesuits in Washington and Virginia declined as a result of the sale. Other Jesuits voiced their anger to the Archbishop of Baltimore, Samuel Eccleston, who conveyed this to Roothaan. During the controversy, Mulledy fell into alcoholism. Soon after the sale, Roothaan decided that Mulledy should be removed as provincial superior. Roothaan was particularly concerned because it had become clear that, contrary to his order, families had been separated by the slaves' new owners. In the years after the sale, it also became clear that most of the slaves were not permitted to carry on their Catholic faith because they were living on plantations far removed from any Catholic church or priest. While McSherry initially persuaded Roothaan to forgo removing Mulledy, in August 1839, Roothaan resolved that Mulledy must be removed to quell the ongoing scandal. He demanded that Mulledy travel to Rome to answer the charges of disobeying orders and promoting scandal. He ordered McSherry to inform Mulledy that he had been removed as provincial superior, and that if Mulledy refused to step down, he would be dismissed from the Society of Jesus. Before Roothaan's order reached Mulledy, Mulledy had already accepted the advice of McSherry and Eccleston in June 1839 to resign and go to Rome to defend himself before Roothaan. As censure for the scandal, Roothaan ordered Mulledy to remain in Europe, and Mulledy lived in exile in the Savoyard city of Nice until 1843. ### Financial outcome While Roothaan ordered that the proceeds of the sale be used to provide for the training of Jesuits, the initial $25,000 was not used for that purpose. Of the sum, $8,000 was used to satisfy a financial obligation that, following a long-running and contentious dispute, Pope Pius VII had previously determined the Maryland Jesuits owed to Archbishop Ambrose Maréchal of Baltimore and his successors. The remaining $17,000, equivalent to approximately $ in , was used to offset part of Georgetown College's $30,000 of debt that had accrued during the construction of buildings during Mulledy's prior presidency of the college. However, the remainder of the money received did go to funding Jesuit formation. Johnson was unable to pay according to the schedule of the agreement. As a result, he had to sell his property in the 1840s and renegotiate the terms of his payment. He was allowed to continue paying well beyond the ten years initially allowed, and continued to do so until just before the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, during the Civil War. The Jesuits never received the total $115,000 that was owed under the agreement. ### Subsequent fate of the slaves Before the abolition of slavery in the United States in 1865, many slaves sold by the Jesuits changed ownership several times. Following Batey's death, his West Oak plantation and the slaves living there were sold in January 1853 to Tennessee politician Washington Barrow and Barrow's son, John S. Barrow, a resident of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In 1856, Washington Barrow sold the slaves he purchased from Batey to William Patrick and Joseph B. Woolfolk of Iberville Parish. Patrick and Woolfolk's slaves were then sold in July 1859 to Emily Sparks, the widow of Austin Woolfolk. Due to financial difficulties, Johnson sold half his property, including some of the slaves he had purchased in 1838, to Philip Barton Key in 1844. Key then transferred this property to John R. Thompson. In 1851, Thompson purchased the second half of Johnson's property, so that by the beginning of the Civil War, all the slaves sold by Mulledy to Johnson were owned by Thompson. ## Legacy ### Historiography While the 1838 slave sale gave rise to scandal at the time, the event eventually faded out of public awareness. However, the history of the sale and the Jesuits' slave ownership was never secret. It is one of the most well-documented slave sales of its era. There was periodic and sometimes extensive coverage of both the sale and the Jesuits' slave ownership in various literature. Articles in the Woodstock Letters, an internal Jesuit publication that later became accessible to the public, routinely addressed both subjects during the course of its existence from 1872 to 1969. The 1970s saw an increase in public scholarship on the Maryland Jesuits' slave ownership. In 1977, the Maryland Province named Georgetown's Lauinger Library as the custodian of its historic archives, which were made available to the public through the Georgetown University Library, Saint Louis University Library, and Maryland State Library. In 1981, historian Robert Emmett Curran presented comprehensive research into the Maryland Jesuits' participation in slavery at academic conferences, and published this research in 1983. Curran also published Georgetown University's official bicentennial history in 1993, in which he wrote about the university's and the Jesuits' relationship with slavery. Other historians covered the subject in literature published between the 1980s and 2000s. In 1996, the Jesuit Plantation Project was established by historians at Georgetown, which made available to the public, via the internet, digitized versions of much of the Maryland Jesuits' archives, including the articles of agreement for the 1838 sale. ### Return to public awareness The 1838 slave sale returned to the public's awareness in the mid-2010s. In 2013, Georgetown began planning to renovate the adjacent Ryan, Mulledy, and Gervase Halls, which together served as the university's Jesuit residence until the opening of a new residence, Wolfington Hall, in 2003. After the Jesuits vacated the buildings, Ryan and Mulledy Halls lay vacant, while Gervase Hall was put to other use. In 2014, renovation began on Ryan and Mulledy Halls to convert them into a student residence. With work complete, in August 2015, university president John DeGioia sent an open letter to the university announcing the opening of the new student residence, which also related Mulledy's role in the 1838 slave sale after stepping down as president of the university. Despite the decades of scholarship on the subject, this revelation came as a surprise to many Georgetown University members, and some criticized the retention of Mulledy's name on the building. Between 2014 and 2015, several articles in the school newspaper, The Hoya, also brought the university's relationship with slavery and the slave sale to public attention. #### Renaming halls In September 2015, DeGioia convened a Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation to study the slave sale and recommend how to treat it in the present day. In November of that year, following a student-led protest and sit-in, the working group recommended that the university temporarily rename Mulledy Hall (which opened during Mulledy's presidency in 1833) to Freedom Hall, and McSherry Hall (which opened in 1792 and housed a meditation center) to Remembrance Hall. On November 14, 2015, DeGioia announced that he and the university's board of directors accepted the working group's recommendation, and would rename the buildings accordingly. This coincided with a protest by a group of students against keeping Mulledy's and McSherry's names on the buildings the day before. In 2016, The New York Times published an article that brought the history of the Jesuits' and university's relationship with slavery to national attention. The College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, of which Mulledy was the first president from 1843 to 1848, also began to reconsider the name of one of its buildings in 2015. Mulledy Hall, a student dormitory that opened in 1966, was renamed as Brooks–Mulledy Hall in 2016, adding the name of a later president, John E. Brooks, who worked to racially integrate the college. In 2020, the college removed Mulledy's name. On April 18, 2017, DeGioia, along with the provincial superior of the Maryland Province, and the president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, held a liturgy in which they formally apologized on behalf of their respective institutions for their participation in slavery. The university also gave permanent names to the two buildings. Freedom Hall became Isaac Hawkins Hall, after the first slave listed on the articles of agreement for the 1838 sale. Remembrance Hall became Anne Marie Becraft Hall, after a free black woman who founded a school for black girls in the Georgetown neighborhood and later joined the Oblate Sisters of Providence. #### Additional developments Georgetown University also extended to descendants of slaves who the Jesuits owned or whose labor benefitted the university the same preferential legacy status in university admission given to children of Georgetown alumni. This admissions preference has been described by historian Craig Steven Wilder as the most significant measure recently taken by a university to account for its historical relationship with slavery. Several groups of descendants have been created, which have lobbied Georgetown University and the Society of Jesus for reparations, and groups have disagreed with the form that their desired reparations should take. In 2019, undergraduate students at Georgetown voted in a non-binding referendum to impose a symbolic reparations fee of $27.20 per student. The university instead decided to raise $400,000 per year in voluntary donations for the benefit of descendants. In 2021, the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States pledged to raise $100 million for a newly created Descendants Truth and Reconciliation Foundation, which would aim to ultimately raise $1 billion, with the purpose of working for the benefit of descendants of all slaves owned by the Jesuits. Georgetown also made a $1 million donation to the foundation and a $400,000 donation to create a charitable fund to pay for healthcare and education in Maringouin, Louisiana. ## See also - Great Slave Auction - Slavery at American colleges and universities - History of Georgetown University - Domestic slave trade - History of slavery in Louisiana - Catholic Church and slavery

HMS Nairana (1917)

Australian passenger ferry and Royal Navy seaplane carrier

HMS Nairana (/naɪˈrɑːnə/) was a passenger ferry that was requisitioned by the Royal Navy (RN) as a seaplane carrier in 1917. She was laid down in Scotland in 1914 as TSS Nairana for the Australian shipping line Huddart Parker, but construction was suspended after the outbreak of the First World War. Following resumption of work, the ship was launched in 1915, and converted to operate wheeled aircraft from her forward flying-off deck, as well as floatplanes that were lowered into the water. She saw service during the war with the Grand Fleet, and in 1918–19 supported the British intervention in the Russian Civil War. Nairana was returned to her former owners in 1921 and refitted in her original planned configuration, and spent the next 27 years ferrying passengers and cargo between Tasmania and Melbourne. She was twice struck by rogue waves in Bass Strait, and nearly capsized on both occasions. Nairana was the only Bass Strait ferry not requisitioned for military service in the Second World War, and so became the sole passenger ship with service to Tasmania during the conflict. She was laid up in 1948, wrecked in a storm three years later and scrapped in situ in 1953–54. ## Background and description ### Original design In December 1913, negotiations between the Australian shipping line Huddart Parker and the British shipbuilders William Denny and Brothers began for a passenger ship with some cargo capacity to serve in the Australian coastal trade. The shipping line wanted a vessel that would improve on their earlier ferry Loongana, which had also been built by Denny's. Huddart Parker decided on a design that could carry of cargo on a draught of 14 feet (4.3 m) and could maintain 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph) for 12 hours. The ship was ordered on 22 January 1914, at a cost of £129,830, for delivery in May 1915. She was named Nairana, an Aboriginal Tasmanian name for the wedge-tailed eagle (Aquila audax). Nairana was designed to accommodate 280 first-class and 112 second-class passengers, and had a crew of 26 officers, 42 crewmen and 25 stokers. She had an overall length of 328 feet (100.0 m), a beam of 45 feet 6 inches (13.9 m), and a draught of 14 feet 7 inches (4.4 m). Designed to displace 3,479 long tons (3,535 t) Nairana had tonnages of 3,547 gross register tons (GRT), 1,118 long tons DWT, and 3,311 tons Builder's Old Measurement. The ship was launched 21 June 1915 at the Denny shipyard in Dumbarton, Scotland. The launch had been delayed nine months, after the British Government ordered that all construction workers be pulled from non-military vessels after the start of the First World War, and work had been resumed only to make her slipway available for warships. She remained at anchor for the next year and a half. The Royal Navy purchased her on 27 February 1917 for completion as a combined landplane and seaplane carrier. The price of £138,118 included the cost of conversion to her new role. The ship was nearly complete when requisitioned, although her propelling machinery was not yet installed. Consequently, only limited internal modifications, notably the addition of three large workshops, could be made. ### Military configuration HMS Nairana displaced 3,070 long tons (3,119 t) in RN service. She was 352 feet (107.3 m) long overall, had a beam of 45.6 feet (547.2 in), and a mean draught of 13 feet 2 inches (4.01 m). The ship was powered by two sets of Parsons geared steam turbines designed to produce a total of 6,700 shaft horsepower (5,000 kW), each driving one three-bladed propeller. The turbines were powered by steam provided by six Babcock & Wilcox water-tube boilers at a working pressure of 202 psi (1,393 kPa; 14 kgf/cm²). On her sea trials, Nairana made 7,003 shp (5,222 kW) and reached 20.32 knots (37.63 km/h; 23.38 mph). She carried 448 long tons (455 t) of coal which gave her a range of 1,060 nautical miles (1,960 km; 1,220 mi) at a speed of 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph). Her crew numbered 278, including 90 aviation personnel. The ship was armed with four 40-calibre, 3-inch (76 mm) 12-pounder 12 cwt quick-firing guns on single mounts. Two of these were mounted on the forecastle as low-angle guns, and the other two were mounted on the rear hangar roof as anti-aircraft guns. They fired 12.5-pound (5.7 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2,359 ft/s (719 m/s); this gave a maximum range of 9,720 yd (8,890 m). Nairana was fitted with a 95-foot (29.0 m) flying-off deck forward, intended for aircraft with wheeled undercarriages, and a prominent hangar aft. A massive latticework gantry crane protruded aft from the hangar roof and a twin-boom derrick forward were fitted to handle her aircraft. The smaller forward hangar was built under the ship's bridge and the aircraft were raised to the flight deck overhead by a 22-by-14-foot (6.7 m × 4.3 m) lift, one of the first in the RN. The forward hangar could fit four single-seat fighters and the rear hangar had a capacity of four floatplanes. The ship could lower them into the water while steaming at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) and recover the floatplanes at 6 knots (11 km/h; 6.9 mph). She carried 1,200 imperial gallons (5,500 L; 1,400 US gal) of petrol for her aircraft. During her service, Nairana carried Beardmore W.B.III, Fairey Campania, Short Type 184, and Sopwith Baby, Pup, and 2F1 Camel aircraft. ## Career ### Military service Upon commissioning on 25 August 1917, Nairana was assigned to the Battle Cruiser Force of the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow, carrying four Short Type 184 floatplanes and four Beardmore W.B.III aircraft. She saw little operational use as she was employed for pilot training and ferrying aircraft to ships equipped with flying-off decks. In 1918, Nairana participated in the North Russia Campaign in support of the British intervention in the Russian Civil War. On 1 August she took part in what was probably the first fully combined air, sea and land military operation in history, when she and her Campania seaplanes joined Allied ground forces and other ships in driving the Bolsheviks out of their fortifications on Modyugski Island at the mouth of the Northern Dvina River. Nairana used her own guns on the Bolshevik batteries. She and her aircraft then scouted ahead of the Allied force as it proceeded up the channel to Arkhangelsk. The appearance of one of her Campanias over Arkhangelsk caused the Bolshevik troops there to panic and abandon the city. Nairana sustained no damage during the assault. As of October, the ship was carrying five Campanias and two Sopwith Babies, although these last two aircraft were replaced by Sopwith Camels in 1919. By May 1919, Nairana was refitting in Rosyth. She then ferried a flight of Fairey IIIC floatplanes to North Russia for use by the Royal Air Force later in the month. She remained at Murmansk for several weeks before proceeding on to Kem. There the ship was inspected by Rear-Admiral John Green, Rear-Admiral Commanding in the White Sea, on 29 July. At the end of August, Nairana proceeded to Onega where her aircraft observed for the monitor HMS Erebus as the latter bombarded the town for several days before returning to Kem. She departed Russia on 8 October and arrived back at Rosyth four days later. Later that month the ship was transferred to Devonport to begin the process of decommissioning from naval service. ### Ferry service The British Government sold Nairana to William Denny and Brothers after her service in Russia to be rebuilt to her original plans, and the ship was handed over to Huddart Parker in January 1921. Nairana arrived in Melbourne in March, after a two-month voyage from Plymouth, and commenced her first Bass Strait crossing on 18 April 1921. She was registered in Melbourne under the British flag and was allocated the United Kingdom official number 143765, and the code letters THPM. Transferred to Tasmanian Steamers in January 1922, she operated the Bass Strait run from Launceston, Devonport and Burnie to Melbourne for the next 26 years. She accommodated 250 passengers in first class and 140 in second, and generally cruised at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). She was withdrawn from service for overhaul at Sydney's Cockatoo Island Dockyard in October 1922, and again in September–October 1923. In January 1925 Nairana was chartered by the Federal Government and crewed by non-union labour, following a strike by shipping workers. She was taken out of service for a major overhaul at Cockatoo Island from May to October 1927. On the night of 24 January 1928, she was struck by a rogue wave in heavy seas, and almost capsized; one woman, already ill when she boarded in Launceston, died. As well as passengers, Nairana regularly carried cargo, including gold bullion, and live animals such as horses and cattle between Tasmania and the mainland. A Tasmanian devil being transported to Melbourne Zoo in a wooden crate placed in one of the ship's four horse stalls escaped by chewing a hole through its box, and was never seen again. In 1934, her code letters were changed to VJGY. Nairana was withdrawn from service in December 1935 as a result of a ship workers' strike, returning to the Bass Strait run in the new year. As she neared Port Phillip Bay on 12 April 1936, on a clear day with apparently calm seas, she was again struck by a rogue wave and rolled onto her port side before swinging back over to starboard and eventually righting. The impact injured most of her 88 passengers and killed four, including a family of three who disappeared after being swept overboard. Despite this, she proceeded to her berth in the Yarra River, having sustained only minor damage. After war was declared in September 1939, Nairana began carrying military personnel as well as commercial passengers. Her hull, previously black, was painted grey, and she was fitted with paravanes to defend against mines, a BL (breech-loading) 4-inch Mk VIII anti-submarine gun on the aft promenade deck, and a 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft gun on her deckhouse. She also carried some .303 rifles for shooting at mines. As a coal burner that emitted tell-tale black smoke visible for miles, Nairana was not considered for war service, the only Bass Strait ferry not to be requisitioned. She thus became the sole commercial passenger vessel to operate between Tasmania and the mainland through the war years, maintaining a heavy schedule. The ship underwent repairs for 13 days at Williamstown, Victoria, after running aground in the Tamar River in 1943. Nairana had her final overhaul at Cockatoo Island between February and April 1944. By mid-1947, airlines had captured a significant portion of the passenger trade across Bass Strait, and Nairana's schedule was reduced. On 31 December, her captain collapsed and died as he was speaking to two of his officers while the ship was alongside in Burnie; a post-mortem examination attributed the death to heart disease. Nairana made her last crossing from Tasmania to the mainland on 13–14 February 1948, after which she was retired and laid up in Melbourne. Sold for scrap to William Mussell Pty Ltd, Williamstown, Nairana broke her moorings during a gale on 18 February 1951 and was driven ashore off Port Melbourne. Unrecoverable, she was broken up in place in 1953–54. ## Legacy Throughout her career as a Bass Strait ferry, Nairana had displayed a commemorative plaque and a photograph from her days as a carrier, presented by the British Admiralty in recognition of her service in the First World War, and especially her part in the fall of Arkhangelsk. After she was retired, the plaque went on display at the Museum of Wellington City & Sea, New Zealand, and the photograph at the Launceston Maritime Museum, Tasmania.

Columbia, South Carolina, Sesquicentennial half dollar

United States commemorative coin

The Columbia, South Carolina, Sesquicentennial half dollar was a commemorative fifty-cent piece struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint. Designed by Abraham Wolfe Davidson and minted in 1936, it marks the 150th anniversary of the designation of Columbia as South Carolina's state capital. The obverse design depicts Lady Justice holding a sword and scales, standing between South Carolina's Old State House, built in 1790, and the New State House, completed in 1903. The reverse shows the palmetto tree, South Carolina's state symbol, surrounded by 13 stars representing the original Thirteen Colonies, though they may also be intended to represent the Confederate States. Despite growing opposition to commemorative coins, legislation for the Columbia half dollars passed Congress unopposed in 1936. The Commission of Fine Arts did not like Davidson's designs, and unsuccessfully sought his replacement. The coins were struck in September 1936, but they were slow to be distributed. Once they were, they were sold in small quantities, frustrating coin dealers who hoped to accumulate more to resell to their customers. The mintage of 25,000 was distributed; no coins were returned to the Mint for redemption and melting. They generally sell in the hundreds of dollars range today, depending on condition. ## Background The area around what is now Columbia, South Carolina, was settled by British colonials as early as 1718, when Fort Congaree was established at Granby, South Carolina, near the city's present site. Following the end of the American Revolutionary War, the South Carolina Legislature was concerned that the state capital, Charleston, was too vulnerable to attack by sea and too far from the agricultural lands being developed. Accordingly, in 1786, Columbia was designated to be the new capital, one of the first planned cities in the United States. The legislature first met there at the Old State House in 1790. That building proved subject to flooding and damp—a poor place to store important state records. Work began on a new building in 1856 but was interrupted by the American Civil War; the Old State House was burned following its capture by Union troops in 1865. South Carolina had little money for capitol construction after the war, and the new building was not completed until 1903. Until 1954, the entire mintage of commemorative coin issues was sold by the government at face value to a group authorized by Congress, who then tried to sell the coins at a profit to the public. The new pieces then came on to the secondary market. In early 1936 all earlier commemoratives sold at a premium to their issue prices. The apparent easy profits to be made by purchasing and holding commemoratives attracted many to the hobby of coin collecting, where they sought to purchase the new issues. This led to many commemorative coin proposals in Congress, including some of purely local significance. These bills passed although the Treasury Department opposed the issuance of commemorative coins, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt had in 1935 asked that Congress pass no more such bills. The group designated to purchase the Columbia half dollar from the government was a committee to be established by Columbia's mayor (who in 1936 was Lawrence B. Owens), with the committee consisting of not fewer than three people. ## Legislation The coin was proposed by the Columbia Sesqui-Centennial Commission. Legislation to authorize a Columbia half dollar was introduced in the House of Representatives on June 17, 1935, by South Carolina's Hampton P. Fulmer. It was referred to the Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures. That committee reported back through Andrew Somers of New York on February 17, 1936, recommending passage of the bill with amendments. These included increasing the authorized mintage from 10,000 to 25,000 coins, and requiring that the coins be ordered by a committee of not less than three people appointed by Columbia's mayor, who, under the original bill, was to designate the individual(s) responsible for ordering the coins. Fulmer brought the bill to the floor of the House of Representatives on February 24, 1936. Bertrand H. Snell of New York asked if the bill had come from the Coinage Committee. Fulmer stated that it had, and it was being pressed now in the hope of having coins to sell at the celebrations in Columbia in March. Snell stated that he had wanted such a coin at the request of some people from his part of the country, but had learned it was against Treasury Department policy. Jesse P. Wolcott of Michigan noted that he and others from that state had tried to get a coin for the centennial of its admission to the Union. They had not pressed the matter only because of Treasury Department opposition and the threat of a presidential veto. Thomas J. O'Brien of Illinois demanded the regular order, and the bill was amended and passed without opposition or further debate. In the Senate, the bill was referred to the Committee on Banking and Currency. South Carolina's James F. Byrnes reported it back on March 3, 1936, recommending a number of minor amendments which stressed that the anniversary commemorated was not the founding of the city, but of it being the capital of South Carolina. The Senate amended the bill and passed it without discussion or dissent. As the two houses had passed versions that were not identical, the bill returned to the House of Representatives, where, on March 5, Fulmer asked that the House adopt the Senate amendments, which it did. The bill, providing for 25,000 half dollars, became law with the signature of President Roosevelt on March 18, 1936. ## Preparation The Sesqui-Centennial Commission selected 32-year-old sculptor Abraham Wolfe Davidson of Clemson College to design the coin. Davidson, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, had reached a deal with Clemson administrators whereby he would sculpt a statue of its founder, Thomas G. Clemson, in exchange for room, board and tuition. His completed plaster models of the coin were sent to the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) by the Director of the United States Mint, Nellie Tayloe Ross, on May 25, 1936. A 1921 executive order by President Warren G. Harding charged the CFA with rendering advisory opinions regarding public artworks, including coins, and Ross wanted the CFA's opinion. She recognized there were visible defects in Davidson's design, and said that they were "unsatisfactory" and 'lack artistic merit". CFA chair, Charles Moore agreed with Ross's assessment in a letter dated June 1, 1936, and suggested the South Carolina commission hire an experienced medalist. According to Eric Brothers in his article on Davidson for The Numismatist: "The Sesquicentennial Committee would not budge; Davidson was Columbia's and Clemson's talented, adopted son." On June 13, Ross returned the models to Davidson and wrote to James Hammond, chair of the Sesqui-Centennial Commission, saying she had returned the models and setting forth the Mint's technical requirements for coinage models. Thereafter, Davidson worked under the supervision of Lee Lawrie, sculptor-member of the CFA. The figure of Justice on the obverse was made less "slumpy", and the leaves of the palmetto on the reverse idealized. The revised models were recommended by the CFA on July 22, and subsequently were approved by Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau. ## Design The obverse of the Columbia half dollar depicts Lady Justice, bearing a sword and a set of scales, though lacking the blindfold used in many depictions. To her left and right are South Carolina's old and new state houses, with one of the anniversary dates under each. If the coin was struck at the Denver Mint or at San Francisco, the appropriate mint mark appears beneath her—D or S. At the time, the Philadelphia Mint did not use one. The word LIBERTY appears to her left, and a statement of the anniversary rings the design. The reverse depicts a palmetto tree, the emblem of South Carolina. Arrows are tied to its base in a saltire pattern by a broad ribbon, signifying the tree's military connotation. On June 28, 1776, a British naval squadron tried to seize Fort Moultrie in Charleston Harbor. Though many shots were fired by the British ships during the Battle of Sullivan's Island, those that hit the fortifications were absorbed by the soft palmetto logs that formed it; the American death toll was 12 against hundreds of British killed by the fort's gunfire. The lopped oak branch at the palmetto's base symbolizes the oaken British vessels. As Arlie Slabaugh Jr. put it in his volume on commemorative coins, "the South Carolinians had proven in 1776 that the palmetto was superior to the oak of Old England, and so it appears above the oak on this coin". The 13 stars surrounding the tree ostensibly symbolize the original American states, but may also have been intended to evoke the Confederate States of America. The name of the country, the coin's face value, and the mottos required by law appear on the reverse. Davidson's initials do not appear on the coin. According to Carl Stang in his 2012 article on the Columbia half dollar, "the coin generally is nice looking in virtually any condition". Numismatic author Q. David Bowers stated, "The half dollar was attractive in its simplicity, and few numismatists—who certainly are inclined to voice opinions if they don't like things—felt moved to be critical." Art historian Cornelius Vermeule, in his volume on American coins and medals, writes, "The coin presents a weak combination of allegorical obverse and symbolic reverse, with disparate lettering, cramped on one side and spread out irregularly on the other." He deemed the obverse "badly proportioned" and the reverse "boring; it recalls the nineteenth-century primitivism of a Spanish colonial or newly-independent South American country's large denominations in silver, but lacks the spontaneity of those rugged pieces of eight. The Columbia half-dollar, of course, lacks the rough feeling of work in a screw press evoked by these coins." ## Distribution and collecting The anniversary celebrations in Columbia took place between March 22 and 29, 1936. On May 30, Senator Byrnes wrote to Director Ross, asking on behalf of Hammond that the coins be struck at all three of the mints then open. He also requested that if this was not possible, that some of the coins be struck dated 1936 and some dated 1937. A subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency had held hearings on March 11, at which there had been testimony that commemoratives were being struck at multiple mints and in multiple years to increase the number of varieties a collector needed for a complete set, but the Columbia bill, signed into law only a week later, allowed for striking at multiple mints, and this had occurred by the end of September 1936. A total of 9,007 were struck at Philadelphia, 8,009 at Denver and 8,007 at San Francisco, with the excess over the even thousands held for examination and testing at the 1937 meeting of the annual Assay Commission. Although the Columbia piece was the first new commemorative authorized in 1936, it thus became the last to be struck. The coins were not distributed immediately, but orders were taken at $2.15 for a single coin, with a set of three for $6.45. By October 19, 1936, the issue was oversubscribed by 15,000 coins, likely representing quantities desired by coin dealers. At the start of December, the coins remained undistributed, causing some adverse comment in the numismatic community. To ensure a fair distribution of the coins, only small orders were filled. For the first 24 hours of sales, the coins were available only to residents of the city and thereafter could only be purchased by mail order. Local residents could buy them at $2 each. Dealers were unable to obtain large quantities, leading them to list the coins for sale in their advertisements without a sales price. David Bullowa, in his 1938 monograph on commemoratives, wrote, "The distribution was made by the commission on a very fair basis, and few persons were able to secure these coins in quantity. It made every endeavor to treat the collector fairly and to prevent the speculator from manipulating the prices of the sets in the open market, as had been done with many previous commemorative issues." Most orders for a single set of coins were filled. Some sets were held back for other purposes: one was presented to President Roosevelt in February 1937 and six sets were placed in a time capsule that was opened in 1986, when those coins were sold for several thousand dollars a set. By 1940, the sets were selling for about $6 each on the secondary market, a price that increased to $10 by 1950 and to $100 by 1965. By 1980, they were $1,750 per set, a price that decreased thereafter. The deluxe edition of R. S. Yeoman's A Guide Book of United States Coins, published in 2020, lists the set for between $540 and $900, depending on condition, with individual pieces valued at a third of that. An exceptional specimen from the Denver Mint (1936–D) sold for $15,863 in 2019.

Leelah Alcorn

American transgender girl (1997–2014)

Leelah Alcorn (November 15, 1997 – December 28, 2014) was an American transgender girl whose suicide attracted international attention; she had posted a suicide note to her Tumblr blog about societal standards affecting transgender people and expressing the hope that her death would create a dialogue about discrimination, abuse, and lack of support for transgender people. Born and raised in Kings Mills, Ohio, Alcorn was assigned male at birth and grew up in a family affiliated with the Churches of Christ movement. At age 14, she came out as transgender to her parents, Carla and Doug Alcorn, who refused to accept her female gender identity. When she was 16, they denied her request to undergo transition treatment, instead sending her to Christian-based conversion therapy with the intention of convincing her to reject her gender identity and accept the gender that she was assigned at birth. After she revealed her attraction toward males to her classmates, her parents removed her from school and revoked her access to social media. In her suicide note, Alcorn cited loneliness and alienation as key reasons for her decision to end her life and blamed her parents for causing these feelings. Alcorn used Tumblr's queue feature to publish her suicide note online several hours after her death, and it soon attracted international attention across mainstream and social media. LGBT rights activists called attention to the incident as evidence of the problems faced by transgender youth, while vigils were held in her memory in the United States and United Kingdom. Petitions were formed calling for the establishment of "Leelah's Law", a ban on conversion therapy in the United States, which received a supportive response from then-president Barack Obama. Within a year, the city of Cincinnati criminalized conversion therapy. Alcorn's parents were severely criticized for misgendering and deadnaming her in comments to the media, while LGBT rights activist Dan Savage held them responsible for their child's death, and social media users harassed them online. They defended their refusal to accept Alcorn's identity and their use of conversion therapy by reference to their Christian beliefs. ## Life Leelah Alcorn was born in Kings Mills, Ohio, on November 15, 1997. She described herself as one of several children being raised in a conservative Christian environment; she and her family attended the Northeast Church of Christ in Cincinnati, and she had been featured in a profile of that church published in a 2011 article in The Christian Chronicle. As of 2014, the family lived in Kings Mills. According to her suicide note, Alcorn had felt "like a girl trapped in a boy's body" since she was four, and came to identify as a transgender girl from the age of 14, when she became aware of the term. She rejected the name she was given by her parents. When she signed her suicide letter, she first wrote her post-transition name between parentheses, then wrote her deadname, applying strikethrough to it, and lastly wrote her surname ordinarily. According to her note, she immediately informed her mother, who reacted "extremely negatively" by claiming that it was only a phase and that God had made her a male, so she could never be a woman. She stated that this made her hate herself, and that she developed a form of depression. Alcorn's mother sent her to Christian conversion therapists, but Alcorn later related that there she only encountered "more Christians" telling her that she was "selfish and wrong" and "should look to God for help". Aged 16, she requested that she be allowed to undergo transition treatment, but was denied permission: in her words, "I felt hopeless, that I was just going to look like a man in drag for the rest of my life. On my 16th birthday, when I didn't receive consent from my parents to start transitioning, I cried myself to sleep." Alcorn publicly revealed her attraction to males when she was 16, as she believed that identifying as gay at that point would be a stepping stone to coming out as a transgender at a later date. According to a childhood friend, Alcorn received a positive reception from many at Kings High School, although her parents were appalled. In Alcorn's words, "They felt like I was attacking their image, and that I was an embarrassment to them. They wanted me to be their perfect little straight Christian boy, and that's obviously not what I wanted." They removed her from the school and enrolled her as an eleventh grader at the Ohio Virtual Academy online school. According to Alcorn, her parents cut her off from the outside world for five months as they denied her access to social media and many forms of communication. She described this as a significant contributing factor towards her suicide. At the end of the school year, they returned her mobile phone to her and allowed her to regain contact with her friends, although by this time, according to Alcorn, her relationship with many of them had become strained, and she continued to feel isolated. Two months before her death, Alcorn sought out help on Reddit, asking users whether the treatment perpetrated by her parents constituted child abuse. There, she revealed that while her parents had never physically assaulted her, "they always talked to me in a very derogatory tone" and "would say things like 'You'll never be a real girl' or 'What're you going to do, fuck boys?' or 'God's going to send you straight to hell'. These all made me feel awful about myself, I was Christian at the time so I thought that God hated me and that I didn't deserve to be alive." Further, she explained, "I tried my absolute hardest to live up to their standards and be a straight male, but eventually I realized that I hated religion and my parents." On Reddit, Alcorn also disclosed that she was prescribed increasing dosages of the anti-depressant Prozac. In concluding her post, she wrote, "Please help me, I don't know what I should do and I can't take much more of this." Alcorn's computer was recovered near the site of her suicide. It contained conversations showing that she had planned to jump off the bridge that crosses Interstate 71 days before the incident, but then contacted a crisis hotline and, as told to a friend, "basically cried [her] eyes out for a couple of hours talking to a lady there". ## Death Prior to her death on December 28, 2014, Alcorn scheduled for her suicide note to be automatically posted on her Tumblr account at 5:30 pm. In the note, she stated her intention to end her life, commenting: > I have decided I've had enough. I'm never going to transition successfully, even when I move out. I'm never going to be happy with the way I look or sound. I'm never going to have enough friends to satisfy me. I'm never going to have enough love to satisfy me. I'm never going to find a man who loves me. I'm never going to be happy. Either I live the rest of my life as a lonely man who wishes he were a woman or I live my life as a lonelier woman who hates herself. There's no winning. There's no way out. I'm sad enough already, I don't need my life to get any worse. People say "it gets better" but that isn't true in my case. It gets worse. Each day I get worse. That's the gist of it, that's why I feel like killing myself. Sorry if that's not a good enough reason for you, it's good enough for me. She expressed her wish that all of her possessions and money be donated to a transgender advocacy charity, and called for issues surrounding gender identity to be taught in schools. The note ended with the statement: "My death needs to mean something. My death needs to be counted in the number of transgender people who commit suicide this year. I want someone to look at that number and say 'that's fucked up' and fix it. Fix society. Please." A second post appeared shortly after; titled "Sorry", it featured an apology to her close friends and siblings for the trauma that her suicide would put them through, but also contained a message to her parents: "Fuck you. You can't just control other people like that. That's messed up." An additional, handwritten suicide note reading "I've had enough" was found on her bed, but then thrown away by Alcorn's mother after police made a copy. According to police, on December 28 Alcorn was walking along Interstate 71 near Union Township when she was struck by a semi-trailer just before 2:30 am near the South Lebanon exit. She died at the scene. It is believed that Alcorn walked three to four miles (five to six kilometers) from her parents' Kings Mills house before being struck. By the morning of December 31, her suicide note had been reposted on Tumblr 200,000 times. Writing for The Boston Globe, reporter Maura Johnston described it as a "passionate post". The suicide note was later deleted after Alcorn's parents asked for it to be removed, and the blog was made inaccessible to the public. According to the family minister, the Alcorn family decided to hold the funeral privately after receiving threats. Alcorn's body was reportedly cremated. On April 30, 2015, the Ohio State Patrol ruled Alcorn's death a suicide. ## Reaction ### Alcorn's parents On December 28 at 2:56 p.m., Alcorn's mother, Carla Wood Alcorn, posted a public message on the social media website Facebook, stating: "My sweet 16-year-old [child], [Leelah] Alcorn, went home to Heaven this morning. [She] was out for an early morning walk and was hit by a truck. Thank you for the messages and kindness and concern you have sent our way. Please continue to keep us in your prayers." Carla Alcorn's post was subsequently deleted. The Alcorn family publicly requested that they be given privacy to grieve in a statement issued by the Kings Local School District. In that statement, staff from Alcorn's former school, Kings High School, declared that "[Leelah] Alcorn was a sweet, talented, tender-hearted 17-year-old", adding that counselors would be made available to students affected by the incident. A moment of silence was held in Alcorn's memory before a Kings High basketball game on December 30. Some of Alcorn's supporters publicly criticized the teen's mother, Carla Alcorn, for misgendering and deadnaming her daughter in the Facebook post announcing the teenager's death. Some individuals—termed "the Internet's self-appointed vigilantes" in The Washington Post—subsequently doxed and harassed Carla via her Facebook account "in revenge" for Leelah's death. On Twitter, American gay rights activist Dan Savage argued that Alcorn's parents should be prosecuted for their role in bringing about their daughter's death, commenting that through their actions they "threw her in front of that truck". He cited the successful prosecution of Dharun Ravi following the suicide of Tyler Clementi as a legal precedent for such an action. He added that legal action should also be brought against the conversion therapists who had counseled Leelah, and suggested that the Alcorns should lose custody of their other children. Carla Alcorn responded to such criticism in an interview with CNN, stating "we loved [her] unconditionally. We loved [her] no matter what. I loved my [daughter]. People need to know that I loved [her]. [She] was a good kid, a good [girl]." Although acknowledging that Leelah had requested transition surgery, Carla stated that she had never heard her child use the name "Leelah", before reiterating her refusal to accept her child's gender identity, adding "We don't support that, religiously." She expressed concern that users of social media thought her to be a "horrible person", but defended her actions in dealing with her child, stating for example that she had banned internet access to prevent access to "inappropriate" things. In an email to Cincinnati-based channel WCPO-TV, Leelah's father Doug Alcorn wrote, "We love our [child], [Leelah], very much and are devastated by [her] death. We have no desire to enter into a political storm or debate with people who did not know [her]. We wish to grieve in private. We harbor no ill will towards anyone. ... I simply do not wish our words to be used against us." Writing for Salon, Mary Elizabeth Williams commented that "it would be cruel and inaccurate to suggest that Carla Alcorn did not love her child," but added that Carla's statement that she "loved [her] unconditionally" revealed "a tragic lack of understanding of the word 'unconditionally', even in death". People magazine quoted Johanna Olson, Medical Director for the Center of Trans Youth Health and Development at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, as stating that "Did Leelah's parents love her? Yes, I'm sure they did. Did they support her? No, they didn't. And that's a tragedy." Mara Keisling, the Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, was quoted as stating that the blaming of Alcorn's parents was unhelpful, adding, "Despite the great cultural and policy advances transgender people have made, there is still a lot of disrespect, discrimination and violence aimed at us. And being a child or a teenager of any kind today is very difficult." ### Tributes, vigils, and activism The day after Alcorn's suicide note was published online, Chris Seelbach, the first openly gay councilman on Cincinnati City Council, shared it as part of a Facebook message in which he stated that her death showed how hard it was to be transgender in the U.S. His post was shared over 4,700 times and increased public awareness of the incident. By December 30, Alcorn's death had attracted worldwide attention. News outlets across the world had picked up the story, and the hashtag \#LeelahAlcorn had topped Twitter. According to British newspaper The Independent, the incident "triggered widespread anguish and raised a debate about the rights of transgender people." The U.S.-based Boston Globe stated that it "served as a flashpoint for transgender progress in 2014," while The New Republic referred to it as having "sparked a national conversation about the plight of transgender kids and the scanty rights and respect our society affords them." On January 1, 2015, the Cincinnati-based LGBT rights group Support Marriage Equality Ohio hosted a vigil for Alcorn outside Kings High School. A candlelight vigil in Goodale Park, Columbus was held on January 2 by a group called Stand Up 4 Leelah. A further vigil was organized by both The Diverse City Youth Chorus in partnership with the Cincinnati chapter of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network at the Clifton Cultural Arts Center for January 10. The vigil location at the Clifton Cultural Arts Center was moved to the Woodward Theater to make way for a larger setting. The event was attended by over 500 people. A January 3 vigil was scheduled for Trafalgar Square in London; an organizer was quoted as saying that "[Alcorn's] death was a political death. When a member of our community is brutalised at the hands of oppression we must all fight back." Those who spoke at the event included politician Sarah Brown and novelist and poet Roz Kaveney. Marches were carried out in honor of Alcorn in both Northwest, Washington, D.C. and Queen Street, Auckland on January 10. The same day, a candlelight vigil was held in New York City's Columbus Circle. A memorial protest against conversion therapy and in memory of Alcorn took place in Lynchburg, Virginia, on January 24, 2015. Among the transgender celebrities who publicly responded to the incident were Janet Mock, Andreja Pejić, and Laverne Cox, while the musician Ray Toro released a song, "For the Lost and Brave," in dedication to Alcorn. Joey Soloway, the writer of the television show Transparent, dedicated their Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series to Alcorn. During Diane Sawyer's interview with Caitlyn Jenner, which confirmed Jenner's transgender identity, Alcorn was mentioned by name and the message "Fix society. Please," was broadcast. In June 2015, the singer Miley Cyrus founded the Happy Hippie Foundation, an organization to raise awareness of homelessness and LGBT issues among young people, partly in response to Alcorn's death. To promote the organization, she released a new series of Backyard Sessions videos, the second of which, Dido's "No Freedom" was dedicated to Alcorn. After reading about Alcorn's death, British musician Declan McKenna was inspired to write a song, "Paracetamol," which was included on his debut album What Do You Think About the Car? and discusses the media's representation of LGBT communities. In 2015, the nation-wide non-profit organization Ally Parents, operated by Stand with Trans, was created in response to Leelah's death. Carolyn Washburn, editor of the Ohio newspaper The Cincinnati Enquirer, stated that the incident "raises important issues we hope will prompt conversations in families throughout our region." Washburn had also received letters that derided the newspaper's use of Alcorn's chosen name in covering her death. When contacted by The Cincinnati Enquirer, Shane Morgan, the founder and chair of transgender advocate group TransOhio, stated that while 2014 witnessed gains for the trans rights movement, Alcorn's death illustrated how "trans people are still being victimized and still being disrespected", highlighting the high rate of transgender people who had been murdered that year. Since the incident, TransOhio has received letters from parents of transgender children describing how Alcorn's death affected them. Morgan stated that while he understood the anger directed toward Alcorn's parents, "there's no excuse for threats to the family." Allison Woolbert, executive director of the Transgender Human Rights Institute, informed The Independent that Alcorn's case was "not unique"; the newspaper highlighted research from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicating that LGBT youth are about twice as likely to attempt suicide than heterosexual, cisgender teenagers. Newsweek similarly placed Alcorn's suicide within its wider context of transphobic discrimination, highlighting that the Youth Suicide Prevention Program reports that over 50 percent of transgender youths attempt suicide before the age of 20, and that the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs recently published a report indicating that 72 percent of LGBT homicide victims in 2013 were transgender women. Kevin Jennings of the Arcus Foundation also situated Alcorn's death within wider problems facing young LGBT people. In his view, she became "an international symbol of the ongoing challenges faced by LGBT youth," adding that her death "reminds us of a basic lesson still being taught to young people across America: When it comes to gender identity, it's best to be cisgender; and when it comes to sexual orientation, it's best to be straight." Under the Twitter hashtag \#RealLiveTransAdult, many transgender people posted encouraging tweets for their younger counterparts, while other hashtags, such as \#ProtectTransKids, and the term "Rest in Power", also circulated on Twitter. A Change.org petition was set up calling for Leelah's chosen name to be included on her gravestone, which gained over 80,000 signatures. On January 6, Adam Hoover of Marriage Equality Ohio remarked that, since the request of having Alcorn's chosen name on her gravestone seemed "like a slim possibility", they would be raising money for a permanent memorial arranged as a bench, tree and commemorative plaque. Under Ohio's Adopt-a-Highway program, a group adopted the interchange of Interstate 71 South and Ohio State Route 48—which was where Alcorn died—and dedicated it to her memory. As a result, the Ohio Department of Transportation erected signs stating "In Memory of Leelah Alcorn" along the road. Members of the group affixed a wreath to one of these signs; group member Lisa Oravec informed press that "We don't want Leelah to be forgotten... We want people in Cincinnati, or anybody driving down 71 to see the wreath. See the highway. If they don't know who Leelah is they'll google it, educate it, and learn from what happened." As of December 2018, the "Leelah Alcorn Highway Memorial" group continued to meet four times a year to clean that stretch of road. The highway memorial formed the basis of a short documentary, Leelah's Highway, which was screened at the 2018 Cindependent Film Festival in Cincinnati's Woodward Theater. Its creator, Elizabeth Littlejohn of Toronto, stated that "as a human rights activist who believes [in] the right for gender self-determination, I believe this story needed to be told." ### Leelah's Law A Facebook group called "Justice for Leelah Alcorn" was established, while a petition calling for "Leelah's Law," a ban on conversion therapy in the United States, was created by the Transgender Human Rights Institute to raise awareness of the psychologically harmful effects of such practices. By January 24, it had 330,009 signatures, and was named the fastest growing change.org petition of 2014. A second appeal demanding the enactment of "Leelah's Law" was posted to the We the People section of Whitehouse.gov on January 3, 2015, which garnered more than 100,000 signatures as of January 30. In response to the petition, in April 2015, President Barack Obama called for the banning of conversion therapy for minors. In December 2015, Cincinnati became the second U.S. city after Washington, D.C., to ban the practice of conversion therapy outright; council member Chris Seelbach cited Alcorn's suicide as an influence in the decision and stated that "she challenged us to make her death matter, and we're doing just that." By October 2018, four cities across Ohio had banned conversion therapy, leading journalist Nico Lang to comment that "the Buckeye State has become an unlikely leader in banning conversion therapy at the local level." ## See also - List of LGBT-related suicides - List of people from Ohio - List of transgender people - Blake Brockington, a trans man who died by suicide in similar circumstances.

C. O. Brocato

American football player and scout (1929–2015)

Cosimo O. Brocato Jr. (October 31, 1929 – September 1, 2015) was an American scout, coach and football player best known for his time with the Houston / Tennessee Oilers / Titans, for which he was a scout from 1974 to 1976, and again from 1981 until his death in 2015. A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, Brocato attended St. John's High School (renamed Jesuit High School in 1960) and later played college football for the Baylor Bears as a linebacker and placekicker. He was selected in the 1953 National Football League (NFL) draft by the Chicago Cardinals but left in training camp to begin a coaching career. He served as an assistant coach at Haynesville High School in Louisiana from 1954 to 1957, as the head coach of St. John's / Jesuit High School from 1958 to 1968, as the defensive coordinator for the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks from 1969 to 1970, and as the defensive coordinator for the Texas–Arlington Mavericks from 1971 to 1973. Brocato resigned from Texas–Arlington in 1974 to become a scout for the Houston Oilers of the NFL for three seasons before spending 1977 through 1981 with the United States Scouting Combine, an organization that provided scouting data to NFL teams. He returned to the Oilers in 1981 and remained with them until his death in 2015. He is considered by his colleagues to have been one of the greatest scouts in football history and helped the team draft several players who went on to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Brocato invented the three-cone drill, one of the main events at the NFL Scouting Combine, and mentored numerous scouts during his career of over 40 years. He has been considered for induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on several occasions, and was a semifinalist for the classes of 2023 and 2024. ## Early life and playing career Brocato was born on October 31, 1929, in Shreveport, Louisiana, to Rosa and Cosimo O. Brocato Sr. He had eight siblings – four brothers and four sisters. He attended St. John's High School and was a fullback and placekicker on the football team, playing in the first three seasons after the program was revived following World War II. Brocato was one of the area's leading scorers in 1947 and earned All-City honors; he was team captain as a senior in 1948. He also played baseball at St. John's. ### Baylor Brocato began attending Baylor University in 1949 after graduating from St. John's. He saw limited action in his first two years while playing at center and linebacker for the football team. He received more playing time on defense as a junior in 1951 and also served as their placekicker, gaining a reputation as one of the best college football kickers in clutch situations. Brocato began the season with two missed extra point attempts against Houston. There were suggestions by fans to coach George Sauer that he find another player to attempt extra points and field goals, but Sauer said the problem was the holding of Cotton Davidson and kept Brocato in. In the next game, against Tulane, he converted three of four extra points as Baylor won 27–14. Against Arkansas in their third game, Brocato missed an extra point but successfully attempted an 11-yard field goal near the end of the game to win 9–7. Brocato made four of six extra point tries against Texas Tech and all three to help Baylor tie Texas A\&M in a crucial game. He later missed all three extra points against Texas, but rebounded with a six for six showing against Wake Forest. He converted both extra points against SMU, which allowed the Bears to win 14–13. For making the kicks when it mattered, Brocato was heralded as one of the nation's best "clutch" kickers; without "his toe sav[ing] the day" against SMU, Arkansas and Texas A\&M, Baylor would have compiled a mediocre mark, but instead, they went and made their first major bowl game in school history. Including a 17–14 bowl loss against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Brocato finished the season having gone 25 for 35 on extra points and one for two on field goals. He also intercepted two passes while playing defense. Brocato, known as "The Toe" or "The Foot", was named team co-captain as a senior in 1952 and opened the season by scoring two extra points and the game-winning field goal in Baylor's 17–14 win against Wake Forest. He missed all but one of his five extra point attempts in a 31–7 win against Washington State and afterward the team decided to use him only when points were needed. Three games later, against Texas A\&M, he made all three extra points, including one in the final minutes that ultimately won the game 21–20. Baylor finished the season with a record of 4–4–2 and Brocato graduated in 1953. Brocato was noted for his kicking style, which resulted in him not seeing any of his kicking attempts. According to the Waco Tribune-Herald: "He and the holder, Davidson, have a system. Brocato eyes the ball, kicks, then while still looking at the ground bends over and picks up a blade of grass. Davidson tells him if the kick was good." In addition to playing college football, Brocato was a backup catcher to Larry Isbell on the baseball team and competed at several Golden Gloves tournaments as a boxer. ### After Baylor Brocato was selected in the 27th round (317th overall) of the 1953 NFL draft by the Chicago Cardinals and signed his first contract on May 5. In August, the coach, Joe Stydahar, told him that at 185 pounds (84 kg) he was not heavy enough to play professionally, and Brocato left the team, intending to get a master's degree and then enter coaching. Brocato also played minor league baseball with the Homer Oilers. ## Coaching career Brocato entered coaching in 1954, serving as an assistant coach with Ed Michael under Billy Hudson for Haynesville High School as their Golden Tornado football team played in the inaugural year of Class AAA. He also was the head coach of the basketball team, assistant to the track team, and was a teacher. He taught social science and physical education for Haynesville. Brocato helped them reach the district championship in 1956, where they lost to Neville High School 18–0. After four seasons at Haynesville, Brocato was named head football coach at St. John's High School, his alma mater, in 1958. Among his first actions was to change the team's name from "Blue Flyers" to "Flyers", declaring that, "from now on, we're just plain Flyers\!" That year, he led them to what the Shreveport Journal described as their "most successful" season in several years, although they only went 4–6 with a loss to Homer High School in the finale. Brocato used the Winged-T offense, and although the formation was popular, The Guardian-Journal reported that "few ball clubs utilize all of the possibilities of this offense the way [St. John's] do[es]". St. John's was renamed to Jesuit High School in 1960; they compiled a 7–2–1 record that year, which was the first winning record for the school since Brocato's last year playing for them in 1948. Brocato led them to the district title and the Class AA state championship in 1961, where they lost to Neville 32–6. Four years later, he helped build what was described by the Shreveport Journal as the best team in school history up to that point, as Jesuit went 10–2 and won the district championship, before a tie to Morgan City High School knocked them out of the state playoffs. Brocato led them to another state championship in 1966, which they lost 7–0, and was named the district coach of the year. Jesuit finally became state champions under Brocato in 1967 while compiling a 13–0 record, for which he was named the Class AA coach of the year. He led them to a fourth consecutive district championship in 1968, his last season with the school. Brocato resigned his post in 1969 to accept the position of defensive coordinator for the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks under head coach John Symank, finishing his stint at Jesuit with 19 consecutive wins in district play and an overall record of 75–36–9 over 11 seasons. In his first year at Northern Arizona, the 1969 Lumberjacks went 7–3, completing one of the best seasons for the program, which began play in 1925. He resigned following the 1970 season. Brocato later accepted a role as defensive coordinator with the Texas–Arlington Mavericks, following Symank who became their head coach. After Texas–Arlington started the 1972 season with six straight losses, the Mavericks defeated Southwestern Louisiana, 7–0, and Brocato was carried off the field by his players. They won five straight games to finish the season in second place in the conference with a mark of 5–6. Following the 1973 season, he resigned to become a scout for the Houston Oilers, despite being one of the candidates for the vacant head coaching position at Texas–Arlington. ### Coaching style Sportswriter Rick Woodson called Brocato one of the most unforgettable characters he had ever met and described his coaching style as follows: > The thing I remember most about a Brocato is that he usually wore a broad smile. When Cosmo [sic] smiled it was ear to ear. He had a quick laugh and a temper to match. His football players never quite knew if they were in a concentration camp or a resort. C. O. didn't hesitate to rake his players over the coals, but you'd better not say anything about them. They'd make him so mad he couldn't see, but C. O. loved them all. And they loved him. Tony Papa, one of his assistant coaches at Jesuit, said, "[Brocato] is a man who off the field would do anything in the world for you. On the field, he didn't care if you were the star or an eighth-stringer, he would kick your rear end if you needed it ... Off the field you could talk and kid with him, but once you put on that uniform, baby, you had better buckle up and think about what you were doing." ## Scouting career Brocato joined the Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans) of the NFL in 1974, and served three seasons as an area scout before becoming the assistant director of the United States Scouting Combine, a group that gave scouting data to 15 out of the then-28 NFL teams. He later returned to the Oilers in 1981 and remained with them until his death in 2015. He was with the team for 599 games; worked under 10 head coaches, seven general managers, and two owners; and gained a reputation as one of the greatest scouts in the history of the sport. Brocato eventually moved up to national coordinator of college scouting with the Oilers/Titans, overseeing players around the country while focusing on the southwest states. He was known for doing extensive research and said that he would not stop until he knew everything there was to know about a player. Brocato added over 20,000 miles (32,000 km) to his vehicle every year – even when he was in his 70s – to scout players. His scouting process involved watching the players in practice, in games, at pro days and at the NFL Scouting Combine, then interviewing coaches, trainers, team staff and family members, after which he would watch more film of the players. Some who worked with him recalled that Brocato would write his reports on players using a pen, not a pencil, as he was so sure he was correct in his observations. Brocato mentored many scouts during his career and many figures whom he worked with would go on to call him "legendary" and advocate for his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Alonzo Highsmith credited him for the advancement of his career and that of other southwest scouts, such as Joe Schoen and Chris Ballard, saying, "the more you hung with him, the better scout you were. I was fortunate to spend my first 14 years on the road with C. O., so I learned from him. He's been a big part in my success as a scout, and everything I do I pattern myself after C. O. Brocato. Those are true words. You look at the southwest area scouts and what they've done, and it's all because of C. O. Brocato. The guy had a huge impact on a lot of scouts." Brocato was responsible for the Oilers/Titans drafting four players who went on to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, including Earl Campbell, whom he declared was his best pick. He recalled in 2015 that he attended the Cotton Bowl Classic to scout Campbell, and after seeing him run for the game's only touchdown in the second quarter – one that would help Texas upset No. 2-ranked Oklahoma – said that "I don't need to see any more" and went home. Other players Brocato described as his favorite picks were Mike Munchak and Ray Childress. He also was important in the team's drafting of quarterback Steve McNair, who led the team to their only Super Bowl appearance. Long-time Oilers/Titans coach Jeff Fisher once said that he drafted a player in the first round whom Brocato gave a sixth-round rating, and said that Brocato's grade was correct. Fisher described Brocato as the "best scout – He was the guy you listened to. It was just him. He had it down. He did his work. He had his opinion, and his opinion never changed year after year after year. He was consistent, and he was right. He was always right." Additionally, Floyd Reese, a team executive, described Brocato as: > the ultimate scout, really. He probably mentored half of the scouts you see running around the league now. It was very important to him at a time when scouts might come and go a little bit. If you couldn't get a job as an assistant coach, maybe you would scout a while, and then do something else. He wanted to be a scout. He was good at being a scout and it was very important that it be done the right way, in a professional manner with a lot of integrity. Brocato was involved in setting up many pro days and he usually had a seat at the end of the 40-yard dash from which he would watch. He improved the events at the NFL Scouting Combine and invented both the three-cone drill, one of the key tests, and an event for the evaluation of defensive backs. Brocato was inducted into the S. M. McNaughton Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame in 2002 for his contributions to amateur football and was awarded a game ball in 2004 by Titans team owner Bud Adams for his service with the franchise. The team named their draft room after him shortly before his death. He was on the preliminary list for induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the classes of 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2012, and was a semifinalist in the contributor category for 2023 and 2024. The NFL named the C. O. Brocato Memorial Award in his honor, given to those who have "dedicated a lifetime of service to the scouting community". ## Personal life and death Brocato married Lucy Jones in June 1953. He had one daughter with her. Brocato died on September 1, 2015, at the age of 85, from cancer. The Titans showed a video and held a moment of silence prior to their last preseason game of the 2015 season in honor of Brocato. In remembrance of him, at the 2016 NFL Combine, the letters "CO" were painted on the field and at the end of the 40-yard dash an empty chair was kept with a Titans hat and jacket.

Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)

Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire, often referred to simply as Arthur, is the seventh studio album by the English rock band the Kinks, released on 10 October 1969. It was the first Kinks album to feature bassist John Dalton, who replaced Pete Quaife after the former’s departure. Kinks frontman Ray Davies constructed the concept album as the soundtrack to a Granada Television play and developed the storyline with novelist Julian Mitchell; the television programme was never produced. The rough plot revolved around Arthur Morgan, a carpet-layer, who was based on Ray and guitarist Dave Davies' brother-in-law Arthur Anning. A stereo version was released internationally with a mono version being released in the UK, but not in the US. The album was met with poor sales but nearly unanimous acclaim, especially among the American music press. Although Arthur and its first two singles, "Drivin'" and "Shangri-La", failed to chart in the UK, the Kinks returned to the Billboard charts after a two-year absence with "Victoria", the lead single in the US, peaking at number 62. The album itself reached number 105 on the Billboard Top LPs chart, their highest position for three years. Arthur paved the way for the further success of the Kinks' 1970 comeback album Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One. ## Background British production company Granada TV approached Ray Davies in early January 1969, expressing interest in developing a film or play for television. Davies was to collaborate with writer Julian Mitchell on the "experimental" programme, with a soundtrack by the Kinks to be released on an accompanying LP. Agreements were finalised on 8 January, and the project was revealed at a press release on 10 March. Separately, the Kinks began work on the programme's companion record, entitled Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire). Development of Arthur occurred during a rough period for the band, due to the commercial failure of their previous album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society and the subsequent single, "Plastic Man", as well as the departure of founding member and bassist Pete Quaife. In early 1969, Quaife had told the band he was leaving, though the other members did not take the remark seriously because Quaife had left the band in 1966 after breaking his leg in a car accident, only to have a change of heart and rejoin shortly afterwards. When an article in the New Musical Express mentioned Maple Oak, the band he had formed without the rest of the Kinks' knowledge, Davies unsuccessfully asked Quaife to return for the upcoming sessions of Arthur. Bassist John Dalton, who had briefly replaced Quaife when the latter had quit three years prior, was asked by drummer Mick Avory to rejoin the band. Ray Davies travelled to United Recording Studios in Los Angeles on 11 April 1969, to produce American band the Turtles' LP Turtle Soup with engineer Chuck Britz. While in Los Angeles, Davies helped negotiate an end to the concert ban placed on the Kinks by the American Federation of Musicians in 1965. Although neither the Kinks nor the union gave a specific reason for the ban, at the time it was widely attributed to their rowdy on-stage behaviour. After negotiations with Davies, the Federation allowed the group to return to touring in America. Once the main sessions for the Turtles LP were completed, Davies returned to England. While Davies was abroad, the other members of the band had been rehearsing and practising for the upcoming album, as well as lead guitarist Dave Davies' solo album, nicknamed A Hole in the Sock of. When Ray returned, the Kinks regrouped at his house in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, to rehearse Arthur. ## Recording The group turned to the recording proper on 1 May 1969. The first tracks worked on were "Drivin'", intended as their next single release, and "Mindless Child of Motherhood", written by Dave Davies (the latter would eventually be used as the B-side to "Drivin'", and was not included on the LP). The Kinks began a two-week series of focused sessions on 5 May, laying down an early version of the entire Arthur album. Recording was interrupted when the Kinks travelled to Beirut, Lebanon on 17 May to play three dates at the Melkart Hotel; sessions for Arthur resumed the day after their return, and most of the recording for the album was finished by the end of the month. Mixing and dubbing began in early June, with arranger Lew Warburton handling string overdubs. The Kinks played a few small gigs in England throughout the remainder of the month, but devoted most of their time to finishing Dave Davies' solo album. Writing for the TV play progressed through May and June, and on 15 June mixing for Dave Davies' solo LP was completed (tapes for this record were eventually delivered to Pye and Reprise Records, although it never saw official release). A press release announced that the Arthur LP was scheduled for a late July release. As Davies and Mitchell completed their script, the Arthur TV play began to crystallise, and British filmmaker Leslie Woodhead was assigned the role of director. By early September production was scheduled to begin, with a planned broadcast of late September, but these plans were continually delayed. As problems with the TV play got progressively worse—and, consequently, distracted the Kinks from completing the post-production of the album—the release dates for both projects were pushed further and further back. In early October Ray Davies moved from Borehamwood back to his old family home on Fortis Green, in Muswell Hill, and travelled to Los Angeles, where he delivered the tapes to Reprise for Arthur'''s American release. The album's release date was set for 10 October, and the Kinks began gearing up for an upcoming US tour to support the album, for which they would depart on 17 October. Shooting for the TV play was set for 1 December. Roy Stonehouse was hired as a designer, and the casting was completed, but the show was cancelled at the last minute when the producer was unable to secure financial backing. Davies and Mitchell were frustrated at an entire year's work wasted: Doug Hinman said Davies witnessed "his grand artistic visions once again dashed by bureaucracy and internal politics". ## Story and theme The story is partially inspired by the Davies brothers' older sister Rose, who emigrated to Australia in 1964 with her husband Arthur Anning. Her departure devastated Ray Davies, and it inspired him to write the song "Rosy Won't You Please Come Home", included on the 1966 album Face to Face. The lead character in the album, the fictional Arthur Morgan—modelled after Anning—is a carpet layer whose family's plight in the opportunity-poor setting of post-war England is depicted. Writer Julian Mitchell detailed the story line and characters in depth, explaining in the liner notes for the album's LP release: > Arthur Morgan ... lives in a London suburb in a house called Shangri-La, with a garden and a car and a wife called Rose and a son called Derek who's married to Liz, and they have these two very nice kids, Terry and Marilyn. Derek and Liz and Terry and Marilyn are emigrating to Australia. Arthur did have another son, called Eddie. He was named after Arthur's brother, who was killed in the battle of the Somme. Arthur's Eddie was killed, too—in Korea. Davies later commented in his autobiography, X-Ray, that Anning later "told me that he ... knew it [Arthur] had been partly inspired by him ... [it] reminded him of home ... I told Arthur that I felt guilty for using him as a subject for a song, but he shrugged off my apology, saying that he was flattered." With an underlying theme of nostalgia, the songs describe the England Arthur once knew ("Victoria", "Young and Innocent Days"), the promise of life in Australia for one of his sons ("Australia"), the emptiness of his superficially comfortable life in his home ("Shangri-La"), the resolve of the British people during the Second World War ("Mr. Churchill Says"), the privations that marked the austerity period after the war ("She's Bought a Hat Like Princess Marina"), and the death of his brother in World War I ("Yes Sir, No Sir", "Some Mother's Son"). ## Release Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) was released in the UK and US on 10 October 1969. It was the last Kinks album to be released in mono, and the mono edition was not released in the US. The album set the stage for the Kinks' return to touring the United States in late 1969, and paved the way for even greater commercial success with the hit song "Lola" in 1970. ### Singles and chart performance While the sessions for Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) were nearing completion in June 1969, the track "Drivin'" was released as a single in the UK, backed with "Mindless Child of Motherhood". For the first time since their breakthrough in 1964, a Kinks single failed to make an impression on the UK charts—Johnny Rogan notes that "This was the first of two pilot singles for ... Arthur and its failure did not augur well". The group followed with another single in September, "Shangri-La", which again failed to chart in the UK. As with Village Green, the album itself failed to chart when released in October. In the US, "Victoria" was the lead single, backed with the album track "Brainwashed", and was released the same week as the LP. The single reached number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100—their highest position since their Top 20 hit "Sunny Afternoon" in 1966. The success of the single led to its release in the UK; backed with "Mr. Churchill Says", it reached a peak of number 30. Arthur itself was a moderate commercial success in the US, where it peaked at number 105, and remained on the charts for 20 weeks. ### Promotion Reprise Records, the Kinks' US label, devised an elaborate, multi-levelled promotional campaign for Arthur in early 1969. The most famous branch of the programme involved a promo package entitled God Save the Kinks. The set featured various items, including a consumer's guide to the band's albums, a bag of "grass" from the "Daviesland village green", and an LP entitled Then, Now and Inbetween. The set was accompanied by a positive letter from Hal Halverstadt of creative services at Warner/Reprise, part of which read, "... [We are led] to believe that the Kinks may not have had it at all ... The Kinks are to be supported, encouraged, cheered. And saved." The campaign was officially launched on 3 July, at a meeting between Ray Davies and Reprise executives in Burbank, California. Reprise considered seeding false stories in the press to create an "outlaw" image for the group as part of the campaign, including pieces about marijuana possession and income tax evasion. Ray called the idea "mad", and the programme was dropped. Several pieces were used in the press kit for Arthur's release, with titles including "English Pop Group Arrested on Rape Rap". ### Packaging and liner notes Artwork for Arthur was created by Bob Lawrie. The album was packaged in a gatefold sleeve, and included a shaped insert depicting Queen Victoria (holding a house containing Arthur Morgan), with lyrics on the reverse. Liner notes in the UK were written by Geoffrey Cannon and Julian Mitchell; in the US, notes by rock critic John Mendelsohn replaced Cannon's. ## Critical reception The album was critically acclaimed at the time of release, especially in the US rock press. It was favourably compared to Tommy by the Who, released earlier in the year. In Rolling Stone, Arthur was spotlighted in its lead section, with back-to-back reviews by Mike Daly and Greil Marcus. Daly called it "an album that is a masterpiece on every level: Ray Davies' finest hour, the Kinks' supreme achievement". Marcus also praised the album, calling it "Less ambitious than Tommy, and far more musical ... Arthur is by all odds the best British album of 1969. It shows that Pete Townshend still has worlds to conquer and that the Beatles have a lot of catching up to do." A review by Sal Imam ran in Boston's Fusion magazine read that "If Tommy was the greatest rock opera, then Arthur most surely is the greatest rock musical." Writing in his Consumer Guide column of The Village Voice, Robert Christgau gave the record a positive review, saying that although Ray Davies' lyrics could get "petulant and preachy at times", the album featured "excellent music and production". Reception in the UK was not as warm, although reviews were still generally positive. Disc & Music Echo commented that "Arthur works as a complete score because it is basic and simple and pleasing to the ear, and powerfully conjures up pictures in the eye." Melody Maker seconded Mike Daly's comments in Rolling Stone, again calling it "Ray Davies' finest hour", and adding that it was "beautifully British to the core". Doug Hinman later commented on the album's reception in Britain: "In the British music press there [was] less celebration, and coverage [was] relatively routine, though everyone saw the rock opera angle." ### Reappraisal Today the album receives generally positive reviews. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic said Arthur was "one of the most effective concept albums in rock history, as well as one of the best and most influential British pop records of its era", and in 2003 Matt Golden of Stylus Magazine called it "the best rock opera ever". Switch magazine included Arthur on their "100 Best Albums of the 20th Century" in 1999, and in 2003 Mojo featured the album on their list of the "Top 50 Most Eccentric Albums". The album is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. ## Track listing ## Personnel Credits adapted from the liner notes of Arthur''. - The Kinks - Ray Davies – lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards (harpsichord and piano), production - Dave Davies – lead guitar, backing vocals, co-lead vocals on "Australia" and "Arthur", lead vocals on his own tracks - John Dalton – bass guitar, backing vocals - Mick Avory – drums, percussion - Bonus tracks - Pete Quaife – bass guitar, backing vocals on tracks: "Plastic Man", "King Kong", "This Man He Weeps Tonight", "Lincoln County", "Hold My Hand" and "Creeping Jean" - Production - Lew Warburton – horn and string arrangements - Andrew Hendriksen – engineering - Brian Humphries – engineering on "Drivin'" - Bob Lawrie – album art - Austin Sneller – credited as "album 'tester'" ## Charts ### Weekly charts ### Singles ## See also - British invasion

History of US science fiction and fantasy magazines to 1950

Science-fiction and fantasy magazine history

Science-fiction and fantasy magazines began to be published in the United States in the 1920s. Stories with science-fiction themes had been appearing for decades in pulp magazines such as Argosy, but there were no magazines that specialized in a single genre until 1915, when Street & Smith, one of the major pulp publishers, brought out Detective Story Magazine. The first magazine to focus solely on fantasy and horror was Weird Tales, which was launched in 1923, and established itself as the leading weird fiction magazine over the next two decades; writers such as H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E. Howard became regular contributors. In 1926 Weird Tales was joined by Amazing Stories, published by Hugo Gernsback; Amazing printed only science fiction, and no fantasy. Gernsback included a letter column in Amazing Stories, and this led to the creation of organized science-fiction fandom, as fans contacted each other using the addresses published with the letters. Gernsback wanted the fiction he printed to be scientifically accurate, and educational, as well as entertaining, but found it difficult to obtain stories that met his goals; he printed "The Moon Pool" by Abraham Merritt in 1927, despite it being completely unscientific. Gernsback lost control of Amazing Stories in 1929, but quickly started several new magazines. Wonder Stories, one of Gernsback's titles, was edited by David Lasser, who worked to improve the quality of the fiction he received. Another early competitor was Astounding Stories of Super-Science, which appeared in 1930, edited by Harry Bates, but Bates printed only the most basic adventure stories with minimal scientific content, and little of the material from his era is now remembered. In 1933 Astounding was acquired by Street & Smith, and it soon became the leading magazine in the new genre, publishing early classics such as Murray Leinster's "Sidewise in Time" in 1934. A couple of competitors to Weird Tales for fantasy and weird fiction appeared, but none lasted, and the 1930s is regarded as Weird Tales' heyday. Between 1939 and 1941 there was a boom in science-fiction and fantasy magazines: several publishers entered the field, including Standard Magazines, with Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories (a retitling of Wonder Stories); Popular Publications, with Astonishing Stories and Super Science Stories; and Fiction House, with Planet Stories, which focused on melodramatic tales of interplanetary adventure. Ziff-Davis launched Fantastic Adventures, a fantasy companion to Amazing. Astounding extended its pre-eminence in the field during the boom: the editor, John W. Campbell, developed a stable of young writers that included Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and A.E. van Vogt. The period starting in 1938, when Campbell took control of Astounding, is often referred to as the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Well-known stories from this era include Slan, by van Vogt, and "Nightfall", by Asimov. Campbell also launched Unknown, a fantasy companion to Astounding, in 1939; this was the first serious competitor for Weird Tales. Although wartime paper shortages forced Unknown's cancellation in 1943, it is now regarded as one of the most influential pulp magazines. Only eight science-fiction and fantasy magazines survived World War II. All were still in pulp magazine format except for Astounding, which had switched to a digest format in 1943. Astounding continued to publish popular stories, including "Vintage Season" by C. L. Moore, and "With Folded Hands ..." by Jack Williamson. The quality of the fiction in the other magazines improved over the decade: Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder in particular published some excellent material and challenged Astounding for the leadership of the field. A few more pulps were launched in the late 1940s, but almost all were intended as vehicles to reprint old classics. One exception, Out of This World Adventures, was an experiment by Avon, combining fiction with some pages of comics. It was a failure and lasted only two issues. Magazines in digest format began to appear towards the end of the decade, including Other Worlds, edited by Raymond Palmer. In 1949, the first issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction appeared, followed in October 1950 by the first issue of Galaxy Science Fiction; both were digests, and between them soon dominated the field. Very few science-fiction or fantasy pulps were launched after this date; the 1950s was the beginning of the era of digest magazines, though the leading pulps continued until the mid-1950s, and authors began selling to mainstream magazines and large book publishers. ## Early magazines By the end of the 19th century, stories with recognizably science fictional content were appearing regularly in American magazines. These magazines typically did not print fiction to the exclusion of other content; they would include non-fiction articles and poetry as well. In October 1896, the Frank A. Munsey company's Argosy magazine was the first to switch to printing only fiction, and in December of that year it began using cheap wood-pulp paper. This is now regarded by magazine historians as having been the start of the pulp magazine era. For twenty years the pulps were successful without restricting their fiction content to any specific genre, but in 1915 the influential magazine publisher Street & Smith began to issue titles that focused on a particular niche, such as Detective Story Magazine and Western Story Magazine, thus pioneering the specialized and single-genre pulps. As the pulps proliferated, they continued to carry science fiction (SF), both in the general fiction magazines such as Argosy and All-Story, and in the more specialized titles such as sports, detective fiction, and (especially) the hero pulps. Science fiction also appeared outside the world of pulps: Hugo Gernsback, who had begun his career as an editor and publisher in 1908 with a radio hobbyist magazine called Modern Electrics, soon began including articles speculating about future uses of science, such as "Wireless on Saturn", which appeared in the December 1908 issue. The article was written with enough humour to make it clear to his readers that it was simply an imaginative exercise, but in 1911 Modern Electrics began serializing Ralph 124C 41+, a novel set in the year 2660. In 1913 Gernsback launched another magazine, The Electrical Experimenter (retitled Science and Invention in 1920), which frequently ran science fictional tales, written both by Gernsback and others. In 1919, Street & Smith launched The Thrill Book, a magazine for stories that were unusual or unclassifiable in some way, which in most cases meant that they included either fantasy or science-fiction elements. The Thrill Book ceased publication in October 1919, having lasted sixteen issues; it carried some SF, particularly towards the end of its short run, but is not generally regarded as a science-fiction or fantasy pulp. Two years later, Gernsback launched yet another magazine, titled Practical Electrics, and in 1924 he sent a letter to its subscribers suggesting a magazine that would publish only scientific fiction. The response was weak, and Gernsback shelved the project. ## Weird Tales and Amazing Stories The first magazine to be primarily associated with fantasy and science fiction was Weird Tales, which appeared in March 1923. It was initially edited by Edwin Baird and issued by Rural Publishing, a company owned by Jacob Clark Henneberger and John M. Lansinger. Rural had previously launched the magazine Detective Tales. Weird Tales was intended to provide a market for fantasy and weird fiction, and Henneberger was keen to obtain material unusual enough that it could not be sold to the existing pulp magazines. The planned monthly schedule soon began to slip, skipping July and December. As early as February 1924, Farnsworth Wright took over from Baird as interim editor. After the May–June–July 1924 Anniversary Issue was published, Henneberger and Lansinger split the company, each taking one of the magazines. Henneberger kept nominal control of Weird Tales, while the Cornelius Printing Company, of Indianapolis, to whom Rural owed most of its debt, took over primary ownership. The magazine went on hiatus for five months while Cornelius built a new printing plant. Weird Tales resumed publication with the November 1924 issue, with Farnsworth Wright as permanent editor. The magazine quickly began to improve, both in appearance and quality, as Wright nurtured talented fantasy writers such as Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft. Wright frequently published science fiction, including Edmond Hamilton's first story, which appeared in August 1926, and work by J. Schlossel and Otis Adelbert Kline, as well as weird and occult fiction. The first magazine devoted entirely to science fiction joined Weird Tales on the newsstands on 10 March 1926, titled Amazing Stories and dated April. Gernsback had delayed the launch a couple of years after his subscriber survey had shown only limited interest in an SF magazine, but finally decided to take the plunge. He ceased publication of Practical Electrics (recently retitled The Experimenter) but retained the editor, T. O'Conor Sloane, to edit the new magazine, though Gernsback had final say over the fiction content. The first issue of Amazing consisted entirely of reprinted material, including Jules Verne's novel Off on a Comet, and stories by H. G. Wells and Edgar Allan Poe, but new fiction quickly appeared, with Clare Winger Harris and A. Hyatt Verrill each finding success in one of Gernsback's early reader competitions. Both went on to become established writers. Gernsback also introduced a letter column, and encouraged his readers to join in lively discussions there. In the view of Mike Ashley, a historian of science fiction, this was "the real secret of the success of Amazing Stories and is the cause of the popularity of science fiction": the letter column gave science-fiction fans, many of whom were lonely, a forum in which to make friends and talk about their interests. The resulting community of like-minded readers gave birth to science-fiction fandom, and also to a generation of writers who had grown up reading the genre. Amazing was very successful, reaching a circulation of 100,000 in less than a year. It was some time before significant competition appeared, but two minor fantasy magazines were launched the year after Amazing's first issue. One, Tales of Magic and Mystery, appeared in 1927 and lasted only five issues; it specialized in stories about magic, including a series on Houdini. It was a financial failure, and is now remembered mainly for having published "Cool Air", a story by Lovecraft. The other was Ghost Stories, which was launched in mid-1926 by Bernarr Macfadden, who also published confessional magazines such as True Story. Much of the material in Ghost Stories was written in a similar confessional style, featuring tales of encounters with ghosts presented as true events. In June 1927 Gernsback published Amazing Stories Annual, twice the size (and twice the price) of the regular Amazing Stories. It carried a new Mars novel, The Mastermind of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which Burroughs had been unable to sell elsewhere, perhaps because it contained satirical elements aimed at religious fundamentalism. Burroughs' name was a powerful aid to sales, and since Gernsback had secured two stories by Abraham Merritt, who was also very popular, the magazine sold out all 150,000 copies, despite the high price. This success convinced Gernsback to launch another science-fiction title, and the first issue of Amazing Stories Quarterly appeared in 1928 with a Spring cover date. In the same year Gernsback printed E.E. Smith's first novel, in Amazing, titled The Skylark of Space. It was enormously successful, and on the strength of Smith's Skylark series of novels, and his later Lensman series, Smith became "one of the greatest names, if not the greatest of all" to SF readers of the 1930s. Gernsback's declared goals for Amazing were to educate and to entertain. In the editorial for the first issue he asserted that "Not only do these amazing tales make tremendously interesting reading – they are also always instructive. They supply knowledge that we might not otherwise obtain – and they supply it in a very palatable form. For the best of these modern writers of scientifiction have the knack of imparting knowledge and even inspiration without once making us aware that we are being taught". It was difficult for Gernsback to find high-quality new material that was both entertaining and met his declared goal of providing scientific information, and the early issues of Amazing contained a high proportion of reprints. He discovered that his readers preferred the fantastical romances of Burroughs and Merritt to the more scientific stories of Verne and Wells, and perhaps in response published Merritt's "The Moon Pool" in the May 1927 issue of Amazing. The story was completely unscientific; Gernsback's introduction to the story claimed that Merritt was introducing a new science, but Ashley comments that Gernsback was simply "looking for an excuse for including such fantastic fiction in the magazine when it did not fit in with his basic creed". ## Wonder Stories and Astounding In early 1929 Gernsback went bankrupt, and his magazines were sold to Bergan A. Mackinnon; both Amazing Stories and Amazing Stories Quarterly continued publication under their new ownership, and Sloane remained as editor. Within two months Gernsback had launched two new magazines, Air Wonder Stories and Science Wonder Stories. Gernsback still believed in the educational value of science fiction, and contrasted his goals for Air Wonder Stories with the fiction appearing in aviation pulps such as Sky Birds and Flying Aces, which were "purely 'Wild-West'-world war adventure-sky busting" stories, in his words. He planned to fill Air Wonder with "flying stories of the future, strictly along scientific-mechanical-technical lines, full of adventure, exploration and achievement". Both Air Wonder and Science Wonder were edited by David Lasser, who had no prior experience as an editor and who knew little about SF, but whose degree from MIT had convinced Gernsback to take him on. Lasser printed work by some popular authors, including Fletcher Pratt, Stanton Coblentz, and David H. Keller, and two of the winners of the contests Gernsback frequently ran subsequently became well known in the field: Raymond Palmer, later the editor of Amazing Stories, and John Wyndham, best known for his 1951 novel The Day of the Triffids. The readership of the two magazines overlapped strongly, most readers being science-fiction fans rather than aviation fans. With these two titles established, Gernsback added Science Wonder Quarterly in October 1929, also edited by Lasser. At the same time Gernsback sent a letter to some of the writers he had already bought stories from, asking for "detective or criminal mystery stories with a good scientific background", and in January 1930 he launched Scientific Detective Monthly, edited by his deputy, Hector Grey, as a new cross-genre title, giving him four magazines in all. January 1930 also saw the first issue of Astounding Stories of Super-Science, which would go on to become the most influential magazine in the field within a decade. The publisher was William Clayton, a successful publisher of pulp titles. In 1928 Harold Hersey, who by then was working for Clayton, had suggested a new science-fiction magazine to add to the line-up; Clayton was unconvinced, but changed his mind the following year. Astounding's editor, Harry Bates, was uninterested in the educational goals that motivated Gernsback. Bates filled Astounding with adventure stories with minimal scientific content: the stories are generally considered to have been poor quality, and Ashley considers Bates to have been "destroying the ideals of science fiction" with formulaic plots. Gernsback's magazines were infamous for low rates and very slow payment, and Astounding's high rates and quick payment attracted some well-known pulp writers such as Murray Leinster and Jack Williamson. (Asimov later said that in the early industry payment was "not on publication but (the saying went) on lawsuit".) Astounding was also better value for money than its competitors, with both the lowest price and, along with Amazing, the most pages. By mid-1930, Gernsback began to consolidate his magazines, merging Air Wonder with Science Wonder Stories. The combined magazine was titled Wonder Stories, and Science Wonder Quarterly was similarly retitled Wonder Stories Quarterly. At the same time Scientific Detective Monthly was retitled Amazing Detective Tales. Dropping "Science" and "Scientific" from the titles may have been intended to avoid giving readers the impression that these were actually scientific periodicals. Amazing Detective Tales, at least, was not helped by the title change, and after the October issue Gernsback sold the magazine to Wallace Bamber, who published five more issues the following year, though there was no longer any SF or fantasy content. Meanwhile, Ghost Stories, the Macfadden title launched in 1926, was suffering declining sales. Hersey, who by 1930 had gone into business as an independent publisher, acquired the title from Macfadden, and started another magazine, Miracle Science and Fantasy Stories, the following year, with Elliott Dold as editor. Neither venture was a success. Miracle ceased publication after only two issues when Dold fell ill, though sales were poor in any case, and Hersey was unable to revive Ghost Stories' fortunes; it was cancelled at the start of 1932. 1931 also saw Amazing Stories change hands once again; this time it was acquired by Macfadden, whose deep pockets helped insulate Amazing from the effects of the Depression. Sloane continued as editor. Weird Tales was by now well established, but in 1931 Clayton finally gave it some direct competition with Strange Tales, which was also edited by Bates. Like its competitor, Strange Tales frequently published science fiction as well as fantasy; as with Astounding it paid better rates than the competition, and as a result attracted some good writers, including Jack Williamson, whose "Wolves of Darkness", about an invasion by beings from another dimension, is one of its better-remembered stories. Strange Tales did not last long: by late 1932, Clayton was in financial difficulties, and Astounding switched to a bimonthly schedule. Already bimonthly, Strange Tales also reduced its publication frequency. The bulk of Clayton's debts were owed to his printer, which Clayton tried to acquire to prevent it buying out his publishing house, but this proved a disastrous move. He lacked funds to complete the transaction, and was forced to declare bankruptcy. The January 1933 issue of both magazines was intended to be the last, but enough stories remained in inventory to produce one more issue of Astounding, which appeared in March 1933. Street & Smith acquired Astounding and Strange Tales from the sale of Clayton's assets, and relaunched Astounding in October that year. Strange Tales did not reappear; Street & Smith decided to run the stories in Strange Tales' inventory in Astounding instead. At Wonder Stories, David Lasser remained as editor during the early 1930s, though Wonder Stories Quarterly had to be cut for budget reasons at the start of 1933. Lasser corresponded with his authors to help improve both their level of scientific literacy, and the quality of their writing; Asimov has described Wonder Stories as a "forcing ground", where young writers learned their trade. Lasser was willing to print material that lay outside the usual pulp conventions, such as Eric Temple Bell's The Time Stream and Festus Pragnell's The Green Man of Graypec. Sf critic John Clute gives Lasser credit for making Wonder Stories the best science-fiction magazine of his day, and critics Peter Nicholls and Brian Stableford consider it to be the best of Gernsback's forays into the genre. Despite his success, Lasser was let go in mid-1933, perhaps because he was very well-paid, since there is some evidence of a financial crisis in Gernsback's affairs at the time. Lasser was spending more time working on labor rights, and Gernsback may also have felt he was neglecting his editorial duties. Gernsback replaced Lasser with a 17-year-old SF fan, Charles Hornig, at less than a third of Lasser's salary. ## From Gernsback to Campbell Street & Smith was a well-established pulp publisher, with an excellent distribution network, and the revived Astounding was quickly competitive. It was edited by F. Orlin Tremaine, with assistance from Desmond Hall; both had come to Street & Smith from the wreckage of Clayton. Tremaine was an experienced pulp editor, and Street & Smith gave him a budget of one cent per word, which was better than the competing magazines could pay. In December 1933 Tremaine wrote an editorial calling for "thought variant" stories that contained original ideas and did not simply reproduce adventure themes in a science-fiction context. The early stories identified by Tremaine as "thought variants" were not always particularly original, but it soon became apparent that Tremaine was willing to take risks by publishing stories that would have fallen foul of editorial taboos at other magazines. By the end of 1934, Astounding was the leading SF magazine; important stories published that year include Murray Leinster's "Sidewise in Time", the first genre SF story to use the idea of alternate history; The Legion of Space, by Jack Williamson; and "Twilight", by John W. Campbell, writing as Don A. Stuart. Within a year Astounding's circulation was estimated at 50,000, about twice that of the competition. The month after Tremaine announced his "thought variant" policy, Hornig launched his own "New Policy" at Wonder Stories; as with thought variants, the goal was to emphasize originality and bar stories that merely reworked well-worn ideas. Hornig's rates were lower than Astounding's, and sometimes his writers were paid very late, or not at all; despite these handicaps, Hornig managed to find some good material, including Stanley G. Weinbaum's "A Martian Odyssey", which appeared in the July 1934 Wonder and has been frequently reprinted. Amazing Stories, and its sister magazine, Amazing Stories Quarterly, both of which had been edited by T. O'Conor Sloane since Gernsback lost control of them in 1929, published little of note during the early 1930s, though Sloane did print the first story by several writers later to become well-known, including John W. Campbell, John Wyndham, and Howard Fast. The Quarterly schedule became irregular in 1932, and it finally ceased publication with the Fall 1934 issue. Weird Tales had survived a bank failure in 1930 that froze most of the magazine's cash, and was continuing to publish well-received material—mostly fantasy and horror, but still including some science fiction. H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard became regular contributors, and Margaret Brundage monopolized the covers for a while, becoming perhaps the best-known artist to work for the magazine; almost all her covers included a nude figure. Virgil Finlay began contributing interior artwork in the mid-1930s; both Finlay and Brundage were very popular with the readers. Gernsback experimented with some companion fiction titles in other genres in 1934, but was unsuccessful, and Wonder Stories' decline proved irreversible. After a failed attempt to persuade his readers to support a subscription-only model, he gave up and sold the magazine to Ned Pines of Standard Magazines in February 1936. It was retitled Thrilling Wonder Stories to fit in with Pines' other titles such as Thrilling Detective, and given to Mort Weisinger to edit, under the supervision of Leo Margulies, Standard's editor-in-chief. The format was left unchanged, but the stories and covers became much more action-oriented. Standard's first issue, dated August 1936, contained stories by several well-known writers, including Ray Cummings, Eando Binder, and Stanley G. Weinbaum, but overall the fiction was unsophisticated compared to what could be found in Astounding. A comic strip, "Zarnak", was tried, but this only lasted eight issues. Two more science-fiction and fantasy magazines were launched in 1936, but neither lasted beyond the end of the year. Hersey, who had tried the market in 1931 with Miracle, brought out Flash Gordon Strange Adventure Magazine, in an attempt to market pulp magazines to comics fans. Everett Bleiler, a historian of science fiction, describes the stories as "moronic" and "third-rate". Although the magazine was timed to exploit the release of the first Flash Gordon serial, it was a failure, and only one issue appeared. The Witch's Tales, a fantasy and horror pulp with ties to a popular radio show of the same name, was slightly more successful, with two issues in November and December 1936. Ashley considers the fiction to have been of reasonable quality, and the magazine's failure may have been because Carwood, the publisher, was small and relatively inexperienced, and may have had weak financing and distribution. At the end of 1937, Street & Smith promoted Tremaine to assistant editorial director, and his place as editor of Astounding was taken by John W. Campbell. A few months later Street & Smith let Tremaine go, and gave Campbell a freer hand with the magazine. Campbell immediately changed the title from Astounding Stories to Astounding Science-Fiction; his editorial policy was targeted at the more mature readers of science fiction, and he felt that "Astounding Stories" did not convey the right image. He also asked his cover artists to produce more sober and less sensational artwork than had been the case under Tremaine. His most important change was in the expectations he placed on his writers: he asked them to write stories that felt as though they could have been published as non-SF stories in a magazine of the future. A reader of the future would not need long explanations for the gadgets in their lives, so Campbell asked his writers to find ways of naturally introducing technology to their stories. He also began running regular scientific fact articles, with the goal of stimulating story ideas. Campbell's approach differentiated Astounding from rivals; Algis Budrys recalled that "it didn't look like an SF magazine" because covers did not show men with ray guns and women with large breasts. Meanwhile, Bernarr Macfadden's Teck Publications, the owner of Amazing Stories, was running into financial difficulties, and in 1938 the magazine was sold to Ziff-Davis, a Chicago-based publisher. Raymond Palmer, the editor, was a local fan. Under Sloane Amazing had been dull; Palmer wanted it to be fun, and soon transformed the magazine, publishing escapist stories. He was unable to make Amazing into a real rival to Astounding, and Ashley speculates that Bernard G. Davis, who ran the editorial offices of Ziff-Davis, may have instructed Palmer to focus on entertainment rather than on serious science fiction. During the 1930s the hero pulps were among the most popular titles on the newsstands; these were magazines focused on the adventures of a single character, such as Doc Savage or The Shadow. These often had science-fictional plots, but were not primarily science-fiction or fantasy magazines. One example that was clearly fantasy was Doctor Death, which featured an evil genius who had supernatural powers. It appeared in February 1935 and lasted for only three issues. ## Start of the boom As Campbell began to hit his stride as editor of Astounding, the first boom in science-fiction magazine publishing took off, starting with Marvel Science Stories' appearance in 1938. This was an attempt by publishers Abraham and Martin Goodman to expand their list of titles into science fiction and fantasy. They were known for "weird menace" magazines, a genre incorporating "sex and sadism" into story lines that placed women in danger, usually because of a threat that appeared to be supernatural but was ultimately revealed to be the work of a human villain. For Marvel Science Stories, the Goodmans asked their authors to include more sex in their stories than was usual in the SF field; reader reaction was strongly negative to the spicier stories, but the Goodmans kept the magazine going until early 1941, and eventually revived it in 1950 for a few more issues when another SF magazine boom began. A companion magazine, Dynamic Science Stories, appeared in February 1939; it was intended to carry longer stories but only lasted two issues. Of more importance to the science-fiction and fantasy genres were several other magazines that debuted in 1939. The first to appear, from Standard Magazines, were Startling Stories and Strange Stories, launched in January and February respectively as companions to Thrilling Wonder Stories; Mort Weisinger edited all three. Startling included a lead novel and a "Hall of Fame" reprint section in every issue; the latter was possible because the publisher, Standard Magazines, owned the back catalog of Wonder Stories. At that time no other SF pulp was including novels; readers approved, and Startling quickly became one of the most popular SF magazines. Strange Stories was launched as a direct competitor to Weird Tales, and the first issue featured many of Weird Tales' most popular authors, including Robert Bloch, August Derleth, Henry Kuttner and Manly Wade Wellman. Bloch, Derleth, and Kuttner were all frequent contributors over the magazine's life, but Ashley regards it as a poor imitation of Weird Tales, fewer of its stories having been anthologized since. At the end of 1938 Weird Tales' owner, B. Cornelius, sold his interest in the magazine to William J. Delaney, the publisher of Short Stories, a general fiction magazine. Delaney's offices were in New York, and Weird Tales' editor, Farnsworth Wright, moved there from Chicago. Delaney made several changes to page count and frequency to try to increase circulation, but none were successful. While this took place, another competitor to Weird Tales was launched, this time by Street & Smith. The new magazine, titled Unknown, was a companion to Astounding and was also edited by John W. Campbell. Campbell's declared policy for the magazine was to "offer fantasy of a quality so far different from that which has appeared in the past as to change your entire understanding of the term"; the goal was to bring "the science fiction rationale to fantasy", in Ashley's words. Unknown's first issue was dated March 1939, with L. Ron Hubbard and L. Sprague de Camp soon among the most frequent contributors. Also in March 1939, a new publisher entered the field: Louis Silberkleit, who had once worked for Gernsback, was the owner of the Blue Ribbon Magazines imprint; he launched Science Fiction, following up with Future Fiction in November that year. Both were edited by Charles Hornig, who had edited Wonder Stories for Gernsback. Silberkleit gave Hornig a very limited budget, so he rarely saw submissions from established writers unless they had already been rejected by the better-paying markets. The result was mediocre fiction. Silberkleit was also slow to pay, which was an additional discouragement to authors deciding where to send their work. In May Ziff-Davis, the publishers of Amazing Stories, joined the fray, with Fantastic Adventures, also edited by Raymond Palmer. As with Amazing, Palmer focused on entertainment, rather than trying to break new ground. Fantastic Adventures was not positioned as a rival to Weird Tales or Unknown, but focused instead on other-worldly adventures in the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and soon developed a reputation for whimsical fantasy as well. The original pulp publisher, the Munsey Company, still had no dedicated science-fiction or fantasy magazine by this time, but frequently published stories in Argosy and All-Story which were clearly within the genre. At the end of 1939 Munsey launched Famous Fantastic Mysteries as a vehicle to reprint these older stories. The editor, Mary Gnaedinger, choose Merritt's "The Moon Pool" and Ray Cummings' "The Girl in the Golden Atom" for the first issue, dated September/October; both titles were likely to attract readers. Gnaedinger engaged Virgil Finlay to do interior illustrations for the second issue, and the magazine was soon successful enough to switch from bimonthly to monthly publication. The ninth and last new science-fiction or fantasy magazine to appear with a 1939 cover date was Planet Stories, its first issue dated December. The publisher was Fiction House, which had been a successful pulp publisher in the 1920s, though the Depression temporarily closed its doors. After a relaunch in 1934 Fiction House specialized in detective and romance magazines, and Planet was published by its Love Romances, Inc. imprint. The editor, Malcolm Reiss, targeted younger readers, and focused solely on interplanetary fiction, though initially the stories were so weak that Ashley speculates Reiss was forced to start the magazine without enough time to acquire worthwhile material. ## Golden Age When Campbell took over as editor of Astounding, he began to attract some of the major writers in the field, including Clifford D. Simak, L. Ron Hubbard, and Jack Williamson. The launch of Unknown strengthened Campbell's dominance of the field; Henry Kuttner, C.L. Moore, and L. Sprague de Camp contributed to both of Campbell's magazines. As well as developing working relationships with these and other established writers, Campbell discovered and nurtured many new talents. In 1938, he bought Lester del Rey's first story, "The Faithful"; the following year, he published the first stories of A.E. van Vogt, Robert A. Heinlein, and Theodore Sturgeon, along with an early story by Isaac Asimov. All these writers were strongly associated with Astounding over the next few years, and the period starting with Campbell's editorship is sometimes called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Heinlein rapidly became one of the most prolific contributors to Astounding, publishing almost two dozen short stories in the next two years, along with three novels: If This Goes On—, Sixth Column, and Methuselah's Children. In September 1940, van Vogt's first novel, Slan, began serialization; the book was partly inspired by a challenge Campbell laid down to van Vogt that it was impossible to tell a superman story from the point of view of the superman. It proved to be one of the most popular stories Campbell published, and is an example of the way Campbell worked with his writers to feed them ideas and generate the material he wanted to buy. Asimov's "Robot" series began to take shape in 1941, "Reason" and "Liar\!" appearing in the April and May issues; as with Slan, these stories were partly inspired by conversations with Campbell. The September 1941 issue included Asimov's short story "Nightfall", one of the most lauded SF stories ever written, and in November, Second Stage Lensmen, a novel in Smith's Lensman series, began serialization. The following year saw the beginning of Asimov's "Foundation" stories, with "Foundation" appearing in May and "Bridle and Saddle" in June. Van Vogt's "Recruiting Station", in the March issue, was the first story in his "Weapon Shop" series, described by John Clute as the most compelling of all van Vogt's work. Many of the stories from the Golden Age have demonstrated enduring popularity, but in the words of Peter Nicholls and Mike Ashley, "the soaring ideas of Golden Age SF were all too often clad in an impoverished pulp vocabulary aimed at the lowest common denominator of a mass market". Nicholls and Ashley acknowledge that, despite the uneven literary quality of the stories, the era did produce something extraordinary: "the wild and yearning imaginations of a handful of genre writers – who were mostly very young, and conceptually very energetic indeed – laid down entire strata of SF motifs which enriched the field greatly", and they consider that the Golden Age generated "a quantum jump in quality, perhaps the greatest in the history of the genre". ## Boom continues The boom in SF magazine publishing continued into 1940, Standard Magazines adding yet another title to Mort Weisinger's portfolio. This was Captain Future, a hero pulp with simple space opera plots in which Captain Future and his friends saved the solar system or the entire universe from a villain. Nearly all the lead novels were written by Edmond Hamilton. It appeared quarterly, the first issue dated Winter 1940. Standard's SF titles were unabashedly aimed at young readers, with patronizing gimmicks such as "Sergeant Saturn", who answered readers' letters in all three magazines. Captain Future was followed by Astonishing Stories and Super Science Stories, two new titles from Popular Publications, a well-established pulp publisher. Both magazines were bimonthly, Astonishing's first issue dated February 1940, and Super Science Stories appearing the following month; and both were edited by nineteen-year-old Frederik Pohl—he had shown up at Popular's offices looking for editorial work just as they were considering starting a new magazine, and left as the editor of both new titles. Pohl had a very limited budget, but his contacts with other budding SF writers such as Cyril Kornbluth and James Blish meant he was able to find surprisingly good material. Popular paid promptly, which was more than could be said for some of the other publishers, and so despite the low rates Pohl soon began to see submissions that had been rejected by Campbell at Astounding but not sent anywhere else. As a result, he occasionally printed material by some of the Astounding regulars, including "Genus Homo", a collaboration between L. Sprague de Camp and P. Schuyler Miller, and "Lost Legion", by Robert A. Heinlein. In mid-1940 Louis Silberkleit, who already had two titles on the market (Science Fiction and Future Fiction, both edited by Charles Hornig), added a third, titled Science Fiction Quarterly, with the intention of including a full-length novel in every issue. Silberkleit obtained reprint rights to some of the lead novels from Gernsback's Science Wonder Quarterly that had appeared a decade earlier. The new magazine was added to Hornig's responsibilities, but by the end of the year Hornig had moved to California and all three titles were given to Robert W. Lowndes to edit. Mid-1940 also saw Munsey launch Fantastic Novels, a companion to Famous Fantastic Mysteries; like Science Fiction Quarterly it was planned as a vehicle for novel-length works, though in this case the novels were reprints from Munsey's backlog. In December 1940 the first issue of Comet appeared. This saw the return to the field of F. Orlin Tremaine, who had been influential in the mid-1930s when he edited Astounding. The publisher, H-K Publications, was owned by Harold Hersey, who had previously been involved with several failed magazines—The Thrill Book, Ghost Stories, Miracle Science and Fantasy Stories, and Flash Gordon Strange Adventures. Tremaine had a relatively high budget for fiction compared to many of the new magazines, but this may have put Comet under greater financial pressure, and it only survived for five issues, ceasing publication with the July 1941 issue. Two more magazines appeared in early 1941, Stirring Science Stories and Cosmic Stories, on alternating months, starting in February. These were published by a father and son operating under the name of Albing Publications; they had almost no capital, but persuaded Donald Wollheim to edit the magazine for no salary at all, with no budget for fiction. The plan was to start paying contributors once the magazine was profitable. Like Pohl, Wollheim knew several budding writers who were willing to donate stories, and managed to acquire some good fiction, including "Thirteen O'Clock" and "The City in the Sofa", by Kornbluth, which Ashley describes as "enjoyable tongue-in-cheek fantasies". In the event only six issues appeared in 1941 before Albing failed financially, though Wollheim was able to find another publisher for one more issue of Stirring in March 1942. The final magazine to launch during 1941 was titled Uncanny Stories, published by the Goodman brothers. Marvel Science Stories ceased publication in 1941, and Uncanny was probably created to use up some remaining stories in its inventory. It was dated the same month as the last issue of Marvel: April 1941, and contained little worthwhile; Ashley comments that the lead story, "Coming of the Giant Germs" by Ray Cummings, was "one of his most appalling stories". ## War years In early 1940, Farnsworth Wright was replaced as editor of Weird Tales by Dorothy McIlwraith, who also edited Short Stories. McIlwraith had no particular expertise in the horror field and, although she was a competent editor, the Wright era is generally considered to have been Weird Tales heyday. With Wright's departure, Unknown quickly became the leading magazine in its small field. Unknown acquired a stable of regular writers, many of whom were also appearing in Astounding, and all of whom were comfortable with the rigor that Campbell demanded even of a fantasy plot. Frequent contributors included L. Ron Hubbard, Theodore Sturgeon, and L. Sprague de Camp, who, in collaboration with Fletcher Pratt, contributed three stories about a world where magic operates by logical rules. The stories were later collected as part of Pratt and de Camp's "Incompleat Enchanter" series; John Clute has commented that the title of one of them, "The Mathematics of Magic", is "perfectly expressive of the terms under which magic found easy mention in Unknown". Other stories still regarded as classics include "They" by Heinlein, "Smoke Ghost" by Fritz Leiber, along with several stories in Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series, and "Trouble With Water" by H.L. Gold. Unknown's influence was far-reaching; according to Ashley, the magazine created the modern genre of fantasy, and science-fiction scholar Thomas Clareson suggests that by destroying the genre boundaries between SF and fantasy it allowed stories such as Simak's City series to be written. Clareson also proposes that Galaxy Science Fiction and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, two of the most important and successful science-fiction and fantasy magazines, were direct descendants of Unknown. In 1941 Weisinger left Standard Magazines to work on the early DC Superman comics, and Oscar J. Friend took over as editor of Startling, Thrilling Wonder, and Captain Future; Strange Stories, which had been Weisinger's idea, was killed off with the January issue. Friend continued the juvenile focus of the three SF magazines, and the covers, often by Earle K. Bergey, reinforced the editorial policy: they frequently included women in implausibly revealing spacesuits or wearing Bergey's trademark "brass brassières". Captain Future ceased publication in early 1944, and later that year Friend was replaced as editor by Sam Merwin on both Startling and Thrilling. Planet Stories' first few issues contained little notable fiction, but it improved throughout the war. Leigh Brackett was a regular contributor of planetary romances—melodramatic tales of action and adventure on alien planets and in interplanetary space—and her work had a strong influence on other writers, including Marion Zimmer Bradley. Other well-known writers who sold to Planet included Simak, Blish, Fredric Brown, and Asimov. At Ziff-Davis, Palmer remained editor of both Fantastic Adventures and Amazing Stories throughout World War II. Much of the material in both magazines came from a group of Chicago-based writers who published under both their own names and various house pseudonyms; among the most prolific were William P. McGivern, David Wright O'Brien, Don Wilcox, and Chester S. Geier. The fiction was rarely noteworthy; Ashley describes the wartime Fantastic Adventures as "concentrat[ing] more on quantity than quality, on brash sensationalism than subtlety", though he also comments that it was the most attractive science-fiction or fantasy magazine on newsstands at the time, with covers by J. Allen St. John, Harold McCauley, and Robert Gibson Smith. Similarly, the fiction in Amazing was of uneven quality, though occasionally Palmer obtained good material, including stories by Ray Bradbury, Eric Frank Russell, and John Wyndham. Few of the new magazines launched during the boom lasted until the end of the war, which brought paper shortages that forced difficult decisions on the publishers. Not every magazine cancellation was because of the war; the usual vicissitudes of magazine publishing also played a role. In 1941, Silberkleit cancelled Science Fiction after 12 issues because of poor sales, merging it with Future Fiction. Two years later Silberkleit ceased publication of both Future and Science Fiction Quarterly when he decided to use the limited paper he could acquire for his western and detective titles instead. Both Science Fiction and Future eventually reappeared in the 1950s. Fantastic Novels merged with its stablemate, Famous Fantastic Mysteries, in 1941, probably because of wartime difficulties, after only five issues. In 1942 Famous Fantastic Mysteries was sold by Munsey to Popular, who were already the publishers of Astonishing Stories and Super Science Stories. Mary Gnaedinger continued as editor, but the editorial policy changed to exclude reprints of stories that had appeared in magazine form. Booklength work was still reprinted, including G. K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday and H. G. Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau. In the event, Famous Fantastic Mysteries was the only one of Popular's science-fiction and fantasy titles to survive the war. Both Astonishing and Super Science Stories ceased publication in 1943 when Frederik Pohl, the editor of both titles, enlisted in the army; the publisher was having difficulty obtaining enough paper and decided to close the magazines down. The same year, paper shortages forced John Campbell to choose between Astounding and Unknown, which had already gone to a bimonthly schedule; he decided to keep Astounding on a monthly schedule, and Unknown ceased publication with the October 1943 issue. Astounding switched to digest format the following month; this was a leading indicator for the direction the field would take, though it would be over a decade before the rest of the field followed suit. ## Post-war Only eight US science-fiction or fantasy magazines survived World War II: Astounding Science Fiction, published by Street & Smith; Weird Tales, from Delaney's Short Stories, Inc.; Standard Magazines' Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories; Ziff-Davis's Amazing Stories and Fantastic Adventures; Popular's Famous Fantastic Mysteries; and Planet Stories, published by Love Romances, Inc. All had been forced to quarterly schedules by the war, except Weird Tales, which was bimonthly, and Astounding, still the leading SF magazine. Mainstream magazines began publishing science fiction after the war. Heinlein amazed fans and fellow writers when, Asimov recalled in 1969, "an undiluted science fiction story of his" appeared in The Saturday Evening Post. According to Asimov, the loss of experienced authors from small science-fiction magazines to mass-market publications like Playboy often prevented the small magazines from benefiting from "the field's new-won respectability". Campbell continued to find new writers: William Tenn, H. Beam Piper, Arthur C. Clarke and John Christopher all made their first sales to Astounding in the late 1940s, and he published many stories now regarded as classics, including "Vintage Season" by C.L. Moore, "With Folded Hands ..." by Jack Williamson, Children of the Lens by E.E. Smith, and The Players of Null-A by A.E. van Vogt. The pace of invention which had marked the war years for Astounding was now slackening, however, and in Ashley's words the magazine was now "resting on its laurels". In 1950, Campbell published an article on dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard; this was a psychological theory that would eventually evolve into Scientology, a new religion. Dianetics was denounced as pseudoscience by the medical profession, but to the dismay of many of Astounding's readers it was not until 1951 that Campbell disavowed it. Sam Merwin, who had taken over from Oscar Friend at Standard Magazines towards the end of the war, abandoned the juvenile approach that had characterized both Startling and Thrilling; he asked Bergey to make his covers more realistic, and started to publish more hard science fiction, including work by Murray Leinster, George O. Smith, and Hubbard. He bought Jack Vance's first sale, "The World Thinker", which appeared in 1945, and published a good deal of material by Ray Bradbury, including several of his Martian Chronicle stories. Some of the highest-profile names from Campbell's stable of Astounding writers sold to Merwin, including van Vogt, Heinlein, and Sturgeon, whose "The Sky Was Full of Ships" appeared in 1947 and was much praised by readers. Other notable stories include Fredric Brown's What Mad Universe, which appeared in 1948, and Kuttner's Valley of the Flame, one of several science-fantasy novels he published in Startling. Writers such as John D. MacDonald, Margaret St. Clair, William Tenn, Arthur C. Clarke, James Blish, and Damon Knight all sold to Merwin, and the net effect was a dramatic improvement in the quality of both magazines, to the point where Ashley suggests that by the late 1940s, Thrilling Wonder, in particular, was a serious challenger to Astounding for the leadership of the field. Planet Stories also improved dramatically by the end of the decade. Several well-known writers, including Blish, Brown, and Knight, published good material in Planet, but the overall improvement was largely due to the contributions of Bradbury and Leigh Brackett, both of whom set many of their stories on a version of Mars that owed much to the Barsoom of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Brackett, one of Planet's most prolific contributors, developed her style over the 1940s and eventually became the leading exponent of planetary romances. Her series of stories about Eric John Stark, considered by Ashley to be her best work, began in Planet with "Queen of the Martian Catacombs" in the Summer 1949 issue. Bradbury's work for Planet included two of his Martian Chronicles stories, and a collaboration with Brackett, "Lorelei of the Red Mist", which appeared in 1946. Tim Forest, a historian of the pulps, considers Bradbury's work to be Planet's "most important contribution to the genre". The covers were generally simple action scenes, featuring a helpless damsel threatened by a bug-eyed monster, but according to Clute "the content was far more sophisticated than the covers". Weird Tales had lost much of its unique flavor with the departure of Farnsworth Wright, but in Ashley's view McIlwraith made the magazine more consistent: "though the issues edited by McIlwraith "seldom attain[ed] Wright's highpoints, they also omitted the lows". McIlwraith continued to publish some of Weird Tales most popular authors, such as Fredric Brown and Fritz Leiber, but eliminated sword and sorcery fiction, which Robert E. Howard had popularized under Wright with his stories of Conan, Solomon Kane and Bran Mak Morn. August Derleth, who had corresponded with Lovecraft until the latter's death in 1937, continued to send Lovecraft manuscripts to McIlwraith during the 1940s, and at the end of the decade decided to issue a magazine to publicize Arkham House, a publishing venture he had begun in 1939 that reprinted largely from the pages of Weird Tales. The title was The Arkham Sampler; Derleth intended it to be a more literary magazine than the current crop of SF and fantasy pulps. It published both new and reprint material. Some of the stories were of good quality, including work by Robert Bloch and Lord Dunsany, but it closed down after eight quarterly issues for financial reasons. At Ziff-Davis, Fantastic Adventures continued as it had during the war, with an occasional noteworthy story such as "Largo", by Theodore Sturgeon, and "I'll Dream of You" by Charles F. Myers. Both Fantastic Adventures and its sister magazine, Amazing Stories, were able to return to monthly publication by late 1947 because of the "Shaver Mystery", a series of stories by Richard Shaver. In the March 1945 issue of Amazing Palmer published a story by Shaver called "I Remember Lemuria". The story, about prehistoric civilizations, was presented by Palmer as a mixture of truth and fiction, and the result was a dramatic boost to Amazing's circulation. Palmer ran a new Shaver story in every issue, culminating in a special issue in June 1947 devoted entirely to the Shaver Mystery. Amazing soon drew ridicule for these stories and William Ziff ordered Palmer to limit the amount of Shaver-related material in the magazine; Palmer complied, but his interest (and possibly belief) in this sort of material was now significant, and he soon began planning to leave Ziff-Davis. In 1947 he formed Clark Publications, launching Fate the following year, and in 1949 he resigned from Ziff-Davis to edit that and other magazines. In March 1948, Fantastic Novels reappeared; it had been published by Munsey as a reprint companion to Famous Fantastic Mysteries, now owned by Popular, and it took on the same role in its new incarnation. Gnaedinger, the editor, was a fan of Abraham Merritt's work, and the first three issues of the new version included stories by Merritt. Reprints of old classics such as George Allan England's The Flying Legion and Garrett P. Serviss's The Second Deluge constituted most of Fantastic Novels' contents, with some more recent material such as Earth's Last Citadel, by Kuttner and Moore, which had only previously appeared as a serial in Argosy in 1943. ## Beginning of the digest era Street & Smith, one of the longest established and most respected magazine publishers, shut down all their pulps in the summer of 1949. The pulps were dying, largely as a result of the success of pocketbooks, and Street & Smith decided to concentrate on their slick magazines. The only survivor of Street & Smith's pulp titles was the digest-format Astounding Science Fiction. By the end of 1955, Fantastic Adventures, Famous Fantastic Mysteries, Thrilling Wonder, Startling Stories, Planet Stories, Weird Tales, and Fantastic Story Quarterly had all ceased publication. Despite the pulps' decline, a few new magazines did appear in pulp format at the end of the 1940s, though these were all short-lived, and several of them focused on reprints rather than new material. One of the first new post-war titles was Fantasy Book, which appeared in 1947. It was the work of William Crawford, a specialty publisher, and varied between pulp and digest sizes. Crawford ran into problems with distribution and production, and the magazine was never regular, but he produced eight issues over the next four years that included some worthwhile material, most notably Cordwainer Smith's first story, "Scanners Live in Vain", in the January 1950 issue. Popular had added Fantastic Novels as a companion to Famous Fantastic Mysteries in 1948; the following year it launched A. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine, in an attempt to cash in on Merritt's popularity, and Captain Zero, a science-fictional hero pulp. Both were failures, lasting only five and three issues, respectively. Standard's Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder, both well-regarded by the end of the decade, were joined in 1950 by two reprint magazines. One was Fantastic Story Quarterly, which was intended to carry reprints that were too long to run in Startling's "Hall of Fame" department. This was initially a financial success, and Standard decided to add another title, Wonder Story Annual. Both titles survived into the mid-1950s. Two exceptions to the reprint rule were Future Science Fiction, which Silberkleit brought back as a bimonthly pulp in May 1950, still edited by Lowndes, and Out of This World Adventures, also in pulp format, which combined science-fiction material with a few pages of comics. The publisher, Avon, also launched a romance magazine and a western magazine with the same format, but the experiment was a failure and Out of This World Adventures only lasted for two issues, dated July and December 1950. At the end of 1950 Marvel Science Stories reappeared as the Goodman brothers saw a new boom in SF magazines getting under way; it began as a pulp, but changed to a digest the following year. The fiction was of higher quality than in the first incarnation of the magazine, but it lasted less than two years. Although Astounding had been in digest format since 1943, few new digest magazines had been launched since then. One of the first into the fray was Other Worlds, Raymond Palmer's first new SF magazine since he had left Ziff-Davis. It appeared in November 1949, and was bimonthly for the first year. Palmer acquired stories by Ray Bradbury, A.E. van Vogt, and Raymond F. Jones, but the overall quality was not high; Ashley characterizes the magazine as "good, but not quite good enough". Howard Browne took over from Palmer as editor of Amazing and Fantastic Adventures, and made strides in improving the quality of both magazines, though much of his impact only became visible after 1950. In December 1949, Lawrence Spivak, the editor of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, launched The Magazine of Fantasy as a fantasy companion, in digest format. The editors were Anthony Boucher, a well-regarded mystery writer who wrote some science fiction, and J. Francis McComas. It was retitled The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction with the following issue, and four more quarterly issues appeared in 1950. The contents were of the same standard as the fiction that appeared in slick magazines of the day, and it was soon successful. In October 1950 the first issue of Galaxy Science Fiction appeared, edited by H.L. Gold, also in digest format; it too did well, and in the 1950s both magazines became very highly regarded, supplanting Astounding as the leading science-fiction magazines. Three more magazines began publication in 1950, all in digest format. The first was Fantasy Fiction, which produced two issues. It included some respectable reprinted material from 1930s issues of Argosy, but none of the new stories were memorable. In October 1950, Raymond Palmer, who had left Ziff-Davis to become a publisher in his own right, launched Imagination. A serious accident in the summer forced him to turn most of the editing work over to Bea Mahaffey, and after two issues he sold the magazine to William Hamling, who kept it going until 1958. The final magazine of the decade was Worlds Beyond, edited by Damon Knight, which appeared in December 1950, and lasted for three monthly issues; the publisher, Hillman Periodicals, decided to scrap the magazine only days after the first issue went on sale. All three issues featured quality work, and many of the stories have been reprinted frequently; Willam Tenn's "Null-P" and C.M. Kornbluth's "The Mindworm" being perhaps the best-known. Knight included material by non-genre writers such as Graham Greene and Rudyard Kipling, along with genre names such as Katherine MacLean and Lester del Rey. Ashley suggests that had Knight been allowed to continue, the magazine would have been a significant contribution to 1950s science fiction. Doubleday, Simon & Schuster, and other large, mainstream companies began publishing science-fiction books around 1950. They issued fixups and collections of magazine fiction, but also original stories; authors no longer only had magazines as buyers. ## List of magazines This table provides the following information: - Title. The title that the magazine is usually indexed under. Many magazines changed their title multiple times. - First and last issue. The year of the first and last issues. If the magazine is still being published, the last issue field is blank. - Publisher. The name of the publisher(s). Some publishers used multiple imprints; to make it easier to see which magazines were controlled by which individuals or groups, the main person or company behind each publisher is noted where it is not obvious. - \# issues. The number of issues through the end of 1950. If the magazine continued to publish after 1950, the notes column gives the total number of issues. - New or reprint? Indicates whether the magazine was primarily intended to print new fiction, or reprints. In some cases a magazine printed both, or the focus changed over time; in these cases the table lists whichever was dominant. - Notes. Among other things, this column notes if a magazine was published in two separate runs.

Daytona USA

1994 arcade racing video game

is a 1994 arcade racing game developed by Japanese studio Sega AM2. Inspired by the popularity of the NASCAR motor racing series in the US, the game has players race stock cars on one of three courses. It was the first game to be released on the Sega Model 2 arcade system board. Released by Sega in March of 1994, Daytona USA is one of the highest-grossing arcade games of all time. Sega partnered with GE Aerospace to develop the Model 2, which renders 3D graphics capable of texture filtering and texture mapping. Daytona USA was developed by AM2 after a meeting of the heads of Sega's regional offices to decide on a game to debut the Model 2 hardware. The concept was suggested by Tom Petit, president of Sega's American arcade division, with input from AM2 director Toshihiro Nagoshi, who became the game's director and producer. Sega aimed to outperform Namco's Ridge Racer (1993). The developers researched motorsports extensively; they mapped Daytona International Speedway, and their experience developing Virtua Racing (1992) helped with lighting and camera control. Daytona USA was a critical and commercial success, praised for its graphics, soundtrack and gameplay. A conversion was made for the Sega Saturn in 1995. It was followed by sequels and enhancements for consoles and arcades. It has been frequently named one of the best video games of all time. ## Gameplay In Daytona USA, the player drives a stock car known as the Hornet. The player's objectives are to outrun the competing cars and complete the race before time runs out, passing checkpoints to collect more time. Players begin in last place and compete against a field of up to 39 computer-controlled cars, dependent on the course selected. Three courses are available for play: Beginner, Advanced, and Expert, also known respectively as Three Seven Speedway, Dinosaur Canyon, and Seaside Street Galaxy. Adaptive difficulty is used; the first lap of each race measures the skill of the player and adjusts the difficulty of opponents accordingly. For less skilled players, opposing cars open lanes for the player, while higher-skilled players have to deal with opponents that block their path. The game's physics include realistic driving mechanics, including drifting and power sliding. The steering wheel in the arcade cabinet uses force feedback so players feel collisions and bumps. Shifting is performed with an H-type shifter. Daytona USA's arcade version on the Model 2 is capable of displaying up to 300,000 texture-mapped polygons per second, nearly double that of the previous Model 1. Visually, the game uses texture filtering, giving the visuals a smooth appearance. As in Virtua Racing, the game's camera system presents four different view perspectives from which the game can be played, and also includes the ability to view behind the car. The arcade version allows up to eight players to compete with each other, depending on the number of cabinets linked together. Linked deluxe cabinets may also include a camera pointing towards the drivers seat, linked to a closed-circuit television to show the player on a separate screen. In multiplayer, only the lead driver needs to reach a checkpoint before time runs out. To keep players involved in multiplayer battles, rubber-banding is in place, ensuring all players stay involved in the race. The Sega Saturn version does not include multiplayer, but includes an additional "Saturn" mode, which turns off the game's timer and adds more cars for the player to choose from. Additional "Endurance" and "Grand Prix" modes are also included, both of which require pit stops. Sustaining damage in a race in these modes will adversely affect the car's performance. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions included online multiplayer with up to eight players. ## Development In September 1992, Sega partnered with the engineering division GE Aerospace to create its new arcade system board, the Model 2. They were connected via a cold call from GE's Bob Hichborn, who met with Sega executives at the division's Daytona Beach, Florida headquarters in 1990, and later at Sega's headquarters in Tokyo in November of the same year. At the second meeting, GE Aerospace executives brought a tape demonstrating the hardware's 3D graphics simulating the Daytona International Speedway. GE estimated that their sale of the Model 2’s graphics technology accelerated Sega's arcade hardware development by 14 months. The heads of Sega's regional offices began discussing ideas for games to demonstrate the Model 2's capabilities. Sega's previous board, the Model 1, had debuted in 1992 with Virtua Racing, which was popular in Japan and Europe. Tom Petit, president of Sega's American arcade division Sega Enterprises USA, suggested that NASCAR would be an attractive brand to use for a Model 2 game in the US. Though Sega Europe's Vic Leslie had reservations due to the greater popularity of Formula One in Europe, Sega executives approved the concept. Petit and Sega Enterprises USA chief of finance Masahiro Nakagawa began negotiations with representatives of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway for a license to develop a game based on the race. To lower costs, Sega decided not to negotiate with NASCAR for a license, and so the game does not contain real sponsors, drivers, or cars. Sega mandated that Daytona USA had to be better than Namco's 1993 racing game Ridge Racer and it had to achieve higher sales. Ridge Racer had reached the top of arcade sales charts at the end of 1993 and beginning of 1994, and it had received highly favorable reviews of its graphics, especially in comparison to Virtua Racing. Development was handed to Sega AM2, a development division headed by Yu Suzuki, who had led development on popular racing games including Hang-On, Out Run, and Virtua Racing. AM2 director Toshihiro Nagoshi was given direct responsibility for the project, with Nagoshi and Suzuki serving as producers. The game was Nagoshi's first project as a director. Nagoshi was aware of the racing arcade games already on the market and decided he wanted to take his game in a different direction. While in the US for a meeting on the Model 2, Nagoshi was given tickets to a NASCAR race, and later recalled that it was a new experience for him because it was not a known style of racing in Japan. He chose to design his game to be "funky entertainment", in contrast to the simulation-based style of Ridge Racer. AM2 split into two teams: one focused on Daytona USA while the other developed Virtua Fighter. As research for the project, Nagoshi read books and watched videos on NASCAR, although he found it difficult to convey the emotions of the sport to his staff in Japan. Game planner Makoto Osaki said he purchased a sports car and watched the NASCAR film Days of Thunder more than 100 times. Programmer Daichi Katagiri was an avid player of arcade racing games at the time and leaned on that experience. The developers used satellite imagery and sent staff to photograph Daytona International Speedway; Nagoshi walked a full lap to get a feel for the banking in the corners. The team considered both Daytona International Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway for the game's beginner course. According to Nagoshi, because Daytona USA was not intended to be a simulation game, and because it would be sold in Japan and Europe in addition to North America, the oval and tri-oval designs were rejected as too repetitive. The final design for the beginner circuit, Three Seven Speedway, uses the tri-oval layout with a sharper final turn that requires strong braking. Unlike Virtua Racing's Model 1 hardware, the Model 2 is capable of displaying surface detail on its 3D graphics with texture mapping. As this was new for the developers, trial and error was used to find the most effective approach. Suzuki also reached out to Sega designer Jeffery Buchanan, who suggested placing interesting features, such as a dinosaur fossil and a clipper ship, at various locations within the game. Katagiri said there was no need to develop software for rendering because the Model 2 hardware handled this. For camera control and lighting effects, the team drew on its experience developing Virtua Racing. Daytona USA shares some features with Ridge Racer, including a drifting mechanic. Nagoshi initially planned not to include drifting as NASCAR stock cars do not drift, but changed his mind when the team decided not to focus on simulation. He did not believe in fortune telling, but chose the number 41 for the Hornet player car because he was told by someone close to him that the number would be lucky. The soundtrack was composed by Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, who had no familiarity with stock car racing. He chose to include vocals after hearing Ridge Racer's techno soundtrack and deciding to try a different approach; he recorded his own vocals as the fastest way to get the music into the game. Each course has a corresponding song. "Let's Go Away", the Daytona theme, uses a mixture of rock and funk instrumentals, while "Sky High" leaned on Mitsuyoshi's background in jazz fusion. A hidden track, "Pounding Pavement", was inspired by "Hotel California" by the Eagles and is accessible by holding the fourth view perspective button while selecting the beginner track in the arcade version. For the arcade version, the songs were sampled onto a Yamaha sound chip, including the drums and Mitsuyoshi's voice, then reconstructed by varying when the tracks would play and loop. This was the only way to include vocals, due to technical limitations of the Model 2. For the Saturn version, the music was remixed. ## Release Prior to release, a prototype had debuted at the Amusement Machine Show in Tokyo in August 1993, and it was tested in select Japanese arcades the same month; Petit states this was done to measure how the games would be received by the public. The complete version of Daytona USA was released in Japan in March 1994, and made its North American debut the same month at Chicago's American Coin Machine Exposition (ACME); it was subsequently released worldwide in April 1994. According to Petit, Sega delayed the worldwide launch to measure reception before investing in other territories. The standard game was released in a twin-seat cabinet and a deluxe cabinet fitted with detailed seats on top of subwoofers; Sega originally planned to use actual car seats, but management determined the seats were too difficult to enter and exit. Daytona USA debuted at number two on arcade operator publication RePlay's "Player's Choice" chart and stayed on the list for five years, with 16 months at number one. Daytona USA was rereleased in 1996 in arcades as Daytona USA: Special Edition, designed as a smaller, more affordable cabinet.Around the time of the worldwide release, Sega announced releases for its Saturn and 32X consoles, but a year later, Sega announced their intention to focus solely on the Saturn. In early 1995, Sega AM2's Saturn division split into three departments, each charged with converting a different arcade game to the Saturn: Virtua Fighter 2, Virtua Cop, and Daytona USA. Due to slow progress on the Daytona USA conversion, several members of the Virtua Fighter 2 team were reassigned to Daytona USA. AM2 completed the conversion in April 1995. It was a Western launch game for Saturn, and was also released for Windows via SegaSoft. In Japan, two separate Windows releases were done in September and December 1996, with the first released version supporting specific graphics cards such as Leadtek's WinFast GD400. A Windows version was released in Europe on November 14, 1996, and in North America in December of the same year. ## Remakes and sequels Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition, a reworked and expanded version of Daytona USA, was released in 1996 for the Saturn. Developed by Sega's consumer software division, it uses a modified version of the game engine used for Sega Rally Championship. An enhanced arcade remake, called Sega Racing Classic, was released in 2010 and is the first title in the series not branded with the Daytona name as Sega no longer owned the rights at the time. It operates on Sega's RingWide arcade system board and features high definition graphics and an arranged instrumental soundtrack. Another enhanced version was released digitally for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2012, as Daytona USA. It includes both the original arcade soundtrack and the arranged soundtrack from Sega Racing Classic with vocals by Mitsuyoshi, along with added features including eight player online multiplayer, challenge, and karaoke modes. The Xbox 360 version was later made backward compatible on the Xbox One and extended to the Xbox Series X/S. Daytona USA 2: Battle on the Edge, an arcade-exclusive sequel using the Sega Model 3 hardware, was released in 1998. It is the only Daytona game that uses no courses or music from the original. Daytona USA 2001, a remake of Daytona USA and Championship Circuit Edition, was released in 2001 for the Dreamcast, with graphical upgrades, online multiplayer, and new courses. Daytona Championship USA, also referred to as Daytona USA 3, debuted in late 2016 as an arcade exclusive; it was the first Daytona-branded arcade game in 18 years. ## Reception and legacy ### Arcade Daytona USA was popular in arcades. In Japan, it was the ninth highest-grossing arcade game of 1994, and the highest-grossing dedicated arcade game of 1995. In North America, it was listed by arcade industry magazine Play Meter as one of the top two highest-grossing arcade video games of 1994, with the twin cabinet receiving a Diamond Award from the American Amusement Machine Association (AAMA) that year; it again received a Diamond Award the following year for being one of America's top three best-selling arcade games of 1995. In the United Kingdom, it topped the dedicated arcade charts for six months in 1994, from May to October. Retro Gamer's Nick Thorpe said that though Daytona USA is considered anecdotally one of the most successful arcade games for its multiplayer and longevity, exact figures were difficult to find. In 2015, IGN's Luke Reilly said that the game is "perhaps the most recognisable arcade racing game of all time and the highest-grossing sit-down cabinet ever" and noted the continued presence of Daytona USA cabinets in arcades and bowling alleys. The original arcade game was critically acclaimed by video game and arcade industry publications alike. Upon its North American debut at ACME 1994, it received a highly positive reception from Play Meter and RePlay, which both considered it the game of the show while praising the graphics and gameplay, but with Play Meter criticizing the expensive cabinet price. Rik Skews of Computer and Video Games considered Daytona USA the best arcade game he had played in years, and praised its "state-of-the-art" graphics, sound, and damage physics. Also highly regarding Daytona USA's graphics were Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM), which asserted that "the stakes in the arcade wars have been raised again", and GamePro'''s Manny LaMancha, who argued that Daytona USA is a combination of Virtua Racing's action with Ridge Racer's realism. In contrast, Bob Strauss of Entertainment Weekly compared the game to watching a movie, and said, "Picture yourself watching a sci-fi movie, set in a futuristic arcade, that involves a dizzying car race. 'Wow\!' you can imagine saying to yourself, 'How did they do those special effects?' You'll have the same reaction while enjoying Daytona USA". ### Saturn The Saturn version received a positive reception, with high scores from most critics, though a number of them criticized it for graphical issues. Maximum highly regarded the challenging course design and realistic game mechanics, particularly the impact of wind resistance, but criticized the low-resolution graphic texture mapping, clipping, and lack of multiplayer. While identifying improvements on the North American version of the game compared to the Japanese version, two sports game reviewers for EGM found problems with the frame rate and animation. By contrast, a reviewer for Sega Saturn Magazine found the game graphically impressive aside from the pop-up and asserted it had strong arcade-style gameplay, and one from Next Generation argued that, while "Daytona USA suffers from an accumulation of weaknesses, if it's a fast, thrilling racing game you're after, the Saturn conversion has a great deal to recommend". The Windows version was a port of the Saturn's, and was not as well-received for inheriting the Saturn version's graphical issues despite being released a year later. Several reviewers compared the Saturn version to Ridge Racer's PlayStation conversion. Computer and Video Games considered the Saturn's Daytona USA better than the PlayStation's Ridge Racer, with Mark Patterson claiming that, while "nowhere near as polished as Ridge Racer, it does play better, mainly because you can ram the other cars off the track and smash your own car up". While Air Hendrix of GamePro concluded Daytona USA's "intense gameplay and breathtaking graphics will exhilarate any racing fan" and had positive feedback for the additions of Saturn mode and mirror mode, he argued it "pales in comparison" to the PlayStation version of Ridge Racer in terms of "features, gameplay, and graphics". ### Retrospective Daytona USA was named one of the best games of all time by Next Generation in 1996, GamesMaster in 1996, Computer and Video Games in 2000, EGM in 1997 and 2001, Yahoo\! in 2005, and Empire in 2009. It was named one of the best coin-op games by EGM in 1997 and by Killer List of Videogames, and one of the best retro games by NowGamer in 2010 and EGM in 2006. Edge named it the 70th "best game to play today" in 2009. In 2015, IGN named it the sixth-most influential racing game, asserting that it "remains a shining example of arcade racing done oh so right". Thorpe wrote that Daytona USA "doesn't just stand alongside the likes of Turbo, Out Run, Super Monaco GP and Sega Rally as part of a proud arcade racing heritage, but perhaps defines it". According to aggregator Metacritic, the Xbox 360 version received "generally favorable reviews" and the PlayStation 3 version received "mixed" reviews. Justin Towell of GamesRadar+ regarded Daytona USA as "a joyous, jubilant celebration of everything that made arcade games so exciting" and the new survival mode "a brilliant test of memory, logic and dexterity". 1Up.com's Ray Barnholt praised this version but expressed disappointment at the lack of new features. By contrast, Eurogamer's Martin Robinson asserted that "age doesn't seem to have ravaged Daytona USA's core" and wrote that the game serves as "fitting tribute to one of arcade racing's enduring icons". ## See also - Indy 500 - NASCAR Arcade''

Subarachnoid hemorrhage

Bleeding into the brain's subarachnoid space

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is bleeding into the subarachnoid space—the area between the arachnoid membrane and the pia mater surrounding the brain. Symptoms may include a severe headache of rapid onset, vomiting, decreased level of consciousness, fever, weakness, numbness, and sometimes seizures. Neck stiffness or neck pain are also relatively common. In about a quarter of people a small bleed with resolving symptoms occurs within a month of a larger bleed. SAH may occur as a result of a head injury or spontaneously, usually from a ruptured cerebral aneurysm. Risk factors for spontaneous cases include high blood pressure, smoking, family history, alcoholism, and cocaine use. Generally, the diagnosis can be determined by a CT scan of the head if done within six hours of symptom onset. Occasionally, a lumbar puncture is also required. After confirmation further tests are usually performed to determine the underlying cause. Treatment is by prompt neurosurgery or endovascular coiling. Medications such as labetalol may be required to lower the blood pressure until repair can occur. Efforts to treat fevers are also recommended. Nimodipine, a calcium channel blocker, is frequently used to prevent vasospasm. The routine use of medications to prevent further seizures is of unclear benefit. Nearly half of people with a SAH due to an underlying aneurysm die within 30 days and about a third who survive have ongoing problems. Between ten and fifteen percent die before reaching a hospital. Spontaneous SAH occurs in about one per 10,000 people per year. Females are more commonly affected than males. While it becomes more common with age, about 50% of people present under 55 years old. It is a form of stroke and comprises about 5 percent of all strokes. Surgery for aneurysms was introduced in the 1930s. Since the 1990s many aneurysms are treated by a less invasive procedure called endovascular coiling, which is carried out through a large blood vessel. A true subarachnoid hemorrhage may be confused with a pseudosubarachnoid hemorrhage, an apparent increased attenuation on CT scans within the basal cisterns that mimics a true subarachnoid hemorrhage. This occurs in cases of severe cerebral edema, such as by cerebral hypoxia. It may also occur due to intrathecally administered contrast material, leakage of high-dose intravenous contrast material into the subarachnoid spaces, or in patients with cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, severe meningitis, leptomeningeal carcinomatosis, intracranial hypotension, cerebellar infarctions, or bilateral subdural hematomas. ## Signs and symptoms The classic symptom of subarachnoid hemorrhage is thunderclap headache (a headache described as "like being kicked in the head", or the "worst ever", developing over seconds to minutes). This headache often pulsates towards the occiput (the back of the head). About one-third of people have no symptoms apart from the characteristic headache, and about one in ten people who seek medical care with this symptom are later diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage. Vomiting may be present, and 1 in 14 have seizures. Confusion, decreased level of consciousness or coma may be present, as may neck stiffness and other signs of meningism. Neck stiffness usually presents six hours after initial onset of SAH. Isolated dilation of a pupil and loss of the pupillary light reflex may reflect brain herniation as a result of rising intracranial pressure (pressure inside the skull). Intraocular hemorrhage (bleeding into the eyeball) may occur in response to the raised pressure: subhyaloid hemorrhage (bleeding under the hyaloid membrane, which envelops the vitreous body of the eye) and vitreous hemorrhage may be visible on fundoscopy. This is known as Terson syndrome (occurring in 3–13 percent of cases) and is more common in more severe SAH. Oculomotor nerve abnormalities (affected eye looking downward and outward and inability to lift the eyelid on the same side) or palsy (loss of movement) may indicate bleeding from the posterior communicating artery. Seizures are more common if the hemorrhage is from an aneurysm; it is otherwise difficult to predict the site and origin of the hemorrhage from the symptoms. SAH in a person known to have seizures is often diagnostic of a cerebral arteriovenous malformation. The combination of intracerebral hemorrhage and raised intracranial pressure (if present) leads to a "sympathetic surge", i.e. over-activation of the sympathetic system. This is thought to occur through two mechanisms, a direct effect on the medulla that leads to activation of the descending sympathetic nervous system and a local release of inflammatory mediators that circulate to the peripheral circulation where they activate the sympathetic system. As a consequence of the sympathetic surge there is a sudden increase in blood pressure; mediated by increased contractility of the ventricle and increased vasoconstriction leading to increased systemic vascular resistance. The consequences of this sympathetic surge can be sudden, severe, and are frequently life-threatening. The high plasma concentrations of adrenaline also may cause cardiac arrhythmias (irregularities in the heart rate and rhythm), electrocardiographic changes (in 27 percent of cases) and cardiac arrest (in 3 percent of cases) may occur rapidly after the onset of hemorrhage. A further consequence of this process is neurogenic pulmonary edema, where a process of increased pressure within the pulmonary circulation causes leaking of fluid from the pulmonary capillaries into the air spaces, the alveoli, of the lung. Subarachnoid hemorrhage may also occur in people who have had a head injury. Symptoms may include headache, decreased level of consciousness and hemiparesis (weakness of one side of the body). SAH is a frequent occurrence in traumatic brain injury and carries a poor prognosis if it is associated with deterioration in the level of consciousness. While thunderclap headache is the characteristic symptom of subarachnoid hemorrhage, less than 10% of those with concerning symptoms have SAH on investigations. A number of other causes may need to be considered. ## Causes Most cases of SAH are due to trauma such as a blow to the head. Traumatic SAH usually occurs near the site of a skull fracture or intracerebral contusion. It often happens in the setting of other forms of traumatic brain injury. In these cases prognosis is poorer; however, it is unclear if this is a direct result of the SAH or whether the presence of subarachnoid blood is simply an indicator of a more severe head injury. In 85 percent of spontaneous cases the cause is a cerebral aneurysm—a weakness in the wall of one of the arteries in the brain that becomes enlarged. They tend to be located in the circle of Willis and its branches. While most cases are due to bleeding from small aneurysms, larger aneurysms (which are less common) are more likely to rupture. Aspirin also appears to increase the risk. In 15–20 percent of cases of spontaneous SAH, no aneurysm is detected on the first angiogram. About half of these are attributed to non-aneurysmal perimesencephalic hemorrhage, in which the blood is limited to the subarachnoid spaces around the midbrain (i.e. mesencephalon). In these, the origin of the blood is uncertain. The remainder are due to other disorders affecting the blood vessels (such as cerebral arteriovenous malformations), disorders of the blood vessels in the spinal cord, and bleeding into various tumors. Cocaine abuse and sickle cell anemia (usually in children) and, rarely, anticoagulant therapy, problems with blood clotting and pituitary apoplexy can also result in SAH. Dissection of the vertebral artery, usually caused by trauma, can lead to subarachnoid hemorrhage if the dissection involves the part of the vessel inside the skull. ## Pathophysiology Cerebral vasospasm is one of the complications caused by subarachnoid hemorrhage. It usually happens from the third day after the aneurysm event, and reaches its peak on 5th to 7th day. There are several mechanisms proposed for this complication. Blood products released from subarachnoid hemorrhage stimulates the tyrosine kinase pathway causing the release of calcium ions from intracellular storage, resulting in smooth muscle contraction of cerebral arteries. Oxyhaemoglobin in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) causes vasoconstriction by increasing free radicals, endothelin-1, prostaglandin and reducing the level of nitric oxide and prostacyclin. Besides, the disturbances of autonomic nervous system innervating cerebral arteries is also thought to cause vasospasm. ## Diagnosis As only 10 percent of people admitted to the emergency department with a thunderclap headache are having an SAH, other possible causes are usually considered simultaneously, such as meningitis, migraine, and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis. Intracerebral hemorrhage, in which bleeding occurs within the brain itself, is twice as common as SAH and is often misdiagnosed as the latter. It is not unusual for SAH to be initially misdiagnosed as a migraine or tension headache, which can lead to a delay in obtaining a CT scan. In a 2004 study, this occurred in 12 percent of all cases and was more likely in people who had smaller hemorrhages and no impairment in their mental status. The delay in diagnosis led to a worse outcome. In some people, the headache resolves by itself, and no other symptoms are present. This type of headache is referred to as "sentinel headache", because it is presumed to result from a small leak (a "warning leak") from an aneurysm. A sentinel headache still warrants investigations with CT scan and lumbar puncture, as further bleeding may occur in the subsequent three weeks. The initial steps for evaluating a person with a suspected subarachnoid hemorrhage are obtaining a medical history and performing a physical examination. The diagnosis cannot be made on clinical grounds alone and in general medical imaging and possibly a lumbar puncture is required to confirm or exclude bleeding. ### Imaging The modality of choice is computed tomography (CT scan), without contrast, of the brain. This has a high sensitivity and will correctly identify 98.7% of cases within six hours of the onset of symptoms. A CT scan can rule out the diagnosis in someone with a normal neurological exam if done within six hours. Its efficacy declines thereafter, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is more sensitive than CT after several days. #### Angiography After a subarachnoid hemorrhage is confirmed, its origin needs to be determined. If the bleeding is likely to have originated from an aneurysm (as determined by the CT scan appearance), the choice is between cerebral angiography (injecting radiocontrast through a catheter to the brain arteries) and CT angiography (visualizing blood vessels with radiocontrast on a CT scan) to identify aneurysms. Catheter angiography also offers the possibility of coiling an aneurysm (see below). In emergency department patients complaining of acute-onset headache without significant risk factors for SAH, evidence suggests that CT scanning of the head followed by CT angiography can reliably exclude SAH without the need for a lumbar puncture. The risk of missing an aneurysmal bleed as the cause of SAH with this approach is less than 1%. ### Lumbar puncture Lumbar puncture, in which cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is removed from the subarachnoid space of the spinal canal using a hypodermic needle, shows evidence of bleeding in three percent of people in whom a non-contrast CT was found normal. A lumbar puncture or CT scan with contrast is therefore regarded as mandatory in people with suspected SAH when imaging is delayed to after six hours from the onset of symptoms and is negative. At least three tubes of CSF are collected. If an elevated number of red blood cells is present equally in all bottles, this indicates a subarachnoid hemorrhage. If the number of cells decreases per bottle, it is more likely that it is due to damage to a small blood vessel during the procedure (known as a "traumatic tap"). While there is no official cutoff for red blood cells in the CSF no documented cases have occurred at less than "a few hundred cells" per high-powered field. The CSF sample is also examined for xanthochromia—the yellow appearance of centrifugated fluid. This can be determined by spectrophotometry (measuring the absorption of particular wavelengths of light) or visual examination. It is unclear which method is superior. Xanthochromia remains a reliable ways to detect SAH several days after the onset of headache. An interval of at least 12 hours between the onset of the headache and lumbar puncture is required, as it takes several hours for the hemoglobin from the red blood cells to be metabolized into bilirubin. ### ECG Electrocardiographic changes are relatively common in subarachnoid hemorrhage, occurring in 40–70 percent of cases. They may include QT prolongation, Q waves, cardiac dysrhythmias, and ST elevation that mimics a heart attack. Also one of the characteristic ECG changes that could be found in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage, is the J waves or Osborn waves, which are positive deflections that occur at the junction between QRS complexes and ST segments, where the S point, also known as the J point, has a myocardial infarction-like elevation. J waves or Osborn waves, which represent an early repolarization and delayed depolarization of the heart ventricles, are thought to be caused by the high catecholamines surge released in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage or brain damage, the issue that might lead to ventricular fibrillation and cardiac arrest in unmanaged patients. ### Classification There are several grading scales available for SAH. The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is ubiquitously used for assessing consciousness. Its three specialized scores are used to evaluate SAH; in each, a higher number is associated with a worse outcome. These scales have been derived by retrospectively matching characteristics of people with their outcomes. The first widely used scale for neurological condition following SAH was published by Botterell and Cannell in 1956 and referred to as the Botterell Grading Scale. This was modified by Hunt and Hess in 1968: The Fisher Grade classifies the appearance of subarachnoid hemorrhage on CT scan. This scale has been modified by Claassen and coworkers, reflecting the additive risk from SAH size and accompanying intraventricular hemorrhage (0 – none; 1 – minimal SAH w/o IVH; 2 – minimal SAH with IVH; 3 – thick SAH w/o IVH; 4 – thick SAH with IVH);. The World Federation of Neurosurgeons (WFNS) classification uses Glasgow coma score and focal neurological deficit to gauge severity of symptoms. A comprehensive classification scheme has been suggested by Ogilvy and Carter to predict outcome and gauge therapy. The system consists of five grades and it assigns one point for the presence or absence of each of five factors: age greater than 50; Hunt and Hess grade 4 or 5; Fisher scale 3 or 4; aneurysm size greater than 10 mm; and posterior circulation aneurysm 25 mm or more. ## Screening and prevention Screening for aneurysms is not performed on a population level; because they are relatively rare, it would not be cost-effective. However, if someone has two or more first-degree relatives who have had an aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, screening may be worthwhile. Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), a hereditary kidney condition, is known to be associated with cerebral aneurysms in 8 percent of cases, but most such aneurysms are small and therefore unlikely to rupture. As a result, screening is only recommended in families with ADPKD where one family member has had a ruptured aneurysm. An aneurysm may be detected incidentally on brain imaging; this presents a conundrum, as all treatments for cerebral aneurysms are associated with potential complications. The International Study of Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms (ISUIA) provided prognostic data both in people having previously had a subarachnoid hemorrhage and people who had aneurysms detected by other means. Those having previously had a SAH were more likely to bleed from other aneurysms. In contrast, those having never bled and had small aneurysms (smaller than 10 mm) were very unlikely to have a SAH and were likely to sustain harm from attempts to repair these aneurysms. On the basis of the ISUIA and other studies, it is now recommended that people are considered for preventive treatment only if they have a reasonable life expectancy and have aneurysms that are highly likely to rupture. Moreover, there is only limited evidence that endovascular treatment of unruptured aneurysms is actually beneficial. ## Treatment Management involves general measures to stabilize the person while also using specific investigations and treatments. These include the prevention of rebleeding by obliterating the bleeding source, prevention of a phenomenon known as vasospasm, and prevention and treatment of complications. Stabilizing the person is the first priority. Those with a depressed level of consciousness may need to be intubated and mechanically ventilated. Blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate, and Glasgow Coma Scale are monitored frequently. Once the diagnosis is confirmed, admission to an intensive care unit may be preferable, especially since 15 percent may have further bleeding soon after admission. Nutrition is an early priority, mouth or nasogastric tube feeding being preferable over parenteral routes. In general, pain control is restricted to less-sedating agents such as codeine, as sedation may impact on the mental status and thus interfere with the ability to monitor the level of consciousness. Deep vein thrombosis is prevented with compression stockings, intermittent pneumatic compression of the calves, or both. A bladder catheter is usually inserted to monitor fluid balance. Benzodiazepines may be administered to help relieve distress. Antiemetic drugs should be given to awake persons. People with poor clinical grade on admission, acute neurologic deterioration, or progressive enlargement of ventricles on CT scan are, in general, indications for the placement of an external ventricular drain by a neurosurgeon. The external ventricular drain may be inserted at the bedside or in the operating room. In either case, strict aseptic technique must be maintained during insertion. In people with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage the EVD is used to remove cerebrospinal fluid, blood, and blood byproducts that increase intracranial pressure and may increase the risk for cerebral vasospasm. ### Preventing rebleeding Efforts to keep a person's systolic blood pressure somewhere between 140 and 160 mmHg is generally recommended. Medications to achieve this may include labetalol or nicardipine. People whose CT scan shows a large hematoma, depressed level of consciousness, or focal neurologic signs may benefit from urgent surgical removal of the blood or occlusion of the bleeding site. The remainder are stabilized more extensively and undergo a transfemoral angiogram or CT angiogram later. It is hard to predict who will have a rebleed, yet it may happen at any time and carries a dismal prognosis. After the first 24 hours have passed, rebleeding risk remains around 40 percent over the subsequent four weeks, suggesting that interventions should be aimed at reducing this risk as soon as possible. Some predictors of early rebleeding are high systolic blood pressure, the presence of a hematoma in the brain or ventricles, poor Hunt-Hess grade (III-IV), aneurysms in the posterior circulation, and an aneurysm \>10 mm in size. If a cerebral aneurysm is identified on angiography, two measures are available to reduce the risk of further bleeding from the same aneurysm: clipping and coiling. Clipping requires a craniotomy (opening of the skull) to locate the aneurysm, followed by the placement of clips around the neck of the aneurysm. Coiling is performed through the large blood vessels (endovascularly): a catheter is inserted into the femoral artery in the groin and advanced through the aorta to the arteries (both carotid arteries and both vertebral arteries) that supply the brain. When the aneurysm has been located, platinum coils are deployed that cause a blood clot to form in the aneurysm, obliterating it. The decision as to which treatment is undertaken is typically made by a multidisciplinary team consisting of a neurosurgeon, neuroradiologist, and often other health professionals. In general, the decision between clipping and coiling is made on the basis of the location of the aneurysm, its size and the condition of the person. Aneurysms of the middle cerebral artery and its related vessels are hard to reach with angiography and tend to be amenable to clipping. Those of the basilar artery and posterior cerebral artery are hard to reach surgically and are more accessible for endovascular management. These approaches are based on general experience, and the only randomized controlled trial directly comparing the different modalities was performed in relatively well people with small (less than 10 mm) aneurysms of the anterior cerebral artery and anterior communicating artery (together the "anterior circulation"), who constitute about 20 percent of all people with aneurysmal SAH. This trial, the International Subarachnoid Aneurysm Trial (ISAT), showed that in this group the likelihood of death or being dependent on others for activities of daily living was reduced (7.4 percent absolute risk reduction, 23.5 percent relative risk reduction) if endovascular coiling was used as opposed to surgery. The main drawback of coiling is the possibility that the aneurysm will recur; this risk is extremely small in the surgical approach. In ISAT, 8.3 percent needed further treatment in the longer term. Hence, people who have undergone coiling are typically followed up for many years afterwards with angiography or other measures to ensure recurrence of aneurysms is identified early. Other trials have also found a higher rate of recurrence necessitating further treatments. ### Vasospasm Vasospasm, in which the blood vessels constrict and thus restrict blood flow, is a serious complication of SAH. It can cause ischemic brain injury (referred to as "delayed ischemia") and permanent brain damage due to lack of oxygen in parts of the brain. It can be fatal if severe. Delayed ischemia is characterized by new neurological symptoms, and can be confirmed by transcranial doppler or cerebral angiography. About one third of people admitted with subarachnoid hemorrhage will have delayed ischemia, and half of those have permanent damage as a result. It is possible to screen for the development of vasospasm with transcranial Doppler every 24–48 hours. A blood flow velocity of more than 120 centimeters per second is suggestive of vasospasm. The pathogenesis of cerebral vasospasm following subarachnoid hemorrhage is attributed to the higher levels of endothelin 1, a potent vasoconstrictor, and the lower levels of endothelial NOS (eNOS), a potent vasodilator. Both of which are produced from a series of events that begin from the inflammatory reaction caused by the products released from erythrocytes' degradation. Following subarachnoid hemorrhage, different clotting factors and blood products are released into the surrounding perivascular spaces known as (Virchow-Robin spaces). The released clotting factors like; fibrinopeptides, thromboxane A2 and others lead to microthrombosis around near vessels that leads to extrinsic vasoconstriction of these vessels. Besides that extrinsic vasoconstriction, the erythrocytes' degradation products like; bilirubin and oxyhemoglobin lead to neuroinflammation that in turn increases the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which increases and decreases the production of endothelin 1 and endothelial NOS, respectively, the issue that yields in intrinsic vasoconstriction of the neighboring blood vessels and results in cerebral ischemia if left untreated. The use of calcium channel blockers, thought to be able to prevent the spasm of blood vessels by preventing calcium from entering smooth muscle cells, has been proposed for prevention. The calcium channel blocker nimodipine when taken by mouth improves outcome if given between the fourth and twenty-first day after the bleeding, even if it does not reduce the amount of vasospasm detected on angiography. It is the only Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drug for treating cerebral vasospasm. In traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage, nimodipine does not affect long-term outcome, and is not recommended. Other calcium channel blockers and magnesium sulfate have been studied, but are not presently recommended; neither is there any evidence that shows benefit if nimodipine is given intravenously. Nimodipine is readily authorized in the form of tablets and solution for infusion for the prevention and treatment of complications due to vasospasm following subarachnoid hemorrhage. Another sustained formulation of nimodipine administered via an external ventricular drain (EVD), called EG-1962, is also available. In contrast to the tablets and solution formulations of Nimodipine which require an administration every 4hrs for a total of 21 days, the sustained formulation, EG-1962, needs to be administered once directly into the ventricles. The CSF concentrations from EG-1962, however, were at least 2 orders of magnitude higher than those with oral nimodipine. These results supported a phase 3 study that demonstrated a favorable safety profile for EG-1962 but yielded inconclusive efficacy results due to notable differences in clinical outcome based on baseline disease severity. Some older studies have suggested that statin therapy might reduce vasospasm, but a subsequent meta-analysis including further trials did not demonstrate benefit on either vasospasm or outcomes. While corticosteroids with mineralocorticoid activity may help prevent vasospasm their use does not appear to change outcomes. A protocol referred to as "triple H" is often used as a measure to treat vasospasm when it causes symptoms; this is the use of intravenous fluids to achieve a state of hypertension (high blood pressure), hypervolemia (excess fluid in the circulation), and hemodilution (mild dilution of the blood). Evidence for this approach is inconclusive; no randomized controlled trials have been undertaken to demonstrate its effect. If the symptoms of delayed ischemia do not improve with medical treatment, angiography may be attempted to identify the sites of vasospasms and administer vasodilator medication (drugs that relax the blood vessel wall) directly into the artery. Angioplasty (opening the constricted area with a balloon) may also be performed. ### Other complications Hydrocephalus (obstruction of the flow of cerebrospinal fluid) may complicate SAH in both the short and long term. It is detected on CT scanning, on which there is enlargement of the lateral ventricles. If the level of consciousness is decreased, drainage of the excess fluid is performed by therapeutic lumbar puncture, extraventricular drain (a temporary device inserted into one of the ventricles), or occasionally a permanent shunt. Relief of hydrocephalus can lead to an enormous improvement in a person's condition. Fluctuations in blood pressure and electrolyte imbalance, as well as pneumonia and cardiac decompensation occur in about half the hospitalized persons with SAH and may worsen prognosis. Seizures occur during the hospital stay in about a third of cases. People have often been treated with preventative antiepileptic medications. This is controversial and not based on good evidence. In some studies, use of these medications was associated with a worse prognosis; although it is unclear whether this might be because the drugs themselves actually cause harm, or because they are used more often in persons with a poorer prognosis. There is a possibility of a gastric hemorrhage due to stress ulcers. ## Prognosis ### Short-term outcomes SAH is often associated with a poor outcome. The death rate (mortality) for SAH is between 40 and 50 percent, but trends for survival are improving. Of those that survive hospitalization, more than a quarter have significant restrictions in their lifestyle, and less than a fifth have no residual symptoms whatsoever. Delay in diagnosis of minor SAH (mistaking the sudden headache for migraine) contributes to poor outcome. Factors found on admission that are associated with poorer outcome include poorer neurological grade; systolic hypertension; a previous diagnosis of heart attack or SAH; liver disease; more blood and larger aneurysm on the initial CT scan; location of an aneurysm in the posterior circulation; and higher age. Factors that carry a worse prognosis during the hospital stay include occurrence of delayed ischemia resulting from vasospasm, development of intracerebral hematoma, or intraventricular hemorrhage (bleeding into the ventricles of the brain) and presence of fever on the eighth day of admission. So-called "angiogram-negative subarachnoid hemorrhage", SAH that does not show an aneurysm with four-vessel angiography, carries a better prognosis than SAH with aneurysm, but it is still associated with a risk of ischemia, rebleeding, and hydrocephalus. Perimesencephalic SAH (bleeding around the mesencephalon in the brain), however, has a very low rate of rebleeding or delayed ischemia, and the prognosis of this subtype is excellent. The prognosis of head trauma is thought to be influenced in part by the location and amount of subarachnoid bleeding. It is difficult to isolate the effects of SAH from those of other aspects of traumatic brain injury; it is unknown whether the presence of subarachnoid blood actually worsens the prognosis or whether it is merely a sign that a significant trauma has occurred. People with moderate and severe traumatic brain injury who have SAH when admitted to a hospital have as much as twice the risk of dying as those who do not. They also have a higher risk of severe disability and persistent vegetative state, and traumatic SAH has been correlated with other markers of poor outcome such as post traumatic epilepsy, hydrocephalus, and longer stays in the intensive care unit. More than 90 percent of people with traumatic subarachnoid bleeding and a Glasgow Coma Score over 12 have a good outcome. There is also modest evidence that genetic factors influence the prognosis in SAH. For example, having two copies of ApoE4 (a variant of the gene encoding apolipoprotein E that also plays a role in Alzheimer's disease) seems to increase risk for delayed ischemia and a worse outcome. The occurrence of hyperglycemia (high blood sugars) after an episode of SAH confers a higher risk of poor outcome. ### Long-term outcomes Neurocognitive symptoms, such as fatigue, mood disturbances, and other related symptoms, are common sequelae. Even in those who have made good neurological recovery, anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and cognitive impairment are common; 46 percent of people who have had a subarachnoid hemorrhage have cognitive impairment that affects their quality of life. Over 60 percent report frequent headaches. Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage may lead to damage of the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland, two areas of the brain that play a central role in hormonal regulation and production. More than a quarter of people with a previous SAH may develop hypopituitarism (deficiencies in one or more of the hypothalamic–pituitary hormones such as growth hormone, luteinizing hormone, or follicle-stimulating hormone). SAH is also associated with SIADH and cerebral salt wasting, and is the most common cause of the latter. ## Epidemiology According to a review of 51 studies from 21 countries, the average incidence of subarachnoid hemorrhage is 9.1 per 100,000 annually. Studies from Japan and Finland show higher rates in those countries (22.7 and 19.7, respectively), for reasons that are not entirely understood. South and Central America, in contrast, have a rate of 4.2 per 100,000 on average. Although the group of people at risk for SAH is younger than the population usually affected by stroke, the risk still increases with age. Young people are much less likely than middle-age people (risk ratio 0.1, or 10 percent) to have a subarachnoid hemorrhage. The risk continues to rise with age and is 60 percent higher in the very elderly (over 85) than in those between 45 and 55. Risk of SAH is about 25 percent higher in women over 55 compared to men the same age, probably reflecting the hormonal changes that result from the menopause, such as a decrease in estrogen levels. Genetics may play a role in a person's disposition to SAH; risk is increased three- to fivefold in first-degree relatives of people having had a subarachnoid hemorrhage. But lifestyle factors are more important in determining overall risk. These risk factors are smoking, hypertension (high blood pressure), and excessive alcohol consumption. Having smoked in the past confers a doubled risk of SAH compared to those who have never smoked. Some protection of uncertain significance is conferred by caucasian ethnicity, hormone replacement therapy, and diabetes mellitus. There is likely an inverse relationship between total serum cholesterol and the risk of non-traumatic SAH, though confirmation of this association is hindered by a lack of studies. Approximately 4 percent of aneurysmal bleeds occur after sexual intercourse and 10 percent of people with SAH are bending over or lifting heavy objects at the onset of their symptoms. Overall, about 1 percent of all people have one or more cerebral aneurysms. Most of these are small and unlikely to rupture. ## History While the clinical picture of subarachnoid hemorrhage may have been recognized by Hippocrates, the existence of cerebral aneurysms and the fact that they could rupture was not established until the 18th century. The associated symptoms were described in more detail in 1886 by Edinburgh physician Dr Byrom Bramwell. In 1924, London neurologist Sir Charles P. Symonds (1890–1978) gave a complete account of all major symptoms of subarachnoid hemorrhage, and he coined the term "spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage". Symonds also described the use of lumbar puncture and xanthochromia in diagnosis. The first surgical intervention was performed by Norman Dott, who was a pupil of Harvey Cushing then working in Edinburgh. He introduced the wrapping of aneurysms in the 1930s, and was an early pioneer in the use of angiograms. American neurosurgeon Dr Walter Dandy, working in Baltimore, was the first to introduce clips in 1938. Microsurgery was applied to aneurysm treatment in 1972 in order to further improve outcomes. The 1980s saw the introduction of triple H therapy as a treatment for delayed ischemia due to vasospasm, and trials with nimodipine in an attempt to prevent this complication. In 1983, the Russian neurosurgeon Zubkov and colleagues reported the first use of transluminal balloon angioplasty for vasospasm after aneurysmal SAH. The Italian neurosurgeon Dr Guido Guglielmi introduced his endovascular coil treatment in 1991.

Southern Cross Expedition

1898–1900 research expedition to Antarctica

The Southern Cross Expedition, otherwise known as the British Antarctic Expedition, 1898–1900, was the first British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, and the forerunner of the more celebrated journeys of Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton. The brainchild of the Anglo-Norwegian explorer Carsten Borchgrevink, it was the first expedition to over-winter on the Antarctic mainland, the first to visit the Great Ice Barrier—later known as the Ross Ice Shelf—since Sir James Clark Ross's groundbreaking expedition of 1839 to 1843, and the first to effect a landing on the Barrier's surface. It also pioneered the use of dogs and sledges in Antarctic travel. The expedition was privately financed by the British magazine publisher Sir George Newnes. Borchgrevink's party sailed in the Southern Cross, and spent the southern winter of 1899 at Cape Adare, the northwest extremity of the Ross Sea coastline. Here they carried out an extensive programme of scientific observations, although opportunities for inland exploration were restricted by the mountainous and glaciated terrain surrounding the base. In January 1900, the party left Cape Adare in Southern Cross to explore the Ross Sea, following the route taken by Ross 60 years earlier. They reached the Great Ice Barrier, where a team of three made the first sledge journey on the Barrier surface, during which a new Farthest South record latitude was established at 78° 50′S. On its return to Britain the expedition was coolly received by London's geographical establishment exemplified by the Royal Geographical Society, which resented the pre-emption of the pioneering Antarctic role they envisaged for the Discovery Expedition. There were also questions about Borchgrevink's leadership qualities, and criticism of the limited extent of scientific results. Thus, despite the number of significant "firsts", Borchgrevink was never accorded the heroic status of Scott or Shackleton, and his expedition was soon forgotten in the dramas which surrounded these and other Heroic Age explorers. However, Roald Amundsen, conqueror of the South Pole in 1911, acknowledged that Borchgrevink's expedition had removed the greatest obstacles to Antarctic travel, and had opened the way for all the expeditions that followed. ## Background Born in Oslo in 1864 to a Norwegian father and an English mother, Carsten Borchgrevink emigrated to Australia in 1888, where he worked as a land surveyor in the interior before accepting a provincial schoolteaching appointment in New South Wales. Having a taste for adventure, in 1894 he joined a commercial whaling expedition, led by Henryk Bull, which penetrated Antarctic waters and reached Cape Adare, the western portal to the Ross Sea. A party including Bull and Borchgrevink briefly landed there, and claimed to be the first men to set foot on the Antarctic continent—although the English-born American sealer John Davis believed he had landed on the Antarctic Peninsula in 1821. Bull's party also visited Possession Island in the Ross Sea, leaving a message in a tin box as proof of their journey. Borchgrevink was convinced that the Cape Adare location, with its huge penguin rookery providing a ready supply of fresh food and blubber, could serve as a base at which a future expedition could overwinter and subsequently explore the Antarctic interior. After his return from Cape Adare, Borchgrevink spent much of the following years in Britain and Australia, seeking financial backing for an Antarctic expedition. Despite a well-received address to the 1895 Sixth International Geographical Congress in London, in which he professed his willingness to lead such a venture, he was initially unsuccessful. The Royal Geographical Society (RGS) was preparing its own plans for a large-scale National Antarctic Expedition (which eventually became the Discovery Expedition 1901–04) and was in search of funds; Borchgrevink was regarded by RGS president Sir Clements Markham as a foreign interloper and a rival for funding. Borchgrevink persuaded the publisher Sir George Newnes (whose business rival Alfred Harmsworth was backing the RGS venture) to meet the full cost of his expedition, some £40,000. This gift infuriated Markham and the RGS, since Newnes's donation, had it come their way would, he said have been enough "to get the National Expedition on its legs". Newnes stipulated that Borchgrevink's expedition should sail under the British flag, and be styled the "British Antarctic Expedition". Borchgrevink readily agreed to these conditions, even though only two of the entire expedition party were British. This annoyed Markham all the more, and he subsequently rebuked the RGS librarian Hugh Robert Mill for attending the Southern Cross Expedition launch. Mill had toasted the success of the expedition, calling it "a reproach to human enterprise" that there were parts of the earth that man had never attempted to reach. He hoped that this reproach would be lifted through "the munificence of Sir George Newnes and the courage of Mr Borchgrevink". ## Organisation ### Expedition objectives Borchgrevink's original expedition objectives included the development of commercial opportunities, as well as scientific and geographical discovery. However, his plans to exploit the extensive guano deposits that he had observed during his 1894–95 voyage were not pursued. Research would be carried out across a range of disciplines, and Borchgrevink hoped that the scientific results would be complemented by spectacular geographical discoveries and journeys, even perhaps an attempt on the geographical South Pole itself; he was unaware at this stage that the site of the base at Cape Adare would not allow access to the hinterland of Antarctica. ### Ship For his expedition's ship, Borchgrevink purchased in 1897 a steam whaler, Pollux, that had been built in 1886 in Arendal on the south east coast of Norway, to the design of renowned shipbuilder Colin Archer. Archer had designed and built Fridtjof Nansen's ship, Fram, which in 1896 had returned unscathed from its long drift in the northern polar ocean during Nansen's Fram expedition. Pollux, which Borchgrevink renamed Southern Cross, was barque-rigged, 520 gross register tons, and 146 feet (45 m) overall length. The ship was taken to Archer's yard in Larvik to be fitted out with engines designed to Borchgrevink's specification. Although Markham continued to question the ship's seaworthiness, she was able to fulfil all that was required of her in Antarctic waters. Like several of the historic polar ships her post-expedition life was relatively short. She was sold to the Newfoundland Sealing Company, and in April 1914, was lost with her entire complement of 173, in the 1914 Newfoundland sealing disaster. ### Personnel The ten-man shore party who were to winter at Cape Adare consisted of Borchgrevink, five scientists, a medical officer, a cook who also served as a general assistant, and two dog drivers. Five—including Borchgrevink—were Norwegian, two were English, one Australian and the two dog experts from northern Norway, sometimes described in expedition accounts as Lapps or "Finns". Among the scientists was the Tasmanian Louis Bernacchi, who had studied magnetism and meteorology at the Melbourne Observatory. He had been appointed to the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–1899, but had been unable to take up his post when the expedition's ship, the , had failed to call at Melbourne on its way south. Bernacchi then travelled to London and secured a place on Borchgrevink's scientific staff. His later chronicle of the expedition was critical of aspects of Borchgrevink's leadership, but defended the expedition's scientific achievements. In 1901, Bernacchi would return to Antarctica as a physicist on Scott's Discovery expedition. Another of Borchgrevink's men who later served Scott's expedition, as commander of the relief ship , was William Colbeck, who held a lieutenant's commission in the Royal Naval Reserve. In preparation for the Southern Cross Expedition, Colbeck had taken a course in magnetism at Kew Observatory. Borchgrevink's assistant zoologist was Hugh Blackwell Evans, a vicar's son from Bristol, who had spent three years on a cattle ranch in Canada and had also been on a sealing voyage to the Kerguelen Islands. The chief zoologist was Nicolai Hanson, a graduate from the Royal Frederick University. Also in the shore party was Herluf Kløvstad, the expedition's medical officer, whose previous appointment had been to a lunatic asylum in Bergen. The others were Anton Fougner, scientific assistant and general handyman; Kolbein Ellifsen, cook and general assistant; and the two Sami dog-handlers, Per Savio and Ole Must, who, at 21 and 20 years of age respectively, were the youngest of the party. The ship's company, under Captain Bernard Jensen, consisted of 19 Norwegian officers and seamen and one Swedish steward. Jensen was an experienced ice navigator in Arctic and Antarctic waters, and had been with Borchgrevink on Bull's Antarctic voyage in 1894–1895. ## Voyage ### Cape Adare Southern Cross left London on 23 August 1898, after inspection by the Duke of York (the future King George V), who presented a Union Flag. The ship was carrying 31 men and 90 Siberian sledge dogs, the first to be taken on an Antarctic expedition. After final provisioning in Hobart, Tasmania, Southern Cross sailed for the Antarctic on 19 December. She crossed the Antarctic Circle on 23 January 1899, and after a three-week delay in pack ice sighted Cape Adare on 16 February, before anchoring close to the shore on the following day. Cape Adare, discovered by Antarctic explorer James Clark Ross during his 1839–43 expedition, lies at the end of a long promontory, below which is the large triangular shingle foreshore where Bull and Borchgrevink had made their brief landing in 1895. This foreshore held one of the largest Adelie penguin rookeries on the entire continent and had ample room, as Borchgrevink had remarked in 1895, "for houses, tents and provisions". The abundance of penguins would provide both a winter larder and a fuel source. Unloading began on 17 February. First ashore were the dogs, with their two Sami handlers, Savio and Must, who remained with them and thus became the first men to spend a night on the Antarctic continent. During the next twelve days the rest of the equipment and supplies were landed, and two prefabricated huts were erected, one as living quarters and the other for storage. These were the first buildings erected on the continent. A third structure was contrived from spare materials, to serve as a magnetic observation hut. As accommodation for ten men the "living hut" was small and cramped, and seemingly precarious—Bernacchi later described it as "fifteen feet square, lashed down by cables to the rocky shore". The dogs were housed in kennels fashioned from packing cases. By 2 March the base, christened "Camp Ridley" after Borchgrevink's English mother's maiden name, was fully established, and the Duke of York's flag raised. That day, Southern Cross departed to winter in Australia. The living hut contained a small ante-room used as a photographic darkroom, and another for taxidermy. Daylight was admitted to the hut via a double-glazed, shuttered window, and through a small square pane high on the northern wall. Bunks were fitted around the outer walls, and a table and stove dominated the centre. During the few remaining weeks of Antarctic summer, members of the party practised travel with dogs and sledges on the sea ice in nearby Robertson Bay, surveyed the coastline, collected specimens of birds and fish, and slaughtered seals and penguins for food and fuel. Outside activities were largely curtailed in mid-May, with the onset of winter. ### Antarctic winter Winter proved to be a difficult time; Bernacchi wrote of rising boredom and irritation: "Officers and men, ten of us in all, found tempers wearing thin". During this period of confinement, Borchgrevink's weaknesses as a commander were exposed; he was, according to Bernacchi, "in many respects ... not a good leader". The polar historian Ranulph Fiennes later described the conditions as "democratic anarchy", with dirt, disorder and inactivity the order of the day. Borchgrevink's lack of scientific training, and his inability to make simple observations, were additional matters of concern. Nevertheless, the programme of scientific observations was maintained throughout the winter. Exercise was taken outside the hut when the weather permitted, and as a further diversion Savio improvised a sauna in the snowdrifts. Concerts were held, including lantern slides, songs and readings. During this time there were two near-fatal incidents; in the first, a candle left burning beside a bunk set fire to the hut and caused extensive damage. In the second, three of the party were nearly asphyxiated by coal fire fumes as they slept. The party was well-supplied with a variety of basic foodstuffs—butter, tea and coffee, herrings, sardines, cheeses, soup, tinned tripe, plum pudding, dry potatoes and vegetables. There were nevertheless complaints about the lack of luxuries, Colbeck noting that "all the tinned fruits supplied for the land party were either eaten on the passage or left on board for the [ship's] crew". There was also a shortage of tobacco; in spite of an intended provision of half a ton (500 kg), only a quantity of chewing tobacco was landed. The zoologist, Nicolai Hanson, had fallen ill during the winter. On 14 October 1899 he died, apparently of an intestinal disorder, and became the first person to be buried on the Antarctic continent. The grave was dynamited from the frozen ground at the summit of the Cape. Bernacchi wrote: "There amidst profound silence and peace, there is nothing to disturb that eternal sleep except the flight of seabirds". Hanson left a wife, and a baby daughter born after he left for the Antarctic. As winter gave way to spring, the party prepared for more ambitious inland journeys using the dogs and sledges. Their base camp was cut off from the continent's interior by high mountain ranges, and journeys along the coastline were frustrated by unsafe sea ice. These factors severely restricted their exploration, which was largely confined to the vicinity of Robertson Bay. Here, a small island was discovered, which was named Duke of York Island, after the expedition's patron. A few years later this find was dismissed by members of Scott's Discovery Expedition, who claimed that the island "did not exist", but its position has since been confirmed at 71°38′S, 170°04′E. ### Ross Sea exploration On 28 January 1900 Southern Cross returned. Borchgrevink and his party quickly vacated the camp, and on 2 February he took the ship south into the Ross Sea. Evidence of a hasty and disorderly departure from Cape Adare was noted two years later by members of the Discovery Expedition, when Edward Wilson wrote; "... heaps of refuse all around, and a mountain of provision boxes, dead birds, seals, dogs, sledging gear ... and heaven knows what else". Southern Cross first called at Possession Island, where the tin box left by Borchgrevink and Bull in 1895 was recovered. They then proceeded southwards, following the Victoria Land coast and discovering further islands, one of which Borchgrevink named after Sir Clements Markham, whose hostility towards the expedition was evidently unchanged by this honour. Southern Cross then sailed on to Ross Island, observed the volcano Mount Erebus, and attempted a landing at Cape Crozier, at the foot of Mount Terror. Here, Borchgrevink and Captain Jensen were almost drowned by a large wave caused by a calving or breakaway of ice from the adjacent Great Ice Barrier. Following the path of James Clark Ross sixty years previously, they proceeded eastwards along the Barrier edge, to find the inlet where, in 1843, Ross had reached his farthest south. Observations indicated that the Barrier edge had moved some 30 statute miles (50 km) south since Ross's time, which meant that the ship were already south of Ross's record. Borchgrevink was determined to make a landing on the Barrier itself, and in the vicinity of Ross's inlet he found a spot where the ice sloped sufficiently to suggest that a landing was possible. On 16 February he, Colbeck and Savio landed with dogs and a sledge, ascended to the Barrier surface, and then journeyed a few miles south to a point which they calculated as 78°50′S, a new Farthest South record. They were the first persons to travel on the Barrier surface, earning Amundsen's approbation: "We must acknowledge that, by ascending the Barrier, Borchgrevink opened the way to the south, and threw aside the greatest obstacle to the expeditions that followed". Close to the same spot ten years later, Amundsen would establish his base camp "Framheim", prior to his successful South Pole journey. On its passage northward, Southern Cross halted at Franklin Island, off the Victoria Land coast, and made a series of magnetic calculations. These indicated that the location of the South Magnetic Pole was, as expected, within Victoria Land, but further north and further west than had previously been assumed. The party then sailed for home, crossing the Antarctic Circle on 28 February. On 1 April, news of their safe return was sent by telegram from Bluff, New Zealand. The dogs were left on Native Island, New Zealand. Due to quarantine requirements, many of the dogs were killed but a few remained. 9 of the remaining dogs were bought by Ernest Shackleton. ## Aftermath Southern Cross returned to England in June 1900, to a cool welcome; public attention was distracted by the preparations for the upcoming Discovery Expedition, due to sail the following year. Borchgrevink meanwhile pronounced his voyage a great success, stating: "The Antarctic regions might be another Klondyke"—in terms of the prospects for fishing, sealing, and mineral extraction. He had proved that it was possible for a resident expedition to survive an Antarctic winter, and had made a series of geographical discoveries. These included new islands in Robertson's Bay and the Ross Sea, and the first landings on Franklin Island, Coulman Island, Ross Island and the Great Ice Barrier. The survey of the Victoria Land coast had revealed the "important geographical discovery ... of the Southern Cross Fjord, as well as the excellent camping place at the foot of Mount Melbourne". The most significant exploration achievement, Borchgrevink thought, was the scaling of the Great Ice Barrier and the journey to "the furthest south ever reached by man". Borchgrevink's account of the expedition, First on the Antarctic Continent, was published the following year; the English edition, much of which may have been embroidered by Newnes's staff, was criticised for its "journalistic" style and for its bragging tone. The author, whom commentators recognised was "not known for either his modesty or his tact", embarked on a lecture tour of England and Scotland, but the reception was generally poor. Despite the unexplained disappearance of many of Hanson's notes, Hugh Robert Mill described the expedition as "interesting as a dashing piece of scientific work". The meteorological and magnetic conditions of Victoria Land had been recorded for a full year; the location of the South Magnetic Pole had been calculated (though not visited); samples of the continent's natural fauna and flora, and of its geology, had been collected. Borchgrevink also claimed the discovery of new insect and shallow-water fauna species, proving "bi-polarity" (existence of species in proximity to the North and South poles). The geographical establishments in Britain and abroad were slow to give formal recognition to the expedition. The Royal Geographical Society gave Borchgrevink a fellowship, and other medals and honours eventually followed from Norway, Denmark and the United States, but the expedition's achievements were not widely recognised. Markham persisted in describing Borchgrevink as cunning and unprincipled; Amundsen's warm tribute was a lone approving voice. According to Scott's biographer David Crane, if Borchgrevink had been a British naval officer his expedition would have been treated differently, but "a Norwegian seaman/schoolmaster was never going to be taken seriously". A belated recognition came in 1930, long after Markham's death, when the Royal Geographical Society presented Borchgrevink with its Patron's Medal. It admitted that "justice had not been done at the time to the pioneer work of the Southern Cross expedition", and that the magnitude of the difficulties it had overcome had previously been underestimated. After the expedition, Borchgrevink lived quietly, largely out of the public eye. He died in Oslo on 21 April 1934.

Sweetheart (Rainy Davis song)

1986 single by Rainy Davis

"Sweetheart" is a song originally recorded by American singer Rainy Davis. It was written by Davis and Pete Warner, and produced with Dorothy Kessler. The track was released in 1986 by independent record label SuperTronics as a single from Davis's 1987 studio album Sweetheart. A freestyle, hip hop pop, and synth-funk song, "Sweetheart" appeared on R\&B and dance music-based record charts in the United States. American singer Mariah Carey recorded a cover version with American rapper Jermaine Dupri (credited as JD) for his debut album, Life in 1472 (1998), and her first greatest hits album, \#1's (1998). So So Def and Columbia Records released it as the third single from the former album on September 7, 1998. Carey was inspired to create a remake of "Sweetheart" as she liked listening to the song as a teenage girl. Critics categorized the cover as a dance, hip-hop, and R\&B song, and its instrumental features synths and bass runs. The lyrics describe a woman's desire for a person with whom to share a romance. "Sweetheart" was promoted with a music video directed by Hype Williams in Spain. Although American and British music magazines predicted it would experience success on major record charts, its performance in those countries was restricted to the US Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 and UK club charts due to the absence of a commercial release. It fared better in mainland Europe, where it charted in the top twenty on Dutch, German, and Swiss record charts. In reviewing "Sweetheart", music critics focused on Carey's vocal performance, Dupri's rapping style, and the cover's perceived sexual nature. ## Rainy Davis original "Sweetheart" is a freestyle, hip hop pop, and synth-funk song recorded by American singer Rainy Davis from her debut album, Sweetheart (1987). Davis and Pete Warner wrote the lyrics, composed the melody, and produced it with Dorothy Kessler. It was mixed by Tony Humphries. SuperTronics, a Brooklyn-based independent record label, issued the song in early 1986. A representative from the label stated that the release was part of a strategy to expand beyond promoting songs made for dance clubs by finding and issuing ones suitable for radio airplay. The radio edit has a runtime of three minutes and forty-seven seconds, and the 12-inch vinyl single is six minutes and fifty-six seconds long. "Sweetheart" appeared on R\&B and dance music-based record charts in the United States. According to a 2020 Billboard article, it experienced minor success on the former. The song peaked at numbers twenty-three, twenty-four, and twenty-seven, respectively, on charts published by Cash Box, Billboard, and Radio & Records magazines. Reflecting on its commercial performance, a writer for the Hartford Advocate newspaper described it as a "huge club/dance hit". In 1986, "Sweetheart" ranked at number thirty-two on Billboard's year-end 12-inch Singles Sales chart. Critics commented on the song's production and Davis's vocals. Upon its single release in 1986, Billboard published several reviews. The magazine as a whole described it as "rhythmically intricate", dance writer Brian Chin favored the song's "unpressured beat and nice overall polish", and R\&B writer Nelson George compared Davis's vocals to those of Lisa Lisa on Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam's "I Wonder If I Take You Home". Writing for the Hartford Advocate in 1987, George Lane named it the best song on Sweetheart for its restrained production which he thought showcased her voice well. ## Jermaine Dupri and Mariah Carey version ### Background According to Carey, after divorcing Sony Music CEO Tommy Mottola following the release of her sixth studio album Butterfly (1997), she negotiated an exit from Columbia Records. The earliest release from the multi-year deal was her greatest hits album, \#1's. As Columbia planned to release it for the 1998 Christmas shopping season, Carey did not want the album's release to come across as purely commercial. She included four new songs, one of which was a cover of "Sweetheart". Carey felt that covering a song she liked as a teenager in school would be appreciated by other young girls. She conceptualized the remake with Dupri, with whom she had collaborated on songs such as "Always Be My Baby". The duet was announced in February 1998 to be included on his debut studio album Life in 1472, which was released that July. In November, it appeared as the first song on \#1's. ### Music and lyrics The single version of "Sweetheart" is four minutes and twenty-two seconds long. Commentators classified it as a dance, hip-hop, and R\&B song. It also contains elements of electro-funk and pop music. Dana Jon Chappelle and Brian Frye recorded the cover at KrossWire Studio in Atlanta, Georgia, and The Hit Factory and Right Track Recording in New York. Trey Lorenz, Melonie Daniels, and MaryAnn Tatum provided background vocals. The song was produced by Dupri and Carey, mixed by Dupri and Phil Tan at Silent Sound Studios in Atlanta, and mastered by Bernie Grundman. In a 2018 interview regarding his production discography, Dupri named "Sweetheart" the song he most wished to redo as he "would have made it a little more ghetto". The lyrics of the song describe a woman's desire for a person with whom to share a romance. Carey yearns, "Baby, won't you be my sweetheart / And we could share a storybook romance", to which Dupri responds through ad-libs and a rapped verse. Synths and bass runs are featured prominently throughout the song. They disappear during the bridge as Carey sings, "A full moon is waiting in the twilight". An explicit introduction in the album version of the song on Life in 1472, in which Carey talks to Dupri on the phone about "fucking", is omitted in subsequent releases. ### Release "Sweetheart" was promoted as the third single from Life in 1472 and the lead single from \#1's. So So Def and Columbia Records released it to American urban contemporary radio stations on September 7, 1998, followed by rhythmic contemporary stations eight days later. A commercial release in the United States scheduled for September 29 was retracted for unspecified reasons and instead distributed for free with the purchase of \#1's. Spin reported that DreamWorks and Arista Records were concerned that the song might cannibalize sales of their impending release, Carey's duet with Whitney Houston, "When You Believe". Dupri, Carl-So-Lowe, Lil Jon, Mark Picchiotti, and Eddie Arroyo produced remixes that appeared on several releases. In the United Kingdom, Columbia issued a promotional 12-inch vinyl of the Picchiotti mixes. Sony Music Taiwan released a commercial CD maxi single subtitled "The Story" on October 14, 1998, followed by Sony Music Japan on November 6, 1998. CD and CD maxi singles were issued in Belgium on November 2, 1998. The Lil Jon remix was later included on an enhanced CD of Carey's 1999 single "Heartbreaker". The song appears on some of Carey's subsequent compilation albums such as Greatest Hits (2001) and The Remixes (2003). In September 2020, as part of her campaign anticipating The Rarities, a digital extended play of "Sweetheart" was released. ### Critical reception Critics commented on Carey's vocal performance and Dupri's rapping, many praising Carey's restrained singing style. Writing for the Popular Music and Society journal, Vincent Stephens thought this helped make "Sweetheart" one of her best R\&B songs. According to Ron Rollins of the Dayton Daily News, it demonstrates her confidence in her vocal abilities. Other reviewers commented on how well Dupri's rapping complemented Carey's singing, and some argued that the song was more a showcase for Carey than Dupri. The Baltimore Sun's J. D. Considine said "Carey's effortless carnality makes Jermaine Dupri's sex-obsessed rap seem almost silly". In contrast, Time's Christopher John Farley felt the two complemented each other well. Andrew Unterbeger of Billboard echoed similar comments in a 2020 retrospective review. The incorporation of hip-hop elements in "Sweetheart" was also analyzed; in the view of Boston Globe writer Joan Anderman, they come across as sanitized. The song's sensuality was another topic of commentary. Critics described Carey's vocals as sexy and likened her personality in "Sweetheart" to that of a vixen, a dirtier version of Lisa Lisa, and a submissive Barbie doll. A few argued the song was well-suited to erotic dancing, deemed "booty-bouncing" and a strip club anthem. Others gauged how explicit the song's lyrics were: Richard Harrington of The Washington Post opined it was more toned-down than other songs on Life in 1472; The Philadelphia Inquirer's Tom Moon felt was more explicit than most songs discussing sex. In The Indianapolis Star, Scott L. Miley said Carey's romantic advances were "unflattering". ### Commercial performance Music magazines predicted "Sweetheart" would thrive on record charts. British publication Music Week described it as the song on Life in 1472 most suited to commercial success. In the United States, Billboard thought it would be the most-played song on pop and R\&B radio stations in late 1998. Following its radio release, eligibility for the US Billboard Hot 100 chart was changed to include non-commercial releases and airplay data from R\&B stations. In the first week of the rule change on December 5, 1998, it entered the Bubbling Under Hot 100 at number twenty-five and remained on the chart for one week. Writing for Complex in 2013, David Drake said that the song underperformed compared to Carey's 1998 standards and questioned Sony's decision to cancel the September 29 commercial release. Internationally, "Sweetheart" peaked within the top twenty of record charts in Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Remixes peaked at number sixteen on the UK Record Mirror Club Chart published by Music Week. ### Music video The song was promoted with a music video directed by Hype Williams. Like with many music videos for other songs by Carey such as "Honey" (1997), the video for "Sweetheart" features an exotic setting. It was shot at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, in August 1998. As with other media projects filmed there, the Guggenheim was chosen for its unique appearance; Williams persuaded Carey to travel there after showing her pictures of the building. Williams had often used a fisheye lens to produce perspective distortion in past music videos, but he did not use it for "Sweetheart" because the Guggenheim, an example of architecture in the deconstructivist style, is inherently distorted. "Sweetheart" depicts Dupri dancing on top of the museum, while Carey twirls in a dress to reveal her underwear and rides on the back of a motorcycle with her lover. She wears a metal mesh outfit that matches the museum's motif. The Morning Call's Paul Willistein called the video "even hotter" than the song itself and The Advertiser felt it would not have been filmed if Carey were still married due to the "sexy, fleshy" visuals. In her book Experiencing Music Video, scholar Carol Vernallis wrote that the Guggenheim represents a departure from the typical iconography of R\&B music videos. Irene Nero stated that the video contributed to the museum's perceived celebrity-like status for its many depictions in media. ### Personnel Credits adapted from the liner notes of Life in 1472 and \#1's. - Mariah Carey – vocals, producer - Carl-So-Lowe – music performer - Dana Jon Chappelle – engineering - Melonie Daniels – background vocals - Rainy Davis – songwriting - Jermaine Dupri – vocals, mixing, producer - Brian Frye – engineering - Bernie Grundman — mastering - Trey Lorenz – background vocals - Phil Tan – mixing - MaryAnn Tatum – background vocals - Pete Warner – songwriting ### Charts

Rotavirus

Specific genus of RNA viruses

Rotaviruses are the most common cause of diarrhoeal disease among infants and young children. Nearly every child in the world is infected with a rotavirus at least once by the age of five. Immunity develops with each infection, so subsequent infections are less severe. Adults are rarely affected. Rotavirus is a genus of double-stranded RNA viruses in the family Reoviridae. There are nine species of the genus, referred to as A, B, C, D, F, G, H, I and J. Rotavirus A is the most common species, and these rotaviruses cause more than 90% of rotavirus infections in humans. The virus is transmitted by the faecal–oral route. It infects and damages the cells that line the small intestine and causes gastroenteritis (which is often called "stomach flu" despite having no relation to influenza). Although rotavirus was discovered in 1973 by Ruth Bishop and her colleagues by electron micrograph images and accounts for approximately one third of hospitalisations for severe diarrhoea in infants and children, its importance has historically been underestimated within the public health community, particularly in developing countries. In addition to its impact on human health, rotavirus also infects other animals, and is a pathogen of livestock. Rotaviral enteritis is usually an easily managed disease of childhood, but among children under 5 years of age rotavirus caused an estimated 151,714 deaths from diarrhoea in 2019. In the United States, before initiation of the rotavirus vaccination programme in the 2000s, rotavirus caused about 2.7 million cases of severe gastroenteritis in children, almost 60,000 hospitalisations, and around 37 deaths each year. Following rotavirus vaccine introduction in the United States, hospitalisation rates have fallen significantly. Public health campaigns to combat rotavirus focus on providing oral rehydration therapy for infected children and vaccination to prevent the disease. The incidence and severity of rotavirus infections has declined significantly in countries that have added rotavirus vaccine to their routine childhood immunisation policies. ## Virology ### Types of rotavirus There are nine species of rotavirus (sometimes informally called groups) referred to as A, B, C, D, F, G, H, I and J. Humans are primarily infected by rotaviruses in the species Rotavirus A. A–I species cause disease in other animals, species H in pigs, D, F and G in birds, I in cats and J in bats. Within group A rotaviruses there are different strains, called serotypes. As with influenza virus, a dual classification system is used based on two proteins on the surface of the virus. The glycoprotein VP7 defines the G serotypes and the protease-sensitive protein VP4 defines P serotypes. Because the two genes that determine G-types and P-types can be passed on separately to progeny viruses, different combinations are found. A whole genome genotyping system has been established for group A rotaviruses, which has been used to determine the origin of atypical strains. The prevalence of the individual G-types and P-types varies between, and within, countries and years. There are at least 36 G types and 51 P types but in infections of humans only a few combinations of G and P types predominate. They are G1P[8], G2P[4], G3P[8], G4P[8], G9P[8] and G12P[8]. ### Structure The genome of rotaviruses consists of 11 unique double helix molecules of RNA (dsRNA) which are 18,555 nucleotides in total. Each helix, or segment, is a gene, numbered 1 to 11 by decreasing size. Each gene codes for one protein, except genes 9, which codes for two. The RNA is surrounded by a three-layered icosahedral protein capsid. Viral particles are up to 76.5 nm in diameter and are not enveloped. ### Proteins There are six viral proteins (VPs) that form the virus particle (virion). These structural proteins are called VP1, VP2, VP3, VP4, VP6 and VP7. In addition to the VPs, there are six nonstructural proteins (NSPs), that are only produced in cells infected by rotavirus. These are called NSP1, NSP2, NSP3, NSP4, NSP5 and NSP6. At least six of the twelve proteins encoded by the rotavirus genome bind RNA. The role of these proteins in rotavirus replication is not entirely understood; their functions are thought to be related to RNA synthesis and packaging in the virion, mRNA transport to the site of genome replication, and mRNA translation and regulation of gene expression. #### Structural proteins VP1 is located in the core of the virus particle and is an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase enzyme. In an infected cell this enzyme produces mRNA transcripts for the synthesis of viral proteins and produces copies of the rotavirus genome RNA segments for newly produced virus particles. VP2 forms the core layer of the virion and binds the RNA genome. VP3 is part of the inner core of the virion and is an enzyme called guanylyl transferase. This is a capping enzyme that catalyses the formation of the 5' cap in the post-transcriptional modification of mRNA. The cap stabilises viral mRNA by protecting it from nucleic acid degrading enzymes called nucleases. VP4 is on the surface of the virion that protrudes as a spike. It binds to molecules on the surface of cells called receptors and drives the entry of the virus into the cell. VP4 has to be modified by the protease enzyme trypsin, which is found in the gut, into VP5\* and VP8\* before the virus is infectious. VP4 determines how virulent the virus is and it determines the P-type of the virus. In humans there is an association between the blood group (Lewis antigen system, ABO blood group system and secretor status) and susceptibility to infection. Non-secretors seem resistant to infection by types P[4] and P[8], indicating that blood group antigens are the receptors for these genotypes. This resistance is dependent on the rotavirus genotype. VP6 forms the bulk of the capsid. It is highly antigenic and can be used to identify rotavirus species. This protein is used in laboratory tests for rotavirus infections. VP7 is a glycoprotein that forms the outer surface of the virion. Apart from its structural functions, it determines the G-type of the strain and, along with VP4, is involved in immunity to infection. #### Nonstructural viral proteins NSP1, the product of gene 5, is a nonstructural RNA-binding protein. NSP1 also blocks the interferon response, the part of the innate immune system that protects cells from viral infection. NSP1 causes the proteosome to degrade key signaling components required to stimulate production of interferon in an infected cell and to respond to interferon secreted by adjacent cells. Targets for degradation include several IRF transcription factors required for interferon gene transcription. NSP2 is an RNA-binding protein that accumulates in cytoplasmic inclusions (viroplasms) and is required for genome replication. NSP3 is bound to viral mRNAs in infected cells and it is responsible for the shutdown of cellular protein synthesis. NSP3 inactivates two translation initiation factors essential for synthesis of proteins from host mRNA. First, NSP3 ejects poly(A)-binding protein (PABP) from the translation initiation factor eIF4F. PABP is required for efficient translation of transcripts with a 3' poly(A) tail, which is found on most host cell transcripts. Second, NSP3 inactivates eIF2 by stimulating its phosphorylation. Efficient translation of rotavirus mRNA, which lacks the 3' poly(A) tail, does not require either of these factors. NSP4 is a viral enterotoxin that induces diarrhoea and was the first viral enterotoxin discovered. It is a viroporin that elevates cytosolic Ca²⁺ in mammalian cells. NSP5 is encoded by genome segment 11 of rotavirus A. In virus-infected cells NSP5 accumulates in the viroplasm. NSP6 is a nucleic acid binding protein and is encoded by gene 11 from an out-of-phase open reading frame. This table is based on the simian rotavirus strain SA11. RNA-protein coding assignments differ in some strains. ### Replication The attachment of the virus to the host cell is initiated by VP4, which attaches to molecules, called glycans, on the surface of the cell. The virus enters cells by receptor mediated endocytosis and form a vesicle known as an endosome. Proteins in the third layer (VP7 and the VP4 spike) disrupt the membrane of the endosome, creating a difference in the calcium concentration. This causes the breakdown of VP7 trimers into single protein subunits, leaving the VP2 and VP6 protein coats around the viral dsRNA, forming a double-layered particle (DLP). The eleven dsRNA strands remain within the protection of the two protein shells and the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase creates mRNA transcripts of the double-stranded viral genome. By remaining in the core, the viral RNA evades innate host immune responses including RNA interference that are triggered by the presence of double-stranded RNA. During the infection, rotaviruses produce mRNA for both protein biosynthesis and gene replication. Most of the rotavirus proteins accumulate in viroplasm, where the RNA is replicated and the DLPs are assembled. In the viroplasm the positive sense viral RNAs that are used as templates for the synthesis of viral genomic dsRNA are protected from siRNA-induced RNase degradation. Viroplasm is formed around the cell nucleus as early as two hours after virus infection, and consists of viral factories thought to be made by two viral nonstructural proteins: NSP5 and NSP2. Inhibition of NSP5 by RNA interference in vitro results in a sharp decrease in rotavirus replication. The DLPs migrate to the endoplasmic reticulum where they obtain their third, outer layer (formed by VP7 and VP4). The progeny viruses are released from the cell by lysis. ## Transmission Rotaviruses are transmitted by the faecal–oral route, via contact with contaminated hands, surfaces and objects, and possibly by the respiratory route. Viral diarrhoea is highly contagious. The faeces of an infected person can contain more than 10 trillion infectious particles per gram; fewer than 100 of these are required to transmit infection to another person. Rotaviruses are stable in the environment and have been found in estuary samples at levels up to 1–5 infectious particles per US gallon. The viruses survive between 9 and 19 days. Sanitary measures adequate for eliminating bacteria and parasites seem to be ineffective in control of rotavirus, as the incidence of rotavirus infection in countries with high and low health standards is similar. ## Signs and symptoms Rotaviral enteritis is a mild to severe disease characterised by nausea, vomiting, watery diarrhoea and low-grade fever. Once a child is infected by the virus, there is an incubation period of about two days before symptoms appear. The period of illness is acute. Symptoms often start with vomiting followed by four to eight days of profuse diarrhoea. Dehydration is more common in rotavirus infection than in most of those caused by bacterial pathogens, and is the most common cause of death related to rotavirus infection. Rotavirus infections can occur throughout life: the first usually produces symptoms, but subsequent infections are typically mild or asymptomatic, as the immune system provides some protection. Consequently, symptomatic infection rates are highest in children under two years of age and decrease progressively towards 45 years of age. The most severe symptoms tend to occur in children six months to two years of age, the elderly, and those with immunodeficiency. Due to immunity acquired in childhood, most adults are not susceptible to rotavirus; gastroenteritis in adults usually has a cause other than rotavirus, but asymptomatic infections in adults may maintain the transmission of infection in the community. There is some evidence to suggest blood group can impact on the susceptibility to infection by rotaviruses. ## Disease mechanisms Rotaviruses replicate mainly in the gut, and infect enterocytes of the villi of the small intestine, leading to structural and functional changes of the epithelium. There is evidence in humans, and particularly in animal models of extraintestinal dissemination of infectious virus to other organs and macrophages. The diarrhoea is caused by multiple activities of the virus. Malabsorption occurs because of the destruction of gut cells called enterocytes. The toxic rotavirus protein NSP4 induces age- and calcium ion-dependent chloride secretion, disrupts SGLT1 (sodium/glucose cotransporter 2) transporter-mediated reabsorption of water, apparently reduces activity of brush-border membrane disaccharidases, and activates the calcium ion-dependent secretory reflexes of the enteric nervous system. The elevated concentrations of calcium ions in the cytosol (which are required for the assembly of the progeny viruses) is achieved by NSP4 acting as a viroporin. This increase in calcium ions leads to autophagy (self destruction) of the infected enterocytes. NSP4 is also secreted. This extracellular form, which is modified by protease enzymes in the gut, is an enterotoxin which acts on uninfected cells via integrin receptors, which in turn cause and increase in intracellular calcium ion concentrations, secretory diarrhoea and autophagy. The vomiting, which is a characteristic of rotaviral enteritis, is caused by the virus infecting the enterochromaffin cells on the lining of the digestive tract. The infection stimulates the production of 5' hydroxytryptamine (serotonin). This activates vagal afferent nerves, which in turn activates the cells of the brain stem that control the vomiting reflex. Healthy enterocytes secrete lactase into the small intestine; milk intolerance due to lactase deficiency is a symptom of rotavirus infection, which can persist for weeks. A recurrence of mild diarrhoea often follows the reintroduction of milk into the child's diet, due to bacterial fermentation of the disaccharide lactose in the gut. ## Immune responses ### Specific responses Rotaviruses elicit both B and T cell immune responses. Antibodies to the rotavirus VP4 and VP7 proteins neutralise viral infectivity in vitro and in vivo. Specific antibodies of the classes IgM, IgA and IgG are produced, which have been shown to protect against rotavirus infection by the passive transfer of the antibodies in other animals. Maternal trans-placental IgG might play a role in the protection neonates from rotavirus infections, but on the other hand might reduce vaccine efficacy. ### Innate responses Following infection by rotaviruses there is a rapid innate immune response involving types I and III interferons and other cytokines (particularly Th1 and Th2) which inhibit the replication of the virus and recruit macrophages and natural killer cells to the rotavirus infected cells. The rotavirus dsRNA activates pattern recognition receptors such toll-like receptors that stimulate the production of interferons. The rotavirus protein NSP1 counteracts the effects of type 1 interferons by suppressing the activity of the interferon regulatory proteins IRF3, IRF5 and IRF7. ### Markers of protection The levels of IgG and IgA in the blood and IgA in the gut correlate with protection from infection. Rotavirus specific serum IgG and IgA at high titres (e.g. \>1:200) have been claimed to be protective and there is a significant correlation between IgA titres and rotavirus vaccine efficacy. ## Diagnosis and detection Diagnosis of infection with a rotavirus normally follows diagnosis of gastroenteritis as the cause of severe diarrhoea. Most children admitted to hospital with gastroenteritis are tested for rotavirus. Specific diagnosis of infection with rotavirus is made by finding the virus in the child's stool by enzyme immunoassay. There are several licensed test kits on the market which are sensitive, specific and detect all serotypes of rotavirus. Other methods, such as electron microscopy and PCR (polymerase chain reaction), are used in research laboratories. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) can detect and identify all species and serotypes of human rotaviruses. ## Treatment and prognosis Treatment of acute rotavirus infection is nonspecific and involves management of symptoms and, most importantly, management of dehydration. If untreated, children can die from the resulting severe dehydration. Depending on the severity of diarrhoea, treatment consists of oral rehydration therapy, during which the child is given extra water to drink that contains specific amounts of salt and sugar. In 2004, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF recommended the use of low-osmolarity oral rehydration solution and zinc supplementation as a two-pronged treatment of acute diarrhoea. Some infections are serious enough to warrant hospitalisation where fluids are given by intravenous therapy or nasogastric intubation, and the child's electrolytes and blood sugar are monitored. Rotavirus infections rarely cause other complications and for a well managed child the prognosis is excellent. Probiotics have been shown to reduce the duration of rotavirus diarrhoea, and according to the European Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology "effective interventions include administration of specific probiotics such as Lactobacillus rhamnosus or Saccharomyces boulardii, diosmectite or racecadotril." ## Prevention Rotaviruses are highly contagious and cannot be treated with antibiotics or other drugs. Because improved sanitation does not decrease the prevalence of rotaviral disease, and the rate of hospitalisations remains high despite the use of oral rehydrating medicines, the primary public health intervention is vaccination. In 1998, a rotavirus vaccine was licensed for use in the United States. Clinical trials in the United States, Finland, and Venezuela had found it to be 80–100% effective at preventing severe diarrhoea caused by rotavirus A, and researchers had detected no statistically significant serious adverse effects. The manufacturer, however, withdrew it from the market in 1999, after it was discovered that the vaccine may have contributed to an increased risk for intussusception, a type of bowel obstruction, in one of every 12,000 vaccinated infants. The experience provoked intense debate about the relative risks and benefits of a rotavirus vaccine. In 2006, two new vaccines against rotavirus A infection were shown to be safe and effective in children, and in 2009, the WHO recommended that rotavirus vaccine be included in all national immunisation programmes. The incidence and severity of rotavirus infections has declined significantly in countries that have acted on this recommendation. A 2014 review of available clinical trial data from countries routinely using rotavirus vaccines in their national immunisation programs found that rotavirus vaccines have reduced rotavirus hospitalisations by 49–92% and all cause diarrhoea hospitalisations by 17–55%. In Mexico, which in 2006 was among the first countries in the world to introduce rotavirus vaccine, diarrhoeal disease death rates dropped during the 2009 rotavirus season by more than 65 percent among children age two and under. In Nicaragua, which in 2006 became the first developing country to introduce a rotavirus vaccine, severe rotavirus infections were reduced by 40 percent and emergency room visits by a half. In the United States, rotavirus vaccination since 2006 has led to drops in rotavirus-related hospitalisations by as much as 86 percent. The vaccines may also have prevented illness in non-vaccinated children by limiting the number of circulating infections. In developing countries in Africa and Asia, where the majority of rotavirus deaths occur, a large number of safety and efficacy trials as well as recent post-introduction impact and effectiveness studies of Rotarix and RotaTeq have found that vaccines dramatically reduced severe disease among infants. In September 2013, the vaccine was offered to all children in the UK, aged between two and three months. A 2022 study found that the number of rotavirus cases in infants in England under one year of age was reduced by 77–88%. In all age groups, the number of laboratory-confirmed rotavirus infections was reduced by 69–83%. In Europe, hospitalisation rates following infection by rotaviruses have decreased by 65% to 84% following the introduction of the vaccine. Globally, vaccination has reduced hospital admissions and emergency department visits by a median of 67%. Rotavirus vaccines are licensed in over 100 countries, and more than 80 countries have introduced routine rotavirus vaccination, almost half with the support of the GAVI vaccine alliance. To make rotavirus vaccines available, accessible, and affordable in all countries—particularly low- and middle-income countries in Africa and Asia where the majority of rotavirus deaths occur, PATH (formerly Program for Appropriate Technology in Health), the WHO, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and GAVI have partnered with research institutions and governments to generate and disseminate evidence, lower prices, and accelerate introduction. The vaccine may prevent type 1 diabetes. ## Epidemiology Rotavirus A, which accounts for more than 90% of rotavirus gastroenteritis in humans, is endemic worldwide. Each year rotaviruses cause millions of cases of diarrhoea in developing countries, almost 2 million of which result in hospitalisation. In 2019, an estimated 151,714 children younger than five died from rotavirus infections, 90 percent of whom were in developing countries. Almost every child has been infected with rotaviruses by age five. Rotaviruses are the leading single cause of severe diarrhoea among infants and children, are responsible for about a third of the cases requiring hospitalisation, and cause 37% of deaths attributable to diarrhoea and 5% of all deaths in children younger than five. Boys are twice as likely as girls to be admitted to hospital for rotavirus infections. In the pre-vaccination era, rotavirus infections occurred primarily during cool, dry seasons. The number attributable to food contamination is unknown. Outbreaks of rotavirus A diarrhoea are common among hospitalised infants, young children attending day care centres, and elderly people in nursing homes. An outbreak caused by contaminated municipal water occurred in Colorado in 1981. During 2005, the largest recorded epidemic of diarrhoea occurred in Nicaragua. This unusually large and severe outbreak was associated with mutations in the rotavirus A genome, possibly helping the virus escape the prevalent immunity in the population. A similar large outbreak occurred in Brazil in 1977. Rotavirus B, also called adult diarrhoea rotavirus or ADRV, has caused major epidemics of severe diarrhoea affecting thousands of people of all ages in China. These epidemics occurred as a result of sewage contamination of drinking water. Rotavirus B infections also occurred in India in 1998; the causative strain was named CAL. Unlike ADRV, the CAL strain is endemic. To date, epidemics caused by rotavirus B have been confined to mainland China, and surveys indicate a lack of immunity to this species in the United States. Rotavirus C has been associated with rare and sporadic cases of diarrhoea in children, and small outbreaks have occurred in families. ## Other animals Rotaviruses infect the young of many species of animals and they are a major cause of diarrhoea in wild and reared animals worldwide. As a pathogen of livestock, notably in young calves and piglets, rotaviruses cause economic loss to farmers because of costs of treatment associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. These rotaviruses are a potential reservoir for genetic exchange with human rotaviruses. There is evidence that animal rotaviruses can infect humans, either by direct transmission of the virus or by contributing one or several RNA segments to reassortants with human strains. ## History In 1943, Jacob Light and Horace Hodes proved that a filterable agent in the faeces of children with infectious diarrhoea also caused scours (livestock diarrhoea) in cattle. Three decades later, preserved samples of the agent were shown to be rotavirus. In the intervening years, a virus in mice was shown to be related to the virus causing scours. In 1973, Ruth Bishop and colleagues described related viruses found in children with gastroenteritis. In 1974, Thomas Henry Flewett suggested the name rotavirus after observing that, when viewed through an electron microscope, a rotavirus particle looks like a wheel (rota in Latin) the name was officially recognised by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses four years later. In 1976, related viruses were described in several other species of animals. These viruses, all causing acute gastroenteritis, were recognised as a collective pathogen affecting humans and other animals worldwide. Rotavirus serotypes were first described in 1980, and in the following year, rotaviruses from humans were first grown in cell cultures derived from monkey kidneys, by adding trypsin (an enzyme found in the duodenum of mammals and now known to be essential for rotavirus to replicate) to the culture medium. The ability to grow rotaviruses in culture accelerated the pace of research, and by the mid-1980s the first candidate vaccines were being evaluated.

Conan (2007 video game)

2007 action-adventure game

Conan is a 2007 action-adventure game developed by Nihilistic Software and published by THQ for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Players take control of the titular hero, Conan the Barbarian, from Robert E. Howard's fantasy literature. In Conan, the hero is on a quest to recover his lost armor and defeat an evil wizard. Conan can fight with sword and shield, two-handed weapons, or a weapon in each hand. Starting with several basic attacks, the barbarian gains experience points by killing enemies. By exchanging these points for additional attacks, players improve the hero's fighting abilities. Magic powers complement Conan's arsenal, including the abilities to turn enemies into stone and conjure firestorms. The game also features context-sensitive action sequences in which players press a sequence of buttons displayed on the screen to complete actions such as killing powerful enemies and interacting with the environment. Critics enjoyed Conan's combat system and gory kills, but said the game failed to match the experience offered in God of War. Reactions varied on the game's depiction of the Conan universe; several critics praised the emulation of Frank Frazetta's famous artwork, but others found the game's graphics drab and of low resolution. Regarding the audio, Golden Globe-winning actor Ron Perlman was both praised and criticized for his voice work as Conan. Composer Mike Reagan received acclaim for the game's music and later gave live performances of the game's soundtrack at Video Games Live shows. Despite the average reviews and commercial success of the Conan franchise, Conan sold poorly and was a financial loss for THQ. ## Gameplay Players control Conan the Barbarian from a third-person perspective while attempting to advance through the series of levels that subdivide the game. The gameplay is the same for each level: Conan moves from area to area, fighting groups of enemies until he reaches the end. At the end of certain levels, the barbarian has to fight a more powerful opponent called a boss. Defeating a boss involves a two-stage process: Conan has to inflict heavy damage on the creature and thus trigger an interactive button-pressing sequence that players have to complete to kill the boss. Several cycles of this process are required to defeat most bosses. Besides combat, button-pressing sequences are also used to interact with the environment, such as knocking down obstacles to create passageways, or as parts of platforming sequences in which Conan climbs walls and jumps from ledge to ledge. Players can save their progress by using special stones that are placed throughout the game. Conan starts each level with his default one-handed sword, and can pick up shields and other weapons to switch between three styles of attack: fighting with a one-handed weapon, a two-handed weapon, or a weapon in each hand. Each style features several attacks with names like "Cimmerian Charge" and "Black River Rage". The barbarian can change or stop his attacks at any time, creating many options in combat. When Conan lands a sequence of successive hits on his enemies, he activates his Song of Death, which increases the damage of his attacks for a short time. For defense, Conan can roll under enemy attacks or block them. If the player presses the block button just when an enemy is about to hit the barbarian, an image of a controller button appears on the screen. Pressing the button shown will make Conan execute a gory counterattack, which instantly kills the enemy. Other methods to kill enemies include grabbing and throwing them against other objects, such as spikes and other enemies, or over cliffs. In addition to physical assaults, Conan can use magic powers to damage enemies. Gaining these powers in later stages of the game, the barbarian can turn opponents into stone, call down fire from the heavens, and summon flocks of ravens to do his bidding. These magical attacks can quickly end fights, but their use is limited by the number of magic points Conan has. When an enemy is killed, colored runes—each one conferring its own special advantage—are released and gathered by the barbarian. Red runes act as experience points, which are exchanged for advanced attacks. Green and blue runes restore Conan's health and magic points, respectively. The barbarian can also obtain runes by breaking containers and freeing maidens from captivity. ## Plot and setting In Conan, the hero is on a quest to recover his lost armor and defeat an evil wizard. The game takes place in the world of Hyboria, a creation of Robert E. Howard for his stories about Conan the Barbarian. Conan's developer, Nihilistic Software, chose several Hyborian locations, such as Kush, Stygia, and the Barachan Isles, to establish a link to the literary world. Hyboria was designed to be a fantasy version of Earth around , and its civilizations were based on those from the Stone to Iron Ages. Nihilistic portrayed the plains of Kush, a fictional Africa, as savannahs with villages of straw huts. Stygia was illustrated as a land filled with structures resembling Egyptian tombs and the Barachan Isles as lushly jungled islands. ### Characters Conan is the protagonist in many of Howard's stories: a franchise has been built around the character, and Frank Frazetta's paintings have further elevated the barbarian's profile in pop culture. Howard presented his barbarian hero as a strong, shrewd, barbaric, and ambitious man in a primitive world of magic. His stories are simple and portray Conan overcoming a series of obstacles to defeat the antagonists with his physical prowess. Nihilistic originally intended to stay faithful to the literature, but the writers strayed from the canon by showing the barbarian as willing to use magic. The literary Conan abhors magic, but Nihilistic reasoned that, in order to restore his armor to its original non-magical state, he is willing to use the magic it has been cursed with. The developers did, however, stay true to the physical depictions of the barbarian. Reflecting how fights are described in the stories, players can kill foes in the goriest manner—dismembering and disemboweling them. Nihilistic wanted to show that the brutal killings are considered natural by Conan and not executed out of a thirst for blood. The inspiration for Conan's moves came from several sources, but mostly from Frazetta's artwork. The animators took several of Conan's poses straight from the paintings and modeled his movements after those of the characters in the feature animation Tarzan and the action films Troy and Ong Bak. The names of several fighting techniques such as "Gwahlur's Leap", "Bel's Gambit", and "Camel Punch" were also based on names and events from the Conan stories and films. To garner extra publicity, the publisher THQ hired Golden Globe-winning actor Ron Perlman to provide the voice for Conan. Typical Conan stories by Howard featured leading females who were occasionally damsels in distress. However, they were also strong and fearless women who would rescue the hero at crucial moments. Nihilistic cast the game's leading female character, A'kanna, in this mold; the warrior queen and Conan aid each other in several parts of the game. By contrast, there are topless, chained-up women scattered across the game's levels. However, these are in the game only because of the developer's belief that nudity was integral to a Conan story. Showing their breasts and acting in a burlesque manner, these damsels-in-distress reward players with red runes when rescued. ### Story Howard's short story, "Queen of the Black Coast", served as the inspiration for the game's plot. In the short story, Conan has a brief romance with Bêlit, a pirate queen. Near the end of the story a demonic creature kills Bêlit and Conan seeks revenge. The creature, however, is stronger than Conan, overpowers him, and is about to kill him when Bêlit's spirit startles it and inspires Conan to kill the beast. The game's story follows a similar theme with A'kanna in the role of Bêlit. Told as a campfire story, cut scenes—in the form of static artwork or animation rendered by the game engine—open and close each level with narratives from an elderly A'kanna. The story starts at Parad Isle where Conan is raiding a tomb. Instead of finding treasure, he unknowingly frees Graven, a wizard who had been confined in a magical prison for his transgressions. Showing no gratitude, the wizard curses Conan's armor, scatters it across the world, and teleports the barbarian away. Vowing to retrieve his armor, Conan meets A'kanna while he is fighting through a pirate base. Teaming up with the barbarian to find his armor, the warrior queen hopes to use its magic to end the curse—the Black Death—that is causing her people to kill each other. Their quest leads players through several locations and boss creatures such as dragons, undead elephants, and krakens. Flashbacks are shown when retrieving a piece of armor after killing certain bosses; these back-stories tell of Graven's imprisonment of the gods, his plan to sacrifice his daughter A'kanna, and his creation of the Black Death to transform the world to his liking. In the last level, Conan has retrieved all his armor and returns to Parad Isle to rescue A'kanna from her father. After a long boss fight and several button-pressing sequences, Conan slays the wizard at the bottom of the ocean. Graven's defeat frees the gods he had imprisoned, and they bring him back to life for eternal punishment. The story ends with the separation of the barbarian and the warrior queen. Conan goes on to fulfill his destiny to be a king as written in Howard's stories. A'kanna, however, grows old in a village, telling stories to children and never forgetting Conan. ## Development In 2005, THQ acquired the rights to produce a series of video games featuring Conan the Barbarian and the world of Hyboria. This news came to the attention of Nihilistic Software who had just completed the action game Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects. The video game developer was looking to develop an action game similar to God of War for its next project and saw the world of Conan as a good setting. The team quickly built a prototype to demonstrate its concept to THQ and received approval for the project. The video game publisher officially announced the game to the industry on February 26, 2007. Nihilistic decided to use the features of other action games for Conan. While God of War was its inspiration for the camera system, Ninja Gaiden was a great influence on the combat engine. The team wanted to emulate the complexity of Ninja Gaiden's combat system, with many attacking options and an equal emphasis on being alert to the actions of enemies. Nihilistic also wanted the game to appeal to button mashing players as well as those who want to control their character with finesse. In addition, it designed the game to increase the frequency and difficulty of encounters as players advance through the levels. Conan was developed to be released on the . Although the architectures of the two consoles were very different, Nihilistic designed its product to perform equally on both of them, using force feedback and motion sensing to enhance the playing experience. Conan was originally scheduled for an early 2008 release, but was brought forward to the second half of 2007 because of THQ's poor performance in that fiscal year. After the game was released in Europe, Nihilistic made demos of the game available for downloading over Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. ### Visual style The appearance of Howard's Conan and Hyboria in the popular imagination owes much to Frazetta's distinctive oil paintings. While Nihilistic's writers tried to tell a story in Howard's style, its artists attempted to emulate Frazetta's style on the electronic display screen. Instead of making each computer representation as realistic as possible, they created models based mainly on their perception of each object's intrinsic nature. The artists used video graphics technology such as normal mapping technique to emulate brush strokes on the models' textures. These digital brush strokes were visible on the cliffs in the game. The character models were outlined with light colors instead of dark ones, creating the subtle blend of object and background found in oil paintings, and fog effects allowed the team to recreate Frazetta's use of shadows in the middle area of the image. To complete the game's appearance, the artists used darker color palettes, motifs, and themes to present a more serious mood, in harmony with the gore and nudity in the game. ### Music Mike Reagan, a music composer noted for his work in video games such as Darkwatch and God of War, was hired by THQ to write the music for Conan. To begin, he wanted to compose simple but powerful melodies, and looked to Basil Poledouris's score for the 1982 film Conan the Barbarian for inspiration. As Reagan played development copies of the game, he was influenced by two other works: Igor Stravinsky's barbaric and sensual ballet music The Rite of Spring, and Bernard Hermann's score from the 1958 action film The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. Each week, Nihilistic and Reagan updated each other with copies of their work-in-progress, synchronizing their efforts. Reagan also studied with noted percussion artists Denny Seiwell, Emil Richards, and Michael Duffy to gain further insight on the use of drums to accompany the game's bloody and violent plot. After mastering the soundtrack, he brought the music of Conan to an October 2007 Video Games Live show, performing it live in Los Angeles, United States. ## Reception Conan received "average" reviews on both platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Most critics agreed that the game's best selling point was its variety in combat. They had a lot of fun with its easy-to-learn controls, skill customization, and most of all, the varied brutal depictions of Conan's kills. TeamXbox said the combat system "blossoms into a complex string of commands that will reward the user (with gore) for pressing the right buttons at the right time". The pounding, militaristic orchestra tunes accompanying the action further enhanced the critics' experience with the game. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of all four sevens for a total of 28 out of 40, while Famitsu Xbox 360 gave its Xbox 360 version a score of one six, two fives, and one six for a total of 22 out of 40. Critics had mixed opinions about three prominent features of the game: voice acting, artwork, and faithfulness to Howard's writings. Perlman earned acclaim for his vocal performance and gravely voice that matched the game's dialogue, but he also received criticism for not sounding like a barbarian. A few applauded Nihilistic for capturing the oil painting feel of Frazetta's art, but several others said the graphics consisted of drab-looking environments that were jagged-edged and pixelated when zoomed in. Although the animations were rated to be smooth and vivid, the lack of variety among enemy character models was criticized. Several critics also praised Nihilistic for recreating the atmosphere of Howard's stories. The decision to have Conan use magic was, however, called a "blasphemy" by IGN. G4 Canada disagreed and forgave the game on the grounds that it was mostly faithful to the books. Ray Huling of The Escapist said the game's developers misunderstood Conan's appeal to the masses. In the journalist's opinion, Howard's depiction of Conan's brutal physical nature called attention to the dull nature of their lives and offered them a temporary escape. Furthermore, Huling said that Nihilistic used the characteristics of Conan for superficial purposes and that, in copying the mechanics of another game without any groundbreaking innovations of its own, Nihilistic missed the essence of Howard's stories and created a shell of what its game could have been. ### Comparisons to God of War Many critics complained that Conan copied many ideas from God of War. Game Informer referred to this imitation as "[Conan] groveling at Kratos' feet, begging for gameplay wisdom". A few reviewers, however, found this forgivable and said the game was made to be fun without any higher ambitions. Conan's camera system irritated several critics for failing to provide an adequate view of the situation at certain critical moments. Its puzzles were oversimple and lacked clear directions for proceeding to the next step. The artificial intelligence for the adversaries in the game was found to be predictable and flawed by a few critics. In addition, they found the final encounter with Graven to be overlong and frustrating. Calling the fight "as painful as a trip to the proctologist", IGN and Game Informer judged it to be one of the worst boss fights in video game history. ### Sales Despite the average reviews and success of Howard's franchise, Conan sold poorly and failed to recoup THQ's investment. The publisher publicly announced that the game's poor sales contributed to their US$20 million write-off in fiscal year 2008. ### Mature content Although the game's violence was praised by the gaming industry, it was condemned by the National Institute on Media and the Family, which placed Conan on a list of games that parents were urged to avoid buying for their children. Conan's Mature rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board, largely due to its violent content, made the game a target for a law being pushed in California, United States. Proposed in 2005, the law was intended to regulate sales of Mature-rated games. It was blocked by a legal challenge from the gaming industry in 2007, but California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who played Conan in the 1982 film, appealed the judgment, seeking to ensure that Conan and other games with similar levels of violence would be sold only to those older than 17. On February 20, 2009, his appeal was rejected by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, who ruled that such a restriction violated the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

First Battle of Dernancourt

WWI battle fought in 1918 near Dernancourt in northern France

The First Battle of Dernancourt was fought on 28 March 1918 near Dernancourt in northern France during World War I. It involved a force of the German 2nd Army attacking elements of the VII Corps, which included British and Australian troops, and resulted in a complete defeat of the German assault. The Australian 3rd and 4th Divisions had been sent south from Belgium to help stem the tide of the German spring offensive towards Amiens and, with the British 35th Division, they held a line west and north of the Ancre river and the area between the Ancre and Somme, forming the southern flank of the Third Army. Much of the VII Corps front line consisted of a series of posts strung out along a railway embankment between Albert and Buire-sur-l'Ancre. The main German assault force was the 50th Reserve Division of the XXIII Reserve Corps, which concentrated its assault on the line between Albert and Dernancourt, attacking off the line of march after a short artillery preparation. Supporting attacks were to be launched by the 13th Division further west. Some German commanders considered success unlikely unless the embankment was weakly held, and the commander of the German 2nd Army ordered the attack to be postponed, but that message did not reach the assaulting troops in time. The Germans attacked at dawn under the cover of fog, but other than one small penetration by a company in the early morning that was quickly repelled, partly due to the actions of Sergeant Stanley McDougall of the Australian 47th Battalion, the Germans failed to break through the VII Corps defences. McDougall was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award that could be received by an Australian soldier for gallantry in the face of the enemy. By late afternoon, rain set in, making early renewal of the assault less likely. The Germans suffered about 550 casualties during the battle, and the Australians lost at least 137 killed or wounded. The British 35th Division suffered 1,540 casualties from 25 to 30 March. In the week following the battle, the Germans renewed their attempts to advance in the sector, culminating in the Second Battle of Dernancourt on 5 April, when the Germans were defeated in desperate fighting. ## Background After the Third Battle of Ypres petered out in late 1917, the Western Front fell into its usual lull over the winter months. In early 1918, it became apparent to the Allies that a large German offensive was pending. This German spring offensive commenced on 21 March 1918, with over one million men in three German armies striking hard just north of the junction between the French and British armies. The main effort of this offensive hit the British Third and Fifth Armies, which formed the right flank of the British front line. Struck a series of staggering blows, a breach between the two British armies developed, and they were forced into a rapid, and in parts disorganised withdrawal, suffering heavy losses. The key railway junction at Amiens was soon threatened. Shortly after the Spring Offensive began, the Australian 3rd and 4th Divisions were deployed south in stages from rest areas in the Flanders region of Belgium to the Somme river valley in France to help stem the German offensive. Initially it was intended to use them to launch a counter-offensive, but this idea was soon shelved due to German successes. On their way south, the 4th Brigade was detached from the 4th Division to help halt the Germans near Hébuterne in the centre of the Third Army sector. Travelling by train, bus and marching on foot, the remaining two brigades of the 4th Division, the 12th and 13th Brigades, concentrated in the area west of Dernancourt, under the command of the VII Corps led by Lieutenant General Walter Congreve, which now formed the right flank of the Third Army. The commander of the 4th Division, Major General Ewen Sinclair-Maclagan, was ordered to support and then relieve remnants of the 9th (Scottish) Division, which was holding the front line along a railway between Albert and Dernancourt, west of the Ancre river. This task was given to the 12th Brigade, under the command of Brigadier General John Gellibrand. The 13th Brigade was held in support positions between Bresle and Ribemont-sur-Ancre. To the right of the 12th Brigade was the British 35th Division, positioned between Dernancourt and Buire-sur-l'Ancre, and commanded by Brigadier General Arthur Marindin. That division had been involved in a series of fighting withdrawals since being committed to battle on 25 March near Cléry-sur-Somme, some 13 miles (21 km) east of Dernancourt. The 3rd Division, commanded by Major General John Monash, was deployed further to the south, between the Ancre and the Somme around Morlancourt, with its 10th Brigade to the right of the 35th Division. ## Preparations ### VII Corps dispositions From before midnight on 27 March, the now tired 12th Brigade had been holding the railway line between Albert and Dernancourt, having relieved the 9th (Scottish) Division. The forward positions of the salient held by the 12th Brigade were along the railway line, which ran along a series of embankments and cuttings, up to but not including a railway bridge immediately northwest of Dernancourt where the Dernancourt–Laviéville road passed under the railway. Northwest of Dernancourt, a mushroom-shaped feature known as the Laviéville Heights overlooked the railway line, which curved around its foot. This was difficult ground to defend, particularly where the railway line curved and skirted the northwestern corner of Dernancourt, as the outskirts of the village were very close to the railway line at this point, and provided good concealment for approaching enemy troops. If the line there was overrun, the enemy would be able to fire into the rear of the troops deployed along the railway in both directions. Despite this, the Australian commanders considered it important to hold the railway line; if it was not garrisoned, the enemy could assemble in the dead ground behind the embankment. A further difficulty arose from the fact that if an attack occurred during daylight, it would be almost impossible to move troops down the exposed slopes to reinforce the railway line without crippling losses, and troops withdrawing from the railway line would be similarly exposed. To afford them some protection along the railway line, the forward posts dug one-man niches in the near side of the embankment, but the only way for them to fire was to climb up and lie on top of the embankment, thus exposing themselves to enemy fire. On the left of the brigade front, with its northern flank short of the Albert–Amiens road, was the 48th Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Leane. To its left was the British 12th (Eastern) Division of V Corps. The 48th Battalion was holding its sector with two companies in a series of posts along alternate cuttings and embankments of the railway line as it ran south from Albert. Close to that town the railway line was not in VII Corps hands, and the posts were thrown back along the side of a gully short of the Albert–Amiens road, in contact with the southern posts of the 12th (Eastern) Division, which extended south of the road at this point. The battalion frontage was about 1,300 yd (1,200 m). The 48th Battalion support line was located about 1,000 yd (910 m) to the rear on the high ground, astride the Albert–Amiens road. Due to the curvature of the slope, the two companies in the support line were out of sight of its forward companies at the railway line. On the right of the 48th Battalion was the 47th Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Imlay, with its two forward companies also strung out along the railway line. The total frontage of the 47th Battalion was 1,600 yd (1,500 m), which meant that the 180–200 men of the forward companies were positioned in widely spaced posts. Between the forward companies was a section of embankment near a level crossing which was not garrisoned, but was covered from a shallow cutting to the south and a low embankment to the north. The 47th Battalion's support line was also located on the hill some distance to the rear. The 12th Machine Gun Company was deployed with eight of its Vickers machine guns in each battalion area, mainly sited along the railway line. Leane and Imlay had their headquarters co-located on the summit next to the Albert–Amiens road. Of the two remaining battalions of the 12th Brigade, the 45th Battalion was deployed on the slope behind the 106th Brigade of the 35th Division, and the 46th Battalion was held in reserve near the village of Millencourt. On the right of the 12th Brigade were elements of the 35th Division, the first of these was the 19th (Service) Battalion (2nd Tyneside Pioneers) of the Northumberland Fusiliers (19th NF), commanded by Lieutenant Colonel W. P. S. Foord. It was deployed near the railway arch on the northwestern outskirts of Dernancourt. The right-hand gun of the 12th Machine Gun Company was positioned with this unit, which was under the control of the 106th Brigade. To their right the 106th Brigade was deployed along the railway line as far as Buire-sur-l'Ancre, the front line there being held by the 17th (Service) Battalion, Royal Scots, and the 12th (Service) Battalion, Highland Light Infantry. This section of the railway ran along flat ground. On its right, the 104th Brigade line ran from Buire-sur-l'Ancre past Treux, its forward battalions being the 18th (Service) Battalion (2nd South East Lancashire) of the Lancashire Fusiliers, and the 19th (Service) Battalion, Durham Light Infantry. The 104th Brigade overlapped and sheltered the left flank of the 10th Brigade of the 3rd Division, which was deployed just east of Méricourt-l'Abbé. The VII Corps positions had excellent observation of the surrounding countryside, but were tactically weak. A significant amount of artillery support was available to the defenders. The divisional artillery of the 4th Division, consisting of the 10th and 11th Australian Field Artillery (AFA) Brigades, were within range, as were the British 50th and 65th Royal Field Artillery (RFA) Brigades. The S.O.S. lines of the 10th AFA Brigade were on a copse south of Albert, 200–600 yd (180–550 m) ahead of the 48th Battalion and those of the 11th AFA Brigade were on the far side of Dernancourt. The Australian batteries were in the open, as pits had not yet been dug for them due to their recent arrival. ### German plan of attack The main German attack was to be made by the 50th Reserve Division of General der Infanterie Hugo von Kathen's XXIII Reserve Corps. The 50th Reserve Division was a Prussian division that had been involved in the Spring Offensive from the outset. It had a few days' rest before the advance was delayed by the British at Albert and Dernancourt and its morale was still high. The right prong of the attack would be made by the 229th Reserve Infantry Regiment (RIR) advancing through the 9th Reserve Division north of Dernancourt against the sector held by the 48th Battalion. The left prong would consist of the 230th RIR, advancing from the area of Morlancourt through Dernancourt against the 47th Battalion and 19th NF. In this sector, I Battalion of the 230th RIR (I/230 RIR) would cross the Ancre and seize Dernancourt, then III Battalion, 230 RIR (III/230 RIR) would assault the embankment. After the capture of the embankment, the assaulting troops would push northwest over the Albert–Amiens road, then advance west towards Amiens. II Battalion, 230 RIR (II/230 RIR) was to follow up the assault of III/230 RIR. Both regimental commanders considered that the plan could succeed only if the embankment was weakly held and made representations to their brigade commander, to no avail. The German artillery preparation was to last only 45 minutes. Further west, supporting attacks were to be launched by the 13th Division, with the 15th Infantry Regiment (IR) assaulting across the Ancre towards the front line held by the 106th Brigade between Dernancourt and Buire-sur-l'Ancre and then exploiting success by driving west towards the village of Ribemont-sur-Ancre. The 13th IR was to attack the 104th Brigade at Marrett Wood. The German artillery preparation was to start at 05:15 on 28 March, and the assault to begin at 06:00. During the night of 27/28 March, the commander of the German 2nd Army apparently came to the same conclusion as the regimental commanders of the 50th Reserve Division, as at 03:00 he ordered the attack to be delayed until noon, and later further postponed it, but the orders did not reach the divisions in time. ## Battle During the night of 27/28 March, patrols of the 47th Battalion had observed German troops on the Albert–Dernancourt road, on the open flats just 250–300 yd (230–270 m) across the railway line, but the night passed without obvious signs of attack. Early in the morning, the German artillery fell heavily on the support lines and rear area, but initially was very light along the railway line. In the thick mist of early dawn, the commander of a small post of the 47th Battalion, stationed behind the embankment immediately north of the level crossing, heard the sound of bayonet scabbards flapping on the thighs of marching troops. Sergeant Stanley McDougall woke his comrades and they ran to alert nearby elements of the battalion. McDougall, running along the top of the embankment, saw German troops of II Battalion, 229 RIR (II/229 RIR) advancing along the whole front through the mist. Returning with a handful of men, he planned to deploy them behind the unmanned bank to the south. By this time, Germans were throwing hand grenades over the embankment, and one exploded near a Lewis machine gun team in front of McDougall, badly wounding the two-man crew. McDougall, who had previously been a Lewis gunner, grabbed the gun and began to fire it from the hip as he went. First, he shot down two German light machine gun teams as they tried to cross the rails, then, running along the enemy edge of the embankment, saw about 20 Germans waiting for the signal to assault. He turned the gun on them, and as they ran, followed them with its fire. By this time, several of his comrades had been killed or wounded. Other members of the 47th Battalion had garrisoned the northern end of the previously unoccupied bank, but the southern half remained open. A group of about 50 Germans of the 6th Company of II/229 RIR, advancing earlier than planned, had overrun the Lewis gun team covering the level crossing, and began advancing southwards behind the embankment to the rear of the right forward company of the battalion. Seeing their movement, McDougall and others opened fire on them. The barrel casing of McDougall's Lewis gun had grown so hot that his left hand became blistered, but he continued to fire it with the help of another sergeant. Of the party of Germans who had penetrated about 150 yd (140 m) beyond the railway line, two officers and 20 men had already been killed. Australian troops converged on the remaining Germans, and they quickly surrendered. A total of one officer and 29 men were captured. For his actions that morning, McDougall was later awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award that could be received by an Australian soldier for gallantry in the face of the enemy. By this time, the rest of the front line between Albert to beyond Dernancourt was also being heavily attacked. In the north, forward troops of the 48th Battalion were firing almost continuously from the railway line. Attacked by elements of III Battalion, 229 RIR (III/229 RIR) supported by minenwerfers firing from a copse south of Albert, the 48th Battalion easily beat off every German assault. This was despite being caught in enfilade by a machine gun sited on the bridge where the Albert–Amiens road crossed the railway line. Leane directed artillery onto the wood south of Albert from which the minenwerfers were firing. This was the same wood upon which the S.O.S. line of the 10th AFA Brigade had been laid. Just as the Germans were assembling for a renewed assault, a stray British shell exploded a munitions dump, scattering panicked troops of II/229 RIR, many of whom were then shot down by the Australians. The 48th lost only three officers and 59 men during the day's fighting. Wary of sending reinforcements from his support line down the exposed slope to the railway line, Leane sent only four men with two Lewis guns forward during the daylight hours. During the day, the right of the 48th was steadily extended to allow the 47th Battalion to move right in turn. The 47th Battalion's sector was also being heavily attacked by II/229 RIR, and apart from the initial penetration by the 6th Company, they also held the German assault, with assistance from the Lewis guns of the 48th Battalion on their left, who caught the advancing Germans in enfilade. On one occasion a party of the left forward company of the battalion charged over the embankment, chasing the Germans back across the flats into some buildings, and then forcing them out of that cover. Exposed to heavy fire, this small force withdrew back to the railway embankment by noon. When he received reports of the German assault, Imlay sent two platoons of his right support company forward to reinforce the right flank of the battalion front line. However, the exposed slope between the two positions was swept by German machine gun fire and shell fire, and the men could be sent forward only in rushes, well spread out, so this took some time and they suffered casualties. Soon after their arrival, the right forward company inflicted heavy casualties on another German attempt to rush the embankment. Imlay later sent another platoon to reinforce the left flank, and a carrying party with a resupply of hand grenades. In the meantime, Gellibrand placed the 45th Battalion at Imlay's disposal, although they did not immediately move forward from their position behind the 106th Brigade. German engineers attempted to place pontoon bridges across the Ancre north of Dernancourt to allow assembling troops to cross, but the pontoons were soon riddled and many engineers killed and wounded by guns of the 12th Machine Gun Company. When Imlay became aware of this concentration of German troops, he ordered a company of the 45th Battalion to move to his support lines. During the day, the 47th Battalion suffered 75 casualties. The German artillery bombardment was heaviest in the sector held by the right company of the 47th Battalion and the 19th NF on either side of the railway bridge northwest of Dernancourt. About 05:00, I/230 RIR began advancing down the slope from the line of the Morlancourt–Méaulte road in three waves, and was quickly met by Lewis gun fire from the 19th NF, which broke up the movement. The German battalion had barely been able to reach its jumping off point in time, and fell behind its barrage. It continued to advance through the Australian and British barrage south of Dernancourt and quickly moved through the village, part of the battalion reaching the railway embankment. About 09:30, the German shelling in the sector near the bridge lessened. The commander of the right section of the 12th Machine Gun Company, stationed near the bridge with the 19th NF, climbed up the embankment and looking over the rails, saw German bayonets sticking up on the other side. After a quick discussion with the ranking officer of the 19th NF in that area, it was decided they would attack immediately. Charging across the railway line, they pushed the German force back far enough to bring one of the Vickers guns into action. The fire from this gun drove the Germans of I/230 RIR back as far as Dernancourt. Before this counter-attack was launched, Foord, feeling his position to be insecure, requested reinforcement. Two companies of the 18th (Service) Battalion, Highland Light Infantry, were sent forward from the 106th Brigade support line, arriving around the time of the counter-attack, although they suffered significant casualties as they moved down the exposed slope. II and III/230 RIR were unable to get through Dernancourt to reinforce I/230 RIR, due to a tremendous Australian and British bombardment that fell on the village as they approached. They sought shelter in the cellars of the village. Any troops that attempted to cross the open ground between the village and the railway were shot down. About 10:00, a German force estimated at around two battalions in strength emerged from the village and lined out about 200 yards (180 m) from the embankment among the hedgerows and gardens at the edge of the village. At the same time, a German barrage fell heavily about 200 yards behind the defending troops along the railway line. As ammunition was running low, resupply parties were sent forward from the support line, and the dead and wounded were stripped of what ammunition they had left. This renewed German pressure was focussed mainly on the left forward company of the 19th NF that held the railway bridge, which managed to push a Lewis gun team forward of the embankment to enfilade the assembling Germans. The German barrage increased about 10:25, and casualties mounted among the 19th NF. One of these was Foord, who was wounded in the neck but remained at his post. From the attack near the railway bridge it became clear that Dernancourt was in German hands, despite a previous assumption that it was still held by patrols of the 35th Division. After the heavy shelling of the village, reports were received that the Germans were withdrawing. About 12:30, the commander of the 106th Brigade requested that the artillery fire on the village stop at 14:00 so he could send patrols into the village in an attempt to secure it. He was unable to mount a proper attack due to losses. He asked Gellibrand to extend the right flank of his line to include the railway bridge to free up his troops to go forward. Imlay was ordered to do this, and to follow up any success the 19th NF achieved, but according to the author of a 47th Battalion history, Craig Deayton, this push into Dernancourt had a "ridiculously optimistic" objective, as the German strength in the village was obvious from the attacks that had been mounted from it. Imlay also directed the attached company of the 45th to move down to that sector from his support line as soon as the 19th NF went forward. In the event, the pioneers launched an attack by the remnants of two companies, totalling about 100 men. According to Deayton, once they left the cover of the embankment, they came under heavy machine gun fire from the village, suffered significant casualties and withdrew to their start line. A different version is provided by Davson, the historian of the 35th Division, who states that the 19th NF attack achieved success that was "immediate and remarkable", driving the Germans back into the village leaving many machine guns behind. The 47th did not follow up the pioneers in going forward towards Dernancourt. The move of the company of the 45th Battalion down the exposed slope was disastrous, possibly as the company commander had not been advised of the particular difficulties involved. Moving in artillery formation, they were shelled and came under intense machine gun fire; 11 men being killed and 37 wounded. The survivors scrambled to the embankment in small groups. Although the Official History is silent on who was responsible for this debacle, in his notebooks, the official historian, Charles Bean, blamed Imlay. About 18:00, Gellibrand optimistically ordered the 47th to push into Dernancourt, but they met massed machine gun fire from the village as soon as they began and quickly retired to the railway line. Deayton describes the two attacks on the village as "ill conceived" and the losses incurred unnecessary, as it was obvious to the troops on the railway line that the village was strongly held by the Germans. The far left flank of the German attack fell on the 104th Brigade near the village of Treux, although with the line south of the Ancre in this area, the defenders were less subject to surprise and had good fields of fire. A post of the 18th (Service) Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers was located in a deep sunken road in the northeast corner of Marrett Wood, which was southwest of Treux itself. On the evening of 27 March, Monash had ordered the 10th Brigade to establish if the 35th Division really held the wood, and patrols of the 37th Battalion had located the British post in the sunken road and provided some support, consisting of a few snipers and a Lewis gun crew which was low on ammunition. About 06:00, a small German attack was launched in this sector, but it was repelled with Lewis gun fire. About 08:00, Germans were seen approaching in the distance, and the commander of the Lancashire Fusiliers post asked the 37th Battalion for greater support. Before this could arrive, several hundred Germans of II/13 IR attacked, but they were beaten off by the combined British-Australian force at Marrett Wood with the help of the British artillery. The rest of 13 IR attacked further east around the village of Ville, but were easily stopped by the main line of the 106th Brigade. In response to the Lancashire Fusiliers' request for reinforcements, a company of the 38th Battalion occupied Marrett Wood about 11:35, just as another unsuccessful German assault was mounted. A further unsuccessful attempt was made at 16:30. The Germans blamed lack of adequate artillery support for their failure to capture Treux and Marrett Wood. Throughout the day, the Australian and British artillery fired on German assembly areas east and south of the railway line. About 16:00, warning was received of a possible German attack north of the Albert–Amiens road, so Gellibrand advised the 46th Battalion, then in reserve, that they might be needed to combine with a company of Medium Mark A Whippet tanks to help repel the forecast attack. About this time, a light drizzle began to fall, and the attack never came. Half an hour after this warning, Germans of III/230 RIR supported by elements of I and II/230 RIR, were seen filtering into houses on the southern outskirts of Albert in the 48th Battalion sector. Artillery was directed into this area, which drove the Germans out again. By 17:00, German troops could be seen withdrawing east in the distance. By this time, the troops of the 12th Brigade had been "moving, marching and fighting for three days and three nights almost without sleep", and were in a state of exhaustion. Increasing rain into the evening made renewal of the German effort less likely. In all, nine attacks were mounted by the Germans on the railway line during the day, and all but the brief penetration into the 47th Battalion sector were beaten off, although the defending troops had suffered significant casualties in doing so. According to Deayton, the defensive deficiencies of the forward positions along the railway line were obvious. ## Aftermath ### Subsequent operations The attacks of 28 March were a continuation of the rapid advances that had caused the withdrawal of the hard-pressed Fifth Army since the first days of the Spring Offensive. Prisoners of war taken by the 48th Battalion attested to the fact that this was not a set-piece assault but merely an attack off the line of march with minimal preparation. The 50th Reserve Division was in no state to renew the offensive on the following day, and 229 RIR was withdrawn from the line. It had suffered 309 casualties, and 230 RIR had lost another 240. Despite the withdrawal of the 50th and 65th RFA Brigades on 29 March, the Australian artillery continued to batter Dernancourt, causing another 83 casualties to 230 RIR who were garrisoning the village. The German attempt to renew their advance between Albert and Buire-sur-l'Ancre on 28 March had been completely defeated. Australian casualties amounted to at least 137 killed or wounded, and from 25 to 30 March, the 35th Division suffered 1,540 casualties. The battalions of the 12th and 13th Brigades were awarded the battle honour "Somme 1918" in part for their participation in the battle. The Germans made two more minor and unsuccessful assaults on the railway embankment south of Albert on 1 and 3 April. They then renewed their offensive in this sector with a determined push on 5 April that was halted by the 4th Division after desperate fighting during the Second Battle of Dernancourt. Elsewhere, the Australian 3rd Division fought a sharp action during the First Battle of Morlancourt over the period 28–30 March, followed by heavy fighting further south around Villers-Bretonneux in early April.

Winfield Scott Hancock

United States Army officer (1824–1886)

Winfield Scott Hancock (February 14, 1824 – February 9, 1886) was a United States Army officer and the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880. He served with distinction in the Army for four decades, including service in the Mexican–American War and as a Union general in the American Civil War. Known to his Army as "Hancock the Superb," he was noted in particular for his personal leadership at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. His military service continued after the Civil War, as Hancock participated in the military Reconstruction of the South and the U.S.'s western expansion and war with the Native Americans at the Western frontier. This concluded with the Medicine Lodge Treaty. From 1881 to 1885 he was president of the Aztec Club of 1847 for veteran officers of the Mexican-American War. Hancock's reputation as a war hero at Gettysburg, combined with his status as a Unionist and supporter of states' rights, made him a potential presidential candidate. When the Democrats nominated him for president in 1880, he ran a strong campaign, but was narrowly defeated by Republican James A. Garfield. Hancock's last public service involved the oversight of President Ulysses S. Grant's funeral procession in 1885. ## Early life and family Winfield Scott Hancock and his identical twin brother Hilary Baker Hancock were born on February 14, 1824, in Montgomery Square, Pennsylvania, a hamlet just northwest of Philadelphia in present-day Montgomery Township. The twins were the sons of Benjamin Franklin Hancock and Elizabeth Hoxworth Hancock. Winfield was named after Winfield Scott, a prominent general in the War of 1812. The Hancock and Hoxworth families had lived in Montgomery County for several generations, and were of English, Scottish, and Welsh descent. Benjamin Hancock was a schoolteacher when his sons were born. A few years after their birth, he moved the family to Norristown, the county seat, and began to practice law. Benjamin was also a deacon in the Baptist church and participated in municipal government (as an avowed Democrat). Hancock was at first educated at Norristown Academy, but removed to the public schools when the first one opened in Norristown in the late 1830s. In 1840, Joseph Fornance, the local Congressman, nominated Hancock to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Hancock's progress at West Point was average. He graduated 18th in his class of 25 in 1844, and he was assigned to the infantry. ## Early military career ### Mexican War Hancock was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the 6th U.S. Infantry regiment, and initially was stationed in Indian Territory in the Red River Valley. The region was quiet at the time, and Hancock's time there was uneventful. Upon the outbreak of war with Mexico in 1846, Hancock worked to secure himself a place at the front. Initially assigned to recruiting duties in Kentucky, he proved so adept at signing up soldiers that his superiors were reluctant to release him from his post. By July 1847, however, Hancock was permitted to join his regiment in Puebla, Mexico, where they made up a part of the army led by his namesake, General Winfield Scott. Scott's army moved farther inland from Puebla unopposed and attacked Mexico City from the south. During that campaign in 1847, Hancock first encountered battle at Contreras and Churubusco. He was appointed a brevet first lieutenant for gallant and meritorious service in those actions. Hancock was wounded in the knee at Churubusco and developed a fever. Although he was well enough to join his regiment at Molino del Rey, fever kept Hancock from participating in the final breakthrough to Mexico City, something he would regret for the rest of his life. After the final victory, Hancock remained in Mexico with the 6th Infantry until the treaty of peace was signed in 1848. ### Marriage and peacetime Hancock served in a number of assignments as an army quartermaster and adjutant, mostly in Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and St. Louis, Missouri. It was in St. Louis that he met Almira ("Allie") Russell and they married on January 24, 1850. Allie gave birth to two children, Russell in 1850 and Ada in 1857, but both children died before their parents. Hancock was promoted to captain in 1855 and assigned to Fort Myers, Florida. Hancock's young family accompanied him to his new posting, where Allie Hancock was the only woman on the post. Hancock's tour in Florida coincided with the end of the Third Seminole War. His duties were primarily those of a quartermaster, and he did not see action in that campaign. As the situation in Florida began to settle down, Hancock was reassigned to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He served in the West during the partisan warfare of "Bleeding Kansas", and in the Utah Territory, where the 6th Infantry arrived after the Utah War. Following the resolution of that conflict, Hancock was stationed in southern California in November 1858. He remained there, joined by Allie and the children, until the Civil War broke out in 1861, serving as a captain and assistant quartermaster under future Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston. In California, Hancock became friendly with a number of southern officers, most significantly Lewis A. Armistead of Virginia. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Armistead and the other southerners left to join the Confederate States Army, while Hancock remained in the service of the United States. When Armistead left, he turned to Hancock and said, "You'll never know what this is costing me, but goodbye, goodbye." ## Civil War ### Joining the Army of the Potomac Hancock returned east to assume quartermaster duties for the rapidly growing Union Army, but was quickly promoted to brigadier general on September 23, 1861, and given an infantry brigade to command in the division of Brig. Gen. William F. "Baldy" Smith, Army of the Potomac. He earned his "Superb" nickname in the Peninsula Campaign, in 1862, by leading a critical counterattack in the Battle of Williamsburg; army commander Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan telegraphed to Washington that "Hancock was superb today" and the appellation stuck. McClellan did not follow through on Hancock's initiative, however, and Confederate forces were allowed to withdraw unmolested. In the Battle of Antietam, Hancock assumed command of the 1st Division, II Corps, following the mortal wounding of Maj. Gen. Israel B. Richardson in the horrific fighting at "Bloody Lane". Hancock and his staff made a dramatic entrance to the battlefield, galloping between his troops and the enemy, parallel to the Sunken Road. His men assumed that Hancock would order counterattacks against the exhausted Confederates, but he carried orders from McClellan to hold his position. He was promoted to major general of volunteers on November 29, 1862. He led his division in the disastrous attack on Marye's Heights in the Battle of Fredericksburg the following month and was wounded in the abdomen. At the Battle of Chancellorsville, his division covered Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker's withdrawal and Hancock was wounded again. His corps commander, Maj. Gen. Darius N. Couch, transferred out of the Army of the Potomac in protest of actions Hooker took in the battle and Hancock assumed command of II Corps, which he would lead until shortly before the war's end. ### Gettysburg Hancock's most famous service was as a new corps commander at the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1 to 3, 1863. After his friend, Maj. Gen. John F. Reynolds, was killed early on July 1, Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, the new commander of the Army of the Potomac, sent Hancock ahead to take command of the units on the field and assess the situation. Hancock thus was in temporary command of the "left wing" of the army, consisting of the I, II, III, and XI Corps. This demonstrated Meade's high confidence in him, because Hancock was not the most senior Union officer at Gettysburg at the time. Hancock and the more senior XI Corps commander, Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard, argued briefly about this command arrangement, but Hancock prevailed and he organized the Union defenses on Cemetery Hill as more numerous Confederate forces drove the I and XI Corps back through the town. He had the authority from Meade to withdraw, so he was responsible for the decision to stand and fight at Gettysburg. At the conclusion of the day's action, Maj. Gen. Henry Warner Slocum arrived on the field and assumed command until Gen. Meade arrived after midnight. On July 2, Hancock's II Corps was positioned on Cemetery Ridge, roughly in the center of the Union line, while Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee launched assaults on both ends of the line. On the Union left, Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's assault smashed the III Corps and Hancock sent in his 1st Division, under Brig. Gen. John C. Caldwell, to reinforce the Union in the Wheatfield. As Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill's corps continued the attack toward the Union center, Hancock rallied the defenses and rushed units to the critical spots. First, he sent the 3rd Brigade of the 3rd Division, under Col. George Willard, into the fray to stop the advance of Confederate Brigadier General William Barksdale's Brigade. In one famous incident, he sacrificed a regiment, the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment, by ordering it to advance and charge a Confederate brigade four times its size, causing the Minnesotans to suffer 87% casualties. While costly, this sacrifice bought time to organize the defensive line and saved the day for the Union Army. Following the action toward his right, he sent the 13th Vermont Volunteer Infantry Regiment of the 1st Corps, which had come from Cemetery Hill to help quell the crisis, to recover some artillery pieces the Confederates had captured and were pulling away. The Vermonters were successful. Having stabilized his line, he turned his attention to the sound of fighting on East Cemetery Hill. There, with darkness falling, Confederates from Maj. Gen. Jubal Early's Division had gotten into Union batteries and were fighting the cannoneers hand-to-hand. Hancock sent the First Brigade of his Third Division, under Colonel Samuel S. Carroll, to the fighting. The brigade was crucial in flushing the enemy out of the batteries and dispatching them back down the face of East Cemetery Hill. On July 3, Hancock defended his position on Cemetery Ridge and thus bore the brunt of Pickett's Charge. During the massive Confederate artillery bombardment that preceded the infantry assault, Hancock was prominent on horseback, reviewing and encouraging his troops. When one of his subordinates protested, "General, the corps commander ought not to risk his life that way," Hancock is said to have replied, "There are times when a corps commander's life does not count." During the infantry assault, his old friend, Brig. Gen. Lewis A. Armistead, now leading a brigade in Maj. Gen. George Pickett's division, was wounded and died two days later. Hancock could not meet with his friend because he had just been wounded himself, a severe wound caused by a bullet striking the pommel of his saddle, entering his inner right thigh along with wood fragments and a large bent nail. Helped from his horse by aides, and with a tourniquet applied to stanch the bleeding, he removed the saddle nail himself and, mistaking its source, remarked wryly, "They must be hard up for ammunition when they throw such shot as that." News of Armistead's mortal wounding was brought to Hancock by a member of his staff, Capt. Henry H. Bingham. Despite his pain, Hancock refused evacuation to the rear until the battle was resolved. He had been an inspiration for his troops throughout the three-day battle. Hancock later received the thanks of the U.S. Congress for "... his gallant, meritorious and conspicuous share in that great and decisive victory." One military historian wrote, "No other Union general at Gettysburg dominated men by the sheer force of their presence more completely than Hancock." As another wrote, "his tactical skill had won him the quick admiration of adversaries who had come to know him as the 'Thunderbolt of the Army of the Potomac'." ### Virginia and the end of the war Hancock suffered from the effects of his Gettysburg wound for the rest of the war. After recuperating in Norristown, he performed recruiting services over the winter and returned in the spring to field command of the II Corps for Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign, but he never regained full mobility and his former youthful energy. Nevertheless, he performed well at the Battle of the Wilderness and commanded a critical breakthrough assault of the Mule Shoe at the "Bloody Angle" in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House on May 12, shattering the Confederate defenders in his front, including the Stonewall Brigade. His corps suffered enormous losses during a futile assault Grant ordered at Cold Harbor. After Grant's army slipped past Lee's army to cross the James River, Hancock found himself in a position from which he might have ended the war. His corps arrived to support William Farrar Smith's assaults on the lightly held Petersburg defensive lines, but he deferred to Smith's advice because Smith knew the ground and had been on the field all day, and no significant assaults were made before the Confederate lines were reinforced. One of the great opportunities of the war was lost. After his corps participated in the assaults at Deep Bottom, Hancock was promoted to brigadier general in the regular army, effective August 12, 1864. Hancock's only significant military defeat occurred during the siege of Petersburg. His II Corps moved south of the city, along the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, tearing up track. On August 25, Confederate Maj. Gen. Henry Heth attacked and overran the faulty Union position at Reams's Station, shattering the II Corps, capturing many prisoners. Despite a later victory at Hatcher's Run, the humiliation of Reams's Station contributed, along with the lingering effects of his Gettysburg wound, to his decision to give up field command in November. He left the II Corps after a year in which it had suffered over 40,000 casualties, but had achieved significant military victories. His next assignment was to command the ceremonial First Veteran Corps. He performed more recruiting, commanded the Middle Department, and relieved Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan in command of forces in the now-quiet Shenandoah Valley. He was promoted to brevet major general in the regular army for his service at Spotsylvania, effective March 13, 1865. ## Post-war military service ### Execution of Lincoln assassination conspirators At the close of the war, Hancock was assigned to supervise the execution of the conspirators in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln had been assassinated on April 14, 1865, and by May 9 of that year, a military commission had been convened to try the accused. The actual assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was already dead, but the trial of his co-conspirators proceeded quickly, resulting in convictions. President Andrew Johnson ordered the executions to be carried out on July 7. Although he was reluctant to execute some of the less-culpable conspirators, especially Mary Surratt, Hancock carried out his orders, later writing that "every soldier was bound to act as I did under similar circumstances." ### Service on the Plains After the executions, Hancock was assigned command of the newly organized Middle Military Department, headquartered in Baltimore. In 1866, on Grant's recommendation, Hancock was promoted to major general and was transferred, later that year, to command of the military Department of the Missouri, which included the states of Missouri and Kansas and the territories of Colorado and New Mexico. Hancock reported to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and took up his new posting. Soon after arriving, he was assigned by General Sherman to lead an expedition to negotiate with the Cheyenne and Sioux, with whom relations had worsened since the Sand Creek massacre. The negotiations got off to a bad start, and after Hancock ordered the burning of an abandoned Cheyenne village in central Kansas, relations became worse than when the expedition had started. The official report to the President by the Indian Peace Commission found that the actions of George Custer and other subordinates just after Hancock's arrival led to an instigation of violent reprisals by the Native Americans: > Orders were then given to surround the village and capture the Indians remaining. The order was obeyed, but the chiefs and warriors had departed. The only persons found were an old Sioux and an idiotic girl of eight or nine years of age. It afterwards appeared that the person of this girl had been violated, from which she soon died. The Indians were gone, and the report spread that she had been a captive among them, and they had committed this outrage before leaving. The Indians say that she was an idiotic Cheyenne girl, forgotten in the confusion of flight, and if violated, it was not by them. > > The next morning General Custer, under orders, stated in pursuit of the Indians with his cavalry, and performed a campaign of great labor and suffering, passing over a vast extent of country, but seeing no hostile Indians. When the fleeing Indians reached the Smoky Hill they destroyed a station and killed several men. A courier having brought this intelligence to General Hancock, he at once ordered the Indian village, of about 300 lodges, together with the entire property of the tribes, to be burned. > > The Indian now became an outlaw -- not only the Cheyennes and Sioux, but all the tribes on the plains. The superintendent of an express company, Cottrell, issued a circular order to the agents and employees of the company in the following language: "You will hold no communications with Indians whatever. If Indians come within shooting distance, shoot them. Show them no mercy, for they will show you none." This was in the Indian country. He closes by saying: "General Hancock will protect you and our property." > > Whether war existed previous to that time seems to have been a matter of doubt even with General Hancock himself. From that day forward no doubt on the subject was entertained by anybody. The Indians were then fully aroused, and no more determined war has ever been waged by them. The evidence taken tends to show that we have lost many soldiers, besides a larger number of settlers, on the frontier. The most valuable trains belonging to individuals, as well as to government, among which was a government train of ammunition, were captured by those wild horsemen. Stations were destroyed. Hundreds of horses and mules were taken, and found in their possession when we met them in council; while we are forced to believe that their entire loss since the burning of their village consists of six men killed. > > The Kiowas and Comanches, it will be seen, deny the statement of Jones in every particular. They say that no war party came in at the time stated, or at any other time, after the treaty of 1865. They deny that they killed any Negro soldiers, and positively assert that no Indian was ever known to scalp a Negro. In the latter statement they are corroborated by all the tribes and by persons who know their habits; and the records of the adjutant general's office fail to show the loss of the 17 Negro soldiers, or any soldiers at all. They deny having robbed Jones or insulted Page or Tappan. Tappan's testimony was taken, in which he brands the whole statement of Jones as false, and declares that both he and Page so informed Major Douglas within a few days after Jones made his affidavit. We took the testimony of Major Douglas, in which he admits the correctness of Tappan's statement, but, for some reason unexplained, he failed to communicate the correction to General Hancock. The threats to take the horses and attack the posts on the Arkansas were made in a vein of jocular bravado, and not understood by any one present at the time to possess the least importance. The case of the Box family has already been explained, and this completes the case against the Kiowas and Comanches, who are exculpated by the united testimony of all the tribes from any share in the late troubles. > > The Cheyennes admit that one of their young men in a private quarrel, both parties being drunk, killed a New Mexican at Fort Zarah. Such occurrences are so frequent among the whites on the plains that ignorant Indians might be pardoned for participating, if it be done merely to evidence their advance in civilization. The Indians claim that the Spaniard was in fault, and further protest that no demand was ever made for the delivery of the Indian. > > The Arapahoes admit that a party of their young men, with three young warriors of the Cheyennes, returning from an excursion against the Utes, attacked the train of Mr. Weddell, of New Mexico, during the month of March, and they were gathering up the stock when the war commenced. > > Though this recital should prove tedious, it was thought necessary to guard the future against the errors of the past. We would not blunt the vigilance of military men in the Indian country, but we would warn them against the acts of the selfish and unprincipled, who need to be watched as well as the Indian. The origin and progress of this war are repeated in nearly all Indian wars. The history of one will suffice for many. > > Nor would we be understood as conveying a censure of General Hancock [empasis added] for organizing this expedition. He had just come to the department, and circumstances were ingeniously woven to deceive him. His distinguished services in another field of patriotic duty had left him but little time to become acquainted with the remote or immediate causes producing these troubles. If he erred, he can very well roll a part of the responsibility on others; not alone on subordinate commanders, who were themselves deceived by others, but on those who were able to guard against the error and yet failed to do it. We have hundreds of treaties with the Indians, and military posts are situated everywhere on their reservations. Since 1837 these treaties have not been compiled, and no provision is made, when a treaty is proclaimed, to furnish it to the commanders of posts, departments, or divisions. This is the fault of Congress. ### Reconstruction Hancock's time in the West was brief. President Johnson, unhappy with the way Republican generals were governing the South under Reconstruction, sought replacements for them. The general who offended Johnson the most was Philip Sheridan, and Johnson soon ordered General Grant to switch the assignments of Hancock and Sheridan, believing that Hancock, a Democrat, would govern in a style more to Johnson's liking. Although neither man was pleased with the change, Sheridan reported to Fort Leavenworth and Hancock to New Orleans. Hancock's new assignment found him in charge of the Fifth Military District, covering Texas and Louisiana. Almost immediately upon arriving, Hancock ingratiated himself with the secessionist white population by issuing his General Order Number 40 of November 29, 1867. In that order, written while traveling to New Orleans, Hancock expressed sentiments in support of President Johnson's policies, writing that if the residents of the district conducted themselves peacefully and the civilian officials perform their duties, then "the military power should cease to lead, and the civil administration resume its natural and rightful dominion." The order continued: > The great principles of American liberty are still the lawful inheritance of this people, and ever should be. The right of trial by jury, the habeas corpus, the liberty of the press, the freedom of speech, the natural rights of persons and the rights of property must be preserved. Free institutions, while they are essential to the prosperity and happiness of the people, always furnish the strongest inducements to peace and order. Hancock's order encouraged white Democrats across the South who hoped to return to civilian government more quickly, but discomforted blacks and Republicans in the South who feared a return to the antebellum ways of traditional white dominance. Hancock's General Order Number 40 was quickly condemned by Republicans in Washington, especially by the Radicals, while President Johnson wholeheartedly approved. Heedless of the situation in Washington, Hancock soon put his words into action, refusing local Republican politicians' requests to use his power to overturn elections and court verdicts, while also letting it be known that open insurrection would be suppressed. Hancock's popularity within the Democratic party grew to the extent that he was considered a potential presidential nominee for that party in the 1868 election. Although Hancock collected a significant number of delegates at the 1868 convention, his presidential possibilities went unfulfilled. Even so, he was henceforth identified as a rare breed in politics: one who believed in the Democratic Party's principles of states' rights and limited government, but whose anti-secessionist sentiment was unimpeachable. ### Return to the Plains Following General Grant's 1868 presidential victory, the Republicans were firmly in charge in Washington. As a result, Hancock found himself transferred, this time away from the sensitive assignment of reconstructing the South and into the relative backwater that was the Department of Dakota. The Department covered Minnesota, Montana, and the Dakotas. As in his previous Western command, Hancock began with a conference of the Indian chiefs, but this time was more successful in establishing a peaceful intent. Relations worsened in 1870, however, as an army expedition committed a massacre against the Blackfeet. Relations with the Sioux also became contentious as a result of white encroachment into the Black Hills, in violation of the Treaty of Fort Laramie. It was during this tour that Hancock had the opportunity to contribute to the creation of Yellowstone National Park. In August 1870, he ordered the 2nd Cavalry at Fort Ellis to provide a military escort for General Henry D. Washburn's planned exploration of the Yellowstone Region. The expedition, which was a major impetus in creating the park, became known as the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition. Hancock's order led to the assignment of Lt. Gustavus Cheyney Doane and a troop of 5 cavalrymen from Fort Ellis to escort the expedition. In 1871, Captain John W. Barlow during his exploration of the Yellowstone region formally named a summit on what would become the southern boundary of the park Mount Hancock to honor the general's decision to provide the escort. ### Command in the East and political ambitions In 1872, General Meade died, leaving Hancock the army's senior major general. This entitled him to a more prominent command, and President Grant, still desirous to keep Hancock from a Southern post, assigned him command of the Division of the Atlantic, headquartered at Fort Columbus on Governors Island, in New York City. The vast department covered the settled northeast area of the country and was militarily uneventful with the exception of the army's involvement in the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. When railroad workers went on strike to protest wage cuts, the nation's transportation system was paralyzed. The governors of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland asked President Hayes to call in federal troops to re-open the railways. Once federal troops entered the cities, most of the strikers melted away, but there were some violent clashes. All the while Hancock was posted in New York, he did his best to keep his political ambitions alive. He received some votes at the Democrats' 1876 convention, but was never a serious contender as New York governor Samuel J. Tilden swept the field on the second ballot. The Republican candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes, won the election, and Hancock refocused his ambition on 1880. The electoral crisis of 1876 and the subsequent end to Reconstruction in 1877 convinced many observers that the election of 1880 would give the Democrats their best chance at victory in a generation. ## Election of 1880 ### Democratic convention Hancock's name had been proposed several times for the Democratic nomination for president, but he never captured a majority of delegates. In 1880, however, Hancock's chances improved. President Hayes had promised not to run for a second term, and the previous Democratic nominee, Tilden, declined to run again due to poor health. Hancock faced several competitors for the nomination, including Thomas A. Hendricks, Allen G. Thurman, Stephen Johnson Field, and Thomas F. Bayard. Hancock's neutrality on the monetary question, and his lingering support in the South (owing to his General Order Number 40) meant that Hancock, more than any other candidate, had nationwide support. When the Democratic convention assembled in Cincinnati in June 1880, Hancock led on the first ballot, but did not have a majority. By the second ballot, Hancock received the requisite two-thirds, and William Hayden English of Indiana was chosen as his running mate. ### Campaign against Garfield The Republicans nominated James A. Garfield, a Congressman from Ohio and a skillful politician, as well as a former general from the Civil War. Hancock and the Democrats expected to carry the Solid South, but needed to add a few of the Northern states to their total to win the election. The practical differences between the parties were few, and the Republicans were reluctant to attack Hancock personally because of his heroic reputation. The one policy difference the Republicans were able to exploit was a statement in the Democratic platform endorsing "a tariff for revenue only." Garfield's campaigners used this statement to paint the Democrats as unsympathetic to the plight of industrial laborers, a group that would benefit by a high protective tariff. The tariff issue cut Democratic support in industrialized Northern states, which were essential in establishing a Democratic majority. In the end, the Democrats and Hancock failed to carry any of the Northern states they had targeted, with the exception of New Jersey. Hancock lost the election to Garfield. Garfield polled only 39,213 more votes than Hancock, the popular vote being 4,453,295 for Garfield and 4,414,082 for Hancock. The electoral count, however, had a much larger spread, as Garfield polled 214 electoral votes and Hancock only 155. Garfield would be shot four months into his presidency on July 2, 1881, and would die on September 19, 1881. ## Later life Hancock took his electoral defeat in stride and attended Garfield's inauguration. Following the election, Hancock carried on as commander of the Division of the Atlantic. He was elected president of the National Rifle Association in 1881, explaining that "The object of the NRA is to increase the military strength of the country by making skill in the use of arms as prevalent as it was in the days of the Revolution." Hancock was a Charter Director and the first president of the Military Service Institution of the United States from 1878 until his death in 1886. He was commander-in-chief of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States veterans organization from 1879 until his death in 1886. He was the author of Reports of Major General W. S. Hancock upon Indian Affairs, published in 1867. Hancock's last major public appearance was to preside over the funeral of President Grant in 1885, although he also made a less publicized trip that year to Gettysburg. Hancock died in 1886 at Governors Island, still in command of the Military Division of the Atlantic, the victim of an infected carbuncle, complicated by diabetes. He is buried in Montgomery Cemetery in West Norriton Township, Pennsylvania, near Norristown, Pennsylvania. Hancock's wife, Almira, published Reminiscences of Winfield Scott Hancock in 1887. In 1893, Republican General Francis A. Walker wrote, > Although I did not vote for General Hancock, I am strongly disposed to believe that one of the best things the nation has lost in recent years has been the example and the influence of that chivalric, stately, and splendid gentleman in the White House. Perhaps much which both parties now recognize as having been unfortunate and mischievous during the past thirteen years would have been avoided had General Hancock been elected. His noted integrity was a counterpoint to the corruption of the era, for as President Rutherford B. Hayes said, > If, when we make up our estimate of a public man, conspicuous both as a soldier and in civil life, we are to think first and chiefly of his manhood, his integrity, his purity, his singleness of purpose, and his unselfish devotion to duty, we can truthfully say of Hancock that he was through and through pure gold. The last public act performed by Hancock was his oversight of the funeral of Ulysses S. Grant in 1885, and his organizing and leading of Grant's nine-mile funeral procession in New York City. From Grant's home at Mount McGregor, New York, to its resting place in Riverside Park, the casket containing Grant's remains was in the charge of General Hancock. As he appeared on the scene at the commencement of Grant's funeral procession, Hancock was met with a mild applause, but with a gesture he directed a silence and respect for Grant. ## Legacy Winfield Scott Hancock is memorialized in a number of statues: - An equestrian statue on East Cemetery Hill on the Gettysburg Battlefield. - A portrait statue by Cyrus Dallin as part of the Pennsylvania Memorial at Gettysburg. - An alto-relievo representing Hancock's wounding during Pickett's Charge, on the New York State Monument at Gettysburg. - An equestrian statue located at Pennsylvania Avenue and 7th Street, NW in Washington, D.C. - An equestrian statue atop the Smith Memorial Arch in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. - A monumental bronze bust in Hancock Square, New York City, by sculptor James Wilson Alexander MacDonald. - Fort Hancock, Texas - Fort Hancock on Sandy Hook, New Jersey, was named for General Hancock. The original Winfield Scott Hancock Elementary School, located at Arch and East Spruce Streets in Norristown, Pennsylvania, was built in 1895 in memory of the General who grew up not far from the site. It was replaced in 1962 by a new building still in use by the Norristown Area School District only a few blocks away at Arch and Summit Streets, which is also named after General Hancock. The original 1895 building still stands and is used by a community non-profit organization. A Pennsylvania historical marker was dedicated September 11, 1947, along Bethlehem Pike (PA 309), just south of US 202, where Hancock was born. Hancock's portrait adorns U.S. currency on the $2 Silver Certificate series of 1886. Approximately 1,500 to 2,500 of these bills survive today in numismatic collections. Hancock's bill is ranked number 73 on a list of "100 Greatest American Currency Notes". Hancock was an important character in the Shaara family's Civil War historical novels: The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, and Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure by Jeffrey Shaara. In the films Gettysburg (1993) and Gods and Generals (2003), based on the first two of these novels, Hancock is portrayed by Brian Mallon, and is depicted in both films in a very favorable light. A number of scenes in the novel Gods and Generals that depict Hancock and his friend Lewis A. Armistead in Southern California before the war were omitted from the film. ## See also - List of American Civil War generals (Union) - List of equestrian statues in the District of Columbia - List of equestrian statues in Pennsylvania

Battle of Red Cliffs

Battle on the Yangtze River (208 AD)

The Battle of Red Cliffs, also known as the Battle of Chibi, was a decisive naval battle in China that took place during the winter of AD 208–209. It was fought on the Yangtze River between the forces of warlords controlling different parts of the country during the end of the Han dynasty. The allied forces of Sun Quan, Liu Bei, and Liu Qi based south of the Yangtze defeated the numerically superior forces of the northern warlord Cao Cao. By doing so, Liu Bei and Sun Quan prevented Cao Cao from conquering any lands south of the Yangtze, frustrating Cao Cao's efforts to reunify the territories formerly held by the Eastern Han dynasty. The allied victory at Red Cliffs ensured the survival of Liu Bei and Sun Quan and left them in control of the Yangtze, establishing defensible frontiers that would later serve as the basis for the states of Shu Han and Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period (220–280). Historians have arrived at different conclusions in their attempts to reconstruct the timeline of events at Red Cliffs. The location of the battlefield itself remains a subject of debate: most scholars consider either a location southwest of present-day Wuhan, or a location northeast of Baqiu in present-day Yueyang, Hunan as plausible candidate sites for the battle. The battle has been the subject of or influenced numerous poems, dramas, movies and games. ## Background By the early 3rd century AD, the Han dynasty, now nearly four centuries old, was crumbling. Emperor Xian, who acceeded the throne in 189 at age eight, was a political figurehead with no control over the regional warlords. Cao Cao was one of the most powerful warlords. He hosted the emperor in his capital at Ye, which gave him a measure of control over the emperor in addition to an air of legitimacy. In 200 he had defeated his main rival Yuan Shao at Guandu, reunifying northern China and giving him control of the North China Plain. In the winter of 207 he secured his northern flank by defeating the Wuhuan people at the Battle of White Wolf Mountain. Upon returning to Ye in 208, Cao Cao was appointed Chancellor upon his own recommendation, which effectively gave him control of the imperial government. Cao Cao's southern campaign started shortly after in the autumn of 208. The section of the Yangtze flowing through Jing Province was the first target; capturing the naval base at Jiangling and securing naval control of the province's stretch of the Yangtze were necessary to secure access to the south. He was opposed by the warlords Liu Biao and Sun Quan. Liu Biao, the governor of Jing, controlled the Yangtze west of the Han River's mouth, which roughly encompassed the territory around the city of Xiakou and to the south. Sun Quan controlled the Yangtze east of the Han and the southeastern territories abutting it. Liu Bei, another warlord, was in Fancheng, having fled to Liu Biao from the northeast after a failed plot to assassinate Cao Cao and restore imperial power. Initially, Cao Cao achieved rapid success. Jing was in a poor state. Its armies were exhausted by conflict with Sun Quan to the south. Furthermore, there was political division as Liu Biao's sons, the elder Liu Qi and the younger Liu Cong, sought to succeed their father. Liu Cong prevailed, and Liu Qi was relegated to the commandery of Jiangxia. Liu Biao died of illness only a few weeks later. Liu Cong surrendered to an advancing Cao Cao, giving him a sizeable fleet and Jiangling as a forward operating base. Cao Cao's advance forced Liu Bei into a disorganised southward retreat accompanied by refugees and pursued by Cao Cao's elite cavalry. Liu Bei was surrounded and decisively defeated at the Battle of Changban but escaped eastward to Xiakou, where he liaised with Sun Quan's emissary Lu Su. Historical accounts are inconsistent: Lu Su may have successfully encouraged Liu Bei to move further east to Fankou (樊口, near present-day Ezhou, Hubei). In any case, Liu Bei was later joined by Liu Qi and levies from Jiangxia. Liu Bei's main advisor, Zhuge Liang, was sent to Chaisang (柴桑), present-day Jiujiang, Jiangxi, to negotiate an alliance with Sun Quan against Cao Cao. Zhuge Liang told Sun Quan that Liu Bei and Liu Qi each had 10,000 men; these numbers may have been exaggerated, but however large a force the pair fielded was no match against Cao Cao's in an open battle. Sun Quan received a letter from Cao Cao prior to Zhuge Liang's arrival; in it, Cao Cao claimed to have an army of 800,000 and hinted that he wanted Sun Quan to surrender. Zhang Zhao, Sun Quan's chief clerk, supported surrendering based on the disparity in forces. Zhuge Liang was supported by Lu Su and Zhou Yu, Sun Quan's chief commander. Sun Quan agreed to the alliance; he chopped off a corner of his desk during an assembly and stated, "Anyone who still dares argue for surrender will be [treated] the same as this desk." Zhou Yu, Cheng Pu, and Lu Su were assigned 30,000 men and sent to aid Liu Bei. With Liu Bei's 20,000 soldiers, the alliance had approximately 50,000 marines who were trained and prepared for battle. Zhou Yu estimated Cao Cao's strength to be closer to 230,000. This included between 70 and 80 thousand men impressed from Ying, and whose morale and loyalty to Cao Cao were uncertain. Cao Cao's invasion force also included non-combatants: not only those who worked in supplies and communication, but also the wives and children of some of the soldiers. ## Battle The Battle of Red Cliffs opened with an attempt by Cao Cao's forces to establish a bridgehead across the Yangtze, which failed. Both sides then retreated to their established positions on either bank of the Yangtze. Following this, a naval engagement began on the river itself, accompanied by an allied land offensive. This sequence proved to be decisive, and Cao Cao's forces were routed. During the subsequent retreat, Cao Cao's men were bogged down in mud and suffered greatly from disease. Cao Cao ultimately managed to escape after reaching Huarong Pass. The combined Sun–Liu force sailed upstream from either Xiakou or Fankou to Red Cliffs, where they encountered Cao Cao's vanguard force. Plagued by disease and low morale because of the series of forced marches that they had undertaken on the prolonged southern campaign, Cao Cao's men could not gain an advantage in the small skirmish which ensued and so he retreated to Wulin, north of the river, and the allies pulled back to the south. Cao Cao had chained his ships from stem to stern, possibly with the aim of reducing seasickness in his navy, which was composed mostly of northerners who were not used to living on ships. Observing that, the divisional commander Huang Gai sent Cao Cao a letter feigning surrender and prepared a squadron of capital ships described as mengchong doujian (蒙衝鬥艦). The ships had been converted into fire ships by filling them with bundles of kindling, dry reeds, and fatty oil. As Huang Gai's "defecting" squadron approached the mid-point of the river, the sailors applied fire to the ships before they took to small boats. The unmanned fire ships, carried by the southeastern wind, sped towards Cao Cao's fleet and set it ablaze. Many men and horses either burned to death or drowned. Following the initial shock, Zhou Yu and the allies led a lightly armed force to capitalise on the assault. The northern army was thrown into confusion and utterly defeated. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Cao Cao then issued a general order of retreat and destroyed a number of his remaining ships before he withdrew. Cao Cao's army attempted a retreat along Huarong Road, including a long stretch passing through marshlands north of Dongting Lake. Heavy rains had made the road so treacherous that many of the sick soldiers had to carry bundles of grass on their backs and use them to fill the road to allow the horsemen to cross. Many of these soldiers drowned in the mud or were trampled to death in the effort. The allies, led by Zhou Yu and Liu Bei, gave chase over land and water until they reached Nan Commandery; the chase combined with famine and disease ravaged Cao Cao's remaining forces. Cao Cao then retreated north to his home base of Yecheng, leaving Cao Ren and Xu Huang to guard Jiangling, Yue Jin stationed in Xiangyang, and Man Chong in Dangyang. The allied counterattack might have vanquished Cao Cao and his forces entirely. However, the crossing of the Yangtze River had dissolved into chaos as the allied armies converged on the riverbank and fought over the limited number of ferries. To restore order, a detachment led by Sun Quan's general Gan Ning established a bridgehead in Yiling to the north, and only a staunch rearguard action by Cao Ren prevented a further catastrophe. ## Analysis A combination of Cao Cao's strategic errors and the effectiveness of Huang Gai's ruse had resulted in the allied victory at the Battle of Red Cliffs. Zhou Yu had observed that Cao Cao's generals and soldiers were mostly from the cavalry and infantry, and just a few had any experience in naval warfare. Cao Cao also had little support among the people of Jing Province and so lacked a secure forward base of operations. Despite the strategic acumen that Cao Cao had displayed in earlier campaigns and battles, he had simply assumed in this case that numerical superiority would eventually defeat the Sun and Liu navy. Cao's first tactical mistake was converting his massive army of infantry and cavalry into a marine corps and navy. With only a few days of drills before the battle, Cao Cao's troops were debilitated by sea-sickness and lack of experience on water. Tropical diseases to which the southerners were largely immune were also rampant in Cao Cao's camps. Although numerous, Cao Cao's men were already exhausted by the unfamiliar environment and the extended southern campaign, as Zhuge Liang observed: "Even a powerful arrow at the end of its flight cannot penetrate a silk cloth." Jia Xu, a key advisor to Cao Cao had recommended after the surrender of Liu Cong for the overtaxed armies to be given time to rest and replenish before they engaged the armies of Sun Quan and Liu Bei, but Cao Cao disregarded that advice. Cao Cao's own thoughts regarding his failure at Red Cliffs suggest that he held his own actions and misfortunes responsible for the defeat, rather than the strategies used by his enemy during the battle: "it was only because of the sickness that I burnt my ships and retreated. It is out of all reason for Zhou Yu to take the credit for himself." ## Aftermath By the end of 209, the post that Cao Cao had established at Jiangling fell to Zhou Yu. The borders of the land under Cao Cao's control contracted about 160 kilometres (99 mi), to the area around Xiangyang. For the victors of the battle, however, the question arose on how to share the spoils. Initially, Liu Bei and Liu Qi both expected rewards, having participated in the success at Red Cliffs, and both had also become entrenched in Jing Province. Liu Qi was appointed Inspector of Jing Province, but his rule in the region, centred at Jiangxia Commandery, was short-lived. A few months after the Battle of Red Cliffs, he died of sickness. His lands were mostly absorbed by Sun Quan. However, with Liu Qi dead, Liu Bei laid claim to the title of Inspector of Jing Province and began to occupy much of it. He gained control of four commanderies south of the Yangtze in Wuling, Changsha, Lingling, and Guiyang. Sun Quan's troops had suffered far greater casualties than Liu Bei's in the extended conflict against Cao Ren following the Battle of Red Cliffs, and the death of Zhou Yu in 210 resulted in a drastic weakening of Sun Quan's strength in Jing Province. As Liu Bei occupied Jing Province, which Cao Cao had recently lost, he gained a strategic and naturally-fortified area on the Yangtze River that Sun Quan still wanted for himself. The control of Jing Province provided Liu Bei with virtually-unlimited access to the passage into Yi Province and important waterways into Wu (southeastern China) as well as dominion of the southern Yangtze River. Never again would Cao Cao command so large a fleet as he did at Jiangling, and he never had another similar opportunity to destroy his southern rivals. The Battle of Red Cliffs and the capture of Jing Province by Liu Bei confirmed the separation of southern China from the northern heartland of the Yellow River valley and foreshadowed a north–south axis of hostility that would continue for centuries. ## Location The precise location of the Red Cliffs battlefield has never been conclusively established, and has long been the subject of both popular and academic debate. Scholars have contested the subject for at least 1350 years, with numerous sites having arguments put forward in their favour. There are clear grounds for rejecting some of these proposals; broadly speaking, four locations are still advocated for. According to Zhang, many of the current debates stem from the fact that the course and length of the Yangtze between Wuli and Wuhan has changed since the Sui and Tang dynasties. The modern debate is also complicated by the fact that the names of some of the key locations have changed over the following centuries. For example, modern Huarong County is located in Hunan, south of the Yangtze, but in the 3rd century, the city of that name was due east of Jiangling, considerably north of the Yangtze. Puqi (), one of the candidate sites, was renamed "Chibi City" in 1998, in an attempt to spur local tourism. Historical records state that Cao Cao's forces retreated north across the Yangtze after the initial engagement at Red Cliffs, which unequivocally places the battle site on the southern bank of the Yangtze. For this reason, a number of sites on the northern bank have been discounted by historians and geographers. Historical accounts also establish eastern and western boundaries for a stretch of the Yangtze that encompasses all of the possible sites for the battlefield. The allied forces travelled upstream from either Fankou or Xiakou. Since the Yangtze flows roughly eastward towards the ocean with northeast and southeast meanders, Red Cliffs must at least be west of Fankou, which is farther downstream. The westernmost boundary is also clear since Cao Cao's eastern advance from Jiangling included passing Baqiu, near present-day Yueyang, Hunan, on the shore of Dongting Lake. The battle must also have been downstream (that is, northeast) of that place. One popular candidate for the battle site is Chibi Hill in Huangzhou, sometimes referred to as "Su Dongpo's Red Cliffs" or the "Literary Red Cliffs" (). This conjecture arises largely from the famous 11th-century poem "First Ode on the Red Cliffs", which presents the Huangzhou hill as the location where the battle took place. The cliff's name is "Chibi", though written with different second character (). The contemporaneous pronunciation of the two names were also different, which is reflected by their distinct pronunciations in many non-Mandarin dialects. Consequently, virtually all scholars have dismissed the connection. The site is also on the north bank of the Yangtze and is directly across from Fankou, rather than upstream from it. If the allied Sun-Liu forces left from Xiakou rather than Fankou, as the oldest historical sources suggest, the hill in Huangzhou would have been downstream from the point of departure, a possibility that cannot be reconciled with historical sources. Chibi City, formerly named Puqi, is possibly the most widely accepted candidate. To differentiate from Su's site, the site is also referred to as the "Military Red Cliffs" (). It is directly across the Yangtze from Wulin. This argument was first proposed in the early Tang dynasty. There are also characters engraved in the cliffs which suggested that was the site of the battle. The origin of the engraving can be dated to between the Tang and Song dynasties, which makes it at least 1,000 years old. Some sources mention the southern banks of the Yangtze in Jiayu County () in the prefecture-level city of Xianning in Hubei as a possible location. This would place the battlefield downstream from Chibi City, a view that is supported by scholars of Chinese history who follow the Shui Jing Zhu, such as Rafe de Crespigny and Zhu Dongrun [zh]. Another candidate is Wuhan, which straddles the Yangtze at its confluence with the Han River. It is east of both Wulin and Jiayu, as well as Chibi City on the opposite bank. The metropolis was incorporated by joining the three cities of Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang. There is a local belief in Wuhan that the battle was fought at the junction of the rivers, southwest of the former Wuchang city, now part of Wuhan. Zhang asserts that the Chibi battlefield was amongst a set of hills in Wuchang levelled in the 1930s so that their stone could be used as raw material. The local topography narrows the width of the Yangtze by a substantial margin, and the Wuhan area was strategically important. Citing several historical-geographical studies, Zhang shows that earlier accounts place the battlefield in Wuchang. In particular, the 5th-century provincial history Jingzhou ji () by Sheng Hongzhi [zh] places the battlefield 160 li (approx. 80 km or 50 mi) downstream from Wulin, but since the Paizhou and Lukou meanders grew at some point during the Sui and Tang dynasties, the length of the Yangtze between Wuli and Wuchang increased by 100 li (approx. 50 km or 31 mi); later works do not regard Wuchang as a plausible site. ## Cultural impact Some of the most well-known works by the Song-era poet Su Dongpo depict the battle and its surrounding environment. While exiled to Huangzhou (黃州; now Huanggang, Hubei), he composed three widely anthologised pieces on the Red Cliff motif: two fu rhapsodies and one ci lyric. In 2010, a memorial museum dedicated to Su was established in Huanggan. Many video games set in the Three Kingdoms period — including Koei's Dynasty Warriors series, Sangokushi Koumeiden, the Warriors Orochi series, Destiny of an Emperor, Kessen II, and Total War: Three Kingdoms — have playable scenarios featuring the battle. The 2008 film Red Cliff, directed by Hong Kong filmmaker John Woo, is an adaption of the folk history surrounding the battle. Upon its release in China, Red Cliff set a new box office record for a domestically produced film.

Kingdom Hearts (video game)

2002 video game

is a 2002 action role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation 2 video game console. It is the first game in the Kingdom Hearts series and is the result of a collaboration between Square and The Walt Disney Company. An expanded re-release of the game featuring new and additional content, Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, was released exclusively in Japan in December 2002. The Final Mix version of the game was later remastered in high definition and released globally as part of the Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix collection for the PlayStation 3. The game was later ported and released as part of the bundled Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix collection for PlayStation 4 in March 2017, Xbox One in February 2020, Windows in March 2021, and Nintendo Switch in February 2022. The game combines characters and settings from Disney animated features with those from Square's Final Fantasy series, in addition to original characters and worlds created for the game. It follows the adventures of Sora, a cheerful teenager who fights against the forces of darkness alongside his allies, including Donald Duck, Goofy and other Disney characters. The game was a departure from Square's standard role-playing games, introducing a substantial action and hack and slash element to the gameplay. The score was composed by Yoko Shimomura. Kingdom Hearts has an all-star voice cast and includes many of the Disney characters' official voice actors. It was longtime Square character designer Tetsuya Nomura's first time in a directorial position. Kingdom Hearts received critical and commercial success and was praised for its unusual combination of action and role-playing elements, its unexpectedly harmonious mix of Square and Disney elements, and Shimomura's music. It was a large presence in the 2002 holiday season, receiving numerous year-end game awards, and went on to achieve Sony "Greatest Hits" status. The game's success spawned a franchise and numerous sequels, with the Kingdom Hearts series going on to ship over 36 million copies worldwide and becoming one of Square's most popular franchises. Kingdom Hearts is the tenth best-selling PlayStation 2 game of all time, and is considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time. ## Gameplay Kingdom Hearts is influenced by its parent franchise, Final Fantasy, and carries gameplay elements over into its own action-based, hack and slash system. The main battle party consists of three characters: Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy. Sora is directly controlled by the player from a third-person camera angle. All other party members are computer-controlled, though the player can customize their behavior to an extent through the pause menu. Donald and Goofy comprise the party in most areas, but many levels feature a character who may replace them. For instance, Jack Skellington can join Sora's party in Halloween Town, but can't accompany the player elsewhere. In some worlds, the party changes its appearance, has abilities unique to that world, or both; the characters can fly in Neverland, gain aquatic forms in Atlantica which enable them to survive underwater, and wear Halloween costumes in Halloween Town to blend in with the locals. Like traditional role-playing games, Kingdom Hearts features an experience point system that determines character development. As enemies are defeated, the player characters gain experience and grow stronger, gaining access to new abilities. Unlike other games of its genre, Kingdom Hearts allows a degree of character development customization through a short tutorial found at the beginning of the game. The tutorial allows the player to select from one of three main attributes―strength, defense, or magic―for Sora to excel in and one to lack in. By choosing certain options, the player may manipulate how Sora learns abilities, grows statistically, and gains levels. Donald, Goofy, and additional party members are assigned specific areas of strength from the outset. Donald excels in magic, while Goofy excels in defense and special attacks. The game progresses linearly from one story event to the next, usually presented in cutscenes, though there are numerous side quests available that provide benefits to the characters. Players may also choose the order in which they tackle some areas. Most of the gameplay occurs on interconnected field maps where battles take place. Combat in Kingdom Hearts occurs in real time and involves pressing buttons to initiate attacks by the on-screen character. An action menu, similar to those found in Final Fantasy games, found at the bottom left of the screen provides other combat options such as using magic and items, although players can also assign selected magic spells that can be instantly used whilst holding the shoulder button. As players progress through the game, they can receive certain Disney characters as summons, such as Dumbo and Tinker Bell, each with their own unique abilities. There is also a context-sensitive option at the bottom of the menu, usually used for interacting with the environment or performing special attacks. This menu is manipulated by using the right analog stick or digital pad, while movement is controlled by the left analog stick, allowing the player to navigate the menu while avoiding or approaching enemies. Sora, along with his allies, possesses a Hit Point (HP) meter and a Magic Point (MP) meter, which increase as they gain experience and level up. The MP meter is divided into various segments that are used up whenever that character performs magic, with more powerful magic consuming more MP. MP can be replenished by performing melee attacks or using items. The HP meter determines the character's health and reducing whenever they take damage, although it can be replenished by using healing items or spells. If one of Sora's allies runs out of health, they will be knocked out temporarily until healed. However, if Sora loses all of his health, the game ends and the player must resume play from the beginning of an area or boss. Defeating enemies causes various orbs to fall: green orbs which replenish health, blue orbs which restore MP, and yellow orbs which represent Munny, the game's currency, and can be used to purchase new items. ### Gummi Ship The Gummi Ship is the mode of travel between the various worlds in the game. The gameplay for piloting the vessel is different from the rest of the game, as it switches to a rail shooter format in which the player controls the Gummi Ship from a rear third-person perspective as it travels in an outer space setting. While traveling, the player must avoid obstacles and defend against enemy ships that attempt to destroy the vessel by firing missiles or ramming it. Surviving the route allows access to the next world. Once the player's Gummi Ship is destroyed, it will have the option to either return to the world selection menu or retry the level. At the beginning of the game, there are few options available to customize the vessel, but as the game progresses, new weapons, engines, and armor become available. Different pre-designed blueprints can be found throughout the game that can be used to quickly construct Gummi Ships. Geppetto also gives the player different Gummi Ship designs based on the number of Heartless defeated. From the start, the player can travel between worlds by using "Normal Drive", which initiates the rail shooter-like minigame. Later in the game, Sora can acquire a "Warp Drive", which allows instant travel between previously visited worlds without having to play the minigame. However, worlds that have not been visited cannot be accessed with Warp Drive and must be discovered normally first. ## Plot ### Setting The universe of Kingdom Hearts is a collection of various levels, referred to as "worlds", through which the player must progress. Fourteen worlds are featured, out of which thirteen can be accessed; one, Disney Castle, is shown in cutscenes. Additional worlds are mentioned by various characters, but are inaccessible due to being destroyed by the Heartless. Ten Disney worlds are based on fiction, primarily from the Disney animated features canon, and the other four were created by Square specifically for the game. The graphics and characters of each world were designed to resemble the artwork and style of the Disney film they are based on. Each Disney world is inhabited by characters from the film: including Hercules and Philoctetes in Olympus Coliseum, and Aladdin, Jasmine, and Jafar in Agrabah. Each world is disconnected from the others and exists separately, and with few exceptions, most characters in the world are unaware of other ones. Players travel from one world to another via the Gummi Ship. The worlds created specifically for the game mirror the overall appearance of the other worlds and feature either new characters or ones from several Final Fantasy games. The new worlds include: the Destiny Islands, where the story opens; Traverse Town, which serves as a launching point for most of the game; Hollow Bastion, which many of the Final Fantasy characters call home; and the End of the World, a large, dark world created from the remnants of various worlds consumed by the Heartless. The main characters travel from world to world to seal each "Keyhole", which protects the world from the Heartless and from destruction. They also try to minimize their interaction with characters of other worlds to maintain a balance of separation. This sometimes requires Sora, Donald and Goofy to blend in with the world inhabitants by changing their physical appearance. ### Characters The collaboration between Disney and Square resulted in a mixture of familiar Disney and Square characters, as well as several new characters created and designed by Tetsuya Nomura. The primary protagonist of the game is Sora, a 14-year-old boy chosen to wield the Keyblade—a weapon which is a cross between a key and a sword—to battle darkness. The game also features two friends from his home world, Riku and Kairi. For most of the game, Sora is joined by Donald Duck and Goofy, who are a court wizard and captain of the royal guard respectively, and were sent from Disney Castle to find the Keyblade. The three join forces to search for King Mickey Mouse, Kairi, and Riku. The primary antagonist is Ansem, who seeks power and knowledge by using dark beings called the Heartless, which are hearts corrupted by darkness that act as enemies and come in various forms. Maleficent, from the 1959 film Sleeping Beauty, leads a group of Disney villains that seeks to use the Heartless for their own gain. As a game meant to explore the fictional universes of various Disney films, over one hundred Disney characters are featured in various capacities. While many serve as major characters in the story, others appear in cameo roles, such as the One Hundred and One Dalmatians playing a part in a side-quest. Most worlds also feature a Disney villain whom the player must defeat. The player can summon various Disney characters to fight alongside Sora in battle, causing Donald and Goofy to withdraw from the battlefield for the duration of the summon. Available summoned characters include the Genie from Aladdin, Tinker Bell from Peter Pan, and Simba from The Lion King, among others. Square also incorporated several characters from the Final Fantasy series into the game, though they were slightly altered to fit the game's back-story. On the Destiny Islands, the player meets younger versions of Tidus and Wakka from Final Fantasy X (2001), and Selphie from Final Fantasy VIII (1999). In Traverse Town, the player encounters Squall Leonhart (also known as "Leon") from Final Fantasy VIII, as well as Aerith, Cid, and Yuffie from Final Fantasy VII (1997). Rikku from Final Fantasy X was originally set to appear, but was replaced by Yuffie. Cloud and Sephiroth, both from Final Fantasy VII, make appearances in Olympus Coliseum, where the player can fight them in tournaments. The emphasis on characters from later Final Fantasy installments stems from Nomura's hesitation to use characters he did not design. The game also uses other Final Fantasy icons, such as the Moogles, who mediate item synthesis. ### Story Sora, Riku, and Kairi build a raft with the intent to leave their home world of Destiny Islands to explore new worlds. On the night before the planned voyage, the Heartless attack the islands and Riku and Kairi disappear. Before the Heartless consume the islands, Sora mysteriously obtains the Keyblade, a weapon effective against the Heartless. Meanwhile, King Mickey has left his own world to deal with the increasing number of Heartless, leaving instructions for Donald and Goofy to find the "key" that will protect the worlds from encroaching darkness. Donald and Goofy use the Gummi Ship to travel to Traverse Town, where they find Sora after he wound up there following the destruction of his world. The three decide to travel together – Donald and Goofy to find Mickey, and Sora to find Kairi and Riku – traveling to various worlds and sealing their "Keyholes" to prevent their "heart" from being consumed by the Heartless. Meanwhile, a group of Disney villains led by Maleficent seek out the seven Princesses of Heart to unlock the final keyhole that leads to Kingdom Hearts, a repository of knowledge and power and the source of all hearts. Maleficent also finds Riku and recruits him into her services, manipulating him into believing that Sora abandoned him. Sora and his friends eventually arrive at Hollow Bastion, Maleficent's headquarters, where Riku takes the Keyblade from Sora and reveals himself to be its intended wielder, with Sora only receiving it in his absence; Donald and Goofy reluctantly leave Sora as per their orders. Sora later challenges Riku, stating that his heart derives strength from his friends, inspiring Donald and Goofy to return to him and allowing him to regain control of the Keyblade. After the three defeat Maleficent, Sora finds Kairi's comatose body and confronts Riku, who has been possessed by Ansem, a figure who manipulated Maleficent to open the way to Kingdom Hearts. Ansem reveals Kairi as the seventh Princess of Heart, her heart having transferred into Sora's body when the Destiny Islands were destroyed. After defeating the possessed Riku, Sora impales himself with Ansem's Keyblade, which is designed to unlock hearts, and releases both his and Kairi's hearts. Kairi's heart returns to her body, in turn completing the final Keyhole, while Sora becomes a Heartless. However, Kairi recognizes Sora's Heartless, and the light in her heart restores him to human form. Sora and his group venture to the End of the World, the remnants of the worlds destroyed by the Heartless, to confront Ansem as he reaches the door to Kingdom Hearts. Believing a wellspring of darkness lies within the door, Ansem calls upon it to aid him after a battle with Sora. However, the door opens to reveal light, which destroys Ansem. Also beyond the door are Mickey and Riku, who help Sora and his friends close the door before Sora and Mickey lock it with their Keyblades from both sides. The worlds lost to the Heartless reconstruct themselves; as the Destiny Islands reform, Kairi returns there while Sora is forced to part with her. Sora, Donald, and Goofy resolve to find Riku and Mickey. ## Development The initial idea for Kingdom Hearts began with a discussion between Shinji Hashimoto and Hironobu Sakaguchi about Super Mario 64. They were planning to make a game with freedom of movement in three dimensions like Super Mario 64 but lamented that only characters as popular as Disney's could rival a Mario game. Tetsuya Nomura, overhearing their conversation, volunteered to lead the project and the two producers agreed to let him direct. A chance meeting between Hashimoto and a Disney executive in an elevator—Square and Disney having previously worked in the same building in Japan—allowed Hashimoto to pitch the idea directly to Disney. Nomura struck down a number of proposals from Disney in order to pursue his own concept featuring an original character not based on a Disney property. The production team consisted of over one hundred members from both Square and Disney Interactive. The game began development in February 2000 and originally focused more on the gameplay with a simple story to appeal to Disney's target age range. After executive producer Hironobu Sakaguchi told director Tetsuya Nomura the game would be a failure if it did not aim for the same level as the Final Fantasy series, Nomura began to develop the story further. When choosing the Disney worlds to include in the game, Nomura and his team tried to pick worlds that had distinctively different looks. They also tried to take into account worlds with Disney characters that would be interesting. Thanks to support from Disney's then-president and current chairman and chief executive Bob Iger, the team had few restrictions on which worlds they could use from the Disney franchises. However, they tried to remain within each character's boundaries set by their respective Disney films. In a June 2013 interview, Nomura stated the name of the game was inspired by Disney Theme Parks, particularly Animal Kingdom, which had recently opened when development on the game began. However, Nomura could not secure the IP as just Kingdom. Later on, when the development team began to think about "hearts" as a core part of the story, it was decided to combine the two to form the title Kingdom Hearts. Outside contractors Telecom Animation Film Company, and Kazuhide Tomonaga helped animate the game by being the animation supervisors. Additional content was added to the North American release that was absent in the initial Japanese release: new optional bosses, one of which, Kurt Zisa, was named after the winner of the official website's "Name-In-Game" sweepstakes, an extra difficulty level, and a teaser of Kingdom Hearts II accessible by meeting certain criteria. Nomura included the teaser in order to gauge fan reaction to the possibility of a sequel; he felt that if the idea was unpopular, then it would be best to leave certain events in the game unexplained. The new content was later added to the Japanese re-release Kingdom Hearts Final Mix. Final Mix included further additional content such as new items, cutscenes, and enemies, such as a new secret boss that sets up the sequel. The new content further hinted at plotlines that would be explained in sequels. Some content omitted from Kingdom Hearts was later added into Kingdom Hearts II. A world based on The Lion King, for instance, was unfeasible because an additional program was required to process movement on four legs—a necessity since Sora would become a lion in that world. Due to time constraints, the developers left out an optional boss battle, similar to the Sephiroth battle, against Tifa Lockhart. She was later included in Kingdom Hearts II as a more developed character. ### Audio #### Music Yoko Shimomura composed and produced the music of Kingdom Hearts. While there are arranged melodies derived from previous Disney films, most of the soundtrack consists of original themes written specifically for the game by Shimomura. The opening orchestration and ending credits theme were arranged and orchestrated by Kaoru Wada and performed by the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. The main vocal theme for the original Japanese release is titled "Hikari" (光). The English version of "Hikari," "Simple and Clean," was used in the Western releases and the Japanese re-release, Final Mix. Both versions were composed and performed by Hikaru Utada. Her involvement, along with the Japanese song title, was announced in January 2002. Utada was the only singer Nomura had in mind for the Kingdom Hearts theme song. This marked the first time Utada had produced a song for a video game. The single, "Hikari," was released in Japan on March 20, 2002 and proved to be very popular; by August 2002, it had sold over 860,000 copies in Japan. The Kingdom Hearts soundtrack was released on a two CD set on March 27, 2002, in Japan and a year later in the United States. The soundtrack was later included in the Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete, which was released in Japan on March 28, 2007. Music from Kingdom Hearts was also included in Shimomura's best works compilation album Drammatica. #### Voice cast Kingdom Hearts featured well-known voice actors for both the Japanese and English versions. The Japanese version featured Miyu Irino as Sora, Risa Uchida as Kairi, and Mamoru Miyano as Riku. Other voice actors included Kōichi Yamadera, Hideo Ishikawa, and Maaya Sakamoto. A special effort was made to preserve the official voice actors of characters from the Disney movies used in Kingdom Hearts, including Tony Anselmo, Bill Farmer, & Wayne Allwine as Donald Duck, Goofy, and Mickey Mouse, respectively. Other actors who reprised their roles included Tony Goldwyn as Tarzan, James Woods as Hades, Jodi Benson as Ariel, Kathryn Beaumont as Alice and Wendy Darling, Scott Weinger as Aladdin, Linda Larkin as Princess Jasmine, Gilbert Gottfried as Iago, Pat Carroll as Ursula, John Fielder as Piglet, Chris Sarandon as Jack Skellington, and Kenneth Mars as King Triton. Some of the voice actors from the related television series or direct-to-video sequels were chosen over the original voice actors from films, where applicable (e.g. Dan Castellaneta as Genie, rather than Robin Williams). The English version featured Haley Joel Osment as Sora, David Gallagher as Riku, and Hayden Panettiere as Kairi. Other voice actors included Billy Zane as Ansem, Christy Carlson Romano as Yuffie, David Boreanaz as Leon, Sean Astin as Hercules, Lance Bass as Sephiroth, and Mandy Moore as Aerith. ### Promotion Kingdom Hearts was announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in May 2001. Initial details were that it would be a collaboration between Square and Disney Interactive and would feature worlds developed by both companies and Disney characters. New characters were designed by Nomura and included Sora, Riku, Kairi, and the Heartless. A playable demo was available at the Tokyo Game Show in 2001. The gameplay of the demo showcased many action role-playing game elements that would be included in the final product. To help market the English release of the game, Square launched the official website in April 2002, which featured trailers, a "Name-In-Game" sweepstakes, and other Internet content. On May 14, 2002, a press release announced a list of the English voice actors. The list included Haley Joel Osment, David Gallagher, and Hayden Panettiere as the three new characters introduced in the game. It also announced that many of the Disney characters would be voiced by the official voice actors from their respective Disney films. Other marketing efforts included auctions of the game and related items before the North American release and a Consumer Demo Day in San Francisco, California. ## Re-releases Multiple versions of Kingdom Hearts have been released. The first was the original Japanese release, followed by the North American and PAL releases, which includes additional content. The game was later re-released in Japan as Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, which features the content of the North American/PAL release, as well as more new content. ### Final Mix Originally released only in Japan on December 26, 2002, Kingdom Hearts Final Mix has several events and a number of gameplay tweaks that are not in previous releases. Spoken dialogue is in English, with Japanese subtitles. New scenes, clarifying certain plot points, such as Riku's journey and foreshadowing of Kingdom Hearts II, were included, but no new dialogue was recorded. A gameplay option allows the player to skip cutscenes after seeing them once. The optional bosses first included in the English version were introduced to Japanese players for the first time, along with a new fight against "Unknown Man," in an attempt to raise interest for the sequel. In another attempt at foreshadowing, a video titled "Another Side, Another Story 【 deep dive 】" plays at the ending if the player accomplishes certain tasks. New music tracks incorporated were "Disappeared" and "Another Side." The "Night on Bald Mountain" and "One-Winged Angel" tracks from the English version were included as well. Other changes include new abilities, new weapons, new items, additional and recolored enemies, and gameplay tweaks to make the game easier for the player, along with two new levels of difficulty. When first released, Final Mix included either a deck of Kingdom Hearts cards or special music CD. A limited "Platinum Edition" version of Kingdom Hearts Final Mix was later released with an action figure of Sora, a sticker set, and sketches of some of the main characters. It was released for the first time in North America, Europe, and Australia as part of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix. ### HD 1.5 Remix During August 2011, Nomura expressed desire to release a high definition rerelease of the game though he had yet to confirm such plans. In September 2012, Square Enix announced Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix, a compilation for the PlayStation 3, that includes both Kingdom Hearts Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories in HD and trophy support. The character models from Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance were used as a base for the game's characters. The gameplay of the original Kingdom Hearts was modified to play more like Kingdom Hearts II. Additionally, the collection includes HD cinematic scenes from Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. It was released in Japan on March 14, 2013, in North America on September 10, 2013, on September 12, 2013, for Australia, and September 13, 2013, for Europe. In June 2013, Nomura stated that the original game assets for Kingdom Hearts had been lost some time ago. He explained, "[The game data] was lost, so we had to research, and we had to dig out from the actual game what was available and recreate everything for HD. We had to recreate all the graphics and it was actually not that easy." In October 2016, Square Enix announced a single-disc compilation release of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix and Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix for the PlayStation 4. It was released on March 9, 2017, in Japan, and was released on March 28, 2017, in North America, and March 31, 2017, in Europe and Australia. A piece of free downloadable content for the PS4 version released in June 2017 added a Theater mode for Kingdom Hearts Final Mix; this was included by default in later ports of the compilation. On November 14, 2019, Square Enix announced that both Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix and Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix were coming to Xbox One, marking the Xbox debut of the first two Kingdom Hearts games and spinoffs. The two games are combined into a collection titled Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix, and released on February 18, 2020. ## Related media Both Square and Disney also released numerous types of merchandise before and after the release of the game. Merchandise ranged from toys and figurines to clothing items and books. Like the Final Fantasy games, Square released an Ultimania book on Kingdom Hearts in Japan following the release of the game and a revised edition following the release of Final Mix. In North America, a strategy guide was released by Brady Games. It featured a comprehensive walkthrough and a sticker activity journal. A manga series based on the game was released in Japan and the United States. A novel series also based on the game was released in Japan. It was authored by Tomoco Kanemaki and illustrated by Shiro Amano. The novel series consists of two volumes and was released in North America on March 25, 2008. The game was adapted into a manga by Shiro Amano. The story follows the events that took place in the game with a few minor differences to account for the loss of interactivity a video game provides. Some events that took place in the Final Mix version were also included. The manga was originally serialized in Japan by Enterbrain's Famitsū PS2, but has since been released worldwide in four volumes. The volumes have been published in English in the United States by Tokyopop. The first volume was released on October 11, 2005, and the fourth volume was released on July 10, 2006. The entire series was later released in a boxed set on October 10, 2006. The manga series has had moderate success. The first volume was ranked 95th in USA Today's "Top 150 best sellers" during the week of its release. IGN praised Amano's artwork and commented on wanting to replay the game after reading. They criticized the lack of new content and stated the transition from game to print lost most of the story's appeal. The series was followed by others based on the game's sequels: Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II. ## Reception Kingdom Hearts sold very well. During the first two months of its North American release it was one of the top three highest-selling video games and was among the top selling titles during the 2002 Christmas and holiday season. In November 2002, UBS Warburg listed it as the 6th highest console game in terms of sales during the week of November 5. At the end of April 2003, Square announced that Kingdom Hearts had sold its millionth copy in the United States, which made it eligible for PlayStation's "Greatest Hits" status, and over 3.0 million worldwide. Sales reached 1.2 million in Japan in the first quarter of 2004, and broke 4.0 million worldwide. In December 2005, the NPD Group listed it as "one of the top ten best-selling PlayStation 2 titles of all time in North America." By July 2006, Kingdom Hearts had sold through 2.6 million copies and earned $100 million in the United States alone. Next Generation ranked it as the seventh highest-selling game launched for the PlayStation 2, Xbox or GameCube between January 2000 and July 2006 in that country. As of December 2006, Kingdom Hearts had shipped over 5.6 million copies worldwide with 1.1 million in PAL regions, 1.5 million in Japan, and 3.0 million in North America. As of 2006, the original game and the Final Mix version had sold 6 million copies on PS2. As of March 2022, the Kingdom Hearts series has shipped more than 36 million copies worldwide. ### Critical response The game received generally positive reviews. In IGN's Best of 2002 awards, it was nominated for "PS2's Best Game of 2002 Editor's Choice Award" and was a runner up for "PS2's Best Game of 2002 Reader's Choice Award." In 2007, the website listed Kingdom Hearts as the 22nd best PlayStation 2 game of all time. Critics commended the visuals and hybrid action-adventure and role-playing feel to the game. IGN named it "Best Art Style/Direction," runner-up for "Best CG Graphics," and honorable mention for "Best Animation" in IGN's 2003 list of "Best Looking Games on PS2." GameSpy listed Kingdom Hearts twice in its "Top 25 Video Game Cinematic Moments." GamePro stated that the graphics were "gorgeous," giving them high marks. The audio was also praised, particularly the quality of the voice-overs and musical score. GamePro had positive comments on the overall audio and gave that aspect a perfect score. Reception for the gameplay was mixed. Many reviews complained that the camera was at times frustrating and the Gummi Ship portions were out of place. GameSpot cited "tedious" gameplay and Gummi Ship sections as "pale imitations of the Star Fox series," but stated that the combat was fun, particularly the boss fights. Dengeki Online commented on the camera controls, saying that the camera would often run into objects while being rotated by the player. GamePro compared the battle system to "old N64 Zelda games" and had positive comments about Donald and Goofy's artificial intelligence. The mix of Square and Disney elements also attracted acclaim. GameSpot commented that the concept of mixing the serious elements of Final Fantasy with the lighter elements of Disney seemed impossible, but was pulled off quite well. Because of that they awarded Kingdom Hearts "Best Crossover Since Capcom vs. SNK" in their 2002 Best and Worst of the Year awards. GameSpy noted that the periodic departure from the main plot into the Disney side stories was disappointing, and when the original plot builds to a climax, "the story fails to gel thanks to a confusing mish-mash of vague terms and symbolism that probably made more sense in the director's head than in this final product." Aside from the plot, they stated that the overall package was worth playing through to the end. G4TV awarded it "Best Story" at their 2003 G-Phoria awards show. Fan response was also positive; Kingdom Hearts was voted as the 19th best game of all-time by readers of the Japanese magazine Famitsu, 16th by the users of website GameFAQs, and 92nd by IGN users. Kingdom Hearts ranked ninth on IGN's most recent "Top 25 PS2 Games of All Time" list. It ranked first on GamesRadar's "Top 7 Disney Games" list in 2009. It was also a nominee for the Best Game Award from the CESA Game Awards^[ja] for 2001–2002. In the making of the 2004 video game Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel the developers, Racjin, looked at other titles for inspiration, particularly Kingdom Hearts when making the game. During the 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Kingdom Hearts for "Console Role-Playing Game of the Year" and outstanding achievement in "Animation", "Art Direction", and "Character or Story Development". ## Sequels Kingdom Hearts was followed by several sequels, becoming the first game in the Kingdom Hearts series. It was followed by a direct sequel, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, on the Game Boy Advance, which was released in Japan on November 11, 2004. Kingdom Hearts II is the third game in the series, set one year after Chain of Memories, and was released in Japan on December 22, 2005, for PlayStation 2. Like the first game it was re-released as Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix alongside a PS2 remake of Chain of Memories. A Kingdom Hearts game was developed exclusively for V CAST, Verizon Wireless's broadband service, and was released on October 1, 2004, in Japan and on February 4, 2005, in the United States. In November 2008, Kingdom Hearts coded was released for mobile phones in Japan, the game takes place after the events of Kingdom Hearts II. A follow-up, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, was developed for the Nintendo DS and released in Japan on May 30, 2009, and in North America on September 29, 2009. A prequel was released in Japan on January 9, 2010, entitled Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, for the PlayStation Portable, which takes place 10 years before the events of Kingdom Hearts. The following title in the series was Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance for the Nintendo 3DS, released in 2012. At E3 2013, Kingdom Hearts III was announced to be in development for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, before being released in January 2019, followed by a downloadable content expansion titled Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind in early 2020. The following title, Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory, set after the Re Mind scenario, was then released in Japan on November 11, 2020, and worldwide two days later. During Square Enix's 20th anniversary event for the franchise in April 2022, a mobile title, Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link, was announced for iOS and Android devices, with a closed beta arriving in August, while the next mainline installment, Kingdom Hearts IV, was also revealed to be in development.

Reign in Blood

Reign in Blood is the third studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer, released on October 6, 1986, by Def Jam Recordings. The album was the band's first collaboration with producer Rick Rubin, whose input helped the band's sound evolve. The release date of the album was delayed because of concerns regarding the lyrical subject matter of the opening track "Angel of Death", which refers to Josef Mengele and describes acts such as human experimentation that he committed at the Auschwitz concentration camp. The band's members stated that they did not condone Nazism and were merely interested in the subject. Reign in Blood was well received by both critics and fans, and was responsible for bringing Slayer to the attention of a mainstream metal audience. Today, it is often mentioned among the greatest heavy metal records ever. In their 2017 listing of the 100 Greatest Metal albums of all time, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Reign in Blood at \#6. Alongside Anthrax's Among the Living, Megadeth's Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?, and Metallica's Master of Puppets, Reign in Blood helped define the sound of the emerging US thrash metal scene in the mid-1980s, and has remained influential since. The album was Slayer's first to enter the US Billboard 200, peaking at number 94, and was certified Gold on November 20, 1992. In 2013, NME ranked it at number 287 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. ## Background Slayer composed the material for Reign in Blood following their return from a tour of Europe. Guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman wrote much of the album's music on their own, and quickly taught it to drummer Dave Lombardo. The band recorded instrumental demos of the songs (which King described as "just the best 10 songs we had at that point") and took them to Brian Slagel, the band's manager at the time. Following the positive reception Slayer's previous release Hell Awaits had received, the band's producer and manager Brian Slagel realized the band were in a position to hit the "big time" with their next album. Slagel negotiated with several record labels, among them Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons' Def Jam Recordings. However, Slagel was reluctant to have the band signed to what was at the time primarily a hip hop label. Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo was made aware of Rubin's interest, and he initiated contact with the producer. However, Slayer's remaining members were apprehensive of leaving Metal Blade Records, with whom they were already under contract. Lombardo contacted Columbia Records, which was Def Jam's distributor, and managed to get in touch with Rubin, who along with photographer Glen E. Friedman agreed to attend one of the band's concerts. Friedman had produced Suicidal Tendencies's self-titled debut album, in which Slayer vocalist Tom Araya made a guest appearance in the music video for the album's single "Institutionalized", pushing Suicidal Tendencies's vocalist Mike Muir. Around this time, Rubin asked Friedman if he knew Slayer. Guitarist Jeff Hanneman was surprised by Rubin's interest in the band, and was impressed by his work with the hip hop acts Run-DMC and LL Cool J. During a visit by Slagel to a European music convention, Rubin spoke with the band directly, and persuaded them to sign with Def Jam. Slagel paid a personal tribute to Rubin, and said that Rubin was the most passionate of all the label representatives the band were in negotiations with. Following the agreement, Friedman brought the band members to Seattle for two days of publicity shots, possible record shots, and photos for a tour book; Rubin felt no good photos of the band had been taken before that point. One of the photos was used on the back cover of the band's 1988 release South of Heaven. ### Cover art The cover artwork was designed by Larry Carroll, who at the time was creating political illustrations for The Progressive, Village Voice, and The New York Times. Carroll was hired at Rubin's behest. Despite its warm reception, the band members themselves originally did not like the image. King said, "Nobody in the band wanted that cover. We were stuck with it." He even described the artist as a "warped demented freak," although Carroll went on to make cover arts for their next two albums, South of Heaven (1988) and Seasons in the Abyss (1990), as well as Christ Illusion (2006). By a differing account, Araya recalled that he "thought it was amazing" and "liked it immediately". He also stated that there were three different variations of the album cover in its conceptual stages, with the final version incorporating elements of all three. It was believed that Columbia Records initially refused to release Reign in Blood because of the disturbing imagery. Araya refuted this claim in 2016 saying that it was because of the song "Angel of Death" and it had nothing to do with the cover art. ### Recording and production Reign in Blood was recorded and produced at Hit City West in Los Angeles with Rubin producing and Andy Wallace engineering. The album was the label boss' first professional experience with heavy metal, and his fresh perspective led to a drastic makeover of Slayer's sound. Steve Huey of AllMusic believed Rubin drew tighter and faster songs from the band, and delivered a cleanly produced sound that contrasted sharply with their previous recordings. This resulted in drastic changes to Slayer's sound, and changed audiences' perception of the band. Araya has since stated their two previous releases were not up to par production-wise. Guitarist Kerry King later remarked that "[i]t was like, 'Wow—you can hear everything, and those guys aren't just playing fast; those notes are on time.'" According to Araya, it was Hanneman's idea to add the scream for the introduction in "Angel of Death." Araya did several takes but ended up using the first one. By a differing account, Araya stated the scream was done in two takes, with the second take going on to appear on the album. The album's production is noted by the band Rubin's omission of reverberation, which King said made the album sound "way more threatening". He compared the band's use of reverb on previous releases to the likes of Venom and Merciful Fate, saying "we played in Reverb Land, for a lack of a better term." Upon hearing the album's mix, King said the band "[was] like, 'why didn't we think of that before?'" Rubin himself said, "when I hear very fast music like Metallica, and the sounds are big sounds... the whole thing gets blurry, and you can't really hear it [...] If the music you're playing is fast and if the sounds are big, there's not enough space for those big sounds to happen next to each other. There's no punctuation; it becomes a blur [...] I didn't want it to be a blur of bass; I wanted it to be a pulse." Rubin's lack of experience as a heavy metal producer at the time allowed him to work outside the general tropes of the genre. He said, "I didn't have the baggage of what the old way of doing it was [...] And in this case, these forms of music were so new that the old way would've lessened their impact. It wouldn't have made them better." He limited his use of studio effects to what he felt was absolutely necessary. Rubin's approach to the album's production resulted in a "stripped-back, punchy" sound. Hanneman later admitted that while the band was listening to Metallica and Megadeth at the time, they were finding the repetition of guitar riffs tiring. He said, "If we do a verse two or three times, we're already bored with it. So we weren't trying to make the songs shorter—that's just what we were into," which resulted in the album's short duration of 29 minutes. The band realized the album's runtime only when they were finishing up with its mixing with engineer Andy Wallace. The band weren't sure whether they would have to hit the studio to create more material or just leave it, so they turned to Rubin. "His only reply was that it had 10 songs, verses, choruses and leads and that's what constituted an album. He didn't have any issue with it," Araya told Metal Hammer. King had stated that while hour-long records seem to be the trend, "[y]ou could lose this part; you could cut this song completely, and make a much more intense record, which is what we're all about." When the record was completed, the band met with Rubin, who asked: "Do you realize how short this is?" Slayer members looked at each other, and replied: "So what?" The entire album was on one side of a cassette; King stated it was "neat", as "You could listen to it, flip it over, and play it again." The music is abrasive and faster than previous releases, helping to narrow the gap between thrash metal and its predecessor hardcore punk, and is played at an average of 220 beats per minute. ### Lombardo's departure Following the album's recording sessions, Slayer embarked on the Reign in Pain tour with the bands Overkill in the United States and Malice in Europe; they also served as the opening act for W.A.S.P.'s U.S. tour in 1987. In late 1986, drummer Lombardo quit the band. To continue the tour Slayer enlisted Whiplash drummer Tony Scaglione. Rubin called Lombardo daily to insist he return, telling him: "Dude, you gotta come back in the band." Rubin offered Lombardo a salary, but he was still hesitant about returning; at this point Lombardo had been out of the band for several months. Lombardo returned in 1987; Rubin came to his house and picked him up in his Porsche, taking him to a Slayer rehearsal. ## Critical reception Although the album received no radio airplay, it was the band's first release to enter the Billboard 200, where it debuted at \#127, and attained its peak position of 94 in its sixth week. The album also reached \#47 on the UK Album Chart, and on November 20, 1992, it was certified gold in the US. Reign in Blood was critically acclaimed by the underground and mainstream music press. Reviewing for AllMusic, Steve Huey awarded the album five out of five, describing it a "stone-cold classic." Stylus Magazine critic Clay Jarvis awarded the album an A+ grade, calling it a "genre-definer," as well as "the greatest metal album of all time." Jarvis further remarked the song "Angel of Death" "smokes the asses of any band playing fast and/or heavy today. Lyrically outlining the horrors to come, while musically laying the groundwork for the rest of the record: fast, lean and filthy." Kerrang\! magazine described it as the "heaviest album of all time," and listed the album at \#27 among the "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time". Metal Hammer magazine named it "the best metal album of the last 20 years" in 2006. Q Magazine ranked Reign in Blood among their list of the "50 Heaviest Albums of All Time", and Spin Magazine ranked the album \#67 on their list of the "100 Greatest Albums, 1985–2005". Critic Chad Bowar stated: "1986's Reign in Blood is probably the best thrash album ever recorded." In August 2014, Revolver placed the album on its "14 Thrash Albums You Need to Own" list. In 2017, it was ranked 6th on Rolling Stone's list of "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time". Adrien Begrand of PopMatters observed that "[t]here's no better song to kick things off than the masterful 'Angel of Death', one of the most monumental songs in metal history, where guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman deliver their intricate riffs, drummer Dave Lombardo performs some of the most powerful drumming ever recorded, and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya screams and snarls his tale of Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele." When asked why Reign in Blood has retained its popularity, King replied: "If you released Reign in Blood today, no one would give a shit. It was timing; it was a change in sound. In thrash metal at that time, no one had ever heard good production on a record like that. It was just a bunch of things that came together at once." Decibel inducted Reign in Blood into the Decibel Magazine Hall of Fame in November 2004, being the first album to earn such award. ## Legacy Reign in Blood is regarded by critics as one of the most influential and extreme thrash metal albums. In its "Greatest Metal Bands Of All Time" poll, MTV praised Slayer's "downtuned rhythms, infectious guitar licks, graphically violent lyrics and grisly artwork," which they stated "set the standard for dozens of emerging thrash bands," while "Slayer's music was directly responsible for the rise of death metal." MTV described Reign in Blood as essential listening, and the album was ranked number 7 on IGN's "Top 25 Most Influential Metal Albums". Asked during a press tour for 1994's Divine Intervention about the pressure of living up to Reign in Blood, King replied that the band did not try to better it, but just wanted to make music. In 2006, Blabbermouths Don Kaye drew a comparison to the band's 2006 album Christ Illusion, and concluded, "Slayer may never make an album as incendiary as Reign in Blood again." Rapper Necro was heavily influenced by the album, and has remarked that it takes him back to the 1980s, "when shit was pure". Ektomorf vocalist Zoltán Farkas describes the album as one of his primary influences. Paul Mazurkiewicz of Cannibal Corpse stated Lombardo's performance on the album helped him play faster throughout his career. Kelly Shaefer of Atheist said: "When Reign in Blood came out it changed everything\! That is easily the best extreme metal record ever\!" Hanneman said that the album was his personal favorite, reasoning it was "so short and quick and to the point". Paul Bostaph – Slayer's drummer from 1992 to 2001, and from 2013 to 2019 – first heard the record while a member of Forbidden. At a party, he walked towards music he heard from another room, and approached Forbidden guitarist Craig Locicero. Asked what was playing, Locicero shouted, "The new Slayer record." After listening closely, Bostaph looked at Locicero, and concluded his band was "fucked". Oderus Urungus of Gwar cited 'Altar of Sacrifice' as his favourite Slayer song: "It's the one I would always play for my friends when I was getting into Slayer. They would get this glazed look in their eyes and worship the speakers while doing the devil-horn thing." In 2006, the album won a Metal Hammer award for Best Album of the Last 20 Years. That same year, the album's cover art was featured in Blender Magazine'''s 2006 "top ten heavy metal album covers of all time." In 2005, Rock Hard ranked the album at number six on its list of the "500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time." In 2016, Loudwire ranked Reign in Blood \#1 among Slayer's eleven studio albums. In 2013, NME ranked it at number 287 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. ## Live performances The tracks "Raining Blood" and "Angel of Death" have become almost permanent additions to Slayer's live set, and were Hanneman's favorite tracks to play live. The band played Reign in Blood in its entirety throughout the fall of 2004, under the tour banner "Still Reigning". In 2004, a live DVD of the same name was released, which included a finale with the band covered in fake blood during the performance of "Raining Blood". King later said that while the idea of playing Reign in Blood in its entirety was suggested before by their booking agency, it was met with little support. The band ultimately decided they needed to add more excitement to their live shows, and to avoid repetition incorporated the ideas of raining blood. When asked about using fake blood in future performances, King remarked: "It's time to move on, but never say never. I know Japan never saw it, South America and Australia never saw it. So you never know." In 2008 the band performed Reign in Blood in its entirety once again, this time in Paris, France, during the third European Unholy Alliance Tour. Although it was omitted from a number of concerts because of short time allotments, Slayer have often said that they enjoy playing the album in its entirety. According to Hanneman: "We still enjoy playing these songs live. We play these songs over and over and over, but they're good songs, intense songs\! If it were melodic songs or some kind of boring 'clap your hands' song, you'd be going crazy playing those every night. But our songs are just bam-bam-bam-bam, they're intense." The band was on stage for 70 minutes, which allowed only seven or eight additional songs to be played following the album's play. King stated this arrangement "alienates too many people". In the Unholy Alliance Tour of 2004, however, the album was played in its entirety during Slayer's set as the last ten songs to end the show. The album was performed live at the I'll Be Your Mirror London festival in May 2012. In May 2014, it was announced that Slayer would perform the album in its entirety at Riot Fest in Chicago and Denver. ## Controversy ### Lyrical themes Def Jam's distributor, Columbia Records, refused to distribute the album due to the song "Angel of Death", because of its setting and description of the Holocaust. Reign in Blood was eventually distributed by Geffen Records; however, due to the controversy it did not appear on Geffen's release schedule and the Geffen logo was not put on the album. For the album, Slayer decided to abandon much of the earlier Satanic themes explored on their previous album Hell Awaits, and write about issues that were more on a street level. Reign in Bloods lyrics include death, religion, insanity, and murder, while the lead track "Angel of Death" details human experiments conducted at the Auschwitz concentration camp by Josef Mengele, who was dubbed "the Angel of death" by inmates. The song led to accusations of Nazi sympathizing and racism, which have followed the band throughout their career. Hanneman was inspired to write "Angel of Death" after he read a number of books on Mengele during a Slayer tour. Hanneman has complained people usually misinterpret the lyrics, and clarified: "Nothing I put in the lyrics that says necessarily he was a bad man, because to me — well, isn't that obvious? I shouldn't have to tell you that." The band utilized the controversy to attract publicity, incorporating the Reichsadler into their logo (also the S in the band's name resembles the Sig runes used by the SS), and writing a song in Divine Intervention titled "SS-3" --- which depicts Reinhard Heydrich, the second in command in the Schutzstaffel, his assassination by the Czechoslovak Resistance, and the bloody reprisals for it. ## Song covers "Raining Blood" was covered by Tori Amos on her 2001 album Strange Little Girls. King has admitted that he thought the cover was odd: "It took me a minute and a half to find a spot in the song where I knew where she was. It's so weird. If she had never told us, we would have never known. You could have played it for us and we'd have been like, 'What's that?' Like a minute and a half through I heard a line and was like, 'I know where she's at\!'". The band, however, liked the cover enough to send Slayer T-shirts to her. The song was also covered by Malevolent Creation, Chimaira, Vader, Dokaka, Reggie and the Full Effect and Killick Erik Hinds, who covered the entire album on a H'arpeggione. "Raining Blood" was also covered by the New Zealand drum and bass band Concord Dawn on their 2003 album Uprising, and by Nashville, Tennessee band Asschapel on their 7" "Satanation". A medley of "Raining Blood" and "Postmortem" appears on Body Count's 2016 album Bloodlust, preceded by a short monologue by lead singer Ice-T where he names Slayer as both a major influence on Body Count and as one of his favorite bands of all time "and always will be"; a video for Body Count's version was released in August 2017. In 2005, the Slayer tribute band Dead Skin Mask released an album with eight Slayer tracks, including "Angel of Death". The death metal band Monstrosity covered the song in 1999, while the track was featured on the classical band Apocalyptica's 2006 album Amplified / A Decade of Reinventing the Cello. A Slayer tribute album titled Al Sur del Abismo (Tributo Argentino a Slayer), compiled by Hurling Metal Records, featured sixteen tracks covered by Argentina metal bands, including Asinesia's version of "Angel of Death". ## Popular culture "Raining Blood" was featured in the South Park episode, "Die Hippie, Die", which aired on March 16, 2005. The plot centers on the town of South Park, which has been overrun by hippies. Eric Cartman states "Hippies can't stand death metal" and proceeds to drill through a hippie concert onto the main stage to change the audio to "Raining Blood", making the hippies run away. King found the episode humorous and expressed his appreciation for the show, ending the interview with "It was good to see the song being put to good use, if we can horrify some hippies we've done our job." "Angel of Death" also appears in several movies, including Gremlins 2, at the point when the character Mohawk turns into a spider, Jackass: The Movie, where it is played during a car stunt scene, and in the 2005 Iraq War documentary Soundtrack to War. "Angel of Death" was featured in the multi–platform video game Tony Hawk's Project 8. Nolan Nelson, who selected the soundtrack for the game, asserts: "one of the greatest heavy metal songs ever recorded. Don't know who Slayer is? I feel sorry for you." "Raining Blood" is also one of the songs featured in Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock and later Guitar Hero Smash Hits, and is considered one of the most difficult songs in the game, if not the hardest of the career song list. "Angel of Death" and "Raining Blood" are both available as DLC for Rocksmith 2014 and for the Rock Band series. In season 1, episode 6 of The Leftovers'', the character Nora Durst (played by Carrie Coon) pays a prostitute to shoot her in the chest while she wears a Kevlar vest, playing "Angel of Death" to mask the sound of gunfire. ## Track listing ## Personnel - Tom Araya – bass, vocals - Kerry King – guitars - Jeff Hanneman – guitars - Dave Lombardo – drums Production - Larry Carroll – artwork - Rick Rubin – production - Andy Wallace – engineering - Howie Weinberg – mastering ## Charts ## Certifications

Lagonda Taraf

British luxury saloon

The Lagonda Taraf is a full-size luxury car that was produced in 2015 and 2016 by the British carmaker Aston Martin under its Lagonda marque. Designed by Marek Reichman and considered "the finest of fast cars" by Aston Martin, the vehicle is based upon the vertical–horizontal platform, which it shares with the DB9 and Rapide. The Taraf debuted in Dubai in 2014, with manufacture commencing in the subsequent year at the facility in Gaydon, Warwickshire. Initially intended for sale exclusively in the Middle Eastern market with a limited run of 100 units, Aston Martin later expanded the car's availability to several other countries and ultimately built 120. The Taraf has a 0–100 km/h (0–62 mph) acceleration time of 4.4 seconds and a maximum speed of 314 km/h (195 mph). The car features Aston Martin's 5.9-litre engine and an eight-speed automatic transmission manufactured by ZF Friedrichshafen. At its launch, the Taraf was the most expensive saloon in the world, priced at over US$1 million. Car critics and reviewers mostly appreciated its handling ability but criticised its steep price. ## Background and development The Lagonda brand was established in 1906 by the businessman Wilbur Gunn. The 1935 Le Mans 24 Hour race was won with a Lagonda M45R driven by John Stuart Hindmarsh and Luis Fontés. When the Lagonda Rapide V12 launched in 1939, it was the most expensive car in the United States. In 1947, the entrepreneur and industrialist David Brown acquired both Lagonda and Aston Martin. In 1961, Lagonda introduced the Rapide, the company's earliest four-door automobile. Its production ended in 1966 after fifty-five units had been manufactured. In 1974, Aston Martin introduced its second four-door model, the Lagonda, which was produced until 1990, when 645 units had been made. The Aston Martin Rapide was revealed in 2009 at the International Motor Show Germany. In the same year, Aston Martin chose to revive the Lagonda brand to explore various market segments and commemorate Lagonda's centenary. The development of the Taraf began in February 2014 at Aston Martin's design studio in Gaydon, Warwickshire, under the codename "Project Comet". The name "Taraf" means "ultimate luxury" in the Arabic language. The project was carried out by Aston Martin's Q division, which specialises in creating bespoke cars and customising existing models to meet customer specifications. The design studio completed the final full-sized model within eight months of the initial studio sketches. Marek Reichman credited the swift execution to the lessons learned from producing the One-77, which took two years to progress from design to completion. As part of its extensive testing programme, Aston Martin took a nearly production-ready Taraf model to Oman, where it underwent approximately 14,000 miles (23,000 km) of testing for more than four weeks. Most of the test was to assess how the Lagonda's components—primarily the air conditioning system and interior trims—handled the extreme heat, with temperatures ranging from 30 to 50 °C (86 to 122 °F). During the test, Aston Martin reported that the car was already performing "beyond expectations". The Taraf debuted in Dubai in November 2014. The official manufacture began in the subsequent year at the facility in Gaydon, Warwickshire, with Aston Martin stating that 100 cars would be built exclusively for the Middle Eastern market. However, the chief executive officer of Aston Martin Andy Palmer expanded the potential markets for the car to include Europe, the United States, Singapore and South Africa. He also had the total production goal increased to 200 units. In April 2016, the car was called the most expensive four-door saloon in the world, priced at over US$1 million. The manufacture of the Taraf ceased at the end of 2016; 120 units were ultimately built. ## Design and technology Considered "the finest of fast cars" by Aston Martin, the Taraf's "vertical/horizontal" platform—which it shares with the DB9 and Rapide—extensively incorporates aluminium. Instead of the Rapide's pressed aluminium body, the Taraf features a lightweight carbon fibre exterior; consequently, despite the latter's larger size, both cars are of similar weight. The Taraf incorporates anti-roll bars, adaptive dampers, and a double wishbone suspension system supported by coil springs. The interior of the vehicle incorporated elements from other Aston Martin models, including console-mounted push-button transmission controls, an advanced infotainment system, a 1,000-watt Bang & Olufsen BeoSound audio system, and leather upholstery. Buyers could choose from various trims, including wood and carbon fibre. The car's extended wheelbase provided enhanced legroom for the rear-seat passengers. The Taraf features Aston Martin's 5.9-litre V12 engine, which generates a power output of 547 PS (402 kW; 540 hp) at 6,650 revolutions per minute (rpm) and a torque output of 630 N⋅m (465 lb⋅ft) at 5,500 rpm. The Taraf has a 0–100 km/h (0–62 mph) acceleration time of 4.4 seconds and a maximum speed of 314 km/h (195 mph). The engine was assembled at Ford's bespoke engine facility in Niehl, Cologne, Germany. The Taraf is a four-door luxury saloon car with a rear-wheel drive layout and front engine placement. The vehicle features an eight-speed Touchtronic III automatic transmission developed by ZF Friedrichshafen. ## Reception The Taraf has received mixed—but mostly positive—reviews, with most critics noting the steep price as its primary drawback. Jason Barlow of the magazine Top Gear noted that "[i]t doesn't ride as well as its rivals, but despite its size and physical presence, it handles better than you'd expect". Mike Duff of Car and Driver emphasised the light yet responsive hydraulic steering and the chassis's impressive lateral grip, even in wet conditions. He also noted that "[t]he brakes lack much initial bite but have plenty of stopping power when worked more forcefully," adding that it is "downright hard not to drive at the sort of speeds that would produce complaints from any rear-seat occupants—or possibly a sharp tap from a gold-tipped cane". Reviewing for Motor Trend, Angus MacKenzie wrote that "[t]his $1 million saloon, hand-built by Aston Martin, costs more than five times as much as a Mercedes-Maybach S600. Yet it matters little to the people who will buy the Taraf that the Maybach is technically the more accomplished ultra-luxury saloon". The Autocar magazine also criticised its price, noting that for the same amount, one could buy a Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupé, a Bentley Mulsanne and a Range Rover SV Autobiography, but acknowledged the "unmatched exclusivity" of the car.

Planet

Large, round non-stellar astronomical object

A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets by the most restrictive definition of the term: the terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, and the giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a young protostar orbited by a protoplanetary disk. Planets grow in this disk by the gradual accumulation of material driven by gravity, a process called accretion. The word planet comes from the Greek πλανήται (planḗtai) . In antiquity, this word referred to the Sun, Moon, and five points of light visible to the naked eye that moved across the background of the stars—namely, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Planets have historically had religious associations: multiple cultures identified celestial bodies with gods, and these connections with mythology and folklore persist in the schemes for naming newly discovered Solar System bodies. Earth itself was recognized as a planet when heliocentrism supplanted geocentrism during the 16th and 17th centuries. With the development of the telescope, the meaning of planet broadened to include objects only visible with assistance: the moons of the planets beyond Earth; the ice giants Uranus and Neptune; Ceres and other bodies later recognized to be part of the asteroid belt; and Pluto, later found to be the largest member of the collection of icy bodies known as the Kuiper belt. The discovery of other large objects in the Kuiper belt, particularly Eris, spurred debate about how exactly to define a planet. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) adopted a definition of a planet in the Solar System, placing the four terrestrial planets and the four giant planets in the planet category; Ceres, Pluto, and Eris are in the category of dwarf planet. Many planetary scientists have nonetheless continued to apply the term planet more broadly, including dwarf planets as well as rounded satellites like the Moon. Further advances in astronomy led to the discovery of over five thousand planets outside the Solar System, termed exoplanets. These often show unusual features that the Solar System planets do not show, such as hot Jupiters—giant planets that orbit close to their parent stars, like 51 Pegasi b—and extremely eccentric orbits, such as HD 20782 b. The discovery of brown dwarfs and planets larger than Jupiter also spurred debate on the definition, regarding where exactly to draw the line between a planet and a star. Multiple exoplanets have been found to orbit in the habitable zones of their stars (where liquid water can potentially exist on a planetary surface), but Earth remains the only planet known to support life. ## Formation It is not known with certainty how planets are formed. The prevailing theory is that they coalesce during the collapse of a nebula into a thin disk of gas and dust. A protostar forms at the core, surrounded by a rotating protoplanetary disk. Through accretion (a process of sticky collision) dust particles in the disk steadily accumulate mass to form ever-larger bodies. Local concentrations of mass known as planetesimals form, and these accelerate the accretion process by drawing in additional material by their gravitational attraction. These concentrations become ever denser until they collapse inward under gravity to form protoplanets. After a planet reaches a mass somewhat larger than Mars's mass, it begins to accumulate an extended atmosphere, greatly increasing the capture rate of the planetesimals by means of atmospheric drag. Depending on the accretion history of solids and gas, a giant planet, an ice giant, or a terrestrial planet may result. It is thought that the regular satellites of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus formed in a similar way; however, Triton was likely captured by Neptune, and Earth's Moon and Pluto's Charon might have formed in collisions. When the protostar has grown such that it ignites to form a star, the surviving disk is removed from the inside outward by photoevaporation, the solar wind, Poynting–Robertson drag and other effects. Thereafter there still may be many protoplanets orbiting the star or each other, but over time many will collide, either to form a larger, combined protoplanet or release material for other protoplanets to absorb. Those objects that have become massive enough will capture most matter in their orbital neighbourhoods to become planets. Protoplanets that have avoided collisions may become natural satellites of planets through a process of gravitational capture, or remain in belts of other objects to become either dwarf planets or small bodies. The energetic impacts of the smaller planetesimals (as well as radioactive decay) will heat up the growing planet, causing it to at least partially melt. The interior of the planet begins to differentiate by density, with higher density materials sinking toward the core. Smaller terrestrial planets lose most of their atmospheres because of this accretion, but the lost gases can be replaced by outgassing from the mantle and from the subsequent impact of comets (smaller planets will lose any atmosphere they gain through various escape mechanisms). With the discovery and observation of planetary systems around stars other than the Sun, it is becoming possible to elaborate, revise or even replace this account. The level of metallicity—an astronomical term describing the abundance of chemical elements with an atomic number greater than 2 (helium)—appears to determine the likelihood that a star will have planets. Hence, a metal-rich population I star is more likely to have a substantial planetary system than a metal-poor, population II star. ## Planets in the Solar System According to the IAU definition, there are eight planets in the Solar System, which are (in increasing distance from the Sun): Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Jupiter is the largest, at 318 Earth masses, whereas Mercury is the smallest, at 0.055 Earth masses. The planets of the Solar System can be divided into categories based on their composition. Terrestrials are similar to Earth, with bodies largely composed of rock and metal: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Earth is the largest terrestrial planet. Giant planets are significantly more massive than the terrestrials: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. They differ from the terrestrial planets in composition. The gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, are primarily composed of hydrogen and helium and are the most massive planets in the Solar System. Saturn is one third as massive as Jupiter, at 95 Earth masses. The ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, are primarily composed of low-boiling-point materials such as water, methane, and ammonia, with thick atmospheres of hydrogen and helium. They have a significantly lower mass than the gas giants (only 14 and 17 Earth masses). Dwarf planets are gravitationally rounded, but have not cleared their orbits of other bodies. In increasing order of average distance from the Sun, the ones generally agreed among astronomers are , , , , , , , , and . Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt, located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The other eight all orbit beyond Neptune. Orcus, Pluto, Haumea, Quaoar, and Makemake orbit in the Kuiper belt, which is a second belt of small Solar System bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. Gonggong and Eris orbit in the scattered disc, which is somewhat further out and, unlike the Kuiper belt, is unstable towards interactions with Neptune. Sedna is the largest known detached object, a population that never comes close enough to the Sun to interact with any of the classical planets; the origins of their orbits are still being debated. All nine are similar to terrestrial planets in having a solid surface, but they are made of ice and rock rather than rock and metal. Moreover, all of them are smaller than Mercury, with Pluto being the largest known dwarf planet and Eris being the most massive. There are at least nineteen planetary-mass moons or satellite planets—moons large enough to take on ellipsoidal shapes: - One satellite of Earth: the Moon - Four satellites of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto - Seven satellites of Saturn: Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Titan, and Iapetus - Five satellites of Uranus: Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon - One satellite of Neptune: Triton - One satellite of Pluto: Charon The Moon, Io, and Europa have compositions similar to the terrestrial planets; the others are made of ice and rock like the dwarf planets, with Tethys being made of almost pure ice. Europa is often considered an icy planet, though, because its surface ice layer makes it difficult to study its interior. Ganymede and Titan are larger than Mercury by radius, and Callisto almost equals it, but all three are much less massive. Mimas is the smallest object generally agreed to be a geophysical planet, at about six millionths of Earth's mass, though there are many larger bodies that may not be geophysical planets (e.g. ). ## Exoplanets An exoplanet is a planet outside the Solar System. Known exoplanets range in size from gas giants about twice as large as Jupiter down to just over the size of the Moon. Analysis of gravitational microlensing data suggests a minimum average of 1.6 bound planets for every star in the Milky Way. In early 1992, radio astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail announced the discovery of two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR 1257+12. This discovery was confirmed and is generally considered to be the first definitive detection of exoplanets. Researchers suspect they formed from a disk remnant left over from the supernova that produced the pulsar. The first confirmed discovery of an exoplanet orbiting an ordinary main-sequence star occurred on 6 October 1995, when Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz of the University of Geneva announced the detection of 51 Pegasi b, an exoplanet around 51 Pegasi. From then until the Kepler space telescope mission, most of the known exoplanets were gas giants comparable in mass to Jupiter or larger as they were more easily detected. The catalog of Kepler candidate planets consists mostly of planets the size of Neptune and smaller, down to smaller than Mercury. In 2011, the Kepler space telescope team reported the discovery of the first Earth-sized exoplanets orbiting a Sun-like star, Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f. Since that time, more than 100 planets have been identified that are approximately the same size as Earth, 20 of which orbit in the habitable zone of their star—the range of orbits where a terrestrial planet could sustain liquid water on its surface, given enough atmospheric pressure. One in five Sun-like stars is thought to have an Earth-sized planet in its habitable zone, which suggests that the nearest would be expected to be within 12 light-years distance from Earth. The frequency of occurrence of such terrestrial planets is one of the variables in the Drake equation, which estimates the number of intelligent, communicating civilizations that exist in the Milky Way. There are types of planets that do not exist in the Solar System: super-Earths and mini-Neptunes, which have masses between that of Earth and Neptune. Objects less than about twice the mass of Earth are expected to be rocky like Earth; beyond that, they become a mixture of volatiles and gas like Neptune. The planet Gliese 581c, with a mass 5.5–10.4 times the mass of Earth, attracted attention upon its discovery for potentially being in the habitable zone, though later studies concluded that it is actually too close to its star to be habitable. Planets more massive than Jupiter are also known, extending seamlessly into the realm of brown dwarfs. Exoplanets have been found that are much closer to their parent star than any planet in the Solar System is to the Sun. Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun at 0.4 AU, takes 88 days for an orbit, but ultra-short period planets can orbit in less than a day. The Kepler-11 system has five of its planets in shorter orbits than Mercury's, all of them much more massive than Mercury. There are hot Jupiters, such as 51 Pegasi b, that orbit very close to their star and may evaporate to become chthonian planets, which are the leftover cores. There are also exoplanets that are much farther from their star. Neptune is 30 AU from the Sun and takes 165 years to orbit, but there are exoplanets that are thousands of AU from their star and take more than a million years to orbit (e.g. COCONUTS-2b). ## Attributes Although each planet has unique physical characteristics, a number of broad commonalities do exist among them. Some of these characteristics, such as rings or natural satellites, have only as yet been observed in planets in the Solar System, whereas others are commonly observed in exoplanets. ### Dynamic characteristics #### Orbit In the Solar System, all the planets orbit the Sun in the same direction as the Sun rotates: counter-clockwise as seen from above the Sun's north pole. At least one exoplanet, WASP-17b, has been found to orbit in the opposite direction to its star's rotation. The period of one revolution of a planet's orbit is known as its sidereal period or year. A planet's year depends on its distance from its star; the farther a planet is from its star, the longer the distance it must travel and the slower its speed, since it is less affected by its star's gravity. No planet's orbit is perfectly circular, and hence the distance of each from the host star varies over the course of its year. The closest approach to its star is called its periastron, or perihelion in the Solar System, whereas its farthest separation from the star is called its apastron (aphelion). As a planet approaches periastron, its speed increases as it trades gravitational potential energy for kinetic energy, just as a falling object on Earth accelerates as it falls. As the planet nears apastron, its speed decreases, just as an object thrown upwards on Earth slows down as it reaches the apex of its trajectory. Each planet's orbit is delineated by a set of elements: - The eccentricity of an orbit describes the elongation of a planet's elliptical (oval) orbit. Planets with low eccentricities have more circular orbits, whereas planets with high eccentricities have more elliptical orbits. The planets and large moons in the Solar System have relatively low eccentricities, and thus nearly circular orbits. The comets and many Kuiper belt objects, as well as several exoplanets, have very high eccentricities, and thus exceedingly elliptical orbits. - The semi-major axis gives the size of the orbit. It is the distance from the midpoint to the longest diameter of its elliptical orbit. This distance is not the same as its apastron, because no planet's orbit has its star at its exact centre. - The inclination of a planet tells how far above or below an established reference plane its orbit is tilted. In the Solar System, the reference plane is the plane of Earth's orbit, called the ecliptic. For exoplanets, the plane, known as the sky plane or plane of the sky, is the plane perpendicular to the observer's line of sight from Earth. The orbits of the eight major planets of the Solar System all lie very close to the ecliptic; however, some smaller objects like Pallas, Pluto, and Eris orbit at far more extreme angles to it, as do comets. The large moons are generally not very inclined to their parent planets' equators, but Earth's Moon, Saturn's Iapetus, and Neptune's Triton are exceptions. Triton is unique among the large moons in that it orbits retrograde, i.e. in the direction opposite to its parent planet's rotation. - The points at which a planet crosses above and below its reference plane are called its ascending and descending nodes. The longitude of the ascending node is the angle between the reference plane's 0 longitude and the planet's ascending node. The argument of periapsis (or perihelion in the Solar System) is the angle between a planet's ascending node and its closest approach to its star. #### Axial tilt Planets have varying degrees of axial tilt; they spin at an angle to the plane of their stars' equators. This causes the amount of light received by each hemisphere to vary over the course of its year; when the Northern Hemisphere points away from its star, the Southern Hemisphere points towards it, and vice versa. Each planet therefore has seasons, resulting in changes to the climate over the course of its year. The time at which each hemisphere points farthest or nearest from its star is known as its solstice. Each planet has two in the course of its orbit; when one hemisphere has its summer solstice with its day being the longest, the other has its winter solstice when its day is shortest. The varying amount of light and heat received by each hemisphere creates annual changes in weather patterns for each half of the planet. Jupiter's axial tilt is very small, so its seasonal variation is minimal; Uranus, on the other hand, has an axial tilt so extreme it is virtually on its side, which means that its hemispheres are either continually in sunlight or continually in darkness around the time of its solstices. In the Solar System, Mercury, Venus, Ceres, and Jupiter have very small tilts; Pallas, Uranus, and Pluto have extreme ones; and Earth, Mars, Vesta, Saturn, and Neptune have moderate ones. Among exoplanets, axial tilts are not known for certain, though most hot Jupiters are believed to have a negligible axial tilt as a result of their proximity to their stars. Similarly, the axial tilts of the planetary-mass moons are near zero, with Earth's Moon at 6.687° as the biggest exception; additionally, Callisto's axial tilt varies between 0 and about 2 degrees on timescales of thousands of years. #### Rotation The planets rotate around invisible axes through their centres. A planet's rotation period is known as a stellar day. Most of the planets in the Solar System rotate in the same direction as they orbit the Sun, which is counter-clockwise as seen from above the Sun's north pole. The exceptions are Venus and Uranus, which rotate clockwise, though Uranus's extreme axial tilt means there are differing conventions on which of its poles is "north", and therefore whether it is rotating clockwise or anti-clockwise. Regardless of which convention is used, Uranus has a retrograde rotation relative to its orbit. The rotation of a planet can be induced by several factors during formation. A net angular momentum can be induced by the individual angular momentum contributions of accreted objects. The accretion of gas by the giant planets contributes to the angular momentum. Finally, during the last stages of planet building, a stochastic process of protoplanetary accretion can randomly alter the spin axis of the planet. There is great variation in the length of day between the planets, with Venus taking 243 days to rotate, and the giant planets only a few hours. The rotational periods of exoplanets are not known, but for hot Jupiters, their proximity to their stars means that they are tidally locked (that is, their orbits are in sync with their rotations). This means, they always show one face to their stars, with one side in perpetual day, the other in perpetual night. Mercury and Venus, the closest planets to the Sun, similarly exhibit very slow rotation: Mercury is tidally locked into a 3:2 spin–orbit resonance (rotating three times for every two revolutions around the Sun), and Venus's rotation may be in equilibrium between tidal forces slowing it down and atmospheric tides created by solar heating speeding it up. All the large moons are tidally locked to their parent planets; Pluto and Charon are tidally locked to each other, as are Eris and Dysnomia, and probably and its moon Vanth. The other dwarf planets with known rotation periods rotate faster than Earth; Haumea rotates so fast that it has been distorted into a triaxial ellipsoid. The exoplanet Tau Boötis b and its parent star Tau Boötis appear to be mutually tidally locked. #### Orbital clearing The defining dynamic characteristic of a planet, according to the IAU definition, is that it has cleared its neighborhood. A planet that has cleared its neighborhood has accumulated enough mass to gather up or sweep away all the planetesimals in its orbit. In effect, it orbits its star in isolation, as opposed to sharing its orbit with a multitude of similar-sized objects. As described above, this characteristic was mandated as part of the IAU's official definition of a planet in August 2006. Although to date this criterion only applies to the Solar System, a number of young extrasolar systems have been found in which evidence suggests orbital clearing is taking place within their circumstellar discs. ### Physical characteristics #### Size and shape Gravity causes planets to be pulled into a roughly spherical shape, so a planet's size can be expressed roughly by an average radius (for example, Earth radius or Jupiter radius). However, planets are not perfectly spherical; for example, the Earth's rotation causes it to be slightly flattened at the poles with a bulge around the equator. Therefore, a better approximation of Earth's shape is an oblate spheroid, whose equatorial diameter is 43 kilometers (27 mi) larger than the pole-to-pole diameter. Generally, a planet's shape may be described by giving polar and equatorial radii of a spheroid or specifying a reference ellipsoid. From such a specification, the planet's flattening, surface area, and volume can be calculated; its normal gravity can be computed knowing its size, shape, rotation rate, and mass. #### Mass A planet's defining physical characteristic is that it is massive enough for the force of its own gravity to dominate over the electromagnetic forces binding its physical structure, leading to a state of hydrostatic equilibrium. This effectively means that all planets are spherical or spheroidal. Up to a certain mass, an object can be irregular in shape, but beyond that point, which varies depending on the chemical makeup of the object, gravity begins to pull an object towards its own centre of mass until the object collapses into a sphere. Mass is the prime attribute by which planets are distinguished from stars. No objects between the masses of the Sun and Jupiter exist in the Solar System, but there are exoplanets of this size. The lower stellar mass limit is estimated to be around 75 to 80 times that of Jupiter (). Some authors advocate that this be used as the upper limit for planethood, on the grounds that the internal physics of objects does not change between approximately one Saturn mass (beginning of significant self-compression) and the onset of hydrogen burning and becoming a red dwarf star. Beyond roughly 13 (at least for objects with solar-type isotopic abundance), an object achieves conditions suitable for nuclear fusion of deuterium: this has sometimes been advocated as a boundary, even though deuterium burning does not last very long and most brown dwarfs have long since finished burning their deuterium. This is not universally agreed upon: the exoplanets Encyclopaedia includes objects up to 60 , and the Exoplanet Data Explorer up to 24 . The smallest known exoplanet with an accurately known mass is PSR B1257+12A, one of the first exoplanets discovered, which was found in 1992 in orbit around a pulsar. Its mass is roughly half that of the planet Mercury. Even smaller is WD 1145+017 b, orbiting a white dwarf; its mass is roughly that of the dwarf planet Haumea, and it is typically termed a minor planet. The smallest known planet orbiting a main-sequence star other than the Sun is Kepler-37b, with a mass (and radius) that is probably slightly higher than that of the Moon. The smallest object in the Solar System generally agreed to be a geophysical planet is Saturn's moon Mimas, with a radius about 3.1% of Earth's and a mass about 0.00063% of Earth's. Saturn's smaller moon Phoebe, currently an irregular body of 1.7% Earth's radius and 0.00014% Earth's mass, is thought to have attained hydrostatic equilibrium and differentiation early in its history before being battered out of shape by impacts. Some asteroids may be fragments of protoplanets that began to accrete and differentiate, but suffered catastrophic collisions, leaving only a metallic or rocky core today, or a reaccumulation of the resulting debris. #### Internal differentiation Every planet began its existence in an entirely fluid state; in early formation, the denser, heavier materials sank to the centre, leaving the lighter materials near the surface. Each therefore has a differentiated interior consisting of a dense planetary core surrounded by a mantle that either is or was a fluid. The terrestrial planets' mantles are sealed within hard crusts, but in the giant planets the mantle simply blends into the upper cloud layers. The terrestrial planets have cores of elements such as iron and nickel and mantles of silicates. Jupiter and Saturn are believed to have cores of rock and metal surrounded by mantles of metallic hydrogen. Uranus and Neptune, which are smaller, have rocky cores surrounded by mantles of water, ammonia, methane, and other ices. The fluid action within these planets' cores creates a geodynamo that generates a magnetic field. Similar differentiation processes are believed to have occurred on some of the large moons and dwarf planets, though the process may not always have been completed: Ceres, Callisto, and Titan appear to be incompletely differentiated. The asteroid Vesta, though not a dwarf planet because it was battered by impacts out of roundness, has a differentiated interior similar to that of Venus, Earth, and Mars. #### Atmosphere All of the Solar System planets except Mercury have substantial atmospheres because their gravity is strong enough to keep gases close to the surface. Saturn's largest moon Titan also has a substantial atmosphere thicker than that of Earth; Neptune's largest moon Triton and the dwarf planet Pluto have more tenuous atmospheres. The larger giant planets are massive enough to keep large amounts of the light gases hydrogen and helium, whereas the smaller planets lose these gases into space. Analysis of exoplanets suggests that the threshold for being able to hold on to these light gases occurs at about 2.0+0.7 −0.6 , so that Earth and Venus are near the maximum size for rocky planets. The composition of Earth's atmosphere is different from the other planets because the various life processes that have transpired on the planet have introduced free molecular oxygen. The atmospheres of Mars and Venus are both dominated by carbon dioxide, but differ drastically in density: the average surface pressure of Mars's atmosphere is less than 1% that of Earth's (too low to allow liquid water to exist), while the average surface pressure of Venus's atmosphere is about 92 times that of Earth's. It is likely that Venus's atmosphere was the result of a runaway greenhouse effect in its history, which today makes it the hottest planet by surface temperature, hotter even than Mercury. Despite hostile surface conditions, temperature, and pressure at about 50–55 km altitude in Venus's atmosphere are close to Earthlike conditions (the only place in the Solar System beyond Earth where this is so), and this region has been suggested as a plausible base for future human exploration. Titan has the only nitrogen-rich planetary atmosphere in the Solar System other than Earth's. Just as Earth's conditions are close to the triple point of water, allowing it to exist in all three states on the planet's surface, so Titan's are to the triple point of methane. Planetary atmospheres are affected by the varying insolation or internal energy, leading to the formation of dynamic weather systems such as hurricanes (on Earth), planet-wide dust storms (on Mars), a greater-than-Earth-sized anticyclone on Jupiter (called the Great Red Spot), and holes in the atmosphere (on Neptune). Weather patterns detected on exoplanets include a hot region on HD 189733 b twice the size of the Great Red Spot, as well as clouds on the hot Jupiter Kepler-7b, the super-Earth Gliese 1214 b, and others. Hot Jupiters, due to their extreme proximities to their host stars, have been shown to be losing their atmospheres into space due to stellar radiation, much like the tails of comets. These planets may have vast differences in temperature between their day and night sides that produce supersonic winds, although multiple factors are involved and the details of the atmospheric dynamics that affect the day-night temperature difference are complex. #### Magnetosphere One important characteristic of the planets is their intrinsic magnetic moments, which in turn give rise to magnetospheres. The presence of a magnetic field indicates that the planet is still geologically alive. In other words, magnetized planets have flows of electrically conducting material in their interiors, which generate their magnetic fields. These fields significantly change the interaction of the planet and solar wind. A magnetized planet creates a cavity in the solar wind around itself called the magnetosphere, which the wind cannot penetrate. The magnetosphere can be much larger than the planet itself. In contrast, non-magnetized planets have only small magnetospheres induced by interaction of the ionosphere with the solar wind, which cannot effectively protect the planet. Of the eight planets in the Solar System, only Venus and Mars lack such a magnetic field. Of the magnetized planets, the magnetic field of Mercury is the weakest and is barely able to deflect the solar wind. Jupiter's moon Ganymede has a magnetic field several times stronger, and Jupiter's is the strongest in the Solar System (so intense in fact that it poses a serious health risk to future crewed missions to all its moons inward of Callisto). The magnetic fields of the other giant planets, measured at their surfaces, are roughly similar in strength to that of Earth, but their magnetic moments are significantly larger. The magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune are strongly tilted relative to the planets' rotational axes and displaced from the planets' centres. In 2003, a team of astronomers in Hawaii observing the star HD 179949 detected a bright spot on its surface, apparently created by the magnetosphere of an orbiting hot Jupiter. ### Secondary characteristics Several planets or dwarf planets in the Solar System (such as Neptune and Pluto) have orbital periods that are in resonance with each other or with smaller bodies. This is common in satellite systems (e.g. the resonance between Io, Europa, and Ganymede around Jupiter, or between Enceladus and Dione around Saturn). All except Mercury and Venus have natural satellites, often called "moons". Earth has one, Mars has two, and the giant planets have numerous moons in complex planetary-type systems. Except for Ceres and Sedna, all the consensus dwarf planets are known to have at least one moon as well. Many moons of the giant planets have features similar to those on the terrestrial planets and dwarf planets, and some have been studied as possible abodes of life (especially Europa and Enceladus). The four giant planets are orbited by planetary rings of varying size and complexity. The rings are composed primarily of dust or particulate matter, but can host tiny 'moonlets' whose gravity shapes and maintains their structure. Although the origins of planetary rings are not precisely known, they are believed to be the result of natural satellites that fell below their parent planets' Roche limits and were torn apart by tidal forces. The dwarf planets Haumea and Quaoar also have rings. No secondary characteristics have been observed around exoplanets. The sub-brown dwarf Cha 110913−773444, which has been described as a rogue planet, is believed to be orbited by a tiny protoplanetary disc, and the sub-brown dwarf OTS 44 was shown to be surrounded by a substantial protoplanetary disk of at least 10 Earth masses. ## History and etymology The idea of planets has evolved over the history of astronomy, from the divine lights of antiquity to the earthly objects of the scientific age. The concept has expanded to include worlds not only in the Solar System, but in multitudes of other extrasolar systems. The consensus as to what counts as a planet, as opposed to other objects, has changed several times. It previously encompassed asteroids, moons, and dwarf planets like Pluto, and there continues to be some disagreement today. ### Ancient civilizations and classical planets The five classical planets of the Solar System, being visible to the naked eye, have been known since ancient times and have had a significant impact on mythology, religious cosmology, and ancient astronomy. In ancient times, astronomers noted how certain lights moved across the sky, as opposed to the "fixed stars", which maintained a constant relative position in the sky. Ancient Greeks called these lights πλάνητες ἀστέρες (planētes asteres) or simply πλανῆται (planētai) from which today's word "planet" was derived. In ancient Greece, China, Babylon, and indeed all pre-modern civilizations, it was almost universally believed that Earth was the center of the Universe and that all the "planets" circled Earth. The reasons for this perception were that stars and planets appeared to revolve around Earth each day and the apparently common-sense perceptions that Earth was solid and stable and that it was not moving but at rest. #### Babylon The first civilization known to have a functional theory of the planets were the Babylonians, who lived in Mesopotamia in the first and second millennia BC. The oldest surviving planetary astronomical text is the Babylonian Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa, a 7th-century BC copy of a list of observations of the motions of the planet Venus, that probably dates as early as the second millennium BC. The MUL.APIN is a pair of cuneiform tablets dating from the 7th century BC that lays out the motions of the Sun, Moon, and planets over the course of the year. Late Babylonian astronomy is the origin of Western astronomy and indeed all Western efforts in the exact sciences. The Enuma anu enlil, written during the Neo-Assyrian period in the 7th century BC, comprises a list of omens and their relationships with various celestial phenomena including the motions of the planets. The inferior planets Venus and Mercury and the superior planets Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were all identified by Babylonian astronomers. These would remain the only known planets until the invention of the telescope in early modern times. #### Greco-Roman astronomy The ancient Greeks initially did not attach as much significance to the planets as the Babylonians. In the 6th and 5th centuries BC, the Pythagoreans appear to have developed their own independent planetary theory, which consisted of the Earth, Sun, Moon, and planets revolving around a "Central Fire" at the center of the Universe. Pythagoras or Parmenides is said to have been the first to identify the evening star (Hesperos) and morning star (Phosphoros) as one and the same (Aphrodite, Greek corresponding to Latin Venus), though this had long been known in Mesopotamia. In the 3rd century BC, Aristarchus of Samos proposed a heliocentric system, according to which Earth and the planets revolved around the Sun. The geocentric system remained dominant until the Scientific Revolution. By the 1st century BC, during the Hellenistic period, the Greeks had begun to develop their own mathematical schemes for predicting the positions of the planets. These schemes, which were based on geometry rather than the arithmetic of the Babylonians, would eventually eclipse the Babylonians' theories in complexity and comprehensiveness and account for most of the astronomical movements observed from Earth with the naked eye. These theories would reach their fullest expression in the Almagest written by Ptolemy in the 2nd century CE. So complete was the domination of Ptolemy's model that it superseded all previous works on astronomy and remained the definitive astronomical text in the Western world for 13 centuries. To the Greeks and Romans, there were seven known planets, each presumed to be circling Earth according to the complex laws laid out by Ptolemy. They were, in increasing order from Earth (in Ptolemy's order and using modern names): the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. ### Medieval astronomy After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, astronomy developed further in India and the medieval Islamic world. In 499 CE, the Indian astronomer Aryabhata propounded a planetary model that explicitly incorporated Earth's rotation about its axis, which he explains as the cause of what appears to be an apparent westward motion of the stars. He also theorized that the orbits of planets were elliptical. Aryabhata's followers were particularly strong in South India, where his principles of the diurnal rotation of Earth, among others, were followed and a number of secondary works were based on them. The astronomy of the Islamic Golden Age mostly took place in the Middle East, Central Asia, Al-Andalus, and North Africa, and later in the Far East and India. These astronomers, like the polymath Ibn al-Haytham, generally accepted geocentrism, although they did dispute Ptolemy's system of epicycles and sought alternatives. The 10th-century astronomer Abu Sa'id al-Sijzi accepted that the Earth rotates around its axis. In the 11th century, the transit of Venus was observed by Avicenna. His contemporary Al-Biruni devised a method of determining the Earth's radius using trigonometry that, unlike the older method of Eratosthenes, only required observations at a single mountain. ### Scientific Revolution and discovery of outer planets With the advent of the Scientific Revolution and the heliocentric model of Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler, use of the term "planet" changed from something that moved around the sky relative to the fixed star to a body that orbited the Sun, directly (a primary planet) or indirectly (a secondary or satellite planet). Thus the Earth was added to the roster of planets, and the Sun was removed. The Copernican count of primary planets stood until 1781, when William Herschel discovered Uranus. When four satellites of Jupiter (the Galilean moons) and five of Saturn were discovered in the 17th century, they joined Earth's Moon in the category of "satellite planets" or "secondary planets" orbiting the primary planets, though in the following decades they would come to be called simply "satellites" for short. Scientists generally considered planetary satellites to also be planets until about the 1920s, although this usage was not common among non-scientists. In the first decade of the 19th century, four new 'planets' were discovered: Ceres (in 1801), Pallas (in 1802), Juno (in 1804), and Vesta (in 1807). It soon became apparent that they were rather different from previously known planets: they shared the same general region of space, between Mars and Jupiter (the asteroid belt), with sometimes overlapping orbits. This was an area where only one planet had been expected, and they were much smaller than all other planets; indeed, it was suspected that they might be shards of a larger planet that had broken up. Herschel called them asteroids (from the Greek for "starlike") because even in the largest telescopes they resembled stars, without a resolvable disk. The situation was stable for four decades, but in the 1840s several additional asteroids were discovered (Astraea in 1845; Hebe, Iris, and Flora in 1847; Metis in 1848; and Hygiea in 1849). New "planets" were discovered every year; as a result, astronomers began tabulating the asteroids (minor planets) separately from the major planets and assigning them numbers instead of abstract planetary symbols, although they continued to be considered as small planets. Neptune was discovered in 1846, its position having been predicted thanks to its gravitational influence upon Uranus. Because the orbit of Mercury appeared to be affected in a similar way, it was believed in the late 19th century that there might be another planet even closer to the Sun. However, the discrepancy between Mercury's orbit and the predictions of Newtonian gravity was instead explained by an improved theory of gravity, Einstein's general relativity. Pluto was discovered in 1930. After initial observations led to the belief that it was larger than Earth, the object was immediately accepted as the ninth major planet. Further monitoring found the body was actually much smaller: in 1936, Ray Lyttleton suggested that Pluto may be an escaped satellite of Neptune, and Fred Whipple suggested in 1964 that Pluto may be a comet. The discovery of its large moon Charon in 1978 showed that Pluto was only 0.2% the mass of Earth. As this was still substantially more massive than any known asteroid, and because no other trans-Neptunian objects had been discovered at that time, Pluto kept its planetary status, only officially losing it in 2006. In the 1950s, Gerard Kuiper published papers on the origin of the asteroids. He recognized that asteroids were typically not spherical, as had previously been thought, and that the asteroid families were remnants of collisions. Thus he differentiated between the largest asteroids as "true planets" versus the smaller ones as collisional fragments. From the 1960s onwards, the term "minor planet" was mostly displaced by the term "asteroid", and references to the asteroids as planets in the literature became scarce, except for the geologically evolved largest three: Ceres, and less often Pallas and Vesta. The beginning of Solar System exploration by space probes in the 1960s spurred a renewed interest in planetary science. A split in definitions regarding satellites occurred around then: planetary scientists began to reconsider the large moons as also being planets, but astronomers who were not planetary scientists generally did not. (This is not exactly the same as the definition used in the previous century, which classed all satellites as secondary planets, even non-round ones like Saturn's Hyperion or Mars's Phobos and Deimos.) All the eight major planets and their planetary-mass moons have since been explored by spacecraft, as have many asteroids and the dwarf planets Ceres and Pluto; however, so far the only planetary-mass body beyond Earth that has been explored by humans is the Moon. ### Defining the term planet A growing number of astronomers argued for Pluto to be declassified as a planet, because many similar objects approaching its size had been found in the same region of the Solar System (the Kuiper belt) during the 1990s and early 2000s. Pluto was found to be just one "small" body in a population of thousands. They often referred to the demotion of the asteroids as a precedent, although that had been done based on their geophysical differences from planets rather than their being in a belt. Some of the larger trans-Neptunian objects, such as Quaoar, Sedna, Eris, and Haumea, were heralded in the popular press as the tenth planet. The announcement of Eris in 2005, an object 27% more massive than Pluto, created the impetus for an official definition of a planet, as considering Pluto a planet would logically have demanded that Eris be considered a planet as well. Since different procedures were in place for naming planets versus non-planets, this created an urgent situation because under the rules Eris could not be named without defining what a planet was. At the time, it was also thought that the size required for a trans-Neptunian object to become round was about the same as that required for the moons of the giant planets (about 400 km diameter), a figure that would have suggested about 200 round objects in the Kuiper belt and thousands more beyond. Many astronomers argued that the public would not accept a definition creating a large number of planets. To acknowledge the problem, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) set about creating the definition of planet and produced one in August 2006. Under this definition, the Solar System is considered to have eight planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune). Bodies that fulfill the first two conditions but not the third are classified as dwarf planets, provided they are not natural satellites of other planets. Originally an IAU committee had proposed a definition that would have included a larger number of planets as it did not include (c) as a criterion. After much discussion, it was decided via a vote that those bodies should instead be classified as dwarf planets. #### Criticisms and alternatives to IAU definition The IAU definition has not been universally used or accepted. In planetary geology, celestial objects are defined as planets by geophysical characteristics. A celestial body may acquire a dynamic (planetary) geology at approximately the mass required for its mantle to become plastic under its own weight. This leads to a state of hydrostatic equilibrium where the body acquires a stable, round shape, which is adopted as the hallmark of planethood by geophysical definitions. For example: > a substellar-mass body that has never undergone nuclear fusion and has enough gravitation to be round due to hydrostatic equilibrium, regardless of its orbital parameters. In the Solar System, this mass is generally less than the mass required for a body to clear its orbit; thus, some objects that are considered "planets" under geophysical definitions are not considered as such under the IAU definition, such as Ceres and Pluto. (In practice, the requirement for hydrostatic equilibrium is universally relaxed to a requirement for rounding and compaction under self-gravity; Mercury is not actually in hydrostatic equilibrium, but is universally included as a planet regardless.) Proponents of such definitions often argue that location should not matter and that planethood should be defined by the intrinsic properties of an object. Dwarf planets had been proposed as a category of small planet (as opposed to planetoids as sub-planetary objects) and planetary geologists continue to treat them as planets despite the IAU definition. The number of dwarf planets even among known objects is not certain. In 2019, Grundy et al. argued based on the low densities of some mid-sized trans-Neptunian objects that the limiting size required for a trans-Neptunian object to reach equilibrium was in fact much larger than it is for the icy moons of the giant planets, being about 900–1000 km diameter. There is general consensus on Ceres in the asteroid belt and on the eight trans-Neptunians that probably cross this threshold—, , , , , , , and . Planetary geologists may include the nineteen known planetary-mass moons as "satellite planets", including Earth's Moon and Pluto's Charon, like the early modern astronomers. Some go even further and include as planets relatively large, geologically evolved bodies that are nonetheless not very round today, such as Pallas and Vesta; rounded bodies that were completely disrupted by impacts and re-accreted like Hygiea; or even everything at least the diameter of Saturn's moon Mimas, the smallest planetary-mass moon. (This may even include objects that are not round but happen to be larger than Mimas, like Neptune's moon Proteus.) Astronomer Jean-Luc Margot proposed a mathematical criterion that determines whether an object can clear its orbit during the lifetime of its host star, based on the mass of the planet, its semimajor axis, and the mass of its host star. The formula produces a value called π that is greater than 1 for planets. The eight known planets and all known exoplanets have π values above 100, while Ceres, Pluto, and Eris have π values of 0.1, or less. Objects with π values of 1 or more are expected to be approximately spherical, so that objects that fulfill the orbital-zone clearance requirement around Sun-like stars will also fulfill the roundness requirement – though this may not be the case around very low-mass stars. In 2024, Margot and collaborators proposed a revised version of the criterion with a uniform clearing timescale of 10 billion years (the approximate main-sequence lifetime of the Sun) or 13.8 billion years (the age of the Universe) to accommodate planets orbiting brown dwarfs. ### Exoplanets Even before the discovery of exoplanets, there were particular disagreements over whether an object should be considered a planet if it was part of a distinct population such as a belt, or if it was large enough to generate energy by the thermonuclear fusion of deuterium. Complicating the matter even further, bodies too small to generate energy by fusing deuterium can form by gas-cloud collapse just like stars and brown dwarfs, even down to the mass of Jupiter: there was thus disagreement about whether how a body formed should be taken into account. In 1992, astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail announced the discovery of planets around a pulsar, PSR B1257+12. This discovery is generally considered to be the first definitive detection of a planetary system around another star. Then, on 6 October 1995, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz of the Geneva Observatory announced the first definitive detection of an exoplanet orbiting an ordinary main-sequence star (51 Pegasi). The discovery of exoplanets led to another ambiguity in defining a planet: the point at which a planet becomes a star. Many known exoplanets are many times the mass of Jupiter, approaching that of stellar objects known as brown dwarfs. Brown dwarfs are generally considered stars due to their theoretical ability to fuse deuterium, a heavier isotope of hydrogen. Although objects more massive than 75 times that of Jupiter fuse simple hydrogen, objects of 13 Jupiter masses can fuse deuterium. Deuterium is quite rare, constituting less than 0.0026% of the hydrogen in the galaxy, and most brown dwarfs would have ceased fusing deuterium long before their discovery, making them effectively indistinguishable from supermassive planets. #### IAU working definition of exoplanets The 2006 IAU definition presents some challenges for exoplanets because the language is specific to the Solar System and the criteria of roundness and orbital zone clearance are not presently observable for exoplanets. In 2018, this definition was reassessed and updated as knowledge of exoplanets increased. The current official working definition of an exoplanet is as follows: > 1. Objects with true masses below the limiting mass for thermonuclear fusion of deuterium (currently calculated to be 13 Jupiter masses for objects of solar metallicity) that orbit stars, brown dwarfs, or stellar remnants and that have a mass ratio with the central object below the L4/L5 instability (M/M_central \< 2/(25+) are "planets" (no matter how they formed). The minimum mass/size required for an extrasolar object to be considered a planet should be the same as that used in our Solar System. > 2. Substellar objects with true masses above the limiting mass for thermonuclear fusion of deuterium are "brown dwarfs", no matter how they formed nor where they are located. > 3. Free-floating objects in young star clusters with masses below the limiting mass for thermonuclear fusion of deuterium are not "planets", but are "sub-brown dwarfs" (or whatever name is most appropriate). The IAU noted that this definition could be expected to evolve as knowledge improves. A 2022 review article discussing the history and rationale of this definition suggested that the words "in young star clusters" should be deleted in clause 3, as such objects have now been found elsewhere, and that the term "sub-brown dwarfs" should be replaced by the more current "free-floating planetary mass objects". The term "planetary mass object" has also been used to refer to ambiguous situations concerning exoplanets, such as objects with mass typical for a planet that are free-floating or orbit a brown dwarf instead of a star. Free-floating objects of planetary mass have sometimes been called planets anyway, specifically rogue planets. The limit of 13 Jupiter masses is not universally accepted. Objects below this mass limit can sometimes burn deuterium, and the amount of deuterium that is burned depends on an object's composition. Furthermore, deuterium is quite scarce, so the stage of deuterium burning does not actually last very long; unlike hydrogen burning in a star, deuterium burning does not significantly affect the future evolution of an object. The relationship between mass and radius (or density) show no special feature at this limit, according to which brown dwarfs have the same physics and internal structure as lighter Jovian planets, and would more naturally be considered planets. Thus, many catalogues of exoplanets include objects heavier than 13 Jupiter masses, sometimes going up to 60 Jupiter masses. (The limit for hydrogen burning and becoming a red dwarf star is about 80 Jupiter masses.) The situation of main-sequence stars has been used to argue for such an inclusive definition of "planet" as well, as they also differ greatly along the two orders of magnitude that they cover, in their structure, atmospheres, temperature, spectral features, and probably formation mechanisms; yet they are all considered as one class, being all hydrostatic-equilibrium objects undergoing nuclear burning. ## Mythology and naming The naming of planets differs between planets of the Solar System and exoplanets (planets of other planetary systems). Exoplanets are commonly named after their parent star and their order of discovery within its planetary system, such as Proxima Centauri b. (The lettering starts at b, with a considered to represent the parent star.) The names for the planets of the Solar System (other than Earth) in the English language are derived from naming practices developed consecutively by the Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans of antiquity. The practice of grafting the names of gods onto the planets was almost certainly borrowed from the Babylonians by the ancient Greeks, and thereafter from the Greeks by the Romans. The Babylonians named Venus after the Sumerian goddess of love with the Akkadian name Ishtar; Mars after their god of war, Nergal; Mercury after their god of wisdom Nabu; and Jupiter after their chief god, Marduk. There are too many concordances between Greek and Babylonian naming conventions for them to have arisen separately. Given the differences in mythology, the correspondence was not perfect. For instance, the Babylonian Nergal was a god of war, and thus the Greeks identified him with Ares. Unlike Ares, Nergal was also a god of pestilence and ruler of the underworld. In ancient Greece, the two great luminaries, the Sun and the Moon, were called Helios and Selene, two ancient Titanic deities; the slowest planet, Saturn, was called Phainon, the shiner; followed by Phaethon, Jupiter, "bright"; the red planet, Mars was known as Pyroeis, the "fiery"; the brightest, Venus, was known as Phosphoros, the light bringer; and the fleeting final planet, Mercury, was called Stilbon, the gleamer. The Greeks assigned each planet to one among their pantheon of gods, the Olympians and the earlier Titans: - Helios and Selene were the names of both planets and gods, both of them Titans (later supplanted by Olympians Apollo and Artemis); - Phainon was sacred to Cronus, the Titan who fathered the Olympians; - Phaethon was sacred to Zeus, Cronus's son who deposed him as king; - Pyroeis was given to Ares, son of Zeus and god of war; - Phosphoros was ruled by Aphrodite, the goddess of love; and - Stilbon with its speedy motion, was ruled over by Hermes, messenger of the gods and god of learning and wit. Although modern Greeks still use their ancient names for the planets, other European languages, because of the influence of the Roman Empire and, later, the Catholic Church, use the Roman (Latin) names rather than the Greek ones. The Romans inherited Proto-Indo-European mythology as the Greeks did and shared with them a common pantheon under different names, but the Romans lacked the rich narrative traditions that Greek poetic culture had given their gods. During the later period of the Roman Republic, Roman writers borrowed much of the Greek narratives and applied them to their own pantheon, to the point where they became virtually indistinguishable. When the Romans studied Greek astronomy, they gave the planets their own gods' names: Mercurius (for Hermes), Venus (Aphrodite), Mars (Ares), Iuppiter (Zeus), and Saturnus (Cronus). However, there was not much agreement on which god a particular planet was associated with; according to Pliny the Elder, while Phainon and Phaethon's associations with Saturn and Jupiter respectively were widely agreed upon, Pyroeis was also associated with the demi-god Hercules, Stilbon was also associated with Apollo, god of music, healing, and prophecy; Phosphoros was also associated with prominent goddesses Juno and Isis. Some Romans, following a belief possibly originating in Mesopotamia but developed in Hellenistic Egypt, believed that the seven gods after whom the planets were named took hourly shifts in looking after affairs on Earth. The order of shifts went Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon (from the farthest to the closest planet). Therefore, the first day was started by Saturn (1st hour), second day by Sun (25th hour), followed by Moon (49th hour), Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus. Because each day was named by the god that started it, this became the order of the days of the week in the Roman calendar. In English, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday are straightforward translations of these Roman names. The other days were renamed after Tīw (Tuesday), Wōden (Wednesday), Þunor (Thursday), and Frīġ (Friday), the Anglo-Saxon gods considered similar or equivalent to Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus, respectively. Earth's name in English is not derived from Greco-Roman mythology. Because it was only generally accepted as a planet in the 17th century, there is no tradition of naming it after a god. (The same is true, in English at least, of the Sun and the Moon, though they are no longer generally considered planets.) The name originates from the Old English word eorþe, which was the word for "ground" and "dirt" as well as the world itself. As with its equivalents in the other Germanic languages, it derives ultimately from the Proto-Germanic word erþō, as can be seen in the English earth, the German Erde, the Dutch aarde, and the Scandinavian jord. Many of the Romance languages retain the old Roman word terra (or some variation of it) that was used with the meaning of "dry land" as opposed to "sea". The non-Romance languages use their own native words. The Greeks retain their original name, Γή (Ge). Non-European cultures use other planetary-naming systems. India uses a system based on the Navagraha, which incorporates the seven traditional planets and the ascending and descending lunar nodes Rahu and Ketu. The planets are Surya 'Sun', Chandra 'Moon', Budha for Mercury, Shukra ('bright') for Venus, Mangala (the god of war) for Mars, '' (councilor of the gods) for Jupiter, and Shani (symbolic of time) for Saturn. The native Persian names of most of the planets are based on identifications of the Mesopotamian gods with Iranian gods, analogous to the Greek and Latin names. Mercury is Tir (Persian: تیر) for the western Iranian god Tīriya (patron of scribes), analogous to Nabu; Venus is Nāhid (ناهید) for Anahita; Mars is Bahrām (بهرام) for Verethragna; and Jupiter is Hormoz (هرمز) for Ahura Mazda. The Persian name for Saturn, Keyvān (کیوان), is a borrowing from Akkadian kajamānu, meaning "the permanent, steady". China and the countries of eastern Asia historically subject to Chinese cultural influence (such as Japan, Korea, and Vietnam) use a naming system based on the five Chinese elements: water (Mercury 水星 "water star"), metal (Venus 金星 "metal star"), fire (Mars 火星 "fire star"), wood (Jupiter 木星 "wood star"), and earth (Saturn 土星 "earth star"). The names of Uranus (天王星 "sky king star"), Neptune (海王星 "sea king star"), and Pluto (冥王星 "underworld king star") in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese are calques based on the roles of those gods in Roman and Greek mythology. In the 19th century, Alexander Wylie and Li Shanlan calqued the names of the first 117 asteroids into Chinese, and many of their names are still used today, e.g. Ceres (穀神星 "grain goddess star"), Pallas (智神星 "wisdom goddess star"), Juno (婚神星 "marriage goddess star"), Vesta (灶神星 "hearth goddess star"), and Hygiea (健神星 "health goddess star"). Such translations were extended to some later minor planets, including some of the dwarf planets discovered in the 21st century, e.g. Haumea (妊神星 "pregnancy goddess star"), Makemake (鳥神星 "bird goddess star"), and Eris (鬩神星 "quarrel goddess star"). However, except for the better-known asteroids and dwarf planets, many of them are rare outside Chinese astronomical dictionaries. In traditional Hebrew astronomy, the seven traditional planets have (for the most part) descriptive names—the Sun is חמה Ḥammah or "the hot one", the Moon is לבנה Levanah or "the white one", Venus is כוכב נוגה Kokhav Nogah or "the bright planet", Mercury is כוכב Kokhav or "the planet" (given its lack of distinguishing features), Mars is מאדים Ma'adim or "the red one", and Saturn is שבתאי Shabbatai or "the resting one" (in reference to its slow movement compared to the other visible planets). The odd one out is Jupiter, called צדק Tzedeq or "justice". These names, first attested in the Babylonian Talmud, are not the original Hebrew names of the planets. In 377 Epiphanius of Salamis recorded another set of names that seem to have pagan or Canaanite associations: those names, since replaced for religious reasons, were probably the historical Semitic names, and may have much earlier roots going back to Babylonian astronomy. Hebrew names were chosen for Uranus (אורון Oron, "small light") and Neptune (רהב Rahab, a Biblical sea monster) in 2009; prior to that the names "Uranus" and "Neptune" had simply been borrowed. The etymologies for the Arabic names of the planets are less well understood. Mostly agreed among scholars are Venus (Arabic: الزهرة, az-Zuhara, "the bright one"), Earth (الأرض, al-ʾArḍ, from the same root as eretz), and Saturn (زُحَل, Zuḥal, "withdrawer"). Multiple suggested etymologies exist for Mercury (عُطَارِد, ʿUṭārid), Mars (اَلْمِرِّيخ, al-Mirrīkh), and Jupiter (المشتري, al-Muštarī), but there is no agreement among scholars. When subsequent planets were discovered in the 18th and 19th centuries, Uranus was named for a Greek deity and Neptune for a Roman one (the counterpart of Poseidon). The asteroids were initially named from mythology as well—Ceres, Juno, and Vesta are major Roman goddesses, and Pallas is an epithet of the major Greek goddess Athena—but as more and more were discovered, they first started being named after more minor goddesses, and the mythological restriction was dropped starting from the twentieth asteroid Massalia in 1852. Pluto (named after the Greek god of the underworld) was given a classical name, as it was considered a major planet when it was discovered. After more objects were discovered beyond Neptune, naming conventions depending on their orbits were put in place: those in the 2:3 resonance with Neptune (the plutinos) are given names from underworld myths, while others are given names from creation myths. Most of the trans-Neptunian planetoids are named after gods and goddesses from other cultures (e.g. Quaoar is named after a Tongva god). There are a few exceptions which continue the Roman and Greek scheme, notably including Eris as it had initially been considered a tenth planet. The moons (including the planetary-mass ones) are generally given names with some association with their parent planet. The planetary-mass moons of Jupiter are named after four of Zeus' lovers (or other sexual partners); those of Saturn are named after Cronus' brothers and sisters, the Titans; those of Uranus are named after characters from Shakespeare and Pope (originally specifically from fairy mythology, but that ended with the naming of Miranda). Neptune's planetary-mass moon Triton is named after the god's son; Pluto's planetary-mass moon Charon is named after the ferryman of the dead, who carries the souls of the newly deceased to the underworld (Pluto's domain). ### Symbols The written symbols for Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and possibly Mars have been traced to forms found in late Greek papyrus texts. The symbols for Jupiter and Saturn are identified as monograms of the corresponding Greek names, and the symbol for Mercury is a stylized caduceus. According to Annie Scott Dill Maunder, antecedents of the planetary symbols were used in art to represent the gods associated with the classical planets. Bianchini's planisphere'', discovered by Francesco Bianchini in the 18th century but produced in the 2nd century, shows Greek personifications of planetary gods charged with early versions of the planetary symbols. Mercury has a caduceus; Venus has, attached to her necklace, a cord connected to another necklace; Mars, a spear; Jupiter, a staff; Saturn, a scythe; the Sun, a circlet with rays radiating from it; and the Moon, a headdress with a crescent attached. The modern shapes with the cross-marks first appeared around the 16th century. According to Maunder, the addition of crosses appears to be "an attempt to give a savour of Christianity to the symbols of the old pagan gods." Earth itself was not considered a classical planet; its symbol descends from a pre-heliocentric symbol for the four corners of the world. When further planets were discovered orbiting the Sun, symbols were invented for them. The most common astronomical symbol for Uranus, ⛢, was invented by Johann Gottfried Köhler, and was intended to represent the newly discovered metal platinum. An alternative symbol, ♅, was invented by Jérôme Lalande, and represents a globe with a H on top, for Uranus's discoverer Herschel. Today, ⛢ is mostly used by astronomers and ♅ by astrologers, though it is possible to find each symbol in the other context. The first few asteroids were considered to be planets when they were discovered, and were likewise given abstract symbols, e.g. Ceres' sickle (⚳), Pallas' spear (⚴), Juno's sceptre (⚵), and Vesta's hearth (⚶). However, as their number rose further and further, this practice stopped in favour of numbering them instead. (Massalia, the first asteroid not named from mythology, is also the first asteroid that was not assigned a symbol by its discoverer.) The symbols for the first four asteroids, Ceres through Vesta, remained in use for longer than the others, and even in the modern day NASA has used the Ceres symbol—Ceres being the only asteroid that is also a dwarf planet. Neptune's symbol (♆) represents the god's trident. The astronomical symbol for Pluto is a P-L monogram (♇), though it has become less common since the IAU definition reclassified Pluto. Since Pluto's reclassification, NASA has used the traditional astrological symbol of Pluto (⯓), a planetary orb over Pluto's bident. The IAU discourages the use of planetary symbols in modern journal articles in favour of one-letter or (to disambiguate Mercury and Mars) two-letter abbreviations for the major planets. The symbols for the Sun and Earth are nonetheless common, as solar mass, Earth mass, and similar units are common in astronomy. Other planetary symbols today are mostly encountered in astrology. Astrologers have resurrected the old astronomical symbols for the first few asteroids and continue to invent symbols for other objects. This includes relatively standard astrological symbols for the dwarf planets discovered in the 21st century, which were not given symbols by astronomers because planetary symbols had mostly fallen out of use in astronomy by the time they were discovered. Many astrological symbols are included in Unicode, and a few of these new inventions (the symbols of Haumea, Makemake, and Eris) have since been used by NASA in astronomy. The Eris symbol is a traditional one from Discordianism, a religion worshipping the goddess Eris. The other dwarf-planet symbols are mostly initialisms (except Haumea) in the native scripts of the cultures they come from; they also represent something associated with the corresponding deity or culture, e.g. Makemake's face or Gonggong's snake-tail. ## See also - - List of landings on extraterrestrial bodies - Lists of planets – A list of lists of planets sorted by diverse attributes - - - -

Philip Seymour Hoffman

American actor (1967–2014)

Philip Seymour Hoffman (July 23, 1967 – February 2, 2014) was an American actor. Known for his distinctive supporting and character roles—eccentrics, underdogs, and misfits—he acted in many films and theatrical productions, including leading roles, from the early 1990s until his death in 2014. He was voted one of the 50 greatest actors of all time in a 2022 readers' poll by Empire magazine. Hoffman studied acting at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He gained recognition for his supporting work, notably in Scent of a Woman (1992), Boogie Nights (1997), Happiness (1998), The Big Lebowski (1998), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), and Almost Famous (2000). He began to occasionally play leading roles, and for his portrayal of the author Truman Capote in Capote (2005), won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Further Oscar nominations came for playing a brutally frank CIA officer in Charlie Wilson's War (2007), a priest accused of child sexual abuse in Doubt (2008), and the charismatic leader of a Scientology-type movement in The Master (2012). While he mainly worked in independent films, including The Savages (2007) and Synecdoche, New York (2008), Hoffman also appeared in Hollywood blockbusters, such as Twister (1996) and Mission: Impossible III (2006). He played Plutarch Heavensbee in the Hunger Games series (2013–2015), in one of his final roles. The feature Jack Goes Boating (2010) marked his debut as a filmmaker. Hoffman was also an accomplished theater actor and director. He joined the off-Broadway LAByrinth Theater Company in 1995, where he directed, produced, and appeared in numerous stage productions. Hoffman received Tony Award nominations for his performances in the Broadway revivals of Sam Shepard's True West (2000), Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night (2003), and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (2012). Hoffman struggled with drug addiction as a young adult and relapsed in 2012 after many years of sobriety. In February 2014, he died of combined drug intoxication. Remembered for bringing nuance, depth, and humanity to the versatile roles he inhabited, Hoffman was described in his obituary in The New York Times as "perhaps the most ambitious and widely admired American actor of his generation". ## Early life and education Philip Hoffman was born on July 23, 1967, in the Rochester suburb of Fairport, New York. His mother, Marilyn O'Connor (née Loucks), came from nearby Waterloo and worked as an elementary school teacher before becoming a lawyer and eventually a family court judge. His father, Gordon Stowell Hoffman, was a native of Geneva, New York, and worked for the Xerox Corporation. Hoffman had one brother, Gordy, and two sisters, Jill and Emily. His ancestry included Irish and German. Hoffman was baptized a Catholic and attended Mass as a child, but did not have a heavily religious upbringing. His parents divorced when he was nine, and the children were raised primarily by their mother. Hoffman's childhood passion was sports, particularly wrestling and baseball, but at age 12, he attended a stage production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons and was transfixed. He recalled in 2008, "I was changed—permanently changed—by that experience. It was like a miracle to me." Hoffman developed a love for the theater, and proceeded to attend regularly with his mother, who was a lifelong enthusiast. He remembered that productions of Quilters and Alms for the Middle Class, the latter starring a teenaged Robert Downey Jr. were also particularly inspirational. At age 14, Hoffman suffered a neck injury that ended his sporting activity, and he began to consider acting. Encouraged by his mother, he joined a drama club, and initially committed to it because he was attracted to a female member. Acting gradually became a passion for Hoffman: "I loved the camaraderie of it, the people, and that's when I decided it was what I wanted to do." At age 17, he was selected to attend the 1984 New York State Summer School of the Arts in Saratoga Springs, where he met his future collaborators Bennett Miller and Dan Futterman. Miller later commented on Hoffman's popularity at the time: "We were attracted to the fact that he was genuinely serious about what he was doing. Even then, he was passionate." Hoffman applied for several drama degree programs and was accepted to New York University's (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. Between graduating from Fairport High School and beginning the program, he continued his training at the Circle in the Square Theatre's summer program. Hoffman had positive memories of his time at NYU, where he supported himself by working as an usher. With friends, he co-founded the Bullstoi Ensemble acting troupe. He received a drama degree in 1989. ## Career ### 1991–1995: Early career After graduating, Hoffman worked in off-Broadway theater and made additional money with customer service jobs. He made his screen debut in 1991, in a Law & Order episode called "The Violence of Summer", playing a man accused of rape. He made his film debut the following year, when he was credited as "Phil Hoffman" in the independent film Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole. After this, he adopted his grandfather's name, Seymour, to avoid confusion with another actor. More film roles promptly followed, with appearances in the studio production My New Gun, and a small role in the comedy Leap of Faith, starring Steve Martin. Following these roles, he gained attention playing a spoiled private school student in the Oscar-winning Al Pacino film Scent of a Woman (1992). Hoffman auditioned five times for his role, which The Guardian journalist Ryan Gilbey says gave him an early opportunity "to indulge his skill for making unctuousness compelling". The film earned US$134 million worldwide and was the first to get Hoffman noticed. Reflecting on Scent of a Woman, Hoffman later said, "If I hadn't gotten into that film, I wouldn't be where I am today." At this time, he quit his job in a delicatessen to become a professional actor. Hoffman continued playing small roles throughout the early 1990s. After appearing in Joey Breaker and the critically panned teen zombie picture My Boyfriend's Back, he had a more notable role playing John Cusack's wealthy friend in the crime comedy Money for Nothing. In 1994, he portrayed an inexperienced mobster in the crime thriller The Getaway, starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger, and he subsequently appeared with Andy García and Meg Ryan in the romantic drama When a Man Loves a Woman. He then played an uptight police deputy who gets punched by Paul Newman—one of Hoffman's acting idols—in the drama Nobody's Fool. Still considering stage work to be fundamental to his career, Hoffman joined the LAByrinth Theater Company of New York City in 1995. This association lasted the remainder of his life; along with appearing in multiple productions, he later became co-artistic director of the theater company with John Ortiz, and directed various plays over the years. Hoffman's only film appearance of 1995 was in the 22-minute short comedy The Fifteen Minute Hamlet, which satirized the film industry in an Elizabethan setting. He played the characters of Bernardo, Horatio, and Laertes alongside Austin Pendleton's Hamlet. ### 1996–1999: Rising star Between April and May 1996, Hoffman appeared at the Joseph Papp Public Theater in a Mark Wing-Davey production of Caryl Churchill's The Skriker. Following this, based on his work in Scent of a Woman, he was cast by writer–director Paul Thomas Anderson to appear in his debut feature Hard Eight (1996). Hoffman had only a brief role in the crime thriller, playing a cocksure young craps player, but it began the most important collaboration of his career. Before cementing his creative partnership with Anderson, Hoffman appeared in one of the year's biggest blockbusters, Twister, playing a grubby, hyperactive storm chaser alongside Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton. According to a People survey of Twitter and Facebook users, Twister is the film with which Hoffman is most popularly associated. He then reunited with Anderson for the director's second feature, Boogie Nights, about the Golden Age of Pornography. The ensemble piece starred Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, and Burt Reynolds; Hoffman played a boom operator, described by David Fear of Rolling Stone as a "complete, unabashed loser", who attempts to seduce Wahlberg's character. Warmly received by critics, the film grew into a cult classic, and has been cited as the role in which Hoffman first showed his full ability. Fear commended the "naked emotional neediness" of the performance, adding that it made for compulsive viewing. Hoffman later expressed his appreciation for Anderson when he called the director "incomparable". Continuing with this momentum, Hoffman appeared in five films in 1998. He had supporting roles in the crime thriller Montana and the romantic comedy Next Stop Wonderland, both of which were commercial failures, before working with the Coen brothers in their dark comedy The Big Lebowski. Hoffman had long been a fan of the directors, and relished the experience of working with them. Appearing alongside Jeff Bridges and John Goodman, Hoffman played Brandt, the smug personal assistant of the titular character. Although it was only a small role, he said it was one for which he was most recognized, in a film that has achieved cult status and a large fan base. Between March and April 1998, Hoffman made 30 appearances on stage at the New York Theatre Workshop in a production of Mark Ravenhill's Shopping and Fucking, portraying an ex-heroin addict. Hoffman took an unflattering role in Todd Solondz's Happiness (1998), a misanthropic black comedy about the lives of three sisters and those around them. He played Allen, a sexually frustrated loner who makes obscene phone calls to women; the character furiously masturbates during one conversation, producing what film scholar Jerry Mosher calls an "embarrassingly raw performance". Jake Coyle of the Associated Press rated Allen as "one of the creepiest characters in American movies", but critic Xan Brooks highlighted the pathos that Hoffman brought to the role. Happiness was controversial but widely praised, and Hoffman's role has been cited by critics as one of his best. His final 1998 release was more mainstream, appeared as a medical student in the Robin Williams comedy Patch Adams. The film was critically panned, but one of the highest-grossing of Hoffman's career. In 1999, Hoffman starred opposite Robert De Niro as drag queen Rusty Zimmerman in Joel Schumacher's drama Flawless. Hoffman considered De Niro the most imposing actor with whom he had appeared, and he felt that working with the veteran performer profoundly improved his own acting. Hoffman's ability to avoid clichés in playing such a delicate role was noted by critics, and Roger Ebert said it confirmed him as "one of the best new character actors". He was rewarded with his first Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. Hoffman then reunited with Paul Thomas Anderson, where he was given an atypically virtuous role in the ensemble drama Magnolia. The film, set over one day in Los Angeles, features Hoffman as a nurse who cares for Jason Robards' character, who is dying of cancer. The performance was approved of by the medical industry, and Jessica Winter of the Village Voice considered it Hoffman's most indelible work, likening him to a guardian angel. Magnolia has been included in lists of the greatest films of all time, and it was a personal favorite of Hoffman's. One of the most critically and commercially successful films of Hoffman's career was The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), which he considered "as edgy as you can get for a Hollywood movie". He played a "preppy bully" who taunts Matt Damon's Tom Ripley in the thriller, a character which Jeff Simon of The Buffalo News called "the truest upper class twit in all of American movies". Hoffman's performance won praise from Meryl Streep, another of his cinematic idols: "I sat up straight in my seat and said, 'Who is that?' I thought to myself: My God, this actor is fearless," she said. "He's done what we all strive for — he's given this awful character the respect he deserves, and he's made him fascinating." In recognition of his work in Magnolia and The Talented Mr. Ripley, Hoffman was named the year's Best Supporting Actor by the National Board of Review. ### 2000–2004: Established star Following a string of roles in successful films in the late 1990s, Hoffman had established a reputation as a top supporting player who could be relied on to make an impression with each performance. His film appearances were likened by David Kamp of GQ to "discovering a prize in a box of cereal, receiving a bonus, or bumping unexpectedly into an old friend". According to Jerry Mosher, as the year 2000 began, "it seemed Hoffman was everywhere, poised on the cusp of stardom". Hoffman had begun to be recognized as a theater actor in 1999, when he received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor for the off-Broadway play The Author's Voice. This success continued with the 2000 Broadway revival of Sam Shepard's True West, where Hoffman alternated roles nightly with co-star John C. Reilly, making 154 appearances between March and July 2000. Ben Brantley of The New York Times felt that it was the best stage performance of Hoffman's career, calling him "brilliant", and the actor earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play. The following year, Hoffman appeared with Meryl Streep, Natalie Portman, and John Goodman in a Delacorte Theater production of Chekhov's The Seagull—although Brantley felt that this performance was less fully realized. As a stage director, Hoffman received two Drama Desk Award nominations for Outstanding Director of a Play: one for Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train in 2001, and another for Our Lady of 121st Street in 2003. In a 2008 interview, Hoffman opined that "switching hats" between acting and directing helped him improve in both roles. David Mamet's comedy State and Main, about the difficulties of shooting a film in rural New England, was Hoffman's first film role of 2000 and had a limited release. He had a more prominent supporting role that year in Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe's popular coming-of-age film set in the 1970s music industry. Hoffman portrayed the enthusiastic rock critic Lester Bangs, a task by which he felt burdened, but he managed to convey the real figure's mannerisms and sharp wit after watching him in a BBC interview. The following year, Hoffman featured as the narrator and interviewer in The Party's Over, a documentary about the 2000 U.S. elections. He assumed the position of a "politically informed and alienated Generation-Xer" who seeks to be educated in U.S. politics, but ultimately reveals the extent of public dissatisfaction in this area. In 2002, Hoffman was given his first leading role (despite joking at the time "Even if I was hired into a leading-man part, I'd probably turn it into the non-leading-man part") in Todd Louiso's tragicomedy Love Liza (2002). His brother Gordy wrote the script, which Hoffman had seen at their mother's house five years earlier, about a widower who starts sniffing gasoline to cope with his wife's suicide. He considered it the finest piece of writing he had ever read, "incredibly humble in its exploration of grief", but critics were less enthusiastic about the production. A review for the BBC wrote that Hoffman had finally been given a part that showed "what he's truly capable of", but few witnessed this as the film had a limited release and earned only US$210,000. Later in 2002, Hoffman starred opposite Adam Sandler and Emily Watson in Anderson's critically acclaimed fourth picture, the surrealist romantic comedy-drama Punch-Drunk Love (2002), where he played an illegal phone-sex "supervisor". Drew Hunt of the Chicago Reader saw the performance as a fine example of Hoffman's "knack for turning small roles into seminal performances" and praised the actor's comedic ability. In a very different film, Hoffman was next seen with Anthony Hopkins in the high-budget thriller Red Dragon, a prequel to The Silence of the Lambs, portraying the meddlesome tabloid journalist Freddy Lounds. His fourth appearance of 2002 came in Spike Lee's drama 25th Hour, playing an English teacher who makes a devastating drunken mistake. Both Lee and the film's lead Edward Norton were thrilled to work with Hoffman, and Lee confessed that he had long wanted to do a picture with the actor, but had waited until he found the right role. Hoffman considered his character, Jakob, to be one of the most reticent characters he had ever played, a straight-laced "corduroy-pants-wearing kind of guy." Roger Ebert promoted 25th Hour to one of his "Great Movies" in 2009, and along with A. O. Scott, considered it to be one of the best films of the 2000s. The drama Owning Mahowny (2003) gave Hoffman his second lead role, starring opposite Minnie Driver as a bank employee who embezzles money to feed his gambling addiction. It was based on the true story of Toronto banker Brian Molony, who committed the largest fraud in Canadian history. , Hoffman met with Molony to prepare for the role and help him play the character as accurately as possible. He was determined not to conform to "movie character" stereotypes, and his portrayal of addiction won approval from the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Roger Ebert assessed Hoffman's performance as "a masterpiece of discipline and precision," but the film earned little at the box office. Hoffman's second 2003 appearance was a small role in Anthony Minghella's successful Civil War epic Cold Mountain. He played an immoral preacher, a complex character that Hoffman described as a "mass of contradictions". The same year, from April to August, he appeared with Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Dennehy, and Robert Sean Leonard in a Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night. Director Robert Falls later commented on the dedication and experience that Hoffman brought to his role of alcoholic Jamie Tyrone: "Every night he ripped it up to an extent that he couldn't leave [the role]. Phil carried it with him." Hoffman received his second Tony Award nomination, this time for Best Featured Actor in a Play. In 2004, he appeared as the crude, has-been actor friend of Ben Stiller's character in the box-office hit Along Came Polly. Reflecting on the role, People said it proved that "Hoffman could deliver comedic performances with the best of them". ### 2005–2009: Critical acclaim A turning point in Hoffman's career came with the biographical film Capote (2005), which dramatized Truman Capote's experience of writing his true crime novel In Cold Blood (1966). Hoffman took the title role for a project that he co-produced and helped bring to fruition. Portraying the idiosyncratic writer proved highly demanding, requiring significant weight loss and four months of research—such as watching video clips of Capote to help him affect the author's effeminate voice and mannerisms. Hoffman stated that he was not concerned with perfectly imitating Capote's speech, but he did feel a great duty to "express the vitality and the nuances" of the writer. During filming, he stayed in character constantly so as not to lose the voice and posture: "Otherwise," he explained, "I would give my body a chance to bail on me." Capote was released to great acclaim, particularly regarding Hoffman's performance. Many critics commented that the role was designed to win awards, and indeed Hoffman received an Oscar, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award, BAFTA, and various other critics' awards. In 2006, Premiere listed his role in Capote as the 35th-greatest movie performance of all time. After the film, several commentators began to describe Hoffman as one of the finest, most ambitious actors of his generation. Hoffman received his only Primetime Emmy Award nomination for his supporting role in the HBO miniseries Empire Falls (2005), about life in a New England town. He ultimately lost to castmate Paul Newman. In 2006, he appeared in the summer blockbuster Mission: Impossible III, playing the villainous arms dealer Owen Davian opposite Tom Cruise. A journalist for Vanity Fair stated that Hoffman's "black-hat performance was one of the most delicious in a Hollywood film since Alan Rickman's in Die Hard ", and he was generally approved of for bringing gravitas to the action film. With a gross of nearly US$400 million, it exposed Hoffman to a mainstream audience. Returning to independent films in 2007, Hoffman began with a starring role in Tamara Jenkins's The Savages, where Laura Linney and he played siblings responsible for putting their dementia-ridden father (Philip Bosco) in a care home. Jake Coyle of the Associated Press stated that it was "the epitome of a Hoffman film: a mix of comedy and tragedy told with subtlety, bone-dry humor, and flashes of grace". Hoffman received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in The Savages. He next appeared in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, the final film by veteran director Sidney Lumet, where he played a realtor who embezzles funds from his employer to support his drug habit. Mosher comments that the character was one of the most unpleasant of Hoffman's career, but that his "fearlessness again revealed the humanity within a deeply flawed character" as he appeared naked in the opening sex scene. The film was received positively by critics as a powerful and affecting thriller. Mike Nichols's political film Charlie Wilson's War (2007) gave Hoffman his second Academy Award nomination, again for playing a real individual—Gust Avrakotos, the CIA officer who worked with Congressman Charlie Wilson (played by Tom Hanks) to aid the Afghan Mujahideen in their fight against the Soviet Union. Todd McCarthy wrote of Hoffman's performance: "Decked out with a pouffy '80s hairdo, moustache, protruding gut and ever-present smokes ... whenever he's on, the picture vibrates with conspiratorial electricity." The film was a critical and commercial success, and along with his Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Hoffman was nominated for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe Award. The year 2008 contained two significant Hoffman roles. In Charlie Kaufman's enigmatic drama Synecdoche, New York, he starred as Caden Cotard, a frustrated dramatist who attempts to build a scale replica of New York inside a warehouse for a play. Hoffman again showed his willingness to reveal unattractive traits, as the character ages and deteriorates, and committed to a deeply psychological role. Critics were divided in their response to the "ambitious and baffling" film. Sonny Bunch of The Washington Times found it "impressionistic, inaccessible, and endlessly frustrating", likening Hoffman's character to "God, if God lacked imagination". Conversely, Roger Ebert named it the best film of the decade and considered it one of the greatest of all time, and Robbie Collin, film critic for The Daily Telegraph, believes Hoffman gave one of cinema's best performances. Hoffman's second role of the year came opposite Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, where he played Father Brendan Flynn—a priest accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old African-American student in the 1960s. Hoffman was already familiar with the play and appreciated the opportunity to bring it to the screen; in preparing for the role, he talked extensively to a priest who lived through the era. The film had a mixed reception, with some critics such as Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian suspicious of it as Oscar bait, but Hoffman gained second consecutive Best Supporting Actor nominations at the Oscars, BAFTAs, and Golden Globes, and was also nominated by the Screen Actors Guild. On stage in 2009, Hoffman played Iago in Peter Sellars' futuristic production of Othello (with the title role by John Ortiz), which received mixed reviews. Ben Brantley, theatre critic of The New York Times, found it to be "exasperatingly misconceived", remarking that even when Hoffman is attempting to "manipulate others into self-destruction, he comes close to spoiling everything by erupting into genuine, volcanic fury". Hoffman also did his first vocal performance for the claymation film Mary and Max, although the film did not initially have an American release. He played Max, a depressed New Yorker with Asperger syndrome, while Toni Collette voiced Mary—the Australian girl who becomes his pen pal. Continuing with animation, Hoffman then worked on an episode of the children's show Arthur and received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Performer In An Animated Program. Later in the year, he played a brash American disc jockey opposite Bill Nighy and Rhys Ifans in Richard Curtis's British comedy The Boat That Rocked (also known as Pirate Radio)—a character based on Emperor Rosko, a host of Radio Caroline in 1966. He also had a cameo role as a bartender in Ricky Gervais's The Invention of Lying. Reflecting on Hoffman's work in the late 2000s, Mosher writes that the actor remained impressive, but had not delivered a testing performance on the level of his work in Capote. The film critic David Thomson believed that Hoffman showed indecisiveness at this time, unsure whether to play spectacular supporting roles or become a lead actor who is capable of controlling the emotional dynamic and outcome of a film. ### 2010–2014: Final years Hoffman's profile continued to grow with the new decade, and he became an increasingly recognizable figure. Despite earlier reservations about directing for the screen, his first release of the 2010s was also his first as a film director. The independent drama Jack Goes Boating was adapted from Robert Glaudini's play of the same name, which Hoffman had starred in and directed for the LAByrinth Theater Company in 2007. He originally intended to only direct the film, but decided to reprise the main role of Jack—a lonely limousine driver looking for love—after the actor he wanted for it was unavailable. The low-key film had a limited release, and was not a high earner, though it received many positive reviews. However, Dave Edwards of the Daily Mirror remarked that "Hoffman's directing debut delivers a film so weak I could barely remember what it was about as I left", while critic Mark Kermode appreciated the cinematic qualities that Hoffman brought to the film, and stated that he showed potential as a director. In addition to Jack Goes Boating, in 2010 Hoffman also directed Brett C. Leonard's tragic drama The Long Red Road for the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Steven Oxman of Variety described the production as "heavy handed" and "predictable", but "intriguing and at least partially successful". Hoffman next had significant supporting roles in two films, both released in the last third of 2011. In Bennett Miller's Moneyball, a sports drama about the 2002 season of the Oakland Athletics baseball team, he played the manager Art Howe. The film was a critical and commercial success, and Hoffman was described as "perfectly cast" by Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post, but the real-life Art Howe accused the filmmakers of giving an "unfair and untrue" portrayal of him. Hoffman's second film of the year was George Clooney's political drama The Ides of March, in which he played the earnest campaign manager to the Democratic presidential candidate Mike Morris (Clooney). The film was well-received and Hoffman's performance, especially in the scenes opposite Paul Giamatti—who played the rival campaign manager—was positively noted. Hoffman's work on the film earned him his fourth BAFTA Award nomination. In the spring of 2012, Hoffman made his final stage appearance, starring as Willy Loman in a Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman opposite Andrew Garfield. Directed by Mike Nichols, the production ran for 78 performances and was the highest-grossing show in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre's history. Many critics felt that Hoffman, at 44, was too young for the role of 62-year-old Loman, and Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune felt that the character had been interpreted poorly. Hoffman admitted that he found the role difficult, but he nevertheless earned his third Tony Award nomination. Hoffman collaborated with Paul Thomas Anderson for the fifth time in The Master (2012), where he turned in what critic Peter Bradshaw considered the most memorable performance of his career. Set in 1950s America, the film featured Hoffman as Lancaster Dodd, the charismatic leader of a nascent Scientology-type movement who brings a troubled man (Joaquin Phoenix) under his tutelage. Hoffman was instrumental in the project's development, having been involved with it for three years. He assisted Anderson in the writing of the script by reviewing samples of it, and suggested making Phoenix's character, Freddie Quell, the protagonist instead of Dodd. A talented dancer, Hoffman was able to showcase his abilities by performing a jig during a surreal sequence; Bradshaw called it an "extraordinary moment" that "only Hoffman could have carried off." The Master was praised as an intelligent and challenging drama, and Drew Hunt of the Chicago Reader also felt that it contained Hoffman's finest work: "He's inscrutable yet welcoming, intimidating yet charismatic, villainous yet fatherly. He epitomizes so many things at once that it's impossible to think of [Dodd] as mere movie character". Hoffman and Phoenix received a joint Volpi Cup Award at the Venice Film Festival for their performances, and Hoffman was also nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA Award and a SAG Award for the supporting role. A Late Quartet was Hoffman's other film release of 2012, where he played a violinist in a string quartet whose members (played by Christopher Walken, Catherine Keener, and Mark Ivanir) face a crisis when one is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. The drama received favorable reviews, and Stephen Holden of The New York Times called Hoffman's performance "exceptional". In 2013, Hoffman joined the popular Hunger Games series in its second film, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, where he played gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee. The film finished as the 10th-highest grossing in history to that point, and Hoffman became recognizable to a new generation of film-goers. In January 2014, shortly before his death, he attended the Sundance Film Festival to promote two films. In Anton Corbijn's A Most Wanted Man, a thriller based on John le Carré's novel, Hoffman played a German intelligence officer. His performance was praised by Xan Brooks as one of "terrific, lip-smacking relish: full of mischief, anchored by integrity." The other was God's Pocket, the directorial debut of actor John Slattery, in which Hoffman played a thief. In November 2014, nine months after his death, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, was released, in which he had a major role. It was dedicated in his memory. At the time of his death, Hoffman was filming The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, the fourth film in the series, and had already completed the majority of his scenes. His two remaining scenes were rewritten to compensate for his absence. The film was released in November 2015. Hoffman was also preparing for his second directorial effort, a Prohibition-era drama titled Ezekiel Moss, which was to star Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal. In addition, he had filmed a pilot episode for the Showtime series Happyish, in which he played the lead role of an advertising executive. Plans for a full season were put on hold following his death. The role was later passed on to Steve Coogan. ## Personal life Hoffman rarely mentioned his personal life in interviews, stating in 2012 that he would "rather not because my family doesn't have any choice. If I talk about them in the press, I'm giving them no choice. So I choose not to." For 14 years, he was in a relationship with costume designer Mimi O'Donnell, whom he had met in 1999 when they were both working on the Hoffman-directed play In Arabia We'd All Be Kings. They lived in New York City and had a son, Cooper, and two daughters. While some reports stated Hoffman and O'Donnell separated in late 2013, O'Donnell later said she and Hoffman were both committed to their relationship, but he had moved out of their longtime residence to a nearby apartment to protect their children from the effects of his relapse into substance abuse. He felt that keeping his personal life private was beneficial to his career: "The less you know about me the more interesting it will be to watch me do what I do". Hoffman was also discreet about his religious and political beliefs, but it is known that he voted for the Green Party candidate Ralph Nader in the 2000 presidential election. He also donated to Al Franken's senate campaign and the Democratic National Committee. In a 2006 interview with 60 Minutes, Hoffman revealed he had engaged in drug and alcohol misuse during his time at New York University, saying he had used "anything I could get my hands on. I liked it all." Following his graduation in 1989, he entered a drug rehabilitation program at age 22, and remained sober for 23 years. However, he relapsed in 2012, and admitted himself to drug rehabilitation for about ten days in May 2013. ## Death On February 2, 2014, Hoffman was found dead in the bathroom of his Manhattan apartment by his friend, playwright and screenwriter David Bar Katz. He was 46 years old. Although friends stated that Hoffman's drug use was under control at the time, detectives searching the apartment found heroin and prescription medication at the scene and revealed that he had a syringe in his arm. Hoffman's death was officially ruled an accident caused by "acute mixed drug intoxication, including heroin, cocaine, benzodiazepines, and amphetamine". Michael Schwirtz of The New York Times said, "Whether Hoffman had taken all of the substances on the same day, or whether any of the substances had remained in his system from earlier use, was not reported." A funeral Mass was held at St. Ignatius Loyola Church in Manhattan on February 7, 2014, and was attended by many of his close friends and former co-stars, including Amy Adams, Cate Blanchett, Ellen Burstyn, Louis C.K., Ethan Hawke, Laura Linney, Julianne Moore, Paul Thomas Anderson, Mike Nichols, Joaquin Phoenix, John C. Reilly, Michelle Williams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Diane Sawyer, Ben Stiller, Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, Marisa Tomei, Brian Dennehy, Sam Rockwell, Josh Hamilton, Justin Theroux and Chris Rock. After the Mass, Hoffman's body was taken to be cremated, with his ashes given to his partner and children. He left his fortune of around $35 million to Mimi O'Donnell in his October 2004 will, trusting her to distribute money to their children. Hoffman's death was lamented by fans and the film industry and was described by several commentators as a considerable loss to the profession. On February 5, 2014, the LAByrinth Theatre Company honored his memory by holding a candlelight vigil, and Broadway dimmed its lights for one minute. Three weeks after Hoffman's death, Katz established the American Playwriting Foundation in Hoffman's memory. With the money received from a libel lawsuit against the National Enquirer which inaccurately claimed that Hoffman and Katz were lovers, the foundation awards an annual prize of $45,000 to the author of an unproduced play. Katz named this the "Relentless Prize" in honor of Hoffman's dedication to the profession. He would later remember Hoffman with a poem published in The Guardian in December 2014. In tribute, actress Cate Blanchett dedicated her BAFTA trophy to Hoffman when she received the award for Blue Jasmine on February 16. Years later, at the 90th Academy Awards, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri actor Sam Rockwell dedicated his win for Best Supporting Actor to Hoffman. ## Reception and acting style Hoffman was held in high regard within both the film and theater industries, and he was often cited in the media as one of the finest actors of his generation. In a 2022 readers' poll by Empire magazine, he was voted one of the 50 greatest actors of all time. With his being overweight, one writer considered Hoffman to be "too pudgy to look romantic or heroic"; however, the actor said he was grateful for his appearance, as it made him believable in a wide range of roles. Joel Schumacher once said of him in 2000, "The bad news is that Philip won't be a $25-million star. The good news is that he'll work for the rest of his life". The Aiken Standard of South Carolina referred to him as an "anti-star", whose real identity remained "amorphous and unmoored". Hoffman was acutely aware that he was often too unorthodox for the Academy voters. He remarked, "I'm sure that people in the big corporations that run Hollywood don't know quite what to do with someone like me, but that's OK. I think there are other people who are interested in what I do." Most of Hoffman's notable roles came in independent films, including particularly original ones, but he also featured in several Hollywood blockbusters. He generally played supporting roles, appearing in both dramas and comedies, but was noted for his ability to make small parts memorable. Peter Bradshaw, film critic for The Guardian, felt that "Almost every single one of his credits had something special about it". David Fear of Rolling Stone wrote that Hoffman "added heft to low-budget art films, and nuance and unpredictability to blockbuster franchises. He was a transformative performer who worked from the inside out, blessed with an emotional transparency that could be overwhelming, invigorating, compelling, devastating." Hoffman was praised for his versatility and ability to fully inhabit any role, but specialized in playing creeps and misfits: "his CV was populated almost exclusively by snivelling wretches, insufferable prigs, braggarts and outright bullies" writes the journalist Ryan Gilbey. Hoffman was appreciated for making these roles real, complex and even sympathetic; while Todd Louiso, director of Love Liza, believed that Hoffman connected to people on screen because he looked like an ordinary man and revealed his vulnerability. Xan Brooks of The Guardian remarked that the actor's particular talent was to "take thwarted, twisted humanity and ennoble it". "The more pathetic or deluded the character," writes Gilbey, "the greater Hoffman's relish seemed in rescuing them from the realms of the merely monstrous." When asked in 2006 why he undertook such roles, Hoffman responded, "I didn't go out looking for negative characters; I went out looking for people who have a struggle and a fight to tackle. That's what interests me." ### Work ethic The journalist Jeff Simon described Hoffman as "probably the most in-demand character actor of his generation", but Hoffman said he never took it for granted that he would be offered roles. Although he worked hard and regularly, he was humble about his acting success: an anecdote went that when asked by a friend in the early 2000s if he was having any luck in his career, he quietly replied, "I'm in a film, Cold Mountain, that has just come out." Patrick Fugit, who worked with Hoffman on Almost Famous, recalled the actor was intimidating but an exceptional mentor and influence in "a school-of-hard-knocks way", remarking that "there was a certain weight that came with him". Hoffman admitted that he sometimes appeared in big-budget studio films for the money, but said, "ultimately my main goal is to do good work. If it doesn't pay well, so be it." He kept himself grounded and invigorated as an actor by attempting to appear on stage once a year. Hoffman occasionally changed his hair and lost or gained weight for parts, and he went to great lengths to reveal the worst in his characters. But in a 2012 interview, he confessed that performing to a high standard was a challenge: "The job isn't difficult. Doing it well is difficult." In an earlier interview with The New York Times, he explained how deeply he loved acting but added, "that deep kind of love comes at a price: for me, acting is torturous, and it's torturous because you know it's a beautiful thing ... Wanting it is easy, but trying to be great—well, that's absolutely torturous." This struggle was confirmed by the author John le Carré, who met Hoffman during the adaptation of his novel A Most Wanted Man. While praising the actor's intelligence and intuition, le Carré acknowledged the burden that Hoffman felt: "It was painful and exhausting work, and probably in the end his undoing. The world was too bright for him to handle." ## Acting credits and accolades Hoffman appeared in 55 films and one miniseries during his screen career spanning 22 years. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Capote (2005), and was nominated three times for Best Supporting Actor for Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Doubt (2008), and The Master (2012). He also received five Golden Globe Award nominations (winning one), five BAFTA Award nominations (winning one), four Screen Actors Guild Awards (winning one), and won the Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival. Hoffman remained active in theater throughout his career, starring in 10 and directing 19 stage productions (predominantly in New York). He received three Tony Award nominations for his Broadway performances: two for Best Leading Actor, in True West (2000) and Death of a Salesman (2012), and one for Best Featured Actor in Long Day's Journey into Night (2003). In 2022, a statue of Hoffman was unveiled in his hometown of Fairport, New York. The statue was sculpted by David A. Annand and commissioned by James Declan Tobin, a film producer who befriended Hoffman's mother at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. Originally on loan from a gallery in New York City, the statue was permanently installed outside the George Eastman Museum in 2023. Hoffman’s mother, Marilyn O'Connor, called the sculpture "a loving memorial" to her son.

Chorioactis

Genus of fungi that contains the single species Chorioactis geaster

Chorioactis is a genus of fungi that contains the single species Chorioactis geaster. The mushroom is commonly known as the devil's cigar or the Texas star in the United States, while in Japan it is called . This extremely rare mushroom is notable for its unusual appearance and disjunct distribution; it is found only in select locales in Texas and Japan. The fruit body, which grows on the stumps or dead roots of cedar elms (in Texas) or dead oaks (in Japan), somewhat resembles a dark brown or black cigar before it splits open radially into a starlike arrangement of four to seven leathery rays. The interior surface of the fruit body bears the spore-bearing tissue known as the hymenium, and is colored white to brown, depending on its age. The fruit body opening can be accompanied by a distinct hissing sound and the release of a smoky cloud of spores. Fruit bodies were first collected in Austin, Texas, and the species was named Urnula geaster in 1893; later it was found in Kyushu in 1937, but the mushroom was not reported again in Japan until 1973. Although the new genus Chorioactis was proposed to accommodate the unique species a few years after its original discovery, it was not accepted as a valid genus until 1968. Its classification has also been a source of confusion. Historically, Chorioactis was placed in the fungus family Sarcosomataceae, despite inconsistencies in the microscopic structure of the ascus, the saclike structure in which spores are formed. Phylogenetic analyses of the past decade have clarified the fungus's classification: Chorioactis, along with three other genera, make up the family Chorioactidaceae, a grouping of related fungi formally acknowledged in 2008. In 2009, Japanese researchers reported discovering a form of the fungus missing the sexual stage of its lifecycle; this asexual state was named Kumanasamuha geaster. ## History The fungus was first collected in 1893 by botanist Lucien Marcus Underwood, who sent the specimens to mycologist Charles Horton Peck for identification. Peck described the species as Urnula geaster in that year's Annual Report of the New York State Botanist, although he expressed doubt about its generic placement in Urnula. In 1902, student mycologist Elsie Kupfer questioned the proposed classification of various species in the genera Urnula and Geopyxis, as suggested in an 1896 publication on the Discomycetes by German mycologist Heinrich Rehm. She considered Rehm's transfer of the species to the genus Geopyxis illogical: > ""Even externally, the fungus does not closely match Rehm's own description of the genus Geopyxis under which he places it. The texture of the apothecium is described as fleshy, the stem as short and sometimes thin, while in this plant, the leathery character of the cup and the length and thickness of the stem are its most noticeable features." Working with Underwood's guidance, Kupfer compared the microscopic structure of the hymenium (the fertile, spore-bearing tissue) of the Texan species with a number of similar ones—Geopyxis carbonaria, Urnula craterium, and Urnula terrestris (now known as Podophacidium xanthomelum). She concluded that the Texan species was so dissimilar as to warrant its own genus, which she named Chorioactis. Although this taxonomical change was opposed in later studies of the fungus by Frederick De Forest Heald and Frederick Adolf Wolf (1910) and Fred Jay Seaver (1928, 1942), Chorioactis was established as a valid genus in 1968 by Finn-Egil Eckblad in his comprehensive monograph about the Discomycetes. ## Classification and naming Historically, Chorioactis was considered to be in the family Sarcosomataceae. A 1983 monograph on the family included Chorioactis in the tribe Sarcosomateae (along with the genera Desmazierella, Sarcosoma, Korfiella, Plectania, and Urnula), a grouping of fungi characterized by having spores lacking small, wart-like projections (verruculae) capable of absorbing blue dye. A 1994 study of the structural features of the asci and the ascospores concluded that Chorioactis was more closely aligned with the Sarcoscyphaceae, although it conceded that the layering of the cells comprising the walls of the ascus differed considerably from the other members of the family. It was not until 1999 that the results of phylogenetic analysis firmly challenged the traditional classification, showing C. geaster to be part of a distinct lineage, or clade, that includes species in the genera Desmazierella, Neournula, and Wolfina, taxa that were distributed among both families. This analysis was later corroborated when it was shown that the grouping of these four genera (by then called the "Chorioactis clade") represented a sister clade to the Sarcosomataceae, and a new family, the Chorioactidaceae, was erected to contain them. Although C. geaster shares some characteristics with the other Chorioactidaceae genera, including dark-colored superficial "hairs" on the outer surface of the fruit bodies, it is distinguished from them by its tan to orange (rather than black) hymenia. The specific epithet geaster alludes to members of genus Geastrum, which also open to form star-shaped fruit bodies commonly called 'earthstars'. In the United States, Chorioactis geaster is commonly known as the Texas star, or the devil's cigar. Regarding the origin of the latter name American mycologist Fred Jay Seaver commented: "Whether the name Devil's Cigar refers to the form of the young specimens which resemble a bloated cigar in form, as well as in color, or to the fact that the fungus appears to 'smoke' at maturity, we cannot say ... At any rate, the name is very appropriate." In 1997, Texas State Senator Chris Harris filed a bill to make C. geaster the official state fungus of Texas. The bill passed the Senate but did not succeed in the House. The Texas Legislature finally designated the Texas star as the official "State Mushroom of Texas" in 2021. In Japan the mushroom is called kirinomitake (キリノミタケ), because the immature, unopened fruit body bears a superficial resemblance to the seed pods of kiri, the empress tree (Paulownia tomentosa). ## Description Young specimens of C. geaster have a hollow, club-shaped, dark-brown fruit body, connected to a stem. The stem, which is usually buried in the ground, is shorter than the hollow fruit body or equals it in length, although the stem length is somewhat variable depending on the depth of the underground root to which it is attached. The flesh of the stem and the wall of the fruit body are white, while the inner surface is yellowish-white, turning light brown with age. The fruit body varies in width from 1.2 to 3.5 cm (0.5 to 1.4 in) in the thickest portion, and has a length of 4 to 12 cm (1.6 to 4.7 in); the stem is 0.75 to 1.5 cm (0.3 to 0.6 in) wide by 1 to 5 cm (0.4 to 2.0 in) long. Both stem and fruit body are covered by a dense layer of soft, brown, velvety "hairs", or tomentum. In maturity, the fruit body splits open into four to seven rays that curve downward, similar to mushrooms of the genus Geastrum. The spores are borne on the inner surface of the rays, which, depending on the maturity of the specimen, may range in color from whitish to saffron to salmon to butterscotch to chestnut. The leathery rays are up to 0.35 cm (0.1 in) thick. The fruit body remains closed until shortly before spore discharge; dehiscence (fruit body opening) is caused by the pressure exerted by swollen paraphyses—sterile (i.e., nonreproductive) cells that are interspersed between the ascospores. Dehiscence is accompanied by the release of clouds of spores, resembling smoke. The spore puffing upon rupture is thought to be caused by the sudden change in relative humidity between the interior chamber of the fruit body and the outside environment. Dehiscence is accompanied by a hissing sound, an auditory phenomenon known to occur in about 15 other fungal species. ### Microscopic characteristics Spores are oblong to spindle-shaped, and are flattened on one side; they have dimensions of 54–68 μm by 10–13 μm. The spores each contain three to five oil drops. Although the spores have been described as smooth in older literature, when viewed with transmission electron microscopy, they are seen to have minute spots or punctures. The spores develop simultaneously (synchronously) within the ascus, a developmental feature shared with the Sarcoscyphaceae genera Cookeina and Microstoma. Like other members of the Pezizales order, the asci of C. geaster have an operculum—a "lid"—that opens when the spores are discharged. However, the operculum of C. geaster develops a two-layered ring zone upon dehiscence, making it structurally distinct from members of both the Sarcosomataceae and the Sarcoscyphaceae families. Similar to other Discomycetes, the fruit body consists of three distinct layers of tissue: the hymenium, the hypothecium, and the excipulum. The spore-bearing hymenium, the outermost layer of cells, contains asci interspersed with sterile cells called paraphyses. In C. geaster, the club-shaped asci are 700–800 μm long and 14–17.25 μm thick; they are abruptly constricted at the base to a narrow pedicel. The paraphyses are initially filamentous or thread-like (filiform) but swell with age to resemble a string of beads (moniliform). The swelling of the paraphyses is believed to cause the expansion of the hymenium and subsequent splitting of the fruit body into rays; this development places the asci into an optimal position for spore release and dispersal. Supporting the cells of the hymenium is a thin layer of tightly interwoven hyphae called the hypothecium, and underneath this is a thick layer of loosely interwoven hyphae known as the excipulum. This tissue layer, analogous to parenchyma found in plants, gives the tissue a fibrous texture. The excipulum layer averages 34 μm in diameter, while the hypothecium is 10–14 μm. When viewed with electron microscopy, the dark brown "hairs" on the surface of the fruit body can be seen to be adorned with conical warts or spines. ### Anamorph form Many fungi have an asexual stage in their lifecycle, in which they propagate via asexual spores called conidia. In some cases, the sexual stage—or teleomorph stage—is later identified, and a teleomorph-anamorph relationship is established between the species. In 2004, researchers reported a connection between C. geaster and the appearance of blackish-brown tufted structures on rotting wood. By comparing the internal transcribed spacer region of the nuclear ribosomal DNA from the two organisms, they established a phylogenetic connection between Chorioactis and the fungus they called Conoplea aff. elegantula. However, they were unable to induce the new organism to grow on artificial media, and did not definitively establish a teleomorph-anamorph connection between the fungi. In 2009, Japanese researchers found a similar fungus growing on rotting logs that were normally associated with the growth of C. geaster; they were able to grow the organism in axenic cultures from single-spore isolates of C. geaster. Until the one fungus, one name rule was enacted in 2011, the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature permitted the recognition of two (or more) names for one and the same organism, one based on the teleomorph, the other(s) restricted to the anamorph(s). So Nagao et al. named the anamorph Kumanasamuha geaster due to its morphological similarity with species in the genus Kumanasamuha. ## Distribution, ecology, and habitat Chorioactis geaster has a disjunct distribution, and has only been collected from Texas, Oklahoma, and Japan. The first reported collection in Japan was in Kyushu in 1937, and then it was not collected again in that location until 36 years later. In 2006, it was observed in a humid forest near Kawakami, Nara Prefecture. The fungus's natural habitat in Japan is disappearing because of the practice of deforestation and replanting with Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica). This rare mushroom has been put on the list of threatened species in Japan. In Texas, the fungus has been reported in Collin, Hays, Travis, Dallas, Denton, Guadalupe, Tarrant, and Hunt Counties. Travis, Hays, and Guadalupe Counties are in central Texas, while the remainder are clustered together in the northeastern part of the state. Its habitat may be threatened in Texas by industrialization. The fungus was reported from Choctaw County, Oklahoma, in 2017, the first record in North America outside of Texas. Although the species is considered rare due to its globally restricted distribution, it may be locally abundant. Although it is not known definitively, Chorioactis is believed to be saprobic, deriving nutrients from decomposing organic matter. In Texas, fruit bodies are found growing singly or in groups from roots, stumps, and dead roots of cedar elm trees (Ulmus crassifolia) or Symplocos myrtacea; in Japan, the usual host is dead oak trees. Fruit bodies can be clustered together close to the base of the stump, or from the roots away from the stump; the stem of the fruit body tends to originate from a point 5 to 10 cm (2 to 4 in) below the ground. In Texas, fruit bodies usually appear between October and April, as this period is associated with somewhat cooler weather, and the temperature and moisture conditions during this time seem to be more favorable for growth. Scientists do not know why the fungus mysteriously lives only in Texas and Japan, locations of approximately the same latitude, but separated by 11,000 km (6,800 mi). Fred Jay Seaver commented "this is only another illustration of the unusual and unpredictable distribution of many species of the fungi. It would be difficult indeed to account for it, and we merely accept the facts as they are." In 2004, a research study compared the DNA sequences of both populations and used a combination of molecular phylogenetics and molecular clock calculations to estimate the extent of genetic divergence. It concluded that the two populations have been separated for at least 19 million years, ruling out the possibility of human introduction of the species from one location to the other. Although no consistent differences in morphology are seen between the two populations, several differences exist in their life histories. The preferred host of Texan populations is typically roots and stumps of Ulmus crassifolia, while the Japanese populations tend to grow on the fallen trunks of Symplocos myrtacea and Quercus gilva. Texan species grow in areas subjected to periodic flooding, unlike their Japanese counterparts. Finally, only Japanese specimens can be grown in culture—the spores of Texan material have not been successfully germinated on artificial media.

Suzanne Lenglen

French tennis player (1899–1938)

Suzanne Rachel Flore Lenglen (; 24 May 1899 – 4 July 1938) was a French tennis player. She was the inaugural world No. 1 from 1921 to 1926, winning eight Grand Slam titles in singles and twenty-one in total. She was also a four-time World Hard Court Champion in singles, and ten times in total. Lenglen won six Wimbledon singles titles, including five in a row from 1919 to 1923, and was the champion in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles at the first two open French Championships in 1925 and 1926. In doubles, she was undefeated with her usual partner Elizabeth Ryan, highlighted by another six titles at Wimbledon. Lenglen was the first leading amateur to turn professional. She ranked as the greatest women's tennis player from the amateur era in the 100 Greatest of All Time series on the Tennis Channel in 2012. Coached by her father Charles throughout her career, Lenglen began playing tennis at age 11, becoming the youngest major champion in history with her 1914 World Hard Court Championship title at age 15. This success, along with her balletic playing style and brash personality, helped make Lenglen a national heroine in a country coping with the aftermath of World War I. After the war had delayed her career four years, Lenglen was largely unchallenged. She won her Wimbledon debut in 1919 in the second-longest final in history, the only one of her major singles finals she did not win by a lopsided scoreline. Her only post-war loss came in a retirement against Molla Mallory, her only amateur match in the United States. Afterwards, she began a 179-match win streak, during which she defeated Helen Wills in the high-profile Match of the Century in 1926. Following a misunderstanding at Wimbledon later that year, Lenglen abruptly retired from amateur tennis, signing to headline a professional tour in the United States beginning that same year. Referred to by the French press as La Divine (The Goddess), Lenglen revolutionised the sport by integrating the aggressive style of men's tennis into the women's game and breaking the convention of women competing in clothing unsuitable for tennis. She incorporated fashion into her matches, highlighted by her signature bandeau headwear. Lenglen is recognised as the first female athlete to become a global sport celebrity and her popularity led Wimbledon to move to its larger modern-day venue. Her professional tours laid the foundation for the series of men's professional tours that continued until the Open Era, and led to the first major men's professional tournament the following year. Lenglen was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1978, and the second show court at the site of the French Open is named in her honour. ## Early life and background Suzanne Rachel Flore Lenglen was born in the 16th arrondissement of Paris on 24 May 1899 to Charles and Anaïs Lenglen (née Dhainault). She had a younger brother who did not live past the age of three. Lenglen's father was a pharmacist who became wealthy by inheriting a horse-drawn omnibus company from his father. Several years after Suzanne was born, her father sold the omnibus business, after which he relocated the family to Marest-sur-Matz near Compiègne in northern France in 1904. They spent their winters in Nice on the French Riviera in a villa across the street from the Nice Lawn Tennis Club. By the time Lenglen was eight, she excelled at a variety of sports, including swimming and cycling. In particular, she enjoyed diabolo, a game involving balancing a spinning top on a string with two attached sticks. During the winter, Lenglen performed diabolo routines in front of large crowds on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. Her father credited her confidence to play tennis in large stadiums to her experience as a diabolo performer. Lenglen's father attended tennis tournaments on the Riviera circuit, where the world's best players competed in the first half of the year. Having played the sport recreationally, he bought Lenglen a racket from a toy shop in June 1910 shortly after she had turned 11 years old, and set up a makeshift court on the lawn of their house. She quickly showed enough skill to convince her father to get her a proper racket from a tennis manufacturer within a month. He then developed training exercises and played against his daughter. Three months later, Lenglen travelled to Paris to play on a proper clay court owned by her father's friend, Dr. Cizelly. At Cizelly's recommendation, she entered a local high-level tournament in Chantilly. In the singles handicap event, Lenglen won four rounds and finished in second place. Lenglen's success at the Chantilly tournament prompted her father to train her more seriously. He studied the leading male and female players and decided to teach Lenglen the tactics from the men's game, which were more aggressive than the women's style of slowly constructing points from the baseline. When the family returned to Nice towards the end of autumn, her father arranged for her to play twice a week at the Nice Lawn Tennis Club even though children had never been allowed on the courts, and had her practise with leading male players at the club. Lenglen began training with Joseph Negro, the club's teaching professional. Negro had a wide variety of shots in his repertoire and trained Lenglen to play the same way. As Lenglen's primary coach, her father employed harsh and rigorous methods, saying, "I was a hard taskmaster, and although my advice was always well intentioned, my criticisms were at times severe, and occasionally intemperate." Lenglen's parents watched her matches and discussed her minute errors between themselves throughout, showing restraint in their criticisms only when she was sick. As a result, Lenglen became comfortable with appearing ill, which made it difficult for others to tell if she was sick. ## Amateur career ### 1912–13: Maiden titles Lenglen entered her first non-handicap singles event in July 1912 at the Compiègne Championships near her hometown, her only regular event of the year. She won her debut match in the quarterfinals before losing her semifinal to Jeanne Matthey. She also played in the singles and mixed doubles handicap events, winning both of them. When Lenglen returned to Nice in 1913, she entered a handicap doubles event in Monte Carlo with Elizabeth Ryan, an American who had moved to England a year earlier. Although they lost the final in three sets, Ryan became Lenglen's most frequent doubles partner and the pair never lost another match. Lenglen's success at handicap events led her to enter more regular events in the rest of 1913. She debuted at the South of France Championships at the Nice Club in March, winning only one match. Nonetheless, when Lenglen returned to Compiègne, she won her first two regular singles titles, both within a few weeks of her 14th birthday. After losing to Matthey again at both of her events in July, the latter of which by default, Lenglen rebounded to win titles in her last two singles events of the year. ### 1914: World Hard Court champion Back on the Riviera in 1914, Lenglen focused on regular events. Her victory in singles against the high-ranking British player Ruth Winch was regarded as a huge surprise by the tennis community. However, Lenglen still struggled at larger tournaments early in the year, losing to Ryan in the quarterfinals at Monte Carlo and six-time Wimbledon champion Dorothea Lambert Chambers in the semifinals at the South of France Championships. In May, Lenglen was invited to enter the French Championships, which was restricted to French players. The format gave the defending champion a bye until the final match, known as the challenge round. In that match, they faced the winner of the All Comers' competition, a standard tournament bracket for the remaining players. Lenglen won the All Comers' singles draw of six players to make it to the challenge round against Marguerite Broquedis. Despite winning the first set, she lost the match. This was the last time in Lenglen's career she lost a completed singles match, and the only time she lost a singles final other than by default. Although she also lost the doubles challenge round at the tournament to Blanche and Suzanne Amblard, Lenglen won the mixed doubles title with Max Decugis as her partner. Lenglen's performance at the French Championships set the stage for her debut at the World Hard Court Championships, one of the major tournaments recognised by the International Lawn Tennis Federation at the time. She won the singles final against Germaine Golding for her first major title. The only set she lost during the event was to Suzanne Amblard in the semifinals. Her volleying ability was instrumental in defeating Amblard, and her ability to outlast Golding in long rallies gave her the advantage in the final. Lenglen also won the doubles title with Ryan over the Amblard sisters without dropping a game in the final. She finished runner-up in mixed doubles to Ryan and Decugis. Following the World Hard Court Championships, Lenglen could have debuted at Wimbledon, but her father decided against it. He did not like her chances of defeating Lambert Chambers on grass, a surface on which she had never competed, given that she had already lost to her earlier in the year on clay. ### World War I hiatus After World War I began in August 1914, tournaments ceased, interfering with Lenglen's father's plan for her to enter Wimbledon in 1915. During the war, Lenglen's family lived at their home in Nice, an area less affected by the war than northern France. Although there were no tournaments, Lenglen had plenty of opportunity to train in Nice. Soldiers came to the Riviera to temporarily avoid the war, including leading tennis players such as two-time United States national champions R. Norris Williams and Clarence Griffin. These players competed in charity exhibitions primarily in Cannes to raise money for the French Red Cross. Lenglen participated and had the opportunity to play singles matches against male players. ### 1919: Classic Wimbledon final Many tournaments resumed in 1919, following the end of World War I. Lenglen won nine singles titles in ten events, all four of her doubles events, and eight mixed doubles titles in ten events. She won the South of France Championships in March without dropping a game in any of her four matches. Although the French Championships and World Hard Court Championships did not return until the following year, Lenglen was able to debut at Wimbledon in July. She won the six-round All Comers' bracket, losing only six games in the first four rounds. Her biggest challenge in the All Comers' competition was her doubles partner Ryan, who saved match points and levelled the second set of their semifinal at five games, losing only after an hour-long rain delay. Although the 20-year-old Lenglen was considered a favourite against the 40-year-old Lambert Chambers in the challenge round, Lambert Chambers was able to trouble Lenglen with well-placed drop shots. Lenglen won the first set 10–8 after both players saved two set points. After saving two match points, Lenglen won the third set 9–7 for her first Wimbledon title. The match set the record for most games in a Wimbledon women's singles final with 44, since surpassed only by the 1970 final between Margaret Court and Billie Jean King. More than 8,000 people attended the match, well above the seating capacity of 3,500 on Centre Court. Lenglen defeated Lambert Chambers and Ethel Larcombe again in the doubles final with Ryan. She already lost to Ryan and Randolph Lycett in her mixed doubles quarterfinal, her only loss of the year in any discipline aside from defaults. ### 1920: Olympic champion Lenglen began 1920 with five singles titles on the Riviera, three of which she won in lopsided finals against Ryan. However, Ryan was able to defeat Lenglen in mixed doubles at Cannes in windy conditions, Lenglen's only mixed doubles loss of the year. Although the World Hard Court Championships returned in May, Lenglen withdrew due to illness. She recovered in time for the French Championships two weeks later and won the singles, doubles, and mixed doubles titles to complete a triple crown. Lenglen easily made it to the challenge round in singles, where she defeated Broquedis in a rematch of the 1914 final. She won the doubles event with Élisabeth d'Ayen and defended her mixed doubles title with Decugis, only needing to play the challenge round. Lenglen's next event was Wimbledon. Lambert Chambers won the All Comers' final to set up a rematch of the previous year's final. Although the match was expected to be close again and began 2–2, Lenglen won ten of the last eleven games for her second consecutive Wimbledon singles title. She won the triple crown, taking the doubles with Ryan and the mixed doubles with Australian Gerald Patterson. The doubles final was also a rematch of the previous year's final against Lambert Chambers and Larcombe, and the mixed doubles victory came against defending champions Ryan and Lycett. Lenglen's decision to partner with Patterson led to the Fédération Française de Lawn Tennis (FFLT) threatening to not pay her expenses for the Wimbledon trip unless she partnered with a compatriot. Lenglen and her father replied by paying for the trip themselves. After Wimbledon, Lenglen won both of her events in Belgium in the lead-up to the Olympic Games in Antwerp. At the Olympics, Lenglen won two gold medals and one bronze medal for France. She won the singles title over British player Dorothy Holman, losing only four games in the entire event. She won mixed doubles with Decugis, overcoming an opening set loss in their quarterfinal. Lenglen partnered with d'Ayen again in the doubles event, losing their semifinal to Kathleen McKane and Winifred McNair in a tight match that ended 8–6 in the decisive third set. This match was Lenglen's only loss in doubles all year. Their opponents in the bronze medal match defaulted. ### 1921: Only singles defeat post-World War I Lenglen again dominated the tournaments on the Riviera in 1921, winning eight titles in singles, six in doubles, and seven in mixed doubles. Her only loss came in mixed doubles. She won all of her matches against Ryan, four in singles and five in mixed doubles. All of Lenglen's doubles titles on the Riviera were with Ryan. Lenglen defended her triple crown at the French Championships. Later that month, she returned to the World Hard Court Championships, where five-time United States national singles champion Molla Mallory was making her debut. The United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) sent Mallory and Bill Tilden to the tournament with the hope of drawing Lenglen over to compete in the United States. Although Lenglen defeated Mallory in the final in straight sets, she trailed 2–3 in the second set before winning the last four games. Lenglen won the triple crown at the tournament, partnering with Golding in doubles and Jacques Brugnon in mixed doubles. She then won her third consecutive Wimbledon titles in both singles and doubles, defeating her doubles partner Ryan in a lopsided singles final. She withdrew from the mixed doubles event after her partner suffered an ankle injury. Lenglen planned to compete at the U.S. National Championships in August to prove she deserved to be called a world champion. Due to illness delaying her trip, however, she did not make it to New York until three days before her opening match and was still sick when she arrived. After Lenglen's opening round opponent defaulted, the tournament rescheduled her second round match against Mallory for that night to appease the large crowd that showed up to see Lenglen play. With more than 8,000 people in attendance, Mallory took a 2–0 lead in the first set before Lenglen began coughing in the third game. After losing the first set, Lenglen retired from the match two points into the second set for her only singles loss after World War I. She played only two more matches in the United States, both small exhibitions, before leaving in late September. ### 1922: Start of 179-match win streak During the 1922 season, Lenglen did not lose a match in any discipline other than by default. She did not return to competitive tennis until March, six months after her loss to Mallory. Lenglen's first tournament back was the South of France Championships, where she won the doubles and mixed doubles titles. She did not play the singles event and did not play singles again until a month later at the Beausoleil Championships in Monte Carlo, where she won the title without dropping a game. This tournament began a 179-match win streak that Lenglen continued through the end of her amateur career. In the middle of the year, Lenglen won triple crowns at the World Hard Court Championships, the French Championships, and Wimbledon. At the first, she saved two set points in her semifinal against McKane before winning the set 10–8. Needing to play only three challenge round matches at the French, Lenglen agreed to forgo the challenge round system at Wimbledon and be included in the main draw at the request of the tournament organisers. In the singles final, she faced Mallory in a rematch of their U.S. National Championship meeting. Like in the United States, Mallory won the first two games of the final. However, Lenglen rebounded and won the next twelve games for the title. The final remains the shortest in Wimbledon history, lasting only 26 minutes. ### 1923: Career-best 45 titles Lenglen entered more events and won more titles in 1923 than any other year. She won all 16 of the singles events she entered, as well as 13 of 14 doubles events, and 16 of 18 mixed doubles events. Unlike previous years, she did not default a match in any discipline. At the beginning of the season, Mallory travelled to France to make her debut on the French Riviera circuit. Lenglen and Mallory had their last encounter at the South of France Championships, which Mallory entered after not performing well at her other two events on the Riviera. Lenglen defeated her without losing a game. At the same tournament, Lenglen's twelve-month win streak across all disciplines came to an end with a mixed doubles loss to Ryan and Lycett. At what was to be the last edition of the World Hard Court Championships, Lenglen faced McKane in the final in each event, all three of which were held in the same afternoon. She defeated McKane in singles and mixed doubles, the latter of which was with Henri Cochet as her partner for the second consecutive year. With Ryan absent, however, Lenglen partnered with Golding and lost to the British team of McKane and Geraldine Beamish. At the French Championships, Lenglen defended her triple crown without losing a set in spite of the challenge round format being abandoned. She partnered with Brugnon in mixed doubles for the third straight year, and paired with Julie Vlasto for the first time in doubles. She faced the most adversity in the singles final when the crowd uncharacteristically booed her for trailing 0–4 to Golding in the second set. At Wimbledon, Lenglen won the singles and doubles titles with ease, never dropping more than three games in a set. In mixed doubles, however, she was defeated by Ryan and Lycett for the second time in the year. In September, Lenglen travelled outside of France and won titles in Belgium, Spain, and Portugal. ### 1924: No major titles Although Lenglen did not lose a match in any discipline in 1924 except by default, she did not win a major tournament for the first time since 1913 aside from her hiatus due to World War I. Minor illnesses limited her to three singles events on the Riviera. Lenglen played doubles more regularly, winning eight titles in both doubles and mixed doubles. In April, Lenglen travelled to Spain to compete at the Barcelona International. Although she won all three events, she contracted jaundice soon after, preventing her from playing the French Championships. Although she had not fully recovered by Wimbledon, she entered the tournament and won her first three singles matches without dropping a game. In the next round, however, Ryan proved to be a more difficult opponent and took the second set from Lenglen 8–6, only the third set of singles Lenglen had lost since World War I. Although Lenglen narrowly won the match, she then withdrew from the tournament following the advice of her doctor. She did not play another event the rest of the year, and in particular missed the Olympic Games in Paris, where Helen Wills won the women's singles event. ### 1925: Open French champion Lenglen returned to tennis at the Beau Site New Year Meeting in Cannes the first week of the year, winning in doubles with Ryan in her only event. She played singles at only two tournaments on the Riviera, including the South of France Championships. Her only loss during this part of the season was to Ryan and Umberto de Morpurgo at the Côte d'Azur Championships in Cannes. In May, Lenglen entered the French Championships, the inaugural edition open to international players. The tournament was played at St. Cloud at the site of the defunct World Hard Court Championships. Lenglen won the triple crown and was not challenged in singles or mixed doubles. She won the singles final over McKane, losing only three games. She won the mixed doubles final with Brugnon against her doubles partner Julie Vlasto and Cochet. Although Lenglen and Vlasto lost the second set of the doubles final 9–11 to McKane and Evelyn Colyer, they won the other two sets with ease for the title. Lenglen followed her performance at the French Championships with another triple crown at Wimbledon. She played five singles matches and did not lose a game in the second set of any of them. The five games she dropped in total remain a record for fewest games lost in a singles title run in Wimbledon history. Her opponents included Ryan in her opening match, the defending champion McKane in the semifinals, and Joan Fry in the final. In mixed doubles, she partnered with Jean Borotra to defeat Ryan and de Morpurgo in the final. In doubles, Lenglen and Ryan played their last tournament together and won the title without dropping a set. During the last part of the year, Lenglen led France to a 7–4 victory in a tie against Australia, and defeated Australasian champion Daphne Akhurst in the final of the concurrent Deauville tournament. Later in the year, Lenglen won the doubles and mixed doubles events at the Cromer Covered Courts Championships, the only time she played in England other than Wimbledon and her only indoor wood tournament. ### 1926: Match of the Century The 1926 season unexpectedly was Lenglen's last as an amateur. At the beginning of the season, three-time reigning U.S. national champion Helen Wills travelled to the French Riviera with the hope of playing a match against Lenglen. With Wills's level of stardom approaching that of Lenglen's, there was an immense amount of hype for a match between them to take place. They entered the same singles draw only once, at the Carlton Club in Cannes. When Lenglen and Wills both made the final with little opposition, the club doubled the number of seats around their main court and all three thousand seats plus standing room sold out. Spectators unable to get into the venue attempted to watch the match by climbing trees and ladders or by purchasing unofficial tickets for the windows and roofs of villas across the street. In what was called the Match of the Century, Lenglen defeated Wills in straight sets. The first match point became chaotic when a winner from Wills was called out by a spectator, leading everyone but the officials to believe the match was over. Photographers captured the moment as the players shook hands at the net and the crowd began flooding the court. After clarification that the shot had been in, Wills broke Lenglen to level the set. Despite Lenglen's winning, her reputation of being unbeatable was damaged by Wills's competitive performance. While Wills remained in France, Lenglen avoided a rematch on the Riviera. After Wills's season was marred by an appendectomy during the French Championships, she withdrew from both Grand Slam tournaments in Europe and another match between her and Lenglen never took place. In Wills's absence, Lenglen defended all three of her titles at the French Championships with ease, defeating Mary Browne in the singles final. She again won the doubles with Vlasto and the mixed doubles with Brugnon. #### Wimbledon misunderstanding Although Lenglen was a heavy favourite at Wimbledon with Wills not participating, she began the tournament facing two issues. She was concerned with her family's finances as her father's health was worsening, and she was not content with the FFLT wanting her to enter the doubles event with a French partner instead of her usual partner Ryan. Although Lenglen agreed to play with Vlasto as the FFLT wanted, she was unsettled by being drawn against Ryan in her opening doubles match. Lenglen's situation did not improve once the tournament began. She opened the singles event with an uncharacteristic win against Browne in which she lost five games, the same number she had lost in the entire 1925 singles event. Her next singles match was then moved before her doubles match to accommodate the royal family, who planned to be in attendance. Wanting to play doubles first, Lenglen asked for the match to be rescheduled. Although the request was never received, she arrived at the grounds late. After Wimbledon officials confronted her in anger over keeping Queen Mary waiting, she refused to play. The club ultimately adhered to Lenglen's wishes and rescheduled both matches with the doubles first. Nonetheless, Lenglen and Vlasto were defeated by Ryan and Browne in three sets while the crowd who typically supported Lenglen turned against her. Although she defeated Evelyn Dewhurst in the rescheduled singles match, she then withdrew from both singles and mixed doubles, ending her last amateur tournament. ## Professional career ### United States tour (1926–27) A month after her withdrawal from Wimbledon, Lenglen signed a $50,000 contract (equivalent to about $ in 2020) with American sports promoter C. C. Pyle to headline a four-month professional tour in the United States beginning in October 1926. She had begun discussing a professional contract with Pyle's associate William Pickens when he visited her on the Riviera in April. Lenglen had previously turned down an offer of 200,000 francs (equivalent to about $ in 2020) to turn professional in the United States following her last victory over Molla Mallory in 1923, declining in large part to keep her amateur status. She became less concerned with that, however, after the crowd turned against her at Wimbledon. She was more interested in keeping her social status, and was convinced by Pyle that turning professional would not hurt her stardom or damage her reputation. With Lenglen on the tour, Pyle attempted to recruit other top players, including Wills, McKane, and leading Americans Bill Tilden and Bill Johnston. Although they all declined, Pyle was able to sign Mary Browne as well as men's players Vincent Richards, Paul Féret, Howard Kinsey, and Harvey Snodgrass. Richards was regarded as the biggest star among the male players, having won gold medals in singles and doubles at the 1924 Olympics. Once the tour began, Lenglen and all of the other players lost their amateur status. Although professional tennis tournaments already existed, the tour was the first travelling professional exhibition series in tennis history. It featured 40 stops, starting on 9 October 1926 and ending on 14 February 1927, and included several stops in Canada as well as one in Cuba. Lenglen dominated Browne on the tour, winning all 33 of the best-of-three-set matches played to completion. Browne did not win a set until the second set at the 33rd stop. The only other set she won was the only set they played at the 36th stop, where Lenglen had decided to play just a one-set match while ill to avoid disappointing the fans. Browne also nearly won a set at the 23rd stop, losing 9–11, at which point Lenglen decided not to continue. The tour was a financial success. Lenglen earned the most money, receiving half of the revenue from ticket sales and $100,000 in total, more than the $70,000 that Babe Ruth earned in 1927 as the highest-paid player in Major League Baseball. The average attendance was just over four thousand at the 34 venues where it was recorded. The most well-attended venues were opening night at Madison Square Garden in New York City with an attendance of thirteen thousand and the Public Auditorium in Cleveland with an attendance of ten thousand. Opening night in particular brought in $34,000 from tickets sold at $1.50 to $5.50 (equivalent to $ to $ in 2020). ### British tour (1927) A few months after the end of the United States tour, Lenglen signed with British promoter Charles Cochran to headline a shorter professional tour in the United Kingdom. Cochran recruited Dora Köring, the 1912 Olympic silver medalist in singles, and Dewhurst to play against Lenglen. Karel Koželuh and Kinsey were the male players on the tour. There were seven tour stops, all in July 1927. Lenglen won all seven of her singles matches, never losing more than five games in any of them. The last three stops were played on the grounds of association football clubs: Queen's Park in Glasgow, Blackpool, and Manchester United. These were the best attended events on the tour and the final match at Old Trafford had an attendance of over fifteen thousand, the highest between either professional tour. ### Aftermath Lenglen was widely criticised for her decision to turn professional. Once the tour began, the FFLT expelled her and Féret while the All England Lawn Tennis Club revoked her membership. Lenglen in turn criticised amateur tennis for her nearing poverty. In the program for the United States professional tour, she stated, "In the twelve years I have been champion I have earned literally millions of francs for tennis ... And in my whole lifetime I have not earned $5,000 – not one cent of that by my specialty, my life study – tennis ... I am twenty-seven and not wealthy – should I embark on any other career and leave the one for which I have what people call genius? Or should I smile at the prospect of actual poverty and continue to earn a fortune – for whom?" She criticised the barriers that typically prevented ordinary people from becoming tennis players, stating, "Under these absurd and antiquated amateur rulings, only a wealthy person can compete, and the fact of the matter is that only wealthy people do compete. Is that fair? Does it advance the sport?" Lenglen did not participate in any other professional tours after 1927. She never formally applied to be reinstated as an amateur with the FFLT either. She had asked about the possibility in 1932 after Féret was reinstated, but was told to wait another three years and decided against it. ## Rivalries ### Lenglen vs. Mallory Molla Mallory was the only player to defeat Lenglen in singles after World War I. Fifteen years older than Lenglen and originally from Norway, Mallory won a bronze medal at the 1912 Olympic Games before emigrating to the United States in 1914. While World War I halted tennis in Europe, Mallory established herself as the top-ranked American player, winning the first four U.S. National Championships she entered from 1915 through 1918. Whereas Lenglen regularly came to the net and had an all-court game built around control rather than power, the much older Mallory played almost exclusively from the baseline. The strengths of Mallory's game were that she took the ball early and had one of the most powerful forehands in women's tennis at the time. Mallory had a similar personality to Lenglen off the court. While they each hated losing, both of them smoked regularly and loved to dance. Lenglen faced Mallory just four times in singles, compiling a 3–1 record. She also won both of their doubles and mixed doubles encounters. Their first two meetings were highlighted by Lenglen's health issues. In the final of the 1921 World Hard Court Championships, Lenglen nearly retired while struggling with blisters on her foot and trailing in the second set. Nonetheless, Lenglen proceeded to win by following her plan to play defensively and wait for Mallory to make unforced errors on attempted winners. In their second meeting at the 1921 U.S. National Championships, Mallory was able to take advantage of Lenglen's poor health, executing her usual strategy of going for winners to win the match. Although they had entered the doubles event as partners, Lenglen's health prevented them from playing any matches together at the tournament. Lenglen was able to easily win their last two meetings in 1922 and 1923 by playing more aggressively and employing Mallory's strategy of hitting well-placed winners from the baseline. The press built the rivalry between Lenglen and Mallory. After Lenglen's retirement against Mallory at the U.S. National Championships, the vast majority of American newspapers criticised Lenglen for not finishing the match and accused her of retiring because she did not think she could win. They coined a phrase "cough and quit" that became popular at the time for describing someone who needed an excuse to avoid losing. After Lenglen's victory over Mallory at Wimbledon, the American press returned to supporting Lenglen. Both Lenglen and Mallory believed the newspapers exaggerated the personal nature of their rivalry. Mallory in particular said, "The newspapers are the dirtiest, filthiest things that ever happened. I don't want my name in the newspapers. I have a better chance on the courts than in the newspapers of my own country." ### Lenglen and Ryan Lenglen's usual doubles partner Elizabeth Ryan was also her most frequent opponent in singles. Born in the United States, Ryan travelled to England in 1912 to visit her sister before deciding to stay there permanently. Although she lost all four of her appearances in major finals, Ryan won 26 major titles between doubles and mixed doubles. The biggest strength of her game was volleying. Tennis writer Ted Tinling said, "volleying as a fundamental, aggressive technique was first injected into the women's game by Ryan." Lenglen and Ryan first partnered together at a handicap event in Monte Carlo in 1913 when they were 13 and 20 years old respectively. After losing the final at that tournament, the two of them never lost a regular doubles match, only once dropping a set in 1923 to Dorothea Lambert Chambers and Kathleen McKane, again at Monte Carlo. Ryan was Lenglen's doubles partner for 40 of her 74 doubles titles, including all six at Wimbledon and two of three at the World Hard Court Championships. Ryan defeated Lenglen in their first singles meeting in straight sets at Monte Carlo in 1914 and also won a set in their second meeting two months later. Following their first encounter, Lenglen won all 17 of their remaining matches, including five at Wimbledon and two major finals. The only time Ryan won a set against Lenglen after World War I was in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 1924, where Lenglen withdrew due to illness in the following round. When the FFLT asked Lenglen to take a French partner in doubles at Wimbledon in 1926, Ryan partnered with Mary Browne to defeat Lenglen and her new partner Julie Vlasto, coming from three match points down in the second set. Ryan also won their only other doubles meeting in 1914. In mixed doubles, Lenglen compiled a 23–9 record against Ryan. Half of her career mixed doubles losses were to Ryan. After losing their first six encounters, she recovered to win the next thirteen. Lenglen won her first mixed doubles match against Ryan at the 1920 Beaulieu tournament, starting a win streak that ended with a loss to Ryan and Lycett at the 1923 South of France Championships. ### Overlap with Wills Helen Wills was the closest to becoming Lenglen's counterpart. Wills finished her career with 19 Grand Slam singles titles, a record that stood until 1970. She succeeded Lenglen as world No. 1 in 1927 and kept that ranking for the next six years and nine of the next twelve overall until 1938. Late in Lenglen's amateur career, Wills had built a similar level of stardom to Lenglen by winning the 1924 Olympic gold medal in singles in Lenglen's absence while still only 18 years old. Although their careers overlapped when Wills visited Europe in 1924 and 1926, Lenglen faced Wills only once in her career. Lenglen withdrew from Wimbledon and the Olympics due to jaundice in 1924, and Wills withdrew from the French Championships and Wimbledon in 1926 due to appendicitis, preventing a longer rivalry between tennis's two biggest female stars of the 1920s from emerging. ## Playing style Describing Lenglen's all-court style of play, Elizabeth Ryan said: "[Lenglen] owned every kind of shot, plus a genius for knowing how and when to use them. She never gave an opponent the same kind of shot twice in a row. She'd make you run miles ... her game was all placement and deception and steadiness. I had the best drop shot anybody ever had, but she could not only get up to it but was so fast that often she could score a placement off it." Her rivals Molla Mallory and Helen Wills both noted that Lenglen excelled at extending rallies and could take control of points with defensive shots. Although Lenglen built her game around control rather than power, she had the ability to hit powerful shots. In particular, Mallory praised the power behind her defensive shots, saying, "She is just the steadiest player that ever was. She just sent back at me whatever I sent at her and waited for me to make a fault. And her returns often enough were harder than the shots I sent up to her." British journalist A. E. Crawley regarded her as having the best movement of her time, saying, "I have never seen on a lawn tennis court either man or woman move with such mechanical and artistic perfection and poise. Whether [Lenglen's] objective is the ball or merely changing sides, she reminded you of the movement of fire over prairie grass." He believed she was a powerful server and an aggressive volleyer, commenting, "She serves with all the male athlete's power. She smashes with the same loose and rapid action, the release of a spring of steel. Her volley is not a timid push, but an arrow from the bow. And an arrow from the bow is Suzanne herself." Adopting a style of play drawn from men's players led Lenglen to become one of the leading volleyers in women's tennis at a time when the women's game was centred around playing from the baseline, even for the top players. Lenglen aimed to come to the net to finish points quickly whenever possible. Kathleen McKane specifically noted that "Suzanne volleyed like a man" when describing her influence on women's tennis. While Lenglen did not model the majority of her game after any specific player, she modelled her forehand after that of Anthony Wilding. Like Wilding, she aimed to hit forehands flat and with little to no topspin. She used a continental grip and strived to hit balls early on the rise. Lenglen wrote in her book Lawn Tennis for Girls: "A favorite shot of mine is the backhand down the line". Lenglen was regarded as having a graceful style of play. Her movement was thought to resemble that of a dancer, a style that may have arisen from a course on classic Greek dance she had taken as a child. René Lacoste, a leading French men's tennis player from her era, said, "[Lenglen] played with marvelous ease the simplest strokes in the world. It was only after several games that I understood what harmony was concealed by her simplicity, what wonderful mental and physical balance was hidden by the facility of her play." Lenglen developed a reputation for drinking cognac to help her play at pivotal points of her biggest matches. Most notably, she did so during the second and third sets of her victory against Lambert Chambers in the 1919 Wimbledon final, and at the start and during the more competitive second set of her victory over Helen Wills in the Match of the Century. She travelled to the U.S. National Championships in 1921 only after the USLTA agreed to supply her with alcohol during her stay even though its sale was illegal under the laws of Prohibition at the time. Nonetheless, they did not provide Lenglen with alcohol during her retirement loss to Mallory. ## Legacy ### Achievements Lenglen was ranked as the 24th greatest player in history in the 100 Greatest of All Time television series. She was the ninth-highest ranked woman overall, and the highest-ranked woman to play exclusively in the amateur era. After formal annual women's tennis rankings began to be published by tennis journalist and player A. Wallis Myers in 1921, Lenglen was No. 1 in the world in each of the first six editions of the rankings through her retirement from amateur tennis in 1926. She won a total of 250 titles consisting of 83 in singles, 74 in doubles, and 93 in mixed doubles. Nine of her singles titles were won without losing a game. Lenglen compiled win percentages of 97.9% in singles and 96.9% across all disciplines. After World War I, she won 287 of 288 singles matches, starting with a 108-match win streak and ending with a 179-match win streak, the latter of which was longer than Helen Wills's longest win streak of 161 matches. Lenglen ended her career on a 250-match win streak on clay. Lenglen's eight Grand Slam women's singles titles are tied for the tenth-most all-time, and tied for fourth in the amateur era behind only Maureen Connolly's nine, Court's thirteen, and Wills's nineteen. Aside from the 1919 Wimbledon Championships, Lenglen did not lose more than three games in a set in any of her other Grand Slam or World Hard Court Championship singles finals. Lenglen's six Wimbledon titles are tied for the sixth-most in history. Her former record of five consecutive Wimbledon titles has since been matched only by Martina Navratilova, who won her sixth in a row in 1987. Lenglen's title at the 1914 World Hard Court Championships made her the youngest major champion in tennis history at 15 years and 16 days old, nearly a year ahead of the next two youngest, Martina Hingis and Lottie Dod. Lenglen won a total of 17 titles at Wimbledon, 19 at the French Championships, and 10 at the World Hard Court Championships across all disciplines. Lenglen completed three Wimbledon triple crowns – winning the singles, doubles, and mixed doubles events at a tournament in the same year – in 1920, 1922, and 1925. She also won two triple crowns at the World Hard Court Championships in 1921 and 1922, and six at the French Championships, the first four of which came consecutively from 1920 through 1923 when the tournament was invitation-only to French nationals and the last two of which came in 1925 and 1926 when the tournament was open to internationals. ### Mythical persona Following World War I, Lenglen became a symbol of national pride in France in a country looking to recover from the war. The French press referred to Lenglen as notre Suzanne (our Suzanne) to characterise her status as a national heroine; and more eminently as La Divine (The Goddess) to assert her unassailability. The press wrote about Lenglen as if she were infallible at tennis, often attributing any performance that was relatively poor by her standards to various excuses such as the fault of her doubles partner or to having concern over the health of her father. Journalists who criticised Lenglen were condemned and refuted by the rest of the press. At the Olympics, she introduced herself to journalists as "The Great Lenglen", a title that was well received. Before matches, Lenglen would predict to the press that she was going to win, a practice that Americans treated as improper. She explained, "When I am asked a question I endeavour to give a frank answer. If I know I am going to win, what harm is there in saying so?" Lenglen was the first female athlete to be acknowledged as a celebrity outside of her sport. She was acquainted with members of royal families such as King Gustav V of Sweden, and actresses such as Mary Pickford. She was well known by the general public, and her matches were well-attended by people not otherwise interested in tennis. Many of her biggest matches were sold out, including the 1919 Wimbledon final against Lambert Chambers, where the attendance more than doubled the seating capacity of Centre Court, and her first match against Mallory, where tickets were sold at a cost of up to 500 francs (about $ in 2020) and an estimated five thousand people could not gain entry to see the match after it had sold out. The popularity of Lenglen's matches at Wimbledon was a large factor in the club moving the tournament from Worple Road to its modern site at Church Road. A new Centre Court opened in 1922 with a seating capacity of nearly ten thousand, nearly three times larger than that at the old venue. At the Match of the Century against Wills, seated tickets that were sold out at 300 francs, then equivalent to about $11 in the United States (or $ in 2020), were re-sold by scalpers at up to 1200 francs, which was then about $44 (or $ in 2020). This cost far exceeded that for the men's singles final at the U.S. National Championships at the time, which were sold at as low as $2 per seat (about $ in 2020). Lenglen's mythical reputation began at a young age. She was known for a story about her father training her to improve her shot precision as a child by placing a handkerchief at different locations on the court and instructing her to hit it as a target. She was said to be able to hit the handkerchief with ease regardless of the type of incoming shot. Each time she did, he would fold it in half before replacing it with a coin. It was said that Lenglen could hit the coin up to five times in a row. ### Professional tennis Lenglen was the first leading tennis player to leave amateur tennis to play professionally, thereby launching playing tennis as a professional career. The exhibition tour she headlined in the United States from 1926 to 1927 in which a few players travelled together to compete against each other across a series of venues was the first of its kind. It established a format that was repeated over twenty times for the next four decades until the start of the Open Era. With Pyle interested in tennis only because of Lenglen, Vincent Richards, the leading male player on Lenglen's United States tour, organised the next such tour featuring himself competing against Karel Koželuh in 1928. He also began organising the first major professional tournaments to feature players who had been top amateurs, beginning with the U.S. Pro Tennis Championships first held later in 1927. As the top women's players nearly all kept their amateur status, women were largely left out of both the travelling exhibition tours and the growing professional tournaments after Lenglen's playing career ended. The next significant exhibition tour to feature women's tennis players did not occur until 1941 when Alice Marble became one of the headliners on a tour that also featured leading male players Don Budge and Bill Tilden. Fellow top-ranked players Pauline Betz and Althea Gibson followed Marble by turning professional in 1947 and 1958 respectively. Betz played on two tours, one in 1947 and another from 1950 to 1951. Gibson played in a series of warmup matches for the Harlem Globetrotters, an exhibition basketball team in the United States. ### Women's sportswear Lenglen redefined traditional women's tennis attire early in her career. By the 1919 Wimbledon final, she avoided donning a corset in favour of a short-sleeved blouse and calf-length pleated skirt to go along with a distinctive circular-brimmed bonnet, a stark contrast with her much older opponent Dorothea Lambert Chambers who wore long sleeves and a plain skirt below the calf. The following year, Lenglen ended the norm of women competing in clothes not suited for playing tennis. She had Jean Patou design her outfits that were not only intended to be stylish, but allowed her to perform her signature leaping ballet motion in points and did not restrict her movement on the court. This type of attire was among the earliest women's sportswear. Unusual for the time, her blouse was sleeveless and her skirt extended only to her knees. Lenglen replaced the bonnet with a bandeau, which became known as the "Lenglen bandeau" and was her signature piece of attire throughout the rest of her career. On the court, she routinely wore makeup and popularised having tanned skin instead of a pale complexion that other players had preferred before her time. Later in her career, she moved away from just wearing white in favour of brighter-coloured outfits. Overall, she pioneered the idea of players using the tennis court to showcase fashion instead of just competing. Off the court, Lenglen frequently wore an oversized and expensive fur coat. ### Honours Lenglen is honoured in a variety of ways at the French Open. At Stade Roland Garros, Court Suzanne Lenglen – the second show court that was built in 1994 with a capacity of about ten thousand – was named after her in 1997. Outside the court, there is a bronze relief statue of Lenglen that was erected in 1994. The FFLT had originally planned to erect a statue of Lenglen immediately after her death, but this plan never materialised due to the start of World War II later that year. Additionally, one of the main entrances to the ground is Porte Suzanne Lenglen, which leads to Allée Suzanne Lenglen. Moreover, the women's singles championship trophy was named the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen in 1987. In spite of her success at the French Championships, Lenglen never competed at Stade Roland Garros as it did not become the site for the tournament until 1928, after her retirement from amateur tennis. Lenglen was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1978. Following her death, she was awarded the Cross of the Legion of Honour. Another road, the Avenue Suzanne Lenglen, is named in her honour outside of the Nice Lawn Tennis Club. She has been honoured in a Google Doodle twice, once on her 117th birthday on 24 May 2016, and again on International Women's Day on 8 March 2017. ## Personal life Lenglen was in a long-term relationship with Baldwin Baldwin from 1927 to 1932. Baldwin was the grandson and heir to Lucky Baldwin, a prominent businessman and real estate investor active in California. Lenglen met Baldwin during her professional tour in the United States. Although they intended to get married, those plans never materialised largely because Baldwin was already married and his wife would not agree to a divorce while Lenglen and Baldwin were together. During this time, her father died of poor health in 1929. Lenglen was the author of several books on tennis, the first two of which she wrote during her amateur career. Her first book, Lawn Tennis for Girls, covered techniques and advice on tactics for beginner tennis players. She also wrote Lawn Tennis: The Game of Nations and a romantic novel, The Love Game: Being the Life Story of Marcelle Penrose. Lenglen finished her last book Tennis by Simple Exercises with Margaret Morris in 1937. The book featured a section by Lenglen on what was needed to become an all-around tennis player and a section by Morris, a choreographer and dancer, on exercises designed for tennis players. She played a role as an actress in the 1935 British musical comedy film Things Are Looking Up, in which she contests a tennis match against the lead character portrayed by Cicely Courtneidge. Following her playing career, Lenglen returned to tennis as a coach in 1933, serving as the director of a school on the grounds of Stade Roland Garros. She opened her own tennis school for girls in 1936 at the Tennis Mirabeau in Paris with the support of the FFLT. She began instructing adults the following year as well. A year later in May 1938, Lenglen became the inaugural director of the French National Tennis School in Paris. Shortly after this appointment, however, Lenglen became severely fatigued while teaching at the school and needed to receive a blood transfusion. She previously had other health issues following her retirement, most notably suffering from appendicitis and having an appendectomy in October 1934. Lenglen died on 4 July 1938 at the age of 39, three weeks after she became ill, and was reported to have died from pernicious anemia. Her specific cause of death was unclear owing to anemia being curable, and to reports of her having other illnesses, including leukemia. Lenglen was buried at the Cimetière de Saint-Ouen just outside Paris. ## Career statistics ### Performance timelines Results from the French Championships before 1924 do not count towards the statistical totals because the tournament was not yet open to international players. #### Singles #### Doubles #### Mixed doubles Source: ### Major finals #### Grand Slam singles: 8 (8 titles) #### World Championship singles: 4 (4 titles) Source: ### Olympic medal matches #### Singles: 1 (1 gold medal) Source: ## See also - List of Grand Slam women's singles champions - List of Grand Slam women's doubles champions - List of Grand Slam mixed doubles champions - List of Grand Slam-related tennis records

Kuiper belt

Area of the Solar System beyond the planets, comprising small bodies

The Kuiper belt (/ˈkaɪpər/ KY-pər) is a circumstellar disc in the outer Solar System, extending from the orbit of Neptune at 30 astronomical units (AU) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. It is similar to the asteroid belt, but is far larger—20 times as wide and 20–200 times as massive. Like the asteroid belt, it consists mainly of small bodies or remnants from when the Solar System formed. While many asteroids are composed primarily of rock and metal, most Kuiper belt objects are composed largely of frozen volatiles (termed "ices"), such as methane, ammonia, and water. The Kuiper belt is home to most of the objects that astronomers generally accept as dwarf planets: Orcus, Pluto, Haumea, Quaoar, and Makemake. Some of the Solar System's moons, such as Neptune's Triton and Saturn's Phoebe, may have originated in the region. The Kuiper belt is named in honor of the Dutch astronomer Gerard Kuiper, who conjectured the existence of the belt in 1951. There were researchers before and after him who also speculated on its existence, such as Kenneth Edgeworth in the 1930s. The astronomer Julio Angel Fernandez published a paper in 1980 suggesting the existence of a comet belt beyond Neptune which could serve as a source for short-period comets. In 1992, minor planet (15760) Albion was discovered, the first Kuiper belt object (KBO) since Pluto (in 1930) and Charon (in 1978). Since its discovery, the number of known KBOs has increased to thousands, and more than 100,000 KBOs over 100 km (62 mi) in diameter are thought to exist. The Kuiper belt was initially thought to be the main repository for periodic comets, those with orbits lasting less than 200 years. Studies since the mid-1990s have shown that the belt is dynamically stable and that comets' true place of origin is the scattered disc, a dynamically active zone created by the outward motion of Neptune 4.5 billion years ago; scattered disc objects such as Eris have extremely eccentric orbits that take them as far as 100 AU from the Sun. The Kuiper belt is distinct from the hypothesized Oort cloud, which is believed to be a thousand times more distant and mostly spherical. The objects within the Kuiper belt, together with the members of the scattered disc and any potential Hills cloud or Oort cloud objects, are collectively referred to as trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). Pluto is the largest and most massive member of the Kuiper belt and the largest and the second-most-massive known TNO, surpassed only by Eris in the scattered disc. Originally considered a planet, Pluto's status as part of the Kuiper belt caused it to be reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006. It is compositionally similar to many other objects of the Kuiper belt, and its orbital period is characteristic of a class of KBOs, known as "plutinos," that share the same 2:3 resonance with Neptune. The Kuiper belt and Neptune may be treated as a marker of the extent of the Solar System, alternatives being the heliopause and the distance at which the Sun's gravitational influence is matched by that of other stars (estimated to be between 50000 AU and 125000 AU). ## History After the discovery of Pluto in 1930, many speculated that it might not be alone. The region now called the Kuiper belt was hypothesized in various forms for decades. It was only in 1992 that the first direct evidence for its existence was found. The number and variety of prior speculations on the nature of the Kuiper belt have led to continued uncertainty as to who deserves credit for first proposing it. ### Hypotheses The first astronomer to suggest the existence of a trans-Neptunian population was Frederick C. Leonard. Soon after Pluto's discovery by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, Leonard pondered whether it was "not likely that in Pluto there has come to light the first of a series of ultra-Neptunian bodies, the remaining members of which still await discovery but which are destined eventually to be detected". That same year, astronomer Armin O. Leuschner suggested that Pluto "may be one of many long-period planetary objects yet to be discovered." In 1943, in the Journal of the British Astronomical Association, Kenneth Edgeworth hypothesized that, in the region beyond Neptune, the material within the primordial solar nebula was too widely spaced to condense into planets, and so rather condensed into a myriad smaller bodies. From this he concluded that "the outer region of the solar system, beyond the orbits of the planets, is occupied by a very large number of comparatively small bodies" and that, from time to time, one of their number "wanders from its own sphere and appears as an occasional visitor to the inner solar system", becoming a comet. In 1951, in a paper in Astrophysics: A Topical Symposium, Gerard Kuiper speculated on a similar disc having formed early in the Solar System's evolution and concluded that the disc consisted of "remnants of original clusterings which have lost many members that became stray asteroids, much as has occurred with open galactic clusters dissolving into stars." In another paper, based upon a lecture Kuiper gave in 1950, also called On the Origin of the Solar System, Kuiper wrote about the "outermost region of the solar nebula, from 38 to 50 astr. units (i.e., just outside proto-Neptune)" where "condensation products (ices of H20, NH3, CH4, etc.) must have formed, and the flakes must have slowly collected and formed larger aggregates, estimated to range up to 1 km. or more in size." He continued to write that "these condensations appear to account for the comets, in size, number and composition." According to Kuiper "the planet Pluto, which sweeps through the whole zone from 30 to 50 astr. units, is held responsible for having started the scattering of the comets throughout the solar system." It is said that Kuiper was operating on the assumption, common in his time, that Pluto was the size of Earth and had therefore scattered these bodies out toward the Oort cloud or out of the Solar System; there would not be a Kuiper belt today if this were correct. The hypothesis took many other forms in the following decades. In 1962, physicist Al G.W. Cameron postulated the existence of "a tremendous mass of small material on the outskirts of the solar system". In 1964, Fred Whipple, who popularised the famous "dirty snowball" hypothesis for cometary structure, thought that a "comet belt" might be massive enough to cause the purported discrepancies in the orbit of Uranus that had sparked the search for Planet X, or, at the very least, massive enough to affect the orbits of known comets. Observation ruled out this hypothesis. In 1977, Charles Kowal discovered 2060 Chiron, an icy planetoid with an orbit between Saturn and Uranus. He used a blink comparator, the same device that had allowed Clyde Tombaugh to discover Pluto nearly 50 years before. In 1992, another object, 5145 Pholus, was discovered in a similar orbit. Today, an entire population of comet-like bodies, called the centaurs, is known to exist in the region between Jupiter and Neptune. The centaurs' orbits are unstable and have dynamical lifetimes of a few million years. From the time of Chiron's discovery in 1977, astronomers have speculated that the centaurs therefore must be frequently replenished by some outer reservoir. Further evidence for the existence of the Kuiper belt later emerged from the study of comets. That comets have finite lifespans has been known for some time. As they approach the Sun, its heat causes their volatile surfaces to sublimate into space, gradually dispersing them. In order for comets to continue to be visible over the age of the Solar System, they must be replenished frequently. A proposal for such an area of replenishment is the Oort cloud, possibly a spherical swarm of comets extending beyond 50,000 AU from the Sun first hypothesised by Dutch astronomer Jan Oort in 1950. The Oort cloud is thought to be the point of origin of long-period comets, which are those, like Hale–Bopp, with orbits lasting thousands of years.There is another comet population, known as short-period or periodic comets, consisting of those comets that, like Halley's Comet, have orbital periods of less than 200 years. By the 1970s, the rate at which short-period comets were being discovered was becoming increasingly inconsistent with their having emerged solely from the Oort cloud. For an Oort cloud object to become a short-period comet, it would first have to be captured by the giant planets. In a paper published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1980, Uruguayan astronomer Julio Fernández stated that for every short-period comet to be sent into the inner Solar System from the Oort cloud, 600 would have to be ejected into interstellar space. He speculated that a comet belt from between 35 and 50 AU would be required to account for the observed number of comets. Following up on Fernández's work, in 1988 the Canadian team of Martin Duncan, Tom Quinn and Scott Tremaine ran a number of computer simulations to determine if all observed comets could have arrived from the Oort cloud. They found that the Oort cloud could not account for all short-period comets, particularly as short-period comets are clustered near the plane of the Solar System, whereas Oort-cloud comets tend to arrive from any point in the sky. With a "belt", as Fernández described it, added to the formulations, the simulations matched observations. Reportedly because the words "Kuiper" and "comet belt" appeared in the opening sentence of Fernández's paper, Tremaine named this hypothetical region the "Kuiper belt". ### Discovery In 1987, astronomer David Jewitt, then at MIT, became increasingly puzzled by "the apparent emptiness of the outer Solar System". He encouraged then-graduate student Jane Luu to aid him in his endeavour to locate another object beyond Pluto's orbit, because, as he told her, "If we don't, nobody will." Using telescopes at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, Jewitt and Luu conducted their search in much the same way as Clyde Tombaugh and Charles Kowal had, with a blink comparator. Initially, examination of each pair of plates took about eight hours, but the process was sped up with the arrival of electronic charge-coupled devices or CCDs, which, though their field of view was narrower, were not only more efficient at collecting light (they retained 90% of the light that hit them, rather than the 10% achieved by photographs) but allowed the blinking process to be done virtually, on a computer screen. Today, CCDs form the basis for most astronomical detectors. In 1988, Jewitt moved to the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Hawaii. Luu later joined him to work at the University of Hawaii's 2.24 m telescope at Mauna Kea. Eventually, the field of view for CCDs had increased to 1024 by 1024 pixels, which allowed searches to be conducted far more rapidly. Finally, after five years of searching, Jewitt and Luu announced on 30 August 1992 the "Discovery of the candidate Kuiper belt object 1992 QB₁". This object would later be named 15760 Albion. Six months later, they discovered a second object in the region, (181708) 1993 FW. By 2018, over 2000 Kuiper belts objects had been discovered. Over one thousand bodies were found in a belt in the twenty years (1992–2012), after finding (named in 2018, 15760 Albion), showing a vast belt of bodies in addition to Pluto and Albion. Even in the 2010s the full extent and nature of Kuiper belt bodies was largely unknown. Finally, the unmanned spacecraft New Horizons conducted the first KBO flybys, providing much closer observations of the Plutonian system (2015) and then Arrokoth (2019). Studies conducted since the trans-Neptunian region was first charted have shown that the region now called the Kuiper belt is not the point of origin of short-period comets, but that they instead derive from a linked population called the scattered disc. The scattered disc was created when Neptune migrated outward into the proto-Kuiper belt, which at the time was much closer to the Sun, and left in its wake a population of dynamically stable objects that could never be affected by its orbit (the Kuiper belt proper), and a population whose perihelia are close enough that Neptune can still disturb them as it travels around the Sun (the scattered disc). Because the scattered disc is dynamically active and the Kuiper belt relatively dynamically stable, the scattered disc is now seen as the most likely point of origin for periodic comets. ### Name Astronomers sometimes use the alternative name Edgeworth–Kuiper belt to credit Edgeworth, and KBOs are occasionally referred to as EKOs. Brian G. Marsden claims that neither deserves true credit: "Neither Edgeworth nor Kuiper wrote about anything remotely like what we are now seeing, but Fred Whipple did". David Jewitt comments: "If anything ... Fernández most nearly deserves the credit for predicting the Kuiper Belt." KBOs are sometimes called "kuiperoids", a name suggested by Clyde Tombaugh. The term "trans-Neptunian object" (TNO) is recommended for objects in the belt by several scientific groups because the term is less controversial than all others—it is not an exact synonym though, as TNOs include all objects orbiting the Sun past the orbit of Neptune, not just those in the Kuiper belt. ## Structure At its fullest extent (but excluding the scattered disc), including its outlying regions, the Kuiper belt stretches from roughly 30–55 AU. The main body of the belt is generally accepted to extend from the 2:3 mean-motion resonance (see below) at 39.5 AU to the 1:2 resonance at roughly 48 AU. The Kuiper belt is quite thick, with the main concentration extending as much as ten degrees outside the ecliptic plane and a more diffuse distribution of objects extending several times farther. Overall it more resembles a torus or doughnut than a belt. Its mean position is inclined to the ecliptic by 1.86 degrees. The presence of Neptune has a profound effect on the Kuiper belt's structure due to orbital resonances. Over a timescale comparable to the age of the Solar System, Neptune's gravity destabilises the orbits of any objects that happen to lie in certain regions, and either sends them into the inner Solar System or out into the scattered disc or interstellar space. This causes the Kuiper belt to have pronounced gaps in its current layout, similar to the Kirkwood gaps in the asteroid belt. In the region between 40 and 42 AU, for instance, no objects can retain a stable orbit over such times, and any observed in that region must have migrated there relatively recently. ### Classical belt Between the 2:3 and 1:2 resonances with Neptune, at approximately 42–48 AU, the gravitational interactions with Neptune occur over an extended timescale, and objects can exist with their orbits essentially unaltered. This region is known as the classical Kuiper belt, and its members comprise roughly two thirds of KBOs observed to date. Because the first modern KBO discovered (Albion, but long called (15760) 1992 QB₁), is considered the prototype of this group, classical KBOs are often referred to as cubewanos ("Q-B-1-os"). The guidelines established by the IAU demand that classical KBOs be given names of mythological beings associated with creation. The classical Kuiper belt appears to be a composite of two separate populations. The first, known as the "dynamically cold" population, has orbits much like the planets; nearly circular, with an orbital eccentricity of less than 0.1, and with relatively low inclinations up to about 10° (they lie close to the plane of the Solar System rather than at an angle). The cold population also contains a concentration of objects, referred to as the kernel, with semi-major axes at 44–44.5 AU. The second, the "dynamically hot" population, has orbits much more inclined to the ecliptic, by up to 30°. The two populations have been named this way not because of any major difference in temperature, but from analogy to particles in a gas, which increase their relative velocity as they become heated up. Not only are the two populations in different orbits, the cold population also differs in color and albedo, being redder and brighter, has a larger fraction of binary objects, has a different size distribution, and lacks very large objects. The mass of the dynamically cold population is roughly 30 times less than the mass of the hot. The difference in colors may be a reflection of different compositions, which suggests they formed in different regions. The hot population is proposed to have formed near Neptune's original orbit and to have been scattered out during the migration of the giant planets. The cold population, on the other hand, has been proposed to have formed more or less in its current position because the loose binaries would be unlikely to survive encounters with Neptune. Although the Nice model appears to be able to at least partially explain a compositional difference, it has also been suggested the color difference may reflect differences in surface evolution. ### Resonances When an object's orbital period is an exact ratio of Neptune's (a situation called a mean-motion resonance), then it can become locked in a synchronised motion with Neptune and avoid being perturbed away if their relative alignments are appropriate. If, for instance, an object orbits the Sun twice for every three Neptune orbits, and if it reaches perihelion with Neptune a quarter of an orbit away from it, then whenever it returns to perihelion, Neptune will always be in about the same relative position as it began, because it will have completed 1+1⁄2 orbits in the same time. This is known as the 2:3 (or 3:2) resonance, and it corresponds to a characteristic semi-major axis of about 39.4 AU. This 2:3 resonance is populated by about 200 known objects, including Pluto together with its moons. In recognition of this, the members of this family are known as plutinos. Many plutinos, including Pluto, have orbits that cross that of Neptune, although their resonance means they can never collide. Plutinos have high orbital eccentricities, suggesting that they are not native to their current positions but were instead thrown haphazardly into their orbits by the migrating Neptune. IAU guidelines dictate that all plutinos must, like Pluto, be named for underworld deities. The 1:2 resonance (whose objects complete half an orbit for each of Neptune's) corresponds to semi-major axes of \~47.7 AU, and is sparsely populated. Its residents are sometimes referred to as twotinos. Other resonances also exist at 3:4, 3:5, 4:7, and 2:5. Neptune has a number of trojan objects, which occupy its Lagrangian points, gravitationally stable regions leading and trailing it in its orbit. Neptune trojans are in a 1:1 mean-motion resonance with Neptune and often have very stable orbits. Additionally, there is a relative absence of objects with semi-major axes below 39 AU that cannot apparently be explained by the present resonances. The currently accepted hypothesis for the cause of this is that as Neptune migrated outward, unstable orbital resonances moved gradually through this region, and thus any objects within it were swept up, or gravitationally ejected from it. ### Kuiper cliff The 1:2 resonance at 47.8 AU appears to be an edge beyond which few objects are known. It is not clear whether it is actually the outer edge of the classical belt or just the beginning of a broad gap. Objects have been detected at the 2:5 resonance at roughly 55 AU, well outside the classical belt; predictions of a large number of bodies in classical orbits between these resonances have not been verified through observation. Based on estimations of the primordial mass required to form Uranus and Neptune, as well as bodies as large as Pluto (see ), earlier models of the Kuiper belt had suggested that the number of large objects would increase by a factor of two beyond 50 AU, so this sudden drastic falloff, known as the Kuiper cliff, was unexpected, and to date its cause is unknown. Bernstein, Trilling, et al. (2003) found evidence that the rapid decline in objects of 100 km or more in radius beyond 50 AU is real, and not due to observational bias. Possible explanations include that material at that distance was too scarce or too scattered to accrete into large objects, or that subsequent processes removed or destroyed those that did. Patryk Lykawka of Kobe University claimed that the gravitational attraction of an unseen large planetary object, perhaps the size of Earth or Mars, might be responsible. An analysis of the TNO data available prior to September 2023 shows that the distribution of objects at the outer rim of the classical Kuiper belt resembles that of the outer main asteroid belt with a gap at about 72 AU, far from any mean-motion resonances with Neptune; the outer main asteroid belt exhibits a gap induced by the 5:6 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter at 5.875 AU. ## Origin The precise origins of the Kuiper belt and its complex structure are still unclear, and astronomers are awaiting the completion of several wide-field survey telescopes such as Pan-STARRS and the future LSST, which should reveal many currently unknown KBOs. These surveys will provide data that will help determine answers to these questions. Pan-STARRS 1 finished its primary science mission in 2014, and the full data from the Pan-STARRS 1 surveys were published in 2019, helping reveal many more KBOs. The Kuiper belt is thought to consist of planetesimals, fragments from the original protoplanetary disc around the Sun that failed to fully coalesce into planets and instead formed into smaller bodies, the largest less than 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi) in diameter. Studies of the crater counts on Pluto and Charon revealed a scarcity of small craters suggesting that such objects formed directly as sizeable objects in the range of tens of kilometers in diameter rather than being accreted from much smaller, roughly kilometer scale bodies. Hypothetical mechanisms for the formation of these larger bodies include the gravitational collapse of clouds of pebbles concentrated between eddies in a turbulent protoplanetary disk or in streaming instabilities. These collapsing clouds may fragment, forming binaries. Modern computer simulations show the Kuiper belt to have been strongly influenced by Jupiter and Neptune, and also suggest that neither Uranus nor Neptune could have formed in their present positions, because too little primordial matter existed at that range to produce objects of such high mass. Instead, these planets are estimated to have formed closer to Jupiter. Scattering of planetesimals early in the Solar System's history would have led to migration of the orbits of the giant planets: Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune drifted outwards, whereas Jupiter drifted inwards. Eventually, the orbits shifted to the point where Jupiter and Saturn reached an exact 1:2 resonance; Jupiter orbited the Sun twice for every one Saturn orbit. The gravitational repercussions of such a resonance ultimately destabilized the orbits of Uranus and Neptune, causing them to be scattered outward onto high-eccentricity orbits that crossed the primordial planetesimal disc. While Neptune's orbit was highly eccentric, its mean-motion resonances overlapped and the orbits of the planetesimals evolved chaotically, allowing planetesimals to wander outward as far as Neptune's 1:2 resonance to form a dynamically cold belt of low-inclination objects. Later, after its eccentricity decreased, Neptune's orbit expanded outward toward its current position. Many planetesimals were captured into and remain in resonances during this migration, others evolved onto higher-inclination and lower-eccentricity orbits and escaped from the resonances onto stable orbits. Many more planetesimals were scattered inward, with small fractions being captured as Jupiter trojans, as irregular satellites orbiting the giant planets, and as outer belt asteroids. The remainder were scattered outward again by Jupiter and in most cases ejected from the Solar System reducing the primordial Kuiper belt population by 99% or more. The original version of the currently most popular model, the "Nice model", reproduces many characteristics of the Kuiper belt such as the "cold" and "hot" populations, resonant objects, and a scattered disc, but it still fails to account for some of the characteristics of their distributions. The model predicts a higher average eccentricity in classical KBO orbits than is observed (0.10–0.13 versus 0.07) and its predicted inclination distribution contains too few high inclination objects. In addition, the frequency of binary objects in the cold belt, many of which are far apart and loosely bound, also poses a problem for the model. These are predicted to have been separated during encounters with Neptune, leading some to propose that the cold disc formed at its current location, representing the only truly local population of small bodies in the solar system. A recent modification of the Nice model has the Solar System begin with five giant planets, including an additional ice giant, in a chain of mean-motion resonances. About 400 million years after the formation of the Solar System the resonance chain is broken. Instead of being scattered into the disc, the ice giants first migrate outward several AU. This divergent migration eventually leads to a resonance crossing, destabilizing the orbits of the planets. The extra ice giant encounters Saturn and is scattered inward onto a Jupiter-crossing orbit and after a series of encounters is ejected from the Solar System. The remaining planets then continue their migration until the planetesimal disc is nearly depleted with small fractions remaining in various locations. As in the original Nice model, objects are captured into resonances with Neptune during its outward migration. Some remain in the resonances, others evolve onto higher-inclination, lower-eccentricity orbits, and are released onto stable orbits forming the dynamically hot classical belt. The hot belt's inclination distribution can be reproduced if Neptune migrated from 24 AU to 30 AU on a 30 Myr timescale. When Neptune migrates to 28 AU, it has a gravitational encounter with the extra ice giant. Objects captured from the cold belt into the 1:2 mean-motion resonance with Neptune are left behind as a local concentration at 44 AU when this encounter causes Neptune's semi-major axis to jump outward. The objects deposited in the cold belt include some loosely bound 'blue' binaries originating from closer than the cold belt's current location. If Neptune's eccentricity remains small during this encounter, the chaotic evolution of orbits of the original Nice model is avoided and a primordial cold belt is preserved. In the later phases of Neptune's migration, a slow sweeping of mean-motion resonances removes the higher-eccentricity objects from the cold belt, truncating its eccentricity distribution. ## Composition Being distant from the Sun and major planets, Kuiper belt objects are thought to be relatively unaffected by the processes that have shaped and altered other Solar System objects; thus, determining their composition would provide substantial information on the makeup of the earliest Solar System. Due to their small size and extreme distance from Earth, the chemical makeup of KBOs is very difficult to determine. The principal method by which astronomers determine the composition of a celestial object is spectroscopy. When an object's light is broken into its component colors, an image akin to a rainbow is formed. This image is called a spectrum. Different substances absorb light at different wavelengths, and when the spectrum for a specific object is unravelled, dark lines (called absorption lines) appear where the substances within it have absorbed that particular wavelength of light. Every element or compound has its own unique spectroscopic signature, and by reading an object's full spectral "fingerprint", astronomers can determine its composition. Analysis indicates that Kuiper belt objects are composed of a mixture of rock and a variety of ices such as water, methane, and ammonia. The temperature of the belt is only about 50 K, so many compounds that would be gaseous closer to the Sun remain solid. The densities and rock–ice fractions are known for only a small number of objects for which the diameters and the masses have been determined. The diameter can be determined by imaging with a high-resolution telescope such as the Hubble Space Telescope, by the timing of an occultation when an object passes in front of a star or, most commonly, by using the albedo of an object calculated from its infrared emissions. The masses are determined using the semi-major axes and periods of satellites, which are therefore known only for a few binary objects. The densities range from less than 0.4 to 2.6 g/cm³. The least dense objects are thought to be largely composed of ice and have significant porosity. The densest objects are likely composed of rock with a thin crust of ice. There is a trend of low densities for small objects and high densities for the largest objects. One possible explanation for this trend is that ice was lost from the surface layers when differentiated objects collided to form the largest objects. Initially, detailed analysis of KBOs was impossible, and so astronomers were only able to determine the most basic facts about their makeup, primarily their color. These first data showed a broad range of colors among KBOs, ranging from neutral grey to deep red. This suggested that their surfaces were composed of a wide range of compounds, from dirty ices to hydrocarbons. This diversity was startling, as astronomers had expected KBOs to be uniformly dark, having lost most of the volatile ices from their surfaces to the effects of cosmic rays. Various solutions were suggested for this discrepancy, including resurfacing by impacts or outgassing. Jewitt and Luu's spectral analysis of the known Kuiper belt objects in 2001 found that the variation in color was too extreme to be easily explained by random impacts. The radiation from the Sun is thought to have chemically altered methane on the surface of KBOs, producing products such as tholins. Makemake has been shown to possess a number of hydrocarbons derived from the radiation-processing of methane, including ethane, ethylene and acetylene. Although to date most KBOs still appear spectrally featureless due to their faintness, there have been a number of successes in determining their composition. In 1996, Robert H. Brown et al. acquired spectroscopic data on the KBO 1993 SC, which revealed that its surface composition is markedly similar to that of Pluto, as well as Neptune's moon Triton, with large amounts of methane ice. For the smaller objects, only colors and in some cases the albedos have been determined. These objects largely fall into two classes: gray with low albedos, or very red with higher albedos. The difference in colors and albedos is hypothesized to be due to the retention or the loss of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) on the surface of these objects, with the surfaces of those that formed far enough from the Sun to retain H₂S being reddened due to irradiation. The largest KBOs, such as Pluto and Quaoar, have surfaces rich in volatile compounds such as methane, nitrogen and carbon monoxide; the presence of these molecules is likely due to their moderate vapor pressure in the 30–50 K temperature range of the Kuiper belt. This allows them to occasionally boil off their surfaces and then fall again as snow, whereas compounds with higher boiling points would remain solid. The relative abundances of these three compounds in the largest KBOs is directly related to their surface gravity and ambient temperature, which determines which they can retain. Water ice has been detected in several KBOs, including members of the Haumea family such as , mid-sized objects such as 38628 Huya and 20000 Varuna, and also on some small objects. The presence of crystalline ice on large and mid-sized objects, including 50000 Quaoar where ammonia hydrate has also been detected, may indicate past tectonic activity aided by melting point lowering due to the presence of ammonia. ## Mass and size distribution Despite its vast extent, the collective mass of the Kuiper belt is relatively low. The total mass of the dynamically hot population is estimated to be 1% the mass of the Earth. The dynamically cold population is estimated to be much smaller with only 0.03% the mass of the Earth. While the dynamically hot population is thought to be the remnant of a much larger population that formed closer to the Sun and was scattered outward during the migration of the giant planets, in contrast, the dynamically cold population is thought to have formed at its current location. The most recent estimate (2018) puts the total mass of the Kuiper belt at (1.97±0.30)×10⁻² Earth masses based on the influence that it exerts on the motion of planets. The small total mass of the dynamically cold population presents some problems for models of the Solar System's formation because a sizable mass is required for accretion of KBOs larger than 100 km (62 mi) in diameter. If the cold classical Kuiper belt had always had its current low density, these large objects simply could not have formed by the collision and mergers of smaller planetesimals. Moreover, the eccentricity and inclination of current orbits make the encounters quite "violent" resulting in destruction rather than accretion. The removal of a large fraction of the mass of the dynamically cold population is thought to be unlikely. Neptune's current influence is too weak to explain such a massive "vacuuming", and the extent of mass loss by collisional grinding is limited by the presence of loosely bound binaries in the cold disk, which are likely to be disrupted in collisions. Instead of forming from the collisions of smaller planetesimals, the larger object may have formed directly from the collapse of clouds of pebbles. The size distributions of the Kuiper belt objects follow a number of power laws. A power law describes the relationship between N(D) (the number of objects of diameter greater than D) and D, and is referred to as brightness slope. The number of objects is inversely proportional to some power of the diameter D: - \(\frac{d N}{d D} \propto D^{-q},\) which yields (assuming q is not 1)[N\propto D^{1-q}+\text{a constant}.] (The constant may be non-zero only if the power law doesn't apply at high values of D.) Early estimates that were based on measurements of the apparent magnitude distribution found a value of q = 4 ± 0.5, which implied that there are 8 (=2³) times more objects in the 100–200 km range than in the 200–400 km range. Recent research has revealed that the size distributions of the hot classical and cold classical objects have differing slopes. The slope for the hot objects is q = 5.3 at large diameters and q = 2.0 at small diameters with the change in slope at 110 km. The slope for the cold objects is q = 8.2 at large diameters and q = 2.9 at small diameters with a change in slope at 140 km. The size distributions of the scattering objects, the plutinos, and the Neptune trojans have slopes similar to the other dynamically hot populations, but may instead have a divot, a sharp decrease in the number of objects below a specific size. This divot is hypothesized to be due to either the collisional evolution of the population, or to be due to the population having formed with no objects below this size, with the smaller objects being fragments of the original objects. The smallest known Kuiper belt objects with radii below 1 km have only been detected by stellar occultations, as they are far too dim (magnitude 35) to be seen directly by telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope. The first reports of these occultations were from Schlichting et al. in December 2009, who announced the discovery of a small, sub-kilometre-radius Kuiper belt object in archival Hubble photometry from March 2007. With an estimated radius of 520±60 m or a diameter of 1040±120 m, the object was detected by Hubble's star tracking system when it briefly occulted a star for 0.3 seconds. In a subsequent study published in December 2012, Schlichting et al. performed a more thorough analysis of archival Hubble photometry and reported another occultation event by a sub-kilometre-sized Kuiper belt object, estimated to be 530±70 m in radius or 1060±140 m in diameter. From the occultation events detected in 2009 and 2012, Schlichting et al. determined the Kuiper belt object size distribution slope to be q = 3.6 ± 0.2 or q = 3.8 ± 0.2, with the assumptions of a single power law and a uniform ecliptic latitude distribution. Their result implies a strong deficit of sub-kilometer-sized Kuiper belt objects compared to extrapolations from the population of larger Kuiper belt objects with diameters above 90 km. Observations made by NASA's New Horizons Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter showed "higher than model-predicted dust fluxes" as far as 55 au, not explained by any existing model. ## Scattered objects The scattered disc is a sparsely populated region, overlapping with the Kuiper belt but extending to beyond 100 AU. Scattered disc objects (SDOs) have very elliptical orbits, often also very inclined to the ecliptic. Most models of Solar System formation show both KBOs and SDOs first forming in a primordial belt, with later gravitational interactions, particularly with Neptune, sending the objects outward, some into stable orbits (the KBOs) and some into unstable orbits, the scattered disc. Due to its unstable nature, the scattered disc is suspected to be the point of origin of many of the Solar System's short-period comets. Their dynamic orbits occasionally force them into the inner Solar System, first becoming centaurs, and then short-period comets. According to the Minor Planet Center, which officially catalogues all trans-Neptunian objects, a KBO is any object that orbits exclusively within the defined Kuiper belt region regardless of origin or composition. Objects found outside the belt are classed as scattered objects. In some scientific circles the term "Kuiper belt object" has become synonymous with any icy minor planet native to the outer Solar System assumed to have been part of that initial class, even if its orbit during the bulk of Solar System history has been beyond the Kuiper belt (e.g. in the scattered-disc region). They often describe scattered disc objects as "scattered Kuiper belt objects". Eris, which is known to be more massive than Pluto, is often referred to as a KBO, but is technically an SDO. A consensus among astronomers as to the precise definition of the Kuiper belt has yet to be reached, and this issue remains unresolved. The centaurs, which are not normally considered part of the Kuiper belt, are also thought to be scattered objects, the only difference being that they were scattered inward, rather than outward. The Minor Planet Center groups the centaurs and the SDOs together as scattered objects. ### Triton During its period of migration, Neptune is thought to have captured a large KBO, Triton, which is the only large moon in the Solar System with a retrograde orbit (that is, it orbits opposite to Neptune's rotation). This suggests that, unlike the large moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus, which are thought to have coalesced from rotating discs of material around their young parent planets, Triton was a fully formed body that was captured from surrounding space. Gravitational capture of an object is not easy: it requires some mechanism to slow down the object enough to be caught by the larger object's gravity. A possible explanation is that Triton was part of a binary when it encountered Neptune. (Many KBOs are members of binaries. See below.) Ejection of the other member of the binary by Neptune could then explain Triton's capture. Triton is only 14% larger than Pluto, and spectral analysis of both worlds shows that their surfaces are largely composed of similar materials, such as methane and carbon monoxide. All this points to the conclusion that Triton was once a KBO that was captured by Neptune during its outward migration. ## Largest KBOs Since 2000, a number of KBOs with diameters of between 500 and 1,500 km (932 mi), more than half that of Pluto (diameter 2370 km), have been discovered. Quaoar, a classical KBO discovered in 2002, is over 1,200 km across. and , both announced on 29 July 2005, are larger still. Other objects, such as 28978 Ixion (discovered in 2001) and 20000 Varuna (discovered in 2000), measure roughly 600–700 km (373–435 mi) across. ### Pluto The discovery of these large KBOs in orbits similar to Pluto's led many to conclude that, aside from its relative size, Pluto was not particularly different from other members of the Kuiper belt. Not only are these objects similar to Pluto in size, but many also have natural satellites, and are of similar composition (methane and carbon monoxide have been found both on Pluto and on the largest KBOs). Thus, just as Ceres was considered a planet before the discovery of its fellow asteroids, some began to suggest that Pluto might also be reclassified. The issue was brought to a head by the discovery of Eris, an object in the scattered disc far beyond the Kuiper belt, that is now known to be 27% more massive than Pluto. (Eris was originally thought to be larger than Pluto by volume, but the New Horizons mission found this not to be the case.) In response, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) was forced to define what a planet is for the first time, and in so doing included in their definition that a planet must have "cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit". As Pluto shares its orbit with many other sizable objects, it was deemed not to have cleared its orbit and was thus reclassified from a planet to a dwarf planet, making it a member of the Kuiper belt. It is not clear how many KBOs are large enough to be dwarf planets. Consideration of the surprisingly low densities of many dwarf-planet candidates suggests that not many are. , Pluto, Haumea, , and Makemake are accepted by most astronomers; some have proposed other bodies, such as , , , and . ### Satellites The six largest TNOs (Eris, Pluto, Gonggong, Makemake, Haumea and Quaoar) are all known to have satellites, and two of them have more than one. A higher percentage of the larger KBOs have satellites than the smaller objects in the Kuiper belt, suggesting that a different formation mechanism was responsible. There are also a high number of binaries (two objects close enough in mass to be orbiting "each other") in the Kuiper belt. The most notable example is the Pluto–Charon binary, but it is estimated that around 11% of KBOs exist in binaries. ## Exploration On 19 January 2006, the first spacecraft to explore the Kuiper belt, New Horizons, was launched, which flew by Pluto on 14 July 2015. Beyond the Pluto flyby, the mission's goal was to locate and investigate other, farther objects in the Kuiper belt. On 15 October 2014, it was revealed that Hubble had uncovered three potential targets, provisionally designated PT1 ("potential target 1"), PT2 and PT3 by the New Horizons team. The objects' diameters were estimated to be in the 30–55 km range; too small to be seen by ground telescopes, at distances from the Sun of 43–44 AU, which would put the encounters in the 2018–2019 period. The initial estimated probabilities that these objects were reachable within New Horizons' fuel budget were 100%, 7%, and 97%, respectively. All were members of the "cold" (low-inclination, low-eccentricity) classical Kuiper belt, and thus very different from Pluto. PT1 (given the temporary designation "1110113Y" on the HST web site), the most favorably situated object, was magnitude 26.8, 30–45 km in diameter, and was encountered in January 2019. Once sufficient orbital information was provided, the Minor Planet Center gave official designations to the three target KBOs: (PT1), (PT2), and (PT3). By the fall of 2014, a possible fourth target, , had been eliminated by follow-up observations. PT2 was out of the running before the Pluto flyby. On 26 August 2015, the first target, (nicknamed "Ultima Thule" and later named 486958 Arrokoth), was chosen. Course adjustment took place in late October and early November 2015, leading to a flyby in January 2019. On 1 July 2016, NASA approved additional funding for New Horizons to visit the object. On 2 December 2015, New Horizons detected what was then called (later named 15810 Arawn) from 270 million kilometres (170×10^⁶ mi) away. On 1 January 2019, New Horizons successfully flew by Arrokoth, returning data showing Arrokoth to be a contact binary 32 km long by 16 km wide. The Ralph instrument aboard New Horizons confirmed Arrokoth's red color. Data from the fly-by will continue to be downloaded over the next 20 months. No follow-up missions for New Horizons are planned, though at least two concepts for missions that would return to orbit or land on Pluto have been studied. Beyond Pluto, there exist many large KBOs that cannot be visited with New Horizons, such as the dwarf planets Makemake and Haumea. New missions would be tasked to explore and study these objects in detail. Thales Alenia Space has studied the logistics of an orbiter mission to Haumea, a high priority scientific target due to its status as the parent body of a collisional family that includes several other TNOs, as well as Haumea's ring and two moons. The lead author, Joel Poncy, has advocated for new technology that would allow spacecraft to reach and orbit KBOs in 10–20 years or less. New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern has informally suggested missions that would flyby the planets Uranus or Neptune before visiting new KBO targets, thus furthering the exploration of the Kuiper belt while also visiting these ice giant planets for the first time since the Voyager 2 flybys in the 1980s. ### Design studies and concept missions Quaoar has been considered as a flyby target for a probe tasked with exploring the interstellar medium, as it currently lies near the heliospheric nose; Pontus Brandt at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and his colleagues have studied a probe that would flyby Quaoar in the 2030s before continuing to the interstellar medium through the heliospheric nose. Among their interests in Quaoar include its likely disappearing methane atmosphere and cryovolcanism. The mission studied by Brandt and his colleagues would launch using SLS and achieve 30 km/s using a Jupiter flyby. Alternatively, for an orbiter mission, a study published in 2012 concluded that Ixion and Huya are among the most feasible targets. For instance, the authors calculated that an orbiter mission could reach Ixion after 17 years cruise time if launched in 2039. ## Extrasolar Kuiper belts By 2006, astronomers had resolved dust discs thought to be Kuiper belt-like structures around nine stars other than the Sun. They appear to fall into two categories: wide belts, with radii of over 50 AU, and narrow belts (tentatively like that of the Solar System) with radii of between 20 and 30 AU and relatively sharp boundaries. Beyond this, 15–20% of solar-type stars have an observed infrared excess that is suggestive of massive Kuiper-belt-like structures. Most known debris discs around other stars are fairly young, but the two images on the right, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in January 2006, are old enough (roughly 300 million years) to have settled into stable configurations. The left image is a "top view" of a wide belt, and the right image is an "edge view" of a narrow belt. Computer simulations of dust in the Kuiper belt suggest that when it was younger, it may have resembled the narrow rings seen around younger stars. ## See also - Asteroid belt - List of possible dwarf planets - List of trans-Neptunian objects - Planet Nine

New York Dolls (album)

New York Dolls is the debut studio album by the American rock band New York Dolls, released on July 27, 1973, by Mercury Records. An influential precursor to the 1970s punk rock movement, the eponymous album has been acclaimed as one of the best debut records in rock music and one of the greatest rock albums ever. In early 1973, the two-year-old band had developed a local fanbase by playing regularly in New York City's lower Manhattan, but most music producers and record companies were reluctant to work with them because of their vulgarity and onstage fashion as well as homophobia in New York. Still, the Dolls signed a contract with Mercury and recorded their first album at the Record Plant in New York with producer Todd Rundgren, who was known for his sophisticated pop tastes and held a lukewarm opinion of the band. Despite stories of conflicts during the recording sessions, lead singer David Johansen and guitarist Sylvain Sylvain later said Rundgren captured how the band sounded live. The resulting music on the album – a mix of carefree rock and roll, influences from Brill Building pop, and campy sensibilities – explores themes of urban youth, teen alienation, adolescent romance, and authenticity, as rendered in Johansen's colloquial and ambiguous lyrics. The album cover featured the members in drag for shock value. New York Dolls received acclaim but sold poorly and polarized listeners. The band proved difficult to market outside their native New York and developed a reputation for rock-star excesses while touring the United States in support of the album. Despite its commercial failure, New York Dolls helped shape the 1970s punk rock movement; the group's crude musicianship and youthful attitude challenged the prevailing trend of musical sophistication in popular music, particularly progressive rock. ## Background In 1971, vocalist David Johansen formed the New York Dolls with guitarists Johnny Thunders and Rick Rivets, bassist Arthur Kane, and drummer Billy Murcia; Rivets was replaced by Sylvain Sylvain in 1972. The band was meant to be a temporary project for the members, who were club-going youths that had gone to New York City with different career pursuits. As Sylvain recalled, "We just said 'Hey, maybe this will get us some chicks.' That seemed like a good enough reason." He and Murcia originally planned to work in the clothing business and opened a boutique on Lexington Avenue that was across the street from a toy repair shop called the New York Doll Hospital, which gave them the idea for their name. The group soon began playing regularly in lower Manhattan and earned a cult following within a few months with their reckless style of rock music. Nonetheless, record companies were hesitant to sign them because of their onstage cross-dressing and blatant vulgarity. In October 1972, the group garnered the interest of critics when they opened for English rock band the Faces at the Empire Pool in Wembley. However, on the New York Dolls' first tour of England that year, Murcia died after consuming a lethal combination of alcohol and methaqualone. They enlisted Jerry Nolan as his replacement, while managers Marty Thau, Steve Leber, and David Krebs still struggled to find the band a record deal. After returning to New York, the Dolls played to capacity crowds at venues such as Max's Kansas City and the Mercer Arts Center in what Sylvain called a determined effort to "fake it until they could make it": "We had to make ourselves feel famous before we could actually become famous. We acted like we were already rock stars. Arthur even called his bass 'Excalibur' after King Arthur. It was crazy." Their performance at the Mercer Arts Center was attended by journalist and Mercury Records publicity director Bud Scoppa, and Paul Nelson, an A\&R executive for the label. Scoppa initially viewed them as an amusing but inferior version of the Rolling Stones: "I split after the first set. Paul stuck around for the second set, though, and after the show he called me and said, 'You should have stayed. I think they're really special.' Then, after that, I fell in love with them anyway." In March 1973, the group signed a two-album deal with a US $25,000 advance from Mercury. According to Sylvain, some of the members' parents had to sign for them because they were not old enough to sign themselves. ### Hiring of Todd Rundgren For the New York Dolls' debut album, Mercury wanted to find a record producer who could make the most out of the group's sound and the hype they had received from critics and fans in New York. At the band's first board meeting in Chicago, Johansen fell asleep in Mercury's conference room while record executives discussed potential producers. He awoke when they mentioned Todd Rundgren, a musician and producer who by 1972 had achieved unexpected rock stardom with his double album Something/Anything? and its hit singles "I Saw the Light" and "Hello It's Me". Rundgren had socialized at venues such as Max's Kansas City and first saw the Dolls when his girlfriend at the time, model Bebe Buell, brought him there to see them play. Known for having refined pop tastes and technologically savvy productions, Rundgren had become increasingly interested in progressive rock sounds by the time he was enlisted to produce the New York Dolls' debut album. Consequently, his initial impression of the group was that of a humorous live act who were technically competent only by the standards of other unsophisticated New York bands. "The Dolls weren't out to expand any musical horizons", said Rundgren, although he enjoyed Thunders' "attitude" and Johansen's charismatic antics onstage. Johansen had thought of Rundgren as "an expert on second rate rock 'n' roll", but also said the band was "kind of persona non grata, at the time, with most producers. They were afraid of us, I don't know why, but Todd wasn't. We all liked him from Max's ... Todd was cool and he was a producer." Sylvain, on the other hand, felt the decision to enlist him was based on availability, time, and money: "It wasn't a long list. Todd was in New York and seemed like he could handle the pace." Upon being hired, Rundgren declared that "the only person who can produce a New York record is someone who lives in New York". ## Recording and production Mercury booked the Dolls at the Record Plant in New York City for recording sessions in April 1973. Rundgren was originally concerned that they had taken "the worst sounding studio in the city at that time" because it was the only one available to them with the short time given to record and release the album. He later said that expectations for the band and the festive atmosphere of the recording sessions proved to be more of a problem: "The Dolls were critics' darlings and the press had kind of adopted them. Plus, there were lots of extra people around, socializing, which made it hard to concentrate." New York Dolls was recorded there in eight days on a budget of $17,000 (equivalent to $ in ). With a short amount of studio time and no concept in mind for the album, the band chose which songs to record based on how well they had been received at their live shows. In Johansen's own words, "we went into a room and just recorded. It wasn't like these people who conceptualize things. It was just a document of what was going on at the time." In the studio, the New York Dolls dressed in their usual flashy clothes. Rundgren, who did not approve of their raucous sound, at one point yelled at them during the sessions to "get the glitter out of your asses and play". Sylvain recalled Rundgren inviting Buell and their Chihuahua to the studio and putting the latter atop an expensive mixing console, while Johansen acknowledged that his recollections of the sessions have since been distorted by what he has read about them: "It was like the 1920s, with palm tree décor and stuff. Well, that's how I remember it, anyway." He also said Rundgren directed the band from the control room with engineer Jack Douglas and hardly spoke to them while they recorded the album. According to Scoppa, the group's carefree lifestyle probably conflicted with Rundgren's professional work ethic and schedule: "He doesn't put up with bullshit. I mean, [the band] rarely started their live sets before midnight, so who knows? Todd was very much in charge in the studio, however, and I got the impression that everybody was looking to him." Although Sylvain said Rundgren was not an interfering producer, he occasionally involved himself to improve a take. Sylvain recalled moments when Rundgren went into the isolation booth with Nolan when he struggled keeping a beat and drummed out beats on a cowbell for him to use as a click track. During another session, he stopped a take and walked out of the control room to plug in Kane's bass cabinet. Scoppa, who paid afternoon visits to the studio, overheard Rundgren say, "Yeah, that's all you needed. Okay, let's try it again\!", and ultimately found the exchange funny and indicative of Rundgren's opinion of the band: "Todd was such a 'musician' while they were just getting by on attitude and energy. But as disdainful as he appeared to be at some points he got the job done really well." Rundgren felt Johansen's wild singing often sounded screamed or drunken but also eloquent in the sense that Johansen demonstrated a "propensity to incorporate certain cultural references into the music", particularly on "Personality Crisis". While recording the song, Johansen walked back into the control room and asked Rundgren if his vocals sounded "ludicrous enough". Because the Dolls had little money, Sylvain and Thunders played the austerely designed and affordable Gibson Les Paul Junior guitars on the record. They jokingly referred to them as "automatic guitars" due to their limited sound shaping features. To amplify their guitars, they ran a Marshall Plexi standalone amplifier through the speaker cabinets of a Fender Dual Showman, and occasionally used a Fender Twin Reverb. Some songs were embellished with additional instruments, including Buddy Bowser's brassy saxophone on "Lonely Planet Boy". Johansen sang into distorted guitar pickups for additional vocals and overdubbed them into the song. He also played an Asian gong for "Vietnamese Baby" and harmonica on "Pills". For "Personality Crisis", Sylvain originally played on the Record Plant's Yamaha grand piano before Rundgren added his own piano flourishes to both that song and "Private World". Rundgren also contributed to the background vocals heard on "Trash" and played synthesizers on "Vietnamese Baby" and "Frankenstein (Orig.)", which Sylvain recalled: "I remember him getting those weird sounds from this beautiful old Moog synthesizer he brought in. He said it was a model that only he and the Beatles had." New York Dolls was mixed in less than half a day. Rundgren felt the band seemed distracted and disinterested at that point, so he tried unsuccessfully to ban them from the mixing session. For the final mix, he minimized the sound of Nolan's drumming. In retrospect, Rundgren said the quality of the mix was poor because the band had hurried and questioned him while mixing the record: "It's too easy for it to become a free-for-all, with every musician only hearing their own part and not the whole. They all had other places to be, so rather than split, they rushed the thing and if that wasn't enough they took it to the crappy mastering lab that Mercury had put them in." Thunders famously complained to a journalist that Rundgren "fucked up the mix" on New York Dolls, adding to stories that the two had clashed during the album's recording. Both Johansen and Scoppa later said they did not see any conflict between the two and that Thunders' typically foolish behavior was misinterpreted. Johansen later praised Rundgren for how he enhanced and equalized each instrument, giving listeners the impression that "[they're] in a room and there's a band playing", while Sylvain said his mix accurately captured how the band sounded live. ## Music and lyrics New York Dolls features ten original songs and one cover – the 1963 Bo Diddley song "Pills". Johansen describes the album as "a little jewel of urban folk art". Rundgren, on the other hand, says the band's sensibilities were different from "the urban New York thing" because they had been raised outside Manhattan and drew on carefree rock and roll and Brill Building pop influences such as the Shangri-Las: "Their songs, as punky as they were, usually had a lot to do with the same old boy-girl thing but in a much more inebriated way." Johansen quotes the lyric "when I say I'm in love, you'd best believe I'm in love L-U-V" from the Shangri-Las' "Give Him a Great Big Kiss" (1964) when opening "Looking for a Kiss", which tells a story of adolescent romantic desire hampered by peers who use drugs. On "Subway Train", he uses lyrics from the American folk standard "Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah". In the opinion of critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine, the album's rowdy hard rock songs also revamp riffs from Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones, resulting in music that sounds edgy and threatening in spite of the New York Dolls' wittingly kitsch and camp sensibilities. "Personality Crisis" features raunchy dual guitars, boogie-woogie piano, and a histrionic pause, while "Trash" is a punky pop rock song with brassy singing. Several songs on New York Dolls function as what Robert Hilburn deems to be "colorful, if exaggerated, expressions of teen alienation". According to Robert Christgau, because many of Manhattan's white youths at the time were wealthy and somewhat artsy, only ill-behaved young people from the outer boroughs like the band could "capture the oppressive excitement Manhattan holds for a half-formed human being". "Private World", an escapist plea for stability, was co-written by Kane, who rarely contributed as a songwriter and felt overwhelmed as a young adult in the music business. Sylvain jokingly says "Frankenstein (Orig.)" was titled with the parenthetical qualifier because rock musician Edgar Winter had released his song of the same name before the band could record their own: "Our song 'Frankenstein' was a big hit in our live show ... Now, his thing didn't sound at all like ours, but I'm sure he stole our title." Johansen, the band's main lyricist, says "Frankenstein (Orig.)" is about "how kids come to Manhattan from all over, they're kind of like whipped dogs, they're very repressed. Their bodies and brains are disoriented from each other ... it's a love song." In interpreting the song's titular monster, Frank Kogan writes that it serves as a personification for New York and its ethos, while Johansen asking listeners if they "could make it with Frankenstein" involves more than sexual slang: > Frankenstein wasn't just a creature to have sex with, he represented the whole funky New Yorkiness of New York, the ostentation and the terror, the dreams and the fear ... David was asking if you – if I – could make it with the monster of life, whether I could embrace life in all its pain and dreams and disaster. Although the Dolls exhibit tongue-in-cheek qualities, Gary Graff observes a streetwise realism in the album's songs. In Christgau's opinion, Johansen's colloquial and morally superior lyrics are imbued with humor and a sense of human limits in songs whose fundamental theme is authenticity. This theme is explored in stories about lost youths, as on "Subway Train", or in a study of a specific subject, such as the "schizy imagemonger" on "Personality Crisis". He argues that beneath the band's decadent and campy surface are lyrics about "the modern world ... one nuclear bomb could blow it all away. Pills and personality crises weren't evils – easy, necessary, or whatever. They were strategies and tropisms and positive pleasures". According to journalist Steve Taylor, "Vietnamese Baby" deals with the impact of the Vietnam War at the time on everyday activities for people, whose fun is undermined by thoughts of collective guilt. On songs such as "Subway Train" and "Trash", Johansen uses ambiguity as a lyrical mode. In Kogan's opinion, Johansen sings in an occasionally unintelligible manner and writes in a perplexing, fictional style that is lazy yet ingenious, as it provides his lyrics an abundance of "emotional meaning" and interpretation: "David never provides an objective framework, he's always jumping from voice to voice, so you're hearing a character addressing another character, or the narrator addressing the character, or the character or the narrator addressing us, all jammed up together so you're hearing bits of conversation and bits of subjective description in no kind of chronological order. But as someone says in 'Vietnamese Baby': 'Everything connects.'" On "Trash", Johansen undercuts his vaguely pansexual beliefs with the possibility of going to "fairyland" if he takes a "lover's leap" with the song's subject. ## Marketing and sales New York Dolls was released on July 27, 1973, in the United States and on October 19 in the United Kingdom. Its controversial cover featured the band dressed in exaggerated drag, including high wigs, messy make-up, high heels, and garters. The photo was used for shock value, and on the back of the album, the band is photographed in their usual stage wear. To announce the album's release, Mercury published an advertisement slogan that read "Introducing The New York Dolls: A Band You're Gonna Like, Whether You Like It Or Not", while other ads called them "The Band You Love to Hate". Two double A-sided, 7-inch singles were released – "Trash" / "Personality Crisis" in July and "Jet Boy" / "Vietnamese Baby" in November 1973 – neither of which charted. New York Dolls was commercially unsuccessful and only reached number 116 on the American Top LPs while in the UK it failed to chart altogether. The record sold over 100,000 copies at the time and fell well short of expectations in the press. According to Rolling Stone in 2003, it ended up selling fewer than 500,000 copies. Music journalist Phil Strongman said its commercial failure could be attributed to the New York Dolls' divisive effect on listeners, including writers from the same magazine. In a feature story on the band for Melody Maker prior to the album, Mark Plummer had dismissed their playing as the poorest he had ever seen, while the magazine's reporter Michael Watts viewed them as an encouraging albeit momentary presence in what he felt was a lifeless rock and roll scene at the time. In Creem's readers poll, the album earned the band awards in the categories of "Best New Group of the Year" and "Worst New Group of the Year". After the album's release, the Dolls toured the US as a supporting act for English rock band Mott the Hoople. Reviews complimented their songwriting, Thunders and Sylvain's guitar interplay, and noted their campy fashion and the resemblance of Johansen and Thunders to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. However, some critics panned them as an unserious group of amateurs who could not play or sing. During their appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test in the UK, the show's host Bob Harris dismissed their music as "mock rock" in his on-air comments. They also developed a reputation for rock-star excesses, including drugs, groupies, trashed hotel rooms, and public disturbances, and according to Ben Edmonds of Creem, became "the most walked-out-on band in the history of show business". Strongman wrote that the band and the album were difficult to market because of their kitschy style and how Murcia's death had exacerbated their association with hard drugs, which "wasn't altogether true in the early days". They remained the most popular band in New York City, where their Halloween night concert at the Waldorf Astoria in 1973 drew hundreds of young fans and local television coverage. ## Critical reception and legacy New York Dolls received acclaim from contemporary reviewers. In a rave review for NME, published in August 1973, Nick Kent said the band's raunchy style of rock and roll had been vividly recorded by Rundgren on an album that, besides Iggy and the Stooges' Raw Power (1973), serves as the only one "so far to fully define just exactly where 1970s rock should be coming from". Trouser Press founder and editor Ira Robbins viewed New York Dolls as an innovative record, brilliantly chaotic, and well produced by Rundgren. Ellen Willis, writing for The New Yorker, said it is by far 1973's most compelling hard rock album and that at least half of its songs are immediate classics, particularly "Personality Crisis" and "Trash", which she called "transcendent". In Newsday, Christgau hailed the New York Dolls as "the best hard rock band in the country and maybe the world right now", writing that their "special genius" is combining the shrewd songwriting savvy of early-1960s pop with the anarchic sound of late-1960s heavy metal. He claimed that the record's frenzied approach, various emotions, and wild noise convey Manhattan's harsh, deviant thrill better than the Velvet Underground. In an overall positive review, Rolling Stone critic Tony Glover found the band's impressive live sound to be mostly preserved on the album. However, he was slightly critical of production flourishes and overdubs, feeling that they make some lyrics sound incomprehensible and some choruses too sonorous. Although he was surprised at how well Rundgren's production works with the group's raunchy sound on most of the songs, Glover ultimately asked whether or not "the record alone will impress as much as seeing them live (they're a highly watchable group)." Years later, Christgau would also voice that the album is "in fact a little botched aurally", but still regarded it as a classic. ### Impact and reappraisal New York Dolls has been called one of the greatest debut albums in rock music, one of the genre's most popular cult records, and a foundation for the late 1970s punk rock movement. Chuck Eddy considers it crucial to rock's evolution. The album influenced many rock and roll, punk, and glam rock groups, including the Ramones, Kiss, the Sex Pistols, the Damned, and Guns N' Roses. Chris Smith, in 101 Albums That Changed Popular Music (2009), says the Dolls's amateurish musicianship on the album undermined the musical sophistication of earlier popular music such as Pink Floyd's recent The Dark Side of the Moon (1973). The Guardian included it in its list of "1000 albums to hear before you die" and called it "an efficacious antidote to the excesses of prog rock". According to Sylvain, the album's influence on punk can be attributed to how Rundgren recorded Sylvain's guitar through the left speaker and Thunders' guitar on the right side, an orientation younger bands such as the Ramones and the Sex Pistols subsequently adopted. Rundgren, on the other hand, was amused by how the record became considered a precursor to the punk movement: "The irony is that I wound up producing the seminal punk album, but I was never really thought of as a punk producer, and I never got called by punk acts. They probably thought I was too expensive for what they were going for. But the Dolls didn't really consider themselves punk." It was English singer Morrissey's favorite album, and according to Paul Myers, the record "struck such a chord with [him] that he was not only moved to form his own influential group, The Smiths ... but would eventually convince the surviving Dolls to reunite [in 2004]". According to The Mojo Collection (2007), New York Dolls ignited punk rock and could still inspire more movements because of the music's abundant attitude and passion, while Encyclopedia of Popular Music writer Colin Larkin deems it "a major landmark in rock history, oozing attitude, vitality and controversy from every note". Writing for AllMusic, Erlewine – the website's senior editor – claims that New York Dolls is a more quintessential proto-punk album than any of the Stooges' releases because of how it "plunders history while celebrating it, creating a sleazy urban mythology along the way". David Fricke considers it to be a more definitive glam rock album than David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust (1972) or anything by Marc Bolan because of how the band "captured both the glory and sorrow of glam, the high jinx and wasted youth, with electric photorealism". In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Joe Gross calls it an "absolutely essential" record and "epic sleaze, the sound of five young men shaping the big city in their own scuzzy image". ### Professional rankings New York Dolls appears frequently on professional listings of the greatest albums. In 1978, it was voted 199th in Paul Gambaccini's book Rock Critics' Choice: The Top 200 Albums, which polled a number of leading music journalists and record collectors. Christgau, one of the critics polled, ranked it as the 15th best album of the 1970s in The Village Voice the following year – 11 spots behind the Dolls' second album Too Much Too Soon (1974), although years later he would say the first album should be ranked ahead and was his favorite rock album. New York Dolls was included in Neil Strauss's 1996 list of the 100 most influential alternative records, and the Spin Alternative Record Guide (1995) named it the 70th best alternative album. In 2002, it was included on a list published by Q of the 100 best punk records, while Mojo named it both the 13th greatest punk album and the 49th greatest album of all time. Rolling Stone placed the record at number 213 on its 500 greatest albums list in 2003 and "Personality Crisis" at number 271 on its 500 greatest songs list the following year. In 2007, Mojo polled a panel of prominent recording artists and songwriters for the magazine's "100 Records That Changed the World" publication, in which New York Dolls was voted the 39th most influential and inspirational record ever. In 2013, it placed at number 355 on NME's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. ## Track listing ## Personnel Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. New York Dolls - David Johansen – gong, harmonica, vocals - Arthur "Killer" Kane – bass guitar - Jerry Nolan – drums - Sylvain Sylvain – piano, rhythm guitar, vocals - Johnny Thunders – lead guitar, vocals Additional personnel - Buddy Bowser – saxophone - Jack Douglas – engineering - David Krebs – executive production - Steve Leber – executive production - Paul Nelson – executive production - Dave O'Grady – makeup - Todd Rundgren – additional piano, Moog synthesizer, production - Ed Sprigg – engineer - Alex Spyropoulos – piano - Marty Thau – executive production - Toshi – photography ## Release history Information is adapted from Nina Antonia's Too Much Too Soon: The New York Dolls (2006). ## See also - Lipstick Killers – The Mercer Street Sessions 1972 - List of rock albums - Timeline of punk rock - Todd Rundgren discography

The Beautician and the Beast

1997 film by Ken Kwapis

The Beautician and the Beast is a 1997 American romantic comedy film directed by Ken Kwapis, written by Todd Graff, and starring Fran Drescher, Timothy Dalton, Lisa Jakub, Ian McNeice, and Patrick Malahide. It tells the story of a New York City beautician who is hired, under the false assumption that she is a science teacher, to tutor the four children of a dictator of a fictional Eastern European nation, played by Timothy Dalton. The film deals with the theme of cultural differences, and takes inspiration from other stories like Beauty and the Beast, The King and I, Evita, and The Sound of Music. Produced by Drescher's company High School Sweethearts in partnership with Paramount Pictures, The Beautician and the Beast was her first starring role in a film. Drescher chose Graff to write the screenplay because of his familiarity with her style of humor. She pitched and sold the project as a vehicle to transition her career in television to film. Filming took place during the fall of 1996 in Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, California, and Sychrov Castle in the Czech Republic. Kwapis consulted with dialect coach Francie Brown to create the fictional language Slovetzian used in the film. Cliff Eidelman composed the soundtrack which features the London Metropolitan Orchestra. The Beautician and the Beast was released on February 7, 1997 to generally negative reviews. Critics panned the story as more appropriate for a sitcom rather than a feature film, and called it a poor example of the romantic comedy genre. Drescher and Dalton received mixed reviews for their performances; Drescher was nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress. The Beautician and the Beast was a box-office bomb, grossing roughly $11.5 million against a production budget of $16 million. ## Plot The film opens with an animated sequence in which a prince awakens a princess with a kiss, though she rejects his romantic advances and runs away. The scene shifts to live action beautician Joy Miller, who teaches at a New York City beauty school. One of her students accidentally sets the classroom ablaze by igniting hair spray with a cigarette. She escorts her class and some caged animals to safety, prompting the New York Post to run a headline praising Joy as a hero. Ira Grushinsky, a diplomat from the Eastern European country Slovetzia, mistakes Joy for a science teacher after seeing a newspaper photo. He hires her as a tutor for the four children of Boris Pochenko, Slovetzia's dictator. However, she misinterprets his job offer as teaching hairstyling. Although she has never heard of the country, she accepts the job despite her initial hesitation. After arriving at Slovetzia, Ira is surprised to discover Joy's true identity, but she convinces him to keep it a secret. Despite making a bad first impression with Boris, Joy gets along with his children Katrina, Karl, Masha, and Yuri. While teaching them about life outside Slovetzia, she also helps them to gain confidence in themselves. She learns about Katrina's relationship with Alek, the leader of the youth rebellion, and encourages Karl to pursue his dream of becoming an artist. Joy frequently clashes with Pochenko, who is disturbed by her independence and his inability to frighten her. Joy and Katrina go to a nightclub which also operates as a base for those planning the rebellion; Prime Minister Leonid Kleist follows the pair and arrests Alek. Growing closer to Joy, Boris confesses to her that he wants to change his reputation as a "beast" among Western nations; she encourages him to form closer relationships with his citizens and shaves his mustache. During a trip to a factory, Joy realizes that Slovetzia lacks trade unions and encourages the workers to hold a strike. She also arranges a secret meeting between Katrina and Alek in his cell. Despite Leonid's advice to fire Joy, she convinces Boris to hold a party for visiting emissaries during a summit meeting to debut his new image; he places her in charge of the preparations. As part of the summit, Boris considers releasing Alek despite Leonid's disapproval. On the day of the event, Joy reveals her identity to Boris, but he does not care about her credentials. He thanks her for bringing happiness to him and his family. During the party, Leonid confronts Joy about her role in Katrina's secret meetings with Alek and threatens to have her arrested for treason. Following Boris' decision to keep Alek in jail, Joy informs him that she had set up meetings between Alek and Katrina; he argues with Joy over her meddling in Slovetzia's political affairs. She quits and returns to New York City. Over the course of several weeks, Leonid quietly takes over administrative duties and signs death sentences in Boris' name. When Ira informs Boris that Leonid is usurping his power, he strips Leonid of his duties and arrests him on charges of treason. Boris reunites with Joy in New York City and informs her that he has freed Alek and agreed to hold free elections in Slovetzia. Boris kisses Joy after admitting his feelings for her. ## Cast Cast list adapted from Rotten Tomatoes: - Fran Drescher as Joy Miller - Timothy Dalton as Boris Pochenko - Ian McNeice as Ira Grushinsky - Lisa Jakub as Katrina Pochenko - Patrick Malahide as Leonid Kleist - Michael Lerner as Jerry Miller - Adam LaVorgna as Karl Pochenko - Phyllis Newman as Judy Miller - Heather DeLoach as Masha Pochenko - Kyle and Tyler Wilkerson as Yuri Pochenko - Timothy Dowling as Alek - Michael Immel as Stage Manager - Tonya Watts as Model - Tamara Mello as Consuela - Celeste Russi as Lupe - Daniel R. Escobar as Hector - Billy Brown as Fireman - Jorge Noa as Photographer - Carmela Rappazo as Student - Clyde Wrenn as Student - Earl Carroll as Factory Worker - Vincent Schiavelli as Jailer - Marianne Muellerleile as Chef - R. Sparkle Stillman as Cousin Doris - Edmund Cambridge as Elderly Man - Todd Graff as Denny - Gene Chronopoulos as Servant - David Shackelford as Kitchen Worker - Michael Horton as the voice of a fairy tale prince - Jane Jenkins as Neighbor at Party - Zdenek Vencl as Czech Guard - Vaclav Legner as Czech Guard - Leon Silver as Vaclav - Stephen Marcus as Ivan - Marshal Silverman as Tailor - Dana Bednarova as Svetlana ## Production Fran Drescher developed and pitched the concept for The Beautician and the Beast, which she said was a homage to the musical The King and I (1951). Drescher was an executive producer for the film, which was handled through her production company High School Sweethearts. The writer Todd Graff was attached to The Beautician and the Beast during its pitch; Drescher chose him since they had a similar sense of humor and he was already "familiar with her voice and what type of dialogue suits her best". While producing the film, Drescher only wanted a script that was "written properly for [her]". Changes to the script occurred up until shooting started. Roger Birnbaum and Peter Marc Jacobson were also executive producers for the film, and Howard W. Koch, Jr. was a producer alongside Graff. Drescher pursued her own film project because of the success of her sitcom The Nanny (1993–1999). Previously, she had only acted in supporting roles, first appearing in the 1977 drama Saturday Night Fever; Joy was her first starring role in a feature film. Worried about the audience's response to her move to film, Drescher modeled Joy after her previous performances; she explained: "It was a specific and strategic choice to not have the audience have to work too hard to accept me as another character. I wanted it to be an easy transition so they wouldn't have to bite off more than they can chew." Regarding audience expectations, director Ken Kwapis said Drescher "has had to overcome a lot of skepticism about her voice, her abilities, [and] the specificity of her comedy". He described the film as "more romantic than comic" and wanted it to introduce Drescher's vulnerability and "romantic side" alongside her "loud and brassy" comedy. Timothy Dalton was announced as part of the cast in July 1996. Although Drescher had initially imagined Kevin Kline as Boris, he was unavailable. Kwapis said that Dalton had "a lot of charm and a very gentle tone". Comedian Laura House considered his casting to be "a testament to the time", writing "that's how popular Fran Drescher was". The A.V. Club's Will Harris classified The Beautician and the Beast as one of Dalton's lighter and more comedic projects. During a 2014 interview, Dalton shared that he had a positive experience during the filming and praised Drescher for her comic timing. Describing herself as "very protective" of Dalton during the filming, Drescher helped him with the comedy and ensured that he had enough funny lines. The Beautician and the Beast was filmed in Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, California, Prague, and Sychrov Castle in the Czech Republic. The scenes in the Czech Republic were shot in the fall of 1996; during filming, Drescher hired a chef from Tuscany to prepare meals for her. Peter Lyons Collister handled the cinematography, and Jon Poll was the editor. Kwapis recruited dialect coach Francie Brown to construct the fictional language Slovetzian; it contains influences from Czech, Russian, and Hungarian. The Beautician and the Beast was completed on a budget of $16 million. Its final cut is 107 minutes long. ## Themes Fran Drescher attributed the film's humor to the "juxtaposition of her colorful American character onto a dark, oppressive-looking castle". According to film critic Emanuel Levy, the film personifies a "culture clash of Western democracy vs. rigid and inefficient communism" through Joy and Boris. Levy wrote that Joy pushes Slovetzia into "the liberal, technologically advanced 21st century", and The Baltimore Sun's Stephen Hunter characterized her as the "very spirit of liberalism" and the "distilled essence of yenta". Critics have compared Boris to Joseph Stalin. Hunter believed the comparison was intentional given his "tunic, brush cut, inscrutable expression and pious delta of mustache", but added that these markers are quickly dropped to emphasize his transformation into a more democratic leader and "a wild and crazy guy". Some critics have cited The Beautician and the Beast as an adaptation of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, while others believed The Nanny was its inspiration. The film was likened to the stage musicals The King and I and The Sound of Music (1959) due to its focus on gender and cultural differences. Barry Monush, a researcher for the Paley Center for Media, highlighted the scene in which Joy creates clothing from Ralph Lauren bedding as the most obvious allusion to The Sound of Music. Levy interpreted The Beautician and the Beast as a "musical without songs". The film was compared to Ernst Lubitsch's Ninotchka (1939) and The Shop Around the Corner (1940), and music columnist David Hirsch wrote that the movie's soundtrack was similar to those in 1940s films. Katrina's relationship with Alek was likened to Juliet's romance with Romeo in the play Romeo and Juliet, while the opening animation was seen as a parody of the Disney films Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Sleeping Beauty (1959). ## Music The soundtrack for The Beautician and the Beast was composed by Cliff Eidelman and recorded at the CTS Studios in Wembley, United Kingdom. Its 19 songs feature the London Metropolitan Orchestra. The score incorporates elements of Russian classical music and waltz. Eidelman composed 17 of the tracks, while the remaining two—"L'Internationale" and "The J Waltz"—are traditional works by composers Pierre De Geyter and Jerry Graff, respectively. A choir is featured on "L'Internationale". John Beal composed the film's trailer music; although it was not included on the soundtrack, the track was later released on a compilation album of Beal's trailer music. Milan Records released the soundtrack on February 11, 1997, as an audio CD; it was later made available through the music streaming service Spotify. The soundtrack received mixed critical reviews. Hirsch praised it as a "charmingly old-fashioned romantic score". AllMusic's Jason Ankeny commended Eidelman for not relying on the "sweetness and sentimentality that capsize so many comedic scores", but he criticized the melodies as "leaden and unfocused, with none of the effervescence the genre demands". ## Release and box office The premiere of The Beautician and the Beast was held in Hollywood on February 4, 1997. The film had received a PG film rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) following a review at a Paramount screening room in Los Angeles. It received a wide release on February 7, 1997, through Paramount Pictures as a Koch Company production, and was shown in 1,801 theaters. Emanuel Levy believed the film was intended for "the Valentine's Day dating crowd". The Beautician and the Beast opened at number three in the United States box office, and grossed $4.1 million on its opening weekend. It earned $11,486,880 during its theatrical run; in 2015, Box Office Mojo estimated the film made $22,548,300 when adjusted for ticket price inflation. The Beautician and the Beast failed to meet its budget and was considered a box-office bomb. Drescher attributed the poor box office returns to the film debuting at the same time as the Star Wars "Special Edition" remaster. The VHS release debuted at number 38 on the Billboard Top Video Sales chart on March 21, 1998. Drescher provided audio commentary for the DVD version, which was released on June 24, 2003. The Beautician and the Beast was made available for purchase on Amazon Prime Video; it was also released on streaming services Netflix, between April 2015 and October 2015, and HBO Max upon its launch in 2020. In a 2020 interview, Drescher said the film continues to provide revenue for Paramount Pictures and has developed a following. According to Drescher, Paramount Pictures president Sherry Lansing described the film's longevity as evident through its high video and cable sales. ## Critical reception The Beautician and the Beast received primarily negative responses, holding a score of 22% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 23 reviews. Roger Ebert gave the film two stars, praising Drescher's performance but saying audiences would be unable to empathize with her character, since "we never feel she's really uncertain, insecure or vulnerable". Film.com's Eric Snider criticized the plot for lacking humor and character development. In a negative review of the script, the Chicago Tribune's Gene Siskel wished that the film was smarter with its parody of The Sound of Music. On the other hand, TV Guide's Maitland McDonagh and IGN's Arnold T. Blumberg considered The Beautician and the Beast to be inoffensive and fluffy enough to be enjoyable. In a review for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Carrie Rickey described the film as the "tastykake of snack movies" and "shameless and intermittently funny". Reviewers criticized the film as too similar to a sitcom, including The New York Times' Stephen Holden who said Kwapis and Graff did not elevate the material enough to justify a theatrical release. In an Entertainment Weekly article, Lisa Schwarzbaum wrote that The Beautician and the Beast and the 1997 film Fools Rush In were "hampered, to greater or lesser degree, by the synthetic conceits of their stretched-out stories". Commentators felt Joy was just a copy of Fran Fine, Drescher's character on The Nanny, and believed the film was a poor example of the romantic comedy genre. The San Diego Reader's Duncan Shepherd dismissed The Beautician and the Beast as an "inverted and cut-rate Ninotchka". Describing the film as a "dated '90s [romantic comedy]", Grace Montgomery, writing for Common Sense Media, said it relied too much on clichés and stereotypes. In a 2015 listicle, Refinery29's Erin Donnelly included Joy and Boris among those romantic comedy pairings which lacked chemistry. However, in the same year, Lauren Le Vine for the same publication considered the film a classic, and praised the chemistry between Drescher and Dalton as an "awkward friction". Drescher's performance received mixed reviews. Emanuel Levy praised Drescher as "a warm, funny and likable performer", although he believed she was too old to play an ingénue. Levy likened her voice and Jewish mannerisms to Fanny Brice and Barbra Streisand. Praising the film for having the "postwar naivete" of the 1950s film, the Chicago Tribune's John Petrakis wrote that Drescher's style, specifically her "big hair, thick makeup, loud clothes, and bizarre voice", was reminiscent of Judy Holliday. In more negative comparisons, Jeff Vice called Drescher and Dalton inferior actors to Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner, respectively, and Eric Snider panned her role as "a hell-spawned, snort-laughing Mary Poppins". Drescher's voice was the frequent subject of criticism; Maitland McDonagh said she had a "nasal honk [that] could shatter crystal", but believed her fans would enjoy her performance. Drescher received a nomination for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress for the 18th Golden Raspberry Awards. Critics also had mixed reviews for Dalton's performance. The Washington Post's Rita Kempley praised Dalton for his campy style, and the Deseret News' Jeff Vice wrote that he had "well-chosen facial expressions and some subtle nuances". Despite finding Dalton to be "eventually amiable", Stephen Hunter said The Beautician and the Beast was not a star-making vehicle for him. In a review for the Los Angeles Times, John Anderson enjoyed Dalton's comedic acting, but wrote that "everyone ... comes off as stiff next to Drescher". Maitland McDonagh considered Dalton too serious, however, believing he cast "a damper on the strenuously lighthearted goings-on". In the Lincoln Journal Star, a writer said Dalton had a "constipated scowl", which they felt was an "appropriate mood for sitting through The Beautician and the Beast".

Hubble Deep Field

Multiple exposure image of deep space in the constellation Ursa Major

The Hubble Deep Field (HDF) is an image of a small region in the constellation Ursa Major, constructed from a series of observations by the Hubble Space Telescope. It covers an area about 2.6 arcminutes on a side, about one 24-millionth of the whole sky, which is equivalent in angular size to a tennis ball at a distance of 100 metres. The image was assembled from 342 separate exposures taken with the Space Telescope's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 over ten consecutive days between December 18 and 28, 1995. The field is so small that only a few foreground stars in the Milky Way lie within it; thus, almost all of the 3,000 objects in the image are galaxies, some of which are among the youngest and most distant known. By revealing such large numbers of very young galaxies, the HDF has become a landmark image in the study of the early universe. Three years after the HDF observations were taken, a region in the south celestial hemisphere was imaged in a similar way and named the Hubble Deep Field South. The similarities between the two regions strengthened the belief that the universe is uniform over large scales and that the Earth occupies a typical region in the Universe (the cosmological principle). A wider but shallower survey was also made as part of the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey. In 2004 a deeper image, known as the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF), was constructed from a few months of light exposure. The HUDF image was at the time the most sensitive astronomical image ever made at visible wavelengths, and it remained so until the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field (XDF) was released in 2012. ## Conception One of the key aims of the astronomers who designed the Hubble Space Telescope was to use its high optical resolution to study distant galaxies to a level of detail that was not possible from the ground. Positioned above the atmosphere, Hubble avoids atmospheric airglow allowing it to take more sensitive visible and ultraviolet light images than can be obtained with seeing-limited ground-based telescopes (when good adaptive optics correction at visible wavelengths becomes possible, 10 m ground-based telescopes may become competitive). Although the telescope's mirror suffered from spherical aberration when the telescope was launched in 1990, it could still be used to take images of more distant galaxies than had previously been obtainable. Because light takes billions of years to reach Earth from very distant galaxies, we see them as they were billions of years ago; thus, extending the scope of such research to increasingly distant galaxies allows a better understanding of how they evolve. After the spherical aberration was corrected during Space Shuttle mission STS-61 in 1993, the improved imaging capabilities of the telescope were used to study increasingly distant and faint galaxies. The Medium Deep Survey (MDS) used the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) to take deep images of random fields while other instruments were being used for scheduled observations. At the same time, other dedicated programs focused on galaxies that were already known through ground-based observation. All of these studies revealed substantial differences between the properties of galaxies today and those that existed several billion years ago. Up to 10% of the HST's observation time is designated as Director's Discretionary (DD) Time, and is typically awarded to astronomers who wish to study unexpected transient phenomena, such as supernovae. Once Hubble's corrective optics were shown to be performing well, Robert Williams, the then-director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, decided to devote a substantial fraction of his DD time during 1995 to the study of distant galaxies. A special Institute Advisory Committee recommended that the WFPC2 be used to image a "typical" patch of sky at a high galactic latitude, using several optical filters. A working group was set up to develop and implement the project. ## Target selection The field selected for the observations needed to fulfill several criteria. It had to be at a high galactic latitude because dust and obscuring matter in the plane of the Milky Way's disc prevents observations of distant galaxies at low galactic latitudes (see Zone of Avoidance). The target field had to avoid known bright sources of visible light (such as foreground stars), and infrared, ultraviolet, and X-ray emissions, to facilitate later studies at many wavelengths of the objects in the deep field, and also needed to be in a region with a low background infrared cirrus, the diffuse, wispy infrared emission believed to be caused by warm dust grains in cool clouds of hydrogen gas (H I regions). These criteria restricted the field of potential target areas. It was decided that the target should be in Hubble's continuous viewing zones: the areas of sky that are not occulted by the Earth or the moon during Hubble's orbit. The working group decided to concentrate on the northern continuous viewing zone, so that northern-hemisphere telescopes such as the Keck telescopes, the Kitt Peak National Observatory telescopes, and the Very Large Array (VLA) could conduct follow-up observations. Twenty fields satisfying these criteria were identified, from which three optimal candidate fields were selected, all within the constellation of Ursa Major. Radio snapshot observations with the VLA ruled out one of these fields because it contained a bright radio source, and the final decision between the other two was made on the basis of the availability of guide stars near the field: Hubble observations normally require a pair of nearby stars on which the telescope's Fine Guidance Sensors can lock during an exposure, but given the importance of the HDF observations, the working group required a second set of back-up guide stars. The field that was eventually selected is located at a right ascension of and a declination of ; it is about 2.6 arcminutes in width, or 1/12 the width of the Moon. The area is about 1/24,000,000 of the total area of the sky. ## Observations Once a field was selected, an observing strategy was developed. An important decision was to determine which filters the observations would use; WFPC2 is equipped with 48 filters, including narrowband filters isolating particular emission lines of astrophysical interest, and broadband filters useful for the study of the colors of stars and galaxies. The choice of filters to be used for the HDF depended on the throughput of each filter—the total proportion of light that it allows through—and the spectral coverage available. Filters with bandpasses overlapping as little as possible were desirable. In the end, four broadband filters were chosen, centred at wavelengths of 300 nm (near-ultraviolet), 450 nm (blue light), 606 nm (red light) and 814 nm (near-infrared). Because the quantum efficiency of Hubble's detectors at 300 nm wavelength is quite low, the noise in observations at this wavelength is primarily due to CCD noise rather than sky background; thus, these observations could be conducted at times when high background noise would have harmed the efficiency of observations in other passbands. Between December 18 and 28, 1995—during which time Hubble orbited the Earth about 150 times—342 images of the target area in the chosen filters were taken. The total exposure times at each wavelength were 42.7 hours (300 nm), 33.5 hours (450 nm), 30.3 hours (606 nm) and 34.3 hours (814 nm), divided into 342 individual exposures to prevent significant damage to individual images by cosmic rays, which cause bright streaks to appear when they strike CCD detectors. A further 10 Hubble orbits were used to make short exposures of flanking fields to aid follow-up observations by other instruments. ## Data processing The production of a final combined image at each wavelength was a complex process. Bright pixels caused by cosmic ray impacts during exposures were removed by comparing exposures of equal length taken one after the other, and identifying pixels that were affected by cosmic rays in one exposure but not the other. Trails of space debris and artificial satellites were present in the original images, and were carefully removed. Scattered light from the Earth was evident in about a quarter of the data frames, creating a visible "X" pattern on the images. This was removed by taking an image affected by scattered light, aligning it with an unaffected image, and subtracting the unaffected image from the affected one. The resulting image was smoothed, and could then be subtracted from the bright frame. This procedure removed almost all of the scattered light from the affected images. Once the 342 individual images were cleaned of cosmic-ray hits and corrected for scattered light, they had to be combined. Scientists involved in the HDF observations pioneered a technique called 'drizzling', in which the pointing of the telescope was varied minutely between sets of exposures. Each pixel on the WFPC2 CCD chips recorded an area of sky 0.09 arcseconds across, but by changing the direction in which the telescope was pointing by less than that between exposures, the resulting images were combined using sophisticated image-processing techniques to yield a final angular resolution better than this value. The HDF images produced at each wavelength had final pixel sizes of 0.03985 arcseconds. The data processing yielded four monochrome images (at 300 nm, 450 nm, 606 nm and 814 nm), one at each wavelength. One image was designated as red (814 nm), the second as green (606 nm) and the third as blue (450 nm), and the three images were combined to give a color image. Because the wavelengths at which the images were taken do not correspond to the wavelengths of red, green and blue light, the colors in the final image only give an approximate representation of the actual colors of the galaxies in the image; the choice of filters for the HDF (and the majority of Hubble images) was primarily designed to maximize the scientific utility of the observations rather than to create colors corresponding to what the human eye would actually perceive. ## Contents The final images were released at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in January 1996, and revealed a plethora of distant, faint galaxies. About 3,000 distinct galaxies could be identified in the images, with both irregular and spiral galaxies clearly visible, although some galaxies in the field are only a few pixels across. In all, the HDF is thought to contain fewer than twenty galactic foreground stars; by far the majority of objects in the field are distant galaxies. There are about fifty blue point-like objects in the HDF. Many seem to be associated with nearby galaxies, which together form chains and arcs: these are likely to be regions of intense star formation. Others may be distant quasars. Astronomers initially ruled out the possibility that some of the point-like objects are white dwarfs, because they are too blue to be consistent with theories of white dwarf evolution prevalent at the time. However, more recent work has found that many white dwarfs become bluer as they age, lending support to the idea that the HDF might contain white dwarfs. ## Scientific results The HDF data provided extremely rich material for cosmologists to analyse and by late 2014 the associated scientific paper for the image had received over 900 citations. One of the most fundamental findings was the discovery of large numbers of galaxies with high redshift values. As the Universe expands, more distant objects recede from the Earth faster, in what is called the Hubble Flow. The light from very distant galaxies is significantly affected by the cosmological redshift. While quasars with high redshifts were known, very few galaxies with redshifts greater than one were known before the HDF images were produced. The HDF, however, contained many galaxies with redshifts as high as six, corresponding to distances of about 12 billion light-years. Due to redshift the most distant objects in the HDF (Lyman-break galaxies) are not actually visible in the Hubble images; they can only be detected in images of the HDF taken at longer wavelengths by ground-based telescopes. One of the first observations planned for the James Webb Space Telescope was a mid-infrared image of the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field. The HDF galaxies contained a considerably larger proportion of disturbed and irregular galaxies than the local universe; galaxy collisions and mergers were more common in the young universe as it was much smaller than today. It is believed that giant elliptical galaxies form when spirals and irregular galaxies collide. The wealth of galaxies at different stages of their evolution also allowed astronomers to estimate the variation in the rate of star formation over the lifetime of the Universe. While estimates of the redshifts of HDF galaxies are somewhat crude, astronomers believe that star formation was occurring at its maximum rate 8–10 billion years ago, and has decreased by a factor of about 10 since then. Another important result from the HDF was the very small number of foreground stars present. For years astronomers had been puzzling over the nature of dark matter, mass which seems to be undetectable but which observations implied made up about 85% of all matter in the Universe by mass. One theory was that dark matter might consist of Massive Astrophysical Compact Halo Objects (MACHOs)—faint but massive objects such as red dwarfs and planets in the outer regions of galaxies. The HDF showed, however, that there were not significant numbers of red dwarfs in the outer parts of our galaxy. ## Multifrequency followup Very-high redshift objects (Lyman-break galaxies) cannot be seen in visible light and generally are detected in infrared or submillimetre wavelength surveys of the HDF instead. Observations with the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) indicated infrared emission from 13 galaxies visible in the optical images, attributed to large quantities of dust associated with intense star formation. Infrared observations have also been made with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Submillimeter observations of the field have been made with SCUBA on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, initially detecting 5 sources, although with very low resolution. Observations have also been made with the Subaru telescope in Hawaii. X-ray observations by the Chandra X-ray Observatory revealed six sources in the HDF, which were found to correspond to three elliptical galaxies, one spiral galaxy, one active galactic nucleus and one extremely red object, thought to be a distant galaxy containing a large amount of dust absorbing its blue light emissions. Ground-based radio images taken using the VLA revealed seven radio sources in the HDF, all of which correspond to galaxies visible in the optical images. The field has also been surveyed with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope and the MERLIN array of radio telescopes at 1.4 GHz; the combination of VLA and MERLIN maps made at wavelengths of 3.5 and 20 cm have located 16 radio sources in the HDF-N field, with many more in the flanking fields. Radio images of some individual sources in the field have been made with the European VLBI Network at 1.6 GHz with a higher resolution than the Hubble maps. ## Subsequent HST observations An HDF counterpart in the southern celestial hemisphere was created in 1998: the HDF-South (HDF-S). Created using a similar observing strategy, the HDF-S was very similar in appearance to the original HDF. This supports the cosmological principle that at its largest scale the Universe is homogeneous. The HDF-S survey used the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) instruments installed on the HST in 1997; the region of the original Hubble Deep Field (HDF-N) has since been re-observed several times using WFPC2, as well as by the NICMOS and STIS instruments. Several supernova events were detected by comparing the first and second epoch observations of the HDF-N. A wider survey, but less sensitive, was carried out as part of the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey; a section of this was then observed for longer to create the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, which was the most sensitive optical deep field image for years until the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field was completed in 2012. Images from the Extreme Deep Field, or XDF, were released on September 26, 2012, to a number of media agencies. Images released in the XDF show galaxies which are now believed to have formed in the first 500 million years following the Big Bang. ## See also - List of deep fields

Aquaman (TV pilot)

American superhero television pilot

Aquaman is an American superhero unsold television pilot developed by Smallville creators Al Gough and Miles Millar for The WB Television Network, based on the DC Comics character of the same name. The pilot show was produced by both DC Comics and Warner Bros. Television Studios, with the exception of Tollin/Robbins Productions. Millar Gough Ink, who was also known from producing the Superman prequel hit series, Smallville, also produced the film. Gough and Millar wrote the pilot, which was directed by Greg Beeman. Justin Hartley starred as Arthur "A.C." Curry, a young man living in a beachside community in the Florida Keys who learns about his powers and destiny as the Prince of Atlantis. The Aquaman pilot was expected to debut in the fall schedule of 2006, but following the merger of the WB and UPN, the resulting CW Network opted not to buy the series. After they passed on the pilot, it was made available online through iTunes in the United States on July 25, 2006 and became the number-one most downloaded television show on iTunes. It received generally favorable reviews, was later released on other online markets, and aired on Canadian television network and YTV. ## Pilot summary Arthur and his mother Atlanna are flying over the Bermuda Triangle. As they get closer, Atlanna's necklace begins to glow and a surge of light and energy erupts from the ocean, causing cyclones which bring their plane down. Atlanna is kidnapped by a siren, but not before giving Arthur her necklace and calling him Orin. Ten years later, Arthur is charged for releasing dolphins from a marine park. His father bails him out of trouble, but gives him a stern lecture on responsibility. Later, Arthur tells his friend Eva that he felt like the dolphins were calling to him. While he's working, he is approached by a lighthouse keeper who identifies himself as McCaffery. The Coast Guard picks up an unidentified man floating in the Bermuda Triangle and pleading to warn Orin. Lt. Torres is sent to investigate the area. Arthur is also at the Triangle, and his necklace triggers another surge of light, which causes Torres to crash her jet. Brigman transports the John Doe to another facility, and persuades Torres to join his team. Brigman is looking for a connection between the disappearances of thousands of individuals, and their reappearance years later without ever aging a day. That evening, Arthur meets a seductive young woman named Nadia, who convinces him to go swim naked with her. In the water, Nadia reveals herself to not only be a Siren, but the one that took his mother. Arthur barely escapes with a little help from McCaffery. McCaffery explains that he, Arthur and Arthur's mother were all exiled from Atlantis, and that Arthur is the prince of Atlantis. Arthur convinces Eva to leave Tempest Key for a few days, but it comes too late as Nadia injures Eva and captures Arthur. When he wakes up, Arthur finds that Nadia has also captured McCaffery and she is bringing them both back to Atlantis to be executed. Breaking free using a flask of water to enhance his strength, Arthur destroys Nadia by putting a spear through her head. The next morning, McCaffery explains that there will be more creatures that will come looking for Arthur and that he should have started his training years prior. Arthur agrees to start his training, and McCaffery leaves him with Henry IV Part 1 and Part 2 to read. McCaffery informs Arthur, who would rather just skip to the ending, that "it isn't about the ending, it's about the journey." Ideas for future episodes focused on environmental threats, such as "ocean polluters" and "evil oil companies". Thirteen episodes were fully planned out, with a possible story arc involving McCaffery being captured and taken back to Atlantis. Stories regarding mythology were set to play a small role in later episodes. Gough and Millar chose to go with a more classic version of the Aquaman mythology, pulling largely from the comics. Gough said that "unlike Superman, there really isn't a set core mythology for Arthur Curry. There are a couple different versions of it. We went with the most classic one". ## Cast and characters - Justin Hartley as Arthur "A.C." Curry / Orin / Aquaman: The central character of the show. He runs a dive shop in his day-to-day life. However, Arthur is aware of his special abilities, but uses them for fun before learning in the pilot episode of his destiny as the lost Prince of Atlantis. - Lou Diamond Phillips as Tom Curry: A Coast Guard officer. While in his rookie year, he rescues the infant Arthur (then named Orin), Atlanna, and McCaffery from shark-infested waters. He later falls in love with Atlanna, marrying her and adopting her son. - Denise Quiñones as Lt. Rachel Torres: A fighter pilot. She meets Arthur when he rescues her after her jet crashes in the ocean. She is then asked by Brigman to aid in his investigation. - Rick Peters as Agent Brigman: A U.S. agent who has been investigating the apparent resurfacing of people around Mercy Reef who were lost in the Bermuda Triangle, some, as much as 40 years ago. - Ving Rhames as McCaffery: A lighthouse keeper and Arthur's mentor. He is also an Atlantean. - Amber McDonald as Eva: Arthur's business partner; together they run a dive shop in Tempest Keys. The two are close friends. - Adrianne Palicki as Nadia: A siren and the villain of the story. She is the one responsible for the disappearance of Atlanna. - Daniella Wolters as Atlanna: Arthur's mother; she was taken from him when he was young, and her disappearance has mystified Arthur ever since. She was the first to call him "Orin". ## Production ### Development The concept of Aquaman stemmed from a fifth season episode of Smallville, "Aqua." The episode featured Arthur Curry (Alan Ritchson) coming to Smallville to stop an underwater weapons project being developed by LuthorCorp. "Aqua" became the highest rated episode for Smallville that season, but was never meant to be a backdoor pilot for an Aquaman series. However, as work progressed on "Aqua", the character was recognized to have potential for his own series. Miles Millar and Alfred Gough, the creators of Smallville, also considered a series featuring Lois Lane, but felt more confident about Aquaman. Millar said that they envisioned Aquaman as a franchise with 100 episodes. Alan Ritchson was not considered for the role in the new series because Gough and Millar did not consider it a spin-off from Smallville. Gough said in November 2005 that the series was going to be a different version of the 'Aquaman' legend, but did express the idea of a crossover with Smallville at some point. There was initial speculation that the show's title would not be Aquaman. Tempest Keys and Mercy Reef were rumored to be the working titles for the series. The show would eventually be listed as Aquaman, when it was later released on iTunes. Greg Beeman, who has produced and directed episodes of Smallville, was hired to direct the pilot. ### Casting The role of Arthur Curry was originally given to Will Toale, after Gough and Millar saw over 400 candidates from England, Australia, Canada and the United States. Before filming began, Toale was replaced with Justin Hartley. A CW spokesman said: "We have made the decision to go in a different direction with the Aquaman role and wish [Toale] the best of luck in all of his endeavors". Graham Bentz was cast as a young Arthur Curry, while Adrianne Palicki was cast as a Siren named Nadia. Ving Rhames, Amber McDonald, Denise Quiñones, Rick Peters, and Lou Diamond Phillips filled in the rest of the regular cast members. Four of the cast members guest starred on Smallville before the Aquaman pilot. Denise Quiñones played Andrea Rojas in the season five episode "Vengeance," while Adrianne Palicki appeared in the season three episode "Covenant". Rick Peters was cast as Bob Rickman in the season one episode "Hug". Kenny Johnson, who briefly appears as the Sheriff in the pilot's opening, guest starred in the season five episode "Mortal". ### Filming Production was based in North Miami, Florida; filming began in March 2006 with an estimated budget of $7 million. Practical and exterior footage was shot around Coconut Grove, Miami. Some scenes were filmed on location at the Homestead Air Reserve Base adjacent to Homestead, Florida. The 482nd Fighter Wing Airmen were used as extras while filming at the base, along with several of their fighter aircraft. The production was expected to continue in June of that year, had it been given the greenlight. Some of the actors received training from Staff Sergeant Leo Castellano on the proper way to present arms. Much of the filming took place underwater; Hartley filmed his underwater scenes without a tank, breathing from the safety divers' tanks around him for the scenes out on the ocean. Hartley had never been scuba diving and was not a diver, but did say that he was a good swimmer. Entity FX, the firm which did the special effects for Smallville since its second season, was contracted to work on the Aquaman pilot. ### Arthur's powers Hartley explained that Arthur would be aware of his powers at the beginning of the series and would have no problem using them for personal gain. Hartley felt this played against the typical superheroes, because his character was not afraid to flaunt his abilities. Gough explained that A.C. would be able to swim faster than humans, breathe underwater, as well as have super strength while underwater. He also stated that exposure to water on land would give him powers. The extent of his speed is shown in the pilot, when Arthur is able to keep up with a fighter jet flying above him. The extent of A.C.'s ability to breathe underwater was not elaborated upon, but he is seen swimming near the bottom of the ocean near the start of the pilot. When A.C. is talking to Eva about releasing captive dolphins, he tells her that he felt as though the dolphins were somehow calling to him. In the comics, one of Aquaman's powers is the ability to communicate with sea life. Gough likened A.C.'s not having access to water to Clark's growing weakness around kryptonite in Smallville – if A.C. does not get water, he will dehydrate and weaken. Water gives him a power boost and enables producers to explore stories on land. ## Release The pilot was considered to have a good chance of being picked up, but ultimately the CW passed on the show. Discussing the excitement surrounding the project, Lou Diamond Phillips said: "The funny thing about the Aquaman project is that there's so much buzz about it already. Which is amazing, I mean you don't usually get that with a pilot, because they're sort of sight unseen". There were reports of two WB pilots in contention for the new CW network, one being Aquaman, which was a frontrunner. When The CW announced its fall lineup in May 2006, Aquaman was not on the list. Dawn Ostroff, The CW's president of entertainment, stated that it was still a midseason contender. Gough and Miller were so passionate about the pilot that they wanted it released in some form so the fans could see it. Gough said in an interview: "The implication when a network doesn't pick up a show is that the pilot sucks and that's not the case. It's not a perfect pilot by any stretch of the imagination. There are other reasons—which are a mystery to us—as to why The CW didn't pick it up." He mentioned a potential release as an extended episode during the sixth season of Smallville. The pilot became one of the first shows offered by Warner Brothers on the iTunes Store (available only to US customers) for $1.99, under the title Aquaman on July 25, 2006. Within a week, it reached the number-one spot on the list of most downloaded TV shows on the digital store's list, and it held that spot for over a week. Gough said: "At least the pilot is now getting its day in court with the fans, and the reviews have all been very positive". It became the first show available on iTunes which had not previously aired on a network. The pilot was released the week of March 12, 2007 on the Xbox Live Video Marketplace. By March 24, the pilot reached \#6 on the Video Marketplace's top downloads. Canadian television network YTV aired the pilot as part of their "Superhero Saturday" on June 9 the same year. Warner Home Video in association with Best Buy released the pilot as a promotional DVD on November 11, bundling it together with selected Smallville season sets. Warner Bros. attached it as a bonus feature to the Blu-ray release of Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths in February 2009. Critical response was generally positive. The pilot was found comparable in quality to Smallville, with suggestions that Aquaman was indeed worthy of a place on The CW's schedule. The cast was well received; in addition, Hartley was praised for his portrayal of Arthur Curry. Cinematography and underwater special effects were well received. The project was commended for keeping the comic book myth fresh and exciting for a modern audience. ## See also - - List of television series canceled before airing an episode

Kenneth Widmerpool

Fictional character in Anthony Powell's novel sequence A Dance to the Music of Time

Kenneth Widmerpool is a fictional character in Anthony Powell's novel sequence A Dance to the Music of Time, a 12-volume account of upper-class and bohemian life in Britain between 1920 and 1970. Regarded by critics as one of the more memorable characters of 20th century fiction, Widmerpool is the antithesis of the sequence's narrator-hero Nicholas Jenkins. Initially presented as a comic, even pathetic figure, he becomes increasingly formidable, powerful and ultimately sinister as the novels progress. He is successful in business, in the army and in politics, and is awarded a life peerage. His only sphere of failure is his relationships with women, exemplified by his disastrous marriage to Pamela Flitton. The sequence ends with Widmerpool's downfall and death, in circumstances arising from his involvement with a New Age-type cult. Literary analysts have noted Widmerpool's defining characteristics as a lack of culture, small-mindedness, and a capacity for intrigue; generally, he is thought to embody many of the worst aspects of the British character. However, he has the ability to rise above numerous insults and humiliations that beset him to achieve positions of prominence through dogged industry and self-belief. In this respect he represents the meritocratic middle class's challenge to the declining power of the traditional "establishment" or ruling group, which is shown to be vulnerable to a determined assault from this source. Among the more prominent names suggested as real-life models for Widmerpool have been Edward Heath, the British prime minister 1970–1974 and Reginald Manningham-Buller who was Britain's Attorney General in the 1950s. Others of Powell's contemporaries have made claims to be the character's source, although Powell gave little encouragement to such speculation. Widmerpool has been portrayed in two British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) radio dramatisations of the novel sequence (1979–1982 and 2008) and in Channel 4's television filmed version broadcast in 1997. ## Context: A Dance to the Music of Time The novel sequence A Dance to the Music of Time comprises 12 volumes spanning a period of approximately 50 years; from the early 1920s to the first years of the 1970s. The series itself was published between 1951 and 1975. Its title is taken from Nicolas Poussin's 1634–1636 painting of the same name. Through the eyes of a narrator, Nicholas Jenkins, the reader observes the changing fortunes of a varied collection of mainly upper-class characters. Their ambience is a bohemian world of art, literature and music, intermingled with the more practical spheres of politics, business and the military. In a 1971 study of the novels the journalist and editor Dan McLeod summarised the theme of the sequence as that of a decaying establishment, confronted by "aggressive representatives from the middle classes elbowing their way up". The latter are prepared to suffer any number of indignities in their pursuit of power but the establishment proves capable of resisting the advance of "all but the most thick-hided and persevering" of outsiders. Kenneth Widmerpool becomes the principal embodiment of these incomers. The first three volumes are set in the 1920s and follow the main characters through school, university and their first steps towards social and professional acceptance. The next three are placed in the 1930s; the protagonists become established, put down roots, watch the international situation anxiously and prepare for war. The background for the seventh, eighth and ninth volumes is the Second World War, which not all the characters survive. The final three books cover the 25 years from the early days of the post-war Attlee government to the counterculture and protests of the early 1970s. During the long narrative, the focus changes frequently from one group to another; new faces appear while established characters are written out, sometimes reappearing after many volumes, sometimes not at all, though news of their doings may reach Jenkins, through one or other of his many acquaintances. Apart from Jenkins, Widmerpool is the only one of the 300-odd characters who takes part in the action of each of the 12 volumes. Richard Jones, writing in the Virginia Quarterly Review, suggests that the novels may be regarded as "the dance of Kenneth Widmerpool, who is Jenkins's fall-guy, tormentor, and antithesis". Widmerpool dogs Jenkins's career and life; in the opening pages of the first book at school, he is encountered running through the mists, in the vain hope of athletic glory. In the final stages of the last book he is running again, this time at the behest of the quasi-religious cult that has claimed him. ## Character ### Origins, appearance, personality The name "Widmerpool" was assumed by many critics to derive from Widmerpool, a Nottinghamshire village. In a 1978 interview, Powell said he first came across the name in a 17th-century book, Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson, which features a Captain of Horse, Major Joseph Widmerpoole, who served in Cromwell's army under John Hutchinson during the English Civil War. Powell viewed this Widmerpoole as a mean-spirited and disagreeable character and "had his name down for really quite a long time as a name I was going to use". The fictional Widmerpool's background is meritocratic rather than aristocratic. His paternal grandfather was a Scottish businessman surnamed Geddes, who on marriage to a woman of higher social standing, adopted her name as his own. The family appears to have settled in either Nottinghamshire or Derbyshire; Widmerpool's father trades as a fertiliser manufacturer, a matter of extreme embarrassment to his son, who never mentions him. His mother is a woman of strong opinions and a great admirer of Stalin; her passion is her son's career and advancement. Mother and son live together, from Widmerpool père's death in the mid-1920s until Widmerpool's marriage in 1945. Jenkins's descriptions of Widmerpool's appearance are unflattering; at school he is painted as "heavily built, [with] thick lips and metal-rimmed spectacles giving his face as usual an aggrieved expression ... [as if] he suspected people of trying to worm out of him important information ..." A few years later, he is wearing more fashionable spectacles but Jenkins notes that he still has a curiously fishlike ("piscine") countenance. He has a propensity to put on weight; although barely 30, Widmerpool appears to Jenkins as portly and middle-aged. At the outbreak of war in 1939, in a badly cut army uniform, he resembles a music-hall burlesque of a military officer or else "a railway official of some obscure country". After the war as an MP, his demeanour and shape are "demanding of treatment by political cartoonists". In 1958, meeting Widmerpool (then in his mid-fifties) after some years, Jenkins is shocked by his elderly appearance. His clothes are ill-fitting through weight loss, giving him the look of a scarecrow; his grey hair is sparse and his facial flesh hangs in pouches. The final glimpse of Widmerpool, in his cult milieu, reveals him as a physical wreck, looking aged, desperate and worn out. Widmerpool's chief characteristic in his youth is an exaggerated respect for and deference to authority. This is first indicated by his obsequious response to being hit in the face by a banana, thrown by the school's cricket captain. It is further shown by his outrage over a prank played by his schoolfellow Charles Stringham on their housemaster, Le Bas. He has a craving for acceptance, even at the price of humiliation, and has a natural talent for aligning himself with the dominant power. Many of Widmerpool's traits are evident quite early in his career: his pomposity, his aversion to all forms of culture ("the embodiment of thick-skinned, self-important philistinism" according to one commentator), his bureaucratic obsessions and his snobbishness. He is politically naïve and his contribution to the pre-war appeasement of Nazi Germany is to suggest that Hermann Göring be awarded the Order of the Garter and given a tour of Buckingham Palace. Yet, as the novel sequence progresses, Widmerpool emerges as far less of a buffoon and becomes, against all expectations, powerful and power-obsessed. In his analysis of Powell's fiction, Nicholas Birns identifies an incident in The Acceptance World (the third volume of the series) as the point at which the assessment of Widmerpool by his contemporaries begins to change. Widmerpool takes charge of a drunken Stringham after a reunion dinner, guides him home and despite resistance puts him firmly to bed: "Widmerpool, once so derided by all of us, had in some mysterious manner become a person of authority. Now, in a sense, it was he that derided us". Widmerpool's egotism and will-power enable him, once set, to carry all before him, although before his ultimate downfall his powers develop in somewhat sinister directions. In a review of the early novels in the sequence, Arthur Mizener wrote: "Powell makes his great egoists, for all their absurdity, something not essentially different from all the rest of us; even Widmerpool, the most extravagant of the lot, is not. However sublimely ridiculous he becomes, he continues to remind us, not so much, perhaps, of what we have done, as what we have, in our time, known we might do". ### Career At school (not identified but generally recognised as Eton from the description of wartime bomb damage tallies), Widmerpool is undistinguished academically and athletically, a "gauche striver" in the words of one literary commentator. He is the object of some ridicule, chiefly remembered for wearing the "wrong kind of overcoat" on his arrival at the school. Driven by ambition, instead of going on to university ("much better get down to work right away") he is articled to a firm of solicitors, declaring this to be a springboard to wider horizons in business and politics. When Jenkins encounters him a few years after school, Widmerpool has achieved some social success and is a regular invitee at dinner-dances. He has also acquired a commission as a lieutenant in the Territorial Army. Through his social contacts Widmerpool secures a job in the politico-legal department of the Donners-Brebner industrial conglomerate, a post that brings him into close contact with Sir Magnus Donners, for whom he exhibits a respect bordering on reverence. He develops a talent for intrigue, which irritates Sir Magnus to the extent that Widmerpool is asked to leave the organisation. He joins a City firm of bill-brokers and still under the age of 30, becomes an influential and respected figure in the financial world. By the late 1930s, Widmerpool is advising Donners-Brebner again. Just before the outbreak of war in September 1939, he oversees a scheme on behalf of Donners to corner the Turkish market in chromite and emerges unscathed when the project collapses. At the beginning of the war Widmerpool joins the army and with the advantage of his Territorial commission is rapidly promoted. By mid-1940 he holds the rank of major and is serving as Deputy-Assistant-Adjutant-General at Divisional Headquarters in Northern Ireland. Jenkins becomes his junior officer and observes Widmerpool's industry and his skill as a manipulator. Among the rank and file troops at headquarters, serving as a mess waiter, is Charles Stringham. Widmerpool is embarrassed by the presence of his former school-fellow, and engineers his transfer to a mobile laundry unit, which is sent to Singapore where Stringham meets his death. In June 1941, Widmerpool is transferred to London as a Military Assistant Secretary at the Cabinet Office. Promotions to lieutenant colonel and colonel follow and he is appointed an OBE. In his new post he is close to the centres of power and is able to influence war policy and settle old scores. He is complicit in the death of another school rival, Peter Templer, who as the result of a policy recommendation by Widmerpool, is abandoned while on a secret mission in the Balkans. Just after the end of the war, Widmerpool surprises his acquaintances by marrying Stringham's niece, Pamela Flitton, an ATS driver, whose sex life is rumoured to be "gladiatorial". Since the mid-1930s, Widmerpool's political leanings have been generally to the left, (possibly as a result of his brief association with the radical Gypsy Jones in the late 1920s). In 1945 he becomes a Labour Member of Parliament during the postwar Attlee government and eventually receives (unspecified) minor ministerial office in the administration. He is also one of the backers of a left-leaning magazine, Fission, through which he hopes to propagate his economic and political views. He is an assiduous promoter of good relations with eastern European countries and is suspected by some of a secret communist allegiance. After losing his parliamentary seat in the 1955 General Election Widmerpool continues to promote east–west friendship and trade and is thought to have become wealthy as a result. Doubts as to his motives remain and rumours connect him with Burgess and Maclean. In 1958, Widmerpool is appointed a life peer and takes his seat in the House of Lords. His eastern European activities again arouse suspicion, questions are asked in parliament and it seems likely that he will be charged with spying but the investigation is dropped without explanation. His marriage to Pamela is disintegrating; for years he has tolerated her constant infidelities and she publicly accuses him of voyeurism. After Pamela's sudden death in 1959, Widmerpool leaves the country to take up an academic post in California. In America Widmerpool becomes something of a figurehead among youth protest movements; there are suggestions that his earlier problems may have resulted from a CIA plot. He returns to England in the late 1960s and is installed as Chancellor of a new university. During the ceremony he is pelted with red paint but immediately identifies with the demonstrators and becomes a central figure in the counter-culture movement. He resigns the chancellorship after a year, to run a commune for dissident youth. By late 1969, he has been drawn into a more sinister cult, led by the young mystic Scorpio Murtlock, which gradually overwhelms his life and independence. He is last heard of late in 1971, when during a ritual dawn run through the woods he collapses and dies. ### Love life The novels leave open the nature and extent of Widmerpool's sexuality, an aspect on which critics have often speculated. Stephen McGregor of the Spectator describes him as "impotent"; another commentator used the words "sexual incompetent". At school he gets Akworth, a fellow-pupil, expelled for sending a presumably compromising note to Peter Templer; afterwards, Jenkins and Stringham discuss Templer's belief that Widmerpool was motivated by sexual jealousy. A few years later, Jenkins recalls how Widmerpool recoiled when touched gently on the arm by Berthe, a French girl encountered during the pair's summer sojourn at La Grenadière, shortly after leaving school. In his mid-twenties, Widmerpool confesses to Jenkins his love for Barbara Goring, a girl whom he had known since his childhood. Their families had been neighbours and Widmerpool's father had supplied Lord Goring with liquid manure. This unrequited passion ends suddenly, when Barbara pours sugar over Widmerpool's head at a ball, as a means of "sweetening" him. Shortly afterwards, Widmerpool becomes obsessed by Gypsy Jones, a fiery street radical he meets by chance, who according to Jenkins resembles "a thoroughly ill-conditioned errand boy". The nature of the Widmerpool–Jones relationship is not made explicit; it culminates in his paying for an abortion, even though he is not responsible for her condition and apparently receives no favours from her in return. His actions in this respect haunt Widmerpool for a long time thereafter; he vows that he will never again allow a woman to take his mind off his work. When he is about 30, Widmerpool becomes engaged to a considerably older widow, Mildred Haycock. His main motivation appears to be his craving for social status; she is the daughter of Lord Vowchurch. In his analysis of Powell's works, Nicholas Birns wrote: "What Widmerpool wants to do is to 'marry up', to make a marriage that will cement his upward social mobility, and he is willing to take an older woman with two teenage children in order to accomplish this." The engagement ends abruptly, over Widmerpool's impotence during an attempted premarital sexual union. After this episode, the issue of Widmerpool's sex life is not mentioned until, in the later stages of the Second World War, he admits to picking up "tarts" during the blackout. After the war his disastrous marriage to Pamela Flitton appears to provide him with no normal physical satisfaction; according to Pamela he gave up trying after two abortive attempts to sleep with her and was reduced to furtive pleasure from observing her sexual activities with others. He is also reported to have had some depraved dealings with a prostitute known as "Pauline". In old age, within the Murtlock cult, he is said to have "watched [girls] naked, whenever he could". ## Critical and popular reception Critics generally find Widmerpool the most interesting and absorbing of the sequence's major characters. He has been described as "one of the most memorable characters of 20th century fiction", and according to the literary critic John Bayley is as "famous a character in the annals of English fiction as either Pickwick or Jeeves". Powell, in a 1978 interview, confessed that he had used Widmerpool as a bait to catch readers, but found that the character had taken over, to a greater extent than he would have wished. The essayist Tariq Ali views Widmerpool as a giant among fictional characterisations of his kind, comparable to Baron de Charlus in Proust's epic In Search of Lost Time and Ulrich in Robert Musil's trilogy The Man Without Qualities. Ali asserts that Widmerpool is "in many ways a more inspired creation than Charlus". The circumstances of Widmerpool's death, whereby he is transformed from a believable person into "a sub-Dickensian grotesque" is, says Ali, a cause for much regret. Powell's A Writer's Notebook (2001) reveals that Powell originally considered a different ending for Widmerpool, in which he simply disappears into the mists, his ultimate fate an enigma. Ali argues that this would have been "much more in keeping with the dance of life and death". Norman Shrapnel, in his obituary of Powell, speculates whether the author ever regretted creating the "maddening, mysterious, apparently indestructible Widmerpool" and, like Ali, expresses disappointment with the manner of the character's death. Conversely, in a biographical sketch of Powell, Michael Barber believes that Widmerpool's demise accords with a principal theme of the novels, expressed in Casanova's Chinese Restaurant (fifth book in the sequence), that "in the end most things in life—perhaps all things—turn out to be appropriate". Michael Gorra, reviewing Powell's autobiography To Keep the Ball Rolling, presents the view that, while the novels are built around Widmerpool, they are not essentially about him: "He is an organising principle, a means, not an end, and serves primarily to establish a system of judgement." Evelyn Waugh, who reviewed the early novels as they appeared at two-year intervals, found Widmerpool particularly compelling. He wrote to Powell after reading At Lady Molly's (fourth volume): "In the opening pages I felt the void of Widmerpool really aching – I could not have borne another page's delay for his entry. Did you intend him to dominate the series?" After reviewing Casanova's Chinese Restaurant Waugh complained of a "sad disappointment – only three pages of Widmerpool". Bernard Bergonzi, in The New York Review of Books in 1964, said "the presiding genius of The Music of Time is undoubtedly Kenneth Widmerpool"; he continued "For Powell, Widmerpool embodies in an unusually pure form the power of the will: he is obtuse, pompous, socially inept, and at the same time possessed of an almost demonic energy and an unstoppable urge to succeed." ## Real-life models Many readers and literary analysts have assumed that Widmerpool was drawn from Powell's acquaintances. Powell was circumspect and chose not to confirm any of the suggestions put to him. Candidates include Powell's Eton contemporary Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller (nicknamed "Bullying-Manner"), later ennobled as Lord Dilhorne, who served as Attorney General during the 1950s and Lord Chancellor in the early 1960s. According to Powell, Manningham-Buller was an unattractive figure at school; he was instrumental in the dismissal of a master who sent an inappropriate note to a junior boy, an action reflected in the novels when Widmerpool instigates the sacking of Akworth. Powell's brother-in-law, the Labour peer Lord Longford, believed that he was the model for Widmerpool, a proposition that Powell rejected; Longford had also claimed to be Erridge, another character from the novels. The Labour politician Denis Healey thought that Powell had based Widmerpool on Edward Heath, the British prime minister between 1970 and 1974. It is possible that the episodes relating to Widmerpool's spying career are drawn from the activities of Denis Nowell Pritt, a Labour MP who was expelled from the party for his pro-Soviet stance. Powell's biographer Michael Barber wrote that Cyril Connolly declared his long-standing enemy, the art historian Douglas Cooper, to be a Widmerpool prototype; Cooper's companion John Richardson thought that Connolly was joking. Powell came close to endorsing a real-life model in Denis Capel-Dunn, a lawyer and wartime lieutenant-colonel in the Intelligence Corps, who was briefly Powell's senior officer. Capel-Dunn was nicknamed "The Papal Bun", and was derided by his subordinates for his appearance and demeanour. He was described by his contemporaries as "a very fat, extremely boring, overwhelmingly ambitious arriviste. His conversations were hideously detailed and humourless". He was responsible, apparently through spite, for preventing Powell's promotion to the rank of major. When the historian Desmond Seward proposed Capel-Dunn as the original Widmerpool, Powell replied that he "might be on to something". Denis Capel-Dunn married overseas (Cuba) Elizabeth Hessey (daughter of Brigadier William Francis Hessey) and their first daughter Hester Capel-Dunn married the brother of actor Laurence Olivier - Gerard Dacres Olivier; the caricature may well be a red herring. In the Catholic Herald, Alexander Lucie-Smith wrote that everyone has Widmerpools in their lives; these are usually "impenetrable egomaniacs ... who have nevertheless carried all before them". He includes in this category several recent and current politicians: "Some have thought Gordon Brown resembled him. One might point out that our current Prime Minister [David Cameron] has certain shades of Widmerpool, and like him, went to Eton". The Anthony Powell Society, a literary society founded in 2000 to promote public interest in Powell's life and works, has from time to time offered a "Widmerpool Award" to persons in public life whose behaviour is deemed suitably "Widmerpudlian", specifically abuse of power. The recipient is presented with an engraved award representing a "wrong kind of overcoat" and the former Labour Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, the journalist Max Hastings and the political analyst Karl Rove have received awards. The name of John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons from 2009 to 2019, has been mentioned as a possible recipient. ## Dramatic portrayals Widmerpool has twice been portrayed in BBC radio broadcasts of the Dance to the Music of Time sequence. The first was a 26-part serial, transmitted on Radio Four between summer 1979 and autumn 1982, in four batches. The novels were dramatised by Frederick Bradnum and the series was produced by Graham Gauld. The part of Widmerpool was played—with, according to one listener "audible pomposity"—by Brian Hewlett, more generally known as a longstanding cast member of the BBC radio serial The Archers. A later radio adaptation was broadcast in six episodes, in Radio Four's "Classic Serial" of April and May 2008. The dramatisation was by Michael Butt; the youthful Widmerpool was played by Anthony Hoskyns and the adult character by Mark Heap. In October and November 1997, Channel 4 presented the novel sequence in four television films, with a screenplay by Hugh Whitemore, produced by Peter Amsorge. Widmerpool was played by Simon Russell Beale; in a generally critical review of the first film of the series, Thomas Sutcliffe in The Independent refers to Beale's performance as particularly good, bearing in mind the "thin ledges of characterisation" the script provides to the cast. The journalist David Aaronovitch thought Beale's interpretation of the character definitive: "...the Widmerpool who insinuated his podgy bulk into my private space was ... Simon Russell Beale's Widmerpool, who has come to stay". Reviewing the reissue of the films in DVD in 2012, Stuart Jeffries in The Guardian describes Widmerpool as "one of fiction's most intriguing monsters" and likens Beale's portrayal to that of "a kind of grown-up Billy Bunter with the charm sucked out". Christopher Hitchens, writing in the New York Review of Books, criticised the production (though not Beale's performance), for depicting Widmerpool as "a hapless rather than a hateful figure". Beale was the reader for the cassette recordings of the first two novels: A Question of Upbringing and A Buyer's Market. As a result of his television portrayal of Widmerpool, he was asked by the Wallace Collection to open its Powell centenary exhibition in October 2005. In the following year he accepted a request from the Anthony Powell Society to serve as its president, a post he held until 2011.

Qatna

Archaeological site in Syria

Qatna (modern: , Tell al-Mishrifeh; also Tell Misrife or Tell Mishrifeh) was an ancient city located in Homs Governorate, Syria. Its remains constitute a tell situated about 18 km (11 mi) northeast of Homs near the village of al-Mishrifeh. The city was an important center through most of the second millennium BC and in the first half of the first millennium BC. It contained one of the largest royal palaces of Bronze Age Syria and an intact royal tomb that has provided a great amount of archaeological evidence on the funerary habits of that period. First inhabited for a short period in the second half of the fourth millennium BC, it was repopulated around 2800 BC and continued to grow. By 2000 BC, it became the capital of a regional kingdom that spread its authority over large swaths of the central and southern Levant. The kingdom enjoyed good relations with Mari, but was engaged in constant warfare against Yamhad. By the 15th century BC, Qatna lost its hegemony and came under the authority of Mitanni. It later changed hands between the former and Egypt, until it was conquered and sacked by the Hittites in the late 14th century BC. Following its destruction, the city was reduced in size before being abandoned by the 13th century BC. It was resettled in the 10th century BC, becoming a center of the kingdoms of Palistin then Hamath until it was destroyed by the Assyrians in 720 BC, which reduced it to a small village that eventually disappeared in the 6th century BC. In the 19th century AD, the site was populated by villagers who were evacuated into the newly built village of al-Mishrifeh in 1982. The site has been excavated since the 1920s. Qatna was inhabited by different peoples, most importantly the Amorites, who established the kingdom, followed by the Arameans; Hurrians became part of the society in the 15th century BC and influenced Qatna's written language. The city's art is distinctive and shows signs of contact with different surrounding regions. The artifacts of Qatna show high-quality workmanship. The city's religion was complex and based on many cults in which ancestor worship played an important role. Qatna's location in the middle of the Near East trade networks helped it achieve wealth and prosperity; it traded with regions as far away as the Baltic and Afghanistan. The area surrounding Qatna was fertile, with abundant water, which made the lands suitable for grazing and supported a large population that contributed to the prosperity of the city. ## Etymology Third millennium texts do not mention the name Qatna; the archive of Ebla mentions the toponym "Gudadanum" (or "Ga-da-nu"), which has been identified with Qatna by some scholars, such as Giovanni Pettinato and Michael Astour, but this is debated. Aside from an obscure passage in the 20th-century BC Egyptian Story of Sinuhe, where the name Qatna is not clearly mentioned, the earliest occurrence of the name comes from the Middle Bronze Age archive of Mari, where the city is mentioned as "Qatanum", an Akkadianized format (^ālQa-ta-nim^ki). In Alalakh, the name "Qa-ta-na" was used, an Amorite format that was shortened into Qatna during the Late Bronze Age. The name is Semitic; it derives from the root q-ṭ-n, meaning "thin" or "narrow" in a number of Semitic languages such as Akkadian, Syriac, and Ethiopian. "Ga-da-nu" from the Eblaite archive may also derive from that root. The toponym "Qatna" is strictly related to waterways and lakes; this could be a reference to the artificial narrowing that created a lake from the springs located southwest of the city, since Qatna grew on the eastern shore of a now dried-up lake. ## Site The city is located in the countryside, 18 km (11 mi) north of Homs. It was founded on a limestone plateau, and its extensive remains suggest fertile surroundings with abundant water, which is not the case in modern times. Three northward flowing tributary wadis (Mydan, Zorat and Slik) of the Orontes River cross the region of Qatna, enclosing an area 26 km (16 mi) north–south and 19 km (12 mi) east–west. The city lay along the central wadi (Zorat), surrounded by at least twenty five satellite settlements, most of them along the Mydan (marking the eastern border of the region) and Slik (marking the western border of the region) wadis. The wadis are now dry most of the year, but during the rainy season their discharge is disproportional to the size of their valleys, suggesting that the region was much more humid and water was more abundant in the past. The early city, dating to the Early Bronze Age IV (2200–2100 BC), was built in a circular plan; this circular site became the upper city (acropolis) of Qatna's later phases and was surrounded by a lower rectangular city. ### Qatna's landmarks #### Palaces - Building 8. The structure is dated to the transition period between the third and second millennia BC, and was abandoned in the late Middle Bronze Age II (1800–1600 BC). Its walls, which are still preserved, are 7.5 metres (25 ft) tall and 4 metres (13 ft) wide. The function of the building is not known, but its monumental nature and location on the upper city's summit, plus the existence of a pair of royal statues in it, suggest that it might have been a royal palace, especially since it preceded the erection of the main Royal palace of Qatna. In the 1970s, a concrete water tower was built to supply the modern village of al-Mushrifah; the new structure destroyed the eastern and northern walls of the building. - The royal palace. Covering an area of 16,000 square metres (170,000 sq ft), it was the biggest palace in the Levant of its time. The palace's northeastern part consisted of two stories, as did the northwestern wing. In total, the first story contained at least eighty rooms. Compared to other palaces of the era in the region, such as the Royal Palace of Mari, Qatna's palace was gigantic, including massive halls such as hall C, formerly known as the temple of Belet-Ekallim (Ninegal), which was 1,300 square metres (14,000 sq ft) in size, and hall A, which was 820 square metres (8,800 sq ft) in size. The palace was constructed during the Middle-to-Late Bronze Age transition period, c. 1600 BC, in the northern part of the acropolis above an abandoned necropolis. - The southern palace. Located immediately south of the royal palace, it had at least twenty rooms and concrete floors. The structure is heavily damaged, making the dating of its construction difficult. - The eastern palace. Located to the east of the royal palace in the upper city, it is dated to the Middle Bronze Age II and consisted of at least one big courtyard and fifteen rooms. - The lower city palace. Located in the northern part of the lower city, it was built in the 16th century BC. It contains at least sixty rooms. #### Tombs - Tomb IV. This was discovered in the 1920s by Robert du Mesnil du Buisson; he dated it to 2500–2400 BC, while Claude Frédéric-Armand Schaeffer assigned it to the period between 2200 and 1900 BC. The tomb is a multi-chambered shaft burial, the only one of this kind in the city. - The Middle Bronze Age necropolis, located near the northern edge of the upper city and heavily damaged by the royal palace constructed above it. The necropolis contained three types of burials: simple graves bordered by bricks, cooking vessels, or shafts cut into the rocks. The most notable shafts are tombs I, II, III and V. - The Royal Hypogeum (tomb VI). This is located 12 metres (39 ft) beneath the royal palace, at the northern edge. The tomb consists of four chambers cut in the bedrock beneath the palace's foundations, and a corridor, 40 metres (130 ft) long, that connects it to hall A of the royal palace. Four doors divide the corridor, which then takes a turn to the east and stops abruptly; an antechamber 5 metres (16 ft) beneath the floor of the corridor follows and a wooden stair is used to descend to it, after which a door leads to the burial chambers. The hypogeum was in use for around 350 years, and bodies of both genders and different ages were interred in it; a minimum of 19–24 individuals were found in the tomb. - Tomb VII. This is located beneath the northwest wing of the royal palace. It consists of an antechamber, and a double chamber shaped like a kidney. The tomb contained at least 79 individuals, in a striking contrast with the much bigger tomb VI that contained far fewer remains. Peter Pfälzner suggested that tomb VII was a place for re-burial; the very long period of the Royal Hypogeum's usage, meant that it needed to be cleared sometimes to make room for new interments and the older remains were thus transferred to tomb VII. #### Other landmarks - The walls. A large rampart surrounded Qatna reaching 18 metres (59 ft) in height and 60 metres (200 ft) to 90 metres (300 ft) in width at the base. The rampart contained many gates, and, according to a tablet from Qatna, the name of one of them was "(city) gate of the palace"; the royal palace lies east of the gate in the western rampart and might have been the palace named in the tablet. - Mishrifeh Lake. Qatna grew on the shore of a lake that dried completely toward the end of the Bronze Age, in c. 1200 BC. When the defenses were constructed, the northern and western parts of the rampart were built inside the lake, dividing it into an inner lake fed by a spring located in the northern foot of the upper city, while the larger part locked outside the walls constituted a reservoir for the inhabitants. ## History ### Chalcolithic The site was first occupied during the Late Chalcolithic IV period (3300–3000 BC). This early settlement was concentrated on the central part of the upper town; its function is unknown and it ended in the late fourth millennium BC. ### Early Bronze After a hiatus of several centuries, the site was reoccupied around 2800 BC during the Early Bronze Age III. The last two centuries of the third millennium BC saw widespread disruption of urban settlements in Syria and the abandonment of many cities; however, Qatna seems to be an exception, as it continued to grow. During the Early Bronze Age IV, Qatna reached a size of 25 ha (62 acres); it included a dense residential quarter and facilities for the storage and processing of grains, especially a large multi-roomed granary similar to the one in Tell Beydar. The city may have been one of the urban centers of the Ib'al federation, perhaps the center of a king or prince. The early city occupied the acropolis, and none of its remains were found in the lower city. Most of the small settlements surrounding Qatna, 1 ha (2.5 acres) to 2 ha (4.9 acres), appeared during this period; this might have been connected with the emergence of a central institution in the city. ### Middle Bronze #### Kingdom of Qatna In the Middle Bronze, the Kingdom of Qatna was established around 2000 BC. At the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age I, the city expanded and covered an area of 110 ha (270 acres). This growth reduced the number of the small settlements as people were drawn into the expanded metropolis. It is probable that the earliest mention of "Qatna" by this name dates to the same period. According to Thomas Schneider, a city named Qedem, mentioned in a controversial passage in the Story of Sinuhe dating to the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt (early 20th century BC), is most probably to be identified with Qatna. Qedem in the Egyptian text is written "Qdm", and, in Egyptian, Qatna is written as "Qdn". If Schneider's interpretation is correct, then this is the first known written mention of the city. The text also mentions that the title of the ruler was Mekim (or Mekum), a royal title known from Ebla. The theory of Schneider is debated: in Sinuhe's story, the protagonist turned back to Qedem after reaching Byblos; Joachim Friedrich Quack pointed out that the Egyptian verb "ḥs ̯i" used in the text was known to indicate that a certain expedition had reached its final destination and was now returning to Egypt, indicating that Qedem was south of Byblos, while Qatna is to the north of Byblos. #### Zenith The next mention of Qatna after the Story of Sinuhe comes from Mari in the 18th century BC, during the reign of Išḫi-Addu of Qatna. However, a tablet found in Tuttul, dating to the early reign of the Mariote king Yahdun-Lim in the late 19th century BC, mentions a king named Amut-piʾel, who is most probably the father of Išḫi-Addu; this would make him the first known king of Qatna. Also during the reign of Yahdun-Lim, the kingdom of Yamhad in Aleppo and its king Sumu-Epuh enter the historical record through the texts of Mari. Early in their history, Qatna and Yamhad had hostile relations; Amut-piʾel I, in alliance with Yahdun-Lim and Ḫammu-Nabiḫ (probably king of Tuttul), attacked the Yamhadite city of Tuba, which was a personal possession of Aleppo's royal family, and took a large booty. Later, Yahdun-Lim embarked on an expedition to the Mediterranean Sea that was used for ideological purposes, as it was meant to echo Gilgamesh's deeds; the journey likely had undeclared political motives as well, when seen in the context of the alliance with Qatna. The Mariote–Qaṭanean alliance, which was probably cemented by dynastic marriage, must have provoked Yamhad, which supported rebellions in Mari to preoccupy Yahdun-Lim with his own problems. Despite the tension and battles, a full-scale war with Yamhad was avoided. Qatna was at its apex during the reign of Išḫi-Addu. Mari was conquered by Shamshi-Adad I of Assyria, who appointed his son Yasmah-Adad as its king. Išḫi-Addu was allied with Shamshi-Adad and is attested corresponding with Mari for a period of six years between c. 1783 and 1778 BC. At its height, the kingdom extended from the upper valley of the Orontes to Qadeš in the west, while Palmyra was Qatna's easternmost city. It was bordered by Yamhad in the north, while the south was dominated by Hazor, a Qaṭanean vassal. The many kingdoms of Amurru, which controlled the central Levantine coast between Byblos and Ugarit, bordered Qatna from the west and were counted among Išhi-Addu's vassals. Also under the rule of Qatna were various cities in the Beqaa Valley and the cities in the region of Apum, in the modern Damascus Oasis. The kingdom was sometimes threatened by nomads; a letter sent to Yasmah-Adad informs him that 2000 Suteans conducted a raid against Qatna. Relations with Yamhad worsened during Išḫi-Addu's reign and the conflict evolved into border warfare; Qatna occupied the city of Parga in the region of Hamath for a while before Sumu-Epuh retook it. In the south, Išḫi-Addu faced a general rebellion; the alliance with Assyria was cemented by the marriage of Išḫi-Addu's daughter to Yasmah-Adad in c. 1782 BC. The following year, after petitions by Qatna, Shamshi-Adad sent an army to help Išḫi-Addu deal with the rebellion. The Assyrian troops avoided engaging Yamhad and did not participate in its war with Qatna, while Išḫi-Addu took up residence in Qadeš to oversee the suppression of the rebellion, which apparently was supported by Yamhad. After four years in the service of Qatna, Shamshi-Adad ordered his troops to return; this might have been connected to a peace treaty between Assyria and Yarim-Lim I, son of Sumu-Epuh. Išḫi-Addu, who in the past had declared that "even if Shamshi-Adad would conclude peace with Sumu-epuh, I will never make peace with Sumu-epuh, as long as I live\!", was delivered a heavy blow, but Mari's sources are silent on how the king dealt with the situation, and by the time they resumed mentioning Qatna in c. 1772 BC, Išḫi-Addu was dead and succeeded by his son Amut-piʾel II. #### Decline The political and military balance in the region changed dramatically during the reign of Amut-piʾel II; Shamshi-Adad I had died by about 1775 BC, and his empire disintegrated, while Yasmah-Adad was removed from his throne and replaced with Zimri-Lim. Yarim-Lim I gained the upper hand and turned his kingdom into the supreme power in the Levant; Qatna was forced to respect the borders and interests of Yamhad. In Mari, Zimri-Lim, who was Yarim-Lim's protégé, married Amut-piʾel II's sister and Yasmah-Adad's widow Dam-Ḫuraṣi, and this seemed to satisfy the king of Qatna, as his relations with Mari were never hostile. In 1772 BC, the Yaminite tribes revolted against Zimri-Lim, who asked Qatna for help; Amut-piʾel II sent his troops to Dūr-Yahdun-Lim (probably modern Deir ez-Zor) to support Mari, but when he asked for Mariote military support at a later time, Zimri-Lim hesitated as Yarim-Lim I was expressly against such a dispatch. When Qatna tried to establish an alliance with Eshnunna, Mari, which was at war with Eshnunna, arrested the messengers on the pretext that Zimri-Lim feared for their safety; in reality, the king of Mari was probably acting on behalf of Yamhad to prevent Qatna from establishing such an alliance. The archive of Mari reports a plan between Zimri-Lim, the king of Carchemish and the king of Eshnunna (who made peace with Mari), to attack Qatna. Such an alliance could not have been realized without the participation of Yamhad, overlord of both Mari and Carchemish; in the end, the plan was not pursued and the tense relations between Qatna and Yamhad eased toward the last years of Yarim-Lim's reign. In a letter written to Zimri-Lim, Yarim-Lim I agreed to establish peace with Qatna if Amut-piʾel II were to come by himself to Aleppo, thus acknowledging the supremacy of Yamhad; no proof can be shown for a meeting taking place between the two kings. Just before his death in 1765 BC, Yarim-Lim called a meeting of his vassals, and Zimri-Lim traveled to Aleppo where he met messengers from Qatna and Hazor, indicating that Amut-piʾel II started recognizing the supremacy of Yarim-Lim, and that Hazor, Qatna's vassal, was now obeying Yamhad. Yarim-Lim's successor Hammurabi I arranged a peace with Qatna that probably did not require the Qaṭanean king to visit Aleppo personally, but indicated Qatna's acceptance of Yamhad's superiority. This apparent yielding seems a mere formality as Qatna continued its aspirations for power, as became clear in its behavior during the Elamite invasion of Mesopotamia in year ten of Zimri-Lim's reign. An Elamite messenger reached Emar and sent three of his servants to Qatna; Hammurabi I of Yamhad learned of this and sent troops to intercept them on their return. The servants were captured and questioned, revealing that Amut-piʾel II told them to tell their monarch that "The country is delivered to you, come up to me\! if you come up, you will not be taken by surprise." The Qaṭanean king also sent two messengers to Elam, but they were probably captured in Babylon. The hegemony of Yamhad affected Qatna's economy; the trade route connecting Mesopotamia and Mari to Qatna through Palmyra lost its importance, while the trade routes from the Mediterranean to Mesopotamia came under the full control of Aleppo, contributing to Qatna's loss of wealth. Following the destruction of Mari by Hammurabi of Babylon around 1761 BC, information about Qatna becomes scarce; in the late 17th century BC, Yamhad invaded and defeated Qatna during the reign of Yarim-Lim III. The political and commercial importance of Qatna declined quickly during the Late Bronze Age (LB I), around 1600 BC, as a result of growing Egyptian and Mitannian influences. Numerous small states appeared in the region and detached from Qatna. ### Late Bronze #### Mitanni Period It is not known when Qatna lost its independence. It became a Mitannian vassal in the 16th century BC, but the archive of Qatna proves that even in its final period during the 14th century BC, Qatna maintained a certain degree of autonomy. Early Egyptian military intrusions to the region occurred under Thutmose I (r. 1506–1493 BC– ). The name Qedem appears in an inscription found on a fragmented gateway from Karnak dated to the reign of Thutmose mentioning a military campaign in the northern Levant. The inscription suggests that the mentioned cities submitted to the king. The geographic sequence given in the inscription is Qedem ("Qdm"), Tunip ("Twnjp") and "Ḏj3 wny" (maybe Siyannu); Qatna (Qdn in Egyptian) would fit better in the geographic sequence and Alexander Ahrens suggested that the inscription might have meant Qatna. Any oaths of loyalty to Egypt taken by Levantine rulers were forgotten after Thutmose I's death. The Egyptians returned under the leadership of Thutmose III (r. 1479–1425 BC– ), who reached Qatna during his eighth Asiatic campaign, c. 1446 BC. Thutmose III did not rule directly in Qatna but established vassalage ties and attended an archery contest with the Qaṭanean king. Towards the end of Thutmose III's reign, and under the influence of Mitanni, the Syrian states changed their loyalty, causing Thutmose's successor Amenhotep II (r. 1427–1401/1397 BC– ) to march north in his seventh year on the throne, where he fought troops from Qatna near the city. The threat of the Hittites prompted Mitanni's king to sue for peace: Artatama I approached Amenhotep II for an alliance and long negotiations started. The talks lasted until after Amenhotep's death, when his successor Thutmose IV (r. 1401/1397–1391/1388 BC– ) finally sealed a treaty that divided the Levant between the two powers. Qatna and the states north of it, such as Nuhašše, fell into the sphere of Mitanni. Despite its reduced status, Qatna still controlled the Lebanon Mountains 80 km (50 mi) away in the 14th century BC. ##### Possible incorporation into Nuhašše During the reign of Adad-Nirari of Nuhašše in the 14th century BC, Qatna may have become part of his kingdom. In 1977, Astour considered Qatna a constituent part of the lands of Nuhašše, and identified a king of Qatna named Adad-Nirari with the Nuhaššite king. Astour was followed by Thomas Richter in 2002, who considered Qatna to be a secondary city in the domain of the Nuhaššite king. The tablets of Qatna mention a šakkanakku (military governor) named Lullu, and Richter considered him an official of Nuhašše. The hypothesis of Richter is debated; a number of scholars accept it, for example Pfälzner, who suggested that the Nuhaššite king may have resided in Qatna's royal palace. Richter dated the rule of the Nuhaššite king to the period preceding the Hittite king Šuppiluliuma I's first Syrian war, during which Adad-Nirari of Nuhašše opposed the Hittites, was defeated, and, according to Richter, had his kingdom split between different Hittite puppets including Idanda of Qatna. Gernot Wilhelm saw no ground for Richter's assumption concerning the identification of the Nuhaššite monarch with the Qaṭanean king. This identification rests on the theory that Qatna belonged geographically to the region of Nuhašše, but no solid evidence supports this assumption, and the Shattiwaza treaty between the Hittites and Mitannians clearly mentioned Qatna as a different realm from Nuhašše during the first Syrian war when the Nuhaššite king ruled. If Qatna was part of the Nuhaššite kingdom, its submission to the Hittites would not have been mentioned separately in the treaty. It is a fact that Qatna was ruled by Idanda during the first war and the Hittite documents do not mention a change of rulers in Qatna made by Šuppiluliuma, leaving no reason to suspect that Idanda ascended the throne as a result of the war. Jacques Freu likewise rejected Richter's hypothesis. Citing different arguments, he concluded that Adad-Nirari of Nuhašše was a contemporary of Idanda, the successor of the Qaṭanean Adad-Nirari. ##### The campaigns of Šuppiluliuma I Early in his reign, the Hittite king Šuppiluliuma I (r. c. 1350–1319 BC– ) aimed at conquering Mitanni's lands west of the Euphrates. Šuppiluliuma waged several campaigns to achieve his goal: the first Syrian foray, the second Syrian foray, the first Syrian war and the second Syrian war. The events and chronology of the Hittites' subjugation of Qatna are debated. King Idanda was a Hittite vassal; a letter sent by the Hittite general Ḫanutti contains a demand that Idanda fortify the city. Freu believed that Idanda abandoned Mitanni and joined the Hittites as a result of Šuppiluliuma's first Syrian foray. The Mitannian king Tushratta retaliated by invading Qatna, and burning the royal palace; an event dated to around 1340 BC. Wilhelm, on the other hand, believed that Idanda submitted to the Hittites as a result of the first Syrian war. ###### Collapse The events leading to the destruction of the royal palace did not cause the destruction of the whole city. The Shattiwaza treaty, which describes the events of the first Syrian war, mentions that Qatna was invaded and destroyed, and its people were deported during the war. However, Idanda's successor, Akizzi, was ruling in the second half of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten's reign following the first Syrian war, or shortly before the second Syrian war. This discrepancy can be explained if the treaty did not mention the events in a chronological order; many scholars, such as Wilhelm, believe that the author of the document organized the text according to the principle of association, rather than following the sequence of events. Akizzi contacted Egypt and declared himself a servant to the pharaoh. An anti-Hittite coalition, probably organized by Akizzi, was established. Šuppiluliuma tried diplomatic means to solve the conflict but Akizzi rejected them. Hittite military intervention soon followed and Akizzi asked Egypt for troops, but received none. Šuppiluliuma himself came to Qatna, aided by Aziru of Amurru. The Hittite monarch took with him a statue of the sun deity, which had been given to Qatna by an ancestor of Akhenaten. This move symbolized the final capitulation of the kingdom. Akizzi survived the destruction of his city and continued his communication with the pharaoh for some time; in an Amarna letter (EA 55), the king of Qatna described to Akhenaten the actions of Šuppiluliuma and his plundering of Qatna. Hence, the final sack of Qatna occurred after the royal palace was destroyed in 1340 BC, and before the death of Akhenaten, to whom the letter was addressed, in c. 1334 BC. Trevor Bryce suggested that Akizzi might have accepted Hittite overlordship again. In any case, he was the last known king. The city lost its importance following its sacking and never regained its former status. ### Post-Hittite destruction The destruction of the royal palace constituted a break in Qatna's history; all other palaces were abandoned and the political system collapsed. A pottery workshop was built in the place of the southern palace, while the lower city palace was replaced by two adjacent courtyards surrounded by walls. Archaeological data suggest a much reduced settlement with no regional role. Following the 13th century BC, no archaeological evidence exists to prove the city was occupied; the toponym Qatna stopped appearing and the next occupation level dates to the late 10th century BC, suggesting it was uninhabited for three centuries. ### Syro-Hittite and following periods In the late 10th century and early 9th century BC, the site was reoccupied but its name during that time is unknown; three human head sculptures made of basalt were discovered in the site; they probably date to the mid-9th century BC. At this time, the region was probably under the control of Palistin, with Qatna under the rule of Hamath, which was probably part of Palistin. The basalt heads bear similarities to a statue discovered in Palistin's capital, but there is not enough information to allow a general conclusion over the borders of Palistin and its extent into Qatna. The settlement was a small one; it included large buildings that were used both as residences and manufacturing facilities. By the 8th century, the site saw a revival in settlement; the city expanded and many houses, public buildings, and storage areas were built. The newly expanded settlement was a contrast to the earlier 10th/9th century one; the existence of official buildings and the emergence of many satellite settlements surrounding Qatna suggest that the city was a local center in the kingdom of Hamath. The official buildings were violently destroyed, probably at the hands of the Assyrian king Sargon II (r. 722–705 BC– ), who annexed the region in 720 BC. The site continued to be inhabited during the Iron Age III, following the Assyrian destruction, but the settlement shrank considerably, being reduced to a village comprising the central part of the acropolis. It was abandoned in the mid-6th century BC. In the mid-19th century, a modern village (al-Mishrifeh) was built within the ancient site. Houses were built on top of the royal palace floors, damaging them to a certain degree, but also protecting the underlying ruins. In 1982, the Syrian Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums resettled the inhabitants in a new village next to the ancient tell, thus making the site available for modern archaeological research. ## Society ### Population and language The kingdom of Qatna had a predominantly Semitic Amorite population; all the personal names from Qatna in the Mari archive were Amorite. The royal family was also Amorite and it stayed as such during the Mitannian era, which witnessed the expansion of Hurrians; by the fifteenth century BC, Qatna had a sizable Hurrian element. The Arameans were responsible for the re-occupation of the site in the first millennium BC. The Amorites in Qatna spoke their own language, but kings communicated with their counterparts using Akkadian, which was the language of writing in the city. Qatna's Akkadian became heavily influenced by Hurrian in the 15th and 14th centuries BC; Richter argued that a special Akkadian–Hurrian hybrid dialect developed in Qatna. Texts from Qatna exhibit many Hurrian elements, proving that Hurrian was prominent among scribes, but its predominance as a spoken language by the general public cannot be determined. ### Religion Details about the religious life in Qatna are not available due to the rarity of written evidence from the city; in general, many cults seems to have existed and mixed in Qatna, most prominently the royal ancestor cult, the cult of gods and the cult of the dead. #### The cult of gods Belet-Ekallim (Ninegal) was a prominent deity in Qatna; the inventories of gifts presented to the gods found in hall C of the palace show that she was a prominent element in the royal liturgy, where she was called the "lady of the palace" and "Belet Qatna", making her effectively the goddess of the city. However, no trace of a temple or shrine has been found in the building. The inventories also mention the "gods of the king"; it is debated whether this referred to deities or to royal ancestors. Jean Bottéro identified the "gods of the king" with the sun god Šamaš, whom Akizzi called the "god of my father" in his letter to Akhenaten. Gregorio del Olmo Lete considered Šamaš the god of Qatna's dynasty, but the "gods of the king" probably included other deities as well. Jean-Marie Durand considers Addu to be the god of the city based on a seal dating to Išḫi-Addu's reign describing Addu as such. Another indication of the deities worshiped in Qatna comes from the archive of Mari; the daughter of Išḫi-Add was devoted to the goddess Ishtar and Zimri-Lim once invited Amut-piʾel II to Mari to take part in rituals for that goddess, indicating that the cult of Ishtar was prominent in Qatna. #### The cult of the Betyles The texts of Mari show that the cult of stones, especially the "sikkanum" (i.e., Betyles—sacred stones), was widespread in western Syria, and its practice in Qatna is plausible. Du Mesnil du Buisson named room F in the royal palace "Haut-Lieu" and considered it a shrine of Ašera. Research done after 1999 ruled out du Mesnil du Buisson's hypothesis and concluded that the room is a bathroom, but further research showed that the bathroom interpretation must also be wrong. Pfälzner, based on its architecture being suitable for containing sacred stones, suggested that room F was the palace shrine for the cult of Betyles. Pfälzner concludes that "an ultimate proof, however, for the function of Room F at Qaṭna cannot be deduced from this parallel. Nor is there a clue as to the dedication of the possible Betyle-sanctuary at Qaṭna". #### Royal ancestors cult Ancestors were worshiped in Qatna; the royal hypogeum provided a large amount of data concerning the cult of ancestor worshiping and the practices associated with it. Two kinds of burials are distinguished; a primary burial intended to transport the dead into the netherworld, and a secondary burial that was intended to transform the deceased into their ultimate form: an ancestor. The royal hypogeum provides hints at the different rituals taking place during a secondary burial; a noticeable character is that skeletons were not complete, and no skulls are found for the majority of secondary burial remains. There is no evidence that skulls decayed as they would have left behind teeth, of which very few were found, indicating that the skulls were removed to be venerated in another location. Bones in the secondary burial were arranged without respect for anatomical order; it is plausible to assume that the distribution process was the result of symbolic rituals that indicated the changing of the deceased's role by incorporating him or her into the group of royal ancestors. Pottery vessels were deposited next to the secondary burial remains; they were fixed on top of food offerings meant as a food supply for the dead, giving evidence for the performance of Kispu (nourishing and caring for one's ancestor through a regular supply of food and drink). Hundreds of pilled vessels provide evidence that the living participated and dined with their ancestors, venerating them. Pfälzner argues for a third burial process which he calls the tertiary burial; the eastern chamber of the hypogeum was used as an ossuary where human remains and animal bones left from the Kispu were mixed and pilled. Pfälzner conclude that bones left in that chamber were deposited there because they had become useless in funerary rituals, thus the chamber was their final resting place. Bones in the eastern chamber were stored with no respect for the unity of an individual, indicating that the persons buried were now part of the collective group of ancestors; this did not mean that the individuals were no longer cared for, as the many bowls in the chamber indicate the continuation of food offerings to those ancestors. According to Pfälzner, a final burial stage can be noticed, which he calls the quaternary burial. Tomb VII, which most probably contained remains taken out of the royal hypogeum, seems to have worked as a storage for the remains of individuals whose Kispu cycle came to an end; very few bowls were found in that tomb. The Kispu was important for demonstrating the legitimacy of the king, thus it needed to be public and visible to a large crowd; Pfälzner suggests that hall A in the royal palace was the place for the public Kispu and that the antechamber of the royal hypogeum was dedicated for private Kispu that included only the king and the spirits of his ancestors. ### Culture Due to its location in the middle of the trade network of the ancient world, the cultural and social landscape of the city was complex, as the inhabitants had to deal with traders and envoys who brought with them different customs from distant regions. The inventories of gifts presented to deities from the royal palace indicate that Qatna used the sexagesimal numeral system. Textiles dyed with royal purple, a symbol of social status, were found in the royal hypogeum. Judging by the royal statues found in the royal hypogeum antechamber, a king of Qatna wore clothes different from those worn in Mesopotamia; his robes would have reached his ankles and the hem on his shawl would have been in the shape of a thick rope, while his beard was short and his headdress consisted of a broad band. For royal primary burials, several steps were followed: constructing the burial container, anointing the body with oil, heating the body, leading the burial procession, laying the sarcophagus floor with textiles, burying the body with another layer of textiles, and finally depositing a layer of plants and herbs. Elephants, which lived in western Syria, were esteemed in Qatna and connected to the royal family; they were apparently hunted by the royals and the king himself, as there is evidence that their bones were displayed in the palace; thus, elephants were part of the royal ideology and hunting an elephant was a symbol of prestige that glorified the strength of the king. An international style in art did not exist in Qatna; instead, a regional hybrid style prevailed where international motifs appear along with regional ones, yet all the pieces reveal enough features to trace them to Qatna. The volute-shaped plant is one of the most widespread international motifs; many pieces from the royal hypogeum were decorated with the motif, but Qatna had its own typical volute, where the crown is a single long lobe with dotted pendants branching out of the corners of the upper volute. The wall painting in Qatna's royal palace attests to contact with the Aegean region; they depict typical Minoan motifs such as palm trees and dolphins. Qatna also had a distinctive local craftsmanship; the wall paintings in the royal palace, though including Aegean motifs, depict elements that are not typical either in Syria or the Aegean region, such as turtles and crabs. This hybrid style of Qatna prompted Pfälzner to suggest a "craftsmanship interaction model", which is based on the assumption that Aegean artists were employed in local Syrian workshops. Local workshops modeled amber in Syrian style; many pieces were found in the royal hypogeum including 90 beads and a vessel in the shape of a lion head. Ivory was connected to the royal family and the pieces discovered reflect a high level of craftsmanship that was influenced by Egyptian traditions. Jewelry was made to fit local tastes even when the origin of the concept was foreign; an example would be the scarabs, traditional Egyptian objects, that were modified in Qatna by engraving them with local motifs and encasing them with gold, which is atypical for Egyptian specimens. Aside from two golden beads that seem imported from Egypt, no jewelry discovered was of foreign origin. Typical western Syrian architectural traditions are seen in the eastern palace, which has an asymmetrical plan and tripartite reception halls. The lower city palace also shows typical second-millennium Syrian features, being elongated and lacking the huge courtyards that were a traditional Mesopotamian feature; instead, the palace had several small courtyards spread within it. Qatna's royal palace was unique in its monumental architecture; it had a distinctive foundation and the throne room walls were 9 metres (30 ft) wide, which does not occur elsewhere in the architecture of the ancient Near East. The period following the destruction of the royal palace shows a clear break in culture, evidenced by the poor building materials and architectural techniques. ### Economy Finds in "Tomb IV" indicate that Qatna was engaged in long distance trade since its early history. The city's location on the edges of the Syrian steppes turned it into a strategic stop for caravans traveling to the Mediterranean Sea from the east. The countryside surrounding the city provided the key for its success in the Early Bronze Age IV; those lands were capable of supporting both agriculture and pastoralism. Despite the modern scarcity of water, geoarchaeological research on the wadis of the region confirm the abundance of water during the Bronze Age. The land was abundant in pasture lands; when drought struck Mari, Išḫi-Addu allowed its nomads to graze their flocks in Qatna. The written sources do not offer deep insight on the economy of the kingdom; it counted mainly on agriculture during the Middle Bronze Age but, by the Late Bronze Age, it became based on trade with surrounding regions. Securing raw materials scarce near the city was an important concern for the rulers; basalt was an important building tool and it was probably acquired from the Salamiyah region or Al-Rastan. Calcite was provided from either the Syrian coast or Egypt, amber came from the Baltic region, while regions in modern Afghanistan provided carnelian and lapis-lazul. The main routes passing Qatna were from Babylon to Byblos through Palmyra, from Ugarit to Emar, and from Anatolia to Egypt. Taxes on caravans crossing the trade routes allowed the city's royalty to get rich; an insight into Qatna's wealth can be acquired from the dowry of Išḫi-Addu's daughter, who was endowed with 10 talents of silver (288 kg) and 5 talents of textiles (worth 144 kg of silver). White horses were among Qatna's most famous exports, in addition to high-quality wines, woods from the nearby Lebanon mountain, and goods, such as chariots, from a highly skilled craft industry. Many Egyptian imports were found in the city, including the "sphinx of Ita", which represents a daughter of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenemhat II, and a vessel with the name of Senusret I inscribed on it, plus around 50 stone vessels in the royal hypogeum. Another vessel lists the name of Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, wife of 18th dynasty Pharaoh Ahmose I. Two units of weight and payment measurement are prominent in Qatna: the mina and the shekel. The mina had different values from region to region but it seems that in Qatna the preferred value was 470 g, while the preferred value of the shekel is hard to figure. ### Government The existence of agricultural facilities on the acropolis during the EB IV early city indicates that a central authority oversaw the production process; perhaps the city was a center of one of the princes of Ib'al. Another piece of evidence is "Tomb IV", which contained the remains of 40 people, 300 pottery vessels, weapons and ornaments. The tomb probably belonged to the elite or the ruling family of the city. In the kingdom of Qatna, the crown prince had the city of Nazala as his domain. The palace was mainly a political and administrative institution devoid of religious functions, in contrast to the palace of Mari. In the realm of Hamath, Qatna was an administrative center probably in control of the kingdom's southern regions. During the Assyrian period, Qatna lost its administrative role and even its urban character until its abandonment. Known kings of Qatna are: ## Excavations Du Mesnil du Buisson led excavations starting in 1924, and annually from 1927 to 1929; the third millennium BC remains provided scarce samples and most of the data come from Tomb IV. In 1994, a Syrian mission led by Michel Al-Maqdissi conducted several surveys and surface excavations, then, in 1999, a joint Syrian–Italian–German mission was formed that was headed by Al-Maqdissi, Daniele Morandi Bonacossi and Pfälzner. Due to the development of the excavations, the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums split the mission into Syrian (headed by Al-Maqdissi), Syrian–German (headed by Pfälzner) and Syrian–Italian (headed by Morandi Bonacossi) missions in 2004. Research was focused on the upper city while the lower city remained largely untouched; by 2006, only 5% of the site's total area had been excavated. The royal palace was split into two excavation areas: operation G covering the western part and operation H covering the eastern part. Operation J covers the summit of the acropolis, while the lower city palace is covered by operation K. One of the most important discoveries came in 2002, when the archive of king Idanda was discovered, containing 67 clay tablets. As a result of the Syrian Civil War, excavations stopped in 2011. ## See also - Al-Rawda - Amqu - Niya - List of cities of the ancient Near East

Antarctica

Earth's southernmost continent

Antarctica (/ænˈtɑːrktɪkə/ ) is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent, being about 40% larger than Europe, and has an area of 14,200,000 km² (5,500,000 sq mi). Most of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, with an average thickness of 1.9 km (1.2 mi). Antarctica is, on average, the coldest, driest, and windiest of the continents, and it has the highest average elevation. It is mainly a polar desert, with annual precipitation of over 200 mm (8 in) along the coast and far less inland. About 70% of the world's freshwater reserves are frozen in Antarctica, which, if melted, would raise global sea levels by almost 60 metres (200 ft). Antarctica holds the record for the lowest measured temperature on Earth, −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F). The coastal regions can reach temperatures over 10 °C (50 °F) in the summer. Native species of animals include mites, nematodes, penguins, seals and tardigrades. Where vegetation occurs, it is mostly in the form of lichen or moss. The ice shelves of Antarctica were probably first seen in 1820, during a Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev. The decades that followed saw further exploration by French, American, and British expeditions. The first confirmed landing was by a Norwegian team in 1895. In the early 20th century, there were a few expeditions into the interior of the continent. British explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton were the first to reach the magnetic South Pole in 1909, and the geographic South Pole was first reached in 1911 by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. Antarctica is governed by about 30 countries, all of which are parties of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty System. According to the terms of the treaty, military activity, mining, nuclear explosions, and nuclear waste disposal are all prohibited in Antarctica. Tourism, fishing and research are the main human activities in and around Antarctica. During the summer months, about 5,000 people reside at research stations, a figure that drops to around 1,000 in the winter. Despite the continent's remoteness, human activity has a significant effect on it via pollution, ozone depletion, and climate change. The melting of the potentially unstable West Antarctic ice sheet causes the most uncertainty in century-scale projections of sea level rise, and the same melting also affects the Southern Ocean overturning circulation, which can eventually lead to significant impacts on the Southern Hemisphere climate and Southern Ocean productivity. ## Etymology The name given to the continent originates from the word antarctic, which comes from Middle French antartique or antarctique ('opposite to the Arctic') and, in turn, the Latin antarcticus ('opposite to the north'). Antarcticus is derived from the Greek ἀντι- ('anti-') and ἀρκτικός ('of the Bear', 'northern'). The Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote in Meteorology about an "Antarctic region" in c. 350 BCE. The Greek geographer Marinus of Tyre reportedly used the name in his world map from the second century CE, now lost. The Roman authors Gaius Julius Hyginus and Apuleius used for the South Pole the romanised Greek name polus antarcticus, from which derived the Old French pole antartike (modern pôle antarctique) attested in 1270, and from there the Middle English pol antartik, found first in a treatise written by the English author Geoffrey Chaucer. Belief by Europeans in the existence of a Terra Australis—a vast continent in the far south of the globe to balance the northern lands of Europe, Asia, and North Africa—had existed as an intellectual concept since classical antiquity. The belief in such a land lasted until the European discovery of Australia. During the early 19th century, explorer Matthew Flinders doubted the existence of a detached continent south of Australia (then called New Holland) and thus advocated for the "Terra Australis" name to be used for Australia instead. In 1824, the colonial authorities in Sydney officially renamed the continent of New Holland to Australia, leaving the term "Terra Australis" unavailable as a reference to Antarctica. Over the following decades, geographers used phrases such as "the Antarctic Continent". They searched for a more poetic replacement, suggesting names such as Ultima and Antipodea. Antarctica was adopted in the 1890s, with the first use of the name being attributed to the Scottish cartographer John George Bartholomew. Antarctica has also been known by the moniker Great White South, after which British photographer Herbert Ponting named one of his books on Antarctic photography, possibly as a counterpart to the epithet Great White North for Canada. ## Geography Positioned asymmetrically around the South Pole and largely south of the Antarctic Circle (one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the world), Antarctica is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. Rivers exist in Antarctica; the longest is the Onyx. Antarctica covers more than 14.2 million km² (5,500,000 sq mi), almost double the area of Australia, making it the fifth-largest continent, and comparable to the surface area of Pluto. Its coastline is almost 18,000 km (11,200 mi) long: as of 1983, of the four coastal types, 44% of the coast is floating ice in the form of an ice shelf, 38% consists of ice walls that rest on rock, 13% is ice streams or the edge of glaciers, and the remaining 5% is exposed rock. The lakes that lie at the base of the continental ice sheet occur mainly in the McMurdo Dry Valleys or various oases. Lake Vostok, discovered beneath Russia's Vostok Station, is the largest subglacial lake globally and one of the largest lakes in the world. It was once believed that the lake had been sealed off for millions of years, but scientists now estimate its water is replaced by the slow melting and freezing of ice caps every 13,000 years. During the summer, the ice at the edges of the lakes can melt, and liquid moats temporarily form. Antarctica has both saline and freshwater lakes. Antarctica is divided into West Antarctica and East Antarctica by the Transantarctic Mountains, which stretch from Victoria Land to the Ross Sea. The vast majority of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, which averages 1.9 km (1.2 mi) in thickness. The ice sheet extends to all but a few oases, which, with the exception of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, are located in coastal areas. Several Antarctic ice streams flow to one of the many Antarctic ice shelves, a process described by ice-sheet dynamics. East Antarctica comprises Coats Land, Queen Maud Land, Enderby Land, Mac. Robertson Land, Wilkes Land, and Victoria Land. All but a small portion of the region lies within the Eastern Hemisphere. East Antarctica is largely covered by the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. There are numerous islands surrounding Antarctica, most of which are volcanic and very young by geological standards. The most prominent exceptions to this are the islands of the Kerguelen Plateau, the earliest of which formed around 40 Ma. Vinson Massif, in the Ellsworth Mountains, is the highest peak in Antarctica at 4,892 m (16,050 ft). Mount Erebus on Ross Island is the world's southernmost active volcano and erupts around 10 times each day. Ash from eruptions has been found 300 kilometres (190 mi) from the volcanic crater. There is evidence of a large number of volcanoes under the ice, which could pose a risk to the ice sheet if activity levels were to rise. The ice dome known as Dome Argus in East Antarctica is the highest Antarctic ice feature, at 4,091 metres (13,422 ft). It is one of the world's coldest and driest places—temperatures there may reach as low as −90 °C (−130 °F), and the annual precipitation is 1–3 cm (0.39–1.18 in). ## Geologic history From the end of the Neoproterozoic era to the Cretaceous, Antarctica was part of the supercontinent Gondwana. Modern Antarctica was formed as Gondwana gradually broke apart beginning around 183 Ma. For a large proportion of the Phanerozoic, Antarctica had a tropical or temperate climate, and it was covered in forests. ### Paleozoic era (540–250 Ma) During the Cambrian period, Gondwana had a mild climate. West Antarctica was partially in the Northern Hemisphere, and during the time, large amounts of sandstones, limestones, and shales were deposited. East Antarctica was at the equator, where seafloor invertebrates and trilobites flourished in the tropical seas. By the start of the Devonian period (416 Ma), Gondwana was in more southern latitudes, and the climate was cooler, though fossils of land plants are known from then. Sand and silts were laid down in what is now the Ellsworth, Horlick, and Pensacola Mountains. Antarctica became glaciated during the Late Paleozoic icehouse beginning at the end of the Devonian period (360 Ma), though glaciation would substantially increase during the late Carboniferous. It drifted closer to the South Pole, and the climate cooled, though flora remained. After deglaciation during the latter half of the Early Permian, the land became dominated by glossopterids (an extinct group of seed plants with no close living relatives), most prominently Glossopteris, a tree interpreted as growing in waterlogged soils, which formed extensive coal deposits. Other plants found in Antarctica during the Permian include Cordaitales, sphenopsids, ferns, and lycophytes. At the end of the Permian, the climate became drier and hotter over much of Gondwana, and the glossopterid forest ecosystems collapsed, as part of the End-Permian mass extinction. There is no evidence of any tetrapods having lived in Antarctica during the Paleozoic. ### Mesozoic era (250–66 Ma) The continued warming dried out much of Gondwana. During the Triassic, Antarctica was dominated by seed ferns (pteridosperms) belonging to the genus Dicroidium, which grew as trees. Other associated Triassic flora included ginkgophytes, cycadophytes, conifers, and sphenopsids. Tetrapods first appeared in Antarctica during the early Triassic, with the earliest known fossils found in the Fremouw Formation of the Transantarctic Mountains. Synapsids (also known as "mammal-like reptiles") included species such as Lystrosaurus, and were common during the Early Triassic. The Antarctic Peninsula began to form during the Jurassic period (). Africa separated from Antarctica in the Jurassic around 160 Ma, followed by the Indian subcontinent in the early Cretaceous (about 125 Ma). Ginkgo trees, conifers, Bennettitales, horsetails, ferns and cycads were plentiful during the time. In West Antarctica, coniferous forests dominated throughout the Cretaceous period (146–66 Ma), though southern beech trees (Nothofagus) became prominent towards the end of the Cretaceous. Ammonites were common in the seas around Antarctica, and dinosaurs were also present, though only a few Antarctic dinosaur genera (Cryolophosaurus and Glacialisaurus, from the Early Jurassic Hanson Formation of the Transantarctic Mountains, and Antarctopelta, Trinisaura, Morrosaurus and Imperobator from Late Cretaceous of the Antarctic Peninsula) have been described. ### Cenozoic era before present (66–10 Ma) During the early Paleogene, Antarctica remained connected to South America as well as to southeastern Australia. Fauna from the La Meseta Formation in the Antarctic Peninsula, dating to the Eocene, is very similar to equivalent South American faunas; with marsupials, xenarthrans, litoptern, and astrapotherian ungulates, as well as gondwanatheres and possibly meridiolestidans. Marsupials are thought to have dispersed into Australia via Antarctica by the early Eocene. Around 53 Ma, Australia-New Guinea separated from Antarctica, opening the Tasmanian Passage. The Drake Passage opened between Antarctica and South America around 30 Ma, resulting in the creation of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current that completely isolated the continent. Models of Antarctic geography suggest that this current, as well as a feedback loop caused by lowering CO₂ levels, caused the creation of small yet permanent polar ice caps. As CO₂ levels declined further the ice began to spread rapidly, replacing the forests that until then had covered Antarctica. Tundra ecosystems continued to exist on Antarctica until around 14-10 million years ago, when further cooling lead to their extermination. ### Present day The geology of Antarctica, largely obscured by the continental ice sheet, is being revealed by techniques such as remote sensing, ground-penetrating radar, and satellite imagery. Geologically, West Antarctica closely resembles the South American Andes. The Antarctic Peninsula was formed by geologic uplift and the transformation of sea bed sediments into metamorphic rocks. West Antarctica was formed by the merging of several continental plates, which created a number of mountain ranges in the region, the most prominent being the Ellsworth Mountains. The presence of the West Antarctic Rift System has resulted in volcanism along the border between West and East Antarctica, as well as the creation of the Transantarctic Mountains. East Antarctica is geologically varied. Its formation began during the Archean Eon (4,000 Ma–2,500 Ma), and stopped during the Cambrian Period. It is built on a craton of rock, which is the basis of the Precambrian Shield. On top of the base are coal and sandstones, limestones, and shales that were laid down during the Devonian and Jurassic periods to form the Transantarctic Mountains. In coastal areas such as the Shackleton Range and Victoria Land, some faulting has occurred. Coal was first recorded in Antarctica near the Beardmore Glacier by Frank Wild on the Nimrod Expedition in 1907, and low-grade coal is known to exist across many parts of the Transantarctic Mountains. The Prince Charles Mountains contain deposits of iron ore. There are oil and natural gas fields in the Ross Sea. ## Climate Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, and driest of Earth's continents. Near the coast, the temperature can exceed 10 °C in summer and fall to below −40 °C in winter. Over the elevated inland, it can rise to about −30 °C in summer but fall below −80 °C in winter. The lowest natural air temperature ever recorded on Earth was −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F) at the Russian Vostok Station in Antarctica on 21 July 1983. A lower air temperature of −94.7 °C (−138.5 °F) was recorded in 2010 by satellite—however, it may have been influenced by ground temperatures and was not recorded at a height of 2 m (7 ft) above the surface as required for official air temperature records. Antarctica is a polar desert with little precipitation; the continent receives an average equivalent to about 150 mm (6 in) of water per year, mostly in the form of snow. The interior is dryer and receives less than 50 mm (2 in) per year, whereas the coastal regions typically receive more than 200 mm (8 in). In a few blue-ice areas, the wind and sublimation remove more snow than is accumulated by precipitation. In the dry valleys, the same effect occurs over a rock base, leading to a barren and desiccated landscape. Antarctica is colder than the Arctic region, as much of Antarctica is over 3,000 m (9,800 ft) above sea level, where air temperatures are colder. The relative warmth of the Arctic Ocean is transferred through the Arctic sea ice and moderates temperatures in the Arctic region. ### Regional differences East Antarctica is colder than its western counterpart because of its higher elevation. Weather fronts rarely penetrate far into the continent, leaving the centre cold and dry, with moderate wind speeds. Heavy snowfalls are common on the coastal portion of Antarctica, where snowfalls of up to 1.22 m (48 in) in 48 hours have been recorded. At the continent's edge, strong katabatic winds off of the polar plateau often blow at storm force. During the summer, more solar radiation reaches the surface at the South Pole than at the equator because of the 24 hours of sunlight received there each day. ## Climate change ## Ozone depletion Scientists have studied the ozone layer in the atmosphere above Antarctica since the 1970s. In 1985, British scientists, working on data they had gathered at Halley Research Station on the Brunt Ice Shelf, discovered a large area of low ozone concentration over Antarctica. The 'ozone hole' covers almost the whole continent and was at its largest in September 2006; the longest-lasting event occurred in 2020. The depletion is caused by the emission of chlorofluorocarbons and halons into the atmosphere, which causes ozone to break down into other gases. The extreme cold conditions of Antarctica allow polar stratospheric clouds to form. The clouds act as catalysts for chemical reactions, which eventually lead to the destruction of ozone. The 1987 Montreal Protocol has restricted the emissions of ozone-depleting substances. The ozone hole above Antarctica is predicted to slowly disappear; by the 2060s, levels of ozone are expected to have returned to values last recorded in the 1980s. The ozone depletion can cause a cooling of around 6 °C (11 °F) in the stratosphere. The cooling strengthens the polar vortex and so prevents the outflow of the cold air near the South Pole, which in turn cools the continental mass of the East Antarctic ice sheet. The peripheral areas of Antarctica, especially the Antarctic Peninsula, are then subjected to higher temperatures, which accelerate the melting of the ice. Models suggest that ozone depletion and the enhanced polar vortex effect may also account for the period of increasing sea ice extent, lasting from when observation started in the late 1970s until 2014. Since then, the coverage of Antarctic sea ice has decreased rapidly. ## Biodiversity Most species in Antarctica seem to be the descendants of species that lived there millions of years ago. As such, they must have survived multiple glacial cycles. The species survived the periods of extremely cold climate in isolated warmer areas, such as those with geothermal heat or areas that remained ice-free throughout the colder climate. ### Animals Invertebrate life of Antarctica includes species of microscopic mites such as Alaskozetes antarcticus, lice, nematodes, tardigrades, rotifers, krill and springtails. The few terrestrial invertebrates are limited to the sub-Antarctic islands. The flightless midge Belgica antarctica, the largest purely terrestrial animal in Antarctica, reaches 6 mm (1⁄4 in) in size. Antarctic krill, which congregates in large schools, is the keystone species of the ecosystem of the Southern Ocean, being an important food organism for whales, seals, leopard seals, fur seals, squid, icefish, and many bird species, such as penguins and albatrosses. Some species of marine animals exist and rely, directly or indirectly, on phytoplankton. Antarctic sea life includes penguins, blue whales, orcas, colossal squids and fur seals. The Antarctic fur seal was very heavily hunted in the 18th and 19th centuries for its pelt by seal hunters from the United States and the United Kingdom. Leopard seals are apex predators in the Antarctic ecosystem and migrate across the Southern Ocean in search of food. There are approximately 40 bird species that breed on or close to Antarctica, including species of petrels, penguins, cormorants, and gulls. Various other bird species visit the ocean around Antarctica, including some that normally reside in the Arctic. The emperor penguin is the only penguin that breeds during the winter in Antarctica; it and the Adélie penguin breed farther south than any other penguin. A Census of Marine Life by some 500 researchers during the International Polar Year was released in 2010. The research found that more than 235 marine organisms live in both polar regions, having bridged the gap of 12,000 km (7,456 mi). Large animals such as some cetaceans and birds make the round trip annually. Smaller forms of life, such as sea cucumbers and free-swimming snails, are also found in both polar oceans. Factors that may aid in their distribution include temperature differences between the deep ocean at the poles and the equator of no more than 5 °C (9 °F) and the major current systems or marine conveyor belts which are able to transport eggs and larva. ### Fungi About 1,150 species of fungi have been recorded in the Antarctic region, of which about 750 are non-lichen-forming. Some of the species, having evolved under extreme conditions, have colonised structural cavities within porous rocks and have contributed to shaping the rock formations of the McMurdo Dry Valleys and surrounding mountain ridges. The simplified morphology of such fungi, along with their similar biological structures, metabolism systems capable of remaining active at very low temperatures, and reduced life cycles, make them well suited to such environments. Their thick-walled and strongly melanised cells make them resistant to UV radiation. An Antarctic endemic species, the crust-like lichen Buellia frigida, has been used as a model organism in astrobiology research. The same features can be observed in algae and cyanobacteria, suggesting that they are adaptations to the conditions prevailing in Antarctica. This has led to speculation that life on Mars might have been similar to Antarctic fungi, such as Cryomyces antarcticus and Cryomyces minteri. Some of the species of fungi, which are apparently endemic to Antarctica, live in bird dung, and have evolved so they can grow inside extremely cold dung, but can also pass through the intestines of warm-blooded animals. ### Plants Throughout its history, Antarctica has seen a wide variety of plant life. In the Cretaceous, it was dominated by a fern-conifer ecosystem, which changed into a temperate rainforest by the end of that period. During the colder Neogene (17–2.5 Ma), a tundra ecosystem replaced the rainforests. The climate of present-day Antarctica does not allow extensive vegetation to form. A combination of freezing temperatures, poor soil quality, and a lack of moisture and sunlight inhibit plant growth, causing low species diversity and limited distribution. The flora largely consists of bryophytes (25 species of liverworts and 100 species of mosses). There are three species of flowering plants, all of which are found in the Antarctic Peninsula: Deschampsia antarctica (Antarctic hair grass), Colobanthus quitensis (Antarctic pearlwort) and the non-native Poa annua (annual bluegrass). ### Other organisms Of the 700 species of algae in Antarctica, around half are marine phytoplankton. Multicoloured snow algae are especially abundant in the coastal regions during the summer. Even sea ice can harbour unique ecological communities, as it expels all salt from the water when it freezes, which accumulates into pockets of brine that also harbour dormant microorganisms. When the ice begins to melt, brine pockets expand and can combine to form brine channels, and the algae inside the pockets can reawaken and thrive until the next freeze. Bacteria have also been found as deep as 800 m (0.50 mi) under the ice. It is thought to be likely that there exists a native bacterial community within the subterranean water body of Lake Vostok. The existence of life there is thought to strengthen the argument for the possibility of life on Jupiter's moon Europa, which may have water beneath its water-ice crust. There exists a community of extremophile bacteria in the highly alkaline waters of Lake Untersee. The prevalence of highly resilient creatures in such inhospitable areas could further bolster the argument for extraterrestrial life in cold, methane-rich environments. ### Conservation and environmental protection The first international agreement to protect Antarctica's biodiversity was adopted in 1964. The overfishing of krill (an animal that plays a large role in the Antarctic ecosystem) led officials to enact regulations on fishing. The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, an international treaty that came into force in 1980, regulates fisheries, aiming to preserve ecological relationships. Despite these regulations, illegal fishing—particularly of the highly prized Patagonian toothfish which is marketed as Chilean sea bass in the U.S.—remains a problem. In analogy to the 1980 treaty on sustainable fishing, countries led by New Zealand and the United States negotiated a treaty on mining. This Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities was adopted in 1988. After a strong campaign from environmental organisations, first Australia and then France decided not to ratify the treaty. Instead, countries adopted the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (the Madrid Protocol), which entered into force in 1998. The Madrid Protocol bans all mining, designating the continent as a "natural reserve devoted to peace and science". The pressure group Greenpeace established a base on Ross Island from 1987 to 1992 as part of its attempt to establish the continent as a World Park. The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary was established in 1994 by the International Whaling Commission. It covers 50 million km² (19 million sq mi) and completely surrounds the Antarctic continent. All commercial whaling is banned in the zone, though Japan has continued to hunt whales in the area, ostensibly for research purposes. Despite these protections, the biodiversity in Antarctica is still at risk from human activities. Specially protected areas cover less than 2% of the area and provide better protection for animals with popular appeal than for less visible animals. There are more terrestrial protected areas than marine protected areas. Ecosystems are impacted by local and global threats, notably pollution, the invasion of non-native species, and the various effects of climate change. ## History of exploration Early world maps, like the 1513 Piri Reis map, feature the hypothetical continent Terra Australis. Much larger than and unrelated to Antarctica, Terra Australis was a landmass that classical scholars presumed necessary to balance the known lands in the northern hemisphere. Captain James Cook's ships, HMS Resolution and Adventure, crossed the Antarctic Circle on 17 January 1773, in December 1773, and again in January 1774. Cook came within about 120 km (75 mi) of the Antarctic coast before retreating in the face of field ice in January 1773. In 1775, he called the existence of a polar continent "probable", and in another copy of his journal he wrote: "[I] firmly believe it and it's more than probable that we have seen a part of it". ### 19th century Sealers were among the earliest to go closer to the Antarctic landmass, perhaps in the earlier part of the 19th century. The oldest known human remains in the Antarctic region was a skull, dated from 1819 to 1825, that belonged to a young woman on Yamana Beach at the South Shetland Islands. The woman, who was likely to have been part of a sealing expedition, was found in 1985. The first person to see Antarctica or its ice shelf was long thought to have been the British sailor Edward Bransfield, a captain in the Royal Navy, who discovered the tip of the Antarctic peninsula on 30 January 1820. However, a captain in the Imperial Russian Navy, Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, recorded seeing an ice shelf on 27 January. The American sealer Nathaniel Palmer, whose sealing ship was in the region at this time, may also have been the first to sight the Antarctic Peninsula. The First Russian Antarctic Expedition, led by Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev on the 985-ton sloop-of-war Vostok and the 530-ton support vessel Mirny, reached a point within 32 km (20 mi) of Queen Maud Land and recorded sighting an ice shelf at , on 27 January 1820. The sighting happened three days before Bransfield sighted the land of the Trinity Peninsula of Antarctica, as opposed to the ice of an ice shelf, and 10 months before Palmer did so in November 1820. The first documented landing on Antarctica was by the English-born American sealer John Davis, apparently at Hughes Bay on 7 February 1821, although some historians dispute this claim, as there is no evidence Davis landed on the Antarctic continent rather than an offshore island. On 22 January 1840, two days after the discovery of the coast west of the Balleny Islands, some members of the crew of the 1837–1840 expedition of the French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville disembarked on the Dumoulin Islands, off the coast of Adélie Land, where they took some mineral, algae, and animal samples, erected the French flag, and claimed French sovereignty over the territory. The American captain Charles Wilkes led an expedition in 1838–1839 and was the first to claim he had discovered the continent. The British naval officer James Clark Ross failed to realise that what he referred to as "the various patches of land recently discovered by the American, French and English navigators on the verge of the Antarctic Circle" were connected to form a single continent. The American explorer Mercator Cooper landed on East Antarctica on 26 January 1853. The first confirmed landing on the continental mass of Antarctica occurred in 1895 when the Norwegian-Swedish whaling ship Antarctic reached Cape Adare. ### 20th century During the Nimrod Expedition led by the British explorer Ernest Shackleton in 1907, parties led by Edgeworth David became the first to climb Mount Erebus and to reach the south magnetic pole. Douglas Mawson, who assumed the leadership of the Magnetic Pole party on their perilous return, retired in 1931. Between December 1908 and February 1909: Shackleton and three members of his expedition became the first humans to traverse the Ross Ice Shelf, the first to cross the Transantarctic Mountains (via the Beardmore Glacier), and the first to set foot on the south Polar Plateau. On 14 December 1911, an expedition led by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen from the ship Fram became the first to reach the geographic South Pole, using a route from the Bay of Whales and up the Axel Heiberg Glacier. One month later, the doomed Terra Nova Expedition reached the pole. The American explorer Richard E. Byrd led four expeditions to Antarctica during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, using the first mechanised tractors. His expeditions conducted extensive geographical and scientific research, and he is credited with surveying a larger region of the continent than any other explorer. In 1937, Ingrid Christensen became the first woman to step onto the Antarctic mainland. Caroline Mikkelsen had landed on an island of Antarctica, earlier in 1935. The South Pole was next reached on 31 October 1956, when a U.S. Navy group led by Rear Admiral George J. Dufek successfully landed an aircraft there. Six women were flown to the South Pole as a publicity stunt in 1969. In the summer of 1996–1997, Norwegian explorer Børge Ousland became the first person to cross Antarctica alone from coast to coast, helped by a kite on parts of the journey. Ousland holds the record for the fastest unsupported journey to the South Pole, taking 34 days. ## Demographics The first semi-permanent inhabitants of regions near Antarctica (areas situated south of the Antarctic Convergence) were British and American sealers who used to spend a year or more on South Georgia, from 1786 onward. During the whaling era, which lasted until 1966, the population of the island varied from over 1,000 in the summer (over 2,000 in some years) to some 200 in the winter. Most of the whalers were Norwegian, with an increasing proportion from Britain. Antarctica's population consists mostly of the staff of research stations in Antarctica (which are continuously maintained despite the population decline in the winter), although there are 2 all-civilian bases in Antarctica: the Esperanza Base and the Villa Las Estrellas base. The number of people conducting and supporting scientific research and other work on the continent and its nearby islands varies from about 1,200 in winter to about 4,800 in the summer, with an additional 136 people in the winter to 266 people in the summer from the 2 civilian bases (as of 2017). Some of the research stations are staffed year-round, the winter-over personnel typically arriving from their home countries for a one-year assignment. The Russian Orthodox Holy Trinity Church at the Bellingshausen Station on King George Island opened in 2004; it is staffed year-round by one or two priests, who are similarly rotated every year. The first child born in the southern polar region was a Norwegian girl, Solveig Gunbjørg Jacobsen, born in Grytviken on 8 October 1913. Emilio Marcos Palma was the first person born south of the 60th parallel south and the first to be born on the Antarctic mainland at the Esperanza Base of the Argentine Army. The Antarctic Treaty prohibits any military activity in Antarctica, including the establishment of military bases and fortifications, military manoeuvres, and weapons testing. Military personnel or equipment are permitted only for scientific research or other peaceful purposes. Operation 90 by the Argentine military in 1965 was conducted to strengthen Argentina's claim in Antarctica. Antarctic English, a distinct variety of the English language, has been found to be spoken by people living on Antarctica and the subantarctic islands. ## Politics Antarctica's status is regulated by the 1959 Antarctic Treaty and other related agreements, collectively called the Antarctic Treaty System. Antarctica is defined as all land and ice shelves south of 60° S for the purposes of the Treaty System. The treaty was signed by twelve countries, including the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Chile, Australia, and the United States. Since 1959, a further 42 countries have acceded to the treaty. Countries can participate in decision-making if they can demonstrate that they do significant research on Antarctica; as of 2022, 29 countries have this 'consultative status'. Decisions are based on consensus, instead of a vote. The treaty set aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and established freedom of scientific investigation and environmental protection. ### Territorial claims In 1539, the King of Spain, Charles V, created the Governorate of Terra Australis, which encompassed lands south of the Strait of Magellan and thus theoretically Antarctica, the existence of which was only hypothesized at the time, granting this Governorate to Pedro Sancho de la Hoz, who in 1540 transferred the title to the conquistador Pedro de Valdivia. Spain claimed all the territories to the south of the Strait of Magellan until the South Pole, with eastern and western borders to these claims specified in the Treaty of Tordesillas and Zaragoza respectively. In 1555 the claim was incorporated to Chile. In the present, sovereignty over regions of Antarctica is claimed by seven countries. While a few of these countries have mutually recognised each other's claims, the validity of the claims is not recognised universally. New claims on Antarctica have been suspended since 1959, although in 2015, Norway formally defined Queen Maud Land as including the unclaimed area between it and the South Pole. The Argentine, British, and Chilean claims overlap and have caused friction. In 2012, after the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office designated a previously unnamed area Queen Elizabeth Land in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee, the Argentine government protested against the claim. The UK passed some of the areas it claimed to Australia and New Zealand after they achieved independence. The claims by Britain, Australia, New Zealand, France, and Norway do not overlap and are recognised by each other. Other member nations of the Antarctic Treaty do not recognise any claim, yet have shown some form of territorial interest in the past. - Brazil has a designated "zone of interest" that is not an actual claim. - Peru formally reserved its right to make a claim. - Russia inherited the Soviet Union's right to claim territory under the original Antarctic Treaty. - South Africa formally reserved its right to make a claim. - The United States reserved its right to make a claim in the original Antarctic Treaty. ## Economy and tourism Deposits of coal, hydrocarbons, iron ore, platinum, copper, chromium, nickel, gold, and other minerals have been found in Antarctica, but not in large enough quantities to extract. The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, which came into effect in 1998 and is due to be reviewed in 2048, restricts the exploitation of Antarctic resources, including minerals. Tourists have been visiting Antarctica since 1957. Tourism is subject to the provisions of the Antarctic Treaty and Environmental Protocol; the self-regulatory body for the industry is the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators. Tourists arrive by small or medium ship at specific scenic locations with accessible concentrations of iconic wildlife. Over 74,000 tourists visited the region during the 2019–2020 season, of which 18,500 travelled on cruise ships but did not leave them to explore on land. The numbers of tourists fell rapidly after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some nature conservation groups have expressed concern over the potential adverse effects caused by the influx of visitors and have called for limits on the size of visiting cruise ships and a tourism quota. The primary response by Antarctic Treaty parties has been to develop guidelines that set landing limits and closed or restricted zones on the more frequently visited sites. Tourism in Antarctica is, in part, ecologically focused with expeditions being offered for bird watching tours due to the high numbers of Adélie, King, and Gentoo penguins – among other species. One site in particular – McDonald Beach – is known to be a high-traffic area for tourists watching the Adélie penguins who number more than 40,000. Overland sightseeing flights operated out of Australia and New Zealand until the Mount Erebus disaster in 1979, when an Air New Zealand plane crashed into Mount Erebus, killing all of the 257 people on board. Qantas resumed commercial overflights to Antarctica from Australia in the mid-1990s. There are many airports in Antarctica. ## Research In 2017, there were more than 4,400 scientists undertaking research in Antarctica, a number that fell to just over 1,100 in the winter. There are over 70 permanent and seasonal research stations on the continent; the largest, United States' McMurdo Station, is capable of housing more than 1,000 people. The British Antarctic Survey has five major research stations on Antarctica, one of which is completely portable. The Belgian Princess Elisabeth station is one of the most modern stations and the first to be carbon-neutral. Argentina, Australia, Chile, and Russia also have a large scientific presence on Antarctica. Geologists primarily study plate tectonics, meteorites, and the breakup of Gondwana. Glaciologists study the history and dynamics of floating ice, seasonal snow, glaciers, and ice sheets. Biologists, in addition to researching wildlife, are interested in how low temperatures and the presence of humans affect adaptation and survival strategies in organisms. Biomedical scientists have made discoveries concerning the spreading of viruses and the body's response to extreme seasonal temperatures. The high elevation of the interior, the low temperatures, and the length of polar nights during the winter months all allow for better astronomical observations at Antarctica than anywhere else on Earth. The view of space from Earth is improved by a thinner atmosphere at higher elevations and a lack of water vapour in the atmosphere caused by freezing temperatures. Astrophysicists at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station study cosmic microwave background radiation and neutrinos from space. The largest neutrino detector in the world, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, is at the Amundsen-Scott Station. It consists of around 5,500 digital optical modules, some of which reach a depth of 2,450 m (8,040 ft), that are held in 1 km³ (0.24 cu mi) of ice. Scientists also observed higher radiation dose rates around the coast of Antarctica compared with the global average: this is attributed to cosmic rays going through the thinner atmosphere compared to equatorial latitudes. Antarctica provides a unique environment for the study of meteorites: the dry polar desert preserves them well, and meteorites older than a million years have been found. They are relatively easy to find, as the dark stone meteorites stand out in a landscape of ice and snow, and the flow of ice accumulates them in certain areas. The Adelie Land meteorite, discovered in 1912, was the first to be found. Meteorites contain clues about the composition of the Solar System and its early development. Most meteorites come from asteroids, but a few meteorites found in Antarctica came from the Moon and Mars. Major scientific organizations in Antarctica have released strategy and action plans focused on advancing national interests and objectives in Antarctica, supporting cutting-edge research to understand the interactions between the Antarctic region and climate systems. The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) released a 10-year (2023–2033) strategy report to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to focus on creating sustainable living on Earth. Environmental sustainability is named as one of the top focus areas by the BAS strategy, highlighting the main challenge and priority to embed environmental sustainability into everything. In 2022, the Australian Antarctic Program (AAP) released a new Strategy and 20-year Action Plan (2022–2036) to modernize its Antarctic program. The global climate system was highlighted as one of the main priorities that will be supported and studied through the AAP Strategy Plan. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the vital role of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in climate and weather to improve current knowledge and inform management responses. In 2021, the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) released a Midterm Assessment on the 2015 Strategic Vision for Antarctic and Southern Ocean Research, stressing the prominent role of the Southern Ocean in the global carbon cycle and sea level rise. The USAP outlines the Changing Antarctic Ice Sheets Initiative as a top priority to enhance understanding of why ice sheets are changing now, and how they will change in the future. Antarctic ice sheets are a central focus of contemporary climate research due to urgent questions about their stability and reaction to global warming. Satellite technology enables researchers to study the ice sheets both through on-site fieldwork and remote sensing, facilitating detailed analyses of ice dynamics to predict future changes in a warming world. The INStabilities & Thresholds in ANTarctica (INSTANT) Scientific Research Programme proposes three research themes, investigating the complex interactions between the atmosphere, ocean, and solid Earth in Antarctica. Its aims include improving the understanding and predictions of these processes to aid decision makers in risk assessment, management, and mitigation related to Antarctic climate change. The Australian-led ICECAP project utilized advanced aerogeophysical techniques to map deep subglacial basins and channels that connect the ice sheet to the ocean. This mapping improves predictions of ice sheet stability, the impacts of climate change on the ice sheets, and their potential contributions to global sea level rise. ## Culture ### Music and film The southernmost music festival in the world, Icestock, has been held at McMurdo Station since 1989. The organizers, performers, and attendees of Icestock are all personnel working at McMurdo or nearby Scott Base. The Antarctic Film Festival is held annually between bases, with 48 stations registered to participate as of 2022. The festival is designed for short films of 5 minutes or less. In 2011, Australian classical harpist Alice Giles became the first professional musician to perform in Antarctica. The first full-length fictional film to be shot in Antarctica was South of Sanity, a 2012 low budget British horror film. An upcoming film directed by Nick Cassavetes and starring Anthony Hopkins, Bruno Penguin and the Staten Island Princess, will be the first major Hollywood production to shoot in Antarctica. ### Sport Sporting events held on Antarctica include the Antarctic Ice Marathon & 100k ultra race, Antarctica Marathon and Antarctica Cup Yacht Race. Association football has been played since the early twentieth century, with teams representing bases or visiting ships. ### Holidays There are two principal holidays celebrated across Antarctica: Midwinter Day on the day of the southern winter solstice (June 20 or 21) and Antarctica Day on December 1, which commemorates the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959. ## See also - Index of Antarctica-related articles

Macaroni penguin

Species of bird

The macaroni penguin (Eudyptes chrysolophus) is a species of penguin found from the Subantarctic to the Antarctic Peninsula. One of six species of crested penguin, it is very closely related to the royal penguin, and some authorities consider the two to be a single species. It bears a distinctive yellow crest on its forehead. Its face and upperparts are black and sharply delineated from the white underparts. Adults weigh on average 5.5 kg (12 lb) and are 70 cm (28 in) in length. The male and female are similar in appearance; the male is slightly larger and stronger with a relatively larger bill. Like all penguins, it is flightless, with a streamlined body and wings stiffened and flattened into flippers for a marine lifestyle. Its diet consists of a variety of crustaceans, mainly krill, as well as small fish and cephalopods; the species consumes more marine life annually than any other species of seabird. These birds moult once a year, spending about three to four weeks ashore, before returning to the sea. Numbering up to 100,000 individuals, the breeding colonies of the macaroni penguin are among the largest and densest of all penguin species. After spending the summer breeding, penguins disperse into the oceans for six months; a 2009 study found that macaroni penguins from Kerguelen travelled over 10,000 km (6,200 mi) in the central Indian Ocean. With about 18 million individuals, the macaroni penguin is the most numerous penguin species. Widespread declines in populations have been recorded since the mid-1970s and their conservation status is classified as vulnerable. ## Taxonomy The macaroni penguin was described from the Falkland Islands in 1837 by German naturalist Johann Friedrich von Brandt. It is one of six or so species in the genus Eudyptes, collectively known as crested penguins. The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek words eu "good", and dyptes "diver". The specific name chrysolophus is derived from the Greek words chryse "golden", and lophos "crest". The common name was recorded from the early 19th century in the Falkland Islands. English sailors apparently named the species for its conspicuous yellow crest. It is similar to the then fashionable Macaroni. Molecular clock evidence using DNA suggests the macaroni penguin diverged from its closest relative, the royal penguin (Eudyptes schlegeli), around 1.5 million years ago. The two have generally been considered different species, but the close similarities of their DNA sequences has led some, such as Australian ornithologists Les Christidis and Walter Boles, to treat the royal penguin as a subspecies of the macaroni penguin. The two species are very similar in appearance; the royal penguin has a white face instead of the usually black face of the macaroni penguin. Interbreeding with the Indo-Pacific subspecies of the southern rockhopper penguin (E. chrysocome filholi) has been reported at Heard and Marion Islands, with three hybrid subspecies recorded there by a 1987–88 Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition. ## Description The macaroni penguin is a large, crested penguin, similar in appearance to other members of the genus Eudyptes. An adult bird has an average length of around 70 cm (28 in); the weight varies markedly depending on time of year and sex. Males average from 3.3 kg (7 lb) after incubating, or 3.7 kg (8 lb) after moult to 6.4 kg (14 lb) before moult, while females average 3.2 kg (7 lb) after to 5.7 kg (13 lb) before moult. Among standard measurements, the thick bill (from the gape) measures 7 to 8 cm (2.8 to 3.1 in), the culmen being around a centimetre less. The wing, from the shoulder to the tip, is around 20.4 cm (8.0 in) and the tail is 9–10 cm (3.5–3.9 in) long. The head, chin, throat, and upper parts are black and sharply demarcated against the white under parts. The black plumage has a bluish sheen when new and brownish when old. The most striking feature is the yellow crest that arises from a patch on the centre of the forehead, and extends horizontally backwards to the nape. The flippers are blue-black on the upper surface with a white trailing edge, and mainly white underneath with a black tip and leading edge. The large, bulbous bill is orange-brown. The iris is red and a patch of pinkish bare skin is found from the base of the bill to the eye. The legs and feet are pink. The male and female are similar in appearance; males tend to be slightly larger. Males also bear relatively larger bills, which average around 6.1 cm (2.4 in) compared to 5.4 cm (2.1 in) in females; this feature has been used to tell the sexes apart. Immature birds are distinguished by their smaller size, smaller, duller-brown bill, dark grey chin and throat, and absent or underdeveloped head plumes, often just a scattering of yellow feathers. The crest is fully developed in birds aged three to four years, a year or two before breeding age. Macaroni penguins moult once a year, a process in which they replace all of their old feathers. They spend around two weeks accumulating fat before moulting because they do not feed during the moult, as they cannot enter the water to forage for food without feathers. The process typically takes three to four weeks, which they spend sitting ashore. Once finished, they go back to sea and return to their colonies to mate in the spring. Overall survival rates are poorly known; the successful return of breeding adults at South Georgia Island varied between 49% and 78% over three years, and around 10% of those that did return did not breed the following year. ## Distribution and habitat A 1993 review estimated that the macaroni was the most abundant species of penguin, with a minimum of 11,841,600 pairs worldwide. Macaroni penguins range from the Subantarctic to the Antarctic Peninsula; at least 216 breeding colonies at 50 sites have been recorded. In South America, macaroni penguins are found in southern Chile, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and South Orkney Islands. They also occupy much of Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula, including the northern South Shetland Islands, Bouvet Island, the Prince Edward and Marion islands, the Crozet Islands, the Kerguelen Islands, and the Heard and McDonald Islands. While foraging for food, groups will range north to the islands off Australia, New Zealand, southern Brazil, Tristan da Cunha, and South Africa. ## Ecology ### Feeding The diet of the macaroni penguin consists of a variety of crustaceans, squid and fish; the proportions that each makes up vary with locality and season. Krill, particularly Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), account for over 90% of food during breeding season. Cephalopods and small fish such as the marbled rockcod (Notothenia rossii), painted notie (Lepidonotothen larseni), Champsocephalus gunneri, the lanternfish species Krefftichthys anderssoni, Protomyctophum tenisoni and P. normani become more important during chick-rearing. Like several other penguin species, the macaroni penguin sometimes deliberately swallows small (10– to 30-mm-diameter) stones; this behaviour has been speculated to aid in providing ballast for deep-sea diving, or to help grind food, especially the exoskeletons of crustaceans which are a significant part of its diet. Foraging for food is generally conducted on a daily basis, from dawn to dusk when they have chicks to feed. Overnight trips are sometimes made, especially as the chicks grow older; a 2008 study that used surgically implanted data loggers to track the movement of the birds showed the foraging trips become longer once the chick-rearing period is over. Birds venture out for 10–20 days during incubation and before the moult. Macaroni penguins are known to be the largest single consumer of marine resources among all of the seabirds, with an estimated take of 9.2 million tonnes of krill a year. Outside the breeding season, macaroni penguins tend to dive deeper, longer, and more efficiently during their winter migration than during the summer breeding season. Year round, foraging dives usually occur during daylight hours, but winter dives are more constrained by daylight due to the shorter days. Foraging distance from colonies has been measured at around 50 km (31 mi) at South Georgia, offshore over the continental shelf, and anywhere from 59 to 303 kilometres (37 to 188 mi) at Marion Island. Macaroni penguins normally forage at depths of 15 to 70 m (49 to 230 ft), but have been recorded diving down to 100 m (330 ft) on occasions. Some night foraging does occur, but these dives are much shallower, ranging from only 3 to 6 m (9.8 to 19.7 ft) in depth. Dives rarely exceed two minutes in duration. All dives are V-shaped, and no time is spent at the sea bottom; about half the time on a foraging trip is spent diving. Birds have been calculated as catching from 4 to 16 krill or 40 to 50 amphipods per dive. ### Predators The macaroni penguin's predators consist of birds and aquatic mammals. The leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx), Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella), Subantarctic fur seal (A. tropicalis), and killer whale (Orcinus orca) hunt adult macaroni penguins in the water. Macaroni colonies suffer comparatively low rates of predation if undisturbed; predators generally only take eggs and chicks that have been left unattended or abandoned. Skua species, the snowy sheathbill (Chionis alba), and kelp gull (Larus dominicanus) prey on eggs, and skuas and giant petrels also take chicks and sick or injured adult birds. ## Life history Like most other penguin species, the macaroni penguin is a social animal in its nesting and its foraging behaviour; its breeding colonies are among the largest and most densely populated. Scientist Charles Andre Bost found that macaroni penguins nesting at Kerguelen dispersed eastwards over an area exceeding 3×10⁶ km². Fitted with geolocation sensors, the 12 penguins studied travelled over 10,000 km (6,200 mi) during the six- to seven-month study period and spent their time largely within a zone 47–49°S and 70–110°E in the central Indian Ocean, not coming ashore once. This area, known as the Polar Frontal Zone, was notable for the absence of krill. Living in colonies results in a high level of social interaction between birds, which has led to a large repertoire of visual, as well as vocal, displays. These behaviours peak early in the breeding period, and colonies particularly quieten when the male macaroni penguins are at sea. Agonistic displays are those which are intended to confront or drive off or, alternatively, appease and avoid conflict with other individuals. Macaroni penguins, particularly those on adjacent nests, may engage in 'bill-jousting'; birds lock bills and wrestle, each trying to unseat the other, as well as batter with flippers and peck or strike its opponent's nape. Submissive displays include the 'slender walk', where birds move through the colony with feathers flattened, flippers moved to the front of the body, and head and neck hunched, and general hunching of head and neck when incubating or standing at the nest. ### Courtship and breeding Female macaroni penguins can begin breeding at around five years of age, while the males do not normally breed until at least six years old. Females breed at a younger age because the male population is larger. The surplus of male penguins allows the female penguins to select more experienced male partners as soon as the females are physically able to breed. Commencing a few days after females arrive at the colony, sexual displays are used by males to attract partners and advertise their territory, and by pairs once together at the nest site and at changeover of incubation shifts. In the 'ecstatic display', a penguin bows forward, making loud throbbing sounds, and then extends its head and neck up until its neck and beak are vertical. The bird then waves its head from side to side, braying loudly. Birds also engage in mutual bowing, trumpeting, and preening. Monitoring of pair fidelity at South Georgia has shown around three-quarters of pairs will breed together again the following year. Adult macaroni penguins typically begin to breed late in October, and lay their eggs in early November. The nest itself is a shallow scrape in the ground which may be lined with some pebbles, stones, or grass, or nestled in a clump of tussock grass (on South Georgia Island). Nests are densely packed, ranging from around 66 cm (26 in) apart in the middle of a colony to 86 cm (34 in) at the edges. A fertile macaroni penguin will lay two eggs each breeding season. The first egg to be laid weighs 90–94 g (3.2–3.3 oz), 61–64% the size of the 145–155 g (5.1–5.5 oz) second, and is extremely unlikely to survive. The two eggs together weigh 4.8% of the mother's body weight; the composition of an egg is 20% yolk, 66% albumen, and 14% shell. Like those of other penguin species, the shell is relatively thick to minimise risk of breakage, and the yolk is large, which is associated with chicks born in an advanced stage of development. Some of the yolk remains at hatching and is consumed by the chick in its first few days. The fate of the first egg is mostly unknown, but studies on the related royal penguin and erect-crested penguin show the female tips the egg out when the larger second egg is laid. The task of incubating the egg is divided into three roughly equal sessions of around 12 days each over a five-week period. The first session is shared by both parents, followed by the male returning to sea, leaving the female alone to tend the egg. Upon the male's return, the female goes off to sea and does not return until the chick has hatched. Both sexes fast for a considerable period during breeding; the male fasts for 37 days after arrival until he returns to sea for around 10 days before fasting while incubating eggs and young for another 36 days, and the female fasts for 42 days from her arrival after the male until late in the incubation period. Both adults lose 36–40% of their body weight during this period. The second egg hatches around 34 days after it is laid. Macaroni penguins typically leave their breeding colony by April or May to disperse into the ocean. From the moment the egg is hatched, the male macaroni penguin cares for the newly hatched chick. For about 23 to 25 days, the male protects its offspring and helps to keep it warm, since only a few of its feathers have grown in by this time. The female brings food to the chick every one to two days. When they are not being protected by the adult male penguins, the chicks form crèches to keep warm and stay protected. Once their adult feathers have grown in at about 60 to 70 days, they are ready to go out to sea on their own. ## Conservation The population of macaroni penguins is estimated at around 18 million mature individuals; a substantial decline has been recorded in several locations. This includes a 50% reduction in the South Georgia population between the mid-1970s to mid-1990s, and the disappearance of the species from Isla Recalada in Southern Chile. This decline of the overall population in the last 30 years has resulted in the classification of the species as globally Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Long-term monitoring programs are underway at a number of breeding colonies, and many of the islands that support breeding populations of this penguin are protected reserves. The Heard Islands and McDonald Islands are World Heritage Sites for the macaroni penguin. The macaroni penguin may be being impacted by commercial fishing and marine pollution. A 2008 study suggests the abilities of female penguins to reproduce may be negatively affected by climate- and fishing-induced reductions in krill density.

Thunder (mascot)

Stage name for the Denver Broncos football team live animal mascot

Thunder is the stage name for the horse who is the official live animal mascot for the Denver Broncos football team. Thunder shares mascot duties with Miles, a human who wears a horse head mask atop a Broncos uniform. Three purebred Arabians have held this role since 1993, all gray horses whose coats lightened with age until they turned completely white. Sharon Magness-Blake has owned all of them, and Ann Judge has been their rider since 1998 and trainer since 1999. As of 2022, Thunder has appeared in four Super Bowls. The original Thunder performed in Super Bowl XXXII and Super Bowl XXXIII; Thunder III appeared in Super Bowl XLVIII and Super Bowl 50. Thunder III also made appearances in Times Square and on television morning news shows in New York City as part of the pre-game promotion for Super Bowl XLVIII. Thunder's duties as mascot typically include leading the team onto the field at the start of every home game, and galloping down the length of the field whenever the team scores a touchdown or field goal. Thunder and his rider also interact with fans before the game; the horse is particularly popular with children, who are allowed to pet him. The horses who have served as Thunder need to remain calm in situations that would normally frighten most horses, such as being in football stadiums with thousands of cheering fans, exploding pyrotechnics, cheerleaders waving pom-poms, and other spectacles common to National Football League (NFL) games. He routinely appears in parades, makes hospital and school visits, and attends various other public functions. He has been flown on airplanes, ridden in elevators, and appeared indoors at press conferences and banquets. The original Thunder, later named "Thunder Sr.", was described as bold and courageous. He was a stallion registered as JB Kobask, a former show horse, who was team mascot for the Broncos from 1993 until his retirement in 2004. He continued making community appearances until his death in 2009. Thunder Sr. was succeeded in 2004 by "Thunder II", an Arabian gelding registered as Winter Solstyce. He had been the personal pleasure riding horse of Magness-Blake. Judge described him as being somewhat timid when he first began his role as mascot but eventually grew into it. He retired from mascot duties in early 2014 but appeared in the 2016 Super Bowl 50 victory parade in downtown Denver following the Broncos win over the Carolina Panthers. "Thunder III", a gelding registered as Me N Myshadow, was the understudy to Thunder II, and trained specifically for mascot duties beginning at age three when he was started under saddle. He began performing at preseason games in 2013. Although Thunder II was still active as team mascot during the 2013–14 season, Thunder III was sent to Super Bowl XLVIII because he was younger and better able to handle air travel. He is described as laid-back, preferring to doze off during games when not performing. Thunder III ran one last time during the 2020 season. Thunder IV, registered as Phantom JD, is the current mascot and began making appearances in the 2021 season. ## History The original "Thunder", JB Kobask, was loaned to the Denver Broncos by Sharon Magness-Blake of Magness Arabians after she received a phone call from team officials asking if she had a "white" horse. Thunder's debut as team mascot was on September 12, 1993, during the Broncos' victory over the San Diego Chargers. Angela Moore, his rider at the time, galloped him down the field after each Broncos touchdown. Thunder's mascot duties were expanded to include delivering the game ball to the referees at the start of each home game. Spectators were allowed to interact with Thunder and pet him prior to the game. Magness said, "Thunder is friendly, and Broncos fans think it's good luck for the opposing team to pet our mascot". He was particularly popular with children, appeared on T-shirts, and was referred to as the "second most popular Bronco" after former quarterback John Elway. Thunder appeared at Elway's 1999 retirement gala. When team uniforms were redesigned in 1997, Thunder was the inspiration to incorporate a horse-head profile as part of the logo on the team's helmets. During a February 4, 1997 press conference introducing the new logo, the team president and the art director for Nike, creators of the new design, described it as "a powerful horse with a fiery eye and mane." The original Thunder, also known as Thunder Sr., was retired in 2004 after serving 11 years as the team mascot. Magness-Blake replaced him with Thunder II, a 1994 Arabian gelding registered as Winter Solstyce. He was Magness-Blake's personal pleasure riding horse prior to taking on his new role as team mascot. As Thunder II grew older, Magness-Blake anticipated the need for a replacement and added a third gray horse to the team. He became known as Thunder III, a 2000 Arabian gelding registered as Me N Myshadow. Thunder III initially served as the understudy for Thunder II, and was trained specifically for the role of team mascot from his start under saddle. ## Mascot duties Thunder leads the team onto the field at the beginning of each home game, and typically gallops from one end of the field to the other whenever the team makes a touchdown. He may also make a run after a field goal, but not a safety. Each time he makes a run, a four-person crew runs down the sidelines to the end zone to escort Thunder back to his sideline position. Extra handlers ensure the safety of the horse and surrounding people. Thunder's helpers also remove any manure that he might drop while on the field. As well as his support crew, Thunder has a bodyguard who travels to the games. Thunder shares mascot duties with Miles, a human who wears a horse head mask atop a Broncos uniform. The horses who have served as Thunder have been trained to remain calm in situations that would normally cause a horse to respond with a fight-or-flight response, such as the flashing explosions of a pyrotechnic display, or items suddenly landing on the field including skydivers with parachutes and various objects thrown by spectators, or loud music and the sounds associated with tens of thousands of cheering fans at Mile High. Ann Judge has explained that because so many unexpected things can happen, it is important that the people working with him remain calm; it is trust in his rider and handlers, not just desensitization, that helps the horse remain steady: "You want them to look to you for the appropriate response and for confidence and faith so that the flight response doesn’t get initiated." She describes the process by saying, "if something is fearful to him, as long as he looks to me, and I tell him he’s OK, he’s OK." The only frightening stimuli that was an ongoing problem for both Thunder Sr. and Thunder II was when the crowd would perform the wave; Thunder Sr. would stand still, but tremble. Thunder II would become tense, requiring ground handlers and his rider to help steady him. Thunder III is the first of the mascots to tolerate wearing earplugs, which help protect his hearing from loud noises during games. Magness-Blake said one of the most dangerous parts of Thunder's job is at the beginning of the game when he leads the team onto the field, as there are cheerleaders ahead of him waving their pom-poms and a team of excited football players behind him. Ann Judge has also remarked about the team getting "amped up" with energy and excitement as Thunder leads them onto the field, explaining that "To him, amped up means danger." On one occasion, a person walked out unexpectedly in front of Thunder as he was leading the players onto the field. Thunder stopped immediately, averting a potentially dangerous situation. Another unexpected event occurred in 2014 during Super Bowl XLVIII when the pyrotechnics display was supposed to have been executed before Thunder led the team out but it went off unexpectedly during his run. Thunder responded to the situation with aplomb, continuing to run forward onto the field, though he performed flying lead changes with each explosion. Thunder's record number of runs may have been during a 52–20 win on September 29, 2013, when he crossed the field eight times. Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning joked, "Might have to give ol' Thunder an I.V. after this one." Judge said Thunder, age 19 at the time, was not tired at all, describing him as "full of spit and vinegar" the next day. Thunder appears primarily at home games, but has been transported out-of-state when the Broncos played in the Super Bowl. While at home, Thunder arrives at Mile High approximately two-and-a-half hours before kickoff. He is trailered into the stadium via the visitor's tunnel. He has a large private box stall located next to the visitor's locker room, and has hay, water and treats, including a big basket of carrots and apples. Judge signs autographs for about 45 minutes before each game, allowing fans, particularly children, an opportunity to become better acquainted with Thunder. Thunder usually leaves the field before the game is over. He is loaded into a horse trailer and hauled out of the stadium at the two-minute warning. Thunder has other duties off the field, and has appeared at many public exhibitions and charity functions in the Denver area, including visits to schools and hospitals. He has appeared frequently as part of the color guard at Denver's annual National Western Stock Show. Thunder has gone up elevators, walked through indoor tunnels, has been ridden among the banquet tables at Magness-Blake's Western Fantasy fundraiser, and has attended indoor and outdoor press conferences. ### Super Bowl appearances At Super Bowl XXXII in 1998 in San Diego, Thunder Sr. appeared on the field after touchdowns. It was his first away game, and required 26 hours of trailering to reach the destination. Upon returning home, he led the team's victory parade in front of 600,000 fans in Denver. Thunder also attended Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami in 1999. In early 2014, Thunder was again granted permission by the NFL to appear at Super Bowl XLVIII. Thunder III, age 14 at the time, made the trip because of concerns over Thunder II's age (20 years) and the stress some horses experience during air travel. It was the first time a Thunder mascot had been flown. He was transported to the east coast in a FedEx cargo plane, designed and equipped by Dutta Corporation specifically for transporting horses. FedEx sponsored the plane trip for its promotional value; the cost for which normally runs about $20,000. The day after his arrival in Newark, New Jersey, Thunder was hauled into New York City for television appearances on Today, and Fox & Friends. He also walked through Times Square. At Super Bowl XLVIII, Thunder led the team onto the field at the start of the game, making it the first Super Bowl where he was allowed to do so. Thunder was also allowed to run in the end zone after a touchdown, but because MetLife Stadium was considered a neutral zone for both teams, he was not allowed to run the length of the field. For Super Bowl 50, Thunder III was trailered to San Francisco, a two-day trip that took four days because of ice and snow, further complicated by a 24-hour closure of I-80. Upon arrival, Thunder was stabled at the Stanford Equestrian Center. Thunder II, who was retired at the end of the 2013–2014 season after the Broncos won the AFC Championship game, had remained in Denver. On the following Tuesday, he led the team in the Denver victory parade while Thunder III was still on the road heading home. ## Background ### People Magness-Blake owned all three of the Arabian horses that portrayed Thunder. She grew up poor in Philadelphia, and did not ride a horse until she was 20 years old. She married Bob Magness, founder of Tele-Communications Inc., who also loved horses, and together they began an Arabian breeding operation that at its peak had 900 horses. Following the death of her husband in November 1996, Magness-Blake downsized the horse operation and by 2014 owned about 15 horses. In 2004, she married Ernie Blake, an attorney and the mayor of Breckenridge, who also loves horses. The couple, along with two other people, are part of Thunder's ground crew at football games. The first horse trainer for JB Kobask as Thunder was Tom Hudson, the trainer for Magness Arabians at the time. The mascot's first rider was Angela Moore, then a 19-year-old assistant trainer to Hudson and a graduate of Colorado State University. Ann Judge, also known as Ann Judge-Wegener, became Thunder's rider in 1998. A year later, Judge took over as trainer as well as rider. She has been the trainer and rider of Thunder II for his entire career with the Broncos, and also does so for Thunder III. Judge grew up on an Arabian horse farm near West Lafayette, Indiana, and graduated from Purdue University in 1980 with a degree in English Education. She has ridden horses since she was five years old, was a participant in 4-H as a youth, and after finishing college became a horse trainer, first working in South Carolina and then in Colorado. Judge has been described by Broncos' management as an "accomplished equestrian". She has competed at the national level in Arabian and Pinto horse show competition. She is also a horse show judge who has adjudicated national and international events. Both Thunder II and Thunder III are stabled at Judge's farm in Bennett, Colorado. ### Horses #### Thunder Sr. JB Kobask, a purebred Arabian stallion foaled in 1983, became the first live horse mascot for the Broncos in 1993 after a successful horse show career. He was a son of the reserve U.S. National Champion Arabian Stallion GG Jabask, and a grandson of the Polish-bred Arabian \*Bask, a multiple U.S. National Champion after his importation to the United States. JB Kobask also had a substantial amount of Crabbet breeding in his pedigree. The stallion was kicked by a mare in a 1997 breeding accident, resulting in a fracture that required two arthroscopic surgeries on his stifle, akin to knee surgery on a human, and was out of commission for six weeks; another two months was needed before he could gallop at full speed. Following his recovery, he resumed his mascot duties and appeared at Super Bowl XXXII in January 1998. He served as the Broncos mascot for 11 years and was retired in 2004 after developing arthritis, which made it difficult for him to gallop down the field. He continued to make community appearances until his death in 2009 at age 27. Thunder Sr. was noted for his bold and courageous personality, and was described by Magness-Blake as having "a strong ego". He had been trained to rear on command. Yet he remained calm and controlled in very intense situations, and Judge believed he had a sixth sense for when to be energetic for a performance and when to calm down. The stallion was notably gentle around children who wanted to pet him. During games, when he was waiting to perform, he had a tendency to watch players on the field. #### Thunder II Winter Solstyce, an Arabian gelding foaled in 1994, became "Thunder II" in 2004. He was Magness-Blake's personal riding horse for several years prior to becoming the Broncos' mascot. His paternal grandsire is \*Salon, a Russian-bred Arabian stallion from the Tersk Stud exported first to Germany and later brought to the United States. Winter Solstyce's maternal grandsire is \*Gondolier, who was a Polish National Champion and World Champion Arabian stallion at the Salon du Cheval in Paris, imported to the U.S. in 1981. The remainder of his lineage traces back to the Arabian horse breeding programs of Poland and Russia. He is linebred to the stallion Negatiw, who appears four times in his pedigree. Thunder II stands tall and weighs over 900 pounds (410 kg). Nicknamed "Dos" by Judge, Thunder II has been described as somewhat timid with a more subdued personality than his predecessor. Initially, he was nervous of the white markings on the football field and would try to jump over them. He was also afraid of the cheerleaders' pom-poms. For desensitization training, Judge and the rest of Thunder's team would haul him to the football field at a local high school to work with people carrying pom-poms and to run across a marked field. His handlers used operant conditioning with positive reinforcement, associating pom-poms with a carrot treat. Eventually, he began turning to his handlers anticipating a treat whenever he saw a cheerleader with pom-poms. Thunder II would look attentively with his ears forward, seemingly on cue, for his picture to be taken whenever a photographer pointed a camera at him. He is known for being people-friendly and particularly gentle with children who became acquainted with him prior to each game. Instead of watching players on the field the way Thunder Sr. did, Thunder II liked to observe the people in the stands. When bored, he has entertained himself by grabbing the zipper pulls of his handlers' jackets and running them up and down. He also learned how to unscrew water bottles and squeeze them to get water. Officially retired in 2014, Thunder II occasionally makes public appearances. #### Thunder III Thunder III is Me N Myshadow, a 2000 Arabian gelding, and third purebred Arabian to serve as team mascot. Ann Judge calls him "Tres". Me N Myshadow is sired by Monarch AH out of a \*Gondolier daughter, making him a distant cousin to Winter Solstyce. Monarch AH was a race horse who won 19 of his 23 races, including several graded stakes races for Arabians, earning US$213,646. He was a son of the Polish import \*Wiking, an all-time leading sire of Arabian racehorses. When Magness-Blake downsized her horse breeding program, Monarch AH was sold to Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates. Thunder III began his mascot duties as the understudy to Thunder II. He appeared at a few preseason home games in 2013, and made most public appearances as team mascot in the Denver community that same year. His major public debut was in 2014 as team mascot at Super Bowl XLVIII in New Jersey. He also traveled to appear at Super Bowl 50. Thunder III had been trained specifically for the role of Thunder, beginning at age three when Judge first started working with him under saddle. He was exposed to a variety of situations, including open horse shows where he could become accustomed to crowds and activity. Like Thunder II, he appeared at Magness-Blake's annual Western Fantasy fundraising banquet for the Volunteers of America. He is people friendly and has been described as "social" and "quite the poser". Unlike his predecessors, he tends to ignore the antics at football games, preferring to doze off when not performing. Like the other horses, though, he dislikes pom-poms and was unsettled when fans in the stadium did the wave. In conjunction with Super Bowl 50, a Breyer Horse model was created of Thunder. In 2018, another horse, foaled in 2007, was announced as in training to become Thunder IV, but as of 2021 has not been publicly identified. ## See also - Osceola and Renegade - Peruna - Traveler (mascot) - Warpaint (mascot) - List of historical horses

British nuclear tests at Maralinga

Atomic weapons tests in Australia, 1956–1963

Between 1956 and 1963, the United Kingdom conducted seven nuclear tests at the Maralinga site in South Australia, part of the Woomera Prohibited Area about 800 kilometres (500 mi) north west of Adelaide. Two major test series were conducted: Operation Buffalo in 1956 and Operation Antler the following year. Approximate weapon yields ranged from 1 to 27 kilotons of TNT (4 to 100 TJ). The Maralinga site was also used for minor trials, tests of nuclear weapons components not involving nuclear explosions. The tests codenamed "Kittens" were trials of neutron initiators; "Rats" and "Tims" measured how the fissile core of a nuclear weapon was compressed by the high explosive shock wave; and "Vixens" investigated the effects of fire or non-nuclear explosions on atomic weapons. The minor trials, numbering around 550, ultimately generated far more contamination than the major tests. Operation Buffalo consisted of four tests; One Tree (12.9 kilotons of TNT (54 TJ)) and Breakaway (10.8 kilotons of TNT (45 TJ)) were detonated on towers, Marcoo (1.4 kilotons of TNT (5.9 TJ)) at ground level, and the Kite (2.9 kilotons of TNT (12 TJ)) was released by a Royal Air Force (RAF) Vickers Valiant bomber from a height of 11,000 metres (35,000 ft). This was the first drop of a British nuclear weapon from an aircraft. Operation Antler in 1957 tested new, light-weight nuclear weapons. Three tests were conducted in this series: Tadje (0.93 kilotons of TNT (3.9 TJ)), Biak (5.67 kilotons of TNT (23.7 TJ)) and Taranak (26.6 kilotons of TNT (111 TJ)). The first two were conducted from towers, while the last was suspended from balloons. Tadje used cobalt pellets as a tracer for determining yield, resulting in rumours that Britain was developing a cobalt bomb. The site was left contaminated with radioactive waste, and an initial cleanup was attempted in 1967. The McClelland Royal Commission, an examination of the effects of the minor trials and major tests, delivered its report in 1985, and found that significant radiation hazards still existed at many of the Maralinga sites. It recommended another cleanup, which was completed in 2000 at a cost of AUD $108 million (equivalent to $ in ). Debate continued over the safety of the site and the long-term health effects on the traditional Aboriginal custodians of the land and former personnel. In 1994, the Australian Government paid compensation amounting to $13.5 million (equivalent to $ in ) to the traditional owners, the Maralinga Tjarutja people. The last part of the land remaining in the Woomera Prohibited Area was returned to free access in 2014. By the late 1970s there was a marked change in how the Australian media covered the British nuclear tests. Some journalists investigated the subject and political scrutiny became more intense. Journalist Brian Toohey ran a series of stories in the Australian Financial Review in October 1978, based in part on a leaked Cabinet submission. In June 1993, New Scientist journalist Ian Anderson wrote an article titled "Britain's dirty deeds at Maralinga" and several related articles. In 2007, Maralinga: Australia's Nuclear Waste Cover-up by Alan Parkinson documented the unsuccessful clean-up at Maralinga. Popular songs about the Maralinga story have been written by Paul Kelly and Midnight Oil. ## Background During the early part of the Second World War, Britain had a nuclear weapons project, code-named Tube Alloys, which the 1943 Quebec Agreement merged with the American Manhattan Project to create a combined American, British, and Canadian project. The British Government expected that the United States would continue to share nuclear technology, which it regarded as a joint discovery, after the war, but the US Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (McMahon Act) ended technical co-operation. Fearing a resurgence of United States isolationism, and Britain losing its great power status, the British Government restarted its own development effort, under the cover name "High Explosive Research". In the 1950s Britain was still Australia's largest trading partner, although it was overtaken by Japan and the United States by the 1960s. Britain and Australia still had strong cultural ties, and Robert Menzies, the Prime Minister of Australia from 1949 to 1966, was strongly pro-British. Most Australians were of British descent, and Britain was still the largest source of immigrants to Australia, mainly because British ex-servicemen and their families qualified for free passage, and other British migrants received subsidised passage on ships from the UK to Australia. Australian and British troops fought together in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953 and the Malayan Emergency that went from 1948 to 1960. Australia still maintained close defence ties with Britain through the Australia New Zealand and Malaya (ANZAM) area, which was created in 1948. Australian war plans of this era continued to be integrated with those of Britain, and involved reinforcing British forces in the Middle East and Far East. The Australian Government had hopes of collaboration with Britain on both nuclear power and nuclear weapons, and was particularly interested in developing the former, as the country was then thought to have no oil and only limited supplies of coal. Plans for nuclear power were considered along with hydroelectricity as part of the post-war Snowy Mountains Scheme, but Australia was not a party to the 1948 Modus Vivendi, the nuclear agreement between the US and UK which superseded the wartime Quebec Agreement. This cut Australian scientists off from technical information to which they formerly had access. Britain would not share it with Australia for fear that it might jeopardise the far more important relationship with the United States, and the Americans were reluctant to do so after the Venona project revealed the extent of Soviet espionage activities in Australia. The creation of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949 excluded Australia from the Western Alliance. On 3 October 1952 the United Kingdom tested its first nuclear weapon in Operation Hurricane in the Montebello Islands off the coast of Western Australia. A year later the first nuclear tests on the Australian mainland were carried out in Operation Totem at Emu Field in the Great Victoria Desert in South Australia, with a detonation on 15 October and a second two weeks later on 27 October. The Australian Minister for Supply, Howard Beale, stated in 1955 that "England has the know how; we have the open spaces, much technical skill and a great willingness to help the Motherland. Between us we should help to build the defences of the free world, and make historic advances in harnessing the forces of nature." ## Maralinga site ### Selection Neither the Montebello Islands nor Emu Field were considered suitable as permanent test sites, although Montebello was used again in 1956 for Operation Mosaic. Montebello could be accessed only by sea, and Emu Field had problems with its water supply and dust storms. The British Government's preferred permanent test site remained the Nevada Test Site in the United States, but by 1953 it was no closer to securing access to it than it had been in 1950. When William Penney, the Chief Superintendent Armament Research, visited South Australia in October 1952, he gave the Australian Government a summary of the requirements of a permanent test site. In May 1953, the UK Chiefs of Staff Committee were advised that one was needed. They delegated the task of finding one to Air Marshal Sir Thomas Elmhirst, the chairman of the Totem Executive (Totex), which had been formed in the UK to coordinate the Operation Totem tests. He wrote to J. E. S. Stevens, the permanent secretary of the Australian Department of Supply, and the chairman of the Totem Panel that coordinated the Australian contribution to Operation Totem, and outlined the requirements of a permanent test site, which were: - A 160 kilometres (100 mi) radius free of human habitation; - Road and rail communications to a port; - A nearby airport; - A tolerable climate for staff and visitors; - Low rainfall; - Predictable weather conditions; - Winds that would carry the fallout safely away from inhabited areas; and - Reasonably flat terrain; - Isolation for security. Elmhirst suggested that a site might be found in Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria or north of Emu Field, where it could be connected by road and rail to Oodnadatta, and where water could more easily be found than at Emu Field. Stevens rated both as unsuitable; Groote Eylandt was wooded and rocky, with a pronounced rainy season, no port facilities, and a long way from the nearest major settlements of Darwin and Cairns; while the area north of Emu Field had scarce water, few roads and was on the axis of the Long Range Weapons Establishment (LRWE), which meant that there would be a competing claim on the use of the area. Group Captain George Pither conducted an aerial survey of the area north of the Trans-Australian Railway between Ooldea and Cook, South Australia. This was followed by a ground reconnaissance in four land rovers and two four-wheel drive trucks by Pither, Wing Commander Kevin Connolly, Frank Beavis (an expert in soil chemistry), Len Beadell and the two truck drivers. An area was found north of Ooldea, and a temporary airstrip was created in two days by land rovers dragging a length of railway line to level it, where Penney, Flight Lieutenant Charles Taplin and Chief Scientist Alan Butement landed in a Bristol Freighter on 17 October 1953, two days after the Totem 1 test at Emu Field. The site, initially known as X.300, was nowhere near as good as the Nevada Test Site, with its excellent communications, but was considered acceptable. It was flat and dry, but not affected by dust storms like Emu Field, and the geologists were confident that the desired 2.5 million imperial gallons (10 megalitres) per annum could be obtained by boring. Rainwater tanks were recommended, and it was estimated that if bore water could not be obtained, a water pipeline could be laid to bring water from Port Augusta. This was estimated to cost AU £53,000 to construct and AU £50,000 per annum to operate. On 25 November, Butement officially named the X.300 site "Maralinga" in a meeting at the Department of Supply. This was an Aboriginal word meaning "thunder", but not in the Western Desert language of the local people; it came from Garik, an extinct language originally spoken around Port Essington in the Northern Territory. On 2 August 1954, the High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Australia lodged a formal request for a permanent proving ground for multiple series of nuclear tests expected to be conducted over the course of the next decade and a preliminary agreement between the Australian and British Governments was reached on 26 August. A mission consisting of six officials and scientists headed by J. M. Wilson, the under-secretary of the UK Ministry of Supply (MoS) visited Australia in December to evaluate the Maralinga site, and reported that it was excellent. The new site was officially announced by Beale on 4 April 1955, and the Australian Cabinet gave its assent on 4 May. A formal Memorandum of Arrangements for use of Maralinga was signed on 7 March 1956. It specified that the site would be available for ten years; that no thermonuclear tests would be carried out; that the British Government would be liable for all claims of death or injury to people or damage to property as a result of the tests, except those to British Government personnel; that Australian concurrence would be required before any test could be carried out; and that the Australian authorities would be kept fully informed. Maralinga was to be developed as a joint facility, co-funded by the British and Australian Governments. The range covered 52,000 square kilometres (20,000 sq mi), with a 260-square-kilometre (100 sq mi) test area. With savings arising from the relocation of buildings, stores and equipment from Emu Field taken into account, the cost of developing Maralinga as a permanent site was estimated to cost AU £1.9 million, compared with AU £3.6 million for Emu Field. The British Government welcomed Australian financial assistance, and Australian participation avoided the embarrassment that would have come from building a UK base on Australian soil. On the other hand, it was recognised that Australian participation would likely mean that the Australians would demand access to even more information than in Operation Totem. This had implications for Britain's relationship with the United States. Sharing information with the Australians would make it harder to secure Britain's ultimate goal, of restoring the wartime nuclear Special Relationship with the United States, and gaining access to information pertaining to the design and manufacture of US nuclear weapons. ### Development A railhead and a quarry were established at Watson, about 40 km (25 mi) west of Ooldea, and Beadell's bush track from Watson to Emu became the main line of communications for the project. It ran north to the edge of the Nullarbor Plain, then over sand hills and the Leisler Range, a mallee, spinifex and quandong covered escarpment, rising to an altitude of 300 metres (1,000 ft). Range headquarters, known as The Village, and an airstrip with a 2,000-metre (6,500 ft) runway were built near the 42-kilometre (26 mi) peg. The track continued north over scrub-cover sand hills to the Teitkins Plain. There at a point that came to be known as Roadside, a control point was established for entry to the forward area where bombs were detonated. The UK MoS engaged a firm of British engineering consultants, Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners, to design the test facilities and supervise their construction. The work was carried out by the Kwinana Construction Group (KCG) under a cost-plus contract. It had just finished the construction of an oil refinery near Fremantle, and it was hoped that it could move on to the new venture immediately, but the delay in obtaining Cabinet's approval meant that work could not start until mid-1955, by which time most of its work force had dispersed. The need to create a new work force caused a cascading series of delays. Assembling a labour force of 1,000 from scratch in such a remote location proved difficult, even when KCG was offering wages as high as AU £40 a week (). The Australian Government elected to create a tri-service task force to construct the test installations. The Australian Army's Engineer in Chief, Brigadier Ronald McNicoll designated Major Owen Magee, the Commander, Royal Australian Engineers, Western Command, to lead this task force. He joined a party headed by Lieutenant Colonel John Blomfield, the MoS Atomic Weapons representative in Australia, on a site inspection, and then flew to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE) at Aldermaston in the UK in a Royal Air Force (RAF) Handley Page Hastings to review the plans. These were still incomplete, but it gave Magee sufficient information to prepare estimates of the labour and equipment that would be required. The job involved the erection of towers, siting of instrument mounts, grading of 310 km (190 mi) of tracks, laying control cables and power lines, and construction of bunkers and other facilities dispersed over an area of 210 km² (80 sq mi) but sited to within an accuracy of 30 cm (1 ft). The work force could not be fully assembled before 1 March 1956, but the facilities had to be ready for use by the end of July. Magee provided Bloomfield with a list of required stores and equipment. These ranged from timber and nails to drafting gear and two 10-centimetre (4 in) wagon drills. The task force, which began assembling in February 1956, included a section from the Royal Australian Survey Corps, a troop of the 7th Field Squadron, detachments from the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), and a civilian from the Department of Works and Housing. Their first task was establishing their own camp, with tents, showers and toilets. A team from the South Australian Department of Mines sank a series of 90-to-350-metre (300 to 1,150 ft) bores to provide water. Like that at Emu Field, the bore water was brackish. Two Army skid-mounted 11-kilolitre-per-day (3,000 US gal/d) Cleaver-Brooks thermocompression distillation units provided water for drinking and cooking. Work on the facilities themselves got off to a slow start, as KCG was running behind schedule, and unable to release promised earthmoving plant. Some graders were used by day by KCG and by night by the task force. A call to Blomfield resulted in a grader being shipped from Adelaide to Watson two days later. The arrival of a 23-man detachment of the Radiation Detection Unit of the Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers was expedited so they arrived in June, and were able to pitch in with the construction effort. In July, supplies coming from the UK were delayed by industrial action at the port of Adelaide. The work involved laying, testing and burying some 310 kilometres (190 mi) of control cable. Each 490-metre (1,600 ft) spool of cable weighed about 1 tonne (1 long ton), so where possible they were pre-positioned. The trenches were dug by a cable plough towed by a Caterpillar D8 tractor. In some cases the limestone was too hard for the plough and the cable was buried by using a grader to cover the cable to the required depth. A similar procedure was followed for laying 2,400 metres (8,000 ft) of power cable. Some 1,300 scaffold frames were erected for mounting instrumentation, held in place by 33,000 anchor pipes. Bunkers ranging in size up to 45 cubic metres (1,600 cu ft) were excavated with explosives and a 10-kilolitre-per-minute (350 cu ft/min) compressor mounted on a four-wheel drive 3-ton Bedford truck connected to the jackhammer part of the 4-inch wagon drill. Explosives were in the form of 2.3-kilogram (5 lb) tubes of plastic explosive left over from a Bureau of Mineral Resources seismic survey of the area. The bunker work proceeded so well that the task force was able to assist KCG with its pit excavation work. Some instrument bunkers contained 3-metre (10 ft) steel cubes. Getting them into the holes was tricky because they weighed 30 long tons (30 t), and the largest available crane was a 25-long-ton (25 t) Coles crane. They were manoeuvred into place with the assistance of a TD 24 bulldozer. The Coles crane was also used to erect the two 30-metre (100 ft) shot towers. Concrete was made in situ, using local quarry dust, limestone and bore water. The Canadians erected metal sheds of a commercial design, which were used to assess blast damage. A tented camp was built for observers at the 11-mile (18 km) post by the 23rd Construction Squadron. Pressed for time, Magee became involved in a series of disputes with the Woomera Range commander, who tried to divert his sappers onto other tasks. In June, the range commander ordered the surveyors to return to Adelaide, which would have brought the work at Maralinga to a halt. Magee went over his head and appealed to the commander of Central Command, Major General Arthur Wilson, who flew up from Adelaide and sacked the range commander. Impressed by what he saw at Maralinga, Wilson arranged for the task force to receive a special Maralinga allowance of 16 Australian shillings per day (), and additional leave of two days per month. The British Government added a generous meal allowance of GBP £1 () per day, resulting in a diet of steak, ham, turkey, oysters and crayfish. In June, Beale flew in two planeloads of journalists, including Chapman Pincher and Hugh Buggy for a press conference. The task force completed all its work on 29 July, two days ahead of schedule, although KCG still had a few remaining tasks. By 1959, the Maralinga village would have accommodation for 750 people, with catering facilities that could cope with up to 1,600. There were laboratories and workshops, shops, a hospital, church, power station, post office, bank, library, cinema and swimming pool. There were also playing areas for tennis, Australian football, cricket and golf. ## Atomic Weapons Tests Safety Committee Leslie Martin, the scientific adviser at the Department of Defence, could see no issues with the proposed tests, but recommended that in view of the prospect of tests being conducted at Maralinga on a regular basis, and rising concern worldwide over radioactive fallout from nuclear tests, that a permanent body be established to certify the safety of the tests. This was accepted, and the acting secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Frederick Chilton, put forward the names of five scientists: Butement; Martin; Ernest Titterton from the Australian National University in Canberra; Philip Baxter from the Australian Atomic Energy Commission; and Cecil Eddy from the Commonwealth X-ray and Radium Laboratory. Butement, Martin and Titterton had already been observers at the Operation Mosaic and Operation Totem tests. The Department of Defence favoured a committee of three, but Menzies felt that such a small committee would not command sufficient public confidence, and accepted all five. A notable omission was the lack of a meteorologist, and Leonard Dwyer, the director of the Bureau of Meteorology was later added. The Atomic Weapons Tests Safety Committee (AWTSC) was officially formed on 21 July 1955. ## Aboriginal affairs Menzies told parliament that "no conceivable injury to life, men or property could emerge from the tests". The Maralinga site was inhabited by the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Aboriginal people, for whom it had a great spiritual significance. They lived through hunting and gathering activities, and moved over long distances between permanent and semi-permanent locations in groups of about 25, but coming together for special occasions. The construction of the Trans-Australian Railway in 1917 had disrupted their traditional patterns of movement. Walter MacDougall had been appointed the Native Patrol Officer at Woomera on 4 November 1947, with responsibility for ensuring that Aboriginal people were not harmed by the LRWE's rocket testing program. He was initially assigned to the Department of Works and Housing but was transferred to the Department of Supply in May 1949. As the range of the rockets increased, so too did the range of his patrols, from 576 kilometres (358 mi) in October 1949 to 3,486 kilometres (2,166 mi) in March and April 1952. MacDougall felt that his situation was not appreciated by his superiors, who did not supply him with a vehicle for his own use for three years. MacDougall estimated that about 1,000 Aboriginal people lived in the Central Australian reserve, which extended to the border with Western Australia. He found them reluctant to reveal important details such as the location of water holes and sacred sites. His first concern was for their safety, and for that he needed to keep them away from the test site. For this he employed three strategies. The first was to remove the incentive to go there. An important lure was the availability of rations at Ooldea and surrounding missions, so he had them closed. The Ooldea mission was closed in June 1952, and the reserve was revoked in February 1954. The inhabitants were moved to a new settlement at Yalata, but many ritual objects had been concealed and left behind. They preferred the landscape of the desert, and many left Yalata to return to their traditional lands. A more successful tactic was to frighten them. The desert was said to be inhabited by wanampi, dangerous rainbow serpent spirits that lived in blowholes in the area. The noise of the nuclear tests was attributed to wanampi, as were the dangers of radiation. The decision to establish the Giles Weather Station in the Rawlinson Ranges was a complicating factor because it was outside MacDougall's jurisdiction, being just across the border in Western Australia, where the legal environment was different, and the Aboriginal people there had little contact with white people. Another patrol officer position was created, one with powers under the 1954 Western Australian Native Welfare Act, which was filled by a Sydney University graduate, Robert Macaulay. ## Operation Buffalo ### Planning and purpose Operation Buffalo was the first nuclear test series to be conducted at Maralinga, and the largest ever held in Australia. Planning for the series, initially codenamed Theta, began in mid-1954. It was initially scheduled for April and May 1956, but was pushed back to September and October, when meteorological conditions were most favourable. Ultimately all tests on the Australian mainland were conducted at this time of year. The 1954 plan for Operation Theta called for four tests, each with a different purpose. The UK's first nuclear weapon, Blue Danube, was large and cumbersome, being 7.3 metres (24 ft) long and 1.5 metres (5 ft) wide, and weighed 4,500 kilograms (10,000 lb), so only the Royal Air Force (RAF) V-bombers could carry it. In November 1953, the RAF and Royal Navy issued an Operational Requirement, OR.1127, for a smaller, lighter weapon with similar yield that could be carried by tactical aircraft. A second requirement for a light-weight bomb arose with the British Government's decision in July 1954 to proceed with a British hydrogen bomb programme. Hydrogen bombs required an atomic bomb as a primary, and one was incorporated in the British hydrogen bomb design, known as Green Granite. In response, Aldermaston developed a new warhead called Red Beard that was half the size of Blue Danube and weighed one-fifth as much, mainly through innovation in the pit design, principally the use of an "air lens". Instead of the core being immediately inside the tamper, there was an air gap between them, with the core suspended on thin wires. This allowed the tamper to gain more momentum before striking the core. The concept had been developed by the Manhattan Project in 1945 and 1946, and permitted a reduction in both the size of the core and the amount of explosives required to compress it. The first test on the agenda was therefore of the new Red Beard design. OR.1127 also specified a requirement for the device to have variable yields, which Aldermaston attempted to achieve through the addition of small amounts of thermonuclear material, a process known as "boosting". A 91-metre (300 ft) tower was built at Maralinga for a boosted weapon test in case sufficient lithium deuteride could not be produced in time for the Operation Mosaic G2 test. In the event, it was available, and G2 went ahead as scheduled. Various tests of the effects of nuclear weapons were considered, but only one thought to be worth the effort was a test of a ground burst. These were known to produce more fallout and less effect than air bursts, and had therefore been avoided by the Americans, but such a test might produce useful information that the UK might trade with them. A ground test was therefore included in the schedule. A fourth test was an operational test. While the physics package of Blue Danube had been tested, there had been no test of the device in its operational form, so one was included in the Operation Buffalo program. The interdepartmental Atomic Trials Executive in London, chaired by Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Morgan, assumed responsibility for both Operation Mosaic and Operation Buffalo, sitting as the Mosaic Executive (Mosex) or Buffalo Executive (Buffalex) as appropriate. Sir William Penney was appointed scientific director for Operation Buffalo, with Roy Pilgrim, the head of Aldermaston's Trials Division, as his deputy. Group Captain Cecil (Ginger) Weir was appointed Task Force Commander. Planning was completed by June 1956. Except for the air drop, all tests were scheduled for 07:00 Central Standard Time. About 1,350 personnel would be present, including 200 scientists from Aldermaston and Harwell, 70 from other UK departments, 50 Canadians and 30 Australians. There would be 500 RAF and RAAF personnel, and 250 Australian Army servicemen to run the camp. Observers would include politicians, journalists, and six American officials, including Major General Leland S. Stranathan from the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project, Alvin C. Graves from the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, Frank H. Shelton from Sandia Laboratories and Brigadier General John G. Shinkle from the White Sands Missile Range. ### Test 1: One Tree The first test, codenamed One Tree, was a tower-mounted test of Red Beard, scheduled for 12 September. This was the main test to which the media were invited. Butement, Dwyer, Martin and Titterton from the AWTSC were present, and Beale arrived from Canberra with a delegation of 26 politicians, but weather conditions were unfavourable, and the test had to be postponed. The schedule was revised to allow for a morning (07:00) or evening (17:00) test, and after a few days of unfavourable weather it was rescheduled for 23 September. Once again the politicians arrived but returned disappointed. This put Penney under great pressure. On the one hand, if Maralinga was to be used for many years then riding roughshod over Australian concerns about safety at an early date was inadvisable; on the other, there was the urgent need to test Red Beard in time for the upcoming Operation Grapple, the test of a British hydrogen bomb. Whether Buffalo or Grapple was more important was the subject of debate in the UK between Willis Jackson, who argued for Buffalo, and Bill Cook, who argued for Grapple. Jackson's view prevailed; Grapple would be postponed if need be. Australian journalists were critical of the cancellations. There were allegations that the delays had caused the deaths of cattle that had contracted Redwater fever while waiting for a ship that was delayed due to the tests, and there were concerns about the cost of delays, said to be up to AU £10,000 per postponement, and whether Maralinga was a suitable site after all. Finally, the test was carried out at 17:00 on 27 September without the politicians. Conditions were suitable but "by no means ideal". It would have been preferable if the wind had been more southerly, and there had been more wind shear above 4,600 metres (15,000 ft). The prevailing conditions meant that the fallout pattern would be long and narrow, and more concentrated over the nearest town in its path, which was Coober Pedy, 317 kilometres (197 mi) away. Some observers were surprised that the detonation seemed to be silent; the sound wave arrived a few seconds later. The yield was estimated at 16 kilotons of TNT (67 TJ). The cloud rose to 11,400 metres (37,500 ft), much higher than expected. After about eight minutes, a Canberra bomber flew through the cloud to collect samples. Along with a secondary cloud that formed between 5,000 and 7,000 metres (16,500 and 23,000 ft), it drifted eastward. The main cloud crossed the east coast at about 11:00 on 28 September, followed by the secondary between 12 and 18 hours later. Rain on 29 September deposited some fallout between Brisbane in Queensland and Lismore in New South Wales. ### Test 2: Marcoo The next test was Marcoo, a ground test using a Blue Danube device with a low-yield core. In the hope that sharing the results might lead to fuller cooperation, the test had been discussed with the Americans by the British Joint Staff Mission in Washington, D.C., and they had been sufficiently interested to offer the use of American instrumentation and personnel. Fearful of giving away too much information, the British accepted the instrumentation only. The weapon was lowered into a concrete pit. This time the weather was good, but the aircraft bringing Beale and the politicians was delayed by fog in Canberra. It arrived at Maralinga at 15:40, and they had to be rushed to the viewing platform on Observation hill. The bomb was detonated precisely on time, at 16:30, with a yield of 1.5 kilotons of TNT (6.3 TJ). It left a crater 49 metres (160 ft) wide and 12 metres (40 ft) deep. The fallout crossed the east coast 25 to 30 hours after the detonation. ### Test 3: Kite Kite was an air drop using a Blue Danube device with a low-yield core, the only air drop conducted during Operation Buffalo. Originally the air drop was supposed to be the last test of Operation Buffalo, but after the Marcoo shot Penney decided to swap the last two tests, making the air drop the third test. The air drop was the most difficult test, as the worst-case scenario involved the radar fuses failing and the bomb detonating on impact with the ground, which would result in severe fallout. The RAF therefore conducted a series of practice drops with high explosive bombs. In the end, in view of the AWTSC's concerns about the dangers of a 40-kiloton-of-TNT (170 TJ) test, a low-yield Blue Danube core with less fissile material was substituted, reducing the yield to 3 kilotons of TNT (13 TJ). Titterton and Dwyer were on hand for the shot. On 11 October 1956, Valiant B.1 WZ366 of No. 49 Squadron RAF became the first RAF aircraft to drop a live atomic bomb. It fell about 91 metres (100 yd) left and 55 metres (60 yd) short of the target, detonating at a height of 150 metres (490 ft) at 15:27. The yield was 3 kilotons of TNT (13 TJ). The pilot, Squadron Leader Edwin Flavell, and the bomb aimer, Flight Lieutenant Eric Stacey, were awarded the Air Force Cross in the 1957 New Year Honours. Fallout was minimal. Two clouds formed, a low-level one at about 2,100 metres (7,000 ft) that dropped all its radioactive material inside the prohibited area, and a high-level one at 3,700 metres (12,000 ft) that deposited a negligible amount of fallout over South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. ### Test 4: Breakaway The final test, Breakaway, was of a boosted Red Beard device. The shot was conducted from a 30-metre (100 ft) tower. Once again there were delays due to unfavourable weather that pushed it back from 18 to 22 October. It was detonated at 00:05 on 22 October, with a yield of about 10 kilotons of TNT (42 TJ). As on previous tests, the fallout was measured using sticky paper, air sampling devices, and water sampled from rainfall and reservoirs. This time the cloud was tracked with the help of a Trans Australia Airlines (TAA) Douglas DC-4 diverted from its flight path. The cloud reached 11,000 metres (35,000 ft) but soon became widely dispersed between Darwin in the Northern Territory and Newcastle in New South Wales. The highest reading recorded by the ground survey was at Ingomar, South Australia, about 310 kilometres (190 mi) from the test site. ### Summary ## Operation Antler ### Planning and purpose The July 1956 Suez Crisis brought US-UK relations to a low ebb, rendering the prospect of the use of US facilities in the near future remote. On 20 September 1956, the UK High Commissioner informed Menzies of the UK's intention to continue minor trials in March through October 1957, with another major test series in September and October. The main implication was that the range would be in use for most of the year. A minimum of 228 personnel would be required all year round, rising to 354 from March to July, and 400 from July to October. The codename Sapphire was initially allocated to the 1957 test series, but the RAF complained that that codename had already been allocated to the Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire aircraft engine. The name was briefly changed to Volcano until the Australians objected, and then to Antler. At the AWTSC meeting on 7 December 1956, Martin suggested that the committee be reconstituted. A three-person Maralinga Safety Committee chaired by Titterton, with Dwyer and D. J. Stevens from the Commonwealth X-ray and Radium Laboratory as its other members, would be responsible for the safety of nuclear weapons tests, while a National Radiation Advisory Committee (NRAC) consider public health more generally. This reflected growing disquiet among the scientific community and the public at large over the effects of all atmospheric nuclear weapons testing, not just those in Australia, and growing calls for a test ban. Nonetheless, Operation Buffalo had attracted little international attention. The British Government rejected calls for a moratorium on testing, and announced at the US-UK talks in Bermuda in March 1957 that it would press on with the Operation Grapple hydrogen bomb tests. Martin's proposal was accepted, and the composition of the new NRAC was announced on 7 July 1957. John Moroney was appointed secretary of both committees. The AWTSC continued to report to the Minister of Supply, while the NRAC reported directly to the Prime Minister. The first round of Operation Grapple tests was unsuccessful in demonstrating a working hydrogen bomb design. This left plans for Operation Antler in disarray. By mid-June 1957, proposals for Antler included up to seven tests: of a surface-to-air warhead called Blue Fox, a small warhead called Pixie, four different versions of Red Beard, and a round designed to test the principle of radiation implosion. Initially it was planned to test Blue Fox (later renamed Indigo Hammer) in both boosted and unboosted form, but the disappointing results of boosting thus far meant that the benefit of boosting would be too small to warrant it, and this version was discarded. Pixie was an even smaller, lightweight (110-kilogram (250 lb)) warhead with a plutonium core under consideration for use with the Royal Navy's Seaslug missile. Its drawback was that it required enough plutonium to build two Red Beards, and plutonium was scarce and expensive. In February 1957, the Australian authorities were notified of plans for six tests, including three using balloons, with maximum yields of up to 80 kilotons of TNT (330 TJ). The UK had considerable experience with barrage balloons during the Second World War but the proposed use of balloons to carry warheads to a higher altitude than achievable with a tower was an innovation for Operation Antler. Use of balloons did away with the engineering effort to build towers, and allowed a test site to be re-used, saving on the effort to construct instrumentation sites and lay cables. Most importantly, whereas low-level detonations sucked up contaminated radioactive dirt from the ground and the vaporised tower, a high-altitude detonation created fallout only from the bomb itself, and were therefore much cleaner. While accepting this point, the AWTSC was apprehensive about the consequences of a runaway balloon carrying a live atomic bomb. Bill Saxby and J. T. Tomblin from Aldermaston and an RAF balloon expert visited the Nevada Test Site to observe the work Americans were doing with balloons, and it was suggested that Titterton should also visit Nevada. Safety procedures were developed that included, in an extreme circumstance, shooting down the balloons. Titterton and Beale then accepted the use of balloons. In July 1957, the Australian Government was informed of the UK authorities' decision to limit Operation Antler to just three tests. There would be two tower tests of 1.5 kilotons of TNT (6.3 TJ) and 3 kilotons of TNT (13 TJ), codenamed Tadje and Biak respectively, and only one balloon test, a 20-kiloton-of-TNT (84 TJ) test codenamed Taranaki. Helping the Pixie test (which became known as Tadje) remain on the schedule was the deletion of Red Beard tests. It was decided that the third test would be of a Red Beard with a composite uranium-plutonium core, which had not yet been tested, while the pure plutonium Red Beard would go into production without further testing. Charles Adams was appointed the test director, with J. A. T. Dawson as his deputy, and J. T. Tomblin as the superintendent. Air Commodore W. P. Sutcliffe commanded the services, with Group Captain Hugh Disney in charge of the RAF component. This was by far the largest of the three service components, with 31 aircraft and about 700 men, including a 70-man balloon detachment. Most of the aircraft were based at RAAF Base Edinburgh near Adelaide, although the Avro Shackletons were based at RAAF Base Pearce near Perth in Western Australia. There were 170 men in 22 scientific groups, including 39 Australians and 17 Canadians. Another 450 Australian and British personnel formed the Maralinga Range Support Unit (MARSU) under the command of Colonel R. Durance from the Australian Army. He was succeeded by Colonel G. D. Solomon in 1959, Colonel J. K. Lynch in 1961, Colonel W. G. Henderson in 1962, Colonel A. F. Swinburne in 1963, and Colonel J. G. Ochiltree in 1964. Test procedures were streamlined based on the experience in Operation Buffalo so that it took six hours to set up a tower test and eight for a balloon test. This allowed the testers to take advantage of transient but suitable weather conditions. Invitations to send observers were sent out to all nations with defence cooperation agreements with Britain, which included NATO countries, and fourteen accepted. Australia would send 24 observers, along with Beale's party of 20 parliamentarians. A media contingent of 20 was also accommodated. ### Test 1: Tadje The Tadje test was scheduled for 12 September 1957, but was postponed to 13 and then 14 September due to the weather. Firing occurred at 14:35 on 14 September, in weather conditions that were almost ideal. The yield was about 1.5 kilotons of TNT (6.3 TJ) as expected. The cloud rose to 2,900 metres (9,500 ft), a little higher than predicted, and headed in a northerly direction. The Tadje test used cobalt-60 pellets as a "tracer" for determining yield. This fuelled rumours that Britain had been developing a cobalt bomb. The Range staff found the pellets scattered over the landscape. They had not been informed of its use, and their nature was discovered only by accident by Harry Turner, the Australian Health Physics Representative (AHPR). The only member of the AWTSC informed about the decision to use cobalt was Titterton, who did not inform the other members or Turner. Personnel handling these pellets were exposed to the active cobalt-60. ### Test 2: Biak The Biak test was scheduled for the following week, 21 September, but rain was forecast and the AWTSC cancelled the detonation. The meteorologists predicted a short break in the weather the following day, but with morning fog until 10:00. The fog cleared up by around 03:30. It was decided to detonate at 10:00 despite forecasts that some fallout would be deposited on the Taranaki test site. The yield was around 6 kilotons of TNT (25 TJ) as expected, but the cloud rose much higher: 7,300 metres (24,000 ft) instead of the forecast 4,300 metres (14,000 ft), with a secondary cloud forming at 4,600 metres (15,000 ft). Weather conditions were good, but as feared, fallout was deposited on the Taranaki site. ### Test 3: Taranaki While Tadje and Biak were fired from towers, Taranaki was the balloon test. A contract was let for 110,000-cubic-foot (3,100 m³) balloons, but it soon became clear that they could not be produced in time, so 70,000-cubic-foot (2,000 m³) balloons were substituted, of a type used by the Blue Joker project. These could bear loads of up to 4,000 kilograms (9,000 lb) in winds of up to 60 kilometres per hour (30 kn), but three were required to lift a bomb aloft instead of two. Field trials were held at RAF Cardington in Bedfordshire in February 1957. Twelve were shipped to Maralinga, however inflated balloons were not kept in hangars as they had been at Cardington, but moored in the open. On 4 September a storm struck Maralinga, with lightning and wind gusts of up to 70 kilometres per hour (40 kn), and three balloons were ignited and completely destroyed. Adams requested that another balloon and spare rigging be despatched from the UK. Taranaki was tentatively scheduled for 7 October, but high upper-level winds caused a postponement. It was eventually decided to fire at 16:15 on 9 October. The yield was around 26.6 kilotons of TNT (111 TJ), somewhat higher than expected, but the cloud rose to 7,000 metres (23,000 ft) with a secondary cloud forming at 3,000 metres (10,000 ft), which was much lower than the 8,600 metres (28,300 ft) expected. Since the Australian Government had not set limits on fallout, the AWTSC accepted the recommendations of the NRAC. The result was that the permissible limits were double that of those set for the Operation Buffalo tests. As a result of the balloon detonation, the fireball did not touch the ground, and fallout was limited in both volume and extent. The use of balloons was thus revealed to be far more difficult than anticipated, but the anticipated advantages were realised, and balloons would subsequently be used successfully in the Operation Grapple tests on Christmas Island in the Pacific. ### Summary ## Minor trials In addition to the major tests, some 550 minor trials were also carried out between 1953 and 1963. These experiments were subcritical tests involving testing of nuclear weapons or their components, but not nuclear explosions. The four series of minor trials were codenamed Kittens, Tims, Rats and Vixens, and involved experiments with plutonium, uranium, polonium and beryllium. They were called "Minor Trials" until October 1958, when they were renamed "Assessment Tests" The name change were made in the wake of the international moratorium on nuclear testing, which began on 31 October 1958. It was feared that the term "minor trial" might connote that they were small nuclear explosions. The position of the British Government was that the minor trials were not covered by the moratorium, a view supported by the Americans, who continued their own program. Nonetheless, the British Government suspended all testing at Maralinga, including the minor trials. The new name lasted only until December 1959 before it was changed again to the "Maralinga Experimental Programme", as the term "test" was still considered to be too evocative of a nuclear test. Although the major tests were carried out with publicity, the conduct of the minor trials were more secretive, especially after 1958, as the British Government wished to avoid publicity during the talks in Geneva that led to the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The minor trials were planned and carried out by the UK authorities with little or no Australian involvement other than logistical support. The British Government submitted proposals for trials to the AWTSC, but its role was limited to advising the Australian Government whether to approve a series of tests; unlike the major tests it had no right to veto a specific minor trial. After 1960, proposals also had to be referred to Martin in his role as the Australian Defence Scientific Advisor. Radiological safety was the responsibility of the AHPR. Ultimately, the minor trials had far greater long-term environmental impact than the major tests, although these effects were limited to the range areas. ### Kittens series Nuclear weapons use a neutron initiator, a neutron source capable of producing a burst of neutrons in order to "kick-start" the nuclear chain reaction at the optimal moment. These worked by mixing polonium-210 and beryllium. Polonium-210 is an alpha particle emitter with a half-life of 138 days. Alpha particles from the polonium caused the beryllium to emit neutrons. The Kitten trials were experiments conducted as part of the development of the neutron initiators. Five tests were conducted at the K site at Emu Field, about 13 kilometres (8 mi) from the Operation Totem test site on 26 and 30 September and 6, 14 and 17 October 1953. These experiments dispersed about 36 grams (1.3 oz) of beryllium and 407 curies (15,100 GBq) of polonium-210 into the surrounding area. Most of the contamination was within a 12-metre (40 ft) radius, with some debris being thrown up to 370 metres (400 yd) away. All contamination was within the restricted area. From these tests an improved initiator design emerged that was smaller and simpler, which the scientists were eager to test. A site in the UK would save time and money, although Omond Solandt raised the possibility of using one in Alberta in Canada. Consideration was given to using the range on Foulness Island, which was used by the AWRE for testing conventional explosive components of nuclear weapons, but on 7 April 1954 the Lord President of the Council, Marquess of Salisbury informed the House of Lords that at Foulness, "no nuclear explosions have been or will be made, nor will experiments be made with fission products or any other hazardous radioactive material." While no experiments were carried out at Foulness with radioactive material, experiments were conducted with explosives and beryllium in 1962 and 1963. An alternative considered was Wick in Scotland. Contamination there could be blown out to sea, but the site was otherwise far from ideal. The weather there was generally wet, and the high humidity would interfere with experimental apparatus. Moreover, although downwind contamination would be acceptable, the local authorities could not be reassured that it would be zero. Lieutenant Colonel K. Stewart noted that "I doubt if the people owning the estates in Scotland would look on that with very great favour. They are interested in pheasants and deer in Scotland." The dry weather and isolation of Maralinga provided a better option. The December 1952 aide-mémoire covering Operation Totem made no mention of minor trials, and they came to the notice of Australian authorities only when Australian assistance was requested in preparing the site, but Australian concurrence was sought for all subsequent trials. The Wilson mission requested that in addition to conducting major atomic tests, the UK could conduct a series of Kitten trials as part of Operation Buffalo. The Australians asked for details, and in response Aldermaston provided a comprehensive report on The Scope and Radiological Hazards of Kittens in February 1955. This was referred to Martin for comment. He could see no issues with the proposed tests, and they were approved by the AWTSC. A Kitten test site was established at Naya, east of the main Maralinga range. A public announcement of the Kitten trials was issued in the UK on 25 February 1955 and in Australia the following day. Six Kitten tests were carried out at Naya in March 1956. Thereafter, they became a regular part of the testing program, with 21 more tests carried out in 1957, 20 in 1959, and 47 in 1960 and 1961, after which they were discontinued owing to the development of external neutron generators. Kitten experiments at Naya dispersed 7,004 curies (259,100 GBq) of polonium-210, 750 grams (26 oz) of beryllium and 120 kilograms (260 lb) of natural and depleted uranium. ### Tim series Tim experiments were concerned with the measurement of how the core of a nuclear weapon was compressed by the shock wave of the high explosive component. The passage of the shock wave through the assembly was measured and recorded using detectors and high-speed photography. Tim tests used real nuclear weapon assemblies, but cores of natural or depleted uranium, which is chemically identical to highly enriched uranium but not fissile, and only feebly radioactive. They took place from 1955 to 1963, and involved 321 trials with uranium and beryllium tampers at the Naya and Kuli areas at Maralinga. Twelve of the Tim tests at the TM100 and TM101 areas involved studies of plutonium compression. These experiments used and dispersed 77 kilograms (170 lb) of beryllium, 825 kilograms (1,819 lb) of natural uranium, 6,800 kilograms (15,000 lb) of uranium-238 and about 1.2 kg of plutonium about the test sites. ### Rat series Rat trials also investigated the properties of shock waves. They had the same objectives as the Tims, and differed only in the way that measurements were carried out. Instead of using external sensors, the Rats employed an intense but short-lived gamma ray source the size of a pea that was placed inside the assembly. X-ray detectors gave a picture of the progress of the explosion from the inside. Between 1956 and 1960, 125 Rat trials took place at the Naya and Dobo areas at Maralinga. The Rat tests used 180 kilograms (400 lb) of uranium-238; 2,160 curies (80,000 GBq) of scandium-46, a beta and gamma emitter with a radioactive half-life of 83.8 days; 400 curies (15,000 GBq) of polonium-210, with a half-life of 138 days; and 120 curies (4,400 GBq) of lead-212, a beta emitter with a half-life of 10.6 hours. With such short lifetimes, these soon decayed away to negligible amounts. ### Vixen series Vixen trials involved safety testing. They were about assuring that the core of a nuclear weapon would not accidentally undergo criticality in the event of a fire or unintended crash. These were messy, for a successful test subjected the core to high explosives in the hope that it simply scatters rather than undergoes criticality. These tests sometimes involved some yield from fission, but in every case this was less than the yield from the weapon's conventional explosive component. The British Government's position was that so long as the nuclear explosion component was less than 10 tonnes of TNT (42 GJ) there was no violation of the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which was then under discussion, but no such limit was agreed upon. While the AWTSC could determine whether there were public health and safety issues with a test, it could not assess whether there were political issues. However, after some consideration, the Australian Government did approve the proposed Vixen test program. Some 31 Vixen A trials were conducted in the Wewak area at Maralinga between 1959 and 1961 that investigated the effects of an accidental fire on a nuclear weapon, and involved a total of about 68 kilograms (150 lb) of natural and depleted uranium, 0.98 kg of plutonium of which 0.58 kg was dispersed, 99 curies (3,700 GBq) of polonium-210 and 1.96 curies (73 GBq) of actinium-227. Balloons were used to carry instruments aloft and take samples. There were three types of Vixen A experiments: combustion in a petrol fire; combustion in an electric furnace; and dispersion by detonation of a nuclear bomb's high explosive components. The petrol fire tests were conducted using a chimney 3.4-metre (11 ft) tall on a 1.2-by-1.2-metre (4 by 4 ft) base, and generated temperatures ranging from 800 to 1,200 °C (1,470 to 2,190 °F) for uranium and beryllium and 600 to 1,000 °C (1,112 to 1,832 °F) for plutonium. The electric furnace tests were only used for tests with uranium, and involved temperatures ranging from 600 to 800 °C (1,112 to 1,472 °F). The Vixen B experimental tests used explosives to blow up nuclear warheads containing plutonium to simulate what would happen in an air crash. In total, twelve Vixen B were conducted at the Taranaki site in 1960, 1961 and 1963, resulting in it becoming the most contaminated site at Maralinga. The tests were conducted on steel structures known as feather beds. The tests produced "jets of molten, burning plutonium extending hundreds of feet into the air." The damage to the feather beds and their concrete stands was much greater than anticipated, and a new feather bed was used for each round. At the conclusion of each, all the debris was buried in nearby pits. Eventually there were 21 pits containing 830 tonnes (820 long tons) of material contaminated with 20 kg of plutonium. Another 2 kg of plutonium was scattered about the test site. Plutonium is not particularly dangerous externally as it emits alpha particles which are stopped by 9 cm (3.5 in) of air, or the dead layer of skin cells on the body, and is not a very intensive source of radiation, due to its long half-life of 24,000 years. It is dangerous when it enters the body, in the worst case by breathing and lodging in the lungs, and therefore tiny particles, often the result of such explosion testing, are the worst threat. The extreme biological persistence of plutonium's radioactive contamination and the cancer threat posed by alpha radiation occurring internally together establish plutonium's dangers. During the Operation Antler trials, the British Government had given the AWTSC reassurances that safety measures were in place to prevent balloons from breaking loose. Despite this, two balloons broke free during a squall on 22 July 1959. One was subsequently recovered but the other was not. A board of inquiry was held, but an even more embarrassing incident occurred on the night of 23/24 September 1960, when seven of the eight balloons being readied for experiments broke free of their moorings during a thunderstorm. Five were recovered on the range on 27 September, but two were lost and drifted further afield, one being recovered near Cobar in New South Wales on 24 September and the other around Hungerford in New South Wales, which was not located until 1 October. Titterton wrote a critical letter to the AWRE. It was clear that the procedures to prevent balloon escapes had been inadequate and the self-destruction devices were unreliable. ### Fallout In the late 1950s, Hedley Marston's research into nuclear fallout from the Maralinga nuclear tests brought Marston into bitter conflict with the AWTSC, resulting in one of the more memorable feuds in Australian science. Marston was the head of the Division of Biology and General Nutrition at the CSIRO, and was commissioned by the AWTSC to study the concentrations of iodine-131 in the thyroids of sheep and cattle. A 1954 American report assessed that there was no public health danger, but the AWTSC wanted to be able to monitor the Australian situation. Surveys started before the tests at Maralinga commenced in order to establish a baseline. Marston's results indicated a rise in iodine-131 due to Operation Mosaic. It was not enough to pose a public health hazard—his results indicated that the concentration was about 1 per cent of the acceptable limit—but it did indicate that fallout was more widespread than first thought. He then attempted to extrapolate his results to strontium-90, but a valid assessment could not be made in this way, and was therefore no more than speculation. In 1961 the AWTSC published a study where the bones of deceased people (especially children) were burnt to ash and then measured for strontium-90. It did find an increase in strontium-90 in Australia, but it was a quarter of that recorded in the UK. Although fallout from the 1958 Operation Grapple thermonuclear tests was detectable in the UK, none was detected in Australia. ## Closure Maralinga was conceived as a testing ground where major tests could be conducted annually, but this did not occur, and Operation Antler was the last major test series conducted there. One reason was public sentiment. A 1952 poll indicated that 58 per cent of Australians supported British nuclear testing in Australia, with only 29 per cent against, but support steadily declined, and by 1957 only 37 per cent were in favour, with 49 per cent opposed. This augured poorly for the future of Maralinga should there be a change of government, and the 1961 Australian federal election reduced Menzies' majority to just one seat. The decline in Australian support for testing was part of a worldwide trend that resulted in the moratorium on nuclear testing from November 1958 to September 1961. Maralinga was now redundant, as the Australian Government's restriction on testing thermonuclear weapons had led to the development of the Christmas Island test site, where there was no such restriction, and its favourable winds carried fallout away. With the 1958 US–UK Mutual Defence Agreement, Britain also gained access to the Nevada Test Site, where the first British major test took place underground on 1 March 1962, but there was no certainty that Nevada would be available in the future. The 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty banned atmospheric testing, and no site was located at the Maralinga Range for underground testing; the nearest suitable site was on Aboriginal land 400 kilometres (250 mi) away. After 1963, Maralinga was placed on caretaker status, and although there was some discussion about conducting minor trials in 1966, as the 1956 Memorandum of Arrangements was due to expire in March of that year. The British Government decided that it would not seek to extend or renew the agreement. A formal memorandum on the termination of the 1956 Memorandum of Arrangements was signed on 23 September 1967, and the UK was released from most liabilities and responsibilities on 21 December 1967. In December 1968, the Minister for Defence revoked the declaration of Maralinga as a prohibited area under the Defence (Special Undertakings) Act 1952. On 31 August 1972, the Minister for Supply removed the restrictions on most of the Maralinga Prohibited Area, retaining only a 48-by-240-kilometre (30 by 149 mi) strip that became part of the new Woomera Prohibited Area. ## Legacy ### 1963–64 cleanup Cleanup operations commenced at Maralinga with Operation Clean Up in 1963 and Operation Hercules in 1964. These involved the removal of major hazards to permit entry to the test sites. A major cleanup operation codenamed Operation Brumby was conducted in 1967. Attempts were made to dilute the concentration of radioactive material by turning over and mixing the surface soil. Highly contaminated soil from Wewak was buried in the Marcoo crater, and the debris pits were capped. Over time, the short-lived isotopes decayed away, leaving plutonium, with its half-life of 24,100 years, as the main radioactive hazard. In January 1979, the British Government agreed to the "repatriation" of recoverable plutonium that had been buried at Maralinga. ### 1984 committee In 1984, the Minister for Resources and Energy established the Kerr Committee on 15 May 1984 to review fallout from the British nuclear tests in Australia. After receiving the report, and having discussions with John Symonds, who was commissioned to write an official history of the British nuclear tests, he decided to convene a royal commission into them. The McClelland Royal Commission delivered its report in late 1985, and found that significant radiation hazards still existed at many of the Maralinga test sites, particularly at Taranaki. The Australian Government accepted the findings of the royal commission, but rejected its recommendations that a Maralinga Commission be created, on the grounds that this was more properly a role for a department of state rather a statutory body, and that the British Government should pay all the costs of a cleanup. Instead, Cabinet decided that the British Government should be asked to make a significant contribution. Australian claims were put to the British Government in 1991, and in June 1993, it agreed to contribute an ex gratia sum of UK £20 million towards the costs of rehabilitation of the site. ### 2000 cleanup A Technical Assessment Group (TAG) was set up to advise on rehabilitation options, and a much more extensive clean-up program was initiated. The TAG Report plan was approved in 1991. Work commenced on site in 1996, and was completed in 2000 at a cost of $108 million. In the worst-contaminated areas, 350,000 cubic metres (12,000,000 cu ft) of soil and debris were removed from an area of more than 2 square kilometres (0.77 sq mi), and buried in trenches. Eleven debris pits were also treated with in situ vitrification. Most of the site (approximately 3,200 square kilometres (1,200 sq mi) was rendered now safe for unrestricted access and approximately 120 square kilometres (46 sq mi) is considered safe for access but not "permanent occupancy". "A term", British historian Lorna Arnold noted, "that no one would have applied to these regions 30 or 40 years before". Nuclear engineer Alan Parkinson observed that "an Aboriginal living a semi-traditional lifestyle would receive an effective dose of 5 mSv/a (five times that allowed for a member of the public). Within the 120 km², the effective dose would be up to 13 times greater." The effectiveness of the cleanup has been disputed on a number of occasions. ### Effects on people One author suggests that the resettlement of Aboriginal people and denial of access to their traditional lands "contributed significantly to the social disintegration which characterises the community to this day. Petrol sniffing, juvenile crime, alcoholism and chronic friction between residents and the South Australian police have become facts of life." In 1994, the Australian Government reached a compensation settlement with the traditional owners, Maralinga Tjarutja, which resulted in the payment of $13.5 million in settlement of all claims in relation to the nuclear testing. Most of the land was handed back in 2009; full handover was marked with a ceremony on 5 November 2014. A Department of Veterans' Affairs study concluded that "the doses received by Australian participants were small. ... Only 2% of participants received more than the current Australian annual dose limit for occupationally exposed persons (20 mSv)." However, such findings are contested. Australian servicemen were ordered to: repeatedly fly through the mushroom clouds from atomic explosions, without protection; and to march into ground zero immediately after bomb detonation. Airborne drifts of radioactive material resulted in "radioactive rain" being dropped on Brisbane and Queensland country areas. A 1999 study for the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association found that 30 per cent of involved veterans had died, mostly in their fifties, from cancers. Veterans also claim that their children have born with disabilities, disfigurements and genetic defects as a result of the tests. In 2001, Sue Rabbit Roff, a researcher from the University of Dundee, uncovered documentary evidence that troops had been ordered to run, walk and crawl across areas contaminated by the Buffalo tests in the days immediately following the detonations; a fact that the British Government later admitted. Roff stated that "it puts the lie to the British Government's claim that they never used humans for guinea pig-type experiments in nuclear weapons trials in Australia." Successive Australian Governments failed to compensate servicemen who contracted cancers following exposure to radiation at Maralinga. However, after a British decision in 1988 to compensate its own servicemen, the Australian Government negotiated compensation for several Australian servicemen with two specific conditions, leukaemia (except lymphatic leukemia) and the rare blood disorder multiple myeloma. ### Ongoing contamination It was found in 2021 that radioactive ("hot") particles persist in the soil, after international multidisciplinary team of scientists studied the results produced by a machine at Monash University that could slice open tiny samples using a beam of high-energy ions only a nanometre wide. The analysis of the results suggested that natural processes in the desert environment could bring about the slow release of plutonium over a long period. This plutonium is likely to be absorbed by wildlife at Maralinga. Additionally, radionuclides from the nuclear weapons tests have been detected as far away as Madagascar, where elevated levels of plutonium-240 and plutonium-239 have been found in marshlands and are believed to originate from both British nuclear tests in Australia as well as French nuclear tests in French Polynesia. ## Media coverage According to Liz Tynan from James Cook University, the Maralinga tests were a striking example of what can happen when the popular media are unable to report on activities that a government may be trying to hide. Maralinga was an example of extreme secrecy, but by the late 1970s there was a marked change in how the Australian media covered the British nuclear tests. Some resourceful investigative journalists emerged, whistle-blowers such as Avon Hudson spoke out and political scrutiny became more intense. The investigative journalist Brian Toohey ran a series of stories in the Australian Financial Review in October 1978, based in part on a leaked Cabinet submission. In June 1993, New Scientist journalist Ian Anderson wrote an article entitled "Britain's dirty deeds at Maralinga" and several related articles. They are a detailed analysis of the legacy of Vixen B and the Australian Government's prolonged negotiations with the United Kingdom on cleaning up Maralinga and sharing the cost of "safe-sealing" waste plutonium. In 1993, Anderson won two Michael Daley Awards for his Maralinga articles. Maralinga: Australia's Nuclear Waste Cover-up is a book by Alan Parkinson that was published in 2007. In it he claimed that the clean-up of Maralinga in the late 1990s was compromised by cost-cutting, and simply involved dumping hazardous radioactive debris in shallow holes in the ground. He stated that "what was done at Maralinga was a cheap and nasty solution that wouldn't be adopted on white-fellas land." ## Representations in the arts ### Art - In 1987 Winnie Bamara, who lived near Maralinga, produced a painting for a poster protesting nuclear testing at Maralinga, for the Australian Council for Disarmament and Peace for Maralinga Day, 1987 which was produced by Common Ground Magazine with the support of the people of the Maralinga–Tjarutja community. Her image shows a nuclear bomb exploding on the Maralinga lands as three Indigenous people stand watching, with text that briefly discusses the history of the British Government testing of nuclear bombs at Maralinga. - Betty Muffler, ngangkari and artist who works at Iwantja Arts who was born at Emu Field, was about nine years old when the first bomb was detonated, and she lost several family members. Seeing the deaths and dislocation caused by the tests has inspired much of her artwork, and she has expressed healing as a recurrent theme in her work. She won "Best emerging artist" at the 2017 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards in 2017 with one of her iterations of Ngangkaṟi Ngura (Healing Country). Another work of the same title, specially commissioned for the September 2020 issue of Vogue, featured in the Know My Name exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia. - Kokatha and Nukunu artist Yhonnie Scarce has created at least two major works representing the nuclear tests and the effects on her people. The work Thunder Raining Poison (2015) was created from more than 2,000 hand-blown glass yams, and references the impact of the nuclear tests on local Aboriginal communities. In 2020 she completed a work called Cloud Chamber, comprising series of 1,000 glass yams hung from the ceiling in the shape of a mushroom cloud. ### Drama - Ground Zero (1987) is an Australian drama-thriller about a cinematographer (played by Colin Friels) who, prompted by curiosity about some old film footage taken by his father, embarks on a quest to uncover the truth about the tests. It also stars actors Jack Thompson and Indigenous activist Burnum Burnum. - The Career Highlights of the Mamu is an Australian play by Trevor Jamieson and Scott Rankin, performed at the Adelaide Festival in February–March 2002. The play tells the story of the Tjuntjuntjara Aboriginal people, who lived in the desert country of South Australia and Western Australia, and their experience with British nuclear testing at Maralinga and Emu Field. Tribal elders describe being moved out of the area, and the death and illness of their people when they attempted to return to their contaminated homelands. - Maralinga: The Anangu Story (2009), by the Yalata & Oak Valley Communities with Christobel Mattingley, is an information book about the history and culture of the region, the controversy, and its original owners. Aimed at young people, the book was awarded a silver Honour medal in 2010 by the Children's Book Council of Australia. Judy Nunn used the events at Maralinga as a backdrop for her novel Maralinga (2009). - Operation Buffalo, a May 2020 Australian television drama series screen on ABC, is inspired by the events of British nuclear tests at Maralinga. The story does not stick to factual events, but mixes satire, farce, nostalgia and drama, at the same time representing aspects of historical fact, the tensions between the British and Australian governments and a serious depiction of the treatment of the Aboriginal people in the area. - Maralinga Tjarutja, a May 2020 television documentary film directed by Larissa Behrendt and made by Blackfella Films for ABC Television, tells the story of the people of Maralinga. It was deliberately broadcast around the same time that the drama series Operation Buffalo was on, to give voice to the Indigenous people of the area and show how the testing disrupted their lives. Screenhub Australia gave it 4.5 stars, calling it an "excellent documentary". The film shows the experiences of the Maralinga Tjarutja people, in which the elders "reveal a perspective of deep time and an understanding of place that generates respect for the sacredness of both", their ancestors having lived in the area for millennia. Despite the disregard for the traditional homelands of the Maralinga Tjarutja shown by the British and Australians involved in the testing, they have continued to fight for their rights to look after the now-contaminated land. ### Music - The Australian rock band Midnight Oil recorded a song about the tests called "Maralinga" on their 1982 LP 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. - Paul Kelly's "Maralinga (Rainy Land)" is about the effects of British nuclear tests on the Maralinga Tjarutja. - "After Maralinga" by the British band Latin Quarter is about the aftermath of the nuclear tests. - Australian singer/songwriter Kelly Chase released the song "Children of the Dust" in 2021, music from the History Detective Podcast, Season 1, Episode 4 "Nuclear Testing at Maralinga." - "Birthright" from the 1989 album Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe is about the tests. The liner notes for it state "In 1954 the British Government, in order to maintain the balance of power between East and West, exploded their first atom bomb at Woomera. They failed to contact all of the Aborigine peoples at the time. The Aborigines still call this 'the day of the cloud.'"

SMS Dresden (1907)

Light cruiser of the German Imperial Navy

SMS Dresden ("His Majesty's Ship Dresden") was a German light cruiser built for the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). The lead ship of her class, she was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in 1906, launched in October 1907, and completed in November 1908. Her entrance into service was delayed by accidents during sea trials, including a collision with another vessel which necessitated major repairs. Like the preceding Königsberg-class cruisers upon which her design was based, Dresden was armed with ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/40 guns and two torpedo tubes. Dresden spent much of her career overseas. After commissioning, she visited the United States in 1909 during the Hudson–Fulton Celebration, before returning to Germany to serve in the reconnaissance force of the High Seas Fleet for three years. In 1913, she was assigned to the Mediterranean Division. She was then sent to the Caribbean to protect German nationals during the Mexican Revolution. In mid-1914, she carried the former dictator Victoriano Huerta to Jamaica, where the British had granted him asylum. She was due to return to Germany in July 1914, but was prevented from doing so by the outbreak of World War I. At the onset of hostilities, Dresden operated as a commerce raider in South American waters in the Atlantic, then moved to the Pacific Ocean in September and joined Maximilian von Spee's East Asia Squadron. Dresden saw action in the Battle of Coronel in November, where she engaged the British cruiser HMS Glasgow, and at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in December, where she was the only German warship to escape destruction. She eluded her British pursuers for several more months, until she put into Robinson Crusoe Island in March 1915. Her engines were worn out and she had almost no coal left for her boilers, so the ship's captain contacted the local Chilean authorities to have Dresden interned. She was trapped by British cruisers, including her old opponent Glasgow. The British violated Chilean neutrality and opened fire on the ship in the Battle of Más a Tierra. The Germans scuttled Dresden and the majority of the crew escaped to be interned in Chile for the duration of the war. The wreck remains in the harbor; several artifacts, including her bell and compass, have been returned to Germany. ## Design The 1898 Naval Law authorized the construction of thirty new light cruisers; the program began with the Gazelle class, which was developed into the Bremen and Königsberg classes, both of which incorporated incremental improvements over the course of construction. The primary alteration for the two Dresden-class cruisers, assigned to the 1906 fiscal year, consisted of an additional boiler for the propulsion system to increase engine power. Dresden was 118.3 meters (388 ft 1 in) long overall with a beam of 13.5 m (44 ft 3 in) and a draft of 5.53 m (18 ft 2 in) forward. She displaced 3,664 metric tons (3,606 long tons) as designed and up to 4,268 t (4,201 long tons) at full load. The ship had a minimal superstructure, which consisted of a small conning tower and bridge structure. Her hull had a raised forecastle and quarterdeck, along with a pronounced ram bow. She was fitted with two pole masts. She had a crew of 18 officers and 343 enlisted men. Her propulsion system consisted of two Parsons steam turbines, which drove a pair of screw propellers. Steam was provided by twelve coal-fired water-tube boilers that were vented through three funnels. The propulsion system was designed to give 15,000 metric horsepower (11,000 kW) for a top speed of 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph). Dresden carried up to 860 t (850 long tons) of coal, which gave her a range of 3,600 nautical miles (6,700 km; 4,100 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph). The ship was armed with a main battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/40 guns in single pivot mounts. Two were placed side by side forward on the forecastle; six were located on the broadside, three on either side; and two were placed side by side aft. The guns could engage targets out to 12,200 m (13,300 yd). They were supplied with 1,500 rounds of ammunition, for 150 shells per gun. The secondary battery comprised eight 5.2 cm (2 in) SK L/55 guns, with 4,000 rounds of ammunition. She was also equipped with two 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes with four torpedoes, mounted on the deck. The ship was protected by a curved armored deck that was up to 80 mm (3.1 in) thick. It sloped downward at the sides of the hull to provide defense against incoming fire; the sloped portion was 50 mm (2 in) thick. The conning tower had 100 mm (3.9 in) thick sides, and the guns were protected by 50 mm (2 in) thick gun shields. ## Service history Dresden was ordered under the contract name Ersatz Comet. She was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in 1906 and launched on 5 October 1907. The Oberbürgermeister of her namesake city, Otto Beutler, christened the ship. Fitting-out work then commenced, and Dresden was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 14 November 1908. Following her commissioning, Dresden began her sea trials. On 28 November she accidentally collided with and sank the Swedish galeas Cäcilie outside Kiel. Dresden's starboard propeller shaft was shoved in 30 mm (1.2 in), and she required six months of repair work. She resumed sea trials in 1909, but a turbine accident necessitated further repairs, which lasted until September. Although Dresden had not completed the required testing, her trials were declared over on 7 September, as she had been ordered to visit the United States. The purpose of the voyage was to represent Germany at the Hudson–Fulton Celebration in New York; Dresden was joined by the protected cruisers Hertha and Victoria Louise and the light cruiser Bremen. Dresden left Wilhelmshaven on 11 September and stopped in Newport, where she met the rest of the ships of the squadron. The ships arrived in New York on 24 September, remained there until 9 October, and arrived back in Germany on 22 October. Dresden then joined the reconnaissance force for the High Seas Fleet; the following two years consisted of the peacetime routine of squadron exercises, training cruises, and annual fleet exercises. On 16 February 1910, she collided with the light cruiser Königsberg. The collision caused significant damage to Dresden, though no one on either vessel was injured. She made it back to Kiel for repairs, which lasted eight days. Dresden visited Hamburg on 13–17 May that year. From 14 to 20 April 1912, she was temporarily transferred to the Training Squadron, along with the armored cruiser Friedrich Carl and the light cruiser Mainz. For the year 1911–12, Dresden won the Kaiser's Schießpreis (Shooting Prize) for excellent gunnery amongst the light cruisers of the High Seas Fleet. From September 1912 through September 1913, she was commanded by Fregattenkapitän (Frigate Captain) Fritz Lüdecke, who would command the ship again during World War I. On 6 April 1913, she and the cruiser Strassburg were sent from Kiel to the Adriatic Sea, where she joined the Mittelmeer-Division (Mediterranean Division), centered on the battlecruiser Goeben and commanded by Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Konrad Trummler. The ships cruised the eastern Mediterranean for several months, and in late August, Dresden was ordered to return to Germany. After arriving in Kiel on 23 September, she was taken into the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) for an overhaul that lasted until the end of December. She was scheduled to return to the Mediterranean Division, but the Admiralstab (Admiralty Staff) reassigned Dresden to the North American station to protect German interests in the Mexican Revolution. The cruiser Bremen, then in North American waters, was also due to return to Germany, but her intended replacement, Karlsruhe, had not yet entered service. On 27 December 1913, Dresden departed Germany and arrived off Vera Cruz on 21 January 1914, under the command of Fregattenkapitän Erich Köhler. The United States had already sent a squadron of warships to the city, as had several other countries. The Admiralstab ordered Hertha, which had been on a training cruise for naval cadets, to join Dresden off Mexico. Bremen was also recalled to reinforce the German naval contingent; after arriving, she was tasked with transferring European nationals to German HAPAG liners. Dresden and the British cruiser HMS Hermione rescued 900 American citizens trapped in a hotel in Vera Cruz and transferred them to American warships. The German consul in Mexico City requested additional forces, and so Dresden provided a landing party of a maat (Junior Petty Officer) and ten sailors, armed with two MG 08 machine guns. On 15 April 1914, Dresden steamed to Tampico on Mexico's Gulf coast. That month, the German-flagged merchant ship SS Ypiranga arrived in Mexico, carrying a load of small arms for the regime of Mexican dictator Victoriano Huerta. The United States had put an arms embargo into effect in an attempt to reduce the violence of the civil war. The US Navy intercepted Ypiranga on 21 April. Dresden arrived, confiscated the merchantman, and pressed her into naval service to transport German refugees out of Mexico. Despite the American embargo, the Germans delivered the weapons and ammunition to the Mexican government on 28 May. On 20 July, after the Huerta regime was toppled, Dresden carried Huerta, his vice president, Aureliano Blanquet, and their families to Kingston, Jamaica, where Britain had granted them asylum. Upon arriving in Kingston on the 25th, Köhler learned of the rising political tensions in Europe during the July Crisis that followed the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. By this time, the ship was in need of a refit in Germany, and met with her replacement, Karlsruhe, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the following day. Lüdecke, who had arrived in command of Karlsruhe, traded places with Köhler aboard Dresden. The Admiralstab initially ordered Dresden to return to Germany for overhaul, but the heightened threat of war by the 31st led the staff to countermand the order, instead instructing Lüdecke to prepare to conduct Handelskrieg (trade war) in the Atlantic. ### World War I After receiving the order to remain in the Atlantic, Lüdecke turned his ship south while maintaining radio silence to prevent hostile warships from discovering his vessel. On the night of 4–5 August, he received a radio report informing him of Britain's declaration of war on Germany. He chose the South Atlantic as Dresden's operational area, and steamed to the Brazilian coast. Off the mouth of the Amazon River, he stopped a British merchant ship on 6 August. The ship, SS Drumcliffe, whose captain professed to know nothing of Britain's entry into the war, was permitted to proceed unmolested in accordance with the rules set forth in the Hague Convention of 1907. Dresden rendezvoused with the German collier SS Corrientes, a converted HSDG vessel. The cruiser moved to the Rocas Atoll on the 12th, along with the HAPAG steamers Prussia, Baden, and Persia. After departing the atoll, en route to Trindade, Dresden caught the British steamer SS Hyades; Lüdecke took off the ship's crew and then sank the merchantman. Dresden captured the British collier SS Holmwood on 24 August and sank her after evacuating her crew. After arriving in Trindade, she rendezvoused with the gunboat Eber and several steamers. On 26 August, while steaming off the mouth of the Río de la Plata, she caught two more British steamers, but the poor condition of Dresden's engines curtailed further operations. On 5 September, Dresden put into Hoste Island for engine maintenance until the 16th. While the ship was there, the HAPAG steamer Santa Isabel arrived from Punta Arenas with news of the war, and the heavy merchant traffic off the western coast of South America. Lüdecke decided to steam there, and on 18 September Dresden passed the Strait of Magellan. While en route, Dresden encountered the French steamer SS Ortega; Lüdecke refrained from attacking the transport ship, since she had fled into neutral waters. After steaming up the Chilean coast, she stopped in the Juan Fernández Islands, where she made radio contact with the light cruiser Leipzig, which was operating on the Pacific coast of South America. Dresden saw no further success against British shipping, and on 12 October, she joined Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Maximilian von Spee's East Asia Squadron, which had crossed the Pacific and was coaling at Easter Island. The following day, Lüdecke was promoted to Kapitän zur See (Captain at Sea). On 18 October, Dresden and the East Asia Squadron, centered on the armored cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, departed Easter Island for the South American coast. They arrived at Más a Fuera island on 26 October. The following evening, the German cruisers escorted the auxiliary cruiser SS Prinz Eitel Friedrich and the merchant ships SS Yorck and SS Göttingen to Chile. The flotilla arrived off Valparaiso on 30 October, and the following evening, Spee received intelligence that a British cruiser was at the Chilean port of Coronel. Spee decided his squadron should ambush the cruiser—HMS Glasgow—when it was forced to leave port due to Chile's neutral status, which required belligerent warships to leave after twenty-four hours. Spee did not realize Glasgow was in the company of Rear Admiral Christopher Craddock's 4th Cruiser Squadron, which also included the armored cruisers Monmouth and Good Hope and the auxiliary cruiser Otranto. #### Battle of Coronel Early on the morning of 1 November, Spee took his squadron out of Valparaiso, steaming at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) south toward Coronel. At around 16:00, Leipzig spotted the smoke column from the leading British cruiser. By 16:25, the other two ships had been spotted. The two squadrons slowly closed the distance, until the Germans opened fire at 18:34, at a range of 10,400 m (11,400 yd). The German ships engaged their opposite numbers, with Dresden firing on Otranto. After Dresden's third salvo, Otranto turned away; the Germans claimed a hit that caused a fire, though Otranto reported taking no damage. Following Otranto's departure, Dresden shifted her fire to Glasgow, which was also targeted by Leipzig. The two German cruisers hit their British opponent five times. At around 19:30, Spee ordered Dresden and Leipzig to launch a torpedo attack against the damaged British armored cruisers. Dresden increased speed to position herself off the British bows, and briefly spotted Glasgow as she was withdrawing, but the British cruiser disappeared in the haze and gathering darkness. Dresden then encountered Leipzig; both ships initially thought the other was hostile. Dresden's crew was loading a torpedo when the two ships confirmed each other's identity. By 22:00, Dresden and the other two light cruisers were deployed in a line that searched unsuccessfully for the British cruisers. Dresden had emerged from the battle completely unscathed. On 3 November, Spee took Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Nürnberg back to Valparaiso for provisioning and to consult with the Admiralstab. Neutrality laws permitted only three belligerent warships in a port at a given time. Dresden and Leipzig remained with the squadron's colliers in Más a Fuera. Spee returned to Más a Fuera on 6 November, and detached Dresden and Leipzig for a visit to Valparaiso, where they also restocked their supplies. The two cruisers arrived on 12 November, left the following day, and met the rest of the squadron at sea on 18 November. Three days later, the squadron anchored in St. Quentin Bay in the Gulf of Penas, where they coaled. The Royal Navy had deployed Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdee's pair of battlecruisers, Invincible and Inflexible, to hunt down the German squadron. They left Britain on 11 November, and arrived in the Falkland Islands on 7 December. There, they joined the armored cruisers Cornwall, Kent, and Carnarvon, and the light cruisers Glasgow and Bristol. On 26 November, the German East Asia Squadron left St. Quentin Bay, bound for the Atlantic. On 2 December, they caught the Canadian sailing ship Drummuir, which was carrying 2,750 t (2,710 long tons) of high-grade Cardiff coal. The following morning, the Germans anchored off Picton Island, where they unloaded the coal from Drummuir into their own auxiliaries. On the morning of 6 December, Spee held a council aboard Scharnhorst to discuss their next moves. With the support of the captains of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, he successfully argued for an attack on the Falklands to destroy the British wireless station and coal stocks there. Lüdecke and the captains of Leipzig and Nürnberg all opposed the plan, and were in favor of bypassing the Falklands and proceeding to the La Plata area to continue to raid British shipping. #### Battle of the Falkland Islands On the afternoon of 6 December, the German ships departed Picton Island, bound for the Falklands. On 7 December, they rounded Tierra del Fuego and turned north into the Atlantic. They arrived off the Falklands at around 02:00; three hours later, Spee detached Gneisenau and Nürnberg to land a party ashore. By 08:30, the ships were approaching Port Stanley, when they noticed thick columns of smoke rising from the harbor. After closing to the harbor entrance, they quickly realized they were confronted by a much more powerful squadron, which was just getting up steam. Spee immediately broke off the operation and turned east to flee before the British ships could catch his squadron. By 10:45, Gneisenau and Nürnberg had rejoined the fleet, and the German auxiliaries were detached to seek shelter in the maze of islands off Cape Horn. The British ships set off in pursuit, and by 12:50, Sturdee's two battlecruisers had overtaken the Germans. A minute later, he gave the order to open fire at the trailing German ship, Leipzig. Spee ordered the three small cruisers to try to escape to the south, while he turned back with Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in an attempt to hold off the British squadron. Sturdee had foreseen this possibility, and so had ordered his armored and light cruisers to pursue the German light cruisers. The battlecruisers quickly overwhelmed Spee's armored cruisers, and destroyed them with heavy loss of life. Dresden, with her turbine engines, was able to outpace her pursuers, and was the only German warship to escape destruction. Lüdecke decided to take his ship into the islands off South America to keep a steady supply of coal available. On 9 December, she passed back around Cape Horn to return to the Pacific. That day, she anchored in Sholl Bay, with only 160 t (157 long tons) of coal remaining. Oberleutnant zur See (lieutenant at sea) Wilhelm Canaris convinced the Chilean naval representative for the region to permit Dresden to remain in the area for an extra twenty-four hours so enough coal could be taken aboard to reach Punta Arenas. She arrived there on 12 December, and received 750 t (740 long tons) of coal from a German steamer. The Admiralstab hoped Dresden would be able to break through to the Atlantic and return to Germany, but the poor condition of her engines precluded this. Lüdecke instead decided to attempt to cross the Pacific via Easter Island, the Solomon Islands, and the Dutch East Indies and raid commerce in the Indian Ocean. Dresden took on another 1,600 t (1,575 long tons) of coal on 19 January. On 14 February, Dresden left the islands off the South American coast for the South Pacific. On 27 February, the cruiser captured the British barque Conway Castle south of Más a Tierra. From December to February, the German liner Sierra Cordoba had supplied Dresden and had accompanied her northward to a final coaling at Juan Fernández Islands just before the cruiser was scuttled. On 8 March, Dresden was drifting in dense fog when lookouts spotted Kent, which also had her engines off, about 15 nautical miles (28 km; 17 mi) away. Both ships immediately raised steam, and Dresden escaped after a five-hour chase. The strenuous effort depleted her coal stocks and overtaxed her engines. Lüdecke decided his ship was no longer operational, and determined to have his ship interned to preserve it. The following morning, she put into Más a Fuera, dropping anchor in Cumberland Bay at 8:30. The following day, Lüdecke received by wireless the German Admiralty's permission to let Dresden be interned, and so Lüdecke informed the local Chilean official of his intention to do so. #### Battle of Más a Tierra On the morning of 14 March, Kent and Glasgow approached Cumberland Bay; their appearance was relayed back to Dresden by one of her pinnaces, which had been sent to patrol the entrance to the bay. Dresden was unable to maneuver, owing to her fuel shortage, and Lüdecke signaled that his ship was no longer a combatant. The British disregarded this message, as well as a Chilean vessel that approached them as they entered the bay. Glasgow opened fire, in violation of Chile's neutrality; Britain had already informed Chile that British warships would disregard international law if they located Dresden in Chilean territorial waters. Shortly thereafter, Kent joined in the bombardment as well. The German gunners fired off three shots in response, but the guns were quickly knocked out by British gunfire. Lüdecke sent the signal "Am sending negotiator" to the British warships, and dispatched Canaris in a pinnace; Glasgow continued to bombard the defenseless cruiser. In another attempt to stop the attack, Lüdecke raised the white flag, which prompted Glasgow to cease fire. Canaris came aboard to speak with Captain John Luce; the former strongly protested the latter's violation of Chile's neutrality. Luce simply replied that he had his orders, and demanded an unconditional surrender. Canaris explained that Dresden had already been interned by Chile, and thereafter returned to his ship, which had in the meantime been prepared for scuttling. At 10:45, the scuttling charge detonated in the bow and exploded the forward ammunition magazines. The bow was badly mangled; in about half an hour, the ship had taken on enough water to sink. As it struck the sea floor, the bow was torn from the rest of the ship, which rolled over to starboard. As the rest of the hull settled below the waves, a second scuttling charge exploded in the ship's engine rooms. ### Aftermath Most of the ship's crew managed to escape; only eight men were killed in the attack, with another twenty-nine wounded. The British auxiliary cruiser HMS Orama took fifteen severely wounded men to Valparaiso; four of them died. The destruction of his ship had left Lüdecke in shock, and so Canaris took responsibility for the fate of the ship's crew. They remained on the island for five days until two Chilean warships brought a German passenger ship to take the men to Quiriquina Island, where they were interned for the duration of the war. Canaris escaped from the internment camp on 5 August 1915 and reached Germany exactly two months later. On 31 March 1917, a small group of men escaped on the Chilean barque Tinto; the voyage back to Germany lasted 120 days. The rest of the crew did not return to Germany until 1920. The wreck lies at a depth of 70 meters (230 ft). In 2002, the first survey of the wreck was done by a team led by James P. Delgado for the Sea Hunters documentary produced by the National Underwater and Marine Agency. The team included the archaeologist Dr. Willi Kramer, the first German to visit the wreck since she sank 88 years before. Dresden lies on her starboard side pointed north, toward the beach. The wreck is heavily damaged; much of the upper works, including the bridge, the masts, the funnels, and many of the guns have been torn from the ship. The bow was cut off by the scuttling charges detonated by the ship's crew, and sits upright on the sea floor. The stern is also badly damaged, with the main deck blasted away and many shell holes in the ship's side. Some of the damage to the aft of the ship appears to have been done by an undocumented salvage operation before Delgado's survey. According to German records, Dresden was carrying gold coins from their colony at Qingdao; Delgado speculated that this salvage work was an attempt to retrieve these. In 1965, the ship's compass and several flags were recovered and returned to Germany, where they are held at the German Naval Academy Mürwik in Flensburg-Mürwik. In 2006, Chilean and German divers found and recovered Dresden's bell, which is now in Germany. C. S. Forester's 1929 novel Brown on Resolution, and two subsequent movies, were inspired by the Dresden's escape and subsequent destruction.

Corvus (constellation)

Constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere

Corvus is a small constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere. Its name means "crow" in Latin. One of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, it depicts a raven, a bird associated with stories about the god Apollo, perched on the back of Hydra the water snake. The four brightest stars, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, and Beta Corvi, form a distinctive quadrilateral or cross-shape in the night sky. With an apparent magnitude of 2.59, Gamma Corvi—also known as Gienah—is the brightest star in the constellation. It is an aging blue giant around four times as massive as the Sun. The young star Eta Corvi has been found to have two debris disks. Three star systems have exoplanets, and a fourth planetary system is unconfirmed. TV Corvi is a dwarf nova—a white dwarf and brown dwarf in very close orbit. ## History and mythology In the Babylonian star catalogues dating from at least 1100 BCE, what later became known as Corvus was called the Raven (MUL.UGA.MUSHEN). As with more familiar Classical astronomy, it was placed sitting on the tail of the Serpent (Greek Hydra). The Babylonian constellation was sacred to Adad, the god of rain and storm; in the second Millennium BCE it would have risen just before the autumnal rainy season. John H. Rogers observed that Hydra signified Ningishzida, the god of the underworld in the Babylonian compendium MUL.APIN. He proposed that Corvus and Crater (along with Hydra) were death symbols and marked the gate to the underworld. These two constellations, along with the eagle Aquila and the fish Piscis Austrinus, were introduced to the Greeks around 500 BCE; they marked the winter and summer solstices respectively. Furthermore, Hydra had been a landmark as it had straddled the celestial equator in antiquity. Corvus and Crater also featured in the iconography of Mithraism, which is thought to have been of middle-eastern origin before spreading into Ancient Greece and Rome. Corvus is associated with the myth of Apollo and his lover Coronis the Lapith. Coronis had been unfaithful to Apollo; when he learned this information from a pure white crow (or raven in some versions), he turned its feathers black in a fit of rage. Another legend associated with Corvus is that a crow stopped on his way to fetch water for Apollo, to eat figs. Instead of telling the truth to Apollo, he lied and said that a snake, Hydra, kept him from the water, while holding a snake in his talons as proof. Apollo, realizing this was a lie, flung the crow (Corvus), cup (Crater), and snake (Hydra) into the sky. He further punished the wayward bird by ensuring it would forever be thirsty, both in real life and in the heavens, where the Cup is just out of reach. ### In other cultures In Chinese astronomy, the stars of Corvus are located within the Vermilion Bird of the South (南方朱雀, Nán Fāng Zhū Què). The four main stars depict a chariot, Zhen, which is the 28th and final lunar mansion; Alpha and Eta mark the linchpins for the wheels, and Zeta is Changsha, a coffin. In Indian astronomy, the five main stars of Corvus represent a hand or fist corresponding to the Hasta, the 13th nakshatra or lunar mansion. Corvus was recognized as a constellation by several Polynesian cultures and used as a guide for ocean navigation. In the Marquesas Islands, it was called Mee; in Pukapuka, it was called Te Manu, and in the Society Islands, it was called Metua-ai-papa. To Torres Strait Islanders, Corvus was the right hand (holding kupa fruit) of the huge constellation Tagai, a man fishing. The Bororo people of Mato Grosso in central Brazil regarded the constellation as a land tortoise Geriguigui, while the Tucano people of the northwestern Amazon region saw it as an egret. To the Tupi people of São Luís Island in Brazil, Corvus might have been seen as a grill or barbecue—seychouioura, on which fish were grilled. The depiction could have also referred to the Great Square of Pegasus. ## Characteristics Covering 184 square degrees and hence 0.446% of the sky, Corvus ranks 70th of the 88 constellations in area. It is bordered by Virgo to the north and east, Hydra to the south, and Crater to the west. The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is "Crv". The official constellation boundaries, as set by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of six segments (illustrated in infobox). In the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between and , while the declination coordinates are between −11.68° and −25.20°. Its position in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere means that the whole constellation is visible to observers south of 65°N. ## Features ### Stars The German cartographer Johann Bayer used the Greek letters Alpha through Eta to label the most prominent stars in the constellation. John Flamsteed gave nine stars Flamsteed designations, while one star he designated in the neighbouring constellation Crater—31 Crateris—lay within Corvus once the constellation boundaries were established in 1930. Within the constellation's borders, there are 29 stars brighter than or equal to apparent magnitude 6.5. Four principal stars, Delta, Gamma, Epsilon, and Beta Corvi, form a quadrilateral asterism known as "the "Spica's Spanker" or "the Sail". Although none of the stars are particularly bright, they lie in a dim area of the sky, rendering the asterism easy to distinguish in the night sky. Gamma and Delta serve as pointers toward Spica. Also called Gienah, Gamma is the brightest star in Corvus at magnitude 2.59. Its traditional name means "wing", the star marking the left wing in Bayer's Uranometria. 154±1 light-years from Earth, it is a blue-white hued giant star of spectral type B8III that is 4.2+0.4 −0.3 times as massive, and 355 times as luminous as the Sun. Around 160+40 −30 million years old, it has largely exhausted its core hydrogen and begun expanding and cooling as it moves away from the main sequence. A binary star, it has a companion orange or red dwarf star of spectral type K5V to M5V that is about 0.8 times as massive as the Sun. Around 50 astronomical units distant from Gamma Corvi A, it is estimated to complete an orbit in 158 years. Delta Corvi, traditionally called Algorab, is a double star divisible in small amateur telescopes. The primary is a blue-white star of magnitude 2.9, around 87 light-years from Earth. An enigmatic star around 2.7 times as massive as the Sun, it is more luminous (65–70 times that of the Sun) than its should be for its surface temperature of 10,400 K, and hence is either a 3.2 million year-old very young pre-main sequence star that has not settled down to a stable main sequence life stage, or a 260-million-year-old star that has begun to exhaust its core hydrogen and expand, cool and shine more brightly as it moves away from the main sequence. Its spectral type is given as A0IV, corresponding with the latter scenario. Warm circumstellar dust—by definition part of its inner stellar system—has been detected around Delta Corvi A. Delta Corvi B is an orange dwarf star of magnitude 8.51 and spectral class K, also surrounded by circumstellar dust. A post T-tauri star, it is at least 650 AU distant from its brighter companion and takes at least 9400 years to complete an orbit. Delta Corvi's common name means "the raven". It is one of two stars marking the right wing. Located 4.5 degrees northeast of Delta Corvi is Struve 1669, a binary star that is divisible into two stars 5.4" apart by small amateur telescopes, 280 light-years from Earth. The pair, both white stars, are visible to the naked eye at magnitude 5.2; the primary is of magnitude 5.9 and the secondary is of magnitude 6.0. The raven's breast is marked by Beta Corvi (the proper name is Kraz), a star of magnitude 2.7 located 146 ± 1 light-years from Earth. Roughly 206 million years old and 3.7 ± 1 times as massive as the Sun, it has exhausted its core hydrogen and expanded and cooled to a surface temperature of around 5,100 K and is now a yellow bright giant star of spectral type G5II. It likely spent most of its existence as a blue-white main sequence star of spectral type B7V. Bearing the proper name of Minkar and marking the raven's nostril is Epsilon Corvi, located some 318 ± 5 light-years from Earth. It is a red giant of spectral type K2III that is around 54 times the Sun's radius and 930 times its luminosity. Around 4 times as massive as the Sun, it spent much of its life as a main-sequence star of spectral type B5V. Lying to the south of the quadrilateral between Beta and Epsilon Corvi is the orange-hued 6 Corvi, an ageing giant star of spectral type K1III that is around 70 times as luminous as the Sun. It is 331 ± 10 light-years away from Earth. Named Alchiba, Alpha Corvi is a white-hued star of spectral type F1V and magnitude 4.0, 48.7 ± 0.1 light-years from Earth. It exhibits periodic changes in its spectrum over a three-day period, which suggests it is either a spectroscopic binary or (more likely) a pulsating Gamma Doradus-type variable. If the latter is the case, it is estimated to be 1.39 times as massive as the Sun. According to Bayer's atlas, it lies above the bird's beak. Marking the raven's right wing is Eta Corvi, a yellow-white main-sequence star of type F2V that is 1.52 times as massive and 4.87 times as luminous as the Sun. It is 59 light-years distant from our Solar System. Two debris disks have been detected orbiting this star, one warm within 3.5 astronomical units and another out at \~150 astronomical units distant. Zeta Corvi marks the raven's neck. It is of apparent magnitude 5.21, separated by 7 arcseconds from the star HR 4691. Located 420 ± 10 light-years distant, it is a blue-white Be star of spectral type B8V, the presence of hydrogen emission lines in its spectrum indicating it has a circumstellar disc. These stars may be an optical double or a true multiple star system, with a separation of at least 50,000 astronomical units and the stars taking 3.5 million years to orbit each other. HR 4691 is itself double, composed of an ageing yellow-orange giant whose spectral type has been calculated at K0 or G3, and an F-type main-sequence star. 31 Crateris (which was originally placed in Crater by Flamsteed) is a 5.26 magnitude star which was once mistaken for a moon of Mercury. On 27 March 1974, the Mariner 10 mission detected emissions in the far ultraviolet from the planet (suggesting a satellite), but they were found to emanate from the star. It is in reality a remote binary star system with a hot blue-white star of spectral type B1.5V and a companion about which little is known. The two stars orbit each other every 2.9631 days. The primary is possibly a blue straggler of the Hyades group. The primary is around 15.5 times as massive as the Sun and 52262 times as luminous. VV Corvi is a close spectroscopic binary, its two component stars orbiting each other with a period of 1.46 days. Both are yellow-white main-sequence stars of spectral type F5V, though the primary has begun expanding and cooling as it nears the end of its time on the main sequence. The mass ratio of the two stars is 0.775 ± 0.024. A tertiary companion was discovered during the Two Micron All-Sky Survey. W Corvi is an eclipsing binary that varies in brightness from apparent magnitude 11.16 to 12.5 over 9 hours. Its period has increased by 1/4 second over a century. It is an unusual system in that its two stars are very close to each other yet have different surface temperatures, and hence thermal transfer is not taking place as expected. SX Corvi is an eclipsing binary that is also a contact binary known as a W Ursae Majoris variable. The two component stars orbit closely enough to each other for mass to have been transferred between them—in this case the secondary having transferred a large amount of mass to the primary. RV Corvi is another eclipsing binary. Its brightness varies from apparent magnitude 8.6 to 9.16 over 18 hours. The system is composed of stars of spectral types F0 and G0, which orbit each other every 0.7473 days. Close to Gamma Corvi and visible in the same binocular field is R Corvi, a long period (Mira) variable star. It ranges in brightness from a magnitude of 6.7 to 14.4 with a period of approximately 317 days. TT Corvi is a semiregular variable red giant of spectral type M3III and apparent magnitude 6.48 around 923 light years distant. It is around 993 times as luminous as the Sun. TU Corvi is a Delta Scuti variable—a class of short period (six hours at most) pulsating stars that have been used as standard candles and as subjects to study astroseismology. It varies by 0.025 of a magnitude around apparent magnitude 6.53 over 59 minutes. Three star systems have confirmed planets. HD 103774 is a young yellow-white main-sequence star of apparent magnitude 7.12 that is 181 ± 5 light-years distant from Earth. It is 1.335 ± 0.03 times as massive and 3.5 ± 0.3 as luminous as the Sun. Variations in its radial velocity showed it was being orbited by a Neptune-sized planet every 5.9 days in 2013. HD 104067 is an orange dwarf of spectral type K2V of apparent magnitude 7.93 that is 69 ± 1 light-years distant from Earth. Around 80% as massive as the Sun, it is orbited by a planet 3.6 times the mass of Neptune every 55.8 days. WASP-83 has a planet around as massive as Saturn that orbits it every 5 days. It was discovered by its transit across the star in 2015. A fourth star system has an unconfirmed planet. HD 111031 is a sunlike star of spectral type G5V located 101 ± 2 light-years distant from Earth. Ross 695 is a red dwarf star located a mere 28.9 ± 0.6 light-years distant from Earth. At apparent magnitude 11.27, it is much too faint to be seen with the unaided eye. A small star, it has around 23% the mass and radius of the Sun, but only 0.7% its luminosity. VHS J1256–1257 is a triple system of young brown dwarfs located 72.4+3.6 −3.9 light-years distant from Earth. The system consists of a central, equal-mass binary system of late-M spectral type dwarfs and an outer, planetary-mass brown dwarf companion that is widely separated at 102 ± 9 AU. DENIS-P J1228.2-1547 is a system composed of two brown dwarfs orbiting each other located 73 ± 3 light-years away from Earth. TV Corvi is a dwarf nova composed of a white dwarf and brown dwarf that orbit each other every 90 minutes. The system has a baseline magnitude of 17 that brightens periodically to magnitude 12, discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1931 and David Levy in 1990 and 2005. ### Deep-sky objects Corvus contains no Messier objects. It has several galaxies and a planetary nebula observable with amateur telescopes. The center of Corvus is home to a planetary nebula, NGC 4361. The nebula itself resembles a small elliptical galaxy and has a magnitude of 10.3, but the magnitude 13 star at its centre gives away its true nature. Corvus also contains the Stargate (asterism). The NGC 4038 Group is a group of galaxies across Corvus and Crater. The group may contain between 13 and 27 galaxies. The best-known member is the Antennae peculiar galaxy, located 0.25 north of 31 Crateris. It consists of two interacting galaxies—NGC 4038 and 4039—that appear to have a heart shape as seen from Earth. The name originates from the huge tidal tails that come off the ends of the two galaxies, formed because of the spiral galaxies' original rotation. Both original galaxies were spiral galaxies and are now experiencing extensive star formation due to the interaction of gas clouds. The galaxies are 45 million light-years from Earth and each has multiple ultraluminous X-ray sources, the source of which is unknown. Astronomers theorize that they may be a rare type of x-ray emitting binary stars or intermediate-mass black holes. The Antennae Galaxies appear in a telescope at the 10th magnitude. SN 2004gt was a type Ic supernova that erupted on December 12, 2004. The progenitor was not identified from older images of the galaxy, and is either a type WC Wolf–Rayet star with a mass over 40 times that of the Sun, or a star 20 to 40 times as massive as the Sun in a binary star system. SN 2007sr was a Type Ia supernova event that peaked in brightness on December 14, 2007. The galaxy has been identified as a good place to take detailed images in case of further supernovae. NGC 4027 is another member of the NGC 4038 group, notable for its extended spiral arm. Known as the Ringtail Galaxy, it lies close to 31 Crateris. A barred spiral galaxy, its distorted shape is probably due to a past collision, possibly with the nearby NGC 4027A. NGC 4782 and NGC 4783 are a pair of merging elliptical galaxies in the northeastern part of the constellation, around 200 million light-years distant. ### Meteor showers Two established meteor showers originate from within Corvus' boundaries. German astronomer Cuno Hoffmeister discovered and named the Corvids in 1937, after observing them between June 25 and July 2. They have not been seen since, nor was there evidence of a shower when previous records were examined. Hoffmeister noted the trajectory of the shower was similar to that of the comet 11P/Tempel–Swift–LINEAR, though this was not confirmed by Zhukov and colleagues in 2011. The shower has been tentatively linked with 4015 Wilson–Harrington. In January 2013, the MO Video Meteor Network published the discovery of the Eta Corvids, assigning some 300 meteors seen between January 20 and 26. Their existence was confirmed by data analysis later that year. ## Popular culture In 1624, German astronomer Jakob Bartsch equated the constellation Argo Navis with Noah's Ark, linking Corvus and Columba to the crow and dove that feature in the story in Genesis. In Action Comics \#14 (January 2013), which was published 7 November 2012, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson appears in the story, in which he determines that Superman's home planet, Krypton, orbited the red dwarf LHS 2520 in the constellation Corvus, 27.1 light-years from Earth. Tyson assisted DC Comics in selecting a real-life star that would be an appropriate parent star to Krypton, and picked the star in Corvus, the mascot of Superman's high school, the Smallville Crows. ## See also - Corvus (Chinese astronomy)

Thomas Cranmer

Archbishop of Canterbury from 1533 to 1555

Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a theologian, leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He is honoured as a martyr in the Church of England. Cranmer helped build the case for the annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, which was one of the causes of the separation of the English Church from union with the Holy See. Along with Thomas Cromwell, he supported the principle of royal supremacy, in which the king was considered sovereign over the Church within his realm and protector of his people from the abuses of Rome. During Cranmer's tenure as Archbishop of Canterbury, he established the first doctrinal and liturgical structures of the reformed Church of England. Under Henry's rule, Cranmer did not make many radical changes in the Church due to power struggles between religious conservatives and reformers. He published the first officially authorised vernacular service, the Exhortation and Litany. When Edward, who was devout and had been raised in the tenants of a reformed Church came to the throne, Cranmer was able to promote faster changes. He wrote and compiled the first two editions of the Book of Common Prayer, a complete liturgy for the English Church and in doing so, turning to the language of the people. With the assistance of several Continental reformers to whom he gave refuge, he changed doctrine or discipline in areas such as the Eucharist, clerical celibacy, the role of images in places of worship, and the veneration of saints. Cranmer promulgated the new doctrines through the prayer book, the Homilies and other publications. After the accession of the Catholic Mary I, Cranmer was put on trial for treason and heresy. Imprisoned for over two years and under pressure from state and Church authorities, he made several recantations and reconciled himself with the Catholic Church. While this would have customarily absolved him, Mary wanted him executed, and he was burned at the stake on 21 March 1556; on the day of his execution, he withdrew his recantations, to die a heretic to Catholics and a martyr for the principles of the English Reformation. Cranmer's death was immortalised in Foxe's Book of Martyrs and his legacy lives on within the Church of England through the Book of Common Prayer and the Thirty-Nine Articles, an Anglican statement of faith derived from his work. ## Origins Cranmer was born in 1489 at Aslockton in Nottinghamshire, England. He was a younger son of Thomas Cranmer by his wife Agnes Hatfield. Thomas Cranmer was of modest wealth but was from a well-established armigerous gentry family which took its name from the manor of Cranmer in Lincolnshire. A ledger stone to one of his relatives in the Church of St John of Beverley, Whatton, near Aslockton is inscribed as follows: Hic jacet Thomas Cranmer, Armiger, qui obiit vicesimo septimo die mensis Maii, anno d(omi)ni. MD centesimo primo, cui(us) a(n)i(ma)e p(ro)p(i)cietur Deus Amen ("here lies Thomas Cranmer, Esquire, who died on the 27th day of May in the year of our lord 1501, on whose soul may God look upon with mercy"). The arms of the Cranmer and Aslockton families are displayed. The figure is that of a man with flowing hair and gown and a purse on his right side. Their oldest son, John Cranmer, inherited the family estate, while Thomas and his younger brother, Edmund, were placed on the path to clerical careers. ## Early years (1489–1527) Historians know nothing definite about Cranmer's early schooling. He probably attended a grammar school in his village. At 14, two years after his father's death, he was sent to the newly created Jesus College, Cambridge. It took him eight years to attain his Bachelor of Arts degree, following a curriculum of logic, classical literature, and philosophy. During this time, he began to collect medieval scholastic books, which he preserved faithfully throughout his life. For his master's degree he studied the humanists Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples and Erasmus. He finished the course in three years. Shortly after receiving his Master of Arts degree in 1515, he was elected to a fellowship of Jesus College. Sometime after Cranmer took his MA, he married a woman named Joan. Although he was not yet a priest, he was obliged to give up his fellowship, resulting in losing his residence at Jesus College. To support himself and his wife, he took a job as a reader at Buckingham Hall (later reformed as Magdalene College). When Joan died during her first childbirth, Jesus College showed its regard for Cranmer by reinstating his fellowship. He began studying theology, and by 1520, he had been ordained, the university already having named him as one of its preachers. He received his Doctor of Divinity degree in 1526. Not much is known about Cranmer's thoughts and experiences during his three decades at Cambridge. Traditionally, he has been portrayed as a humanist whose enthusiasm for biblical scholarship prepared him to adopt Lutheran ideas, which were spreading during the 1520s. A study of his marginalia reveals an early antipathy to Martin Luther and an admiration for Erasmus. When Cardinal Wolsey, the king's Lord Chancellor, selected several Cambridge scholars, including Edward Lee, Stephen Gardiner and Richard Sampson, to be diplomats throughout Europe, Cranmer was chosen for an embassy to the Holy Roman Emperor. His supposed participation in an earlier embassy to Spain mentioned in the older literature, has proved to be spurious. ## In the service of Henry VIII (1527–1532) Henry VIII's first marriage arose from the death of his older brother, Arthur, in 1502. Their father, Henry VII, betrothed Arthur's widow, Catherine of Aragon, to the future king. The marriage immediately raised questions about the biblical prohibition (in Leviticus 18 and 20) against marriage to a brother's wife. The couple married in 1509, and after a series of miscarriages, a daughter, Mary, was born in 1516. By the 1520s, Henry still did not have a son to name as heir, and he took this as a sure sign of God's anger and made overtures to the Vatican about an annulment. He gave Cardinal Wolsey the task of prosecuting his case; Wolsey began by consulting university experts. From 1527, Cranmer assisted with the annulment proceedings in addition to his duties as a Cambridge don. In mid-1529, Cranmer stayed with relatives in Waltham Holy Cross to avoid an outbreak of the plague in Cambridge. Two of his Cambridge associates, Stephen Gardiner and Edward Foxe, joined him. The three discussed the annulment issue and Cranmer suggested putting aside the legal case in Rome in favour of a general canvassing of opinions from university theologians throughout Europe. Henry showed much interest in the idea when Gardiner and Foxe presented him with this plan. It is unknown whether the king or his new Lord Chancellor, Thomas More, explicitly approved the plan. Eventually, it was implemented, and Cranmer was requested to join the royal team in Rome to gather university opinions. Edward Foxe coordinated the research effort and the team produced the Collectanea Satis Copiosa ("The Sufficiently Abundant Collections") and The Determinations, historical and theological support for the argument that the king exercised supreme jurisdiction within his realm. Cranmer's first contact with a Continental reformer was with Simon Grynaeus, a humanist based in Basel, Switzerland, and a follower of the Swiss reformers, Huldrych Zwingli and Johannes Oecolampadius. In mid-1531, Grynaeus took an extended visit to England to offer himself as an intermediary between the king and the Continental reformers. He struck up a friendship with Cranmer and after his return to Basel, he wrote about Cranmer to the German reformer Martin Bucer in Strasbourg. Grynaeus' early contacts initiated Cranmer's eventual relationship with the Strasbourg and Swiss reformers. In January 1532, Cranmer was appointed the resident ambassador at the court of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. As the emperor travelled throughout his realm, Cranmer had to follow him to his residence in Regensburg. He passed through the Lutheran city of Nuremberg and saw for the first time the effects of the Reformation. When the Imperial Diet was moved to Nuremberg, he met the leading architect of the Nuremberg reforms, Andreas Osiander. They became good friends, and during that July Cranmer took the surprising action of marrying Margarete, the niece of Osiander's wife. He did not take her as his mistress, as was the prevailing custom with priests for whom celibacy was too rigorous. Scholars note that Cranmer had moved, however moderately at this stage, into identifying with certain Lutheran principles. This progress in his personal life was not matched in his political life as he was unable to persuade Charles, Catherine's nephew, to support the annulment of his aunt's marriage. ## Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury (1532–1534) While Cranmer was following Charles through Italy, he received a royal letter dated 1 October 1532 informing him that he had been appointed the new Archbishop of Canterbury, following the death of archbishop William Warham. Cranmer was ordered to return to England. The appointment had been secured by the family of Anne Boleyn, who was being courted by Henry. When Cranmer's promotion became known in London, it caused great surprise as Cranmer had previously held only minor positions in the Church. Cranmer left Mantua on 19 November and arrived in England at the beginning of January. Henry personally financed the papal bulls necessary for Cranmer's promotion to Canterbury. The bulls were easily acquired because the papal nuncio was under orders from Rome to please the English in an effort to prevent a final breach. The bulls arrived around 26 March 1533 and Cranmer was consecrated as a bishop on 30 March in St Stephen's Chapel, by John Longland, Bishop of Lincoln; John Vesey, Bishop of Exeter; and Henry Standish, Bishop of St Asaph. Even while they were waiting for the bulls, Cranmer continued to work on the annulment proceedings, which required greater urgency after Anne announced her pregnancy. Henry and Anne were secretly married on 24 or 25 January 1533 in the presence of a handful of witnesses. Cranmer did not learn of the marriage until 14 days later. For the next few months, Cranmer and the king worked on establishing legal procedures on how the monarch's marriage would be judged by his most senior clergy. Several drafts of the procedures have been preserved in letters written between the two. Once procedures were agreed upon, Cranmer opened court sessions on 10 May, inviting Henry and Catherine of Aragon to appear. Gardiner represented the king; Catherine did not appear or send a proxy. On 23 May Cranmer pronounced the judgement that Henry's marriage with Catherine was against the law of God. He even issued a threat of excommunication if Henry did not stay away from Catherine. Henry was now free to marry and, on 28 May, Cranmer validated Henry and Anne's marriage. On 1 June, Cranmer personally crowned and anointed Anne queen and delivered to her the sceptre and rod. Pope Clement VII was furious at this defiance, but he could not take decisive action as he was pressured by other monarchs to avoid an irreparable breach with England. On 9 July he provisionally excommunicated Henry and his advisers (who included Cranmer) unless he repudiated Anne by the end of September. Henry kept Anne as his wife and, on 7 September, Anne gave birth to Elizabeth. Cranmer baptised her immediately afterwards and acted as one of her godparents. It is difficult to assess how Cranmer's theological views had evolved since his Cambridge days. There is evidence that he continued to support humanism; he renewed Erasmus' pension that had previously been granted by Archbishop Warham. In June 1533, he was confronted with the difficult tasks not only of disciplining a reformer, but also of seeing him burned at the stake. John Frith was condemned to death for his views on the eucharist: he denied the real presence. Cranmer personally tried to persuade him to change his views without success. Although he rejected Frith's radicalism, by 1534 he clearly signalled that he had broken with Rome and that he had set a new theological course. He supported the cause of reform by gradually replacing the old guard in his ecclesiastical province with men such as Hugh Latimer who followed the new thinking. He intervened in religious disputes, supporting reformers, to the disappointment of religious conservatives who desired to maintain the link with Rome. ## Under the vicegerency (1535–1538) Cranmer was not immediately accepted by the bishops within his province. When he attempted a canonical visitation, he had to avoid locations where a resident conservative bishop might make an embarrassing personal challenge to his authority. In 1535, Cranmer had difficult encounters with several bishops, John Stokesley, John Longland, and Stephen Gardiner among others. They objected to Cranmer's power and title and argued that the Act of Supremacy did not define his role. This prompted Thomas Cromwell, the king's chief minister, to activate and to take the office of the vicegerent, the deputy supreme head of ecclesiastical affairs. He created another set of institutions that gave a clear structure to the royal supremacy. Hence, the archbishop was eclipsed by Vicegerent Cromwell in regard to the king's spiritual jurisdiction. There is no evidence that Cranmer resented his position as junior partner. Although he was an exceptional scholar, he lacked the political ability to outface even clerical opponents. Those tasks were left to Cromwell. On 29 January 1536, when Anne miscarried a son, the king began to reflect again on the biblical prohibitions that had haunted him during his marriage with Catherine of Aragon. Shortly after the miscarriage, the king started to take an interest in Jane Seymour. By 24 April, he had commissioned Cromwell to prepare the case for a divorce. Unaware of these plans, Cranmer had continued to write letters to Cromwell on minor matters up to 22 April. Anne was sent to the Tower of London on 2 May, and Cranmer was urgently summoned by Cromwell. On the very next day, Cranmer wrote a letter to the king expressing his doubts about the queen's guilt, highlighting his own esteem for Anne. After it was delivered, Cranmer was resigned to the fact that the end of Anne's marriage was inevitable. On 16 May, he saw Anne in the Tower and heard her confession and the following day, he pronounced the marriage null and void. Two days later, Anne was executed; Cranmer was one of the few who publicly mourned her death. The vicegerency brought the pace of reforms under the control of the king. A balance was instituted between the conservatives and the reformers and this was seen in the Ten Articles, the first attempt at defining the beliefs of the Henrician Church. The articles had a two-part structure. The first five articles showed the influence of the reformers by recognising only three of the former seven sacraments: baptism, eucharist, and penance. The last five articles concerned the roles of images, saints, rites and ceremonies, and purgatory, and they reflected the views of the traditionalists. Two early drafts of the document have been preserved and show different teams of theologians at work. The competition between the conservatives and reformers is revealed in rival editorial corrections made by Cranmer and Cuthbert Tunstall, the bishop of Durham. The end product had something that pleased and annoyed both sides of the debate. By 11 July, Cranmer, Cromwell, and the Convocation, the general assembly of the clergy, had subscribed to the Ten Articles. In late 1536, the north of England was convulsed in a series of uprisings collectively known as the Pilgrimage of Grace, the most serious opposition to Henry's policies. Cromwell and Cranmer were the primary targets of the protesters' fury. Cromwell and the king worked furiously to quell the rebellion, while Cranmer kept a low profile. After it was clear that Henry's regime was safe, the government took the initiative to remedy the evident inadequacy of the Ten Articles. The outcome after months of debate was The Institution of a Christian Man informally known from the first issue as the Bishops' Book. The book was initially proposed in February 1537 in the first vicegerential synod, ordered by Cromwell, for the whole Church. Cromwell opened the proceedings, but as the synod progressed, Cranmer and Foxe took on the chairmanship and the co-ordination. Foxe did most of the final editing and the book was published in late September. Even after publication, the book's status remained vague because the king had not given his full support to it. In a draft letter, Henry noted that he had not read the book, but supported its printing. His attention was most likely occupied by the pregnancy of Jane Seymour and the birth of the male heir, Edward, that Henry had sought for so long. Jane died shortly after giving birth and her funeral was held on 12 November. That month Henry started to work on the Bishops' Book; his amendments were sent to Cranmer, Sampson, and others for comment. Cranmer's responses to the king were far more confrontational than his colleagues' and he wrote at much greater length. They reveal unambiguous statements supporting reformed theology such as justification by faith or sola fide (faith alone) and predestination. His words did not convince the king. A new statement of faith was delayed until 1543 with the publication of the King's Book. In 1538, the king and Cromwell arranged with Lutheran princes to have detailed discussions on forming a political and religious alliance. Henry had been seeking a new embassy from the Schmalkaldic League since mid-1537. The Lutherans were delighted by this and they sent a joint delegation from various German cities, including a colleague of Martin Luther's, Friedrich Myconius. The delegates arrived in England on 27 May 1538. After initial meetings with the king, Cromwell, and Cranmer, discussions on theological differences were transferred to Lambeth Palace under Cranmer's chairmanship. Progress on an agreement was slow partly owing to Cromwell being too busy to help expedite the proceedings and partly because the negotiating team on the English side was evenly balanced between conservatives and reformers. The talks dragged on with the Germans becoming weary despite the Archbishop's strenuous efforts. The negotiations were fatally neutralised by an appointee of the king. Cranmer's colleague, Edward Foxe, who sat on Henry's Privy Council, had died earlier in the year. The king chose as his replacement Cranmer's conservative rival, Cuthbert Tunstall, who was told to stay near Henry to give advice. On 5 August, when the German delegates sent a letter to the king regarding three items that particularly worried them (compulsory clerical celibacy, the withholding of the chalice from the laity, and the maintenance of private masses for the dead), Tunstall was able to intervene for the king and to influence the decision. The result was a thorough dismissal by the king of many of the Germans' chief concerns. Although Cranmer begged the Germans to continue with the negotiations, using the argument "to consider the many thousands of souls in England" at stake, they left on 1 October without any substantial achievements. ## Reforms reversed (1539–1542) Continental reformer Philipp Melanchthon was aware that he was very much admired by Henry. In early 1539, Melanchthon wrote several letters to Henry criticising his views on religion, in particular his support of clerical celibacy. By late April another delegation from the Lutheran princes arrived to build on Melanchthon's exhortations. Cromwell wrote a letter to the king in support of the new Lutheran mission. The king had begun to change his stance and concentrated on wooing conservative opinion in England rather than reaching out to the Lutherans. On 28 April 1539, Parliament met for the first time in three years. Cranmer was present, but Cromwell was unable to attend due to ill health. On 5 May the House of Lords created a committee with the customary religious balance between conservatives and reformers to examine and determine doctrine. The committee was given little time to do the detailed work needed for a thorough revision. On 16 May, the Duke of Norfolk noted that the committee had not agreed on anything, and proposed that the Lords examine six doctrinal questions—which eventually formed the basis of the Six Articles. They affirmed the conservative interpretation of doctrines such as the real presence, clerical celibacy, and the necessity of auricular confession, the private confession of sins to a priest. As the Act of the Six Articles neared passage in Parliament, Cranmer moved his wife and children out of England to safety. Up until this time, the family was kept quietly hidden, most likely in Ford Palace in Kent. The Act passed Parliament at the end of June and it forced Latimer and Nicholas Shaxton to resign their dioceses given their outspoken opposition to the measure. The setback for the reformers was short-lived. By September, Henry was displeased with the results of the Act and its promulgators; the ever-loyal Cranmer and Cromwell were back in favour. The king asked his archbishop to write a new preface for the Great Bible, an English translation of the Bible that was first published in April 1539 under the direction of Cromwell. The preface was in the form of a sermon addressed to readers. As for Cromwell, he was delighted that his plan of a royal marriage between Henry and Anne of Cleves, the sister of a German prince was accepted by the king. In Cromwell's view, the marriage could potentially bring back contacts with the Schmalkaldic League. Henry was dismayed with Anne when they first met on 1 January 1540 but married her reluctantly on 6 January in a ceremony officiated by Cranmer. The marriage ended in disaster as Henry decided that he would request a royal divorce. This resulted in Henry being placed in an embarrassing position and Cromwell suffered the consequences. His old enemies, including the Duke of Norfolk, took advantage of the weakened Cromwell and he was arrested on 10 June. He immediately lost the support of all his friends, including Cranmer. As Cranmer had done for Anne Boleyn, he wrote a letter to the king defending the past work of Cromwell. Henry's marriage to Anne of Cleves was quickly annulled on 9 July by the vice-gerential synod, now led by Cranmer and Gardiner. Following the annulment, Cromwell was executed on 28 July. Cranmer now found himself in a politically prominent position, with no one else to shoulder the burden. Throughout the rest of Henry's reign, he clung to Henry's authority. The king had total trust in him and in return, Cranmer could not conceal anything from the king. At the end of June 1541, Henry with his new wife, Catherine Howard, left for his first visit to the north of England. Cranmer was left in London as a member of a council taking care of matters for the king in his absence. His colleagues were Lord Chancellor Thomas Audley and Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford. This was Cranmer's first major piece of responsibility outside the Church. In October, while the king and queen were away, a reformer named John Lascelles revealed to Cranmer that Catherine engaged in extramarital affairs. Cranmer gave the information to Audley and Seymour and they decided to wait until Henry's return. Afraid of angering the king, Audley and Seymour suggested that Cranmer inform Henry. Cranmer slipped a message to Henry during mass on All Saints Day. An investigation revealed the truth of the marital indiscretions and Catherine was executed in February 1542. ## Support from the King (1543–1547) In 1543, several conservative clergymen in Kent banded together to attack and denounce two reformers, Richard Turner and John Bland, before the Privy Council. They prepared articles to present to the council, but at the last moment, additional denunciations were added by Stephen Gardiner's nephew, Germain Gardiner. These new articles attacked Cranmer and listed his misdeeds back to 1541. This document and the following actions were the basis of the so-called Prebendaries' Plot. The articles were delivered to the Council in London and were probably read on 22 April 1543. The king most likely saw the articles against Cranmer that night. The archbishop appeared unaware that an attack on his person was made. His commissioners in Lambeth dealt specifically with Turner's case where he was acquitted, much to the fury of the conservatives. While the plot against Cranmer proceeded, the reformers were attacked on other fronts. On 20 April, the Convocation reconvened to consider revising the Bishops' Book. Cranmer presided over the sub-committees, but the conservatives were able to overturn many reforming ideas, including justification by faith alone. On 5 May, the new revision called A Necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Christian Man or the King's Book was released. Doctrinally, it was far more conservative than the Bishops' Book. On 10 May, the reformers received another blow. Parliament passed the Act for the Advancement of True Religion, which abolished "erroneous books" and restricted the reading of the Bible in English to those of noble status. Reformers were examined, forced to recant, or imprisoned from May to August. For five months, Henry took no action on the accusations against his archbishop. The conspiracy was finally revealed to Cranmer by the king himself. According to Cranmer's secretary, Ralph Morice, sometime in September 1543, the king showed Cranmer a paper summarising the accusations against him. An investigation was to be mounted and Cranmer was appointed chief investigator. Surprise raids were carried out, evidence gathered, and ringleaders identified. Typically, Cranmer put the clergymen involved in the conspiracy through immediate humiliation, but he eventually forgave them and continued to use their services. To show his trust in Cranmer, Henry gave Cranmer his ring. When the Privy Council arrested Cranmer at the end of November, the nobles were hampered by the symbol of the king's trust in him. Cranmer's victory ended with two second-rank leaders imprisoned and Germain Gardiner executed. With the atmosphere in Cranmer's favour, he pursued quiet efforts to reform the Church, particularly the liturgy. On 27 May 1544, the first officially authorised vernacular service was published, the processional service of intercession known as the Exhortation and Litany. It survives today with minor modifications in the Book of Common Prayer. The traditional litany uses invocations to saints, but Cranmer thoroughly reformed this aspect by providing no opportunity in the text for such veneration. Additional reformers were elected to the House of Commons, and new legislation was introduced to curb the effects of the Act of the Six Articles and the Act for the Advancement of True Religion. In 1546, the conservatives in a coalition including Gardiner, the Duke of Norfolk, the Lord Chancellor Wriothesley, and the bishop of London, Edmund Bonner, made one last attempt to challenge the reformers. Several reformers with links to Cranmer were targeted. Some, such as Lascelles, were burned at the stake. Powerful reform-minded nobles Edward Seymour and John Dudley returned to England from overseas and turned the tide against the conservatives. Two incidents tipped the balance. Gardiner was disgraced before the king when he refused to agree to exchange episcopal estates, and the son of the Duke of Norfolk was charged with treason and executed. There is no evidence that Cranmer played any part in these political games, and there were no further plots as the king's health ebbed in his final months. Cranmer performed his final duties for the king on 28 January 1547 when he gave a reformed statement of faith while gripping Henry's hand instead of giving him his last rites. Cranmer mourned Henry's death, and it was later said that he demonstrated his grief by growing a beard. The beard was also a sign of his break with the past. Continental reformers grew beards to mark their rejection of the old Church, and this significance of clerical beards was well understood in England. On 31 January, he was among the executors of the king's final will that nominated Edward Seymour as Lord Protector and welcomed the boy king, Edward VI. ## Foreign divines and reformed doctrines (1547–1549) Under the regency of Seymour, the reformers became part of the establishment. A royal visitation of the provinces took place in August 1547, and each parish was instructed to obtain a copy of the Homilies. This book consisted of twelve homilies, four of which were written by Cranmer. His reassertion of the doctrine of justification by faith elicited a strong reaction from Gardiner. In the "Homily of Good Works annexed to Faith," Cranmer attacked monasticism and the importance of various personal actions involved in liturgical recitations and ceremonies. Hence, he narrowed the range of good works considered necessary and reinforced the importance of faith. In each parish visited, injunctions were put in place that resolved to "...eliminate any image which had any suspicion of devotion attached to it." Cranmer's eucharistic views, which had already moved away from official Catholic doctrine, received another push from Continental reformers. Cranmer had been in contact with Martin Bucer since initial contacts were made with the Schmalkaldic League. Cranmer and Bucer's relationship became ever closer owing to Charles V's victory over the League at Mühlberg, which left England as the sole major nation that gave sanctuary to persecuted reformers. Cranmer wrote a letter to Bucer (now lost) with questions on eucharistic theology. In Bucer's reply dated 28 November 1547, he denied the human real presence and condemned transubstantiation and the adoration of the elements. The letter was delivered to Cranmer by two Italian reformed theologians, Peter Martyr and Bernardino Ochino, who were invited to take refuge in England. Martyr also brought with him an epistle written allegedly by John Chrysostom, Ad Caesarium Monachum, which appeared to provide patristic support against the corporeal real presence. These documents influenced Cranmer's thoughts on the Eucharist. In March 1549, Strasbourg forced Martin Bucer and Paul Fagius to leave. Cranmer immediately invited the men to England and promised they would be placed in English universities. When they arrived on 25 April, Cranmer was delighted to meet Bucer face to face after eighteen years of correspondence. He needed these scholarly men to train a new generation of preachers as well as to assist in the reform of liturgy and doctrine. Others who accepted his invitations included the Polish reformer, Jan Łaski, but Cranmer could not convince Osiander and Melanchthon that they should come to England. ## Book of Common Prayer (1548–1549) As the use of English in worship services spread, the need for a complete uniform liturgy for the Church became evident. Initial meetings to start what would eventually become the 1549 Book of Common Prayer were held in the former abbey of Chertsey and in Windsor Castle in September 1548. The list of participants can be only partially reconstructed, but it is known that the members were balanced between conservatives and reformers. These meetings were followed by a debate on the Eucharist in the House of Lords which took place between 14 and 19 December. Cranmer publicly revealed in this debate that he had abandoned the doctrine of the corporeal real presence and believed that the Eucharistic presence was only spiritual. Parliament backed the publication of the prayer book after Christmas by passing the Act of Uniformity 1549; it then legalised clerical marriage. It is difficult to ascertain how much of the prayer book is Cranmer's personal composition. Generations of liturgical scholars have been able to track down the sources that he used, including the Sarum Rite, writings from Hermann von Wied, and several Lutheran sources including Osiander and Justus Jonas. It is more problematic to determine how Cranmer worked on the book and with whom he worked. Where information about his possible helpers is lacking, he is given the credit for the editorship and the overall structure of the book. The use of the new prayer book was made compulsory on 9 June 1549. This triggered a series of protests in Devon and Cornwall where the English language was not yet in common usage, now known as the Prayer Book Rebellion. By early July, the uprising had spread to other parts in the east of England. The rebels made a number of demands including the restoration of the Six Articles, the use of Latin for the mass with only the consecrated bread given to the laity, the restoration of prayers for souls in purgatory, and the rebuilding of abbeys. Cranmer wrote a strong response to these demands to the King in which he denounced the wickedness of the rebellion. On 21 July, Cranmer commandeered St Paul's Cathedral where he vigorously defended the official Church line. A draft of his sermon, the only extant written sample of his preaching from his entire career, shows that he collaborated with Peter Martyr on dealing with the rebellion. ## Consolidating gains (1549–1551) The Prayer Book Rebellion and other events harmed the Seymour regency. The Privy Council became divided when several dissident Councillors joined behind John Dudley to oust Seymour. Cranmer and two other Councillors, William Paget, and Thomas Smith initially rallied behind Seymour. After a flurry of letters passed between the two sides, a bloodless coup d'état ended Seymour's Protectorship on 13 October 1549. Despite the support of religiously conservative politicians behind Dudley's coup, the reformers managed to maintain control of the new government, and the English Reformation continued to consolidate gains. Seymour was initially imprisoned in the Tower but was shortly released on 6 February 1550 and returned to the council. The archbishop was able to transfer his former chaplain, Nicholas Ridley, from the minor see of Rochester to the diocese of London. At the same time, John Ponet took Ridley's former position. Incumbent conservatives were uprooted and replaced with reformers. The first result of cooperation and consultation between Cranmer and Bucer was the first Edwardine Ordinal, the liturgy for the ordination of priests. This was missing in the first prayer book and was not published until 1550. Cranmer adopted Bucer's draft and created three services for commissioning: a deacon, a priest, and a bishop. In the same year, Cranmer produced the Defence of the True and Catholic Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, a semi-official explanation of the eucharistic theology within the prayer book. It was the first full-length book with Cranmer's name on the title page. The preface summarises his quarrel with Rome in a well-known passage where he compared "beads, pardons, pilgrimages, and such other like popery" with weeds. Still, the roots of the weeds were transubstantiation, the corporeal real presence, and the sacrificial nature of the mass. Although Bucer assisted in the development of the English Reformation, he was still quite concerned about the speed of its progress. Both Bucer and Fagius had noticed that the 1549 prayer book was not a remarkable step forward. However, Cranmer assured Bucer that it was only a first step and that its initial form was temporary. By late 1550, Bucer was becoming disillusioned. Cranmer ensured he did not feel alienated and kept in close touch with him. This attention paid off during the vestments controversy. This incident was initiated by John Hooper, a follower of Heinrich Bullinger who had recently returned from Zürich. Hooper was unhappy with Cranmer's prayer book and ordinal and particularly objected to using ceremonies and vestments. When the Privy Council selected him to be the Bishop of Gloucester on 15 May 1550, he laid down conditions for not wearing the required vestments. He found an ally among the Continental reformers in Jan Łaski, who had become a leader of the Stranger church in London, a designated place of worship for Continental Protestant refugees. His church's forms and practices had taken reforms much further than Cranmer would have liked. Bucer and Peter Martyr, while they sympathised with Hooper's position, supported Cranmer's arguments of timing and authority. Cranmer and Ridley stood their ground. This led to Hooper's imprisonment, and he eventually gave in. He was consecrated on 8 March 1551 according to the ordinal and preached before the king in his episcopal garments. Cranmer's vision of reform was maintained through careful steps under the government's authority. ## Final reform programme (1551–1553) Cranmer's role in politics was diminishing when, on 16 October 1551, Seymour was arrested on charges of treason. In December, Seymour was put on trial, and although acquitted of treason, he was judged guilty of felony and was put to death on 22 January 1552. This began the breach between Cranmer and Dudley. It was aggravated during the year by the regency's gradual appropriation of ecclesiastical property. Throughout this political turmoil, Cranmer worked simultaneously on three major projects in his reform programme: the revision of canon law, the revision of the prayer book, and the formation of a statement of doctrine. The original Catholic canon law that defined governance within the Church needed revision following Henry's break with Rome. Several revision attempts were made throughout Henry's reign, but these initial projects were shelved as the speed of reform outpaced the time required to revise. As the reformation stabilised, Cranmer formed a committee in December 1551 to restart the work. He recruited Peter Martyr to the committee and he also asked Łaski and Hooper to participate, showing his habitual ability to forgive past actions. Cranmer and Martyr realised that a successful enactment of a reformed ecclesiastical law code in England would have international significance. Cranmer planned to draw together all the reformed churches of Europe under England's leadership to counter the Council of Trent, the Catholic Church's response to the Protestant Reformation. In March 1552, Cranmer invited the foremost Continental reformers, Bullinger, John Calvin, and Melanchthon, to come to England and to participate in an ecumenical council. The response was disappointing: Melanchthon did not respond, Bullinger stated that neither of them could leave Germany as it was riven by war between the Emperor and the Lutheran princes, and while Calvin showed some enthusiasm, he said he was unable to come. Cranmer acknowledged Calvin and replied, "Meanwhile, we will reform the English Church to the utmost of our ability and give our labour that both its doctrines and laws will be improved after the model of holy scripture." One partial manuscript of the project survived that was annotated with corrections and comments by Cranmer and Martyr. When the final version was presented to Parliament, the breach between Cranmer and Dudley was complete and the regent effectively killed the canon law bill in the House of Lords. As with the first prayer book, the origins and participants in its revision are obscure, but it was clear that Cranmer led the project and steered its development. It had begun as early as the end of 1549 when the Convocation of Canterbury met to discuss the matter. Late in 1550, the opinions of Martyr and Bucer were sought on how the liturgy might be improved, and they influenced the revision significantly. The view of the spiritual presence was clarified by the use of entirely different words at the offering of the bread and the wine to the communicants. New rubrics noted that any bread could be used, and any bread or wine that remained could be used by the curate, thus dissociating the elements from any physical presence. The new book removed any possibility of prayers for the dead because such prayers implied support for the doctrine of purgatory. The Act of Uniformity 1552, which authorised the book's use, specified that it be exclusively used from 1 November. The final version was officially published at almost the last minute, owing to Dudley's intervention. While travelling in the north of the country, he met the Scots reformer John Knox, who was based in Newcastle. Impressed by his preaching, Dudley selected him as a royal chaplain and brought him south to participate in the reform projects. In a sermon before the king, Knox attacked the practice of kneeling during communion. On 27 September 1552, the Privy Council stopped the printing of the new prayer book and told Cranmer to revise it. He responded with a long letter arguing that it was for Parliament, with the royal assent, to decide any changes in the liturgy. On 22 October, the council decided to keep the liturgy as it was and to add the so-called Black Rubric, which explained that no adoration was intended when kneeling at communion. The origins of the statement which eventually became the Forty-two Articles are equally obscure. As early as December 1549, the archbishop demanded that his bishops subscribe to certain doctrinal articles. In 1551, Cranmer presented a version of a statement to the bishops, but its status remained ambiguous. Cranmer did not devote much effort to developing the articles, most likely owing to work on the canon law revision. He became more interested once the hope for an ecumenical council faded. By September 1552, draft versions of the articles were being worked on by Cranmer and John Cheke, his scholarly friend, commissioned to translate them into Latin. When the Forty-two Articles were finally published in May 1553, the title page declared that the Convocation agreed upon the articles, which were published by the king's authority. This was not the case and the mistake was likely caused by miscommunications between the archbishop and the Privy Council. Cranmer complained about this to the council, but the authorities noted that the articles were developed during the Convocation (hence evading giving a direct answer). The council gave Cranmer the unhappy task of requiring the bishops to subscribe to the articles, many of whom opposed them and pointed out the anomaly of the title page. While Cranmer was carrying out this duty, events unfolded that rendered the subscriptions futile. ## Trials, recantations, execution (1553–1556) Edward VI became seriously ill and the councillors were told that he did not have long to live. In May 1553, the council sent several letters to Continental reformers assuring them that Edward's health was improving. Among the letters was one addressed to Melanchthon inviting him to come to England to take up the Regius Chair in Cambridge which had been vacant since the death of Martin Bucer in February 1551. Both Henry VIII and Cranmer had previously failed to convince Melanchthon to come; this time, the council made a serious effort by sending him an advance to cover his travel expenses. Cranmer sent a personal letter urging him to take the offer. Despite his plea, Melanchthon never made the voyage to England. While this effort to shore up the reformation was taking place, the council was working to persuade several judges to put on the throne Lady Jane Grey, Edward's cousin and a Protestant, instead of Mary, Henry and Catherine of Aragon's daughter and a Catholic. On 17 June 1553, the king made his will, noting Jane would succeed him, contravening the Third Succession Act. Cranmer tried to speak to Edward alone, but he was refused and his audience with Edward occurred in the presence of the councillors. Edward told him that he supported what he had written in his will. Cranmer's decision to support Jane must have occurred before 19 June, when royal orders were sent to convene the Convocation for the recognition of the new succession. By mid-July, there were serious provincial revolts in Mary's favour and support for Jane in the council fell. As Mary was proclaimed queen, Dudley, Ridley, Cheke, and Jane's father, the Duke of Suffolk, were imprisoned. No action was taken against the archbishop. On 8 August, he led Edward's funeral according to the rites of the prayer book. During these months, he advised others, including Peter Martyr, to flee England, but he himself chose to stay. Reformed bishops were removed from office and conservative clergy, such as Edmund Bonner, had their old positions restored. Cranmer did not go down without a fight. When rumours spread that he authorised the use of the mass in Canterbury Cathedral, he declared them to be false and said, "All the doctrine and religion by our said sovereign lord king Edward VI is more pure and according to God's word than any that hath been used in England these thousand years." Not surprisingly, the government regarded Cranmer's declaration as tantamount to sedition. He was ordered to stand before the council in the Star Chamber on 14 September and on that day he said his final goodbye to Martyr. Cranmer was sent straight to the Tower to join Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley. On 13 November 1553, Cranmer and four others were brought to trial for treason, found guilty, and condemned to death. Numerous witnesses testified that Cranmer had encouraged heresy and had written heretical works. Through February 1554, Jane Grey and other rebels were executed, and attention then turned to the religious leaders of the reformation. On 8 March 1554, the Privy Council ordered Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer to be transferred to Bocardo prison in Oxford to await a second trial for heresy. During this time, Cranmer was able to smuggle out a letter to Martyr, who had fled to Strasbourg, the last surviving document written in his own hand. He stated that the desperate situation of the church was proof that it would eventually be delivered and wrote, "I pray that God may grant that we may endure to the end\!" Cranmer remained isolated in Bocardo prison for seventeen months before the trial started on 12 September 1555. Although it took place in England, the trial was under papal jurisdiction and the final verdict would come from Rome. Under interrogation, Cranmer admitted to every fact that was placed before him, but he denied any treachery, disobedience, or heresy. The trial of Latimer and Ridley started shortly after Cranmer's but their verdicts came almost immediately and they were burned at the stake on 16 October. Cranmer was taken to a tower to watch the proceedings. On 4 December, Rome decided Cranmer's fate by depriving him of the archbishopric and giving permission to the secular authorities to carry out their sentence. In his final days, Cranmer's circumstances changed, which led to several recantations. On 11 December, he was taken out of Bocardo and placed in the house of the Dean of Christ Church. This new environment was very different from that of his two years in prison. He was in an academic community and treated as a guest. Approached by a Dominican friar, Juan de Villagarcía, he debated the issues of papal supremacy and purgatory. In his first four recantations, produced between the end of January and mid-February, Cranmer submitted himself to the authority of the king and queen and recognised the Pope as head of the Church. On 14 February 1556, he was degraded from holy orders and returned to Bocardo. He had conceded very little and Edmund Bonner was not satisfied with these admissions. On 24 February, a writ was issued to the mayor of Oxford and the date of Cranmer's execution was set for 7 March. Two days after the writ was issued, a fifth statement, the first which could be called a true recantation, was issued. Cranmer repudiated all Lutheran and Zwinglian theology, fully accepted Catholic theology, including papal supremacy and transubstantiation, and stated that there was no salvation outside the Catholic Church. He announced his joy at returning to the Catholic faith, asked for and received sacramental absolution, and participated in the mass. Cranmer's burning was postponed and, under the normal practice of canon law, he should have been absolved. Mary, however, decided that no further postponement was possible. His last recantation was issued on 18 March. It was a sign of a broken man, a sweeping confession of sin. Despite the stipulation in canon law that recanting heretics be reprieved, Mary was determined to make an example of Cranmer, arguing that "his iniquity and obstinacy was so great against God and your Grace that your clemency and mercy could have no place with him", and pressed ahead with his execution. Cranmer was told that he would be able to make a final recantation, but that this time it was to be in public during a service at the University Church in Oxford. He wrote and submitted the speech in advance and it was published after his death. At the pulpit on the day of his execution, 21 March 1556, he opened with a prayer and an exhortation to obey the king and queen, but he ended his sermon totally unexpectedly, deviating from the prepared script. He renounced the recantations that he had written or signed with his own hand since his degradation and he stated that, in consequence, his hand would be punished by being burnt first. He then said, "And as for the Pope, I refuse him, as Christ's enemy, and Antichrist with all his false doctrine." He was pulled from the pulpit and taken to where Latimer and Ridley had been burnt six months previously. As the flames drew around him, he fulfilled his promise by placing his right hand into the heart of the fire, calling it "that unworthy hand". His dying words were, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. I see the heavens open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God." ## Aftermath and legacy The Marian government produced a pamphlet with all six recantations plus the text of the speech Cranmer was to have made in the University Church. His subsequent withdrawal of his recantations was not mentioned, though what actually happened soon became common knowledge, undermining the effectiveness of Marian propaganda. Similarly, the Protestant party had difficulty in making use of the event, given Cranmer's recantations. The exiles' propaganda concentrated on publishing various specimens of his writings. Eventually John Foxe put Cranmer's story to effective use in 1559, and it featured prominently in his Acts and Monuments when it was first printed in 1563. Cranmer's family had been exiled to the Continent in 1539. It is not known exactly when they returned to England, but it was soon after the accession of Edward VI in 1547 that Cranmer publicly acknowledged their existence. Not much is known about the early years of the children. His daughter, Margaret, was likely born in the 1530s and his son, Thomas, came later, probably during the reign of Edward. Around the time of Mary's accession, Cranmer's wife, Margarete, escaped to Germany, while his son was entrusted to his brother, Edmund Cranmer, who took him to the Continent. Margarete Cranmer eventually married Cranmer's favourite publisher, Edward Whitchurch. The couple returned to England after Mary's reign and settled in Surrey. Whitchurch also negotiated for the marriage of Margaret to Thomas Norton. Whitchurch died in 1562 and Margarete married for the third time to Bartholomew Scott. She died in the 1570s. Both of Cranmer's children died without issue and his line became extinct. When Elizabeth I came to power in 1558 she restored the Church of England's independence from Rome under the Elizabethan Religious Settlement. The church that she re-established represented, in effect, a snapshot of the Edwardine Church from September 1552. Thus the Elizabethan prayer book was basically Cranmer's 1552 edition but without the "Black Rubric". In the Convocation of 1563 the Forty-two Articles which were never adopted by the Church were altered in the area of eucharistic doctrine to form the Thirty-Nine Articles. Most of the exiles returned to England and resumed their careers in the Church. To some like Edmund Grindal, an Archbishop of Canterbury during Elizabeth's reign, Cranmer provided a shining example whose work should be upheld and extended. Cranmer's greatest concerns were the maintenance of the royal supremacy and the diffusion of reformed theology and practice. Scholars note that he is best remembered for his contribution to the realms of language and of cultural identity. His prose helped to guide the development of the English language, and the Book of Common Prayer is a major contribution to English literature that influenced many lives in the Anglophone world. It has guided Anglican worship for four hundred years. Catholic biographers sometimes depict Cranmer as an unprincipled opportunist, a Nicodemite, and a tool of royal tyranny. For their part, some Protestant biographers appear to overlook the ways or occasions in which Cranmer betrayed his own principles. Both sides can agree in seeing Cranmer as a committed scholar whose life showed the strengths and weaknesses of a very human and often under-appreciated reformer. The Church of England commemorates Thomas Cranmer as a Reformation Martyr on 21 March, the anniversary of his death, and he is remembered in the calendar of saints of the Church of England with a lesser festival. The supposed site of the burnings is marked by a paving cross in Broad Street, Oxford, where an annual remembrance is held by the Prayer Book Society. The U.S. Episcopal Church liturgical calendar honours him (together with Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley) with a "day of optional observance" on 16 October. ## See also - Attainder of Duke of Northumberland and others Act 1553 - List of Protestant martyrs of the English Reformation

Mark Oliphant

Australian physicist (1901–2000)

Sir Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, (8 October 1901 – 14 July 2000) was an Australian physicist and humanitarian who played an important role in the first experimental demonstration of nuclear fusion and in the development of nuclear weapons. Born and raised in Adelaide, South Australia, Oliphant graduated from the University of Adelaide in 1922. He was awarded an 1851 Exhibition Scholarship in 1927 on the strength of the research he had done on mercury, and went to England, where he studied under Sir Ernest Rutherford at the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory. There, he used a particle accelerator to fire heavy hydrogen nuclei (deuterons) at various targets. He discovered the respective nuclei of helium-3 (helions) and of tritium (tritons). He also discovered that when they reacted with each other, the particles that were released had far more energy than they started with. Energy had been liberated from inside the nucleus, and he realised that this was a result of nuclear fusion. Oliphant left the Cavendish Laboratory in 1937 to become the Poynting Professor of Physics at the University of Birmingham. He attempted to build a 60-inch (150 cm) cyclotron at the university, but its completion was postponed by the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe in 1939. He became involved with the development of radar, heading a group at the University of Birmingham that included John Randall and Harry Boot. They created a radical new design, the cavity magnetron, that made microwave radar possible. Oliphant also formed part of the MAUD Committee, which reported in July 1941, that an atomic bomb was not only feasible, but might be produced as early as 1943. Oliphant was instrumental in spreading the word of this finding in the United States, thereby starting what became the Manhattan Project. Later in the war, he worked on it with his friend Ernest Lawrence at the Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley, California, developing electromagnetic isotope separation, which provided the fissile component of the Little Boy atomic bomb used in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in August 1945. After the war, Oliphant returned to Australia as the first director of the Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering at the new Australian National University (ANU), where he initiated the design and construction of the world's largest (500 megajoule) homopolar generator. He retired in 1967, but was appointed Governor of South Australia on the advice of Premier Don Dunstan. He became the first South Australian-born governor of South Australia. He assisted in the founding of the Australian Democrats political party, and he was the chairman of the meeting in Melbourne in 1977, at which the party was launched. Late in life he witnessed his wife, Rosa, suffer before her death in 1987, and he became an advocate for voluntary euthanasia. He died in Canberra in 2000. ## Early life Marcus "Mark" Laurence Elwin Oliphant was born on 8 October 1901 in Kent Town, a suburb of Adelaide. His father was Harold George "Baron" Olifent, a civil servant with the South Australian Engineering and Water Supply Department and part-time lecturer in economics with the Workers' Educational Association. His mother was Beatrice Edith Fanny Oliphant, née Tucker, an artist. He was named after Marcus Clarke, the Australian author, and Laurence Oliphant, the British traveller and mystic. Most people called him Mark; this became official when he was knighted in 1959. He had four younger brothers: Roland, Keith, Nigel and Donald; all were registered at birth with the surname Olifent. His grandfather, Harry Smith Olifent (7 November 1848 – 30 January 1916) was a clerk at the Adelaide GPO, and his great-grandfather James Smith Olifent (c. 1818 – 21 January 1890) and his wife Eliza (c. 1821 – 18 October 1881) left their native Kent for South Australia aboard the barque Ruby, arriving in March 1854. He would later be appointed Superintendent of the Adelaide Destitute Asylum, and Eliza Olifent was appointed Matron of the establishment in 1865. Mark's parents were Theosophists, and as such may have refrained from eating meat. Marcus became a lifelong vegetarian while a boy, after witnessing the slaughter of pigs on a farm. He was found to be completely deaf in one ear and he needed glasses for severe astigmatism and short-sightedness. Oliphant was first educated at primary schools in Goodwood and Mylor, after the family moved there in 1910. He attended Unley High School in Adelaide, and, for his final year in 1918, Adelaide High School. After graduation he failed to obtain a bursary to attend university, so he took a job with S. Schlank & Co., an Adelaide manufacturing jeweller noted for medallions. He then secured a cadetship with the State Library of South Australia, which allowed him to take courses at the University of Adelaide at night. In 1919, Oliphant began studying at the University of Adelaide. At first he was interested in a career in medicine, but later in the year, Kerr Grant, the physics professor, offered him a cadetship in the Physics Department. It paid 10 shillings a week (), the same amount that Oliphant received for working at the State Library, but it allowed him to take any university course that did not conflict with his work for the department. He received his Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in 1921 and then did honours in 1922, supervised by Grant. Roy Burdon, who acted as head of the department when Grant went on sabbatical in 1925, worked with Oliphant to produce two papers in 1927 on the properties of mercury, "The Problem of the Surface Tension of Mercury and the Action of Aqueous Solutions on a Mercury Surface" and "Adsorption of Gases on the Surface of Mercury". Oliphant later recalled that Burdon taught him "the extraordinary exhilaration there was in even minor discoveries in the field of physics". Oliphant married Rosa Louise Wilbraham, who was from Adelaide, on 23 May 1925. The two had known each other since they were teenagers. He made Rosa's wedding ring in the laboratory from a gold nugget from the Coolgardie Goldfields that his father had given him. ## Cavendish Laboratory In 1925, Oliphant heard a speech given by the New Zealand physicist Sir Ernest Rutherford, and he decided he wanted to work for him – an ambition that he fulfilled by earning a position at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge in 1927. He applied for an 1851 Exhibition Scholarship on the strength of the research he had done on mercury with Burdon. It came with a living allowance of £250 per annum (). When word came through that he had been awarded a fellowship, he wired Rutherford and Trinity College, Cambridge. Both accepted him. Rutherford's Cavendish Laboratory was carrying out some of the most advanced research into nuclear physics in the world at the time. Oliphant was invited to afternoon tea by Rutherford and Lady Rutherford. He soon met other researchers at the Cavendish Laboratory, including Patrick Blackett, Edward Bullard, James Chadwick, John Cockcroft, Charles Ellis, Peter Kapitza, Egon Bretscher, Philip Moon and Ernest Walton. There were two fellow Australians: Harrie Massey and John Keith Roberts. Oliphant would become especially close friends with Cockcroft. The laboratory had considerable talent but little money to spare, and tended to use a "string and sealing wax" approach to experimental equipment. Oliphant had to buy his own equipment, at one point spending £24 () of his allowance on a vacuum pump. Oliphant submitted his PhD thesis on The Neutralization of Positive Ions at Metal Surfaces, and the Emission of Secondary Electrons in December 1929. For his viva, he was examined by Rutherford and Ellis. Receiving his degree was the attainment of a major life goal, but it also meant the end of his 1851 Exhibition Scholarship. Oliphant secured an 1851 Senior Studentship, of which there were five awarded each year. It came with a living allowance of £450 per annum () for two years, with the possibility of a one-year extension in exceptional circumstances, which Oliphant was also awarded. A son, Geoffrey Bruce Oliphant, was born 6 October 1930, but he died of meningitis on 5 September 1933. He was interred in an unmarked grave in the Ascension Parish Burial Ground in Cambridge, alongside Timothy Cockcroft, the infant son of Sir John and Lady Elizabeth Cockcroft, who had died the year before. Unable to have more children, the Oliphants adopted a four-month-old boy, Michael John, in 1936, and a daughter, Vivian, in 1938. In 1932 and 1933, the scientists at the Cavendish Laboratory made a series of ground-breaking discoveries. Cockcroft and Walton bombarded lithium with high energy protons and succeeded in transmuting it into energetic nuclei of helium. This was one of the earliest experiments to change the atomic nucleus of one element to another by artificial means. Chadwick then devised an experiment that discovered a new, uncharged particle with roughly the same mass as the proton: the neutron. In 1933, Blackett discovered tracks in his cloud chamber that confirmed the existence of the positron and revealed the opposing spiral traces of positron–electron pair production. Oliphant followed up the work by constructing a particle accelerator that could fire protons with up to 600,000 electronvolts of energy. He soon confirmed the results of Cockcroft and Walton on the artificial disintegration of the nucleus and positive ions. He produced a series of six papers over the following two years. In 1933, the Cavendish Laboratory received a gift from the American physical chemist Gilbert N. Lewis of a few drops of heavy water. The accelerator was used to fire heavy hydrogen nuclei (deuterons, which Rutherford called diplons) at various targets. Working with Rutherford and others, Oliphant thereby discovered the nuclei of helium-3 (helions) and tritium (tritons). Oliphant used electromagnetic separation to separate the isotopes of lithium. He was the first to experimentally demonstrate nuclear fusion. He found that when deuterons reacted with nuclei of helium-3, tritium or with other deuterons, the particles that were released had far more energy than they started with. Binding energy had been liberated from inside the nucleus. Following Arthur Eddington's 1920 prediction that energy released by fusing small nuclei together could provide the energy source that powers the stars, Oliphant speculated that nuclear fusion reactions might be what powered the sun. With its higher cross section, the deuterium–tritium nuclear fusion reaction became the basis of a hydrogen bomb. Oliphant had not foreseen this development: > ... we had no idea whatever that this would one day be applied to make hydrogen bombs. Our curiosity was just curiosity about the structure of the nucleus of the atom, and the discovery of these reactions was purely, as the Americans would put it, coincidental. In 1934, Cockcroft arranged for Oliphant to become a fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, which paid about £600 a year. When Chadwick left the Cavendish Laboratory for the University of Liverpool in 1935, Oliphant and Ellis both replaced him as Rutherford's assistant director for research. The job came with a salary of £600 (). With the money from St John's, this gave him a comfortable income. Oliphant soon fitted out a new accelerator laboratory with a 1.23 MeV generator at a cost of £6,000 () while he designed an even larger 2 MeV generator. He was the first to conceive of the proton synchrotron, a new type of cyclic particle accelerator. In 1937, he was elected to the Royal Society. When he died he was its longest-serving fellow. ## University of Birmingham Samuel Walter Johnson Smith's imminent mandatory retirement at age 65 prompted a search for a new Poynting Professor of Physics at the University of Birmingham. The university wanted not just a replacement, but a well-known name, and was willing to spend lavishly in order to build up nuclear physics expertise at Birmingham. Neville Moss, its Professor of Mining Engineering and the Dean of its Faculty of Science approached Oliphant, who presented his terms. In addition to his salary of £1,300 (), he wanted the university to spend £2,000 () to upgrade the laboratory, and another £1,000 per annum () on it. And he did not wish to start until October 1937, to enable him to wrap up his work at the Cavendish Laboratory. Moss agreed to Oliphant's terms. To obtain funding for the 60-inch (150 cm) cyclotron that he wanted, Oliphant wrote to the British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, who was from Birmingham. Chamberlain took up the matter with his friend Lord Nuffield, who provided £60,000 () for the project, enough for the cyclotron, a new building to house it, and a trip to Berkeley, California, so Oliphant could confer with Ernest Lawrence, the inventor of the cyclotron. Lawrence supported the project, sending Oliphant the plans of the 60-inch (150 cm) cyclotron that he was constructing at Berkeley, and inviting Oliphant to visit him at the Radiation Laboratory. Oliphant sailed for New York on 10 December 1938, and met Lawrence in Berkeley. The two men got along very well, dining at Trader Vic's in Oakland. Oliphant was aware of the problems in building cyclotrons encountered by Chadwick at the University of Liverpool and Cockcroft at the Cavendish Laboratory, and intended to avoid these and get his cyclotron built on time and on budget by following Lawrence's specifications as closely as possible. He hoped that it would be running by Christmas 1939, but the outbreak of the Second World War quashed his hopes. The Nuffield Cyclotron would not be completed until after the war. ### Radar In 1938, Oliphant became involved with the development of radar, then still a secret. While visiting prototype radar stations, he realised that shorter-wavelength radio waves were needed urgently, especially if there was to be any chance of building a radar set small enough to fit into an aircraft. In August 1939, he took a small group to Ventnor, on the Isle of Wight, to examine the Chain Home system first hand. He obtained a grant from the Admiralty to develop radar systems with wavelengths less than 10 centimetres (4 in); the best available at the time was 150 centimetres (60 in). Oliphant's group at Birmingham worked on developing two promising devices, the klystron and the magnetron. Working with James Sayers, Oliphant managed to produce an improved version of the klystron capable of generating 400W. Meanwhile, two more members of his Birmingham team, John Randall and Harry Boot, worked on a radical new design, a cavity magnetron. By February 1940, they had an output of 400W with a wavelength of 9.8 centimetres (3.9 in), just the kind of short wavelengths needed for good airborne radars. The magnetron's power was soon increased a hundred-fold, and Birmingham concentrated on magnetron development. The first operational magnetrons were delivered in August 1941. This invention was one of the key scientific breakthroughs during the war and played a major part in defeating the German U-boats, intercepting enemy bombers, and in directing Allied bombers. In 1940, the Fall of France, and the possibility that Britain might be invaded, prompted Oliphant to send his wife and children to Australia. The Fall of Singapore in February 1942 led him to offer his services to John Madsen, the Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Sydney, and the head of the Radiophysics Laboratory at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, which was responsible for developing radar. He embarked from Glasgow for Australia on QSMV Dominion Monarch on 20 March. The voyage, part of a 46-ship convoy, was a slow one, with the convoy frequently zigzagging to avoid U-boats, and the ship did not reach Fremantle until 27 May. The Australians were already preparing to produce radar sets locally. Oliphant persuaded Professor Thomas Laby to release Eric Burhop and Leslie Martin from their work on optical munitions to work on radar, and they succeeded in building a cavity magnetron in their laboratory at the University of Melbourne in May 1942. Oliphant worked with Martin on the process of moving the magnetrons for the laboratory to the production line. Over 2,000 radar sets were produced in Australia during the war. ### Manhattan Project At the University of Birmingham in March 1940, Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls examined the theoretical issues involved in developing, producing and using atomic bombs in a paper that became known as the Frisch–Peierls memorandum. They considered what would happen to a sphere of pure uranium-235, and found that not only could a chain reaction occur, but it might require as little as 1 kilogram (2 lb) of uranium-235 to unleash the energy of hundreds of tons of TNT. The first person they showed their paper to was Oliphant, and he immediately took it to Sir Henry Tizard, the chairman of the Committee for the Scientific Survey of Air Warfare (CSSAW). As a result, a special subcommittee of the CSSAW known as the MAUD Committee was created to investigate the matter further. It was chaired by Sir George Thomson, and its original membership included Oliphant, Chadwick, Cockcroft and Moon. In its final report in July 1941, the MAUD Committee concluded that an atomic bomb was not only feasible, but might be produced as early as 1943. Great Britain was at war and authorities there thought that the development of an atomic bomb was urgent, but there was much less urgency in the United States. Oliphant was one of the people who pushed the American program into motion. On 5 August 1941, Oliphant flew to the United States in a B-24 Liberator bomber, ostensibly to discuss the radar-development program, but was assigned to find out why the United States was ignoring the findings of the MAUD Committee. He later recalled: "the minutes and reports had been sent to Lyman Briggs, who was the Director of the Uranium Committee, and we were puzzled to receive virtually no comment. I called on Briggs in Washington [DC], only to find out that this inarticulate and unimpressive man had put the reports in his safe and had not shown them to members of his committee. I was amazed and distressed." Oliphant then met with the Uranium Committee at its meeting in New York on 26 August 1941. Samuel K. Allison, a new member of the committee, was an experimental physicist and a protégé of Arthur Compton at the University of Chicago. He recalled that Oliphant "came to a meeting and said 'bomb' in no uncertain terms. He told us we must concentrate every effort on the bomb, and said we had no right to work on power plants or anything but the bomb. The bomb would cost 25 million dollars, he said, and Britain did not have the money or the manpower, so it was up to us." Allison was surprised that Briggs had kept the committee in the dark. Oliphant then travelled to Berkeley, where he met his friend Lawrence on 23 September, giving him a copy of the Frisch–Peierls memorandum. Lawrence had Robert Oppenheimer check the figures, bringing him into the project for the first time. Oliphant found another ally in Oppenheimer, and he not only managed to convince Lawrence and Oppenheimer that an atomic bomb was feasible, but inspired Lawrence to convert his 37-inch (94 cm) cyclotron into a giant mass spectrometer for electromagnetic isotope separation, a technique Oliphant had pioneered in 1934. Leo Szilard later wrote, "if Congress knew the true history of the atomic energy project, I have no doubt but that it would create a special medal to be given to meddling foreigners for distinguished services, and that Dr Oliphant would be the first to receive one." On 26 October 1942, Oliphant embarked from Melbourne, taking Rosa and the children back with him. The wartime sea voyage on the French Desirade was again a slow one, and they did not reach Glasgow until 28 February 1943. He had to leave them behind once more in November 1943 after the British Tube Alloys effort was merged with the American Manhattan Project by the Quebec Agreement, and he left for the United States as part of the British Mission. Oliphant was one of the scientists whose services the Americans were most eager to secure. Oppenheimer, who was now the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory attempted to persuade him to join the team there, but Oliphant preferred to head a team assisting his friend Lawrence at the Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley to develop the electromagnetic uranium enrichment—a vital but less overtly military part of the project. Oliphant secured the services of fellow Australian physicist Harrie Massey, who had been working for the Admiralty on magnetic mines, along with James Stayers and Stanley Duke, who had worked with him on the cavity magnetron. This initial group set out for Berkeley in a B-24 Liberator bomber in November 1943. Oliphant became Lawrence's de facto deputy, and was in charge of the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory when Lawrence was absent. Although based in Berkeley, he often visited Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where the separation plant was, and was an occasional visitor to Los Alamos. He made efforts to involve Australian scientists in the project, and had Sir David Rivett, the head of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, release Eric Burhop to work on the Manhattan Project. He briefed Stanley Bruce, the Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, on the project, and urged the Australian government to secure Australian uranium deposits. A meeting with Major General Leslie Groves, the director of the Manhattan Project, at Berkeley in September 1944, convinced Oliphant that the Americans intended to monopolise nuclear weapons after the war, restricting British research and production to Canada, and not permitting nuclear weapons technology to be shared with Australia. Characteristically, Oliphant bypassed Chadwick, the head of the British Mission, and sent a report direct to Wallace Akers, the head of the Tube Alloys Directorate in London. Akers summoned Oliphant back to London for consultation. En route, Oliphant met with Chadwick and other members of the British Mission in Washington, where the prospect of resuming an independent British project was discussed. Chadwick was adamant that the cooperation with the Americans should continue, and that Oliphant and his team should remain until the task of building an atomic bomb was finished. Akers sent Chadwick a telegram directing that Oliphant should return to the UK by April 1945. Oliphant returned to England in March 1945, and resumed his post as a professor of physics at the University of Birmingham. He was on holiday in Wales with his family when he first heard of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He was later to remark that he felt "sort of proud that the bomb had worked, and absolutely appalled at what it had done to human beings". Oliphant became a harsh critic of nuclear weapons and a member of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, saying, "I, right from the beginning, have been terribly worried by the existence of nuclear weapons and very much against their use." His wartime work would have earned him a Medal of Freedom with Gold Palm, but the Australian government vetoed this honour, as government policy at the time was not to confer honours on civilians. ## Later years in Australia In April 1946, the Prime Minister, Ben Chifley, asked Oliphant if he would be a technical advisor to the Australian delegation to the newly formed United Nations Atomic Energy Commission (UNAEC), which was debating international control of nuclear weapons. Oliphant agreed, and joined the Minister for External Affairs, H. V. Evatt and the Australian Representative at the United Nations, Paul Hasluck, to hear the Baruch Plan. The attempt at international control was unsuccessful, and no agreement was reached. Chifley and the Secretary for Post-War Reconstruction, Dr H. C. "Nugget" Coombs, also discussed with Oliphant a plan to create a new research institute that would attract the world's best scholars to Australia and lift the standard of university education nationwide. They hoped to start by attracting three of Australia's most distinguished expatriates: Oliphant, Howard Florey and Keith Hancock. It was academic suicide; Australia was far from the centres where the latest research was being carried out, and communications were much poorer at that time. But Oliphant accepted, and in 1950 returned to Australia as the first Director of the Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering at the Australian National University. Within the school he created a Department of Particle Physics, which he headed himself, a Department of Nuclear Physics under Ernest Titterton, a Department of Geophysics under John Jaeger, a Department of Astronomy under Bart Bok, a Department of Theoretical Physics under Kenneth Le Couteur and a Department of Mathematics under Bernhard Neumann. Oliphant was an advocate of nuclear weapons research. He served on the post-war Technical Committee that advised the British government on nuclear weapons, and publicly declared that Britain needed to develop its own nuclear weapons independent of the United States to "avoid the danger of becoming a lesser power". The establishment of a world-class nuclear physics research capability in Australia was intimately linked with the government's plans to develop nuclear power and weapons. Locating the new research institute in Canberra would place it close to the Snowy Mountains Scheme, which was planned to be the centrepiece of a new nuclear power industry. Oliphant hoped that Britain would assist with the Australian program, and the British were interested in cooperation because Australia had uranium ore and weapons testing sites, and there were concerns that Australia was becoming too closely aligned with the United States. Arrangements were made for Australian scientists to be seconded to the British Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell, but the close cooperation he sought was stymied by security concerns arising from Britain's commitments to the United States. Oliphant envisaged Canberra one day becoming a university town like Oxford or Cambridge. A threat to the future of the university arose in the wake of the 1949 election, when the Liberal Party of Australia led by Robert Menzies won. Many Liberals were opposed to the university, which they saw as an extravagance. Menzies defended it, but in 1954 he announced that it had entered a period of consolidation, with a funding ceiling, ending the possibility of successful competition with universities in Europe and North America. A further blow came in 1959, when the Menzies government amalgamated it with the Canberra University College. Henceforth, it would no longer be a research university, but a regular one, with responsibility for teaching undergraduates. Nonetheless, parts of the university stayed committed to the old mission, and the ANU remained a university where research is central to its activities. Despite the setbacks, by 2014 the vision of Canberra as a university town would be well on its way to becoming a reality. In September 1951, Oliphant applied for a visa to travel to the United States for a nuclear physics conference in Chicago. The visa was not refused, nor was Oliphant accused of subversive activities, but neither was it issued. This was the height of the Red Scare. The American McCarran Act restricted travel to the United States, and in Australia the Menzies government was attempting to ban the Communist Party, and was not inclined to support Oliphant against the American government. A subsequent request to travel to Canada via Hawaii in September 1954 was refused by the United States Department of State. Although Oliphant was granted a special waiver that allowed him to transit the US, he preferred to cancel the trip rather than accept this humiliation. The Menzies government subsequently excluded him from participating in or observing the British nuclear tests at Maralinga, nor was he allowed access to classified nuclear information for fear of antagonising the US. In 1955, Oliphant initiated the design and construction of a 500 megajoule homopolar generator (HPG), the world's largest. This massive machine contained three discs 3.5 metres (11 ft) in diameter and weighing 38 tonnes (37 long tons). He obtained £40,000 () initial funding from the Australian Atomic Energy Commission. Completed in 1963, the HPG was intended to be the power source for a synchrotron, but this was not built. Instead, it was used to power the LT-4 Tokamak and a large-scale railgun that was used as a scientific instrument for experiments with plasma physics. It was decommissioned in 1985. Oliphant founded the Australian Academy of Science in 1954, teaming up with David Martyn to overcome the obstacles that had frustrated previous attempts. Oliphant was its president until 1956. Deciding that the Academy of Science should have its own special building, Oliphant raised the required money from donations. As chairman of the Building Design Committee, he selected and oversaw the construction of one of Canberra's most striking architectural designs. He also delivered the Academy of Science's 1961 Matthew Flinders Lecture, on the subject of "Faraday in his time and today". Oliphant retired as Professor of Particle Physics in 1964, and was appointed Professor of Ionised Gases. In this chair he produced his first research papers since the 1930s. He was appointed Professor Emeritus in 1967. He was invited by the premier, Don Dunstan, to become the Governor of South Australia, a position he held from 1971 to 1976. During this period, he caused great concern to Dunstan when he strongly supported the decision of the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, in the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis. He assisted in the founding of the Australian Democrats political party, and he was the chairman of the meeting in Melbourne in 1977 at which the party was launched. The Age reported in 1981 that "Sir Mark Oliphant warned the Dunstan Government of the 'grave dangers' of appointing an Australian Aborigine, Sir Douglas Nicholls, to succeed him as South Australia's Governor". Oliphant had secretly written, "[t]here is something inherent in the personality of the Aborigine which makes it difficult for him to adapt fully to the ways of the white man." The authors of Oliphant's biography noted that "that was the prevailing attitude of almost the entire white population of Australia until well after World War II". Oliphant was created a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 1959, and was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 1977 "for eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree in the field of public service and in service to the crown". Late in life, Oliphant watched his wife, Rosa, suffer before her death in 1987, and he became an advocate for voluntary euthanasia. ## Death On 14 July 2000, he died in Canberra, at the age of 98. His body was cremated. His daughter Vivian died from a brain tumour in 2008, after his son Michael died from colon cancer in 1971. ## Legacy Places and things named in honour of Oliphant include the Oliphant Building at the Australian National University, the Mark Oliphant Conservation Park, a South Australian high schools science competition, the Oliphant Wing of the Physics Building at the University of Adelaide, a school in the Adelaide suburb of Munno Para West, and a bridge on Parkes Way in Canberra near his old laboratory at the ANU. His papers are in the Adolph Basser Library at the Australian Academy of Science, and the Barr Smith Library at the University of Adelaide. Oliphant's nephew, Pat Oliphant, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist. His daughter-in-law, Monica Oliphant, is a distinguished Australian physicist specialising in the field of renewable energy, for which she was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2015. ## Honours and awards - 1937 Elected Fellow of the Royal Society - 1943 Awarded Hughes Medal by the Royal Society - 1946 Awarded Silvanius Thomson Medal, Institute of Radiology - 1948 Awarded Faraday Medal by the Institution of Engineers - 1954 Elected (Foundation) Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science - 1954 Elected (Foundation) President of the Australian Academy of Science - 1955 Invited to deliver the Bakerian Lecture by the Royal Society - 1955 Invited to deliver the Rutherford Memorial Lecture by the Royal Society - 1956 Awarded Galathea Medal by King Frederik IX of Denmark - 1959 Created Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire - 1961 Awarded Matthew Flinders Medal and Lecture - 1976 Inducted as first Honorary Fellow and a Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering - 1977 Appointed Companion of the Order of Australia ## See also - Oliphant brothers

Archimedes

Greek mathematician and physicist (c.287–c.212 BC)

Archimedes of Syracuse (/ˌɑːrkɪˈmiːdiːz/ AR-kim-EE-deez; c. 287 – c. 212 BC) was an Ancient Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse in Sicily. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. Regarded as the greatest mathematician of ancient history, and one of the greatest of all time, Archimedes anticipated modern calculus and analysis by applying the concept of the infinitely small and the method of exhaustion to derive and rigorously prove a range of geometrical theorems. These include the area of a circle, the surface area and volume of a sphere, the area of an ellipse, the area under a parabola, the volume of a segment of a paraboloid of revolution, the volume of a segment of a hyperboloid of revolution, and the area of a spiral. Archimedes' other mathematical achievements include deriving an approximation of pi (π), defining and investigating the Archimedean spiral, and devising a system using exponentiation for expressing very large numbers. He was also one of the first to apply mathematics to physical phenomena, working on statics and hydrostatics. Archimedes' achievements in this area include a proof of the law of the lever, the widespread use of the concept of center of gravity, and the enunciation of the law of buoyancy known as Archimedes' principle. He is also credited with designing innovative machines, such as his screw pump, compound pulleys, and defensive war machines to protect his native Syracuse from invasion. Archimedes died during the siege of Syracuse, when he was killed by a Roman soldier despite orders that he should not be harmed. Cicero describes visiting Archimedes' tomb, which was surmounted by a sphere and a cylinder that Archimedes requested be placed there to represent his most valued mathematical discovery. Unlike his inventions, Archimedes' mathematical writings were little known in antiquity. Alexandrian mathematicians read and quoted him, but the first comprehensive compilation was not made until c. 530 AD by Isidore of Miletus in Byzantine Constantinople, while Eutocius' commentaries on Archimedes' works in the same century opened them to wider readership for the first time. The relatively few copies of Archimedes' written work that survived through the Middle Ages were an influential source of ideas for scientists during the Renaissance and again in the 17th century, while the discovery in 1906 of previously lost works by Archimedes in the Archimedes Palimpsest has provided new insights into how he obtained mathematical results. ## Biography ### Early life Archimedes was born c. 287 BC in the seaport city of Syracuse, Sicily, at that time a self-governing colony in Magna Graecia. The date of birth is based on a statement by the Byzantine Greek scholar John Tzetzes that Archimedes lived for 75 years before his death in 212 BC. Plutarch wrote in his Parallel Lives that Archimedes was related to King Hiero II, the ruler of Syracuse, although Cicero suggests he was of humble origin. In the Sand-Reckoner, Archimedes gives his father's name as Phidias, an astronomer about whom nothing else is known. A biography of Archimedes was written by his friend Heracleides, but this work has been lost, leaving the details of his life obscure. It is unknown, for instance, whether he ever married or had children, or if he ever visited Alexandria, Egypt, during his youth. From his surviving written works, it is clear that he maintained collegial relations with scholars based there, including his friend Conon of Samos and the head librarian Eratosthenes of Cyrene. ### Career The standard versions of Archimedes' life were written long after his death by Greek and Roman historians. The earliest reference to Archimedes occurs in The Histories by Polybius (c. 200–118 BC), written about 70 years after his death. It sheds little light on Archimedes as a person, and focuses on the war machines that he is said to have built in order to defend the city from the Romans. Polybius remarks how, during the Second Punic War, Syracuse switched allegiances from Rome to Carthage, resulting in a military campaign under the command of Marcus Claudius Marcellus and Appius Claudius Pulcher, who besieged the city from 213 to 212 BC. He notes that the Romans underestimated Syracuse's defenses, and mentions several machines Archimedes designed, including improved catapults, crane-like machines that could be swung around in an arc, and other stone-throwers. Although the Romans ultimately captured the city, they suffered considerable losses due to Archimedes' inventiveness. Cicero (106–43 BC) mentions Archimedes in some of his works. While serving as a quaestor in Sicily, Cicero found what was presumed to be Archimedes' tomb near the Agrigentine gate in Syracuse, in a neglected condition and overgrown with bushes. Cicero had the tomb cleaned up and was able to see the carving and read some of the verses that had been added as an inscription. The tomb carried a sculpture illustrating Archimedes' favorite mathematical proof, that the volume and surface area of the sphere are two-thirds that of an enclosing cylinder including its bases. He also mentions that Marcellus brought to Rome two planetariums Archimedes built. The Roman historian Livy (59 BC–17 AD) retells Polybius's story of the capture of Syracuse and Archimedes' role in it. ### Death Plutarch (45–119 AD) provides at least two accounts on how Archimedes died after Syracuse was taken. According to the most popular account, Archimedes was contemplating a mathematical diagram when the city was captured. A Roman soldier commanded him to come and meet Marcellus, but he declined, saying that he had to finish working on the problem. This enraged the soldier, who killed Archimedes with his sword. Another story has Archimedes carrying mathematical instruments before being killed because a soldier thought they were valuable items. Marcellus was reportedly angered by Archimedes' death, as he considered him a valuable scientific asset (he called Archimedes "a geometrical Briareus") and had ordered that he should not be harmed. The last words attributed to Archimedes are "Do not disturb my circles" (Latin, "Noli turbare circulos meos"; Katharevousa Greek, "μὴ μου τοὺς κύκλους τάραττε"), a reference to the mathematical drawing that he was supposedly studying when disturbed by the Roman soldier. There is no reliable evidence that Archimedes uttered these words and they do not appear in Plutarch's account. A similar quotation is found in the work of Valerius Maximus (fl. 30 AD), who wrote in Memorable Doings and Sayings, "" ("... but protecting the dust with his hands, said 'I beg of you, do not disturb this'"). ## Discoveries and inventions ### Archimedes' principle The most widely known anecdote about Archimedes tells of how he invented a method for determining the volume of an object with an irregular shape. According to Vitruvius, a crown for a temple had been made for King Hiero II of Syracuse, who supplied the pure gold to be used. The crown was likely made in the shape of a votive wreath. Archimedes was asked to determine whether some silver had been substituted by the goldsmith without damaging the crown, so he could not melt it down into a regularly shaped body in order to calculate its density. In this account, Archimedes noticed while taking a bath that the level of the water in the tub rose as he got in, and realized that this effect could be used to determine the golden crown's volume. Archimedes was so excited by this discovery that he took to the streets naked, having forgotten to dress, crying "Eureka\!" (, heúrēka\!, lit. 'I have found [it]\!'). For practical purposes water is incompressible, so the submerged crown would displace an amount of water equal to its own volume. By dividing the mass of the crown by the volume of water displaced, its density could be obtained; if cheaper and less dense metals had been added, the density would be lower than that of gold. Archimedes found that this is what had happened, proving that silver had been mixed in. The story of the golden crown does not appear anywhere in Archimedes' known works. The practicality of the method described has been called into question due to the extreme accuracy that would be required to measure water displacement. Archimedes may have instead sought a solution that applied the hydrostatics principle known as Archimedes' principle, found in his treatise On Floating Bodies: a body immersed in a fluid experiences a buoyant force equal to the weight of the fluid it displaces. Using this principle, it would have been possible to compare the density of the crown to that of pure gold by balancing it on a scale with a pure gold reference sample of the same weight, then immersing the apparatus in water. The difference in density between the two samples would cause the scale to tip accordingly. Galileo Galilei, who invented a hydrostatic balance in 1586 inspired by Archimedes' work, considered it "probable that this method is the same that Archimedes followed, since, besides being very accurate, it is based on demonstrations found by Archimedes himself." ### Law of the lever While Archimedes did not invent the lever, he gave a mathematical proof of the principle involved in his work On the Equilibrium of Planes. Earlier descriptions of the principle of the lever are found in a work by Euclid and in the Mechanical Problems, belonging to the Peripatetic school of the followers of Aristotle, the authorship of which has been attributed by some to Archytas. There are several, often conflicting, reports regarding Archimedes' feats using the lever to lift very heavy objects. Plutarch describes how Archimedes designed block-and-tackle pulley systems, allowing sailors to use the principle of leverage to lift objects that would otherwise have been too heavy to move. According to Pappus of Alexandria, Archimedes' work on levers and his understanding of mechanical advantage caused him to remark: "Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth" (). Olympiodorus later attributed the same boast to Archimedes' invention of the baroulkos, a kind of windlass, rather than the lever. ### Archimedes' screw A large part of Archimedes' work in engineering probably arose from fulfilling the needs of his home city of Syracuse. Athenaeus of Naucratis quotes a certain Moschion in a description on how King Hiero II commissioned the design of a huge ship, the Syracusia, which could be used for luxury travel, carrying supplies, and as a display of naval power. The Syracusia is said to have been the largest ship built in classical antiquity and, according to Moschion's account, it was launched by Archimedes. The ship presumably was capable of carrying 600 people and included garden decorations, a gymnasium, and a temple dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite among its facilities. The account also mentions that, in order to remove any potential water leaking through the hull, a device with a revolving screw-shaped blade inside a cylinder was designed by Archimedes. Archimedes' screw was turned by hand, and could also be used to transfer water from a low-lying body of water into irrigation canals. The screw is still in use today for pumping liquids and granulated solids such as coal and grain. Described by Vitruvius, Archimedes' device may have been an improvement on a screw pump that was used to irrigate the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The world's first seagoing steamship with a screw propeller was the SS Archimedes, which was launched in 1839 and named in honor of Archimedes and his work on the screw. ### Archimedes' claw Archimedes is said to have designed a claw as a weapon to defend the city of Syracuse. Also known as "", the claw consisted of a crane-like arm from which a large metal grappling hook was suspended. When the claw was dropped onto an attacking ship the arm would swing upwards, lifting the ship out of the water and possibly sinking it. There have been modern experiments to test the feasibility of the claw, and in 2005 a television documentary entitled Superweapons of the Ancient World built a version of the claw and concluded that it was a workable device. Archimedes has also been credited with improving the power and accuracy of the catapult, and with inventing the odometer during the First Punic War. The odometer was described as a cart with a gear mechanism that dropped a ball into a container after each mile traveled. ### Heat ray As legend has it, Archimedes arranged mirrors as a parabolic reflector to burn ships attacking Syracuse using focused sunlight. While there is no extant contemporary evidence of this feat and modern scholars believe it did not happen, Archimedes may have written a work on mirrors entitled Catoptrica, and Lucian and Galen, writing in the second century AD, mentioned that during the siege of Syracuse Archimedes had burned enemy ships. Nearly four hundred years later, Anthemius, despite skepticism, tried to reconstruct Archimedes' hypothetical reflector geometry. The purported device, sometimes called "Archimedes' heat ray", has been the subject of an ongoing debate about its credibility since the Renaissance. René Descartes rejected it as false, while modern researchers have attempted to recreate the effect using only the means that would have been available to Archimedes, mostly with negative results. It has been suggested that a large array of highly polished bronze or copper shields acting as mirrors could have been employed to focus sunlight onto a ship, but the overall effect would have been blinding, dazzling, or distracting the crew of the ship rather than fire. Using modern materials and larger scale, sunlight-concentrating solar furnaces can reach very high temperatures, and are sometimes used for generating electricity. ### Astronomical instruments Archimedes discusses astronomical measurements of the Earth, Sun, and Moon, as well as Aristarchus' heliocentric model of the universe, in the Sand-Reckoner. Without the use of either trigonometry or a table of chords, Archimedes determines the Sun's apparent diameter by first describing the procedure and instrument used to make observations (a straight rod with pegs or grooves), applying correction factors to these measurements, and finally giving the result in the form of upper and lower bounds to account for observational error. Ptolemy, quoting Hipparchus, also references Archimedes' solstice observations in the Almagest. This would make Archimedes the first known Greek to have recorded multiple solstice dates and times in successive years. Cicero's De re publica portrays a fictional conversation taking place in 129 BC. After the capture of Syracuse in the Second Punic War, Marcellus is said to have taken back to Rome two mechanisms which were constructed by Archimedes and which showed the motion of the Sun, Moon and five planets. Cicero also mentions similar mechanisms designed by Thales of Miletus and Eudoxus of Cnidus. The dialogue says that Marcellus kept one of the devices as his only personal loot from Syracuse, and donated the other to the Temple of Virtue in Rome. Marcellus's mechanism was demonstrated, according to Cicero, by Gaius Sulpicius Gallus to Lucius Furius Philus, who described it thus: > Hanc sphaeram Gallus cum moveret, fiebat ut soli luna totidem conversionibus in aere illo quot diebus in ipso caelo succederet, ex quo et in caelo sphaera solis fieret eadem illa defectio, et incideret luna tum in eam metam quae esset umbra terrae, cum sol e regione. When Gallus moved the globe, it happened that the Moon followed the Sun by as many turns on that bronze contrivance as in the sky itself, from which also in the sky the Sun's globe became to have that same eclipse, and the Moon came then to that position which was its shadow on the Earth when the Sun was in line. This is a description of a small planetarium. Pappus of Alexandria reports on a now lost treatise by Archimedes dealing with the construction of these mechanisms entitled On Sphere-Making. Modern research in this area has been focused on the Antikythera mechanism, another device built c. 100 BC probably designed with a similar purpose. Constructing mechanisms of this kind would have required a sophisticated knowledge of differential gearing. This was once thought to have been beyond the range of the technology available in ancient times, but the discovery of the Antikythera mechanism in 1902 has confirmed that devices of this kind were known to the ancient Greeks. ## Mathematics While he is often regarded as a designer of mechanical devices, Archimedes also made contributions to the field of mathematics. Plutarch wrote that Archimedes "placed his whole affection and ambition in those purer speculations where there can be no reference to the vulgar needs of life", though some scholars believe this may be a mischaracterization. ### Method of exhaustion Archimedes was able to use indivisibles (a precursor to infinitesimals) in a way that is similar to modern integral calculus. Through proof by contradiction (reductio ad absurdum), he could give answers to problems to an arbitrary degree of accuracy, while specifying the limits within which the answer lay. This technique is known as the method of exhaustion, and he employed it to approximate the areas of figures and the value of π. In Measurement of a Circle, he did this by drawing a larger regular hexagon outside a circle then a smaller regular hexagon inside the circle, and progressively doubling the number of sides of each regular polygon, calculating the length of a side of each polygon at each step. As the number of sides increases, it becomes a more accurate approximation of a circle. After four such steps, when the polygons had 96 sides each, he was able to determine that the value of π lay between 3⁠1/7⁠ (approx. 3.1429) and 3⁠10/71⁠ (approx. 3.1408), consistent with its actual value of approximately 3.1416. He also proved that the area of a circle was equal to π multiplied by the square of the radius of the circle (\(\pi r^2\)). ### Archimedean property In On the Sphere and Cylinder, Archimedes postulates that any magnitude when added to itself enough times will exceed any given magnitude. Today this is known as the Archimedean property of real numbers. Archimedes gives the value of the square root of 3 as lying between ⁠265/153⁠ (approximately 1.7320261) and ⁠1351/780⁠ (approximately 1.7320512) in Measurement of a Circle. The actual value is approximately 1.7320508, making this a very accurate estimate. He introduced this result without offering any explanation of how he had obtained it. This aspect of the work of Archimedes caused John Wallis to remark that he was: "as it were of set purpose to have covered up the traces of his investigation as if he had grudged posterity the secret of his method of inquiry while he wished to extort from them assent to his results." It is possible that he used an iterative procedure to calculate these values. ### The infinite series In Quadrature of the Parabola, Archimedes proved that the area enclosed by a parabola and a straight line is ⁠4/3⁠ times the area of a corresponding inscribed triangle as shown in the figure at right. He expressed the solution to the problem as an infinite geometric series with the common ratio ⁠1/4⁠: - \(\sum_{n=0}^\infty 4^{-n} = 1 + 4^{-1} + 4^{-2} + 4^{-3} + \cdots = {4\over 3}. \;\) If the first term in this series is the area of the triangle, then the second is the sum of the areas of two triangles whose bases are the two smaller secant lines, and whose third vertex is where the line that is parallel to the parabola's axis and that passes through the midpoint of the base intersects the parabola, and so on. This proof uses a variation of the series 1/4 + 1/16 + 1/64 + 1/256 + · · · which sums to ⁠1/3⁠. ### Myriad of myriads In The Sand Reckoner, Archimedes set out to calculate a number that was greater than the grains of sand needed to fill the universe. In doing so, he challenged the notion that the number of grains of sand was too large to be counted. He wrote: > There are some, King Gelo, who think that the number of the sand is infinite in multitude; and I mean by the sand not only that which exists about Syracuse and the rest of Sicily but also that which is found in every region whether inhabited or uninhabited. To solve the problem, Archimedes devised a system of counting based on the myriad. The word itself derives from the Greek , for the number 10,000. He proposed a number system using powers of a myriad of myriads (100 million, i.e., 10,000 x 10,000) and concluded that the number of grains of sand required to fill the universe would be 8 vigintillion, or 8×10⁶³. ## Writings The works of Archimedes were written in Doric Greek, the dialect of ancient Syracuse. Many written works by Archimedes have not survived or are only extant in heavily edited fragments; at least seven of his treatises are known to have existed due to references made by other authors. Pappus of Alexandria mentions On Sphere-Making and another work on polyhedra, while Theon of Alexandria quotes a remark about refraction from the now-lost Catoptrica. Archimedes made his work known through correspondence with mathematicians in Alexandria. The writings of Archimedes were first collected by the Byzantine Greek architect Isidore of Miletus (c. 530 AD), while commentaries on the works of Archimedes written by Eutocius in the same century helped bring his work to a wider audience. Archimedes' work was translated into Arabic by Thābit ibn Qurra (836–901 AD), and into Latin via Arabic by Gerard of Cremona (c. 1114–1187). Direct Greek to Latin translations were later done by William of Moerbeke (c. 1215–1286) and Iacobus Cremonensis (c. 1400–1453). During the Renaissance, the Editio princeps (First Edition) was published in Basel in 1544 by Johann Herwagen with the works of Archimedes in Greek and Latin. ### Surviving works The following are ordered chronologically based on new terminological and historical criteria set by Knorr (1978) and Sato (1986). #### Measurement of a Circle This is a short work consisting of three propositions. It is written in the form of a correspondence with Dositheus of Pelusium, who was a student of Conon of Samos. In Proposition II, Archimedes gives an approximation of the value of pi (π), showing that it is greater than ⁠223/71⁠ (3.1408...) and less than ⁠22/7⁠ (3.1428...). #### The Sand Reckoner In this treatise, also known as Psammites, Archimedes finds a number that is greater than the grains of sand needed to fill the universe. This book mentions the heliocentric theory of the solar system proposed by Aristarchus of Samos, as well as contemporary ideas about the size of the Earth and the distance between various celestial bodies. By using a system of numbers based on powers of the myriad, Archimedes concludes that the number of grains of sand required to fill the universe is 8×10⁶³ in modern notation. The introductory letter states that Archimedes' father was an astronomer named Phidias. The Sand Reckoner is the only surviving work in which Archimedes discusses his views on astronomy. #### On the Equilibrium of Planes There are two books to On the Equilibrium of Planes: the first contains seven postulates and fifteen propositions, while the second book contains ten propositions. In the first book, Archimedes proves the law of the lever, which states that: > Magnitudes are in equilibrium at distances reciprocally proportional to their weights. Archimedes uses the principles derived to calculate the areas and centers of gravity of various geometric figures including triangles, parallelograms and parabolas. #### Quadrature of the Parabola In this work of 24 propositions addressed to Dositheus, Archimedes proves by two methods that the area enclosed by a parabola and a straight line is 4/3 the area of a triangle with equal base and height. He achieves this in one of his proofs by calculating the value of a geometric series that sums to infinity with the ratio 1/4. #### On the Sphere and Cylinder In this two-volume treatise addressed to Dositheus, Archimedes obtains the result of which he was most proud, namely the relationship between a sphere and a circumscribed cylinder of the same height and diameter. The volume is ⁠4/3⁠πr³ for the sphere, and 2πr³ for the cylinder. The surface area is 4πr² for the sphere, and 6πr² for the cylinder (including its two bases), where r is the radius of the sphere and cylinder. #### On Spirals This work of 28 propositions is also addressed to Dositheus. The treatise defines what is now called the Archimedean spiral. It is the locus of points corresponding to the locations over time of a point moving away from a fixed point with a constant speed along a line which rotates with constant angular velocity. Equivalently, in modern polar coordinates (r, θ), it can be described by the equation \(\, r=a+b\theta\) with real numbers a and b. This is an early example of a mechanical curve (a curve traced by a moving point) considered by a Greek mathematician. #### On Conoids and Spheroids This is a work in 32 propositions addressed to Dositheus. In this treatise Archimedes calculates the areas and volumes of sections of cones, spheres, and paraboloids. #### On Floating Bodies There are two books of On Floating Bodies. In the first book, Archimedes spells out the law of equilibrium of fluids and proves that water will adopt a spherical form around a center of gravity. This may have been an attempt at explaining the theory of contemporary Greek astronomers such as Eratosthenes that the Earth is round. The fluids described by Archimedes are not self-gravitating since he assumes the existence of a point towards which all things fall in order to derive the spherical shape. Archimedes principle of buoyancy is given in this work, stated as follows: > Any body wholly or partially immersed in fluid experiences an upthrust equal to, but opposite in direction to, the weight of the fluid displaced. In the second part, he calculates the equilibrium positions of sections of paraboloids. This was probably an idealization of the shapes of ships' hulls. Some of his sections float with the base under water and the summit above water, similar to the way that icebergs float. #### Ostomachion Also known as Loculus of Archimedes or Archimedes' Box, this is a dissection puzzle similar to a Tangram, and the treatise describing it was found in more complete form in the Archimedes Palimpsest. Archimedes calculates the areas of the 14 pieces which can be assembled to form a square. Reviel Netz of Stanford University argued in 2003 that Archimedes was attempting to determine how many ways the pieces could be assembled into the shape of a square. Netz calculates that the pieces can be made into a square 17,152 ways. The number of arrangements is 536 when solutions that are equivalent by rotation and reflection are excluded. The puzzle represents an example of an early problem in combinatorics. The origin of the puzzle's name is unclear, and it has been suggested that it is taken from the Ancient Greek word for "throat" or "gullet", stomachos (στόμαχος). Ausonius calls the puzzle , a Greek compound word formed from the roots of () and (). #### The cattle problem Gotthold Ephraim Lessing discovered this work in a Greek manuscript consisting of a 44-line poem in the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel, Germany in 1773. It is addressed to Eratosthenes and the mathematicians in Alexandria. Archimedes challenges them to count the numbers of cattle in the Herd of the Sun by solving a number of simultaneous Diophantine equations. There is a more difficult version of the problem in which some of the answers are required to be square numbers. A. Amthor first solved this version of the problem in 1880, and the answer is a very large number, approximately 7.760271×10²⁰⁶⁵⁴⁴. #### The Method of Mechanical Theorems This treatise was thought lost until the discovery of the Archimedes Palimpsest in 1906. In this work Archimedes uses indivisibles, and shows how breaking up a figure into an infinite number of infinitely small parts can be used to determine its area or volume. He may have considered this method lacking in formal rigor, so he also used the method of exhaustion to derive the results. As with The Cattle Problem, The Method of Mechanical Theorems was written in the form of a letter to Eratosthenes in Alexandria. ### Apocryphal works Archimedes' Book of Lemmas or Liber Assumptorum is a treatise with 15 propositions on the nature of circles. The earliest known copy of the text is in Arabic. T. L. Heath and Marshall Clagett argued that it cannot have been written by Archimedes in its current form, since it quotes Archimedes, suggesting modification by another author. The Lemmas may be based on an earlier work by Archimedes that is now lost. It has also been claimed that the formula for calculating the area of a triangle from the length of its sides was known to Archimedes, though its first appearance is in the work of Heron of Alexandria in the 1st century AD. Other questionable attributions to Archimedes' work include the Latin poem Carmen de ponderibus et mensuris (4th or 5th century), which describes the use of a hydrostatic balance, to solve the problem of the crown, and the 12th-century text Mappae clavicula, which contains instructions on how to perform assaying of metals by calculating their specific gravities. ### Archimedes Palimpsest The foremost document containing Archimedes' work is the Archimedes Palimpsest. In 1906, the Danish professor Johan Ludvig Heiberg visited Constantinople to examine a 174-page goatskin parchment of prayers, written in the 13th century, after reading a short transcription published seven years earlier by Papadopoulos-Kerameus. He confirmed that it was indeed a palimpsest, a document with text that had been written over an erased older work. Palimpsests were created by scraping the ink from existing works and reusing them, a common practice in the Middle Ages, as vellum was expensive. The older works in the palimpsest were identified by scholars as 10th-century copies of previously lost treatises by Archimedes. The parchment spent hundreds of years in a monastery library in Constantinople before being sold to a private collector in the 1920s. On 29 October 1998, it was sold at auction to an anonymous buyer for a total of $2.2 million. The palimpsest holds seven treatises, including the only surviving copy of On Floating Bodies in the original Greek. It is the only known source of The Method of Mechanical Theorems, referred to by Suidas and thought to have been lost forever. Stomachion was also discovered in the palimpsest, with a more complete analysis of the puzzle than had been found in previous texts. The palimpsest was stored at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, where it was subjected to a range of modern tests including the use of ultraviolet and X-ray light to read the overwritten text. It has since returned to its anonymous owner. The treatises in the Archimedes Palimpsest include: - On the Equilibrium of Planes - On Spirals - Measurement of a Circle - On the Sphere and Cylinder - On Floating Bodies - The Method of Mechanical Theorems - Stomachion - Speeches by the 4th century BC politician Hypereides - A commentary on Aristotle's Categories - Other works ## Legacy Sometimes called the father of mathematics and mathematical physics, Archimedes had a wide influence on mathematics and science. ### Mathematics and physics Historians of science and mathematics almost universally agree that Archimedes was the finest mathematician from antiquity. Eric Temple Bell, for instance, wrote: > Any list of the three "greatest" mathematicians of all history would include the name of Archimedes. The other two usually associated with him are Newton and Gauss. Some, considering the relative wealth—or poverty—of mathematics and physical science in the respective ages in which these giants lived, and estimating their achievements against the background of their times, would put Archimedes first. Likewise, Alfred North Whitehead and George F. Simmons said of Archimedes: > ... in the year 1500 Europe knew less than Archimedes who died in the year 212 BC ... > If we consider what all other men accomplished in mathematics and physics, on every continent and in every civilization, from the beginning of time down to the seventeenth century in Western Europe, the achievements of Archimedes outweighs it all. He was a great civilization all by himself. Reviel Netz, Suppes Professor in Greek Mathematics and Astronomy at Stanford University and an expert in Archimedes notes: > And so, since Archimedes led more than anyone else to the formation of the calculus and since he was the pioneer of the application of mathematics to the physical world, it turns out that Western science is but a series of footnotes to Archimedes. Thus, it turns out that Archimedes is the most important scientist who ever lived. Leonardo da Vinci repeatedly expressed admiration for Archimedes, and attributed his invention Architonnerre to Archimedes. Galileo called him "superhuman" and "my master", while Huygens said, "I think Archimedes is comparable to no one", consciously emulating him in his early work. Leibniz said, "He who understands Archimedes and Apollonius will admire less the achievements of the foremost men of later times". Gauss's heroes were Archimedes and Newton, and Moritz Cantor, who studied under Gauss in the University of Göttingen, reported that he once remarked in conversation that "there had been only three epoch-making mathematicians: Archimedes, Newton, and Eisenstein". The inventor Nikola Tesla praised him, saying: > Archimedes was my ideal. I admired the works of artists, but to my mind, they were only shadows and semblances. The inventor, I thought, gives to the world creations which are palpable, which live and work. ### Honors and commemorations There is a crater on the Moon named Archimedes () in his honor, as well as a lunar mountain range, the Montes Archimedes (). The Fields Medal for outstanding achievement in mathematics carries a portrait of Archimedes, along with a carving illustrating his proof on the sphere and the cylinder. The inscription around the head of Archimedes is a quote attributed to 1st century AD poet Manilius, which reads in Latin: Transire suum pectus mundoque potiri ("Rise above oneself and grasp the world"). Archimedes has appeared on postage stamps issued by East Germany (1973), Greece (1983), Italy (1983), Nicaragua (1971), San Marino (1982), and Spain (1963). The exclamation of Eureka\! attributed to Archimedes is the state motto of California. In this instance, the word refers to the discovery of gold near Sutter's Mill in 1848 which sparked the California gold rush. ## See also ### Concepts - Arbelos - Archimedean point - Archimedes' axiom - Archimedes number - Archimedes paradox - Archimedean solid - Archimedes' twin circles - Methods of computing square roots - Salinon - Steam cannon ### People - Diocles - Pseudo-Archimedes - Zhang Heng

Golding Bird

British medical doctor

Golding Bird (9 December 1814 – 27 October 1854) was a British medical doctor and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. He became a great authority on kidney diseases and published a comprehensive paper on urinary deposits in 1844. He was also notable for his work in related sciences, especially the medical uses of electricity and electrochemistry. From 1836, he lectured at Guy's Hospital, a well-known teaching hospital in London and now part of King's College London, and published a popular textbook on science for medical students called Elements of Natural Philosophy. Having developed an interest in chemistry while still a child, largely through self-study, Bird was far enough advanced to deliver lectures to his fellow pupils at school. He later applied this knowledge to medicine and did much research on the chemistry of urine and of kidney stones. In 1842, he was the first to describe oxaluria, a condition which leads to the formation of a particular kind of stone. Bird, who was a member of the London Electrical Society, was innovative in the field of the medical use of electricity, designing much of his own equipment. In his time, electrical treatment had acquired a bad name in the medical profession through its widespread use by quack practitioners. Bird made efforts to oppose this quackery, and was instrumental in bringing medical electrotherapy into the mainstream. He was quick to adopt new instruments of all kinds; he invented a new variant of the Daniell cell in 1837 and made important discoveries in electrometallurgy with it. He was not only innovative in the electrical field, but he also designed a flexible stethoscope, and in 1840 published the first description of such an instrument. A devout Christian, Bird believed Bible study and prayer were just as important to medical students as their academic studies. He endeavoured to promote Christianity among medical students and encouraged other professionals to do likewise. To this end, Bird was responsible for the founding of the Christian Medical Association, although it did not become active until after his death. Bird had lifelong poor health and died at the age of 39. ## Life and career Bird was born in Downham, Norfolk, England, on 9 December 1814. His father (also named Golding Bird) had been an officer in the Inland Revenue in Ireland, and his mother, Marrianne, was Irish. He was precocious and ambitious, but childhood rheumatic fever and endocarditis left him with poor posture and lifelong frail health. He received a classical education when he was sent with his brother Frederic to stay with a clergyman in Wallingford, where he developed a lifelong habit of self-study. From the age of 12, he was educated in London, at a private school that did not promote science and provided only a classical education. Bird, who seems to have been far ahead of his teachers in science, gave lectures in chemistry and botany to his fellow pupils. He had four younger siblings, of whom his brother Frederic also became a physician and published on botany. In 1829, when he was 14, Bird left school to serve an apprenticeship with the apothecary William Pretty in Burton Crescent, London. He completed it in 1833 and was licensed to practise by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries at Apothecaries' Hall in 1836. He received this licence without examination because of the reputation he had gained as a student at Guy's, the London teaching hospital where he had become a medical student in 1832 while still working at his apprenticeship. At Guy's he was influenced by Thomas Addison, who recognised his talents early on. Bird was an ambitious and very capable student. Early in his career he became a Fellow of the Senior Physical Society, for which a thesis was required. He received prizes for medicine, obstetrics, and ophthalmic surgery at Guy's and the silver medal for botany at Apothecaries' Hall. Around 1839 to 1840, he worked on breast disease at Guy's as an assistant to Sir Astley Cooper. Bird graduated from the University of St Andrews with an MD in 1838 and an MA in 1840 while continuing to work in London. St Andrews required no residence or examination for the MD. Bird obtained his degree by submitting testimonials from qualified colleagues, which was common practice at the time. Once qualified in 1838, at the age of 23, he entered general practice with a surgery at 44 Seymour Street, Euston Square, London, but was unsuccessful at first because of his youth. In the same year, however, he became physician to the Finsbury Dispensary, a post he held for five years. By 1842, he had an income of £1000 a year from his private practice. Adjusted for inflation, this amounts to a spending power of about £ now. At the end of his career, his income was just under £6000. He became a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians in 1840, and a fellow in 1845. Bird lectured on natural philosophy, medical botany and urinary pathology from 1836 to 1853 at Guy's. He lectured on materia medica at Guy's from 1843 to 1853 and at the Royal College of Physicians from 1847 to 1849. He also lectured at the Aldersgate School of Medicine. Throughout his career, he published extensively, not only on medical matters, but also on electrical science and chemistry. Bird became the first head of the electricity and galvanism department at Guy's in 1836, under the supervision of Addison, since Bird did not graduate until 1838. In 1843, he was appointed assistant physician at Guy's, a position for which he had lobbied hard, and in October that year he was put in charge of the children's outpatients ward. Like his electrotherapy patients, the children were largely poor relief cases who could not afford to pay for medical treatment and were much used for the training of medical students. It was generally accepted at this time that poor relief cases could be used for experimental treatment, and their permission was not required. Bird published in the hospital journal a series of reports on childhood diseases, based on case studies from this work. Marrying Mary Ann Brett in 1842, Bird moved from his family home at 22 Wilmington Square, Clerkenwell, to 19 Myddelton Square. They had two daughters and three sons, the second of whom, Cuthbert Hilton Golding-Bird (1848–1939), became a notable surgeon. Another son, Percival Golding-Bird, became a priest in Rotherhithe, Bird was a Fellow of the Linnaean Society (elected 1836), the Geological Society (elected 1836) and the Royal Society (elected 1846). He joined the Pathological Society of London (which eventually merged into the Royal Society of Medicine) when it was formed in 1846. He also belonged to the London Electrical Society founded by William Sturgeon and others. This body was very unlike the elite scholarly institutions; it was more like a craft guild with a penchant for spectacular demonstrations. Nevertheless, it had some notable members, and new machines and apparatus were regularly discussed and demonstrated. Bird was also a Freemason from 1841 and was the Worshipful Master of the St Paul's lodge in 1850. He left the Freemasons in 1853. Bird was vain, with a tendency to self-promotion, and his driving ambition occasionally led him into conflict with others. He was involved in a number of very public disputes in contemporary medical journals, including the dispute with the Pulvermacher Company and a dispute over the development of the stethoscope. However, he was said to give his patients his undivided attention and a complete commitment to their welfare. He was a fine speaker, a good lecturer and an eloquent debater. Diagnosed with heart disease by his brother in 1848 or 1849, Bird was forced to stop work. By 1850, however, he was again working as hard as ever and had extended his practice so much that he needed to move to a larger house in Russell Square. But in 1851, acute rheumatism led Bird to take an extended holiday with his wife in Tenby, where he pursued investigations in botany, marine fauna and cave life as pastimes. These long summer breaks were repeated in 1852 and 1853 at Torquay and Tenby. Even on holiday, his fame caused him to receive many requests for consultations. In 1853, he purchased an estate, St Cuthbert, for his retirement in Tunbridge Wells, but it needed some work, and he could not leave London until June 1854. Meanwhile, he continued to see patients, but only in his house, despite seriously deteriorating health. He died on 27 October 1854 at St Cuthbert from a urinary tract infection and suffering from kidney stones. His early death at 39 may have been due to a combination of lifelong frail health and overwork, which Bird himself knew to be destroying him. He is buried in Woodbury Park Cemetery, Tunbridge Wells. After his death, Mary instituted the Golding Bird Gold Medal and Scholarship for sanitary science, later named the Golding Bird Gold Medal and Scholarship for bacteriology, which was awarded annually at Guy's teaching hospital. The prize was instituted in 1887 and was still being awarded in 1983, although it is no longer a current prize. From 1934 onwards, a Golding Bird Gold Medal and Scholarship was also awarded for obstetrics and gynaecology. Among the notable recipients of the medal were Nathaniel Ham (1896), Alfred Salter (1897), Russell Brock (1926), John Beale (1945), and D. Bernard Amos (circa 1947–1951). ## Collateral sciences The collateral sciences are those sciences that have an important role in medicine but do not form part of medicine themselves, especially physics, chemistry, and botany (because botany is a rich source of drugs and poisons). Until the end of the first half of the 19th century, chemical analysis was rarely used in medical diagnosis – there was even hostility to the idea in some quarters. Most of the work in this area at that time was carried out by researchers associated with Guy's. By the time Golding Bird was a medical student at Guy's, the hospital already had a tradition of studying physics and chemistry as they related to medicine. Bird followed this tradition and was particularly influenced by the work of William Prout, an expert in chemical physiology. Bird became well known for his knowledge of chemistry. An early example dates from 1832, when he commented on a paper on the copper sulphate test for arsenic poisoning, delivered by his future brother-in-law R. H. Brett to the Pupils' Physical Society. Bird criticised the test's positive result when a green precipitate is formed, claiming the test was inconclusive because precipitates other than copper arsenite can produce the same green colour. Bird did not limit himself to challenging his future brother-in-law. In 1834, Bird and Brett published a paper on the analysis of blood serum and urine, in which they argued against some work by Prout. Prout had said (in 1819) that the pink sediment in urine was due to the presence of ammonium purpurate, but Bird's tests failed to verify this. Though Bird was still only a student and Prout held great authority, Prout felt it necessary to reply to the challenge. In 1843, Bird tried to identify the pink compound; he failed, but was convinced it was a new chemical and gave it the name purpurine. This name did not stick, however, and the compound became known as uroerythrin from the work of Franz Simon. Its structure was finally identified only in 1975. Around 1839, recognising Bird's abilities in chemistry, Astley Cooper asked him to contribute to his book on breast disease. Bird wrote a piece on the chemistry of milk, and the book was published in 1840. Although the book is primarily about human anatomy, it includes a chapter on comparative anatomy covering several species, for which Bird carried out an analysis of dog and porpoise milk. Also in 1839, Bird published his own Elements of Natural Philosophy, a textbook on physics for medical students. Taking the view that existing texts were too mathematical for medical students, Bird avoided such material in favour of clear explanations. The book proved popular and remained in print for 30 years, although some of its mathematical shortcomings were made good in the fourth edition by Charles Brooke. ### Electricity In 1836, Bird was put in charge of the newly formed department of electricity and galvanism under the supervision of Addison. While this was not the first hospital to employ electrotherapy, it was still considered very experimental. Previous hospital uses had either been short-lived or based on the whim of a single surgeon, such as John Birch at St Thomas' Hospital. At Guy's, the treatment was part of the hospital system and became well known to the public, so much so that Guy's was parodied for its use of electricity in the New Frankenstein satirical magazine. In his electrotherapy, Bird used both electrochemical and electrostatic machines (and later also electromagnetic induction machines) to treat a very wide range of conditions, such as some forms of chorea. Treatments included peripheral nerve stimulation, electrical muscle stimulation and electric shock therapy. Bird also used his invention, the electric moxa, to heal skin ulcers. #### Electrical equipment It was already clear from the work of Michael Faraday that electricity and galvanism were essentially the same. Bird realised this, but continued to divide his apparatus into electrical machines, which (according to him) delivered a high voltage at low current, and galvanic apparatus, which delivered a high current at low voltage. The galvanic equipment available to Bird included electrochemical cells such as the voltaic pile and the Daniell cell, a variant of which Bird devised himself. Also part of the standard equipment were induction coils which, together with an interrupter circuit, were used with one of the electrochemical cells to deliver an electric shock. The electrical (as opposed to galvanic) machines then available were friction-operated electrostatic generators consisting of a rotating glass disc or cylinder on which silk flaps were allowed to drag as the glass rotated. These machines had to be hand-turned during treatment, but it was possible to store small amounts of static electricity in Leyden jars for later use. By 1849, generators based on Faraday's law of induction had become advanced enough to replace both types of machines, and Bird was recommending them in his lectures. Galvanic cells suffered from the inconvenience of having to deal with the electrolyte acids in the surgery and the possibility of spillages; electrostatic generators required a great deal of skill and attention to keep them working successfully. Electromagnetic machines, on the other hand, have neither of these drawbacks; the only criticism levelled by Bird was that the cheaper machines could only deliver an alternating current. For medical use, particularly when treating a problem with nerves, a unidirectional current of a particular polarity was often needed, requiring the machine to have split rings or similar mechanisms. However, Bird considered alternating current machines suitable for cases of amenorrhœa. The required direction of current depended on the direction in which electric current was thought to flow in nerves in the human or animal body. For motor functions, for instance, the flow was taken to be from the centre towards the muscles at the extremities, so artificial electrical stimulation needed to be in the same direction. For sensory nerves, the opposite applied: flow was from the extremity to the centre, and the positive electrode would be applied to the extremity. This principle was demonstrated by Bird in an experiment with a living frog. A supply of frogs was usually on hand, as they were used in the frog galvanoscope. The electromagnetic galvanometer was available at the time, but frogs' legs were still used by Bird because of their much greater sensitivity to small currents. In the experiment, the frog's leg was almost completely severed from its body, leaving only the sciatic nerve connected, and electric current was then applied from the body to the leg. Convulsions of the leg were seen when the muscle was stimulated. Reversing the current, however, produced no movement of the muscle, merely croaks of pain from the frog. In his lectures, Bird describes many experiments with a similar aim on human sensory organs. In one experiment by Grapengiesser, for instance, electric current is passed through the subject's head from ear to ear, causing a sound to be hallucinated. The ear connected to the positive terminal hears a louder sound than that connected to the negative. Bird designed his own interrupter circuit for delivering shocks to patients from a voltaic cell through an induction coil. Previously, the interrupter had been a mechanical device requiring the physician to turn a cog wheel or employ an assistant to do so. Bird wished to free his hands to apply the electricity more exactly to the required part of the patient. His interrupter worked automatically by magnetic induction at a reasonably fast rate. The faster the interrupter switches, the more frequently an electric shock is delivered to the patient; the aim is to make the frequency as high as possible. Bird's interrupter had the medically disadvantageous feature that current was supplied in opposite directions during the make and break operations. Treatment often required the current to be supplied in one specified direction only. Bird produced a unidirectional interrupter using a mechanism now called split rings. This design suffered from the disadvantage that automatic operation was lost and the interrupter had once again to be hand-cranked. Nevertheless, this arrangement remained a cheaper option than electromagnetic generators for some time. #### Treatments Three classes of electrotherapy were in use. One was the electric bath, which consisted of sitting the patient on an insulated stool with glass legs and connecting the patient to one electrode, usually the positive one, of an electrostatic machine. The patient's skin became charged as if he or she were in a "bath of electricity". The second class of treatment could be performed while the patient was in the electric bath. This consisted of bringing a negative electrode close to the patient, usually near the spine, causing sparks to be produced between the electrode and the patient. Electrodes of various shapes were available for different medical purposes and places of application on the body. Treatment was applied in several sessions of around five minutes, often blistering the skin. The third class of treatment was electric shock therapy, in which an electric shock was delivered from a galvanic battery (later electromagnetic generators) via an induction coil to greatly increase the voltage. It was also possible to deliver electric shocks from the charge stored in a Leyden jar, but this was a much weaker shock. Electric stimulation treatment was used to treat nervous disorders where the nervous system was unable to stimulate a required glandular secretion or muscle activity. It had previously been successfully used to treat some forms of asthma. Bird used his apparatus to treat Sydenham's chorea (St Vitus's dance) and other forms of spasm, some forms of paralysis (although the treatment was of no use where nerves had been physically damaged), opiate overdose (since it kept the patient awake), bringing on menstruation where this had failed (amenorrhoea), and hysteria, a supposed disease of women. Paralysed bladder function in young girls was attributed to the now archaic condition of hysteria. It was treated with the application of a strong electric current between the sacrum and the pubis. Although the treatment worked, in that it caused the bladder to empty, Bird suspected in many cases it did so more through fear and pain than any therapeutic property of electricity. Electric shock treatment had become fashionable among the public, but often was not favoured by physicians except as a last resort. Its popularity led to many inappropriate treatments, and fraudulent practitioners were widespread. Quack practitioners claimed the treatment as a cure for almost anything, regardless of its effectiveness, and made large sums of money from it. Bird, however, continued to stand by the treatment when properly administered. He convinced an initially sceptical Addison of its merits, and the first publication (in 1837) describing the work of the electrifying unit was authored by Addison, not Bird, although Bird is clearly, and rightly, credited by Addison. Having the paper authored by Addison did a great deal to gain acceptability in a still suspicious medical fraternity. Addison held great authority, whereas Bird at this stage was unknown. Bird's 1841 paper in Guy's Hospital Reports contained an impressively long list of successful case studies. In 1847 he brought the subject fully into the realm of materia medica when he delivered the annual lecture to the Royal College of Physicians on this subject. He spoke out tirelessly against the numerous quack practitioners, in one case exposing railway telegraph operators who were claiming to be medical electricians, although they had no medical training at all. In this way, Bird was largely responsible for the rehabilitation of electrical treatment among medical practitioners. His work, with Addison's support, together with the increasing ease of using the machines as the technology progressed, brought the treatment into wider use in the medical profession. #### Electric moxa Bird invented the electric moxa in 1843. The name is a reference to the acupuncture technique of moxibustion and was probably influenced by the introduction of electroacupuncture, in which the needles are augmented by an electric current, two decades earlier in France. The electric moxa, however, was not intended for acupuncture. It was used to produce a suppurating sore on the skin of the patient to treat some conditions of inflammation and congestion by the technique of counter-irritation. The sore had previously been created by much more painful means, such as cautery or even burning charcoal. Bird's design was based on a modification of an existing instrument for the local electrical treatment of hemiplegia, and consisted of a silver electrode and a zinc electrode connected by copper wire. Two small blisters were produced on the skin, to which the two electrodes were then connected and held in place for a few days. Electricity was generated by electrolytic action with body fluids. The blister under the silver electrode healed, but the one under the zinc electrode produced the required suppurating sore. The healing of the blister under the silver electrode was of no importance for a counter-irritation procedure, but it suggested to Bird that the electric moxa might be used for treating obstinate leg ulcers. This was a common complaint among the working classes in Bird's time, and hospitals could not admit the majority of cases for treatment. The moxa improved the situation by enabling those affected to be treated as outpatients. The silver electrode of the moxa was applied to the ulcer to be healed, while the zinc electrode was applied a few inches away to a place where the upper layer of skin had been cut away. The whole apparatus was then bandaged in place as before. The technique was successfully applied by others on Bird's recommendation. Thomas Wells later discovered that it was unnecessary to damage the skin under the zinc plate. He merely moistened the skin with vinegar before applying the zinc electrode. #### Pulvermacher controversy There was some controversy over Bird's endorsement of a machine invented by one I. L. Pulvermacher that became known as Pulvermacher's chain. The main market for this device was the very quack practitioners that Bird so detested, but it did actually work as a generator. Bird was given a sample of this machine in 1851 and was impressed enough to give Pulvermacher a testimonial stating that the machine was a useful source of electricity. Bird thought that it could be used by physicians as a portable device. Electrically, the machine worked like a voltaic pile, but was constructed differently. It consisted of a number of wooden dowels, each with a bifilar winding of copper and zinc coils. Each winding was connected to the next dowel by means of metal hooks and eyes, which also provided the electrical connection. The electrolyte was provided by soaking the dowels in vinegar. Naively, Bird appears to have expected Pulvermacher not to use this testimonial in his advertising. When Pulvermacher's company did so, Bird suffered some criticism for unprofessional behaviour, although it was never suggested that Bird benefited financially, and Bird stated in his defence that the testimonial was only ever intended as a letter of introduction to physicians in Edinburgh. Bird was particularly upset that Pulvermacher's company had used quotations from Bird's publications about the benefits of electrical treatment and misrepresented them as describing benefits of Pulvermacher's product. Bird also criticised Pulvermacher's claim that the chain could be wrapped around an affected limb for medical treatment. Although the flexible nature of its design lent itself to wrapping, Bird said that it would be next to useless in this configuration. According to Bird, the patient's body would provide a conductive path across each cell, thus preventing the device from building up a medically useful voltage at its terminals. ### Electrochemistry Bird used his position as head of the department of electricity and galvanism to further his research efforts and to aid him in teaching his students. He was interested in electrolysis and repeated the experiments of Antoine César Becquerel, Edmund Davy and others to extract metals in this way. He was particularly interested in the possibility of detecting low levels of heavy metal poisons with this technique, pioneered by Davy. Bird also studied the properties of albumen under electrolysis, finding that the albumen coagulated at the anode because hydrochloric acid was produced there. He corrected an earlier erroneous conclusion by W. T. Brande that high electric current caused coagulation at the cathode also, showing that this was entirely due to fluid flows caused by the strong electric field. The formation of copper plates on the cathode was noticed in the Daniell cell shortly after its invention in 1836. Bird began a thorough investigation of this phenomenon in the following year. Using solutions of sodium chloride, potassium chloride and ammonium chloride, He succeeded in coating a mercury cathode with sodium, potassium and ammonium respectively, producing amalgams of each of these. Not only chlorides were used; beryllium, aluminium and silicon were obtained from the salts and oxides of these elements. In 1837, Bird constructed his own version of the Daniell cell. The novel feature of Bird's cell was that the two solutions of copper sulphate and zinc sulphate were in the same vessel, but kept separate by a barrier of Plaster of Paris, a common material used in hospitals for setting bone fractures. Being porous, Plaster of Paris allows ions to cross the barrier, while preventing the solutions from mixing. This arrangement is an example of a single-cell Daniell cell, and Bird's invention was the first of this kind. Bird's cell was the basis for the later development of the porous pot cell, invented in 1839 by John Dancer. Bird's experiments with his cell were important for the new discipline of electrometallurgy. An unforeseen result was the deposition of copper on and within the plaster, without any contact with the metal electrodes. On breaking apart the plaster it was found that veins of copper were formed running right through it. So surprising was this result that it was at first disbelieved by electrochemical researchers, including Faraday. Deposition of copper and other metals had previously been noted, but only on metal electrodes. Bird's experiments sometimes get him credit for being the founder of the industrial field of electrometallurgy. In particular, Bird's discovery is the principle behind electrotyping. However, Bird himself never made practical use of this discovery, nor did he carry out any work in metallurgy as such. Some of Bird's contemporaries with interests in electrometallurgy wished to bestow the credit on Bird in order to discredit the commercial claims of their rivals. Bird thought there was a connection between the functioning of the nervous system and the processes seen in electrolysis at very low, steady currents. He knew that the currents in both were of the same order. To Bird, if such a connection existed, it made electrochemistry an important subject to study for biological reasons. ### Chemistry #### Arsenic poisoning In 1837 Bird took part in an investigation of the dangers posed by the arsenic content of cheap candles. These were stearin candles with white arsenic added, which made them burn more brightly than ordinary candles. The combination of cheapness and brightness made them popular. The investigation was conducted by the Westminster Medical Society, a student society of Westminster Hospital, and was led by John Snow, later to become famous for his public health investigations. Snow had previously investigated arsenic poisoning when he and several fellow students were taken badly ill after he introduced a new process for preserving cadavers at the suggestion of lecturer Hunter Lane. The new process involved injecting arsenic into the blood vessels of the corpse. Snow found that the arsenic became airborne as a result of chemical reactions with the decomposing corpse, and this was how it was ingested. Bird's part in the candle investigation was to analyse the arsenic content of the candles, which he found to have recently been greatly increased by the manufacturers. Bird also confirmed by experiment that the arsenic became airborne when the candles were burnt. The investigators exposed various species of animal and bird to the candles in controlled conditions. The animals all survived, but the birds died. Bird investigated the bird deaths and analysed the bodies, finding small amounts of arsenic. No arsenic was found on the feathers, however, indicating that poisoning was not caused by breathing airborne arsenic, since arsenic in the air would be expected to adhere to the feathers. However, Bird found that large amounts of arsenic were in the birds' drinking water, indicating that this was the route taken by the poison. #### Carbon monoxide poisoning Although it had been known how to prepare carbon monoxide since 1776, it was not at first recognised that carbon monoxide poisoning was the mechanism of death and injury from stoves burning carbonaceous fuels. A coroner's inquest into the death in 1838 of James Trickey, a nightwatchman who had spent all night by a new type of charcoal burning stove in St Michael, Cornhill, concluded that the poison involved was carbonic acid (that is, carbon dioxide) rather than carbon monoxide. Both Bird and Snow gave evidence to the inquest supporting poisoning by carbonic acid. Bird himself started to suffer ill effects while collecting air samples from the floor near the stove. However, the makers of the stove, Harper and Joyce, produced a string of their own expert witnesses, who convinced the jury to decide that death was caused by apoplexy, and that "impure air" was only a contributing factor. Among the unscientific claims made at the inquest by Harper and Joyce were that carbonic gas would rise to the ceiling (in fact it is heavier than air and, according to Bird, would lie in a layer close to the floor, just where the sleeping Trickey's head would rest) and that "deleterious vapour" from the coffins in the vaults had risen into the church. After the inquest Joyce threatened to sue a journal which continued to criticise the stove for its lack of ventilation. In a subsequent clarification, Bird made it clear that any stove burning carbonaceous fuel was dangerous if it did not have a chimney or other means of ventilation. In fact, Trickey had only been placed in the church in the first place at the suggestion of Harper, who was expecting him to give favourable reports of the new stove's performance. Bird read a paper to the Senior Physical Society in 1839, reporting on tests he conducted of the effects on sparrows of poisoning by carbonaceous fumes. This paper was of some importance and resulted in Bird giving his views to the British Association in the same year. (He acted as a secretary to the chemical section of the British Association in Birmingham.) Bird also presented the paper at the Westminster Medical School, where Snow took a special interest in it. Until then, Snow and many others had believed that carbonic acid acted merely by excluding oxygen. The experiments of Bird and others convinced him that it was harmful in its own right, but he still did not subscribe to Bird's view that it was an active poison. Also in 1839, Bird published a comprehensive paper in Guy's Hospital Reports, complete with many case histories, in which he documents the state of knowledge. He realised that at least some cases of poisoning from stoves were due not to carbonic acid, but to some other agent, although he still had not identified it as carbon monoxide. #### Urology Bird did a great deal of research in urology, including the chemistry of both urine and kidney stones, and soon became a recognised expert. This work occupied a large proportion of his effort, and his writings on urinary sediments and kidney stones were the most advanced at the time. His work followed on from, and was much influenced by, that of Alexander Marcet and William Prout. Marcet was also a physician at Guy's; Prout held no position at Guy's, but was connected with the hospital and well known there. For instance, when Marcet discovered a new constituent of kidney stones, xanthic oxide, he sent it to Prout for analysis. Prout discovered a new substance himself in 1822, a constituent of urine which he named melanic acid, because it turned black on contact with air. Bird studied and categorised the collection of stones at Guy's, concentrating particularly on the crystal structures of the nuclei, since stone formation followed once there was a nucleus on which to form. He considered the chemistry of the nuclei to be the most important aspect of stone formation. Bird identified many species of stone, classified by the chemistry of the nucleus, but decided that they all fell within two overall groups: organic stones caused by a malfunctioning bodily process, and excessive inorganic salts causing sediment on which the stone could nucleate. In 1842, Bird became the first to describe oxaluria, sometimes called Bird's disease, which is sometimes caused by an excess of oxalate of lime in the urine. This is the most common type of kidney stone. The most common cause of kidney stones is now known to be an excess of calcium in the urine, not oxalate, though Calcium oxalate stones are the most common type, it is the excess of calcium that is the most common cause of their formation. Some people do however have an excess of oxalate in their urine and form Calcium oxalate stones because of that; this can be related to diet, hereditary factors or intestinal diseases. Today we know the most common type of kidney stones are Calcium oxalate (about 74%), Calcium Phosphate, (about 20%), and uric acid (about 4% overall but more common in obese people and those with gout). In his great work Urinary Deposits, Bird devotes much space to the identification of chemicals in urine by microscopic examination of the appearance of crystals in it. He shows how the appearance of crystals of the same chemical can vary greatly under differing conditions, and especially how the appearance changes with disease. Urinary Deposits became a standard text on the subject; there were five editions between 1844 and 1857. In the fourth edition Bird added a recommendation to wash out the bladder in cases of alkaline urine, after an experiment by Snow showed that stale urine became alkaline when fresh urine was slowly dripped into it. Bird knew that alkaline urine encouraged phosphate precipitation and the consequent encrustation and stone formation. The last edition of Urinary Deposits was updated after Bird's death by Edmund Lloyd Birkett. Bird was the first to recognise that certain forms of urinary casts are an indication of Bright's disease. Casts were first discovered by Henry Bence Jones. They are microscopic cylinders of Tamm-Horsfall protein that have been precipitated in the kidneys and then released into the urine; we know now these casts are normal findings unless they contain cells within them; these cellular casts indicating an abnormality in the kidneys. #### Vitalism A prevalent idea in the 18th and early 19th centuries was that illness was a result of the condition of the whole body. The environment and the activity of the patient thus played a large part in any treatment. The epitome of this kind of thinking was the concept of the vital force, which was supposed to govern the chemical processes within the body. This theory held that organic compounds could only be formed within living organisms, where the vital force could come into play. This belief had been known to be false ever since Friedrich Wöhler succeeded in synthesising urea from inorganic precursors in 1828. Nevertheless, the vital force continued to be invoked to explain organic chemistry in Bird's time. Sometime in the middle of the 19th century, a new way of thinking started to take shape, especially among younger physicians, fuelled by rapid advances in the understanding of chemistry. For the first time, it became possible to identify specific chemical reactions with specific organs of the body, and to trace their effects through the various functional relations of the organs and the exchanges between them. Among these younger radicals were Bird and Snow; among the old school was William Addison (a different person from Bird's superior at Guy's). Addison disliked the modern reliance on laboratory and theoretical results favoured by the new generation, and challenged Richard Bright (who gave his name to Bright's disease) when Bright suggested that the source of the problem in oedema was the kidneys. Addison preferred to believe that the condition was caused by intemperance or some other external factor, and that since the whole body had been disrupted, it could not be localised to a specific organ. Addison further challenged Bright's student, Snow, when in 1839 Snow suggested from case studies and laboratory analysis that oedema was associated with an increase in albumin in the blood. Addison dismissed this as a mere epiphenomenon. Bird disagreed with Snow's proposed treatment, but his arguments clearly show him to be on the radical side of the debate, and he completely avoided whole-body arguments. Snow had found that the proportion of urea in the urine of his patients was low and concluded from this that urea was accumulating in the blood, and therefore proposed bloodletting to counter this. Bird disputed that increased urea in the blood was the cause of kidney disease and doubted the effectiveness of this treatment, citing the results of François Magendie, who had injected urea into the blood, apparently with no ill effects. It is not clear whether Bird accepted Snow's reasoning that urea must be accumulating, or whether he merely adopted it for the sake of argument; while a student in 1833, he had disputed this very point with another of Bright's students, George Rees. Justus von Liebig is another important figure in the development of the new thinking, although his position is ambiguous. He explained chemical processes in the body in terms of addition and subtraction of simple molecules from a larger organic molecule, a concept that Bird followed in his own work. But even the materialistic Liebig continued to invoke the vital force for processes inside living animal bodies. This seems to have been based on a belief that the entire living animal is required for these chemical processes to take place. Bird helped to dispel this kind of thinking by showing that specific chemistry is related to specific organs in the body rather than to the whole animal. He challenged some of Liebig's conclusions concerning animal chemistry. For example, Liebig had predicted that the ratio of uric acid to urea would depend on the level of activity of a species or individual; Bird showed this to be false. Bird also felt that it was not enough simply to count atoms as Liebig did, but that an explanation was also required as to why the atoms recombined in one particular way rather than any other. He made some attempts to provide this explanation by invoking the electric force, rather than the vital force, based on his own experiments in electrolysis. ## Flexible stethoscope Bird designed and used a flexible tube stethoscope in June 1840, and in the same year he published the first description of such an instrument. In his paper he mentions an instrument already in use by other physicians (Drs. Clendinning and Stroud), which he describes as the "snake ear trumpet". He thought this instrument had some severe technical faults; in particular, its great length led to poor performance. The form of Bird's invention is similar to the modern stethoscope, except that it has only one earpiece. An ill-tempered exchange of letters occurred in the London Medical Gazette between another physician, John Burne, and Bird. Burne claimed that he also used the same instrument as Clendinning and Stroud and was offended that Bird had not mentioned him in his paper. Burne, who worked at the Westminster Hospital, pointed with suspicion to the fact that Bird's brother Frederic also worked there. In a reply full of anger and sarcasm, Bird pointed out that in his original paper he had already made clear that he claimed no credit for the earlier instrument. Bird found the flexible stethoscope convenient as it avoided uncomfortably leaning over patients (as would be required by a rigid stethoscope) and the earpiece could be passed to other doctors and students to listen. It was particularly useful for Bird, with his severe rheumatism, as he could apply the stethoscope to the patient from a seated position. ## Elements of Natural Philosophy When Bird took up lecturing on science at Guy's, he could not find a textbook suitable for his medical students. He needed a book that went into some detail of physics and chemistry, but which medical students would not find overwhelmingly mathematical. Bird reluctantly undertook to write such a book himself, based on his 1837–1838 lectures, and the result was Elements of Natural Philosophy, first published in 1839. It proved to be spectacularly popular, even beyond its intended audience of medical students, and went through six editions. Reprints were still being produced more than 30 years later in 1868. The fourth edition was edited by Charles Brooke, a friend of Bird's, after the latter's death. Brooke made good many of Bird's mathematical omissions. Brooke edited further editions and, in the sixth edition of 1867, thoroughly updated it. The book was well received and was praised by reviewers for its clarity. The Literary Gazette, for instance, thought that it "teaches us the elements of the entire circle of natural philosophy in the clearest and most perspicuous manner". The reviewer recommended it as suitable not just for students and not just for the young, saying that it "ought to be in the hands of every individual who desires to taste the pleasures of divine philosophy, and obtain a competent knowledge of that creation in which they live". Medical journals, on the other hand, were more restrained in their praise. The Provincial Medical and Surgical, for instance, in its review of the second edition, thought that it was "a good and concise elementary treatise ... presenting in a readable and intelligible form, a great mass of information not to be found in any other single treatise". But the Provincial had a few technical quibbles, among which was the complaint that there was no description of the construction of a stethoscope. The Provincial reviewer thought that the book was particularly suitable for students who had no previous instruction in physics. The sections on magnetism, electricity and light were particularly recommended. In their review of the 6th edition, Popular Science Review noted that the author was now named as Brooke and observed that he had now made the book his own. The reviewers looked back with nostalgia to the book they knew as "the Golding Bird" when they were students. They note with approval the many newly included descriptions of the latest technology, such as the dynamos of Henry Wilde and Werner von Siemens, and the spectroscope of Browning. The scope of the book was wide-ranging, covering much of the physics then known. The 1839 first edition included statics, dynamics, gravitation, mechanics, hydrostatics, pneumatics, hydrodynamics, acoustics, magnetism, electricity, atmospheric electricity, electrodynamics, thermoelectricity, bioelectricity, light, optics, and polarised light. In the 1843 second edition Bird expanded the material on electrolysis into its own chapter, reworked the polarised light material, added two chapters on "thermotics" (thermodynamics – a major omission from the first edition), and a chapter on the new technology of photography. Later editions also included a chapter on electric telegraphy. Brooke was still expanding the book for the sixth and final edition. New material included the magnetic properties of iron in ships and spectrum analysis. ## Works - Elements of Natural Philosophy; being an experimental introduction to the study of the physical sciences, London: John Churchill, 1839 . - Lectures on Electricity and Galvanism, in their physiological and therapeutical relations, delivered at the Royal College of Physicians, in March 1847, London: Wilson & Ogilvy, 1847 . - Lectures on the Influence of Researches in Organic Chemistry on Therapeutics, especially in relation to the depuration of the blood, delivered at the Royal College of Physicians, London: Wilson & Ogilvy, 1848 . - Urinary Deposits, their diagnosis, pathology and therapeutical indications, London: John Churchill, 1844 . ## Journal articles - Bird's first publication of his modification of the Daniell cell, Report of the Seventh Meeting of the British Society for the Advancement of Science, vol. 6 (1837), p. 45, London: J. Murray, 1838. - "Observations on induced electric currents, with a description of a magnetic contact-breaker", Philosophical Magazine, vol. 12, no. 71, pp. 18–22, January 1838. - "Observations on the existence of saline combinations in an organized state, in vegetable matter", The Magazine of Natural History, vol. 2, pp. 74–78, February 1838. - "Observations on indirect chemical analysis", Philosophical Magazine, vol. 12, no. 74, pp. 229–232, March 1838. - "Experimental researches on the nature and properties of albumen", Philosophical Magazine, vol. 12, no. 79, pp. 15–22, July 1838. - "Observations on some peculiar properties acquired by plates of platina, which have been used as electrodes of a voltaic battery", Philosophical Magazine, vol. 12, no. 83, pp. 379–386, November 1838. - "Mucous and purulent secretions", Guy's Hospital Reports, vol. 3, pp. 35–59, 1838. - "Notice respecting the artificial formation of a basic chloride of copper by voltaic influence", Report of the Eighth Meeting of the British Society for the Advancement of Science, vol. 7 (1838), pp. 56–57, London: J. Murray, 1839. - "Notice respecting the deposition of metallic copper from is solutions by slow voltaic action at a point equidistant from the metallic surfaces", Report of the Eighth Meeting of the British Society for the Advancement of Science, vol. 7 (1838), pp. 57–59, London: J. Murray, 1839. - "Observations on some of the products of nitric acid on alcohol", Philosophical Magazine, 1838. (Summarised in Report of the Eighth Meeting of the British Society for the Advancement of Science, vol. 7, pp. 55–56, London: J. Murray, 1839.) - "Observation on poisoning by the vapours of burning charcoal and coals", Guy's Hospital Reports, vol. 4, pp. 75–105, 1839. - "Advantages presented by the employment of a stethoscope with a flexible tube", London Medical Gazette, vol. 1, pp. 440–412, 11 December 1840. - "Report on the value of electricity, as a remedial agent in the treatment of diseases", Guy's Hospital Reports, vol. 6, pp. 84–120, 1841. - "Fatty urine", The Medical Times, vol. 9, no. 223, p. 175, 30 December 1843. - "Treatment of uric acid gravel by phosphate of soda", Medical Gazette, p. 689, 23 August 1844. - "Infantile syphilis", Guy's Hospital Reports, p. 130, April 1845. - "Treatment of disease by moist air", Medical Gazette, p. 999, 3 October 1845. - "The nature of the green alvine evacuations of children", The Medical Times, vol. 13, no. 317, pp. 74–75, 18 October 1845. - "Treatment of disease by moist air", The Medical Times, vol. 13, no. 325, p. 228, 13 December 1845. - "Diseases of children", Guy's Hospital Reports, series 2, vol. 3, pp. 108–141, 1845. - "Acetate of lead in diarrhoea", The Medical Times, vol. 13, no. 337, p. 465, 14 March 1846. - "Case of excessive secretion of the ammonio-magnesium phosphate by the kidneys, with long continued vomiting", The Medical Times, vol. 13, no. 340, pp. 522–523, 4 April 1846. - "Case of internal strangulation of intestine relieved by operation", from Transactions of the Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society, with John Hilton, London:Richard Kinder, 1847. Bird was frequently mentioned in the transactions of the Medical Society of London. Some examples are: - "Transactions of the Medical Society of London, Oct 16", The Medical Times, vol. 9, no. 213, pp. 39–40, 21 October 1843. Report on the poisoning of a watch enameller by arsenic vapour. - "Transactions of the Medical Society of London, Jan 15 1844", The Medical Times, vol. 9, no. 227, pp. 271–274, 27 January 1844. Report on a case of a child with inflammatory croup.

John Michael Wright

Portrait painter in the Baroque style (1617–1694)

John Michael Wright (May 1617 – July 1694) was an English painter, mainly of portraits in the Baroque style. Born and raised in London, Wright trained in Edinburgh under the Scots painter George Jamesone, and sometimes described himself as Scottish in documents. He acquired a considerable reputation as an artist and scholar during a long sojourn in Rome. There he was admitted to the Accademia di San Luca and was associated with some of the leading artists of his generation. He was engaged by Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, the governor of the Spanish Netherlands, to acquire artworks in Oliver Cromwell's England in 1655. He took up permanent residence in England from 1656 and served as court painter before and after the English Restoration. A convert to Roman Catholicism, he was a favourite of the restored Stuart court, a client of both Charles II and James II, and was a witness to many of the political manoeuvrings of the era. In the final years of the Stuart monarchy he returned to Rome as part of an embassy to Pope Innocent XI. After a period of critical neglect, Wright is now rated as one of the leading indigenous British painters of his generation, largely for the distinctive realism in his portraiture. Perhaps due to the unusually cosmopolitan nature of his experience, he was favoured by patrons at the highest level of society in an age in which foreign artists were usually preferred. Wright's paintings of royalty and aristocracy are included amongst the collections of many leading galleries today. ## Early years and Scottish connections John Michael Wright, who at the height of his career would interchangeably sign himself "Anglus" or "Scotus", is of uncertain origin. The diarist John Evelyn called him a Scotsman, an epithet repeated by Horace Walpole and tentatively accepted by his later biographer, Verne. However, writing in 1700, the English antiquarian Thomas Hearne claims Wright was born in Shoe Lane, London and, after an adolescent conversion to Roman Catholicism, was taken to Scotland by a priest. A London birth certainly seems supported by a baptismal record, dated 25 May 1617, for a "Mighell Wryghtt", son of James Wright, described as a tailor and a citizen of London, in St Bride's Church, Fleet Street, London. What is known is that, on 6 April 1636, the 19-year-old Wright was apprenticed to George Jamesone, an Edinburgh portrait painter of some repute. The Edinburgh Register of Apprentices records him as "Michaell, son to James W(right), tailor, citizen of London". The reasons for this move to Scotland are unclear, but may have to do with familial connections (his parents may have been London Scots) or the advent of plague in London. During his apprenticeship, Wright is likely to have lodged at the High Street tenement near the Netherbow Gate that served as Jameson's workplace. The apprenticeship was contracted for five years, but may have been curtailed by Jameson's imprisonment in late 1639. There is no record of any independent work by Wright from this period (his earliest known painting being a small portrait of Robert Bruce, 1st Earl of Ailesbury, painted in the early 1640s during his time in Rome). It is also possible that Wright met his wife during his Scottish residency. Nothing is known of her, except from a statement of thirty years later which describes her as "related to the most noble and distinguished families of Scotland." If this is accurate, it may explain how Wright was later able to find aristocratic patronage. All that is known for certain is that Wright had at least one child by her, a son, Thomas. ## Rome and the Netherlands There is evidence to suggest that Wright went to France following his apprenticeship, however his eventual destination was Italy. It is possible that he arrived in Rome as early as 1642 in the entourage of James Alban Gibbes (a scholar of English descent), but he was certainly resident there from 1647. Although details of his time there are sketchy, his skills and reputation increased so much so that by 1648 he had become a member of the prestigious Accademia di San Luca (where he is recorded as "Michele Rita, pittore inglese"). At that time, the Accademia included numbers of established Italian painters as well as illustrious foreigners including the French Nicolas Poussin and Spaniard Diego Velázquez. On 10 February that year he was elected to the Congregazione dei Virtuosi al Pantheon, a charitable body promoting the Roman Catholic faith through art, which hosted an annual exhibition in the Pantheon. Wright was to spend more than ten years in Rome. During that time he became an accomplished linguist as well as an established art connoisseur. He also became prosperous enough to build up a substantial collection of books, prints, paintings, gems and medals, including works attributed to Mantegna, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian and Correggio. He acquired some forty paintings – perhaps as much through dealing as collecting. Richard Symonds, the amateur painter and royalist, catalogued Wright's collection in the early 1650s (and designated him as "Scotus"). ### Antiquarian for Leopold of Austria In 1654, after a decade in Rome, Wright travelled to Brussels where his abilities were recognised by Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria then governor of the Spanish Netherlands. Leopold employed him not as an artist, but as an advisor on antiquities. As the younger brother of the Emperor Ferdinand III and cousin of Philip IV of Spain, the Archduke had the wherewithal to amass a large collection of paintings and antiquities. Moreover, in the spring of 1655, the Archduke was enjoying a period of cordial relations with Oliver Cromwell, then Lord Protector of England. (indeed, the two had been exchanging gifts of horses, and Leopold had provided Cromwell with choice tapestries and other artefacts for the refurbishment of the Palace of Whitehall. Cromwell also received an embassy from the Habsburgs congratulating him on his new office.) Since the execution of Charles I in 1649, Leopold had been purchasing artworks from the royal collections and those of various aristocrats, and, against this background, commissioned Wright to travel to London and acquire further specimens. A passport was issued to him as "'Juan Miguel Rita, pintor Ingles, qua va a Inglaterra a procurar pinturas, medalas, antiguedades, y otras costa señaladas, que le hemosencargado..." to allow him to travel to England. The passport is dated 22 May 1655, and signed by the Archduke at Brussels, indicating that Wright had left Italy for Flanders by this time. As one on an official mission, Wright would probably have offered greetings to Leopold's ambassador extraordinary in London, the Marqués de Lede, and to Alonso de Cárdenas, the regular Habsburg ambassador, who had also been engaged since 1649 in art procurement for the Spanish Monarch. The lack of records means that the timing and duration of this visit remain uncertain. However, de Lede left in late June, and de Cárdenas a few weeks later – as relations between Cromwell and the Habsburgs deteriorated – so Wright probably arrived back in Flanders, with any acquisitions he had made, just in time to learn of the Archduke's impending departure – and that of his huge art collection – from Brussels in the autumn of 1655. However, after the relocation of his patron to Vienna, Wright again visited London. On 9 April 1656 he passed through Dover, and the register of visitors indicates: > Michael Wright Englishman landed at Dover the 9th present out of the Pacquet boat from Dunkerque and came to London on the 12th and lodgeth at the house of Mrs Johnston in Weldstreet in the parish of Gyles in the fields in Middlesex and saith that having exercised the Art of Picture drawing in France & Italy & other parts the greatest part of his life, he intendeth shortly to returne to Italy where he left his family Perhaps tactfully, the record glosses Wright's employment in Flanders, (euphemistically referred to as "other parts") as England and the Habsburgs were now at open war, and it fails to mention his membership of the Accademia di San Luca, which would have identified him as a Roman Catholic. ## England Whatever his intentions, Wright did not return to Italy, rather he was joined in England by his family soon after. Despite his Roman Catholicism and the strong Protestantism of the Protectorate (1653–1659), Wright seems to have been able to find prestigious work. Indeed, Waterhouse speaks of him engaging in "the most deliberate and unblushing toadying to Cromwell" in his 1658 painting of a small posthumous portrait of Elizabeth Claypole, Oliver Cromwell's daughter (now in the National Portrait Gallery). This is an allegorical portrait depicting Elizabeth as Minerva, leaning on a carved relief representing the goddess springing from the head of Jove with the motto "Ab Jove Principium" – an allusion to Cromwell himself, whose cameo portrait she holds. Seemingly, he was also willing to work the other side of the political divide: in 1659 he painted Colonel John Russell who was a player in the "Sealed Knot" conspiracy to restore Charles II to the throne. That particular portrait is regarded by at least one critic as Wright's "masterpiece". After the restoration of Charles II in 1660, Wright's Roman Catholicism became less of a handicap, due to the King's preference for religious toleration. Never a good businessman, Wright encountered some financial difficulties and King Charles granted him the privilege of disposing of his collection of Old Masters by means of a lottery. The King himself acquired 14 of the paintings. By the early 1660s Wright had established a successful studio in London, and was described by diarist John Evelyn as "the famous painter Mr Write". Later, the Great Plague of London (1665) drove Wright out to countryside, where he painted at least three members of the Catholic family of Arundell of Wardour. Ironically, in the next year, the Great Fire of London (1666) was to be of benefit to him, when he received one of the City of London's first new artistic commissions to paint twenty-two full length portraits of the so-called 'Fire Judges' (those appointed to assess the property disputes arising from the fire). These paintings, completed in 1670, hung in London's Guildhall until it was bombed during World War II; today only two (those of Sir Matthew Hale and Sir Hugh Wyndham) remain in the Guildhall Art Gallery the remainder having been destroyed or dispersed. ### Royal patronage Charles II, who promoted a number of Roman Catholics at court, granted Wright a measure of royal art patronage. In 1661, soon after the coronation, he painted a spectacular, formalised portrait of the monarch, seated in front of a tapestry representing the Judgement of Solomon, wearing St. Edward's Crown, the robes of the Garter, and carrying the orb and sceptre. Wright was also commissioned to paint an allegorical ceiling for the King's bedchamber at Whitehall Palace, and he was further appointed in 1673 to the office of "picture drawer in ordinary", allowing him to exercise his right to sign his pictures "Pictor Regis". However, to his disappointment, he did not receive the coveted office of King's Painter, which was held in the 1660s by Sir Peter Lely alone. In contrast to Wright's sympathetic realism, and carefully observed landscape backgrounds, Lely had a more glamorous style, favoured by the court, and based on Van Dyck's pre-Civil War style. This prompted the diarist Samuel Pepys to remark, after an enjoyable visit to Lely's studio, "thence to Wright's the painters: but Lord, the difference that is between their two works". Unlike Lely, who was knighted, Wright never received significant recognition from King Charles. However, at least one admirer thought he did deserve it. In 1669, Wright and the miniaturist Samuel Cooper had met Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Cosimo later called at Wright's studio where he commissioned a portrait of the Duke of Albemarle from Wright. On 3 March 1673, perhaps some time after Wright had painted his state picture of Charles II (now in the Royal Collection), a strange letter was sent from an obscure "Mairie Lady Hermistan" (evidently a fellow Roman Catholic) to Cosimo, asking him to intercede with the King to grant Wright a baronetcy. However, nothing came of the request. As antipathy towards Catholics intensified in London from the late 1670s, Wright spent more time working away from court. He painted six family portraits for Sir Walter Bagot of Blithfield in Staffordshire in 1676/7. In 1678, he removed to Dublin for a number of years, perhaps due to the anti-Catholic hysteria generated by Titus Oates's Popish Plot. Here, still styling himself "Pictor Regis", he painted "The Ladies Catherine and Charlotte Talbot", which is today in the National Gallery of Ireland. He also painted two full-lengths portraits of costumed chieftains, the "Sir Neil O'Neill" (c. 1680), now in the Tate Collection, and the "Lord Mungo Murray" (c. 1683), now in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Sir Neil O'Neill was a fellow Roman Catholic, also in exile in Dublin. Wright portrayed him in the dress costume of an Irish chieftain, with suit of rare Japanese armour at his feet. The significance of this armour is that it is thought to be a coded symbol of a triumph over the persecutors of Roman Catholicism, of whom, at that time, the Japanese were notorious. The portrait of Mungo Murray (the 5th son of the Royalist Marquis of Atholl) is notable for being considered one of the first instances of Scottish tartan being portrayed in a portrait. ### Roman embassy In 1685, when the openly Roman Catholic James II ascended the throne, Wright was able to return to royal service. However, significantly, James did not employ Wright as an artist, but gave him the "time consuming and futile post" of steward on a diplomatic embassy. He was appointed as steward to Roger Palmer, 1st Earl of Castlemaine husband of Barbara Villiers, the late King's mistress. Wright's knowledge of Rome and of the Italian language may have played a part in this, as Castlemaine was dispatched, in 1686, on an embassy to Pope Innocent XI to demonstrate that England could become a player on the Roman Catholic side in impending European conflicts. Wright's role in the embassy was to oversee the production of elaborate coaches, costumes and decorations for the procession, which secured a papal audience in January 1687. He also arranged a stupendous banquet for a thousand guests in the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, complete with sugar sculptures and a large state portrait of James II. While in Rome, Wright published an illustrated Italian account of the embassy, dedicated to the Duchess of Modena and, on his return, an English version was published in October 1687, dedicated to her daughter Queen Mary. ### Final years Wright's career came to an end in 1688 with the expulsion of King James II during the Glorious Revolution. He seems to have accepted the inevitable end of his royal favour with the accession to the throne of the Protestant William of Orange. He lived on, in relative poverty, for a further six years until 1694. In March of that year, he made a will leaving his house in St Paul's parish to his niece Katherine Vaux. His collection of drawings, prints and books were left to his nephew, the painter Michael Wright; however a codicil to the will stated that the books were to be sold on behalf of his son Thomas, who was then abroad. The books were auctioned on 4 June and on 1 August 1694, John Michael Wright was buried at St Martin-in-the-Fields. ## Artistic legacy Much of the scholarly appreciation of Wright's work is fairly recent. In 1982, an exhibition of his work: ‘John Michael Wright – The King’s Painter’ – in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery – led to a renewed interest in his contributions, and the catalogue (edited by Sara Stevenson and Duncan Thomson) re-wrote and uncovered much of the known biographical details. New works continue to be discovered and previously known ones re-attributed to him. Wright is now viewed as amongst the most successful of seventeenth-century Britain's indigenous artists, and is rated alongside contemporaries such as Robert Walker and William Dobson, who were both dead before Wright's career reached its peak. One modern exhibition catalogue described him as "the finest seventeenth century British-born painter", though the same has been said, perhaps more often, of Dobson. Certainly, he was one of the few who painted the elite aristocracy of his day, and was responsible for some of the most magnificent English royal portraiture surviving. This achievement is particularly significant in an age where British patrons had tended to favour foreign artists like Holbein and Van Dyck, and would continue to favour immigrants such as Lely and Kneller. Indeed, part of the reason for Wright's success is recognised as being his unusually cosmopolitan training: no prior British artist had so much exposure to European influence. During his Italian sojourn, and his participation in the Accademia di San Luca, not only had Wright collected works attributed to continental giants like Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian, he had also been influenced by, and even copied, much of their tone and style. In his field and day, Wright was certainly eclipsed by his rival the more prolific Lely, to whom he is often compared. One critic, Millar, observes that any comparisons undertaken would "ruthlessly expose Wright's weaknesses and mannerisms" but that positively "they would also demonstrate his remarkable independence, his unfailing integrity and charm, the sources of which must partly lie in his unusual origins, fragmented career and attractive personality". Millar suggests that a particularly useful comparison can be made between Lely and Wright's respective portrayals of the Duchess of Cleveland (Barbara Villiers) (above). Whereas Lely portrayed her as a "full-blown and palpably desirable strumpet", the more seriously minded Wright, who was not really in sympathy with the morality of the new court and its courtesans, rendered a more puppet-like figure. However, even if Lely was considered the more masterly and fashionable of the two in seventeenth-century Britain, Wright is generally accepted as portraying the more lively and realistic likenesses of his subjects, a fact that reinforces Pepys's observation that Lely's work was "good but not like". Neither should Wright's realism be confused with a prudishness; as can be seen, for example, in his portrait the lady, thought to be Ann Davis (right). The picture, with the sitter's clothing left undone and her modesty barely preserved by a red drape, has been described as exhibiting a fresh – even risky – reality: erotic by contemporary standards. Whereas Wright's contemporaries might have used the ‘disguise’ of presenting the sitter in the guise of a classical goddess to protect against accusation of salaciousness, Wright's portrait rather depends on his realism, notably in his flesh tones, and depth.

Southern Cross (wordless novel)

1951 novel by Laurence Hyde

Southern Cross is the sole wordless novel by Canadian artist Laurence Hyde (1914–1987). Published in 1951, its 118 wood-engraved images narrate the impact of atomic testing on Pacific islanders. Hyde made the book to express his anger at the US military's nuclear tests in the Bikini Atoll. The wordless novel genre had flourished primarily during the 1920s and 1930s, but by the 1940s even the most prolific practitioners had abandoned it. Hyde was familiar with some such works by Lynd Ward, Otto Nückel, and the form's pioneer Frans Masereel. The high-contrast artwork of Southern Cross features dynamic curving lines uncommon in wood engraving and combines abstract imagery with realistic detail. It has gained appreciation in comics circles as a precursor to the Canadian graphic novel, though it had no direct influence. ## Synopsis The story tells of the American military evacuating villagers from a Pacific island before testing nuclear weapons. A drunken soldier attempts to rape a fisherman's wife during the evacuation, and the fisherman kills him. To avoid capture, the couple run to the forests with their child and hide. The child witnesses the death of the parents and destruction of their environment from the ensuing atomic tests. ## Background Born in Kingston upon Thames in England in 1914, Laurence Hyde moved with his family to Canada in 1926. They settled in Toronto in 1928, where Hyde studied art at Central Technical School. His strongest artistic influences included the painter Paul Nash and the printmakers Eric Gill, Rockwell Kent, and Lynd Ward; he corresponded with Kent and Ward. From the 1930s Hyde did commercial pen-and-ink and scratchboard illustrations, ran a business providing advertising illustrations, and made wood engravings and linocuts for books. He attempted but gave up on two series of prints, titled Discovery and Macbeth. Hyde worked in Ottawa for the National Film Board of Canada from 1942 until his 1972 retirement. The wordless novel had been popular in the 1920s and 1930s, but had become rare by the 1940s. Such books tended to be melodramatic works about social injustice. Hyde was familiar with some of Ward's books and the German Otto Nückel's Destiny (1926). The only work he knew of the Flemish artist Frans Masereel, the form's first and most prolific practitioner, was Passionate Journey (1919), which he had read in a 1949 American edition. Like his forebears in the genre, Hyde had a left-wing agenda that he expressed in his art. When Southern Cross appeared, the genre had been out of the public eye for so long that Hyde included a historical essay to orient the reader. Hyde had asked Ward to proofread this history, but the book was published without Ward's corrections—errors remained, such as Masereel's forename given as "Hans", and a listing of only four of Ward's six wordless novels. ## Creation and publication > Words are capable of expressing very complicated and very subtle notions ... But for directness and universal interpretation, pictures, under certain conditions, are unrivalled. It really depends on what you want to say. Hyde made Southern Cross to express his anger at American nuclear tests in the Bikini Atoll in 1946 following the atomic bombings in Japan. He worked on it from 1948 to 1951. Each image is 4 by 3 inches (10.2 cm × 7.6 cm), centred at the top third of the page and with broad margins. The one exception is of the bomb detonating, a 7 in × 6 in (18 cm × 15 cm) full-page image that bleeds off the page. Hyde carved dynamic curving lines uncommon in wood engraving. Blacks overwhelms the figures they surround, and abstract images contrast with realistic detail in the flora and fauna. Southern Cross was published in a limited edition by Ward Ritchie Press in 1951 on Japanese paper with the images on the recto and the verso left blank. Rockwell Kent provided the introduction. Hyde dedicated the book to the Red Cross Societies and the Society of Friends. He was not present at the book's pressing and thus was not able to correct some blocks that he had not carved deeply enough to produce satisfactory prints. The book was republished twice in 2007: Drawn & Quarterly released a deluxe facsimile edition with additional essays by Hyde and an introduction by wordless novel historian David Beronä, and George Walker included Southern Cross in his anthology of wordless novels Graphic Witness. ## Reception and legacy > Man ... can tie himself up in words to the point of persuading himself that dropping atom bombs on people he's never seen is a kind of shrewd move in an exciting chess game. He needs something simpler, like pictures, to remind him of what dropping bombs on innocent people is really like. In a talk with the CBC in 1952, literary critic Northrop Frye praised Hyde's visual skills, but said, "There's no point in getting the book for your library unless you like the engravings themselves as separate works of art." He found the book a quick read in contrast to the time it took to make it, and called its "continuity" a weak point. He considered the visualization of the bomb's destruction of living things the strongest justification for the work. Comics critic Sean Rogers praised the work, particularly the pacing and action sequences, but felt it had less impact than such earlier works as Masereel's Passionate Journey (1919) or Ward's Vertigo (1937). Rogers found the anti-nuclear message less effective than that of later comics such as Keiji Nakazawa's Barefoot Gen or Gary Panter's Jimbo. Comics scholar Roger Sabin found the book unconvincing, "a well-meaning but facile piece of agit-prop". Reviewer Erik Hinton praised the artwork while calling the story "the progeny of historical lip-service and the hot-button anxiety of the destructivity of modern warfare", and considered Ward and others of Hyde's predecessors more proficient at the medium. Southern Cross has gained appreciation in comics circles as a precursor to the graphic novel in Canada, though it had no direct influence on Canadian comics—it was marketed to book connoisseurs, a world far removed from that of consumers of cheap entertainment that comics served in the 1950s. Copies of Southern Cross joined the collections of the National Gallery of Canada in 1952 and the Burnaby Art Gallery in 1987. The book received an honorable mention for Best Book at the 2008 Doug Wright Awards for Canadian Cartooning, accepted by Hyde's son, Anthony.

Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co.

1928 American tort law case

Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co., 248 N.Y. 339, 162 N.E. 99 (1928), is a leading case in American tort law on the question of liability to an unforeseeable plaintiff. The case was heard by the New York Court of Appeals, the highest state court in New York; its opinion was written by Chief Judge Benjamin Cardozo, a leading figure in the development of American common law and later a United States Supreme Court justice. The plaintiff, Helen Palsgraf, was waiting at a Long Island Rail Road station in August 1924 while taking her daughters to the beach. Two men attempted to board the train before hers; one (aided by railroad employees) dropped a package that exploded, causing a large coin-operated scale on the platform to hit her. After the incident, she began to stammer, and subsequently sued the railroad, arguing that its employees had been negligent while assisting the man, and that she had been harmed by the neglect. In May 1927 she obtained a jury verdict of $6,000, which the railroad appealed. Palsgraf gained a 3–2 decision in the Appellate Division, and the railroad appealed again. Cardozo wrote for a 4–3 majority of the Court of Appeals, ruling that there was no negligence because the employees, in helping the man board, did not breach any duty of care to Palsgraf as injury to her was not a foreseeable harm from aiding a man with a package. The original jury verdict was overturned, and the railroad won the case. A number of factors, including the bizarre facts and Cardozo's outstanding reputation, made the case prominent in the legal profession, and it remains so, taught to most if not all American law students in torts class. Cardozo's conception, that tort liability can only occur when a defendant breaches a duty of care the defendant owes to a plaintiff, causing the injury sued for, has been widely accepted in American law. In dealing with proximate cause, many states have taken the approach championed by the Court of Appeals' dissenter in Palsgraf, Judge William S. Andrews. ## Background At the time of the 1928 New York Court of Appeals decision in Palsgraf, that state's case law followed a classical formation for negligence: the plaintiff had to show that the Long Island Railroad ("LIRR" or "the railroad") had a duty of care, and that she was injured through a breach of that duty. It was not required that she show that the duty owed was to her. Under New York precedent, the usual duty of utmost care that the railroad as a common carrier owed its customers did not apply to platforms and other parts of the station. ### Facts Sunday, August 24, 1924, was a warm summer day in Brooklyn, and Helen Palsgraf, a 40-year-old janitor and housekeeper, was taking her two daughters, Elizabeth and Lillian, aged 15 and 12, to Rockaway Beach. Having paid the necessary fare, they were on the platform at the East New York station of the LIRR on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, when a train, not theirs, pulled in. As it began to move again, two men raced for the train, and one made it without incident, as the doors had not closed. The other, a man carrying a package, leapt aboard, with the help of a platform guard pushing him from behind as a member of the train's crew pulled him into the car. But in the process, the man lost the package, which dropped and exploded, for it apparently contained fireworks. Either the force of the explosion or the panicking of those on the platform caused a tall, coin-operated scale to topple onto Helen Palsgraf. No one was hurt enough to spend the night in the hospital, though several people, Palsgraf among them, were listed as injured. Contemporaneous accounts and witnesses at trial described the man as Italian in appearance, and there was speculation that the package was being taken for use at an Italian-American celebration of some sort; no great effort was made to identify the owner. Palsgraf's injury was listed in The New York Times as shock; she also suffered bruising. The distance between Helen Palsgraf and the explosion was never made clear in the trial transcript, or in the opinions of the judges who ruled on the case, but the distance from the explosion to the scale was described in the Times as "more than ten feet away" (3 metres). Several days after the incident, she developed a bad stammer, and her doctor testified at trial that it was due to the trauma of the events at East New York station. She had not recovered from the stammer when the case came to court. ### Trial Palsgraf brought suit against the railroad in the Supreme Court of New York, Kings County, a trial-level court, in Brooklyn on October 2, 1924. The summons was served the following month, and the defendant filed its answer on December 3. The case was heard on May 24 and 25, 1927, with Justice Burt Jay Humphrey presiding. Humphrey had served for over twenty years on the county court in Queens before unexpectedly being nominated for election to the Supreme Court in 1925; he was noted for his courteous and friendly manner. Manhattan lawyers tried the Brooklyn case: Matthew W. Wood, who worked from 233 Broadway (the Woolworth Building) represented Palsgraf, while Joseph F. Keany, whose office was at Pennsylvania Station, was for the railroad, along with William McNamara. Wood was an experienced solo practitioner with two degrees from Ivy League schools; Keany had headed the LIRR's legal department for twenty years—McNamara, who tried the case, was one of the department's junior lawyers, who had advanced from clerk to counsel after graduation from law school. At trial, Palsgraf testified that she had been hit in the side by the scale, and had been treated at the scene, and then took a taxicab home. She testified to trembling then for several days, and then the stammering started. Her health forced her to give up her work in mid-1926. Wood called Herbert Gerhardt, an engraver, who had seen the man with the package hurry towards the train, and whose wife had been hit in the stomach in the man's rush. He testified that the scale had been "blown right to pieces". On the second day of the trial, Wood called Dr. Karl A. Parshall, Palsgraf's physician. He testified that he had treated Palsgraf occasionally for minor ailments before the incident at East New York, but on the day after found her shaken and bruised. He gave it as his opinion that Palsgraf's ills were caused by the accident. Grace Gerhardt, Herbert's wife, was the next witness. She testified to being hit by one of "the two young Italian fellows" who were racing to make the train, and how one made it unaided and the other only with the help of two LIRR employees. She had nothing to say about the scale or Palsgraf, having seen neither. Elizabeth and Lillian Palsgraf, the elder and younger daughter of the plaintiff, were next to testify and spoke of what they had seen. Wood indicated his only remaining witness was a neurologist, an expert witness, and McNamara for the LIRR moved to dismiss the case on the ground that Palsgraf had failed to present evidence of negligence, but Justice Humphrey denied it. The neurologist, Graeme M. Hammond of Manhattan, had examined Palsgraf two days before, observing her stammering, speaking only with difficulty. She told him of depression and headaches. He diagnosed her with traumatic hysteria, for which the explosion was a plausible cause, and said the hysteria was likely to continue as long as the litigation did, for only once it was resolved were the worries connected with it likely to vanish. Wood rested his case on behalf of the plaintiff; McNamara offered no evidence but again moved to dismiss, which Humphrey denied. The judge told the all-male jury that if the LIRR employees "omitted to do the things which prudent and careful trainmen do for the safety of those who are boarding their trains, as well as the safety of those who are standing upon the platform waiting for other trains, and that the failure resulted in the plaintiff's injury, then the defendant would be liable." The jury was out for two hours and 35 minutes, including the lunch hour, and they awarded Palsgraf $6,000 ($ today). Pursuant to statute, she also recovered costs of $142, an amount added to the verdict. A motion for a new trial was denied on May 27, 1927 by Justice Humphrey, who did not issue a written opinion, and a judgment was entered on the verdict on May 31, from which the LIRR appealed on June 14. Once Palsgraf had gotten her jury verdict, the Gerhardts also sued the railroad, with Wood as their counsel. William H. Manz, in his article on the facts in Palsgraf, suggested that neither side spent much time preparing for trial. Wood did not contact his fact witnesses, the Gerhardts, until shortly before the trial, and Palsgraf was examined by Dr. Hammond the day before the trial started. McNamara, one of the most junior members of the LIRR's legal team, called no witnesses, and Manz suggested the entire defense strategy was to get the judge to dismiss the case. In his later book, Judge Richard Posner indicated that the much-sued LIRR did not present a better case than the first-time plaintiff: "it put on a bargain-basement defense". ### Initial appeal The LIRR's appeal took the case to the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, for the Second Department, the state's intermediate appeals court. In its briefs before the Appellate Division, the LIRR argued that the verdict had been contrary to the law and the evidence. It stressed that it had no foreknowledge that the package was dangerous, and that no law required it to search the contents of passenger luggage. The brief stated that given this, there was no negligence in helping a man make a train, and even if there was, that negligence was not the proximate cause of Palsgraf's injuries. Wood, for Palsgraf, argued that the jury verdict finding negligence was supported by undisputed facts, and should not be questioned by the appellate courts. The plaintiff's brief also suggested that the failure of the railroad to call as witnesses the employees who had aided the man should decide any inferences of negligence against it. Wood deemed the trainmen guilty of a "dereliction of duty", misconduct that was the proximate cause of Palsgraf's injuries. The lawyers argued the case before the Appellate Division in Brooklyn on October 21, 1927. On December 9, the Appellate Division affirmed the trial court's judgment, 3–2. Albert H. F. Seeger wrote the majority opinion for the five justices hearing the case, and was joined by Justices William F. Hagarty and William B. Carswell. Seeger had been born in Stuttgart and came to the United States as a child; he had been elected to the Supreme Court in 1917 and was elevated to the Appellate Division by Governor Al Smith in 1926. Aged 68 at the time of Palsgraf, he could serve only two more years before mandatory retirement. Justice Seeger ruled that the finding of negligence by the jury was supported by the evidence, and speculated that the jury might have found that helping a passenger board a moving train was a negligent act. He wrote that while the set of facts might be novel, the case was no different in principle from well-known court decisions on causation, such as the Squib case, in which an explosive (a squib) was lit and thrown, then was hurled away repeatedly by people not wanting to be hurt until it exploded near the plaintiff, injuring him; his suit against the man who had set the squib in motion was upheld. The majority also focused on the high degree of duty of care that the LIRR owed to Palsgraf, one of its customers. Presiding Justice Edward Lazansky (joined by Justice J. Addison Young) wrote a dissent. Lazansky, the son of Czech immigrants, had been elected New York Secretary of State as a Democrat in 1910. Elected to the Supreme Court in 1917, he had been designated presiding justice of the Second Department by Governor Smith earlier in 1927. Lazansky did not question the jury finding of negligence, but felt that the employees' conduct was not the proximate cause of Palsgraf's injuries, since the man's conduct in bringing a package that might explode to a crowded passenger station was an independent act of negligence, rendering the neglect by the railroad too remote in causation for there to be liability. ## Court of Appeals The LIRR was entitled by law to take the case to the New York Court of Appeals (the state's highest court) as there had been a dissent in the Appellate Division, and it did. The railroad argued again that Palsgraf had failed to establish that she had come to harm through the railroad's negligence: that there was no negligence, and even if there was, that neglect had not harmed Palsgraf, since such injury was not "a natural and probable consequence of assisting a man to board a train". Its brief alleged that the trainmen could not have stopped the man from boarding, and once he had flung himself onto the train, had little choice but to help him, "faced with such an emergency they cannot be charged with negligence because they elected to assist the man rather than stand idly by and leave him to his fate." Wood, for his part, argued that negligence had been found by the jury, and by both majority and dissenting justices in the Appellate Division. He wrote that there were many facts from which the jury could have found negligence, including the fact that the train had not shut its doors as it departed (though whether this was to allow latecomers to board or because it was a summer day is uncertain). The case was argued before the Court of Appeals in Albany on February 24, 1928. ### Cardozo's majority opinion The Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, Benjamin N. Cardozo, was a judge who was greatly respected; he later became a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. After a standout legal career, Cardozo had been elected to the trial-level Supreme Court in 1913, but was quickly designated by the governor for service on the Court of Appeals. He was in 1917 appointed a judge of that court, and in 1926 was elected chief judge by the voters. In Palsgraf, Cardozo wrote for a 4–3 majority of the Court of Appeals, reversing the appellate judgment and directing that the case be decided for the defendant, the LIRR. Cardozo was joined by Judges Cuthbert W. Pound, Irving Lehman and Henry Kellogg. Despite being the longest statement of the facts in any of the four appellate opinions generated by the case, Cardozo's was described by Posner as "elliptical and slanted". It has also been deemed "highly abstract". According to Professor Walter O. Weyrauch in his 1978 journal article, "Cardozo's famous opinion reduced the complicated facts of the case to a bare minimum. Mrs. Palsgraf was transformed into a 'plaintiff' without age, family status, or occupation. The opinion omitted the nature of her injury, the amount of damages that she sought, and the size of the jury award." For example, Cardozo describes Palsgraf (whom he does not name, nor mention her daughters) as standing on the LIRR's platform, rather than waiting for a train, thus downplaying her status as a customer entitled to a high degree of care by the railroad. The explosive package is described as small, though the witnesses had described it as large. The scales are described as being "at the other end of the platform, many feet away" from the explosion, but the record does not support this statement. This characterization may have been based on testimony by Lillian Palsgraf, who had gone to buy a paper from a newsstand "at the other end of the platform", but who was yet close enough to see the package fall. Cardozo's characterization of distance would be challenged by the plaintiff in her motion for reargument, which would be denied with the rejoinder that however close she was to the explosion, she was not so close as to bring her within the zone of foreseeable risk. After the fact pattern, Cardozo began his discussion of the law with "the conduct of the defendant's guard, if a wrong in its relation to the holder of the package, was not a wrong in its relation to the plaintiff, standing far away. Relative to her it was not negligence at all." Cardozo quoted Pollock on Torts and cited several cases for the proposition that "proof of negligence in the air, so to speak, will not do." Only if there is a duty to the injured plaintiff, the breach of which causes injury, can there be liability. He defended his decision, "a different conclusion will involve us, and swiftly too, in a maze of contradictions." Cardozo posed hypothetical situations: if a railway guard stumbles over a bundle of newspapers, and there are explosives within, will there be liability to an injured passenger at the other end of the platform? Will the result be different if the object containing the explosives is a valise instead? If there was negligence that day, Cardozo argued, it was only negligence that resulted in the fall and destruction of the package, and there was no wrong done by the railroad to Palsgraf for personal injury, "the diversity of incidents emphasizes the futility of the effort to build the plaintiff's right upon the basis of a wrong to some one else." The chief judge instructed, "The risk reasonably to be perceived defines the duty to be obeyed". Cardozo did not absolve the defendant who knowingly unleashes a destructive force, such as by shooting a gun, just because the bullet takes an unexpected path. This is not such a case, Cardozo held: even if the railway guard had thrown down the package intentionally, without knowing the contents he could not knowingly risk harm to Palsgraf, and would not be liable. Negligence cannot impose liability where an intentional act would not. Negligence, Cardozo emphasized, derives from human relations, not in the abstract. Negligence that does no one harm is not a tort. It is not enough, he found, to prove negligence by the defendant and damage to the plaintiff; there must be a breach of duty owed to the plaintiff by the defendant. He traced the history of the law of negligence, a concept not known in medieval times, and noted that it evolved as an offshoot of the law of trespass, and one could not sue for trespass to another. Had the railroad been negligent towards Palsgraf, it might have been liable, but "the consequences to be followed must first be rooted in a wrong", and there was no legal wrong done by the railroad to Palsgraf. Thus, the lower courts were incorrect, and must be reversed, and the case dismissed, with Palsgraf to bear the costs of suit. ### Dissent by Andrews William S. Andrews of Syracuse was a 69-year-old judge, noted for his scholarship, who had been on the Court of Appeals since 1917. The son of Charles Andrews, a former Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, William Andrews is best remembered today because he wrote an opinion in Palsgraf. In that dissent, he was joined by Judges Frederick E. Crane and John F. O'Brien. Andrews began with a brief recitation of facts: that a railroad employee had negligently dislodged the package, the contents of which the trainman was unaware, and the subsequent explosion broke the scale and injured the plaintiff, "an intending passenger". Andrews noted the fundamental difference among the judges concerning the law of negligence: whether there must be a duty to the plaintiff, the breach of which injured her, and whether, when there is an act that is a threat to the safety of others, the doer of it should be "liable for all its proximate consequences, even where they result in injury to one who would generally be thought to be outside the radius of danger". Andrews believed that if there was a negligent act, the proximate cause of injury to the plaintiff, that should establish liability. Andrews found Cardozo's reasoning too narrow, and felt that the focus should be on the unreasonable act: driving down Broadway at high speed is negligent whether or not an accident occurs. Such an act is wrong to the public at large, not only to those who might be injured. "Due care is a duty imposed on each one of us to protect society from unnecessary danger, not to protect A, B or C alone ... In an empty world, negligence would not exist. It does involve a relationship between man and his fellows. But not merely a relationship between man and those whom he might reasonably expect his act would injure. Rather, a relationship between him and those whom he does in fact injure. If his act has a tendency to harm some one, it harms him a mile away as surely as it does those on the scene." Andrews pointed out that the law allows plaintiffs to recover from defendants who had no duty towards them: orphans may recover for their negligently killed parents; a bereaved person may recover for negligence in the death of a spouse. An insurance company may sue in subrogation and recover the sum paid out from the person who started the fire. "Behind the cloud of words is the fact they hide, that the act, wrongful as to the insured, has also harmed the company." An event may have many causes, Andrews noted, and only some may be deemed proximate. Liability for negligence may only be found where that proximate cause exists, a term that the judge admitted was inexact. He suggested the analogy of a river, made up of water from many sources, and by the time it wound to sea, fully intermixed. But for a time, after water from a muddy swamp or a clayey bed joins, its origin may be traced. Beyond a certain point, it cannot be traced, and such is proximate cause, "because of convenience, of public policy, of a rough sense of justice, the law arbitrarily declines to trace a series of events beyond a certain point. This is not logic. It is practical politics." That point, beyond which there is no proximate cause, is drawn differently by different judges, and by different courts, Andrews explained. He listed factors that courts might consider, such as remoteness in time or space, and discussed some hypotheticals, such as a chauffeur who causes an accident, the noise of which startles a nursemaid into dropping a child, then returned to the case being decided, > Mrs. Palsgraf was standing some distance away. How far cannot be told from the record—apparently twenty-five or thirty feet. Perhaps less. Except for the explosion, she would not have been injured. We are told by the appellant in his brief "it cannot be denied that the explosion was the direct cause of the plaintiff's injuries." So it was a substantial factor in producing the result—there was here a natural and continuous sequence—direct connection. The only intervening cause was that instead of blowing her to the ground the concussion smashed the weighing machine which in turn fell upon her. There was no remoteness in time, little in space. And surely, given such an explosion as here it needed no great foresight to predict that the natural result would be to injure one on the platform at no greater distance from its scene than was the plaintiff. Just how no one might be able to predict. Whether by flying fragments, by broken glass, by wreckage of machines or structures no one could say. But injury in some form was most probable. Given that, Andrews concluded, the jury verdict should be upheld. "Under these circumstances I cannot say as a matter of law that the plaintiff's injuries were not the proximate result of the negligence. That is all we have before us." ## Subsequent events Wood, Palsgraf's lawyer, moved the Court of Appeals to allow reargument of the case, alleging that Cardozo had confused the position of Palsgraf with that of her daughter Lillian (at the newsstand), and complained about the chief judge's use of such terms as "distant" and "far away". Wood warned that the decision could have far-reaching adverse effects on innocent passengers. The court denied the motion with a one-sentence statement likely written by Cardozo, "If we assume that the plaintiff was nearer the scene of the explosion than the prevailing opinion would suggest, she was not so near that injury from a falling package, not known to contain explosives, would be within the range of reasonable prevision." Costs of $559.60 were due from Palsgraf to the railroad under Cardozo's order. Posner doubted the sum was ever collected, noting that Palsgraf's family spoke to legal scholars and periodicals about the case in later years, and never mentioned an attempt to collect what would have been about a year's salary for the disabled former janitor. Helen Palsgraf remained embittered about the loss of her case. She became mute, and developed other health problems prior to her death on October 27, 1945, at the age of 61. At the time of her death, Palsgraf was living in Richmond Hill, Queens with her daughter Elizabeth. Her former attorney, Wood, maintained a law office in the Woolworth Building until his death in 1972 at age 96. His opposing trial counsel, McNamara, remained with the LIRR's legal department until his retirement in 1959, while McNamara's superior and counsel of record, Keany, continued as the railroad's general solicitor until he died in 1935. Justice Humphrey retired in 1936, a year after he gained notoriety for presiding over the marriage of heiress Doris Duke; he died in 1940. Andrews retired at the end of 1928, having reached the mandatory retirement age of 70; he died in 1936. Cardozo was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1932 by President Herbert Hoover and served there until his death in 1938. After the Palsgraf case became prominent among lawyers, having been taught to many of them in law school, members of the family sometimes encountered startled reactions when lawyers learned their last name. Frank Palsgraf, Helen's grandson, told in 1978 of "being treated like a celebrity" by a prosecutor when called for jury duty, and causing the judge to reminisce about hard nights studying the case in law school. Nevertheless, the prosecutor struck him from the jury. According to Posner, the later coverage of the family "makes it clear that, with the exception of Mrs. Palsgraf, the Palsgraf family was thrilled by its association with a famous case, notwithstanding the outcome". In 1991, that association became closer, as Lisa Newell, first cousin four times removed of Judge Cardozo, married Palsgraf's great-grandson, J. Scott Garvey. ## Prominence Palsgraf came to the attention of the legal world quickly. William L. Prosser of the University of California Law School wrote that the Appellate Division's decision fell into the hands of Francis H. Bohlen of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Bohlen was at that time the reporter compiling the first Restatement of Torts for the American Law Institute (ALI), and Cardozo was informally one of the advisers. In that task, Bohlen was having difficulty dealing with the concept of duty of care in negligence, especially involving unforeseeable plaintiffs, and Prosser related that Cardozo was treated to a learned discussion by the other advisers of a case that might come before his court and, convinced by the arguments, used them to decide Palsgraf. Kaufman doubted this story, which was told to Prosser by Dean Young B. Smith of Columbia, noting that the only meeting of the advisers between the two appeal decisions in Palsgraf took place in New York on December 12–13, 1927, beginning only three days after the Appellate Division ruled, and the notes reveal that Cardozo was absent; the chief judge was hearing arguments all that week in Albany. Nevertheless, the discussions and materials from the Restatement compilation likely influenced Cardozo in his decision. Bohlen dwelt heavily upon Cardozo's opinion in Palsgraf in presenting the Tentative Draft of the Restatement to the ALI's annual meeting, which approved the section citing Palsgraf with little discussion. Palsgraf quickly became well known in the legal community, and was cited in many cases, some of dubious relevance. According to Kaufman, "the bizarre facts, Cardozo's spin on the legal issue, the case's timing in relation to the Restatement project, its adaptability for law-school teaching, the policy-oriented dissent by Andrews, Cardozo's rhetoric, and Cardozo's name—all these factors combined to make Palsgraf a legal landmark." According to Prosser, writing in his hornbook for law students, "what the Palsgraf case actually did was submit to the nation's most excellent state court a law professor's dream of an examination question". But Professor (later Judge) John T. Noonan saw more than this, noting that Cardozo was then the nation's most prominent state-court judge: "The excitement of Palsgraf was not merely that it was a brilliant examination question; it was an examination question answered by Cardozo." The first mentions of Palsgraf in law reviews were case notes written by law students, appearing over the course of the year following the decision by the Court of Appeals. Professor Robert L. Goodhart, in the Yale Law Journal in 1930, was at the front of an avalanche of commentary to such an extent that by 1938, Louisiana State University professor Thomas A. Cowan deemed Palsgraf "a legal institution". The case entered the standard legal casebooks, from which law students learn, in the early 1930s, usually to illustrate the necessary connection between defendant's misconduct and plaintiff's injury in negligence cases. According to Posner, writing in 1990, "Palsgraf is now the subject of a large scholarly literature, and is, I believe, the only case reprinted in all American casebooks on tort law." Manz wrote, "everyone who has sat in an American law school torts class can recall the basic facts—the crowded railroad platform, the running men, the dropped package, the explosion, and the falling scale. Palsgraf has become a sort of legal 'urban legend'—an allegedly true, but improbable, tale told and retold to each new class of law students." Professor W. Jonathan Cardi noted, "in law school classrooms, 'Palsgraf Day' is often celebrated with food and drink, dramatic reenactments, interpretive poems, and even mock duels between Judges Cardozo and Andrews". Palsgraf was soon adopted by some state courts, at times in different contexts: Though some state courts outside New York approved it, others did not, sometimes feeling that foreseeability was an issue for the jury to consider. According to Posner, writing in 1990, Cardozo's holding that there is no liability to a plaintiff who could not have been foreseen "has been followed by a number of states besides New York, but it remains the minority rule. Most states continue to muddle along with the nebulous 'proximate cause' approach, which emphasizes the proximity in time and space of the defendant's careless act to the plaintiff's injury; that was the approach taken by Judge Andrews's dissent in Palsgraf." The overwhelming majority of state courts accept that there must be a duty of care for there to be liability: the courts of Wisconsin, though, have stated that they have adopted Andrews' approach, and impose liability when there was a duty to any person, whether or not that person is the plaintiff. The Restatement (Second) of Torts (1965) amended the earlier formulation only slightly, but the third Restatement (2009), takes an approach closer to that of Andrews in focusing on whether the defendant engaged in an activity that carried a risk of harm to another (not necessarily the plaintiff), and on whether the defendant exercised reasonable care. The new formulation makes foreseeability, or the scope of the risk, not a hurdle that must be overcome, as in Palsgraf, but a factor to be weighed with others when determining whether there was negligence. Thus, according to law professor David Owen in his 2009 article, "the Restatement (Third) discards Judge Cardozo's elemental work in Palsgraf so long ago. And ... also rejects Judge Andrew's [sic] valuable insight that juries should be offered a wide range of fairness factors, beginning with foreseeability, in figuring how far responsibility should extend". ## Discussion According to Posner, "Cardozo's 'bottom line' is that there is no liability to an unforeseeable plaintiff". Don Herzog, in his 2017 book, deemed the Palsgraf principle to mean that "if anyone was wronged here, it was the man with the parcel. The guards' wronging him happened to harm Mrs. Palsgraf. But that doesn't mean they wronged Mrs. Palsgraf. And if they didn't wrong her, she can't conceivably prevail in a tort action. Cardozo is not thinking that if he were on the jury, he wouldn't find the railroad liable. He is saying it was a legal error to let the jury finding stand." This is because "the crucial fact for Cardozo is that the parcel of explosives was unmarked. So reasonably careful conductors worry only that if they make it fall, it will break ... They have no reason to worry about the welfare of Mrs. Palsgraf." Cardozo has been praised for his style of writing in Palsgraf. Posner noted that in the facts of the case Cardozo "saw instantiated the basic principles of negligence law and was able to articulate them in prose of striking freshness, clarity, and vividness", in an opinion mostly written in short sentences and lacking footnotes or block quotes. University of Pennsylvania Law School Professor Kim Lane Scheppele noted that the opinion was "written by Judge Benjamin Cardozo at the height of his formidable powers". Richard Polenberg, in his study of that jurist, stated, "Cardozo had a genius for making it seem that the results he reached were logical, inevitable, and legally unassailable". Prosser stated, "with due respect to the superlative style in which both [Cardozo's and Andrews' opinions] are written, neither of them wears well on long acquaintance. Both of them beg the question shamelessly, stating dogmatic propositions without reason or explanation." Herzog was also less enthusiastic, noting that "the majority opinion is unfortunately written in the curious idiolect I sometimes call Cardozo-speak." From its early days, there has been criticism of Palsgraf, and more recently, of Cardozo for authoring it. Cowan, writing in 1938, described its holding as limited to its facts, that given the identical circumstances recurring, the railroad would breach no duty to the new plaintiff by assisting a man with such a package in boarding. Prosser in his 1953 article wondered "how can any rule as to the 'scope of the risk' evolved from two guards, a package of fireworks and a scale aid in the slightest degree in the solution of this question? Is it proper, in Palsgraf itself, so utterly to ignore the fact that the plaintiff was a passenger[?] ... until the question is decided, is Palsgraf really definite authority even for Palsgraf ?" Noonan's 1976 book chronicled the unwillingness by legal scholars to utilize the "multitude of legal facts not mentioned by Cardozo and Andrews", even though the lower-court record in Palsgraf was reproduced in a civil procedure casebook in the 1950s. Noonan criticized Cardozo for not taking Palsgraf's circumstances into account when making his decision, and listed factors that may have influenced Cardozo against the plaintiff, including that he was a lifelong bachelor who did not have Palsgraf's experience of caring for children, and he may have frowned upon Wood's representation of Palsgraf (likely on a contingent fee, something not favored at the time). Posner, writing in 1990, disagreed with Noonan and with feminist critics following him, noting that judges take an oath to do equal justice to rich and poor, "so the fact that Mrs. Palsgraf was poor would not have been a principled ground for bending the rules in her favor". Noonan had considered unjust the award of court costs against Palsgraf, and in her 2016 book, law professor Cathleen Kaveny agreed, "the penalty imposed on Palsgraf for seeking justice through the courts was to deprive her, a single mother, of the ability to support her children ... All judges, however can develop empathy. And in telling the story of Helen Palsgraf, Judge Noonan makes a good case for why they should." In 2011, Cardi analyzed the present-day influence that Palsgraf has had on state courts. He found that neither Cardozo nor Andrews has won on the question of how duty of care is formulated, with courts applying policy analyses. "As to the proper doctrinal home for plaintiff-foreseeability, Cardozo has undoubtedly prevailed. Although a clear majority of jurisdictions state that duty is the proper home for plaintiff-foreseeability, Cardozo's vision of foreseeability as a categorical determination has not been widely adopted." But, he noted, "Andrews may have found a back door to victory. Arguably the most important consequence of the Palsgraf decision, the resolution of the judge/jury question, appears to lean in Andrews' direction. A majority of courts prefer to leave foreseeability—even as a part of duty—to the jury." Scheppele put Palsgraf in social context, noting that 108 passengers were killed in railroad operations on the LIRR in 1924, a typical figure for it in the 1920s. > Social scientists of a more qualitative and historical bent would see the Palsgraf case as part of a long history in which the railroad industry imposed substantial costs on the broader society, costs that were never added to the ledgers of the railroads. Most train accidents were not litigated. Those that were shared the fate of Mrs. Palsgraf's: each case was taken on its own facts as an isolated, freak occurrence, and the broader consequence, in which death and injury became a normal byproduct of running the railroad, was disregarded. If judges could see—if not through statistics, then perhaps through the social history of the railroad industry—just how dangerous trains were and how much death and destruction they left in their path, they may have been less inclined to think that Mrs. Palsgraf's problem was that those two men carried fireworks onto the platform that day.

Agneepath (2012 film)

2012 film by Karan Malhotra

Agneepath (, ) is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language action crime film produced by Hiroo Yash Johar and Karan Johar under Dharma Productions and directed by Karan Malhotra in his directorial debut. Adaptation of the 1990 film of the same name directed by Mukul S. Anand and starring Amitabh Bachchan, it centers on a screenplay written by Malhotra and Ila Dutta Bedi, with dialogues written by Piyush Mishra. The film stars Hrithik Roshan and Sanjay Dutt along with Rishi Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Om Puri and Zarina Wahab in supporting roles. Similar to the original, In the film, Vijay Deenanath Chauhan (Hrithik Roshan), a common man from the island village of Mandwa who seeks revenge for his father's humiliation and murder at the hands of Kancha Cheena (Sanjay Dutt); in the process, he befriends Rauf Lala (Rishi Kapoor), an underworld gangster, and falls in love with a loquacious girl, Kaali Gawde (Priyanka Chopra). Karan Johar had harboured intentions of remaking the original Agneepath ever since its release, which was produced by his father Yash Johar. Despite receiving critical acclaim, the film was a commercial failure and brought Yash to financial ruin. Believing that he was not qualified to direct an action film, Karan Johar approached Karan Malhotra, his associate director on My Name is Khan (2010), to helm the project. He considered the film to be a tribute to his father. Principal photography of Agneepath took place in Diu and Mumbai, with several accidents taking place on the sets. The music of the film was composed by Ajay–Atul, with lyrics written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. As with the original, the title is taken from a poem of the same name by Harivansh Rai Bachchan, which forms a thematic link through the film, both literally and metaphorically. Agneepath was theatrically released in India on 26 January 2012, coinciding with the Republic Day celebrations, and in 2650 screens worldwide. Produced on a budget of ₹58 crore (US$10.85 million), the film broke the record for the highest-opening day for a film in India and became a commercial success with a worldwide gross of over ₹193 crore (US$36.12 million), emerging as the fifth highest-grossing Hindi film of 2012. The film received positive reviews from film critics in India with praise directed towards its direction, screenplay, music, cinematography and performances (particularly those of Roshan, Dutt and Kapoor). At the 58th Filmfare Awards, Agneepath received 5 nominations, including Best Actor Hrithik Roshan's single performances and single role and single fictional character and single costume and (Hrithik Roshan) and Best Supporting Actor (Rishi Kapoor). Additionally, it won 5 IIFA Awards and 4 Zee Cine Awards. ## Plot Within the island village of Mandwa, the school teacher Deenanath Chauhan is highly respected by the villagers. Extremely jealous of Deenanath's popularity in the eyes of the citizens, the village chief summons his evil son Kancha to destroy Deenanath's image in the citizens' eyes. Kancha also has plans to start a drug cartel from Mandwa, knowing that the soil of Mandwa is rich for the cultivation of cocaine. When Kancha requests the people to lend their lands to him under the pretext of expanding the salt industry of Mandwa, Deenanath dissuades the villagers from doing so. Knowing this, Kancha decides to get rid of the schoolteacher. He rapes and murders a young girl inside the school, framing Deenanath for the murder. With the support of the villagers, Kancha then kills Deenanath by hanging him to death from a tree, which is witnessed by young Vijay, the son of the teacher. Vijay Deenanath Chauhan, along with his pregnant mother Suhasini, leaves the village. The Chauhans find shelter in a chawl in Dongri, a suburb in Mumbai, but Vijay harbors intentions to go back to Mandwa and kill Kancha. While in Mumbai, Suhasini delivers a baby girl named Shiksha, while Vijay befriends a girl, Kaali Gawde. Vijju / Vijay Deenanath Chauhan is fascinated by Rauf Lala, a local human trafficker and Kancha's nemesis, and gets into his company by refusing to stand as a witness in court to a crime committed by Lala and joins his gang. Suhasini takes Shiksha with her upon deserting Vijay's side after he kills Kaali's abusive father at a young age and resorts to violence. A grown-up Vijay now works for Rauf Lala and finds himself as his trusted henchman. Once Inspector and now Commissioner, Eknath Gaitonde, who remembers Vijay from the Lala incident, acts as a silent guardian of Vijay and tries to eliminate crime in Mumbai. When Rauf's influence over the drug business in Mumbai is falling, Kancha decides to grow his influence as a drug lord in the city and sends his aid, Shantaram, over to Mumbai for the process. Shantaram succeeds in bribing the Home Secretary of Maharashtra, Mr. Borkar, to get access to the interiors of Mumbai for smuggling cocaine. Vijay catches Borkar red-handed while trying to smuggle cocaine from Mandwa into Mumbai through his headquarters in Goa. Borkar and Shantaram are forced to hand over the pure cocaine to Lala, thus making them Lala's suppliers rather than rivals. Lala rewards Vijay with the territory of Dongri for his achievement. He further gains Lala's trust by taking a bullet that was aimed at Lala's son, Mazhar; this, however, later turns out to be a conspiracy involving Vijay and Shantaram to eliminate Mazhar. After having Mazhar shot by Shantaram and subsequently even killing Shantaram himself to eradicate evidence, Vijay brings Mazhar's corpse to Lala, who falls sick and is admitted to a hospital; in the meantime, Vijay takes over Lala's empire and brings all the crimes committed by Lala's gang to an end. All this results in him being contacted by Kancha and invited to Mandwa for a business agreement. However, Kancha is taken aback when Vijay mentions that he wants Mandwa in exchange for Mumbai; Vijay's allies and companions are killed, and he is severely beaten by Kancha, but despite initially suspecting this deal, Kancha later agrees on the condition that Gaitonde must be killed. Meanwhile, back in Mumbai, Lala regains health and finds out the truth behind Mazhar's death. He gets hold of Shiksha and tries to sell her off. Vijay is notified of this by Kancha, and he flees back to Mumbai and kills Lala in a bloody skirmish; Shiksha shares an emotional reunion with Vijay as a grown-up Kaali accompanies them. Soon after, Kancha sends Surya, his right-hand man, to aid Vijay in assassinating Gaitonde. However, during the Ganesh Chaturthi, Surya suspects that Vijay is in league with Gaitonde and sets out to do the deed himself. However, when Surya tries to assassinate Gaitonde, he is killed by Vijay, who reveals his credentials before murdering him amid a crowd. Vijay and Kaali fall in love and get married, but Kaali gets killed during a shooting spree by Kancha's men in retaliation for Surya's death. Vijay leaves for Mandwa to avenge the deaths of Deenanath and Kaali. He destroys the island of Mandwa through explosions, and after an intense battle, Vijay kills Kancha by hanging him from the same tree from which his father was hanged. However, Vijay succumbs to his injuries and dies in his mother's lap whilst seeing a vision of his father and his younger self calling him forward and shouting Agneepath. ## Cast - Hrithik Roshan as Vijay Deenanath Chauhan - Arish Bhiwandiwala as Young Vijay Deenanath Chauhan - Sanjay Dutt as Kancha Cheena - Rishi Kapoor as Rauf Lala, a drug lord and human trafficker; Kancha's rival - Priyanka Chopra as Kaali Gawde - Om Puri as Commissioner Gaitonde - Zarina Wahab as Suhasini Deenanath Chauhan - Kanika Tiwari as Shiksha Deenanath Chauhan - Chetan Pandit as Master Deenanath Chauhan - Sachin Khedekar as Minister Borkar - Pankaj Tripathi as Surya, Vijay's childhood rival and Kancha's henchman - Deven Bhojani as Azhar Lala, Rauf Lala's mentally challenged son - Rajesh Tandon as Mazhar Lala, Rauf Lala's eldest son - Rajesh Vivek as Mr. Bakshi, Kancha's associate - Brijendra Kala as Muneem, Kancha's aid - Banwarilal Taneja as Kancha's father, the village chief - Ravi Jhankal as Shantaram, Kancha's aid - Madhurjeet Sarghi, Lachhi Gawde, Kaali's mother - Inaamulhaq as Villager - Vraddhi Sharma as Journalist - Ali Asgar as Qawwal Singer at Mazhal's wedding (special appearance) - Rajendra Chawla as Qawwal Singer at Mazhal's wedding (special appearance) - Katrina Kaif as dancer in the song ''Chikni Chameli'' (special appearance) ## Production ### Development Karan Johar explained in an interview with The Times of India that he harboured intentions of remaking the original Agneepath ever since its release in 1990. Although the film had received critical acclaim over the years, its commercial failure at the time of release had devastated his father, producer Yash Johar. Eventually, the idea of a possible remake materialised on the sets of Karan Johar's fourth directorial venture My Name Is Khan, in which Karan Malhotra was his associate director. Johar told Malhotra of his desire to remake the original film and asked him to revisit it again. On not directing the film himself, Johar commented, "I am happy directing films on love, romance, and drama. That's what I do best. I don't think I will be good at an action film. So I am not taking the reins of the film in my hand". However, Johar maintained that the new film would belong to a different milieu as compared to the original. He stated, "We are adapting the film from the original but ours would be a new age version that would fit in well with today's time. We really hope that we are able to do justice to the original and make the remake exciting for today's generation." Karan dedicated the film to Yash Johar as a tribute. In an interview with Filmfare, he added that the protagonist of the film would be "more of an underdog", while the antagonist would be "more flamboyant and menacing" than the original. Several changes were made to the storyline of the original film, including the omission of certain characters and the addition of new ones. The characters of Krishnan Iyer M.A., played by Mithun Chakraborty and Nurse Mary Matthew, played by Madhavi were done away with and new characters such as Rauf Lala and Kaali Gawde were introduced in the script. Moreover, the characterisation of Vijay Deenanath Chauhan was changed, unlike the original which was inspired by Al Pacino's role in Scarface (1983). In an interview with The Calcutta Telegraph, Malhotra explained the adaptation by saying, "The similarity (between the original and this film) lies only in the fact that it is a revenge film; a son seeking revenge for his father's death. Unlike Mr. (Amitabh) Bachchan's film, my film starts and ends in Mandwa and is primarily about the conflict between the mother and the son. It's a completely new film with a lot of new characters." He additionally termed Agneepath to be a "crazily dramatic masala Bollywood film". ### Casting While media reports initially suggested that Abhishek Bachchan was being considered to portray the role of Vijay, Malhotra approached Roshan for the role. Roshan, however, was sceptical on taking up a role earlier played by Amitabh Bachchan and agreed to star in the film only after months of deliberation. He said, "The script had so much passion that I felt very emotional and I made up my mind to do it". On casting Roshan, Malhotra explained, "Hrithik has the charm of a boy and the attitude of a man. Also, he has a certain vulnerability, which I was looking in my characterisation of Vijay Deenanath Chauhan." While explaining the character of Vijay, Malhotra added, "Nobody can play Vijay the way Amitabh Bachchan did, and I would have wanted my Vijay to be subtle even if it wasn't Hrithik. I wanted the negative characters in my film to be bigger. This made Hrithik's victory seem bigger." Roshan did not look up Bachchan's performance in the original for inspiration, as he considered his role to be completely different in Malhotra's vision. However, he faced several difficulties while filming, having suffered from a severe back injury, which caused him considerable pain, throughout the shooting schedule. During an interview with Filmfare he quoted, "Agneepath is the hardest I've ever worked in my life. I didn't know what the film had in store for me. I've never been so tired in my life. I have exhausted my body completely." Kapoor was subsequently cast as Rauf Lala, an underworld don; alien to the opportunity of playing a completely negative character in his entire career, he was initially hesitant to sign the film. Later, in an interview with Daily News and Analysis he stated that when Malhotra had offered him the role, he considered it to be a joke and thought that he would be the reason for the film's failure. Kapoor subsequently insisted on a test look before principal photography could begin, so that he could comfortably fit into the Muslim character of Lala, who wears kohl in his eyes, a karakul cap and is dressed in traditional kurta-pajamas. While shooting for the action sequences, Kapoor suffered several bad falls and bruises, but continued shooting and was thereby praised by Roshan for his professionalism. For the role of Kancha, the antagonist, Dutt was cast. According to Malhotra, the script of Agneepath demanded that the villain be more powerful than the hero, and due to Dutt's bulky frame, he was considered perfect for the role. The character of Kancha demanded that Dutt go bald, but due to a prior commitment to the film Son of Sardar, which was being shot simultaneously, he could not do so for the sake of continuity. Therefore, Hollywood make up artist Robin Slater created a "bald" look for Dutt, with the use of prosthetics. However, due to the summer heat in Diu, the make-up would eventually drip down Dutt's face, which impelled him to finally shave his head. Malhotra admitted to being inspired by Marlon Brando's bald look in the film Apocalypse Now (1979) while designing Dutt's character. Dutt explained his look by saying, "Kancha is suffering from an ailment that leaves him hairless. I shaved my head for the role, not once but twice, and the eye-brows and eye-lashes have been digitally removed." Furthermore, Dutt worked out in the gym twice a day in order to bulk up for the role. During pre-production, media reports suggested that several actresses including Genelia D'Souza, Chopra and Kareena Kapoor were being considered for the role of Kaali Gawde. However, Chopra was approached over the others, and she agreed to do the film instantly. While initial reports suggested that Chopra would be playing the role of a sex worker in the film, they were later denied as rumours; in an interview with Rediff.com, she clarified that she was playing a prostitute's daughter. On Chopra's character, Malhotra commented, "Despite being a male dominated film, the part played by Priyanka Chopra is very prominent. It isn't that of a simple or ordinary lover. She is there for Vijay unconditionally and without any expectations. With all the dangerous people around her, she is like this pretty flower standing there with a smile on her face." Chopra wanted to visit a brothel to prepare for her role, but Malhotra insisted that she don't for safety reasons. Among the supporting roles, Zarina Wahab was cast as Suhasini Chauhan, Vijay's mother, a role originally played by Rohini Hattangadi. Wahab agreed to do the film due to her close association with producer Johar, who had earlier directed her in a brief role in My Name Is Khan. For the role of Shiksha Chauhan, newcomer Kanika Tiwari from Bhopal was auditioned and cast among 6500 girls. Filming for the song "Chikni Chameli" was demanding on Katrina Kaif, as she ended up with cuts and blisters on her feet, due to the long, stretched-out schedules. ### Filming Principal photography of Agneepath took place in the union territory of Diu, which was used to double as the village of Mandwa. Johar had to complete several formalities before shooting could begin, due to the sensitive nature of the territory. Malhotra, however did not shoot in the port of Mandwa itself, as it was "too congested". While shooting for the film in Mumbai, a picture of Roshan, filming a dahi handi sequence was leaked to the media. Worried over this, Johar increased the security on the sets and banned the use of cell phones. Additionally, Chopra faced difficulties in allocating dates to shoot for the film, as she was simultaneously shooting for Anurag Basu's Barfi\!. According to Malhotra, most of the action stunts in the film were shot by Roshan and Dutt themselves, while body doubles were used to film a few scenes. Several accidents took place during the filming of Agneepath. Chopra's lehenga caught fire, while shooting for an elaborate Ganpati festival song. Roshan too scalded his hands while shooting for the same scene. Roshan also suffered from an eye injury during the shoot of a song, when holi colours were flung into his eyes by some junior artists. During a schedule in October, Roshan suffered from a major back injury while lifting a man weighing 110 kilograms, which was a part of an elaborate action sequence. Shooting was stalled for some time following the incident, while Roshan recuperated in a hospital. While Ravi K. Chandran was assigned as the cinematographer of Agneepath, he opted out of the film after filming certain portions for unknown reasons. Kiran Deohans was later contracted to replace him. Sabu Cyril was contracted as the production designer for the film, along with a team of 200 people. He explained the creation of Kancha's den by saying that he built a haveli-like structure with tantric paintings on the walls, resembling an old fort built by the Portuguese (who had historically occupied Diu). Vijay's home, on the other hand, was a "small sack-like thing" on the terrace of a chawl, which was built on open ground with a hundred houses. Cyril added, "We wanted a tree to be at the edge of a hillside, protruding out due to erosion, with not enough soil. We made this banyan tree with fibre as we wanted it to have a particular look." This tree forms a visual thread to represent Kancha's atrocities in the film. The song "Chikni Chameli" featuring Kaif was shot in Film City, Mumbai, where the entire set of Dutt's villa was recreated. ## Soundtrack The music of Agneepath was composed by Ajay–Atul, with lyrics written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. The songs were composed with the help of live instrumentation being extensively used. While explaining the process involved in composing the soundtrack, Ajay said that Malhotra narrated the story to them for over four hours, whilst humming the background score that he wanted. This was followed by innumerable discussions which made them "understand each other well". He also mentioned that the song "Chikni Chameli" was a remake of their own Marathi song "Kombadi Palali" from the film Jatra (2006). Sony Music acquired the rights to the album for ₹90 million (US$1.1 million). ## Themes and analysis Agneepath derives its name from a poem of the same name written by Harivansh Rai Bachchan. The poem, which is recited through the film provides a metaphorical link to represent Vijay's quest for vengeance. Several critics consider Agneepath to be a homage to the era of the melodramatic, over-the-top action films of the 1980s and 90s. Critic Rajeev Masand analysed, "Agneepath is a throwback to those heightened action dramas of the 90s, so every dialogue is delivered as a punch-line; our hero may be battered and stabbed, yet he'll rise like the Phoenix, and the women are flung around to be raped or sold as sex slaves." He added, "The film is enhanced by uncompromising, brutal action, and by its striking camerawork, especially those scenes framed against a monsoon sky, heavy with dark clouds." Writing for Hindustan Times, Mayank Shekhar explained that the film, like several other Bollywood films, was inspired by the Indian epic tale of the Ramayana. He also added that "the external logic of a star-driven, fantasy fed film" would "not be easy to gulp for many." While writing a critique for Deccan Chronicle, Suparna Sharma quoted, "Agneepath is more than a remake or a homage to the original. It's about a son righting a wrong and this emotion makes us connect with the film immediately." ## Marketing The first official trailer of Agneepath was launched at a press conference in Mumbai on 29 August 2011. Dharma Productions streamed the event live on the production house's YouTube channel. The event was attended by the entire cast: Roshan, Kapoor, Dutt and Chopra. The trailer of the film was the third most watched trailer in India, behind the films, Don 2 and Ra.One. The film associated itself with McDonald's to provide a discount of ₹50 (60¢ US) to customers buying a meal at the joint. Additionally, few winners were offered a chance to win a lunch date with Roshan. As part of the promotional campaign, Roshan, Dutt and Chopra visited Dubai on 19 January 2012, to interact with fans at a shopping mall, followed by an invitational high tea party. The actors travelled to several places in India including New Delhi, Nagpur and other cities to promote the film. Indiagames also released an adventure mobile video game based on the film. ## Release Prior to its theatrical release, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) certified the film with a UA certificate after demanding a few cuts, due to a high proportion of violence present in the film. Explaining the certificate, Pankaja Thakur, CEO of CBFC stated, "Agneepath has a lot of bloodsheds but none of us felt disturbed by it. The violence is not the type that can psychologically damage a child and the softer scenes of the film managed to offset the darker part of it". The film's posters subsequently featured disclaimers reading, "This film is certified U/A. We advise parental guidance due to violence in the film." The board consequently praised Johar for the step. Initially scheduled to release on 28 December 2011, Agneepath was postponed by a week to 26 January to coincide with the Republic Day celebrations. The film eventually released at around 2650 screens worldwide. The satellite rights of the film were originally sold to Zee Network for a sum of ₹410 million (US$4.9 million), a month before the theatrical release, which marked a distant first for the studio, whose earlier rights were often sold either to Star India or Sony Pictures Networks. Somehow, this meant that the deal would appear in later stages, and after Baar Baar Dekho being one of the films, several films produced by the studio in 2017, 2018 and 2019 would be sold to Zee TV. Dharma Productions released the DVD of Agneepath on 13 March 2012 across all regions in the NTSC format, with a censor rating of PG-13. The DVD includes special features such as the "making of the film" and "deleted scenes and songs". It is available in Dolby Digital 5.1 and Stereo format with English and Arabic subtitles presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen. The film is now available on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, with its renewed satellite rights now owned by Viacom 18. ## Reception ### Critical reception #### India Upon release, Agneepath received positive reviews from film critics in India with praise directed towards its direction, screenplay, music, cinematography and performances (particularly those of Roshan, Dutt and Kapoor). Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film a score of 4.5 out of 5, and said, "Agneepath is an uncomplicated story of revenge, is hard-hitting yet entertaining, dwells on strong emotions and aggressive and forceful action, yet is dissimilar from the original. It is a fitting tribute to the masterwork." Subhash K. Jha of IANS gave it 4 out of 5 stars, while commenting, "Every component of the film falls into place, with a resounding thump. Agneepath is brilliant in its brutality. It's a riveting and hectic homage to the spirit of the cinema when revenge reigned supreme. And content was king. This new Agneepath takes us back to the era when there was no computer or cellphones. And communication with the audience was immediate and electrifying." Kaveree Bamzai of India Today rated the film 4 out of 5, noting, "Melodramatic, choir-inducing sentiment, ecstatic. Agneepath is that rare mainstream movie written well." Aniruddha Guha of Daily News and Analysis gave the film 3.5 out of 5, reviewing, "An adaptation rather than a remake, the film assumes a life of its own once the central plot has been established. The film then charts a journey of his own." Piyali Dasgupta of NDTV gave it 3.5 out of 5, stating "Watch this film because this one is unadulterated Bollywood entertainment." Daily Bhaskar gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars, while adding, "On the whole, Agneepath totally rests on star power which will lure the cine-goers to halls but how far will it impress them remains to be seen." Avijit Ghosh of The Times of India gave the film 3 stars out of 5, and said, "Try to wipe out the movie's earlier version from your mind. You might find it more enjoyable." Sukanya Verma of Rediff gave it 3 out of 5, while commenting, "Agneepath, less of a remake, more of a tribute. The makers of Agneepath should have just called it Dharmapath." Kunal Guha of Yahoo.com gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, saying that, "The biggest dilemma of remaking a movie is how much to retain and what to retain. If the new story takes violent shifts, you lose the audience who came to revisit the original. If you photocopy scene-by-scene, you risk failing to connect with the audience who is accustomed to present sensibilities. The only safe bet: a 'khichdi' of the past and the present, like this one." Mayank Shekhar of Hindustan Times gave the film 3 out of 5 stars while remarking, "This is the kind of genuine theatre experience, now getting rare, which remains most precious in the life of a film-goer. Reason can take over later. I had a ball\!" Sonia Chopra of Sify gave it 3 out of 5, and mentioned, "Debut director Karan Malhotra shows great promise in making the film visually arresting and maintaining the consistency of performances. But remaking a cult film means you have big shoes to fill. If you're a loyalist of the late Mukul Anand's Agneepath, you're likely to have reservations with this one. But if you leave the comparisons aside and are willing to forgive the faults, Agneepath is worth a watch essentially to savor Hrithik's performance." Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave Agneepath 3 out of 5 and said, "It is in the end, an old-fashioned revenge drama treated in that melodramatic, over-the-top style. You're not likely to be bored by the intense action and the solid performances, but prepare to be exhausted by just how long this film plays on." #### Overseas Overseas, the film received positive reviews. Russel Edwards of Variety reviewed, "Debuting helmer Karan Malhotra stokes up a fiery revenge tale in Agneepath, an expensively pumped-up, relentlessly energetic retelling of the 1990 Amitabh Bachchan cult favorite of the same name. Toplining Bollywood hunk Hrithik Roshan and veteran actor Sanjay Dutt donning the hat as the antagonist, this dynamic Hindi action extravaganza boosts its potent story with an aggressive style that will ensure audiences feel every blow." Farah Andrews of Gulf News praised the film while saying, "Fans of the 1990 original starring Amitabh Bachchan and Danny Denzongpa as Vijay and Kancha may be wary about the remake, but take it from us, the revamped flick is well worth a watch." Rabina A. Khan of The First Post wrote, "Director Karan Malhotra has made an impressive film under the able guidance of his mentor, Karan Johar. It scores on all directorial aspects – design, sound, edit, costumes, camera, a phenomenal cast, dialogues, and a very gripping screenplay." ### Box office Agneepath broke the record of the highest opening day collections, with a nett of ₹217.6 million (US$2.6 million) on its opening day, surpassing the previous record held by Bodyguard. Subsequently, the film netted ₹621.1 million (US$7.4 million) over its extended four-day weekend. The film's collections sustained well on its first Monday and it netted around ₹75 million (US$900,000), taking its five-day total to ₹695 million (US$8.3 million) nett. It netted ₹65 million (US$780,000) on Tuesday and another ₹50 million (US$600,000) nett on Wednesday. The movie brought its first-week total to ₹858.8 million (US$10 million) nett, thereby emerging as a major commercial success. The film collected ₹231.2 million (US$2.8 million) in its second week, thus taking its two-week total to ₹1.09 billion (US$13 million) nett. The film collected ₹75.9 million (US$910,000) nett in its third week, taking its three-week nett collections to ₹1.17 billion (US$14 million). It collected ₹26.1 million (US$310,000) in its fourth week, taking its four-week nett collections to ₹1.19 billion (US$14 million). Agneepath was thus declared a "superhit". Agneepath has collected ₹1.20 billion (US$14 million) in its lifetime run in India. Its final distributor share was ₹655 million (US$7.8 million). After a successful opening in the domestic market, Agneepath'' made ₹165 million (US$2.0 million) in its four-day weekend, overseas. At the time of release, the film holds the record for the twelfth largest opening ever internationally. The film has grossed around $6 million in overseas markets. ## Awards and nominations

Brad Walker (footballer)

English association football player

Bradley Paul Walker (born 25 April 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for club Tranmere Rovers. Walker began his career at Hartlepool United, turning professional in July 2013 and making his first-team debut the following month. He made 123 appearances in all competitions for the club over the next four seasons before joining Crewe Alexandra in July 2017. He spent the 2018–19 season on loan at Wrexham in the National League despite switching from Crewe to Shrewsbury Town in January 2019. Finding first-team games hard to come by in the 2019–20 season, he began 2020–21 in good form before being sidelined with a serious ankle injury. Released by Shrewsbury, he signed with Port Vale in June 2021. He spent 18 months with the club before being sold to Tranmere Rovers in January 2023. ## Early and personal life Walker was born in Billingham, County Durham and attended Northfield School & Sports College. He joined Hartlepool United at the age of 13 and would make the 12-mile round trip to Victoria Park on his bicycle. Walker has two daughters and one son, as of 2023. ## Club career ### Hartlepool United He signed a professional contract with Hartlepool United in July 2013. He made his Football League debut on 3 August 2013, in a 3–0 defeat away at Rochdale. He scored his first career goal in a 1–1 draw with Burton Albion on 21 December. He said it was a "very bizarre feeling and one I was very proud with". Having scored 3 goals in 42 appearances, Walker won the Football League Apprentice of the Year award for League Two in the 2013–14 season; upon winning the award he thanked his friends and family for their support. Hartlepool manager Colin Cooper rated him as the best player he had seen for his age. The 2014–15 season saw a loss of form for Walker and most of the Hartlepool team in general, with manager Colin Cooper and his successor Paul Murray both dismissed before Christmas. He ended the season with 5 goals from 32 games. Walker then fell out of manager Ronnie Moore's first-team plans in the 2015–16 season and spent time on trial at Wolverhampton Wanderers; no move to Wolves transpired though he continued to be linked to the club as late as summer 2017. Though not named in new manager Craig Hignett's first matchday squads in February, he was soon reintroduced to the first-team after impressing in training, with Hignett crediting his upturn in form to "love", saying "Brad knows what I think of him and I just felt in training that he was starting to be his old self again". He would go on to feature in 27 competitive matches by the end of the season. Walker did not play a league game in the first half of the 2016–17 season, despite Hignett hinting at a possible inclusion in November. He earned his first start of the season under caretaker manager Sam Collins in January, being named as man of the match in a win over Stevenage, and retained his first-team place under new manager Dave Jones. He also filled in at centre-back following an injury crisis in defence, earning him praise from Jones. He turned down the offer of a new contract from newly appointed manager Craig Harrison following the club's relegation out of the Football League at the end of the season and was linked with moves to Wolverhampton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic. In total, he scored 10 goals in 123 appearances for Hartlepool. ### Crewe Alexandra Walker signed a two-year deal to join Crewe Alexandra after the League Two club paid Hartlepool an undisclosed compensation package on 4 July 2017. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 win over Rotherham United on 4 November, in an FA Cup first round tie at Gresty Road. He scored his first league goal for Crewe in a 2–0 home win over Grimsby Town on 1 January 2018. His first season at the club was described as "mixed" as he started well but transitioned from central midfield to centre-back and ended the campaign finding gametime limited after struggling with injury problems. Walker said that he found it difficult to move away from his hometown club as his partner was expecting a child. Walker joined National League club Wrexham on a six-month loan starting on 30 August 2018. He scored his first goal for the club with a penalty in a 1–1 draw at Chesterfield on 27 October. Walker said that he was enjoying his football at the Racecourse Ground and that "I lost all interest in it really" after falling out of favour at Crewe earlier in the year. However, Crewe manager David Artell commented that if Wrexham wanted to keep Walker they would have to sign him permanently as he otherwise expected the player to return to Cheshire in January with "fire in his belly". Walker did not return though as he was sold on to a new club whilst his loan spell was ongoing. ### Shrewsbury Town On 9 January 2019, Walker signed for Shrewsbury Town, and was loaned back to Wrexham for the remainder of the 2018–19 season. He was brought to the New Meadow by Sam Ricketts, who had managed Wrexham in the first half of the season, whilst Wrexham were now managed by his former assistant Graham Barrow. The loan spell was ended early in March after he picked up a hamstring injury; he had made a total of 32 appearances for Wrexham, scoring 4 goals. Walker finally made his debut for Shrewsbury on 10 August, the second game of the 2019–20 season, coming on as a 79th-minute substitute during a 1–0 defeat at Milton Keynes Dons. He scored his first goal for Shrewsbury in a 3–1 home win over Macclesfield Town in an EFL Trophy tie on 13 November. He scored 2 goals in 23 appearances throughout the season, which was curtailed early due to the COVID-19 pandemic in England. After working hard on his fitness during England's first COVID-19 lockdown, he finally forced his way into the starting eleven following injuries to David Edwards and Sean Goss. He was described as "Sam Ricketts' surprise package" in the early stages of the 2020–21 season after putting in a series of strong performances and said he had regained his confidence after a difficult initial season at the club. Ricketts was dismissed and Walker injured his ankle in new manager Steve Cotterill's first game and was sidelined for three months. Walker left Shrewsbury at the end of the season, following the expiry of his contract. ### Port Vale On 2 June 2021, Walker agreed a two-year deal with League Two club Port Vale, becoming Darrell Clarke's first signing as manager. He started the first five league games of the 2021–22 season before he struggled with a knee injury, which required an injection and time to heal. He returned to the midfield three upon his recovery, though was also asked to play in the middle of a central defensive three at times due to his expansive passing range. He was praised by acting manager Andy Crosby for his performances towards the end of the campaign. He scored his first goal for the "Valiants" on 9 April, as his "stunning long-range winner" secured a 3–2 win over Oldham Athletic at Vale Park. The club were promoted into League One at the end of the season via the play-offs, with Walker playing 28 league games and scoring once. However, due to strong competition in the central midfield area, he was limited to four league starts and six other appearances in the first half of the 2022–23 season. Speaking upon his departure in January 2023, director of football David Flitcroft said that "Brad is a player that wants game time and wants minutes... he hasn't been getting the game time he wants due to the form of other players". He had been linked with a return to Hartlepool United, which was a rumour dismissed by manager Keith Curle. ### Tranmere Rovers On 12 January 2023, Walker joined EFL League Two side Tranmere Rovers for an undisclosed fee, signing a two-and-a-half-year contract; manager Micky Mellon said that "for a while we've been looking for players of Brad's size and physicality in the midfield areas". He made two starts and two substitute appearances in the second half of the 2022–23 season. He started the 2023–24 campaign strongly under new manager Nigel Adkins after undergoing an injury operation in the summer. On 17 February, he got two assists in a 4–0 win over league leaders Stockport County. He played 31 games in the season. In October 2024, Walker received a three-match ban for violent conduct following an incident in the 51st minute of Rovers' 3–1 defeat at previous club Crewe Alexandra. ## International career Walker was called up for England under-18s training camps in November and December 2013. However, he was not called up for the under-18's next fixture in February 2014. ## Style of play Walker is a defensive, ball-playing central midfielder, though can also play as part of a three at centre-back. He has strength and athleticism, as well as good ball control, long-range shooting and passing skills. He is a good free kick taker and can emulate the knuckleball dead ball technique. ## Career statistics ## Honours Individual - Football League Apprentice of the Year (League Two): 2013–14

Batman: Arkham Origins

2013 video game

Batman: Arkham Origins is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by WB Games Montréal and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Based on the DC Comics superhero Batman, it is the follow-up to the 2011 video game Batman: Arkham City and is the third main installment in the Batman: Arkham series. Written by Dooma Wendschuh, Corey May, and Ryan Galletta, the game's main storyline is set eight years before 2009's Batman: Arkham Asylum and follows a younger, less-refined Batman. When a bounty is placed on him by crime lord Black Mask, drawing eight of the world's greatest assassins to Gotham City on Christmas Eve, Batman must bring Black Mask to justice, while also being hunted by the police and having to face other villains, such as the Joker and Anarky, who take advantage of the chaos to launch their nefarious schemes. The game is played from a third-person perspective, focusing on Batman's combat and stealth abilities, detective skills, and gadgets for combat and exploration. Batman can freely move around the open world of Gotham City, interacting with characters and undertaking missions. Aside from the main story, Batman can help the police deal with crimes and confront other supervillains terrorizing the city. Arkham Origins introduces the ability for Batman to virtually recreate crimes, allowing him to investigate the scene and identify the culprit. The game is also the first in the series with a multiplayer mode, in which players partake in a gang war between the Joker and Bane. Development of Arkham Origins began in 2011. WB Games Montréal took over development duties from the series creator Rocksteady Studios, which was preoccupied with Batman: Arkham Knight and thus would not have been able to release a new game for a considerable time. The team chose to make the game a prequel to explore certain aspects of the Batman character, such as his vulnerability and lack of experience, that previous games could not; the story was inspired by the comics Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight and Batman: Year One, and was developed with input from writer Geoff Johns. Development of the multiplayer mode was handled by the British studio Splash Damage, separately from the main game. Arkham Origins was released worldwide on October 25, 2013 for the PlayStation 3, Wii U, Windows, and Xbox 360. The game received mostly positive reviews. It was praised for its voice acting, boss fights, storyline, and musical score, but was criticized for its general lack of innovation in gameplay mechanics and technical issues, while the multiplayer aspect was considered an unnecessary addition to the series. Some veteran fans of the Arkham series disapproved of the game simply because it was developed by a studio other than Rocksteady and because Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill did not return to voice Batman and the Joker, respectively. A companion game, Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, was released alongside Arkham Origins for the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita, and a spin-off mobile game for iOS and Android platforms was released in October 2013. An animated sequel, Batman: Assault on Arkham, was released in 2014, while a successor, Batman: Arkham Knight, was released in June 2015. A direct sequel to Arkham Origins, Batman: Arkham Shadow, was released on the Meta Quest 3 on October 21, 2024, with Roger Craig Smith returning to voice Batman. ## Gameplay Arkham Origins is an open world action-adventure game incorporating stealth game tactics. Batman can use his cape to glide around Gotham City and the grapnel gun's retracting rope to attach to hard-to-reach ledges and extend his flight. Some gadgets from previous Arkham games are present at the start of Arkham Origins, while others become available during play. Returning gadgets include the Cryptographic Sequencer, used to hack security consoles; the Batclaw, used for hooking onto surfaces; the Batarang, a throwing weapon; the Remote Batarang, its remote-controlled counterpart; Explosive Gel, used to destroy weak surfaces and knock down enemies; Smoke Pellets, used for stealthy exits and entrances; the Disruptor, which can remotely disable guns and explosive mines, and the Grapnel Accelerator, an earlier version of the Grapnel Boost. New equipment in Batman's arsenal include the Remote Claw; this allows Batman to target two objects and pull them together, allowing him to throw enemies into each other or hit them with objects (tethering two walled points creates a tightrope for Batman to cross); Shock Gloves, which allow Batman to block electric attacks, disable some enemies and stun shielded ones, and short-circuit objects, and the Concussion Detonator, capable of stunning large enemy groups. The game introduces a fast travel system, allowing Batman to remotely summon his plane (the Batwing) to transport him to other areas of the game world quicker than gliding or grappling could. Enemy tower installations prevent Batman from summoning the craft in some areas and must be disabled to make the Batwing (not player-controlled) available. Some towers may be disabled only when the player has the necessary equipment. Players can traverse enemy-controlled areas by stealth or combat. Using an enhanced version of the series' Freeflow combat system, combat introduces a tracking system assessing the players' efficiency and highlighting battle achievements (such as avoiding damage and using gadgets). Chaining attacks to maintain momentum, performance is rewarded with experience points. These points can be used in a branching upgrade system to enhance Batman's abilities and gadgets, allowing players to upgrade several paths or specialize in one. Enemy attacks are prompted with a warning icon, indicating that the attack can be countered. Enemies are armed with weapons such as knives, lead pipes, and shields. The game introduces new enemy types: the Martial-Artist (capable of blocking, evading, and countering Batman's attacks), the Armored Enforcer (invulnerable until he is dazed and de-armored) and Venom-infused henchmen (who possess superhuman strength, allowing them to grapple Batman and launch attacks which cannot be countered). Some enemies are armed with guns, which can damage Batman, and a player can use stealth predatory tactics to tilt the odds in their favor. Many areas feature stone gargoyles or high outcrops, helping Batman remain concealed while setting traps and knocking out enemies. The game emphasizes Batman's detective skills; for example, he can scan a crime scene with Detective Vision (displayed in first-person perspective) to highlight points of interest; holograms act out theoretical scenarios of the crime. The crimes can be reviewed via Batman's link to the Batcomputer in the Batcave; this allows a player to view virtual recreations of the scene from different angles (with the ability to move back and forth through the crime's timeline), view it in slow motion or pause while looking for clues to solve the crime. Small (and large) crime scenes are distributed throughout Gotham City. Reviewing the downing of a helicopter, Batman is presented with false and accurate clues; investigation of the scene can reveal that the helicopter was shot, allowing Batman to trace the bullet's trajectory to a murdered police officer and another crime scene. When a crime is solved, the player is shown a Batman-narrated rundown of the crime. The Batcave is also a hub where Batman can change costumes, upgrade his equipment and access challenge maps to practice combat (these maps were accessed separately in previous games). After completing the story mode a New Game Plus mode is unlocked, enabling a player to replay the game with all their acquired gadgets, experience, and abilities; enemies are tougher, and the icon warning players of attack is disabled. Completing New Game Plus unlocks I Am the Night mode, where the game ends if Batman dies. Arkham Origins offers side missions, including Crime in Progress (where Batman can assist the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) by rescuing police officers from a gang or keeping an informant from being thrown to his death). Most Wanted allows Batman to pursue villains outside of the main story (such as Anarky, who plants bombs around the city). The Dark Knight system offers tasks of escalating difficulty which improve stealth and combat. Batman's radio scanner also allows him to locate side missions; completed missions are rewarded with experience points and upgrades to Batman's equipment. The game features collectible objects and puzzles similar to the Riddler challenges of previous games (orchestrated by Enigma before assuming his Riddler identity). Collectible objects appear, similar to those in previous games. A "1 vs. 100" mode in the game's challenge maps challenges the player to survive in combat against 100 increasingly difficult enemies. On compatible systems, the Windows version uses Nvidia's PhysX software engine to produce more realistic, dynamic interactions with the game world. With PhysX enabled, some areas contain additional snow or fog (which reacts to Batman moving through it); with PhysX disabled, the effects are lessened or absent. ### Multiplayer Arkham Origins introduces a multiplayer component to the series. Invisible Predator Online revolves around a gang war between supervillains Joker and Bane, in one of four choosable maps voted by players before each match the maps include: Wayne Chemical Plant, Blackgate Prison, Joker's Funhouse, and Wonder City Robot Factory. Three Joker gang members fight three Bane gang members and in turn the team of Batman and Robin. Gangs win by killing all the opposing team's reinforcements, while Batman and Robin win by acquiring intimidation points (from eliminating gang members). A gang member can become a boss (Joker or Bane), gaining more powerful abilities. Gang members can access guns and explosives; Batman and Robin can access gadgets and abilities from the main game, including Detective Vision. Gang members have a limited Enhanced Vision, which requires recharging. Hunter, Hunted sets three Joker thugs and three Bane thugs against Batman in a last-team-standing match in which each character has one life. ## Synopsis ### Characters Arkham Origins features a large ensemble cast of characters from the history of Batman comics. The main character is Batman (Roger Craig Smith), a superhero trained to the peak of human physical perfection and an expert in martial arts who is aided by his butler, Alfred Pennyworth (Martin Jarvis). Arkham Origins brings Batman into conflict with sadistic, brutal crime lord Black Mask (Brian Bloom). The most powerful man in the city and ruler of Gotham's criminal underworld, Black Mask has vast wealth and resources, has eliminated his opposition and is consolidating his power. His ebony mask conceals his identity, allowing him to operate publicly as Roman Sionis (head of Janus Cosmetics). Black Mask has a bounty on Batman, which attracts eight accomplished assassins: the physically imposing Bane (JB Blanc); expert marksman Deadshot; veteran mercenary Deathstroke (Mark Rolston); poisonous contortionist Copperhead (Rosa Salazar); the pyromaniac Firefly (Crispin Freeman); the highly charged Electrocutioner (Steve Blum); deformed criminal Killer Croc (Khary Payton), and master martial artist Shiva (Kelly Hu). Batman is considered an outlaw by the Gotham City police, and is pursued by Captain James Gordon (Michael Gough), Detective Harvey Bullock (Robert Costanzo) and corrupt GCPD officials Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb and SWAT team leader Howard Branden. Other characters include the psychopathic Joker (Troy Baker); black-market weapons dealer Penguin (Nolan North); the mind-controlling Mad Hatter (Peter MacNicol); anti-government, anti-corporate anarchist Anarky (Matthew Mercer); rogue hacker Enigma (Wally Wingert); Alberto Falcone; Gordon's teenage daughter Barbara, and Blackgate warden Martin Joseph (Khary Payton). The story takes place before Batman's partnership with Robin (Josh Keaton)—although Robin is a playable character outside the main story—and before Barbara becomes Batman's ally, Oracle. Dr. Harleen Quinzel (Tara Strong), Gotham News Network (GNN) reporter Vicki Vale, Amanda Waller (CCH Pounder), Quincy Sharp (Tom Kane), and Calendar Man make cameo appearances in the game. Mr. Freeze (Maurice LaMarche) appears in the downloadable content, Cold, Cold Heart. ### Setting The events in Arkham Origins take place about eight years before Batman: Arkham Asylum, in midwinter Gotham City. Batman, an experienced crime-fighter in the second year of his career, is not yet the veteran superhero of Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. He is a mysterious force; even the police do not know whether he is a vigilante, a myth or a supernatural being. Batman has fought ordinary criminals and gangsters and is accustomed to being stronger and faster than his opponents. However, on a snowy Christmas Eve he is confronted with more dangerous foes: eight professional assassins hoping to collect a $50-million bounty placed on Batman's head by Black Mask. Villains (including the Joker) take advantage of the assassins' arrival to launch their schemes, and Black Mask's henchmen instigate a rise in crime and gang activity in the city. The Gotham City Police Department is aware of "the Batman", and does not condone his approach to crime-fighting. Led by Commissioner Loeb, the GCPD is thoroughly corrupt; Branden and his SWAT team are hunting for Batman to claim the bounty for themselves. The incorruptible Captain James Gordon is one of the most unpopular members of the force. Batman's relationship with Alfred is strained; the butler, an overbearing parental figure, reminds him of his parents' deaths and Alfred sees Batman as a spoiled child squandering his inheritance on a vigilante crusade. Old Gotham, the section of Gotham City which will become the Arkham City prison, is not yet walled off and has slums, low buildings, a shopping mall, and docks (where Penguin's ship the Final Offer is moored). On the Final Offer, Penguin has added a casino, a fighting pit, and a sales floor with weapons and ammunition. Across the bridge from Old Gotham is New Gotham, a modern metropolitan area filled with towering skyscrapers. ### Plot On Christmas Eve, Batman intervenes in a jailbreak at Blackgate Penitentiary led by Black Mask, who executes Police Commissioner Loeb and escapes. Left to battle the hired assassin Killer Croc, Batman prevails but learns that Croc is the first of eight of the world's deadliest assassins drawn to Gotham City to claim a $50million bounty placed on Batman by Black Mask. Hoping to learn Black Mask's location, Batman tracks Penguin to his ship. There, he defeats the assassins Deathstroke and Electrocutioner and learns from the Penguin that Black Mask was purportedly murdered at an apartment complex. Batman investigates the murder scene, learning that the victim was not Black Mask and that the murder involved a criminal known as "Joker". Needing more information, Batman breaks into the GCPD to access its national criminal database. While escaping, he encounters Captain James Gordon, who is distrusting of Batman, and the corrupt SWAT team who hope to collect the bounty money for themselves. Following advice from Gordon's daughter Barbara, Batman enters the sewers beneath the GCPD to install permanent access to the database and finds Black Mask's crew planting explosives. Using the database, Batman deduces that Black Mask was kidnapped by Joker, presumably to access the Gotham Merchants Bank. At the bank, Black Mask removes his disguise for Batman and reveals himself as Joker. Having assumed Black Mask's identity several days prior, Joker seized his criminal empire and imposed the bounty on Batman. Batman chases Joker to the Sionis Steel Mill where he frees Black Mask and defeats the poisonous assassin Copperhead. Tracking the Joker to the Gotham Royal Hotel, Batman discovers that the villain and his men have filled the hotel with explosives, murdered the staff, and taken the guests hostage. Joker berates the assassins for their failure to kill Batman, throwing Electrocutioner out a window to his death: Batman recovers his electric gloves. The assassins leave to search for Batman, except for Bane who anticipates that Batman will come to the Joker. After traversing the building, Batman finds the Joker on the roof and is forced to battle Bane. Thinking Batman is outmatched, Alfred alerts the police so they will intervene. As Bane escapes by helicopter, he fires a rocket at the Joker who is sent plummeting from the hotel by the concussive force. Batman rescues the Joker, confounding Joker as to why Batman would save someone like him. The Joker is arrested and imprisoned in Blackgate under the care of Dr. Harleen Quinzel. He tells Quinzel that he and Batman were destined to meet. In the Batcave, Alfred begs Batman to abandon his crusade out of concern he will be killed, but Batman refuses. Batman also learns that Bane has deduced his true identity as Bruce Wayne. Firefly attacks the Pioneers Bridge, forcing Batman and Gordon to work together to incapacitate the assassin and his bombs. Meanwhile, Bane breaks into the Batcave and attacks Alfred. Batman finds the cave in ruins and Alfred dying, but is able to revive him with Electrocutioner's gloves. Alfred admits that Gotham needs Batman to stop men like Bane. Elsewhere, Joker has taken over Blackgate after inciting a riot. Realizing he needs allies, Batman works with Gordon and the police to retake the prison. Sitting at the electric chair, Joker offers Batman a choice: kill Bane or allow Bane's heartbeat to charge a device that will activate the chair and kill the Joker. Batman uses the electric gloves to stop Bane's heart. Satisfied, the Joker leaves, intending to detonate bombs placed around the city. Batman revives Bane who injects himself with TN-1, a steroid that transforms him into a hulking beast. He loses the ensuing battle to Batman and suffers amnesia as a side effect of the steroid, thus preserving Batman's secret identity. With Gordon's help, Batman locates Joker in the prison chapel. Dismayed that Bane is still alive, Joker tries to goad Batman into killing him but he is instead subdued. Gordon chooses not to pursue Batman, believing he can help the city. In a radio interview during the credits, Quincy Sharp says he will lobby to reopen Arkham Asylum to house the city's worst criminals. In the post-credits scene, an imprisoned Deathstroke is approached by Amanda Waller to join her Suicide Squad. #### Cold, Cold Heart On New Year's Eve at Wayne Manor, Ferris Boyle, owner of Gothcorp, accepts an award presented by the Wayne Foundation for his humanitarian work. During the ceremony, the manor is attacked by criminals working for the Penguin who are led by a man in a mechanized suit and carry weapons that can freeze people. The man kidnaps Boyle while Bruce Wayne goes to the Batcave and dons his Batsuit. After saving the guests from the criminals, he learns that the man is named "Mr. Freeze" and is meeting some weapons dealers in South Gotham. Batman goes there and learns that the Penguin's men were receiving weapons made by Gothcorp. At Gothcorp, Batman finds Mr. Freeze and the Penguin in a standoff, with the latter holding Boyle hostage. Freeze encases the Penguin in ice and escapes with Boyle, while Batman is unable to give chase due to the ice wall blocking his path. Batman questions the Penguin, who reveals that Boyle has the access codes to a superweapon the Penguin wanted. He also reveals that the only way to get past the ice wall is using a Cryodrill, which the Penguin's men have stolen. Batman dons his XE suit, which allows him to survive harsh temperatures, and retrieves the Cryodrill before returning to Gothcorp. There, he finds the scene of a crime that happened days ago and learns that Mr. Freeze is a former Gothcorp employee named Victor Fries, who was attempting to cure his wife Nora of a disease and had her encased in ice. Boyle funded the research in exchange for Victor building weapons for Gothcorp, but eventually reneged on their deal, causing Victor to search for a cure himself. When Boyle found out, he stole Nora's frozen body and caused a lab accident that lowered Victor's body temperature to sub-zero levels, requiring him to wear his mechanized suit at all times. With this newfound knowledge, Batman confronts and subdues Freeze before being frozen by Boyle, who attempts to cover up his crimes by killing Freeze and Nora. Batman breaks free in time to subdue Boyle and reactivate Nora's cryogenic chamber, saving her life. During the credits, the Gotham News Network announces the resignation of current Mayor Hamilton Hill and the potential elevation of James Gordon to commissioner. Vicki Vale reports on the arrests of Boyle, Freeze, and the Penguin, and Quincy Sharp uses Freeze as an example to further justify his intentions to reopen Arkham Asylum. ## Development By July 2012, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE) was planning Rocksteady Studios' next Batman game as a prequel based on the Silver Age of Comic Books, featuring Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and the Flash. The game would explore Batman's first confrontation with the Joker, with a release date no earlier than 2014. In August 2012, Paul Dini said he would not be involved in writing a sequel to Arkham City. He did not write any of that game's downloadable content (including the story-based Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC) and said that Warner Bros. and Rocksteady suggested he accept other work if offered. Dini added that he had taken on other projects, preventing his involvement until 2013. In February 2013, it was reported that a new game in the Batman: Arkham franchise would be released by a developer other than Rocksteady. The development of Batman: Arkham Origins began in late 2011 by Canadian development studio WB Games Montréal (WB Montréal), and the game was announced on April 9, 2013. WB Montréal was chosen to develop the game given the amount of time Rocksteady, developer of the first two Arkham games, needed to create Arkham Origins's successor, Batman: Arkham Knight, which would have resulted in "a long time without an Arkham game." WB Montréal had worked on the Wii U adaptation of Batman: Arkham City, familiarizing itself with the modified Unreal Engine 3 development engine used by Rocksteady. WB Montréal decided not to heavily modify the established combat system (believing it already worked well) but introduced new enemy types with opportunities for new tactics and combat moves to defeat opponents. The plot was partly inspired by the comic-book series Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight and the graphic novel Batman: Year One, detailing the first year of Batman's career, with Arkham Origins described as a "Year Two" story. Parts of the plot (such as Batman's relationships with the Joker, Gordon, and the game's Christmas setting) was partly inspired by Batman: The Man Who Laughs, Batman: Turning Points, and Batman: The Long Halloween, respectively. The story is written by Dooma Wendschuh, Ryan Galletta and Corey May, with input from DC Comics and comic-book writer Geoff Johns. Eric Holmes acted as Arkham Origins' creative director. Explaining the decision to develop a prequel, Holmes said while the Batman of Arkham Asylum and Arkham City is comparable to his comic counterpart—a fully formed, experienced character— Arkham Origins could explore other aspects of the character (such as his lack of experience and greater vulnerability). The game was considered 80 percent complete by January 2013, and WB Montréal used the remaining development time to tweak the final product. By April 2013 the developers had decided not to use veteran Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy in the role, preferring a younger voice for Batman's early career. In May, Roger Craig Smith was announced as the voice of Batman and Troy Baker as the Joker. Conroy said at the 2013 Dallas Comic Con that he had been working on "the next Arkham", inspiring speculation that he would reprise his role as Batman in Arkham Origins; however, in June it was confirmed that Conroy would not be in the game. In July, it was announced that Arkham Origins would be the first game in the Arkham series to feature multiplayer gameplay. The multiplayer game was produced by independent British developer Splash Damage under creative director Alastair Cornish, separately from WB Montréal's work on the main game. The Wii U version of the game is single-player, with Warner Bros. saying that the team was focused on platforms with the largest multiplayer audience. ### Design Holmes described the Christmas setting as a juxtaposition between the joyful time of the year and the grim world of Gotham City, including decorative Santas near Gothic gargoyles and Christmas lights in dark alleys. The city is dislodged from time and space, contrasting 1930s (and older) buildings with Batman's futuristic technology. The New Gotham area was designed for vertical movement, allowing the placement of enemies above and below Batman to create areas dense with activity. The game features high contrast between darks and lights, with exaggerated shadows and few balancing colors. The city was divided into residential, industrial, and commercial neighborhoods, which were decorated accordingly: the industrial setting is bleak, the commercial area has corporate decorations and the residential neighborhoods have lights in their windows. Designers aimed to make the younger Batman's outfit look "assembled versus manufactured", pieced together from several sources. Holmes said, "[Batman's suit is] not something that was made in a factory. He's taken pieces of tech either he's invented, he's fabricated, or things from the Wayne facilities, and he has made this costume out of these pieces." To emphasize the mystery and fear instilled by Batman in this early stage of his career, art director Jeremy Price and the design team used silhouettes and film noir-style low-key lighting to make the character more imposing. The name "Batman" is used sparingly in this game to emphasize his urban-legend status and the lack of understanding of the character. It was suggested that Batman makes mistakes because of his inexperience (such as tripping or missing with batarangs), but this idea was discarded as inconsistent with the character. His inexperience was instead personality-based: learning how to be the city's protector and overcoming his obsession with vengeance. In designing Batman's abilities and gadgets, the gameplay took precedence over narrative consistency with the previous games; the designers thought that removing features players had already experienced in those games would make playing Arkham Origins feel less empowering. Holmes acknowledged that Black Mask is not as well known as some of Batman's other villains (such as the Joker and Penguin), and the character required expansion to make him interesting and scary. Black Mask was considered an appropriate antagonist for Batman's early career because of his practicality; he transitions from the typical criminals Batman has been facing and the neurotic, quirky super-villains he will confront in the future. The team decided to make Arkham Origins' Copperhead a female (in contrast to the comic's male character) with input from Johns. The contortionist character required three motion-capture actors to animate: a stunt woman, a Cirque du Soleil performer, and a martial artist. This version of Copperhead was later added to DC Comics' The New 52. Anarky, an anti-villain based on anarchist philosophy, was updated in appearance for the game to a street protester with a gang resembling a social movement. The character would appeal to Batman for a partnership (since he is not necessarily evil) but, as Holmes said, "is multidimensional in the Batman Universe." The popularity of anti-corporate and anti-government protest movements factored in the character's inclusion, and Holmes thought that of all of the villains Anarky was the most timely. The developers drew upon "original Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle appearances" of Anarky for his character. Each main-story boss reinforces the player's mastery of a specific game mechanic (such as Deathstroke, whose fighting focuses on countering attacks). The assassins selected for the game were chosen for abilities that would challenge the game mechanics. The boss fights were inspired by Arkham City's battle against Mr. Freeze, which tasked players with exploring the full range of Batman's strategies and abilities to overcome the villain. The "Detective Vision" crime scenes were designed to be brief, visually rewarding, and fun segments, rather than demanding challenges. The designers worked on the length of time for each scene, seeing how many pieces of evidence players wanted to scan before they had a solution; they eventually settled on two to three minutes. Several predator areas (levels where Batman stalks enemies from the shadows) provide variety and challenge. For example, the theater aboard Penguin's ship was gradually shrunk in size to pack the enemies closer together, and a hovering drone was removed when test players easily overcame it. A dynamic weather system altering gameplay (such as wind and snow reducing visibility, making snipers more vulnerable to Batman's stealth) was implemented during development but discarded when it was not completed within the available development time. ### Music The score for Arkham Origins was composed by Christopher Drake, replacing Ron Fish and Nick Arundel (who composed the scores for Arkham Asylum and Arkham City). It was partially inspired by the 1988 action film Die Hard (also set during Christmas), which features sleigh bells in its soundtrack to punctuate specific moments. Drake said that since the game is a prequel, it allowed him more freedom in the score while adhering to "the DNA" of Batman music. He added that although the previous scores were elegant and orchestral, he chose more electronic elements. Drake approached the cinematic scenes like a traditional film score, with the design team describing scenes over the phone while he worked out of Burbank, California. The in-game music was created with layers that activate with action (such as Batman entering a location or beginning a fight) and can be added or subtracted depending on what is occurring. Drake hoped the in-game music would not be boring, since those sections work at differing lengths of time (dependent on how long a player takes to complete a task). The Batman: Arkham Origins – Original Video Game Score was released by WaterTower Music on October 22, 2013, and features 32 tracks composed for the game. ## Release Batman: Arkham Origins was released worldwide on October 25, 2013 for PlayStation 3, Wii U, Windows, and Xbox 360. A week before its scheduled release in Europe, the retail Wii U and Windows versions were delayed until November 8. A companion game, Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, was released with Arkham Origins for Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita. A spin-off beat 'em up game, also entitled Batman: Arkham Origins, was developed by NetherRealm Studios for iOS and Android. The iOS version was released on October 16, 2013, and the Android version was scheduled for release in late 2013. NetherRealm Studios previously developed Batman: Arkham City Lockdown, a spin-off of Arkham City. The brawler game has players using touchscreen controls to fight enemies one-on-one (including villains such as Bane and Deathstroke). Defeating enemies earns points which can upgrade Batman's statistics or unlock gadgets and costumes; costumes unlocked in the game can unlock costumes in the console version and vice versa. In August 2017, the Xbox 360 version was made playable on Xbox One consoles through backward compatibility. Coinciding with Arkham Origins' United Kingdom launch, voice actors Roger Craig Smith and Troy Baker made a public appearance at Stratford's GAME retailer. A series of game-character action figures and a working, life-size grapnel-gun replica were released in October 2013 by DC Collectibles and NECA, respectively. In December 2013, a digital comic book of the same name was released by digital studio Madefire with a prequel to the game. The comic is the first in DC Comics' DC² Multiverse initiative, featuring dynamic artwork and sound and the ability to choose while reading how the story progresses (with several possible outcomes). Purchasing all eight chapters unlocks two costumes for the game. ### Retail editions The PlayStation 3 version of the game features the Knightfall DLC pack, with alternate Batman outfits based on the character's design in the 1960s TV series and Azrael's Batsuit from the "Knightfall" story arc (1993). The pack also contains five challenge maps (based on "Knightfall") which task Batman with defeating Bane and the inmates of Blackgate prison: "Azrael Does Not Protect", "City On Fire", "No Rest For The Wicked", "Venom Connection" and "Turning Point". The UK, Australian and New Zealand Collector's Edition contains a SteelBook game case and a 30-centimetre (12 in) statue of Batman and Joker. The North American "Collector's Edition" and the Australian and New Zealand "Definitive Edition" contain a light-up statue of the Joker by Project Triforce, a Batman "Wanted Poster", Batwing prototype schematic, Anarky logo stencil, glow-in-the-dark map of Gotham City and a Wayne family photo. The North American version also contains the 2013 DC Comics super-villain documentary, Necessary Evil. All regions also get an 80-page hardback art book, dossiers of the in-game assassins, the Deathstroke DLC and the "First Appearance" skin (based on Batman's first appearance in Detective Comics \#27). The PlayStation 3 version also has the Knightfall content. Both editions were released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. ### Downloadable content Deathstroke is available as a playable character for all the game's challenge maps, with weapons and abilities such as regenerating health and super strength, a rifle-staff with a built-in grapple, explosives, and his version of Detective Vision (Tactical Vision). The Deathstroke pack, available as a pre-order bonus, includes two alternate outfits based on costumes worn by the character in the 2013 video game Injustice: Gods Among Us and the 1984 storyline "Teen Titans: The Judas Contract", as well as two challenge maps, "No Money Down" and "100 to 1". Deathstroke is not playable in the main campaign. The Black Mask Challenge pack, released in November 2013, contains two additional challenge maps: "Lot Full" and "Hidden Facility". Bruce Wayne is playable in the Initiation pack, released December 3, 2013. The pack contains five challenge maps, with narrative content to explain the setting. Initiation features Wayne before he becomes Batman, as he trains under his ninjutsu mentor Kirigi in a Korean monastery and comes into conflict with Lady Shiva. The DLC also contains two alternate skins for the character: Initiation Bruce Wayne (based on his monastery clothing) and Vigilante Bruce Wayne (a masked-ninja outfit). Also available in December was the "Hunter, Hunted" multiplayer mode. The story-based campaign expansion, Cold, Cold Heart was released on April 22, 2014. Set a week after the events of Arkham Origins, on New Year's Eve, Cold, Cold Heart'''s narrative focuses on the origin of the supervillain Mr. Freeze and features similarities to the Batman: The Animated Series episode, "Heart of Ice". The content introduces new equipment for Batman, including the XE suit which generates heat, allowing him to melt ice or throw thermal-charged batarangs. In January 2014, the Wii U version of the expansion was canceled by Warner Bros., who cited a lack of demand as the reason. A number of alternate outfits for Batman and Robin were made available by completing in-game tasks and as downloadable content. Batman's skins include designs worn in the 1960s TV series, Batman: Noël, Arkham City, Batman: The Animated Series, Batman: Earth One, Batman Incorporated, Batman: Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, "DC One Million", Brightest Day, Gotham by Gaslight, "Knightfall", Injustice: Gods Among Us, Blackest Night, The New 52 (and a metallic variant), Red Son, Batman: Dark Knight of the Round Table, The Long Halloween, and Thrillkiller. Additional skins include his Sinestro Corps suit, Neal Adams' 1970s depiction of the character, the "First Appearance" design, the classic Earth-Two design (and its New 52 variant) and the "Worst Nightmare" outfit, an original design based on how criminals perceive Batman (available after completing the game). Robin's skins include Tim Drake's first and second Robin costumes, his Red Robin costume, the designs from Batman: The Animated Series and Arkham City and a slightly altered version of the default Arkham Origins costume. ## Reception ### Pre-release Batman: Arkham Origins was displayed at the 2013 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), and received two Game Critics Awards nominations: Best Action/Adventure Game and Best Console Game. It was also recognized at the expo for "Best Videogame" by Forbes; "Best Action Game" by Game Informer; "Best Comic Book-Related Game" by Newsarama and "Best Xbox 360 Game" by IGN. ### Critical reception Batman: Arkham Origins received "mixed or average" reviews from critics on all platforms except on PlayStation 3, which received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Arkham Origins was considered an incremental installment for the series, rather than a transformative one. GameSpot said that Arkham City expanded on Arkham Asylum by applying the game mechanics to a larger open-world setting, but criticized Arkham Origins for replicating Arkham City without moving the series forward. Other critics agreed, saying that the game's well-received elements from the previous game were not significantly developed or augmented and it was routine rather than inspired. However, other reviewers rated it on a par with Arkham City. Critics cited Arkham Origins' handling of the genesis of Batman's relationships with his adversaries and allies and its question of whether Batman's presence enhances crime in Gotham City as the game's greatest assets. Scenes with the Joker received the most praise, with Polygon saying that although he was also a central antagonist in previous Arkham games, the story shone new light on the character; GameSpot called the story surprising in its exploration of the bond and similarities between Batman and the Joker. The story was criticized for lacking a cohesive narrative (particularly the opening plotline of assassins hunting Batman, largely forgotten by the game's end), but EGM said that when it works, the story was worthy of any Batman film, TV show or comic book. The game world was well received for its number and variety of side missions and distractions but its scale was criticized as unnecessarily large, with GameSpot describing it as "bigger just for the sake of being bigger"; Joystiq described the city as unattractive, with the expanded play area increasing the commute but not the enjoyment. Others criticized changes in navigating the city; some areas prevented grappling, slowing (or stopping) travel. Polygon called the world more linear, with fewer chances to revisit areas with new gadgets to open new paths and deviation from the most obvious path necessary only to find collectibles. However, some reviewers considered the city's vastness and activities engrossing. Kotaku criticized the side quests as "busy work" for not advancing the narrative or providing appropriate rewards. Others found the use of previous elements tedious, with replacements, simply mimicking the old (such as the glue grenade, with an identical purpose to Arkham City's ice grenades). Detective Mode, allowing the investigation of crimes, was not considered an improvement by Kotaku and GameSpot; while they considered it a good idea, its execution was minimal since a player simply looks for the next highlighted piece of evidence rather than solving a puzzle. Game Informer liked it, saying that they were complicated and showed how Batman analyzes a crime scene. The combat system received mixed reviews. The shock gloves were criticized as overpowered and making fights too easy, allowing Batman unblockable attacks (instantly disabling most opponents) and removing the need for tactics. Reviewers said that changes to combat punished more than challenged; greater enemy numbers and variety made sustaining an attack difficult, and (combined with an array of gadgets that hindered—rather than damaged—enemies) made encounters long and repetitive. Joystiq noted that the game emphasized combat over stealth. Kotaku called the combat rating system distracting screen clutter which broke the player's concentration, but GameFront said that the system was positive reinforcement for successful fights. The stealth sections were considered of similar quality to previous installments; their unchanged function left the methods of obtaining victory the same, making for a rote experience. The Remote Claw was criticized for making stealth sections too easy, allowing multiple enemies to be disabled without moving from the player's starting position. Critics agreed that Arkham Origins' boss battles were one area of improvement over its predecessors; they offered dynamic, multiphase conflicts with their own stories. While not considering all equally fun or impressive, reviewers said that their variety and unpredictability provided excitement. Less-notable characters from the comics were considered less compelling than more-popular characters. The multiplayer component was criticized, with Polygon calling it one of the least necessary multiplayer additions to a typically single-player experience. The gameplay was described as a mediocre shooter, incapable of supporting the necessary use of guns by its villains and with poor control of movement. GameSpot noted that poor weapon accuracy and movement controls made the thugs seem weak and inept while playing as the heroes lacked empowerment because of more restrictive combat ability and less resistance to damage. Other reviewers called the experience fun and hectic, but lacked sufficient depth to retain long-term interest. The main voice cast was well received. Troy Baker was praised as the Joker, for his performance and as a worthy replacement for longtime previous voice actor Mark Hamill, but at the same time was criticized for his interpretation's replicating Hamill's. Dooma Wendschuh, Ryan Galletta, and Corey May were nominated for the Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing award by the Writers Guild of America. The game's cinematic content, under the direction of supervising sound editor Alain Larose, received a Golden Reel Award nomination for Best Sound Editing in Interactive Entertainment. The National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers nominated the game in three categories: Game, Franchise Action, Costume Design and Control Design, 3D. The 2013 BTVA Voice Acting Awards awarded the game in the category Best Male Vocal Performance in a Video Game In a Supporting Role (JB Blanc as Bane). The game also won in two categories (Best Visual Arts and Best Animation) at the 2013 Canadian Videogame Awards. The game was also nominated in the category "Use of a Licence or IP" at the Develop Awards. At the Xbox 360 Game Awards the game won in the category Favorite Villain (Black Mask). At the Kerrang\! Awards 2014 the game was nominated as Best Video Game. Everyeye.it labeled the game as Game of the Month of October 2013. Reviewers described the Cold, Cold Heart DLC as better-paced and focused than the main game, owing to its shorter playtime that allowed for a more interesting experience. It was also criticized, however, for losing focus near the end, and padding the running time with unnecessary deviations. GameSpot said that the DLC featured a satisfying combination of the series' combat, stealth, and detective mechanics, and introduced interesting new enemy types that wield ice guns capable of freezing both Batman and other enemies. Reviewers described the story as entertaining, following the interesting character of Mr. Freeze, but considered it lacking in surprise because it replicates that of the 1992 Batman: The Animated Series episode "Heart of Ice". The final battle against Mr. Freeze was criticized for replicating several elements of the fight against the character in Arkham City. Similarly, IGN and Destructoid noted that the content lacked originality and innovation, providing generic environments and removing, rather than adding new abilities and weapons. ### Technical issues After the game's launch, many issues on all platforms were noted by the media and players, including lagging; unending "falling" in the game world, preventing the completion of missions; no "continue" button on the startup screen, preventing a previous game from continuing, and some progression gameplay failing to unlock. On Windows, a bug prevented players from accessing one of Enigma's towers; on the Xbox 360, the save files were corrupted and unplayable, with crashing and freezing problems. On October 31, 2013, these issues were addressed by WB Montréal; in a community post, it said that the development team fixed many of the multi-platform problems and an update would be available by November 7. The company added that the Windows-specific issues were addressed in an update that went live on October 31, and the Xbox 360 issues were still under investigation. In February 2014, WB Montréal announced that they would not release any additional patches to fix any issues, due to the development team focusing on the upcoming single-player DLC. Any future patches would only address issues preventing progression in the game. ### Sales During its first week of sales in the United Kingdom Batman: Arkham Origins was the number-one-selling game in all available formats, topping the all-format chart. Its sales were half those of Arkham City during the same time, and approximately even with those of Arkham Asylum. It was the eleventh-best-selling boxed game of 2013 in the country. It was also the top-selling game on the digital-distribution platform Steam between October 20 and 26, 2013. ## Series continuation Batman: Arkham Knight, the successor to Arkham Origins, was announced in March 2014. The game, which is a sequel to Arkham City, was once again developed by Rocksteady Studios for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, and is set nine months after the events of Arkham City. An animated sequel, Batman: Assault on Arkham, was released on August 12, 2014. The film features the Suicide Squad, hinted at during the credits of Arkham Origins, attacking Arkham Asylum to recover information from the Riddler, but their plans go awry when the Joker escapes, and Batman is drawn to the facility. On May 1, 2024, Batman: Arkham Shadow was announced to be releasing for the Meta Quest 3 in October 2024. The game serves as a direct sequel to Arkham Origins'', taking place six months after its events, and according to director Ryan Payton, explores the aftermath of the Joker's Christmas Eve rampage while showcasing Batman's transition from a violent and vengeful vigilante into a symbol of hope.

Avro Vulcan

British jet-powered delta wing strategic bomber

The Avro Vulcan (later Hawker Siddeley Vulcan from July 1963) is a jet-powered, tailless, delta-wing, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A.V. Roe and Company (Avro) designed the Vulcan in response to Specification B.35/46. Of the three V bombers produced, the Vulcan was considered the most technically advanced, hence the riskiest option. Several reduced-scale aircraft, designated Avro 707s, were produced to test and refine the delta-wing design principles. The Vulcan B.1 was first delivered to the RAF in 1956; deliveries of the improved Vulcan B.2 started in 1960. The B.2 featured more powerful engines, a larger wing, an improved electrical system, and electronic countermeasures, and many were modified to accept the Blue Steel missile. As a part of the V-force, the Vulcan was the backbone of the United Kingdom's airborne nuclear deterrent during much of the Cold War. Although the Vulcan was typically armed with nuclear weapons, it could also carry out conventional bombing missions, which it did in Operation Black Buck during the Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina in 1982. The Vulcan had no defensive weaponry, initially relying upon high-speed, high-altitude flight to evade interception. Electronic countermeasures were employed by the B.1 (designated B.1A) and B.2 from around 1960. A change to low-level tactics was made in the mid-1960s. In the mid-1970s, nine Vulcans were adapted for maritime radar reconnaissance operations, redesignated as B.2 (MRR). In the final years of service, six Vulcans were converted to the K.2 tanker configuration for aerial refuelling. After retirement by the RAF, one example, B.2 XH558, named The Spirit of Great Britain, was restored for use in display flights and air shows, whilst two other B.2s, XL426 and XM655, have been kept in taxiable condition for ground runs and demonstrations. B.2 XH558 flew for the last time in October 2015 and is also being kept in taxiable condition. XM612 is on display at Norwich Aviation Museum. ## Development ### Origins The origin of the Vulcan and the other V bombers is linked with early British atomic weapon programme and nuclear deterrent policies. Britain's atom bomb programme began with Air Staff Operational Requirement OR.1001 issued in August 1946. This anticipated a government decision in January 1947 to authorise research and development work on atomic weapons, the U.S. Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (McMahon Act) having prohibited exporting atomic knowledge, even to countries that had collaborated on the Manhattan Project. OR.1001 envisaged a weapon not to exceed 24 ft 2 in (7.37 m) in length, 5 ft (1.5 m) in diameter and 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) in weight. The weapon had to be suitable for release from 20,000 to 50,000 ft (6,100 to 15,200 m). In January 1947, the Ministry of Supply distributed Specification B.35/46 to UK aviation companies to satisfy Air Staff Operational Requirement OR.229 for "a medium range bomber landplane capable of carrying one 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) bomb to a target 1,500 nautical miles (1,700 mi; 2,800 km) from a base which may be anywhere in the world." A cruising speed of 500 knots (580 mph; 930 km/h) at altitudes between 35,000 and 50,000 ft (11,000 and 15,000 m) was specified. The maximum weight when fully loaded should not exceed 100,000 lb (45,000 kg). Alternatively, the aircraft was to be capable of carrying a conventional bomb load of 20,000 lb (9,100 kg). The similar OR.230 required a "long-range bomber" with a 2,000 nautical miles (2,300 mi; 3,700 km) radius of action with a maximum weight of 200,000 lb (91,000 kg) when fully loaded; this requirement was considered too exacting. Six companies submitted technical brochures to this specification, including Avro. Required to tender by the end of April 1947, work began on receipt of Specification B.35/46 at Avro, led by technical director Roy Chadwick and chief designer Stuart Davies; the type designation was Avro 698. As was obvious to the design team, conventional aircraft could not satisfy the specification. No worthwhile information about high-speed flight was available from the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) or the US. Avro were aware that Alexander Lippisch had designed a delta-wing fighter and considered the same delta configuration would be suitable for their bomber. The team estimated that an otherwise conventional aircraft, with a swept wing of 45°, would have doubled the weight requirement. Realising that swept wings increase longitudinal stability, the team deleted the tail (empennage) and the supporting fuselage, it thus became a swept-back flying wing with only a rudimentary forward fuselage and a fin (vertical stabilizer) at each wingtip. The estimated weight was now only 50% over the requirement; a delta shape resulted from reducing the wingspan and maintaining the wing area by filling in the space between the wingtips, which enabled the specification to be met. Although Alexander Lippisch is generally credited as the pioneer of the delta wing, Chadwick's team had followed its own logical design process. The initial design submission had four large turbojets stacked in pairs buried in the wings on either side of the centreline. Outboard of the engines were two bomb bays. In August 1947, Chadwick was killed in the crash of the Avro Tudor 2 prototype, and was succeeded by Sir William Farren. Reductions in wing thickness made incorporating the split bomb bays and stacked engines impossible, thus the engines were placed side by side in pairs on either side of a single bomb bay, with the fuselage growing somewhat. The wingtip fins gave way to a single fin on the aircraft's centreline. Rival manufacturer Handley Page received a prototype contract for its crescent-winged HP.80 B.35/46 tender in November 1947. Although considered the best option, the contract award for Avro's design was delayed while its technical strength was established. Instructions to proceed with the construction of two Avro 698 prototypes were received in January 1948. As an insurance measure against both radical designs failing, Short Brothers received a contract for the prototype SA.4 to the less-stringent Specification B.14/46. The SA.4, later named Sperrin, was not required. In April 1948, Vickers also received authority to proceed with their Type 660, which, although falling short of the B.35/46 Specification, but being of a more conventional design, would be available sooner. This plane entered service as the Valiant. ### Avro 707 and Avro 710 As Avro had no flight experience of the delta wing, the company planned two smaller experimental aircraft based on the 698, the one-third scale model 707 for low-speed handling and the one-half scale model 710 for high-speed handling. Two of each were ordered. The 710 was cancelled when it was considered too time-consuming to develop; a high-speed variant of the 707 was designed in its place, the 707A. The first 707, VX784, flew in September 1949, but crashed later that month, killing the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment's chief test pilot Squadron Leader Samuel Eric Esler, DFC, AE. The second low-speed 707, VX790, built with the still uncompleted 707A's nose section (containing an ejection seat) and redesignated 707B, flew in September 1950 piloted by Avro test pilot Wg Cdr Roland "Roly" Falk. The high-speed 707A, WD480, followed in July 1951. Due to the delay of the 707 programme, the contribution of the 707B and 707A towards the basic design of the 698 was not considered significant, though it did highlight a need to increase the length of the nosewheel to give a ground incidence of 3.5°, the optimum take-off attitude. The 707B and 707A proved the design's validity and gave confidence in the delta planform. A second 707A, WZ736, and a two-seat 707C, WZ744, were also constructed, but they played no part in the 698's development. ### Prototypes and type certification #### First prototype VX770 and name More influential than the Avro 707 in the 698's design was the wind-tunnel testing performed at RAE Farnborough. This necessitated a wing redesign incorporating a cranked and drooped leading edge and vortex generators to avoid the onset of compressibility drag, which would have restricted the maximum speed. This wing modification resulted in the "phase 2" wing which was first investigated on Avro 707A WD480. This modification was too late to be incorporated on the two prototype 698s and the first three B.1 aircraft before their first flights. (The B.1s were quickly retrofitted). Painted gloss white, the 698 prototype VX770, with its pure delta wing, flew for the first time on 30 August 1952 piloted by Roly Falk flying solo. VX770, fitted with only the first pilot's ejection seat and a conventional control wheel, was powered by four Rolls-Royce RA.3 Avon engines of 6,500 lbf (29 kN) thrust, its intended Bristol Olympus engines not being available. The prototype had fuselage fuel tanks but no wing tanks, so temporary additional tankage was carried in the bomb bay. VX770 made an appearance at the 1952 Society of British Aircraft Constructors' (SBAC) Farnborough Air Show the next month when Falk demonstrated an almost vertical bank. After its Farnborough appearance, the future name of the Avro 698 was a subject of speculation. Avro had strongly recommended the name Ottawa, in honour of the company's connection with Avro Canada. The weekly magazine Flight suggested Albion after rejecting Avenger, Apollo, and Assegai. The chief of the air staff preferred a V-class of bombers, and the Air Council announced the following month that the 698 would be called Vulcan after the Roman god of fire and destruction. In January 1953, VX770 was grounded for the installation of wing fuel tanks, Armstrong Siddeley ASSa.6 Sapphire engines of 7,500 lbf (33 kN) thrust and other systems; it flew again in July 1953. From 1957, VX770 was used as the flying testbed for the Rolls-Royce Conway by-pass engine. It crashed at a flying display at RAF Syerston in September 1958. #### Second prototype VX777 The second prototype, VX777, first flew on 3 September 1953. More representative of production aircraft, it was lengthened to accommodate a longer nose undercarriage leg to increase the angle of attack of the wing, shortening the take-off run. It featured a visual bomb-aiming blister under the cabin and was fitted with Bristol Olympus 100 engines of 9,750 lbf (43.4 kN) thrust. At Falk's suggestion, a fighter-style control stick had replaced the control wheel. Like VX770, VX777 had the original wing with straight leading edges. VX777 was joined in formation by the first prototype VX770 and four Avro 707s at the 1953 Farnborough Air Show. During trials in July 1954, VX777 was substantially damaged in a heavy landing at Farnborough. It was repaired, fitted with Olympus 101 engines of 11,000 lbf (49 kN) thrust before resuming trials with Avro and the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A\&AEE) at Boscombe Down. #### Testing and type certification While exploring VX777's high-speed and high-altitude flight envelope at the A\&AEE, mild buffeting and other undesirable flight characteristics were experienced while approaching the limiting Mach number, including an alarming tendency to enter an uncontrollable dive. This was judged unacceptable for an unarmed bomber. Fitting the phase 2 wing removed the buffeting and an auto-mach trimmer countered the high-speed dive. The latter applied up-elevator as the speed critically increased. This up-elevator force was greater than the force required to counter the dive. Consequently, as speed increased, the control column had to be pushed rather than pulled to maintain level flight. This artificial pitch-up made the Vulcan handle more like other aircraft as its speed increased. The first production B.1 XA889 first flew in February 1955 with the original wing and joined the trials in June. In September 1955, Falk, flying the second production B.1 XA890 (which had remained at Woodford as part of the MoS's Air Fleet on radio trials), amazed crowds at the Farnborough Air Show by executing a barrel roll on his second flypast in front of the SBAC president's tent. After two days of flying, he was called in front of service and civil aviation authorities and ordered to refrain from carrying out this "dangerous" manoeuvre. Now fitted with a phase 2 wing, XA889 was delivered in March 1956 to the A\&AEE for trials for the type's initial Certificate of Airworthiness which it received the following month. (In 1956, VX777 was modified with the even larger phase 2(C) wing. Fitted with Olympus 104 engines, it became the aerodynamic prototype of the Vulcan B.2.) ### Into service #### Vulcan B.1 and B1A The first 15 production B.1s were powered by the Olympus 101. Many of these early examples in a metallic finish remained the property of the Ministry of Supply, being retained for trials and development purposes. Those entering RAF service were delivered to No 230 Operational Conversion Unit (OCU), the first in July 1956. Later aircraft, painted in anti-flash white and powered by the Olympus 102 with 12,000 lbf (53 kN) thrust, began to enter squadron service in July 1957. The Olympus 102s were modified during overhaul to the Olympus 104 standard, ultimately rated at 13,500 lbf (60 kN) thrust. Rebuilding B.1s as B.2s was considered but rejected over cost. Nevertheless, to extend the B.1's service life, 28 (the surviving B1 aircraft fitted with Olympus 102/104 engines) were upgraded by Armstrong Whitworth between 1959 and 1963 to the B.1A standard, including features of the B.2 such as ECM equipment, in-flight refuelling receiving equipment, and UHF radio. However, the B.1As were not strengthened for low-level operations and all were withdrawn by 1968. #### Vulcan B.2 As far back as 1952, Bristol Aero Engines had begun development of the BOl.6 (Olympus 6) rated at 16,000 lbf (71 kN) thrust but if fitted to the B.1, this would have reintroduced the buffet requiring further redesign of the wing. The decision to proceed with the B.2 versions of the Vulcan was made in May 1956, being developed by Avro's chief designer Roy Ewans. The first B.2 was anticipated to be around the 45th aircraft of the 99 then on order. As well as being able to achieve greater heights over targets, operational flexibility was believed to be extended by the provision of in-flight refuelling equipment and tanker aircraft. The increasing sophistication of Soviet air defences required the fitting of electronic countermeasure (ECM) equipment, and vulnerability could be reduced by the introduction of the Avro Blue Steel stand-off missile, then in development. To develop these proposals, the second Vulcan prototype VX777 was rebuilt with the larger and thinner phase-2C wing, improved flying control surfaces, and Olympus 102 engines, first flying in this configuration in August 1957. Several Vulcan B.1s were used for the development of the B.2: development of the BOl.6 (later Olympus 200), XA891; a new AC electrical system, XA893; ECM including jammers within a bulged tail cone and a tail warning radar, XA895: and for Blue Steel development work, XA903. The 46th production aircraft and first B.2, XH533, first flew in September 1958 using Olympus 200 engines, six months before the last B.1 XH532 was delivered in March 1959. The second B.2, XH534, flew in January 1959. Powered by production Olympus 201s with 17,000 lbf (76 kN) thrust, it was more representative of a production aircraft, being fitted with an in-flight refuelling probe and a bulged ECM tail cone. Some subsequent B.2s were initially lacking probes and ECM tail cones, but these were retrofitted. The first 10 B.2s outwardly showed their B.1 ancestry, retaining narrow engine air intakes. Anticipating even more powerful engines, the air intakes were deepened on the 11th (XH557) and subsequent aircraft. Many of the early aircraft were retained for trials, and the 12th B.2, XH558, was the first to be delivered to the RAF in July 1960. Coincidentally, XH558 was also the last Vulcan in service with the RAF, before being retired in 1992. The 26th B.2, XL317, the first of a production batch ordered in February 1956, was the first Vulcan, apart from development aircraft, capable of carrying the Blue Steel missile; 33 aircraft were delivered to the RAF with these modifications. When the Mk.2 version of Blue Steel was cancelled in favour of the Douglas GAM-87 Skybolt air-launched ballistic missile in December 1959, fittings were changed in anticipation of the new missile, one under each wing. Though Skybolt was cancelled in November 1962, many aircraft were delivered or retrofitted with "Skybolt" blisters. Later aircraft were delivered with Olympus 301 engines with 20,000 lbf (89 kN) thrust. Two earlier aircraft were re-engined (XH557 and XJ784) for trials and development work; another seven aircraft were converted around 1963. The last B.2 XM657 was delivered in 1965 and the type served until 1984. Whilst in service, the B.2 was continuously updated with modifications, including rapid engine starting, bomb-bay fuel tanks, wing strengthening to give the fatigue life to enable the aircraft to fly at low level (a tactic introduced in the mid-1960s), upgraded navigation equipment, terrain-following radar, standardisation on a common weapon (WE.177) and improved ECM equipment. Nine B.2s were modified for a maritime radar reconnaissance role and six for an airborne tanker role. An updated bomb rack assembly allowing the carriage of 30 1,000 lb bombs, up from 21 was demonstrated by Avro but was not introduced. The updated wing profile increased range to 4,000 nm (7,400 km). ### Proposed developments and cancelled projects - Avro Type 718: The Avro 718 was a 1951 proposal for a delta-winged military transport based on the Type 698 to carry 80 troops or 110 passengers. It would have been powered by four Bristol Olympus BOl.3 engines. - Avro Atlantic: The Avro Type 722 Atlantic was a 1952 proposal (announced in June 1953) for a 120-passenger delta-winged airliner based on the Type 698. - Avro Type 732: The Avro 732 was a 1956 proposal for a supersonic development of the Vulcan and would have been powered by 8 de Havilland Gyron Junior engines. Unlike the proposed Avro 721 low-level bomber of 1952 or the Avro 730 supersonic stainless steel canard bomber dating from 1954 (cancelled in 1957 before completion of the prototype), the Type 732 showed its Vulcan heritage. - Vulcan Phase 6 (Vulcan B.3) In 1960, the Air Staff approached Avro with a request into a study for a patrol missile carrier armed with up to six Skybolt missiles capable of a mission length of 12 hours. Avro's submission in May 1960 was the Phase 6 Vulcan, which would have been the Vulcan B.3. The aircraft was fitted with an enlarged wing of 121 ft (37 m) span with increased fuel capacity; additional fuel tanks in a dorsal spine; a new main undercarriage to carry an all-up-weight of 339,000 lb (154,000 kg); and reheated Olympus 301s of 30,000 lbf (130 kN) thrust. An amended proposal of October 1960 inserted a 10 ft 9 in (3.28 m) plug into the forward fuselage with capacity for six crew members including a relief pilot, all facing forwards on ejection seats, and aft-fan versions of the Olympus 301. - Fighter-support Vulcan To counter improving Soviet defences after the cancellation of Skybolt, Avro proposed a Vulcan with three Gnat fighters slung underneath. The Gnats were to have been released in enemy airspace to provide fighter cover, and they were expected to land "in friendly territory" or return to the Vulcan to replenish their tanks by means of a specially installed flight-refuelling drogue. ### Export proposals Other countries expressed interest in purchasing Vulcans, but as with the other V-bombers, no foreign sales materialised. - Australia: As early as 1954, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) recognised that the English Electric Canberra might soon become outdated. Potential replacements, such as the Boeing B-47E, Handley-Page Victor and Vulcan were considered. Political pressure for a Canberra replacement came to a head in 1962, by which time agile, supersonic bombers/strategic strike aircraft, such as the North American A-5 Vigilante, BAC TSR-2, General Dynamics F-111, had become available. Had the Australian government pre-ordered the TSR-2, several V-bombers, including Vulcans, would have been made available, for interim use by the RAAF; however, the F-111C was ordered. (The UK government almost followed that decision – after the cancellation of the TSR-2 – it was offered the similar F-111K.) - Argentina: In the early 1980s, Argentina approached the UK with a proposal to buy a number of Vulcans. An application, made in September 1981, requested the 'early availability' of a 'suitable aircraft'. With some reluctance, British ministers approved the export of a single aircraft but emphasised that clearance had not been given for the sale of a larger number. A letter from the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the Ministry of Defence in January 1982 stated that little prospect was seen of this happening without ascertaining the Argentine interest and whether such interest was genuine: 'On the face of it, a strike aircraft would be entirely suitable for an attack on the Falklands.' Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands less than three months later, after which a British embargo on the sale of any military equipment was quickly imposed. ## Design ### Overview Despite its radical and unusual shape, the airframe was built along traditional lines. Except for the most highly stressed parts, the whole structure was manufactured from standard grades of light alloy. The airframe was broken down into a number of major assemblies: The centre section, a rectangular box containing the bomb bay and engine bays bounded by the front and rear spars and the wing transport joints; the intakes and centre fuselage; the front fuselage, incorporating the pressure cabin; the nose; the outer wings; the leading edges; the wing trailing edge and rear end of the fuselage; and a single swept tail fin with a single rudder was on the trailing edge. A five-man crew was accommodated within the pressure cabin on two levels; the first pilot and co-pilot sitting on Martin-Baker 3K (3KS on the B.2) ejection seats whilst on the lower level the navigator radar, navigator plotter, and air electronics officer (AEO) sat facing rearwards and would abandon the aircraft via the entrance door. The original B35/46 specification sought a jettisonable crew compartment, but this requirement was removed in a subsequent amendment; the rear crew's escape system was often an issue of controversy, such as when a practical refit scheme was rejected. A rudimentary sixth seat forward of the navigator radar was provided for an additional crew member; the B.2 had an additional seventh seat opposite the sixth seat and forward of the AEO. The visual bomb-aimer's compartment could be fitted with a T4 (Blue Devil) bombsight, in many B.2s, this space housed a vertically mounted Vinten F95 Mk.10 camera for assessing simulated low-level bombing runs. Fuel was carried in 14 bag tanks, four in the centre fuselage above and to the rear of the nosewheel bay, and five in each outer wing. The tanks were split into four groups of almost equal capacity, each normally feeding its respective engine, though cross-feeding was possible. The centre of gravity was automatically maintained by electric timers, which sequenced the booster pumps on the tanks. B.2 aircraft could be fitted with one or two additional fuel tanks in the bomb bay. Despite being designed before a low radar cross-section and other stealth factors were ever a consideration, an RAE technical note of 1957 stated that of all the aircraft so far studied, the Vulcan appeared by far the simplest radar-echoing object, due to its shape; only one or two components contributed significantly to the echo at any aspect, compared with three or more on most other types. ### Colour schemes The two prototype Vulcans were finished in gloss white. Early Vulcan B.1s left the factory in a natural metal finish; the front half of the nose radome was painted black, the rear half painted silver. Front-line Vulcan B.1s had a finish of anti-flash white and RAF "type D" roundels. Front-line Vulcan B.1As and B.2s were similar, but with pale roundels. With the adoption of low-level attack profiles in the mid-1960s, B.1As and B.2s were given a glossy sea grey medium and dark green disruptive pattern camouflage on the upper surfaces, white undersurfaces, and "type D" roundels. (The last 13 Vulcan B.2s, XM645 onwards, were delivered thus from the factory). In the mid-1970s, Vulcan B.2s received a similar scheme with matte camouflage, light aircraft grey undersides, and "low-visibility" roundels. B.2(MRR)s received a similar scheme in gloss; and the front halves of the radomes were no longer painted black. Beginning in 1979, 10 Vulcans received a wrap-around camouflage of dark sea grey and dark green because, during Red Flag exercises in the US, defending SAM forces had found that the grey-painted undersides of the Vulcan became much more visible against the ground at high angles of bank. ### Avionics The original Vulcan B.1 radio fit was: two 10-channel VHF transmitter/receivers (TR-1985/TR-1986) and an STR-18, 24-channel HF transmitter-receiver (R4187/T4188). The Vulcan B.1A also featured a UHF transmitter-receiver (ARC-52). The initial B.2 radio fit was similar to the B.1A though it was ultimately fitted with the ARC-52, a V/UHF transmitter/receiver (PTR-175), and a single-sideband modulation HF transmitter-receiver (Collins 618T). The navigation and bombing system comprised an H2S Mk9 radar and a navigation bombing computer Mk1. Other navigation aids included a Marconi radio compass (ADF), GEE Mk3, Green Satin Doppler radar to determine the groundspeed and drift angle, radio and radar altimeters, and an instrument landing system. TACAN replaced GEE in the B.1A and B.2 in 1964. Decca Doppler 72 replaced Green Satin in the B.2 around 1969 A continuous display of the aircraft's position was maintained by a ground position indicator. Vulcan B.2s were eventually fitted with the free-running dual-gyroscopic heading reference system (HRS) Mk.2, based upon the inertial platform of the Blue Steel missile, which had been integrated into the system when the missile had been carried. With the HRS a navigator's heading unit was provided, which enabled the navigator plotter to adjust the aircraft heading, through the autopilot, by as little as 0.1 degrees. The B.2 (MRR) was additionally fitted with the LORAN C navigation system. The original ECM fit of the B.1A and B.2 was one Green Palm voice communications jammer; two Blue Diver metric jammers; three Red Shrimp S-band jammers; a Blue Saga passive warning receiver with four aerials; a Red Steer tail warning radar; and chaff dispensers. The bulk of the equipment was carried in a large, extended tail cone, and a flat ECM aerial counterpoise plate was mounted between the starboard tailpipes. Later equipment on the B.2 included: an L band jammer (replacing a Red Shrimp); the ARI 18146 X-band jammer; replacing the Green Palm; the improved Red Steer Mk.2; infra-red decoys (flares); and the ARI 18228 PWR with its aerials that gave a squared top to the fin. ### Controls The aircraft was controlled by a fighter-type control stick and rudder bar, which operated the powered flying controls, which each had a single electrohydraulic-powered flying control unit, except the rudder, which had two, one running as a back-up. Artificial feel and auto stabilisation in the form of pitch and yaw dampers were provided, as well as an auto Mach trimmer. The flight instruments in the B.1 were traditional and included G4B compasses; Mk.4 artificial horizons; and zero reader flight display instruments. The B.1 had a Smiths Mk10 autopilot. In the B.2, these features were incorporated into the Smiths Military Flight System (MFS), the pilots' components being: two beam compasses; two director-horizons; and an Mk.10A or Mk.10B autopilot. From 1966, B.2s were fitted with the ARI 5959 TFR, built by General Dynamics, its commands being fed into the director-horizons. The B.1 had four elevators (inboard) and four ailerons (outboard). In the B.2, these were replaced by eight elevons. The Vulcan was also fitted with six electrically operated three-position (retracted, medium drag, high drag) airbrakes, four in the upper centre section and two in the lower. Originally, four lower airbrakes were used, but the outboard two were deleted before the aircraft entered service. A brake parachute was installed inside the tail cone. ### Electrical and hydraulic systems The main electrical system on the B.1/B.1A was 112 V DC supplied by four 22.5kW engine-driven starter-generators. Backup power was provided by four 24 V 40 Ah batteries connected in series providing 96 V. Secondary electrical systems were 28 V DC, single-phase 115 V AC at 1600 Hz, and three-phase 115 V AC at 400 Hz, driven by transformers and inverters from the main system. The 28 V DC system was backed up by a single 24 V battery. For greater efficiency and higher reliability, the main system on the B.2 was changed to three-phase 200 V AC at 400 Hz supplied by four 40 kVA engine-driven constant-speed alternators. Engine starting was then by air-starters supplied from a Palouste compressor on the ground. Standby supplies in the event of a main AC failure were provided by a ram air turbine driving a 17 kVA alternator that could operate from high altitudes down to 20,000 ft (6,100 m), and an airborne auxiliary power plant, a Rover gas turbine driving a 40kVA alternator, which could be started once the aircraft was below an altitude of 30,000 ft (9,100 m). Secondary electrical supplies were by transformer-rectifier units for 28 V DC and rotary frequency converters for the 115 V 1600 Hz single-phase supplies. The change to an AC system was a significant improvement. Each PFCU had a hydraulic pump that was driven by an electric motor, in modern terminology, this is an electro-hydraulic actuator. Because no manual reversion existed, a total electrical failure would result in a loss of control. The standby batteries on the B.1 were designed to give enough power for 20 minutes of flying time, but this proved to be optimistic and two aircraft, XA891 and XA908, crashed as a result. The main hydraulic system provided pressure for undercarriage raising and lowering and bogie trim; nosewheel centring and steering; wheel brakes (fitted with Maxarets); bomb doors opening and closing; and (B.2 only) AAPP air scoop lowering. Hydraulic pressure was provided by three hydraulic pumps fitted to Nos. 1, 2 and 3 engines. An electrically operated hydraulic power pack (EHPP) could be used to operate the bomb doors and recharge the brake accumulators. A compressed air (later nitrogen) system was provided for emergency undercarriage lowering. ### Engine The Rolls-Royce Olympus, originally known as the "Bristol BE.10 Olympus", is a two-spool, axial-flow turbojet that powered the Vulcan. Each Vulcan had four engines buried in the wings, positioned in pairs close to the fuselage. The engine's design began in 1947, intended to power the Bristol Aeroplane Company's own rival design to the Vulcan. As the prototype Vulcan VX770 was ready for flight prior to the Olympus being available, it first flew using Rolls-Royce Avon RA.3 engines of 6,500 lbf (29 kN) thrust. These were quickly replaced by Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire ASSa.6 engines of 7,500 lbf (33 kN) thrust. VX770 later became a flying test bed for the Rolls-Royce Conway. The second prototype VX777 first flew with Olympus 100s of 10,000 lbf (44 kN) thrust. It was subsequently re-engined with Olympus 101 engines. When VX777 flew with a Phase 2C (B.2) wing in 1957, it was fitted with Olympus 102 engines of 12,000 lbf (53 kN) thrust. Early B.1s were equipped with the Olympus 101. Later aircraft were delivered with Olympus 102s. All Olympus 102s became the Olympus 104 on overhaul and ultimately 13,500 lbf (60 kN) thrust on uprating. The first B.2 flew with the second-generation Olympus 200, design of which began in 1952. Subsequent B.2s were engined with either the uprated Olympus 201 or the Olympus 301. The Olympus 201 was designated 202 on being fitted with a rapid air starter. The engine would later be developed into a reheated (afterburning) powerplant for the cancelled TSR-2 strike/reconnaissance aircraft and the supersonic passenger transport Concorde. Around 90% power, the engines in the Vulcan would emit a distinctive "howl"-like noise due to the air intake arrangement, which became an attraction at public airshows. ## Operational history ### Introduction In September 1956, the RAF received its first Vulcan B.1, XA897, which immediately embarked upon a round-the-world tour. The tour was to be an important demonstration of the range and capabilities of the aircraft, but it also had other benefits in the form of conducting goodwill visits in various countries; during their service, Vulcans routinely visited various nations and distant parts of the Commonwealth as a show of support and military protection. This first tour, however, was struck by misfortune; on 1 October 1956, while landing in bad weather at London Heathrow Airport at the completion of the world tour, XA897 was destroyed in a fatal accident. The first two aircraft were delivered to 230 OCU in January 1957 and the training of crews started on 21 February 1957. The first OCU course to qualify was No. 1 Course, on 21 May 1957, and they went on to form the first flight of No. 83 Squadron. No. 83 Squadron was the first operational squadron to use the bomber, at first using borrowed Vulcans from the OCU, and on 11 July 1956 it received the first aircraft of its own. By September 1957, several Vulcans had been handed over to No. 83 Squadron. The second OCU course also formed a Flight of 83 Squadron, but subsequent trained crews were also used to form the second bomber squadron, 101 Squadron. The last aircraft from the first batch of 25 aircraft had been delivered by the end of 1957 to 101 Squadron. To increase the mission range and flight time for Vulcan operations, in-flight refuelling capabilities were added from 1959 onwards; several Valiant bombers were refurbished as tankers to refuel the Vulcans. Continuous airborne patrols proved untenable, however, and the refuelling mechanisms across the Vulcan fleet fell into disuse in the 1960s. Both Vulcans and the other V-force aircraft routinely visited the Far East, in particular Singapore, where a fully equipped nuclear-weapons storage facility had been constructed in 1959. These deployments were part of the UK's contribution to SEATO operations, often to test the defences of friendly nations in joint exercises. During the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation, Britain planned to deploy three squadrons of V-bomber aircraft and 48 Red Beard tactical nuclear weapons to the region, although this was ultimately decided against. Vulcans trained in the region for both conventional and nuclear missions. In the early 1970s, the RAF decided to permanently deploy two squadrons of Vulcans overseas in the Near East Air Force Bomber Wing, based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. The Vulcans were withdrawn in the mid-1970s, however, as Cypriot intercommunal violence intensified. Vulcans flew some very long-range missions. In June 1961, one flew 18,507 km from RAF Scampton to Sydney in just over 20 hours, facilitated by three air refuellings. Vulcans frequently visited the United States during the 1960s and 1970s to participate in air shows and static displays, as well as to participate in the Strategic Air Command's (SAC) Annual Bombing and Navigation Competition at such locations as Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, and the former McCoy AFB, Florida. Vulcans also took part Operation Skyshield exercises in 1960, 1961, and 1962, in which NORAD defences were tested against possible Soviet air attack, the Vulcans simulating Soviet fighter/bomber attacks against New York, Chicago, and Washington, DC. The results of the tests were classified until 1997. The Vulcan proved quite successful during the 1974 "Giant Voice" exercise, in which it managed to avoid USAF interceptors. ### Nuclear deterrent As part of Britain's independent nuclear deterrent, the Vulcan initially carried Britain's first nuclear weapon, the Blue Danube gravity bomb. Blue Danube was a low-kiloton yield fission bomb designed before the United States detonated the first hydrogen bomb. These were supplemented by U.S.-owned Mk 5 bombs (made available under the Project E programme) and later by the British Red Beard tactical nuclear weapon. The UK had already embarked on its own hydrogen bomb programme, and to bridge the gap until these were ready the V-bombers were equipped with an Interim Megaton Weapon based on the Blue Danube casing containing Green Grass, a large pure-fission warhead of 400-kiloton-of-TNT (1.7 PJ) yield. This bomb was known as Violet Club. Only five were deployed before the Green Grass warhead was incorporated into a developed weapon as Yellow Sun Mk.1. The later Yellow Sun Mk 2, was fitted with Red Snow, a British-built variant of the U.S. W28 warhead. Yellow Sun Mk 2 was the first British thermonuclear weapon to be deployed, and was carried on both the Vulcan and Handley Page Victor. The Valiant retained U.S. nuclear weapons assigned to SACEUR under the dual-key arrangements. Red Beard was positioned in Singapore for use by Vulcan and Victor bombers. From 1962, three squadrons of Vulcan B.2s and two squadrons of Victor B.2s were armed with the Blue Steel missile, a rocket-powered stand-off bomb, which was also fitted with the 1.1 Mt (4.6 PJ) yield Red Snow warhead. Operationally, RAF Bomber Command and the SAC cooperated in the Single Integrated Operational Plan to ensure coverage of all major Soviet targets from 1958; 108 of the RAF's V-bombers were assigned targets under the plan by the end of 1959. From 1962 onwards, two jets in every RAF bomber base were armed with nuclear weapons and on standby permanently under the principle of Quick Reaction Alert (QRA). Vulcans on QRA were to be airborne within four minutes of receiving an alert, as this was identified as the amount of time between warning of a USSR nuclear strike being launched and it arriving in Britain. The closest the Vulcan came to taking part in potential nuclear conflict was during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, where Bomber Command was moved to Alert Condition 3, an increased state of preparedness from normal operations; however, it stood down in early November. The Vulcans were intended to be equipped with the Skybolt missile to replace the Blue Steel, with Vulcan B.2s carrying two Skybolts under the wings. The last 28 B.2s were modified on the production line to fit pylons to carry the Skybolt. A B.3 variant with increased wingspan to carry up to six Skybolts was proposed in 1960. When the Skybolt missile system was cancelled by U.S. President John F. Kennedy on the recommendation of his Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara in 1962, precipitating the Skybolt Crisis, Blue Steel was retained. To supplement it until the Royal Navy took on the deterrent role with Polaris SLBM-equipped submarines, the Vulcan bombers adopted a new mission profile of flying high during clear transit, dropping down low to avoid enemy defences on approach, and deploying a parachute-retarded bomb, the WE.177B. However, since the aircraft had been designed for high-altitude flight, at low altitudes it could not exceed 350 knots. RAF Air Vice Marshal Ron Dick, a former Vulcan pilot, said "it is [thus] questionable whether it could have been effective flying at low level in a war against ... the Soviet Union." After the British Polaris submarines became operational and Blue Steel was taken out of service in 1970, the Vulcan continued to carry WE.177B in a tactical nuclear strike role as part of the British contribution to Europe's standing NATO forces, although they no longer held aircraft at 15 minutes' readiness in peacetime. Two squadrons were also stationed in Cyprus as part of the Near East Air Force and assigned to Central Treaty Organization in a strategic strike role. With the eventual demise of the WE.177B and the Vulcan bombers, the Blackburn Buccaneer, SEPECAT Jaguar, and Panavia Tornado continued with the WE.177C until its retirement in 1998. While not a like-for-like replacement, the multi-role Tornado interdictor/strike bomber is the successor for the roles previously filled by the Vulcan. ### Conventional role Although in operational use the Vulcan typically carried various nuclear armaments, the type also had a secondary conventional role. While performing conventional combat missions, the Vulcan could carry up to 21 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs inside its bomb bay. From the 1960s, the various Vulcan squadrons routinely conducted conventional training missions; the aircrews were expected to be able to perform conventional bombing missions, in addition to the critical nuclear strike mission. The Vulcan's only combat missions took place towards the end of the type's service in 1982. During the Falklands War, the Vulcan was deployed against Argentinian forces which had occupied the Falkland Islands. The missions performed by the Vulcan became known as the Black Buck raids, each aircraft had to fly 3,889 mi (6,259 km) from Ascension Island to reach Stanley on the Falklands. Victor tankers conducted the necessary air-to-air refuelling for the Vulcan to cover the distance involved; approximately 1,100,000 imp gal (5,000,000 L) of fuel was used in each mission. Engineering work to prepare the five Vulcans that would conduct the missions began on 9 April. Each aircraft required modifications to the bomb bay, the reinstatement of the long out-of-use in-flight refuelling system, the installation of a new navigational system derived from the Vickers VC10, and the updating of several onboard electronics. Underneath the wings, new pylons were fitted to carry an ECM pod and Shrike antiradar missiles at wing hardpoint locations. On 1 May, the first mission was conducted by a single Vulcan (XM607) that flew over Port Stanley and dropped its bombs on the airfield, concentrating on the single runway, with one direct hit, making it unsuitable for fighter aircraft. The Vulcan's mission was quickly followed up by strikes against anti-air installations, flown by British Aerospace Sea Harriers from Royal Navy aircraft carriers. A further two missions saw missiles launched against radar installations and two additional missions were cancelled. At the time, these missions held the record for the world's longest-distance raids. The Vulcans' ECM systems proved to be effective at jamming Argentine radars; while a Vulcan was within the theatre, other British aircraft in the vicinity had a reduced chance of coming under effective fire. On 3 June 1982, Vulcan B.2 XM597 of No. 50 Squadron took part in the "Black Buck 6" mission against Argentinian radar sites at Stanley airfield on the Falkland Islands. While attempting to refuel for its return journey to Ascension Island, the probe broke, leaving the Vulcan with insufficient fuel, forcing a diversion to Galeão Air Force Base, Rio de Janeiro, in neutral Brazil. En route, secret papers were dumped along with the two remaining AGM-45 Shrike missiles, although one failed to launch. After a mayday call, the Vulcan, escorted by Brazilian Air Force Northrop F-5 fighters, was permitted an emergency landing at Rio with very little fuel left on board. The Vulcan and her crew were detained until the end of hostilities nine days later. ### Reconnaissance In November 1973, as a result of the planned closure of the Victor SR.2 equipped No. 543 Squadron, No. 27 Squadron reformed at RAF Scampton equipped with the Vulcan as a replacement in the maritime radar reconnaissance role. The squadron carried out patrols of the seas around the British Isles, including the strategically important GIUK gap between Iceland and the United Kingdom, flying at high level and using the Vulcan's H2S radar to monitor shipping. In peacetime, this could be followed up by visual identification and photography of targets of interest at low level. In the event of war, a Vulcan would leave visual identification of potential targets to Buccaneers or Canberras and could coordinate attacks by Buccaneers against hostile shipping. Though initially equipped with a number of B.2 aircraft, the Squadron eventually operated nine B.2 (MRR) aircraft (also known by the unofficial designation SR.2). The aircraft were modified for the role by removing the TFR (and its thimble radome) and adding the LORAN C radio navigation aid. The main external visual difference was the presence of a gloss paint finish, with a light grey undersurface, to protect against sea spray. The squadron also inherited its secondary role of air sampling from No. 543 Squadron. This involved flying through plumes of airborne contamination and using onboard equipment to collect fallout released from both above ground and underground nuclear tests for later analysis at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston. Five aircraft had small pylons fitted to the redundant Skybolt hardpoints, which could be used to carry sampling pods modified from drop tanks. These pods would collect the needed samples on a filter, while an additional smaller "localiser" pod was fitted to the port wing, inboard of the main pylons. The squadron disbanded at Scampton in March 1982, passing on its radar reconnaissance duties to the RAF's Nimrods. ### Aerial refuelling role After the end of the Falklands War in 1982, the Vulcan B.2 was due to be withdrawn from RAF service that year. The Falklands campaign, however, had consumed much of the airframe fatigue life of the RAF's Victor tankers. While Vickers VC10 tanker conversions had been ordered in 1979 and Lockheed TriStar tankers would be ordered after the conflict, as a stopgap measure six Vulcans were converted into single-point tankers. The Vulcan tanker conversion was accomplished by removing the jammers from the ECM bay in the tail of the aircraft and replacing them with a single hose drum unit. An additional cylindrical bomb-bay tank was fitted, giving a fuel capacity of almost 100,000 lb (45,000 kg). The go-ahead for converting the six aircraft was given on 4 May 1982. Just 50 days after being ordered, the first Vulcan tanker, XH561, was delivered to RAF Waddington. The Vulcan K.2s were operated by No. 50 Squadron, along with three Vulcan B.2s, in support of UK air defence activities until it was disbanded in March 1984. ### Vulcan Display Flight After the disbandment of No. 50 Squadron, two Vulcans continued flying with the RAF in air displays as part of the Vulcan Display Flight, based at Waddington but administered through No. 55 Squadron, based at RAF Marham. Initially displaying using XL426, in 1986 that aircraft was sold, having been replaced by XH558, which began displays in 1985. The VDF continued with XH558 until 1992, finishing operations after the Ministry of Defence determined it was too costly to run in light of budget cuts. Both aircraft subsequently entered preservation and survived, although a third, XH560, kept in reserve in the first years, was later scrapped. ### Engine test beds - The first prototype VX770 had its Sapphire engines replaced with four 15,000 lbf (67 kN) Rolls-Royce Conway RCo.7 turbofans in 1957. It was transferred to Rolls-Royce as the Conway test bed. It flew with the Conways, the first turbofans in the world, until its fatal crash in September 1958. - The first Vulcan B.1 XA889 was used for the flight clearances of the Olympus 102 and 104. - Vulcan B.1 XA891 was fitted with four Olympus 200 engines in the spring of 1958 for intensive flying trials. The aircraft crashed in July 1958 during a routine test flight. - Vulcan B.1 XA894 flew with five Olympus engines, the standard four Mk.101s, plus a reheated Olympus 320 destined for the BAC TSR-2 in an underslung nacelle. This aircraft was destroyed in a ground fire at Filton on 3 December 1962. - Vulcan B.1 XA896 was withdrawn from RAF service in June 1964 and transferred to be converted to the test bed for the Bristol Siddeley BS100 vectored thrust turbofan for the Hawker Siddeley P.1154. The P.1154 was cancelled in February 1965 and XA896 was scrapped before being converted. - Vulcan B.1 XA902 was withdrawn from RAF service after a landing accident in 1958. After rebuilding, it replaced VX770 as the Conway test bed, fitted with four RCo.11s. The two inner Conways were replaced with Rolls-Royce Speys, flying for the first time in this configuration on 12 October 1961. - Vulcan B.1 XA903, surplus to Blue Steel trials, was converted to a similar layout to XA894 to flight test the Olympus 593 Concorde installation. The first flight was on 1 October 1966 and testing continued through to June 1971. In April 1973, XA903 started flying with an underslung Rolls-Royce RB.199 turbofan destined for the Panavia Tornado. XA903 was the last B.1 to fly, being retired in February 1979. - Vulcan B.2 XH557 was used by BSEL for developing the Olympus 301 and first flew with the larger engine in May 1961. It was returned to Woodford in 1964 to be refurbished for the RAF. ## Variants - B.1 The initial production aircraft. The first few had straight leading edges, later retrofitted with phase 2 (kinked) wings. Early examples were finished in silver, later changed to "anti-flash" white. Many were converted to B.1A standard 1959–1963. The last few unmodified B.1s in RAF service with No. 230 OCU retired by 1966. Last flight by any B.1, an engine testbed XA903, March 1979. - B.1A The B.1 with an ECM system in a new larger tail cone (as in B.2). Unlike the B.2, the B.1As did not undergo extensive wing strengthening for low-level flying and were withdrawn from service 1966–67. - B.2 Developed version of the B.1. Larger, thinner wing than the B.1 (Phase 2C wing) and fitted with Olympus 201-202 engines, or Olympus 301 engines. Uprated electrics with AAPP and Ram Air Turbine (RAT). ECM similar to B.1A. TFR in nose thimble radome fitted to most aircraft in the mid-60s. New Radar warning receiver aerials on tail fin giving it a square top from the mid-1970s. - B.2 (MRR) Nine B.2s converted to maritime radar reconnaissance (MRR). TFR deleted. Five aircraft were further modified for the air sampling role. Distinctive gloss finish with light grey underside. - K.2 Six B.2s converted for air-to-air refuelling with Mark 17 hose drum unit (HDU) mounted semi-recessed in the tail cone. TFR deleted. Fitted with three bomb-bay drum tanks, it was the only mark of Vulcan that could jettison fuel in an emergency. - B.3 Proposed version, intended as a long-endurance missile carrier capable of carrying up to six Skybolt missiles on flights of up to 12 hours duration. Never built. ### Production A total of 134 production Vulcans were assembled at Woodford Aerodrome, 45 to the B.1 design and 89 were B.2 models, the last being delivered to the RAF in January 1965. | Contract date | Quantity | Variant | Notes | | ------------- | -------- | ---------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 6 Jul 1948 | | Prototypes | Two prototypes were delivered in Aug 1952 and Sep 1953 | | 14 Aug 1952 | | Vulcan B.1 | First flight of production aircraft 4 Feb 1955, delivered between Jun 1955 and Dec 1957 | | 30 Sep 1954 | | Vulcan B.1 | Delivered between Jan 1958 and Apr 1959 | | 30 Sep 1954 | | Vulcan B.2 | Delivered between Sep 1959 and Dec 1960 | | 31 Mar 1955 | | Vulcan B.2 | Delivered between Jan and May 1961 | | 25 Feb 1956 | | Vulcan B.2 | Delivered between Jul 1961 and Nov 1962 | | 22 Jan 1958 | | Vulcan B.2 | Delivered between Feb 1963 and Jan 1965, one aircraft not flown and used as a static test airframe | | Total | '''' | | | ## Operators - United Kingdom - Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment aircraft used for trials and evaluation - Royal Air Force - 9 squadron (B.2 from 1962 to 1982) - 12 squadron (B.2 from 1962 to 1967) - 27 squadron (B.2 from 1961 to 1972 and the B.2 (MRR) from 1973 to 1982) - 35 squadron (B.2 from 1962 to 1982) - 44 squadron (B.1/B.1A from 1960 to 1967 and the B.2 from 1966 to 1982) - 50 squadron (B.1/B.1A from 1961 to 1966, the B.2 from 1966 to 1984 and the K.2 from 1982 to 1984) - 83 squadron (the first Vulcan squadron operated the B.1/B.1A from 1957 to 1960 and the B.2 from 1960 to 1969) - 101 squadron (B.1/B1A from 1957 to 1967 and the B.2 from 1967 to 1982) - 617 squadron (OB.1/B1A from 1958 to 1961 and the B.2 from 1961 to 1981) - 230 OCU from 1956 to 1981. The first unit to operate the Vulcan, it provided conversion and operational training for Vulcan aircrew - Bomber Command Development Unit - Vulcan To The Sky Trust (G-VLCN, formerly XH558, flying until 2015) based at Doncaster Sheffield Airport) until June 2023 - Aircraft were also operated at various times under the direction of the Ministry of Supply/Aviation for trials and evaluation by Avro, Bristol Siddeley Engines, Rolls-Royce and the Blind Landing Experimental Unit (BLEU) ### Bases - RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus: two B.2 squadrons from 1969 to 1975 - 9 Squadron 1969–1975, moved from Cottesmore in 1969 it returned to the UK in 1975 to Waddington. - 35 Squadron 1969–1975, moved from Cottesmore in 1969 it returned to the UK in 1975 to Scampton. - RAF Coningsby: three squadrons from 1962 to 1964 - 9 Squadron 1962–1964, formed in 1962 to operate the B.2 it moved to Cottesmore in 1964. - 12 Squadron 1962–1964, formed in 1962 to operate the B.2 it moved to Cottesmore in 1964. - 35 Squadron 1962–1964, formed in 1962 to operate the B.2 it moved to Cottesmore in 1964. - RAF Cottesmore: three squadrons from 1964 to 1969 - 9 Squadron 1964–1969, moved in from Coningsby in 1964, it moved to Akrotiri in 1969. - 12 Squadron 1964–1967, moved in from Coningsby in 1964 until it disbanded in 1967. - 35 Squadron 1964–1969, moved in from Coningsby in 1964, it moved to Akrotiri 1969. - RAF Finningley - 101 Squadron 1957–1961, formed in 1957 to be the second operational B.1 squadron, moved to Waddington in 1961. - 230 OCU 1961–1969, moved from Waddington in 1961, moved to Scampton in 1969. - RAF Scampton: four squadrons at different times between 1961 and 1982 - 27 Squadron 1961–1972, formed in 1961 to operate the B.2 until it disbanded in 1972. Reformed in 1973 to operate the B.2 (MRR) variant until 1982. - 35 Squadron 1975–1982, moved from Akrotiri in 1975 and operated the B.2 until it disbanded in March 1982. - 83 Squadron 1960–1969, a former B.1/B.1A squadron at Waddington, reformed in 1960 to operate the B.2 until disbanded in 1969. - 617 Squadron 1958–1981, formed in 1958 to operate the B.1, reformed to operate the B.2 in 1961 until disbanded in 1981. - 230 OCU 1969–1981, moved from Finningley in 1969 until disbanded in 1981. - RAF Waddington: a number of squadrons at different times between 1957 and 1984, it was the first and last operational Vulcan base - 9 Squadron 1975–1982, moved in from Akrotiri in 1975 until it was disbanded in 1982. - 44 Squadron 1960–1982, formed in 1960 to operate the B.1/B.1A, it converted to the B.2 in 1966 and disbanded in 1982. - 50 Squadron 1961–1984, formed in 1961 to operate the B.1/B.1A, it converted to the B.2 in 1966, from 1982 it also flew the tanker version until disbanding in 1984. - 83 Squadron 1957–1960, formed in 1957 to be the first operational squadron to operate the B.1 until 1960, it reformed at Scampton later in the year as a B.2 unit. - 101 Squadron 1961–1982, moved from Finningley in 1961 with the B.1/B.1A, converted to B.2 in 1967 and disbanded in 1982. - 230 OCU 1956–1961, formed in 1956 to train Vulcan crews it moved to Finningley in 1961. A final move to RAF Scampton was made in 1970. ### V-Bomber dispersal airfields In the event of transition to war, the V Bomber squadrons were to deploy four aircraft at short notice to each of 26 pre-prepared dispersal airfields around the United Kingdom. In the early 1960s the RAF ordered 20 Beagle Basset communication aircraft to move the crews to dispersal airfields; the importance of these aircraft was only brief, diminishing when the primary nuclear deterrent switched to the Royal Navy's Polaris (UK nuclear programme). ## Accidents and incidents - On 1 October 1956, Vulcan B.1 XA897, the first to be delivered, crashed at London Heathrow Airport during Operation Tasman Flight, a flag-waving trip to Australia and New Zealand. After a ground-controlled approach in bad weather, it struck the ground 700 yd (640 m) short of the runway just as engine power was applied. The impact probably broke the drag links on the main undercarriage, allowing the undercarriage to be forced backwards and damaged the wing's trailing edge. After the initial impact, XA897 rose back in the air. The pilot, Squadron Leader D. R. Howard, and co-pilot Air Marshal Sir Harry Broadhurst, AOC-in-C Bomber Command, both ejected and survived, the other four occupants (including a spare pilot and an Avro representative) were killed when the aircraft hit the ground again and broke up. - In 1957, a Vulcan B.1 XA892 attached to the A\&AEE at Boscombe Down for acceptance testing was unintentionally flown to an indicated Mach number (IMN) above 1.04, alerting the crew that it had reached supersonic speed. XA892's commander, Flt Lt Milt Cottee (RAAF), and co-pilot, Flt Lt Ray Bray (RAF), were tasked to fly at 478 mph (769 km/h) and 0.98 IMN, taking the aircraft to a load factor of 3 g. It climbed to 35,000 ft (11,000 m) and then dived, intending to reach the target speed at 27,000 ft (8,200 m). Approaching the target altitude, the throttles were closed and full up-elevator applied, but XA892 continued to pitch nose-down. Cottee contemplated pushing forward to go inverted and then rolling upright; instead, he opened the speed brakes. Although the airspeed was above their maximum operating speed, the speed brakes were undamaged and did slow the aircraft, which came back past the vertical at about 18,000 ft (5,500 m) and levelled off at 8,000 ft (2,400 m). No sonic boom was reported, so a true Mach number of 1.0 was unlikely to have been reached. Afterwards, a rear bulkhead was found to be deformed. - On 20 September 1958, prototype Vulcan VX770 was flown by a Rolls-Royce test pilot on an engine-performance sortie with a flypast at RAF Syerston Battle of Britain At Home display. It flew along the main runway then started a roll to starboard and climbed slightly, during which the starboard wing disintegrated and the main spar collapsed. VX770 went into a dive with the starboard wing on fire and struck the ground, killing three occupants of a controllers' caravan and all four crew on board. Proposed causes of the structural failure have included pilot error, metal fatigue due to air intake vibration, and inadequate maintenance. - On 24 October 1958, Vulcan B.1 XA908 of No. 83 Squadron crashed east of Detroit, Michigan, USA. A complete electrical failure occurred around 30,000 ft (9,100 m). The backup system should have provided 20 minutes of emergency power, allowing XA908 to reach one of several airports in the area, but backup power lasted only three minutes due to a short circuit in the service busbar, locking the controls. Bound for Lincoln AFB in Nebraska, XA908 went into a steep dive before crashing, leaving a forty-foot (12 m) crater in the ground, which was later excavated while retrieving wreckage. Despite extensive property damage, there were no ground fatalities and only one hospitalisation. All six crew members were killed, including the co-pilot, who had ejected. The co-pilot's ejection seat was found in Lake St Clair, but his body was not recovered until the following spring. They were buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Trenton, Michigan, alongside 11 RAF student pilots killed during the Second World War in accidents at nearby Naval Air Station Grosse Ile. - On 24 July 1959, Vulcan B.1 XA891 crashed due to an electrical failure during an engine test. Shortly after takeoff, the crew observed generator warning lights and loss of busbar voltage. The aircraft commander, Avro Chief Test Pilot Jimmy Harrison, climbed XA891 to 14,000 ft (4,300 m), steering away from the airfield and populated areas, while the AEO attempted to solve the problem. When it became clear that control would not be regained, Harrison instructed the rear compartment crew to exit the aircraft and the co-pilot to eject, before ejecting himself. All the crew survived, making them the first complete Vulcan crew to successfully escape. The aircraft crashed near Kingston upon Hull. - On 26 October 1959, Vulcan B.1 XH498 participated in an airshow marking the opening of Wellington International Airport, formerly Rongotai Airport. After a "touch-and-go landing" on Runway 34, it came around for a full-stop landing. Turbulence and wind shear caused XH498 to land short of the runway threshold. The port undercarriage leg clipped the embankment at the Moa point or southern end, damaging wing attachments, engine fuel lines, and the main landing gear drag link, which was ruptured and unable to support the aircraft. The port wing tip nearly scraped the runway surface before it was able to lift off again, spilling fuel over the crowd. Pilot actions prevented a possible disaster as spectators were present on the western apron. XH498 flew to RNZAF Ohakea for a safe emergency landing on just the nose and starboard landing gear with little further damage. A UK repair team returned it to airworthiness; on 4 January 1960, XH498 departed, remaining in service until 19 October 1967. - On 16 September 1960, Vulcan B.2 XH557 damaged the "Runway Garage" at Filton. XH557 had been allocated to Bristol Siddeley Engines to test the Olympus 301 engine and was being delivered to Filton. Approaching in poor weather conditions, the aircraft touched down halfway along the runway. The braking parachute was streamed, but realising the aircraft would not stop in time, the captain opened the throttles to go round. The Runway Garage took the full force of the jet blast and property damage was sustained; four petrol pumps were blown flat, a streetlight on the A38 was knocked down, railings were blown over, and multiple cars had their windscreens shattered. The aircraft diverted to St. Mawgan, flying into Filton days later. - On 12 June 1963, Vulcan B.1A XH477 of No. 50 Squadron crashed in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. During a low-level exercise, the Vulcan was flown into terrain. All five crewmembers were killed. - On 11 May 1964, Vulcan B.2 XH535 crashed during a demonstration. The aircraft entered a spin while a very low speed and high rate of descent were being demonstrated. The landing parachute was deployed, stopping the spin briefly before it began to spin again. Around 2,500 ft (760 m), the aircraft commander instructed the crew to abandon the aircraft. The commander and co-pilot ejected successfully, but none of the rear compartment crew did so, presumably due to the g forces in the spin. - On 16 July 1964, Vulcan B.1A XA909 crashed in Anglesey after a midair explosion caused both No. 3 and No. 4 engines to be shut down. The explosion was caused by the failure of a bearing in No. 4 engine. The starboard wing was extensively damaged, the pilot had insufficient aileron power, and both airspeed indications were highly inaccurate. The whole crew successfully abandoned XA909 and was found within a few minutes and rescued. - On 7 October 1964, Vulcan B.2 XM601 crashed during an overshoot from an asymmetric power practice approach at Coningsby. The co-pilot had executed the asymmetric power approach with two engines producing thrust and two at idle. He was being checked by the squadron commander, who was unfamiliar with the aircraft. When he commenced the overshoot, the copilot moved all the throttles to full power. The engines that had been producing power reached full power more quickly than the engines at idle and the resultant asymmetric thrust exceeded the available rudder authority, causing the aircraft to spin and crash. All the crew perished. - On 25 May 1965, Vulcan B.2 XM576 crash-landed at Scampton, causing it to be written off within a year of delivery. - On 11 February 1966, Vulcan B.2 XH536 of IX SQN Cottesmore Wing crashed in the Brecon Beacons during a low-level exercise. The aircraft struck the ground at 1,910 ft (580 m) near the summit of Fan Bwlch Chwyth 1,978 ft (603 m), 20 mi (32 km) northeast of Swansea. All crew members died. Hilltops at the time were snow-covered and cloud extended down to 1,400 ft (430 m). - On 6 April 1967, Vulcan B.2 XL385 burnt out on the runway at RAF Scampton at the beginning of its take-off run. The aircraft was carrying a Blue Steel missile training round. All the crew, including an Air Training Corps cadet, escaped unhurt. The aircraft was engulfed in flames and totally destroyed. The accident was caused by the failure of an Olympus 301 HP turbine disc as the engine reached full power. - On 30 January 1968, Vulcan B.2 XM604 crashed following a loss of control during an overshoot at RAF Cottesmore. The rear crew members were killed, though both pilots ejected. The captain ejected at a very late stage and only survived because his deploying parachute was snagged by some power cables. The accident was caused by the failure of an Olympus 301 LP turbine disc after the aircraft had returned to the airfield following indications of a bomb-bay overheat. - On 7 January 1971, Vulcan B.2 XM610 of No.44 Squadron crashed due to a blade fatigue failure in the No. 1 engine, damaging the fuel system and causing a fire. The crew abandoned the aircraft safely, after which it crashed harmlessly in Wingate. - On 14 October 1975, Vulcan B.2 XM645 of No.9 Squadron lost its left undercarriage and damaged the airframe when it undershot the runway at RAF Luqa in Malta. The aircraft broke up over the town of Żabbar while turning inbound for an emergency landing. The pilot and co-pilot escaped using their ejection seats, the other five crew members were killed. Large aircraft pieces fell on the town; one woman, Vincenza Zammit, was killed by an electric cable, and some 20 others were injured. - On 17 January 1977, Vulcan B.2 XM600 of No. 101 Squadron crashed near Spilsby, Lincolnshire. During a practice emergency descent, the bomb-bay fire warning light flashed on followed by No.2 engine fire warning light. The captain shut the engine down and the AEO reported flames coming from the area of No.2 engine, just behind the deployed ram air turbine (RAT). As the fire intensified, the captain ordered the aircraft to be abandoned. The three rear crew members escaped around 6,000 ft (1,800 m). After ordering the co-pilot to eject, the captain ejected at around 3,000 ft (910 m), as control was lost. The cause was due to arcing on the RAT's electrical terminals, burning a hole in an adjacent fuel pipe and setting the fuel on fire. - On 12 August 1978, Vulcan B.2 XL390 of No. 617 Squadron crashed during an air display at Naval Air Station Glenview, Illinois, in the United States. The crew had been authorized to carry out a display at Chicago's Meigs Field airport; the captain had elected to carry out an unauthorized display at Glenview beforehand. After a low-level run, probably below 100 ft (30 m), the aircraft pulled up for an improperly executed wingover, resulting in a low-level stall and crash, killing all on board. - On 3 June 1982, Vulcan XM597 broke its probe while attempting to refuel in flight, while returning from a mission over the Falkland Islands. With insufficient fuel to reach its base on Ascension Island, the pilot discarded classified information over the Atlantic Ocean and diverted to Rio de Janeiro. Shortly after entering Brazilian airspace, the Brazilian Air Force sent two Northrop F-5s to escort it to Galeão Air Force Base. This led to high-level diplomatic talks between the UK and Brazil, which remained neutral during the Falklands War. After seven days of detention, the Vulcan and its crew were allowed to return home on the condition that XM597 play no further part in the conflict. - On 28 May 2012, Vulcan B.2 XH558 suffered a failure of the two port engines while starting a take-off roll from Robin Hood Airport, Doncaster. Bags of silica gel desiccant had been inadvertently left in the air intake after maintenance. Less than a second after increasing power from 80% to 100%, these were ingested by one of the port engines, immediately destroying it. The remaining port engine ingested debris from the first engine, destroying this one, as well. The fire-prevention systems proved effective, neither the airframe nor control systems suffered damage. The pilot had no difficulty bringing the aircraft to a safe stop, having remained on the ground throughout. On 3 July 2012, XH558 returned to flight. ## Surviving aircraft Several Vulcans survive, housed in museums in both the United Kingdom and North America (USA and Canada). One Vulcan, XH558 (G-VLCN) Spirit of Great Britain'', was used as a display aircraft by the RAF as part of the Vulcan Display Flight until 1993. After being grounded, it was later restored to flight by the Vulcan To The Sky Trust and displayed as a civilian aircraft from 2008 until 2015, before being retired a second time for engineering reasons. In retirement, XH558 is to be retained at its base at Doncaster Sheffield Airport as a taxiable aircraft, a role already performed by two other survivors, XL426 (G-VJET) based at Southend Airport, and XM655 (G-VULC), based at Wellesbourne Mountford Airfield. XJ823, a B.2, can be seen at the Solway Aviation Museum at Carlisle Lake District Airport. XM607 is currently being restored at RAF Waddington, where it has been gate guardian since being retired. XM594 is on display at the Newark Air Museum, Newark, Nottinghamshire, England. ## Specifications (B.1) ### Comparison of variants ## Notable appearances in media ## See also

Guandimiao

Archaeological site in Henan

Guandimiao is a Chinese archaeological site 18 km (11 miles) south of the Yellow River in Xingyang, Henan. It is the site of a small Shang dynasty village that was inhabited from roughly 1250 to 1100 BCE during the Late Shang period. Located 200 km (120 miles) from the Shang capital at Yinxu, the site was first studied as a part of excavations undertaken between 2006 and 2008 in preparation for the nearby South–North Water Transfer Project. Excavation and study at Guandimiao has significantly broadened scholars' understanding of rural Shang economies and rituals, as well as the layout of rural villages, which have received comparatively little attention in the field of Shang archaeology compared to urban centers like Yinxu and Huanbei. Calculations derived from the number of graves and pit-houses at Guandimiao suggest a maximum population of around 100 individuals at the site's peak during the early 12th century BCE. The presence of 23 kilns at the site suggests significant regional exports of ceramics from the village. Residents used bone tools, including many that were locally produced, as well as sophisticated arrowheads and hair-pins likely imported from Yinxu, where facilities had produced them en masse. Local ritual practice is evidenced by the presence of locally produced oracle bones used in pyromancy, as well as large sacrificial pits where mainly cattle had been buried, alongside a smaller number of pigs and humans. Over 200 graves were found at the site; they generally resemble the shaft tombs attested elsewhere, save the almost complete absence of grave goods beyond occasional cowries and sacrificed dogs. ## Background and historiography The Erligang culture centered in the Yellow River valley from roughly 1600 to 1400 BCE possibly corresponded to the early Shang dynasty attested in traditional Chinese historiography. Around 1250 BCE, the Late Shang period began with the emergence of the Shang capital at Yin, in what is now Anyang in northern Henan. The core of the Shang state centered around Yin encompassed much of the Central Plain. While the influence of Late Shang material culture across the North China Plain is evident, the precise extent of their political power in the region is unknown. The initial excavations at Yinxu in 1928 confirmed the historicity of the Shang via oracle bone inscriptions. However, archaeological understanding of the Late Shang was limited to a number of elite centers, despite surveys having revealed the existence of hundreds of smaller Shang-era sites. Contemporary archaeological and historical study of the Shang within China generally focuses on elite settlements and tombs, often through the lens of Marxist historiography. Due to the exclusion of western archaeologists from operations in China until the 1990s, the western historiography of the Shang largely relied on older historical conceptualizations, which painted the Shang economy as "elite-centred and underdeveloped at the grassroots level". ### Excavation The Guandimiao site was excavated from 2006 to 2008 as part of preparations for the South–North Water Transfer Project. A large scale excavation of the site unearthed an area of 20,300 m² (5 acres), revealing an "unusually clear picture" of a village layout. The site was named one of the top ten archaeological discoveries of 2007 by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, as well as one of the top six discoveries of the year by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). Approximately three quarters of the village has been excavated. ## Site Guandimiao is located around 18 km (11 miles) south of the Yellow River, and 200 km (120 miles) from Yinxu (modern Yulong in Zhengzhou, Henan). During the period, the site was around 6 km (4 miles) away from the nearest river. During the earlier Erligang period (c. 1600 – c. 1400 BC), nearby Zhengzhou and Yanshi were major urban centers. By the Anyang period, the region around Zhengzhou, including Guandimiao, was a network of smaller settlements on the periphery of the Shang's core territory. Although possibly part of the outlying demesne of the Shang kings, the village was likely part of a broader region around Zhengzhou administrated by a local lord, possibly of the She () lineage evidenced by bronze inscriptions. The site primarily dates to the Anyang period, stretching from the subperiods of Anyang I to III (c. 1250 – c. 1100 BCE), as attested by changes in pottery over time as reflected in Yinxu itself. Human use during other periods is also attested at the site, including the presence of artifacts from the earlier Yangshao culture (c. 5000 – c. 3000 BCE). The site was used throughout later Chinese history as well, through to the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). However, the area of active habitation is limited to the Anyang. The earliest Anyang-period occupation, corresponding to the Anyang I subperiod, was limited to the western portion of the village. A narrow trench was dug around the site during the Anyang II subperiod, enclosing the village into an area of around 2.5 ha (6 acres). However, during Anyang III, the village began to spread beyond the encircling ditch. Around seven generations (assuming a length of 20 years) occupied the village over the roughly 150 year period of occupation. The 228 Anyang-period tombs found at the site suggest a population of over 30 villagers per generation, with a maximum concurrent population estimated around 100 people, with a peak of population in the early 12th century BCE (corresponding to the Anyang II subperiod). This is similar to figures estimated from house distribution, which range from 48 to 100 inhabitants at any given time. Evidence of human activity at Guandimiao is attested from the Zhou, Han, Tang, Song, and Qing dynasties. ### Structures The layout of the Guandimiao village was described by researchers as "basic, if informal". Most houses, as well as around half of the village's kilns, are located in the northwestern portion of the excavation. Graves, kilns, and sacrificial pits are scattered across the village. A cluster of kilns sits adjacent to a large cemetery in the northeast of the site, while another cluster of tombs (alongside a number of sacrificial pits) are located in a possible sacrificial area in the southwest. Almost 1,500 small pits were dug at the site, likely used for storage, waste disposal, clay preparation, and sacrifice. #### Houses 22 pit-houses have been found at the site. All are small rectangular or circular pits, ranging from 5–7 m² (50–80 sq ft) in area, each with a central hearth in the form of a sunken fire pit. Their extremely small size restricted them to around five inhabitants, likely restricted to only "cooking meals, eating and sleeping" within the cramped houses. The southern side of each dwelling faced south, with a stairway or ramp structure leading up to ground level. No information on the composition of the roof or superstructural elements are evidenced, although some houses contained rows of postholes. Most of the pit-house's floors were so damaged as to render it impossible to verify whether they originally contained postholes. #### Kilns 23 updraft kilns have been discovered at Guandimiao. Due to the presence of about as many kilns as there are houses, it is possible that each family unit managed their own kiln. Each kiln used a chamber separated from a subterranean firebox by a grate, each featuring between four and eight rectangular vents arranged around a central circular vent. One well-preserved specimen features a chamber with a diameter of 1.56 m (5.1 ft) above an oblong firebox. Large pits that were likely used for clay preparation were dug near each kiln. The distribution of ceramic shards around kiln sites suggests that different clusters of kilns were used to fire sand-tempered and untempered ceramics. The village likely specialized in manufacturing ceramics for export across the surrounding region, a practice that possibly began as early as the Longshan period (c. 3000 – c. 1900 BCE). The nature of rural economy during the Shang is uncertain: the pottery may have been traded locally, integrated into a centralized trade network, or transported long distances by traveling merchants. It is unlikely that pottery was exported to Yinxu itself, due to the significant distance between the two sites. #### Wells As the site was relatively far from any known rivers, it is likely that the residents, livestock, and pottery industry of Guandimiao relied on well water. 32 wells have been excavated at the site, and have been classified into one of two types. One type of well features deep, narrow shafts, and is associated with residential usage due to similarities with other wells in North China. The other type of well is much larger, and features a wide opening connected to an even wider cistern-like structure below. One well of the latter type was measured to be 5 m (16 ft) deep, with its opening having dimensions of 3.27 m × 2.63 m (10.7 ft × 8.6 ft). ### Artifacts Various crafts and tools have been found at Guandimiao. Stone implements typical to the Anyang period have been found at the site, including sickles, adzes, chisels, and grinding stones, alongside sickles and spades fashioned from seashells. Various bone artifacts, including hairpins, arrowheads, awls, spatulas, knives, and spades have also been recovered from the site. Some of the awls are especially crude, showing very little modification, and were likely made hastily by unskilled labor. Many of the other tools at least some specialized tools and modifications, such as drilling, and may have been made by a part-time craftsperson. Large numbers of uninscribed oracle bones were found at the site, requiring large amounts of labor and specialized skill to create; these were likely created by a local pyromancer. Some bone arrowheads and hairpins show a great deal of professional craftsmanship and specialized tooling, and were likely mass produced. These were likely imported from workshops at Yinxu, possibly from the excavated bone workshop of Tiesanlu, which had produced practically identical pins and arrowheads. A remarkable scarcity of weaponry has been recovered from the site, The only items likely weapons consisting of four arrowheads (two bone, two bronze) and a single knife. This is an extremely scarce quantity when compared to the frequently recovered weapons from excavations at Anyang, or to the massive weapon caches buried alongside many contemporary nobles. Cutting implements like sickles were fashioned from large bivalve shells and likely imported from afield. ### Burials, sacrifices, and remains 228 Anyang period graves have been found at the site, generally resembling the customs of other Shang shaft tombs. Many are clustered in a cemetery at the northeastern edge of the village, outside the encircling ditch, with the rest scattered across the site, including a cluster around the possible south-western sacrificial area. Most are rectangular pits filled with rammed earth, although a small number of graves with coffins have been found. Some graves are accompanied by dog sacrifices. In comparison to shaft tombs at Anyang, an extreme paucity of grave goods have been found. Most tombs contained no grave goods whatsoever, with some having only a single cowry shell placed in the mouth or hands of the deceased. The largest tomb at the site, M3, contained inner and outer coffins, three sacrificial dogs, a bronze arrowhead and bell, and a piece of shell. The general lack of ceramics in the burials (attested in only three of the 228) has been considered unusual by archaeologists due to the community's widespread ceramic manufacture. Seventeen large circular sacrificial pits have been found at Guandimiao, primarily containing the remains of cattle, with smaller numbers of pigs and humans. They were mainly filled with soil and covered with ash, although some pits containing oracle bones were covered entirely with ash. Relatively small numbers of animal remains were recovered at the site, around 10% of those found at the similarly-sized contemporary Xiaomintun site at Anyang. Although the Guandimiao villagers likely ate small quantities of meat, the relatively large portions of cattle remains (associated in the period with sacrifice and elite consumption) suggests local cattle farming, possibly exporting them for consumption by Shang elites. Pig remains were predominant in domestic disposal contexts. The remains of sheep, as well as a small number of goats, have been found at the site. Hunting rarely took place at Guandimiao; about 2% of recovered bones belonged to wild animals. Among this group are several species of wild deer, including muntjac and Sitka. Large numbers of dogs resided at Guandimiao, evidenced by both the quantity of dog remains and gnawing marks on many recovered bones.

Diving cylinder

Container to supply high pressure breathing gas for divers

A diving cylinder or diving gas cylinder is a gas cylinder used to store and transport high pressure gas used in diving operations. This may be breathing gas used with a scuba set, in which case the cylinder may also be referred to as a scuba cylinder, scuba tank or diving tank. When used for an emergency gas supply for surface supplied diving or scuba, it may be referred to as a bailout cylinder or bailout bottle. It may also be used for surface-supplied diving or as decompression gas . A diving cylinder may also be used to supply inflation gas for a dry suit or buoyancy compensator. Cylinders provide gas to the diver through the demand valve of a diving regulator or the breathing loop of a diving re-breather. Diving cylinders are usually manufactured from aluminum or steel alloys, and when used on a scuba set are normally fitted with one of two common types of cylinder valve for filling and connection to the regulator. Other accessories such as manifolds, cylinder bands, protective nets and boots and carrying handles may be provided. Various configurations of harness may be used by the diver to carry a cylinder or cylinders while diving, depending on the application. Cylinders used for scuba typically have an internal volume (known as water capacity) of between 3 and 18 litres (0.11 and 0.64 cu ft) and a maximum working pressure rating from 184 to 300 bars (2,670 to 4,350 psi). Cylinders are also available in smaller sizes, such as 0.5, 1.5 and 2 litres, however these are usually used for purposes such as inflation of surface marker buoys, dry suits and buoyancy compensators rather than breathing. Scuba divers may dive with a single cylinder, a pair of similar cylinders, or a main cylinder and a smaller "pony" cylinder, carried on the diver's back or clipped onto the harness at the side. Paired cylinders may be manifolded together or independent. In technical diving, more than two scuba cylinders may be needed. When pressurized, the gas is compressed up to several hundred times atmospheric pressure. The selection of an appropriate set of diving cylinders for a diving operation is based on the amount of gas required to safely complete the dive. Diving cylinders are most commonly filled with air, but because the main components of air can cause problems when breathed underwater at higher ambient pressure, divers may choose to breathe from cylinders filled with mixtures of gases other than air. Many jurisdictions have regulations that govern the filling, recording of contents, and labeling for diving cylinders. Periodic testing and inspection of diving cylinders is often obligatory to ensure the safety of operators of filling stations. Pressurized diving cylinders are considered dangerous goods for commercial transportation, and regional and international standards for colouring and labeling may also apply. ## Terminology The term "diving cylinder" tends to be used by gas equipment engineers, manufacturers, support professionals, and divers speaking British English. "Scuba tank" or "diving tank" is more often used colloquially by non-professionals and native speakers of American English. The term "oxygen tank" is commonly used by non-divers; however, this is a misnomer since these cylinders typically contain (compressed atmospheric) breathing air, or an oxygen-enriched air mix. They rarely contain pure oxygen, except when used for rebreather diving, shallow decompression stops in technical diving or for in-water oxygen recompression therapy. Breathing pure oxygen at depths greater than 6 metres (20 ft) can result in oxygen toxicity. Diving cylinders have also been referred to as bottles or flasks, usually preceded with the word scuba, diving, air, or bailout. Cylinders may also be called aqualungs, a genericized trademark derived from the Aqua-lung equipment made by the Aqua Lung/La Spirotechnique company, although that is more properly applied to an open circuit scuba set or open circuit diving regulator. Diving cylinders may also be specified by their application, as in bailout cylinders, stage cylinders, decocompression (deco) cylinders, si-demount cylinders, pony cylinders, suit inflation cylinders, etc. The same cylinder, rigged in the same way, may be used as a bailout cylinder, a decompression cylinder or a stage cylinder. ## Parts The functional diving cylinder consists of a pressure vessel and a cylinder valve. There are usually one or more optional accessories depending on the specific application. ### The pressure vessel The pressure vessel is a seamless cylinder normally made of cold-extruded aluminum or forged steel. Filament wound composite cylinders are used in fire fighting breathing apparatus and oxygen first aid equipment because of their low weight, but are rarely used for diving, due to their high positive buoyancy. They are occasionally used when portability for accessing the dive site is critical, such as in cave diving. Composite cylinders certified to ISO-11119-2 or ISO-11119-3 may only be used for underwater applications if they are manufactured in accordance with the requirements for underwater use and are marked "UW". The pressure vessel comprises a cylindrical section of even wall thickness, with a thicker base at one end, and domed shoulder with a central neck to attach a cylinder valve or manifold at the other end. Occasionally other materials may be used. Inconel has been used for non-magnetic and highly corrosion resistant oxygen compatible spherical high-pressure gas containers for the US Navy's Mk-15 and Mk-16 mixed gas rebreathers, and a few other military rebreathers. #### Aluminium An especially common rental cylinder provided at tropical dive resorts is the "aluminium-S80" which is an aluminum cylinder design with an internal volume of 0.39 cubic feet (11.0 L) rated to hold a nominal volume of 80 cubic feet (2,300 L) of atmospheric pressure gas at its rated working pressure of 3,000 pounds per square inch (207 bar). Aluminum cylinders are also often used where divers carry many cylinders, such as in technical diving in water which is warm enough that the dive suit does not provide much buoyancy, because the greater buoyancy of aluminum cylinders reduces the amount of extra buoyancy the diver would need to achieve neutral buoyancy. They are also sometimes preferred when carried as "side mount" or "sling" cylinders as the near neutral buoyancy allows them to hang comfortably along the sides of the diver's body, without disturbing trim, and they can be handed off to another diver or stage dropped with a minimal effect on buoyancy. Most aluminum cylinders are flat bottomed, allowing them to stand upright on a level surface, but some were manufactured with domed bottoms. When in use, the cylinder valve and regulator add mass to the top of the cylinder, so the base tends to be relatively buoyant, and aluminum drop-cylinders tend to rest on the bottom in an inverted position if near neutral buoyancy. For the same reason they tend to hang at an angle when carried as sling cylinders unless constrained or ballasted. The aluminum alloys used for diving cylinders are 6061 and 6351. 6351 alloy is subject to sustained load cracking and cylinders manufactured of this alloy should be periodically eddy current tested according to national legislation and manufacturer's recommendations. 6351 alloy has been superseded for new manufacture, but many old cylinders are still in service, and are still legal and considered safe if they pass the periodic hydrostatic, visual and eddy current tests required by regulation and as specified by the manufacturer. The number of cylinders that have failed catastrophically is in the order of 50 out of some 50 million manufactured. A larger number have failed the eddy current test and visual inspection of neck threads, or have leaked and been removed from service without harm to anyone. Aluminum cylinders are usually manufactured by cold extrusion of aluminum billets in a process which first presses the walls and base, then trims the top edge of the cylinder walls, followed by press forming the shoulder and neck. The final structural process is machining the neck outer surface, boring and cutting the neck threads and O-ring groove. The cylinder is then heat-treated, tested and stamped with the required permanent markings. Aluminum diving cylinders commonly have flat bases, which allows them to stand upright on horizontal surfaces, and which are relatively thick to allow for rough treatment and considerable wear. This makes them heavier than they need to be for strength, but the extra weight at the base also helps keep the centre of gravity low which gives better balance in the water and reduces excess buoyancy. #### Steel In cold water diving, where a person wearing a highly buoyant thermally insulating dive suit has a large excess of buoyancy, steel cylinders are often used because they are denser than aluminium cylinders. They also often have a lower mass than aluminium cylinders with the same gas capacity, due to considerably higher material strength, so the use of steel cylinders can result in both a lighter cylinder and less ballast required for the same gas capacity, a two way saving on overall dry weight carried by the diver. Steel cylinders are more susceptible than aluminium to external corrosion, particularly in seawater, and may be galvanized or coated with corrosion barrier paints to resist corrosion damage. It is not difficult to monitor external corrosion, and repair the paint when damaged, and steel cylinders which are well maintained have a long service life, often longer than aluminium cylinders, as they are not susceptible to fatigue damage when filled within their safe working pressure limits. Steel cylinders are manufactured with domed (convex) and dished (concave) bottoms. The dished profile allows them to stand upright on a horizontal surface, and is the standard shape for industrial cylinders. The cylinders used for emergency gas supply on diving bells are often this shape, and commonly have a water capacity of about 50 litres ("J"). Domed bottoms give a larger volume for the same cylinder mass, and are the standard for scuba cylinders up to 18 litres water capacity, though some concave bottomed cylinders have been marketed for scuba. Steel alloys used for dive cylinder manufacture are authorised by the manufacturing standard. For example, the US standard DOT 3AA requires the use of open-hearth, basic oxygen, or electric steel of uniform quality. Approved alloys include 4130X, NE-8630, 9115, 9125, Carbon-boron and Intermediate manganese, with specified constituents, including manganese and carbon, and molybdenum, chromium, boron, nickel or zirconium. Steel cylinders may be manufactured from steel plate discs, which are cold drawn to a cylindrical cup form, in two or three stages, and generally have a domed base if intended for the scuba market, so they cannot stand up by themselves. After forming the base and side walls, the top of the cylinder is trimmed to length, heated and hot spun to form the shoulder and close the neck. This process thickens the material of the shoulder. The cylinder is heat-treated by quenching and tempering to provide the best strength and toughness. The cylinders are machined to provide the neck thread and o-ring seat (if applicable), then chemically cleaned or shot-blasted inside and out to remove mill-scale. After inspection and hydrostatic testing they are stamped with the required permanent markings, followed by external coating with a corrosion barrier paint or hot dip galvanising and final inspection. An alternative production method is backward extrusion of a heated steel billet, similar to the cold extrusion process for aluminium cylinders, followed by hot drawing and bottom forming to reduce wall thickness, and trimming of the top edge in preparation for shoulder and neck formation by hot spinning. The other processes are much the same for all production methods. #### Cylinder neck The neck of the cylinder is the part of the end which is shaped as a narrow concentric cylinder, and internally threaded to fit a cylinder valve. There are several standards for neck threads, these include: - Taper thread (17E), with a 12% taper right hand thread, standard Whitworth 55° form with a pitch of 14 threads per inch (5.5 threads per cm) and pitch diameter at the top thread of the cylinder of 18.036 millimetres (0.71 in). These connections are sealed using thread tape and torqued to between 120 and 150 newton-metres (89 and 111 lbf⋅ft) on steel cylinders, and between 75 and 140 N⋅m (55 and 103 lbf⋅ft) on aluminium cylinders. Parallel threads are made to several standards: - M25x2 ISO parallel thread, which is sealed by an O-ring and torqued to 100 to 130 N⋅m (74 to 96 lbf⋅ft) on steel, and 95 to 130 N⋅m (70 to 96 lbf⋅ft) on aluminum cylinders; - M18x1.5 parallel thread, which is sealed by an O-ring, and torqued to 100 to 130 N⋅m (74 to 96 lbf⋅ft) on steel cylinders, and 85 to 100 N⋅m (63 to 74 lbf⋅ft) on aluminum cylinders; - 3/4"x14 BSP parallel thread, which has a 55° Whitworth thread form, a pitch diameter of 25.279 millimetres (0.9952 in) and a pitch of 14 threads per inch (1.814 mm); - 3/4"x14 NGS (NPSM) parallel thread, sealed by an O-ring, torqued to 40 to 50 N⋅m (30 to 37 lbf⋅ft) on aluminium cylinders, which has a 60° thread form, a pitch diameter of 0.9820 to 0.9873 in (24.94 to 25.08 mm), and a pitch of 14 threads per inch (5.5 threads per cm); - 3/4"x16 UNF, sealed by an O-ring, torqued to 40 to 50 N⋅m (30 to 37 lbf⋅ft) on aluminium cylinders. - 7/8"x14 UNF, sealed by an O-ring. The 3/4"NGS and 3/4"BSP are very similar, having the same pitch and a pitch diameter that only differs by about 0.2 mm (0.008 in), but they are not compatible, as the thread forms are different. All parallel thread valves are sealed using an O-ring at top of the neck thread which seals in a chamfer or step in the cylinder neck and against the flange of the valve. #### Permanent stamp markings The shoulder of the cylinder carries stamp markings providing required information about the cylinder. Universally required markings include: - Identification of the manufacturer - Manufacturing standard, which will identify the material specification - Serial number - Date of manufacture - Charging pressure - Capacity - Mark of the accredited testing agency - Date of each re-validation test A variety of other markings may be required by national regulations, or may be optional. ### The cylinder valve The purpose of the cylinder valve or pillar valve is to control gas flow to and from the pressure vessel and to provide a connection with the regulator or filling hose. Cylinder valves are usually machined from brass and finished by a protective and decorative layer of chrome plating. A metal or plastic dip tube or valve snorkel screwed into the bottom of the valve extends into the cylinder to reduce the risk of liquid or particulate contaminants in the cylinder getting into the gas passages when the cylinder is inverted, and blocking or jamming the regulator. Some of these dip tubes have a plain opening, but some have an integral filter. Cylinder valves are classified by four basic aspects: the thread specification, the connection to the regulator, pressure rating, and other distinguishing features. Standards relating to the specifications and manufacture of cylinder valves include ISO 10297 and CGA V-9 Standard for Gas Cylinder Valves. The other distinguishing features include outlet configuration, handedness and valve knob orientation, number of outlets and valves (1 or 2), shape of the valve body, presence of a reserve valve, manifold connections, and the presence of a bursting disk overpressure relief device. Cylinder threads may be in two basic configurations: Taper thread and parallel thread. The valve thread specification must exactly match the neck thread specification of the cylinder. Improperly matched neck threads can fail under pressure and can have fatal consequences. The valve pressure rating must be compatible with the cylinder pressure rating. Parallel threads are more tolerant of repeated removal and refitting of the valve for inspection and testing. ### Accessories Additional components for convenience, protection or other functions, not directly required for the function as a pressure vessel. #### Manifolds A cylinder manifold is a tube which connects two cylinders together so that the contents of both can be supplied to one or more regulators. There are three commonly used configurations of manifold. The oldest type is a tube with a connector on each end which is attached to the cylinder valve outlet, and an outlet connection in the middle, to which the regulator is attached. A variation on this pattern includes a reserve valve at the outlet connector. The cylinders are isolated from the manifold when closed, and the manifold can be attached or disconnected while the cylinders are pressurised. More recently, manifolds have become available which connect the cylinders on the cylinder side of the valve, leaving the outlet connection of the cylinder valve available for connection of a regulator. This means that the connection cannot be made or broken while the cylinders are pressurised, as there is no valve to isolate the manifold from the interior of the cylinder. This apparent inconvenience allows a regulator to be connected to each cylinder, and isolated from the internal pressure independently, which allows a malfunctioning regulator on one cylinder to be isolated while still allowing the regulator on the other cylinder access to all the gas in both cylinders. These manifolds may be plain or may include an isolation valve in the manifold, which allows the contents of the cylinders to be isolated from each other. This allows the contents of one cylinder to be isolated and secured for the diver if a leak at the cylinder neck thread, manifold connection, or burst disk on the other cylinder causes its contents to be lost. A relatively uncommon manifold system is a connection which screws directly into the neck threads of both cylinders, and has a single valve to release gas to a connector for a regulator. These manifolds can include a reserve valve, either in the main valve or at one cylinder. This system is mainly of historical interest. Cylinders may also be manifolded by a removable whip, commonly associated with dual outlet cylinder valves, and the on board emergency gas supply of a diving bell is usually manifolded by semi-permanent metal alloy pipes between the cylinder valves. #### Valve cage Also known as a manifold cage or regulator cage, this is a structure which can be clamped to the neck of the cylinder or manifolded cylinders to protect the valves and regulator first stages from impact and abrasion damage while in use, and from rolling the valve closed by friction of the handwheel against an overhead (roll-off). A valve cage is often made of stainless steel, and some designs can snag on obstructions. #### Cylinder bands Cylinder bands are straps, usually of stainless steel, which are used to clamp two cylinders together as a twin set. The cylinders may be manifolded or independent. It is usual to use a cylinder band near the top of the cylinder, just below the shoulders, and one lower down. The conventional distance between centre-lines for bolting to a backplate is 11 inches (280 mm). #### Cylinder boot A cylinder boot is a hard rubber or plastic cover which fits over the base of a diving cylinder to protect the paint from abrasion and impact, to protect the surface the cylinder stands on from impact with the cylinder, and in the case of round bottomed cylinders, to allow the cylinder to stand upright on its base. Some boots have flats moulded into the plastic to reduce the tendency of the cylinder to roll on a flat surface. It is possible in some cases for water to be trapped between the boot and the cylinder, and if this is seawater and the paint under the boot is in poor condition, the surface of the cylinder may corrode in those areas. This can usually be avoided by rinsing in fresh water after use and storing in a dry place. The added hydrodynamic drag caused by a cylinder boot is trivial in comparison with the overall drag of the diver, but some boot styles may present a slightly increased risk of snagging on the environment. #### Cylinder net A cylinder net is a tubular net which is stretched over a cylinder and tied on at top and bottom. The function is to protect the paintwork from scratching, and on booted cylinders it also helps drain the surface between the boot and cylinder, which reduces corrosion problems under the boot. Mesh size is usually about 6 millimetres (0.24 in). Some divers will not use boots or nets as they can snag more easily than a bare cylinder and constitute an entrapment hazard in some environments such as caves and the interior of wrecks. Occasionally sleeves made from other materials may be used to protect the cylinder. #### Cylinder handle A cylinder handle may be fitted, usually clamped to the neck, to conveniently carry the cylinder. This can also increase the risk of snagging in an enclosed environment. #### Dust caps and plugs These are used to cover the cylinder valve orifice when the cylinder is not in use to prevent dust, water or other materials from contaminating the orifice. They can also help prevent the O-ring of a yoke type valve from falling out. The plug may be vented so that the leakage of gas from the cylinder does not pressurise the plug, making it difficult to remove. ## Pressure rating The thickness of the cylinder walls is directly related to the working pressure, and this affects the buoyancy characteristics of the cylinder. A low-pressure cylinder will be more buoyant than a high-pressure cylinder with similar size and proportions of length to diameter and in the same alloy. ### Working pressure Scuba cylinders are technically all high-pressure gas containers, but within the industry in the United States there are three nominal working pressure ratings (WP) in common use; - low pressure (2400 to 2640 psi — 165 to 182 bar), standard (3000 psi — 207 bar), and high pressure (3300 to 3500 psi — 227 to 241 bar). US-made aluminum cylinders usually have a standard working pressure of 3,000 pounds per square inch (210 bar), and the compact aluminum range have a working pressure of 3,300 pounds per square inch (230 bar). Some steel cylinders manufactured to US standards are permitted to exceed the nominal working pressure by 10%, and this is indicated by a '+' symbol. This extra pressure allowance is dependent on the cylinder passing the appropriate higher standard periodical hydrostatic test. Those parts of the world using the metric system usually refer to the cylinder pressure directly in bar but would generally use "high pressure" to refer to a 300 bars (4,400 psi) working pressure cylinder, which can not be used with a yoke connector on the regulator. 232 bar is a very popular working pressure for scuba cylinders in both steel and aluminum. ### Test pressure Hydro-static test pressure (TP) is specified by the manufacturing standard. This is usually 1.5 × working pressure, or in the United States, 1.67 × working pressure. ### Developed pressure Cylinder working pressure is specified at a reference temperature, usually 15 °C or 20 °C. and cylinders also have a specified maximum safe working temperature, often 65 °C. The actual pressure in the cylinder will vary with temperature, as described by the gas laws, but this is acceptable in terms of the standards provided that the developed pressure when corrected to the reference temperature does not exceed the specified working pressure stamped on the cylinder. This allows cylinders to be safely and legally filled to a pressure that is higher than the specified working pressure when the filling temperature is greater than the reference temperature, but not more than 65 °C, provided that the filling pressure does not exceed the developed pressure for that temperature, and cylinders filled according to this provision will be at the correct working pressure when cooled to the reference temperature. ### Pressure monitoring The internal pressure of a diving cylinder is measured at several stages during use. It is checked before filling, monitored during filling and checked when filling is completed. This can all be done with the pressure gauge on the filling equipment. Pressure is also generally monitored by the diver. Firstly as a check of contents before use, then during use to ensure that there is enough left at all times to allow a safe completion of the dive, and often after a dive for purposes of record keeping and personal consumption rate calculation. The pressure is also monitored during hydrostatic testing to ensure that the test is done to the correct pressure. Most diving cylinders do not have a dedicated pressure gauge, but this is a standard feature on most diving regulators, and a requirement on all filling facilities. There are two widespread standards for pressure measurement of diving gas. In the United States and perhaps a few other places the pressure is measured in pounds per square inch (psi), and the rest of the world uses bar. Sometimes gauges may be calibrated in other metric units, such as kilopascal (kPa) or megapascal (MPa), or in atmospheres (atm, or ATA), particularly gauges not actually used underwater. ## Capacity There are two commonly used conventions for describing the capacity of a diving cylinder. One is based on the internal volume of the cylinder. The other is based on nominal volume of gas stored. ### Internal volume The internal volume is commonly quoted in most countries using the metric system. This information is required by ISO 13769 to be stamped on the cylinder shoulder. It can be measured easily by filling the cylinder with fresh water. This has resulted in the term 'water capacity', abbreviated as WC which is often stamp marked on the cylinder shoulder. It's almost always expressed as a volume in litres, but sometimes as mass of the water in kg. Fresh water has a density close to one kilogram per litre so the numerical values are effectively identical at two decimal places accuracy. #### Standard sizes by internal volume These are representative examples, for a larger range, the on-line catalogues of the manufacturers such as Faber, Pressed Steel, Luxfer, and Catalina may be consulted. The applications are typical, but not exclusive. - 22 litres: Available in steel, 200 and 232bar, - 20 litres: Available in steel, 200 and 232bar, - 18 litres: Available in steel, 200 and 232 bar, used as single or twins for back gas. - 16 litres: Available in steel, 200 and 232bar, used as single or twins for back gas. - 15 litres: Available in steel, 200 and 232 bar, used as single or twins for back gas - 12.2 litres: Available in steel 232, 300 bar and aluminium 232 bar, used as single or twins for back gas - 12 litres: Available in steel 200, 232, 300 bar, and aluminium 232 bar, used as single or twins for back gas - 11 litres: Available in aluminium, 200, 232 bar used as single or twins for back gas or sidemount - 10.2 litres: Available in aluminium, 232 bar, used as single or twins for back gas - 10 litres: Available in steel, 200, 232 and 300 bar, used as single or twins for back gas, and for bailout - 9.4 litres: Available in aluminium, 232 bar, used for back gas or as slings - 8 litres: Available in steel, 200 bar, used for Semi-closed rebreathers - 7 litres: Available in steel, 200, 232 and 300 bar, and aluminium 232 bar, back gas as singles and twins, and as bailout cylinders. A popular size for SCBA - 6 litres: Available in steel, 200, 232, 300 bar, used for back gas as singles and twins, and as bailout cylinders. Also a popular size for SCBA - 5.5 litres: Available in steel, 200 and 232 bar, - 5 litres: Available in steel, 200 bar, used for rebreathers - 4 litres: Available in steel, 200 bar, used for rebreathers and pony cylinders - 3 litres: Available in steel, 200 bar, used for rebreathers and pony cylinders - 2 litres: Available in steel, 200 bar, used for rebreathers, pony cylinders, and suit inflation - 1.5 litres: Available in steel, 200 and 232 bar, used for suit inflation - 0.5 litres: Available in steel and aluminium, 200 bar, used for buoyancy compensator and surface marker buoy inflation ### Nominal volume of gas stored The nominal volume of gas stored is commonly quoted as the cylinder capacity in the USA. It is a measure of the volume of gas that can be released from the full cylinder at atmospheric pressure. Terms used for the capacity include 'free gas volume' or 'free gas equivalent'. It depends on the internal volume and the working pressure of a cylinder. If the working pressure is higher, the cylinder will store more gas for the same volume. The nominal working pressure is not necessarily the same as the actual working pressure used. Some steel cylinders manufactured to US standards are permitted to exceed the nominal working pressure by 10% and this is indicated by a '+' symbol. This extra pressure allowance is dependent on the cylinder passing the appropriate periodical hydrostatic test and is not necessarily valid for US cylinders exported to countries with differing standards. The nominal gas content of these cylinders is based on the 10% higher pressure. For example, common Aluminum 80 (Al80) cylinder is an aluminum cylinder which has a nominal 'free gas' capacity of 80 cubic feet (2,300 L) when pressurized to 3,000 pounds per square inch (210 bar). It has an internal volume of approximately 11 litres (0.39 cu ft). #### Standard sizes by volume of gas stored - Aluminum C100 is a large (13.l l), high-pressure (3,300 pounds per square inch (228 bar)) cylinder. Heavy at 42.0 pounds (19.1 kg). - Aluminum S80 is probably the most common cylinder, used by resorts in many parts of the world for back gas, but also popular as a sling cylinder for decompression gas, and as side-mount cylinder in fresh water, as it has nearly neutral buoyancy. These cylinders have an internal volume of approximately 11 litres (0.39 cu ft) and working pressure of 3,000 pounds per square inch (207 bar). They are also sometimes used as manifolded twins for back mount, but in this application the diver needs more ballast weights than with most steel cylinders of equivalent capacity. - Aluminium C80 is the high-pressure equivalent, with a water capacity of 10.3 L and working pressure 3,300 pounds per square inch (228 bar). - Aluminum S40 is a popular cylinder for side-mount and sling mount bailout and decompression gas for moderate depths, as it is small diameter and nearly neutral buoyancy, which makes it relatively unobtrusive for this mounting style. Internal volume is approximately 5.8 litres (0.20 cu ft) and working pressure 3,000 pounds per square inch (207 bar). - Aluminum S63 (9.0 L) 3,000 pounds per square inch (207 bar), and steel HP65 (8.2 L) are smaller and lighter than the Al80, but have a lower capacity, and are suitable for smaller divers or shorter dives. - Steel LP80 2,640 pounds per square inch (182 bar) and HP80 (10.1 L) at 3,442 pounds per square inch (237 bar) are both more compact and lighter than the Aluminium S80 and are both negatively buoyant, which reduces the amount of ballast weight required by the diver. - Steel HP119 (14.8 L), HP120 (15.3 L) and HP130 (16.0 L) cylinders provide larger amounts of gas for nitrox or technical diving. ## Physical dimensions Cylinders made from seamless steel and aluminium alloys are described here. The constraints on filament wound composite cylinders will differ: There are a small number of standardised outside diameters as this is cost effective for manufacture, because most of the same tooling can be shared between cylinders of the same diameter and wall thickness. A limited number of standard diameters is also convenient for sharing accessories such as manifolds, boots and tank bands. Volume within a series with given outside diameter is controlled by wall thickness, which is consistent for material, pressure class, and design standard, and length, which is the basic variable for controlling volume within a series. Mass is determined by these factors and the density of the material. Steel cylinders are available in the following size classes, and possibly others: - OD = 83mm, 0.8 to 1.8 litres - OD = 100mm, 2.0 to 4.75 litres - OD = 115mm, 2.5 to 5.0 litres - OD = 140mm, 4.0 to 15.0 litres - OD = 160mm, 6.0 to 16.0 litres - OD = 171mm, 8.0 to 23.0 litres - OD = 178mm, 8.0 to 35.0 litres - OD = 204mm, 10.0 to 40.0 litres - OD = 229mm, 20.0 to 50.0 litres - OD = 267mm, 33.0 to 80.0 litres Wall thickness varies depending on location, material, pressure rating and practical considerations. The sides of the cylindrical section are sufficient to withstand the stresses of a large number of cycles to test pressure, with an allowance for a small amount of material loss due to general corrosion and minor local damage due to abrasion and normal wear and tear of use, and a limited depth of local damage due to pit and line corrosion and physical damage. The amount of damage and material loss allowed is compatible with the visual inspection rejection criteria. Steel cylinders are designed for test stresses to be below the fatigue limit for the alloy. The wall thickness is roughly proportional to diameter for a given test pressure and material strength – if the diameter is double, the basic wall thickness will also double. Wall thickness is also proportional to working pressure and test pressure for a given diameter and material specification. The cylindrical section has the lowest wall thickness, and it is consistent within manufacturing tolerances for the entire cylindrical section. End thickness allows for considerably more wear and tear and corrosion on the bottom of the cylinder, and the shoulder is made thicker to allow for the variabilities inherent in the manufacturing process for closing the end, and for any stress raisers due to the process of permanent stamp marking. To a large extent bottom thickness distribution of a steel cylinder and shoulder thickness of all metal cylinders are influenced by the manufacturing process, and may be thicker than strictly necessary for strength and corrosion tolerance. Faber steel cylinders to CE standards have slightly decreased in mass for the same cylinder size from 2023. A 200 bar 15 litre cylinder with 203mm outside diameter domed bottom, reduced from 16.2kg to 145kg. The equivalent 232 bar cylinder reduced from 18.2 to 16.7kg. ### Buoyancy characteristics The density of a cylinder is concentrated in the ends, which are relatively thick walled and have a lower enclosed volume per unit mass. The details vary depending on the specification, but this tendency is common to both steel and aluminium cylinders, and is more extreme in flat or dished ends. As a consequence, long narrow cylinders are less dense than short wide cylinders for the same material and the same end configuration, while for the same internal volume, a short wide cylinder is heavier than a long narrow cylinder. Buoyancy of a diving cylinder is only of practical relevance in combination with the attached cylinder valve, scuba regulator and regulator accessories, as it will not be used underwater without them. These accessories are attached to the top of the cylinder, and both decrease the buoyancy of the combined unit and move the centre of gravity towards the top (valved end). This affects the cylinder orientation for sling and side mount. Back mounted cylinder sets are generally not removed during a dive, and the buoyancy characteristics can be allowed for at the start of the dive, by ensuring that the diver has sufficient reserve buoyancy to float with the cylinders full, and sufficient ballast to remain submerged when the cylinders are all empty. The buoyancy compensator must be sufficient to provide some positive buoyancy at all depths with full cylinders. Adjustments to ballasting can compensate for other buoyancy variables. Inability to remain consistently immersed at the shallowest decompression stop can lead to incomplete decompression and increased risk of decompression sickness. The change in buoyancy of a diving cylinder during the dive can be more problematic with side-mounted cylinders, and the actual buoyancy at any point during the dive is a consideration with any cylinder that may be separated from the diver for any reason. Cylinders which will be or handed off to another diver should not change the diver's buoyancy beyond what can be compensated using their buoyancy compensator. Cylinders with approximately neutral buoyancy when full generally require the least compensation when detached, as they are likely to be detached for staging or handed off when relatively full. This is less likely to be a problem for a solo diver's bailout set, as there will be fewer occasions to remove it during a dive. Side-mount sets for tight penetrations are expected to be swung forward or detached to pass through tight constrictions, and should not grossly affect trim or buoyancy during these maneuvers. A major manufacturer of steel cylinders, Faber Industrie Spa, claim that their steel cylinders are neutral or slightly negative when empty, but do not specify which pressure rating this refers to, or whether this takes into account the cylinder valve. ## Applications and configurations Divers may carry one cylinder or multiples, depending on the requirements of the dive. Where diving takes place in low risk areas, where the diver may safely make a free ascent, or where a buddy is available to provide an alternative air supply in an emergency, recreational divers usually carry only one cylinder. Where diving risks are higher, for example where the visibility is low or when the dive is deeper requires decompression stops, and particularly when diving under an overhead, divers routinely carry more than one gas source. Diving cylinders may serve different purposes. One or two cylinders may be used as a primary breathing source which is intended to be breathed from for most of the dive. A smaller cylinder carried in addition to a larger cylinder is called a "pony bottle". A cylinder to be used purely as an independent safety reserve is called a "bailout bottle" or emergency gas supply (EGS). A pony bottle is commonly used as a bailout bottle, but this would depend on the time required to surface. Divers doing technical diving often carry different gases, each in a separate cylinder, for each phase of the dive: - travel gas is used during the descent and ascent. It is typically air or nitrox with an oxygen content between 21% and 40%. Travel gas is needed when the bottom gas is hypoxic and therefore is unsafe to breathe in shallow water. The travel gas may also be used as a decompression gas. - bottom gas is only breathed at depth. It is typically a helium-based gas which is low in oxygen (below 21%) or hypoxic (below 17%). - decompression gas, or deco gas, is used during the ascent and at the decompression stops, and is generally one or more nitrox mixes with a high oxygen content, or pure oxygen, to accelerate decompression. - a stage cylinder is a cylinder holding reserve, travel or deco gas. They are usually carried side slung (sling mounted), clipped on either side of the diver to the harness of the backplate and wing or buoyancy compensator, rather than on the back, and may be left on the distance line to be picked up for use on return (stage dropped). Commonly divers use aluminium stage cylinders, particularly in fresh water, because they are nearly neutrally buoyant and can be removed underwater with less effect on the diver's overall buoyancy. - Suit inflation gas may be taken from a breathing gas cylinder or may be supplied from a small independent cylinder. Helium based gases are avoided for this use because they have a higher thermal conductivity. Argon can be used for this purpose as it is a better insulator than air. - Bailout gas is sometimes carried in an additional independent scuba cylinder with its own regulator to mitigate out-of-air emergencies if the primary breathing gas supply should fail. For much common recreational diving where a controlled emergency swimming ascent is acceptably safe, this extra equipment is not needed or used. This extra cylinder is known as a bail-out cylinder, and may be carried in several ways, and can be any size that can hold enough gas to get the diver safely back to the surface. ### Open-circuit scuba For open-circuit scuba divers, there are several basic options for the combined cylinder and regulator system configuration: #### Single cylinder back mount A single cylinder configuration is usually a single large cylinder, usually back mounted, with one first-stage regulator, and usually two second-stage regulators. This configuration is simple and cheap but it has only a single breathing gas supply and no redundancy in case of failure. If the cylinder or first-stage regulator fails, the diver is totally out of air and faces a life-threatening emergency. Recreational diver training agencies train divers to rely on a buddy to assist them in this situation. The skill of gas sharing is trained on most entry level scuba courses. This equipment configuration, although common with entry-level divers and used for most sport diving, is not recommended by training agencies for any dive where decompression stops are needed, or where there is an overhead environment (wreck diving, cave diving, or ice diving) as it provides no functional redundancy. A single cylinder with dual regulators consists of a single large back mounted cylinder, with two first-stage regulators, each with a second-stage regulator. This system is mostly used for diving where cold water makes the risk of regulator freezing high and functional regulator redundancy is required. It is common in continental Europe, especially Germany. The advantage is that a regulator failure can be solved underwater to bring the dive to a controlled conclusion without buddy breathing or gas sharing. However, it is hard to reach the valves, so there may be some reliance on the dive buddy to help close the valve of the free-flowing regulator quickly. #### Main cylinder plus a small independent cylinder This configuration uses a larger, back mounted main cylinder along with an independent smaller cylinder, often called a "pony" or "bailout cylinder". The diver has two independent systems, but the total 'breathing system' is now heavier, and more expensive to buy and maintain. The pony is typically a 2- to 5-litre cylinder. Its capacity determines the depth of dive and decompression duration for which it provides protection. Ponies may be fixed to the diver's buoyancy compensator (BC) or main cylinder behind the diver's back, or can be clipped to the harness at the diver's side or chest or carried as a sling cylinder. Ponies provide an accepted and reliable emergency gas supply but require that the diver is trained to use them. Another type of small independent air source is a hand-held cylinder filled with about 85 litres (3.0 cu ft) of free air with a diving regulator directly attached, such as the Spare Air. This source provides only a few breaths of gas at depth and is most suitable as a shallow water bailout. #### Independent twins ''' or independent doubles consists of two independent cylinders and two regulators, each with a submersible pressure gauge. This system is heavier, more expensive to buy and maintain and more expensive to fill than a single cylinder set. The diver must swap demand valves during the dive to preserve a sufficient reserve of gas in each cylinder. If this is not done, then if a cylinder should fail the diver may end up having an inadequate reserve. Independent twin sets only work well with air-integrated dive computers which can monitor two or more cylinders. The complexity of switching regulators periodically to ensure both cylinders are evenly used may be offset by the redundancy of two entirely separate breathing gas supplies. The cylinders may be mounted as a twin set on the diver's back, or alternatively can be carried in a sidemount configuration where penetration of wrecks or caves requires it, and where the cylinder valves are in easy reach. #### Plain manifolded twins Plain manifolded twin sets, or manifolded doubles with a single regulator, consist of two back mounted cylinders with their pillar valves connected by a manifold but only one regulator is attached to the manifold. This makes it relatively simple and cheap but means there is no redundant functionality to the breathing system, only a double gas supply. This arrangement was fairly common in the early days of scuba when low-pressure cylinders were manifolded to provide a larger air supply than was possible from the available single cylinders. It is still in use for large capacity bailout sets for deep commercial diving. #### Isolation manifolded twins `or manifolded doubles with two regulators, consist of two back mounted cylinders with their pillar valves connected by a manifold, with a valve in the manifold that can be closed to isolate the two pillar valves. In the event of a problem with one cylinder the diver may close the isolation valve to preserve gas in the cylinder which has not failed. The advantages of this configuration include: a larger gas supply than from a single cylinder; automatic balancing of the gas supply between the two cylinders; thus, no requirement to constantly change regulators underwater during the dive; and in most failure situations, the diver may close a valve to a failed regulator or isolate a cylinder and may retain access to all the remaining gas in both the tanks. The disadvantages are that the manifold is another potential point of failure, and there is a danger of losing all gas from both cylinders if the isolation valve cannot be closed when a problem occurs. This configuration of cylinders is often used in technical diving.` #### Sling cylinders `are a configuration of independent cylinders used for technical diving and solo diving. They are independent cylinders with their own regulators and are carried clipped to the harness at the side of the diver. Their purpose may be to carry stage, travel, decompression, or bailout gas while the back mounted cylinder(s) carry bottom gas. Stage cylinders carry gas to extend bottom time, travel gas is used to reach a depth where bottom gas may be safely used if it is hypoxic at the surface, and decompression gas is gas intended to be used during decompression to accelerate the elimination of inert gases. Bailout gas is an emergency supply intended to be used to surface if the main gas supply is lost.` #### Side mount cylinders Side-mount cylinders are cylinders clipped to the harness at the diver's sides which carry bottom gas when the diver does not carry back mount cylinders. They may be used in conjunction with other side-mounted stage, travel and/or decompression cylinders where necessary. Skilled side-mount divers may carry as many as three cylinders on each side. This configuration was developed for access through tight restrictions in caves. Side mounting is primarily used for technical diving, but is also sometimes used for recreational diving, when a single cylinder may be carried, complete with secondary second stage (octopus) regulator, in a configuration sometimes referred to as monkey diving. #### Hand-off cylinders A is a scuba set, usually rigged for sling or side-mount, that can be passed (handed off) to another diver for use during a contingency or a planned part of a dive, by a rescuer or a support or stand-by diver. The handing off of the cylinder allows the receiving diver to maneuver independently of the donor, and the hand-off procedure should not compromise either diver's ability to maintain neutral buoyancy if it is needed for safety. In most cases it will be easier for the receiving diver to adjust buoyancy by adding gas to their buoyancy compensator to compensate for the mass of gas in a cylinder that is neutrally buoyant when empty than to have to dump gas from the BC when the gas in the cylinder is used up, if correctly weighted. #### Drop cylinders Drop cylinders, or stage drop cylinders, are cylinders complete with regulator and pressure gauge, usually rigged as sling or side mount cylinders, which are intended to be taken off and left at the guideline during the early part of a dive, to be collected on the way back. ### Rebreathers Diving cylinders are used in rebreather diving in two roles: - As part of the rebreather itself. The rebreather must have at least one source of fresh gas stored in a cylinder; many have two and some have more cylinders. Due to the lower gas consumption of rebreathers, these cylinders typically are smaller than those used for equivalent open-circuit dives. Rebreathers may use internal cylinders, or may also be supplied from "off-board" cylinders, which are not directly plumbed into the rebreather, but connected to it by a flexible hose and coupling and usually carried side slung. - \* oxygen rebreathers have an oxygen cylinder \* semi-closed circuit rebreathers have a cylinder which usually contains nitrox or a helium based gas. \* closed circuit rebreathers have an oxygen cylinder and a "diluent" cylinder, which contains air, nitrox or a helium based gas. - Rebreather divers also often carry an external bailout system if the internal diluent cylinder is too small for safe use for bailout for the planned dive. The bailout system is one or more independent breathing gas sources for use if the rebreather should fail: - Open-circuit: One or more open circuit scuba sets. The number of open-circuit bailout sets, their capacity and the breathing gases they contain depend on the depth and decompression needs of the dive. So on a deep, technical rebreather dive, the diver will need a bail out "bottom" gas and a bailout "decompression" gas(es). On such a dive, it is usually the capacity and duration of the bailout sets that limits the depth and duration of the dive - not the capacity of the rebreather. - Closed-circuit: A second rebreather containing one or more independent diving cylinders for its gas supply. Using another rebreather as a bail-out is possible but uncommon. Although the long duration of rebreathers seems compelling for bail-out, rebreathers are relatively bulky, complex, vulnerable to damage and require more time to start breathing from, than easy-to-use, instantly available, robust and reliable open-circuit equipment. ### Surface supplied diver emergency gas supply Surface supplied divers are usually required to carry an emergency gas supply sufficient to allow them to return to a place of safety if the main gas supply fails. The usual configuration is a back mounted single cylinder supported by the diver's safety harness, with first stage regulator connected by a low-pressure hose to a bailout block, which may be mounted on the side of the helmet or band-mask or on the harness to supply a lightweight full-face mask. Where the capacity of a single cylinder in insufficient, plain manifolded twins or a rebreather may be used. For closed bell bounce and saturation dives the bailout set must be compact enough to allow the diver to pass through the bottom hatch of the bell. This sets a limit on the size of cylinders that can be used. ### Emergency gas supply on diving bells Diving bells are required to carry an onboard supply of breathing gas for use in emergencies. The cylinders are mounted externally as there is insufficient space inside. They are fully immersed in the water during bell operations, and may be considered diving cylinders. ### Suit inflation cylinders Suit inflation gas may be carried in a small independent cylinder. Sometimes argon is used for superior insulation properties. This must be clearly labelled and may also need to be colour coded to avoid inadvertent use as a breathing gas, which could be fatal as argon is an asphyxiant. ### Other uses of compressed gas cylinders in diving operations Divers also use gas cylinders above water for storage of oxygen for first aid treatment of diving disorders and as part of storage "banks" for diving air compressor stations, gas blending, surface supplied breathing gas and gas supplies for decompression chambers and saturation systems. Similar cylinders are also used for many purposes not connected to diving. For these applications they are not diving cylinders and may not be subject to the same regulatory requirements as cylinders used underwater. ## Gas calculations It is necessary to know the approximate length of time that a diver can breathe from a given cylinder so that a safe dive profile can be planned. There are two parts to this problem: The capacity of the cylinder and the consumption by the diver. ### The cylinder's capacity to store gas Two features of the cylinder determine its gas carrying capacity: - internal volume : this normally ranges between 3 litres and 18 litres for single cylinders. - cylinder gas pressure : when filled this normally ranges between 200 and 300 bars (2,900 and 4,400 psi), but the actual value should be measured for a real situation, as the cylinder may not be full. At the pressures which apply to most diving cylinders, the ideal gas equation is sufficiently accurate in almost all cases, as the variables that apply to gas consumption generally overwhelm the error in the ideal gas assumption. To calculate the quantity of gas: - Volume of gas at atmospheric pressure = (cylinder volume) x (cylinder pressure) / (atmospheric pressure) In those parts of the world using the metric system the calculation is relatively simple as atmospheric pressure may be approximated as 1 bar, So a 12-litre cylinder at 232 bar would hold almost 12 × 232 / 1 = 2,784 litres (98.3 cu ft) of air at atmospheric pressure (also known as free air). In the US the capacity of a diving cylinder is specified directly in cubic feet of free air at the nominal working pressure, as the calculation from internal volume and working pressure is relatively tedious in imperial units. For example, in the US and in many diving resorts in other countries, one might find aluminum cylinders of US manufacture with an internal capacity of 0.39 cubic feet (11 L) filled to a working pressure of 3,000 psi (210 bar); Taking atmospheric pressure as 14.7 psi, this gives 0.39 × 3000 / 14.7 = 80 ft³ These cylinders are described as "80 cubic foot cylinders", (the common "aluminum 80"). Up to about 200 bar the ideal gas law remains useful and the relationship between the pressure, size of the cylinder and gas contained in the cylinder is approximately linear; at higher pressures this linearity no longer applies, and there is proportionally less gas in the cylinder. A 3-litre cylinder filled to 300 bar will only carry contain 810 litres (29 cu ft) of atmospheric pressure air and not the 900 litres (32 cu ft) expected from the ideal gas law. Equations have been proposed which give more accurate solutions at high pressure, including the Van der Waals equation. Compressibility at higher pressures also varies between gases and mixtures of gases. ### Diver gas consumption There are three main factors to consider: - the rate at which the diver consumes gas, specified as surface air consumption (SAC) or respiratory minute volume (RMV) of the diver. In normal conditions this will be between 10 and 25 litres per minute (L/min) for divers who are not working hard. At times of extreme high work rate, breathing rates can rise to 95 litres per minute. For International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) commercial diving gas planning purposes, a working breathing rate of 40 litres per minute is used, whilst a figure of 50 litres per minute is used for emergencies. RMV is controlled by blood CO₂ levels, and is usually independent of oxygen partial pressures, so does not change with depth. The very large range of possible rates of gas consumption results in a significant uncertainty of how long the supply will last, and a conservative approach is required for safety where an immediate access to an alternative breathing gas source is not possible. Scuba divers are expected to monitor the remaining gas pressure sufficiently often that they are aware of how much is still available at all times during a dive. - ambient pressure: the depth of the dive determines this. The ambient pressure at the surface is 1 bar (15 psi) at sea level. For every 10 metres (33 ft) in seawater the diver descends, the pressure increases by 1 bar (15 psi). As a diver goes deeper, the breathing gas is delivered at a pressure equal to ambient water pressure, and the amount of gas used is proportional to the pressure. Thus, it requires twice as much mass of gas to fill the diver's lungs at 10 metres (33 ft) as it does at the surface, and three times as much at 20 metres (66 ft). The mass consumption of breathing gas by the diver is similarly affected. - time at each depth. (usually approximated as time at each depth range) To calculate the quantity of gas consumed: - gas consumed = surface air consumption × time × ambient pressure Metric examples: - A diver with a RMV of 20 L/min at 30 msw (4 bar), will consume 20 × 4 × 1 = 80 L/min surface equivalent. A diver with a RMV of 40 L/min at 50 msw (6 bar) for 10 minutes will consume 40 × 6 × 10 = 2400 litres of free air – the full capacity of a 12-litre 200 bar cylinder. Imperial examples: - A diver with a SAC of 0.5 cfm (cubic feet per minute) at 100 fsw (4 ata) will consume 0.5 × 4 × 1 = 2 cfm surface equivalent. A diver with a SAC of 1 cfm at 231 fsw (8 ata) for 10 minutes will consume 1 × 8 × 10 = 80 ft³ of free air – the full capacity of an 80 ft³ cylinder Keeping this in mind, it is not hard to see why technical divers who do long deep dives require multiple cylinders or rebreathers, and commercial divers normally use surface-supplied diving equipment, and only carry scuba as an emergency gas supply. ### Breathing gas endurance The amount of time that a diver can breathe from a cylinder is also known as air or gas endurance. Maximum breathing duration (T) for a given depth can be calculated as - T = available air / rate of consumption which, using the ideal gas law, is - T = (available cylinder pressure × cylinder volume) / (rate of air consumption at surface) × (ambient pressure) This may be written as - (1) T = (P_C-P_A)×V_C/(SAC×P_A) with - T = Time P_C = Cylinder Pressure V_C = Cylinder internal volume P_A = Ambient Pressure SAC = Surface air consumption in any consistent system of units. Ambient pressure (P_A) is the surrounding water pressure at a given depth and is made up of the sum of the hydrostatic pressure and the air pressure at the surface. It is calculated as - (2) P_A = D×g×ρ + atmospheric pressure with - D = depth g = Standard gravity ρ = water density in a consistent system of units For metric units, this formula can be approximated by - (3) P_A = D/10 + 1 with depth in m and pressure in bar Ambient pressure is deducted from cylinder pressure, as the quantity of air represented by P_A can in practice not be used for breathing by the diver as it required to balance the ambient pressure of the water. This formula neglects the cracking pressure required to open both first and second stages of the regulator, and pressure drop due to flow restrictions in the regulator, both of which are variable depending on the design and adjustment of the regulator, and flow rate, which depends on the breathing pattern of the diver and the gas in use. These factors are not easily estimated, so the calculated value for breathing duration will be more than the real value. However, in normal diving usage, a reserve is always factored in. The reserve is a proportion of the cylinder pressure which a diver will not plan to use other than in case of emergency. The reserve may be a quarter or a third of the cylinder pressure or it may be a fixed pressure, common examples are 50 bar and 500 psi. The formula above is then modified to give the usable breathing duration (BT = breathing time) as - (4) BT = (P_C-P_R)×V_C/(SAC×P_A) where P_R is the reserve pressure. For example, (using the first formula (1) for absolute maximum breathing time), a diver at a depth of 15 meters in water with an average density of 1020 kg/m³ (typical seawater), who breathes at a rate of 20 litres per minute, using a dive cylinder of 18 litres pressurized at 200 bars, can breathe for a period of 72 minutes before the cylinder pressure falls so low as to prevent inhalation. In some open circuit scuba systems this can happen quite suddenly, from a normal breath to the next abnormal breath, a breath which may not be fully drawn. (There is never any difficulty exhaling). The suddenness of this effect depends on the design of the regulator and the internal volume of the cylinder. In such circumstances there remains air under pressure in the cylinder, but the diver is unable to breathe it. Some of it can be breathed if the diver ascends, as the ambient pressure is reduced, and even without ascent, in some systems a bit of air from the cylinder is available to inflate buoyancy compensator devices (BCDs) even after it no longer has pressure enough to open the demand valve. Using the same conditions and a reserve of 50 bar, the formula (4) for usable breathing time is as follows: - Ambient pressure = water pressure + atmospheric pressure = 15 msw/10 bar per msw + 1 = 2.5 bar Usable pressure = fill pressure - reserve pressure = 200 bar - 50 bar = 150 bar Usable air = usable pressure × cylinder capacity = 150 bar × 18 litres per bar = 2700 litres Rate of consumption = surface air consumption × ambient pressure = 20 litres per minute per bar × 2.5 bar = 50 litres/min Usable breathing time = 2700 litres / 50 litres per min = 54 minutes This would give a dive time of 54 min at 15 m before reaching the reserve of 50 bar. ### Reserves It is strongly recommended by diver training organisations and codes of practice that a portion of the usable gas of the cylinder be held aside as a safety reserve. The reserve is intended to provide gas for longer than planned decompression stops or to provide time to resolve underwater emergencies. The size of the reserve depends upon the risks involved during the dive. A deep or decompression dive warrants a greater reserve than a shallow or a no stop dive. In recreational diving for example, it is recommended that the diver plans to surface with a reserve remaining in the cylinder of 500 psi, 50 bar or 25% of the initial capacity, depending on the teaching of the diver training organisation. This is because recreational divers practicing within "no-decompression" limits can normally make a direct ascent in an emergency. On technical dives where a direct ascent is either impossible (due to overhead obstructions) or dangerous (due to the requirement to make decompression stops), divers plan larger margins of safety. The simplest method uses the rule of thirds: one third of the gas supply is planned for the outward journey, one third is for the return journey and one third is a safety reserve. Some training agencies teach the concept of minimum gas, rock bottom gas management or critical pressures which allows a diver to calculate an acceptable reserve to get two divers to the surface in an emergency from any point in the planned dive profile. Professional divers may be required by legislation or industry codes of practice to carry sufficient reserve gas to enable them to reach a place of safety, such as the surface, or a diving bell, based on the planned dive profile. This reserve gas is usually required to be carried as an independent emergency gas supply (EGS), also known as a bailout cylinder, set or bottle. This usually also applies to professional divers using surface-supplied diving equipment. ### Weight of gas consumed The density of air at sea level and 15 °C is approximately 1.225 kg/m³. Most full-sized diving cylinders used for open circuit scuba hold more than 2 kilograms (4.4 lb) of air when full, and as the air is used, the buoyancy of the cylinder increases by the weight removed. The decrease in external volume of the cylinder due to reduction of internal pressure is relatively small, and can be ignored for practical purposes. As an example, a 12-litre cylinder may be filled to 230 bar before a dive, and be breathed down to 30 bar before surfacing, using 2,400 litres or 2.4 m³ of free air. The mass of gas used during the dive will depend on the mixture - if air is assumed, it will be approximately 2.9 kilograms (6.4 lb). The loss of the weight of the gas taken from the cylinder makes the cylinder and diver more buoyant. This can be a problem if the diver is unable to remain neutrally buoyant towards the end of the dive because most of the gas has been breathed from the cylinder. The buoyancy change due to gas usage from back mounted cylinders is easily compensated by carrying sufficient diving weights to provide neutral buoyancy with empty cylinders at the end of a dive, and using the buoyancy compensator to neutralise the excess weight until the gas has been used. ## Filling Diving cylinders are filled by attaching a high-pressure gas supply to the cylinder valve, opening the valve and allowing gas to flow into the cylinder until the desired pressure is reached, then closing the valves, venting the connection and disconnecting it. This process involves a risk of the cylinder or the filling equipment failing under pressure, both of which are hazardous to the operator, so procedures to control these risks are generally followed. Rate of filling must be limited to avoid excessive heating, the temperature of cylinder and contents must remain below the maximum working temperature specified by the applicable standard. A flexible high pressure hose used for this purpose is known as a filling whip. ### Pre-fill inspection and recording of details Before filling a cylinder the filling operator may be required by regulations, code of practice, or operations manual, to inspect the cylinder and valve for any obvious external defects or damage, and to reject for filling any cylinder that does not comply with the standards. It may also be required to record cylinder details in the filling log. ### Filling from a compressor Breathing air supply can come directly from a high-pressure breathing air compressor, from a high-pressure storage system, or from a combined storage system with compressor. Direct charging is energy intensive, and the charge rate will be limited by the available power source and capacity of the compressor. A large-volume bank of high-pressure storage cylinders allows faster charging or simultaneous charging of multiple cylinders, and allows for provision of more economical high-pressure air by recharging the storage banks from a low-power compressor, or using lower cost off-peak electrical power. The quality of compressed breathing air for diving is usually specified by national or organisational standards, and the steps generally taken to assure the air quality include: - use of a compressor rated for breathing air, - use of compressor lubricants rated for breathing air, - filtration of intake air to remove particulate contamination, - positioning of the compressor air intake in clean air clear of known sources of contaminants such as internal combustion exhaust fumes, sewer vents etc. - removal of condensate from the compressed air by water separators. This may be done between stages on the compressor as well as after compression. - filtration after compression to remove remaining water, oil, and other contaminants using specialized filter media such as desiccants, molecular sieve or activated carbon. Traces of carbon monoxide may be catalyzed to carbon dioxide by Hopcalite. - periodical air quality tests, - scheduled filter changes and maintenance of the compressor ### Filling from high-pressure storage Cylinders may also be filled directly from high-pressure storage systems by decanting, with or without pressure boosting to reach the desired charging pressure. Cascade filling may be used for efficiency when multiple storage cylinders are available. High-pressure storage is commonly used when blending nitrox, heliox and trimix diving gases, and for oxygen for rebreathers and decompression gas. Nitrox and trimix blending may include decanting the oxygen and/or helium, and topping up to working pressure using a compressor, after which the gas mixture must be analysed and the cylinder labeled with the gas composition. ### Temperature change during filling Compression of ambient air causes a temperature rise of the gas, proportional to the pressure increase. Ambient air is typically compressed in stages, and the gas temperature rises during each stage. Intercoolers and water cooling heat exchangers can remove this heat between stages. Charging an empty dive cylinder also causes a temperature rise as the gas inside the cylinder is compressed by the inflow of higher pressure gas, though this temperature rise may initially be tempered because compressed gas from a storage bank at room temperature decreases in temperature when it decreases in pressure, so at first the empty cylinder is charged with cold gas, but the temperature of the gas in the cylinder then increases to above ambient as the cylinder fills to the working pressure. Wet filling: Excess heat can be removed by immersion of the cylinder in a cold water bath while filling. However, immersion for cooling can also increase the risk of water contaminating the valve orifice of a completely depressurized tank and being blown into the cylinder during filling. Dry filling: Cylinders may also be filled without water-bath cooling, and may be charged to above the nominal working pressure to the developed pressure appropriate to the temperature when filled. As the gas cools to ambient temperature, the pressure decreases, and will reach rated charging pressure at the rated temperature. ### Safety and legal issues Legal constraints to filling scuba cylinders will vary by jurisdiction. In South Africa cylinders may be filled for commercial purposes by a person who is competent in the use of the filling equipment to be used, who knows the relevant sections of the applicable standards and regulations, and has written permission from the owner of the cylinder to fill it. The cylinder must be in test and suitable for the gas to be filled, and the cylinder may not be filled above the developed pressure for the temperature reached when it is filled. An external inspection of the cylinder must be made, and specified details of the cylinder and fill must be recorded. If the fill is of a gas other than air, the analysis of the completed fill must be recorded by the filler and signed by the customer. If the residual pressure in a cylinder presented for filling does not produce a reasonably strong outflow of gas from the valve when opened the filler may refuse to fill the cylinder unless an acceptable reason is given for it being empty, as there is no way for the filler to check if it has been contaminated. ### Gas purity and testing Diving cylinders should only be filled with suitably filtered air from diving air compressors or with other breathing gases using gas blending or decanting techniques. In some jurisdictions, suppliers of breathing gases are required by legislation to periodically test the quality of compressed air produced by their equipment and to display the test results for public information. The standards for industrial gas purity and filling equipment and procedures may allow some contaminants at levels unsafe for breathing, and their use in breathing gas mixtures at high pressure could be harmful or fatal. ### Handling of specialty gases Special precautions need to be taken with gases other than air: - oxygen in high concentrations is a major cause of fire and rust. - oxygen should be very carefully transferred from one cylinder to another and only ever stored in containers that are cleaned and labeled for oxygen service. - gas mixtures containing proportions of oxygen other than 21% could be extremely dangerous to divers who are unaware of the proportion of oxygen in them. All cylinders should be labeled with their composition. - cylinders containing a high oxygen content must be cleaned for the use of oxygen and their valves lubricated only with oxygen service grease to reduce the chance of combustion. Specialty mixed gas charging will almost always involve supply cylinders of high purity gas sourced from an industrial gas supplier. Oxygen and helium should be stored, mixed and compressed in well ventilated spaces. Oxygen because any leaks could constitute a fire hazard, and helium because it is an asphyxiant. Neither gas can be identified by the unaided human body. ### Gas contamination Contaminated breathing gas at depth can be fatal. Concentrations which are acceptable at the surface ambient pressure will be increased by the pressure of depth and may then exceed acceptable or tolerable limits. Common contaminants are: carbon monoxide – a by-product of combustion, carbon dioxide – a product of metabolism, and oil and lubricants from the compressor. Keeping the cylinder slightly pressurized at all times during storage and transportation reduces the possibility of inadvertently contaminating the inside of the cylinder with corrosive agents, such as sea water, or toxic material, such as oils, poisonous gases, fungi or bacteria. A normal dive will end with some pressure remaining in the cylinder; if an emergency ascent has been made due to an out-of-gas incident, the cylinder will normally still contain some pressure and unless the cylinder had been submerged deeper than where the last gas was used it is not possible for water to get in during the dive. Contamination by water during filling may be due to two causes. Inadequate filtration and drying of the compressed air can introduce small quantities of fresh water condensate, or an emulsion of water and compressor lubricant, and failing to clear the cylinder valve orifice of water which may have dripped from wet dive gear, which can allow contamination by fresh or seawater. Both cause corrosion, but seawater contamination can cause a cylinder to corrode rapidly to the extent that it may be unsafe or condemned after even a fairly short period. This problem is exacerbated in hot climates, where chemical reactions are faster, and is more prevalent where filling staff are badly trained or overworked. ### Catastrophic failures during filling The blast caused by a sudden release of the gas pressure inside a diving cylinder makes them very dangerous if mismanaged. The greatest risk of explosion exists while filling, but cylinders have also been known to burst when overheated. The cause of failure can range from reduced wall thickness or deep pitting due to internal corrosion, neck thread failure due to incompatible valve threads, or cracking due to fatigue, sustained high stresses, or overheating effects in aluminum. Tank bursting due to over-pressure may be prevented by a pressure-relief burst disc fitted to the cylinder valve, which bursts if the cylinder is over-pressurized and vents air at a rapid controlled rate to prevent catastrophic tank failure. Accidental rupture of the burst disc can also occur during filling, due to corrosive weakening or stress from repeated pressurization cycles, but is remedied by replacement of the disc. Bursting discs are not required in all jurisdictions. Other failure modes that are a hazard while filling include valve thread failure, which can cause the valve to blow out of the cylinder neck, and filling whip failure. ## Periodic inspection and testing of diving cylinders Most countries require diving cylinders to be checked on a regular basis. This usually consists of an internal visual inspection and a hydrostatic test. The inspection and testing requirements for scuba cylinders may be very different from the requirements for other compressed gas containers due to the more corrosive environment. A hydrostatic test involves pressurising the cylinder to its test pressure (usually 5/3 or 3/2 of the working pressure) and measuring its volume before and after the test. A permanent increase in volume above the tolerated level means the cylinder fails the test and must be permanently removed from service. An inspection includes external and internal inspection for damage, corrosion, and correct colour and markings. The failure criteria vary according to the published standards of the relevant authority, but may include inspection for bulges, overheating, dents, gouges, electrical arc scars, pitting, line corrosion, general corrosion, cracks, thread damage, defacing of permanent markings, and colour coding. Very few cylinders are failed by the hydrostatic test. Almost all cylinders that fail are failed according to visual inspection criteria. When a cylinder is manufactured, its specification, including manufacturer, working pressure, test pressure, date of manufacture, capacity and weight are stamped on the cylinder. After a cylinder passes the test, the test date, (or the test expiry date in some countries such as Germany), is punched into the shoulder of the cylinder for easy verification at fill time. The international standard for the stamp format is ISO 13769, Gas cylinders - Stamp marking. Filling station operators may be required to check these details before filling the cylinder and may refuse to fill non-standard or out-of-test cylinders. ### Intervals between inspections and tests A cylinder is due to be inspected and tested at the first time it is to be filled after the expiry of the interval as specified by the United Nations Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, Model Regulations, or as specified by national or international standards applicable in the region of use. - In the United States, an annual visual inspection is not required by the USA DOT, though they do require a hydrostatic test every five years. The visual inspection requirement is a diving industry standard based on observations made during a review by the National Underwater Accident Data Center. - In European Union countries a visual inspection is required every 2.5 years, and a hydrostatic test every five years. - In Norway a hydrostatic test (including a visual inspection) is required 3 years after production date, then every 2 years. - Legislation in Australia requires that cylinders are hydrostatically tested every twelve months. - In South Africa a hydrostatic test is required every 4 years, and visual inspection every 2 years for cylinders to be refilled by a filling station within the jurisdiction of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993. Eddy current testing of neck threads must be done according to the manufacturer's recommendations. ### Procedures for periodic inspections and tests If a cylinder passes the listed procedures, but the condition remains doubtful, further tests can be applied to ensure that the cylinder is fit for use. Cylinders that fail the tests or inspection and cannot be fixed should be rendered unserviceable after notifying the owner of the reason for failure. Before starting work the cylinder must be identified from the labelling and permanent stamp markings, and the ownership and contents verified, and the valve must be removed after depressurising and verifying that the valve is open. Cylinders containing breathing gases do not need special precautions for discharge except that high oxygen fraction gases should not be released in an enclosed space because of the fire hazard. Before inspection the cylinder must be clean and free of loose coatings, corrosion products and other materials which may obscure the surface. The cylinder is inspected externally for dents, cracks, gouges, cuts, bulges, laminations and excessive wear, heat damage, torch or electric arc burns, corrosion damage, illegible, incorrect or unauthorised permanent stamp markings, and unauthorised additions or modifications. Unless the cylinder walls are examined by ultrasonic methods, the interior must be visually inspected using sufficient illumination to identify any damage and defects, particularly corrosion. If the inner surface is not clearly visible it should first be cleaned by an approved method which does not remove a significant amount of wall material. When there is uncertainty whether a defect found during visual inspection meets the rejection criteria, additional tests may be applied, such as ultrasonic measurement of pitting wall thickness, or weight checks to establish total weight lost to corrosion. While the valve is off, the threads of cylinder and valve are checked to identify the thread type and condition. The threads of cylinder and valve must be of matching thread specification, clean and full form, undamaged and free of cracks, burrs and other imperfections. Ultrasonic inspection may be substituted for the pressure test, which is usually a hydrostatic test and may be either a proof test or a volumetric expansion test, depending on the cylinder design specification. Test pressure is specified in the stamp markings of the cylinder. Valves that are to be reused are inspected and maintained to ensure they remain fit for service. Before fitting the valve the thread type must be checked to ensure that a valve with matching thread specification is fitted. After the tests have been satisfactorily completed, a cylinder passing the test will be marked accordingly. Stamp marking will include the registered mark of the inspection facility and the date of testing (month and year). Records of a periodic inspection and test are made by the test station and kept available for inspection. If a cylinder fails inspection or testing and cannot be recovered, the owner must be notified before making the empty cylinder unserviceable. ### Cleaning Internal cleaning of diving cylinders may be required to remove contaminants or to allow effective visual inspection. Cleaning methods should remove contaminants and corrosion products without undue removal of structural metal. Chemical cleaning using solvents, detergents and pickling agents may be used depending on the contaminant and cylinder material. Tumbling with abrasive media may be needed for heavy contamination, particularly of heavy corrosion products. External cleaning may also be required to remove contaminants, corrosion products or old paint or other coatings. Methods which remove the minimum amount of structural material are indicated. Solvents, detergents and bead blasting are generally used. Removal of coatings by the application of heat may render the cylinder unserviceable by affecting the crystalline microstructure of the metal. This is a particular hazard for aluminium alloy cylinders, which may not be exposed to temperatures above those stipulated by the manufacturer. ### Service life The service life of steel and aluminium diving cylinders is limited by the cylinder continuing to pass visual inspection and hydrostatic tests. There is no expiry date based on age, length of service or number of fills. ## Safety Before any cylinder is filled, verification of inspection and testing dates and a visual examination for external damage and corrosion are required by law in some jurisdictions, and are prudent even if not legally required. Inspection dates can be checked by looking at the visual inspection label and the hydrostatic test date is stamped on the shoulder of the cylinder. Before use the user should verify the contents of the cylinder and check the function of the cylinder valve. This is usually done with a regulator connected to control the flow. Pressure and gas mixture are critical information for the diver, and the valve should open freely without sticking or leaking from the spindle seals. Failure to recognize that the cylinder valve was not opened or that a cylinder was empty has been observed in divers conducting a pre-dive check. Breathing gas bled from a cylinder may be checked for smell. If the gas does not smell right it should not be used. Breathing gas should be almost free of smell, though a very slight aroma of the compressor lubricant is fairly common. No smell of combustion products or volatile hydrocarbons should be discernible. A neatly assembled setup, with regulators, gauges, and delicate computers stowed inside the BCD, or clipped where they will not be walked on, and stowed under the boat bench or secured to a rack, is the practice of a competent diver. As the scuba set is a life support system, no unauthorised person should touch a diver's assembled scuba gear, even to move it, without their knowledge and approval. Full cylinders should not be exposed to temperatures above 65 °C and cylinders should not be filled to pressures greater than the developed pressure appropriate to the certified working pressure of the cylinder. Cylinders should be clearly labelled with their current contents. A generic "Nitrox", "Heliox", or "Trimix" label will alert the user that the contents may not be air, and must be analysed before use. A nitrox label requires analysis of oxygen fraction, and assumes that the rest is nitrogen, and a trimix label requires analysis of both oxygen and helium fractions for full information for decompression. In some parts of the world a label is required specifically indicating that the contents are air, and in other places a colour code without additional labels indicates by default that the contents are air. In other places the default assumption is that the contents of any cylinder with a scuba cylinder valve are air, regardless of cylinder colour, unless specifically labelled to indicate other contents. In a fire, the pressure in a gas cylinder rises in direct proportion to its absolute temperature. If the internal pressure exceeds the mechanical limitations of the cylinder and there are no means to safely vent the pressurized gas to the atmosphere, the vessel will fail mechanically. If the vessel contents are ignitable or a contaminant is present this event may result in an explosion. ### Accidents The major diving accident and fatality research studies that have been conducted globally including work by the Divers Alert Network, the Diving Incident Monitoring Study, and Project Stickybeak have each identified cases where the mortality was associated with the diving cylinder. Some recorded accidents associated with diving cylinders: - Valve ejected due to mix up with valve threads 3/4"NPSM and 3/4"BSP(F) caused damage to a dive shop compressor room. - A valve ejected during filling due to incompatible thread killed the operator by impact to the chest. - A valve failed on a diver's emergency cylinder on a diving support vessel during preparation for a dive injuring five divers. The cylinder valve was ejected at 180 bar due to incompatible thread. Pillar valve was M25x2 parallel thread and cylinder was a 3/4′′x14 BSP parallel thread. - A valve ejected due to incompatible thread (metric valve in imperial cylinder) injured commercial diver by impact on the back of the helmet during preparations for a dive. Cylinder had been under pressure for several days following hydrostatic testing, and no particular triggering event was identified. Diver was knocked down and bruised but protected from serious injury by the helmet. - Diving instructor's leg nearly amputated by ejected valve while attempting to remove valve from pressurised cylinder. - Valve ejected during filling due to thread failure, sank dive boat. Vented bursting disk retainers in the cylinder valves had been replaced by solid screws. - Filling hose failure severely injured operator when the hose hit his face. The wound exposed the jaw bone, and 14 stitches were needed to close the wound. Cases of lateral epicondylitis have been reported caused by the handling of diving cylinders. ### Handling Cylinders should not be left standing unattended unless secured so that they can not fall in reasonably foreseeable circumstances as an impact could damage the cylinder valve mechanism, and conceivably fracture the valve at the neck threads. This is more likely with taper thread valves, and when it happens most of the energy of the compressed gas is released within a second, and can accelerate the cylinder to speeds which can cause severe injury or damage to the surroundings. ### Long-term storage Breathing quality gases do not normally deteriorate during storage in steel or aluminum cylinders. Provided there is insufficient water content to promote internal corrosion, the stored gas will remain unchanged for years if stored at temperatures within the allowed working range for the cylinder, usually below 65 °C. If there is any doubt, a check of oxygen fraction will indicate whether the gas has changed (the other components are inert). Any unusual smells would be an indication that the cylinder or gas was contaminated at the time of filling. However some authorities recommend releasing most of the contents and storing cylinders with a small positive pressure. Aluminum cylinders have a low tolerance for heat, and a 3,000 pounds per square inch (210 bar) cylinder containing less than 1,500 pounds per square inch (100 bar) may lose sufficient strength in a fire to explode before the internal pressure rises enough to rupture the bursting disc, so storing aluminum cylinders with a bursting disc has a lower explosion risk in case of fire if stored either full or nearly empty. ### Transportation Diving cylinders are classified by the UN as dangerous goods for transportation purposes (US: Hazardous materials). Selecting the Proper Shipping Name (well known by the abbreviation PSN) is a way to help ensure that the dangerous goods offered for transport accurately represent the hazards. IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR) 55th Edition defines the Proper Shipping Name as "the name to be used to describe a particular article or substance in all shipping documents and notifications and, where appropriate, on packagings". The International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code (IMDG Code) defines the Proper Shipping Name as "that portion of the entry most accurately describing the goods in the Dangerous Goods List which is shown in upper-case characters (plus any letters which form an integral part of the name)." #### International air International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air states that provided that pressure in diving cylinders is less than 200 kilopascals (2 bar; 29 psi), these can be carried as checked in or carry-on baggage. It maybe necessary to empty the cylinder to verify this. Once emptied, the cylinder valve should be closed to prevent moisture entering the cylinder. Security restrictions implemented by individual countries may further limit or forbid the carriage of some items permitted by ICAO, and airlines and security screening agencies have the right to refuse the carriage of certain items. #### Europe Since 1996 the carriage of dangerous goods legislation of the UK has been harmonized with that of Europe. Road transport The 2009 (amended 2011) UK Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment Regulations (CDG Regulations) implement the European Agreement Concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR). Dangerous goods to be carried internationally in road vehicles must comply with standards for the packaging and labelling of the dangerous goods, and appropriate construction and operating standards for the vehicles and crew. The regulations cover transportation of gas cylinders in a vehicle in a commercial environment. Transportation of pressurised diving gas cylinders with a combined water capacity of less than 1000 litres on a vehicle for personal use is exempt from ADR. Transport of gas cylinders in a vehicle, for commercial purposes, must follow basic legal safety requirements and, unless specifically exempted, must comply with ADR. The driver of the vehicle is legally responsible for the safety of the vehicle and any load being carried, and insurance for the vehicle should include cover for the carriage of dangerous goods. Diving gases, including compressed air, oxygen, nitrox, heliox, trimix, helium and argon, are non-toxic, non flammable, and may be oxidizer or asphyxiant, and are rated in Transport category 3. The threshold quantity for these gases is 1000 litres combined water capacity of the cylinders. Pressure must be within the rated working pressure of the cylinder. Empty air cylinders at atmospheric pressure are rated in Transport category 4, and there is no threshold quantity. Commercial loads below the 1000 litres threshold level are exempt from some of the requirements of ADR, but must comply with basic legal and safety requirements, including: - Driver training - Cylinders should be transported in open vehicles, open containers or trailers, with a gas-tight bulkhead separating driver from load. If cylinders must be carried inside a vehicle it must be well ventilated. - Ventilation. Where gas cylinders are carried inside a vehicle, in the same space as people, the windows should be kept open to allow air to circulate. - Cylinders must be secured so that they cannot move during transport. They shall not project beyond the sides or ends of the vehicle. It is recommended that cylinders are transported vertically, secured in an appropriate pallet. - Cylinder valves must be closed whilst in transit and checked that there are no leaks. Where applicable, protective valve caps and covers should be fitted to cylinders before transporting. Cylinders should not be transported with equipment attached to the valve outlet (regulators, hoses etc.). - A fire extinguisher is required on the vehicle. - Gas cylinders may only be transported if they are in-date for periodic inspection and test, except they may be transported when out of date for inspection, testing or disposal. - Cylinders should be kept cool (at ambient temperatures) and not stowed in places where they will be exposed to sources of excessive heat. - Product identification labels attached to cylinders to identify the contents and provide safety advice must not be removed or defaced. - It is not necessary to mark and label the vehicle if carrying dangerous goods below the threshold level. The use of hazard labels can assist the emergency services, and they may be displayed, but all hazard labels must be removed when the relevant dangerous goods are not being transported. - When the journey is complete the gas cylinders should be immediately unloaded from the vehicle. All loads above the threshold must comply with the full requirements of ADR. #### United States Transportation of hazardous materials for commercial purposes in the USA is regulated by Code of Federal Regulations Title 49 - Transportation, (abbreviated 49 CFR). A cylinder containing 200 kPa (29.0 psig/43.8 psia) or greater at 20 °C (68 °F) of non-flammable, nonpoisonous compressed gas, and being transported for commercial purposes is classified as HAZMAT (hazardous materials) in terms of 49 CFR 173.115(b) (1). Cylinders manufactured to DOT standards or special permits (exemptions)issued by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and filled to the authorized working pressure are legal for commercial transport in the USA under the provisions and conditions of the regulations. Cylinders manufactured outside the USA may be transported under a special permit, and these have been issued for solid metal and composite cylinders with working pressures of up to 300 bar (4400 psi) by several manufacturers. Surface transport Commercial transportation of breathing gas cylinders with a combined weight of more than 1000 pounds may only be done by a commercial HAZMAT transportation company. Transport of cylinders with a combined weight of less than 1000 pounds requires a manifest, the cylinders must have been tested and inspected to federal standards, and the contents marked on each cylinder. Transportation must be done in a safe manner, with the cylinders restrained from movement. No special licence is required. DOT regulations require content labels for all cylinders under the regulations, but according to PSI, labelling of breathing air will not be enforced. Oxygen or non-air oxidizing (O₂ ≥ 23.5% ) mixtures must be labelled. Private (non-commercial) transport of scuba cylinders is not covered by this regulation. Air transport''' Empty scuba tanks or scuba tanks pressurized at less than 200 kPa are not restricted as hazardous materials. Scuba cylinders are only allowed in checked baggage or as a carry-on if the cylinder valve is completely disconnected from the cylinder and the cylinder has an open end to allow for a visual inspection inside. ## Surface finish, colour-coding and labeling Aluminium cylinders may be marketed with an external paint coating, a low temperature powder coating, plain or coloured anodised finish, bead-blasted matt finish, brushed finish, or mill finish (no surface treatment). The material is inherently fairly corrosion resistant if kept clean and dry between uses. Coatings are generally for cosmetic purposes or for legal colour coding requirements. Steel cylinders are more sensitive to corrosion when wet, and are usually coated to protect against corrosion. The usual finishes include hot-dip galvanisation, zinc-spray, and heavy duty paint systems. Paint may be applied over zinc coatings for cosmetic purposes or color coding. Steel cylinders without anti-corrosion coatings rely on the paint to protect against rusting, and when the paint is damaged, they will rust on the exposed areas. This can be prevented or delayed by repair of the painted finish. ### Worldwide The colours permitted for diving cylinders vary considerably by region, and to some extent by the gas mixture contained. In some parts of the world there is no legislation controlling the colour of diving cylinders. In other regions the colour of cylinders used for commercial diving, or for all underwater diving may be specified by national standards. In many recreational diving settings where air and nitrox are the widely used gases, nitrox cylinders are identified with a green stripe on yellow background. Aluminium diving cylinders may be painted or anodized and when anodized may be coloured or left in their natural silver. Steel diving cylinders are usually painted, to reduce corrosion, often yellow or white to increase visibility. In some industrial cylinder identification colour tables, yellow shoulders means chlorine and more generally within Europe it refers to cylinders with toxic and/or corrosive contents; but this is of no significance in scuba since gas fittings would not be compatible. Cylinders that are used for partial pressure gas blending with pure oxygen may also be required to display an "oxygen service certificate" label indicating they have been prepared for use with high partial pressures and gas fractions of oxygen. ### European Union In the European Union gas cylinders may be colour-coded according to EN 1098-3. In the UK this standard is optional. The "shoulder" is the domed top of the cylinder between the parallel section and the pillar valve. For mixed gases, the colours can be either bands or "quarters". - Air has either a white (RAL 9010) top and black (RAL 9005) band on the shoulder, or white (RAL 9010) and black (RAL 9005) "quartered" shoulders. - Heliox has either a white (RAL 9010) top and brown (RAL 8008) band on the shoulder, or white (RAL 9010) and brown (RAL 8008) "quartered" shoulders. - Nitrox, like Air, has either a white (RAL 9010) top and black (RAL 9005) band on the shoulder, or white (RAL 9010) and black (RAL 9005) "quartered" shoulders. - Pure oxygen has a white shoulder (RAL 9010). - Pure helium has a brown shoulder (RAL 9008). - Trimix has a white, black and brown segmented shoulder. These breathing gas cylinders must also be labeled with their contents. The label should state the type of breathing gas contained by the cylinder. #### Offshore Breathing gas containers for offshore use may be coded and marked according to IMCA D043. IMCA colour coding for individual cylinders allows the body of the cylinder to be any colour that is not likely to cause misinterpretation of the hazard identified by the colour code of the shoulder. ### South Africa Scuba cylinders are required to comply with the colours and markings specified in the current revision of SANS 10019. This requirement applies where the cylinders will be filled or used in any situation where the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993 applies. - Cylinder colour is Golden yellow with a French grey shoulder. - Cylinders containing gases other than air or medical oxygen must have a transparent adhesive label stuck on below the shoulder with the word NITROX or TRIMIX in green and the composition of the gas listed. - Cylinders containing medical oxygen must be black with a white shoulder. ## Manufacturers Cylinder manufacturers identify their products using their registered stamp marking on the cylinder shoulder. Steel cylinders: - Avesta Jernverks AB (Sweden) - Dalmine (Italy) (historical) - Eurocylinder Systems AG (Apolda, Germany) - Faber Industrie SpA (Cividale del Friuli, Italy) - Industrie Werke Karlsruhe Aktiengesellschaft (IWKA) (Germany) (historical) - Pressed Steel Tank (United States) - Vítkovice Cylinders a.s. (Ostrava, Czechia) - Worthington Cylinders GesmbH (Austria) - Josef Heiser (Austria), now Worthington Cylinders GesmbH - Worthington Cylinder Corporation (United States) Aluminium cylinders: - Catalina Cylinder Corp (United States) - Hulett Cylinders (South Africa) (historical) - Luxfer (United Kingdom, United States, France) (They announced in 2021 they are leaving the aluminum production market in the USA.) Luxfer Gas Cylinders is based in Riverside, California, and has manufacturing facilities in the U.S., England, Canada, China and India. - SM Gerzat (France) now Luxfer, France - Walter Kidde and Co (United States) (historical) - Metal Impact / Thunderbird cylinders (United States) ## See also - - Bottled oxygen (for climbing and mountaineering)

Eurovision Song Contest 2014

International song competition

The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR), the contest was held at B\&W Hallerne, and consisted of two semi-finals on 6 and 8 May, and a final on 10 May 2014. The three live shows were presented by Danish television presenter Lise Rønne, musician Nikolaj Koppel and actor Pilou Asbæk. Thirty-seven countries participated in the contest; this included the return of and after absences of two years and one year respectively. Overall, there were two fewer countries competing compared to the previous year, making thirty-seven participants, the smallest number since 2006. , , and announced that they would not be taking part. The winner was Austria with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix", performed by Conchita Wurst and written by Charley Mason, Joey Patulka, Ali Zuckowski, and Julian Maas. The entry won both the jury vote and televote. Austria's first victory was 48 years earlier in , which at the time was the longest gap between wins. The Netherlands, Sweden, Armenia and Hungary rounded out the top five, with the Netherlands achieving their best result since its victory in , Hungary achieving its best result since its fourth place in , and Armenia equalling its best result from . Of the "Big Five" countries, only Spain achieved a place in the top ten, while France finished in last place for the first time in its Eurovision history. Meanwhile, and both qualified for the final for the first time. A new record of 195 million viewers for the contest was reported. The host broadcaster DR and the EBU won the International TV Award at the Ondas Awards for their production of the contest. The Danish organisers spent in total on the contest, three times more than the initially budgeted costs, and were furthermore accused of nepotism. ## Location The contest was held at the former shipyard Refshaleøen, in the B\&W Hallerne in Copenhagen, with the social networking hashtag "\#JoinUs" as the motto. The location had been refurbished to accommodate the event, with the surrounding area transformed into "Eurovision Island"—an Olympic Park-inspired complex housing the event venue, press centre, and other amenities. The mayor of Copenhagen, Frank Jensen, declared in late August that the city would contribute to the budget with 40 million (Danish Kroner) (5.36 million). He also announced that the aim was to make the Eurovision 2014 into the greenest contest to date since Copenhagen had been elected European Green Capital for 2014. ### Bidding phase Five cities had been considered as host city of the contest, including Herning and Copenhagen, both favourites to be the next host. The Parken Stadium, located in Copenhagen, which hosted the contest and Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning, which hosted the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2013 final, were the first venues to join the bidding phase. Later, Fredericia and Aalborg entered the phase with the Messe C and Gigantium venues, respectively. The fifth city to join the phase was Horsens, with the venue being the courtyard of the former Horsens State Prison. In the event that Horsens had been chosen to host the contest, the courtyard would have been covered by a permanent glass roof. The contest was provisionally set to take place on 13, 15 and 17 May 2014, however, the dates were later brought forward a week in order to accommodate the candidate cities. On 17 June 2013, the municipality executive of Aalborg decided not to bid for hosting the contest due to the city's lack of sufficient hotel capacity. While DR required the host city to have at least 3,000 hotel rooms, the city of Aalborg had only 1,600 hotel rooms, more than half of which had been booked for other events taking place at the same time as the Eurovision Song Contest. On 18 June 2013, DR announced that formal bids on hosting the contest had been received by the municipalities of Copenhagen, Herning and Horsens, and that the Municipality of Fredericia had confirmed its intention to place a formal bid, too. On 19 June 2013, the deadline for placing bids on hosting the contest, it was reported that Wonderful Copenhagen, the official convention, event and visitors bureau of the Greater Copenhagen area, had proposed three venues in its bid on hosting the contest: The Parken Stadium, a large tent on the grounds of DR Byen and the B\&W Hallerne. On 25 June 2013, the Municipality of Fredericia announced that the Triangle Region had withdrawn its bid on hosting the contest, due to the lack of a suitable venue. DR required the hosting venue to have no pillars blocking any views and an interior height of at least 16 metres. However, no venues in the region met those requirements and, therefore, Fredericia was no longer in the running for becoming host city of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest. On 28 June 2013, Anders Hørsholt, CEO of Parken Sport & Entertainment, stated that the Parken Stadium was no longer in the running for hosting the contest due to several football matches having already been scheduled to take place at the stadium in the weeks leading up to the contest. On 2 September 2013, the Danish broadcaster DR announced that it had chosen Copenhagen as the host city for the 2014 contest, with B\&W Hallerne chosen as the host venue. Key `Host venue` ### Other sites The Eurovision Village was the official Eurovision Song Contest fan and sponsors' area during the events week. There it was possible to watch performances by local artists, as well as the live shows broadcast from the main venue. Located at the Nytorv Square, it was open from 4 to 11 May 2014. The EuroClub was the venue for the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants. Unlike the Eurovision Village, access to the EuroClub was restricted to accredited fans, delegates, and press. It was located at VEGA CPH Music Club. The "Red Carpet" event, where the contestants and their delegations are presented before the accredited press and fans, took place at Copenhagen City Hall on 4 May 2014 at 17:00 CET, followed by the Opening Ceremony. ## Participating countries Eligibility for potential participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership capable of receiving the contest via the Eurovision network and broadcasting it live nationwide. The EBU issued an invitation to participate in the contest to all active members. Thirty-seven countries participated in the 2014 contest. and both returned to the contest, having last participated in and respectively. However, broadcaster Bulgarian National Television (BNT), broadcaster Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT), broadcaster Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) and broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) did not participate in the 2014 contest. ### Returning artists Valentina Monetta represented for a third and final consecutive year, having previously represented the microstate at the 2012 and 2013 contests. This makes Monetta the fourth main singer to compete in three consecutive contests (and the only one of amongst them never to win in one of these occasions), following Lys Assia and Corry Brokken, who both competed in the , and contests, and Udo Jürgens, who competed in , and . Paula Seling and Ovi returned as a duo, having previously represented Romania in 2010. The Tolmachevy Sisters, who represented Russia, previously participated in and won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2006. Macedonian backing vocalist Tamara Todevska previously represented Macedonia in 2008. She would later represent Macedonia again in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. Martina Majerle, who represented Slovenia in 2009 and provided backing vocals numerous times for Croatia (2003), Montenegro (2008) and Slovenia (2007, 2011, 2012), returned as a backing vocalist for Montenegro. ### Other countries #### Active EBU members `broadcaster BHRT initially stated their intention to participate in the contest; however, in late 2013 it was announced that they would not be taking part due to a lack of sponsorship. Similarly, broadcaster BNT initially planned to participate but later announced otherwise due to limited funds.` Active EBU member broadcasters in , , , the , , , , , and confirmed non-participation prior to the announcement of the participants list by the EBU, some of them citing reasons such as poor results in previous editions, dissatisfaction with the mixed jury/televote voting system, the European financial crisis and the 2012–13 Cypriot financial crisis. #### Non-EBU members While broadcaster RTK did not voice any intention regarding the 2014 contest, Kosovo's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Petrit Selimi told the Swedish television programme Korrespondenterna [sv] that he thought Kosovo would be granted EBU membership and acceptance into the Eurovision in time for the 2014 edition; however, the country failed to meet the requirement of being recognized as an independent country by the International Telecommunication Union, and was not granted membership in the EBU. broadcaster 1 FL TV had originally intended to join the EBU in time to participate in the 2013 contest, but the government never granted the required financial subsidies and the broadcaster put off the aim to make their debut to 2014; however, the government again failed to provide any funds and 1 FL TV was unable to join the contest. ## Format The competition consisted of two semi-finals and a final, a format which has been in use since 2008. The ten countries with the highest scores in each semi-final qualified to the final where they joined the host nation Denmark and the five main sponsoring nations (known as the Big Five): France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. Each participating country had their own national jury, which consisted of five professional members of the music industry. Each member of a respective nation's jury was required to rank every song, except that of their own country. The voting results from each member of a particular nation's jury were combined to produce an overall ranking from first to last place. Likewise, the televoting results were also interpreted as a full ranking, taking into account the full televoting result rather than just the top ten. The combination of the jury's full ranking and the televote's full ranking produced an overall ranking of all competing entries. The song which scored the highest overall rank received 12 points, while the tenth-best ranked song received 1-point. In the event of a televoting (insufficient number of votes/technical issues) or jury failure (technical issue/breach of rules), only a jury/televoting was used by each country. On 20 September 2013, the EBU released the official rules for the 2014 contest, which introduced rule changes regarding the jury voting. The rules aimed at providing more transparency regarding each five member national jury by releasing the names of all jurors on 1 May 2014 prior to the start of the contest and providing each juror's full ranking results after the conclusion of the contest. In addition, jury members on a particular nation's jury can only serve as a juror if they have not already participated as such in one of the preceding two contest editions. The contest was held in the immediate aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution and subsequent annexation of Crimea by Russia. Votes cast through Ukrainian telecom providers which service Crimea were counted towards Ukraine's votes. ### Semi-final allocation draw The draw that determined the semi-final allocation was held on 20 January 2014 at the Copenhagen City Hall. Prior to the allocation draw, on 24 November 2013 it was announced that Norway and Sweden would perform in different semi-finals in order to maximise the availability of tickets for visitors from both countries. A draw at the EBU headquarters determined that Sweden would perform in the first semi-final, while Norway would perform in the second semi-final. The EBU also allocated Israel to the second semi-final after a request from the delegation in order to avoid complications with its Independence Day coinciding with the date of the first semi-final. The remaining participating countries, excluding the automatic finalists (Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom), were split into six pots, based on voting patterns from the previous ten years. The pots were calculated by the televoting partner Digame and were as follows: ### Running order As in 2013, the host broadcaster DR and their producers determined the running order for each show with only the starting position of the host nation being determined by draw. A draw which took place during the heads of delegation meeting on 17 March 2014 in Copenhagen determined that Denmark would perform 23rd in the final. On 24 March 2014, the running order for the two semi-finals was released. Prior to the creation of the running order for the final, an allocation draw was held during the semi-final winners press conferences following the conclusion of each semi-final and during the individual press conferences on 6 May 2014 for the Big Five (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom). The draw determined whether the country would perform in the first or second half of the final. The producers published the final running order shortly before 02:00 (CEST) on 9 May 2014. Ukraine were chosen to perform first, whilst the United Kingdom were chosen to perform last. ### Graphic design The graphic design of the contest was revealed by the EBU on 18 December 2013. The theme art comprises a blue and purple diamond, within it the generic Eurovision Song Contest logo featuring the Danish flag as well as the hashtag and slogan "\#JoinUs" at the centre of the diamond. The postcards used to introduce a country and their participants were shot in their respective countries and featured the artists using unique ways to create their country's flag, e.g. the postcard for the United Kingdom features Molly creating the Union Flag from AEC Routemaster buses, Royal Mail vans, and people wearing blue raincoats along with strips of red and white paper, and the postcard for Denmark features Basim and his singers using old furniture and red and white paint to paint the Danish flag. The postcards then ended with the act taking a picture on a camera or phone and a close up of the resulting artwork was shown onscreen. The flag created by the artist(s) is then captured into a diamond and transitions to the official flag. ### National host broadcaster Pernille Gaardbo was appointed by DR's Director-General Maria Rørbye Rønn as the executive producer for the contest, three-days after Denmark's victory at the 2013 contest. Maria Rørbye Rønn stated in an interview that "By choosing Pernille Gaardbo, we have a person who has all the necessary leadership skills, which are essential in order to run a project of this magnitude, and the technical insight for such a large TV-production, which the Eurovision Song Contest is". Gaardbo has worked for the host broadcaster for 17 years, 12 of which was in the role of supervisor of the DR Medieservice. Danish royal family members Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary attended the final as invited guests. In March 2014, host broadcaster DR invited Jessica Mauboy to perform during the interval act of the second semi-final on 8 May 2014, part of DR's recognition of Australia's dedication to the contest. Mauboy performed the song "Sea of Flags" during the interval act. ## Contest overview ### Semi-final 1 Spain, France, and Denmark voted in this semi-final. ### Semi-final 2 Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom voted in this semi-final. ### Final As in the 2013 contest, the winner was announced as soon as it was mathematically impossible to catch up. In this case, the winner had been determined by the 34th vote out of the 37, which came from Ukraine. #### Spokespersons The order in which each country announced their votes was determined in a draw following the jury results from the final dress rehearsal. An algorithm implemented by NRK, based on jury vote, was used to generate as much suspense as possible. The spokespersons are shown alongside each country. 1. Azerbaijan – Sabina Babayeva 2. Greece – Andrianna Maggania 3. Poland – Paulina Chylewska [pl] 4. Albania – Andri Xhahu 5. San Marino – Michele Perniola 6. Denmark – Sofie Lassen-Kahlke [da] 7. Montenegro – Tijana Mišković 8. Romania – Sonia Argint-Ionescu 9. Russia – Alsou 10. Netherlands – Tim Douwsma 11. Malta – Valentina Rossi 12. France – Élodie Suigo 13. United Kingdom – Scott Mills 14. Latvia – Ralfs Eilands 15. Armenia – Anna Avanesyan [hy] 16. Iceland – Benedikt Valsson 17. Macedonia – Marko Mark 18. Sweden – Alcazar 19. Belarus – Alyona Lanskaya 20. Germany – Helene Fischer 21. Israel – Ofer Nachshon 22. Portugal – Joana Teles 23. Norway – Margrethe Røed 24. Estonia – Lauri Pihlap 25. Hungary – Éva Novodomszky 26. Moldova – Olivia Furtuna 27. Ireland – Nicky Byrne 28. Finland – Redrama 29. Lithuania – Ignas Krupavičius 30. Austria – Kati Bellowitsch 31. Spain – Carolina Casado [es] 32. Belgium – Angelique Vlieghe 33. Italy – Linus 34. Ukraine – Zlata Ognevich 35. Switzerland – Kurt Aeschbacher [de] 36. Georgia – Sophie Gelovani and Nodi Tatishvili 37. Slovenia – Ula Furlan [sl] ## Detailed voting results Full results including televoting and results from the individual jury members were released shortly after the final. ### Semi-final 1 Albania, Montenegro, San Marino and Moldova used juries due to an inability to provide televoting results. #### 12 points Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the first semifinal: ### Semi-final 2 Georgia and Macedonia used juries due to either technical issues with the televoting or an insufficient number of votes cast during the televote period. #### 12 points Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the second semifinal: ### Final #### 12 points Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the Grand Final: | N. | Contestant | Nation(s) giving 12 points | | -- | ---------- | -------------------------- | | 13 | ' | , , , , , , , , , , , , | | 8 | | , , , , , , , | | 3 | | , , | | | , , | | | 2 | | , | | | , | | | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ## Broadcasts Most countries sent commentators to Copenhagen or commentated from their own country, in order to add insight to the participants and, if necessary, the provision of voting information. It was reported by the EBU that the 2014 contest was viewed by a worldwide television audience of a record breaking 195 million viewers. ## Incidents ### Armenian contestant's statements On the week of the contest, Armenian contestant Aram Mp3 commented on Conchita Wurst's image by saying that her lifestyle was "not natural" and that she needed to decide to be either a woman or a man. The statement sparked controversy, following which Aram Mp3 apologised and added that what he said was meant to be a joke. Wurst accepted the apology, by stating, "I have to say that if it's a joke it's not funny... but he apologised and that's fine for me." ### Georgia jury votes Georgia's jury votes in the Grand Final were all declared invalid, as all the jury members had voted exactly the same from 3 points up to 12 points. According to EBU, this constitutes a statistical impossibility. Therefore, only Georgia's televoting result was used for the distribution of the Georgian points in the Grand Final. ### Lithuanian spokesperson's commentary Lithuanian spokesperson Ignas Krupavičius, just before announcing that ten points of his country's vote had been assigned to Conchita Wurst, referred to Wurst's beard in saying "Now it is time to shave", then pulled out a razor and pretended to shave his own face, before giggling at the joke. Host Nikolaj Koppel replied "Time to shave? I think not.", because the next country to announce the votes was Austria. British commentator Graham Norton also expressed his frustration at the joke and supported Koppel's reply. ### Reaction to Russia's performance Russia's Tolmachevy Sisters were the subject of booing from the audience, during the semi-final and when they were announced to have qualified for the final. Russia's act were also booed during the final; and when the Russian spokesperson delivered their top-three votes. The booing was also heard when countries awarded points to Russia, including neighbouring countries such as Azerbaijan and Belarus. Fraser Nelson, editor of The Spectator magazine, wrote: "I can’t remember the last time I heard a Eurovision audience boo anyone; during the Iraq war in 2003, no one booed Britain. [...] There’s a difference between the Russian government and the Russian people, and the girls were there to represent the latter. They didn’t deserve the obloquy. And the Danes were wrong to have made the booing so audible." ### Internet activist security breach After Conchita Wurst had won and performed the song again, and shortly before the end of the television broadcast, press photographers crowded around Wurst for pictures. During the photo session, a fan managed to breach security and approach Wurst, giving her flowers and a Danish flag. As security personnel realised the flower giver was not supposed to be there, they began to drag him away, and the fan showed a piece of paper reading "\#free anakata". ## Other awards In addition to the main winner's trophy, the Marcel Bezençon Awards and the Barbara Dex Award were contested during the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest. The OGAE, "General Organisation of Eurovision Fans" voting poll also took place before the contest. The Premios Ondas (English: Wave Awards) have honoured the production values of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in one of their categories. ### Marcel Bezençon Awards The Marcel Bezençon Awards, organised since 2002 by Sweden's then-Head of Delegation and 1992 representative Christer Björkman, and 1984 winner Richard Herrey, honours songs in the contest's final. The awards are divided into three categories: Artistic Award, Composers Award, and Press Award. ### OGAE OGAE, an organisation of over forty Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, conducts an annual voting poll first held in 2002 as the Marcel Bezençon Fan Award. After all votes were cast, the top-ranked entry in the 2014 poll was "Undo" performed by Sanna Nielsen; the top five results are shown below. ### Barbara Dex Award The Barbara Dex Award is a humorous fan award given to the worst dressed artist each year. Named after Belgium's representative who came last in the 1993 contest, wearing her self-designed dress, the award was handed by the fansite House of Eurovision. ### Ondas Awards Premios Ondas is an award ceremony organised by Radio Barcelona, a subsidiary of Cadena SER, since 1954. They are awarded in recognition of professionals in the fields of radio and television broadcasting, the cinema, and the music industry. The 61st Ondas Award recipients were announced on 6 November 2014, where Danish broadcaster DR, and the European Broadcasting Union received the International Television Award, for their production of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest. The award was handed over on 25 November 2014 at the Liceu in Barcelona. |- \! scope="row" | 2014 | DR – European Broadcasting Union | International Television Award | |} ## Official album Eurovision Song Contest: Copenhagen 2014''''' was the official compilation album of the 2014 contest, put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by Universal Music Group on 14 April 2014. The album featured all 37 songs that entered in the 2014 contest, including the semi-finalists that failed to qualify into the grand final. It also featured the official \#JoinUs theme song "Rainmaker", performed by the contest winner Emmelie de Forest. ### Charts ## See also - ABU Radio Song Festival 2014 - ABU TV Song Festival 2014 - Eurovision Young Musicians 2014 - Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2014 - Türkvizyon Song Contest 2014

New Jersey Route 58

Highway in New Jersey

Route 58 is a former state highway in the city of Newark, New Jersey and nearby town of Harrison, New Jersey. The highway ran from Orange and Hecker Streets in Newark, eastbound as a four-lane freeway across the William A. Stickel Memorial Bridge (known as the Stickel Bridge) to Harrison, where it terminated at an intersection with County Route 508. The route originates as an alignment of Route 25A, a suffixed spur designated in 1939 of State Highway Route 25. The route was rechristened as Route 58 in the 1953 state highway renumbering. The highway was constructed into Interstate 280 in the 1950s, and the route persisted internally until the 1990s, when it was finally removed as a designation. A stub alignment of Route 58 remains near Hecker and Orange Streets. ## Route description Route 58 began at an intersection with Orange Street and Hecker Street in the center of Newark. Paralleling Lackawanna Drive, the highway crossed over the Gladstone Branch, Montclair Branch and Morristown Lines maintained by New Jersey Transit. A four-lane divided highway, Route 58 headed eastward along the Essex Freeway, a short freeway in Newark. The highway interchanged with Clifton Avenue heading westbound and Martin Luther King Boulevard a short distance later. The interchange with Martin Luther King Boulevard accessed the nearby Newark Broad Street Station. A short distance later, Route 58 interchanged with Route 21 nearby. After Route 21, the Essex Freeway crossed on the Stickel Bridge over the Passaic River and into Harrison, where Route 58 interchanged with County Route 508. There the designation terminated. ## History Route 58 originates as an alignment of State Highway Route 25-A, designated in 1939 as a suffixed spur of State Highway Route 25 from Jersey City to Clifton Avenue in Newark. The route was designated to cross through Kearny and Harrison, crossing the Passaic at the Bridge Street Bridge in Harrison. From there, it continued along, intersecting with State Highway Route 21 and Clifton Avenue. In 1949, a new bridge for the four-lane road was constructed, this bridge was named after William Stickel, an engineer from Essex County. That year, the New Jersey State Highway Department proposed construction of a new freeway to help alleviate traffic on the State Highway Route 10 corridor, designated as the Essex Freeway from the New Jersey Turnpike in Hudson County westward to U.S. Route 46 in Morris County. On January 1, 1953, as part of the 1953 state highway renumbering, State Highway Route 25-A was rechristened as Route 58. In 1954, the State Highway Department decided to find a state highway to include in the new Eisenhower Interstate System. Originally proposed to use the Route 3 alignment for Federal Aid Interstate Route 105, the upgrading of Route 3 for standards would be too great. After Route 3 was deemed unusable, they moved focus to short portion of Route 58 that was constructed. In 1958, the State Highway Department gave Route 58 its official new designation, Interstate 280, when construction began on an extended Essex Freeway. Although Interstate 280 was designated onto Route 58's alignment, the Route 58 designation persisted throughout maps and straight line diagrams until at least 1997, when the designation was removed. A short, unused concrete portion of Route 58 remains at the northern end of Hecker Street, crossing over the New Jersey Transit tracks ending near Interstate 280. ## Major intersections |} ## See also - - - New Jersey Route 158

Hugh John Casey

United States Army General

Hugh John "Pat" Casey CBE (7 June 1898 – 30 August 1981) was a major general in the United States Army. A 1918 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Casey served in Germany during the Occupation of the Rhineland. He later returned to Germany to attend the Technische Hochschule in Berlin, earning a Doctor of Engineering degree. As an engineer, Casey prepared a voluminous report on flood control for the Pittsburgh District. He was involved with the design and construction of the Deadman Island Lock and Dam on the Ohio River, and was chief of the Engineering Division at the Passamaquoddy Tidal Power Project, a New Deal public works project. He went to the Philippines in 1937 to advise the government there on hydropower and flood control. In the early part of World War II, he became involved with the enormous wartime construction program. Perhaps his most notable and lasting achievement was his involvement with the design of The Pentagon, the largest office building in the world. Casey served as General of the Army Douglas MacArthur's chief engineer during the Battle of Bataan, in the jungles and mountains of New Guinea and the Philippines, and during the occupation of Japan. In the Battle of Leyte, he commanded the Army Support Command (ASCOM), which was responsible for all construction and logistics activities in the forward area. He hoped to become Chief of Engineers, but President Harry S. Truman passed him over. Later, Casey worked for Schenley Industries from 1951 until his retirement in 1965, and was chairman of the New York City Transit Authority from 1953 to 1955. ## Early life Hugh John Casey was born in Brooklyn, New York on 7 June 1898, the son of John J. Casey, a plumbing and heating contractor, and Margaret L. Casey. John's grandparents were immigrants from Ireland and England. His grandfather served on the Union side in the American Civil War and was killed in the Battle of Shiloh. Margaret's parents were Irish immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania. Hugh Casey was educated at Manual Training High School from 1910 to 1914, graduating at the age of 15. He won a New York State scholarship and entered Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, where he studied civil engineering. After a year there, he took a competitive examination for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point held by Congressman Daniel J. Griffin, the chairman of the House Committee on Military Affairs, ranking first out of 62 applicants for the appointment. To enter, Casey claimed to be slightly older, adopting his brother's 7 June birthday. Casey entered West Point in 1915, where his best friend and roommate was Lucius D. Clay. At West Point, Casey played football as a halfback, substituting for Elmer Oliphant. One of Casey's duties was tutoring Oliphant in mathematics. Casey decided that winning games was more important than playing, and he helped keep Oliphant proficient at math. Unlike most appointees to West Point, a grateful Casey wrote frequently to Griffin about his progress and sent him football tickets. When Casey's younger brother Martin Charles Casey wanted to enter West Point, Griffin directly appointed him to the class of 1920 without having to pass the examination. Martin served with the coastal artillery for eleven years before being medically discharged due to migraine headaches on 30 November 1931. Martin later graduated from Stanford Law School and became a successful lawyer. Both brothers acquired the nickname "Pat" at West Point. ## World War I Because of the United States' entry into World War I, Casey's class graduated early on 12 June 1918. Casey was ranked third in the class and was commissioned as a captain in the United States Army Corps of Engineers. He was stationed at Camp A. A. Humphreys, Virginia, first as an instructor and then starting in September 1918 as a company commander with the 219th Engineers, part of the 19th Division. The 219th Engineers moved to Camp Dodge, Iowa in November 1918. Casey returned to the Engineer School at Camp Humphreys as a student in September 1919. He served with the US Occupation forces in the Rhineland from June 1920 to May 1922. While there, Casey improved on his high school German to become fluent enough in the language to write his doctoral thesis in the language. He also married Dorothy Ruth Miller, the daughter of Colonel R. B. Miller, the chief surgeon of the American forces stationed in Koblenz, on 22 May 1922. On their honeymoon they traveled through south Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The couple had three children: two sons, Hugh Boyd and Keith Miles, and a daughter, Patricia. ## Between the wars From 1922 to 1926, Casey was the officer in charge of the Engineer Unit of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, reverting to his substantive rank of first lieutenant on 27 November 1922. He again returned to Camp Humpreys in 1926 to attend the Company Officers Course. In 1927, Casey received his first civil works assignment, as assistant District Engineer at the Pittsburgh District. Casey took over the task of preparing a voluminous report on flood control. The Corps of Engineers was criticized by the Pittsburgh Flood Control Commission for over-engineering, in planning for a "flood that had never happened and never would happen", and the report was shelved. However, in 1936 the flood did happen. The report was then dusted off and its recommendations were adopted. The Flood Control Act of 1936 assigned responsibility for flood control to the Corps of Engineers and other Federal agencies. Casey was also responsible for construction at Deadman Island Lock and Dam (now called the Dashields Locks and Dam) on the Ohio River. In September 1929 Casey was assigned to the Rivers and Harbors Section of the Office of the Chief of Engineers in Washington, DC. This job involved reviewing the project studies, plans and specifications of all river and harbor projects throughout the United States, including flood control and hydroelectric power projects. He also had responsibility for correspondence with U.S. senators and congressmen. During this time he co-designed and patented the Kingman-Casey Floating Mooring Bit for navigation locks. He was promoted to the substantive rank of captain on 1 May 1933. Casey won a John R. Freeman fellowship from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1933 to study hydraulics and civil engineering in Germany. For the next two years, he attended the Technische Hochschule in Berlin, earning a Doctorate in Engineering. His thesis, written in German, was on Geschieb Bewegung, the bedload movement in streams. Returning to the United States in June 1935, Casey was posted to Eastport, Maine as chief of the Engineering Division at the Passamaquoddy Tidal Power Project, a New Deal public works project. There, he established a concrete testing laboratory under Charles E. Wuerpel which is now part of the Structures Laboratory at the Waterways Experiment Station at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Due to political forces, the project came to nothing and was allowed to die. After the Passamaquoddy project fell through, Casey served with the Boston Engineer District on flood control surveys of the Connecticut River Valley. Along with Lucius Clay, Casey was sent to the Philippines in 1937 to advise the government there on hydropower and flood control. They worked with Meralco and other power companies in the Philippines, and conducted a series of surveys, including a detailed one of the Agno River. After Clay returned to the United States, Casey developed plans for the Caliraya Dam, a 40,000 horsepower (30,000 kW) hydroelectric project with an estimated cost of $5 million. Along with Lieutenant Colonel Dwight D. Eisenhower, the chief of staff to Major General Douglas MacArthur, the Military Advisor to the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines, and Mr. Rodriquez of the National Power Corporation, Casey presented the project to President Manuel Quezon, who approved it. After over twenty years as a company grade officer, Casey was promoted to major on 1 February 1940. ## World War II ### Construction Division Casey returned to Washington, D.C. in October 1940 to become chief of the Design and Engineering Section in the Construction Division of the Office of the Quartermaster General, under Brigadier General Brehon B. Somervell. An enormous construction program was underway to meet the needs of World War II. Working with a staff that included George Bergstrom, a former president of the American Institute of Architects, Casey set about revising the standard designs for barracks. A number of new features were added to improve comfort, safety, and durability. Substitutions were made for scarce materials. It was discovered that the standard 63-man barracks was now too small. Of the 81 companies in the new triangular division, 51 fitted more easily into 74-man barracks. By slightly increasing the barracks size, substantial savings were made by reducing the overall number of buildings that needed to be constructed, the size of the cantonment areas required, and the length of required roads and utility lines. Casey was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 8 April 1941. On the afternoon of Thursday, 17 July 1941, Somervell summoned Casey and Bergstrom and gave them a new special project: the design of an enormous office complex to house the War Department's 40,000-person staff together in one building. Somervell gave them until 09:00 on Monday morning to design the building, which he envisaged as a modern, four-story structure with no elevators, on the site of the old Washington Hoover Airport. This would ultimately become The Pentagon, the largest office building in the world. Over that "very busy weekend", Casey, Bergstrom and their staff roughed out the design for a four-story, five-sided structure with a floor area of 5,100,000 square feet (470,000 m²)—twice that of the Empire State Building. The estimated cost was $35 million. President Roosevelt subsequently moved the site of the building, over Somervell's objections, away from Arlington National Cemetery. ### Southwest Pacific In September 1941, General Douglas MacArthur requested Casey's services as his chief engineer. Casey arrived in Manila in October, shortly before the outbreak of war between the United States and Japan. He acquired construction equipment from the National Power Corporation that was being used on the Caliraya project. Casey supervised demolitions as MacArthur's troops retreated to Bataan, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Unlike the rest of MacArthur's headquarters, Casey, who was promoted to colonel on 19 December 1941 and brigadier general on 25 January 1942, did not relocate to Corregidor but remained on Bataan with a small staff of five officers. However, he joined MacArthur and sixteen other members of his staff in their escape from Corregidor by PT boat in March 1942. For his service in the 1942 campaign in the Philippines, he was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal. In Australia, Casey became Chief Engineer at MacArthur's General Headquarters (GHQ), Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA). He faced enormous engineering challenges. Most of New Guinea consisted of mountains and jungle, with very few airstrips, ports or roads. All of these had to be developed to support operations. To provide additional expertise in construction, Casey had Leif Sverdrup assigned to his staff as chief of the Construction Section, with the rank of colonel. As U.S. Army engineers were few, Casey worked closely with his Australian Army counterpart at General Sir Thomas Blamey's Allied Land Forces headquarters, Major General Clive Steele. Construction activities in Australia were also undertaken by civilians of the Allied Works Council. Casey attempted to coordinate the activities of the various agencies. He had to fend off attempts by the U.S. Army Air Forces to gain control of his aviation engineer battalions. The Royal Australian Air Force organized its own airbase construction squadrons and only with difficulty was Casey able to control their activities. Casey's initial need was for engineer units to accomplish the daunting construction program, but soon stocks of engineer supplies and equipment began to run low. This was exacerbated by incoming units arriving without their equipment, or with it stowed on numerous ships, which often arrived at various ports in a theater where ports were hundred or thousands of miles apart. Critical shortages developed of tractors, graders, concrete mixers and welding equipment. In the absence of a proper stock control system, an overall coordinating agency, and adequate numbers of engineer depot units, the allocation and distribution of the meager supplies on hand were difficult tasks. The worst problem was spare parts. Equipment was operated around the clock under harsh conditions and soon wore out or broke. A large proportion of equipment became unserviceable for lack of spare parts. Requisitions sent to the United States took months to arrive, so recourse was made to the limited sources of supply in Australia. In September 1942, MacArthur decided to outflank Japanese troops on the Kokoda Trail by sending an American regimental combat team over the Owen Stanley Range. Two alternate means of crossing the mountains seemed possible. One, the Kapa Kapa Trail was known to climb to elevations above 9,000 feet (2,700 m) and present formidable obstacles. Casey and Sverdrup took charge of investigating the Abau Trail. They reached Abau on 18 September. Casey explored the harbor, taking depth soundings from a native canoe. Sverdrup set out for Jaure with a party of one American, two Australians from the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit, ten native police from the Royal Papuan Constabulary and 26 native carriers. After eight days on the trail, scaling heights of 5,000 feet (1,500 m), Sverdrup concluded that it would not be practical for troops to traverse the route and turned back. Meanwhile, Casey had concluded that the harbor was too shallow even for lighters. However, the trip was not a total loss, for Sverdrup had sighted a plateau north of the Owen Stanley Range suitable for airstrips, allowing troops to be flown across the Owen Stanley Range. Casey was awarded the Silver Star. In New Guinea, logistics and construction activities were coordinated by task force engineer staffs. These were often hastily assembled and had not always been able to meet the demands imposed by base development in such a challenging theater of operations. The scale of operations in the Philippines was much greater, so for this purpose the Army Service Command (ASCOM) was formed in Brisbane on 23 July 1944. Casey was appointed to command ASCOM. In his absence, Sverdrup became MacArthur's chief engineer. Although part of USASOS, ASCOM operated under the control of Sixth Army, moving as far forward as combat operations allowed, developed new bases, and operated them until USASOS was ready to take over, at which point the units under ASCOM simply reverted to USASOS, allowing a seamless transfer of command. For the Battle of Leyte Casey's ASCOM had 43,000 men, of whom 21,000 were engineers. Casey and some members of his staff came ashore on A-Day; the advance echelon of his ASCOM headquarters arrived two days later. Work began immediately on the airfield at Tacloban, and commenced on airfields in central Leyte soon after they were captured. Heavy seasonal rains thwarted attempts to develop the airbases in central Leyte and it was decided to abandon their development and construct a new airbase on the coast at a site occupied by Sixth Army headquarters. The need to get aircraft based on Leyte to stop the Japanese from reinforcing the island was so pressing that Lieutenant General Walter Krueger agreed to move his headquarters. Casey had intended to come ashore on the first day of the landing at Lingayen Gulf in January 1945 but was delayed a day because the destroyer he was traveling on had to escort a crippled transport. Despite enormous difficulties ASCOM was able to finish numerous projects on time and some ahead of schedule. On 13 February 1945, ASCOM was transferred to USASOS and redesignated the Luzon Base Section (LUBSEC). Casey then resumed his old post, now renamed Chief Engineer, US Army Forces Pacific. For his services as commander of ASCOM, he was awarded the Legion of Merit. He was subsequently awarded a bronze oak leaf cluster to his Distinguished Service Medal for his services as Chief Engineer, US Army Forces Pacific. Casey hoped to become Chief of Engineers when Lieutenant General Raymond A. Wheeler retired in 1948, but President Harry S. Truman passed him over in favor of the Missouri River Division Engineer, Major General Lewis A. Pick. Instead, Casey remained in Japan as MacArthur's Chief Engineer until Casey's retirement on 31 December 1949. He edited Engineers of the Southwest Pacific, a seven-volume series about their wartime service. He received a number of foreign awards for his service, including the Distinguished Service Star from the Philippines, the Commander of the Order of the British Empire from Australia, the Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau from the Netherlands, and the Officer of Légion d'honneur from France. ## Later life Casey was Chairman of the New York City Transit Authority from 1953 to 1955, and served in various positions with Schenley Industries from 1951 until his retirement in 1965. He was a member of a number of professional societies, and civic organizations. He died of a heart attack on 30 August 1981 at the Veterans Administration Hospital at White River Junction, Vermont, survived by his wife Dorothy and his son Keith. His other son, Hugh, had been killed in an air crash during the Korean War. Father and son were buried adjacent to each other in Arlington National Cemetery. In August 1982, a new building at the Humphreys Engineer Center at Fort Belvoir was dedicated in his honor by Dorothy and the Chief of Engineers, Lieutenant General Joseph K. Bratton.

Golden Sun: The Lost Age

2002 video game

is a 2002 role-playing video game for the Game Boy Advance, developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo. It is the second installment in the Golden Sun series and was released on June 28, 2002 in Japan, and in 2003 in North America and Europe. Taking place after the events of the previous game, The Lost Age puts the player into the roles of the previous games' antagonists, primarily from the perspective of magic-attuned "adepts" Felix and his allies as they seek to restore the power of alchemy to the world of Weyard. Along the way, the player uses Psynergy to defeat enemies and discover new locations, help out local populations, and find elemental djinn which augment the characters' powers. Players can transfer their characters and items from Golden Sun to The Lost Age through a password system or Game Link Cable, and are rewarded for fully completing both games. Upon release, The Lost Age was positively received by critics and audiences. IGN ranked the game as the eighth-best Game Boy Advance title of 2003 and the 22nd-best GBA game of all time. It has sold over 680,000 units. It was eventually followed by a third installment, titled Dark Dawn, released in 2010 and set thirty years after the two original games. Like its predecessor, The Lost Age was re-released for the Wii U's Virtual Console service via the Nintendo eShop. It became available first in Japan on July 23, 2014, and later in North America and PAL regions. Along with Golden Sun, it was released on the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack on January 17, 2024. ## Gameplay The Lost Age follows the same traditional role-playing video game formula as Golden Sun. Players control a cast of characters as they journey through a fantasy-themed world, interact with other characters, battle monsters, acquire magic spells and equipment, and take part in a building, predefined narrative. While many actions the player takes are compulsory and central to the story, The Lost Age allows them to complete many objectives in the order they choose. As well, visiting previous locations to advance story elements and complete gameplay objectives are given a stronger emphasis than in the previous game. Most gameplay outside of battle takes place either in the game's overworld or within dungeons, caves, and other locales with puzzles integrated into their layout. Unlike the original game, in which the overworld was explored on foot except for a brief, non-navigable boat ride, a large portion of The Lost Age's gameplay involves navigating a magical ship across a large sea and visiting continents and islands. To complete puzzles, players must either push pillars to construct negotiable paths between elevated areas, climb up or descend cliffs, or obtain a special item to progress through the story and game world. Many of these puzzles revolve heavily around the usage of Psynergy, requiring the player to find items that grant the bearer new forms of Psynergy to accomplish tasks. Acquiring new Psynergy spells gives players access to new locations and secrets hidden within the game world. Besides combat, Psynergy spells are also heavily used in puzzles and exploration. Some types of Psynergy can only be used in either combat or in the overworld and non-battle scenarios. Other types of Psynergy can be used in both situations; for example, the “Frost” spell can be used to damage enemies in battle or to transform puddles of water into elongated pillars of ice as part of puzzles. The player gains more Psynergy spells as the game progresses, either through levelling up or acquiring and equipping, or using, special items. With each "utility" Psynergy spell, the party gains access to more locations and secrets hidden within the game world. Players are required to return to previous locations in the game to finish puzzles which they were previously unable to solve due to lacking specific Psynergy spells. ### Battle The Lost Age contains both random monster encounters and compulsory battles that advance the story. When a battle begins, a separate screen is brought up where the enemy party is on the opposing side and the player's party is on the battling side. While a battle being is conducted, the characters and background swirl around and change positions in a pseudo-3D effect. In battle, the player must defeat all enemies using direct attacks with weapons, offensive Psynergy spells, and other means of causing damage while keeping the party alive through items and supportive Psynergy that restore life and supplement defense. If all the player's characters are downed by reducing their hit points to zero, the party is returned to the last village that the player visited and loses money. Successfully completing a battle yields experience points, coins, and occasionally rare items. In addition to the main game, there is also a competitive battling mode accessible from the menu screen, where players can enter their teams into an arena to battle CPU-controlled enemies or other players. ### Djinn system One of the primary gameplay features in the Golden Sun series is elemental creatures called Djinn (singular: Djinni), which can be found throughout the game and which The Lost Age adds new types of. Not counting the ones that can only be found in the original Golden Sun, there are eleven Djinn for each of the four elements that can be allocated to each character. Djinn form the basis of the game's statistics enhancement system, and when allocated, modify a character's classes, increasing maximum hit points, Psynergy points, and other statistics, and altering the available Psynergy they can perform. Djinni may also be used to directly attack an opponent; once used, they no longer contribute to a character's class, but can be used to attack an opponent by summoning a powerful elemental spirit. This is the most powerful method of attack and also the riskiest, as it requires Djinn to be on standby, meaning that they are unable to bolster the statistics of the character they are equipped to. Once a Djinni on Standby is used for a Summon Sequence, it must recover for several turns before it restores itself to Set position on a character. However, a subsequent increase in the affinity of the attack's element is bolstered on the character for the duration of the battle. ## Synopsis ### Characters and setting For most of the game, the player controls four characters. The main protagonist is Felix, an eighteen-year-old Venus Adept from the village of Vale who was an anti-hero in Golden Sun. His younger sister, Jenna, a seventeen-year-old Mars Adept from Vale, and fourteen-year-old Jupiter Adept Sheba, as well as sharp-witted elderly scholar Kraden, are hostages that Felix was forced to take with his now-deceased masters, the Mars Adept warriors Saturos and Menardi, who served as the previous game's antagonists. In the game, the player controls Felix as he strives to complete Saturos and Menardi's original objective to restore Alchemy to the world of Weyard. Early on, they are joined by Mercury Adept Piers, a mysterious young man whose ship Felix's party uses to explore the world throughout their journey. Several groups of characters serve as antagonists in The Lost Age. He is at odds with the heroes of the original Golden Sun, led by Venus Adept warrior Isaac, who pursue him across Weyard believing that Alchemy would potentially destroy Weyard if unleashed. One of Saturos' original companions, the powerful and enigmatic Mercury Adept Alex, allies himself with Karst and Agatio, powerful and imposing Mars Adept warriors, the former of whom is Menardi's younger sister. Like Golden Sun, The Lost Age takes place in the world of Weyard. ### Plot Isaac's party has killed Saturos and Menardi, but they succeeded in activating two of the four Elemental Lighthouses situated across Weyard. Saturos' companion Felix takes the rest of his group and sets out on his own journey to complete Saturos' original objective and activate the remaining two Lighthouses, as lighting all four will restore Alchemy to Weyard. He is joined by his sister Jenna, Jupiter Adept Sheba, who was previously kidnapped by Saturos, and scholar Kraden. The group searches for a ship to cross to the western half of Weyard, and learns of a man named Piers who has been falsely accused of piracy and owns a ship they can use. After Felix and his group clear his name, Piers agrees to join them. During this, Isaac's party continues to pursue them. The group also discovers that their former companion Alex has allied himself with Menardi's younger sister Karst and her partner Agatio to keep Felix on track. Felix's party is able to access Piers' home, the legendary, secluded Atlantis-like society of Lemuria, which is located far out in the ocean. After convening with Lemuria's ancient king, Hydros, they learn of Alchemy's true nature; it is the sustenance of Weyard's life force, and its absence has caused the world's continents to decrease in size and parts of the world to collapse into the abyss. Knowing that restoring Alchemy will save the world, Felix crosses the sea to activate the Jupiter Lighthouse. However, when Isaac's party enters the lighthouse, Karst and Agatio ambush and trap them. Felix rescues Isaac, but Karst and Agatio escape with the Mars Star, which was formerly in Isaac's possession. Felix is able to explain to Isaac why Alchemy's release is necessary for everyone, and that Saturos and Menardi aimed to do so for the sake of the survival of their home colony of Prox, which is located to the far north near the Mars Lighthouse. He also reveals that his parents and Isaac's father are alive and being held hostage in Prox to coerce Felix's initial cooperation. Isaac and his company agree to aid Felix, and the group sets out north to activate the Mars Lighthouse. The group discovers that Karst and Agatio have been transformed into mindless dragons and are forced to defeat them, with them returning the Mars Star before succumbing to their wounds. When they reach the tower's top, the Wise One, the entity responsible for originally tasking Isaac with preventing the breaking of Alchemy's seal, confronts them. He warns them that mankind could destroy Weyard if they possessed such a power; when Isaac insists on breaking the seal despite this, the Wise One summons a giant, three-headed dragon for the party to battle, only for it to be revealed to be Isaac's father and Felix and Jenna's parents fused by the Wise One to test the party's resolve. After slaying the dragon, the party of Adepts finish their objective and activate Mars Lighthouse; with all four towers across Weyard lit, the process that heralds the return of Alchemy to Weyard ensues at the mountain sanctum Mt. Aleph. Alex appears, revealing that he took advantage of everyone else's quests to gain immense power from the light of the Golden Sun, a manifestation of Alchemy itself. However, he discovers that the Wise One had taken steps to prevent this, and is left to die as the mountain sinks into the earth. ## Development and release The Lost Age was first revealed to Japan in early 2002, with the magazine Famitsu being the first publication to review the game. The Lost Age was highly anticipated; it topped IGN's list of Game Boy Advance "Most Wanted" games for 2003. The North American version of the game was playable at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2002. GameSpot previewed a localized copy of The Lost Age in February 2003, and noted that the game built on its predecessor's graphics engine, with "the environments in the game featuring rich detail with little touches—such as birds that fly off as you approach." The game was released in Japan on June 28, 2002, and the following year in North America on April 14, in Australia on April 17, and in Europe on September 19. ## Reception The Lost Age generally received positive reviews, but critics were divided on whether or not the game was better than the original Golden Sun. On Metacritic, The Lost Age has an 86% aggregate rating, compared to Golden Sun's 91%. Likewise, GameRankings gives The Lost Age an 87% overall rating, slightly lower than Golden Sun's 90%. Conversely, The Lost Age was ranked 78 on IGN's Readers Choice Top 100 games ever, higher than its predecessor. It was also rated the 69th best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power's "Top 200 Games" list. IGN gave the sequel high praise; while most of the game mechanics remained unchanged, the addition of more complicated puzzles was welcomed. The Lost Age subsequently became IGN's "Game of the Month" in April 2003. Shane Bettenhausen of Electronic Gaming Monthly argued that though The Lost Age is "not going to win any originality contests (this looks, sounds, and feels nearly identical to its predecessor), but when more of the same means more top-notch roleplaying, I can't complain". Other publications singled out the graphics and audio as particularly strong features. The publication later named The Lost Age the best Game Boy Advance game of April 2003. Some publications found fault with complaints which remained from the original, including the combat system. IGN and GamePro took issue with the lack of "smart" combat; if an enemy is killed before other party members attack it, those members switch to defense instead of intelligently attacking the remaining enemies. Ethan Einhorn of GameNOW felt that the only elements that set the fighting system above "typical RPG fare" were the graphics. GameSpy felt that Camelot could have added more features. The Lost Age sold 96,000 units in its first week in Japan, being the best-selling game of the period. The game sold a total of 249,000 copies in Japan and 437,000 in North America by November 21, 2004.

Throne of Fire

1987 video game

Throne of Fire is an action strategy video game. It was designed by Mike Singleton, developed by Consult Computer Systems, and published by Melbourne House. The game was released for the Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum in 1987. Throne of Fire is set in the Burning Citadel, located around the rim of a volcano. The game focuses on three princes in the Burning Citadel where they and their men-at-arms fight to the death to gain the Throne of Fire after their father's death. Throne of Fire received positive reviews from industry critics, with some reviewers speaking positively of the graphics while others criticized the lack of difficulty in the single-player mode, instead recommending playing with two players. ## Gameplay Throne of Fire is an action strategy game. Set in the Burning Citadel, located around the rim of a volcano, the player assumes the role of one of the three princes of the recently deceased King Atherik: Alorn the Lion Prince, Cordrin the Sun Prince, and Karag the Wolf Prince. As one of the princes, the player can play against two computer players or a second player and a computer player, who play the role of the other two princes. Each prince and their men-at-arms must fight the other princes and their army to the death. The player must also fight against the King's Guard, the protectors of the Throne of Fire. Weapons with their own strengths and weaknesses can be found around the castle, along with magical objects that can increase or decrease a character's strength. Each army group are distinguished by color, with Prince Alorn and his men as red, Cordrin as yellow, Karag as purple, and the King's Guard as green. The castle has one hundred rooms to enter through. If any characters enter a room, their group color will light up the room. Each of the princes starts with nine men-at-arms. Reinforcements will join the side of whoever last visited Gate Rooms. If no one entered a Gate Room before the man-at-arms appears, they will join the King's Guard. Once the player enters the Throne Room with their prince, they become the king and take control of the King's Guard. The other players lose the ability to control their men-at-arms, with their men staying in their rooms to defend themselves. If the new king dies, the King's Guard will return to being neutral and the other princes regain their men. ## Development Throne of Fire was designed by Mike Singleton, known for designing other fantasy games such as Lords of Midnight, Doomdark's Revenge, and Dark Sceptre. It was developed under Consult Computer Systems, who worked on the programming, graphics, and music and was published by Melbourne House. This was the first game Singleton made in association with Melbourne House. Jim Bagley was given the position of programmer for the game, the first game he ever worked on. The game was released in April 1987 on the Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum. A Commodore 64 port was also planned, but was never released, as development had taken longer than expected and sales on other formats were lower than hoped, so Melbourne House cancelled it. ## Reception Throne of Fire received positive reviews from video game critics, mostly for the ZX Spectrum version. Tim Metcalfe from Computer and Video Games said that Throne of Fire wouldn't be for everyone but recommended it to fans of strategy games who would find it to be an "absorbing challenge." Tony from Your Sinclair praised its gameplay and its animation, describing it as "superb". ZX Computing Monthly also spoke positively of the game's graphics, though he also stated that it lacked the challenge when compared to Mike Singleton's The Lords of Midnight series. The Amstrad version of Throne of Fire was given a positive review by the German publication Aktueller Software Markt. Ben Stone, Paul Sumner, and Ricky Eddy from Crash were more critical of the gameplay, as they considered the game to be too easy to play in single-player, with all three recommending the two-player mode. Stone added that the lack of difficulty spoiled the gameplay. Eddy also criticized the game for lacking the compulsion and depth Mike Singleton's other games had. Judy Daniel from Sinclair User called the gameplay "dodgy" and thought it was not one of Singleton's best games. A reviewer for Computer Gamer was more negative towards the game. While saying that the game had interesting ideas in it, they did not think that the ideas worked together. Computer Gamer also called the action on screen confusing and considered the game to be "tedious" overall.

2020 German Masters

Snooker tournament, held January 2020

The 2020 German Masters (officially the 2020 BetVictor German Masters) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place from 29 January to 2 February 2020 in the Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany. The tournament was the tenth ranking event of the 2019–2020 snooker season. It was the 14th edition of the German Masters, first held in 1995 as the 1995 German Open. The event featured a prize fund of £400,000 with £80,000 being given to the winner. Kyren Wilson was the defending champion after defeating David Gilbert 9–6 in the 2019 final. He lost 4–5 to Zhao Xintong in the second qualifying round. The final was contested between the reigning world champion Judd Trump and Neil Robertson, who had won the preceding European Masters event. Trump won the final defeating Robertson 9–6. Trump's win was his 15th ranking title and fourth of the season. This tournament was the last professional tournament for Peter Ebdon, who retired due to spine and neck degradation. Ebdon lost 4–5 in the first qualifying round to Matthew Stevens. ## Format The 2020 German Masters was a professional snooker tournament held at the Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany, between 29 January and 3 February 2020. This was the 13th edition of the German Masters tournament, being held since 2011, and previously between 1995 and 1998 as the German Open. It was the tenth ranking event of the 2019–20 snooker season following the European Masters and preceding the World Grand Prix. It was played as the best-of-nine-frames until the semi-finals, which were best-of-11-frames, followed by a best-of-17-frames final. The event featured 32 participants from the World Snooker Tour with two qualifying rounds which took place from 20 to 22 December 2019 in Barnsley, England. ### Prize fund The event featured a total prize fund of £400,000 with the winner receiving £80,000. The event was the second of the "European Series" which included the European Masters, Snooker Shoot Out and Gibraltar Open all sponsored by sports betting company BetVictor. The player accumulating the highest amount of prize money over the four events received a bonus of £150,000. The breakdown of prize money for the tournament is shown below: - Winner: £80,000 - Runner-up: £35,000 - Semi-final: £20,000 - Quarter-final: £10,000 - Last 16: £5,000 - Last 32: £4,000 - Last 64: £3,000 - Highest break: £5,000 - Total: £400,000 ## Tournament summary The first round of the German Masters began on 29 January 2020. A commemorative cake in the shape of a snooker table was baked to celebrate the 10th edition of the event to be held in the Tempodrome. Four-time world champion John Higgins lost his first round match to world number 59 Robbie Williams 4–5. Three players completed a whitewash in the first round, with Sunny Akani, Michael Georgiou and Matthew Selt all winning 5–0. Scott Donaldson defeated 2019 UK Championship winner Ding Junhui 5–4. The win gave Donaldson enough ranking points to qualify for the 2020 World Grand Prix. In the second round, Georgiou defeated Akani 5–4. Akani continued playing on the practice tables for two days after his loss. European Masters finalist Zhao Xintong defeated 17th seed Gary Wilson 5–1. In a rematch of the 2018 final, 19th seed Graeme Dott played third seed Mark Williams, with Dott winning 5–2. World number two Neil Robertson completed a second straight whitewash over Elliot Slessor in the quarter-finals, having also defeated Mitchell Mann in the second round 5–0. Shaun Murphy defeated Xintong 5–3, Dott defeated Selt 5–2 and Trump defeated Georgiou 5–1. The first semi-final was played between Dott and Trump. With no more than one frame between the two, they tied at 4–4. However, Trump won frame nine with a break of 110 and won the match 6–4. The second semi-final was between Robertson and Murphy. Robertson won five frames in a row with breaks of 73, 136, 62, 53 and 129 to win 6–1. Robertson reached the final having lost only two frames in the previous four matches. The final was played between Neil Robertson and Judd Trump on 2 February 2020. This was the second time in the 2019–20 snooker season that the pair had met in a final, having done so at the 2019 Champion of Champions. If Robertson won the final, he would be guaranteed to win the European Series. It was held as a best-of-17 frames match, held over two sessions. Robertson won four of the first six frames, with Trump winning the final two frames of the first session to tie the match at 4–4. Trump restarted the match, winning a further two frames to lead 6–4. Robertson won frame 11, before Trump won frame 12 to lead 7–5 going into the . The pair shared the next two frames, before Trump won the match 9–6 with a break of 120 in frame 15. This was Trump's 15th career ranking event title, his fourth of the season. ## Main draw Below are the event's results from the last-32 stage to the final. Player names in bold denote match winners. Numbers in brackets denote player seedings. ### Final ## Qualifying Qualifying for the event took place between 20 and 22 December 2019 at the Barnsley Metrodome in Barnsley, England. There were two rounds of qualifying with matches being played as best-of-9 frames. Defending champion Kyren Wilson did not qualify for the event, after losing 4–5 to Zhao Xintong in the second round. Peter Ebdon played his last professional match in a first round loss to Matthew Stevens. ### Round 1 ### Round 2 ## Century breaks ### Main stage centuries There was a total of 33 century breaks during the tournament. The highest was a 138 made by John Higgins in his first round win over Robbie Williams. - 138, 134 – John Higgins - 136, 133, 129, 120, 101, 101 – Neil Robertson - 134, 108 – Gary Wilson - 133, 106 – Mark Williams - 132 – Nigel Bond - 132 – Scott Donaldson - 130 – Elliot Slessor - 129, 127 – Shaun Murphy - 126 – Yuan Sijun - 122, 119, 114, 110, 100 – Judd Trump - 122, 102 – Luca Brecel - 122 – Robbie Williams - 121 – Graeme Dott - 119 – Robert Milkins - 112 – Michael Georgiou - 111, 110 – Mitchell Mann - 108 – Matthew Selt - 102 – Sunny Akani ### Qualifying stage centuries There was a total of 77 century breaks during qualifying. The highest was a 143 made by Tom Ford in his second qualifying round match against Oliver Lines. - 143, 129 – Tom Ford - 142, 137, 124 – Michael Georgiou - 141 – Hossein Vafaei - 140, 106 – Robert Milkins - 140 – Zhang Anda - 139, 137, 127, 109 – Zhao Xintong - 135 – John Astley - 135 – Louis Heathcote - 134, 131 – Yan Bingtao - 133 – Liang Wenbo - 133 – Zhou Yuelong - 132, 130 – Kyren Wilson - 132, 103 – Ricky Walden - 131, 111 – Kacper Filipiak - 131 – Kurt Maflin - 130 – Xu Si - 126, 106 – Dominic Dale - 126 – Mark Davis - 124, 115 – Stuart Bingham - 123, 113 – Li Hang - 123, 105 – Luca Brecel - 122 – Kishan Hirani - 119 – Jack Lisowski - 118 – Ali Carter - 118 – Fraser Patrick - 118 – Joe Perry - 117 – Sam Craigie - 116, 109, 107 – Judd Trump - 115, 100, 100 – Gary Wilson - 115 – Ian Burns - 114, 102, 100 – Ashley Carty - 114 – Jimmy Robertson - 113 – Soheil Vahedi - 111 – Noppon Saengkham - 110 – Alexander Ursenbacher - 110 – Anthony Hamilton - 109 – Bai Langning - 109 – Lee Walker - 108, 101 – Igor Figueiredo - 108 – Sam Baird - 107 – Andrew Higginson - 106 – Barry Hawkins - 104, 103 – David Gilbert - 104, 100 – Matthew Stevens - 103 – Fergal O'Brien - 102 – Scott Donaldson - 101 – Yuan Sijun - 100, 100 – Neil Robertson - 100 – Mark Selby - 100 – Ryan Day

Wild Guns

1994 video game

Wild Guns is a 1994 space Western shooting gallery video game developed by Natsume for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Set in the Wild West with steampunk and sci-fi influences, the story follows Annie and her bounty hunter Clint, seeking revenge for the death of her family. The player controls either Annie or Clint sidestepping and jumping in the foreground while shooting down enemy robots in the background and dodging enemy bullets. These gameplay mechanics combine elements from third-person shooters and light gun games. Development lasted five months on a small budget with a team of only three core members and two support staff. The team leads had previously worked together on The Ninja Warriors (1994) for the Super NES, and so chose to develop for that system. Wild Guns was heavily influenced in its gameplay and artistic design by arcade games such as Blood Bros. and Dynamite Duke. The game's scenery, characters, and sound design drew ideas from the Western film genre and the science fiction manga Cobra, creating a space Western setting. Wild Guns received positive reviews at its initial release, and in retrospective reviews is considered a cult classic. Critics have praised the gameplay of what has become a niche genre, as well as the cooperative mode and graphical attention to detail. The game was rereleased on the Virtual Console for the Wii in 2010 and Wii U in 2014. The game was added to the Nintendo Switch Online subscription service in 2020. An enhanced remaster titled Wild Guns Reloaded was released in 2016 for PlayStation 4, 2017 for Windows, and 2018 for Nintendo Switch. Reloaded features two new characters which are Doris and Bullet the dog with his sentry drone, additional stages and modes, and updated visuals and audio. ## Gameplay Wild Guns is a shooting gallery game with an American Wild West setting along with sci-fi and steampunk influences. The gameplay combines elements from third-person shooters and light gun games in a similar fashion to Blood Bros. and Cabal. There are six levels, each with two stages, followed by a mini-boss, and a third stage with a final boss. Single player and cooperative modes are available, as well as target practice allowing two players to compete to achieve the highest score. The story follows a young woman named Annie seeking revenge against the Kid family for abducting and killing her family. She seeks help from renowned space bounty hunter Clint. Although Clint says he doesn't need Annie's assistance, she insists, claiming she has a personal vendetta against the Kid family and is a skilled shooter. The player controls either Annie or Clint in the foreground with the D-pad and must shoot enemies in the background and dodge enemy fire. While holding the fire button down, the D-pad instead makes the gun reticle move. Shooting and moving at the same time is not possible. While the gun is holstered, the player can jump, dive, and roll to evade gunfire. A "Look Out\!" text bubble will appear when one can dodge bullets. Some enemies will throw dynamite sticks at the player, but these can be tossed back. A lasso can be used to temporarily stun enemies. Both enemies and their bullets can be shot down. Defeating enemies will sometimes reveal item boxes, which can hold precious metals such as gold and silver for extra points, and bombs. Only five bombs can be held at a time, which can be used to clear the screen of enemies. Weapon upgrades may appear after defeating certain enemies. These weapons, such as shotguns and machine guns, will increase the player's firing speed or damage output. When a player's bullets hit bullets fired by enemies, a gauge at the bottom of the screen will fill. Once filled, the player will be awarded with a Vulcan gun, the most powerful weapon in the game which grants invincibility. The gauge will then begin to deplete and the Vulcan gun will disappear once empty. ## Development Development of Wild Guns began when a small team of Natsume staff was asked to create a game quickly and cheaply while waiting for their next major assignment. The team consisted of three core members: Shunichi Taniguchi for game design and graphics, Toshiyasu Miyabe for programming, and Hiroyuki Iwatsuki for sound. Two other people helped as support staff. The team chose to develop for the Super NES because the three had worked together previously on The Ninja Warriors (1994) for that system. Development of Wild Guns lasted approximately five months and was led by Taniguchi. Wild Guns was heavily influenced by Dynamite Duke and Blood Bros. during development. The space Western setting was largely influenced by the space Western manga Cobra. The screen shaking and mirage-like effects that occur after explosions were influenced by the film RoboCop 3. When composing the music for Wild Guns, Hiroyuki Iwatsuki drew upon the influence of a Western soundtrack "Best Of" CD that Natsume had provided him. He enjoyed listening to the CD both during and after development. The game's music was created using PC-98s, a Roland W-30 keyboard, and a MIDI sequencer. Some sounds came from the Roland Sound Canvas series. Originally, the reticle could only move up and down, and lateral movement was done by moving the player side-to-side; this, however, proved to be cumbersome and was changed. The "Look Out\!" text bubble was added because of difficulty judging bullet distances due to the screen's artificial 3D depth. Clint and Annie were designed in clothing that was emblematic of the time period, and Annie's dress was chosen instead of jeans to avoid overlapping with Clint's design and to enable easier animation. The characters' names were suggested by the American Natsume offices. Due to the game's low budget, voice actors were not used; instead, Taniguchi's voice was recorded in the office bathroom for Clint. ## Release The game was released in Japan on August 12, 1994. The North American version of Wild Guns was set to be released in the third quarter of 1994 and was reviewed at the time, but the release was unexpectedly delayed until the third quarter of 1995. A 32X version was reportedly planned for 1996, but never materialized. The game has since become a rare collector's item. The game was rereleased on the Virtual Console for the Wii in 2010 and Wii U in 2014. The game was added to the Nintendo Switch Online subscription service in 2020. An enhanced remaster titled Wild Guns Reloaded was released for the PlayStation 4 in December 2016. The game was developed by the original team (as Tengo Project) and features classic characters and stages but also enhancements such as more playable characters, enemies, stages, and local four-player support. The game was made available for download on the PlayStation Store, and physical copies were available from Amazon, Play-Asia, and Video Games Plus. Natsume released Reloaded on Windows in July 2017, marking the company's first ever release on the personal computer. On April 17, 2018, Reloaded was released on the Nintendo Switch. ## Reception Contemporary reviews of the game were positive. Famitsu gave it a score of 26 out of 40. Reviewers at Electronic Gaming Monthly cited the cooperative multiplayer mode and challenging levels as the game's strongest points. They declared it one of the best shooters on the SNES and compared it to the Neo Geo game NAM-1975. GamePro praised the game for its intense action, fun cooperative multiplayer mode, colorful graphics, and ability to shoot almost any on-screen object. They remarked that the game is difficult even on easy, but that players are rewarded for perseverance. Nintendo Power found the game to have good graphics and control, and complimented the presence of both male and female playable characters. However, they believed the game was not as challenging as other shooters. In a retrospective Virtual Console review, IGN's Lucas M. Thomas commended the gameplay depth and the detailed visual presentation. He acknowledged the difficulty, even on easy, but praised the game as one of the best examples of the niche shooting gallery genre. Mat Allen of Nintendo Life found the game to be an excellent example of what the Virtual Console is for: providing gamers chances to experience quality games that were overlooked in their time. He highlighted the release as providing a cheap option to play a game which has become an expensive collector's item. In another retrospective review, Todd Ciolek of GameSetWatch cited Wild Guns as one of the best games in a genre that has become a lost art. Critics and Natsume themselves have acknowledged Wild Guns as a cult classic. Wild Guns Reloaded was also well received. Critics praised the game for being a quality remaster of an already classic game. Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu gave the PS4 version of the game a score of 29 out of 40.

March for Our Lives Portland

2018 protest in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

March for Our Lives Portland (officially March for Our Lives Portland, OR) was a protest held in Portland, Oregon, as part of March for Our Lives, a series of rallies and marches in Washington, D.C., and more than 800 cities across the world on March 24, 2018. Students organized the event, which included a march from the North Park Blocks to Pioneer Courthouse Square where a rally featured speakers, a performance by rock band Portugal. The Man, and a surprise appearance by rapper Black Thought of hip-hop band The Roots. The protest was the city's largest since the January 2017 Women's March on Portland; the Portland Police Bureau estimated a crowd size of 12,000. ## Background March for Our Lives was a student-led demonstration in support of a tightening of U.S. gun control laws on March 24, 2018, in Washington, D.C., with more than 800 sibling events throughout the United States and around the world. Student organizers from Never Again MSD planned the march in collaboration with the nonprofit organization Everytown for Gun Safety. The event followed the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, which many media outlets described as a possible tipping point for gun control legislation. Protesters urged the introduction of universal background checks on gun sales, the raising of the federal minimum age for gun ownership and possession to 21, the closure of the gun show loophole, the restoration of the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban, and a ban on the sale of high-capacity magazines in the U.S. Turnout across the country was estimated at between 1.2 to 2 million people, making it one of the largest protests in American history. ## Local organizers and planning Local student organizers included: Eliana Andrews; Alyssa Diaz; Zoe Dumm; Alexandria Goddard; Finn Jacobson; Calum Nguyen; Sophie Rupp; Ryan Tran; Kien Truong; Tyler White; and Ellie Younger. According to the Portland Police Bureau, organizers obtained proper permits for the demonstration. The rally was scheduled to start at 10 am and end by 2 pm. The Portland-based rock band Portugal. The Man contacted organizers and offered to help, and practiced with a local choir prior to the concert. On the event's Facebook page in the lead-up to the event, around 9,000 people indicated plans to attend, and approximately 20,000 people had expressed interest in participating. The Portland Bureau of Transportation planned to close all lanes of West Burnside Street from Broadway to 9th Avenue, as well as Southwest Broadway from Burnside to Yamhill Street, from approximately 10:30 am to noon. The agency and event organizers also encouraged attendees and other downtown visitors to use public transit and to expect delays in the vicinity of the march route. The MAX Light Rail stations Pioneer Square South and Pioneer Square North were temporarily closed, and several bus lines had detours for a few hours. Online taxi firm Lyft offered march participants free rides in Portland and 49 other U.S. cities. The route of the march was decided upon by event organizers and police, and plans to have safety monitors present were made. ## Demonstration Participants gathered at the North Park Blocks and marched to Pioneer Courthouse Square via Burnside and Broadway. The rally began on time; protestors started marching at 10:30 am. The march route was less than one-half mile (0.80 km) long and lasted approximately 90 minutes. At Pioneer Courthouse Square, organizers held a moment of silence and rang a bell 17 times to commemorate victims of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. Starting around 11:30 am, eight local students ranging in age from grades 8 to 12 delivered speeches and performed songs and poems advocating gun control and school safety. They encouraged attendees to vote, remain politically active, and hold their politicians accountable. KOIN described the students' speeches as "articulate, informed, engaging and captivating". Portugal. The Man performed "So American", "Feel It Still", and Oasis' "Don't Look Back in Anger", and gave a "rousing" performance of Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are a-Changin'" with a choir of students from Vernon Elementary School. Lead singer and guitarist John Gourley said March for Our Lives' mission is nonpartisan. Rapper Black Thought of The Roots made an onstage surprise appearance with the band. The protest was Portland's largest since the Women's March on Portland in January 2017, with more than 10,000 participants. The Portland Police Bureau's Traffic Division estimated 12,000 people attended. Event organizers said there were between 20,000 and 25,000 demonstrators. The Oregonian reported a crowd estimate of 12,000, and noted the presence of all age groups. Willamette Week said "tens of thousands" of people were in attendance and described the crowd as "massive and diverse", consisting of "families, teachers, grandparents and groups of students of all ages". Counter-protestors, including members of Patriot Prayer, were present but the event was peaceful. Suzanne Bonamici and Earl Blumenauer, U.S. representatives for Oregon's 1st and 3rd congressional districts, respectively, participated in the march. Also in attendance were 15 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School alumni living in Portland and teachers from Umpqua Community College, where nine people were killed in a mass shooting in 2015. ## See also - List of March for Our Lives locations - March for Science Portland (2017)

Blond Ambition World Tour Live

Blond Ambition World Tour Live is a video album by American singer-songwriter Madonna released exclusively on LaserDisc by Pioneer Artists on December 13, 1990. It contained the Blond Ambition World Tour's final show, filmed at the Stade Charles-Ehrmann in Nice, France, on August 5, 1990. The concert had previously been broadcast on American network HBO as Live\! Madonna: Blond Ambition World Tour 90, and became one of its highest rated specials. The decision to release it exclusively on Laserdisc grew when Pioneer Artists signed up to sponsor the tour; the company also wanted to use Madonna to reach a new demographic and increase Laserdisc sales. It received positive reviews, with some critics saying it captured the concert better than the documentary Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991) and the HBO broadcast. At the 34th Annual Grammy Awards, it won for Best Music Video-Long Form, becoming the first Grammy award Madonna received in her career. With over 100,000 copies sold, Blond Ambition World Tour Live was one of the highest selling laserdiscs of its time. ## Background The Blond Ambition World Tour was Madonna's third concert tour. It supported her fourth studio album Like a Prayer and the Dick Tracy soundtrack I'm Breathless. Contemporary critics praised its fashion and theatricals and it grossed over US$62.7 million ($ million in dollars) from 57 concerts. It was subject to controversy due to its sexual and Catholic imagery. In Italy, a private association of Roman Catholics called for a boycott of the shows in Rome and Turin; Pope John Paul II urged the general public and the Christian community not to attend the tour. During the first show in Toronto, on May 27, local police threatened to arrest Madonna for "lewd and indecent display", specifically the masturbation scene during the performance of "Like a Virgin" (1984). In May 1990, Jonathan Takiff from The Pittsburgh Press reported that the first Japanese shows from the tour were recorded and set to be released on Laserdisc by Pioneer Artists, one of the tour's main sponsors. Takiff also reported that the final show on Nice, France, would be broadcast on MTV. Two months later, HBO confirmed they had signed on Madonna and would broadcast the tour's final show in what would be her first television special. HBO spokesperson Betty Bitterman stated that "it's a very hot item that attracted all major players. We're not concerned about any negative feedback. We decided to do the show and that was that". When asked if the network would edit or censor the singer's "lewd" behavior, Bitterman responded that "if she's doing it, the audience will see it. We're not editing anything out. [...] We want it to feel live - as if you were there". During the concert Madonna told the cameras: "You know what I have to say to America? Get a fucking sense of humor, okay?". It was not a pay-per-view special, as the channel wanted to distinguish itself from its pay-TV rival, Showtime, and it was predicted to be HBO's highest rated special since Mike Tyson and Frank Bruno's heavyweight fight, which aired in February 1989. Advertised as "America's No. 1 female pop star in a live-by-satellite performance of one of the summer's biggest pop music events", Live\! Madonna: Blond Ambition World Tour 90 aired on Sunday August 5, 1990, at 9 p.m. and gave HBO a record for the highest ratings ever for an entertainment special at the time; around 4.5 million people tuned in. ## Release and reception The special was released exclusively on Laserdisc under the title Blond Ambition World Tour Live on December 13, 1990. Steven Galloway, president of Pioneer Artists, said that the idea of an exclusive came about when the company signed up to sponsor the tour; they also wanted to use the singer to increase Laserdisc sales and reach a demographic of 18–35 year olds. Billboard called this "the marketing coup of the year". Laserdisc sales were reported to have increased 285%; due to the overwhelmingly strong sales, the concert was not released on VHS until the end of 1991. Although Madonna's then manager Caresse Henry said in 2002 that a DVD was on the works, no release date was ever given. In addition to HBO, other concerts from the tour were also recorded and broadcast; one of the Yokohama dates was recorded and released exclusively in Japan under the title Blond Ambition - Japan Tour 90. Spanish broadcaster TVE aired the Barcelona concert in 30 countries. One of the shows at London's Wembley Stadium was broadcast on BBC Radio 1, which led to controversy over the profanity Madonna used live on air. The Los Angeles Times gave the original broadcast a negative review, saying that the show didn't work as a television experience because it was "less a concert than an unfolding passion play" that was "rendered ponderous by distracting camera angles". Ty Burr, from Entertainment Weekly, gave the release an A and felt that it captured the Blond Ambition show better than Madonna: Truth or Dare, "because it's a laserdisc with digital sound, the music is re-created with startling fidelity. You get this two-hour spectacle as it was meant to be: uninterrupted and over the top". Burr also praised the "gymnastic dance productions" of numbers such as "Where's the Party" and "Like a Prayer". Los Angeles Times' Robert Hilburn felt that "the new, edited laser version offers much more of the vitality and charm of the show itself than the HBO special". Allmusic gave a rating of three out of five stars. Blond Ambition World Tour Live debuted on the fourth position of the Top Videodisc Sales chart the week of January 9, 1991, eventually peaking at number two three weeks later. In April 1991, Pioneer applied for an RIAA gold certification, indicating that the release had sold, at least, 25,000 units. Later that year, the compilation sold 40,000 copies of laserdiscs worldwide. By May 1992, it was the top US selling laserdisc release up at the time, with 60,000 copies sold. Two years later, sales exceeded 100,000 units and it was awarded a "five-star" designation by the Laserdisc Association. In the United Kingdom, the laserdisc sold 1,000 copies by 1992, and nearly 10,000 units as of 1993. ## Impact Blond Ambition World Tour Live was released exclusively on LaserDisc by Pioneer in order to boost both format and device sales for CD Videos in the United States. Music critic Robert Hilburn from Los Angeles Times called it a move "virtually unprecedented in the video industry". Pioneer's president, Steven Galloway, stated: "Madonna is the ideal artist to reach the new demographics". Ultimately, the release reportedly helped boost the CD video market up to that point in the U.S. The title "brought much-needed publicity to the laser format", commented Chris McGowan from Billboard. Complimenting Madonna's release, CD Review's Tim Riley said "launching a laserdisc collection is an exercise in frustration". Blond Ambition World Tour Live earned Madonna her first Grammy win for Best Long Form Music Video at the 34th ceremony. Of this win, Galloway said that "we couldn't be more thrilled [...] Hopefully it will bring an even higher level of awareness and attention to the laserdisc format, and music videos in particular on laserdisc". The HBO broadcast also won a category at the CableACE Awards. ## Track listing Notes - "Express Yourself" contains an excerpt from "Everybody". - "Like a Prayer" contains an excerpt from "Act of Contrition". - "Into the Groove" contains an excerpt from "Ain't Nobody Better". - "Holiday" contains an excerpt from "Do the Bus Stop". ## Credits and personnel - David Mallet – director - Anthony Eaton – producer - Freddy De Mann – executive producer - Christopher Ciccone – art direction - Vince Patterson – choreographer - Kevin Alexander Stea – assistant choreographer Credits per the notes of Blond Ambition World Tour Live ## Charts ### Weekly charts ### Year-end chart ## Sales |}

Paul Thomas Anderson

American filmmaker (born 1970)

Paul Thomas Anderson (born June 26, 1970), also known by his initials PTA, is an American filmmaker. His accolades include a BAFTA Award, and nominations for eleven Academy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. He has also won Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival, the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and both the Silver and Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. Anderson's films are often psychological dramas characterized by depictions of flawed, desperate characters; explorations of dysfunctional families, alienation, loneliness, and redemption; and a bold visual style that uses constantly-moving camera shots and long takes. After his directorial debut, Hard Eight (1996), he had critical and commercial success with Boogie Nights (1997), and received further accolades with Magnolia (1999) and Punch-Drunk Love (2002). His fifth and sixth films, There Will Be Blood (2007), and The Master (2012), are often cited among the greatest of the 21st century. They were followed by Inherent Vice (2014), Phantom Thread (2017) and Licorice Pizza (2021). Anderson is noted for his collaborations with the cinematographer Robert Elswit, the costume designer Mark Bridges, the composers Jon Brion and Jonny Greenwood, and several actors. He has directed music videos for artists such as Brion, Fiona Apple, Haim, Aimee Mann, Joanna Newsom, Michael Penn, Radiohead and the Smile. He also directed the documentary Junun (2015) and the short music film Anima (2019). ## Early life Anderson was born in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles on June 26, 1970, the son of Edwina (née Gough) and actor Ernie Anderson (1923–1997). His father was the voice of ABC and played a Cleveland late-night horror host known as Ghoulardi, after whom Anderson would later name his production company. Anderson has three siblings, as well as five older half-siblings from his father's first marriage. He grew up in the San Fernando Valley and was raised as a Roman Catholic. He had a troubled relationship with his mother, but was close with his father, who encouraged him to become a writer or director. He attended various private schools, including The Buckley School, John Thomas Dye School, Campbell Hall School, Cushing Academy, and Montclair College Preparatory School. Anderson was involved in filmmaking from a young age, and never had an alternative plan to directing films. He made his first film when he was eight years old, and started making films on a Betamax video camera that his father bought in 1982. He later started using 8 mm film, but realized that video was easier. As a teenager, he began writing and experimenting with a Bolex 16 mm camera. After years of experimenting with "standard fare", he wrote and filmed his first real production as a senior at Montclair Prep, using money he earned cleaning cages at a pet store. The film was a 30-minute mockumentary about a porn star called The Dirk Diggler Story (1988), with a story inspired by John Holmes, who also served as a major inspiration for Boogie Nights (1997), the feature-length adaptation of The Dirk Diggler Story. ## Career ### 1990s Anderson attended Santa Monica College, before having two semesters as an English major at Emerson College, where he was taught by David Foster Wallace. Anderson spent two days at New York University before he began his career as a production assistant on television, films, music videos, and game shows in Los Angeles and New York City. Feeling that the material shown to him at film school turned the experience into "homework or a chore", Anderson decided to make a 20-minute film that would be his "college". For a budget of $10,000 (which was made up of gambling winnings, his girlfriend's credit card, and the money his father set aside for him for college), Anderson made Cigarettes & Coffee (1993), a short film connecting multiple storylines with a $20 bill. The film was screened at the 1993 Sundance Festival Shorts Program. He planned to expand the film to feature-length, and was invited to the 1994 Sundance Feature Film Program. Michael Caton-Jones served as Anderson's mentor. He saw him as someone with "talent and a fully formed creative voice, but not much hands-on experience", and gave him some hard and practical lessons. While at Sundance, Anderson had a deal with Rysher Entertainment to direct his first full-length feature film, Sydney, which was retitled Hard Eight. After completing the film, Rysher re-edited it. He had the workprint of the original cut and submitted the film to the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, where it was shown at the Un Certain Regard section. He had the version released, but only after he retitled the film, and raised the $200,000 necessary to finish it. Anderson, Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly and Gwyneth Paltrow contributed to the final funding. The version that was released was Anderson's and the acclaim from the film launched his career. The film follows the life of a senior gambler and a homeless man. Philip Seymour Hoffman worked with Anderson on five films. In his review of the film, Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert wrote, "Movies like Hard Eight remind me of what original, compelling characters the movies can sometimes give us." Anderson worked on the script for his second film while working on the first one, and completed it in 1995. The result was his breakout film Boogie Nights, which is based on his short film The Dirk Diggler Story and is set in the Golden Age of Porn. The film follows a nightclub dishwasher who becomes a pornographic actor under his stage name. The script was noticed by New Line Cinema's president, Michael De Luca, who felt "totally gaga" reading it. It was released on October 10, 1997, and was a critical and commercial success. The film revived the career of Burt Reynolds, and provided breakout roles for Mark Wahlberg and Julianne Moore. After the film's production, Reynolds refused to star in Anderson's third film, Magnolia. At the 70th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for three awards, including for Best Supporting Actor (Reynolds), Best Supporting Actress (Moore) and Best Original Screenplay. After the success of Boogie Nights, New Line told Anderson that he could do whatever he wanted for his next film and granted him creative control. Though Anderson initially wanted to make a film that was "intimate and small-scale", the script "kept blossoming". The result was the ensemble piece Magnolia (1999), which tells the story of the peculiar interaction of several individuals in San Fernando Valley. It was inspired by the music of the singer-songwriter Aimee Mann, who wrote songs for its soundtrack. At the 72nd Academy Awards, Magnolia was nominated for three awards, including for Best Supporting Actor (Tom Cruise), Best Original Song for "Save Me" by Mann, and Best Original Screenplay. After its release, Anderson said that "Magnolia is, for better or worse, the best movie I'll ever make". ### 2000s After the success of Magnolia, Anderson stated that he would make his next film around 90 minutes and would be working with Adam Sandler. The romance film is named Punch-Drunk Love (2002). It follows a beleaguered entrepreneur in love with his sister's co-worker. The film's main character for the subplot was inspired by real-life civil engineer David Phillips. Sandler received critical praise for his first dramatic role in the film. At the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, Anderson won the Best Director Award and was nominated for the Palme d'Or. Time Out included it among the best films of the 21st century. Karina Longworth wrote, "Paul Thomas Anderson's cracked ode to the transformative power of love in a world that actively mocks sensitivity is perhaps his most original work." There Will Be Blood (2007) was loosely based on Upton Sinclair's novel Oil\!. It follows a ruthless oil prospector exploiting the Southern California oil boom in the early 20th century. Against a budget of $25 million, the film earned $76.1 million worldwide. At the 80th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for eight awards, tying with No Country for Old Men. Anderson was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, losing all three to the Coen Brothers for No Country for Old Men. Daniel Day-Lewis won the Oscar for Best Actor and Robert Elswit won the prize for Best Cinematography. Paul Dano received a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Anderson was nominated for Best Director from the Directors Guild of America. There Will Be Blood was regarded by some critics as one of the greatest films of the decade, with some parties further declaring it one of the most accomplished American films of the modern era. David Denby of The New Yorker wrote, "the young writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson has now done work that bears comparison to the greatest achievements of Griffith and Ford", while Richard Schickel proclaimed it "one of the most wholly original American movies ever made." In 2017, New York Times film critics A. O. Scott and Manohla Dargis named it the "Best Film of the 21st Century So Far". ### 2010s In December 2009, Anderson worked on a new film about a "charismatic intellectual" starting a new religion in the 1950s. An associate of Anderson's stated that the idea for the film had been in his mind for twelve years. The Master was released on September 14, 2012, in North America to critical acclaim. The film follows an alcoholic World War II veteran, who meets the leader of a religious organization. Though the film makes no reference to the movement, it has "long been widely assumed to be based on Scientology." At the 85th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for three awards, including for Best Actor (Joaquin Phoenix), Best Supporting Actor (Hoffman) and Best Supporting Actress (Amy Adams). Production of the film adaptation for Thomas Pynchon's novel Inherent Vice began in May and ended in August 2013. The film marked the first time that Pynchon allowed his work to be adapted for the screen, and had Anderson work with Phoenix for a second time. The supporting cast includes Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Jena Malone, Martin Short, Benicio Del Toro, Katherine Waterston and Josh Brolin. Following its release in December 2014, the film was nominated for two awards at the 87th Academy Awards, including for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Costume Design. Anderson directed Junun, a 2015 documentary about the making of the album by the composer and Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, the Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, the Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur, and a group of Indian musicians. Most of the performances were recorded at the 15th-century Mehrangarh Fort in Rajasthan. Junun premiered at the 2015 New York Film Festival. Anderson's eighth film, Phantom Thread, set in the London fashion industry, was released in December 2017. Day-Lewis starred in his final film role to date, after his penultimate film Lincoln. The cast includes Lesley Manville and Vicky Krieps. Focus Features distributed the film in the United States, with Universal Pictures handling international distribution. Principal photography began in January 2017. Elswit was absent during production, and despite claims of Anderson acting as a cinematographer on the film, no official credit was given. On February 16, 2019, Elswit said he would not work with Anderson on his next films. Phantom Thread was nominated for six awards at the 90th Academy Awards, winning one for Best Costume Design. In 2019, Anderson directed the short music film Anima, starring the Radiohead singer Thom Yorke and featuring music from Yorke's album Anima. It was screened in select IMAX theatres on June 26 and released on Netflix on June 27. It was nominated for Best Music Film at the 2020 Grammy Awards. ### 2020s Anderson's ninth film, Licorice Pizza, was released in December 2021. The film was nominated for three awards at the 94th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. It follows a teenage actor in love with a photography assistant. In 2022, Anderson was brought in to rewrite portions of Ridley Scott's Napoleon biopic after star Joaquin Phoenix, who had worked on with Anderson on The Master, threatened to otherwise leave the project. On January 10, 2024, it was announced that Anderson had cast Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina Hall and Sean Penn, as part of the ensemble cast of The Battle of Baktan Cross based at Warner Bros. Pictures. Production began in California later that month with a reported $100 million budget. In February 2024, it was subsequently reported that Licorice Pizza star Alana Haim and singer Teyana Taylor had joined the cast for the film. ### Other work In 2000, Anderson wrote and directed a segment for Saturday Night Live with Ben Affleck, "SNL FANatic", based on the MTV series FANatic. He was a standby director during the 2005 filming of Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion for insurance purposes, as Altman was 80 years old at the time. In 2008, Anderson co-wrote and directed a 70-minute play at the Largo Theatre, comprising a series of vignettes starring Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen, with a live score by Jon Brion. Anderson has directed music videos for artists, including Fiona Apple, Radiohead, Haim, Joanna Newsom, Aimee Mann, Jon Brion and Michael Penn. Anderson directed a short film for Haim in 2017, Valentine, featuring three musical performances from the band. In 2023, Anderson collaborated with Yorke and Greenwood again on the videos for "Wall of Eyes" and "Friend of a Friend", by their band the Smile. ## Influences and style ### Influences Anderson attended film school for two days, preferring instead to learn by watching the films of directors he liked along with the accompanying director's audio commentary. He has cited Robert Altman, Jonathan Demme, Robert Downey, Sr., Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston, Stanley Kubrick, Akira Kurosawa, Mike Leigh, David Mamet, Anthony Mann, Vincente Minnelli, Max Ophüls, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Frank Tashlin, François Truffaut, Orson Welles and Billy Wilder as influences. ### Themes and style Anderson is known for films set in the San Fernando Valley with realistically flawed and desperate characters. Among the themes dealt with in the films are dysfunctional families, alienation, surrogate families, regret, loneliness, destiny, the power of forgiveness, and ghosts of the past. Anderson makes frequent use of repetition to build emphasis and thematic consistency. In Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love, and The Master, the phrase "I didn't do anything" is used at least once, developing themes of responsibility and denial. Anderson's films are known for their bold visual style which includes stylistic trademarks, such as constantly moving camera shots, steadicam-based long takes, memorable use of music, and multilayered audiovisual imagery. Anderson tends to reference the Book of Exodus, either explicitly or subtly, such as in recurring references to Exodus 8:2 in Magnolia, which chronicles the plague of frogs, culminating with the literal raining of frogs in the film's climax, or the title and themes in There Will Be Blood, a phrase in Exodus 7:19, which details the plague of blood. Within his first three films, Hard Eight, Boogie Nights and Magnolia, Anderson explored themes of dysfunctional families, alienation, and loneliness. Boogie Nights and Magnolia were noted for their large ensemble casts, which Anderson returned to in Inherent Vice. In Punch-Drunk Love, Anderson explored similar themes, but expressed a different visual style, shedding the influences and references of his earlier films, being more surreal and having a heightened sense of reality. It was also short, compared to his previous two films, at 90 minutes. There Will Be Blood stood apart from his first four films, but shared similar themes and style, such as flawed characters, moving camera, memorable music and a lengthy running time. The film was more overtly engaged with politics than his previous films had been, examining capitalism and themes such as savagery, optimism and obsession. The Master dealt with "ideas about American personality, success, rootlessness, master-disciple dynamics, and father-son mutually assured destruction." All of his films deal with American themes, with business versus art in Boogie Nights, ambition in There Will Be Blood, and self-reinvention in The Master. ### Collaborators Anderson frequently collaborates with many actors and crew, carrying them over on each film. He has referred to regular actors as "my little rep company", including John C. Reilly, Philip Baker Hall, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, Melora Walters and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Luis Guzmán is also considered an Anderson regular. Hoffman acted in Anderson's first four films as well as The Master. Except for Paul F. Tompkins, Kevin Breznahan and Jim Meskimen, who all had equally minor roles in Magnolia, There Will Be Blood had an entirely new cast. Anderson is one of three directors – the others being Jim Sheridan and Martin Scorsese – with whom Daniel Day-Lewis has collaborated more than once. Robert Elswit served as a cinematographer for Anderson's films, except The Master which was shot by Mihai Mălaimare Jr. and Phantom Thread which has no credited cinematographer. Jon Brion served as a composer for Hard Eight, Magnolia and Punch-Drunk Love, and Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead for every film since. Dylan Tichenor edited Boogie Nights, Magnolia, There Will Be Blood and Phantom Thread. Anderson regularly works with producers, JoAnne Sellar, Scott Rudin, Michael De Luca and Daniel Lupi, and casting director Cassandra Kulukundis. ## Filmography ## Personal life Anderson is a vegan. He dated musician Fiona Apple from 1997 to 2000. Apple said in 2020 that he had anger issues during their relationship, and once threw a chair across the room and another time shoved her out of his car. Apple said that aspects of the relationship had made her feel "fearful and numb". Anderson has been in a relationship with actress and comedian Maya Rudolph since November 2001. They live in the San Fernando Valley with their four children. ## Awards and recognition Anderson has been called "one of the most exciting talents to come along in years" and "among the supreme talents of today." After the release of Boogie Nights and Magnolia, Anderson was praised as a "wunderkind". In 2007, the American Film Institute regarded him as "one of American film's modern masters." In 2012, The Guardian ranked him number one on its list of "The 23 Best Film Directors in the World," writing "his dedication to his craft has intensified, with his disdain for PR and celebrity marking him out as the most devout filmmaker of his generation." In 2013, Entertainment Weekly named him the eighth-greatest working director, calling him "one of the most dynamic directors to emerge in the last 20 years." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote that "The Master, the sixth film from the 42-year-old writer-director, affirms his position as the foremost filmmaking talent of his generation. Anderson is a rock star, the artist who knows no limits." Other directors have also praised him. In an interview with Jan Aghed, Ingmar Bergman referenced Magnolia as an example of the strength of American cinema. Sam Mendes referred to Anderson as "a true auteur – and there are very few of those who I would classify as geniuses". In his acceptance speech for the Golden Globe Award for Best Director, Ben Affleck compared Anderson to Orson Welles. As of 2024, Anderson is the only person to win all three director prizes from the three major international film festivals (Cannes, Berlin, Venice).

Möbius strip

Non-orientable surface with one edge

In mathematics, a Möbius strip, Möbius band, or Möbius loop is a surface that can be formed by attaching the ends of a strip of paper together with a half-twist. As a mathematical object, it was discovered by Johann Benedict Listing and August Ferdinand Möbius in 1858, but it had already appeared in Roman mosaics from the third century CE. The Möbius strip is a non-orientable surface, meaning that within it one cannot consistently distinguish clockwise from counterclockwise turns. Every non-orientable surface contains a Möbius strip. As an abstract topological space, the Möbius strip can be embedded into three-dimensional Euclidean space in many different ways: a clockwise half-twist is different from a counterclockwise half-twist, and it can also be embedded with odd numbers of twists greater than one, or with a knotted centerline. Any two embeddings with the same knot for the centerline and the same number and direction of twists are topologically equivalent. All of these embeddings have only one side, but when embedded in other spaces, the Möbius strip may have two sides. It has only a single boundary curve. Several geometric constructions of the Möbius strip provide it with additional structure. It can be swept as a ruled surface by a line segment rotating in a rotating plane, with or without self-crossings. A thin paper strip with its ends joined to form a Möbius strip can bend smoothly as a developable surface or be folded flat; the flattened Möbius strips include the trihexaflexagon. The Sudanese Möbius strip is a minimal surface in a hypersphere, and the Meeks Möbius strip is a self-intersecting minimal surface in ordinary Euclidean space. Both the Sudanese Möbius strip and another self-intersecting Möbius strip, the cross-cap, have a circular boundary. A Möbius strip without its boundary, called an open Möbius strip, can form surfaces of constant curvature. Certain highly symmetric spaces whose points represent lines in the plane have the shape of a Möbius strip. The many applications of Möbius strips include mechanical belts that wear evenly on both sides, dual-track roller coasters whose carriages alternate between the two tracks, and world maps printed so that antipodes appear opposite each other. Möbius strips appear in molecules and devices with novel electrical and electromechanical properties, and have been used to prove impossibility results in social choice theory. In popular culture, Möbius strips appear in artworks by M. C. Escher, Max Bill, and others, and in the design of the recycling symbol. Many architectural concepts have been inspired by the Möbius strip, including the building design for the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Performers including Harry Blackstone Sr. and Thomas Nelson Downs have based stage magic tricks on the properties of the Möbius strip. The canons of J. S. Bach have been analyzed using Möbius strips. Many works of speculative fiction feature Möbius strips; more generally, a plot structure based on the Möbius strip, of events that repeat with a twist, is common in fiction. ## History The discovery of the Möbius strip as a mathematical object is attributed independently to the German mathematicians Johann Benedict Listing and August Ferdinand Möbius in 1858. However, it had been known long before, both as a physical object and in artistic depictions; in particular, it can be seen in several Roman mosaics from the third century CE. In many cases these merely depict coiled ribbons as boundaries. When the number of coils is odd, these ribbons are Möbius strips, but for an even number of coils they are topologically equivalent to untwisted rings. Therefore, whether the ribbon is a Möbius strip may be coincidental, rather than a deliberate choice. In at least one case, a ribbon with different colors on different sides was drawn with an odd number of coils, forcing its artist to make a clumsy fix at the point where the colors did not match up. Another mosaic from the town of Sentinum (depicted) shows the zodiac, held by the god Aion, as a band with only a single twist. There is no clear evidence that the one-sidedness of this visual representation of celestial time was intentional; it could have been chosen merely as a way to make all of the signs of the zodiac appear on the visible side of the strip. Some other ancient depictions of the ourobouros or of figure-eight-shaped decorations are also alleged to depict Möbius strips, but whether they were intended to depict flat strips of any type is unclear. Independently of the mathematical tradition, machinists have long known that mechanical belts wear half as quickly when they form Möbius strips, because they use the entire surface of the belt rather than only the inner surface of an untwisted belt. Additionally, such a belt may be less prone to curling from side to side. An early written description of this technique dates to 1871, which is after the first mathematical publications regarding the Möbius strip. Much earlier, an image of a chain pump in a work of Ismail al-Jazari from 1206 depicts a Möbius strip configuration for its drive chain. Another use of this surface was made by seamstresses in Paris (at an unspecified date): they initiated novices by requiring them to stitch a Möbius strip as a collar onto a garment. ## Properties The Möbius strip has several curious properties. It is a non-orientable surface: if an asymmetric two-dimensional object slides one time around the strip, it returns to its starting position as its mirror image. In particular, a curved arrow pointing clockwise (↻) would return as an arrow pointing counterclockwise (↺), implying that, within the Möbius strip, it is impossible to consistently define what it means to be clockwise or counterclockwise. It is the simplest non-orientable surface: any other surface is non-orientable if and only if it has a Möbius strip as a subset. Relatedly, when embedded into Euclidean space, the Möbius strip has only one side. A three-dimensional object that slides one time around the surface of the strip is not mirrored, but instead returns to the same point of the strip on what appears locally to be its other side, showing that both positions are really part of a single side. This behavior is different from familiar orientable surfaces in three dimensions such as those modeled by flat sheets of paper, cylindrical drinking straws, or hollow balls, for which one side of the surface is not connected to the other. However, this is a property of its embedding into space rather than an intrinsic property of the Möbius strip itself: there exist other topological spaces in which the Möbius strip can be embedded so that it has two sides. For instance, if the front and back faces of a cube are glued to each other with a left-right mirror reflection, the result is a three-dimensional topological space (the Cartesian product of a Möbius strip with an interval) in which the top and bottom halves of the cube can be separated from each other by a two-sided Möbius strip. In contrast to disks, spheres, and cylinders, for which it is possible to simultaneously embed an uncountable set of disjoint copies into three-dimensional space, only a countable number of Möbius strips can be simultaneously embedded. A path along the edge of a Möbius strip, traced until it returns to its starting point on the edge, includes all boundary points of the Möbius strip in a single continuous curve. For a Möbius strip formed by gluing and twisting a rectangle, it has twice the length of the centerline of the strip. In this sense, the Möbius strip is different from an untwisted ring and like a circular disk in having only one boundary. A Möbius strip in Euclidean space cannot be moved or stretched into its mirror image; it is a chiral object with right- or left-handedness. Möbius strips with odd numbers of half-twists greater than one, or that are knotted before gluing, are distinct as embedded subsets of three-dimensional space, even though they are all equivalent as two-dimensional topological surfaces. More precisely, two Möbius strips are equivalently embedded in three-dimensional space when their centerlines determine the same knot and they have the same number of twists as each other. With an even number of twists, however, one obtains a different topological surface, called the annulus. The Möbius strip can be continuously transformed into its centerline, by making it narrower while fixing the points on the centerline. This transformation is an example of a deformation retraction, and its existence means that the Möbius strip has many of the same properties as its centerline, which is topologically a circle. In particular, its fundamental group is the same as the fundamental group of a circle, an infinite cyclic group. Therefore, paths on the Möbius strip that start and end at the same point can be distinguished topologically (up to homotopy) only by the number of times they loop around the strip. Cutting a Möbius strip along the centerline with a pair of scissors yields one long strip with four half-twists in it (relative to an untwisted annulus or cylinder) rather than two separate strips. Two of the half-twists come from the fact that this thinner strip goes two times through the half-twist in the original Möbius strip, and the other two come from the way the two halves of the thinner strip wrap around each other. The result is not a Möbius strip, but instead is topologically equivalent to a cylinder. Cutting this double-twisted strip again along its centerline produces two linked double-twisted strips. If, instead, a Möbius strip is cut lengthwise, a third of the way across its width, it produces two linked strips. One of the two is a central, thinner, Möbius strip, while the other has two half-twists. These interlinked shapes, formed by lengthwise slices of Möbius strips with varying widths, are sometimes called paradromic rings. The Möbius strip can be cut into six mutually-adjacent regions, showing that maps on the surface of the Möbius strip can sometimes require six colors, in contrast to the four color theorem for the plane. Six colors are always enough. This result is part of the Ringel–Youngs theorem, which states how many colors each topological surface needs. The edges and vertices of these six regions form Tietze's graph, which is a dual graph on this surface for the six-vertex complete graph but cannot be drawn without crossings on a plane. Another family of graphs that can be embedded on the Möbius strip, but not on the plane, are the Möbius ladders, the boundaries of subdivisions of the Möbius strip into rectangles meeting end-to-end. These include the utility graph, a six-vertex complete bipartite graph whose embedding into the Möbius strip shows that, unlike in the plane, the three utilities problem can be solved on a transparent Möbius strip. The Euler characteristic of the Möbius strip is zero, meaning that for any subdivision of the strip by vertices and edges into regions, the numbers \(V\), \(E\), and \(F\) of vertices, edges, and regions satisfy \(V-E+F=0\). For instance, Tietze's graph has \(12\) vertices, \(18\) edges, and \(6\) regions; \(12-18+6=0\). ## Constructions There are many different ways of defining geometric surfaces with the topology of the Möbius strip, yielding realizations with additional geometric properties. ### Sweeping a line segment One way to embed the Möbius strip in three-dimensional Euclidean space is to sweep it out by a line segment rotating in a plane, which in turn rotates around one of its lines. For the swept surface to meet up with itself after a half-twist, the line segment should rotate around its center at half the angular velocity of the plane's rotation. This can be described as a parametric surface defined by equations for the Cartesian coordinates of its points, \(\begin{align} x(u,v)&= \left(1+\frac{v}{2} \cos \frac{u}{2}\right)\cos u\\ y(u,v)&= \left(1+\frac{v}{2} \cos\frac{u}{2}\right)\sin u\\ z(u,v)&= \frac{v}{2}\sin \frac{u}{2}\\ \end{align}\) for \(0 \le u< 2\pi\) and \(-1 \le v\le 1\), where one parameter \(u\) describes the rotation angle of the plane around its central axis and the other parameter \(v\) describes the position of a point along the rotating line segment. This produces a Möbius strip of width 1, whose center circle has radius 1, lies in the \(xy\)-plane and is centered at \((0, 0, 0)\). The same method can produce Möbius strips with any odd number of half-twists, by rotating the segment more quickly in its plane. The rotating segment sweeps out a circular disk in the plane that it rotates within, and the Möbius strip that it generates forms a slice through the solid torus swept out by this disk. Because of the one-sidedness of this slice, the sliced torus remains connected. A line or line segment swept in a different motion, rotating in a horizontal plane around the origin as it moves up and down, forms Plücker's conoid or cylindroid, an algebraic ruled surface in the form of a self-crossing Möbius strip. It has applications in the design of gears. ### Polyhedral surfaces and flat foldings A strip of paper can form a flattened Möbius strip in the plane by folding it at \(60^\circ\) angles so that its center line lies along an equilateral triangle, and attaching the ends. The shortest strip for which this is possible consists of three equilateral triangles, folded at the edges where two triangles meet. Its aspect ratio – the ratio of the strip's length to its width – is \(\sqrt 3\approx 1.73\), and the same folding method works for any larger aspect ratio. For a strip of nine equilateral triangles, the result is a trihexaflexagon, which can be flexed to reveal different parts of its surface. For strips too short to apply this method directly, one can first "accordion fold" the strip in its wide direction back and forth using an even number of folds. With two folds, for example, a \(1\times 1\) strip would become a \(1\times \tfrac{1}{3}\) folded strip whose cross section is in the shape of an 'N' and would remain an 'N' after a half-twist. The narrower accordion-folded strip can then be folded and joined in the same way that a longer strip would be. The Möbius strip can also be embedded as a polyhedral surface in space or flat-folded in the plane, with only five triangular faces sharing five vertices. In this sense, it is simpler than the cylinder, which requires six triangles and six vertices, even when represented more abstractly as a simplicial complex. A five-triangle Möbius strip can be represented most symmetrically by five of the ten equilateral triangles of a four-dimensional regular simplex. This four-dimensional polyhedral Möbius strip is the only tight Möbius strip, one that is fully four-dimensional and for which all cuts by hyperplanes separate it into two parts that are topologically equivalent to disks or circles. Other polyhedral embeddings of Möbius strips include one with four convex quadrilaterals as faces, another with three non-convex quadrilateral faces, and one using the vertices and center point of a regular octahedron, with a triangular boundary. Every abstract triangulation of the projective plane can be embedded into 3D as a polyhedral Möbius strip with a triangular boundary after removing one of its faces; an example is the six-vertex projective plane obtained by adding one vertex to the five-vertex Möbius strip, connected by triangles to each of its boundary edges. However, not every abstract triangulation of the Möbius strip can be represented geometrically, as a polyhedral surface. To be realizable, it is necessary and sufficient that there be no two disjoint non-contractible 3-cycles in the triangulation. ### Smoothly embedded rectangles A rectangular Möbius strip, made by attaching the ends of a paper rectangle, can be embedded smoothly into three-dimensional space whenever its aspect ratio is greater than \(\sqrt 3\approx 1.73\), the same ratio as for the flat-folded equilateral-triangle version of the Möbius strip. This flat triangular embedding can lift to a smooth embedding in three dimensions, in which the strip lies flat in three parallel planes between three cylindrical rollers, each tangent to two of the planes. Mathematically, a smoothly embedded sheet of paper can be modeled as a developable surface, that can bend but cannot stretch. As its aspect ratio decreases toward \(\sqrt 3\), all smooth embeddings seem to approach the same triangular form. The lengthwise folds of an accordion-folded flat Möbius strip prevent it from forming a three-dimensional embedding in which the layers are separated from each other and bend smoothly without crumpling or stretching away from the folds. Instead, unlike in the flat-folded case, there is a lower limit to the aspect ratio of smooth rectangular Möbius strips. Their aspect ratio cannot be less than \(\pi/2\approx 1.57\), even if self-intersections are allowed. Self-intersecting smooth Möbius strips exist for any aspect ratio above this bound. Without self-intersections, the aspect ratio must be at least \(\frac{2}{3}\sqrt{3+2\sqrt3}\approx 1.695.\) For aspect ratios between this bound and \(\sqrt 3\), it has been an open problem whether smooth embeddings, without self-intersection, exist. In 2023, Richard Schwartz announced a proof that they do not exist, but this result still awaits peer review and publication. If the requirement of smoothness is relaxed to allow continuously differentiable surfaces, the Nash–Kuiper theorem implies that any two opposite edges of any rectangle can be glued to form an embedded Möbius strip, no matter how small the aspect ratio becomes. The limiting case, a surface obtained from an infinite strip of the plane between two parallel lines, glued with the opposite orientation to each other, is called the unbounded Möbius strip or the real tautological line bundle. Although it has no smooth closed embedding into three-dimensional space, it can be embedded smoothly as a closed subset of four-dimensional Euclidean space. The minimum-energy shape of a smooth Möbius strip glued from a rectangle does not have a known analytic description, but can be calculated numerically, and has been the subject of much study in plate theory since the initial work on this subject in 1930 by Michael Sadowsky. It is also possible to find algebraic surfaces that contain rectangular developable Möbius strips. ### Making the boundary circular The edge, or boundary, of a Möbius strip is topologically equivalent to a circle. In common forms of the Möbius strip, it has a different shape from a circle, but it is unknotted, and therefore the whole strip can be stretched without crossing itself to make the edge perfectly circular. One such example is based on the topology of the Klein bottle, a one-sided surface with no boundary that cannot be embedded into three-dimensional space, but can be immersed (allowing the surface to cross itself in certain restricted ways). A Klein bottle is the surface that results when two Möbius strips are glued together edge-to-edge, and – reversing that process – a Klein bottle can be sliced along a carefully chosen cut to produce two Möbius strips. For a form of the Klein bottle known as Lawson's Klein bottle, the curve along which it is sliced can be made circular, resulting in Möbius strips with circular edges. Lawson's Klein bottle is a self-crossing minimal surface in the unit hypersphere of 4-dimensional space, the set of points of the form \((\cos\theta\cos\phi,\sin\theta\cos\phi,\cos2\theta\sin\phi,\sin2\theta\sin \phi)\) for \(0\le\theta<\pi,0\le\phi<2\pi\). Half of this Klein bottle, the subset with \(0\le\phi<\pi\), gives a Möbius strip embedded in the hypersphere as a minimal surface with a great circle as its boundary. This embedding is sometimes called the "Sudanese Möbius strip" after topologists Sue Goodman and Daniel Asimov, who discovered it in the 1970s. Geometrically Lawson's Klein bottle can be constructed by sweeping a great circle through a great-circular motion in the 3-sphere, and the Sudanese Möbius strip is obtained by sweeping a semicircle instead of a circle, or equivalently by slicing the Klein bottle along a circle that is perpendicular to all of the swept circles. Stereographic projection transforms this shape from a three-dimensional spherical space into three-dimensional Euclidean space, preserving the circularity of its boundary. The most symmetric projection is obtained by using a projection point that lies on that great circle that runs through the midpoint of each of the semicircles, but produces an unbounded embedding with the projection point removed from its centerline. Instead, leaving the Sudanese Möbius strip unprojected, in the 3-sphere, leaves it with an infinite group of symmetries isomorphic to the orthogonal group \(\mathrm{O}(2)\), the group of symmetries of a circle. The Sudanese Möbius strip extends on all sides of its boundary circle, unavoidably if the surface is to avoid crossing itself. Another form of the Möbius strip, called the cross-cap or crosscap, also has a circular boundary, but otherwise stays on only one side of the plane of this circle, making it more convenient for attaching onto circular holes in other surfaces. In order to do so, it crosses itself. It can be formed by removing a quadrilateral from the top of a hemisphere, orienting the edges of the quadrilateral in alternating directions, and then gluing opposite pairs of these edges consistently with this orientation. The two parts of the surface formed by the two glued pairs of edges cross each other with a pinch point like that of a Whitney umbrella at each end of the crossing segment, the same topological structure seen in Plücker's conoid. ### Surfaces of constant curvature The open Möbius strip is the relative interior of a standard Möbius strip, formed by omitting the points on its boundary edge. It may be given a Riemannian geometry of constant positive, negative, or zero Gaussian curvature. The cases of negative and zero curvature form geodesically complete surfaces, which means that all geodesics ("straight lines" on the surface) may be extended indefinitely in either direction. - Zero curvature An open strip with zero curvature may be constructed by gluing the opposite sides of a plane strip between two parallel lines, described above as the tautological line bundle. The resulting metric makes the open Möbius strip into a (geodesically) complete flat surface (i.e., having zero Gaussian curvature everywhere). This is the unique metric on the Möbius strip, up to uniform scaling, that is both flat and complete. It is the quotient space of a plane by a glide reflection, and (together with the plane, cylinder, torus, and Klein bottle) is one of only five two-dimensional complete flat manifolds. - Negative curvature The open Möbius strip also admits complete metrics of constant negative curvature. One way to see this is to begin with the upper half plane (Poincaré) model of the hyperbolic plane, a geometry of constant curvature whose lines are represented in the model by semicircles that meet the \(x\)-axis at right angles. Take the subset of the upper half-plane between any two nested semicircles, and identify the outer semicircle with the left-right reversal of the inner semicircle. The result is topologically a complete and non-compact Möbius strip with constant negative curvature. It is a "nonstandard" complete hyperbolic surface in the sense that it contains a complete hyperbolic half-plane (actually two, on opposite sides of the axis of glide-reflection), and is one of only 13 nonstandard surfaces. Again, this can be understood as the quotient of the hyperbolic plane by a glide reflection. - Positive curvature A Möbius strip of constant positive curvature cannot be complete, since it is known that the only complete surfaces of constant positive curvature are the sphere and the projective plane. However, in a sense it is only one point away from being a complete surface, as the open Möbius strip is homeomorphic to the once-punctured projective plane, the surface obtained by removing any one point from the projective plane. The minimal surfaces are described as having constant zero mean curvature instead of constant Gaussian curvature. The Sudanese Möbius strip was constructed as a minimal surface bounded by a great circle in a 3-sphere, but there is also a unique complete (boundaryless) minimal surface immersed in Euclidean space that has the topology of an open Möbius strip. It is called the Meeks Möbius strip, after its 1982 description by William Hamilton Meeks, III. Although globally unstable as a minimal surface, small patches of it, bounded by non-contractible curves within the surface, can form stable embedded Möbius strips as minimal surfaces. Both the Meeks Möbius strip, and every higher-dimensional minimal surface with the topology of the Möbius strip, can be constructed using solutions to the Björling problem, which defines a minimal surface uniquely from its boundary curve and tangent planes along this curve. ### Spaces of lines The family of lines in the plane can be given the structure of a smooth space, with each line represented as a point in this space. The resulting space of lines is topologically equivalent to the open Möbius strip. One way to see this is to extend the Euclidean plane to the real projective plane by adding one more line, the line at infinity. By projective duality the space of lines in the projective plane is equivalent to its space of points, the projective plane itself. Removing the line at infinity, to produce the space of Euclidean lines, punctures this space of projective lines. Therefore, the space of Euclidean lines is a punctured projective plane, which is one of the forms of the open Möbius strip. The space of lines in the hyperbolic plane can be parameterized by unordered pairs of distinct points on a circle, the pairs of points at infinity of each line. This space, again, has the topology of an open Möbius strip. These spaces of lines are highly symmetric. The symmetries of Euclidean lines include the affine transformations, and the symmetries of hyperbolic lines include the Möbius transformations. The affine transformations and Möbius transformations both form 6-dimensional Lie groups, topological spaces having a compatible algebraic structure describing the composition of symmetries. Because every line in the plane is symmetric to every other line, the open Möbius strip is a homogeneous space, a space with symmetries that take every point to every other point. Homogeneous spaces of Lie groups are called solvmanifolds, and the Möbius strip can be used as a counterexample, showing that not every solvmanifold is a nilmanifold, and that not every solvmanifold can be factored into a direct product of a compact solvmanifold with \(\mathbb{R}^n\). These symmetries also provide another way to construct the Möbius strip itself, as a group model of these Lie groups. A group model consists of a Lie group and a stabilizer subgroup of its action; contracting the cosets of the subgroup to points produces a space with the same topology as the underlying homogenous space. In the case of the symmetries of Euclidean lines, the stabilizer of the \(x\)-axis consists of all symmetries that take the axis to itself. Each line \(\ell\) corresponds to a coset, the set of symmetries that map \(\ell\) to the \(x\)-axis. Therefore, the quotient space, a space that has one point per coset and inherits its topology from the space of symmetries, is the same as the space of lines, and is again an open Möbius strip. ## Applications Beyond the already-discussed applications of Möbius strips to the design of mechanical belts that wear evenly on their entire surface, and of the Plücker conoid to the design of gears, other applications of Möbius strips include: - Graphene ribbons twisted to form Möbius strips with new electronic characteristics including helical magnetism - Möbius aromaticity, a property of organic chemicals whose molecular structure forms a cycle, with molecular orbitals aligned along the cycle in the pattern of a Möbius strip - The Möbius resistor, a strip of conductive material covering the single side of a dielectric Möbius strip, in a way that cancels its own self-inductance - Resonators with a compact design and a resonant frequency that is half that of identically constructed linear coils - Polarization patterns in light emerging from a q-plate - A proof of the impossibility of continuous, anonymous, and unanimous two-party aggregation rules in social choice theory - Möbius loop roller coasters, a form of dual-tracked roller coaster in which the two tracks spiral around each other an odd number of times, so that the carriages return to the other track than the one they started on - World maps projected onto a Möbius strip with the convenient properties that there are no east–west boundaries, and that the antipode of any point on the map can be found on the other printed side of the surface at the same point of the Möbius strip Scientists have also studied the energetics of soap films shaped as Möbius strips, the chemical synthesis of molecules with a Möbius strip shape, and the formation of larger nanoscale Möbius strips using DNA origami. ## In popular culture Two-dimensional artworks featuring the Möbius strip include an untitled 1947 painting by Corrado Cagli (memorialized in a poem by Charles Olson), and two prints by M. C. Escher: Möbius Band I (1961), depicting three folded flatfish biting each others' tails; and Möbius Band II (1963), depicting ants crawling around a lemniscate-shaped Möbius strip. It is also a popular subject of mathematical sculpture, including works by Max Bill (Endless Ribbon, 1953), José de Rivera (Infinity, 1967), and Sebastián. A trefoil-knotted Möbius strip was used in John Robinson's Immortality (1982). Charles O. Perry's Continuum (1976) is one of several pieces by Perry exploring variations of the Möbius strip. Because of their easily recognized form, Möbius strips are a common element of graphic design. The familiar three-arrow logo for recycling, designed in 1970, is based on the smooth triangular form of the Möbius strip, as was the logo for the environmentally-themed Expo '74. Some variations of the recycling symbol use a different embedding with three half-twists instead of one, and the original version of the Google Drive logo used a flat-folded three-twist Möbius strip, as have other similar designs. The Brazilian Instituto Nacional de Matemática Pura e Aplicada (IMPA) uses a stylized smooth Möbius strip as their logo, and has a matching large sculpture of a Möbius strip on display in their building. The Möbius strip has also featured in the artwork for postage stamps from countries including Brazil, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Möbius strips have been a frequent inspiration for the architectural design of buildings and bridges. However, many of these are projects or conceptual designs rather than constructed objects, or stretch their interpretation of the Möbius strip beyond its recognizability as a mathematical form or a functional part of the architecture. An example is the National Library of Kazakhstan, for which a building was planned in the shape of a thickened Möbius strip but refinished with a different design after the original architects pulled out of the project. One notable building incorporating a Möbius strip is the NASCAR Hall of Fame, which is surrounded by a large twisted ribbon of stainless steel acting as a façade and canopy, and evoking the curved shapes of racing tracks. On a smaller scale, Moebius Chair (2006) by Pedro Reyes is a courting bench whose base and sides have the form of a Möbius strip. As a form of mathematics and fiber arts, scarves have been knit into Möbius strips since the work of Elizabeth Zimmermann in the early 1980s. In food styling, Möbius strips have been used for slicing bagels, making loops out of bacon, and creating new shapes for pasta. Although mathematically the Möbius strip and the fourth dimension are both purely spatial concepts, they have often been invoked in speculative fiction as the basis for a time loop into which unwary victims may become trapped. Examples of this trope include Martin Gardner's "No-Sided Professor" (1946), Armin Joseph Deutsch's "A Subway Named Mobius" (1950) and the film Moebius (1996) based on it. An entire world shaped like a Möbius strip is the setting of Arthur C. Clarke's "The Wall of Darkness" (1946), while conventional Möbius strips are used as clever inventions in multiple stories of William Hazlett Upson from the 1940s. Other works of fiction have been analyzed as having a Möbius strip–like structure, in which elements of the plot repeat with a twist; these include Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time (1913–1927), Luigi Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author (1921), Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (1946), John Barth's Lost in the Funhouse (1968), Samuel R. Delany's Dhalgren (1975) and the film Donnie Darko (2001). One of the musical canons by J. S. Bach, the fifth of 14 canons (BWV 1087) discovered in 1974 in Bach's copy of the Goldberg Variations, features a glide-reflect symmetry in which each voice in the canon repeats, with inverted notes, the same motif from two measures earlier. Because of this symmetry, this canon can be thought of as having its score written on a Möbius strip. In music theory, tones that differ by an octave are generally considered to be equivalent notes, and the space of possible notes forms a circle, the chromatic circle. Because the Möbius strip is the configuration space of two unordered points on a circle, the space of all two-note chords takes the shape of a Möbius strip. This conception, and generalizations to more points, is a significant application of orbifolds to music theory. Modern musical groups taking their name from the Möbius strip include American electronic rock trio Mobius Band and Norwegian progressive rock band Ring Van Möbius. Möbius strips and their properties have been used in the design of stage magic. One such trick, known as the Afghan bands, uses the fact that the Möbius strip remains in one piece as a single strip when cut lengthwise. It originated in the 1880s, and was very popular in the first half of the twentieth century. Many versions of this trick exist and have been performed by famous illusionists such as Harry Blackstone Sr. and Thomas Nelson Downs. ## See also - Möbius counter, a shift register whose output bit is complemented before being fed back into the input bit - Penrose triangle, an impossible figure whose boundary appears to wrap around it in a Möbius strip - Ribbon theory, the mathematical theory of infinitesimally thin strips that follow knotted space curves - Smale–Williams attractor, a fractal formed by repeatedly thickening a space curve to a Möbius strip and then replacing it with the boundary edge - Umbilic torus

Biman Bangladesh Airlines

Flag carrier of Bangladesh

Biman Bangladesh Airlines, commonly known as Biman (/biːmɑːn/ bee-mah-n, ), is the national flag carrier of Bangladesh. With its main hub at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, the airline also operates flights from its secondary hubs at Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong and as well as Osmani International Airport in Sylhet. The airline provides international passenger and cargo services to multiple destinations and has air service agreements in 42 countries. The headquarters of the airline, Balaka Bhaban, is located in Kurmitola, in the northern part of Dhaka. Annual Hajj flights, transporting tourists, migrants, and non-resident Bangladeshi workers and the activities of its subsidiaries form an integral part of the corporate business of the airline. Bangladesh's air transport sector, which is experiencing an 8% annual growth rate thanks to a large number of outbound tourists, domestic tourists, and non-resident Bangladeshi travellers, is very competitive with stiff competition among some private Bangladeshi airlines as well as Biman. Created in February 1972, Biman enjoyed an internal monopoly in the aviation industry of Bangladesh for 24 years, until 1996. In the decades following its founding, the airline expanded its fleet and destinations but it was adversely affected by corruption and mismanagement. At its peak, Biman operated flights to 29 international destinations, extending from New York City in the west to Tokyo in the east. The airline was wholly owned and managed by the government of Bangladesh until 23 July 2007, when it was transformed into the country's largest public limited company by the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh. Since becoming a public limited company in 2007, the airline has reduced staff and begun to modernize its fleet. The airline had signed a deal with Boeing to buy ten new aircraft and options for ten more in 2008. After getting delivery of the new planes, Biman expanded its destinations and increased in-flight amenities, especially onboard Internet, WiFi, mobile telephony and live TV streams. During his visit to Dhaka in September 2023, French President Emmanuel Macron and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced the order of ten Airbus A350 aircraft for Biman. The Airbus order consists of the purchase by Biman Bangladesh Airlines of two A350F cargo aircraft and eight A350 passenger aircraft. The aircraft will be delivered in stages with two passenger A350 aircraft joining the Biman fleet first. Biman Bangladesh Airlines is certified as safe to fly in Europe by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. In addition, Biman has also successfully passed the IATA Operational Safety Audit and since then, the airline has resumed flights to some of its previous destinations in Asia and Europe. In recent times, Biman Bangladesh Airlines has seen a marked improvement in punctuality, as well as in on-time flight performance, under its new management team. ## History Biman Bangladesh Airlines was established on 4 January 1972 as Bangladesh's national airline under the Bangladesh Biman Ordinance (Presidential Order No. 126). The initiative to launch the flag carrier was taken by 2,500 former employees, including ten Boeing 707 commanders and seven other former pilots of Pakistan International Airlines, who submitted a proposal to the government on 31 December 1971 following the independence of Bangladesh. The airline was initially called Air Bangladesh but was soon changed to Biman Bangladesh Airlines, its current name. On 4 February 1972, Biman started its domestic services, initially linking Dhaka with Chittagong, Jessore and Sylhet, using a single Douglas DC-3 acquired from India. Following the crash of this DC-3 on 10 February 1972, near Dhaka, during a test flight, two Fokker F27s belonging to Indian Airlines and supplied by the Indian government entered the fleet as a replacement. Shortly afterwards, additional capacity was provided with the incorporation of a Douglas DC-6, loaned by the World Council of Churches, which was in turn replaced with another Douglas DC-6, a DC-6B model leased from Troll-Air, to operate the Dhaka-Calcutta route. On 4 March 1972, Biman started its international operations with a weekly flight to London using a Boeing 707 chartered from British Caledonian. The short haul fleet was supplemented by a Fokker F27 from India on 3 March 1972; the aircraft was employed on a daily scheduled flight between Calcutta and Dhaka on 28 April 1972. Three additional Fokker F27s were acquired during March and September of that year. In the first year of operation, Biman operated 1,079 flights carrying just over 380,000 passengers. Four Fokker F27s joined the fleet in 1973, enabling Biman to double the frequency of the Kolkata flight to a twice daily service. A Boeing 707 was added to the fleet in September and the flight to London became twice-weekly, while a Chittagong–Kolkata flight also began operating. In 1974, operations were extended to Kathmandu (February), Bangkok (November) and Dubai (December). In 1976, Biman sold two of its Fokker F27s and bought another Boeing 707 to extend international services to Abu Dhabi, Karachi and Mumbai. Singapore was added to Biman's list of international destinations, when a third Boeing 707 was purchased in February 1977, followed by Jeddah, Doha and Amsterdam the following year, which also saw the purchase of its fourth Boeing 707. In 1977, Biman was converted into a public sector corporation to be governed by a board of directors appointed by the government. The airline broke even for the first time in 1977–78, and made a profit the following year. International destinations expanded to include Kuala Lumpur, Athens, Muscat and Tripoli in 1979, followed by Yangon, Tokyo and Dhahran in 1980. Biman took delivery of its first 85-seater Fokker F28-4000 in 1981. In 1983, three Douglas DC-10s joined the fleet and the airline started to phase out the Boeing 707s. The flight network expanded further to include Baghdad (1983), Paris (1984) and Bahrain (1986). On 5 August 1984, Biman faced its worst accident ever when a Fokker F27 flying in from Chittagong crashed near Dhaka, killing all 49 on board. The long haul fleet was then supplemented by the purchase of two new Airbus A310s in 1996, followed by the addition of two more in 2000, from Singapore Airlines and Air Jamaica, and another in 2003. ## Corporate affairs ### Key people Retired Senior Secretary Mostafa Kamal Uddin replaced former Senior Secretary Sajjadul Hassan, who had completed his term, as the chairman of the airline in January 2023. Additional secretary to the government Shafiul Azim is the chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD). Previously, Kevin John Steele, who served as MD and CEO of Biman from March 2013 to April 2014, was the first foreign national in the airline's history to be appointed CEO and MD of Biman. He was chosen from a pool of 42 local and foreign candidates after a competitive selection process. Steele was a British citizen who had many years of experience working in management and administrative positions at British Airways and other airlines around the world. Steele resigned from Biman's MD and CEO positions in December 2013 citing health issues. Steele left office on . Kyle Haywood took office as Biman's MD and CEO on 5 January 2015. A British national, Haywood was the second foreign national to hold the airline's CEO position after Kevin Steele. ### Ownership The airline was wholly owned by the Bangladeshi government through the Bangladesh Biman Corporation since its inception. In 1977, Biman was converted into a public sector corporation which afforded Biman limited autonomy, led by a government-appointed board of directors. The authorised share capital was increased to BDT 2 billion in 1987, and Biman was transformed into a public limited company, the largest in Bangladesh, in 2007. ### Privatization #### 1980s During the late 1980s, Hossain Mohammad Ershad, President of Bangladesh at the time, served as president of Biman. After an early period of expansion and growth, Biman entered an era of nose-diving profits and slow growth, exacerbated by incompetent and corrupt management, who padded purchases, falsified repair bills, and kept unprofitable routes in operation for political reasons. Research conducted in 1996 found that Biman had 5,253 non-flying personnel, 30 percent more than Singapore Airlines, a carrier who operated a fleet almost ten times the size of Biman's. The report described Biman as "poorly managed, overstaffed, under-capitalized, and subject to excessive political interference in its day-to-day management." #### 1990s In the 1992–93 fiscal year, accounts under the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism revealed that BDT 22 million in tax was not paid to the government. The audit carried out in 1999, also showed that Biman was owed BDT 2.2 million by travel agents from the proceeds of ticket sales, most likely with the collusion of Biman officials. Additionally, BDT 2.4 million was overpaid as incentive commissions to the sales agents in violation of Biman policies. In 2007, the caretaker government launched an anti-corruption drive. This was shortly followed by the forced retirement of 35 other employees and officials, some of whom were close aides of Shamim Iskander. In 2008, Iskander, younger brother of former premier Khaleda Zia, was sent to jail over charges of concealing information regarding his wealth and not for his connection with Biman. Faced with growing losses from the late 1990s onwards, the government offered 40 percent of Biman to foreign airlines in 2004, hoping a buyer would take over the management of the carrier. However, the proposal demanded that many decision-making rights remain within the Bangladesh government, and the offer was ignored by outside airlines. A similar initiative in 1998 cost Biman $1.6 million in consultancy fees with no positive results. #### 2000s In the 2005–06 fiscal year, Biman carried 1.15 million passengers, a growth of 70% over the previous decade. With the rise of private domestic carriers in Bangladesh, however, Biman's market share for domestic passengers dropped by 35% over the previous ten years' average, with only 162,000 passengers travelling with Biman in the domestic sector in the 2005–06 fiscal year. During the same period, Biman reported its biggest annual loss of over US$120 million (BDT 8.3 billion as of 2010), with a US$100 million (BDT 6.9 billion as of 2010) loss reported the following year. Biman also fell behind on millions of dollars in payments to its fuel supplier, the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), with debts that rose to BDT 15.64 billion in late December 2006. #### Public limited company In May 2007, the caretaker government approved plans to turn Biman into a public limited company with shareholdings split between seven public sector organisations. As a part of the restructuring, the government put in place a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) to reduce the man-equipment ratio (MER) of 367:1 (ratio of manpower to aircraft). The industry average at the time was 200:1, and other Asian airlines operated with MERs of about 150:1. The VRS provided compensation based on length of service, at a cost to the government of over BDT 2.97 billion borrowed from the World Bank. Biman management expected to reduce its workforce by 1,600, but 2,162 applications were received, many from employees who expected to be dismissed with little or no severance pay if the quota was not met. Biman accepted between 1,863 and 1877 applications, and affirmed that key personnel would not be allowed to leave the organisation via VRS. On 23 July 2007, Biman Bangladesh Airlines became the largest public limited company in Bangladesh. Earlier suggestions that the airline should be renamed Bangladesh Airlines were rejected. The government is the sole shareholder of the 1.5 billion shares, but intends to offer 49 percent to the private sector while retaining majority ownership. The previous managing director, Dr. Abdul Momen, was appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director of the new organisation. The six directors were appointed from the ministries of energy, commerce, finance, civil aviation, foreign affairs, and the cabinet division, with the cabinet secretary taking on the role as chairman of the board of directors. The six secretaries and a joint secretary to the civil aviation ministry were made the seven shareholders of the new PLC. In September 2008, the government appointed Air Commodore Zahed Kuddus (retd) to replace Dr. Momen as CEO. From 2002 to 2005 Kuddus had been chair of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), before which he had held various posts in the Bangladesh Air Force. Following the privatisation, an initiative was launched by ex-Biman employees, who left the organisation via the VRS, to set up a competing airline. Names proposed for the airline included Air Bangla International, Biman Employees Airlines and Balaka. They were joined by previous managing directors of Biman, along with the former president of the Bangladesh Airline Pilots' Association. However, nothing further was heard of regarding the proposed venture. The airline made profits in FY 2007–08 (BDT 60 million) and FY 2008–09 (BDT 150 million); In FY 2009–10, however, the carrier incurred in a net loss of BDT 800 million. #### 2010s In FY 2010–11 it made losses of BDT 2 billion, despite the government exempting it a debt of about BDT 11.94 billion and BDT 5.73 billion owed to the BPC and the CAAB, respectively. In FY 2011–12 it made a loss of BDT 6.06 billion (US$75 million); in FY 2012–13 unaudited figures show a loss of BDT 2 billion. At December 2013, Biman owed BDT 15.60 billion to different sources; of which BDT 3676.2 million to CAAB and BDT 8.50 billion to Padma Oil Company, its fuel supplier. Biman made three consecutive profits of BDT3.24 billion, BDT2.76 billion and BDT1.51 billion for FYs 2014–15, 2015–16 and 2016–17, respectively. The net profit for FY 2016–17 was BDT470 million. In the FY 2017–18 Biman had an operating income of but having an expense of , it incurred a loss of . But in the FY 2018–19 its operating income and expenses both decreased to and respectively and Biman earned a net profit of ### Subsidiaries Biman's subsidiaries are associated with aircraft ground handling, aviation engineering, aviation training and flight catering. There are five wholly owned subsidiaries, including: Since 1972, BGH provides ground-handling services for all airports in Bangladesh; the company reported a profit of BDT 4.5 billion for the FY 2011–12. The wholly owned subsidiary BFCC was set up in 1989 to provide in-flight meals. It is one of Biman's profitable operations, supplying food to Saudia, Etihad, Malaysia Airlines, Thai Airways, Emirates, China Southern Airlines and Regent Airways, along with casual orders from other airlines operating into Bangladesh. The BFCC consumes 90% of the eggs and chickens from the BPC, another profit-making subsidiary of Biman formed in 1976 and put into operation in November 1980 to rear poultry at farms in Dhaka. Bird flu was detected at one of the farms in March 2007, and many of the birds were culled. This was the first incident of bird flu in Bangladesh. ## Services In 2013, Biman signed agreements with SITA and Mercator to provide infrastructure support and revenue accounting services to the airline. In 2014, Biman launched an advanced seat reservation system on its website. The airline also offers an online meal selection option, where the passenger can choose from diabetic meals, vegetarian meals, Asian vegetarian meals, child meals and Muslim meals, that will be served on board. In collaboration with a third-party service provider, Biman allows passengers to request Business Class upgrades as well as adjacent extra seats after booking an economy class fare. ### Flight classes A two-class service (J and Y) is operated on most of Biman's aircraft. The Business Class cabin on its Boeing 777 is arranged in a 2–3–2 configuration, while economy class cabin is set up in a 3–3–3 configuration. The narrow-body Boeing 737-800s' Business Class is set up in a 2–2 configuration while Economy Class is in a 3–3 arrangement. Business Class passengers of Biman Bangladesh Airlines have exclusive access to airport and hotel lounges around the globe. ### In-flight amenities Biman relaunched its inflight magazine and re-branded as Bihanga in September 2013. The bi-monthly magazine, previously known as Diganta, and before that Jatri, is published by Subcontinental Media Group. The magazine is available in both Bengali and English, covering topics about Bangladesh and Biman's destinations. English and Bengali language newspapers are also available in Business Class on board the aircraft. Biman launched in-flight duty-free sales in March 2014, branded as Biman Boutique. Duty-free products include perfumes, cosmetics, jewellery, watches, children's gifts, chocolates, tobacco, etc. In 2014, Biman launched amenity kits for children on-board which include colouring books, stationery, dolls and jigsaw puzzle. Biman doesn't usually serve alcoholic beverages on its flights in economy class, however, Business Class passengers have exclusive access to lounges around the globe. The newer Boeing 777s and 787s are equipped with modern in-flight entertainment systems. Every seat is fitted with personal touch screen displays which are loaded with movies, songs and games. It also has high-resolution moving maps and live flight information. All this is available in two languages – English and Bengali. Starting with the newly delivered Boeing 787 Dreamliners, Biman Bangladesh Airlines launched onboard Internet, WiFi, mobile telephony, movie streaming and live TV streaming services in September 2018 in most of the new planes in its fleet. Twenty-five satellites were deployed for this purpose. New Panasonic eX3 seat-back monitors with touch screens from Panasonic Avionics offer passengers more than one hundred on-demand movies, music and video games. Onboard touch screen 3D route-maps, the latest addition to the aviation industry, show the various structures of the territories the aircraft flies over. Since March 2017, Biman started to offer exciting new and diverse meal and beverage options in its flights, including diabetic and children's meal packages, which is reviewed and updated every three months. All meals served on-board Biman flights are Halal and in Business Class, à la carte menus are offered. ### Frequent-flyer program Biman launched a frequent-flyer program, named Biman Loyalty Club, in November 2013. It offers rewards such as tiered benefits, mileage bonuses, extra baggage, lounge access and priority check-in at airports. As of July 2014, the frequent-flyer program had 8,000 members. ### Ticketing An agreement was signed with Amadeus in 2007 to upgrade Biman's ticketing system with an e-ticketing solution to comply with IATA rules, which set out a deadline of 31 December 2007 for all member airlines to switch over their ticketing systems. E-ticketing allowed Biman to reduce costs while eliminating the stress of lost tickets for passengers. In 2005, Biman had briefly stopped using the Amadeus ticketing system when the government suspended the operation of a local Amadeus subsidiary following a court order, after allegations of money laundering. The suspension, however, lasted only a month, and was lifted after the writ was appealed in the High Court. In 2013, Biman signed an agreement with German e-ticketing company Hahn Air, enabling Biman's tickets to be purchased from anywhere around the world. ### Biman Cargo Biman also operates a cargo service using the cargo holds of its passenger aircraft to ship freight to international destinations. It has established a Cargo Village at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka where the cargo is packaged and labelled before being loaded onto its aircraft for shipment overseas. The air cargo industry in Bangladesh grew by 16.5% in the fiscal year 2003–04. Private operators increased their share of the cargo market by 10.6% and were responsible for handling 24% of the total 99,000 tonnes of cargo at the expense of both Biman and foreign airlines which saw a reduction in their shares by 4.6% and 6.0% respectively. Foreign airlines handled 47% of the total cargo with Biman taking on the remaining 29% in the fiscal year 2003–04. In March 2018, Biman Bangladesh Airlines received ACC3 and RA-3 (Regulatory Agent for third country) certifications from the European Union allowing direct cargo flights to all destinations in Europe. ACC3 stands for Air Cargo or Mail Carrier operating into Europe from a third-country airport. These certifications were successfully obtained after the government of Bangladesh upgraded Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) and improved its security, including setting up Explosive Detection Systems (EDS), Explosive Detection Dogs (EDD) and Explosive Trace Detection (EDT) machines. Due to the improved security standards, Biman Cargo Village and Dhaka Airport (HSIA) also got the ACC3 and RA-3 certifications simultaneously and an RA-3-compliant warehouse was built at HSIA for Europe-bound cargo freight where entry is restricted for everyone apart from accredited Biman staff. ### Biman Bangladesh Mobile App On 28 December 2019, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched the Biman Bangladesh Airlines Mobile App. She also laid the foundation stone of the third terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka and inaugurated the Sonar Tari and Achin Pakhi, which are two new purchases of Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft to the flag carrier. The app was made available for passengers around the world. ## Destinations As of September 2023 Biman serves 30 destinations with 48 routes. The airline operates flights to several destinations in the Middle East, some in South and South East Asia and London and Manchester in Europe. The carrier has air service agreements with 43 countries leaving room for further expansion in future. ### New York City From 1993 to 2006, Biman operated flights to New York City from Dhaka, catering to the many Bangladeshis who lived and studied in the United States. New York was Biman's farthest and most prestigious destination, and was kept operational, despite heavy financial losses towards the end, to maintain a landing slot in the US which, if cancelled, could be difficult to regain. In December 1993, the airline inaugurated service to New York City via Delhi, Dubai and Amsterdam using a McDonnell Douglas DC-10. It subsequently routed the flight from Dhaka to New York through Dubai and Brussels and the inbound one through Brussels. To curb the losses, Biman reduced the service to one flight per week and changed the European stop to Manchester Airport, UK, capitalising on travel demands from the expatriate Bangladeshi community in the north of England. On 8 April 2006, Biman's inaugural flight to Manchester landed at Manchester Airport en route to New York. However, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had placed the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) into Category 2 (does not meet International Civil Aviation Organization standards) according to its International Aviation Safety Assessment Program, which placed additional restrictions on the country's airlines when flying to the US. For Biman, this meant it could continue flying to the US, but could not expand or alter its routes. The FAA fined Biman for breaching its rules, and flights to New York began stopping in Brussels again. The FAA already warned Biman to replace its ageing DC-10s by December 2005. According to experts, these aircraft were inadequately equipped to cross the Atlantic safely. On 13 May 2006, the FAA refused permission for the flight to enter its airspace, citing safety concerns over the DC-10. The pilots diverted to Montreal, Canada, where the passengers were provided with alternative airline options to complete their journey. Canadian authorities inspected the aircraft and gave it a clean bill of health after which the aircraft returned to Dhaka without any passengers. The FAA eventually admitted it was mistaken and apologised for the error. The incident put an end to the route, which had been losing US$80,000 per flight, owing to its use of obsolete DC-10s. Biman decided to axe the route along with several other regional and domestic routes to curb the huge losses being incurred by the airline each month. ### London On 4 March 1972, Biman started its first international operations with a weekly flight to London using a Boeing 707. As of January 2020, Biman Bangladesh Airlines flies directly to London Heathrow, from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, four times a week transporting both passengers and cargo, using its newly purchased Boeing 777 aircraft. Under its new management, the airline has seen a marked improvement in punctuality as well as in on-time flight performance in recent times. Back in 2007, Biman faced strong criticism from major international airports including London Heathrow Airport and Dubai International Airport for its failure to maintain flight schedules. Heathrow Airport operator BAA wrote to Biman providing evidence which showed Biman had not achieved the minimum 80% usage of its allocated landing slots at Heathrow, as required by EU and International Air Transport Association (IATA) regulations, during the summer of 2007. Biman should, therefore, not expect slot allocations at Heathrow for the summer of 2008 and should look to Stansted or Gatwick airports if it wished to continue serving London. Following discussions with BAA, however, Biman obtained landing slots for the summer of 2008 on condition that it achieved 80% usage. Delays continued unabated and in September 2008, Biman's Dhaka–London direct flight utilising a DC-10 aircraft was diverted and landed at Gatwick when it did not have sufficient fuel to remain in a holding pattern over Heathrow following arrival over three hours after the scheduled time. In 2008, the United Nations advised its staff not to fly with Biman, citing both safety and security concerns and Biman's unreliable flight schedules. It was made clear that UN staff who flew with Biman did so at their own risk, and would be ineligible to make claims on insurance. Biman's then-newly appointed managing director said he was unaware of the UN directive, but admitted that Biman did face problems in managing its flight schedules. He expected the situation to improve with the procurement of aircraft in the coming months. ### Toronto In July 2020, Biman announced the introduction of a new route to Toronto which will be flown thrice-weekly beginning in October 2020. The route comes as part of an air agreement between Bangladesh and Canada, and will allow passengers to connect onward to cities across North America with its Air Canada hub at Toronto's Pearson Airport. On 26 March 2022, on the occasion of 51st Independence Day of Bangladesh and to observe the birth centenary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Biman operated a special flight, BG-305, from Dhaka and Toronto–Pearson. In April 2022, initially the inaugural commercial flight was scheduled on 11 June 2022, however, Biman decided not to operate a direct flight to Toronto as it would not be commercially viable, rather planned to operate the flight with a stopover in any of the European or Asian destinations for refueling and extra passengers. On 22 April, Biman confirmed that it would use Manchester Airport as a stopover for its Toronto flight, to make it more commercially viable. However, later in May, Biman decided that Istanbul Airport will be used for refueling purposes, making it a technical halt only, not being allowed to aboard or deboard passengers from the airport. On 27 July, the first flight left Dhaka at 03:30 with 160 passengers only. ### Hajj flights The annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca for the Hajj is undertaken by thousands of Bangladesh's predominantly Muslim population. Biman has been the sole Bangladeshi airline permitted by the government to provide flights for pilgrims to King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah. Every year, the commencement of these flights is inaugurated by high-ranking government officials, including, at times, the Prime Minister. In 2002, the government opened the service to private tour operators for the first time. The initial private flights were plagued with delays, with both outgoing and return flights postponed for as long as nine days. Biman's handling of Hajj flights has also been beset with troubles. In 2005, the State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism resigned after complaints that he set fares too high. In 2006, Biman took the unprecedented step of removing the business–class seats from its dedicated Hajj flights to accommodate more economy-class passengers. Procedural irregularities by the Hajj agencies delayed the confirmation of pilgrims' visas, and Biman had to cancel 19 flights owing to lack of sufficient passengers. Once the situation was resolved, Biman was then unable to offer the required number of flights to cope with the backlog of passengers. In June 2007, the caretaker government approved a three-year Hajj policy aiming to alleviate the problems encountered during the previous two years. Hajj flights would also begin leaving from Bangladesh's two other international airports, Shah Amanat International Airport and Osmani International Airport. Biman put out a tender for the wet lease of two aircraft for additional Hajj flights and reached an agreement with Phuket Air. However, the deal fell through in August 2007 after Phuket Air demanded advance payment of 30% instead of the previously agreed-to 10%. Ausban Aeronautical Services of Australia was selected next, following a re-tender, to fill the gap left by Phuket Air. In 2008, Biman wet-leased a 542-seater Boeing 747-200 from Kabo Air of Nigeria for six months to operate flights to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Another 512-seater Boeing 747-300 was leased from Orient Thai Airlines. As of June 2014, Biman still experienced difficulties in providing their scheduled services, as the carrier gave priority to the transportation of pilgrims to Jeddah during the Hajj season using aircraft that otherwise were flown on its regular flights. Despite this, the airline reported a profit of almost BDT 1 billion from the 2012 Hajj season, the highest results ever since these services were started in 1973. ### Codeshare agreements As of August 2023, Biman Bangladesh Airlines had codeshare agreements with the following airlines: - Gulf Air ## Fleet ### Current fleet As of January 2024, the Biman Bangladesh Airlines fleet includes the following aircraft: ### Fleet history #### 1972–2000 A vintage Douglas Dakota and Douglas DC-3 were the first aircraft in Biman's fleet. Domestic operations commenced with the acquisition of four Fokker F27 aircraft flying passengers to Chittagong and Sylhet from its base in Dhaka. Shortly afterwards, a Boeing 707, chartered from British Caledonian, joined the airline's fleet, allowing Biman to begin international flights. In 1983, Biman purchased three McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 aircraft from Singapore Airlines to provide services on its long-haul routes. In a deal worth US$40,000,000 (equivalent to $98,319,463 in 2023), three British Aerospace ATPs were ordered in late 1989. These ATPs entered the fleet in late 1990, coming to replace the Fokker F27s. During the mid-1990s, Biman switched its airliner of choice for long-haul routes to the Airbus series of aircraft. In 1995, two PW4000-powered Airbus A310-300s were ordered; the first of them joined the fleet on 15 June 1996. It nevertheless retained its elderly DC–10 fleet. For over three decades, the DC–10–30s were Biman's sole widebody aircraft and served the airline consistently well, with no noteworthy mechanical problems – in marked contrast to the record of its domestic operations. These were operated with Fokker F28 and BAe ATPs which were routinely out of service because of technical trouble. In one incident, a government minister disembarked a flight and travelled by road when he learned that the aircraft he was on was a BAe ATP. In January 2003, Biman leased two Boeing 737-300s which were used on domestic and regional routes for eighteen months. McDonnell Douglas DC-10s and Airbus A310-300s made up most of Biman's international fleet, before the delivery of the modern Boeing 777-300ERs started in 2011. Fokker F28s made up the remainder of the fleet for the domestic and regional sectors, before they were retired in 2012. Biman's fleet contains the second-to-last Douglas DC–10 to come off the production line (l/n 445), and only three other Airbus A310–300s were produced following Biman's purchase of two new Airbus A310s in 1996. The two Fokker F28–4000s were acquired from PBair in 2004 at a cost of $2.91 million. Both of these aircraft were built in 1977, making Biman's latest acquisitions the oldest aircraft in its fleet. The ageing fleet made it difficult for Biman to maintain its flight schedule, as the aircraft suffered from mechanical problems, leading to flight delays and cancellations. A number of aircraft remained grounded owing to lack of spare parts as they are no longer manufactured and used parts are difficult to source. A deal was signed in January 2012 a three-year contract with a German company for the maintenance of their powerplants, for the DC–10s. The airline operates its own ancillary and maintenance facilities at Shahjalal International Airport, where it carries out all maintenance work and C-Checks on DC–10–30s and A310–300s. #### 2000s In 2000, Biman put out a request for proposal for the acquisition of four wide-bodied aircraft to replace the DC–10s, but both the fleet renewal plans and the airline's expected privatisation were shelved by the government. A further attempt was made in 2005 to acquire new aircraft and plans were submitted for the purchase of ten new wide-bodied Airbus and Boeing aircraft at a total cost of $1 billion. Boeing arranged to finance the purchase provided a guarantee was given by the Bangladesh government. After bureaucratic delays and a perceived lack of commitment from the government, Boeing lost interest and the plans were cancelled. A similar attempt to purchase medium-haul aircraft for domestic service was also postponed. In March 2007, Biman put out a tender for the dry lease of two Airbus A310-300 and two Airbus A300-600 aircraft for two years. The sole response to the tender came from Star Aviation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). After Biman became a public limited company, renewed attempts were made to procure new-generation aircraft to replace its ageing fleet. In November 2007, Boeing made an offer to supply Biman with four Boeing 777-200s (with options for two more) to be delivered by 2013 and four Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners (with options for two more) to be delivered by 2017 and provide similar aircraft on lease for the interim period beginning in 2009. The average price of these aircraft was quoted as US$165 million. Airbus also made an offer to supply four Airbus A320 or Airbus A330 series aircraft at a much lower price than that of Boeing. To manage the fleet in the short run, Biman again floated a tender in January 2008 to purchase or dry lease with options to purchase two used Airbus A310-300 aircraft. On 10 March 2008, the Biman management unveiled a plan to procure eight next-generation wide-bodied aircraft from Boeing Commercial Airplanes for a total cost of US$1.26 billion, including four 419-seater Boeing 777-300ER (average price of US$182.9 million per unit), and four Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners that will seat 294 (US$133.31 million per unit), to be delivered in 2017. The deal for the acquisition of these eight aircraft was signed with Boeing in April 2008, and also included a memorandum of understanding for the purchase of two Boeing 737-800s to be delivered in 2015, with Biman making an initial instalment of US$1.54 million. Of the remaining cost, US-based EXIM bank will finance 85%, while a syndication of local banks will finance the balance. In the same year, Biman placed a firm order for two Boeing 737-800s, and took options for two more aircraft of the type. The total order for these ten aircraft was valued at around US$2.5 billion. #### 2010s In 2010, Biman leased two Boeing 777-200ERs from EuroAtlantic Airways. These aircraft were used mainly on routes to European destinations to cover the interim period before the delivery of the first two new Boeing 777-300ERs in 2011. To secure the delivery of these two brand new 777-300ERs the airline used an initial US$277 million loan granted from JPMorgan Chase. Wearing a new livery, the carrier took delivery of its first Boeing 777-300ER in late October 2011. It was the 777-300ER delivered by Boeing. The ever delivered Boeing 777-300ER also went to Biman. The airline took possession of it in late November 2011. The Boeing 777-300ER, named Aakash Pradeep, was handed over to the carrier in February 2014. The one, named Raanga Pravat, joined the fleet in March 2014, following the government approving a US$356 million loan, of which US$290 million will be provided by the Ex-Im Bank and the rest by the Standard Chartered Bank. Biman retired its entire McDonnell Douglas DC-10 fleet on 20 February 2014, by operating a special Dhaka-Birmingham farewell flight with its last DC-10 with a stopover at Kuwait. The carrier also operated nine separate aviation enthusiasts' scenic flights at Birmingham, from 22 to 24 February, flying three flights a day. The aircraft was then offered for sale as scrap in Dhaka. The Airbus A310-300s were withdrawn from service in October 2016. The carrier leased two Boeing 777-200ER aircraft from EgyptAir in March 2014. The airline planned to expand its fleet to 16 aircraft, to allow route expansion. With newly leased Dash 8-Q400 aircraft, the carrier resumed domestic flights in full swing to Cox's Bazar, Jessore, Saidpur, Rajshahi and Barisal in April 2015. The two aircraft, dry leased from Smart Aviation Company for a period of five years, also operated on regional flights to Kolkata and Yangon. Initially it was supposed to resume in November 2013, which Biman failed to as it was unable to find a lessor of aircraft. In February 2017, it was announced that the airline would acquire three of their own Dash 8-Q400 which will be used to replace the current aircraft leased from Smart Aviation Company to continue operating domestic and regional flights. Due to reliability issues with its Boeing 777-200ER aircraft leased from EgyptAir, Biman announced in December 2017 that the aircraft would be returned in March and May 2018, one year ahead of the expiration of the lease. On 19 August 2018, Biman received its first of four Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners and it was named "Akash Beena" in Bengali by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, who inaugurated it on 5 September 2018 during an inauguration ceremony before its maiden commercial flight. The Dreamliner has this name inscribed on its side, below the cockpit, written in English on the port side and in Bengali on starboard. On 1 December 2018, the second of four Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners was received, increasing the fleet of Biman to fifteen aircraft, and it was named "Hangsa Balaka" in Bengali with BG-2112 as its serial number. The last Boeing 787-8 named "Raj Hangsha" joined the fleet on 14 September 2019. After receiving all four Boeing 787-8, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina showed interest to buy two more Boeing 787-9. As China-based Hainan Airlines cancels its 30 Dreamliner orders, Boeing approaches Biman and the latter agrees to buy two 787-9 at a negotiated price of 150 million for each aircraft. Both these aircraft joined the fleet on 21 and 24 December 2019 and these two aircraft are named as Sonar Tori and Awchin Pakhi. #### 2020s In January 2020, Biman expressed interest in buying two more Dash-8 Q400NG short-bodied aircraft. This proposal is made to increase the frequency of the flights on domestic and regional routes. Besides, discussion is going on for taking four more Boeing 787-9 that was not taken up by Hainan Airlines and later on passed by Vistara. Besides, the airlines intended to buy cargo aircraft in future. In 2023 French President Emmanuel Macron, together with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, announced a large order of ten Airbus A350 aircraft for Biman Bangladesh Airlines during President Macron's visit to Dhaka. The Airbus order consists of two A350F cargo aircraft and eight A350 passenger aircraft. Delivery of the aircraft will be done in stages with two passenger A350 aircraft joining the Biman fleet first. All three Dash-8 Q400NG from the first batch of orders received by March 2021. Another two were ordered and will join the fleet by 2022. The number of Dash-8 aircraft will be six by 2022 (including one from lease). By adding Dash-8 Q400NG, Biman Bangladesh Airlines will stop using Boeing 737-800 planes on domestic routes. So Boeing 737-800 will operate on international routes only. Biman will also use Dash-8 aircraft on some short-range international routes. ### Livery In modern Bengali, the word বিমান Biman refers to "aeroplane", originating from the Sanskrit word vimāna, a name given to a flying machine mentioned in ancient Vedic literature. The logo, painted on the tail, is a stylised white stork (বলাকা bôlaka) inside a red circle. The logo was designed by painter Quamrul Hassan. The initial livery was a dark blue line extending across the aircraft along the windows and covering the tail section. This was replaced in the 1980s by dark green and red lines, matching the colours of the Bangladesh flag, and has remained so for over two decades. In 2010, Biman went through a rebranding exercise and unveiled a new logo and livery, designed by Teague, which was applied to its leased Boeing 777 and 737 aircraft. However, following change of government, Biman reverted to the original branding as this livery was not deemed appealing or colour appropriate for Biman or reflecting Bengali culture. The carrier has since adopted a new, more modern and revised version of its livery, that was applied to the new Boeing 777-300ERs, Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners, and all other aircraft delivered or leased from 2011 onwards. The bôlaka has also given its name to the Biman headquarters, the Balaka Bhaban (বলাকা ভবন bôlaka bhôban, Stork Building). A landmark sculpture, named Balaka and depicting storks, is also found in front of Biman's former headquarters, the Biman Bhaban, in the Motijheel Commercial Area of Dhaka. Eminent Bangladeshi sculptor; and mural, terracotta and landscaping artist, Mrinal Haque, designed and built this sculpture. ### Retired fleet The carrier also formerly operated the following aircraft: - Airbus A310-300 - BAe ATP - Boeing 707-120B - Boeing 707-320 - Boeing 707-320B - Boeing 707-320C - Boeing 737-300 - Boeing 747-200B - Boeing 747-300 - Boeing 747-300SCD - Boeing 747-400 - Boeing 777-200 - Boeing 777-200ER - Douglas DC-6B - Douglas DC-8-40 - Douglas DC-8-50 - Fokker F27-200 - Fokker F27-600 - Fokker F28-4000 - McDonnell Douglas DC-10-15 - McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 - McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30ER - McDonnell Douglas MD-80 ## Accidents and incidents As of July 2019, Aviation Safety Network records 12 accidents/incidents for Biman Bangladesh Airlines, with two of them leading to fatalities. ## See also - Transport in Bangladesh

Abigail Fillmore

First Lady of the United States from 1850 to 1853

Abigail Fillmore (; March 13, 1798 – March 30, 1853), wife of President Millard Fillmore, was the first lady of the United States from 1850 to 1853. She began work as a schoolteacher at the age of 16, where she took on Millard Fillmore, who was two years her junior, as a student. She continued her teaching work after their marriage in 1826 until the birth of her son Millard Powers Fillmore in 1828. She lived in Buffalo, New York, while her husband advanced his political career in Albany, New York, and Washington, D.C. She would occasionally join him in these cities, becoming involved in local social life. She became the second lady of the United States in 1849 after her husband was elected vice president on the Whig Party presidential ticket, and she became the first lady of the United States in 1850 after her husband succeeded to the presidency. Fillmore's most noted achievement as first lady was the establishment of the first White House Library. She had a lifelong appreciation for literature and refused to live in a home without books. The library became a popular reception room in the White House and functioned as the home of a literary salon. She was also involved in the political aspects of the presidency, and her husband often sought her opinion on state affairs. She took less interest in the role of White House hostess, and she suffered from ailments that prevented her from carrying out some of her duties, including an injured ankle that limited her mobility. Many of her social responsibilities were delegated to her daughter Mary Abigail Fillmore. Fillmore died of pneumonia in 1853, mere weeks after the end of her tenure as first lady. She has received little historical attention; she is considered one of the most obscure first ladies, and much of her correspondences are lost. ## Early life and education Abigail Powers was born in Stillwater, New York, on March 13, 1798, in Saratoga County. She was the youngest of seven children born to Reverend Lemuel Powers and Abigail Newland. Her father was the leader of the First Baptist Church until he died when she was two years old. After Lemuel's death, the family moved to Sempronius, New York. They moved in with Abigail's older brother Cyrus Powers because of their impoverished state. Her father had left behind a large library of his personal books, which Abigail read extensively. Her mother was a schoolteacher who used these books to teach her to read and to appreciate her education. She came to love literature and also became proficient in other subjects such as math, government, history, philosophy, and geography. She was also made familiar with abolitionism as a child, as the Baptist faith opposed slavery and her family was friends with local abolitionist George Washington Jonson. Powers began a career as a schoolteacher at the age of 16, which would eventually make her the first first lady to have previously pursued a career. In 1814, Abigail became a part-time school teacher at the Sempronius Village school. In 1817, she became a full-time teacher, and in 1819, she took on another teaching job at the private New Hope Academy. She advanced her own education by alternating her teaching and her studies at the school. She continued studying further subjects after leaving school, learning to speak French and play the piano. ## Marriage and family While teaching at New Hope Academy, she took on Millard Fillmore as a student. They were engaged in 1819, but they did not marry for several years. Millard was not wealthy enough to support a family, and Abigail's family discouraged her from marrying the son of a dirt farmer. They remained in contact as they pursued separate teaching careers over the following years. In 1824, she became a private tutor in Lisle to three of her cousins. She was then asked to open up a private school in Broome County; she opened the school, and in 1825, she went back to Sempronius to teach in her original position, where she would found a library. While they were apart, they once went as long as three years without seeing one another. Abigail and Millard married in her brother's house in Moravia, New York, on February 5, 1826, after Millard had become an attorney, and they moved to East Aurora, New York. Though women teachers were often expected to resign after marriage, Abigail continued to teach until she had children. The Fillmores had two children: their son Millard Powers Fillmore was born in 1828, and their daughter Mary Abigail "Abbie" Fillmore was born in 1832. In 1830, they moved to Buffalo, New York, which Millard helped establish. He was a member of the New York State Assembly at this time, and Abigail was responsible for tending to the house and children on her own while he was away for work. She would often lament his absences, fearing he would meet a new woman while he was away. While in Buffalo, they joined the local Unitarian Church. Millard also started a law practice in the city, and its success brought the Fillmores a comfortable life with financial security. She saw to the construction of Buffalo's first public library, and she grew her own personal collection until it reached 4,000 books. She was also responsible for naming the town of Newstead, New York, in 1831, suggesting the name in reference to the home of Lord Byron. ## Washington, D.C., and Albany, New York Millard was elected as a member of the United States House of Representatives in 1832, and Abigail stayed in Buffalo while he was in Washington, D.C. He stepped down in 1834, but he was elected again in 1836, and this time Abigail accompanied him to Washington, leaving the children with relatives in New York. Here she would fulfill the social obligations of a politician's wife, and she also sought out cultural and academic institutions in the city. They would continue with this routine each time Congress was in session for the following years. She would write to her children regularly while away, often encouraging self-improvement and scolding them for spelling errors in their replies. Abigail was well regarded in Washington social life. In 1840 she was asked to dedicate a building; it was a rare honor for a woman at the time, though she declined. While in Washington, she sat in on a Senate debate by Henry Clay in 1837 and met Charles Dickens in 1842. They returned to Buffalo after Millard left Congress in 1842, and Abigail became a popular hostess in the city. When Millard was elected New York State Comptroller, the family moved to Albany, New York, and she became involved with the social life there. While she held fashionable society in contempt, she enjoyed observing people's behavior and attending parties. The Fillmores separated from their children again while in Albany, this time sending them away to Massachusetts. On Independence Day of 1842, she sustained an injury in her ankle. While walking on an uneven sidewalk, she slipped and twisted her ankle severely enough that she was unable to walk for two weeks. When she began walking, it further inflamed her foot. She was bedridden until winter and confined to her room for several months thereafter. For the following two years, she would be forced to walk using crutches. The injury never fully healed, and she suffered from chronic pain for the rest of her life. Fillmore became a prominent figure when her husband was nominated as the Whig candidate for vice president in the 1848 presidential election, and she became known to the public through a flattering description in The American Review. The Whig ticket was elected, and Abigail became the second lady of the United States in March 1849. Her health made a return to Washington undesirable, and she remained in Buffalo. Abigail found social life in Washington uninteresting, and she spent much of her time as second lady tending to her sister, who had had a stroke. She briefly visited Washington to see her husband in 1850. Being the second lady meant being involved with high-profile social circles, and she expressed joy at interacting with prominent authors of the day, such as Ann S. Stephens, Lydia Sigourney, and Emma Willard. ## First Lady of the United States President Zachary Taylor died in July 1850, causing Millard to become president and Abigail to become his first lady. Abigail was on vacation in New Jersey with her children when President Taylor died. When she discovered that she was to be the first lady, she suffered from self-doubt, believing that she would not serve sufficiently. She had become comfortable in domestic life, and she was apprehensive about the expectations that had been placed suddenly upon her. She arrived at the White House the following October. Her sister's death in February 1851 caused her considerable grief. Within the White House, Fillmore was an active first lady who hosted many social events. Though she was an active conversationalist, she did not enjoy the social aspects of the role; she found that most guests had little interest in her intellectual pursuits, and she considered them to be "cave dwellers". She would often go on coach rides with her husband around Washington and the surrounding countryside. She also took advantage of the cultural elements of Washington while she was first lady, regularly attending art exhibitions and concerts, breaking precedent by traveling without her husband. In the summers, she would return to New York to visit friends and family. The Fillmores had come from poverty, and as such they had little interest in elaborate decoration or refurnishing. Unlike many first ladies, Abigail did not extensively redecorate the White House upon entering. Instead, she designed the White House interior in the style of a middle-class home. She did, however, emphasize the use of mahogany and fine carpets. She also oversaw the expansion of the White House heating system and had a kitchen stove installed to replace the practice of cooking by fireplace. Abigail and Millard corresponded regularly when they were apart. Their letters often concerned politics, and she would write back offering him advice and counsel on political matters. She closely followed bills in Congress and other political news, and she was able to discuss them in detail. He valued her opinion, and he reportedly never made any important decision without first consulting her. Abigail may have advised her husband not to sign the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, though he eventually did. She may have also encouraged him to end the practice of flogging as a punishment in the Navy. Abigail would regularly receive letters from citizens asking her to speak to the president on their behalf, particularly from charities asking for donations and people asking for political patronage. One such individual was her brother David, who received a position in the Fillmore administration. Due to her poor health, Fillmore delegated many of her duties to her daughter Abbie, who was responsible for meeting with callers outside of the White House. Her ankle injury further complicated her role as White House hostess, and she would often be bedridden for a day after standing for hours to manage a long receiving line. By the end of the Fillmore presidency, Abbie carried out most of the social aspects of the role. One particular incident that prevented Fillmore from carrying out her duties was a second injury to her ankle in 1851 that left her incapacitated for weeks. She was also relieved from further responsibilities due to the more reserved nature of social life at the White House caused by President Taylor's death and growing political polarization. ### White House library When Abigail first moved into the White House, she was reportedly appalled at the fact that there was no library in it. Previous presidents had brought their own private book collections to the White House, retaining them after the end of their presidencies. The Fillmores decided that a library was a necessary fixture in the White House, as Abigail was accustomed to having books in the home and Millard depended on reference books in his work as president. With $2,000 () authorized by Congress, she selected books for a White House library in the Oval Room. Abigail took responsibility for the organization and decoration of the room. She modeled the room after the style of Andrew Jackson Downing, using cottage furniture with walnut frames. Whenever new packages of books arrived, she would personally open them and place the books. The library became a social hub of the White House during the Fillmore administration. Abigail hosted writers such as William Thackeray, Charles Dickens, Washington Irving, and Helen Aldrich De Kroyft and performance artists such as Anna Bishop and Jenny Lind, essentially creating a White House literary salon. This library became her primary focus as first lady, with it serving as a reception room, a family room, and a place of rest for her husband. It also doubled as a music room, with Abbie using the room to play piano, harp, and guitar. Abigail spent a large portion of her time as first lady in her library, and Millard often spent an hour in the library at night after leaving the executive chamber. ## Death Abigail was the first first lady to attend the inauguration of her successor. After leaving the White House, she and her husband had begun planning travel. Their plans were interrupted when she fell ill. What started as a cold became bronchitis and then pneumonia. When a doctor was called, he used an ineffective cupping and blistering technique that may have worsened her health. She died of her illness in the Willard Hotel on March 30, 1853, aged 55. She was laid in state in Washington and then buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York. Washington went into a period of mourning, and much of the federal government temporarily ceased operations in respect of her death. In his memoirs, Millard credited her for the support that she provided in progressing his education. On February 10, 1858, five years after her death, her husband, then 58, married 44-year-old Caroline Carmichael McIntosh, a wealthy Buffalo widow. They remained married for sixteen years until Millard's death from a stroke on March 8, 1874, at the age of 74. ## Legacy In the years preceding the American Civil War, the position of first lady received very little public attention. Fillmore has not received significant historical coverage relative to first ladies of other eras, and is often regarded as a less active first lady. She is best remembered for her organization of a library in the White House. Biographers of Millard Fillmore have generally given little attention to Abigail, in part due to the lack of surviving documents. Most of her private correspondences have been lost and are presumed to have been destroyed by her son. What does survive is primarily lists of books that she asked her husband to purchase while he traveled. Historians disagree on the extent that her poor health and ankle injury prevented her from carrying out White House duties; some say that it was severe enough to limit her ability, while others say that it was merely an excuse to avoid the responsibilities of a first lady. She is typically recognized as an intellectual and as a supportive influence in the president's life.

Fata Morgana (Sanctuary)

"Fata Morgana" is the third episode of the science fiction television series Sanctuary. The episode first aired on the Sci Fi Channel in the United States on October 10, 2008. It subsequently aired on ITV4 in the United Kingdom on October 20, 2008. The episode, which is named after a mirage of the same name, was written by Damian Kindler. Martin Wood served as director. "Fata Morgana" was originally released as the back half of the eight original Sanctuary webisodes in 2007. In the episode, the Sanctuary team investigate an ancient crypt in an island off the Scottish coast and encounter three sisters with abnormal powers. "Fata Morgana" was met with a 1.6 household rating and was generally well received by critics. ## Plot The team travels to a crypt in an island off the coast of Scotland that Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping) believes to contain an elixir of life. However, the team is spotted and ambushed. After defeating the abnormal crypt Keepers, the team finds three women in comatose state. They are brought to the Sanctuary for study, where it is later determined that the sisters, Danu (Miranda Frigon), Tatha (Leah Cairns) and Caird (Laura Mennell), have been held in suspended animation for 1,200 years. After the sisters awaken, Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne) learns that they were taken to the crypt because of an incurable disease. However, Will believes they are delusional, partly due to their ability to speak perfect English for people from the Middle Ages (according to director Martin Wood, they were able to speak English after some sort of "mind meld" between Will and Danu). The sisters also experience nightmares in which they destroy an entire village. The sisters eventually determine that these nightmares are in fact memories, and it was they who caused the destruction 1,200 years ago. After some research, Magnus determines that the sisters are the Morrígan, who were created with the intention of destroying man. Magnus also discovers ties to a powerful secret organization, the Cabal, who had put the sisters into the crypt to be used again in the future. Ashley Magnus (Emilie Ullerup) learns that the Cabal was formed in the seventh century with the intention of controlling every abnormal on Earth for their own benefit; since going underground in the nineteenth century, its members have infiltrated several major organizations worldwide to continue their operation. In the meantime, a group of Cabal mercenaries have captured several Keepers in Scotland and they release them to the Sanctuary in order to regain what they see as their "property". Before and during the battle between Magnus and the Keepers, Will teaches the sisters about freedom, and sends them to a safe-house. After killing the Keepers, the team are surrounded by the mercenaries. In the end, Danu, Caird and Tatha surrender to the mercenaries who in exchange spare the team's lives. Will believes his teachings of freedom got to them, as they plan to escape from the mercenaries. ## Production "Fata Morgana" was originally released as the back half of the eight original webisodes. The episode was given an ancient and mythological feel to set the intended tone of Sanctuary. During the original writing, director and executive producer Martin Wood brought up the idea of incorporating the Morrígan from Irish mythology into the episode. Writer Damian Kindler researched the subject and named the episode after Fata Morgana as a reference to the Morrígan. During pre-production, the producers decided that around half of the episode would contain footage from the webisodes, and the other half would be rewritten to improve the storyline. Since they felt that Ashley Magnus was previously underused, they included her more into the storyline. The ending from the original webisodes, where the sisters manage to escape, was also rewritten. "Fata Morgana" was originally scheduled to be the fourth episode in the first season. However, it was moved up to the third after Amanda Tapping felt strongly that it would make a great start-stand alone episode after "Sanctuary for All". She also cited continuity reasons, as the characters appeared more comfortable with each other in the following episode, "Folding Man". Filming started in January 2007 when they were filming the webisodes. The new scenes were filmed in June 2008. The actors consciously played the characters more open to each other. When Martin Wood became unavailable during one day of filming, Amanda Tapping filled in for him as director. Furthermore, a photo double stood in for Leah Cairns in some scenes when Cairns was unavailable to play Tatha. The outdoor scene that featured Kandyse McClure was filmed in the same slot as "Sanctuary for All", because Wood wanted to use the present rain. One scene was filmed on the same set that was previously used in Stargate SG-1. In total, "Fata Morgana" contained over 400 visual effects shots, more than any other episode in the first season. The scene where Ashley was sitting on the edge of a tall building was actually done by having Emilie Ullerup sitting on a green beam, and next to a wind machine. Every visual effects shot made for the "Fata Morgana" webisodes were remastered in the episode. ## Reception "Fata Morgana" was broadcast on October 10 on Sci Fi in the United States, and October 20, 2008 on ITV4 in the United Kingdom. According to the Nielsen Galaxy Report, "Fata Morgana" received a household rating of 1.6 after original airing in the United States; this was a drop from the 2.2 rating in "Sanctuary for All". It was still placed second in the top ten Sci Fi Channel shows the week it aired, behind Ghost Hunters, which received a 2.0 rating. In the United Kingdom, the episode was seen by 471,000, placing Sanctuary number two in the top ten ITV4 viewings the week it aired, behind a live UEFA Champions League game. Reviews for the episode were generally positive. Tory Ireland Mell of IGN rated the episode an "outstanding" 9.3 out of 10, calling it a "great episode, and completely fun to watch." Mell praised the episode for its pace, action, choreographed fight sequences, visual effects and character development, but thought that Magnus and Ashley's relationship was a little forced. Carma Spence-Pothitt of Airlock Alpha reacted positively to the episode, particularly for its use of celtic mythology, how Damian Kindler and Martin Wood incorporates it into the storyline, and the introduction to the Cabal's. Spence-Prohitt was however, critical of the fact that "too much is being crammed into one." Amber Spence of PopSyndicate also reacted positively to the episode, calling it a "much stronger showing than the [somewhat convoluted] premiere," and that the action and pace were well executed to draw in the audience. Paul Simpson of Total Sci-Fi gave a more mixed reaction to the episode, rating it 6 out of 10. Though Simpson called it the first proper episode, he didn't feel it was as strong as the pilot.

U.S. Route 40 in Delaware

A US highway running from Park City, Utah east to Atlantic City, New Jersey

U.S. Route 40 (US 40) is a US highway running from Silver Summit, Utah, east to Atlantic City, New Jersey. In the US state of Delaware, it serves as a major east–west highway in northern New Castle County, just south of Wilmington. It runs from the Maryland state line west of Glasgow east to the Delaware Memorial Bridge over the Delaware River to New Jersey, at which point it is concurrent with Interstate 295 (I-295). Along the way, US 40 passes through suburban areas in Glasgow and Bear before running concurrent with US 13 and I-295 around New Castle. US 40 is a multilane divided highway the entire length across Delaware, with the section concurrent with I-295 a freeway. US 40 was originally built as a state highway during the 1920s, comprising Elkton Road and a part of the Dupont Highway. When first designated, the route followed these two roads from the Maryland state line to Wilmington, where it crossed the Delaware River on a ferry to Penns Grove, New Jersey. In 1928, the route was rerouted at Hares Corner to head east into New Castle and cross the river on a ferry to Pennsville, New Jersey. The entire length of US 40 west of Hares Corner was widened to a divided highway during the 1930s. The Delaware Memorial Bridge opened in 1951, and US 40 was rerouted north along US 13 before heading east along the bridge approach, with Delaware Route 273 (DE 273) extended east along the former route into New Castle. In 1959, the Delaware Memorial Bridge approach became a part of I-295. Between the 1960s and 1990s, US 301 ran along the US 13/US 40 concurrency and US 301N followed US 40 between Glasgow and State Road from the 1970s to the 1980s. ## Route description US 40 enters Delaware from Maryland west of Glasgow, heading east on four-lane divided Pulaski Highway (which originates in Baltimore). From the state line, the route passes near residential subdivisions. Upon reaching Glasgow, the road continues into commercial areas and the median of the road widens to include businesses in it. US 40 passes north of the Peoples Plaza shopping center and comes to an intersection with DE 896 Bus. in the center of the community. The median of the road narrows as it reaches a junction with DE 896 on the eastern edge of Glasgow. Past this junction, the route runs between Glasgow Park to the north and a mix of development and woods to the south, crossing Belltown Run. US 40 passes through residential and business areas and comes to an intersection with DE 72. Past this intersection, the road curves to the northeast, crossing Norfolk Southern's Delmarva Secondary railroad line at-grade. The route heads through a mix of wooded areas and businesses as it enters Bear, intersecting Salem Church Road/Porter Road. US 40 continues through suburban development with some farm fields, passing to the south of the Wilmington University Athletic Complex. The road widens to six lanes at the Walther Road/Glendale Boulevard junction before reaching an intersection with DE 7 in a business area. Past this intersection, US 40 comes to a partial cloverleaf interchange with the DE 1 freeway. After this interchange, the route narrows to four lanes and passes more development and some farm fields, reaching a westbound right-in/right-out with Appleby Road. Farther east, US 40 heads through business areas immediately to the north of Norfolk Southern's New Castle Secondary railroad line as it reaches a directional intersection with US 13 in State Road; this intersection has no access from northbound US 13 to westbound US 40. At this point, US 40 heads northeast for a concurrency with US 13 on South Dupont Highway, an eight-lane divided highway. DE 9 Truck also runs concurrent with US 13/US 40 at this point. The road runs through commercial areas, coming to an intersection with DE 273 in Hares Corner. At this point, DE 9 Truck splits from US 13/US 40 by heading east along DE 273. Past this intersection, US 13/US 40 becomes North Dupont Highway and passes between Wilmington Airport to the northwest and businesses to the southeast as it runs along the western border of the city of New Castle for a short distance, reaching a partial cloverleaf interchange with the southern terminus of US 202 and DE 141 at the end of the airport property. Following this, the two routes narrow to six lanes, heading to the northwest of the Main Campus of Wilmington University and running through more commercial areas in Wilmington Manor. Along this stretch, the route gains an eastbound combined right turn, bus, and bicycle lane. The road loses the eastbound combined right turn, bus, and bicycle lane before passing over the Jack A. Markell Trail and reaching an interchange with I-295 in Farnhurst. Here, US 40 splits from US 13 by heading east concurrent with I-295 on an eight-lane freeway maintained by the Delaware River and Bay Authority (DRBA). The road has an eastbound ramp to Landers Lane before it passes between residential neighborhoods and comes to a cloverleaf interchange with DE 9 north of New Castle. This interchange provides access to Veterans Memorial Park, where a war memorial honoring veterans from Delaware and New Jersey is located. Past DE 9, the median of the freeway widens to include the DRBA headquarters, with direct access to and from the westbound lanes while eastbound access is provided by way of DE 9. After this, the westbound direction has a toll plaza for the Delaware Memorial Bridge. I-295/US 40 continues east and passes over Norfolk Southern's New Castle Secondary before crossing the Delaware River on the twin-span Delaware Memorial Bridge, at which point both routes head into New Jersey. US 40 in Delaware has an annual average daily traffic count ranging from a high of 107,176 vehicles at the DE 9 interchange along the I-295 concurrency to a low of 25,863 vehicles at the Appleby Road intersection between Bear and New Castle. The entire length of US 40 in Delaware is part of the National Highway System. ## History By 1920, what would become the Delaware portion of US 40 was a county road, with the portion along US 13 under contract to become a state highway. The section of US 40 along the Dupont Highway was completed by 1923. The Pulaski Highway portion of the road was built as a state highway by 1924. When the US Highway System was created on November 11, 1926, US 40 was designated to pass through Delaware along Elkton Road (Pulaski Highway) between the Maryland state line and State Road, a concurrency with US 13 from State Road to Wilmington, and Christina Avenue from US 13 to a ferry across the Delaware River which carried the route to Penns Grove, New Jersey. In 1926, the Delaware State Highway Department suggested that the portion of US 40 that followed US 13 along the DuPont Highway be widened. This widening was completed a year later. In 1928, US 40 was rerouted at Hares Corner to head east through New Castle and cross the Delaware River on a ferry to Pennsville, New Jersey. All of the route was a state highway by 1931 except the portion from Hares Corner to the Basin Road intersection in New Castle. In 1931, work began on widening US 40 along the US 13 concurrency to a divided highway. The completion of the divided highway between State Road and Wilmington was slated for summer 1933. US 202 was designated concurrent with US 13/US 40 north of State Road in 1934. Recommendations were made in 1932 to widen US 40 into a divided highway between the Maryland state line and State Road. A year later, the divided highway portion of US 40 had been graded between the Maryland state line and Glasgow while paving of the divided highway was in progress between Bear and State Road. Grading of the divided highway between the Maryland state line and State Road had been completed in 1934 with construction of the remainder of the road underway. Work on widening US 40 to a divided highway between the Maryland state line and US 13 was finished in 1936. In 1934, recommendations were made to upgrade US 40 to a state highway between Hares Corner and New Castle. The portion of US 40 between Hares Corner and New Castle was taken over by the state on July 1, 1935. Construction on upgrading this section began in 1936, with the project completed later that year. The same year, a bridge was constructed over a Pennsylvania Railroad line (now the Jack A. Markell Trail) in New Castle. Construction on the Delaware Memorial Bridge began in 1949. At the same time, work was underway on the Delaware Memorial Bridge approach, a divided highway which would begin at a directional T interchange with US 13/US 202 in Farnhurst and head east to a cloverleaf interchange at New Castle Avenue (present DE 9) before leading to the bridge. Construction on the US 13/US 202 interchange at Farnhurst began on July 12, 1950. On August 16, 1951, the Delaware Memorial Bridge opened to traffic. US 40 was rerouted to use the Delaware Memorial Bridge to cross the Delaware River, being realigned to follow US 13/US 202 north from Hares Corner to Farnhurst and the bridge approach road between Farnhurst and the bridge. The ferry connecting New Castle to Pennsville was discontinued and DE 273 was extended east along the former alignment of US 40 into New Castle. In 1954, plans were made to replace the intersection with DE 41/DE 141 in Basin Corner with a modified cloverleaf interchange in an effort to reduce traffic congestion. Construction on the interchange began in September of that year. The interchange between US 13/US 40/US 202 and DE 41/DE 141 was completed in 1956. In 1958, construction began for a bridge at the Farnhurst interchange that would link the US 40 approach to the Delaware Memorial Bridge to the Delaware Turnpike that was proposed to run west to the Maryland state line. A year later, the Farnhurst interchange and the bridge approach were upgraded to Interstate Highway standards, and it was designated as part of I-295. Construction at the interchange connecting to the Delaware Turnpike at Farnhurst was completed in July 1961. On November 14, 1963, the Delaware Turnpike opened to traffic, with I-295 extended west (south) to I-95 at the northern terminus of the turnpike. In the middle of 1964, work began on a second span at the Delaware Memorial Bridge due to increasing traffic volumes. The second span of the bridge was opened to traffic in the later part of 1968. The US 202 designation was removed from US 13/US 40 between State Road and Farnhurst in 1964, with US 301 extended north to follow US 13/US 40 from State Road to Farnhurst. US 301N was designated to follow US 40 between DE 896 and US 13 in 1971. US 301N was removed from US 40 in 1985. By 1994, US 301 was removed from the US 13/US 40 concurrency, having been rerouted to follow DE 896 to end at US 40 in Glasgow. Despite this, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) still had US 301 follow US 40 between DE 896 in Glasgow and I-295/US 13 in Farnhurst. There are plans to widen the portion of US 40 from Salem Church Road/Porter Road east to Walther Road/Glendale Boulevard in Bear from four lanes to six lanes. The widening project is planned to begin in 2024 and be finished in 2027. ## Major intersections |} ## See also -

RS-25

Space Shuttle and SLS main engine

The RS-25, also known as the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), is a liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine that was used on NASA's Space Shuttle and is used on the Space Launch System (SLS). Designed and manufactured in the United States by Rocketdyne (later Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and Aerojet Rocketdyne), the RS-25 burns cryogenic (very low temperature) liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants, with each engine producing 1,859 kN (418,000 lb_f) thrust at liftoff. Although RS-25 heritage traces back to the 1960s, its concerted development began in the 1970s with the first flight, STS-1, on April 12, 1981. The RS-25 has undergone upgrades over its operational history to improve the engine's thrust, reliability, safety, and maintenance load. The engine produces a specific impulse (I_sp) of 452 seconds (4.43 kN-sec/kg) in vacuum, or 366 seconds (3.59 kN-sec/kg) at sea level, has a mass of approximately 3.5 tonnes (7,700 pounds), and is capable of throttling between 67% and 109% of its rated power level in one-percent increments. Components of the RS-25 operate at temperatures ranging from −253 to 3,300 °C (−400 to 6,000 °F). The Space Shuttle used a cluster of three RS-25 engines mounted at the stern of the orbiter, with fuel drawn from the external tank. The engines were used for propulsion throughout the spacecraft ascent, with total thrust increased by two solid rocket boosters and the orbiter's two AJ10 orbital maneuvering system engines. Following each flight, the RS-25 engines were removed from the orbiter, inspected, refurbished, and then reused on another mission. Four RS-25 engines are installed on each Space Launch System, housed in the engine section at the base of the core stage, and expended after use. The first four Space Launch System flights use modernized and refurbished engines built for the Space Shuttle program. Subsequent flights will make use of a simplified RS-25E engine called the Production Restart, which is under testing and development. ## Components The RS-25 engine consists of pumps, valves, and other components working in concert to produce thrust. Fuel (liquid hydrogen) and oxidizer (liquid oxygen) from the Space Shuttle's external tank entered the orbiter at the umbilical disconnect valves and from there flowed through the orbiter's main propulsion system (MPS) feed lines; whereas in the Space Launch System (SLS), fuel and oxidizer from the rocket's core stage flow directly into the MPS lines. Once in the MPS lines, the fuel and oxidizer each branch out into separate paths to each engine (three on the Space Shuttle, four on the SLS). In each branch, pre-valves then allow the propellants to enter the engine. Once in the engine, the propellants flow through low-pressure fuel and oxidizer turbopumps (LPFTP and LPOTP), and from there into high-pressure turbopumps (HPFTP and HPOTP). From these HPTPs the propellants take different routes through the engine. The oxidizer is split into four separate paths: to the oxidizer heat exchanger, which then splits into the oxidizer tank pressurization and pogo suppression systems; to the low-pressure oxidizer turbopump (LPOTP); to the high-pressure oxidizer pre-burner, from which it is split into the HPFTP turbine and HPOTP before being reunited in the hot gas manifold and sent on to the main combustion chamber (MCC); or directly into the main combustion chamber (MCC) injectors. Meanwhile, fuel flows through the main fuel valve into regenerative cooling systems for the nozzle and MCC, or through the chamber coolant valve. The fuel passing through the MCC cooling system then passes back through the LPFTP turbine before being routed either to the fuel tank pressurization system or to the hot gas manifold cooling system (from where it passes into the MCC). Fuel in the nozzle cooling and chamber coolant valve systems is then sent via pre-burners into the HPFTP turbine and HPOTP before being reunited again in the hot gas manifold, from where it passes into the MCC injectors. Once in the injectors, the propellants are mixed and injected into the main combustion chamber where they are ignited. The ejection of the burning propellant mixture through the throat and bell of the engine's nozzle creates the thrust. ### Turbopumps #### Oxidizer system The low-pressure oxidizer turbopump (LPOTP) is an axial-flow pump which operates at approximately 5,150 rpm driven by a six-stage turbine powered by high-pressure liquid oxygen from the high-pressure oxidizer turbopump (HPOTP). It boosts the liquid oxygen's pressure from 0.7 to 2.9 MPa (100 to 420 psi), with the flow from the LPOTP then being supplied to the HPOTP. During engine operation, the pressure boost permits the high-pressure oxidizer pump to operate at high speeds without cavitating. The LPOTP, which measures approximately 450 by 450 mm (18 by 18 in), is connected to the vehicle propellant ducting and supported in a fixed position by being mounted on the launch vehicle's structure. Then, mounted before the HPOTP, is the pogo oscillation suppression system accumulator. For use, it is pre-and post-charged with He and charged with gaseous O ₂ from the heat exchanger, and, not having any membrane, it operates by continuously recirculating the charge gas. A number of baffles of various types are present inside the accumulator to control sloshing and turbulence, which is useful of itself and also to prevent the escape of gas into the low-pressure oxidizer duct to be ingested in the HPOTP. The HPOTP consists of two single-stage centrifugal pumps (the main pump and a pre-burner pump) mounted on a common shaft and driven by a two-stage, hot-gas turbine. The main pump boosts the liquid oxygen's pressure from 2.9 to 30 MPa (420 to 4,350 psi) while operating at approximately 28,120 rpm, giving a power output of 23,260 hp (17.34 MW). The HPOTP discharge flow splits into several paths, one of which drives the LPOTP turbine. Another path is to, and through, the main oxidizer valve and enters the main combustion chamber. Another small flow path is tapped off and sent to the oxidizer heat exchanger. The liquid oxygen flows through an anti-flood valve that prevents it from entering the heat exchanger until sufficient heat is present for the heat exchanger to utilize the heat contained in the gases discharged from the HPOTP turbine, converting the liquid oxygen to gas. The gas is sent to a manifold and then routed to pressurize the liquid oxygen tank. Another path enters the HPOTP second-stage pre-burner pump to boost the liquid oxygen's pressure from 30 to 51 MPa (4,300 psia to 7,400 psia). It passes through the oxidizer pre-burner oxidizer valve into the oxidizer pre-burner and through the fuel pre-burner oxidizer valve into the fuel pre-burner. The HPOTP measures approximately 600 by 900 mm (24 by 35 in). It is attached by flanges to the hot-gas manifold. The HPOTP turbine and HPOTP pumps are mounted on a common shaft. Mixing of the fuel-rich hot gases in the turbine section and the liquid oxygen in the main pump can create a hazard and, to prevent this, the two sections are separated by a cavity that is continuously purged by the engine's helium supply during engine operation. Two seals minimize leakage into the cavity; one seal is located between the turbine section and the cavity, while the other is between the pump section and cavity. Loss of helium pressure in this cavity results in automatic engine shutdown. #### Fuel system The low-pressure fuel turbopump (LPFTP) is an axial-flow pump driven by a two-stage turbine powered by gaseous hydrogen. It boosts the pressure of the liquid hydrogen from 30 to 276 psia (0.2 to 1.9 MPa) and supplies it to the high-pressure fuel turbopump (HPFTP). During engine operation, the pressure boost provided by the LPFTP permits the HPFTP to operate at high speeds without cavitating. The LPFTP operates at around 16,185 rpm, and is approximately 450 by 600 mm (18 by 24 in) in size. It is connected to the vehicle propellant ducting and is supported in a fixed position by being mounted to the launch vehicle's structure. The HPFTP is a three-stage centrifugal pump driven by a two-stage hot-gas turbine. It boosts the pressure of the liquid hydrogen from 1.9 to 45 MPa (276 to 6,515 psia), and operates at approximately 35,360 rpm with a power of 71,140 hp (53.05 MW). The discharge flow from the turbopump is routed to, and through, the main valve and is then split into three flow paths. One path is through the jacket of the main combustion chamber, where the hydrogen is used to cool the chamber walls. It is then routed from the main combustion chamber to the LPFTP, where it is used to drive the LPFTP turbine. A small portion of the flow from the LPFTP is then directed to a common manifold from all three engines to form a single path to the liquid hydrogen tank to maintain pressurization. The remaining hydrogen passes between the inner and outer walls of the hot-gas manifold to cool it and is then discharged into the main combustion chamber. A second hydrogen flow path from the main fuel valve is through the engine nozzle (to cool the nozzle). It then joins the third flow path from the chamber coolant valve. This combined flow is then directed to the fuel and oxidizer pre-burners. The HPFTP is approximately 550 by 1,100 mm (22 by 43 in) in size and is attached to the hot-gas manifold by flanges. ### Powerhead #### Preburners The oxidizer and fuel pre-burners are welded to the hot-gas manifold. The fuel and oxidizer enter the pre-burners and are mixed so that efficient combustion can occur. The augmented spark igniter is a small combination chamber located in the center of the injector of each pre-burner. Two dual-redundant spark igniters are activated by the engine controller and are used during the engine start sequence to initiate combustion in each pre-burner. They are turned off after approximately three seconds because the combustion process is then self-sustaining. The pre-burners produce the fuel-rich hot gases that pass through the turbines to generate the power needed to operate the high-pressure turbopumps. The oxidizer pre-burner's outflow drives a turbine that is connected to the HPOTP and to the oxidizer pre-burner pump. The fuel pre-burner's outflow drives a turbine that is connected to the HPFTP. The speed of the HPOTP and HPFTP turbines depends on the position of the corresponding oxidizer and fuel pre-burner oxidizer valves. These valves are positioned by the engine controller, which uses them to throttle the flow of liquid oxygen to the pre-burners and, thus, control engine thrust. The oxidizer and fuel pre-burner oxidizer valves increase or decrease the liquid oxygen flow, thus increasing or decreasing pre-burner chamber pressure, HPOTP and HPFTP turbine speed, and liquid oxygen and gaseous hydrogen flow into the main combustion chamber, which increases or decreases engine thrust. The oxidizer and fuel pre-burner valves operate together to throttle the engine and maintain a constant 6.03:1 propellant mixture ratio. The main oxidizer and main fuel valves control the flow of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen into the engine and are controlled by each engine controller. When an engine is operating, the main valves are fully open. #### Main combustion chamber The engine's main combustion chamber (MCC) receives fuel-rich hot gas from a hot-gas manifold cooling circuit. The gaseous hydrogen and liquid oxygen enter the chamber at the injector, which mixes the propellants. The mixture is ignited by the "Augmented Spark Igniter", an H₂/O₂ flame at the center of the injector head. The main injector and dome assembly are welded to the hot-gas manifold, and the MCC is also bolted to the hot-gas manifold. The MCC comprises a structural shell made of Inconel 718 which is lined with a copper-silver-zirconium alloy called NARloy-Z, developed specifically for the RS-25 in the 1970s. Around 390 channels are machined into the liner wall to carry liquid hydrogen through the liner to provide MCC cooling, as the temperature in the combustion chamber reaches 3300 °C (6000 °F) during flight – higher than the boiling point of iron. An alternative for the construction of RS-25 engines to be used in SLS missions is the use of advanced structural ceramics, such as thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) and ceramic-matrix composites (CMCs). These materials possess significantly lower thermal conductivities than metallic alloys, thus allowing more efficient combustion and reducing the cooling requirements. TBCs are thin ceramic oxide layers deposited on metallic components, acting as a thermal barrier between hot gaseous combustion products and the metallic shell. A TBC applied to the Inconel 718 shell during production could extend engine life and reduce cooling costs. Further, CMCs have been studied as a replacement for Ni-based superalloys and are composed of high-strength fibers (BN, C) continuously dispersed in a SiC matrix. An MCC composed of a CMC, though less studied and farther from fruition than the application of a TBC, could offer unprecedented levels of engine efficiency. ### Nozzle The engine's nozzle is 121 in (3.1 m) long with a diameter of 10.3 inches (0.26 m) at its throat and 90.7 inches (2.30 m) at its exit. The nozzle is a bell-shaped extension bolted to the main combustion chamber, referred to as a de Laval nozzle. The RS-25 nozzle has an unusually large expansion ratio (about 69:1) for the chamber pressure. At sea level, a nozzle of this ratio would normally undergo flow separation of the jet from the nozzle, which would cause control difficulties and could even mechanically damage the vehicle. However, to aid the engine's operation Rocketdyne engineers varied the angle of the nozzle walls from the theoretical optimum for thrust, reducing it near the exit. This raises the pressure just around the rim to an absolute pressure between 4.6 and 5.7 psi (32 and 39 kPa), and prevents flow separation. The inner part of the flow is at much lower pressure, around 2 psi (14 kPa) or less. The inner surface of each nozzle is cooled by liquid hydrogen flowing through brazed stainless steel tube wall coolant passages. On the Space Shuttle, a support ring welded to the forward end of the nozzle is the engine attach point to the orbiter-supplied heat shield. Thermal protection is necessary because of the exposure portions of the nozzles experience during the launch, ascent, on-orbit and entry phases of a mission. The insulation consists of four layers of metallic batting covered with a metallic foil and screening. ### Controller Each engine is equipped with a main engine controller (MEC), an integrated computer which controls all of the engine's functions (through the use of valves) and monitors its performance. Built by Honeywell Aerospace, each MEC originally comprised two redundant Honeywell HDC-601 computers, later upgraded to a system composed of two doubly redundant Motorola 68000 (M68000) processors (for a total of four M68000s per controller). Having the controller installed on the engine itself greatly simplifies the wiring between the engine and the launch vehicle, because all the sensors and actuators are connected directly to only the controller, each MEC then being connected to the orbiter's general purpose computers (GPCs) or the SLS's avionics suite via its own engine interface unit (EIU). Using a dedicated system also simplifies the software and thus improves its reliability. Two independent dual-CPU computers, A and B, form the controller; giving redundancy to the system. The failure of controller system A automatically leads to a switch-over to controller system B without impeding operational capabilities; the subsequent failure of controller system B would provide a graceful shutdown of the engine. Within each system (A and B), the two M68000s operate in lock-step, thereby enabling each system to detect failures by comparing the signal levels on the buses of the two M68000 processors within that system. If differences are encountered between the two buses, then an interrupt is generated and control turned over to the other system. Because of subtle differences between M68000s from Motorola and the second source manufacturer TRW, each system uses M68000s from the same manufacturer (for instance system A would have two Motorola CPUs while system B would have two CPUs manufactured by TRW). Memory for block I controllers was of the plated-wire type, which functions in a manner similar to magnetic core memory and retains data even after power is turned off. Block II controllers used conventional CMOS static RAM. The controllers were designed to be tough enough to survive the forces of launch and proved to be extremely resilient to damage. During the investigation of the Challenger accident the two MECs (from engines 2020 and 2021), recovered from the seafloor, were delivered to Honeywell Aerospace for examination and analysis. One controller was broken open on one side, and both were severely corroded and damaged by marine life. Both units were disassembled and the memory units flushed with deionized water. After they were dried and vacuum baked, data from these units was retrieved for forensic examination. #### Main valves To control the engine's output, the MEC operates five hydraulically actuated propellant valves on each engine; the oxidizer pre-burner oxidizer, fuel pre-burner oxidizer, main oxidizer, main fuel, and chamber coolant valves. In an emergency, the valves can be fully closed by using the engine's helium supply system as a backup actuation system. In the Space Shuttle, the main oxidizer and fuel bleed valves were used after shutdown to dump any residual propellant, with residual liquid oxygen venting through the engine and residual liquid hydrogen venting through the liquid hydrogen fill and drain valves. After the dump was completed, the valves closed and remained closed for the remainder of the mission. A coolant control valve is mounted on the combustion chamber coolant bypass duct of each engine. The engine controller regulates the amount of gaseous hydrogen allowed to bypass the nozzle coolant loop, thus controlling its temperature. The chamber coolant valve is 100% open before the engine start. During engine operation, it is 100% open for throttle settings of 100 to 109%. For throttle settings between 65 and 100%, its position ranged from 66.4 to 100%. ### Gimbal Each engine is installed with a gimbal bearing, a universal ball and socket joint which is bolted to the launch vehicle by its upper flange and to the engine by its lower flange. It represents the thrust interface between the engine and the launch vehicle, supporting 7,480 lb (3,390 kg) of engine weight and withstanding over 500,000 lbf (2,200,000 N) of thrust. As well as providing a means to attach the engine to the launch vehicle, the gimbal bearing allows the engine to be pivoted (or "gimballed") around two axes of freedom with a range of ±10.5°. This motion allows the engine's thrust vector to be altered, thus steering the vehicle into the correct orientation. The comparatively large gimbal range is necessary to correct for the pitch momentum that occurs due to the constantly shifting center of mass as the vehicle burns fuel in flight and after booster separation. The bearing assembly is approximately 290 by 360 mm (11 by 14 in), has a mass of 105 lb (48 kg), and is made of titanium alloy. The low-pressure oxygen and low-pressure fuel turbopumps were mounted 180° apart on the orbiter's aft fuselage thrust structure. The lines from the low-pressure turbopumps to the high-pressure turbopumps contain flexible bellows that enable the low-pressure turbopumps to remain stationary while the rest of the engine is gimbaled for thrust vector control, and also to prevent damage to the pumps when loads were applied to them. The liquid-hydrogen line from the LPFTP to the HPFTP is insulated to prevent the formation of liquid air. ### Helium system In addition to fuel and oxidizer systems, the launch vehicle's main propulsion system is also equipped with a helium system consisting of ten storage tanks in addition to various regulators, check valves, distribution lines, and control valves. The system is used in-flight to purge the engine and provides pressure for actuating engine valves within the propellant management system and during emergency shutdowns. During entry, on the Space Shuttle, any remaining helium was used to purge the engines during reentry and for repressurization. ## History ### Development The history of the RS-25 traces back to the 1960s when NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and Rocketdyne were conducting a series of studies on high-pressure engines, developed from the successful J-2 engine used on the S-II and S-IVB upper stages of the Saturn V rocket during the Apollo program. The studies were conducted under a program to upgrade the Saturn V engines, which produced a design for a 350,000 lbf (1,600 kN) upper-stage engine known as the HG-3. As funding levels for Apollo wound down the HG-3 was cancelled as well as the upgraded F-1 engines already being tested. It was the design for the HG-3 that would form the basis for the RS-25. Meanwhile, in 1967, the US Air Force funded a study into advanced rocket propulsion systems for use during Project Isinglass, with Rocketdyne asked to investigate aerospike engines and Pratt & Whitney (P\&W) to research more efficient conventional de Laval nozzle-type engines. At the conclusion of the study, P\&W put forward a proposal for a 250,000 lb_f engine called the XLR-129, which used a two-position expanding nozzle to provide increased efficiency over a wide range of altitudes. In January 1969 NASA awarded contracts to General Dynamics, Lockheed, McDonnell Douglas, and North American Rockwell to initiate the early development of the Space Shuttle. As part of these 'Phase A' studies, the involved companies selected an upgraded version of the XLR-129, developing 415,000 lbf (1,850 kN), as the baseline engine for their designs. This design can be found on many of the planned Shuttle versions right up to the final decision. However, since NASA was interested in pushing the state of the art in every way they decided to select a much more advanced design in order to "force an advancement of rocket engine technology". They called for a new design based on a high-pressure combustion chamber running around 3,000 psi (21,000 kPa), which increases the performance of the engine. Development began in 1970, when NASA released a request for proposal for 'Phase B' main engine concept studies, requiring development of a throttleable, staged combustion, de Laval-type engine. The request was based on the then-current design of the Space Shuttle which featured two reusable stages, the orbiter and a crewed fly-back booster, and required one engine which would be able to power both vehicles via two different nozzles (12 booster engines with 550,000 lbf (2,400 kN) sea level thrust each and 3 orbiter engines with 632,000 lbf (2,810 kN) vacuum thrust each). Rocketdyne, P\&W and Aerojet General were selected to receive funding although, given P\&W's already-advanced development (demonstrating a working 350,000 lbf (1,600 kN) concept engine during the year) and Aerojet General's prior experience in developing the 1,500,000 lbf (6,700 kN) M-1 engine, Rocketdyne was forced to put a large amount of private money into the design process to allow the company to catch up to its competitors. By the time the contract was awarded, budgetary pressures meant that the shuttle's design had changed to its final orbiter, external tank, and two boosters configuration, and so the engine was only required to power the orbiter during ascent. During the year-long 'Phase B' study period, Rocketdyne was able to make use of their experience developing the HG-3 engine to design their SSME proposal, producing a prototype by January 1971. The engine made use of a new Rocketdyne-developed copper-zirconium alloy (called NARloy-Z) and was tested on February 12, 1971, producing a chamber pressure of 3,172 psi (21,870 kPa). The three participating companies submitted their engine development bids in April 1971, with Rocketdyne being awarded the contract on July 13, 1971—although work did not begin on engine development until March 31, 1972, due to a legal challenge from P\&W. Following the awarding of the contract, a preliminary design review was carried out in September 1972, followed by a critical design review in September 1976 after which the engine's design was set and construction of the first set of flight-capable engines began. A final review of all the Space Shuttle's components, including the engines, was conducted in 1979. The design reviews operated in parallel with several test milestones, initial tests consisting of individual engine components which identified shortcomings with various areas of the design, including the HPFTP, HPOTP, valves, nozzle, and fuel pre-burners. The individual engine component tests were followed by the first test of a complete engine (0002) on March 16, 1977, after its final assembly line was established in the main Rocketdyne factory in Canoga Park, Los Angeles. NASA specified that, prior to the Shuttle's first flight, the engines must have undergone at least 65,000 seconds of testing, a milestone that was reached on March 23, 1980, with the engine having undergone 110,253 seconds of testing by the time of STS-1 both on test stands at Stennis Space Center and installed on the Main Propulsion Test Article (MPTA). The first set of engines (2005, 2006 and 2007) was delivered to Kennedy Space Center in 1979 and installed on , before being removed in 1980 for further testing and reinstalled on the orbiter. The engines, which were of the first manned orbital flight (FMOF) configuration and certified for operation at 100% rated power level (RPL), were operated in a twenty-second flight readiness firing on February 20, 1981, and, after inspection, declared ready for flight. ### Space Shuttle program Each Space Shuttle had three RS-25 engines, installed in the aft structure of the Space Shuttle orbiter in the Orbiter Processing Facility prior to the orbiter being transferred to the Vehicle Assembly Building. If necessary the engines could be changed on the pad. The engines, drawing propellant from the Space Shuttle external tank (ET) via the orbiter's main propulsion system (MPS), were ignited at T−6.6 seconds prior to liftoff (with each ignition staggered by 120 ms), which allowed their performance to be checked prior to ignition of the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), which committed the shuttle to the launch. At launch, the engines would be operating at 100% RPL, throttling up to 104.5% immediately following liftoff. The engines would maintain this power level until around T+40 seconds, where they would be throttled back to around 70% to reduce aerodynamic loads on the shuttle stack as it passed through the region of maximum dynamic pressure, or max. q. The engines would then be throttled back up until around T+8 minutes, at which point they would be gradually throttled back down to 67% to prevent the stack exceeding 3 g of acceleration as it became progressively lighter due to propellant consumption. The engines were then shut down, a procedure known as main engine cutoff (MECO), at around T+8.5 minutes. After each flight the engines would be removed from the orbiter and transferred to the Space Shuttle Main Engine Processing Facility (SSMEPF), where they would be inspected and refurbished in preparation for reuse on a subsequent flight. A total of 46 reusable RS-25 engines, each costing around US$40 million, were flown during the Space Shuttle program, with each new or overhauled engine entering the flight inventory requiring flight qualification on one of the test stands at Stennis Space Center prior to flight. #### Upgrades Over the course of the Space Shuttle program, the RS-25 went through a series of upgrades, including combustion chamber changes, improved welds and turbopump changes in an effort to improve the engine's performance and reliability and so reduce the amount of maintenance required after use. As a result, several versions of the RS-25 were used during the program: - FMOF (first manned orbital flight): Certified for 100% rated power level (RPL). Used for the orbital flight test missions STS-1 – STS-5 (engines 2005, 2006 and 2007). - Phase I: Used for missions STS-6 – STS-51-L, the Phase I engine offered increased service life and was certified for 104% RPL. Replaced by Phase II after the Challenger Disaster. - Phase II (RS-25A): First flown on STS-26, the Phase II engine offered a number of safety upgrades and was certified for 104% RPL & 109% full power level (FPL) in the event of a contingency. - Block I (RS-25B): First flown on STS-70, the Block I engines offered improved turbopumps featuring ceramic bearings, half as many rotating parts, and a new casting process reducing the number of welds. Block I improvements also included a new, two-duct powerhead (rather than the original design, which featured three ducts connected to the HPFTP and two to the HPOTP), which helped improve hot gas flow, and an improved engine heat exchanger. - Block IA (RS-25B): First flown on STS-73, the Block IA engine offered main injector improvements. - Block IIA (RS-25C): First flown on STS-89, the Block IIA engine was an interim model used whilst certain components of the Block II engine completed development. Changes included a new large throat main combustion chamber (which had originally been recommended by Rocketdyne in 1980), improved low-pressure turbopumps, and certification for 104.5% RPL to compensate for a 2 seconds (0.020 km/s) reduction in specific impulse (original plans called for the engine to be certified to 106% for heavy International Space Station payloads, but this was not required and would have reduced engine service life). A slightly modified version first flew on STS-96. - Block II (RS-25D): First flown on STS-104, the Block II upgrade included all of the Block IIA improvements plus a new high-pressure fuel turbopump. This model was ground-tested to 111% FPL in the event of a contingency abort, and certified for 109% FPL for use during an intact abort. - RS-25E: It will be used on the Space Launch System for future Artemis program missions beginning with Artemis V, as the RS-25D stock is intentionally being used up. Unlike previous versions, this engine is designed to be expendable. The powerhead is almost completely redesigned (as of September 2023 the specific design changes from the -25D have not been announced), and intended to incorporate various cost-saving measures and innovations in manufacturing. The first testing engine, E10001, passed all its qualifications and tests at NASA's Stennis Space Center, and demonstrated both a 113% FPL and a 30% increase in thrust. #### Engine throttle/output The most obvious effects of the upgrades the RS-25 received through the Space Shuttle program were the improvements in engine throttle. Whilst the FMOF engine had a maximum output of 100% RPL, Block II engines could throttle as high as 109% or 111% in an emergency, with usual flight performance being 104.5%. Existing engines used on the Space Launch System are throttled to 109% power during normal flight, while new RS-25 engines produced for the Space Launch System are to be run at 111% throttle, with 113% power being tested. These increases in throttle level made a significant difference to the thrust produced by the engine: Specifying power levels over 100% may seem nonsensical, but there was a logic behind it. The 100% level does not mean the maximum physical power level attainable, rather it was a specification decided on during engine development—the expected rated power level. When later studies indicated the engine could operate safely at levels above 100%, these higher levels became standard. Maintaining the original relationship of power level to physical thrust helped reduce confusion, as it created an unvarying fixed relationship so that test data (or operational data from past or future missions) can be easily compared. If the power level was increased, and that new value was said to be 100%, then all previous data and documentation would either require changing or cross-checking against what physical thrust corresponded to 100% power level on that date. Engine power level affects engine reliability, with studies indicating the probability of an engine failure increasing rapidly with power levels over 104.5%, which was why power levels above 104.5% were retained for contingency use only. #### Incidents During the course of the Space Shuttle program, a total of 46 RS-25 engines were used (with one extra RS-25D being built but never used). During the 135 missions, for a total of 405 individual engine-missions, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne reports a 99.95% reliability rate, with the only in-flight SSME failure occurring during 's STS-51-F mission. The engines, however, did suffer from a number of pad failures (redundant set launch sequencer aborts, or RSLSs) and other issues during the course of the program: - STS-41-D – No. 3 engine caused an RSLS shutdown at T−4 seconds due to loss of redundant control on main engine valve, stack rolled back and engine replaced. - STS-51-F – No. 2 engine caused an RSLS shutdown at T−3 seconds due to a coolant valve malfunction. - STS-51-F – No. 1 engine (2023) shutdown at T+5:43 due to faulty temperature sensors, leading to an abort to orbit (although the mission objectives and length were not compromised by the ATO). - STS-55 – No. 3 engine caused an RSLS shutdown at T−3 seconds due to a leak in its liquid-oxygen preburner check valve. - STS-51 – No. 2 engine caused an RSLS shut down at T−3 seconds due to a faulty hydrogen fuel sensor. - STS-68 – No. 3 engine (2032) caused an RSLS shutdown at T−1.9 seconds when a temperature sensor in its HPOTP exceeded its redline. - STS-93 – An Orbiter Project AC1 Phase A electrical wiring short occurred at T+5 seconds causing an under voltage which disqualified SSME 1A and SSME 3B controllers but required no engine shut down. In addition, a 0.1-inch diameter, 1-inch long gold-plated pin, used to plug an oxidizer post orifice (an inappropriate SSME corrective action eliminated from the fleet by redesign) came loose inside an engine's main injector and impacted the engine nozzle inner surface, rupturing three hydrogen cooling lines. The resulting three breaches caused a leak resulting in a premature engine shutdown, when four external tank LO₂ sensors flashed dry resulting in low-level cutoff of the main engines and a slightly early main engine cut-off with a 16 ft/s (4.9 m/s) underspeed, and an 8 nautical mile lower altitude. ### Constellation During the period preceding final Space Shuttle retirement, various plans for the remaining engines were proposed, ranging from them all being kept by NASA, to them all being given away (or sold for US$400,000–800,000 each) to various institutions such as museums and universities. This policy followed changes to the planned configurations of the Constellation program's Ares V cargo-launch vehicle and Ares I crew-launch vehicle rockets, which had been planned to use the RS-25 in their first and second stages respectively. While these configurations had initially seemed worthwhile, as they would use then-current technology following the shuttle's retirement in 2010, the plan had several drawbacks: - The engines would not be reusable, as they would be permanently attached to the discarded stages. - Each engine would have to undergo a test firing prior to installation and launch, with refurbishment required following the test. - It would be expensive, time-consuming, and weight-intensive to convert the ground-started RS-25D to an air-started version for the Ares I second stage. Following several design changes to the Ares I and Ares V rockets, the RS-25 was to be replaced with a single J-2X engine for the Ares I second stage and six modified RS-68 engines (which was based on both the SSME and Apollo-era J-2 engine) on the Ares V core stage; this meant that the RS-25 would be retired along with the Shuttle fleet. In 2010, however, NASA was directed to halt the Constellation program, and with it development of the Ares I and Ares V, instead of focusing on building a new heavy-lift launcher. ### Space Launch System On 14 September 2011, following the retirement of the Space Shuttle, NASA announced that it would be developing a new launch vehicle, known as the Space Launch System (SLS), to replace the shuttle fleet. The design for the SLS features the RS-25 as part of its core stage, with different versions of the rocket being equipped with between three and five engines. The initial flights of the new launch vehicle are making use of previously flown Block II RS-25D engines, with NASA keeping such engines in a "purged safe" environment at Stennis Space Center, "along with all of the ground systems required to maintain them." For Artemis I, the RS-25D units with serial numbers E2045, E2056, E2058, and E2060 from all three orbiters were used. They were installed on the core stage by November 6, 2019. For Artemis II, the units with serial numbers E2047, E2059, E2062, and E2063 will be used. They were installed on the core stage by September 25, 2023. In addition to the RS-25Ds, the SLS program makes use of the Main Propulsion Systems (MPS, the "plumbing" feeding the engines) from the three remaining shuttle orbiters for testing purposes (having been removed as part of the orbiters' decommissioning), with the first two launches (Artemis I and Artemis II) originally predicted to make use of the MPS hardware from Space Shuttles and in their core stages. The SLS's propellants are supplied to the engines from the rocket's core stage, which consists of a modified Space Shuttle external tank with the MPS plumbing and engines at its aft, and an interstage structure at the top. For the first two Artemis missions, the engines are installed on the SLS core stage in Building 103 of the Michoud Assembly Facility; they will be installed in the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy beginning with Artemis III. Once the remaining RS-25Ds are exhausted, they are to be replaced with a cheaper, expendable version designated the RS-25E. In 2023, Aerojet Rocketdyne reported reductions in manufacturing time and labour requirements during manufacturing of new-production RS-25 engines, such as a 15% reduction in fabrication time for the powerhead and a 22-month reduction in the time needed to produce a main combustion chamber. On 1 May 2020, NASA awarded a contract extension to manufacture 18 additional RS-25 engines, with associated services, for $1.79 billion, bringing the total SLS contract value to almost $3.5 billion. On 29 August 2022, Artemis I was delayed by a problem with engineering sensors on RS-25D \#3 (serial number E2058) erroneously reporting that it hadn't chilled down to its ideal operating temperature. On 16 November 2022, Artemis I launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B, the first time the RS-25 engine had flown since the Space Shuttle's final flight, STS-135, on 21 July 2011. #### Engine tests In 2015, a test campaign was conducted to determine RS-25 engine performance with a new engine controller unit, under lower liquid-oxygen temperatures, with greater inlet pressure due to the taller SLS core-stage liquid-oxygen tank and higher vehicle acceleration; and with more nozzle heating due to the four-engine configuration and its position in-plane with the SLS booster exhaust nozzles. New ablative heat-shield insulation was to be tested as well. Tests occurred on January 9 (500 seconds), May 28 (450 seconds), June 11 (500 seconds), June 25 (650 seconds), July 17 (535 seconds), August 13 (535 seconds) and August 27 (535 seconds). Following these tests, four more engines were scheduled to enter a new test cycle. A new series of tests designed to evaluate performance in SLS-use cases was initiated in 2017. On February 28, 2019, NASA conducted a 510-second test burn of a developmental RS-25 at 113 percent of its originally designed thrust for more than 430 seconds, about four times longer than any prior test at this thrust level. On January 16, 2021, the RS-25 engines were fired again, during a hot-fire test as part of the Artemis program. The test was originally scheduled as an 8-minute test but was terminated at the 67th second due to intentionally conservative test parameters being breached in the hydraulic system of Engine 2's (serial number E2056) Core Stage Auxiliary Power Unit (CAPU) during the thrust vector control (TVC) system test. Engine 2's CAPU was shut down automatically, although if this issue had occurred during flight, it would not have caused an abort, as the remaining CAPUs are capable of powering the TVC systems of all four engines. The engine also suffered a different "Major Component Failure", in the engine control system, that was caused by instrumentation failure. This would have triggered an abort of the launch countdown during an actual launch attempt. On March 18, 2021, the four RS-25 core-stage engines were once again fired as part of the second SLS core stage hot-fire test, which lasted the full duration of 500 seconds, successfully certifying the Artemis I core stage for flight. On December 14, 2022, a single development RS-25E, serial number E10001, attempted a 500-second hot-fire test. The test aborted at T+209.5 due to test systems subsequently interpreting signals from a group of improperly configured accelerometers during the hot fire as exceeding acceptable vibration limits. Tests of the engine continued in 2023; on February 8, 2023, it was fired for 500 seconds at 111% power, fitted with a new-production nozzle. Subsequent tests included a 600-second test at 111% power on February 22, a 520-second test at 113% power on March 8, a 600-second test at 113% power on March 21, a 500-second, 113% power level test on April 5, a 720-second fire that tested the engine's thrust vectoring gimbal system on April 26, a 630-second test on May 10, and five more 500-second, 113% power level tests without gimbaling on May 23, June 1, June 8, June 15, and June 22. The RS-25E developmental unit E0525, with significant inclusion of new components including a redesigned nozzle, hydraulic actuators, flex ducts and turbopumps, was hot fire tested to 111% power levels for 550 seconds in the first in a series of certification tests beginning October 17, 2023. It was tested to 113% power levels for 500 seconds on November 15, and to 113% for 650 seconds with gimbaling on November 29, 2023, to 113% for 500 seconds on January 17, 2024, January 23, and January 29, to 113% for 550 seconds on February 23, to 111% for 615 seconds on February 29, and to 113% for 600 seconds on March 6 and 500 seconds on March 22 and 27, and April 3. ### XS-1 On May 24, 2017, DARPA announced that they had selected The Boeing Company to complete design work on the XS-1 program. The technology demonstrator was planned to use an Aerojet Rocketdyne AR-22 engine. The AR-22 was a version of the RS-25, with parts sourced from Aerojet Rocketdyne and NASA inventories from early versions of the engine. In July 2018 Aerojet Rocketdyne successfully completed ten 100-second firings of the AR-22 in ten days. On January 22, 2020, Boeing announced its departure from the XS-1 program, leaving no role for the AR-22. ## See also - Shuttle-C

Chris Paul

American basketball player (born 1985)

Christopher Emmanuel Paul (born May 6, 1985), nicknamed "CP3" and "the Point God", is an American professional basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely regarded as one of the greatest point guards of all time, he has won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, an NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award, two Olympic gold medals, and led the NBA in assists five times and steals a record six times. Paul has also been selected to 12 NBA All-Star teams, 11 All-NBA teams, and nine NBA All-Defensive teams. In 2021, he was selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. Paul also served as the president of the National Basketball Players Association from 2013 to 2021. Among the highest-paid athletes in the world, he holds endorsement deals with companies such as Jordan Brand and State Farm. Paul was a McDonald's All-American in high school and attended Wake Forest University for two years of college basketball, where he helped the Demon Deacons achieve their first-ever number-one ranking. Paul was selected as the fourth overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft by the New Orleans Hornets, where he developed into one of the league's best players, finishing second in NBA Most Valuable Player Award voting in 2008. During the 2011 offseason, the Hornets organized a deal to send Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers, but the transaction was controversially voided by the NBA. He was instead dealt to the Los Angeles Clippers later that year. Led by Paul's playmaking, the Clippers developed a reputation for their fast-paced offense and spectacular alley-oop dunks, earning them the nickname "Lob City". In 2017, Paul was traded to the Houston Rockets, where he helped the team win a franchise-record 65 games in his debut season. Paul played one more season in Houston before being traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder as part of a package for Russell Westbrook in 2019. With the Thunder looking to rebuild, Paul was traded to the Phoenix Suns in 2020, where he reached the NBA Finals for the first time in his career in 2021. The following season, Paul helped the team win a franchise-record 64 games. After three seasons in Phoenix, Paul was traded and spent one season with the Golden State Warriors, where he came off the bench for the first time in his career. He later signed with the Spurs in 2024. ## Early life Chris Paul was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to Charles Edward Paul and Robin Jones. He grew up in Lewisville with his older brother, Charles "C.J." Paul. Paul's family gave him the nickname "CP3" because Paul, his father, and his brother all share the same initials. A former athlete himself, Charles Sr. taught his sons basketball and football and coached them in various youth leagues throughout their childhoods. Growing up, the Paul brothers spent their summers working at a service station owned by their grandfather Nathaniel Jones; Paul attributes many life lessons to his grandfather and has described him as his "best friend." Paul was raised Baptist. ## High school career Paul attended West Forsyth High School in Clemmons, North Carolina. During his freshman and sophomore seasons, he played on the junior varsity team. For his junior year, Paul averaged 25 points, 5.3 assists, and 4.4 steals per game, helping West Forsyth reach the state semifinals. Over the ensuing summer, he led the Winston-Salem-based Kappa Magic to the National U-17 AAU title, earning tournament MVP honors in the process. During his senior season, Paul received national attention for scoring 61 points in a game; his 61-year-old grandfather was murdered earlier that year and Paul honored him by scoring one point for each year of his life. Paul finished the season with averages of 30.8 points, 5.9 rebounds, 9.5 assists, and 6.0 steals per game, leading West Forsyth to a 27–3 record and the Class 4A Eastern Regional finals. He was ultimately named a McDonald's All-American, first-team Parade All-American, and North Carolina's Mr. Basketball by The Charlotte Observer. ## College career As a freshman at Wake Forest University, Paul averaged 14.8 points, 5.9 assists, and 2.7 steals per game, setting school freshman records for three-point percentage, free throws, free throw percentage, assists, and steals in the process. Behind his play, the Demon Deacons qualified for the NCAA tournament, losing in the Sweet Sixteen to St. Joseph's. At the end of the season, Paul was named ACC Rookie of the Year and Third Team All-ACC. For two weeks early in Paul's sophomore season, Wake Forest was ranked number one in the nation for the first time in school history. On January 15, 2005, Paul registered 26 points and eight assists in a victory over rival North Carolina, and on February 3, he scored 23 points in a victory over rival Duke. In the final game of the year, Paul punched NC State guard Julius Hodge in the groin and received a one-game suspension from the ACC Tournament, an incident that marred Paul's image for a short time. The Demon Deacons again qualified for the NCAA tournament but suffered a second round upset at the hands of West Virginia. With final averages of 15.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 6.6 assists, and 2.4 steals per game, Paul was eventually named First Team Consensus All-America, and with a 3.21 grade point average (GPA), he was also named to ESPN's Academic All-America Team. On April 15, 2005, Paul announced he would be hiring an agent and turning professional. On March 2, 2013, Wake Forest retired Paul's jersey. In 2021, he was inducted into the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame. ## Professional career ### New Orleans Hornets (2005–2011) #### Early seasons in New Orleans and Oklahoma City (2005–2007) Paul was selected as the fourth overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft by the New Orleans Hornets. Due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, the Hornets played most of their games in Oklahoma City during Paul's first two seasons with the team. Paul finished his debut season leading all rookies in total points, assists, steals, and double-doubles, and became only the second rookie in NBA history to lead the league in total steals. With final averages of 16.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 7.8 assists, and 2.2 steals per game, he was named NBA Rookie of the Year, falling just one vote shy of winning the award unanimously. The only other rookie to receive a first place vote was Deron Williams, with whom Paul enjoyed a brief rivalry early in their careers. At the 2007 All-Star Weekend, Paul set new Rookie Challenge records with 17 assists and 9 steals. For his sophomore season, he increased his scoring and passing averages to 17.3 points and 8.9 assists per game, but played in only 64 games due to injury. #### Rise to stardom (2007–2011) Paul was selected to his first NBA All-Star Game in 2007–08, playing in front of his home fans in New Orleans. Behind his leadership, the Hornets were near the top of the Western Conference standings all year, temporarily occupying first place on March 17 following a win against the Chicago Bulls. New Orleans finished the season with a franchise-record 56 wins and the second seed in the West. Paul led the NBA with 11.6 assists and 2.7 steals per game to go along with 21.1 points per game, finishing second in NBA Most Valuable Player Award voting and being named to his first All-NBA and All-Defensive teams. In his playoff debut, he scored 35 points against the Dallas Mavericks. In Game 2, he set a franchise playoff record with 17 assists. The Hornets defeated the Mavericks in five games, with Paul registering 24 points, 11 rebounds, and 15 assists in the final game. Their run came to an end in the next round, where they were eliminated by the San Antonio Spurs. Prior to the start of the 2008–09 season, Paul signed a contract extension with the Hornets worth $68 million. On December 17, 2008, he set the NBA record for consecutive games with a steal at 106. On several occasions, he came within a few steals of recording a quadruple-double, including a 27-point, 10-rebound, 15-assist, and 7-steal game against the Philadelphia 76ers on January 26, 2009. His final averages were 22.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 11 assists, and 2.8 steals per game. Despite Paul's individual accomplishments, New Orleans' record fell from the year before and they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Denver Nuggets. After a slow start to the 2009–10 season, the Hornets fired coach Byron Scott. Paul stirred up controversy when he announced his displeasure with the move, commenting that team management should have "consulted with me and asked how I felt before it happened." In early February 2010, Paul tore cartilage in his left knee and was sidelined for over a month by surgery, forcing him to miss the All-Star Game. In total, he played in only 45 games and his averages dropped to 18.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, 10.7 assists, and 2.1 steals per game. Without Paul, the Hornets struggled, missing the playoffs. In 2010–11, Paul had another injury scare, suffering a concussion on March 6 after colliding with Cavaliers guard Ramon Sessions and being carried off the court on a stretcher. He returned two games later, registering 33 points and 15 assists against the Sacramento Kings. With the luxury of Paul playing a full season, the Hornets qualified for the playoffs and were matched up with the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in the first round. In Game 1, Paul contributed 33 points, 14 assists, and 4 steals, and in Game 4, he registered 27 points, 13 rebounds, and 15 assists. In response to Paul's performances, Lakers beat writer Dave McMenamin declared that Paul was having a "historically great series". Nevertheless, New Orleans were eliminated in six games, and ownership, fearing that Paul would leave the franchise via free agency, began actively pursuing a trade that would provide the team equitable compensation in return for his services. ### Los Angeles Clippers (2011–2017) #### Failed Lakers trade and "Lob City" rise (2011–2012) On December 8, 2011, the Hornets agreed to a three-team trade sending Paul to the Lakers. The NBA, who owned the Hornets at the time, nullified the deal because commissioner David Stern claimed that New Orleans would be better off by keeping Paul. The teams involved in the transaction attempted to lobby the league to reverse its ruling and reconstruct the deal to no avail. On December 12, the Hornets agreed to a trade sending Paul to the Los Angeles Clippers, but the deal broke down after the NBA added additional demands to the original terms. Two days later, the teams finally completed the trade, sending Paul and two future second-round draft picks to the Clippers in return for Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu, and the Minnesota Timberwolves' unprotected first-round pick in the 2012 draft, which was used to draft Austin Rivers. Upon the deal's completion, Paul announced that he would opt into the final year of his contract and remain in Los Angeles for at least two more seasons. Paul's arrival to Los Angeles rejuvenated the Clippers franchise, with teammate Blake Griffin later commenting, "It put us on the map." Early in Paul's debut season, the team developed a reputation for their fast-paced offense and spectacular alley-oop dunks, usually from Paul to Griffin or DeAndre Jordan, earning them the nickname "Lob City". Paul finished the year averaging 19.8 points, 9.1 assists, and 2.5 steals per game, becoming the first Clipper to be named to the All-NBA First Team since the franchise moved to Los Angeles in the 1980s. Behind his play and the emergence of Griffin as an All-NBA performer, Los Angeles qualified for the playoffs, losing to the San Antonio Spurs in the conference semifinals. #### Playoff upsets (2012–2015) At the 2013 All-Star Game, Paul led the West to victory with a 20-point and 15-assist performance, earning his first NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award. He finished the season averaging 16.9 points, 9.7 assists, and 2.4 steals per game, helping the Clippers to a franchise-record 56 wins. Seeded fourth in the West entering the playoffs, Los Angeles were defeated in the first round by the Memphis Grizzlies. Shortly after their early postseason exit, the Clippers announced they would not renew coach Vinny Del Negro's contract and rumors arose of Paul forcing Del Negro out. Los Angeles later denied any player involvement in the coaching decision. Prior to the start of the 2013–14 season, Paul re-signed with the Clippers for five years on a contract worth approximately $107 million. Despite a shoulder injury that sidelined him for over a month, Los Angeles set another new franchise record for wins with 57. His final averages were 19.1 points, 10.7 assists, and 2.5 steals per game. In Game 1 of the second round of the playoffs, he hit a career postseason-high eight three-pointers to help the Clippers take an early series lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder. In Game 5 and with the series tied 2–2, he made a string of late mistakes leading to an eventual Thunder victory, later commenting, "It's me ... Everything that happened at the end is on me." Oklahoma City eventually eliminated Los Angeles in six games. In 2014–15, Paul played in all 82 games for the first time in his career, averaging 19.1 points and a league-high 10.2 assists per game. In Game 7 of the first round of the playoffs, he hit a go-ahead shot with a second left to lift the Clippers over the Spurs despite a hamstring injury. The injury forced him to miss the first two games of the next series versus the Houston Rockets, and Los Angeles eventually lost in seven games despite holding a 3–1 series lead. The defeat marked ten consecutive seasons and seven consecutive playoff appearances without an NBA Conference Finals appearance for Paul. #### Final years with Clippers (2015–2017) In January of the 2015–16 season, Paul led the Clippers on a ten-game winning streak despite missing Griffin and Jordan at various points due to injury. For the third straight year, he finished the season with averages of over 19 points, 10 assists, and 2 steals per game. To begin the postseason, the Clippers drew a matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers, taking a 2–1 lead to start the series. In Game 4, Paul broke his hand and was ruled out indefinitely. Without Paul, as well as Griffin, who also injured himself in Game 4, Los Angeles eventually lost the series in six games. In 2016–17, Paul missed 21 regular season games due to rest or injury, and averaged 18.1 points, 9.2 assists, and 5 rebounds in just over 31 minutes per game. At season's end, Paul was not rewarded with an All-NBA honor, marking just the second time he failed to make an All-NBA team since 2008 and the first time in his six years as a Clipper. In the playoffs, Los Angeles was eliminated after their first round series against the Utah Jazz, with Paul averaging 25.3 points, 9.9 assists, 5 rebounds per game over seven games. ### Houston Rockets (2017–2019) #### First Conference Finals appearance (2017–2018) On June 28, 2017, Paul was traded to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Patrick Beverley, Sam Dekker, Montrezl Harrell, Darrun Hilliard, DeAndre Liggins, Lou Williams, Kyle Wiltjer, a future first-round pick, and cash considerations. The Clippers ultimately decided to trade Paul because they were unwilling to offer him the contract extension that he was seeking and they did not want to lose him for nothing once he became a free agent. Paul, who was interested in playing alongside superstar guard James Harden, opted into the final year of his existing contract to facilitate the trade. Some analysts were initially skeptical of the trade due to the perceived redundancy of Paul and Harden's playing ball-dominating playing styles, leading to questions over how they would adjust to each other. On October 17, Paul debuted for the Rockets in their season-opening win over the defending champion Golden State Warriors. He scored only four points on 2-for-9 shooting and sat on the bench down the stretch while the Rockets made their final push. It was later revealed that he was playing through a knee injury, and he subsequently missed the next 14 games, returning to the lineup on November 16 against the Phoenix Suns. With Paul healthy, Houston quickly established themselves as a championship contender, boasting the league's top-ranked offense in addition to a top-ten defense. Their success was primarily driven by Paul and Harden, who assumed playmaking duties while role players such as Eric Gordon, Trevor Ariza, and P. J. Tucker provided floor spacing with three-point shooting. On December 15, Paul registered 28 points, eight assists, and seven steals against the Spurs to lead the Rockets to their 12th straight victory. On January 26, 2018, he scored a season-high 38 points in a loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. The Rockets eventually finished the 2017–18 season with a franchise-record 65 wins and the best record in the NBA, which included Harden winning the MVP Award and the team setting a league record for three-point attempts. Paul's final averages were 18.6 points, 7.9 assists, and 1.7 steals per game. In the first round of the playoffs, Houston eliminated the Minnesota Timberwolves, earning them a matchup with the Utah Jazz in the second round. In Game 5 of the series, Paul scored a career playoff-high 41 points along with eight three-pointers, 10 assists, and seven rebounds en route to a series-clinching victory over the Jazz. With the win, Paul advanced to the NBA Conference Finals for the first time in his career, where the Warriors awaited. Going into Game 5, the series was tied 2–2 before Paul helped lead Houston to victory by scoring seven fourth quarter points that powered a 10–5 run and gave the Rockets a lead that they never relinquished. However, Paul injured his hamstring late in the game, and with him out for the remainder of the series, Houston was eliminated from the postseason with back-to-back losses. #### Uneventful season (2018–2019) On July 8, 2018, Paul signed a four-year, $160 million maximum contract extension with the Rockets. On October 20, shortly after the start of the 2018–19 season, he was involved in an on-court altercation with Rajon Rondo of the Lakers, which resulted in a two-game suspension and a fine. On December 20, he suffered a left hamstring strain against the Miami Heat, which caused him to miss 17 consecutive games. On February 23, he recorded 23 points and a season-high 17 assists in a win over the Warriors. Late in the season, Paul found himself in the midst of a slump and Houston dropped down to the third seed in the conference, which prompted some analysts to wonder if Paul had moved into a new, less effective phase of his career. In the conference semifinals, the Rockets again found themselves matched up with Golden State, but could not close out the series despite the Warriors' primary scorer, Kevin Durant, missing the final two games. ### Oklahoma City Thunder (2019–2020) On July 16, 2019, the Rockets traded Paul, two protected first-round draft picks, and two first-round pick swaps to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Russell Westbrook. For the first time in years, Paul found himself on a young, rebuilding team without championship aspirations. Despite speculation that the Thunder would try to move on from Paul immediately, he embraced his role as a veteran leader of the team, which earned him praise from coach Billy Donovan. Paul debuted for Oklahoma City in a loss to the Utah Jazz on October 23, registering 22 points and 8 rebounds in 30 minutes of play. On January 30, he was selected to his 10th All-Star nod, and first since 2016, being named a Western Conference reserve. On February 11, Paul scored a season-high 31 points in a loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Following a break in the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Thunder eventually finished as the fifth seed in the conference, earning them a matchup with Paul's old team, the Houston Rockets, in the first round of the playoffs. Trailing 3–2 going into Game 6, Paul scored 15 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter to lead Oklahoma City to a series-tying victory. Although the Thunder would ultimately lose Game 7 and be eliminated from the postseason, Sports Illustrated deemed Paul's tenure with the team a success and opined that he had reestablished himself as one of the best point guards in the NBA. ### Phoenix Suns (2020–2023) #### First Finals appearance (2020–2021) On November 16, 2020, the Thunder traded Paul and Abdel Nader to the Phoenix Suns for Kelly Oubre Jr., Ricky Rubio, Ty Jerome, Jalen Lecque, and a 2022 protected first-round pick. On February 1, 2021, Paul dropped a season-high 34 points, along with nine rebounds and nine assists, in a close 109–108 win over the Dallas Mavericks. On February 19, he put up a season-high 19 assists while also scoring 15 points in a 132–114 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. On February 23, Paul was selected to his 11th All-Star appearance, second in a row, as a Western Conference reserve. With Devin Booker being named a replacement All-Star a day later, Paul and Booker were the first Suns duo since Steve Nash and Amar'e Stoudemire in 2010 to be named All-Stars. On March 21, Paul logged his first triple-double of the season with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists in a 111–94 win over the Los Angeles Lakers, becoming the sixth player in NBA history to record 10,000 career assists. In Game 2 of the Conference Semifinals against the Denver Nuggets, Paul recorded 17 points, 15 assists, and 0 turnovers in a 123–98 victory. This was Paul's third playoff game with at least 15 points, 15 assists, and 0 turnovers, the most in NBA history. In Game 4, Paul scored 37 points on a 74 percent shooting (14-of-19) alongside seven assists in a 125–118 victory, leading the Suns to a 4–0 series sweep over the Nuggets for their first Western Conference Finals appearance since 2010. On June 16, Paul was indefinitely sidelined as he entered the NBA's COVID-19 health and safety protocols. Paul endured an eight-day isolation after testing positive for COVID-19 despite being vaccinated, which caused him to miss the first two games of the Western Conference Finals. In Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Clippers, Paul tied a playoff career-high 41 points, while putting up eight assists, in a 130–103 victory to close out the series, advancing to the NBA Finals for the first time in his career and the Suns' first appearance since 1993. During the game Paul scored 31 out of his 41 points in the second half, becoming just the third player in the last 25 years to score at least 30 points in the second half of a series-clinching game. In Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Milwaukee Bucks, Paul put up 32 points, 16 of those in the third quarter, along with nine assists, in a 118–105 win. The Suns jumped to a 2–0 lead in the series before losing in six games. Paul became the first player in NBA playoff history to lose four series in which his team led 2–0. After the Finals ended, he had wrist surgery. #### Franchise record in wins (2021–2022) On August 7, 2021, Paul signed a four-year contract extension with the Suns worth up to $120 million. On October 22, Paul recorded 23 points and 14 assists in a 115–105 win over the Los Angeles Lakers, becoming the first player in league history to record 20,000 points and 10,000 assists in their career. On November 2, Paul put up 14 points and 18 assists in a 112–100 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, moving past Mark Jackson and Steve Nash for third place on the NBA all-time career assists list. On December 2, Paul put up 12 points and 12 assists in a 114–103 win over the Detroit Pistons, leading the Suns to their franchise-record 18th win in a row. On January 24, 2022, Paul scored 27 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out 14 assists in a 115–109 win against the Utah Jazz. On January 28, Paul logged his 18th career triple-double with 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 14 assists in a 134–124 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. The following game, Paul had a season-high 19 assists with 20 points and eight rebounds in a 115–110 win against the San Antonio Spurs. On February 3, Paul recorded 18 points, 12 assists, and three steals in a 124–115 loss to the Atlanta Hawks who snapped Phoenix's 11-game winning streak. This was Paul's 50th career game with 10 assists or more with no turnovers—the most such games in NBA history. Before the game, he was named a reserve for the 2022 NBA All-Star Game. On February 10, Paul tied his season-high 19 assists with 17 points and seven rebounds as he led the Suns to a 131–107 victory against the Bucks in a rematch of last year's NBA Finals. Paul finished with his 500th career double-double. He is just the fourth guard in NBA history to accomplish that feat. On February 16, Paul broke his right thumb in a game against the Houston Rockets, just before the All-Star break. On March 24, Paul returned from a broken right wrist to help the Suns wrap up the top seed in the NBA playoffs with a 140–130 victory over the Denver Nuggets. He finished the game with 17 points and 13 assists. On April 1, Paul surpassed Gary Payton for fourth on the NBA all-time career steals list. On April 5, after Phoenix's 121–110 win over the Lakers, Paul became the first player in NBA history to be part of four teams to set a franchise record for victories in a single season. In Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs, Paul scored 19 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter along with seven rebounds, 10 assists, and three steals on 12-of-16 shooting from the field in a 110–99 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. He also became the oldest player in NBA history to put up at least 30 points and 10 assists in a playoff game. In Game 3, Paul scored 19 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter along with 14 assists to lead the Suns to a 114–111 win. In Game 6, he closed the series with 33 points along with eight assists and five rebounds on 14-of-14 shooting, which set the record for the most field goals in a game without a miss in NBA playoffs history. On May 2, in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals, Paul moved past Tony Parker for fifth all-time in career playoff assists in a 121–114 win over the Dallas Mavericks. The Suns jumped to a 2–0 lead in the series before losing in seven games. Paul became the first player in NBA playoff history to lose five series in which his team led 2–0. #### 11,000 assists (2022–2023) On October 23, 2022, Paul recorded seven points, eight rebounds and eleven assists in an 112–95 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. He joined John Stockton and Jason Kidd as the only players in NBA history with 11,000 assists. Paul also became the first player in the league with 20,000 points and 11,000 assists. On October 30, Paul posted 15 assists along with 10 points and 0 turnovers in a 124–109 win over the Houston Rockets. On December 19, Paul scored a then season-high 28 points and delivered eight assists in a 130–104 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. On Christmas Day, Paul recorded 17 points, a then season-high 16 assists and 0 turnovers in a 128–125 overtime loss against the Denver Nuggets. On January 22, 2023, Paul returned to the lineup after missing the previous seven games with a hip injury. He had 22 points, 11 assists, six rebounds and three steals to lead the Suns to an 112–110 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. On January 28, Paul scored a season-high 31 points, along with seven rebounds and 11 assists in a 128–118 overtime win over the San Antonio Spurs. On February 14, Paul posted 17 points and a season-high 19 assists in a 120–107 win over the Sacramento Kings. The next game, Paul surpassed Michael Jordan for third on the NBA all-time career steals list. On April 6, Paul scored 25 points and made a career-high seven three-pointers in a 119–115 win over the Denver Nuggets. ### Golden State Warriors (2023–2024) On June 24, 2023, the Suns traded Paul, Landry Shamet, four first-round pick swaps, and six second-round draft picks to the Washington Wizards for Bradley Beal, Jordan Goodwin, and Isaiah Todd. Twelve days later, the Wizards sent Paul to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for Jordan Poole, Patrick Baldwin Jr., Ryan Rollins, and two draft picks. On October 24, Paul debuted for the Warriors in their season-opening 108–104 loss against the Phoenix Suns. He finished the game with 14 points, six rebounds, nine assists and two steals. On October 29, Paul came off the bench for the first time in his NBA career, ending his NBA-record streak of 1,365 consecutive games started, in a 106–95 win over the Houston Rockets. On January 5, 2024, Paul fractured his left hand in the third quarter of a 113–109 win over the Detroit Pistons, which required a surgery, but was expected to return later during the season. On June 30, 2024, he was waived and became a free agent. ### San Antonio Spurs (2024–present) On July 7, 2024, Paul signed a one-year, $11 million deal with the San Antonio Spurs. On November 15, Paul logged 11 points and 11 assists in a 120–115 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. He also logged the 12,000th assist of his career, joining John Stockton and Jason Kidd as the only players to reach the milestone. ## National team career Paul made his debut for the United States national team at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan. He finished the competition with a tournament-high 44 assists, helping Team USA win the bronze medal in the process. At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, he played a key role off the bench, scoring 13 points in a gold medal game victory against Spain. In addition to the gold medal, Team USA also finished the competition with a perfect 8–0 record. Paul was promoted to the starting point guard position for the 2012 Olympics in London, averaging 8.2 points, 5.1 assists, and 1.6 steals per game en route to another gold medal and undefeated tournament. ## Player profile Standing tall and weighing 175 pounds (79 kg), Paul exclusively plays the point guard position. His career averages are 17.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 9.5 assists, and 2.1 steals per game. He has earned All-NBA honors 11 times (2008, 2009, 2011–2016, 2020, 2021, 2022), All-Defensive honors nine times (2008, 2009, 2011–2017), and led the NBA in steals a record six times (2008, 2009, 2011–2014) and in assists five times (2008, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2022). In 2013, he was ranked as the third-best player in the league by ESPN and Sports Illustrated. In his 2014 NBA preview, ESPN's Kevin Pelton called Paul the league's best point guard, adding, "a title he's held throughout his career when healthy." In 2022, to commemorate the NBA's 75th Anniversary The Athletic ranked their top 75 players of all time, and named Paul as the 30th-greatest player in NBA history. Paul prefers playing in the half court versus playing up-tempo. He creates scoring opportunities by constantly changing speeds; upon beating his defender one-on-one or shedding him in the pick-and-roll, he will often slow down and box him out, denying him from regaining front side position and forcing the defense to help at all times. His ability to penetrate deep into the paint leads to easy shots for his teammates, and in 2013, he was second in the league in assisted three-pointers. As a playmaker, he is noted for his consistently high assist-to-turnover ratio, averaging just 2.4 turnovers per game over his career. A deft midrange shooter, he is especially proficient from the right elbow, leading the league in shooting percentage from that area in 2015. On defense, he aggravates opponents with active hands and high effort, and has been ranked as one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA. ## Off the court Paul is regularly ranked as one of the highest-paid athletes in the world by Forbes. Some of the companies that he has done business with include Nike and State Farm. For a State Farm ad campaign, he portrayed a fictional twin brother named Cliff Paul. Paul was also the cover athlete for the video game NBA 2K8. Paul was selected president of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) on August 21, 2013, after having served on the executive committee for four years. He was a key figure in the banning of Clippers owner Donald Sterling from the NBA following racist remarks Sterling made in 2014. In one interview, Paul mentioned a possible boycott if Sterling continued to own the team. Paul also played a significant role in the election of Michele Roberts as the Executive Director of the Players Association, giving a strong recommendation to the executive committee responsible for filling the position. On August 7, 2021, Paul's tenure as president ended when CJ McCollum was elected to the position. Paul is part owner of The Soccer Tournament. ### Personal life Paul married his college sweetheart, Jada Crawley, on September 10, 2011. Together they have two children. On November 11, 2011, Paul appeared with his family on Family Feud. Paul is a Baptist. In a 2008 interview, Paul revealed that he is a Christian and attends church every Sunday whenever possible. He is an avid bowler and owns a franchise in the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) League called L.A.X. He has hosted and participated in numerous celebrity and youth bowling events as the head of the CP3 Foundation, which benefits programs in Louisiana affected by Hurricane Katrina, as well as charities in Winston-Salem. In 2018, Paul purchased a minority ownership stake in the Winston-Salem Dash, a minor league baseball team located in his hometown. Paul's brother, C.J., played college basketball at Hampton University and University of South Carolina Upstate. In 2004, they played against each other when Wake Forest had a preseason exhibition with USC Upstate. C.J. now works as Chris's personal manager. Paul is also close friends with football player Reggie Bush; the two once lived in the One River Place complex in the New Orleans Central Business District while Bush was playing for the New Orleans Saints. They also shared a personal chef. Paul has been a vegan since 2019 and is a brand ambassador for Beyond Meat. Paul is also in partnership with Gopuff, with the intentions to expand the latter's selection of plant-based foods and products, particularly those made and distributed by black- and brown-owned businesses. In December 2022, Chris Paul graduated from Winston-Salem State University with his bachelor's degree in communications. In June 2023, Chris Paul published a memoir, titled Sixty One: Life Lessons from Papa, On and Off the Court. The book recalls Paul's childhood in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, his relationship with his grandfather Nathaniel "Papa" Jones and his family, his high school and Wake Forest University basketball careers, and stories from his professional NBA career. ## Career statistics ### NBA #### Regular season |- | 2005–06 | style="text-align:left;"|New Orleans | 78 || 78 || 36.0 || .430 || .282 || .847 || 5.1 || 7.8 || 2.2 || .1 || 16.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2006–07 | style="text-align:left;"|New Orleans | 64 || 64 || 36.8 || .437 || .350 || .818 || 4.4 || 8.9 || 1.8 || .0 || 17.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2007–08 | style="text-align:left;"|New Orleans | 80 || 80 || 37.6 || .488 || .369 || .851 || 4.0 || style="background:\#cfecec;"|11.6\* || style="background:\#cfecec;"|2.7\* || .1 || 21.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2008–09 | style="text-align:left;"|New Orleans | 78 || 78 || 38.5 || .503 || .364 || .868 || 5.5 || style="background:\#cfecec;"|11.0\* || style="background:\#cfecec;"|2.8\* || .1 || 22.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2009–10 | style="text-align:left;"|New Orleans | 45 || 45 || 38.1 || .493 || .409 || .847 || 4.2 || 10.7 || 2.1 || .2 || 18.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2010–11 | style="text-align:left;"|New Orleans | 80 || 80 || 36.0 || .463 || .388 || .878 || 4.1 || 9.8 || style="background:\#cfecec;"|2.4\* || .1 || 15.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2011–12 | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | 60 || 60 || 36.3 || .478 || .371 || .861 || 3.6 || 9.1 || style="background:\#cfecec;"|2.5\* || .1 || 19.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2012–13 | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | 70 || 70 || 33.4 || .481 || .328 || .885 || 3.7 || 9.7 || style="background:\#cfecec;"|2.4\* || .1 || 16.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2013–14 | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | 62 || 62 || 35.0 || .467 || .368 || .855 || 4.3 || style="background:\#cfecec;"|10.7\* ||style="background:\#cfecec;"|2.5\* || .1 || 19.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2014–15 | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | 82 || style="background:\#cfecec;"| 82\* || 34.8 || .485 || .398 || .900 || 4.6 || style="background:\#cfecec;"|10.2\* || 1.9 || .2 || 19.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2015–16 | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | 74 || 74 || 32.7 || .462 || .371 || .896 || 4.2 || 10.0 || 2.1 || .2 || 19.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2016–17 | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | 61 || 61 || 31.5 || .476 || .411 || .892 || 5.0 || 9.2 || 2.0 || .1 || 18.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2017–18 | style="text-align:left;"|Houston | 58 || 58 || 31.8 || .460 || .380 || .919 || 5.4 || 7.9 || 1.7 || .2 || 18.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2018–19 | style="text-align:left;"|Houston | 58 || 58 || 32.0 || .419 || .358 || .862 || 4.6 || 8.2 || 2.0 || .3 || 15.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2019–20 | style="text-align:left;"|Oklahoma City | 70 || 70 || 31.5 || .489 || .365 || .907 || 5.0 || 6.7 || 1.6 || .2 || 17.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2020–21 | style="text-align:left;"|Phoenix | 70 || 70 || 31.4 || .499 || .395 || style="background:\#cfecec;"|.934\* || 4.5 || 8.9 || 1.4 || .3 || 16.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2021–22 | style="text-align:left;"|Phoenix | 65 || 65 || 32.9 || .493 || .317 || .837 || 4.4 ||style="background:\#cfecec;"|10.8\* || 1.9 || .3 || 14.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2022–23 | style="text-align:left;"|Phoenix | 59 || 59 || 32.0 || .440 || .375 || .831 || 4.3 || 8.9 || 1.5 || .4 || 13.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2023–24 | style="text-align:left;"|Golden State | 58 || 18 || 26.4 || .441 || .371 || .827 || 3.9 || 6.8 || 1.2 || .1 || 9.2 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career | 1,272 || 1,232 || 34.1 || .471 || .369 || .870 || 4.5 || 9.4 || 2.1 || .2 || 17.5 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|All-Star | 11 || 4 || 24.8 || .525 || .468 || .857 || 3.9 || style="background:\#E0CEF2; width:3em"|11.6 || 2.4 || .0 || 12.2 #### Play-in |- | style="text-align:left;"|2024 | style="text-align:left;"|Golden State | 1 || 0 || 18.3 || .333 || .500 || || 1.0 || 2.0 || .0 || .0 || 3.0 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career | 1 || 0 || 18.3 || .333 || .500 || || 1.0 || 2.0 || .0 || .0 || 3.0 #### Playoffs |- | style="text-align:left;"|2008 | style="text-align:left;"|New Orleans | 12 || 12 || 40.5 || .502 || .238 || .785 || 4.9 || 11.3 || 2.3 || .2 || 24.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2009 | style="text-align:left;"|New Orleans | 5 || 5 || 40.2 || .411 || .313 || .857 || 4.4 || 10.4 || 1.6 || .0 || 16.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2011 | style="text-align:left;"|New Orleans | 6 || 6 || 41.7 || .545 || .474 || .796 || 6.7 || 11.5 || 1.8 || .0 || 22.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2012 | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | 11 || 11 || 38.5 || .427 || .333 || .872 || 5.1 || 7.9 || 2.7 || .1 || 17.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2013 | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | 6 || 6 || 37.3 || .533 || .316 || .892 || 4.0 || 6.3 || 1.8 || .0 || 22.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2014 | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | 13 || 13 || 36.3 || .467 || .457 || .774 || 4.2 || 10.3 || 2.8 || .0 || 19.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2015 | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | 12 || 12 || 37.1 || .503 || .415 || .941 || 4.4 || 8.8 || 1.8 || .3 || 22.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2016 | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | 4 || 4 || 31.3 || .487 || .300 || 1.000 || 4.0 || 7.3 || 2.3 || .0 || 23.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2017 | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | 7 || 7 || 37.1 || .496 || .368 || .879 || 5.0 || 9.9 || 1.7 || .1 || 25.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2018 | style="text-align:left;"|Houston | 15 || 15 || 34.5 || .459 || .374 || .830 || 5.9 || 5.8 || 2.0 || .3 || 21.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2019 | style="text-align:left;"|Houston | 11 || 11 || 36.1 || .446 || .270 || .844 || 6.4 || 5.5 || 2.2 || .6 || 17.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2020 | style="text-align:left;"|Oklahoma City | 7 || 7 || 37.3 || .491 || .372 || .885 || 7.4 || 5.3 || 1.6 || .4 || 21.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2021 | style="text-align:left;"|Phoenix | 20 || 20 || 34.2 || .497 || .446 || .877 || 3.5 || 8.6 || 1.2 || .2 || 19.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2022 | style="text-align:left;"|Phoenix | 13 || 13 || 34.5 || .561 || .388 || .946 || 4.2 || 8.3 || 1.5 || .2 || 17.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2023 | style="text-align:left;"|Phoenix | 7 || 7 || 35.8 || .418 || .321 || .500 || 5.0 || 7.4 || 1.7 || .7 || 12.4 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career | 149 || 149 || 36.5 || .484 || .373 || .854 || 4.9 || 8.3 || 1.9 || .2 || 20.0 ### College |- | style="text-align:left;"|2003–04 | style="text-align:left;"|Wake Forest | 31 || 31 || 33.6 || .496 || .465 || .843 || 3.3 || 5.9 || 2.7 || .4 || 14.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2004–05 | style="text-align:left;"|Wake Forest | 32 || 32 || 33.4 || .451 || .474 || .834 || 4.5 || 6.6 || 2.4 || .0 || 15.3 |- | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career | 63 || 63 || 33.5 || .472 || .470 || .838 || 3.9 || 6.3 || 2.5 || .2 || 15.0 ## Filmography ## Awards and honors - NBA - 12× NBA All-Star: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020, 2021, 2022 - 11× All-NBA Team: - First Team: 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014 - Second Team: 2009, 2015, 2016, 2020, 2021 - Third Team: 2011, 2022 - 9× NBA All-Defensive Team: - First Team: 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 - Second Team: 2008, 2011 - NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award: 2013 - NBA Rookie of the Year: 2006 - NBA All-Rookie First Team: 2006 - College - First team consensus All-American: 2005 - No. 3 retired by Wake Forest - 2× All-ACC Team - All-ACC First Team: 2005 - All-ACC Third Team: 2004 - All-ACC Defensive Team: 2004 - All-ACC Freshman Team: 2004 - ACC Rookie of the Year: 2004 - All-ACC Tournament Second Team: 2004 - United States national team - 2× Olympic gold medalist: 2008, 2012 - FIBA World Championship bronze medalist: 2006 - USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year: 2004 ## See also - List of NBA career scoring leaders - List of NBA franchise career scoring leaders - List of NBA career assists leaders - List of NBA career steals leaders - List of NBA career turnovers leaders - List of NBA career 3-point scoring leaders - List of NBA career free throw scoring leaders - List of NBA career free throw percentage leaders - List of NBA career minutes played leaders - List of NBA career games played leaders - List of NBA career playoff assists leaders - List of NBA career playoff steals leaders - List of NBA career playoff 3-point scoring leaders - List of NBA career playoff triple-double leaders - List of NBA annual assists leaders - List of NBA annual steals leaders - List of NBA annual free throw percentage leaders - List of NBA single-game assists leaders - List of NBA single-game steals leaders

Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?

2024 song by Taylor Swift

"Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department (2024). Produced by Swift and Jack Antonoff, the track is a Southern Gothic-inspired chamber pop song that incorporates dense echo and strings. The lyrics were inspired by Swift's bitter feelings while reflecting on her teenage rise to stardom: they compare a narrator to a wicked witch and a trapped circus animal, detailing how her upbringing in an asylum contributes to her callous and viscous nature. Critical reception of "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" was mixed. Some critics found the tone heavy that makes the track hard to listen to and the lyrics confusing, but some others praised the musical elements and complimented the lyrics as biting and impactful. The song peaked at number nine on the Billboard Global 200 and charted in the top 10 in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. It also received a silver certification from the United Kingdom. Swift performed it on the 2024 shows of her Eras Tour. ## Background and release Swift started working on The Tortured Poets Department immediately after she submitted her tenth studio album, Midnights, to Republic Records for release in 2022. She continued working on it in secrecy throughout the US leg of the Eras Tour in 2023. The album's conception took place when Swift's personal life continued to be a widely covered topic in the press. She described The Tortured Poets Department as her "lifeline" album which she "really needed" to make. Republic Records released it on April 19, 2024; "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" is tenth on the track list. ## Lyrics and music Swift produced "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" with Jack Antonoff, who programmed it and played instruments including synths (Juno, Moog, M1, Mellotron), drums, bass, electric guitar, piano, and cello. The track was recorded by Jonathan Low, Jack Manning, Joey Miller, and Laura Sisk at Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles, Electric Lady Studios in New York, and Esplanade Studios in New Orleans. Other musicians on the track include Sean Hutchinson (drums), Aaron Dessner (piano), Zem Audu (synths), Mikey Freedom Hart (synths), Evan Smith (synths), and Michael Riddleberger (percussion). At 5 minutes and 34 seconds long, "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" is a chamber pop song with dense layers of echo and strings and infused with Southern Gothic elements. The bridge incorporates a resonating bass. The lyrics detail Swift's perception of her public image. The song starts with Swift confronting her critics ("If you wanted me dead, you should've just said/ Nothing makes me feel more alive") and, in the chorus, imagines herself as a witch that unleashes her anger onto a town ("So I leap from the gallows and I levitate down your street/ Crash the party like a record scratch as I scream/ 'Who's afraid of little old me?'/ You should be"). In the next verse, Swift recounts having been raised in an "asylum" and expresses how she becomes cold-hearted in the face of speculation on her personal life ("I was tame, I was gentle/ Til the circus life made me mean"). She details how she had to conform herself to a culture in which she was brought up: "You taught me, you caged me, and then you called me crazy." In a commentary for Amazon Music, Swift recalled that she wrote "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" alone on piano, while being in a bitter state reflecting on how her teenage rise to stardom influenced her self-perception. She said that "the world has this sense of ownership" over public figures, leading them to be easily critiqued for their behaviors; "We put them through hell. We watch what they create, then we judge it. We love to watch artists in pain, often to the point where I think sometimes as a society we provoke that pain, and we just watch what happens." Several critics compared the theme of "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" to that of "Anti-Hero" (2022), a track about Swift's self-critique and self-loathing. Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone described "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" as a "luridly comic goth-horror melodrama of girlhood in America" and labelled it an "evil twin" of "Mirrorball" (2020) while also being "filtered through" Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein. Vulture'''s Craig Jenkins thought that the lyrics portrayed a "thirst for supernatural revenge" that recalls "witch trials and Carrie". Vogue Australia thought that the title is a reference to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, a 1962 play by Edward Albee about a derailed marriage. ## Critical reception "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" received mixed reviews, with several critics remarking that the song had a heavy tone that made it hard to listen to. Mark Savage of the BBC thought that the theme was "salty and mischievous" and described the sound as "suffocated". Olivia Horn of Pitchfork deemed the lyrical imagery "convoluted" as the track portrays Swift as both a witch and a circus animal, and Slant Magazines Jonathan Keefe criticized the lyrics as overwritten, blemishing the song's attempt at showcasing Swift at her "most lacerating". In The New York Times, Jon Pareles lamented that the track lacked the "playful but self-questioning touch" of "Anti-Hero", making it "pretty much just sad or angry" and thus regress into "teenage petulance", and Lindsay Zoladz found it surprising that Swift "doesn't deliver this one with a (needed) wink" despite having "played dexterously with humor and irony elsewhere in her catalog". Beats Per Minute'''s John Wohlmacher described the composition as being "both too theatric and lo-fi at the same time" and the revengeful lyrics as confusing, given "the respect and adoration [Swift has] gotten from press and audiences". On a positive side, PopMatters' Jeffrey Davies deemed the track the album's best, writing that it demonstrates a "vicious cycle" of Swift's detractors "still [providing] her with enough ammunition for new material". Laura Snapes from The Guardian thought that the "vengeful wrath" of the song contains some of Swift's most cutting lyrics and deemed it a "deservedly bitter, barbed update of the cutesier and more cloying 'Anti-Hero'". Writing for the Associated Press, Maria Sherman was an amalgam of Swift's past albums, namely the "musical ambitiousness" of Folklore and Evermore (both 2020) and the sharp "sensibilities" of Reputation (2017), but with more depth and complexities. The Hollywood Reporters Ryan Fish ranked "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" fourth out of the 31 tracks on the album, deeming the portrayal of Swift's "witchy persona" compelling and saying that the production has a hook "[needing] to be shouted by a crowd in a stadium". ## Commercial performance When The Tortured Poets Department was released, tracks from the album occupied the top 14 of the US Billboard Hot 100; "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" debuted at a peak of number nine on the chart, where Swift became the first artist to monopolize the top 14. In Australia, the song reached number nine on the ARIA Singles Chart and made her the artist with the most entries in a single week with 29. Elsewhere, "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" peaked at number nine on the Billboard Global 200 and reached the top 10 in Canada and New Zealand and the top 25 in Singapore (14), the Philippines (20), Portugal (22), Luxembourg (23), Switzerland (23), and Belgium (25). The song received a silver certification from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). ## Live performances Swift included "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" among other tracks from The Tortured Poets Department in the revamped set list for her sixth concert tour, the Eras Tour, starting from the May 2024 shows in Paris. She performed the song while standing atop a glass-plated block that moved across the stage. Clash wrote that Swift was "rising and flying around the stage" while The Scotsman described that she "actually [levitated] down our street", ranking it the best number of the concert because it had the "biggest singalong of the night". Billboard considered the track a "live standout" among the set list's newly-added songs, opining that it was exemplary of Swift's description of the Tortured Poets Department act as "Female Rage: the Musical". ## Personnel Credits are adapted from the liner notes of The Tortured Poets Department. - Taylor Swift – vocals, songwriter, producer - Jack Antonoff – producer, programming, drums, Juno, Moog, bass, electric guitar, piano, M1, Mellotron, cello - Sean Hutchinson – drums, engineering - Michael Riddleberger – percussion, engineering - Evan Smith – synthesizer, engineering - Zem Audu – synthesizer, engineering - Mikey Freedom Hart – synthesizer, engineering - Aaron Dessner – piano - Laura Sisk – engineering - Oli Jacobs – engineering - Joey Miller – engineering - Jonathan Low – engineering - Jack Manning – – engineering assistance - Jon Sher – engineering assistance - Jesse Solon Snider – engineering assistance - Joe Caldwell – engineering assistance - Serban Ghenea – mixing - Bryce Bordone – mix engineering - Randy Merrill – mastering ## Charts ## Certification

Dhammakaya meditation

Thai Buddhist meditation method

Dhammakaya meditation (also known as Sammā Arahaṃ meditation) is a method of Buddhist Meditation developed and taught by the Thai meditation teacher Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro (1885–1959). In Thailand, it is known as Vijjā dhammakāya, which translates as 'knowledge of the dhamma-body'. The Dhammakāya Meditation method is considered one of the most prominent in Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia. It has been described as a revival of both "samatha" (tranquility) and "vipassanā" (insight) meditation practices in Thailand. The Dhammakaya Tradition believes the method to be the same as the original method the Buddha used to attain enlightenment, which was lost and then rediscovered by Luang Pu Sodh in the 1910s. The most important aspect of the meditation method is the focus on the center of the body, which leads to the attainment of the Dhammakāya, the Dhamma-body, found within every human being. Similar to other meditation traditions, the Dhammakaya Tradition believes the meditation technique leads to the attainment of Nirvana, and in advanced stages, can give the meditator various supernatural abilities, or abhiñña. Dhammakaya Meditation is taught at several temples of the Tradition, and consists of a stage of samatha (tranquility) and vipassana (insight), following the structure of the Visuddhimagga, a standard fifth-century Theravāda guide about meditation. In the method, the stages are described in terms of inner bodies (), but also in terms of meditative absorptions (). Scholars have proposed several possibilities for the origin of the method, with the Yogavacara tradition as the likely source, as well as acknowledging that Luang Pu Sodh may have independently developed it through his own psychic experiences. Dhammakaya Meditation has been the subject of considerable discussion among Buddhists as to its authenticity and efficacy, and also has been the subject of several scientific studies. ## Nomenclature Dhammakaya Meditation is also referred to as Vijja thammakai or Vijjā dhammakāya. The word vijjā is derived from the Vedic Sanskrit term vidya or knowledge, while dhammakāya means "Dhamma-body". Together, it connotes 'knowledge of the Dhamma-body'. The tradition itself, as for example expressed in books of Wat Phra Dhammakaya, defines Vijjā Dhammakāya as "Clear knowledge that arises from insight through the vision and knowledge of the Dhammakaya." ## History ### Thai 19th-century reform movement In 19th and early 20th-century Thailand, public perception of the practice of Buddhism changed. Originally, Thai people saw meditation mostly as a personal and quite esoteric practice. In response to threats of colonial powers, the Thai kings and the reformed Dhammayut fraternity attempted to modernize Buddhism. Mahayana and Tantric practices were considered "devotional and degenerate", while the orthodox Theravada tradition as the more legitimate one with closed canonical scriptures. The royal family of Thailand sought to reform Thai Buddhism with its ritualized and mystical practices, encouraging instead the direct study and adherence to the Pali canonical and commentarial texts. This was, in part, similar to the European Protestant tradition, reaching back to normative scriptures, in this case the 5th-century Visuddhimagga of Buddhaghosa. In this process, meditation tradition was devalued among monastics, as the study of scriptures was more valued. Thai temples in the Mahānikāya fraternity were forced to adjust to new reforms, including the meditation method used and taught. Education in Buddhist doctrine was standardized and centralized, and some local meditation lineages such as of Ajarn Mun gradually died out. Meditation traditions responded by reforming their methods, and looking for textual support for their meditation system in the Buddhist scriptures, in an attempt to establish orthodoxy and survive. Meditation became less esoteric, as temple traditions and their local teachers adapted to this pressure for uniform orthodox meditation practice. ### Luang Pu Sodh According to biographies published by Dhammakaya-related temples, the principles of Dhammakaya meditation were rediscovered by Luang Pu Sodh at Wat Botbon, in Nonthaburi Province sometime between 1915–1917. The tradition was started by Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro in the early twentieth century. One night, after three hours of meditating on the mantra sammā araham, "his mind [suddenly] became still and firmly established at the very centre of his body," and he experienced "a bright and shining sphere of Dhamma at the centre of his body, followed by new spheres, each "brighter and clearer." According to Luang Pu Sodh, this was the true Dhamma-body, or Dhammakaya, the "spiritual essence of the Buddha and nibbana [which] exists as a literal reality within the human body," what became known as the attainment of the Dhammakaya, the eternal Buddha within all beings. The dhammakaya is Nibbāna, and Nibbāna is equated with a person's true self (as opposed to the non-self). ### Yogavacara origins Luang Pu Sodh's approach may have roots in the Yogavacara tradition (also known as tantric Theravāda or borān kammaṭṭhāna); not to be confused with the Yogacāra School in Mahāyāna Buddhism). The Dhammakaya meditation method managed to survive the pressures to reform Buddhism in modern Thailand. Its ancestry may be related to the Suk meditation system and to Wat Rajasittharam, the former residence of Supreme Patriarch Suk Kaitheun (สมเด็จพระอริยวงษญาณ; สุก ญาณสังวร; 1733–1822), "the heir to the teaching of Ayutthaya meditation masters," and the temple where Luang Pu Sodh used to study the Suk system before he went on to develop Dhammakaya meditation. According to Mackenzie, Yogavacara ideas are the most likely influence on Dhammakaya meditation system, though this is not definitely proven. According to Buddhist Studies scholar Catherine Newell, "there is no doubt that Dhammakaya meditation is based upon the broader Yogavacara tradition." She presents evidence of the borrowing of Luang Pu Sodh's Dhammakaya system from Somdet Suk's system of meditation. She and Asian studies scholar Phibul Choompolpaisal believe a Yogavacara origin to be most likely. If this would be the case, the tradition's meditation method would be an exoteric (openly taught) version of what initially was an esoteric tradition. Thai Studies scholar Barend Jan Terwiel has argued for a connection between Dhammakaya meditation and Thai meditation practices since the Ayutthaya period (1350–1776), in which the crystal ball at the center of the body plays a key role. He bases his conclusions on depictions of Nirvana in the manuscripts of the text Traiphuum Phra Ruang. He believes that this tradition may be identified as Yogavacara. Choompolpaisal lists a number of similarities between Dhammakaya meditation and Yogavacara practices from 56 anonymous Ayutthaya meditation teachers. Some of these methods focus on a similar point in the body, and feature the same objects used in visualization, that is, a Buddha image and a crystal ball. The meditative experiences which follow after visualization are also similar in nature between the 56 teachers and Dhammakaya. In both, the words dhamma sphere (duangtham) and dhammakāya are used to describe some of the experiences. Finally, the Ayutthaya teachers refer to inner bodies in some of their techniques, which have similar features to some of the inner bodies in the Dhammakāya system. An alternative theory suggests an origin in Tibetan or other forms of Mahāyāna Buddhism. According to Mackenzie, it is possible but unlikely that someone who knew the Tibetan meditation methods met and shared that knowledge with Luang Pu Sodh in the early 1910s. There are similarities between the two systems, states Mackenzie, as well as with the concepts such as chakra (tantric psycho-physical centers), "crystal sphere" and Vajra. Though these commonalities are widely accepted, no proof has emerged yet of the cross-fertilization of Tibetan Buddhist practices into Dhammakaya system. Crosby doubts the link, because of the two systems using different terminology. It is also "quite possible" that Luang Pu Sodh developed the Dhammakaya meditation approach through his own "psychic experiences", in Mackenzie's words, or partly based on older tradition, and partly a new invention. ### Growth and popularisation After discovering the method of Dhammakaya meditation, Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro first taught it to others at Wat Bangpla, in Nakhon Pathom Province. Luang Pu Sodh was given his first position as abbot at Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen, a temple that has been associated with Dhammakaya meditation ever since. In 1931, Luang Pu Sodh set up what he called a 'meditation workshop' () with meditation practitioners meditating in six-hour shifts throughout the day. According to a textbook of one temple, the meditation workshop was reserved for gifted practitioners able to practice Dhammakaya meditation on a higher level. The purpose of the workshop was to use meditation to study certain subjects, which included understanding the nature of the world and the universe, "to learn the truth about the worlds and the galaxies". Since Luang Pu Sodh's death in 1959, Dhammakaya meditation has been taught by his students at several major temples, including Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen, Wat Phra Dhammakaya in Pathum Thani, Wat Luang Por Sodh Dhammakayaram in Damnoen Saduak District, Ratchaburi Province, and Wat Rajorasaram in Bang Khun Thian District, Bangkok, as well as in branch centers of these temples across and outside of Thailand. Of these, Wat Phra Dhammakaya and Wat Luang Por Sodh Dhammakayaram have published instruction books on Dhammakaya meditation in English. Both also offer training retreats for the public. The method has become very popular in Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia, and has been described as a revival of samatha (tranquility) meditation in Thailand. ## Method Dhammakaya meditation includes three techniques, namely concentration on breath, repetitive chanting of the mantra samma araham, and concentrating upon a bright object. The types of practices, such as visualization or use of a mantra, are not unique to Dhammakaya meditation, but its specific methods for practice are. Dhammakaya meditation has both samatha and vipassana stages, like other Buddhist traditions. The process of concentration in Dhammakaya meditation correlates with the description of samatha meditation in the Visuddhimagga, specifically kasina meditation. Essential in Dhammakaya meditation is the "center of the body," which Luang Pu Sodh describes as being at a point two finger widths above the navel of each person. The center of the body has also been described as the "end of the breath", the point in the abdomen where the breath goes back and forth. According to the Dhammakaya tradition, the mind can only attain a higher level of insight through this center and it is where the Dhammakaya, the Dhamma-body, is located. It has the shape of a Buddha sitting within oneself. This center is also believed to play a fundamental role in the birth and death of an individual. ### The samatha stage As is common with traditional samatha practice, the first step of Dhammakaya meditation at the samatha level is to overcome mental hindrances to concentration. This enables the meditator to focus and access the meditative center. #### Focusing on the center There are several techniques taught by the Dhammakaya Tradition to help focus the attention on the center of the body. Practitioners visualize a mental image at the center of the body–characteristically, a crystal ball or a crystal clear Buddha image. The use of crystal ball as an aid to meditation in the Dhammakaya practice has been compared with meditation on a bright object in the Visuddhimagga, and the crystal ball has become a sacred symbol of the meditation tradition. According to Buddhist studies scholar Potprecha Cholvijarn, other objects to maintain focus at the center can also be used. For instance, Wat Phra Dhammakaya has taught people in the Solomon Islands to visualize a coconut and has taught Muslims to visualize religious symbols such as a crescent moon to maintain focus at the center. The goal of this practice, states Scott, is described as the attainment of samadhi or one-pointedness of mind, in which several spheres and then various inner bodies are revealed, ultimately revealing "the true self, the true mind, the Dhammakaya." Practitioners typically repeat the samma araham mantra, then visualize a mental image of the bright crystal or light, and then move the mental image inwards through seven bases of the mind, that is: 1. the nostril (right for men, left for women), 2. the bridge of the nose (right for men, left for women), 3. the center of the head, 4. the roof of the mouth, 5. the center of the throat, 6. the middle of the stomach at the level of the navel and 7. two finger-breadths above the previous point, where they keep their attention. In this context, the center of the body is often called the "seventh or final base", and is called the mind's final resting place. The meditator continues to repeat the mantra while shifting the focus to the sphere's center and layers of concentric spheres therein. This use of psycho-physical centers in the Dhammakaya meditation is similar to the chakras in the Tibetan Buddhist tantra practice, states Mackenzie. However, the detailed symbolism found in the Tibetan tradition is not found in the Dhammakaya tradition. In the tradition, the first six bases facilitate visualization, but are not required, as advanced meditators can directly visualize the seventh base. After the meditator has visualized the movement of a crystal ball through the bases until it rests on the seventh final base, the practitioner envisions the body as devoid of organs, blood and everything else except the crystal ball. #### Spheres When the mind is concentrated at the center of the body, the pathama-magga, or dhamma sphere (duangtham), may be seen by a wholesome person, but is not seen by an unwholesome person or those who lack sufficient concentration powers, according to Dhammakaya teachings. The first sighting of this "bright crystal sphere" is considered as an important first step. The first stage of this path Luang Pu Sodh simply called the 'beginning of the path' (). The meditation teachers state that with sufficient skill, or if there is an adequate store of merit, the meditator sees this path as a "glowing sphere". According to Tanabe, this state is also described as the arising of bright light at the center of the body. According to Skilton and Choompolpaisal, this practice sometimes leads to the pīti state, or the temporary experience of goosebumps or other physical responses. From this arises a brighter sphere, the sila sphere, followed by an even brighter and more refined sphere of samadhi (mental concentration). According to Jayamaṅggalo, the former abbot of Wat Luang Phor Sodh Dhammakayaram, this is the first stage of absorption, from which insight meditation can be started. Next comes the pañña (wisdom, insight) sphere, and then the sphere of liberation (vimutti). Finally, the "sphere of knowledge and vision of liberation" (vimutti-ñanadassana) arises – a term normally used for Arahatship, according to the Dhammakaya meditation teachings. #### Inner bodies When the practitioner concentrates further on the vimutti-ñanadassana, a series of eight inner bodies arise from this sphere, which are successively more subtle, and come in pairs, starting with "a crude human form" (panita-manussakaya). Each of these bodies is preceded by several spheres of light. The eight inner bodies begin in a form identical to the meditator, but are more refined. After the crude human body, there arises the "refined human body" and then the "crude celestial body" and the "refined celestial body". After the meditator attains the refined celestial body, this gives way to the "crude form Brahma body". This is followed by "refined form Brahma body", "crude formless Brahma body" and "refined formless Brahma body". Once again, like previous inner bodies, these bodies have a normal and refined form. According to Mackenzie, "[t]his series of [four] bodies seems to broadly correspond to the meditative development up to the four jhanas", through them, and then the four formless meditation attainments. The final four of these inner pairs are called the Dhammakayas and are equated with the four stages of enlightenment, leading to the final stage of enlightenment (arahant). In between is the 'change-of-lineage' () intermediary Dhammakaya state. According to Newell, quoting Jayamaṅggalo, this state is the ninth inner body and is characterized by "the lap width, height and sphere diameter [of] 9 meters." The size of the Dhammakaya bodies increase, as the meditator progresses through these intermediate stages, from a height and lap-width of 9 meters or more to 40 meters or more. According to Harvey, the visualized inner bodies in Dhammakaya teachings are said to appear like Buddha-images, followed by bodies of Noble persons, finally that of an arahant's radiant Dhammakaya form within allowing the experience of Nirvana. ### The vipassana stage Dhammakaya meditation begins with a samatha (concentration) method with a crystal sphere as an aid to acquiring the Dhammakaya, which is believed to exist inside everybody. Although some Thai scholars and meditation traditions have criticized Dhammakaya meditation as being a samatha only method, Cholvijarn states that Luang Pu Sodh did emphasize a vipassana (insight) stage, which is done by contemplating the three marks of existence of the lower mundane inner bodies. The vipassana stage is where the meditator can gain insights into the truth through observation of their own physical and mental processes. It is believed they can understand birth, death and suffering at a deeper level, when they see the literal essence of these phenomena through meditative attainment. The higher knowledge and transcendental wisdom in the vipassana stage is "beyond the attainment of Dhammakaya" of the samatha stage. According to Scott, the Dhammakaya method tends to emphasize aspects of samatha meditation, rather than vipassana meditation. The Dhammakaya meditation method contrasts with the other Buddhist traditions where samatha stage is considered a preliminary step to develop "one-pointedness of mind" followed by the vipassana stage that "alone brings the meditator to full and final release (Nibbāna) in the Buddhist view". The vipassana tradition of Wat Mahathat claims that Luang Pu Sodh allegedly confessed to officials at Wat Mahathat that he had been wrong to emphasize Dhammakaya meditation as Wat Mahathat's vipassana was the best method. The Dhammakaya tradition rejects this claim, stating that Luang Pu Sodh only learned Wat Mahathat's method as a gesture of goodwill and never made such a confession. Cholvijarn points to bhikkhuni Voramai Kabilsingh, who studied and taught both methods, as being an objective source of clarity to this controversy. According to her autobiographical accounts, bhikkhuni Voramai studied Dhammakaya meditation with Luang Pu Sodh and attained dhammakaya. Afterwards she went on to study Wat Mahathat's method. After completing the course, she returned to Wat Paknam and told Luang Pu Sodh she only used her outer human body to meditate with Wat Mahathat's method, in order to keep her dhammakaya during the training. Luang Pu Sodh then told her to always keep her dhammakaya. In comparing Dhammakaya meditation with other methods she practiced, bhikkhuni Voramai states that there are four types of arahants: one who has the discriminations, one who has the higher knowledges, one who has the threefold knowledges, and one who has "dry insight", meaning they are enlightened but have none of the knowledges of the first three. According to bhikkhuni Voramai, Dhammakaya meditation and the Buddho method of meditation she learned with Ajahn Lee allows one to become the first three arahants, while the vipassana method taught at Wat Mahathat allows one to become enlightened quickly, but only as a "dry insight" arahant. She goes on to say that this is because the first two methods start with samatha and end in vipassana, which is required for the first three types. Cholvijarn compares this to teachings of Ajahn Lee, who gives a similar description of samatha and vipassana in relation to enlightenment. ### Culmination The practitioner can accomplish a purification of the mind until an end of this can be reached, that is Nirvana. According to Peter Harvey, in the Dhammakaya tradition's teachings, "Nirvana is controversially seen as one's true 'Self'", with the traditional teaching of "non-Self" () interpreted as "letting go of what is not Self, and finding what truly is Self". In Dhammakaya meditation, a distinction is made between "seeing the Dhammakāya" and "being the Dhammakāya". Only the latter is equated with having attained the stages of enlightenment at a stable level. It is believed that the further practitioners progress through the successive stages of the practice, the more their mind will become more pure and refined. According to Newell, as the meditator attains the higher-levels of Dhammakaya inner bodies, he reaches the final state of dhammakaya-arahatta where he may be enlightened or unenlightened. It is the enlightened who become Arahant, while the unenlightened revert to the prior state (anupadisesa nibbana), in the Dhammakaya meditation system. Success in the higher-levels of meditation is claimed to create supranormal powers such as the ability to "visit [Buddhist] heavens and hells to see the fate the deceased family members" and "visit nibbana (nirvana) to make offerings to the Buddha", states Newell. According to Scott, the samatha stage of Dhammakaya includes "the fruits of supranormal powers (iddhi) and knowledge (abhiñña)", a feature that is common in other modernist interpretations of Buddhism. The attainment of the Dhammakaya (or Dhammakayas) is described by many practitioners as the state where there is the cessation of the defilements in the mind, or, in positive terms, as the true, ultimate, permanent happiness (Pali: nibbanam paramam sukham). According to Scott, "more often than not, it is the understanding of Nirvana as supreme happiness that is underscored in dhammakāya practice, rather than its traditional rendering as the cessation of greed, hatred and delusion", though at times these two descriptions are combined. This positive description of Nirvana as a state of supreme happiness may have contributed to the popularity of Wat Phra Dhammakaya to new members, states Scott. This view of Nirvana in the Dhammakaya meditation system is in contrast to the orthodox Theravada via negativa description of Nirvana being "not Samsāra". The Dhammakaya is considered the "purest element" and the Buddha nature which is permanent and essential. This purest element has the shape of a luminous Buddha figure sitting within oneself. According to Scott, the full realization of the Dhammakaya ontology has been described in the Dhammakaya tradition as Nirvana. According to Newell, Dhammakaya is sometimes described in the Dhammakaya tradition as a state reached more easily and by more meditators than the state of Nirvana. A Wat Luang Pho Sodh Dhammakayaram publication states in reference to their retreat programs, quotes Newell, "Past results indicate that half of [retreat] participants can transcend to Dhammakaya and a quarter can reach visiting Nirvana." Wat Luang Pho Sodh Dhammakayaram has claimed their meditation retreats can lead to the quick attainment of Nirvana, with testimonials claiming 'visiting nirvana within two weeks', or in one case reaching Nirvana in 'just one week'." Nirvana is described by the Dhammakaya tradition as a subtle sphere (). The "Nirvana sphere" is believed by Dhammakaya practitioners to appear as a subtle physical realm where "enlightened beings eternally exist as individuals with self-awareness", states Harvey, and is accessible by arahants from within their own bodies. In some Dhammakaya tradition lineages, practitioners ritually offer food to these enlightened beings in Nirvana. Cholvijarn argues that Dhammakaya's teaching of Nirvana was influenced by two of Luang Pu Sodh's early meditation teachers, who taught a similar understanding of Nirvana. Similar views were also taught by the 19th Supreme Patriarch of Thailand and are also common in the Thai Forest Tradition founded by Ajahn Mun, with several of Ajahn Mun's esteemed students giving similar descriptions of Nirvana, states Cholvijarn. Such views can be found in borān kammaṭṭhana texts as well. ### Differences between temples The various Dhammakaya temples have different expectations and emphasis, states Newell. The meditation system at Wat Paknam is embedded within religious ceremonies; Wat Phra Dhammakaya and Wat Luang Phor Sodh Dhammakayaram use meditation retreats; Wat Luang Phor Sodh Dhammakayaram emphasizes higher stages of absorption to attain Dhammakaya in their publications, while Wat Phra Dhammakaya emphasizes developing calm and concentration. Some Dhammakaya temples are more esoteric about the method than others. For instance, according to Mackenzie, Wat Paknam and Wat Phra Dhammakaya monks do not openly discuss their meditation practice related to defeating Māra. Wat Luang Phor Sodh Dhammakayaram openly encourages meditation at higher levels, while Wat Phra Dhammakaya openly focuses on the basic level, as well as adapts simplified versions of the technique according to age and culture, teaching higher levels of meditation only to selected individuals. ### Scriptural validation Temples of the tradition refer mostly to the Mahasatipaṭṭhāna Sutta, the Ānāpānasati Sutta and the Visuddhimagga for Dhammakaya meditation's theoretical foundations. According to Cholvijarn, Luang Pu Sodh made the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta and the four satipaṭṭhānas central to the Dhammakaya meditation system, being one of the first meditation masters of his time to do so. According to Mackenzie, Luang Pu Sodh interpreted a phrase which is normally interpreted as 'contemplating the body as a body' as contemplating the body in the body. The Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta contains a series of expressions for contemplating the body as body, feelings as feelings, etc. but is literally translated from Pali as "in" rather than "as". According to Cholvijarn, Luang Pu Sodh considered the phrase as having several meanings based on the individual person's level of understanding. Luang Pu Sodh did understand the phrase "body in body" as meaning being mindful of the body, but also understood it as extending the mindfulness to the inner bodies for practitioners who could see them with meditative attainments, a literal interpretation of "in". Luang Pu Sodh's experience is also understood in the biographies as a deeper meaning to the Middle Way, a teaching described in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, an early Buddhist discourse. With regard to the Ānāpānasati Sutta, Cholvijarn points to a sermon of Luang Pu Sodh that described how the practice of mindfulness of the breath calms the body, speech and mind in regards to the four satipaṭṭhānas. Jayamaṅggalo relates Dhammakaya meditation's focus on the center of the body to the practice of ānāpānasati in accordance with the Visuddhimagga. The Visuddhimagga instructs meditators to observe the passing of the breath at one fixed point, rather than to follow the breath in and out, which would agitate the mind. According to Jayamaṅggalo, Dhammakaya meditation follows these instructions by focusing at a point near the end of the breath, where the in and out breaths are separated in the abdomen. Dhammakaya meditation's traditional use of a crystal ball to maintain focus at the center has also been compared to the use of a bright object as described in the Visuddhimagga. The practice of visualizing an object at the end of the breath in the abdomen has been found in some ancient Thai meditation manuals as well, states Cholvijarn. ## Reception The Dhammakaya tradition believes Dhammakaya meditation was the method through which the Buddha became enlightened, and that knowledge of the method was lost five hundred years after the Buddha's death, but was rediscovered by Luang Pu Sodh in the 1910s. According to Suwanna Satha-Anand, the tradition believes that meditation and the attainment of the dhammakaya is the only way to Nirvana. ### Method As with other meditation methods emphasizing samatha, opponents writing from a modernist standpoint have criticized the method. These critics point at the emphasis on pleasant feelings as opposed to insight. They argue against the mystical dimension of meditation practice, saying that bliss in meditation is a hindrance to insight. According to Scott, in the time of Luang Pu Sodh the method was criticized by some for being extra-canonical, although Asian studies scholar Edwin Zehner states there was no widespread criticism. Meditation in large groups, as is common in the activities of Wat Phra Dhammakaya, contrasts with the emphasis of most Thai temples on meditation in solitude. The temple stresses the importance of meditating as a group to counterbalance the negativity in the world. Discussion within the Thai monastic community led to an inspection at Wat Paknam, but no fault could be found in Luang Pu Sodh's method. Religion scholar Donald Swearer calls the meditation method "a unique method of meditation which involves a visualization technique not unlike that associated with certain yogic or tantric forms of meditation, and is easily taught to large groups of people". Mackenzie concludes that the Dhammakaya meditation method is within the standards of Thai Buddhism, and that criticism of the method stems largely from people who disapprove of Wat Phra Dhammakaya's high-profile status and fundraising practices, rather than a genuine disagreement with the meditation method itself. ### Interpretation The interpretations of the true self by the Dhammakaya tradition have been criticized by some Thai Buddhist scholars such as Phra Payutto, and have led to considerable debate in Thailand. The bulk of Thai Theravada Buddhism rejects the true-self teaching of Dhammakaya, and insists upon absolute non-self as the Buddha's real teaching. Proponents of the tradition cite several Pāli texts, such as one text stating that Nirvana is true happiness, and argue that the true self is a logical conclusion that follows from these texts. Other proponents feel that the problem is a matter of practice more than debate. The late abbot of Wat Luang Por Sodh Dhammakayaram, Luang Por Sermchai, argues it tends to be scholars who hold the view of absolute non-self, whereas "several distinguished forest hermit monks" such as Luang Pu Sodh, Ajahn Mun and Ajahn Maha Bua hold Nirvana as true self, because they have "confirmed the existence of a Higher or Real Self (attā)" by their own realizations. The word dhammakāya in its orthodox sense is commonly understood as a figurative term, meaning the "body" or the sum of the Buddha's teachings. The idea of a body of spiritual attainment can be found in the early Pali scriptures, though, but this is described as a "body accomplished by the mind" () and not directly connected with the attainment of Nirvana. Buddhist studies scholar Chanida Jantrasrisalai, however, argues that the term was originally more connected with the process of enlightenment than the way it later came to be interpreted. Jantrasrisalai states that "in all references to dhammakāya in early Buddhist usage, it is apparent that dhammakāya is linked always with the process of enlightenment in one way or another. Its relation with the Buddhist noble ones of all types is evident in the early Buddhist texts. That is to say, dhammakāya is not exclusive to the Buddha. It appears also that the term's usage in the sense of teaching is a later schema rather than being the early Buddhist common notions as generally understood." The concept of the Dharmakāya has been much further developed in Mahāyāna Buddhism, and the interpretations of the Dhammakaya tradition with regard to true self have been compared with Mahāyāna ideas like the Buddha Nature, but such influence has been rejected by the tradition itself. ### Influence Dhammakaya meditation has also influenced several meditation teachers outside of the Dhammakaya tradition. Cholvijarn points to Dhammakaya meditation as influencing several notable teachers in Thailand such as Luang Pho Ruesi Lingdam, bhikkhuni Voramai Kabilsingh, as well as possibly Phra Ariyakhunathan. Luang Pho Ruesi Lingdam, a highly respected figure in Thailand, studied meditation under Luang Pu Sodh and several well known meditation masters in the 1930s. After learning Dhammakaya meditation at Wat Paknam, he incorporated it into his practice and eventually became the abbot of Wat Tha Sung, which later became a major meditation temple for the region. Luang Pho Ruesi taught several meditation techniques, but his most popular was the Manomayiddhi method, which Cholvijarn notes has several similarities with Dhammakaya meditation. Luang Pho Ruesi has also admitted that Luang Pu Sodh influenced his view of Nirvana, which he used to believe was void. However, after practicing Dhammakaya and other forms of meditation, he later changed his view to agree with Luang Pu Sodh's. Bhikkhuni Voramai Kabilsingh, the founder of the Songdhammakalyani Monastery and an early figure in the bhikkhuni ordination movement in Thailand, credits Dhammakaya meditation with sparking her interest in Buddhist practice and meditation. According to her biography, Bhikkhuni Voramai was suffering from uterine fibroid as a layperson and prior to a surgery for their removal, was told by a student of Luang Pu Sodh that the fibroid had been removed via meditation. To her and the surgeon's surprise, the fibroid was found to be gone. The incident led her to the study of Dhammakaya meditation at Wat Paknam as well as several other meditation schools and her eventual ordination. According to Cholvijarn, Bhikkhuni Voramai taught Dhammakaya meditation along with several other meditation methods until her death, as well as taught the concepts of dhammakaya and Nirvana similarly to Luang Pu Sodh. As of 2008, Dhammakaya meditation is still taught as one of the meditation methods to the bhikkhuni at Songdhammakalyani Monastery. Phra Ariyakhunathan, a well known meditation master from the Thai Forest Tradition who was responsible for the first biography of lineage founder Ajahn Mun, also may have been influenced by Luang Pu Sodh. Although Phra Ariyakhunathan does not acknowledge an influence, Cholvijarn notes that in 1950, Phra Ariyakhunathan, then a high ranking Dhammayuttika administrative monk, was sent to investigate the conduct of Luang Pu Sodh as his reputation in Thailand grew. After the meeting, Phra Ariyakhunathan returned with a positive report and then published a book describing the concept of dhammakaya in the same way as Luang Pu Sodh. According to Cholvijarn, his understanding of dhammakaya likely came from discussions with meditation masters such as Luang Pu Sodh and Ajahn Mun, although Cholvijarn states that he also may have gotten these ideas from borān kammaṭṭhāna texts. ## Effects Practitioners of the method state the method is capable of changing people for the better, and has positive effects in their daily life. Dhammakaya meditation has been promoted as a fast meditation method for professionals with little time, easy enough to be learned by children, one able to "effect radical changes in one's life if practised regularly". According to Mackenzie, Dhammakaya meditation is alleged to "increase the ability of the meditator to achieve goals, gain insight into the true nature of things", as well as develop "a variety of psychic and healing powers". Such claims are found in other meditation traditions as well, states Mackenzie. Dhammakaya meditation is a form of spiritual practice that "fits well with a busy, consumer lifestyle". While the method is not simpler than other methods, states Mackenzie, its appeal is that its benefits seem to be more readily experienced by its adherents than more orthodox models. According to Mackenzie, Dhammakaya meditation practice includes both the ordinary level and the high-level meditation. The claimed benefits of the low-level meditation include "spiritual purification, wisdom and success", while high-level meditation is alleged to bring forth various special knowledge and powers. ### Supranormal knowledge and powers According to Newell, Dhammakaya meditation at the higher levels is believed by its adherents to bring forth abhiñña, or mental powers. Through such powers, states Newell, practitioners believe they can see different realms of the cosmos described in the Buddhist cosmology. The Dhammakaya meditation technique is claimed in its advanced stages to allow the meditator to visit alternate planes of existence, wherein one can affect current circumstances. According to Thai Studies scholar Jeffrey Bowers, high-level meditation is believed to yield various supernatural abilities such as enabling "one to visit one's own past lives, or the lives of others, discover where someone has been reborn and know the reasons why the person was reborn there, cure oneself or others of any disease, extrasensory perception, mind control and similar accomplishments". Mackenzie describes these abilities as being in line with the psychic powers (Pali: iddhi) gained through meditation detailed in the Pali Canon. Examples include stories known in Thailand of Luang Pu Sodh performing "miraculous healings" and developing various supernatural powers "such as the ability to read minds and to levitate". These alleged abilities of Luang Pu Sodh are believed even by Thais who are not his followers. According to Mackenzie, Wat Paknam was a popular bomb shelter for people in the surrounding areas in World War II due to stories of Luang Pu Sodh's abilities, and Thai news reports include multiple sightings of mae chi (nuns) from the temple levitating and intercepting bombs during the Allied bombings of Bangkok. According to Dhammakaya publications, Luang Pu Sodh realized that the Allies were planning to drop an atom bomb on Bangkok during World War II due to the Japanese occupation of Thailand. He and his advanced students are alleged to have used Dhammakaya meditation to change the mind of the Allies and prevent the strike. According to Newell, many Thais try accessing the alleged powers of Dhammakaya meditation indirectly through amulets. Like many temples, Wat Paknam issued amulets to fund Buddhist projects when Luang Pu Sodh was abbot. These amulets eventually gained a reputation for being particularly powerful and are highly prized in Thailand for this reason. Practitioners also believe that Dhammakaya meditation can be used to extinguish the negative forces in the cosmos (Māra), which has strongly affected the attitudes of practitioners at Dhammakaya tradition temples, who therefore hold that Dhammakaya meditation is not only important for the individual, but also for the cosmos at large. Such powers are believed to be able to be used for the benefit of society at large. Group meditation is believed by the Dhammakaya practitioners to be more powerful in defeating Māra. The links to the supernatural world, and the tradition's leadership skills to navigate it, are also the basis for the ritual offering of food to the Buddha in nirvana, on the first Sunday of every month. ### Scientific study Sudsuang, Chentanez and Veluvan (1990), studying 52 males practicing Dhammakaya meditation versus a control group of 30 males who did not practice meditation, concluded that Dhammakaya meditation reduced serum cortisol level, blood pressure, pulse rate, vital capacity, tidal volume, maximal voluntary ventilation and reaction time. On a psychological level, people who regularly practiced Dhammakaya meditation were found to score high on the ISFJ personality type of the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator, which is defined within that scale as originality and a drive for implementing ideas and achieving goals. ## See also - Dhammakaya Movement - Dhammakaya Tradition UK - Yogāvacara's manual - Peace Revolution

Alexandrov's uniqueness theorem

Polyhedra are determined by surface distance

The Alexandrov uniqueness theorem is a rigidity theorem in mathematics, describing three-dimensional convex polyhedra in terms of the distances between points on their surfaces. It implies that convex polyhedra with distinct shapes from each other also have distinct metric spaces of surface distances, and it characterizes the metric spaces that come from the surface distances on polyhedra. It is named after Soviet mathematician Aleksandr Danilovich Aleksandrov, who published it in the 1940s. ## Statement of the theorem The surface of any convex polyhedron in Euclidean space forms a metric space, in which the distance between two points is measured by the length of the shortest path from one point to the other along the surface. Within a single shortest path, distances between pairs of points equal the distances between corresponding points of a line segment of the same length; a path with this property is known as a geodesic. This property of polyhedral surfaces, that every pair of points is connected by a geodesic, is not true of many other metric spaces, and when it is true the space is called a geodesic space. The geodesic space formed from the surface of a polyhedron is called its development. The polyhedron can be thought of as being folded from a sheet of paper (a net for the polyhedron) and it inherits the same geometry as the paper: for every point p within a face of the polyhedron, a sufficiently small open neighborhood of p will have the same distances as a subset of the Euclidean plane. The same thing is true even for points on the edges of the polyhedron: they can be modeled locally as a Euclidean plane folded along a line and embedded into three-dimensional space, but the fold does not change the structure of shortest paths along the surface. However, the vertices of the polyhedron have a different distance structure: the local geometry of a polyhedron vertex is the same as the local geometry at the apex of a cone. Any cone can be formed from a flat sheet of paper with a wedge removed from it by gluing together the cut edges where the wedge was removed. The angle of the wedge that was removed is called the angular defect of the vertex; it is a positive number less than 2π. The defect of a polyhedron vertex can be measured by subtracting the face angles at that vertex from 2π. For instance, in a regular tetrahedron, each face angle is π/3, and there are three of them at each vertex, so subtracting them from 2π leaves a defect of π at each of the four vertices. Similarly, a cube has a defect of π/2 at each of its eight vertices. Descartes' theorem on total angular defect (a form of the Gauss–Bonnet theorem) states that the sum of the angular defects of all the vertices is always exactly 4π. In summary, the development of a convex polyhedron is geodesic, homeomorphic (topologically equivalent) to a sphere, and locally Euclidean except for a finite number of cone points whose angular defect sums to 4π. Alexandrov's theorem gives a converse to this description. It states that if a metric space is geodesic, homeomorphic to a sphere, and locally Euclidean except for a finite number of cone points of positive angular defect (necessarily summing to 4π), then there exists a convex polyhedron whose development is the given space. Moreover, this polyhedron is uniquely defined from the metric: any two convex polyhedra with the same surface metric must be congruent to each other as three-dimensional sets. ## Limitations The polyhedron representing the given metric space may be degenerate: it may form a doubly-covered two-dimensional convex polygon (a dihedron) rather than a fully three-dimensional polyhedron. In this case, its surface metric consists of two copies of the polygon (its two sides) glued together along corresponding edges. Although Alexandrov's theorem states that there is a unique convex polyhedron whose surface has a given metric, it may also be possible for there to exist non-convex polyhedra with the same metric. An example is given by the regular icosahedron: if five of its triangles are removed, and are replaced by five congruent triangles forming an indentation into the polyhedron, the resulting surface metric stays unchanged. This example uses the same creases for the convex and non-convex polyhedron, but that is not always the case. For instance, the surface of a regular octahedron can be re-folded along different creases into a non-convex polyhedron with 24 equilateral triangle faces, the Kleetope obtained by gluing square pyramids onto the squares of a cube. Six triangles meet at each additional vertex introduced by this refolding, so they have zero angular defect and remain locally Euclidean. In the illustration of an octahedron folded from four hexagons, these 24 triangles are obtained by subdividing each hexagon into six triangles. The development of any polyhedron can be described concretely by a collection of two-dimensional polygons together with instructions for gluing them together along their edges to form a metric space, and the conditions of Alexandrov's theorem for spaces described in this way are easily checked. However, the edges where two polygons are glued together could become flat and lie in the interior of faces of the resulting polyhedron, rather than becoming polyhedron edges. (For an example of this phenomenon, see the illustration of four hexagons glued to form an octahedron.) Therefore, even when the development is described in this way, it may not be clear what shape the resulting polyhedron has, what shapes its faces have, or even how many faces it has. Alexandrov's original proof does not lead to an algorithm for constructing the polyhedron (for instance by giving coordinates for its vertices) realizing the given metric space. In 2008, Bobenko and Izmestiev provided such an algorithm. Their algorithm can approximate the coordinates arbitrarily accurately, in pseudo-polynomial time. ## Related results One of the first existence and uniqueness theorems for convex polyhedra is Cauchy's theorem, which states that a convex polyhedron is uniquely determined by the shape and connectivity of its faces. Alexandrov's theorem strengthens this, showing that even if the faces are allowed to bend or fold, without stretching or shrinking, then their connectivity still determines the shape of the polyhedron. In turn, Alexandrov's proof of the existence part of his theorem uses a strengthening of Cauchy's theorem by Max Dehn to infinitesimal rigidity. An analogous result to Alexandrov's holds for smooth convex surfaces: a two-dimensional Riemannian manifold whose Gaussian curvature is everywhere positive and totals 4π can be represented uniquely as the surface of a smooth convex body in three dimensions. The uniqueness of this representation is a result of Stephan Cohn-Vossen from 1927, with some regularity conditions on the surface that were removed in later research. Its existence was proven by Alexandrov, using an argument involving limits of polyhedral metrics. Aleksei Pogorelov generalized both these results, characterizing the developments of arbitrary convex bodies in three dimensions. Another result of Pogorelov on the geodesic metric spaces derived from convex polyhedra is a version of the theorem of the three geodesics: every convex polyhedron has at least three simple closed quasigeodesics. These are curves that are locally straight lines except when they pass through a vertex, where they are required to have angles of less than π on both sides of them. The developments of ideal hyperbolic polyhedra can be characterized in a similar way to Euclidean convex polyhedra: every two-dimensional manifold with uniform hyperbolic geometry and finite area, combinatorially equivalent to a finitely-punctured sphere, can be realized as the surface of an ideal polyhedron.

Adventure Time season 8

The eighth season of Adventure Time, an American animated television series created by Pendleton Ward, premiered on Cartoon Network on March 26, 2016, and concluded on February 2, 2017, and was produced by Frederator Studios and Cartoon Network Studios. It follows the adventures of Finn, a human boy, and his best friend and adoptive brother Jake, a dog with magical powers to change shape and size at will. Finn and Jake live in the post-apocalyptic Land of Ooo, where they interact with the other main characters of the show: Princess Bubblegum, The Ice King, Marceline the Vampire Queen, Lumpy Space Princess, BMO, and Flame Princess. Tom Herpich, Steve Wolfhard, Jesse Moynihan, Laura Knetzger, Kris Mukai, Lyle Partridge, Graham Falk, Charmaine Verhagen, Sam Alden, Pendleton Ward, Seo Kim, Somvilay Xayaphone, Hanna K. Nyström, Ako Castuera, Aleks Sennwald, Polly Guo, Kent Osborne, and Adam Muto storyboarded and wrote the season. The miniseries Islands, which follows Finn, Jake, BMO (voiced by Niki Yang), and Susan Strong (voiced by Jackie Buscarino) as they leave Ooo and travel across the ocean to solve the mystery of Finn's past, aired during this season. It also features guest animators Alex and Lindsay Small-Butera (who worked on "Beyond the Grotto") and James Baxter (who worked on "Horse and Ball"). The season debuted with the episode "Broke His Crown", which was watched by 1.13 million viewers marking a slight decrease from the previous season finale, "The Thin Yellow Line", which was seen by 1.15 million viewers. "Islands Part 8: The Light Cloud," the eighth-season finale, was watched by 1 million viewers, making it the lowest-rated Adventure Time season finale at the time. Critical reception to the season was mostly positive, with The A.V. Club writer Oliver Sava expressing pleasant bemusement that the show's quality had not suffered despite this season being its eighth. Critics were also complimentary towards the Islands miniseries: In April 2017, Common Sense Media awarded the miniseries "The Common Sense Seal", and at the 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2017, the Islands episode "Imaginary Resources" won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation. Several compilation DVDs that contain episodes from the season have been released, and a set containing the entire season was released on September 4, 2018. ## Development ### Concept The series follows the adventures of Finn the Human, a human boy, and his best friend Jake, a dog with magical powers to change shape, grow, and shrink at will. Finn and Jake live in the post-apocalyptic Land of Ooo, where they interact with the other major characters, including: Princess Bubblegum, The Ice King, Marceline the Vampire Queen, Lumpy Space Princess, BMO, and Flame Princess. Common storylines revolve around Finn and Jake discovering strange creatures, dealing with the antagonistic, but misunderstood, Ice King, and battling monsters in order to help others. Multi-episode story arcs for this season include the introduction of the character Fern, and Finn meeting his mother and learning about what became of humanity. ### Production On July 7, 2015, The Hollywood Reporter announced that the series had been renewed for an eighth season. The season's storyline writers included Jack Pendarvis, Adam Muto, Kent Osborne, and Ashly Burch. Originally, the show's seventh season was supposed to comprise the episodes "Bonnie & Neddy" through "Reboot", and its eighth season was supposed to include the episodes "Two Swords" through "Three Buckets", but when it came time to upload the seventh season onto streaming sites, Cartoon Network chose to end the season with its 26th episode, "The Thin Yellow Line." Consequently, the episodes "Broke His Crown" through "Reboot" (which had originally been ordered as the last episodes of the show's seventh season) and the episodes "Two Swords" through the Islands miniseries (which had originally been ordered as the beginning of the show's eighth season) were combined to form the show's official eighth season. This new episode count was cemented by the release of the complete seventh season DVD on July 18, 2017, which included episodes up until "The Thin Yellow Line", as well as the release of the complete eighth season on the Cartoon Network website. This season's episodes were produced in a process similar to those of the previous seasons. Each episode was outlined in two-to-three pages that contained the necessary plot information. These outlines were then handed to storyboard artists, who created full storyboards. Design and coloring were done at Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank, California, and animation was handled overseas in South Korea by Rough Draft Korea and Saerom Animation. Continuing a tradition that started with the fifth season episode "A Glitch is a Glitch", this season also features the work of guest animators. "Beyond the Grotto" features 7 minutes of animation courtesy of Alex and Lindsay Small-Butera, a husband and wife duo known for their web series Baman Piderman, and the episode "Horse and Ball" features animation courtesy of James Baxter. He had previously provided guest animation for the fifth-season episode "James Baxter the Horse". In both episodes, James Baxter the animator lends his voice to the equine character of the same name. Storyboard artists who worked on this season include: Tom Herpich, Steve Wolfhard, Jesse Moynihan, Laura Knetzger, Kris Mukai, Lyle Partridge, Graham Falk, Charmaine Verhagen, Sam Alden, Pendleton Ward, Seo Kim, Somvilay Xayaphone, Hanna K. Nyström, Ako Castuera, Aleks Sennwald, Polly Guo, Kent Osborne, and Adam Muto. This was the final season to feature several long-serving storyboard artists and production crew members. Moynihan left the show after completing "Normal Man" to finish his web comic Forming. Finally, supervising director Andres Salaff left after this season to storyboard on Cartoon Network's series Uncle Grandpa. Conversely, the season also saw the return of former storyboard artist Ako Castuera (who returned to storyboard the episode "Broke His Crown" with Nyström before working as a storyboard revisionist, starting with "Two Swords"). and former storyboard artist and creative director Cole Sanchez (who took the position of one of the series' supervising directors starting with "Two Swords"). ### Miniseries During the eighth season of Adventure Time, the miniseries Islands aired at the end of January and the beginning of February 2017. This event was first hinted at before the airing of the first Adventure Time miniseries Stakes (2015) when head story writer Kent Osborne revealed that the show would likely produce several more miniseries. Islands tells the story of Finn, Jake, BMO (voiced by Niki Yang) and Susan Strong (voiced by Jackie Buscarino) leaving Ooo and traveling across the ocean to solve the mystery of Finn's past. During their trip, they encounter various creatures, new friends, and a variety of mysterious islands. The voyage culminates with a trip to Founder's Island, where Finn learns what happened to the rest of the human race and meets his mother, Minerva (voiced by Sharon Horgan). ## Cast The season's voice actors include: Jeremy Shada (Finn the Human), John DiMaggio (Jake the Dog), Tom Kenny (The Ice King), Hynden Walch (Princess Bubblegum), and Olivia Olson (Marceline the Vampire Queen). Ward himself provides the voice for several minor characters, including Lumpy Space Princess. Former storyboard artist Niki Yang voices the sentient video game console BMO in English, as well as Jake's girlfriend Lady Rainicorn in Korean. Polly Lou Livingston, a friend of Pendleton Ward's mother, Bettie Ward, plays the voice of the small elephant Tree Trunks. Jessica DiCicco voices Flame Princess, Finn's ex-girlfriend and the sovereign of the Fire Kingdom. Andy Milonakis voices N.E.P.T.R., a sentient robot who makes and throws pies. Justin Roiland provides the voice of the Earl of Lemongrab. Several episodes, including most of the episodes in the Islands miniseries, feature Jackie Buscarino, who voices Susan Strong. The Adventure Time cast records their lines together as opposed to doing it individually. This is to capture more natural sounding dialogue among the characters. Hynden Walch has described these group session as akin to "doing a play reading—a really, really out there play." In addition to the regular cast members, episodes feature guest voices from a range of professions, including actors, musicians, and artists. In the season opener "Broke His Crown", both Lena Dunham and Pamela Adlon reprise their characters Betty and Gunter the dinosaur. Dan Mintz, Henry Rollins, and Laura Silverman return to reprise their roles as T.V., Bob, and Ethel in "Lady Rainicorn of the Crystal Dimension". This episode also features former storyboard artist Bert Youn and comedian Fred Stoller voicing the rainicorns Lee and Roy. The episode "I Am a Sword" guest stars Amy Sedaris, Agee, and Melinda Hill; Sedaris plays Bandit Princess, Agee plays a Merchant and Science Cat, and Hill plays Space Bear and Sharon the spiky person. Storyline writer Ashly Burch plays Bun Bun in the titular episode, which also features Keith David reprising his role as the former Flame King. In "Elemental", Lauren Lapkus is introduced as the voice of ice elemental, Patience St. Pim. "Five Short Tables" sees the return of Madeleine Martin, Roz Ryan, Donald Glover, Grey DeLisle, and Emo Philips; they voice Fionna, Cake, Marshall Lee, Ice Queen, and Cuber. The episode also guest stars Hannibal Buress as Flame Prince, Crispin Freeman as Turtle Prince and Ice President, Keith Ferguson as Prince Gumball (standing in lieu of the character's original voice actor, Neil Patrick Harris, who was unavailable due to prior commitments), and Elle Newlands as Butterscotch Butler. "The Music Hole" features several guest actors, including Ashley Eriksson as the titular Music Hole, and Jackie Buscarino as Susan Strong. Alia Shawkat voices Charlie, Rich Sommer voices Grand Prix, and Reggie Watts voices the turtle announcer in "Daddy-Daughter Card Wars". "Preboot" sees the return of Buscarino as Susan Strong and Collin Dean as Tiffany; the episode also introduces Lennon Parham as Dr. Gross. Rainn Wilson reprises his role as Rattleballs, as well as voicing the adult version of Sparkle in "Reboot". The episode "Two Swords" introduces the character of Fern, voiced by Hayden Ezzy. The next episode, "Do No Harm", sees both Jeff Bennett and Hill reprise their roles as the Grass Wizard and Doctor Princess, respectively. In "Wheels", Marc Evan Jackson reprises his role as Kim Kil Whan, and Rae Gray guest stars as Jake's granddaughter, Bronwyn. Ron Lynch returns as Mr. Pig in "High Strangeness". "Horse & Ball" features British animator James Baxter, who voices the horse of the same name. Alan Tudyk returns to voice the character Chatsberry in "Jelly Beans Have Power". The Islands miniseries features Josh Fadem as Whipple the sea-dragon, Helena Mattsson as Alva, Reggie Watts as Vinny, Jasika Nicole as Frieda, Livvy Stubenrauch as young Kara/Susan, Sharon Horgan as Finn's mother Minerva, and Laraine Newman as the Widow. The miniseries also sees Lennon Parham reprise her role as Dr. Gross and Stephen Root return to voice Finn's father, Martin. Other characters are voiced by Dee Bradley Baker, Maria Bamford, Steve Little, and Melissa Villaseñor. ## Broadcast and reception ### Broadcast Much like the sixth and seventh seasons, the eighth season of Adventure Time featured several "bomb" weeks, or weeks when new episodes debuted every day. The first of these began on January 23, 2017, with "Two Swords"/"Do No Harm" and concluded on January 27, 2017, with "Jelly Beans Have Power". The second week-long string of episodes occurred between January 30 and February 2, 2017, during which the whole of Islands aired. ### Ratings The season debuted on March 26, 2016, with the episode "Broke His Crown". It was watched by 1.13 million viewers and scored a 0.3 Nielsen rating in the 18 to 49-year-old demographic. Nielsen ratings are audience measurement systems that determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States. In this case the episode was seen by 0.3 percent of all households with viewers aged between 18 and 49 years old. This marked a slight decrease in viewership compared to the season seven finale, "The Thin Yellow Line", which was seen by 1.15 million individuals, but it marked a marginal increase compared to the previous season's premiere, "Bonnie & Neddy" which had 1.07 million viewers. The season concluded with the eight-part miniseries Islands. This string of episodes saw an uptick in viewers, with the first two episodes scoring a 0.3 Nielsen rating in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic and being watched by 1.2 million viewers. During the week that Islands aired, Adventure Time attained viewership numbers over 1 million for every episode. Despite this, "Islands Part 8: The Light Cloud" was still the lowest-rated finale for the show at the time of its airing. ### Reviews and accolades In a review for the episode "The Music Hole", The A.V. Club writer Oliver Sava wrote, "I love that after seven seasons the show hasn't lost sight of what makes it so compelling to such a wide audience." Each episode was also graded by The A.V. Club with a different letter grade; Islands received an A, and the rest of the season received nine B's, and nine A's. The A.V. Club did not review "Daddy-Daughter Card Wars" because episodic coverage of the series was intended to stop following the airing of "The Music Hole". However, after the airing of "Preboot" and "Reboot", their episode coverage returned due to popular demand. Islands was met with mostly positive reviews. Many criticssuch as Zack Smith of Newsarama and Oliver Sava of The A.V. Clubapplauded how the miniseries started with quirky adventure episodes before culminating in an emotional finale. Other critics complimented the greater development of the miniseries' characters. Zach Blumenfeld of Paste Magazine complimented the miniseries' philosophical musings, which he argued "takes on shades of Black Mirror and existentialism to cast a critical eye on technology and the human spirit." In April 2017, Common Sense Media awarded the Islands miniseries The Common Sense Seal, calling it a "beautiful animated miniseries [that] explores a deep backstory." In July 2017, the Islands episode "Imaginary Resources" won a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation at the 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards. ## Episodes |} ## Home media Warner Home Video released several DVD compilations that contain episodes from the eighth season. The first was Card Wars, released on July 12, 2016. The second release, Islands—which included all of the titular miniseries—was released on DVD on January 24, 2017. This release was notable because it marked the second time that Adventure Time episodes had been released on DVD before officially airing on Cartoon Network. The first instance was the release of the episode "Princess Day" on the DVD of the same name on July 29, 2014, before it first aired on TV on July 31, 2014). ### US release A DVD set that includes season eight along with seasons nine and ten was released in the United States on September 4, 2018. ### Australian release On November 28, 2018, the season was released by itself on DVD and Blu-ray in Australia.

Ashland Mill Bridge

The Ashland Mill Bridge was a lenticular pony truss bridge over the Pachaug River in Griswold, Connecticut that was built in 1886 by the Berlin Iron Bridge Company. It was built following the Ashland dam break of February 1886 which washed away the previous bridges. The bridge served the millyard of the Ashland Cotton Company, in the Jewett City section of Griswold. The bridge was 65 feet (20 m) long and crossed a millrace on a skew angle. The Ashland Mill was damaged by arson in March 1995 and subsequently torn down, but the bridge itself remained. By 1999, the town deemed the bridge unsafe and closed it, and by February 1999, the bridge was moved to a vacant parking lot and was replaced with a new bridge. The bridge was added to the state of Connecticut historic register and it was later added to the National Register of Historic Places in April 1999. It was removed from the National Register in February 2016. ## Construction Heavy rains in February 1886 caused the Ashland dam to break and the resulting flood damaged the Ashland Cotton Company's buildings and washed away the previous bridges at the site. The Berlin Iron Bridge Company was contracted to build a total of three bridges in the area, the Ashland Mill Bridge, another larger lenticular truss for Ashland Street and another 33 feet (10 m) bridge for the Slater mill which was located further downstream. Clouette and Tinh note that the mill owners may have been influenced in their decision by the Berlin Iron Bridge Company's bridges that were already in place in the surrounding area. The Ashland Mill Bridge was a single-span lenticular pony truss bridge. Completed in 1886, it was a roadway from Ashland Street to the millyard. The bridge was made of four 16 feet (4.9 m) long panels, totaling 65 feet (20 m) in length. The roadway was 10 feet (3.0 m) wide. The bridge's wrought-iron truss was 6.5 feet (2.0 m) deep and it crossed the river at a 28° angle. All but the truss's joints were pinned except for the endposts' lower-chord nut connections; as was distinctive of the Berlin Iron Bridge Company's bridges. The plate-girder floor beams supported wooden stringers and floored with planks across the width of the bridge. The bridge's railing were made of two 5/8-inch (1.5875 cm) rods bolted to the inside of the trusses. A 1905 postcard depicts the bridge being painted red, but the paint was nearly absent by 1998. ## Fate In March 1995, the manufacturing buildings were damaged by arson and were subsequently demolished. The site became a town park and the bridge was anticipated to be rehabilitated and serve as a pedestrian bridge in the park. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in April 1999 for being a historically significant example of late 19th-century bridge fabrication and as a surviving example of a bridge built by the Berlin Iron Bridge Company without significant modification or deterioration. It was also locally significant as a remaining artefact of the Ashland Cotton Company, formerly a major employer in the city. In 1999, the town closed the bridge as it was deemed unsafe and badly deteriorated. It was estimated that $72,000 would be needed to relocate the bridge. In February 1999, an eight-member committee was tasked with planning a municipal park on the site. First Selectman Paul Brycki, hoped that the pending nomination to the National Register of Historic Places would help obtain grant money to repair the bridge. Prior to February 1999, the historic bridge was moved to a vacant parking lot near the town hall and a replacement bridge was installed. The bridge was also on the state of Connecticut's historic register list. ## See also - National Register of Historic Places listings in New London County, Connecticut - List of bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut

Development of Red Dead Redemption

Development of 2010 video game

A team of approximately 1,000 people developed Red Dead Redemption over five years. Rockstar Games published the action-adventure game in May 2010 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. A spiritual successor to the 2004 game Red Dead Revolver, its development was led by Rockstar San Diego's core 180-person team, who collaborated with Rockstar's Leeds, New England, North, and Toronto teams to assist development; Rockstar North, developer of the Grand Theft Auto series, consulted in the creation of the open world. After its announcement in 2009, the game was fervently promoted with press showings, cinematic trailers, and viral marketing strategies. Its release date, though subject to several delays, was widely anticipated. The working hours and managerial style of the studio during development was met with public complaints from staff members. The open world setting constituted much of the development effort; its three main areas each represent iconic features of the American frontier. Key team members conducted field trips to Washington, D.C. to capture a multitude of photographs, and several classic Western films, television shows, and novels were analyzed for research. Rockstar improved its proprietary Rockstar Advanced Game Engine to increase its animation and draw distance rendering capabilities; the team felt the seventh generation of video game consoles were necessary to achieve their ideal vision, having exhausted the use of older hardware on previous projects. The game was envisioned to improve the core mechanics of Red Dead Revolver by scaling it up to the standard of other Rockstar games, maintaining key gameplay elements like the Dead Eye and dueling mechanics but majorly overhauling the experience otherwise. Red Dead Redemption's 1,500-page script was written in two years. The game's setting in 1911 was chosen to demonstrate the transformation of the old West into a modern civilization. The developers underwent a secretive audition process to cast its characters. Performance capture was used to record the actors' movements, faces, and voices simultaneously. Rod Edge directed the actors' performances in a studio in Santa Monica, California. The game features around 450 characters, and required a large amount of dialogue for the world to feel alive, comparable to Rockstar's previous game Grand Theft Auto IV (2008). Researchers at Rockstar developed a style guide based on real phrases of the time period. Red Dead Redemption features an original score composed over fifteen months by Bill Elm and Woody Jackson, who engaged several other musicians to create approximately 200 tracks. ## History and overview Publisher Rockstar Games acquired the Western-themed video game Red Dead Revolver from Capcom in 2003 after years of development—partly because it wanted the rights to the franchise for its own Western game—and Rockstar San Diego completed development within nine months. After its May 2004 release, Rockstar wanted to create its own Western game from scratch as it felt Revolver "didn't fundamentally play like a Rockstar game". The studio's work on Revolver and Bully (2006) helped the development team understand the important elements of open world games and blending different genres with the core gameplay of its flagship series Grand Theft Auto. However, the team understood it would require the seventh generation of video game consoles—namely the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360—to achieve their ideal vision. Preliminary work on Red Dead Redemption began by 2005, with a small team at Rockstar San Diego working on the first teaser shown during Sony's E3 conference in May as an early technology demonstration for the PlayStation 3. Full development commenced in 2006, following the formation of a core development team led by lead designer and co-writer Christian Cantamessa, technical director Ted Carson, and art directors Josh Bass and Daren Bader; Cantamessa had worked with Rockstar on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004), while Carson, Bass, and Bader had worked on Revolver. Rockstar San Diego's core 180-person team co-opted studios around the world owned by Rockstar Games to facilitate the five-year development between a full team of over 1,000. Rockstar Leeds and Rockstar North assisted with development; Rockstar co-founder and vice president for creativity Dan Houser felt the studio collaboration had become successful by 2009. Some staffers from Rockstar Leeds, including studio head Gordon Hall, spent one year in the United States to work on the game on-site. Rockstar New England was contracted to assist with development, an experience several former employees later lamented due to "endless" crunch and the fact it contributed to the indefinite hold put on the development of a sequel to Bully. According to environment artist Matt Kazan, Rockstar Toronto worked on the game in 2008, upgrading visual assets for seventh generation consoles from those intended for sixth generation consoles, PlayStation 2 and Xbox, for which Kazan claimed the game was originally planned. Analyst estimations place the game's development budget between and , making it one of the most expensive video games to develop. The wives of several Rockstar San Diego employees, under the pseudonym "", published an open letter in January 2010, alleging executives had imposed poor working conditions on studio developers since March 2009. The letter outlined unethical working practices in place at Rockstar San Diego during the game's development, including twelve-hour work days and six-day weeks, with lower-than-industry-average salary increases. Other former employees described the project as "an organic disaster of the most epic proportions"; it was reported key employees decided to quit rather than work on Red Dead Redemption and mismanagement led to delays and increased development costs. This was followed by several former employees anonymously and publicly describing similar experiences. While a former Rockstar staffer confirmed the claims, Rockstar denied them and said it was "saddened if any former members of any studio did not find their time here enjoyable or creatively fulfilling". The International Game Developers Association described the alleged working conditions as "deceptive, exploitative, and ultimately harmful". Less than two months after the game's release, about 40 of Rockstar San Diego's 180 staff members were laid off, which Rockstar described as "typical with game development" as it realigned its resources for future development projects. In the wake of Red Dead Redemption 2's own overtime controversy in 2018, Rockstar's head of publishing Jennifer Kolbe admitted the Rockstar Spouse letter represented a problematic time for the company's work practices but emphasized changes to its workflow to avoid similar situations in the future. As part his lawsuit against Rockstar in April 2016, producer Leslie Benzies released emails he received from Rockstar president and co-founder Sam Houser in October 2009 claiming the game was a "nightmare" and he needed Benzies's assistance in preparing to demonstrate the game to partners like Microsoft and Sony. According to the lawsuit, work on the game was completed "within a few months" after Benzies stepped in. ## Story and setting Dan Houser, Michael Unsworth, and Christian Cantamessa wrote Red Dead Redemption's 1,500-page script in two years. Taking inspiration from films like The Wild Bunch (1969), High Plains Drifter (1973), Unforgiven (1992) and The Proposition (2005), the team felt most Western fiction takes place between 1840 and 1880 and Red Dead Redemption's setting in 1911 allowed a more intriguing analysis of the transformation from "the old West" into the modern world. Cantamessa described the overarching theme as "the 'Death of the West' rather than the more conventional 'Myth of the West' that is often seen in the classic John Wayne films". Houser found "a classical 'we are conquering this wilderness' story" to be less interesting, and the time period had the added benefit of allowing strong images of the West—horses, stagecoaches, and lassoes—alongside modern technology like trains and explosives. Lead mission designer Silas Morse felt the limitations set by the time period—weapons, methods of travel, types of enemies—ultimately immersed the player and set the game apart from others. While the game is not an intentional satire on contemporary America, Houser admitted parallels were inevitable. Houser wanted the game to have a serious tone akin to The Wild Bunch, though avoiding topics like existentialism as in the work of Ingmar Bergman. While Houser admitted to having seen several Western films, he tried to avoid considering them in writing the story, wanting it instead to develop naturally. The game's Mexico section was inspired by The Wild Bunch and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), while the action sequences borrowed visual elements from classic shoot-out scenes, including from non-Western films like Heat (1995). The allusions to politics throughout the narrative are supposed to represent the darker undertones surrounding the foundations of the American Dream. In addition, the game itself exhibits qualities relating to the movement from a "violent freedom" to a situation of "overt state control", told through a story of innocence and freedom. Houser, expressed the difficulty in maintaining realism while balancing the game's narrative to avoid feeling both "pompous" and "camp", citing Blazing Saddles (1974) as an example of the latter. Houser felt the story does not fully represent the racial attitudes commonly associated with the game's era, a choice made by the developers to avoid language that "is insanely offensive to modern ears". The team focused more on the combination of old and modern America and the change experienced during this period. Regarding the game's depiction of violence, the team wanted it to "feel slightly raw and unpleasant"—more like Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian (1985) than Little House on the Prairie (1974–1983)—attempting realism without exaggeration. The team hoped for an "emotional response" from players, with immersion in the game world and time period. The game's world was a critical element of development; the team sought a sense of scale, immersion, and discovery for the player. To make the world feel alive, the team developed schedules for the non-player characters (NPCs), giving them tasks to complete and locations to attend instead of repeating basic tasks. Each NPC has specific outfits and dialogue to ensure each encounter felt fresh to the player. When designing the game's fictional locations, the team tried to represent iconic features of the time period, gradually revealing them to provide more visual and sociological variety to the player: New Austin features small towns and outposts, representing the final elements of wilderness and lawlessness before the development of modern America; Nuevo Paraíso includes rebel outposts and Mexican army forts, run by political and rebellious leaders amidst a civil war; and West Elizabeth is a verdant land representing the civilized and advanced areas of the world. The American frontier was extensively researched for the game; the team organized field trips to Washington, D.C., visiting the Library of Congress and the National Archives Building, captured a multitude of photographs, and analyzed various classic Western films, television shows, and novels. A challenge the team faced as a direct result of the world's size was to include enough content to interest players. Using this challenge as a strength and a major part of the design process, the team tried to make the countryside wild, with a variety of potential events to occur. They initially considered using the open world formula of Grand Theft Auto IV (2008)—a large variety of mission styles with different activities and objectives—but soon realized the emptiness of the world forced the direction elsewhere, instead filling the world with a realistic ecosystem with over 40 animals. The initial placement of animals throughout the game world felt "fake" to the team, prompting them to develop a system in which the animals had rules and specific behaviors, leading to more unpredictable encounters. ## Character development Red Dead Redemption features around 450 characters, with a cast of approximately 100 incidental and 50 main performers. The game required a large amount of character dialogue in order to feel alive, due in part to the improved technology. Houser compared the amount of dialogue required to Grand Theft Auto IV and felt the team was "halfway there" with its prior work on San Andreas and Bully. Several employees across the company worked on different parts of the script, such as the main story and pedestrian dialogue, a process Rockstar began with Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002). Researchers at Rockstar developed a style guide based on real sayings of the time period, which was used to write all dialogue; Houser was originally worried he had never written dialogue that was not in a contemporary setting, but felt they eventually found a "sweet spot". He found the time period lent itself to humorous dialogue, particularly due to items like drugs, patented medicine, and Sears catalogs. The team wanted to create a story that mixed with the game's mechanics to result in a fun and organic experience. As the story developed, a range of characters were organically created based on the period. The character of Edgar Ross was partly inspired by lawyer and political activist Charles Joseph Bonaparte, while other characters were inspired by historical figures of the 20th century including Frank James, Pearl Hart, and Tom Horn. In terms of the random NPC dialogue, Houser felt Red Dead Redemption sits between Bully, in which NPCs remember the protagonist, and Grand Theft Auto, in which NPCs are unaware of the protagonist's identity; in Red Dead Redemption, some NPCs remember the player's action, but less precisely than in Bully. To cast the characters, the team held auditions; until actors were officially signed to the project, it was only known as an "untitled video game project", for secrecy. Rockstar hired Rod Edge as the full-time director to handle the game's performances, recorded using motion capture technology, with additional dialogue and sound effects recorded in a studio; the performance capture was recorded in Santa Monica, California. Actors wore helmets with cameras to capture their facial expressions. Rob Wiethoff auditioned for the role of protagonist John Marston by folding laundry while reading his lines. He felt the audition was a waste of time, but received the role a few days later. He worked on the game for almost two years, with principal production lasting around six weeks. The first scene to be recorded was John meeting Nigel West Dickens. Recording would take place over a few weeks, before taking a break of a month or two. Wiethoff estimated around 12–15 scenes were recorded each day. The recording crew often referred to scenes from Grand Theft Auto IV during production; Wiethoff pretended to understand before eventually admitting he had not played the game. John was developed to be a nuanced character, as opposed to an explicit villain or hero, and a "family man". Carson said Marston "has a foot in both the old world and the world that was to come", and felt the character became interesting due to the combination of cynicism and realism. Wiethoff felt the early decisions in John's life were a direct result of his need for acceptance and he may not have been aware of his actions. John's physical appearance took "quite a while" for the team to achieve but they felt it allowed them to develop an emotional connection to the character. Steve J. Palmer, who portrayed Bill Williamson, felt John and Bill represented siblings in their former gang, while Dutch van der Linde was more of a parental figure. He stated Williamson is envious of Marston, despite Marston being his "moral anchor", and after Marston left the gang, Williamson's life began to "tailspin" uncontrollably. Palmer auditioned for the role in December 2008, and was cast the following month. Palmer felt his similarity in appearance to Bill contributed to his casting. Benjamin Byron Davis, who portrayed Dutch and Nastas, recorded his scenes for the game in two week-long sessions several months apart. For his audition, Davis read lines ultimately used for Drew MacFarlane. Davis based Dutch's voice on Osbourne Crawl, a character he had played in a short film. The team told Davis that Dutch was a well-read, charismatic former gang leader who had "lost his mind". The team considered allowing Dutch's fate to be left to the player's choice; Davis felt the decision to avoid this was a demonstration of Dutch always being in control of his own fate. For his role as Nastas, Davis believed he was simply portraying the character's motion capture performance due to his height and the voice work would be re-dubbed; ultimately, his voice was included in the game. When auditioning for Luisa Fortuna, actress Francesca Galeas recalled the role being described as "a Salma Hayek bad ass chick with an accent". ## Technical and gameplay development Like other projects since Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis (2006), the game uses the proprietary Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) to perform animation and rendering tasks, and the Euphoria and Bullet engines for further animation and environment rendering tasks. Carson said Euphoria provides "a physically based character performance system" that is "tightly integrated into RAGE's proprietary physics engine". Overhauling the potential processing power of RAGE allowed the game to create a high level of detail, including realistic animations and detailed textures. The potential power of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 experienced through the development kits motivated the team to begin development, and to create a game that could fully render the countryside, which was difficult to achieve on previous hardware; Houser wanted to make "a game that was to the countryside as [Grand Theft Auto] was to the city". He felt that primitive technology of the past had prevented game developers from creating a game that "really did justice" to the Wild West, such as the animation of a lasso. Houser felt previous Western games represented one specific aspect of the period, while Red Dead Redemption attempts to represent all features; he described it as "a complete nightmare" and "a massive headache to make fun and look right". Though the scope of the open world was initially a large challenge from a technical viewpoint, the team used it to their advantage. The developers at San Diego sought guidance from other Rockstar studios experienced with developing open worlds, particularly Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar North, namely art director Aaron Garbut and producer Leslie Benzies. Early in development, the team looked at Grand Theft Auto as the inspiration for the level of enjoyment they wanted to achieve; senior ambient designer Ghyan Koehne found the experience daunting, noting while Grand Theft Auto "had fast cars, helicopters, rocket launchers, and radio stations to listen to", Red Dead Redemption "had a guy on his horse and endless hills with close to nothing in the world". In developing the objects and surfaces of the game's world, the team utilized a variety of textures and lighting effects. They encountered difficulty in creating a realistic representation of nature; while locations like cities primarily use straight lines, "nature is all about curves", which is more difficult to make believable. For much of the game's development, the world was largely barren, lacking the road networks, animals, and foliage that would eventually populate it; the team was motivated by an "understanding of what it was all going to become", knowing the atmosphere they were trying to achieve. The game was envisioned to improve the core mechanics of Red Dead Revolver by scaling it up to the standard of other Rockstar games. The fundamental goal for the game was to maintain the shooting mechanic and expand on other game features; like Revolver, the game's weapons were inspired by real weaponry. Carson explained the team attempted to achieve realism with every feature of the game, including the horses, lassos, animal ecosystem, and the open world. To ensure the horse movements were as realistic as possible, the team motion captured a stunt horse, recording all movement. This created various problems; a gesture used by the stunt rider to communicate with the production team while on the horse was the same command that made the horse rear, while creating the horse's skeletal and muscular systems presented a problem and took several years to overcome. Several gameplay features evolved over time; when the team added flying birds and realized most players would inevitably shoot them, they added gameplay and mechanics to track it, eventually leading to the in-game challenge system. In the early stages of development, Rockstar decided which elements from Red Dead Revolver could be carried over; beyond the Dead Eye and dueling features, very few other elements remained. While Revolver represented many myths and iconic images of the American frontier, in Redemption the team tried to represent the reality of the time period. They avoided linking the narratives as they felt it would make little sense. The tone of Redemption was aimed to be a combination of the primitive Wild West and early 20th century America; with the latter, America was developing into a modern and contemporary society, which the team tried to portray. In addition, while they felt Revolver was constrained by its level-based structure, the team saw potential in creating a game similar to Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto series, in terms of quality, scope and detail. The game's Honor system—intended to keep in line with "the idea of morality and notoriety" associated with the West—was a further development of concepts previously explored by Rockstar, intended to provide the player with more choice in their play style. ## Music production Red Dead Redemption is one of the first games by Rockstar to use an original score. Music supervisor Ivan Pavlovich cited the large scale of the game as one of the largest difficulties when producing the score; to achieve an effective gaming experience, the game could not solely feature licensed music, like previous Rockstar games. In 2008, Rockstar engaged musicians Bill Elm and Woody Jackson, who collaborated to compose approximately 200 tracks for the game over 15 months. The original score and subsequent album were both recorded and mixed at Jackson's studio, Electro-Vox Recording Studios in Los Angeles, and mastered at Capitol Studios. Jackson worked with David Holmes—with whom he had worked on films like Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007)—to produce the soundtrack. The game features vocal performances by Ashtar Command, José González, Jamie Lidell, and William Elliott Whitmore. Recorded at 130 beats per minute in A minor, most of songs featured are constructed from stems in the game's dynamic soundtrack. A mix of modern instruments and those featured in traditional Western films, such as the jaw harp, were used. Unique sounds were created through creative uses of instruments, such as playing a trumpet onto the surface of a timpani drum. Rockstar consulted musicians who played traditional Western instruments; harmonica player Tommy Morgan, who had been featured on several films over his 60-year career, provided traditional harmonica segments for the game. Beyond trumpets, nylon guitars and accordions, the composers incorporated other instruments, such as flutes and ocarinas. When researching music for inspiration, Jackson found there was no "Western sound" in 1911; he felt the soundtracks of 1960s Western films, such as Ennio Morricone's work on the Dollars Trilogy, was more representative of Western music. In appropriating the score to the game's setting, Elm commented the process was initially "daunting", taking a long time to discover how the music was to work in an interactive way. Shortly after finding a German guitar in Los Angeles with the appropriate sound and "a perfect tremolo", Jackson returned home and wrote the game's main theme. While experimenting for the game's northern region, Jackson recorded the heartbeat of his preborn daughter using his iPhone. ## Sound design From the beginning of development, the sound development team wished to achieve authenticity in the game's sounds. After the art department sent artwork to the sound department, the latter were inspired to achieve realism, researching all sounds to be used in the game. Throughout development, sound editors often presented ideas, which would then be achieved by the audio programmers. The three main areas of the game world contain unique ambiences; these are broken down into smaller sounds, such as bugs and animals, which are further refined to reflect the weather and time. The sound department was given specific instructions for the tone of game locations; for example, Thieves' Landing was to feel "creepy" and "off-putting". The sounds of the game's weapons were intricately developed; in order to feel as realistic as possible, each weapon has a variety of similar firing sounds. The development of the game's Foley began with a week-long session, where two Foley artists from Los Angeles were sent to record thousands of sounds relating to the game's setting. The sound department spent time on specific gameplay elements; Dead Eye was meant to sound "organic" as opposed to "sci-fi or electronic", while animals—a feature the team found challenging—was to immerse players in the experience. For the final sound mix, audio director Jeffrey Whitcher and lead sound designer Matthew Smith worked together to balance and blend the three main aspects of the soundtrack: dialogue, sound effects, and music. Smith coded systems to blend the three aspects, in order to keep the mix "dynamic". ## Release An early trailer for an untitled Western project by Rockstar Games for PlayStation 3 was shown at Sony's E3 conference in May 2005; it was a technology demonstrate of RAGE, and theorized to be a sequel to Red Dead Revolver. Rockstar officially announced Red Dead Redemption on February 3, 2009, with a release date set for late 2009 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The April 2009 edition of Game Informer noted the game would be released for Windows in addition to consoles, though Rockstar later confirmed it had "no current plans" for a Windows release; according to lead multiplayer designer Kris Roberts, a Windows version was never seriously considered. In May 2009, the game was pushed to a 2010 release. In November 2009, Rockstar confirmed Red Dead Redemption would be released on April 27, 2010, and April 30 internationally. In March 2010, Rockstar announced the game would miss its original projected date, pushed back to May 18, 2010 in North America, and May 21 internationally, citing the "optimal time frame" for release. The game was released in Japan on October 7, 2010. Downloadable content (DLC) for the game was released following its launch, with focus on maps and game types suggested by the community. According to Strauss Zelnick, chief executive officer of Rockstar's parent company Take-Two Interactive, the game's DLC releases were an effort to slow used game sales, providing an incentive for players to keep the game after completion. Rockstar wanted to be able to publish DLC relatively quickly after the game's launch, as opposed to the lengthy development required for Grand Theft Auto IV's episodic DLC. Outlaws to the End, released on June 22, 2010, added six cooperative side missions for multiplayer. Legends and Killers was released on August 10, 2010, and added multiplayer characters from Red Dead Revolver, as well as new map locations and a Tomahawk weapon. On September 21, 2010, Liars and Cheats added competitive multiplayer modes, minigames, characters, and a weapon. Hunting and Trading, released on October 12, 2010, added a jackalope to the game's world, and some additional outfits. Undead Nightmare adds a single-player campaign, set in a non-canonical, zombie apocalypse-themed alternate reality with ghost towns and cemeteries full of zombies, wherein John searches for a cure to the zombie outbreak. It was released on October 26, 2010 as DLC and in late November as a standalone expansion pack. Myths and Maverick released for free on September 13, 2011, adding additional characters and locations to the multiplayer. A Game of the Year Edition containing all downloadable content was released for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on October 11, 2011, in North America and on October 14, 2011, internationally. According to industry sources, Rockstar shelved a Red Dead Redemption remaster after the poor reception of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition (2021), instead focusing on development of Grand Theft Auto VI. Media speculation restarted in June 2023 after the Game Rating and Administration Committee in South Korea gave Red Dead Redemption a new rating, and in July after updates to Rockstar's website included minor changes to the game's logos and achievements. In August, Rockstar announced Red Dead Redemption and Undead Nightmare's single-player modes would release for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 on August 17, developed by Double Eleven. Physical versions were released on October 13. Reactions were mixed, with the trailer receiving mostly dislikes on YouTube; some journalists and players appreciated the game becoming available on modern consoles, but lamented the lack of visual and frame rate upgrades, absence of a Windows release, omission of multiplayer, and price point. An update in October added an option to increase the frame rate from 30 to 60 frames-per-second when played on PlayStation 5 via backward compatibility. Speculation regarding a Windows version started in May 2024 after data mining of the Rockstar Games Launcher, and in August following a PlayStation Store update. Rockstar announced the Windows version on October 8, which was released on October 29, with enhancements such as native 4K resolution support, ultrawide monitor compatibility, and DLSS upscaling. ## Promotion Red Dead Redemption received an extensive and expensive marketing campaign, during which Rockstar partnered with several companies and media outlets, including IGN, GameSpot, LoveFilm, Microsoft, and YouTube. The game's debut trailer was released on May 6, 2009, introducing its concept and world, as well as the first information about its characters. In the week that followed, IGN extensively previewed the game, including gameplay screenshots and interviews with Houser. A trailer titled "My Name is John Marston" was released on December 1, 2009, having leaked the previous week before being pulled from Rockstar; the trailer introduced John Marston and his story, as well as some of the game's supporting characters. Kotaku's Jason Schreier cited the trailer as among the best of the game's generation. The first in a series of gameplay videos was released on December 15, 2009; titled "Introduction", it was the first footage to showcase Red Dead Redemption's gameplay. The second in this series, titled "Weapons & Death", was released on January 28, 2010, demonstrating the game's Dead Eye mechanic and weaponry. A trailer titled "The Law" was released on February 11, 2010, introducing characters Marshal Leigh Johnson and Edgar Ross. This was followed by "The Women: Sinners, Saints & Survivors" on February 24, focusing on the game's female characters, and the third gameplay video, "Life in the West", on March 17, introducing some open world activities. A trio of trailers announcing the game's exclusive pre-order content was released on March 19. The game's cover art was revealed on March 22, 2010, followed by a video titled "Gentlemen & Vagabonds" on March 24, focusing on some of the male characters of the game, including Seth Briars, Harold MacDougal, and Nigel West Dickens. The game was exhibited at PAX East in late March, with a 15–30 minute playable demonstration. The fourth gameplay video, titled "Life in the West Part II", was released on April 2, further showcasing activities available in the open world. This was followed by two trailers demonstrating the first footage of the game's online multiplayer modes, on April 8 and April 22. From April 27, a GameStop trailer for the game was aired as a television commercial in the United States; Rockstar spent a larger proportion of its budget on television marketing than it had previously. A trailer titled "Revolution" was released on May 6, focusing on the game's Mexican missions and characters. Red Dead Redemption was the focus of the May 8, 2010 episode of GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley, featuring new gameplay footage. The final pre-launch trailer was released on May 13, 2010. Rockstar announced trailers would be shown at some cinemas, specifically targeting audiences of films like Iron Man 2, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and Robin Hood (all 2010), and cinema posters would allow consumers to download content from the game through Bluetooth. Rockstar released merchandise for the game after its release in May 2010, including dice, candles, playing cards, and soap, and a vinyl record of the soundtrack in collaboration with Wax Poetics in November. The dice and playing cards were re-released to celebrate the Windows version in October 2024. Viral marketing strategies were used to market the game. For Movember in November 2009, Rockstar hosted a competition in which it chose the most impressive moustache from a fan, who would be added as a character in the game. The official Red Dead Redemption website was redesigned and updated in the months prior to release with new information. To encourage pre-order sales, Rockstar collaborated with several retail outlets in the United Kingdom and United States—including Amazon, Best Buy, Game, and HMV—to provide pre-order bonuses, including exclusive in-game horses, outfits, and weapons; GameStop hosted a public poll for which outfit would be included with its exclusive pre-order edition. All pre-order content later became available for purchase in April 2011. Rockstar released a special edition of the game in special packaging, with a copy of the soundtrack. Rockstar partnered with LoveFilm for the game's marketing push, with a run of 300,000 branded envelopes and newsletters; the LoveFilm Player allowed all users to watch The Proposition for free. Pieces of artwork from the game was painted on a mural in New York City in February 2010, and depicted on NASCAR driver Joey Logano's GameStop car in April and June 2010. On April 12, Rockstar released '' in open beta as a Facebook application: a role-playing social game that allowed players to duel their friends. The game was no longer playable by 2012, as updates to the Facebook platform required a full re-coding. A machinima short film, titled Red Dead Redemption: The Man from Blackwater, aired in the United States on the television network Fox on May 29, 2010, and in the United Kingdom on Five USA on June 5; IGN released the exclusive extended cut online on June 7. The 30-minute film, retelling several of the game's earlier missions in which John attempts to find Bill, was directed by John Hillcoat, whose film The Proposition'' had inspired the developers. Hillcoat's music video company was contracted to produce a three-minute trailer for the company; after Hillcoat looked at the material, it eventually expanded into a half-hour film. The production team were granted tools allowing them to reframe shots in the game world, and manipulate the lighting, weather, and time of day; they were able to reframe pre-existing cutscenes. They were limited in their ability to show too many characters to avoid spoiling the story, choosing to focus on the introduction of John, as well as some of the "flamboyant characters" in the early story. Some of the game's actors reprised their roles in bridging scenes for smoother transitions, including Palmer as Bill Williamson. The film was well-received as an introduction of the story for the uninitiated, but described as useless for those familiar with the game.

How to Grow a Woman from the Ground

How to Grow a Woman from the Ground is a 2006 album by Chris Thile and Punch Brothers. It was released on Sugar Hill on September 12, 2006. The album is named after a song on the album; a cover of the original by folk singer Tom Brosseau. The album debuted to positive reviews from major music critics, with critics calling the album “fantastic, eclectic”, and “genius”. The album earned Thile a Grammy Award-nomination in 2006. ## Conception and production For one of his side projects, Chris Thile knew he wanted to form a string quintet composed of mandolin, violin, banjo, guitar, and bass with childhood friend and fiddler Gabe Witcher, but didn’t know which direction he wanted to take the band. At the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Telluride, Colorado, Thile met banjoist Noam Pikelny and later commented that “every note he played was something I wish I’d played”. It was then that Thile realized that he wanted to “put [his] stamp on the traditional bluegrass ensemble”. Thile wanted to get five musicians together for a Nashville jam session in 2005, after he found talented bluegrass musicians that could fill the positions. The bassist Thile was searching for, Greg Garrison, was recommended to Thile by Pikelny, who had performed alongside Garrison in the Cajun jam band Leftover Salmon. The guitar position was filled by Chris Eldridge, from the bluegrass band the Infamous Stringdusters. The five musicians met up in Nashville one day in 2005 and decided that they needed to “do something musical together”. A few nights later, the group met again “just to drop a ton of money, drink too much wine, eat steaks, and commiserate about our failed relationships”. That night, they came to an agreement and formed a bluegrass band. The quintet decided to make this project serious and record an album. The album was recorded over the course of two days in 2006 at Sear Sound Recording Studios in New York. The album was not recorded digitally, but rather on tape. In an interview with the United States magazine Guitar Player, Chris Thile explained the old fashioned style in which the album was recorded: > It was recorded at Sear Sound in New York using two vintage Telefunken ELA M 251 E mics into a Forsell Technologies FetCode preamp. Most of it was recorded onto the same Studer 1" two-track that was used to mix Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band\! Everything was tracked live, and I’ve decided never to record wearing headphones again unless I absolutely have to. Wearing headphones is bullshit, because you’re in your own little world playing to a mix that no one will ever hear but you. What’s the point? How to Grow a Woman from the Ground was self produced by Thile, and had no guest musicians, just the quintet. Other than the band, which in promotion of the album was named the How to Grow a Band, the album had a fairly small production crew; an engineer, an assistant engineer, two mastering people, and an artist. ## Musical style How to Grow a Woman from the Ground takes influence from different genres, “drawing equally from traditional bluegrass, progressive acoustic, and singer/songwriter traditions”, with one critic calling the majority of the album very “roots oriented”. The album has a bluegrass or progressive bluegrass core; bluegrass mandolinist Ronnie McCoury became the album’s official “bluegrass guru” to ensure that there was “someone who could make sure we didn’t do anything clichéd or trite”. In regard to the album’s style, Thile said that “All in all, How to Grow a Woman from the Ground is a bluegrass record. There are definitely some musical things that are out of the ordinary, but it sounds like a bluegrass record to me. It’s not all like “Brakeman’s Blues,” but “Brakeman’s Blues” doesn’t sound out of place, and neither does “The Beekeeper” sound out of place. It’s all related.” Much of Thile's work on the album was influenced by his divorce, and Thile claims that he could relate to the title of the album, a Tom Brosseau song. Thile said that he "got my ass kicked by the last relationship I was in. This girl just left. It created a pretty serious complex for me. I’ve always been able to talk to girls, but I’m scared of them. I just could relate to it. Like, man if I could just grow one, that would take care of a lot of problems." ## Critical reception How to Grow a Woman from the Ground received positive reviews from country and bluegrass music critics. AllMusic called it "fantastic", and JamBase described it to be "a tasteful string dinner" and stated that "this is only the beginning of great things to come". However, some critics found particular tracks too pale in comparison to the rest of the material. The Arizona Republic stated that the album was "amazing", except for "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" because "Thile [couldn't] quite match Jack White's musical hysteria". Music Box also said that tracks like "Stay Away" and "I’m Yours If You Want Me" "completely fell flat". Regardless, the review still stated that "the bulk of How to Grow a Woman from the Ground is remarkably engaging". Bullz-Eye criticized Thile's vocal quality, saying that "his voice often lacks the strength and/or character to carry the song". On the contrary, the previously mentioned JamBase article complimented Thile's vocal strength, saying "it's the soul in Thile's voice and the heart and intensity of the musicianship that give the album its power." ## Track listing ## Personnel - Chris Thile – mandolin, lead vocals, producer - Noam Pikelny – banjo, vocals - Greg Garrison – bass, vocals - Chris Eldridge – acoustic guitar, vocals - Gabe Witcher – fiddle, vocals - Ronnie McCoury – "bluegrass guru" - Loren Witcher – artwork - Gary Paczosa – mastering - Fred Forsell – mastering engineer - Matthew Gephart – engineer - Ethan Donaldson – assistant engineer ## Chart performance

Bank Markazi v. Peterson

Bank Markazi v. Peterson, 578 U.S. 212 (2016), was a United States Supreme Court case that found that a law which only applied to a specific case, identified by docket number, and eliminated all of the defenses one party had raised does not violate the separation of powers in the United States Constitution between the legislative (Congress) and judicial branches of government. The plaintiffs, in the case had initially obtained judgments against Iran for its role in supporting state-sponsored terrorism, particularly the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings and 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, and sought execution against a bank account in New York held, through European intermediaries, on behalf of Bank Markazi, the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The plaintiffs obtained court orders preventing the transfer of funds from the account in 2008 and initiated their lawsuit in 2010. Bank Markazi raised several defenses, including that the account was not an asset of the bank, but rather an asset of its European intermediary, under both New York state property law and §201(a) of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act. In response to concerns that existing laws were insufficient for the account to be used to settle the judgments, Congress added an amendment to a 2012 bill, codified after enactment as 22 U.S.C. § 8772, that identified the pending lawsuit by docket number, applied only to the assets in the identified case, and effectively abrogated every legal basis available to Bank Markazi to prevent the plaintiffs from executing their claims against the account. Bank Markazi then argued that § 8772 was an unconstitutional breach of the separation of power between the legislative and judicial branches of government, because it effectively directed a particular result in a single case without changing the generally applicable law. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and, on appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit both upheld the constitutionality of § 8772 and cleared the way for the plaintiffs to execute their judgments against the account, which held about $1.75 billion in cash. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari and heard oral arguments in the case in January 2016, releasing their opinion in April 2016. A 6–2 majority found that § 8772 was not unconstitutional, because it "changed the law by establishing new substantive standards"—essentially, that if Iran owns the assets, they would be available for execution against judgments against Iran—for the district court to apply to the case. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the majority, explained that the federal judiciary has long upheld laws that affect one or a very small number of subjects as a valid exercise of Congress' legislative power and that the Supreme Court had previously upheld a statute that applied to cases identified by docket number in Robertson v. Seattle Audubon Society (1992). The majority also upheld § 8772 as a valid exercise of Congress' authority over foreign affairs. Prior to the enactment of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) in 1976, Congress and the Executive branch had authority to determine the immunity of foreign states from lawsuits. Despite transferring the authority to determine immunity to the courts through the FSIA, the majority contended that "it remains Congress' prerogative to alter a foreign state's immunity." Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, dissented and harshly criticized the majority's holding. After providing historical context for the separation of powers between the legislature and judiciary found in Article III of the United States Constitution, the Roberts argued that § 8772 was an unconstitutional breach of the separation of powers between Congress and the judiciary "whereby Congress assumes the role of judge and decides a particular case in the first instance." In his view, § 8772 is not different from a hypothetical law applying to a case Smith v. Jones in which the legislature says simply "Smith wins". Roberts contended that Congress and the Executive branch have sufficient authority that they do not need to "seize" the judiciary's power to "make a political decision look like a judicial one." Quoting James Madison in Federalist No. 48, he lamented that this case "will indeed become a blueprint for extensive expansion of the legislative power at the judiciary's expense, feeding Congress's tendency to 'extend[] the sphere of its activity and draw[] all power into its impetuous vortex.'" The decision came as Iran was seeking access to the world financial market just three months after many sanctions were lifted as a result of Iran's compliance with an agreement for curtailing development of its nuclear enrichment program. Various Iranian officials denounced the decision as "theft", "a ridicule of law and justice", and "open hostility by the United States against the Iranian people." On 14 June 2016, Iran filed a case against the United States with the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The judgment in the case, named Certain Iranian Assets, was pronounced on 30 March 2023, with the ICJ finding largely in Iran's favour. ## Background ### State immunity Foreign states generally enjoy immunity from lawsuits in the United States under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA). The FSIA is the exclusive basis for U.S. courts to exercise jurisdiction over a foreign government. Prior to enactment of the FSIA in 1976, the executive branch was responsible for determining the immunity of foreign states on a case-by-case basis. By enacting the FSIA, Congress codified the guidelines for the immunity of foreign states and transferred responsibility for determining a foreign state's immunity from the executive branch to the judiciary. The FSIA contains an exception to the immunity of foreign states for victims of state-sponsored terrorism. Prior to 2002, if a judgment was awarded against a foreign government, only assets of the foreign government that were located in the U.S. and "used for commercial activity" could have been seized to satisfy the judgment. To make judgments easier to enforce, Congress enacted the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (TRIA) which allows judgments to be executed against "the blocked assets of [a] terrorist party." Blocked assets include assets that may be seized by the President pursuant to his authority granted by Congress. ### Litigation before § 8772 was enacted The suit involved more than 1,300 individuals who had won several separate judgments against Iran for its supportive role in the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings, the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, several other bombings, an assassination, and a kidnapping. After winning judgments by default, based on a clear evidentiary basis for Iran's liability, they sought writs of execution against a Citibank account in New York connected with Iran's central bank. The suits for execution against the Citibank account were consolidated into one case through various procedural mechanisms. The named plaintiff in the case, Deborah Peterson, is the sister of a victim of the Beirut barracks bombings; joined by victims and other relatives of victims, she had won a default judgment in 2003 against Iran for its role in the bombings. Because of the large number of plaintiffs in the case—almost 1,000—the judge appointed special masters to determine each plaintiff's right to collect damages and appropriate amount of damages; in 2007, the judge entered a default judgment against Iran for $2,656,944,877 in damages. In 2008, the plaintiffs first learned of the interests of the Central Bank of Iran (Bank Markazi) in a Citibank bank account in New York and obtained orders restraining the transfer of funds from the account. The account consisted of bonds and belonged to a Luxembourg-based bank, Clearstream Banking, S.A., which held the account on behalf of Bank Markazi and deposited interest from the bonds into Bank Markazi's Clearstream account. At some point in 2008, an account for Bank Markazi was opened with Italian bank Banca UBAE to place the interest payments from the Clearstream account, placing a second intermediary between Bank Markazi and the Citibank account. By the time of the Supreme Court hearing, the Citibank account held about $1.75 billion in cash, as the last of the bonds had matured in April 2012. In 2010, the plaintiffs initiated their lawsuit against Bank Markazi, Clearstream, Banca UBAE, and Citibank, jointly, seeking to execute against the Citibank account their judgments for damages against Iran, based on §201(a) of the TRIA, which provides that when "a person has obtained a judgment against a terrorist party ... the blocked assets of that terrorist party (including the blocked assets of any agency or instrumentality of that terrorist party) shall be subject to execution or attachment." In February 2012, President Obama froze all assets of the Iranian government in the U.S., which included the Citibank account alleged to be controlled by Bank Markazi. However, there were concerns that existing laws were insufficient for the account to be used to settle the judgments. Bank Markazi claimed that the account was not an asset of Bank Markazi, but its intermediary, Clearstream, in relation to both TRIA and New York state property law. ### Section 8772 Due to the issues raised in the case, Congress included a section within the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act, codified as 22 U.S.C. § 8772, that preempted any state law and provided that: > a financial asset that is— > > - > (A) held in the United States for a foreign securities intermediary doing business in the United States; > (B) a blocked asset (whether or not subsequently unblocked) that is property described in subsection (b); and > (C) equal in value to a financial asset of Iran, including an asset of the central bank or monetary authority of the Government of Iran or any agency or instrumentality of that Government, that such foreign securities intermediary or a related intermediary holds abroad > > shall be subject to execution or attachment in aid of execution in order to satisfy any judgment to the extent of any compensatory damages awarded against Iran for damages for personal injury or death caused by an act of torture, extrajudicial killing, aircraft sabotage, or hostage-taking, or the provision of material support or resources for such an act. In response to concerns the banking industry had to early drafts of the legislation, § 8772 specified the assets that the section pertains to as: > The financial assets described in this section are the financial assets that are identified in and the subject of proceedings in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Peterson et al. v. Islamic Republic of Iran et al., Case No. 10 Civ. 4518 (BSJ) (GWG), that were restrained by restraining notices and levies secured by the plaintiffs in those proceedings, as modified by court order dated June 27, 2008, and extended by court orders dated June 23, 2009, May 10, 2010, and June 11, 2010, so long as such assets remain restrained by court order. Section 8772 also specified that the courts needed to identify "whether Iran holds equitable title to, or the beneficial interest in, the assets ...and that no other person possesses a constitutionally protected interest in the assets ...under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States." If another person held a constitutionally protected interest in the assets, their interest in the assets would not be infringed by the law. ### After § 8772 was enacted Section 8772 eliminated all of Bank Markazi's defenses to the seizure of the account's assets, valued at approximately $1.75 billion. Bank Markazi conceded that they held "equitable title to, or beneficial interest in, the assets", per §8772(a)(2)(A), but then claimed that § 8772 violated the separation of powers in the United States Constitution between the legislative (Congress) and judicial branches of government. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and, on appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit both upheld the constitutionality of § 8772 and awarded the assets to the plaintiffs. ## Appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States On December 29, 2014, Bank Markazi filed a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States, requesting the Court to consider the question: Does § 8772 violate the separation of powers by purporting to change the law for, and directing a particular result in, a single pending case? The certiorari petition was circulated to the Justices for their conference on April 3, 2015, after a brief by the respondents (Peterson) opposing certiorari and a reply brief from the petitioner (Bank Markazi) were filed in March. Following the April 3rd conference, the Court called for the Solicitor General to file a brief expressing the views of the federal government, which was filed on August 19. In May and June, the Supreme Court meets only to issue orders and opinions and does not hear oral arguments until the next term begins. The Court granted certiorari following its conference on September 28. Oral arguments were held on January 13, 2016, with appearances by Jeffrey Lamken for the petitioner, Theodore Olson for the respondents, and Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler for the United States as amicus curiae. Justice Antonin Scalia was present during oral arguments. He died in February, voiding his vote in the initial vote on the case's outcome and precluding any draft opinion he may have written from being published by the Court. The Court's 6-2 opinion was delivered on April 20, 2016. ## Oral argument On January 13, 2016, during oral argument with Theodore Olson, Chief Justice John Roberts said: > And just so you understand what I'm concerned about. You know, there are places in the world where courts function just the way our courts do, except every now and then, when there's a case that the -- the strong man who runs the country is interested in because a crony is one of the parties or whatever, and he picks up the phone and he tells the court, You decide this case this way. > > And I don't care what you thought the law was, decide it this way. His dissenting opinion is discussed in detail below. ## Opinion of the Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion, which held that § 8772 does not infringe on the separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches of government, considering also that the law is an exercise of congressional authority regarding foreign affairs. Justice Anthony Kennedy, Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Stephen Breyer, Justice Samuel Alito, and Justice Elena Kagan joined the majority opinion (however, Justice Thomas did not join as to Part II-C of the opinion). The majority began by explaining that judiciary's authority under Article III of the United States Constitution is to "'say what the law is'", quoting Marbury v. Madison (1803). "Congress, no doubt, may not usurp a court's power to interpret and apply the law to the circumstances before it" by, for example, saying in a hypothetical case Smith v. Jones that Smith wins or compelling the courts to reexamine a case after final judgment has been issued. Bank Markazi relied on United States v. Klein (1871) for much of its argument. In Klein, the Court questioned whether "'the legislature may prescribe rules of decision to the Judicial Department ... in cases pending before it.'" The majority found that "[o]ne cannot take this language from Klein at face value" because the power of Congress to make retroactive laws applicable to pending cases has long been recognized. The majority explained that the contemporary significance of Klein is that "Congress may not exercise its authority, including its power to regulate federal jurisdiction, in a way that requires [federal courts]...to become active participants in violating the Constitution." The unfairness of any retroactive legislation is "'not a sufficient reason for a court to fail to give that law its intended scope.'" The Constitution contains only limited constraints on the enactment of retroactive legislation: > The Ex Post Facto Clause flatly prohibits retroactive application of penal legislation. Article I, §10, cl. 1, prohibits States from passing ... laws 'impairing the Obligation of Contracts.' The Fifth Amendment's Takings Clause prevents the Legislature (and other government actors) from depriving private persons of vested property rights except for a 'public use' and upon payment of 'just compensation.' The prohibitions of 'Bills of Attainder' in Art. I, §§9–10, prohibit legislatures from singling out summary punishment for past conduct. The Due Process Clause also protects the interests in fair notice and repose that may be compromised by retroactive legislation; a justification sufficient to validate a statute's prospective application under the Clause 'may not suffice' to warrant its retroactive application. The majority affirmed that "Congress may indeed direct courts to apply newly enacted, outcome-altering legislation in pending civil cases," citing its previous decisions in Plaut v. Spendthrift Farm, Inc. (1995), Robertson v. Seattle Audubon Society (1992), and Landgraf v. USI Film Products (1994). Accordingly, the majority found that § 8772 "changed the law by establishing new substantive standards"—essentially, that if Iran owns the assets, they would be available for execution against judgments against Iran—for the district court to apply to the case. Section 8772 left several issues for the District Court to adjudicate: it did not define its key terms "beneficial interest" and "equitable title"; whether any other party had a constitutionally protected interest in the account; and whether the assets were "held in the United States" (Clearstream argued the assets were located in Luxembourg, not New York). The fact that the law only applied to one case does not change its validity, although the majority conceded that a narrowly crafted law affecting just one person or a limited number of people may violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment "if arbitrary or inadequately justified." The federal judiciary has long upheld laws that affect one or a very small number of subjects as a valid exercise of Congress' legislative power, and the Supreme Court upheld a statute that applied to cases identified by docket number in Robertson v. Seattle Audubon Society (1992). The final portion of the majority's opinion, in which Justice Thomas did not join, upheld § 8772 as a valid exercise of Congress' authority to regulate foreign affairs. Citing Dames & Moore v. Regan (1981), a case which also involved the availability of Iranian assets for execution of judgments against Iran, the majority points out that regulating foreign-state assets—e.g. by blocking them or regulating their availability for execution against judgments—has never been found to violate the judiciary's authority. Prior to the enactment of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), the Executive branch routinely made case-specific determinations of the scope of immunity for foreign states. Those decisions were not rejected as infringements on the judiciary's authority. Although the enactment of the FSIA in 1976 transferred authority to the courts to determine foreign-state immunity, the majority held that "it remains Congress' prerogative to alter a foreign state's immunity." When Congress enacted § 8772, it "acted comfortably within the political branches' authority over foreign sovereign immunity and foreign-state assets." ### Chief Justice Roberts' dissenting opinion Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, dissented from the majority's ruling. It was the first time that Roberts and Sotomayor were the only two dissenters in a case; they had been on the court together since 2009. Roberts began his argument with an analogy: > Imagine your neighbor sues you, claiming that your fence is on his property. His evidence is a letter from the previous owner of your home, accepting your neighbor's version of the facts. Your defense is an official county map, which under state law establishes the boundaries of your land. The map shows the fence on your side of the property line. You also argue that your neighbor's claim is six months outside the statute of limitations. > > Now imagine that while the lawsuit is pending, your neighbor persuades the legislature to enact a new statute. The new statute provides that for your case, and your case alone, a letter from one neighbor to another is conclusive of property boundaries, and the statute of limitations is one year longer. Your neighbor wins. Who would you say decided your case: the legislature, which targeted your specific case and eliminated your specific defenses so as to ensure your neighbor's victory, or the court, which presided over the fait accompli? > > That question lies at the root of the case the Court confronts today. In the Chief Justice's view, § 8772 violates the separation of powers in Article III "[n]o less than if [Congress] had passed a law saying 'respondents win.'" The majority responded that a more appropriate analogy to the case is if a legislature enacts a law specifying that a 2000 map supersedes a 1990 map in an ongoing property dispute in which the parties are contesting whether an ambiguous statute makes a 1990 or 2000 county map the authoritative source for establishing property boundaries. The Chief Justice proceeded to detail the origin, purpose, and case law history of the separation of powers. Article Three of the United States Constitution establishes an independent judiciary with "distinct and inviolable authority." Such separation of powers "safeguards individual freedom." As Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist No. 78, quoting Montesquieu, "'there is no liberty if the power of judging be not separated from the legislative and executive powers.'" The separation of powers between the judiciary and legislative branches was examined in detail in Plaut v. Spendthrift Farm, Inc. (1995), in which the Supreme Court found unconstitutional a statute that reopened a case after a final judgment. At the time of the framing of the Constitution, judicial and legislative powers were often intermingled. The colonial legislatures often performed many of the functions of the judiciary, such as functioning as the court of last resort, granting new trials, and providing original review, appellate review, stays of judgments, and providing other types of relief "in an effort to do what is agreeable to Right and Justice." The colonial charters of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island gave the legislatures the authority of court of last resort. In New Hampshire, judicial appeals were directed to the governor and his council, but routinely referred to the legislature for discussion. And for over half a century, the colonial assembly of Virginia could review court judgments. The involvement of legislatures in judicial matters "intensified during the American Revolution," which "soon prompted a sense of a sharp necessity to separate the legislative from the judicial power." The interference of the legislatures in judicial matters "figur[ed] prominently in the Framers' decision to devise a system for securing liberty through the division of power." This resulted in Article Three of the United States Constitution, which forms the "central pillar of judicial independence" and places "'[t]he judicial Power of the United States' ... in 'one supreme Court', and in such 'inferior Courts'" as Congress may establish. This judicial power extends "to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority." The Chief Justice explained that there are three types of unconstitutional restrictions on the power of the judiciary. "'Congress cannot vest review of the decisions of Article III courts in officials of the Executive Branch'", or "'retroactively command the federal courts to reopen final judgments.'" In the Chief Justice's view, this case is a third type of unconstitutional interference with the judiciary's authority, "whereby Congress assumes the role of judge and decides a particular case in the first instance," which he believes is precisely what § 8772 does. Section 8772 foreclosed Bank Markazi's defenses that it was immune from prosecution under the FSIA, a separate juridical entity under both U.S. federal common law and international law and thus not liable for Iran's debts, and that New York state law did not permit execution of the plaintiff's judgments against its assets. "And lest there be any doubt that Congress' sole concern was deciding this particular case ... § 8772 provided that nothing in the statute 'shall be construed ... to affect the availability, or lack thereof, of a right to satisfy a judgment in any other action against a terrorist party in any proceedings other than' [this case]." In the hypothetical case of Smith v. Jones in which Congress enacted a statute that says "Smith wins", the majority would find it unconstitutional because it "would create no new substantive law." In the Chief Justice's view, it would: before the passage of the hypothetical statute, the law did not provide that Smith wins; after passage of the hypothetical statute, it does. For the Chief Justice, "the question is whether its action constitutes an exercise of judicial power." Both the hypothetical "Smith wins" statute and § 8772 both have the same effect, which is essentially the legislature's "'policy judgment'" that one side in the case wins. He compared the majority's opinion, which found that § 8772 left plenty of issues for the District Court to adjudicate, to "a constitutional Maginot Line, easily circumvented by the simplest maneuver of taking away every defense against Smith's victory, without saying 'Smith wins.'" Section 8772 only required the courts to make two decisions—that Bank Markazi had an equitable interest in the assets and no one else did—that were both already clear before § 8772 was enacted. By the majority's view of "plenty", the Chief Justice contended that, in the hypothetical case Smith v. Jones, the majority would uphold a judgment for Smith if the court finds that Jones was served notice of the lawsuit and the case was within the statute of limitations. Strongly criticizing the majority, the Chief Justice, quoting Federalist No. 48, concluded that the majority's "failure to enforce [the boundary between the judicial and legislative branches] in a case as clear as this reduces Article III to a mere 'parchment barrier against the encroaching spirit' of legislative power." Finally, the Chief Justice distinguished this case from Dames & Moore. The actions of the president that Dames & Moore upheld did not dictate the outcome of the case, but merely specified that the claims be handled by a different tribunal. The court's decision in Dames & Moore was based on the "longstanding practice of settling the claims of U.S. nationals against foreign countries by treaty or executive agreement." In contrast with the majority's interpretation of Dames & Moore, "those dispositions, crucially, were not exercises of judicial power." The Chief Justice critiqued the majority's position on Dames & Moore by contending that the political branches of the government—Congress and the executive branch—have sufficient power of their own to address the issues in this case and do not need to "commandeer[] the courts to make a political decision look like a judicial one." The Chief Justice concluded with a strong criticism of the majority's decision: > At issue here is a basic principle, not a technical rule. Section 8772 decides this case no less certainly than if Congress had directed entry of judgment for respondents. As a result, the potential of the decision today 'to effect important change in the equilibrium of power' is 'immediately evident.' Morrison v. Olson, 487 U.S. 654, 699 (1988) (Scalia, J., dissenting) Hereafter, with this Court's seal of approval, Congress can unabashedly pick the winners and losers in particular pending cases. Today's decision will indeed become a 'blueprint for extensive expansion of the legislative power' at the Judiciary's expense, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority v. Citizens for Abatement of Aircraft Noise, Inc., 501 U.S. 252, 277 (1991), feeding Congress's tendency to 'extend[] the sphere of its activity and draw[] all power into its impetuous vortex,' The Federalist No. 48 ... (J. Madison) ## Subsequent developments ### Payout to plaintiff-respondents The ruling clears the way for the plaintiff-respondents to collect from the roughly $1.75 billion bank account, which will be enough to satisfy about 70% of their collective $2.5 billion in judgments. They will not be eligible to collect from a $1 billion fund—the Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund—established by Congress in 2015 to pay victims of state-sponsored terrorism. That fund pays 30% of judgments until all applicants have received that amount; remaining funds will not be distributed until all claimants have received 30% of their judgment. ### Legal community reactions Attorney and law professor Alan Morrison, writing for The George Washington Law Review, remarked that: > To a non-lawyer trying to decide who should win just on the equity, the Bank's chances did not look very good, and on April 20, 2016, the Supreme Court ... upheld the constitutionality of § 8772, thereby removing a major barrier to the victims collecting at least some of their judgments. Those were the atmospherics, but on the legal issues, there was substantial agreement between the two opinions, although in their conclusions they were very far apart. All of the Justices agreed that Congress could pass laws changing the existing law and make those changes generally applicable to pending cases, provided it did so clearly. They also agreed that Congress could not pass a law in a pending case that said something along the lines of, "The Court is directed to enter judgment for the plaintiff," or that "The plaintiff wins and defendant loses." To do so would usurp the judicial role and improperly expand that of Congress. Nor could Congress change the law in a way that re-opened a case in which there was a final judgment not subject to further appeal. There was also agreement that Congress could write laws that applied to a limited category of cases, at least in those cases in which only the Government was adversely affected by the change in the law. The issue here was where § 8772 fell on that spectrum. Morrison expressed "concern ... that what happened here will repeat itself in other circumstances in which the equities [are] quite different". Although Morrison suggested that an individual aggrieved by such a law could bring a claim for relief under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, he argued that such a claim is unlikely to be successful because the law will likely be upheld when reviewed under the rational basis test. The rational basis test asks "there is some rational relationship between disparity of treatment and some legitimate governmental purpose." Law professor Evan Zoldan, writing in the Yale Law & Policy Review Inter Alia, noted that the ruling allowed Congress to pick a winner in a particular pending case. He wrote that "By permitting Congress to direct judgment in favor of victims of terrorism, the Bank Markazi Court helped compensate hundreds of people who suffered great tragedies. But, perhaps inadvertently, the Court also conferred on Congress the expansive, and dangerous, power to target an individual for special treatment that is not applied to the population in general." According to Stuart Newberger, an attorney who represents terror victims, the ruling could hinder foreign governments from using the judiciary to override determinations by Congress and the President regarding the availability of their assets to satisfy judgments against them. Newberger praised the ruling as "a message for any country that if Congress and the president take steps to freeze assets, make assets available to victims, that the courts are going to defer." ### U.S. reactions The decision was praised in the U.S. by the litigants, their counsel, and politicians. Theodore Olson, counsel for the respondents, praised the ruling, saying it "will bring long-overdue relief to ... victims of Iranian terrorism and their families, many of whom have waited decades for redress." Praising the court's decision, lead plaintiff Deborah Peterson found solace that "in the eyes of the law, we know who is responsible, and those who are responsible have been brought to the justice that we are capable of bringing them to here on earth." Law professor Jimmy Gurulé said the decision "sends a powerful message to rogue states and state sponsors of terrorism that if you, directly or indirectly, provide material support for terrorism, you will be held accountable"—sentiment echoed by Mark Dubowitz, director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies—and that "hopefully, it's also going to have a deterrent effect, or least cause Iran to think twice about supporting terrorist activity going forward." The decision was also praised by Senator Bob Menendez, who authored § 8772, and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. ### Iranian reactions A spokesman for Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the ruling as "theft", "incompatible with international law", "a ridicule of justice and law" and stated that Iran "totally reject[s]" the ruling. The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Swiss ambassador to Iran, who represents U.S. interests in Iran, to receive diplomatic notes, to be forwarded to the US, protesting the ruling. A week after the decision was announced, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote a letter to Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon urging him to use his good offices to intervene in securing the release of frozen funds and to stop interfering with Iran's international financial transactions. A U.S. State Department spokesman rejected Iran's claims, stating that the State Department "believe[s] the U.S. laws and the application of those laws by the courts of the United States comport with international law." Iran announced that they would file suit against the United States in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for reparations if the U.S. courts begin to "plunder" assets from the Citibank account to give to the winning plaintiffs. However, the ICJ may not be able to hear the case. The U.S. withdrew its general recognition of the ICJ's jurisdiction in response to the ICJ's ruling in Nicaragua v. United States, but a 1955 friendship treaty between Iran and the U.S. gives the ICJ jurisdiction to rule on disputes arising from provisions of the treaty. A working group has been established in the Iranian Cabinet to investigate the ruling and determine ways of reestablishing Iran's rights to the account. Less than a month after the Supreme Court decision, Iran's parliament overwhelmingly approved—181 votes for, 6 votes against, 8 abstentions—an "emergency bill" requiring the government to seek compensation from the U.S. for actions the U.S. has taken against Iran, including the 1953 Iranian coup d'état, which the U.S. helped restore the monarch; the Nojeh coup plot in 1980; United States support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq war, including compensation for over 800,000 Iranians who died or were injured during the conflict; U.S. espionage in Iran; U.S. support of Israel; the alleged death of 17,000 Iranians at the hands of U.S.-supported terrorist groups; and the confiscation of Iranian assets. The bill requires the government to take "appropriate legal action" for the violation of Iranian state immunity, including the pursuit of U.S. assets in third countries, and to provide regular updates to parliament on its actions against the US. Some Iranian officials, including the chief of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), have placed some blame for the Citibank account's seizure on the previous administration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was president of Iran from 2005 to 2013. The Foreign Ministry's director for political and security affairs, Hamid Baidinejad, said it was "reckless" for the previous administration to have invested in U.S. securities. In a post on the CBI's website, its chief pointed out that: "Although CBI experts and senior officials had warned against investing in dollar denominated securities, the government of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad went ahead and purchased it, thus paving the way for the damage done to our assets." Hamid Baeidinejad, a senior Foreign Ministry official, criticized the former head of the CBI for investing in a "hostile country". ### Impact on US-Iran relations The decision came at a delicate time for relations between Iran and Western nations, which were removing sanctions on Iran after its compliance with an agreement for curtailing development of its nuclear enrichment program. The agreement stipulated that once Iranian compliance with the terms of the agreement was verified, most sanctions against Iran would be lifted, including all sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council as well as nuclear-related European Union and U.S. sanctions; U.S. sanctions against Iran for terrorism, human rights abuses, and ballistic missiles would not be affected. In mid-January 2016, most sanctions were lifted. In March, the District Court for the Southern District of New York found, by default, that Iran had provided support to certain terrorist groups and individuals responsible for the September 11 attacks and awarded $10.5 billion in damages to the plaintiffs, which consisted of $3 billion to reimburse insurance companies for paid claims and $7.5 billion for victims and their families ($2 million for pain and suffering and $6.88 million in punitive damages per victim). The same judge ruled just six months earlier that there was insufficient evidence linking Saudi Arabia—which has sour relations with Iran—to the 9/11 attacks to overcome, under the terrorism exemption, Saudi Arabia's immunity under the FSIA. The Supreme Court's decision was announced while Iran's Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, was visiting the United States. The week before the decision was announced, the head of the Central Bank of Iran had visited Washington, during the spring meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, to discuss with U.S. and foreign officials problems that remained with Iranian access to international banking, despite the lifting of sanctions. Javad Zarif criticized the Bank Markazi decision and the "even more absurd" 9/11 decision by the New York as "the height of absurdity". Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called the decisions "open hostility by the United States against the Iranian people." Under the nuclear agreement, an important policy objective was to ensure that the Iranian economy benefits from suspending its nuclear weapons program. In the view of commentators Ali Omidi, a professor of international relations at the University of Isfahan, and Saam Borhani, an attorney and commentator on US-Iran relations and sanctions law, the Bank Markazi decision and the 9/11 case threaten to undermine the nuclear deal and American credibility in negotiations with Iran. The head of the Nuclear Committee in Iran's parliament, Ibrahim Karkhaneh, decried the rulings as "cooperation between the American Congress, the government and courts to steal Iranian property." ## See also - In re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001 – litigation against Iran for its alleged role in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks - Iran–United States relations - University of Chicago Persian antiquities crisis - Certain Iranian Assets – ICJ case filed by Iran against the US as a result of this case

Bridgwater and Taunton Canal

Canal in south-west England

The Bridgwater and Taunton Canal is a canal in the south-west of England between Bridgwater and Taunton, opened in 1827 and linking the River Tone to the River Parrett. There were a number of abortive schemes to link the Bristol Channel to the English Channel by waterway in the 18th and early 19th centuries. These schemes followed the approximate route eventually taken by the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, but the canal was instead built as part of a plan to link Bristol to Taunton by waterway. The early years of operation were marred by a series of legal disputes, which were resolved when the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal Company and the Conservators, who managed the River Tone Navigation, agreed that the canal company should take over the Tone Navigation. The canal originally terminated at a basin at Huntworth, to the east of Bridgwater, but was later extended to a floating harbour at Bridgwater Docks on its western edge. Financially this was a disaster, as the extension was funded by a mortgage, and the arrival of the railways soon afterwards started the demise of the canal. The canal was rescued from bankruptcy by the Bristol and Exeter Railway in 1866. Despite commercial traffic ceasing in 1907, the infrastructure was maintained in good order, and the canal was used for the transport of potable water from 1962. The Countryside Act 1968 provided a framework for Somerset County Council to start the restoration of the canal as a leisure facility, which was completed in 1994, when the canal was reopened throughout. Bridgwater Docks have been restored as a marina, but there is no navigable connection to the River Parrett, as the canal still transports drinking water for the people of Bridgwater. ## History Prior to the building of the canal, navigation between the towns of Bridgwater and Taunton was possible by using the River Parrett and the River Tone. The Tone had been improved by its conservators, who had obtained acts of Parliament; the River Tone Navigation Act 1698 (10 Will. 3. c. 8) in 1699 and the River Tone Improvement Act 1707 (6 Ann. c. 70) in 1707; which had allowed them to straighten and dredge the river and parts of the Parrett, and to build locks and half-locks to manage the water levels. The initial work was completed by 1717, although further improvements including more locks continued to be made until the early 19th century. ### Precursors From 1768 there were a number of grand schemes proposed, all with the aim of linking the Bristol Channel to the English Channel by a waterway, thereby avoiding the need to navigate by sea around Cornwall and Devon. James Brindley was the first to survey a route, which would have run from the Bristol Channel to Exeter, following the course of the River Tone for part of its route. In 1769, Robert Whitworth looked at a shorter route from Bridgwater Bay to Seaton, following the River Parrett and the River Axe. He was asked to reassess the route in the 1790s. William Jessop surveyed a route between Taunton and Exeter in 1794, while another group proposed a canal linking Bristol, Nailsea, Bridgwater and Taunton, which was surveyed by William White. Jessop's assistant, Josiah Easton, suggested a route from Uphill (on the Bristol Channel) to Seaton, again in 1794, and the previous two schemes sought parliamentary approval as the Grand Western Canal and the Bristol and Western Canal, respectively. Only the first was authorised, as the Grand Western Canal Act 1796 (36 Geo. 3. c. 46), but the economic downturn caused by the Napoleonic Wars meant that construction did not begin immediately. John Rennie surveyed the line for a ship canal from the mouth of the River Parrett to Seaton in 1810, which was designed for ships of 120 long tons (120 t), but it was felt that the economic situation would not support the projected expenditure of over £1 million. He then considered a more modest proposal, based on the original Bristol and Western plans, and the scheme, now renamed the Bristol and Taunton Canal, was authorised by an act of Parliament, the ' (51 Geo. 3. c. lx) dated 14 May 1811. The company had powers to raise £420,000 in shares and an additional £150,000 if required, but economic concerns meant that the project did not start immediately. Powers for the Bristol to Bridgwater section lapsed in 1815, but work finally commenced in 1822, to be halted by an injunction because the authorised route was not being followed. A further act, the ' (5 Geo. 4. c. cxx) of 17 June 1824, authorised the revised route, and changed the name of the project to the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal Company. The predicted costs for the construction of the shorter canal were £34,145, as opposed to £429,990 for the longer scheme. Three further schemes were proposed before the idea of a Channel-to-Channel link was abandoned. James Green proposed a tub-boat canal in 1822, capable of handling 5-long-ton (5.1 t) boats, which would have used inclines instead of locks, and would have cost £120,000. Thomas Telford revived the idea of a ship canal in 1824, which would have taken over the line of the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal – enabling 200-long-ton (200 t) boats to reach the south coast – at a cost of £1.75 million. This was authorised in 1825, but no further action occurred. Finally, a barge canal between Bridgwater and Beer, costing £600,000, was proposed in 1828, but enthusiasm for large canal schemes was waning, and the advent of iron-hulled steamships meant that the risks of navigation around the south-west peninsula were reduced. ### Construction Construction of the canal began in 1822, with James Hollinsworth as the engineer and John Easton as the senior surveyor. The Bristol and Taunton scheme had incorporated a high-level crossing of the River Parrett, but the shortened canal would now join the Parrett at Huntworth, where a basin was to be constructed. This change of route resulted in the Reverend Robert Gray obtaining an injunction, and work on the lower half of the canal stopped until the new route could be properly authorised by the 1824 act of Parliament. By this time, the estimated cost had risen to £60,000. Below Durston, the canal was cut into the clay subsoil, the clay forming a naturally waterproof channel; but from Durston to Taunton the canal bed had to be puddled with clay to make it watertight, as the underlying ground was shale. The canal was to be about 12 miles (19 km) long. It included a 700-yard (640 m) embankment at Lyng, which was 40 feet (12 m) high, two short cuttings, eleven brick-built bridges to carry roads over the canal, and more than twelve timber swing bridges, built to provide accommodation crossings for farms which had been divided by the line of the canal. The lock at Firepool (Taunton) had a set of reverse-facing gates, to prevent the canal draining if the level of the River Tone dropped. There were four more locks on the main line, and a lock at the entrance to Huntworth Basin. One final lock connected the basin to the river, and again it had a set of reverse-facing gates, so that the basin could be drained at low tide, and the low level retained for maintenance if required. A system of paddle gearing – using metal ball weights at the top and metal cylinder weights at the bottom – is unique to the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal. Over fifty culverts were built to carry streams and drainage ditches under the canal. The work was completed with no recorded incidents of serious injury or death among the workforce. By mid-1826, the canal company had insufficient funds to complete the work, and a special meeting authorised the taking out of a mortgage to cover the £15,000 deficit. The canal was an obvious competitor to the River Tone Navigation, which was managed by the Conservators of the River Tone, a legal body created for that purpose by in 1699 by the River Tone Navigation Act 1698 (10 Will. 3. c. 8). There was animosity between the company and the conservators, with the company maintaining that they had a right to use the Tone to reach the centre of Taunton, and the conservators maintaining that they did not. The canal was scheduled to be opened on 1 January 1827, but the opening was delayed until 3 January, as the connection to the River Tone was not made until 2 January. The opening celebrations were hampered by snow and bitter cold weather. ### Operation The early years of the new canal were marred by legal disputes with the Conservators of the River Tone. The connection to the Tone at Taunton had been made forcibly, by the canal company breaching the bank of the river. In August 1827 they announced that they were taking over the Tone, and evicted William Goodland, the river superintendent, from his cottage. Despite a ruling by the Court of King's Bench that their action was illegal, the canal company held on to the river until a High Court judgment in February 1830. The conservators promptly built a dam, to prevent boats reaching the river and water entering the canal, which they removed after further legal action and an order of the Chancery Court. Reconciliation finally came in late 1831, when the two parties proposed a new act of Parliament to authorise the sale of the Tone Navigation to the canal company. The ' (2 & 3 Will. 4. c. xliii) was obtained in July 1832, and required the canal company to erect a new iron bridge to replace the existing North Town Bridge, which hampered access to the wharfs in Taunton. They also had powers to construct a lock and a short length of canal at French Weir, to connect with the Grand Western Canal, while the conservators were allowed to conduct an annual inspection of the canal, and to resume their ownership of the river if the canal was not maintained in good order. At the Bridgwater end, navigation onto the River Parrett was not easy, and the Corporation of Bridgwater had commissioned a number of surveys to construct a floating harbour. All came to nothing, but in 1836 the Bristol and Exeter Railway Company obtained an act of Parliament, the Bristol and Exeter Railway Act 1836 (6 & 7 Will. 4. c. xxxvi), to construct a railway which would pass through Bridgwater. Subsequently, the canal company, in order to protect their trade, sought their own act of Parliament to construct a floating harbour to the west of Bridgwater, and to extend the canal to join it. The ' (7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. xi) was obtained on 21 April 1837, and the works were started. The construction work involved a deep cutting from Albert Street to West Street, a short tunnel at West Street. There it entered Bridgwater Docks, which consisted of: - Inner basin that covered 4 acres (1.6 ha) - Outer basin covering 0.5 acres (0.20 ha) The two basins were connected by a lock, whilst towards the river a ship lock consisting of a single 40-foot (12 m) gate, and a barge lock, consisting of a pair of 14-foot (4.3 m) gates. The whole outer basin could be used as a lock by larger ships up to 600 tons. The estimated cost of £25,000 for the scheme escalated to nearly £100,000, most of which was raised by mortgage. The new facilities were opened on 25 March 1841, after which the basin and locks at Huntworth were filled in. Trade increased from 90,000 long tons (91,000 t) in 1840, before the harbour opened, to 120,000 long tons (120,000 t) shortly afterwards. Around 2,400 vessels per year were using the port by 1853. The canal company had hoped that the opening of the Grand Western Canal in 1838 and the Chard Canal in 1842 would increase traffic significantly, but their impact was marginal. Despite commercial success, the interest payments on the mortgage were crippling, and in 1846 the company obtained an act of Parliament, the '''' (9 & 10 Vict. c. cxlv), to convert the canal into a railway, although its powers were never used. Trade halved as railway competition increased, and the company was in the hands of receivers by the early 1850s. In 1866 the Bristol and Exeter Railway stepped in and bought the canal. The main attraction was the dock, with its large volume of coal traffic, but they purchased both the canal and the dock for £64,000, under the terms of an act of Parliament obtained that year, which included a requirement that there should always be "a good and sufficient water communication between the towns of Taunton and Bridgwater". Unlike many such acquisitions, the canal was seen as a useful adjunct to the railway network, and was maintained in good order for several years, with the Conservators of the River Tone continuing their annual inspections, and reporting any defects to the railway company. ### Decline The canal was increasingly affected by water supply problems. The main source of water was the River Tone, although this was not fed into the canal at Firepool, in order to ensure that the mills on the upper section could function. Instead water was pumped out of the river at Creech, by the Charlton Pumping Station, where the river and canal were only 300 yards (270 m) apart. Large volumes of water were discharged from the canal every fortnight, when the Bridgwater Dock was scoured, in order to free it from silt, while the Railway Company was extracting water to supply the station and steam locomotive sheds at Taunton. During the summer months there was often not enough water to go round. The canal gradually became clogged with weed, and the railway took much of the trade. Between 1870 and 1874, income dropped from £2,500 to £1,700. Three years later, the Bristol and Exeter Railway merged with the Great Western Railway. The new owners were remote, and were more interested in the water supply for Taunton station and for the Bridgwater Dock, than running the canal as a going concern, with the result that the canal deteriorated further. The Conservators continued their annual inspections, but had little hope of any improvements being made. The opening by the Great Western Railway of the Severn Tunnel in 1886 brought further decline, for the imports of coal and slate from South Wales to Bridgwater Dock and the canal could now be moved more directly. The provision in 1902 of water troughs on the railway near Creech, to enable non-stop trains to pick up water, required another 100,000 imperial gallons (450 m³) a day, which was extracted from the Tone. The remaining traffic moved to the railway, the last commercial boats used the canal, from Bridgwater dock to a wharf in North Town, Taunton, in 1907, and the canal was effectively closed. ### Closure After the First World War the canal remained in a state of limbo – with minimal maintenance by the railway company – and was the haunt of fishermen and walkers. The Conservators continued their annual inspections, and the infrastructure remained in remarkably good order, compared to many other closed canals. The section near Creech St Michael was even used for swimming lessons for the local school children in the 1930s. During the Second World War the route of the canal was employed as part of the Taunton Stop Line, a defensive line which followed the course of canals and railway embankments from the mouth of the Parrett to Seaton on the south coast. All permanent bridges were mined with demolition chambers. Hamp Bridge was prepared for demolition with four small charge chambers under the east side of the arch containing a total of 30 lb (14 kg) of the explosive, ammonal. Anti-tank obstacles were placed at bridge sites or locks to hinder bridging operations. All of the swing bridges were removed, but were then replaced with fixed timber bridges at towpath level. Only essential maintenance was carried out, to ensure a water supply for fire-fighting and to prevent flooding. Although the physical structure of the canal was not damaged by enemy action, all of the Company records and traffic receipts, together with those of the Bristol and Exeter Railway, were destroyed during a bombing raid. Control of the canal passed into public ownership with the Transport Act 1947. Despite concerted efforts, the Conservators could not make any progress with the removal of the fixed low-level bridges, which prevented maintenance from being carried out. The Inland Waterways Association started to take an active interest in the restoration of the canal from 1952, but this was resisted by the British Transport Commission, who padlocked the lock gates to prevent them being used. Despite this, a team of seven men was employed to maintain the infrastructure through this period. The maintenance of the channel enabled the canal to become one of the first to be used for the commercial transport of water, which was pumped from the canal to Durleigh reservoir from 1962 onwards. The canal was absorbed by the British Waterways Board in 1962. The Conservators carried out an annual inspection in 1965, the first since 1947, but had to use a motor coach for most of the journey, as the locks were unusable. With the passing of the Transport Act 1968, the canal was classified as a remainder waterway – little more than a drainage channel. Only essential maintenance to keep it safe was to be carried out. Soon afterwards, part of the cutting wall between West Street and Albert Street collapsed, and although the bed of the canal was cleared to ensure water could reach the dock, the towpath remained blocked for another nine years. Bridgwater Docks, which had been used by a small amount of coastal shipping, were finally closed in 1971: the connection at the docks was stopped up, and the British Waterways Board were granted permission to cease maintaining the canal for navigation. ## Restoration From the late 1960s, there was a growing awareness of the benefits of retaining the canal. The Inland Waterways Association produced a report, entitled The Bridgwater and Taunton Canal - Waterway with a Future'', suggesting that the canal had the potential for development as a linear Country Park, and the County Planning Officer for Somerset County Council produced a second report, suggesting that funds should be made available for maintenance and restoration, which the County Council duly adopted. The Countryside Act 1968 provided a framework for such action, and a visit in 1971 to see the work being done on the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal as part of the creation of the Brecon Beacons National Park convinced the Council of the wisdom of such a course of action. By 1974, Higher and Lower Maunsel locks, which are listed buildings, had been refurbished by the British Waterways Board, with funding from the County Council. Funding for towpath maintenance and weed cutting was also provided. In December 1974, the Council bought Bridgwater Dock from British Railways. The concrete wall across the barge lock was removed, but there was no intention to restore the ship lock. By 1980, the council had invested over £50,000 in the restoration, which included Kings and Standards locks, and the bottom gates of Newtown Lock. Some bridges had been raised, but only to 4 feet (1.2 m), which allowed canoeing, but prevented bigger boats from using the waterway. Work on the deep cutting between West Street and Albert Street started in September 1978, jointly funded by the County Council and Sedgemoor District Council, using direct labour, while a Manpower Services Commission scheme to dredge the canal from the dock to the cutting and to widen the towpath was funded by the District Council in 1981. The condition of the swing bridge at Bathpool caused a change in policy. There were objections to the plan to replace it with a fixed bridge with limited headroom, and the planning application was deferred. By 1983, a six-year plan to restore the canal was fully costed, and it was adopted by the British Waterways Board, the County Council, Sedgemoor District Council and Taunton Deane Borough Council in the following year. The scheme was supported by the West Country Branch of the Inland Waterways Association, who offered the services of the Waterway Recovery Group, to do some of the work. The swing bridges at Crossways, Boat and Anchor, and Fordgate were rebuilt, and by 1987, 4.5 miles (7.2 km) of canal were available for navigation. After some teething problems, it was decided that many of the rest of the accommodation bridges would be raised to give 8 feet (2.4 m) of headroom, rather than rebuilding them as swing bridges. Restoration of the bridges at the Taunton end continued during the early 1990s, and the canal was finally re-opened in 1994. ## Current use Boating on the canal is encouraged, although the lack of a link to the River Parrett at Bridgwater is restrictive. At this point, the Parrett is a salt water river, and is laden with silt, whereas the canal contains fresh water. Not only is there a risk of silt entering the canal, but the salt water cannot be allowed to contaminate the fresh, as the canal is still used for the transport of drinking water for the population of Bridgwater. The canal forms part of the local flood relief system, in winter taking water from the River Tone at Taunton and discharging it into the Parrett at a sluice in the western fringe of Bridgwater, near the Bridgwater Canalside Centre. Bridgwater Docks, in which the tidal basin, locks, quaysides, bridges and fittings are listed buildings, is now a marina, emptied of boats in 2021, and the old warehouse, built in 1840–50 has been converted into apartments, with new apartment blocks built nearby. The only commercially active industry located at the docks was Bowering's Animal Feed Mill, until its closure in 2020. The towpath forms part of Sustrans' National Cycle Network route NCR-3 connecting Bath and Cornwall, and attracts numerous travellers. Plans have been proposed for the upgrading of the towpath and development of a visitor centre at Maunsel. During 2020, the boats were ordered to leave the docks at Bridgwater, however as of 2023, there has been a £5m grant to restore the docks and canal. ## The Somerset Space Walk The Taunton-Bridgwater canal is also home to an installation termed the 'Somerset Space Walk', a scale model (530 million:1) of the Solar System centred around the 'Sun' at Maunsel lock with the planets located along the towpath in both directions. The Space Walk was designed by local man, Pip Youngman, in order to demonstrate the scale of the Solar System in an interactive way. The trail can be walked either from Taunton's Brewhouse Theatre to Maunsel Lock (Pluto to the Sun) or from Bridgwater's Morrison's Supermarket to Maunsel Lock (also Pluto to the Sun) or of course, vice versa. From Pluto to the Sun from either town is an 11-kilometre (6.8 mi) walk. ## Route ## See also - Canals of the United Kingdom - History of the British canal system

Klaus Fuchs

German-born British physicist and atomic spy (1911–1988)

Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs (29 December 1911 – 28 January 1988) was a German theoretical physicist and atomic spy who supplied information from the American, British, and Canadian Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union during and shortly after World War II. While at the Los Alamos Laboratory, Fuchs was responsible for many significant theoretical calculations relating to the first nuclear weapons and, later, early models of the hydrogen bomb. After his conviction in 1950, he served nine years in prison in the United Kingdom, then migrated to East Germany where he resumed his career as a physicist and scientific leader. The son of a Lutheran pastor, Fuchs attended the University of Leipzig, where his father was a professor of theology, and became involved in student politics, joining the student branch of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), and the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold, an SPD-allied paramilitary organisation. He was expelled from the SPD in 1932, and joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). He went into hiding after the 1933 Reichstag fire and the subsequent persecution of communists in Nazi Germany, and fled to the United Kingdom, where he received his PhD from the University of Bristol under the supervision of Nevill Francis Mott, and his DSc from the University of Edinburgh, where he worked as an assistant to Max Born. After the Second World War broke out in Europe, he was interned in the Isle of Man, and later in Canada. After he returned to Britain in 1941, he became an assistant to Rudolf Peierls, working on "Tube Alloys"—the British atomic bomb project. He began passing information on the project to the Soviet Union through Ursula Kuczynski, codenamed "Sonya", a German communist and a major in Soviet military intelligence who had worked with Richard Sorge's spy ring in the Far East. In 1943, Fuchs and Peierls went to Columbia University, in New York City, to work on the Manhattan Project. In August 1944, Fuchs joined the Theoretical Physics Division at the Los Alamos Laboratory, working under Hans Bethe. His chief area of expertise was the problem of implosion, necessary for the development of the plutonium bomb. After the war, he returned to the UK and worked at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell as head of the Theoretical Physics Division. In January 1950, Fuchs confessed that he had passed information to the Soviets over a seven-year period beginning in 1942. A British court sentenced him to fourteen years' imprisonment and he was subsequently stripped of his British citizenship. He was released in 1959, after serving nine years, and migrated to the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), where he was elected to the Academy of Sciences and became a member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) central committee. He was later appointed deputy director of the Central Institute for Nuclear Physics in Dresden, where he served until his retirement in 1979. Post Cold War declassified information states that the Russians freely acknowledged that Fuchs gave them the fission bomb. ## Early life Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs was born in Rüsselsheim, Grand Duchy of Hesse, on 29 December 1911, the third of four children of a Lutheran pastor, Emil Fuchs, and his wife Else Wagner. His father served in the army during World War I but later became a pacifist and a socialist, joining the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in 1921. He eventually became a Quaker. Fuchs had an older brother Gerhard, an older sister Elisabeth, and a younger sister, Kristel. The family moved to Eisenach, where Fuchs attended the Martin-Luther Gymnasium, and took his Abitur. At school, Fuchs and his siblings were taunted over his father's unpopular socialist political views, which they came to share. They became known as the "red foxes", Fuchs being the German word for fox. Fuchs was left-handed, but was forced to write with his right hand. Fuchs entered the University of Leipzig in 1930, where his father was a professor of theology. He became involved in student politics, joining the student branch of the SPD, a party that his father had joined in 1912, and the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold, the party's paramilitary organisation. His father took up a new position as professor of religion at the Pedagogical Academy in Kiel, and in the autumn Fuchs transferred to the University of Kiel, which his brother Gerhard and sister Elisabeth also attended. Fuchs continued his studies in mathematics and physics at the university. In October 1931, his mother committed suicide by drinking hydrochloric acid. The family later discovered that his maternal grandmother had also taken her own life. In the March 1932 German presidential election, the SPD supported Paul von Hindenburg for President, fearing that a split vote would hand the job to the Nazi Party (NSDAP) candidate, Adolf Hitler. However, when the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) ran its own candidate, Ernst Thälmann, Fuchs offered to speak for him, and was expelled from the SPD. That year Fuchs and all three of his siblings joined the KPD. Fuchs and his brother Gerhard were active speakers at public meetings, and occasionally attempted to disrupt NSDAP gatherings. At one such gathering, Fuchs was beaten up and thrown into a river. When Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933, Fuchs decided to leave Kiel, where the NSDAP was particularly strong and he was a well-known KPD member. He enrolled at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in Berlin. On 28 February, while on a train to Berlin for a secret KPD meeting, he read a newspaper article on the Reichstag fire. Fuchs correctly assumed that opposition parties would be blamed for the fire, and surreptitiously removed his hammer and sickle lapel pin. Fellow party members urged him to continue his studies in another country. He went into hiding for five months in the apartment of a fellow party member. In August 1933, he attended an anti-fascist conference in Paris chaired by Henri Barbusse, where he met an English couple, Ronald and Jessie Gunn, who invited him to stay with them in Clapton, Somerset. He was expelled from the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in October 1933. ## Refugee in Britain Fuchs arrived in England on 24 September 1933. Jessie Gunn was a member of the Wills family, the heirs to Imperial Tobacco and benefactors of the University of Bristol. She arranged for Fuchs to meet Nevill Francis Mott, Bristol's professor of physics, and he agreed to take Fuchs on as a research assistant. Fuchs earned his PhD in physics there in 1937. A paper on "A Quantum Mechanical Calculation of the Elastic Constants of Monovalent Metals" was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society in 1936. By this time, Mott had a number of German refugees working for him, and lacked positions for them all. He did not think that Fuchs would make much of a teacher, so he arranged a research post for Fuchs, at the University of Edinburgh working under Max Born, who was himself a German refugee. Fuchs published papers with Born on "The Statistical Mechanics of Condensing Systems" and "On Fluctuations in Electromagnetic radiation" in the Proceedings of the Royal Society. He also received a Doctorate in Science degree from Edinburgh. Fuchs proudly mailed copies back to his father, Emil, in Germany. In Germany, Emil had been dismissed from his academic post, and, disillusioned with the Lutheran Church's support of the NSDAP, had become a Quaker in 1933. He was arrested for speaking out against the government and was held for a month. His daughter, Elisabeth, married a fellow communist, Gustav Kittowski, with whom she had a child they named Klaus. Elisabeth and Kittowski were arrested in 1933, and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment but were freed at Christmas. Emil's son, Gerhard, and his wife Karin were arrested in 1934 and spent the next two years in prison. Gerhard, Karin, Elisabeth and Kittowski established a car rental agency in Berlin, which they used to smuggle Jews and opponents of the government out of Germany. After Emil was arrested in 1933, his other daughter, Kristel, fled to Zurich, where she studied education and psychology at the University of Zurich. She returned to Berlin in 1934, where she too worked at the car rental agency. In 1936, Emil arranged with Quaker friends in the United States for Kristel to attend Swarthmore College there. She visited her brother, Klaus Fuchs, in England en route to America, where she eventually married an American communist, Robert Heineman, and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She became a permanent resident in the United States in May 1938. In 1936, Kittowski and Elisabeth were arrested again, and the rental cars were impounded. Gerhard and Karin fled to Czechoslovakia. Elisabeth was released and went to live with her father, Emil, while Kittowski, sentenced to six years, later escaped from prison and also made his way to Czechoslovakia. In August 1939, Elisabeth died by suicide by throwing herself from a train, leaving Emil to raise her young son, Klaus. ## Second World War Fuchs applied to become a British subject in August 1939, but his application had not been processed before the Second World War broke out in Europe in September 1939. There was a classification system for enemy aliens, but Born provided Fuchs with a reference that said that he had been a member of the SPD from 1930 to 1932, and an anti-Nazi. There matters stood until June 1940, when the police arrived and took Fuchs into custody. He was first interned on the Isle of Man and then, in July, he was sent to internment camps in Canada, first on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City and later at a site near Sherbrooke, Quebec. During his internment in 1940, he continued to work and published four more papers with Born: The Mass Centre in Relativity, Reciprocity, Part II: Scalar Wave Functions, Reciprocity, Part III: Reciprocal Wave Functions and Reciprocity, Part IV: Spinor Wave Functions, and one by himself, On the Statistical Method in Nuclear Theory. While interned in Quebec, he joined a communist discussion group led by Hans Kahle. Kahle was a KPD member who had fought in the Spanish Civil War. After fleeing to Britain with his family, Kahle had helped Jürgen Kuczynski organise the KPD in Britain. Kristel arranged for mathematics professor Israel Halperin, the brother-in-law of a friend of hers, Wendell H. Furry, to send Fuchs some magazines, likely scientific journals. Max Born lobbied for his release. On Christmas Day 1940, Fuchs and Kahle were among the first group of internees to board a ship to return to Britain. Fuchs returned to Edinburgh in January, and resumed working for Born. In May 1941, he was approached by Rudolf Peierls of the University of Birmingham to work on the "Tube Alloys" programme – the British atomic bomb research project. Despite wartime restrictions, he became a British subject on 31 July 1942 and signed an Official Secrets Act declaration form. As accommodation was scarce in wartime Birmingham, he stayed with Rudolf and Genia Peierls. Fuchs and Peierls did some important work together, which included a fundamental paper about isotope separation. Soon after, Fuchs contacted Jürgen Kuczynski, who was now teaching at the London School of Economics. Kuczynski put him in contact with Simon Davidovitch Kremer (codename: "Alexander"; 1900-1991), the secretary to the military attaché at the Soviet Union's embassy, who worked for the GRU (Russian: Главное Разведывательное Управление), the Red Army's foreign military intelligence directorate. After three meetings, Fuchs was teamed up with a courier so he would not have to find excuses to travel to London. She was Ursula Kuczynski (codename: "Sonya"), the sister of Jürgen Kuczynski. She was a German communist, a major in Soviet Military Intelligence and an experienced agent who had worked with Richard Sorge's spy ring in the Far East. In late 1943, Fuchs (codename: "Rest"; he became "Charles" in May 1944) transferred along with Peierls to Columbia University, in New York City, to work on gaseous diffusion as a means of uranium enrichment for the Manhattan Project. Although Fuchs was "an asset" of GRU in Britain, his "control" was transferred to the NKGB (Russian: Народный Kомиссариат Государственной Безопасности), the Soviet Union's civilian intelligence organisation, when he moved to New York. He spent Christmas 1943 with Kristel and her family in Cambridge. He was contacted by Harry Gold (codename: "Raymond"), an NKGB agent in early 1944. From August 1944, Fuchs worked in the Theoretical Physics Division at the Los Alamos Laboratory, under Hans Bethe. His chief area of expertise was the problem of imploding the fissionable core of the plutonium bomb. At one point, Fuchs did calculation work that Edward Teller had refused to do because of lack of interest. He was the author of techniques (such as the still-used Fuchs-Nordheim method) for calculating the energy of a fissile assembly that goes highly prompt critical, and his report on blast waves is still considered a classic. Fuchs was one of the many Los Alamos scientists present at the Trinity test in July 1945. Socially, Fuchs was later judged as someone who kept to himself, and never talked about politics. He was fairly well-liked. He dated grade school teachers Evelyn Kline and Jean Parker, and occasionally served as a babysitter for other scientists. He befriended Richard Feynman. Fuchs and Peierls were the only members of the British Mission to Los Alamos who owned cars, and Fuchs lent his Buick to Feynman so Feynman could visit his dying wife in a hospital in Albuquerque. When Fuchs was discovered to be a spy, his former colleagues were shocked. The postwar director of Los Alamos, Norris Bradbury, later said that: - Fuchs was a strange man. I knew him, though not well. A very popular, very reticent bachelor, who was welcome at parties because of his nice manners. He worked very hard; worked very hard for us, for this country. His trouble was that he worked very hard for Russia, too. Basically, he hated the Germans bitterly. He had an undying hatred and he simply thought this country was not working hard enough to assist the Russians to defeat the Germans. Well, he was in his own odd way loyal to the United States. He suffered from a double loyalty. Fuchs's main courier in the United States was Harry Gold, a chemist who lived in Philadelphia, but was willing to travel to wherever Fuchs was. Allen Weinstein, the author of The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America (1999), has pointed out: "The NKVD had chosen Gold, an experienced group handler, as Fuchs's contact on the grounds that it was safer than having him meet directly with a Russian operative, but Semyon Semyonov was ultimately responsible for the Fuchs relationship." Gold reported after his first meeting with Klaus Fuchs: > He (Fuchs) obviously worked with our people before and he is fully aware of what he is doing. ... He is a mathematical physicist ... most likely a very brilliant man to have such a position at his age (he looks about 30). We took a long walk after dinner. ... He is a member of a British mission to the U.S. working under the direct control of the U.S. Army. ... The work involves mainly separating the isotopes... and is being done thusly: The electronic method has been developed at Berkeley, California, and is being carried out at a place known only as Camp Y. ... Simultaneously, the diffusion method is being tried here in the East. ... Should the diffusion method prove successful, it will be used as a preliminary step in the separation, with the final work being done by the electronic method. They hope to have the electronic method ready early in 1945 and the diffusion method in July 1945, but (Fuchs) says the latter estimate is optimistic. (Fuchs) says there is much being withheld from the British. Even Niels Bohr, who is now in the country incognito as Nicholas Baker, has not been told everything. After the end of the war, in April 1946, he attended a conference at Los Alamos that discussed the possibility of a thermonuclear weapon; one month later, he filed a patent with John von Neumann, describing a thermonuclear weapon design the two had collaborated on. Though it was not a viable design, it was the first instance of the idea of radiation implosion being part of a weapon design. Radiation implosion would later become a core part of the successful Teller–Ulam design for thermonuclear weapons, but its importance was not appreciated at the time. Bethe considered Fuchs "one of the most valuable men in my division" and "one of the best theoretical physicists we had." ## Post-war activities At the request of Norris Bradbury, who had replaced Robert Oppenheimer as director of the Los Alamos Laboratory in October 1945, Fuchs stayed on at the laboratory into 1946 to help with preparations for the Operation Crossroads weapons tests. The US Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (McMahon Act) prohibited the transfer of information on nuclear research to any foreign country, including Britain, without explicit official authority, and Fuchs supplied highly classified U.S. information to nuclear scientists in Britain and to his Soviet contacts. As of 2014, British official files on Fuchs were still being withheld. As of 2020, the National Archives listed one dossier on Fuchs, KV 2/1263, including the "Prosecution file. With summary of early interrogations ... and details of the scientifical/technical information passed to the Russians". The date of release of this material was not stated. According to an October 2020 book review, author Nancy Thorndike Greenspan "appears to have had access to some of the Fuchs files that have been withheld at Kew, such as the AB/1 series, which has been closed for access for most human beings". Fuchs was highly regarded as a scientist by the British, who wanted him to return to the United Kingdom to work on Britain's postwar nuclear weapons programme. He returned in August 1946 and became the head of the Theoretical Physics Division at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell. From late 1947 to May 1949 he gave Alexander Feklisov, his Soviet case officer, the principal theoretical outline for creating a hydrogen bomb and the initial drafts for its development as the work progressed in England and America. Meeting with Feklisov six times, he provided the results of the test at Eniwetok Atoll of uranium and plutonium bombs and the key data on production of uranium-235. Also in 1947, Fuchs attended a conference of the Combined Policy Committee (CPC), which was created to facilitate exchange of atomic secrets at the highest levels of governments of the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. Donald Maclean, another Soviet spy, was also in attendance as British co-secretary of CPC. ## Detection and confession By September 1949, information from the Venona project indicated to GCHQ that Fuchs was a spy, but the British intelligence services were wary of indicating the source of their information. The Soviets had broken off contact with him in February. Fuchs may have been subsequently tipped off by Kim Philby. After a great deal of research for his 2019 biography, Trinity, Frank Close confirmed that while MI5 suspected Fuchs for over two years, "it was decrypters at GCHQ who supplied clear proof of his guilt ... not the crack American team that is normally given all the credit", according to a review of the book. Under interrogation by MI5 officer William Skardon at an informal meeting in December 1949, Fuchs initially denied being a spy and was not detained. According to Nancy Thorndike Greenspan, author of a 2020 book, Atomic Spy: The Dark Lives of Klaus Fuchs, Skardon told Fuchs that if he admitted his earlier espionage activity, he could be permitted to continue to work at Harwell. In October 1949, Fuchs had approached Henry Arnold, the head of security at Harwell, with the news that his father had been given a chair at the University of Leipzig in East Germany, and this information became a factor as well. In early January Fuchs was informed that he must resign his position at Harwell because of his father's appointment in East Germany. He was offered help in finding a university post. Meeting with Skardon for a fourth time on 24 January 1950, Fuchs voluntarily confessed that he had shared information with the Soviets. According to Nancy Thorndike Greenspan, Skardon's report on their meeting "made no mention of his promise to Fuchs to stay on at Harwell if he confessed", but at the subsequent debriefing it was agreed "to maintain FUCHS in his present state of mind, and for this state of mind to be in no way disturbed". To make it possible to prosecute Fuchs, Skardon proposed that Fuchs be asked to prepare a signed statement, which he then did at the War Office in London. The document included the statement "I was given the chance of admitting it and staying at Harwell or clearing out." Three days later, he also directed a statement more technical in content to Michael Perrin, the deputy controller of atomic energy within the Ministry of Supply. Fuchs told interrogators that the NKGB had acquired an agent in Berkeley, California, who had informed the Soviet Union about electromagnetic separation research of uranium-235 in 1942 or earlier. Fuchs's statements to British and American intelligence agencies were used to implicate Harry Gold, a key witness in the trials of David Greenglass and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in the United States. Fuchs later stated that he passed detailed information on the project to the Soviet Union through courier Harry Gold in 1945, and further information about Edward Teller's unworkable "Super" design for a hydrogen bomb in 1946 and 1947. Fuchs also stated that "The last time when I handed over information [to Russian authorities] was in February or March 1949". Fuchs was arrested on 2 February 1950, charged with violations of the Official Secrets Act. Nancy Thorndike Greenspan quotes from police notes on a visit between fellow scientist Peierls and Fuchs in detention shortly after the news of the arrest broke. When Peierls asked Fuchs why he had spied, Fuchs answered: "Knowledge of atomic research should not be the private property of any one country but should be shared with the rest of the world for the benefit of mankind." ## Value of data to Soviet project Hans Bethe once said that Fuchs was the only physicist he knew to have truly changed history. Considering that the pace of the Soviet programme was set primarily by the amount of uranium that it could procure, it is difficult for scholars to counterfactually judge how much time or effort was saved. Prior to the opening up of the Soviet archives in the early 1990s, scholars and analysts tended to assume that the Soviets would have applied any technical intelligence as directly as possible. However historical work after the end of the Cold War revealed that the head of the Soviet atomic project, Lavrenti Beria, did not entirely trust either his intelligence sources, nor his own scientists, and so instead used the intelligence information as a third-party check and guide, rather than exploiting it directly. Most of the scientists working on the Soviet bomb project were, accordingly, unaware that they were using any intelligence information as part of their research. Because of these conditions, it is hard to evaluate whether Fuchs's information had an accelerating effect on the research, or if it even saved much effort, as the Soviets tended to re-do the research results independently anyway. And in many respects, the Soviet programme was not simply a recapitulation of the Manhattan Project: it explored several approaches that were not done during the war, such as the successful development of the gas centrifuge method of enrichment. Fuchs's own assessment of the effects of his actions, as reflected in an interview with his Perrin after his arrest, was he thought he could have saved the Soviets "several years" time ("one year at least") because they could have started the development of the weapon design so that it was ready by the time sufficient fissile material became available: > He stated that his best estimate is that the information furnished by him speeded up the production of an A-Bomb by Russia by several years because it permitted them to start on the development of the explosion [sic: explosive] and have this ready by the time the fissionable material was ready. He concluded that the Russian scientists are as good as scientists in England and the United States but there are fewer good scientists in Russia than the other two countries. He stated that he gave the Russians nothing that would speed up the production of plutonium and estimated that if he had given the same data which he gave the Russians to the United States as of the date of his arrival in the United States, he would have speeded the U.S. production of the A-Bomb only slightly. He did pass on to his Russian espionage contact what he learned concerning the production of plutonium during the final period of his work at Los Alamos. He stated that the information furnished by him alone could have speeded up the production of an A-Bomb by Russia by one year at least. He indicated that if the Russians had information on the plutonium process from any other source, the data furnished by him could have been of material assistance on this plutonium phase. Fuchs, however, was not told how the Soviets would or would not use his information, and though certain questions from his espionage contacts suggested to him that the Soviets had additional sources within the Manhattan Project, he was unaware of their identities and knowledge. He told Perrin that he was himself "extremely surprised" at the speed at which the Soviets developed their own atomic bomb, "as he had been convinced that the information he had given could not have been applied so quickly and that the Russians would not have had the engineering design and construction facilities that would be needed to build large production plants in such a short time." The information that Fuchs was able to give the Soviet Union about the Manhattan Project was much more extensive, and much more technically precise, than that available from other, later-discovered atomic spies like David Greenglass or Theodore Hall. According to Fuchs's interview with Perrin after capture, among his other disclosures, he gave the Soviets: - As much information as he had available about the development of the implosion bomb, a topic he worked on substantially in a technical capacity. This included its theory, dimensions, components, and the justification for it being worked on (the fact that reactor-bred plutonium cannot be used in a gun-type design, something that had caught the United States by surprise in mid-1944). This included a "a sketch of the bomb and its components, with important dimensions indicated", as well as detailed information about the "urchin" neutron source (initiator) of the plutonium bomb, on which he was credited as a key inventor. - Information about the gaseous diffusion process for enriching uranium that he worked on. - The critical masses for plutonium-239 and uranium-235, which had taken the United States considerable time to finalize and were important to all matters of weapons design and stockpile size. He also provided metallurgical information about the allotrope of plutonium used in the final weapon, and information about its stabilization through alloying with gallium. - In June 1945, he informed them that the US was planning to test an atomic bomb that July, and where it would take place, and that it was intended to be used against Japan. - The approximate rates of production of plutonium-239 and uranium-235 by the United States, as well as the amounts of material used in each bomb type, from which the Soviets could estimate the US nuclear stockpile size and growth—a key secret in the early Cold War. - Information about ideas for future fission weapon designs, including the use of composite cores to more effectively use fissile material supplies. - What information he knew about the state of the US hydrogen bomb interest and effort, which Fuchs characterized as being a "confused picture". This included information that was contained in a series of lectures given by Enrico Fermi in the fall of 1945 on the fundamental physics of the "Super", information about the then-secret inverse Compton effect, the basic idea of Teller's "Runaway Super", and detailed information about the bomb design he had developed with von Neumann. All of the information on the hydrogen bomb work was delivered after Fuchs had left the United States, in 1947, and only after being directly prompted for it by his contact. Whether the information Fuchs passed relating to the hydrogen bomb would have been useful is still debated. Most scholars agree with Hans Bethe's 1952 assessment, which concluded that by the time Fuchs left the thermonuclear programme in mid-1946, too little was known about the mechanism of the hydrogen bomb for his information to be useful to the Soviet Union. Fuchs's knowledge and own work was in the context of the original, erroneous "Runaway Super" idea, which was not abandoned until early 1950 in the face of new calculations that showed it would not work. The United States only developed a new, successful approach—the Teller–Ulam design—in early 1951. Fuchs could not give away the secret of the hydrogen bomb, as neither he, nor anyone else, knew it prior to his arrest in 1950. The Soviet hydrogen bomb work also investigated the "Runaway Super" idea, and also found it to be a dead-end. Their own independent reinvention of the Teller–Ulam principle was accomplished through a different approach than in the United States. The Soviet physicist German Goncharov has noted that while Fuchs's early work did not help Soviet efforts towards the hydrogen bomb, it was in retrospect closer to the right approach than any scientists (Soviet or American) recognised at the time. It contained in it the seed of the idea of radiation implosion, which turned out to be of great importance to the final design. In this way, Fuchs's work was a "precursor" of the Teller–Ulam design, but only recognisable as such after the fact, as it was still missing some of the key elements of it and done in the context of a fundamentally different weapon. The revelation of Fuchs's espionage increased the rift between the United States and the United Kingdom on matters of atomic energy. Prior to it, the US and UK had been planning to collaborate more fully again on nuclear matters, something that had been put on hold after the passing of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946. "Whatever hopes had existed for a tightly-integrated programme with the British and Canadians died with the Fuchs revelation", as historians Richard G. Hewlett and Francis Duncan put it. The Anglo-American "Special Relationship" would ultimately be repaired by the mid-1950s. ## Trial and imprisonment Fuchs was prosecuted by Sir Hartley Shawcross and was convicted on 1 March 1950 of four counts of breaking the Official Secrets Act by "communicating information to a potential enemy." Fuchs had entered guilty pleas, and his barrister Derek Curtis-Bennett limited his case to a general plea in mitigation on the grounds of his state of mind and desire to assist the Soviets in defeating the Nazis and winning the war. Fuchs consented to the advice not to raise the question of inducement in his decision to admit guilt. After a trial lasting less than 90 minutes that was based on his confession, Lord Goddard sentenced Fuchs to 14 years' imprisonment, the maximum for espionage. The judge argued that his crime could not have been considered treason (which was a capital crime), because the Soviet Union was classed as an ally at the time. On 21 February 1951, he was formally stripped of his British citizenship. The head of the British H-bomb project, Sir William Penney, visited Fuchs in prison in 1952. While imprisoned, Fuchs was friendly with the Irish Republican Army prisoner Seamus Murphy with whom he played chess and helped to escape. Fuchs was released on 23 June 1959 after he had served nine years and four months of his sentence (as was then required in England where long-term prisoners were entitled by law to one third off for good behaviour in prison) at Wakefield Prison and promptly emigrated to the German Democratic Republic (GDR). ## Career in East Germany On arrival at Berlin Schönefeld Airport in the GDR, Fuchs was met by Margarete "Grete" Keilson, a friend from his years as a student communist. They were married on 9 September 1959. In the GDR, Fuchs continued his scientific career and achieved considerable prominence as a leader of research. He became a member of the SED central committee in 1967, and in 1972 was elected to the Academy of Sciences where from 1974 to 1978 he was the head of the research area of physics, nuclear and materials science; he was then appointed deputy director of the Central Institute for Nuclear Physics in Rossendorf, Dresden, where he served until he retired in 1979. From 1984, Fuchs was head of the scientific councils for energetic basic research and for fundamentals of microelectronics. He received the Patriotic Order of Merit, the Order of Karl Marx and the National Prize of East Germany. In The Nuclear Express: A Political History of the Bomb and Its Proliferation (2009) by Thomas Reed and Daniel Stillman, it is argued that a tutorial Fuchs gave to Qian Sanqiang and other Chinese physicists helped them to develop the first Chinese atomic bomb, the 596, which was tested five years later. Three historians of nuclear weapons history, Robert S. Norris, Jeremy Bernstein, and Peter D. Zimmerman, challenged this particular assertion as "unsubstantiated conjecture" and asserted that The Nuclear Express is "an ambitious but deeply flawed book". ## Death Fuchs died in Berlin on 28 January 1988. He was cremated and honoured with burial in the Pergolenweg Ehrengrab section of Berlin's Friedrichsfelde Cemetery. ## In popular culture He was portrayed by Denis Forest in the 1987 television miniseries Race for the Bomb. A documentary film about Fuchs, Väter der tausend Sonnen (Fathers of a Thousand Suns), was released in 1990. Dark Sun (1995) by Richard Rhodes features a clerihew about Fuchs: > > Fuchs Looks Like an ascetic Theoretic In 2022, Fuchs was the primary focus of the second season of the BBC World Service's podcast The Bomb. He is portrayed by American actor Christopher Denham in the 2023 film Oppenheimer.

Wyndham New Yorker Hotel

Building in Manhattan, New York

The New Yorker Hotel is a mixed-use hotel building at 481 Eighth Avenue in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1930, the New Yorker Hotel was designed by Sugarman and Berger in the Art Deco style and is 42 stories high, with four basement stories. The hotel building is owned by the Unification Church, which rents out the lower stories as offices and dormitories. The upper stories comprise The New Yorker, A Wyndham Hotel, which has 1,083 guestrooms and is operated by Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. The 1-million-square-foot (93,000-square-meter) building also contains two restaurants and approximately 33,000 square feet (3,100 m²) of conference space. The facade is largely made of brick and terracotta, with Indiana limestone on the lower stories. There are setbacks to comply with the 1916 Zoning Resolution, as well as a large sign with the hotel's name. The hotel contains a power plant and boiler room on its fourth basement, which was an early example of a cogeneration plant. The public rooms on the lower stories included a Manufacturers Trust bank branch, a double-height lobby, and multiple ballrooms and restaurants. Originally, the hotel had 2,503 guestrooms from the fourth story up. The modern-day hotel rooms start above the 19th story. The New Yorker was built by Mack Kanner and was originally operated by Ralph Hitz, who died in 1940 and was succeeded by Frank L. Andrews. Hilton Hotels bought the hotel in 1954 and, after conducting extensive renovations, sold the hotel in 1956 to Massaglia Hotels. New York Towers Inc. acquired the New Yorker in 1959 but surrendered the property to Hilton in 1967 as part of a foreclosure proceeding. The hotel was closed in 1972 and sold to the French and Polyclinic Medical School and Health Center, which unsuccessfully attempted to develop a hospital there. The Unification Church purchased the building in 1976 and initially used it as a global headquarters. After the top stories of the building reopened as a hotel in 1994, the lower stories were used as offices and dormitories. The hotel rooms have undergone multiple renovations since the hotel reopened. The New Yorker joined the Ramada chain in 2000 and was transferred to the Wyndham brand in 2014. ## Site The Wyndham New Yorker Hotel is at 481 Eighth Avenue, occupying the western side of the avenue between 34th Street and 35th Street, in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The land lot is rectangular and covers 34,562 sq ft (3,210.9 m²). It has a frontage of 197.5 ft (60.2 m) on Eighth Avenue to the west and 150 ft (46 m) on both 34th Street to the south and 35th Street to the north. Manhattan Center abuts the hotel to the west, while One Penn Plaza, Madison Square Garden, and Pennsylvania Station are to the southeast. Just prior to the New Yorker's development, the site was occupied by 17 buildings, owned by Frederick Brown and the Manufacturers Trust Company. When the New Yorker was built, a bank branch for Manufacturers Trust was constructed at its base. ## Architecture The New Yorker Hotel was designed by Sugarman and Berger and is 42 stories high. The New Yorker Hotel also has four basement levels. Much like the contemporary Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building, the New Yorker was designed in the Art Deco style, which was popular in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s. ### Form and facade The New Yorker has a relatively plain facade. The first story of the hotel is clad with 12,000 sq ft (1,100 m²) of Deer Island granite. The second through fourth stories are clad with Indiana Limestone. The lowest stories are decorated with cast-stone blocks that contain floral designs. There are also some geometric designs on these stories. The hotel also contains marquees above its entrances on Eighth Avenue and 34th Street. Above each marquee is a 36 ft-high (11 m) LED sign that could change color during special occasions. The fifth through 43rd stories are clad in face brick with some terracotta ornament. The facade mainly consists of vertical bays of windows, separated by vertical gray-brick piers. According to architect Robert A. M. Stern, the alternating bays and piers gave "an impression of boldly modeled masses. This was furthered by the deep-cut light courts, which produced a powerful play of light and shade that was enhanced by dramatic lighting at night". The building contains setbacks to comply with the 1916 Zoning Resolution. The setbacks, characterized by architectural writer Anthony W. Robins as "blocky", are ornamented with stone parapets that contain floral and rhombus patterns. The western facade contains a sign with the name "New Yorker" in 21 ft-high (6.4 m) capital letters. The original sign was illuminated from 1941 to 1967. The sign was dark until 2005, when it was replaced with an LED sign manufactured by LED Solution of Kitchener, Ontario. The sign can be seen from northern New Jersey, across the Hudson River to the west. Each of the letters can be illuminated separately, allowing the sign to display various messages on special occasions such as celebrations. ### Mechanical features The hotel contained 23 elevators when it opened. Of these, 12 were passenger elevators, six were service elevators, and two were freight elevators. There was also one elevator from ground level to the subway station; one elevator from ground level to the ballroom; and one elevator within a bank branch in the building. #### Power plant The hotel contains a power plant and boiler room on its fourth basement, which could support the needs of 35,000 daily guests at the time of the hotel's opening. When the New Yorker opened, it was one of the few large buildings in New York City with its own power plant. The power plant included four uniflow steam engines and one 530 hp (400 kW) diesel engine. One of the steam engines was rated at 640 hp (480 kW), while the others were rated at 960 hp (720 kW). Each of the engines drove a direct current generator. The power plant was operated from a switchboard measuring 60 ft (18 m) long and 7 ft (2.1 m) high. The switchboard contained manual pushbuttons; one button crushed coal that was blown into the furnaces, while another button deposited ashes. When the hotel opened, the power plant contained more than 200 direct current motors, rated at a combined 3,700 hp (2,800 kW). The plant could generate up to 2,575 kW (3,453 hp), but the hotel only used 850 kW (1,140 hp) on average. It was anticipated that the excess electricity would be sold to nearby buildings, but this did not happen. At the time, this was the largest private power plant in the United States, as well as an early example of a cogeneration plant. The power plant saved the hotel's operators an estimated $48,000 per year. In 2008, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers designated the New Yorker Hotel's direct current power plant as a Milestone in Electrical Engineering; at the time, the hotel was one of 75 worldwide recipients of that award. The hotel's own direct current generators were still in use during the Northeast blackout of 1965. The hotel's power system had been modernized to alternating current by 1967. Due to increased energy costs, four cogeneration units were installed in the hotel in 2001, providing 50 percent of the hotel's electricity in the summer and 80 percent in the winter. The cogeneration plant has a total capacity of 600 kW (800 hp). The building also purchases electricity from New York City's power grid, operated by Consolidated Edison. The cogeneration plant reduced the hotel's reliance on the power grid, saving an estimated $400,000 annually by 2009. #### Other utilities The three largest motors in the original power plant were each capable of 200 hp (150 kW) and supplied three of the hotel's four chillers (the fourth chiller was supplied by a steam engine). The ice plant was capable of making 400,000 blocks of ice per day. The modern-day hotel receives ice from a chiller plant in a neighboring building; the chillers produce ice at night, when energy costs are lower. The chiller plant replaced air conditioners that were installed within the windows of 2,000 rooms. Steam exhaust from the original power plant was used for functions such as heating. All services that used heat, such as cooking equipment, laundry machines, lights, vacuum cleaners, refrigeration, and air conditioning units were supplied by steam from the power plant. A boiler plant was installed at the New Yorker in 1998, reducing the need to buy steam from the New York City steam system. The boiler plant, which cost $1.5 million to install, saved an average of $3 million annually by 2009. Following a renovation in 2009, the hotel was retrofitted with a four-pipe system of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), allowing guests to set their own temperature settings. Most of the building's modern-day hot water supply comes from the cogeneration plant. The building contains a storage tank with a capacity of 50,000 U.S. gal (190,000 L; 42,000 imp gal). Water from the tank is transferred into the cogeneration units. There are water tanks on the 25th, 35th, and 44th stories. Sewage is pumped from the basements to the New York City sewage system, and a sump pump supplies soapy warm water to the hotel's restaurants. ### Interior The New Yorker spans 1×10^⁶ sq ft (93,000 m²). The original hotel contained public rooms on its first through fourth stories, as well as guestrooms from the fourth story to the roof. Lajos "Louis" Jambor had painted 26 murals for the hotel's interior, which cost a total of $150,000 (). The public rooms, originally decorated in the Art Deco style, were redecorated in various styles over the years. Many of Jambor's murals were covered up during the mid-20th century. When the New Yorker reopened as a commercial hotel in 1994, its guestrooms were concentrated on the upper stories, while the lower stories remained in use as offices. The building also contains two restaurants and approximately 33,000 sq ft (3,100 m²) of conference space. The hotel has four basement levels. The first basement contained the kitchen, which had a dishwashing room; divisions for fish, meat, and poultry; an ice cream room; and a pastry room. On the second basement level were a linen room and valet shop, while on the third basement was the laundry room. The lowest of the hotel's basements contained the power plant. #### Bank branch There was a Manufacturers Trust bank branch on the first basement and second floor, designed by Sugarman and Berger. The branch's main entrance was a carved bronze door leading to a lobby, where stairs led up to the second floor and down to the basement. The stairs to the second floor were made of red and black marble and were decorated with a pair of murals by Jambor, which symbolized industry and commerce. The banking room itself had a terrazzo floor and marble walls and columns, as well as large windows on 34th Street. The room contained glass tellers' desks made of bronze and glass, and there was a department for the bank's officers on the eastern wall. The banking room was surrounded by a mezzanine on three sides. The soffit under the mezzanine was made of wood, and there were various pieces of marble furniture. The second floor also contained a women's lounge and service rooms for the bank. From the ground-floor lobby, a terrazzo stair with an iron railing led to the safe-deposit department in the basement. The entrance to the safe-deposit department was through a wrought-iron grille with the bank's initials. The space itself contained coupon desks and a private conference room, all with wood paneling. The bank branch was closed during the 1980s and was abandoned for several decades. By 2017, the old safe-deposit department had been converted into the Butcher and Banker restaurant. The restaurant retained many of the bank's original design features, such as the vault door and safe-deposit drawers. #### Public rooms The first basement contained a tunnel linking to the original Pennsylvania Station as well as to 34th Street–Penn Station on the New York City Subway's Eighth Avenue Line (). Through Penn Station, this tunnel also connected to 34th Street–Penn Station on the New York City Subway's Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (). This tunnel opened in February 1930 but was closed by the 1960s; it was being used as a storage area by the 2000s. The Coffee House cafe and the 250-seat Mosaic Room ballroom were constructed in the basement in 1955. The cafe and ballroom were connected to the lobby via a pair of escalators. After the hotel reopened, the basement had a self-service laundry and fitness center. In the early 2010s, the basement laundry room was converted to meeting spaces, each covering 2,500 sq ft (230 m²). The main entrance on Eighth Avenue leads to a double-story lobby. It originally had green-marble paneling; some of Jambor's murals, depicting scenes from New York City's history, were placed on the lobby's north and south walls and on the ceiling. The lobby was redesigned in 1953 with glass screens and wooden paneling, as well as classical details like Corinthian columns and chandeliers. During a 2009 renovation, designers restored the marble floor, installed a chandelier suspended from the coffered ceiling, and added new check-in and concierge desks. In addition, storefronts within the lobby were removed to make way for entrances to the Tick Tock Diner and Cooper's Tavern restaurants. A mezzanine overlooked the lobby. On the mezzanine level was a double-height main ballroom with walnut paneling and more murals by Jambor on each wall. The main ballroom also contained a projection room at its rear. Also at mezzanine level was a terrace ballroom with space for 300 people; it had tapestries on its walls. When the hotel reopened in the 1990s, the two ballrooms on the mezzanine (now the second floor) were restored, and seven meeting rooms were constructed on the third floor. In the mid-2000s, an exhibit with 500 artifacts from the hotel's history was installed on the mezzanine. Joseph Kinney, the hotel's chief engineer and unofficial archivist, collected the artifacts. There were ten private dining "salons" and five restaurants employing 35 master cooks. The dining salons could fit between 15 and 200 people each. The restaurants included the main restaurant; a "terrace restaurant", featuring live events and entertainment; a men's grill room called the Manhattan Room; a tea room; and a cafe. The terrace restaurant abutted an outdoor "summer terrace" with a retractable ice rink. The terrace restaurant hosted both ice shows and Big Bands. The ice shows were discontinued in 1946 because of the expense of replacing the ice rink and because of the American Guild of Variety Artists' support for removing the ice shows, although they resumed in 1948 due to high demand. The Terrace Room's shows were discontinued permanently in 1950 after the federal government imposed a 20 percent excise tax on such shows. By 1999, the Terrace Room operated as a television studio for TV channel MSG. The fourth story was supposed to contain an in-house medical department with four operating rooms, as well as a beauty parlor and a women's parlor. #### Guest rooms Originally, the hotel had 2,503 guestrooms. The fourth story contained some public rooms and some guestrooms. The hotel was almost entirely composed of guestrooms from the fifth story up. At the time of the hotel's opening, each guestroom had a radio set that could be tuned to one of four channels; according to the hotel's managers, this made the New Yorker the first large hotel in the world with "a central system of radio with a radio receiving set in every room". Approximately 50 suites on the upper stories had private terraces. During the mid-20th century, the guestrooms on the fifth through eighth stories typically hosted trade-show exhibits throughout the year. When the hotel reopened in 1994, it had 250 guestrooms, which by 1999 had been expanded to 1,005 guestrooms. These included 35 mini-suites, which overlooked the Hudson River and Lower Manhattan, as well as four deluxe suites, which had balconies. Following a renovation in the late 2000s, the hotel had 912 rooms, arranged in 17 layouts. During that renovation, the guestrooms were largely redesigned in the Art Deco style, with geometric carpets, star-shaped ceiling lights, and curtains. There are two rooms with terraces directly under the hotel's large "New Yorker" sign. In addition, Educational Housing Services operates 169 rooms on the 24th to 27th stories as part of a student dormitory. ## History The New Yorker Hotel was built by Mack Kanner, who had helped create the Garment District of Manhattan during the mid-1920s. Kanner had previously hired Sugarman and Berger to design the Navarre Building within the Garment District. Kanner wished to build a hotel on 34th Street, which he believed was "destined to be the most important crosstown thoroughfare in the city". ### Construction Kanner and Jacob S. Becker announced plans for a hotel at Eighth Avenue and 34th Street in February 1928, while they were developing the Navarre Building. The hotel was to have 38 stories rising 400 ft (120 m), as well as five basements descending 75 ft (23 m). With 2,503 rooms, it would be larger than the nearby Hotel Pennsylvania, which at the time had the most rooms of any hotel in the city. The New Yorker would also be the second-tallest hotel in New York City, behind the Ritz Tower. The building was planned to cost $8 million. Workers began excavating the site the same month. The George J. Atwill Company, the excavation contractor, employed 350 workers in three shifts. Plans for the hotel were filed in March 1928, when Sugarman and Berger submitted blueprints to the New York City Department of Buildings. The American Bridge Company was hired in June 1928 to manufacture the hotel's steel frame, which was to include 12,000 short tons (11,000 long tons; 11,000 t) of steel. The site had been cleared by August 1928, after 2.5×10^⁶ cu ft (71,000 m³) of rock had been removed from the site. The excavation cost $1 million and, according to the New York Herald Tribune, was "perhaps the deepest cut ever excavated in Manhattan". That September, the hotel received a $9.5 million mortgage loan from the Manufacturers Trust Company. At a ceremony on October 25, 1928, Kanner drove a golden rivet into the hotel's steel frame, where the superstructure had begun to rise above the foundation. By this point, the hotel was planned to contain 45 stories above ground. Seven hundred masonry workers and helpers began constructing the facade in January 1929. The hotel's construction was delayed for two weeks that February, when all masonry workers went on strike. The strike took place amid allegations that masonry contractor John J. Meehan had directed workers to install brickwork of substandard quality. Kanner drove the last rivet into the hotel's steel frame in April 1929. Ralph Hitz was hired as the hotel's first manager that July. Hitz hired about fifty of his colleagues from Cincinnati, and he led a $500,000 advertising campaign for the hotel, which at the time was far removed from many of Midtown Manhattan's major attractions. Hitz also hired Bernie Cummins's orchestra to play at the hotel. The hotel's facade had been completed in September 1929. The hotel required massive amounts of materials, including 51,000 bedsheets, 85 miles of carpets, 45 tons of glass, and six carloads of china. The New Yorker ultimately cost $22.5 million and contained 2,500 rooms, making it the city's largest hotel. In addition, it was the world's second-largest hotel behind the Stevens Hotel in Chicago. The New Yorker was one of 37 hotels to be built in Manhattan during 1929, and it was one of two hotels near Penn Station with more than 1,000 rooms to be completed that year, the other being Hotel Governor Clinton. ### Opening and early years A pre-opening ceremony for the New Yorker was hosted on December 28, 1929, and the Manufacturers Trust bank branch at the hotel's base opened the next day. The hotel officially opened on January 2, 1930. Eight hundred guests made reservations on the first day, many of whom took home souvenirs, prompting Hitz to predict that "the total loss will exceed everything in the past history of hotel openings". Upon the hotel's completion, it employed 17 manicurists, 43 barbers, and numerous multilingual waiters. Nightly room rates ranged from $3.30 for a single-bedroom unit to $30 for a suite with a terrace. The New Yorker also employed 92 "telephone girls", as well as 95 switchboard operators and 150 laundry staff, who washed 450,000 pieces of linen per day. #### Hitz operation The hotel had been completed at the beginning of the Great Depression, so it was initially largely empty. The New York Observer said that, according to one urban legend, the hotel's management attracted business by turning on all the lights, announcing that the hotel was fully booked, and directing would-be guests to the Pennsylvania. In its first year of operation, the New Yorker recorded a profit of $1.293 million. Hitz added 12 suites of "sample rooms" in early 1931, where products and furnishings were exhibited. Hitz then decided to create the National Hotel Management Company, a national hotel chain managed by the New Yorker Hotel's staff. He acquired the Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit as the first hotel in the chain in January 1932. Hitz renewed his original five-year lease for 30 more years in 1933, and Frank L. Andrews was hired the next year as the hotel's general manager. When Andrews was promoted to a vice president of the National Hotel Management Company in 1936, George V. Riley became the hotel's resident manager, overseeing day-to-day operations. The Equitable Life Assurance Society gave the New Yorker Hotel a loan of $6.5 million in 1938, and Leo A. Molony of the Hotel Pennsylvania was hired as the New Yorker's resident manager the same year. Hitz continued to acquire hotels for his chain, which contained seven hotels when it was disbanded upon his death in January 1940. #### Andrews operation After Hitz died, Andrews became the New Yorker Corporation's president. The hotel had received three million total guests by 1941. The same year, the hotel's managers installed custom-made ultraviolet devices in the hotel's bathrooms, which it advertised under the name "Protecto-Ray". Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the New York Observer said that "actors, celebrities, athletes, politicians, mobsters, the shady and the luminous—the entire Brooklyn Dodgers roster during the glory seasons—would stalk the bars and ballrooms, or romp upstairs". In spite of its popularity, the New Yorker consistently lost money from the 1930s to the early 1950s. The Manufacturers Trust Company's president disclosed in early 1946 that it had taken over control of the hotel. The New Yorker's managers announced the same year that they would install television sets in some of the public rooms. The hotel's managers also installed TVs in 100 guestrooms in 1948, making it the second hotel in the city with guestroom TVs, after the Roosevelt. That year, the hotel spent $50,000 () to combine eight double rooms into one luxury suite. Gene Voit was named as the New Yorker's general manager in 1951. Andrews announced in early 1953 that he planned to spend $600,000 on renovating the hotel, hiring Eleanor Le Maire to redesign the lobby. ### Mid-20th century #### Hilton purchase and renovations Hilton Hotels agreed in November 1953 to acquire the New Yorker for $12.5 million, prompting Andrews to announce that he would retire from the New Yorker Hotel Corporation. Hilton Hotels took title to the hotel the following month and immediately started renovating the hotel, completing the first phase of the project in March 1954. A meditation chapel opened within the New Yorker that May. The chain allocated another $1.5 million to further renovations in June 1954, and it hired the Walter M. Ballard Corporation to convert the hotel's former Empire Tea Room into a restaurant for $175,000. Hilton Hotels refurbished the hotel's cafe and installed an escalator from the lobby to the cafe, the first escalator in a hotel in New York City. The chain planned to repaint all of the rooms, as well as renovate hallways and guestrooms on four stories so they could be used for trade exhibits. In addition, the chain planned to replace twin beds in 100 guest rooms, redecorate 45 luxury suites, and install air-conditioning in several public rooms. Meanwhile, Hilton Hotels had purchased the Statler Hotels chain in 1954. At the time, it owned large hotels in many major cities, including the New Yorker, the Roosevelt, the Pennsylvania, the Plaza, and the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. Consequently, the federal government filed an antitrust action against Hilton in April 1955. The New Yorker was making a profit by the end of 1955, At that point, Conrad Hilton was negotiating to sell the hotel, amid rumors that the chain was planning to sell multiple hotels to resolve the federal lawsuit. To resolve the suit, Hilton Hotels agreed to sell three hotels in February 1956, including either the Roosevelt or the New Yorker. #### Subsequent ownership Hilton sold the New Yorker in May 1956 to Massaglia Hotels for $20 million, despite the fact that the chain had already sold the Roosevelt. As partial payment for the New Yorker, Joseph Massaglia Jr. of Massaglia Hotels sold the Senator Hotel in Sacramento, California, to Hilton. Massaglia took over the hotel at the beginning of September 1956, paying an estimated $20 million. Charles W. Cole of Massaglia Hotels began managing the hotel, and Douglas Shaffer was appointed as the hotel's resident manager in July 1957. Massaglia then negotiated for a year and a half to sell the hotel to New York Towers Ltd., an investment syndicate led by Alexander Gross. New York Towers ultimately bought the hotel in September 1959 with plans to spend $2 million on renovations. New York Towers renovated the main ballroom, lobby, and guestrooms, and it added air conditioning throughout the hotel. The New Yorker's managers announced these changes at a reception in September 1960. The hotel experienced a large fire that November, which killed one person and damaged the sixth floor. The New York City Fire Department ordered seven stories to be closed after the fire, although these stories reopened within two days, after the hotel's owners had conducted emergency repairs. In anticipation of the opening of the nearby Madison Square Garden arena, New York Towers renovated the New Yorker's two main ballrooms, as well as several smaller public rooms. The hotel's operators predicted that the arena's opening would attract additional conventions to the hotel. Gross's firm had fallen behind on mortgage payments by 1966, and the hotel went into receivership that April. According to The Wall Street Journal, "other real estate industry sources" indicated that the hotel had lost $4 million since New York Towers bought it. The next month, the New Yorker's owners filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, claiming $21.5 million in debt, half of which came from seven mortgages. At an auction in December 1967, Hilton repurchased the New Yorker Hotel for $5.6 million. Hilton's public relations director said the chain had reacquired the hotel because the surrounding neighborhood was "coming back to life" with the development of Madison Square Garden and nearby office buildings. Hilton began refurbishing the hotel yet again in June 1968, spending $5 million on the main ballroom and lobby. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, the hotel largely catered to guests in the garment industry, as well as businessmen who were attending trade shows there. The New Yorker had downsized to 2,000 rooms, but it was still one of New York City's largest hotels. ### Closure and redevelopment attempts #### Hospital plan By December 1971, Hilton Hotels planned to sell the New Yorker for $13.5 million to the French and Polyclinic Medical School and Health Center, which planned to convert the building into a 749-room hospital. According to French and Polyclinic vice president Xavier Lividini, Hilton officials did not believe the area could support "too many hotels". The medical center ultimately agreed to buy the hotel for $8.8 million; it made a down payment of $1.8 million and received a $7.1 million mortgage loan. In addition, it leased the underlying land from Hilton for 99 years, acquiring an option to purchase the land in the future Hilton closed the hotel on April 19, 1972. French and Polyclinic had wanted to begin converting the New Yorker immediately, with plans to open the hospital in 1974. At the time of the New Yorker's closure, the number of hotel rooms in New York City was declining, and the city had lost 3,800 rooms in 1972 alone, over half of which had been in the New Yorker. French and Polyclinic added some living spaces and administrative offices for nurses and staff, as well as space for its postgraduate medical school. Before the medical center could fully convert the hotel into a hospital, the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) had to approve the plans, and the New York State Housing Finance Agency (HFA) had to agree to a mortgage commitment for the project. NYSDOH did not approve the plans until eight months after the hotel closed. Afterward, the HFA twice rejected French and Polyclinic's application for a mortgage commitment, saying that the medical center did not have enough capital for the conversion. French and Polyclinic also spent around $210,000 per month on the hospital building, including $80,000 on a first mortgage, $75,000 on maintenance fees, and $60,000 in taxes. The medical center received a tax abatement for the hotel building in June 1973. French and Polyclinic filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy that July, allowing the medical center to defer payment of other debts and allocate funding for the New Yorker project. State assemblyman Andrew Stein said the medical center's bankruptcy was a direct result of its acquisition of the New Yorker. The medical center's president, Stanley Salmen, resigned in late 1973 after controversies over the bankruptcy filing and the New Yorker's delayed renovation. To reduce its increasing losses, in September 1974, the medical center proposed converting the New Yorker into a homeless shelter for 500 families who had been displaced by emergencies. Manhattan Community Board 4, which represented the neighborhood, indicated that October that it needed additional time to consider plans for the shelter. French and Polyclinic unsuccessfully attempted to obtain private funding for the hospital from Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, and the city government rejected the shelter plan that November. The medical center continued to use the hotel as an office and dormitory but only occupied one-tenth of the building. French and Polyclinic officially abandoned its plans for the hospital at the end of November 1974. The cancellation of the hospital eventually forced French and Polyclinic to close completely in 1977. #### Further redevelopment attempts After French and Polyclinic abandoned its plans for the hospital, Hilton Hotels agreed to take back the hotel, which it did in February 1975. Hilton had no plans to reopen the hotel at the time. The chain tried to sell the hotel but struggled to find a buyer. The New Yorker was one of three shuttered hostelries on Eighth Avenue in Midtown that were having trouble attracting buyers; the others were the Royal Manhattan Hotel and the 51st Street YWCA. By mid-1975, Hilton Hotels maintained a loss reserve of $5.5 million on the hotel. The New York Daily News reported in June 1975 that the New Yorker owed the second-most real-estate taxes of any building in New York City, with $1.8 million in back taxes. A syndicate led by Irving Schatz had acquired a purchase option for the hotel by early 1976; at the time, the New Yorker's only occupant was a ground-level bank branch. Schatz planned to convert the building into 1,000 apartments. Hilton and Equitable Life allowed Schatz to extend his option, but he could not obtain financing from major savings banks because of the low occupancy rate of a nearby residential development, Manhattan Plaza. ### Unification Church acquisition The Unification Church, led by Sun Myung Moon, agreed to buy the hotel in May 1976. The church paid $5.6 million, a discount of more than $3 million from the price that French and Polyclinic had paid several years earlier. As part of the sale, Hilton Hotels agreed to pay $1.1 million in back taxes to the city. The church also acquired the neighboring Manhattan Center, which it had similarly bought at a deep discount. After acquiring the New Yorker Hotel, the Unification Church converted the hotel for use by its members, and it became the World Mission Center, the church's global headquarters. The Unification Church had about 1,500 full-time volunteers in the New York City area at the time; these volunteers would renovate the hotel themselves and use it as a dormitory. U.S. representative Bella Abzug criticized the fact that Moon planned to hire his adherents, rather than unionized laborers, for the renovations. By August 1976, there were 150 volunteers living on the hotel's 20th through 30th floors. According to the Unification Church, its volunteers had been placed in "the best rooms, where the best plumbing is". The church requested in 1977 that the New York City Board of Estimate grant a tax exemption to the New Yorker, which had been valued at $11 million the prior year. The church stopped paying taxes in 1978, while its application for a tax exemption was pending. During the same time, the Board of Estimate had refused to give the Unification Church a tax exemption for three other properties, on the basis that it was not a true church. The New York Supreme Court affirmed the city's refusal to give a tax exemption for these buildings, but the New York Court of Appeals overturned the Supreme Court's decision in May 1982, ruling that the three properties did qualify for a tax exemption. Although the Appeals Court ruling did not specifically name the New Yorker Hotel, church officials insisted that the hotel was also tax-exempt. City officials disagreed and, in August 1982, initiated foreclosure proceedings on the hotel, which had $4.5 million in unpaid back taxes. At the time, church officials used the hotel as a dormitory and conducted services there. Ultimately, the New Yorker received an 83 percent property-tax exemption. The New Yorker did not operate as a commercial hotel, as all of the guestrooms were reserved for church members. The hotel largely housed unmarried adherents of the Unification Church, but their numbers had dwindled after the church conducted a mass-marriage ceremony at Madison Square Garden in 1982. Consequently, the New Yorker was closed during the winter of 1982–1983 because the Unification Church could not pay its fuel costs. The church began renovating the hotel in 1987, evicting 1,200 members who lived there; Newsday reported that the church had not decided what it would do with the hotel. During the next decade, an increasing proportion of residents got married and moved away, and quality of life in the neighborhood improved. In addition, there was increasing demand for hotel rooms in New York City. ### Reopening #### 1990s and early 2000s In May 1994, the Unification Church decided to convert the New Yorker's top eight stories to 250 guestrooms, marketing them to business travelers visiting Javits Center, Penn Station, and Madison Square Garden. The church also redeveloped the ground-floor banking space, although the remaining stories continued to operate as offices and dormitories. The hotel was reopened in stages, and the first 178 rooms opened on June 1, 1994, operated by the New Yorker Hotel Management Company. The New Yorker contained 240 rooms by 1995. Barry Mann became the hotel's general manager. The hotel's clientele largely consisted of tourists from Asia, Europe, and South America, and between 60 and 80 percent of bookings came from wholesalers and travel brokers. The hotel began a $30 million renovation in 1997. Within two years, the hotel had expanded to 860 rooms; the lowest stories included amenity areas, while the 7th through 17th floors were rented out as commercial office space. Also in 1999, nearly 400 workers in non-managerial positions joined a labor union after several workers complained about low wages and the presence of asbestos in the hotel. The New Yorker failed to attract business travelers as originally anticipated, so it joined the Ramada hotel chain in January 2000. Hotel management believed that the Ramada franchise agreement would raise revenues by up to 200 percent. The hotel was henceforth renamed the Ramada New Yorker. To further attract businesspeople, hotel management offered a promotion in which room prices were linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Tourism in New York City had stagnated by early 2001, but business was even more negatively impacted by the September 11 attacks, which caused the hotel's profit margin to decrease from 25 to 5 percent. At the time of the attacks, the hotel had 1,100 rooms. The hotel's operators decided to convert the 17th floor back into offices, since the destruction of the World Trade Center had caused a shortage of office space in Manhattan; by early 2002, fifteen former tenants of the World Trade Center had relocated to the hotel. The Barbizon School of Modeling leased 9,000 sq ft (840 m²) in 2002. Ten psychotherapists also rented offices on the 17th floor, and Educational Housing Services rented space for dormitories on the 24th through 27th floors in 2003. Kevin Smith, the president of the New Yorker Hotel Management Company, considered converting the guestrooms to condominiums but ultimately rejected the plan. #### 2000s renovations Smith announced plans in 2004 to renovate the hotel in advance of a proposed expansion of the Javits Center and the redevelopment of the James A. Farley Building. Decreased cash flows after the September 11 attacks had prompted the managers to defer renovations, but tourism in New York City had begun to recover by then, and guests were being attracted to newer hotels. The project would cost $43 million and would include renovating the lobby and meeting rooms, adding a central HVAC system, and refurbishing the upper-story guestrooms. The lower stories would retain 250,000 sq ft (23,000 m²) of office space and 100,000 sq ft (9,300 m²) of dormitories, and the Tick Tock Diner and the La Vigna restaurant at ground level would be refurbished. The first stage of the renovation took place in 2005, when the hotel's management replaced the large sign on the facade, which had not been lit since 1967. A new LED sign was installed in advance of the hotel's 75th anniversary and was illuminated in December 2005. Smith announced in August 2007 that he would complete a further renovation of the hotel for $65 million. At the time, the hotel had 840 rooms. The renovation was designed by Stonehill & Taylor Architects. The project involved replacing guestroom furnishings; redesigning the lobby, entrance, and foyer; renovating the restaurant; replacing the individual air-conditioning in each room with a central HVAC system; and upgrading Wi-Fi and televisions. As part of the project, the marble floors in the lobby were restored, and a new sprinkler system was added. In addition, the Cooper's Tavern restaurant opened at ground level in 2007. The hotel also removed two thousand air-conditioning units from windows. During the renovation, a Fordham University student sued the Unification Church, alleging that her dormitory room (which was not part of the Ramada hotel) had an infestation of bedbugs. The financial crisis of 2007–2008 caused a decrease in business, prompting the New Yorker to reduce its payroll by 25 percent during early 2009. The hotel's renovation was completed in February 2009 at a final cost of $70 million. Following the renovation, the New Yorker had 912 guestrooms, including 64 suites. Some of the commercial space on the lower stories was converted back to guestrooms, which spanned the 19th to 40th stories. In addition, the hotel expanded its meeting facilities to 33,000 sq ft (3,100 m²) across two ballrooms and twelve conference rooms. The completion of the project coincided with a decrease in tourism due to the Great Recession, prompting the hotel's managers to reduce room rates. To celebrate the hotel's 80th anniversary, in 2010, its managers offered discounted room rates to guests who were at least 80 years old. The Unification Church, which still owned the hotel building, began marketing 287,000 sq ft (26,700 m²) of office space on five of the lower floors in 2011. #### 2010s modifications and Wyndham takeover The Unification Church began renovating the New Yorker Hotel again in 2013 for $30 million. The church sought to attract business travelers in anticipation of the Hudson Yards and Manhattan West redevelopment projects and the 7 Subway Extension. To make the hotel more appealing to business travelers, the church installed laundry machines on each of the hotel's dormitory stories, freeing up space for meeting rooms within the former laundry room in the basement. After some of the office tenants' leases expired, the church converted some office space into additional rooms. The church planned to eventually expand the hotel to 1,500 rooms by converting 270,000 sq ft (25,000 m²) of office space. The hotel added 114 rooms in January 2014, in advance of Super Bowl XLVIII. The Wyndham Hotel Group, which operated both the midscale Ramada chain and the upscale Wyndham chain, rebranded the New Yorker as a Wyndham hotel that March. At the time, the hotel had 1,083 rooms. After the New Yorker became part of the Wyndham chain, the hotel's operators planned to upgrade the hotel's signage with color-changing LEDs, similar to those on the Empire State Building three blocks east. Also in 2014, the Bar Below Kitchen & Cocktail Vault was announced for the hotel's basement. The Butcher and Banker steakhouse, developed by restaurateur Matt Abramcyk, opened within the former Manufacturers Trust bank branch in November 2017. In July 2023, M\&T Bank began looking to sell the $106 million loan that it had placed on the New Yorker. Yellowstone Real Estate Investments bought the loan that September. The same month, the New York City Department of Finance publicized a deed transfer document indicating that a guest named Mickey Barreto had fraudulently attempted to transfer ownership of the hotel from his own company to himself in 2021, despite never having owned the hotel. Barreto had argued that a clause in the state's rent-regulation laws made him the hotel's owner, because he had claimed ownership of one room and because ownership of the hotel had not been subdivided; although the New York Supreme Court had invalidated Barreto's claim of ownership. In February 2024, the New York County District Attorney's office charged Barreto with fraud after he repeatedly misrepresented himself as the hotel's owner; if Barretto is found guilty, he faces several years in prison. ## Notable people ### Staff Hotel management pioneer Ralph Hitz was selected as its first manager, eventually becoming president of the National Hotel Management Company. An early ad for the building boasted that the hotel's "bell boys were 'as snappy-looking as West Pointers'" and "that it had a radio in every room with a choice of four stations". A New Yorker bellboy, Johnny Roventini, served as tobacco company Philip Morris's pitchman for twenty years, popularizing their "Call for Philip Morris" advertising campaign. ### Guests The New Yorker hosted the headquarters of Major League Baseball (MLB)'s National League in its early years, complementing the Commodore Hotel across midtown, which hosted MLB's American League. During the 1941 World Series, the hotel housed the Brooklyn Dodgers, who were competing against the New York Yankees. One advertisement for the hotel, in 1945, featured Federal Bureau of Investigation director J. Edgar Hoover. In May 1949, the hotel hosted the first concurrent annual meetings of the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, and the International Ice Hockey Federation. The hotel's guests included such figures as Spencer Tracy, Joan Crawford, and Fidel Castro. The actor Mickey Rooney frequented the first iteration of the hotel, and John F. Kennedy also stayed there while serving in the U.S. Senate. Muhammad Ali recuperated there after his March 1971 fight against Joe Frazier at the Garden. The New Yorker also hosted many popular Big Bands, such as Peggy Lee, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, and Tommy Dorsey. The inventor Nikola Tesla lived in room 3327 at the hotel during the final years of his life. Tesla gave speeches to reporters every year on his birthday until he died there in 1943. By the 2000s, The New Yorker magazine wrote that Tesla's presence had attracted three kinds of guests, namely "electrical engineers and technology enthusiasts; people interested in U.F.O.s, anti-gravity airships, death-ray weapons, time travel, and telepathic pigeons; Serbs and Croats." ## Impact ### Critical reception A reviewer for The Washington Post wrote in 1999 that the hotel was popular among large groups, saying: "If being close to the action is important to you, you won't be unhappy. If you want a good night's sleep . . . well, make sure you're not on a floor occupied by, say, a high school band." A reviewer for The New York Times praised their room in 2000 as "clean, reasonably sized, and with a lovely vintage tiled prewar bathroom", but criticized the lack of soundproof windows, the crowded lobby, and the gritty character of surrounding neighborhood. Similarly, an Ottawa Citizen reporter said: "True, the 40-floor art deco hotel has a somewhat dingy exterior, but the location (near Madison Square Garden, Penn Station and Macy's) and the views (maximized by having guest rooms from the 19th floor up) belie the first impression." By contrast, a writer for the National Post called the New Yorker "a nice but unglamorous hotel" in 2001. The New York Observer wrote in 2011, "There was nothing bespeaking the New Yorker's pre-Moonie swagger, save for maybe the piano against the wall, behind a superfluous red cordon." After the New Yorker Hotel came under the Wyndham brand in 2014, it received mixed reviews. A reviewer for Oyster.com said, "The nice bright rooms, convenient location [...] and rich history make the 912-room Wyndham New Yorker a reasonable pick for the price", though they noted that the hotel's rooms were quite small. Similarly, the U.S. News & World Report said that many guests praised the Wyndham New Yorker's "comfortable accommodations" but criticized the hotel's small rooms and facility fees. ### Replica The New York-New York Hotel and Casino in Paradise, Nevada, contains a replica of the New Yorker Hotel, which measures 38 stories tall. A portion of the New York-New York's interior was also designed to resemble the New Yorker Hotel's interior. ## See also - Art Deco architecture of New York City - List of hotels in New York City

Red Flavor

Song by Red Velvet

"Red Flavor" () is a song recorded by South Korean girl group Red Velvet for their first Korean special extended play, The Red Summer (2017). It was released as the lead single from the EP on July 9, 2017, through SM Entertainment and was distributed by Genie Music, along with the accompanying fruit-infused music video. Written by SM collaborator Kenzie and composed by Daniel Caesar and Ludwig Lindell (known collectively as Caesar & Loui), it is primarily a dance-pop song with synths and percussion. The song reflects the summer funky vibe, while the lyrics hint towards a young relationship with summer references. A Japanese version of the song, adapted by songwriter Kami Kaoru, was later included on the group's first Japanese EP, \#Cookie Jar, on July 4, 2018. "Red Flavor" was well received by music critics; the song has appeared on several critics year-end lists and was awarded Best Pop Song at the 15th Korean Music Awards. In 2019, Billboard ranked it as the second greatest K-pop song of the 2010s. The song was a commercial success in South Korea, becoming Red Velvet's first number-one on the Gaon Digital Chart, their longest-charting single to date on said chart, and their fifth song to sell over one million downloads. It additionally peaked at number four on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart in the United States, and was the group's first single to enter the Billboard charts in Japan and the Philippines. Since its release, Red Velvet has performed "Red Flavor" for all of their headlining concert tours. The song was performed at the Spring is Coming concert in Pyongyang at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre (alongside "Bad Boy") to an audience that included Korean Workers' Party chairman Kim Jong-un. Seen as an act of a wider diplomatic initiative between South Korea and North Korea, the group's appearance at the concert made them only the fifth idol group to have performed in North Korea and the first artist from SM in 15 years, since boy group Shinhwa. The song has also been adapted into an orchestral version by Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring the arrangement of Park In-young. ## Background and release After the release of their fourth extended play Rookie in February, Red Velvet released the digital single "Would U" as the first release for the second season of the label project SM Station in March 2017. It was the group's first single as a quartet in years due to member Joy's filming schedule for her first drama The Liar and His Lover (2017), in which she was starring as the female lead. Through Star-News and SM Entertainment's official press announcement on June 23, 2017, they were reported to have recently finished filming a music video. It eventually became Red Velvet's second comeback within a calendar year, which was later extended to a total of three times with the release of their second studio album Perfect Velvet in late November 2017. On June 30, the first batch of teaser photos were posted on the group's official social media accounts. The EP's title and its full tracklist, which included "Red Flavor", were revealed on the same day. The song had its official digital release on July 9, 2017, along with The Red Summer. The remix of "Red Flavor" by Mar Vista was released on August 31, 2023. ## Recording and composition "Red Flavor" was produced by Daniel Caesar and Ludwig Lindell (under the name of Caesar & Loui), who had previously worked with several South Korean artists in this name. In an interview with Tone Glow, the duo revealed that it had originally been written for the British girl group Little Mix with the title "Dance With Nobody". After deciding that the song could also work for the K-pop market, they recorded the demo with vocals by Ylva Dimberg whose voice is still heard in the background vocals in the pre-chorus. A low voice was featured in the intro and chorus of the song. Musically, Tamar Herman of Billboard characterized "Red Flavor" as an electropop song with "dramatic synths and a percussive melody". It is composed in the key of A major, with a tempo of 125 beats per minute. Hwang Sun-eob of IZM noted the "sensuous composition of the bassline or synthesizer". In addition, Chase McMullen of The 405 noted that the song includes a "clap-along groove". Its Korean lyrics, which were written by long-time SM songwriter Kenzie, Caesar, and Lindell focuses on the theme of "fruit-flavored summer love". Initially released in Korean, a Japanese version of the song was performed at their first Japan showcase on November 6, 2017. The Japanese version of "Red Flavor" was then included on Red Velvet's first Japanese EP \#Cookie Jar (2018), with the single of the same name. The Japanese version of the song was adapted by songwriter Kami Kaoru. ## Critical reception and recognition Following its initial release, "Red Flavor" was met with positive reviews from music critics. Tamar Herman of Billboard magazine called the track "dynamic in its jam-packed, but not overpowering production" and concluded that it is "sure to be one of the summer's K-pop earworms". Jeff Benjamin of Fuse described the song as a "super-simple-to-swallow piece of pop", giving credit to the "cheery-chanty melody", which he pointed to as one of Red Velvet's more accessible tunes. McMullen complimented the song as an "effortless pop glide", while Lee Gi-seon of IZM magazine praised the song's unique production and the group's vocals. Chester Chin of The Star labelled the song an "in-your-face summer jam" and added that it was "relentlessly catchy". Taylor Glasby of Dazed commented that the song "shouldn't be seen as merely a quirky fix", stating: "It's complex and intimidating and that it feels so immediate and identifiable on the surface is just emblematic of its greatness." With the mighty punch of its chorus, she claimed the song "completely won the summer". GQ Korea named "Red Flavor" its Song of the Year in the magazine's November 2017 issue. In December, IZM listed the song as one of its top 10 singles of the year. Dazed ranked the song at number two on its list of the 20 Best K-pop Songs of 2017. The song landed on Billboard's 20 Best K-Pop Songs 2017 list at number four, with Jeff Benjamin praising its uplifting, addictive, deliciously bubblegum melody. The magazine later featured "Red Flavor" in their decennial staff list of The 100 Greatest K-pop Songs of the 2010s at number two, calling it an "undeniable hit since day one and remains ever-beloved by fans worldwide". The song also landed on Melon's domestic Top 100 Songs of the 2010s list at number 29 (number 9 among K-pop idols). Billboard and NME ranked "Red Flavor" number 1 and 4 in their lists of best Red Velvet songs, respectively. Melon ranked it number 20 while Rolling Stone ranked it number 13 in their lists of the greatest K-pop songs of all time, with the latter publication praising its production and hailing it as the epitome of "summertime fun, adventure, and romance." ## Accolades Following the group's initial South Korea music shows promotion, Red Velvet earned their first Show Champion trophy for "Red Flavor" on July 20, 2017, and continued to achieve a total of five trophies by the end of July 2017. It was nominated for the Song of the Year - July category at the 7th Gaon Chart Music Awards in 2018, but lost to labelmate Exo's "Ko Ko Bop". The song, however, won in the Best Digital Song category at the 32nd Golden Disc Awards, becoming the group's second time to win this category following "Ice Cream Cake" in 2016. "Red Flavor" also earned Red Velvet their first Korean Music Awards in their career in the Best Pop Song category. The song also received a nomination in the Song of the Year category at the 2017 Mnet Asian Music Awards, but lost to Twice's "Signal". ## Commercial performance Within the first 24 hours after its release, "Red Flavor" quickly topped seven Korean digital charts. On the third week of July 2017, the song debuted atop the Gaon Digital Chart for one week, giving Red Velvet their first number one on the chart since their debut in August 2014. It was also the group's second chart-topper on the component Gaon Download Chart with 291,643 downloads, scoring their best selling record in the first week while reaching number two on the Gaon Streaming Chart for four consecutive weeks. Following its appearance at number 20 on 2017's Gaon Year-End Digital Chart, "Red Flavor" became Red Velvet's longest-charting entry to date, having spent a total of 64 consecutive weeks within the top 100 of the Digital Chart, while re-appearing for 16 weeks on the lower half of the new top 200 as of September 2019. The song also debuted at number two on the Billboard K-pop Hot 100, making it their first top-five entry. As of September 2018, the song has sold over 2,500,000 downloads in South Korea, making it the group's fifth million-seller and currently their best selling single. Gaon also reported that the song has accumulated over 100 million streams, making it Red Velvet's second song to reach the milestone, following "Russian Roulette" (2016). The former appeared again as the 58th biggest hit single on 2018's Gaon Year-End Digital Chart, which saw the most year-end entries from the group with a total of four releases, including "Bad Boy" at number 26. Elsewhere, the song debuted at number four on the US Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart, making it Red Velvet's third song to debut and peak at the same position following "Happiness" (2014) and "Rookie" (2017). The Korean version also debuted at number 24 and 25 on the Billboard Philippine Hot 100 and Billboard Japan Hot 100 respectively, marking the group's first entry and their highest peak to date on the Japanese chart. ## Music video ### Background On July 7, 2017, a 19-second video teaser for "Red Flavor" was uploaded on the official SM Town channel, with the official video being released two days later. The visual was released on SM Entertainment's official YouTube channel on July 9, 2017, to coincide with the digital release of The Red Summer. Choreographed by Kyle Hanagami who had previously worked with the group for their singles "Be Natural" (2014), "Ice Cream Cake" (2015) and "Russian Roulette" (2016), the song's music video was directed by director Seong Chang-won. Joy recalled running into SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man at an SM Town dinner, who disclosed to her that he had been heavily involved in overseeing a lot for the song, including its lyrics, melody, rhythm, and even the choreography. ### Synopsis and reception The fruit-infused music video has a colorful summer theme that features all five members singing about love in the summer. It shows various scenes in where Red Velvet can be seen interviewing fruits, and appears on a small screen, expressing something with their hands, which turned out to be a sign language. It depicts people falling in love with colorful and intense colors, fruits and drinks over the lively pop beats. The song was highlighted by its colorful movements reminiscent of cheerleading. Following the music video's release, writer Tamar Herman of Billboard described it as "evoking the tastes of fresh fruit, candy, ice cream and cocktails" further praising the video for its "vibrant seasonal romance" picture. The music video was included in Idology's 2017 Best Music Videos. The music video was also one of YouTube Korea's Top 10 Most Popular Music Videos of 2017. On September 10, 2018, the music video for the track reached 100 million views on YouTube. ## Live performances A day before its digital release, "Red Flavor" was performed live by Red Velvet for the first time at an SMTOWN concert in Seoul. Hours after the release on July 9, 2017, the group had their first music show performance on Inkigayo, where they also performed "You Better Know". They continued appearing on several music shows such as The Show, M Countdown, Music Bank, and Show Champion where they earned their first music show trophy for "Red Flavor" on July 20, 2017. The song was also part of Red Velvet's first solo concert tour Red Room in August 2017. It is the first Red Velvet song to be recorded and performed in Japanese, serving as their debut performance during a showcase in Japan on November 6, 2017, and later being performed during the Japanese leg of the annual SMTOWN Live World Tour. During the group's attendance at 2017 Mnet Asian Music Awards, they performed the Hitchhiker remix version of the song along with their November single "Peek-a-Boo". The second remix contained an anthemic EDM-breakdown after the final chorus. As part of the group's attendance and performance at the Spring is Coming concert, which was intended as part of a wider diplomatic initiative between South Korea and North Korea, Red Velvet performed the song along with "Bad Boy" in Pyongyang at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre to an audience that saw the appearance of Korean Workers' Party chairman Kim Jong-un. This made them only the fifth idol group to ever perform in North Korea and the first artist from SM Entertainment in 15 years since the performance of former labelmate Shinhwa. ## Credits and personnel Credits adapted from the liner notes of The Red Summer and \#Cookie Jar. Studio - Recorded and edited at SM LVYIN Studio - Recorded at doobdoob Studio - Recorded, edited, and mixed at SM Blue Cup Studio - Mastered at Sterling Sound Personnel - Red Velvet (Irene, Seulgi, Wendy, Joy, Yeri) – vocals, background vocals - Kenzie – Korean lyrics, vocal directing - Kami Kaoru – Japanese lyrics - Daniel Caesar – composition, arrangement - Ludwig Lindell – composition, arrangement - Ylva Dimberg – background vocals - Lee Ji-hong – recording, digital editing - Ahn Chang-kyu – recording - Jung Eui-seok – recording, digital editing, mixing - Chris Gehringer – mastering ## Charts ### Weekly charts ### Monthly charts ### Year-end charts ## Release history ## Orchestra version "Red Flavor (Orchestra Version)" is an orchestral song recorded by South Korean orchestra Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, re-established with the arrangement of Park In-young. SM Entertainment made its first collaboration with the orchestra forming a new classical label, SM Classics, creating an orchestral version of "Red Flavor". The music video for the "Red Flavor" orchestra features a 44-man orchestra performing "Red Flavor" under the direction of David Lee. ### Track listing - Digital download / streaming 1. "Red Flavor (Orchestra Version)" – 3:21 ### Credits and personnel Credits adapted from Melon and Tidal. Studio - Recorded at Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra Rehearsal Room - Recorded at Brickwall Sound - Mixed at SM Concert Hall Studio - Mastered at 821 Sound Personnel - Yoo Young-jin – music and sound supervisor - Park In-young – recording director, background instrument - David Lee – conductor - Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra – performer - Moon Jung-jae – piano - Hwang Hyun – background instrument - Lee Jong-han – background instrument - Monkey Media Group – recording - Kang Hyo-min – recording - Moon Il-oh – recording assistant - Nam Koong-jin – mixing - Kwon Nam-woo – mastering ### Release history ## See also - List of Gaon Digital Chart number ones of 2017 - List of M Countdown Chart winners (2017) - List of Inkigayo Chart winners (2017)